Thursday, August 23, 2012

Back to School Expo

Hey folks! I stopped by Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits, and found something really interesting she posted about.



The Back to School Expo has 5 virtual presenters on 5 different topics in education.

I wanted to check it out for myself. Seems like a pretty neat idea. Since I can't attend any conferences in the United States physically, I am totally psyched that I can do this online.

There are only 14 hours left to buy your ticket for just $10. Tomorrow the price goes up to $19.95.

Check out the details and decide for yourself. I'll definitely tell you my opinion afterwards.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

First week back

Woo hoo! One more day and the first week is over.

As I have mentioned before, we have started a new system called Flexible Start for first graders. I tell you what, it has sure been hectic this week. But today started to have a feeling of a good routine.

Basically the first 5 weeks of school, we combine all first graders together. Once a week we randomly divide them into two groups, and I get one group and my co-teacher gest the other group. Then we divide the students still into 7 smaller groups, and we have 6-7 teachers teaching each group 3 times a day in centers (rotating through the centers over 2-3 days). The center themes are all academic, for example math, language arts, etc. The idea is that we get to know the students better and the students get to know us and each other in smaller these smaller groups. It's been really great so far!

I have lucked out with a great co-teacher for first grade, and our team work is making the start of school very nice!

I will try to take pictures tomorrow of my classroom, although it still isn't finished by any means.

Happy Friday to you all!