Hey hey! I'm here linking up with Katie King at Queen of the First Grade Jungle for Work It Wednesday! I'm just all about the linky's this summer. ;) I've been following Katie for a little over a year, and I actually found her through one of her fitness hashtags on Instagram, and THEN realized that she taught 2nd grade! :) I was so inspired by her fitness journey, but I never got around to get really serious about my own. Ever since I've had my kids I've felt so guilty taking time out to take care of myself. Like ridiculously guilty. I suffered from postpartum depression after both of my kids. I didn't even realize what it was until it was over. But I used to think "Why would I spend an hour working out when I could spend that hour cleaning, or holding my baby, or...." The excuses would go on and on, and so did the weight gain. Last year I realized I wasn't as good as I could be, as I needed to be. I wasn't all that happy, and quite fr...
The Science of Reading is popping up all over teacher social media, and in professional development alike. It sounds like the newest buzz word, but I've realized that we are going back to the way I was taught to read a long time ago! Somehow, and sometime along the way schools stopped teaching phonics. I have to admit that this was news to me, because I was very lucky to land in a school my second year of teaching that used an Orton-Gillingham based phonics program. I was ahead of my time. Ha! I taught kindergarten for 4 years at that school, then 4th and 5th grade for 4 years, and I just didn't realize that other schools weren't teaching kids how to read using phonics. Honestly, I said "Who isn't teaching phonics and morphology?? How are their kids learning to read?" WELL, they weren't. When Arkansas began the R.I.S.E. initiative to teach their teachers about the science of reading my principal at the time said, "Guys, we will do the training, but...
Well, I found a job! Whew. Last month I was hired as a 5th grade teacher in a wonderful school. After meeting with my principal and team a few times I don't think I could have been placed in a more perfect place if I had handpicked the school myself. Not only is everyone kind and helpful; it also aligns to my own teaching pedagogically. When you move to a new school you kinda have to go with the flow until you prove yourself. No big shifts away from the curriculum, not a lot of new activities, etc. I was prepared for it, and for being told what and how to do things. However, their pedagogy aligns so much with my own that it is going to be an almost seamless transition, or so it seems. With that said my team and I are going to be doing classroom Book-A-Day, and so I went off to Barnes and Noble to see what new books I wanted to add to my collection this year. I found a ton of really cute books, and I thought I would share them with you in case you hadn't heard of them either. ...
Love that quote!
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