As a new blogger I haven't had the opportunity to share with you much about myself or the school I work at.
I work in a semi-high poverty building and our "clientele" (as I will refer to them) are a very mixed group.
In the primary grades there can be up to 25 students in a class.
We ended last year with 1 full day kindergarten plus session, 2 half day kindergarten sessions and 3 first grade classes.
We are very lucky if we end the year with the majority of the same students we began the year with since we have a very transient clientele.
Working in this building can be very stressful at times but it also has it perks!
The year before last my state was robbed cut of funds, which meant major cuts!
You see the legislature took away funding illegally not so nicely.
But, there is a happy ending to this story.
Funds have been given back to us for this upcoming year!!! YEAH!!!!
One way my district decided to allocate these funds was to reduce class sizes in K-1 in the top five high poverty buildings.
You guessed it... I work in one of those buildings!
Can you believe it? We are actually a top 5 school!
TOP 5!!
So this year we will have 3 ALL DAY kindergarten classes and 4 first grade classes.
The perk of all perks is our class sizes are being reduced to 20!
20!!!
I don't know if I'm more excited about this upcoming year or the next?
All day K hopefully means no more students laying on the floor at 9:30 in the morning because they're so tired!
Ummm, we've only been in school 20 min! How can you be tired? We haven't even done anything tiring yet!
Anywho, I met with my current team and the new teacher on Thursday.
She's super bubbly and a hugger!
I have a feelin' she's gonna fit right in!
To welcome her to the team we got her a few things for her class (I forgot to take a picture of them).
But she wasn't the only one who got a gift.
One of our other partners brought us all these cute hand painted bags!
She even personalized them to match our room décor.
I swear this girl has some serious creative talent!
So... I'm wondering what everyone else's clientele is like and what is your cap?
In my district we have to adhere by class size. In K-3 the max is 18. In 4-5 that cap is 22. When I first started teaching, I taught K for five years. We didn't have a cap. I think the highest I ever got was 28. That's a lot of little ones. Back then I wanted to lay down on the floor and take a nap after 20 minutes. I've been fortunate the past few years and haven't had much transition. My clientele is TAG. I have some move in, but rarely move out. Your bag is super cute!
ReplyDeleteAlison
Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'
I am excited that you are getting a smaller class size this year!!! It's going to make so many things, on so many levels, easier to manage!!!
ReplyDeleteClaudia
Hi! I just found your blog. :) The bag is adorable! I also teach first with a highly transient population (for a different reason), so I understand the stress of that situation. But, like you, I work with colleagues that I love and we all support one another. That makes the load so much easier to bear! :D It's wonderful to hear that those with the $ are making the choices that are right for your kids now. A very heartening thing! Best of luck this year!
ReplyDeleteLindsey at Forever First Grade