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meeha/ece/tx - Hello! Ready to chat? Ready to talk early childhood?
meeha/ece/tx - People talking tonite or listening to the president?
meeha/ece/tx - Hi, Diane! How are you this evening?
Diane - Hello out there!
Diane - I'm great, how about you?
meeha/ece/tx - Diane -- I've had a wonderful day ... enjoying a good week at school. I work with special needs preschoolers in north-central Texas. you?
Diane - I work with regular preschoolers
meeha/ece/tx - I've done that, as well ... in Head Start and Pre-Kindergarten (at-risk and ESL) settings.
meeha/ece/tx - Hi, Kate! welcome to our EC chat for this week!
Diane - Have you seen the new Hefty Zoo Pal plates that everyone is talking about
meeha/ece/tx - Diane -- I need to write that down and look for them this weekend! I've certainly heard about them!
janie - hey guys! I'm listening to the pres. thing and chatting
Diane - They are great. Visit their website!
janie - what are they
Diane - Hi Janie!
meeha/ece/tx - Hi Janie -- I'm going to listen to the pres, too!
meeha/ece/tx - do you have a website -- can you post the addy,, Diane?
janie - what are the plates for?
Diane - They are paper plates in different animals about 51 different ones and they come 24 to a package and 8 animals in each package. Great for props for fingerplays and such.
meeha/ece/tx - Janie -- I've just heard teachers mention them,, haven't had opportunity to see them yet ... suspect crafts, classroom fun, etc.
Diane - website : www. heftyzoopals.com
janie - I'm not really a craft person, even for class
Diane - They give you a lot of ideas and you can even print a checklist of all the different animals.
meeha/ece/tx - Okay, I'll check out http://www.heftyzoopals.com right after our chat! thanks for the info!
janie - have either one of you gone to school for your master"s?
Diane - Do you know of any great websites for student books to download?
meeha/ece/tx - janie -- I'm in my final semester, studying spec. ed ... emotional/behavioral disturbances & autism
janie - while you're theaching?
Diane - Not yet, but I have my Montessori Certification
meeha/ece/tx - Diane -- I've seen several recently, can't recall any off the top of my head. Check out the meetings over the past three or four weeks ... or post it on the EC (or KDG) chatboard.
Diane - Thanks a bunch!
meeha/ece/tx - janie -- yes, I teach full time, have commuted 110 miles round-trip two evenings per week until this semester -- now have class 18 miles from home ... gpa 3.93!
janie - ...and what is that like? What do you plan to do with your degree? will you stay in the classroom or what
janie - ...and what is that like? What do you plan to do with your degree? will you stay in the classroom or what?
meeha/ece/tx - janie -- it isn't nearly as daunting as it sounds ... you're studying what you already are doing! you have a background in the information, pick areas of interest and "needs to know" for projects, etc.
meeha/ece/tx - my intention is to pursue my doc ... i hope to train teachers to work with special and typically developing young children in the not-so-distant future!
meeha/ece/tx - I love being in the classroom, but KNOW I won't be able to sit on the floor -- or on 10 inch chairs -- until I'm old enough to retire!
janie - i've just wondered because, not only am i so tired at the end of the day, but i'm not sure the financial payoff is great enough to justify staying in the classroom
meeha/ece/tx - Janie -- are you actively teaching now? What group of children do you work with?
janie - i teach pre-k in dallas
meeha/ece/tx - janie -- do you work in the school district where you live or are you in a daycare?
janie - private school
meeha/ece/tx - private schools pay considerably less than do public. in my district 1st year teachers are paid 36K/yr!
meeha/ece/tx - Diane, are you still here?
janie - i make a lttle more than that-its a good private school
janie - where do you teach
Diane - Yes I'm here
janie - i mean what district
meeha/ece/tx - i teach in arlington
janie - soory diane
meeha/ece/tx - Diane -- where does one go to get Montessori certification? I know it takes specialized training.
Diane - I went to Orlando Montessori Education Institute .
janie - speaking or getting tired, i just cant keep typing.. take care!
meeha/ece/tx - HOw long does it take? Are there any correspondence or on-line training courses?
meeha/ece/tx - Prez looks nervous tonite.
Diane - I have been teaching Pre-k for about 8 years. The course is over 300 plus hours and it is on the weekends every other month
Diane - There are several training programs around the country.
meeha/ece/tx - That could get expensive -- just flying back and forth ... plus materials ... plus lodging ... hmmm .......... still may be worth pursuing at some point in the future!
Diane - There are some excellent Montessori schools in your area.
Diane - Have you ever observed at one?
meeha/ece/tx - I've not been to observe at any yet ... may go peek at one, know I have parents of a 4 year-old with autism who are VERY unhappy with her present day-care setting -- she might benefit from the structure of a Montessori setting (if they can afford it!)
Diane - I know there are Public Montessori schools in Virginia.
meeha/ece/tx - Oh, I'm in Arlington, Texas! (sorry for the misunderstanding!) There is a pretty good Montessori school about four miles from my campus -- and only about 2 miles from the little one's home!
Diane - I know there are many training programs in Texas. Oops , sorry about that.
meeha/ece/tx - Is there a Montessori Association of Teachers ... a website to which I can go to find recognized training sites? (Too often the good ones are hard to weed out from the mediocre via the ads!)
Diane - What programs do your pre-k units use in texas? What type or Curriculum?
Diane - Yes. , Just search for Montessori on the web and they will pull up. American Montessori Society is the one I belong to.
meeha/ece/tx - Until recently most teachers have generated their own curriculum. Recently they adopted Scholastic's BUILDING LANGUAGE FOR LITERACY -- our special needs preschool picked it up this year, too.
meeha/ece/tx - Thanks!
