Friday, November 16, 2012

First day back in my room and The Leader in Me stuff

Hey Y'all! Today I went by my school and took my baby boy for all the teachers to meet. He's about 8 weeks now and just SO precious. My husband came to pick up baby Jackson so I could go to my classroom and see my kiddos. They were very excited to see me and very excited I will be back after Thanksgiving break. I was super happy to see them too but after they all left and I met with my long term sub...I have to admit, I'm freaking out!!!

You know how it feels when you've been gone one day...imagine 7 weeks! Eek! I also have the inclusion class which means I have to document, modify, accommodate and teach a little bit harder. So I have my work cut out for me when I get back. I'm trying to remind myself baby steps, baby steps, breathe, breathe! :)

So my room was pretty messy, not going to lie. Things were not in places they should be but I am going to have to just let that go until I can get things back the way I want. I don't know if you are familiar with The Leader in Me but we started that at our school this year. Here's a pick of our leader board:


Now I know it seems like it's just a job board, which it kind of is. But we take the approach that this is each child's leadership role in the classroom. We talk a lot about being proactive and showing leadership throughout the day. The children have had experience with each job at this point in the year. When we get back from Thanksgiving I'm going to start "data binders" for each individual student. I'm going to start SLOWLY with this. I don't want to overhwhelm myself or my students.

In the data binders I plan on having my students set goals and record their progress as they go. As I create pages for the data binders I'll post them here so y'all can check them out. If anyone else out there does these, I'd love some pointers!

Also before I go, found out about an awesome website with a super cool behavior management system. It's called Class Dojo. A 3rd grade teacher on my team implemented it last week and I am going to start when we get back from Thanksgiving. I'm super excited you should check it out! :)

Happy Friday!

3 comments:

  1. I love the idea of the Leader Board...thanks for sharing! Also, I can't wait to read more about your data binders as you start them. I hope you have a smooth transition back-congrats on your baby!
    The REAL Teachers of Orange County

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  2. Good luck coming back! I went out on maternity leave last Christmas and came back the middle of February. It was hard, but I know you'll do fine! Oh, and you will LOVE Class Dojo. I actually just talked about it on my blog a few days ago!

    Don't Let The Teacher Stay Up Late

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  3. Dixie! I love it! Im going to read that book over Christmas Break. I'm getting excited about it.

    My little guy is named Jackson too! It's a great name!

    You are going to do great coming back.... ease yourself in, cut yourself some slack and enjoy!

    Katie Knight
    Teacher to the Core

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