Things I Will Definitely Change and SALE!

Kim over at Finding Joy in 6th Grade is hosting her very first linky all about what we want to change for next year.  I know I consider myself flexible with rolling with the punches.  So here are some of the things I want to work for next year.     

The back and sides of my room are pretty well covered.  I DO NOT like my walls.  Love the classroom, despise the walls.... they are peeling and yellow and just gross.  Little by little I have added more fabric over the years, now it's basically just the front of the room that I still have left to do.  I found some green twin sheets that I'm going to stick up on either side of the white board.  If it works to stick them up before school gets out, I would love that - if it doesn't then it's one of the first projects when I get back in August.  

I have tried many things over the years - composition books, binders, spiral notebooks - everything has it's own time and place.  I'm looking forward to using lap books with all my units this next year in all subjects.  This summer the plan is to bring home all my teacher editions - Reading, Math, S.S. and Science and plan out the different units to make it work for my future class.  I want to incorporate their vocabulary, main ideas, notes, etc.  It's going to be a big project.

This year I did a lot of flipping in my student notebook with regards to my conferences... next year I want less flipping, so thinking how I can restructure them to make it work better for me.

This past year Daily 5 was not a pleasant experience, I've been hearing though that next year is supposed to be a breath of fresh air.  I'm looking forward to doing more Daily 5/center rotations all year long.  I'm looking forward to implementing Literature Circles.  There is just so much I'm excited about.

Pretty basic.  I signed up for way too much this past year - on so many committees, too many adjuncts.  This next year I want to go back to the basics and hopefully my to do list will be shorter.

Summer I take better care of myself.  I get more sleep, I eat better, I feel better.  I am going to make a conscious effort going into next school year to continue doing my best and remembering ME.

One more thing - I put all my task cards on a big sale through this coming weekend over at TPT.  Basically everything that normally was $3.25 is now $1.50.  I'm all about celebrating the end of the school year  - but I'm also getting ready for next year and thinking other people may also be too.   

Hope you have a great day!  

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Sparking Student Motivation with Theme Moments!

I'm linking up today with Joanne to share something that I'm sure we all do...

Celebrate!  

Going to be honest and say that sometimes the basic curriculum is just so boring... maybe the writers of the textbooks could actually ask a teacher how to spice it up...  

Since I'm bored at times, I'm sure the kids are bored too - which leads to celebrating the different holidays and making everything as fun as much as possible.

You all know that if it's fun most kids will want to do their best (if for no other reason they will lose the opportunity if they misbehave).

Since it's that time of year to reflect what worked and what didn't - here are some of the things we've taken time out to celebrate this year (not including regular curriculum projects):

The Seasons - 

Fall,

  Winter, 

Spring

... and we won't be there in Summer but we are still celebrating...

Holidays:

Thanksgiving, 

Halloween, 

President's Day, 

Chinese New Year,

  Christmas, 

St. Patrick's Day,

Valentines, 

Cinco De Mayo, 

Black History Month, 

Earth Day, 

Easter....

Fun events:

Superbowl, 

Baseball, 

Dr. Seuss' Birthday,

and the 100th Day of School

It really has been a fun year - full of learning - full of patience growing - full of good memories.  :)

Now go link up!

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Friday Reflection

Do you do this?

On Friday afternoons after the kids have left do you just sit and take a moment to reflect about the week?

I was thinking about it this morning as I was having my students do the traditional 3-2-1 in their journals. On Friday mornings they always write 3 things they learned, 2 things they enjoyed, and 1 thing they want to work on for the next week (their goal). This year I'm having them also post their goal up for us all the see. It seems like it's holding them responsible to try and achieve it... Anyhow, I'm digressing.

After school gets done for the day I always seem to be in a rush to make sure everything is ready for the next day and week, but I think I need to remember to also think about what made it a good week.

So why did today end on a good note?

I am starting to feel like I'm making progress with certain kids in the classroom. The ones that learning is difficult for and the ones that have such a hard time focusing - which sometimes leads to behavior issues.

I was able to meet with all my kiddos to choose their reading goals this week. I used the FACE sheet (same type thing as CAFE), and I had my Desert kids choose something in Fluency (since they are my lowest lows), my Mountains chose something in Accuracy, my Valleys chose in Comprehension, and my high Coast chose in Expand Vocabulary. Their assignments for this week was to work on practicing their goal every time they read. Next week I check back in.

The kids also were able to work with parent helpers to start their sight word practice and fluency reading. The sight words are their levels. I also started the paperwork for a bunch of SSTs. I have to know that I did everything in my power to get them all the resources and help they need this school year.

I also now have 3 islands in my classroom. These 3 darling children have shown me over the past 4 weeks that they need their space to focus. Today was so smooth with them having their own areas to work, focus, and not become distracted. Others in class could also focus. It was a win win.

I didn't do it mainly as a behavior thing, though it has helped with behavior too. I told them that I cared about them and I wanted them to do their absolute best work possible. That I had noticed they seem to need a lot of space and I didn't want anyone bothering them when they work. We still do everything together but now they have room to think when it's independent practice time.

I'm sure there is more stuff I will probably think of after I hit publish on the Blogger App. Thanks for listening to me ramble with my reflections. This tends to happen when I'm in my son's dark bedroom, listening to his lullabies, waiting for the moment that he finally drifts off to dreamland, and then not wanting to move because I just want to be near him - I love this time when my own children are still small.

Have a wonderful evening!

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