Teaching again :)

[zippy_do46]

:)I have started co-teaching with my daughter in a CTR 4 class. I teach every other week because I was staying home with a sick mother-n-law. If for some reason I had to stay home more then my daughter would take over. It has been working great. So on the Sundays I do not teach I still study for CTR and if they need a sub in any of the other class I help them out. I prepare the lesson and weave in things for the different age groups. It is a challenge but I enjoy working with the Primary again.

Edited February 25, 2013 by zippy_do46

[Roseslipper]

Im sure u will be a great teacher zippy......congradulations on ur calling

[zippy_do46]

Last night I was preparing my lesson for my class. I love how the Church has increased the resources we can use on the Church site for our classes. A couple of weeks ago I had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. It called for pictures of different kinds of foods. I was able to go to the Church site and get pictures for this lesson. I teach the four year olds. The clip art that I find on the Church site has helped me send home coloring pages with my “little ones”. The manual that I use must be used to teach several classes. Sometimes the use of these resources helps me make it simple for my “little ones”. We have been truly blessed with this Church Resource. If I could add anything it would be more economical line drawings. If there is any color on the clip art and I go black and white then these drawing use more ink. The same problem happens if I copy a coloring page and take to Church and make copies. I love the Nursery Manuel for this reason.

If you could add something to the Church resources what would it be?

[lagarthaaz]

I teach the 6/7 year olds from the CTRB manual. Not sure if I'd be violating any rules here by posting a link (so I won't), but I use the Sugardoodle website a fair bit. They have a link to the church website for each week's lessons plus lots of simple but effective lesson helps. I'm so grateful that there are so many creative people out there as unfortunately I'm not one of them.

There are also lots of links to black and white colouring pages and activities on people's blogs on the site I just mentioned.

All the best in your calling :)

Edited May 14, 2013 by lagarthaaz
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[pam]

I don't have a problem with you posting a link to Sugardoodle. They have great resources for teaching.

[zippy_do46]

Yes, I have use them and others sites for years. :) They are great!

Lagarthaaz, thanks for sharing. Good resources have been hard to get down through the years. :) Old as Dirt I am ! I can remember, The Friend, and the Manual was all we had to teach. These sites made a difference for a lot of good teachers looking for help and just did not know where to start.

I am so glad that the Church has seen that need and have increased our resources for teaching also.

You have a very interesting age group. :) How is your time running in your Class?

[zippy_do46]

I remember posting to a site and talking about some lesson helps. I was teaching in the Nursery. I mentioned using glue sticks. :) One of the sisters on this site e-mailed me and asked me what a glue stick was. She was from South America. I begin to think then how very blessed we are as teachers. There are so many teachers around the world today that are doing the lessons that we do with only the manuals and a few pictures. I think being a Primary teacher is one the greatest callings to have in the Church. Can you imagine what a challenge it must be for the Church to keep down expenses and providing for world wide instruction of our youth in the Church.

Teaching has brought me peace through the years. I know my Heavenly Father has blessed me through my efforts. Sometimes when I want to make something complicated. I remember lessons taught in Primary and I make it simple. This has helped me through many things.

[lagarthaaz]

I don't have a problem with you posting a link to Sugardoodle. They have great resources for teaching.

Great! I LOOVE Sugardoodle.

[lagarthaaz]

A couple of weeks ago I had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. It called for pictures of different kinds of foods. I was able to go to the Church site and get pictures for this lesson. I teach the four year olds. The clip art that I find on the Church site has helped me send home coloring pages with my “little ones”. ..If I could add anything it would be more economical line drawings. If there is any color on the clip art and I go black and white then these drawing use more ink.

If you could add something to the Church resources what would it be?

I had to teach a similar lesson a few weeks ago - I used plastic play food from home plus printed copies of things against the WoW. Each child was given several items and we all took turns playing a game where they got to throw their items into a play shopping cart labelled with a smiley face or a wastebasket with a sad face on it. Then I used a great mix-n-match colouring activity from Sugardoodle while we read some extracts from D&C 89. I got the plastic food idea from my ten year old and the rest from Sugardoodle...I'd be be lost without other people's inspiration.

