We finished our school year last week. On the last day of school for students, my principal met with me in her office and asked if I would like to teach first grade! I have taught kindergarten for 15 years and have never taught another grade. I was ready for a change and because of some other reasons as well, I decided to take on the challenge! Mrs. Piercey, a veteran teacher of 40 years is retiring and I will be taking her place. I plan to move into her room, which is just down the hall. It is a bigger room and has more windows. It is also right across the hall from the other first grade teacher, Sandi Smith (who is awesome!). So...this summer I will be moving classrooms, going through all of the stuff that Mrs. Piercey is leaving for me, and trying to figure out how to teach first grade! (If anyone wants to help, feel free to join in the fun--including babysitting my two cherubs while I go up to school!)
Advantages to teaching first grade...
Kids are more settled (hopefully!) and know more about the school routine
Kids have started learning to read, so I can take them to a new level than in K
This year I will already know most of the kids from K!
More structure--I operate well in a structured environment
Fewer field trips--I like field trips, but it seemed like we went on too many in K
Don't have to do an orientation at the beginning of the school year.
Don't have to do Kindergarten Graduation program at the end of the school year!
(This list will expand later, I'm sure!)
5 comments:
I am also going to 1st grade from kinder. Good Luck. I'm sure you will do great!!!!
I also taught K for 20 years and then moved to 1st. I've been teaching lst for 15 years now and love it! I'm sure you will too. It's amazing to see the growth the students make...and they are so excited about reading!
I taught k for one yr. and moved up with them to 1st where I stayed for 7 yrs. I liked getting the 1st graders into a routine and teaching them to stay seated, stay on task, listen, and turn their work in. Organizing was a big task for them as well as keeping up with their things. But if you expect the best (within reason), they'll do it for you! By Christmas, you'll see them change by leaps and bounds and they'll be reading up a storm! Good luck and things will get better as you go along. Just be patient....
Wow! Thanks for the encouraging comments! I am pretty excited about moving to first grade. At one point, I thought that they might ask me to move to fourth and that would have been tramatic, but I think I can handle first! I have started getting moved and organized, but I still have A LOT to do before summer is over!
Hi Melissa,
I stumbled across your blog by an internet search for kindergarten teachers websites. I noticed you live in TN(we live in TN) and have taught kindergarten for years. I'm sure you are really busy but I would love to get any pointers you could give. We are a homeschool family. Last year we turned our dinning room into a classroom and taught our daughter preschool. This year will be our first official year of school. I have a Computer Programming degree not teaching. I have poured hours into the computer the last few days in search of ideas. Here is our blog full of things we have done over the past year or two. www.eagerlittlemind.blogspot.com Thanks!! Heather
jamela_amira(at)yahoo.com
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