A small room with a lot of promise...

This is my classroom-I am re-organizing it-so 'scuse the slight messes.

The room is tiny about 5' x 8'. I have a kidney shaped reading table somewhat centered. I do not have a desk. There are large shelves-(pictured) to contain my intervention supplies, resources, all reading manuals K-4(I don't use them-why are they there?? 'cause someone may need them!) and the top is all curriculum manuals from K-4. I share 2 shelves with our literacy coach since she has no shelves in her room. To the right of the shelf (or your left as you view it) there is another door which leads to our school nurse and central office area. In the foreground (it's evident in both pics which helps to show scale) you can see the side of a printer-it sits on a smaller shelf which holds my "bins"- everything I need for each group I see-I see 9 groups each day from k-2. I formally had a table, but it made the room MORE crowded. I've moved it to the hall for book displays-don't tell the fire department, it's probably a hazard.
I do have a filing cabinet and glass windows (notice my cute curtain-cat & the hat of course) with a door leading to the hall. (see picture). My tripod is there too 'cause that's where I set up the camera-it has captured a side view-which is quite acceptable, but I am hoping with the creation of space, I can pull the table out more to capture a frontal view. I am in the process of re-arranging because I can't stand the clutter and I want my videos for NBCTS to be outstanding.
So far the only critique I am hearing is to see the kids faces and work area more-so I assume my teaching & planning is effective. As you can see, I function in crowded quarters-some of my friends say I was hired for my position because I was the only one who could fit behind the table- my weight obsessive self loves that ~but my professional self questions this idea and hopes that they are really only kidding-they do say they are.

Out For A Sunday Drive

No gas required!

Austin's Soccer-Nazareth VS. Easton

Austin played goalie, defensive and offensive positions today. It started out chilly and slightly foggy, everything was wet, but it was sunny and the situation improved with time. Nazareth is blue and Easton is red. Since I work in Easton I did see some of my school's students. The kids all played well, no injuries and everyone was positive. Nazareth won the game!







Austin's ball handling and kicking skills have improved.

Soccer -Austin's Team Nazareth 4 vs. Easton part 2

On Instructions.....

Tonight I decided my instructions guide for National Bd. (NBCTS) would be put to better use in a notebook. I punched holes for quite some time. I actually created 3 notebooks- one contains my standards (the "bible" of my certification area- which is literacy), one is just for the forms that must be completed, and finally this notebook-the PORTFOLIO instructions. It is more than 300 pages by itself. I decided not to bore with photos of each. I did manage to tab many areas and create a mish-mosh of sticky notes-a system only I can understand. Another teacher in my school is in my support class (the class total is 4 candidates with 2 teacher-leaders) and he told mes that he broke a hole punch creating his notebooks! Update on my videos....they are both good and not so good. The one I did show in my class got high marks and I was told not to erase it-it was actually the first one I recorded. After that I had a few glitches, mostly technical-but my classroom is only about 6'X 8' so I am doing the best I can. My friend has offered to tape me too. She'll be able to get some closeups, and show some movement-let's hope she fits in the room!

Saturday Micro Soccer

It's time for Saturday micro soccer with the U.K. Elite Professional Soccer Team. Every Saturday Timmy, his team, and the other micro teams get together to learn and play with a team of Elite Soccer players who come from the united Kingdom. The are all very good with the kids and everyone has fun because many of the skills are played through games like "Star Wars", "The Farmer & The Fox" and "Pirate". Timmy is getting much better, he's chasing the ball (not butterflies) and kicking it well -instead of pulling weeds. Here are some pictures...in one he is listening to the ball (that's what the UK coach said to do).

Saturday soccer pictures....

Here's Timmy kicking & running

Just chillin' & freakin'

I am sitting here highlighting all (there's lots-I may need more highlighters) of the protocols that I need to follow in my 500+ pages of Literacy standards for Nat. Bd. and I keep thinking "Am I crazy this is going to be really hard!" As I'm doing this I can hear my dog gnawing away on her bone...not a care in the world. Such is the life of a spoiled dog. Tomorrow I start videotaping for Nat. Bd. I'll be taping all day everyday. I have to do A LOT of it and write dissertations (it seems) about each. Anyone who thinks teaching is easy will get my foot up their ......OK ....OK this is a family blog.

Labor Day Weekend Camping at Hickory Lake

The kids had no school on Friday so Ray took the day off and we left for Mt. Bethel to Hickory Lake campground
where we had a remote, slightly hilly, but not bad, tent site all to ourselves. The campground has a small tent area, but the majority of campers are weekenders or seasonals with campers. They had a large in-ground pool, a social hall, and daily activities. Friday night was great, like I said we were the only ones there, but on Saturday lots more arrived after we returned from The land of Make Believe(see posts below). Normally this would not have been a bother (I've camped all my life-I am used to it), but Saturday night was disturbing. One site blasted music, then another decided to do the same, but louder until after midnight. The kids were even upset. All was quiet near the camper side of the grounds...so go figure! We did leave Sunday by 4PM, so we'd have Monday to get ready for our week. On Monday we picked up my new dryer (works great! Shoulda' seen us lug it down stairs...can you say heave ho! Yes it was just the 2 of us) Anyway.....my laundry was completed in a timely fashion.

Land of Make Believe-Part2

Here are some of the favorite rides.......

Land of Make Believe

On Saturday we went to the Land Of Make Believe. The kids enjoyed the rides, but it was the water park,Pirate's Cove, that they loved most. They have an area which is similar to a playground, but full of sprayers, buckets that drop LOTS of water, and a pirate ship to climb. They also had a lazy river and tube rides, but they weren't into that this time. There was a large baby type pool, but it was also for older kids because there were so many fast slides and another ship to climb.