Germs are the Devil

So, one of the downfalls of being a kindergarten teacher? You're exposed to SO many yucky germs and are susceptible to getting sick. Case in point...

I was sick back in December and saw a doctor. She determined I had bronchitis and gave me a breathing treatment and a round of antibiotics for the ear infection that I had also incurred. After taking the medication, I thought I had gotten better and actually felt relatively decent through the holiday season.

However, last week (Wednesday, to be exact) I felt myself getting sick again. I managed to get myself through the rest of the week (and a formal observation that I had with my principal on Friday) but I didn't have the time over the weekend to nurse myself back to health - I was working at my part-time job - and I think that's what did me in.

I woke up Monday feeling terrible but decided to tough it out and go to work. Low and behold, I didn't make it past 9:30 that morning. I asked my principal to go home and I've been in bed or parked on my sofa ever since.

I went into the doctor on Tuesday and she sent me to the hospital to get chest x-rays, thinking that it could be pneumonia. On top of that, she gave me a steroidal shot to "kick start" my immune system along with another breathing treatment and an aggressive antibiotics and medication treatment - five different medications in all!

It's been horrible. I hate being sick and being away from my classroom and the kids. But I know this comes as a warning - that I need to slow and take care of myself and not work myself to death with two jobs and school. So my doctor gave me a medical leave of absence until next week so that I can fully recover.

Although I don't mind all the extra rest I've been getting, the antibiotics that I was put on are incredibly strong and make me sick to my stomach. I just want to be better already!

So forgive me if I have been lagging on the posts...I will try to get back into the swing of things soon. Till then...

My New Favorite Blog

While I was perusing educational blogs this afternoon before class, I stumbled across Miss Allison's Class blog and was blown away by some of the stuff she had up. It is rare that I find blogs that garner my attention, let alone special education blogs that pique my interest but Miss Allison's really did.

Not only does she have some AWESOME ideas and blog entries (taco recipes and a blog on paraprofessionals...sounds vaguely familiar!) but she also put together a resource packet that had my jaw on the floor as I was looking through it!

The majority of students coming into my classroom have speech and language impairments, but this year I have two students who are diagnosed with autism. And while I've worked with students with autism before in both the private and public sectors, I am at a loss at what to do with one of the students in particular, who seems to be having sensory issues.

Low and behold, I come across Miss Allison's blog and find that she has created an entire "must-have sensory supports" packet, including pictures (for us visual learners!) Hallelujah! I immediately printed it out and will be taking it into my classroom tomorrow!

If you're a special educator and want some great ideas, I suggest browsing Miss Allison's blog. The least you will come away with is a slow-cooker recipe for chili chicken tacos!

RtI

We began RtI this week at my school campus and although I'm a special education teacher, my class has the opportunity to participate in RtI with the other kindergarten classes. Each kindergarten teacher - including myself - takes a group of students to work with and sends some of our students out to the other classrooms.

While RtI is mandated for all kindergarten teachers, what we do for RtI is completely up to the individual teachers. We aren't necessarily doing "interventions" in the sense the special education community would think of interventions, but we do work in small groups with specialized instruction.

I like RtI because it gives my students the opportunity to mainstream into the general education classrooms. Of the seven students that are currently in my classroom, four of them go out into one of the other RtI groups...which I think is pretty darn good!

Being the "skilled special education teacher," I get to take and teach the "super low" group of students. I only have two of my students stay with me for the RtI rotation and have about 7-8 other students from the three general education classes.

For my RtI group, I'm working on very basic skills such as learning to write their name and letter recognition and sounds. Our activities include singing a couple of different ABC songs and an alphabet sounds song and usually completing some sort of hands-on activity or worksheet.

This week we are working on the letter "A" and I had the kiddos complete an activity where they used magazines to find different "As." They then cut and paste the "As" onto the worksheet I made for this activity. (So, they're working on fine motor and phonics - double whammy!) Here's what the worksheet looks like...if you want a copy click here.

Hope y'all like it! I will try to post my next activity for RtI, if I can remember. Have a wonderful weekend...TGIF!

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...