As I approach the end of my first year as a toddler teacher I have begun to realize how much I owe to my toddlers. Every day I seem to come up with a new solution for a problem I'm having or spend countless hours conversing with coworkers and scouring the internet for solutions. Pinterest has become my best friend when creating lesson plans (seriously, you should see how many boards I have related to toddler art, activities, resources, bulletin boards, etc). However, what I have come to notice in my endless hours of pinterest each weekend (ask my husband how easily I get sucked in) is that all the great ideas/blogs I find seem to come from stay at home moms. Don't get me wrong, they have some spectacular ideas. But I spend a lot of my time trying to decide if this activity done with 1-2 toddlers is going to work in a classroom of 10-12 toddlers and also if I have the same resources available to me at work. I work for a nonprofit "learning center" so whatever isn't available (of the very little we have there) comes out of my own pocket. Trial and error has become a new protocol in the classroom. Some things I have determined should never ever be done with a group that large or cost way too much money for me to do again (no more buying and coloring 9 pounds of rice). Others are a major hit that I want to do every single day! The only problem is, through all the insanity I have trouble keeping track of what works, what doesn't and what I want to try next. I surround myself with lists that help me organize my brain temporarily. But then the list ends up in a basket beside my bed with the countless toys that find their way into my pocket and enjoy the drive home with me every day. List: gone. Never to be seen again.
Hence, this blog. Inspired by Insanity: Life in the toddler department. A place for me to organize my thoughts, post pictures of results, and make lists of what needs to be done/what should be tried. Maybe I will even throw in a hilarious and/or endearing toddler moment every once in a while.And maybe in the process of this creative chaos I can help another toddler teacher out there somewhere with their struggles. I may not have a lot of experience behind me working with toddlers but I like to think I have some great ideas to contribute. In the meantime, any suggestions/comments (only helpful, please!) in response to future postings are highly welcome.
So for today, no ingenious ideas or adorable toddler artwork to share. I have fish to cut out, fishing poles to be made, things to laminate and in-laws to prepare for (fish/fishing pole are not for the in-laws...although, who knows, maybe they could be my next test subjects). All you get today is an introduction. As I tell my toddlers, you'll be okay. Just breath and get over it. More will come soon. Hopefully in the next couple of days here. Lots of great ideas to share as long as the insanity doesn't get me first.
Speaking of insanity, they finally fixed the roof in my classroom! There is a giant crack where the wall meets the ceiling. It looks as though they tried to prepare it at one point with dry wall tape. Whenever the wind blows, which has been quite often lately seeing as it is storm season, the wind gets trapped in between the ceiling and the dry wall tape and vibrates at a ridiculously loud volume. For the past, oh, 3 months of so this has been going on. And it always seems to start at nap time and continue on for the rest of the day. So as my kids are yelling over top of this absurdly loud noise (we have high ceilings making everything echo and sound three times as loud) my boss walks in and says, "you should play some music over top of it to try to cover the noise." Sometimes I wonder if people think about what they are saying before it comes out of their mouth.....Anyways, noise fixed! Maybe the insanity will recede a little bit this week....
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