Diane - The teacher next to me on our campus is a Pre-k special needs teacher. She really does a great job.
meeha/ece/tx - In my classroom we do themes based on the seasons, holidays, TEXAS!, cowboys, service workers, community, a BIG science based unit each year (this year is the ocean!)
Diane - Hi st! How are you?
meeha/ece/tx - Hi st! welcome to the EC/Primary weekly meeting! How are you this evening?
meeha/ece/tx - Are you a teacher?
st - great and you
meeha/ece/tx - I'm doing well, thanks!
st - yes
Diane - That sounds great.
st - Kindergarten
meeha/ece/tx - The time I spend on units is dependent on the interest the munchkins demonstrate in a unit ... if they enjoy it we might stay there for four to eight weeks ... if no interest is demonstrated we might move on after two or three days!
Diane - That sounds familiar!
meeha/ece/tx - st,it has been several years since I taught in a Kinder class -- but next year I'll have a "practice" K in my classroom with 6 sped kiddos who are old enough but just not ready!
meeha/ece/tx - 'evening, buzzy! welcome to the EC/Primary weekly meeting!
Diane - St- What are you doing in your class right now?
st - I have three special ed inclusion kids in my room this year
buzzy - hello everyone
Diane - How's it going with them?
st - We are finishing up our Winter unit -- today was the 100th day---
Diane - That;s a really fun time for them!
st - Fine-- I have a SUPER inclusion preschool teacher
Diane - Buzzy, are you a teacher?
meeha/ece/tx - we tried to do a "WINTER" unit ... but it keeps going up to 70 degrees in the daytime ... SO hard to teach about cold weather when the munchkins are coming to school sans coats and wearing shorts!!!!!
st - Same here it was 75 tiday Yuck!!!!
meeha/ece/tx - My goodness, the office of president certainly does age its occupants prematurely, doesn't it?
Diane - What is your next unit you are planning? Both of you!!!! It was also warm here.
meeha/ece/tx - warm today ... supposed to be cool and rainy tomorrow!
meeha/ece/tx - We're now in our TEXAS and COWBOYS unit. I think next week we move into FEELINGS and VALENTINES DAY activities.
Diane - Yes I think Pres. Bush has aged a lot.
st - Here too- but I am in LA real close to you meeha
st - We are going to do bears and then Valentines
Diane - WE are finishing up Antarctica and then on to Africa
meeha/ece/tx - sounds like fun, Diane! we're working on flat students we're exchanging with a class in the Ukraine ... our "flats" will go out on Thursday or Friday!
meeha/ece/tx - We've been looking at maps and globes trying to understand how this LONG DISTANCE thing works!
Diane - Do you have a flat Stanley? One of our 5th grade teachers is really into that.
meeha/ece/tx - Diane, I did it three or four years ago and the kids LOVED it! I think next year we'll do it the "real" way again ... this year is just 'traveling flat students' ... all travel together and return (we hope!) together!
Diane - That's great. I think our teacher has also changed hers a bit.
meeha/ece/tx - It looks like my group next year may be developmentally ready to participate and gain from the experience.
meeha/ece/tx - (These past two or three years have seen students with skills lacking enough that it wasn't really going to be a beneficial experience for them)
Diane - My class this year has been the lowest I have ever seen.
meeha/ece/tx - Last year some teachers had "invisible stanley" who went about doing "random acts of kindness" -- without being caught!
Diane - That' s neat. I 'll tell my friend about it.
meeha/ece/tx - Diane, I'd have to say that is true of the group I have this year, too! NEVER have I seen the intensity of needs I've seen this year!
meeha/ece/tx - st -- you still here? how has your group been this year? Our kinder teachers have seen marked drops in ability levels this year, too!
Diane - It seems as if there is no literacy in the home environment.
meeha/ece/tx - Diane -- that is something I've seen in surveys I've sent out recently ... parents may or may not read to their kids -- even weekly!
Diane - We have a program through our Media Center where our Media Specialist sends books home with our children and some of them tell me that their parents don't even read them.
meeha/ece/tx - I've had times when we found $5 tape players and had kids (older) read books onto tapes for younger kids to "read" at home!
meeha/ece/tx - right now we have girl scouts reading books to send to the Ukraine with a mission group this summer ... book and tape will go together!
Diane - Yes, that would be wonderful. What are your kindergarten teachers requirements for the students going to 1st grade?
meeha/ece/tx - You know what -- I've not even heard! Most of our K kiddos are independent readers at the end of the school year! Can sound out words, read si mple text, write sentences, etc.
Diane - That's the same as ours. I was just wondering!
meeha/ece/tx - I truly dislike the testing and the push-push-push nature of school today. The kids don't have time to "play" with the new-found skills and learn to enjoy them -- just press on and press on and press on!
Diane - We see the same thing where I am. I think sometimes we really push to hard.
meeha/ece/tx - I think we're preparing a nation of drop-outs ... the stress is going to burn-out these little minds before they're 20! ... and the concommitant issues (drugs, promiscuity, acting-out behaviors) that c ome with growing kids early! They're not bulbs to be forced early (as we do with paper whites and other flowers!)
Diane - As Maria Montessori said- "Follow the child"
meeha/ece/tx - Don't get me wrong ... I think that kids need to learn, I just think they need the time it takes to learn and to master along the way! If we let them learn as they are ready they will soar!
meeha/ece/tx - She said it well!!!!!
Diane - Weel better go for now ! It's been nice chatting with you! Have a great week! Bye
meeha/ece/tx - nice meeting you diane! have a great week!
