Author: Janis Sexton

Retired elementary public school teacher; all thirty-eight years in Florida... Now spending my time advocating for our children, and their right to strong public school education...With an appreciation for the arts, and the magic in each day✨...
Posted in Reflections

“Fall” into Our Classroom…

Posted on by Janis Sexton

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“Fall” is the season the magic begins…The learning has begun…

My first graders are becoming independent and showing signs of their confidence…
In the challenging times of over testing…And the many demands we teachers face today, I strive to utilize my dramatic delivery in creating the facilitation of this exciting process…
We just enjoyed our first field trip to a local farm seeing the “beauty in nature of this season” and to pick our very own pumpkin…Now we have our school’s “Fall Festival” to look forward to!

What makes all this so special, teaching many children who come from challenging lives…I do feel I am making that difference…even though…I am “oh sooo”… exhausted!

Posted in Mission, Reflections

First Week…Back to School…

Posted on by Janis Sexton

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I have always enjoyed the Friday before the beginning of the school year to meet my new students and their parents…I rely on just that brief meeting to begin making an assessment, when parent and child come in to meet me…
One important piece of pertinent information gained from this meeting is that I can begin to assess those children that may be outgoing or those that may be quite reserved….

The first week of school is the crucial time when I focus on establishing… “Our Relationship”, one that lets my children know I will love them unconditionally; providing a classroom for structure to inspire learning, and moreover, feel safe to accept and appreciate our differences…No matter what is presented…The foundation for a successful year ahead…

Posted in Mission

Ready or Not…

Posted on by Janis Sexton

My Classroom is ready for learning….Hopefully when my new first graders arrive Monday, August 18th…Our class will provide them a place to feel safe and learn to appreciate their love of learning…

This will be my final year…I will be retiring…

Back in 1972 when I first began, there was such hope and idealism…We just survived civil unrest…We just  integrated our schools; hopefully providing all our children a strong education with such wonderful programs such as: Head Start and Parenting Programs …We teachers were ready to teach and inspire all our children!

And now, sadly as I embark on retirement, I so very feel we have lost what is truly important..Inspiring and teaching all our children…
However, I am still hopeful that we will not let this continue, allowing powerful businesses taking control of our public schools…

We will find our way back to what is essentially  Important…
Teaching all of our children! wpid-20140806_141403.jpgwpid-20140806_141112.jpg
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Continue reading “Ready or Not…” →

Posted in Reflections, Thoughts About Children

Begin Again…

Posted on by Janis Sexton

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Summer will soon be over for me, as I always like to start back early to set up my classroom…

Starting back earlier than the required time, gives me the much needed time to plan, organize, and utilize my creativity hoping to make it a “great year”…

I have found through my many years of experience;

Setting up a well organized classroom is fundamentally crucial to the success of the beginning of a new school year…

Supplies are essential, and I do hope my new students will be able to contribute…However, because our school has such a diverse population, I do realize, and understand many will not be able to help…We teachers do receive a small  budget, so in order to provide for our children, we do have to pay for much of our supplies out of our own pocket…

I can always hope after the many years of teaching, we would have the necessary funding and support for our precious children and our public education system…

I do love utilizing my creativity in decorating the classroom…I do believe a classroom, especially with young children, should be warm and inviting…one that will inspire
learning…

My hope is to have such a classroom, even with all the rigors and demands…My children will want to learn, and want to return each and every day!

Summer… Time for reflection…

This 2013-2014 school year is over…With each year, the summer gives me that chance to reflect…

My first thought, this year especially, is acknowledging how exhausted I am; All the extra demands of testing and keeping up the pace of a more challenging curriculum…While striving to keep the children motivated and engaged…

I do also worry how my children spend their summer’s free time…

Throughout the school year I spent my teaching time encouraging them the “love of reading”; encouraging parents to take their child to the public library…And now with this extra time, I so do hope my parents “if” they have the time in their challenging lives… to take their child to the public library… to become the owner of their personal library card, that will open up their “World” to all the joys of the Public Library; SummerPrograms..Movies…Reading Books…And free Computer time!

I will most definitely worry about my children; and how regularly they will eat…So many of them come from such chaos, and our classroom providing them that safety net.. At school they would have their breakfast, lunch, and many snacks that I would routinely provide…

Most of all, I too will be able to come back to school in August ready and recharged to be the best I can be… even with all its demands and rigors…Our children deserve no less…

Summer…A Time…to Reflect…

Quote• Posted on by Janis Sexton
Posted in Reflections

Final Stretch…

Posted on by Janis Sexton

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We are now nearing the end of our 2014 year… This is an extremely busy time… Lots to finish up with the children; testing, meetings,cleaning up and record keeping; and all of this, of course, while keeping the children engaged…

We enjoy taking field trips, especially the end of the year field trip to a park; where we celebrate our year with parents and family with a cookout…. Thanking them for supporting our program…..

I am always utilizing my creativity and still find ways to keep teaching until the end, hopefully my children will have the foundation to be ready for second grade…. I will miss them and of course, worry….For them the summer is a long time….

Posted in Reflections

Spring Break…2014

Posted on by Janis Sexton

A week to rest and recharge…  My Children need that time for a break too!

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I do have concerns with many of my children… They have a week off to be in very unstructured lives… Many do  not eat well, nor sleep well…  I do try to instill and empower them with the desire to make safe choices, I try to provide reading and math work to do over this break….But of course they are little ones, and I do worry…

We love the month of February…We have so much to look forward to besides the stressors and rigors of curriculum and testing....

With my planning and organization, I do find creative ways to allow time for celebrating Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day through creative writing, reading ,and art… Might even utilize math activities, as well...

The children wrote a Valentine’s Day poem to their family, with illustrations; decorated Valentine’s bags, and brought in cards for their classmates that were to be done by themselves….We had a Valentine Social sharing our love and exchanging Valentines….

The children loved learning about our Presidents; George Washington and Abraham Lincoln…We learned about the history of our Flag….

We will celebrate this patriotic unit with a culminating activity for our parents; a patriotic program that will include songs that we learned in our music class….All our first graders will share in this exciting performance, and our wonderful music teacher directing…

Teaching should really be about making learning fun and interesting…. It really is so much more than tests and collecting data….

(more…)

February… a Busy Month…

Posted in Reflections

Celebrate…100 days!…

Posted on by Janis Sexton

Monday, February 3rd  will be our “100 days”  of the school year celebration… This is a milestone for us… On this special occasion, learning activities, especially in math will    commemorate this special milestone…

” What can we count using the magical number”100″?

“If you were given $100.00, how would you spend the money?”

At this time, first graders are realizing they can do  more learning becoming active in their learning; listening and following teacher directions; becoming more independent…I can read!

Now, we  are more than half way on the path to becoming a second grader!

Continue reading “Celebrate…100 days!…” →