It’s that time of year again when teachers begin to spend thousands of dollars on their classrooms- Back to School! But let’s be honest, there is only so much you can do with your budgeted ‘donation’ to your classroom each year.
With the dog days of summer settling in, and school starting up soon for some districts across the country, it is time to get our students back into learning gear.
Many times I worked so hard with kindergarteners to get them to read and they could care less about letters and words. Now, they loved story time and reading a story is much more than just reading words. These students wanted to read the pictures, ask questions, tell me about something they noticed, etc. All of these observations are important pre-reading skills. However, the act of finding meaning in words was of no interest to them. And that is OK.
Adapted books have regularly been used in special education classrooms, bilingual/ESL classrooms, in home-schooling, and by clinicians during therapy sessions. Adapted books are used in all settings because they work! It is truly the one thing that can be used along all grade levels and in all settings.
Labels are an important necessity in all ECE classrooms. They are as important as toys and manipulatives. Labels can make life easier; clean up is quicker, students don’t need to ask where toys are located, and we gain a few minutes of our day back.
The final months of the year are the slowest moving because it feels as though we can’t catch our breath. Room breakdown, EOY paperwork, center clean up (disinfection), going through the pile of things we-don’t-know-how-we ended-up-with. Plus you’re still lesson planning and teaching! Phew, I’m exhausted just thinking about it!
The final months of the year are the slowest moving of all. The sun is out, the students are ready for summer break, and yet, there you are; still weeks away from cocktails poolside. But do not worry!
I am so excited to be part of the team and hope we can have strong conversations about our diverse students, their communities, and the best practices (and resources) to help them become college ready.
