Willow is
primary building so we start with Pre-K and
we go all the way through 2nd grade.
[What do we think is going to be main character?]
The first fundamental that we have with kids
when they get here is kind of learning school.
[I spy something...gold!]
My job is to
teach them basically how to be a student.
Teach them their letters and sounds but also how to interact
with others, and how to do those things
they'll need the rest of their schooling.
It might be their first situation when they're in a room
with 20 other kids or where they have an adult
his kind of guiding what they need to do throughout the day.
Your have kids on such a wide spectrum
of how they learn. You need
recognize that and incorporate that into
your teaching.
[We're creating a cubism portrait...]
Kids get a really well-rounded approach. They get art
for an hour a week. They get music for an hour week.
They get computer lab outside the classroom
with a computer teacher for
an hour a week. We take
everything into consideration and know
the importance of not just academics
but we know the importance of all those
other things that make the child a good, well-rounded person.
[Put your finger by the blue words.] There are
some students that are not at
grade level yet and so my
job is to provide that extra practice.
It will help give them that boost they need to be at grade
level as soon as possible.
[Next word is reptile.]
When you're working with this age group, they have got
to move around. When you come into my classroom,
you're going to see the students moving around. You're going to hear noise because
they're helping each other out.
We do a little bit of sitting, a little bit of work
then we get up, we're silly and we do some dances. And we
do those things to keep their brains working and thinking
and focusing. We know how long
their attention spans are. And we know
they need to get up and get their ya-yas
out before they can settle down and get going again.
Kids here have PE 5
days a week. They have to have fun while they're doing it
and we try to make it fun and enjoyable.
[Deep breath in.] I believe
being physically active is very important so they can learn to
incorporated it for the rest of their lives.
We offer a ton of fun things to do here after school.
We give them a lot of different clubs to attend, so we have
Lego Club. We have Garden Club. We have tech
club. I think it gives kids the opportunity
to excel and be a
part of the school community in a form
that's not academic. And it gives
them the opportunity to even learn some new skills
or to take skill they already have and really, really shine with those.
[I let my kids take out...]
Teachers work together. It's not "my" student. It's
"everybody's" student. And if you're going to follow that "everybody's
student," then everybody in the building is on board
to helping them. Everybody is
constantly talking about how to help our
students. They're talking about how to better
our school anyway that we're able to.
Parents are the first teacher
and they're the ones who know their kids best. So
if we're going to learn how to educate their
child the best way, we need to have that partnership with parents.
So they do a parent readng night every year. They gave parents
a chance to come with kids, get a little bit
education on their own, know how to help at home, and then
have a fun evening for everybody.
[You're going to cut just around those lines, too.]
These are the years, I feel, that they're going to remember the most.
These crafts they do, these activities,
these friends they meet here
are going to carry on with them throughout the rest of their life.
They're going to get a quality
education going through District 153. Teachers
care. They're going to do whatever it takes to help the
children succeed.
My job here is for them to like school and
know school as a good place, a happy place, a
fun place, and a safe place.
We just care about everyone. We want
everyone to be successful and will do whatever we can
to make sure that they are successful.
It is a child-centered place.
We work very hard here on creating a community.
When the kids leave and go to the
next step at Churchill, they're well prepared.