Planning for Reading and Writing

One book I have always loved is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I feel like this book would make an amazing literary unit because there are so many different things you can do with it. First of all, this is a great book for making predictions. Students can predict what they think the book may be about based on the title or taking a picture walk through the illustrations. Also, this book gives a lot of opportunity for writing. Students could write a letter to Alexander to make suggestions on how to turn his day around, which teaches students empathy and coping skills. Students could also write and illustrate about a bad day they have had. This book could also be tied into math. Students could list of all the things that happened to Alexander or what makes them have a bad day, and then vote and make a graph on which one is the worst. Students can also practice sequencing with this book. I always enjoyed reading this book as a child and think it would be really fun to incorporate it into my classroom one day. The classroom I work in at Fuller Elementary recently went to see the play Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I think that would be a great way to finish out the unit.

Decisions.. Decisions...

It would be par for the course for me to change my mind about what I want to do three years in. My past three years of school I have been 100% sure of my life. Child Development major. K-6 Licensure. Done. Well, several factors have gone into me questioning these decisions. Don't get me wrong, I still love child development and I still want to teach, but I have been toying with the idea of adding on a B-K licensure. After meeting with the Preschool Coordinator of a great school system, I have started to envision myself in a special needs Pre-K classroom. Also, working at the Ellen Brewer House has only solidified my love for the 'little ones.' The period form B-K is extremely important developmentally, and I would love to be a part of this process. Now I must make the difficult decisions regarding which classes to take next year, and to be quite honest, it's stressing me out. The main advice I get is, "Do what your heart tells you." Unfortunately, my heart seems to be telling me two different things.

On a lighter note, I will be studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark for six weeks this summer and I could not be more excited! I am sure this will be such an amazing experience and bring great insights to my classroom.