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JD - any other first grade teachers?
Teri F. - Yep, I'm K/1
JD - would someone have some ideas for Open House?
JD - Open House/Parent Conferences is next week and I am not sure what to do.
Teri F. - How about parents going around to centers set up in your room for quickies with their kids? I haven't done this yet, but always wanted to try it.
JD - It may be too noisy while I speak to another parent about their child.
JD - do you have the students do something for the parents ahead of time
Rhonda - We do Open House and conferences at different times.
Teri F. - Traditionally, we make some sort of place mat (art, math, etc.) and pile all their best portfolio work on it for the kids to share with their parents. We also have Open House and conferences on different days.
JD - it is a little hectic because we do it all at once and I speak to parents about their child individually
Darcy/pre-k - I have a question, do any of you do art projects without help from an assistant or parent. I mean, mainly for the pre-school teachers.
Teri F. - That would make me nuts! What about confidentiality?
gigi - who's speak with mi
Rhonda - Isn't it awkward to do conf. with other parents in the room?
JD - Well I have one parent at a time.
Teri F. - Hi, gigi--what grade do you teach?
JD - I talk about their child and talk about the classroom to each parent
brteach - How long do you have to speak to each parent?
Rhonda - Darcy...I did them in small groups while the others work in centers
JD - about 15 min. and longer if no one is waiting behind them outside the door.
brteach - How many students do you have?
Teri F. - Wow, at our Back to School Night we have all the parents sit in their child's seat and we explain curriculum, class rules & procedures, need for volunteers, etc. Kids are encouraged to stay home that night. Then later in the year we have Open House when we show off our rooms and work with the kids there.
Rhonda - We do pretty much what Teri said
Rhonda - We have 2 early release days for conferences. The parents are scheduled about every 15 to 20 minutes.
Teri F. - We do pretty much what Rhonda said.
brteach - Your lucky. We had one early day. The other day we had conferences from 1-8
Rhonda - Most of us schedule ours the 1st day and stay late only one night. We get to leave early the next day
Teri F. - If our teachers had to work that late, we'd have a mutiny!
brteach - I know. I just started working in this district . Everywhere else I worked we had early dismissal .
anne - Did anyone else have parent visitation today?
Rhonda - Ours was last week
Teri F. - Are any of you feeling pressure to get all of the standards taught even though the kids shouldn't be pushed so fast?
Teri F. - Hi, young teacher--what grade do you teach?
brteach - I am. We have to finish the social studies text this tear (20 chapters). The principal is more concerned with testing/standards than with mastery of the material.
anne - Yes, Teri. I'm feeling a lot of pressure to prepare students for testing.
ann - I wish we had a full day program for K...then maybe we could address the standards...and still teach the whole child
Rhonda - I can't believe that there are still so many places without full day K
Teri F. - I do have full day K, and it helps a little bit but sometimes we just need to relax and I always feel like I'm losing precious time!
Rhonda - I felt more pressured when I taught 1st. K doesn't have standardized testing. We do have a state assessment but it is reasonable and more relaxed in its administration
Rhonda - I worry a bit about all the new accountability measures we have to take...paperwork isn't my thing
Teri F. - I teach K/1....What grades do all of you teach?
Rhonda - K
gail - kindergarten
gail - full day in the state of fl
anne - third grade
Teri F. - I'm in CA, where are you, Rhonda?
Rhonda - Georgia
Teri F. - Does anyone have a preschool on your school site?
anne - We have a pre-school
Rhonda - We did, not anymore
Teri F. - Anne, do your K and preschool teachers collaborate on curriculum?
brteach - Bob, what grade do you teach?
Bob - grade 2
Teri F. - I wish there were more male primary teachers!
Bob - I would hope pre k and k collaborate
Bob - why
anne - Teri, yes, our principal has each grade meet monthly with the grade level teachers in the grades one level above and one level below, on a regular basis.
Teri F. - At my school, we have lots of single moms, and it's hard to find some good male role models for our kids.
