Gritting My Teeth

I am psyching myself up for the new school year.  I have lost most of my students to the big pond of elementary school and have only two 3 year olds left in my class to start with.  I am pretty sure, though, that my class will fill up pretty quickly.  I can have up to 7 preschoolers with 2 full time para professionals.

Last year I got a new "room mate".  Let's just say it became quite an acrimonious relationship.  My room mate does not really like sharing her room and I was told quite plainly that a typical early childhood special education class (hers) should not have to share with an early childhood special education class for students with multiple disabilities.  Sigh :(..  Granted we do need a lot more space for our class since we have more equipment and children with mobility and sensory issues.  However, some of the concessions I need are in order to make my students safe and give them the opportunity to meet their goals.

By the end of the year, I was so tired of the whole thing :( and my assumption is that I will be back in the same situation next year.  This year, though, I will be asking for more.  I need space for common core vocabulary to be put up where my students always have visual access to it.  This is a new concept for my classroom, but something I am really buying into.  At the end of the year I tried using "common core mats" (just pieces of heavily laminated paper with the words, "more", "my turn", "help" and "done"on them), and saw dramatic results in just 3 weeks with a few of my students.  I want to go bigger and bolder right from the get go this year. 

I don't expect this to go down well.  Wish me luck :).