Here it is...almost a new school year! I might be excited...

After teaching K for fifteen years, you would think it would be hard to become excited about a new school year! But, amazingly, I am finding it easy to be jazzed up about 2010-2011.
You see, I have spent the past five years helping my hubby build our dream house. This meant nights, weekends, and summers doing everything, and I mean EVERYTHING associated with construction of a non-conventional house. Whew! It was quite a ride...one that I am glad to have made, but am glad it's over!
At the end of May, I did a deep clean of my classroom right down to the smallest nook. I pitched old materials that had long passed their expiration date as to relevance to how I teach now. With a spiffy-clean room, a clean desk, and much more space due to editing out large obsolete furniture items, I'm getting that "brand new again" vibe. And I love it!
My newest acquisitions...and highly recommended I might add, are:

"The Next Step in Guided Reading", by Jan Richardson

and

Whole Brain Teaching (totally positive, fun and energetic management system to get kids excited about learning)

With these new tools and a better handle on how I teach writing and reading, this is going to be an awesome year!

I am beginning to post a few files on my yahoo group site:
http://#############.com/group/maggieskindercorner/

I hope to keep some of my most used files there as well as on my own website:

http://maggieskindercorner.com/

It's bedtime, and here I am at proteacher again Life is good!