Join us! Wednesday, 10/24/07 - Making Fluency Fun

Teaching reading is joyful work. Learning, even these days, can be fun! At TeacherSPACE, we believe that students of all ages learn best when they are able to join in as makers of knowledge. This workshop focuses on Reader's Theater and making story boxes and even simple costumes for different stories. While we will focus on plays of favorite children's stories (Bony Legs, Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock, Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain and others), teachers of middle school and high school students might see this as a perfect service learning opportunity for your older students, and a great way to reinforce leadership skills! Excellent workshop for teachers and parents of English Language Learners and students who receive Learning Support, really-- for every child. Join your colleagues for a FREE afternoon workshop at TeacherSPACE and receive Act 48 credits on Wednesday, October 24 from 4:00-7:00.

RSVP to ptlcteacherspace@yahoo.com if you will attend. Space is limited, so feel free to tell a friend (teacher, parent, even grandparent) but make sure to reserve your spot!!

10/4 Guided Reading Meeting

The PTLC Guided Reading meeting yesterday was inspiring, fascinating and incredibly interesting. Joyce Kemmler, a long-time PTLC member, spoke about her experiences teaching emerging and struggling readers, traveling to New Zealand to learn about Reading Recovery and Guided Reading strategies, and common questions and problems teachers come across when teaching guided reading. Afterwards, Christina Puntel facilated a whole group discussion which was part question-and-answer and part idea/experience sharing. Finally attendees were able to peruse some of the book sets selected by Joyce and Betsy Wice which are PTLC favorites and available to borrow at TeacherSPACE. Big thanks to all who attended and helped to organize the meeting! Below are some pictures of the event, and the most recent changes to the space.

Fall Into Wednesdays With TeacherSPACE

This Fall, TeacherSPACE will open on Wednesdays from 4:00 until 8:00 in the evening. We will meet informally on Wednesdays to talk about teaching and community, get ideas for projects, help organize the curriculum library, and just spend some time browsing the library of resources at TeacherSPACE.

Mark your calendars! Starting Wednesday, September 26th and ending on Wednesday, December 12th we invite you to stop by and bring a friend or two. (Reminder: We will not open the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.)

Look for a brochure with special discussions and Saturday workshops soon. In the meantime, squirrel away a few Wednesdays to enjoy the company of other teachers, parents, and school folk. We'll be there when you knock and so will the monarchs, if you stop by before they leave for Mexico...

(See the side bar for more information about where we are located, directions, etc.)

Back to School Workshop at TeacherSPACE

We invite you to experience TeacherSPACE

on Thursday, August 30, 2007 from 4:00-7:00.

As you prepare your classroom for the new school year...

-share ideas with colleagues from across the city

-join in a make and take session centered around community building activities

-peruse the lending library of cross curricular resources

We don’t even think about this as a workshop… It’s an inspirationshop!

Email ptlcteacherspace@yahoo.com for more information. Invite a friend.

Action Report from TeacherSPACE !

The hundreds of science, math, social studies, art, music, literature, and professional books have been put on their shelves.
The math manipulatives, science materials, audio-visual equipment, and class project displays have been organized and set up. We have a huge meeting-space area, cozy couches, and coffee pots galore --
In sum - WE'RE PSYCHED!
Thanks to everyone who came out today to set things up, brainstorm and work their tails off on making such a nice cozy space. The next few meetings will entail doing some minor sorting of books and supplies, and some long range action planning. We look forward to seeing anyone who can make it -- Oh, and when you come, you can also PERUSE or BORROW some teaching materials!

Thanks again to all who donated supplies and/or came out to help set up!
Kira

PS. Pictures will be coming soon!

WOOOHOO!!

Great news! We have been awarded a Sparkplug Foundation grant (see www.sparkplugfoundation.org) for TeacherSPACE!!! With the funds, we can host several workshops over the year, as well as push forward on cataloging our projects and ideas into a working curriculum resource library. We are looking forward to the great programming and resources we will be able to share with each other.

Also, we've made a schedule of days that TeacherSPACE will be open over the summer for various activities. Below is a detailed version of the schedule. A summary of the open dates is also on the side bar.

Drop off/Set up dates (when people can come by with donations, help catalog things and set up the space)
June 28th 9-11am –Christina hosts.
July 19th 4-7pm – Betsy hosts

Grant Planning meetings & Drop off/Set up: (plan for grants and set up the space)
July 26th , Time 9am-12pm– Hosts: Betsy, Lynne
August 2nd, Time 9am-12pm – Hosts: Kira, Joanne

Make & Take/ Communal Planning - Plan for classroom set-up, get/share ideas
August 30th, 4-7pm – Christina Hosts

And coming in the future....
Fall Open-Houses: Wednesday evenings, 4-8pm starting Sept. 5th.
Each time will have a “theme” i.e. art teachers, science etc, but will be open to all who want to visit, schmooze, and collaborate/talk with other teachers.
We’ll also have PTLC meetings there about once a month or so.

Next Planning Meeting Date

We will meet at Helen Lamont's apartment on Thursday, June 21st from 10:30 until 12:00 to finalize "open house" days (days when you can come to hang out/ work on things together), grant planning meetings, and other activites occuring over the summer and early fall. We will also go into more detail on current grantwritng plans. If you need Helen's address, please email ptlcteacherspace@yahoo.com . If you'd like to be there, but can't make it, please also email us, and we'll send you a copy of the meeting notes.

Hope to see you there!