What next?

Wow!  Time sure flies when you're busy...and man does it drag when you're waiting for something!

My final teaching practicum ended on the 4th of May and I had a wonderful time out celebrating with the girls, but now the stress starts as we all begin the job hunt.  I had an interview on Saturday and have spent every day since watching my fun for any activity.  I should abide by the theory that a watched pot never boils (so, a watched phone never rings) but its agonizing.  To keep myself busy (and to avoid the laundry mountain that has formed in my basement) I am keeping busy in the kitchen.  I don't normally have time for that sort of thing, so this really is a treat.  Todays adventure was to test out a recipe for Gluten Free Brownies, and I have decided I should probably not make them too often.  They were AMAZING and far too easy to eat a lot of, even the kids and hubby gobbled them down.  It is really nice to see gluten free recipes that actually taste like real food though, so I am pleased to have found the recipe.  This particular recipe was courtesy of the Gluten Free Goddess and can be found on her website at http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.ca/2006/01/dark-chocolate-brownies.html.

The rest of my time, I have been reading Fifty Shades of Grey.  Wow!  Not unlike the chocolate brownies, these books totally make you feel naughty and are addictive all at the same time.  In the past 6 days I have motored through the first two books and cannot wait to indulge in the third one tonight, probably with a bit of brownie as well!

National Poetry Month

Despite some of the trials and tribulations associated with the classroom I am in right now, I am happy (and exhausted) to report that this week ended on a high note.  I got a wonderful phone call from the principal at my own children's school who really lifted my spirits.  As the craziness of the job hunt continues it is always nice to have someone lift your spirits and put you in a positive mind frame once again.

In class, we finished up our poetry centres and I am so please with the work the kids did.  We celebrated National Poetry Month in April, and I introduced the class to several different styles of poetry and authors.  Although the original plan had just been to read poems with them on a daily basis for the month, at their request we began impromptu poetry readings by students.  They also asked if we could try writing poems, so I developed a set of centres for them to do just that.  They had six centres to rotate through and for the most part they all did their tasks and seemed to enjoy them.  Several of them really responded to what we were doing and have continued creating poems while at home.  It's also nice to see the boys in class really getting involved in the writings of such poets as Shel Silverstein (Evereything On It) and Patricia McLachlan (Once I Ate A Pie).

Poems are such a great way to engage readers that are struggling a little bit with chapter books.  The minimal text seems much more manageable and approachable, and once the boys realized the "icky" nature of some of Shel Silverstein's work they really took to it.  I think the (sometimes) graphic nature of the illustrations make a difference.

The activity sheets have been listed as a free download on and can be obtained through this link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/National-Poetry-Month-Center-Activities.

My favourite centre was the one that asked students to create the illustrations to go with Shel Silverstein's poem The Gletcher, show above.  They used watercolour paper and experimented with the effects they could get on it.  The images turned out great and have generated alot of comments from other teachers passing them on the bulletin board in the hallway.

Although these were originally designed for a grade 3 classroom, I think adaptations could easily be made for other Early Years classrooms as well.  You may note that there are only cards for 5 centres....our sixth centre was to go online to the Scholastic Poetry Engine website that allowed students to create 4 different forms of poetry.  You can navigate to that website through this link http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/poetry_engine.htm.

Have fun!

Getting Started

As I settle in for the last few weeks of student teaching I have come to realize just how much the internet has affected my methods of teaching in the classroom.  Not too bad for a girl who waited 15 years to get this degree!  It amazes me as I watch my cooperating teacher attempting to tidy and organize her classroom...she has spent the last few weeks going through page after page of 30 years of books and handouts in an attempt to find the things she actually has a purpose for.  The amount of resources she has acquired is staggering, and more than a little daunting.  In complete opposition, I decided I needed a good character map for the 1973 animated version of The Lorax and within moments had one downloaded, printed and photocopied for the class.  It really opened my eyes to how easy technology can make a teachers life if they use it correctly.  So, I decided I shouldn't be greedy...and at that moment this blog was born.

I've been toying with the idea of creating a blog for the last little while and have made the grand decision to act on my thoughts!  Hopefully, this all goes as I plan..

Although I often acquire inspiration through the internet, just as frequently I give it my own personal twist by combining several ideas into the one that works for me.  As I create these ideas I hope to use this blog, not just to share them, but to store them for myself as well.  Please feel free to access the documents and adapt my ideas for your own use whenever you can, and please leave me a comment to let me know if they work for you!