Freshly Certified.... and NOW WHAT?!?

Okay, so I came back to school today fresh and invigorated from all the great conversation and advice I received from you guys.

However, I still feel like a few hours into the day I am still as exasperated and frustrated as ever. I am still so unclear on some very specific things. First, I was reading Aidee's post from like forever ago when you talked about the dry work that ended up all over the room... okay here was my experience...

I put out a bowl filled with dry oatmeal and hid several very small (smallest I could find) pom poms in the oatmeal. The kids really loved it of course, but there were a few children who could not stop dumping the entire bowl onto the floor. Now, oatmeal is very hard to clean up... and it was very messy. I had one of the children help me sweep it up a few times and moved the bowl to a better location. The move seemed to help with the all out dumping but some spilling was still involved. Just like Aidee, I am at a loss as to how to handle this situation and others like it. I know that Toddler really enjoy dumping things out on the floor and the oatmeal is no exception, should I let them do it and then ask them to clean it up. Should I redirect them to something that is more appropriate for dumping like blocks? Should I tell them they are done with it if they dump it? So many different options and I don't know which one is best...

Oh, also just found out that I can be expecting THREE new children to start on June 2nd. Three new children on the same day... is my admin INSANE!!! I confronted my administrator about it, and told her that it would be too much to have 3 children start on the same day. She said that I should see it as a blessing since so many other schools have low enrollment right now and we do not (at least in the toddler dept.) I do see her point, but she didn't seem to see mine... is there any sort of compromise available here? Grrr. this is going to be interesting...

What an intense few months! Has anyone else been experiencing this? I feel like I am all over the place and can't get back into focus, especially the homework stuff. One of the drawbacks of being not at home when you take the course...... My stuff is all over the place. And then I take something out to photocopy and can't remember where to put it back. Nice.

I am so looking forward to catching up with everyone. See you soon!

Hi Ladies,

We had a toilet learning class recently that I taught with the other 0-3 Lead and it went really awesome! We aligned a little philosophy, and broke down the signs of readiness into different planes (physical, cognitive, emotional, etc) so the parents would understand what is happening on different levels with their child. I will send the handouts that I made for the class through email so that you all can use the info if you wish. Hope all is well and good luck to those who are starting back up soon!

Love and Light,

Amber

Can I Handle the Mess??

I made some new materials this weekend. Some for Maximum Effort and others for Practical Life. I took them to school today. I did not do any formal presentations, and I was really excited to see what the children would do with them. They were really happy and worked great with them except one, a dry work. I had a large basket filled with lima beans and had some scoops and cups for it. Well, I guess they were using it the way it is supposed to be used. I knew they were going to spill some of the lima beans on the floor. I was expecting that, but all of beans ended up all over the classroom. Many questions popped into my mind: Should I make them keep the beans in the basket? Do I make them clean it all up? Do I make them come back to clean once they had moved to another activity? Wait, what did Sue said about this? Can I handle the mess?

I know the mess is part of the learning, but at the end, I had the children clean up and asked them to move to another activity because it was getting out of hand. I felt bad afterwards, but what would you have done in my situation? I have a small room, and my boss was giving a tour at that time. They loved the lesson, though : )

Any suggestions?

Totally right!

You are totally right Aidee. I go back to work on Monday and I am honestly a little freaked out! I am really nervous about starting at a new school and I wish it were already Christmas or something and I was already comfortable. It sounds like you are settling in nicely though! That is exciting! I guess all it takes is time right...?

Stages of "Teacherhood"

Remember when we read some of Galinsky's "Six Stages of Parenthood"? I am beginning to believe that teachers also go through similar stages (or at least me), and so far I have experienced the first and second stages. I think the Image-Making stage occurred during the summer training. All the new information, experiences, and ideas got me excited, and I began to construct images about how my classroom was going to be. It was a preparation for teaching. Now that I am actually in my classroom and with the children, I have begun the Nurturing stage. I am having to reconcile the images I had with my reality, which it is not a bad thing. I think our training did give us the tools to successfully guide young children; it is just a matter of crafting a plan of action for my room :) It is only the third day back, though. I still have many changes I need to make.

Looking forward to this new school year!

Good Luck!

I just wanted to say GOOD LUCK to all of you who have started work again already! You are going to do great with all the new things we learned. If you need any kind words of encouragement, we're all here!