This past year I taught a resource class for children with special needs in kindergarten through 2nd grades while Russ taught a high school class working on their Mississippi Occupational Diplomas. All through the year we continued to have students move into our district and our numbers in kindergarten through 2nd grade grew and grew. By the end of the 2012-13 school year it was obvious that another teacher unit was going to be necessary. Russ, having just completed a second masters degree in dyslexia therapy, was really interested in getting back into the elementary school. So, for the first time ever, not only will there be two Lambs teaching on the same K-12 campus but next year we will both be teaching at the elementary school! I will teach kinders and first graders while Russ will teach second graders. We plan to do a good bit of team teaching with Russ taking the lead on the dyslexia training and me utilizing my BCBA to develop social skills and organizational skills in the students as well as remediating math and language arts.
We are branding our blog, facebook and other social media opportunities with our design created from the fabric we found for my classroom last year at Hobby Lobby. The walls are a light aqua and it's a really cheery room. Oh, did I mention that not only will be joining me at the elementary school...he will be joining me in my classroom!
Our school is all out of space even after building a new upper elementary school a couple of years ago. The last day of school, I left with one room and went back to school a couple of weeks later to find a wall down the middle. Here's Russ trying to help me figure out how to organize our furniture and materials to optimize both teaching areas. In order to get to Russ's classroom, students will have to pass through my classroom to get to his. Wonder if he'll notice if I send a few extra students in? Tonight we are in Alexandria, Louisiana for the Whole Brain Teaching National Convention and training. We are both so pumped about adding WBT to our classrooms. Tomorrow we'll have lots more to tell you about WBT!
