Thursday, July 28, 2011

After a nice break...getting back into the idea of school

After a summer break from here, I thought I'd share some upcoming ideas that I have in mind for the school year.  I have 2 weeks until meetings/inservice days and 3 weeks from today the kids come back to school!  I'm not quite ready but once the kids will be in the building I will be.

I am looking forward to the upcoming school year and not having to go through the "firsts" of everything like last year.  My schedule has some moderate changes that I am also looking forward to, hoping I will have more time for planning, grading, and hanging art around the building at the elementary school.  My afternoons are basically the same, but my mornings will drastically change for the better!  My K-6 classes will be shortened from 40 minutes to 30 minutes and I will now have the same grade levels on the same day.  I have 2 days with 4 elem. classes, and 3 days with 2 elem. classes.  This gives me 3 days a week with plan time which is a welcome change to last year!  My JH and HS classes will be the same.

Last year my elementary art theme was "Wild About Art!"  This year I am going to attempt "Around the World and into Outerspace" focusing a lot of project ideas on different cultures from across the globe and throwing in a few fun space projects along the way.  Although this will be my focus, it will not be everything that I have planned. 
My goal for this school year is to focus more on basic foundation ideas for each grade level from Kindergarten all the way up to my High Schoolers...perhaps I am biting off more than I can chew, so we will see how the vision in my head turns out.  

Although my planning has just begun for the year, I am excited to post in the future such ideas as Pinwheels for Peace, The Buffalo Stampede (a spin-off of The Cow Parade), and many more! 
I am excited to venture around the world with my students and would welcome any culture/diversity lesson plans anyone has to offer!