When I saw this I was eager to mouse over it to see what the occasion was... and then I realized that I must have entered my birthday into my Google account! When I mouse over, it even says, "Happy Birthday, Melissa!" Haha! It's been such a Googly week for me! Love!
So I have just a few more weeks of summer ... and we all know that teachers do nothing all summer long besides sit by the pool, sleep late, eat bonbons, get our nails done... NOT! My life is nothing like that description, save the occasional pedicure! Instead, I've been reading, cutting out things I laminated at the end of the school year, reading professional books, connection with other teachers, planning for next year, etc. Sound familiar?! Yep, I thought it would.
Yesterday I spent some time working on plans for writing lessons for next year. I love Units of Study by Lucy Calkins, but I have supplemented over the last few years. And this summer, I decided to try to organize the supplemental lessons. So I did that, and I'll share soon.
I also shopped for more school supplies. A big-box store which shall remain unnamed had notebooks and crayons for 17 cents and 50 cents, respectively. It's not Target. Keep thinking...
And I spent some time organizing my iTunes. iTunes has been on my list for literally months. But I never found the time to organize playlists and import the educational CDs... Greg and Steve, Jim Valley, Kathleen Rushing, Charlotte Diamond. But since it's *summer* I somehow found the time. I created several playlists, including Calendar, Quiet Time, Writing, Rainy Day, and Content.
The Calendar playlist has all those days of the week, months of the year, counting, alphabet, phonics-kinds-of songs. It feels so good to have them all in one place where I will be able to find them easily. The Quiet Time list includes very calm and quiet and relaxing music like Classical lullabies, very mellow jazz, and Baroque music. The Writing playlist is a step up from quiet time. It's not quite so calm... some of the songs have lyrics, and the tempos are a bit more upbeat. Still, the music is meant to be in the background, so it's not too loud and crazy. The Rainy Day music list includes songs that are good for students to dance to (G-rated versions!) and movement albums. I put "Hand Jive" and "I Wanna be a Dog" (Charlotte Diamond---one of my favorites!) on that list, too. And lastly, the Content list has just what you'd expect... music with some content. That's where I put the nursery rhyme songs, Hap Palmer color and number songs, Schoolhouse Rock, and things like that. I'm so excited that I'll be able to access those songs quickly and easily this year! I should have done this a long time ago...
What are your favorite CDs/songs for your classroom? Anything you would put in the "must have" category? I'm always looking to add to my collection!
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