This post originally appeared on the blog, Love Those Kinders.
Hello Friends,
I am one of the lucky ones who have been out of school for a few weeks now. For those of you who are still in school, hang in there; the end is in sight and then you will be able to finally take that long breath and relax!
I thought I would join Kacey in Five For Friday, but instead of listing five random things about my week, I would share five things that I think all teachers should do over the summer…..
One of the many wonderful things about teaching is that we are given the opportunity to REFLECT each year on the previous year; keeping things that worked and making changes to things that did not. In my school, we are required to fill out a personal goal sheet at the beginning of the year. At the end of the year, we are then required to reflect upon our goal statement; writing what worked and what did not. Even though, I will often grumble about “one more thing” to add to my list, I actually am glad to have this opportunity to reflect upon the year. This year, my goal was to create math tubs and hands-on learning for my kiddos while at the same time implementing our Go Math curriculum… hmmm…. some things worked and some things did not… I plan to take this time to REFLECT upon what I will keep and what I will delete.
I also take this time to re-think my classroom set-up. My biggest hurdle in my classroom is my HUGE classroom library. I have SIX of these black shelves FULL of books. I love giving my students the opportunity to read and check out books from the classroom, but it takes up soooo much space. I plan to REFLECT on how I can retain the easy accessibility for my students while at the same time taking up less space.
I also want to create more of these type of spaces, so eliminating some of the space that the library takes up will open more space for these special learning spots….
This is a big one for me… Besides reflecting on the previous year, I spend time in the summer renewing and revising; both in my classroom and in my home. If you are regular reader of my blog, you know that I LOVE my flowers. I can spend hours and hours in my garden. My spirit and mind is RENEWED each year as I wake up my beauties and say “hello.”
This is also a great time to RENEW my brain and read a professional book or two. During the school year, I have little time to read professionally and if I DO read a professional article or two, it is done quickly with little time for reflection. This year, I plan to read a couple of books that I have already read. Now that I have had the chance to implement these ideas in my class, I am going to RENEW the way I do things when I return to school in August. I also am taking a class entitled “The Next Generation Science Standards” and this will certainly RENEW my brain with new thoughts and strategies for teaching science…
Finally…. REJOICE! I am blessed to have been given the talent to be a teacher. I am blessed to be able to share my faith with my little ones. I am blessed to have my health. I am blessed to be the wife and mom of some pretty great people. I am blessed to have some amazing friends and colleagues. I am blessed to have this opportunity to recover, rejuvenate, reflect, renew, and REJOICE in all I have been given.
Take care, my friends and don’t forget to visit FIVE FOR FRIDAY by clicking the image below….
Until next time…
Blessings,
***
Cindy Feeney has been a kindergarten teacher for 20 years. She has seen kindergarten evolve from simply teaching letter/sound/number recognition to teaching blends, digraphs, addition, subtraction, and even writing in complete sentences. Cindy believes that kids learn best when they take an active role in their learning. She is passionate about the environment and works to bring all aspects of it into every subject. She started a butterfly garden at her school and educates her students on the life cycle of Monarch butterflies, the life cycles of plants, and the animals that call the garden their home. She enjoys showing her students how to make simple thematic books by illustrating and creating the pages. Cindy is the author of the blog, Love Those Kinders. Her resources can be found at her TpT store, KinderKay Products.
