Monday, July 23, 2012

Alabama Kindergarten Conference

After my beautiful vacation in Gulf Shores, AL, I drove approximately 6 hours up the state to Huntsville for the Alabama Kindergarten Conference.

On Friday, I got to spend the day learning with Dr. Jean Feldman!!! She's my hero. She even took the time to pose for a photo with me. Normally, I'm not the type of person to go up and ask for a photo, but she made a standing offer to the group and decided to take her up on it! We also danced with paper plates too. That was fun, and I'll definitely be using that in my class...and maybe some straws too!



Then, on Saturday, I got to meet some other teachers who gave me a lot of ideas to use in my classroom.

The keynote speaker was Steven Layne. Honestly, I didn't think that I'd like him when I first walked into the conference, but he blew me away! I loved his humor and his honesty. He has a book out about reading called Igniting a Passion for Reading that I will also be picking up soon. There are too many kids nowadays that just don't enjoy reading, and I want to help curb that distaste!

I took a class from Heidi Butkus of HeidiSongs.com. She gave me some great ideas on how to get my kids up and moving in my classroom.

I took another class from Peggy Campbell-Rush. She taught me all about the brain and made me want to research it even more, which is good because it's been on my back burner for awhile now. She also has a new book coming out called Get a Grip! all about fostering fine motor development in young children. I will definitely be getting this book!

The last class I took before rushing home for my niece's 2nd birthday party was by Kimberly Jordano. She has some great journaling ideas that I can't wait to implement into my classroom this fall!

I would have to say that Dr. Jean and Peggy were my two favorite speakers of the weekend. I'm so glad I went, and I hope you have broadened your teaching spectrum this summer with some professional development this summer too!

{I'm going into my classroom today for the first time all summer to start putting it together. Wish me luck!}

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