Back to school and getting started

Hello Early Childhood Land,

It's back to school time and that re-ignites a certain spark in all of us.  This year I decided that I'd like to start a blog to keep myself accountable for trying some new things in my classroom.  To let you know a little about me my name is Kara Steffen and I've been an Early Childhood Teacher (teaching both general and special education) for 13 years.  I currently teach in a full-day preschool program serving three, four, and five year-olds that operates four days each week.  I love teaching in this setting especially since I'm encouraged to continue growing and to keep adding to my teacher tool kit.  What I'm most interested in learning about this year are ideas from the Montessori and Reggio Emilia approaches.  I have very little knowledge about both but did student teach in a school that utilized ideas from Reggio Emilia and my children attended a Montessori Preschool as three year-olds.  I hope to learn from anyone who comes across this blog and has new ideas and knowledge to share!