I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week 2011. Hop on over to meet some other great teachers!
Tell us a little something about you...
Howdy! I’m Jessica and I blog at Kindergarten Hill (and my personal blog and a recipe blog my girlfriends and I share!) I have been married for 4 years to my wonderful Hubby and we have one dog, Champ! We meet in college, where we both cheered for the University of Louisville (Go CARDS!) and he still works in the Cheerleading and Dance industry. We like to spend our free time (ha! What’s that?!?) Lounging on the couch, eating out (YUM!), playing games with friends, and watching movies (Redbox anyone?!?)
How long have you been teaching?
I just started my 5th year teaching, but this is my first year in kindergarten. The past 4 years I have spent my time teaching a Pre-K class. I was fortunate enough to move into a kindergarten class down the hall, so not only did I get to stay in the same building…but also in the same hallway! I am finding that some things are very much the same in kindergarten and Pre-K, while others are VERY different!
You might not know...
I have an undergraduate degree and two master’s degrees. I graduated from the University of Louisville with my undergraduate degree in early childhood education. I then went to Ball State University (online) and graduated with my Masters in Education: Elementary Education with a focus on Early Childhood. I then went on to get a Masters in Teaching from University of the Cumberlands (also online!). I would highly recommend online programs to busy working teachers!!!
What are you looking most forward to this school year?
I am most looking forward to the challenge of a new grade level. I will loop up to first grade with my students, so I am hoping to have a great kindergarten year so we can keep on rolling in first!
What do you need to improve?
I am not sure if you can improve on something you haven’t tried yet… but, I am starting to implement The Daily 5 in my classroom this year (yes, in kindergarten…stay tuned for updates!) so I am really wanting it to go well! We started building stamina today… and let’s just say we might be building stamina until December! Ha! :o)
I am the team lead for kindergarten and I am a KTIP (a teacher internship program Kentucky requires) mentor for the new Pre-K teacher who took my position, so I am hoping to improve on my leadership skills!
Lastly, I want to become more organized in the classroom with lesson planning, copying, etc. I do have a full time assistant in my classroom, and I want to maximize my time with her, since I won’t have an all-day assistant next school year (in first grade). I want to come up with a system where I am lesson planning and she is copying efficiently so we are both maximizing our time with the students!
What teaching supplies can you *not* live without?
Post-it Notes!!!!! LOVE THEM!!!
Go Ahead and slap my wrist, but I LOVE the Letter Factory DVD from Leap Frog- This is great for the days where you just can’t take anymore from your students…or for the days you can’t get outside for recess and the kiddos are DRIVING YOU CRAZY….tell me you’ve been there?!? This DVD is a great way to reinforce letter skills and phonemic awareness. (Which makes me feel not as bad about popping in the DVD!)
(P.S. Leap Frog also has, Word Factory, Number Circus and several more videos that are just as good!)
(P.S. Leap Frog also has, Word Factory, Number Circus and several more videos that are just as good!)
Chart Paper and a fresh set of markers
No comments:
Post a Comment