Rhonda - Wow, Anne. I wish we did that. 1st and K like to bicker about who should be doing what
Bob - anne, when do your teachers meet
Teri F. - Anne, we're planning a preschool to happen in the next year or two, but it would be a private business. I'm hoping to find some good models for preschool/K seamless transitions.
anne - We meet once a month, after school, as part of the faculty meeting.
anne - Transitions are difficult. Guess that's why looping has become so popular.
Rhonda - Okay! Is anybody doing anything really cool for (teaching about) Thanksgiving
Rhonda - Is anybody still here?
anne - Today my students pretended to be turkeys and wrote persuasive paragraphs to convince people not to eat turkey for Thanksgiving. They drew pictures of turkeys and glued the paragraphs in "speech bubbles" next to their drawings. They did a nice job.
Rhonda - That's neat...sort of like the Chick-fil-a ads
Rhonda - I currently have 2 interns that are reluctant to teach anything dealing with "Indians" including Thanksgiving because their profs have some sort of attitude about it
anne - We also read "Molly's Pilgrim" and watched the movie. It's such a great story.
Becky - They are missing the point in their reluctance aren't they?
Becky - reluctance!
Rhonda - I like to do a celebration but don't want to do the "traditional" meal (Our cafeteria serves a turkey dinner on the last day before the break)
anne - I don't see a problem in teaching about Thanksgiving. It's a national holiday!!
Teri F. - Anne, I love the convincing turkey idea.. very cute! Rhonda, we just say "Indian" "Native American" etc. interchangeably. After all, it's a big piece of our history!
Rhonda - I think they need to teach it and show that Native Americans can be discussed in a respectful way
Becky - We have a Gobbler Gala...there are 6 kg classes....popcorn at one station...cooking corn cakes at one station...making turkey hats at one station ,
Becky - etc
Rhonda - One of the profs doesn't believe that the Pilgrims and Indians ate together as we "teach" it. She thinks it is perpetuating a myth
Teri F. - Gotta go for a while, guys! I'll check back in later...
Becky - This lasts from 8:30-10:00..lots of parent involvement.. students have a medallion and earn feathers for being a good listener , etc and each station...end up with a medallion full of feathers!! FUN FOR ALL!
anne - In the past I've had the children bring in items for a "cooperation stew" the day before Thanksgiving break. It cooks all morning in the crockpot and then we eat it with corn bread muffins.
Rhonda - I'm doing turkey hats cuz I think they are so cute, reading Cranberry Thanksgiving and making cranberry bread, and singing Albuquerque Turkey and making egg foo yong
Becky - Thank you Rhonda!
Teri F. - Rhonda, tell me how you make your turkey hats!
sue - I'm jealous, I don't seem to have time to do anything
Rhonda - They are very simple but my class loves hats. A band (I use sentence strips) around the head. The turkey face on the front, feathers on the back, traced hand wings on the sides.
Teri F. - I love the hand wings on the sides... what do you use for a face?
Rhonda - I'm going to do it sort of like the TLC art projects. Have you heard about those?
Teri F. - Nope, what are TLC art projects?
sue - I'm in the process of doing my quilt squares turkey handprints /maple leafs
Barbara - I love the turkey idea. Sounds like it would be a great following direction activity as well as a motivator. The child could easily do a writing activity from the stand point of being a turkey at Thanksgiving.
Rhonda - They are designed by some K teachers and they are great for listening, following directions, fine motor, and much of our math curriculum...id of shapes, size, position words, etc
Teri F. - Rhonda, are the TLC projects printed somewhere?
Rhonda - http://www.tlcart.com/ This is the website for them. They have a free project online every month as well.
Teri F. - Thanks, Rhonda... Barbara, what grade do you teach?
Teri F. - Sue, who sews up your quilt?
sue - I don't sew them they are paper quilts
Barbara - I teach third. The turkey could also be a persuasive writing activity. I love the quilt idea. It also ties into many quilt books. Sometimes it is necessary to work beyond the standards to teach them. Just basic lacks the motivators.
Barbara - Rhonda, thanks!
sue - it ties into our math standards concepts about geometry, patterning etc.
Barbara - Have a nice evening.