A favourite of mine is the 'pop-up' crafts...who would have thought you could do so much with colouring pencils, a disposable plastic cup and straw or string :) This Easter activity on 'Jesus Ascending' is way too adorable...We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice In Christ: Jesus Christ Ascending Craft (the link comes from sugardoodle...if that's ok here?)

And this one on the First Vision..

Pop Up Craft

[lagarthaaz]

You have a very interesting age group. :) How is your time running in your Class?

Oh yes, it is interesting, and not just because of the age :) They are very cute, although I do have the most challenging group in the primary. Out of ten children in the class I have two foster children, one of whom is intellectually impaired, three with autism, two with ADHD and sometimes serious behavioural issues (one of whom takes great delight in tearing, screwing up and throwing on the floor any activity or handout I give him), and the minority who come in and try very hard to be 'good' when things are sometimes chaotic. I also have a beautiful little boy who gets a ride to church every Sunday with his teenage sister, as their parents are very much less-active and haven't been to church for years. Those kids are an inspiration.

How big is your class? I absolutely love the 4 and 5 year olds... and often sit behind them in Sharing Time enviously coveting their teacher's class

[lagarthaaz]

There are so many teachers around the world today that are doing the lessons that we do with only the manuals and a few pictures. I think being a Primary teacher is one the greatest callings to have in the Church. Can you imagine what a challenge it must be for the Church to keep down expenses and providing for world wide instruction of our youth in the Church.

Yes, we are indeed fortunate that we have access to the resources we do.

A few years ago our mission president's wife recognized the issue you mention and collected pictures, posters, flannel-boards, storybooks and and so on, from branches and wards in the mission. We may not use flannel-boards much anymore (if ever), but as you noted, there are primary teachers in some parts of the world who would love them. The MP's wife took all of the donations, along with pre-loved toys and clothing with her to the saints in Papua New Guinea when she and her husband next visited there. It was a wonderful gesture and the PNG members and primary teachers were extremely grateful for the assistance.

[zippy_do46]

Wow, My class size is 4-6. Sometimes in a pinch they add some if a teacher does not show. I prepare for 10 though. When it is my daughter's turn to teach I prepare a lesson anyway. If they need another teacher for another class, I can just step in to teach. We have four classes teaching from the same manual. Makes it easy to sub in the other classes that way. The 4-5 year old class is great. They make me laugh. I usually have more boys then girls. They like anything that moves as far a activities. My little girls are very active. Outside of class one of them never says anything. I had her in my Nursery class and she remembers me so she talks all the time to me. :) Her mother is amazed.

Lagarthaaz, do you have a helper in your class. With so many "special needs" in your class room it certainly could not hurt. Sometimes to have that person there to distract, refocus, or remove until they can control themselves can help you. You might have to go to your PP and ask for help. Sounds to me like 2 someones need to be called. This will be a class of some concern all the way through Primary. You are a good person as well as a good teacher. Not many would take on your class. My prayers are with you.

Edited May 15, 2013 by zippy_do46
left something out

[lagarthaaz]

What a dream - 4-6 kids to teach - I'd take that! Great idea for a few classes to be learning from the same manual too. Sounds like you are having great success with your class :) I also love how you are rotating with your daughter - sounds like the best of both worlds :)

With my special needs kids I do need help as it's a long two hours some weeks trying to keep them quiet in sharing time, participating in singing time and then keeping them occupied and interested during class time. Occasionally a member of the PP come in to 'check' how things are going, but no-one ever stays long enough to actually help as they normally have to run back out for senior sharing time. Also, having another adult gets really crowded as we are in a room the size of a matchbox - and we can't be moved because at different points there are three wards using all the rooms, and I mean ALL the rooms! Some of the children I have really do need one on one attention. I did ask last week if the PP could look at splitting the class into two, as I feel that some of the more challenging boys would do better perhaps with a male teacher who doesn't mind just taking them outside to run around instead of keeping them inside. They really seem to struggle with the three hours of church on Sunday. Even things like bathroom trips are problematic, as if I take them all to the bathroom between Sharing Time and class time, the boys go into the male bathroom and shout because they like the echo sound... That bathroom is at the back of the RS room, so sometimes some of the foster mothers will come out and chastise their children for making so much noise. Then we go back into class and it all starts over again. I can't take them to the other bathroom because it's near the chapel where another ward is having sacrament meeting and I don't want to the noise to disrupt.

