New School Year, New Blog

After browsing through countless education blogs that have been made popular through such sites as Pinterest, I decided earlier this summer to start a blog for my own classroom. I wondered how to make my blog unique and something that other teachers would want to read and follow. I decided that I would create and write a blog that not only catered to my fellow special education teachers, but that provided perspective (and some pretty cool freebies) for general education teachers as well. Thus, Kinders First was born.

To start...let me tell you a bit about myself. This September marks the start of my second year of teaching. I currently teach in a public school here in Southern California. I have worked for the same district since 2008, starting off as a special education instructional aide and then getting hired last summer as a special education teacher. I attended and graduated from CSU Long Beach with a bachelor's degree in liberal studies, and dual teaching credentials in both multiple subjects and special education. I am currently a part-time graduate student at CSULB, and will be finishing up coursework for my master's degree in education during the next year.

I teach a very unique classroom - the only one of its kind in my entire district, actually. I am privileged to not only teach an age group I absolutely adore (kindergarten!) but I also get to teach students with mild to moderate disabilities. As if that wasn't great enough, I work at a school with an amazing principal and other professionals who make my job so much more enjoyable! This may sound pretty naive, but I absolutely LOVE what I do. Each day in my classroom is unique and different.

My first year of teaching was amazing, challenging, unexpected, unforgettable...and I loved every second of it. Looking back, I kind of wish I had started this blog a lot sooner. But I figure that as a second year teacher, I'm still pretty "fresh" to the teaching profession, and could offer some pretty hilarious anecdotes, at the very least. I am also computer-savvy (minored in Educational Technology) and have a knack for creating delicious worksheets, progress monitoring pages, and data collection sheets...for those of you out there interested in *FREE* stuff like that.

So, here's to another wonderful school year. I hope y'all stick around and enjoy the ride with me...