Okay, I finally feel like I’m getting close to being ready!! I have my letters up and my desk in order. I have looked at the basal reading series and the math workbooks. I even have a tentative schedule!!! Today was a long day of meetings, but it was good to have some idea of what to expect. Overall a school is a school, but here are few of the differences between my school here and my school in the states:
1. There are no set school wide checkpoint assessments (DRA, IMI, etc.) There is MAP testing, but otherwise assessments are set by individual teachers and grade levels.
2. All grades are in one school – I’m talking Preschool through 12th grade.
3. All teachers have 3 preps almost every day. My kids get 2 specials most days, in addition to French in order to make this happen. They go to library twice a week, PE twice a week, Music twice a week, computers once a week and Art once a week. But these are not always at the same set time each day.
4. The kids are not allowed into your classroom until you come and pick them up from the holding area, so all kids enter the room at the same time (unless they are late).
I am sure there are many other differences, but these are just the few that stand out for me. Anyways, here are some of the newer pictures of my progress:
Here are my desks. Each one sits 2 kids and I have 10 sets, so I can seat 20 kids. I am only supposed to have 17, but I’ve been told that number can fluctuate as we go. The blank wall behind these desks is going to be my Word Wall, and the white board to the right of it is going to be my center rotation schedule. (Ignore the guided reading table that is covered in papers already!)
Here is my alphabet wall. I am SO happy with how this looks, all bright and colorful. It is right next to our morning meeting area, so we can do our phonics chant with it each morning. BTW – if you click on the picture, you will find the link to download these!
Tomorrow I am going to finish putting together my posters for Number Aerobics, and I’ll upload it here as a FREEBIE!!
1. There are no set school wide checkpoint assessments (DRA, IMI, etc.) There is MAP testing, but otherwise assessments are set by individual teachers and grade levels.
2. All grades are in one school – I’m talking Preschool through 12th grade.
3. All teachers have 3 preps almost every day. My kids get 2 specials most days, in addition to French in order to make this happen. They go to library twice a week, PE twice a week, Music twice a week, computers once a week and Art once a week. But these are not always at the same set time each day.
4. The kids are not allowed into your classroom until you come and pick them up from the holding area, so all kids enter the room at the same time (unless they are late).
I am sure there are many other differences, but these are just the few that stand out for me. Anyways, here are some of the newer pictures of my progress:
Here are my desks. Each one sits 2 kids and I have 10 sets, so I can seat 20 kids. I am only supposed to have 17, but I’ve been told that number can fluctuate as we go. The blank wall behind these desks is going to be my Word Wall, and the white board to the right of it is going to be my center rotation schedule. (Ignore the guided reading table that is covered in papers already!)
Here is my alphabet wall. I am SO happy with how this looks, all bright and colorful. It is right next to our morning meeting area, so we can do our phonics chant with it each morning. BTW – if you click on the picture, you will find the link to download these!
Tomorrow I am going to finish putting together my posters for Number Aerobics, and I’ll upload it here as a FREEBIE!!
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