Most weeks I manage to keep the majority of them occupied and happy. I do feel for the well-behaved children in the class who continually tell the others to be reverent or pay attention, because they are really enjoying the activities and lesson I've organised.

We have a large ward, but the PP tell me they are finding it hard to call teachers to Primary because people wont' get their 'blue card' (police check for working with children). We aren't supposed to have anyone in Primary who doesn't have a 'blue card' - which is a necessary precaution but really makes it hard to get teachers. The 'blue card' can take months to be processed, so even if someone is called to be a Primary teacher and accepts, it could be some time before we ever actually see them in Primary.

Meanwhile, I'm praying that some patient and kind soul will accept a call and take about half of my class

Edited May 16, 2013 by lagarthaaz

[zippy_do46]

My daughter and I traded out because my mother-n-law has Alzheimer's disease. My hubby and I traded out Sundays so one of us could go to Church and church activities. She could not be left alone. We had to put her in a Nursing Home last October. This teaching arrangement might change if the need changes in Primary changes. Right now we are blessed with enough teachers. :)

Interesting about the "blue card" for working with children. We have nothing like that here. So callings can come pretty quick if people accept the calling.

:) I will say a prayer, too. I repeat, Wow :) I do know what you mean about room size. I had 16 "little ones" and 2 adults in the Nursery class that was way to small for that many kids. We had to set things out of the class to have any play activities. You know I remember when we had about 5 children who had "special needs" in our Primary. One was a darling little girl. She could not see and had some other health problems also. She had a special carrier for her to set in. They would bring her in Sharing Time and set her down. When the music started up and the children would start singing her whole body would take on a special glow. She loved the music so much. She would smile from ear to ear. We never know do we. Sometimes they can not tell us. Each of our children in Primary are special. Sometimes those needs do not show. I have always prayed for my children by name. If I can not reach them I pray that the Spirit can.

Hang in there lagarthaaz. I know it is hard but we are promised it will be worth it.

[lagarthaaz]

Hi Zippy - how is your class going?

Thanks for the prayer, I think it worked :) Over the past couple of weeks things have taken a turn in our primary (again!). The teacher of the 4-5 year olds is pregnant and has terrible morning sickness and only wants to be on assignment to substitute teach in Primary, so the PP has asked me to take on that class. I took those adorable little ones on Sunday for a class and it was divine - they were so sweet! Meanwhile two priesthood holders have been called to take on my previous class of 6-7 year olds and I could hear the kids going crazy through the walls of our adjoining class. Both men came out looking a bit shell-shocked at the end of the lesson, poor loves

Thanks for sharing that experience with the little girl with special needs in your primary - all children love to hear each other sing. Primary children singing is beautiful, our PP cries almost every week in singing time because she's so moved by the children's singing.

Sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. I know how hard that can be as we had to put my grandmother in an assisted living facility in the last years of her life because she eventually became a danger to herself. It was a hard decision and she was quite angry about it in her lucid moments, threatening to catch a bus to the city she grew up in and live there on her own - she was a feisty one :). I had a special experience with her just before she passed away - the doctors told us she didn't have much longer so I sat by her bed and talked to her while she was in what I thought was a coma. She opened her eyes suddenly, looked straight at me, called me by name and told me she loved me with a smile on her face, then went back to sleep. For years she hadn't recognised me because she only ever remembered me as a little girl, not as a grown woman. I will carry that special moment with me forever.