Fun Friday

May 1 was our Fun Day of Fitness. And boy did they have fun!

Checkoff Lists

I don't know about anyone else, but I find it extremely hard to keep track of which standards I've covered and which I haven't. There's just so many.

In my case, this year I'm expected to cover 4 different grade levels. I know I haven't been able to cover all of them. And it really, really bothers me.

Here's the thing, though. While I currently am responsible for students from Kindergarten-Third grade, none of them are actually working on grade level in reading/la. Most are behind in math (though on grade level, they're just working much slower than general education students). I have to carefully pick and choose what to teach from each grade level to ensure they're actually learning at the appropriate level.  Some are working close to their assigned grade level and some are functioning well below it.

Please don't ask me how I do it. I don't think I do enough. I go home every night and stew over what I could have done better or different. And I get frustrated that what I just taught the day/week/month before (and have been reviewing constantly) didn't stick. Or that one day they get it and can do it perfectly, and then the next day it's like I never taught it at all. It's exhausting.

Honestly, it probably wouldn't be as difficult if I didn't have administrators breathing down my neck constantly asking me why they aren't FSA ready. And my response of "you can't put the cart before the horse" falls on deaf ears.

So anyway, in order to help myself keep track of everything, I created a checkoff list of sorts. Each grade has the strand, cluster, standard, and standard code as well as a second box to write in what week(s) the standard was taught. I'm hoping this will help me keep track of what I've already covered and what's left. I doubt I'll be able to get to everything since there just isn't enough time to teach 4 grades in the same span that general education teachers teach 1 grade, but maybe I'll do better.

I will be posting these to my Teachers Pay Teachers store soon. Right now I only have Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd done for Reading/LA and Math.

Fish in the Water

This year we were offered an awesome opportunity to participate in Swim Central. One  of the top (if not the top) causes of childhood deaths in Florida is drowning, so when this opportunity came up, we jumped on it. For two weeks we took 14 students ranging from Kindergarten to Fifth grade to a half hour swim lesson everyday. SO EXHAUSTING! The kids loved it and we got to see them improve so much over the course of the two weeks and so it was totally worth it. But let me tell you how hard it is to attempt to teach deaf kids how to swim when their faces are in the water, their eyes are shut, and they don't have cochlears or hearing aids on...I was going home and taking a nap every afternoon and then drinking an extra two cups of coffee just to make it until 11:00pm when it was acceptable for me to go to bed for the night. :)

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

Those darn plastic Easter eggs. As a teacher, we all know it's a love/hate relationship....

Love- They're cheap ($1.98 for 42 eggs!!!)
Hate- They're hard to find except for once a year

Love- My kids LOVE using these things
Hate- My kids are constantly stepping on them (mostly accidentally)

Love- So many activities!
Hate- They break so easily!

Love- Permanent marker allows me to make different activities
Hate- I'm constantly rewriting since they're plastic and nothing stays permanently (I know, I know, clear nail polish)

See- Love/Hate relationship! :)

Wow, I've Been Seriously Slacking!

I'm so sorry. Time has slipped away, things have been hectic, and I've been really bad about documenting all the different things that have been going on around here...so it's time for a photo filled quick recap.

We started off February with Jump Rope for Heart. The kiddies loved it! A full half hour of blasting music and jump rope, what could be better?!

Next we had field day. A fun-filled morning of sack races, relay races, three-legged races, tug-of-war, and many other races. They look forward to this day every year!

And then finally we had a visit from Billy the Marlin- the mascot of the Miami Marlins! He even knew how to introduce himself in sign language! The kids were in love!! They listened to two stories, got autographs, took pictures, and even danced with Billy! It was a great day! :)

And finally, we put up our spring bulletin board.

And I promise, I'll try to be more consistent from now on with posting. :)