Back in the saddle again...

So in case you've been dead to the world (or not on Facebook anyways) I'll be getting back in the teaching groove. Yay!! (Insert the Liz Dance of Happiness here...) I've missed teaching like crazy for the last 6 years, and I'm even more excited that I'm teaching kindergarten again, since I have a feeling that teaching in the public school is going to be a whole different beast than teaching in the WELS schools, and at least I'll have the slight familiarity of kindergarten curriculum.

I got to see my classroom at Reeces' Creek. I'm in room 104, in the block of six (yes, SIX) kindergarten rooms, and I think there may be another 3 kindergarten classrooms around the hall. I love the fact that my classroom has a tack board wall so I can thumbtack or staple anything (including unruly students) to the wall. I also love that I have a kid-size sink AND a kid-size bathroom, as well as ample storage space. An added bonus is that I also have a SmartBoard, a Promethean to be exact. How I'm going to utilize that in the classroom, I'm not quite sure yet, but I'll figure it out.

The two things that I'm noticing that my classroom is missing are books and toys. The only books that are in the classroom are the books that come with the reading program, so nothing that's really fun and interesting for the kids to read (which makes it hard to create a reading corner with no books...). How am I supposed to create children who love to read when the only books that are at their disposal most of the day are leveled readers? Sure, they can go to the school library, but that's not constantly accessible. I guess I'll have to work on that...

Another thing that's missing is toys. I've always thought of kindergarten as the perfect balance of school and play. They are starting the age where they can do seat work but they also still need play as a part of their learning process and socialization. As my friend from church (who was a public school teacher) put it, "There's no way the public school district is going to pay for toys." So now my issue is, do I add some toys in the classroom and be the only K teacher who does that, or do I just conform to the status quo?

Either way, books or no books, toys or no toys, I'm beyond excited to be back in the classroom again and to have a whole new gang of students to make me laugh and help me learn as a teacher.