Dude.
September is over.
How did that even happen?!?
What a busyoverwhelmingfunfantasticamazingexhausting month it's been.
So, I do still have a classroom tour coming up. Like I've said before, I don't like to share my room until it's been "lived in" for a bit. If I share before school starts, it looks too Pinterest-perfect and that is just not the reality! So stay tuned for that because it's coming!!
This school year has been pretty amazing so far. The kids have been awesome. My schedule is too die for. And I couldn't be happier with the folks I am working with.
Lemme share a little about what's been going on...
So, first, I already made changes to my ELA in 50 Minutes a Day schedule!! Ha!! Who didn't see that one coming?
I had mentioned that my original schedule was inspired by Gallagher and Kittle's 180 Days. Well, several of the ELA teachers in my building have decided to use the suggestions in that book for our PLC this year. So, I modified my schedule to fit their recommendations a bit better.
No doubt, this schedule is jam-packed and FAST. But, I am amazed at how well the kids are doing with it. I've always known that 20 minutes is really about the max of their attention span, but I've never been able to make MYSELF adjust to that. This year, I'm not giving myself a choice. We move fast and furious. We make the absolute most out of our chunks of time. There isn't a second of down time and no one seems to be bored or off-task. Granted, it's still September, but I'm happy with this so far. I do foresee myself being exhausted by December, but oh well! My stamina will build, I'm sure of it.
This past week is really the first week we've been diving into the curriculum. The first two weeks were really all about establishing routines, learning procedures, and getting to know each other.
Much of this time was spent establishing our reader's workshop. This is the single most important routine we have, so it needs a lot of attention. I did tons of book talks, shared lots of first chapters, conferred with each kid several times, and taught several mini-lessons.
If you want to hear more about making reader's workshop a part of reading instruction, I have a video you can watch here.
We also talked quite a bit about academic vocabulary. If you've followed me for a while, then you know that I'm pretty passionate about this.
You can read more about how and why I teach academic vocabulary and check out the resources that I use with the following links:
September is over.
How did that even happen?!?
What a busyoverwhelmingfunfantasticamazingexhausting month it's been.
So, I do still have a classroom tour coming up. Like I've said before, I don't like to share my room until it's been "lived in" for a bit. If I share before school starts, it looks too Pinterest-perfect and that is just not the reality! So stay tuned for that because it's coming!!
This school year has been pretty amazing so far. The kids have been awesome. My schedule is too die for. And I couldn't be happier with the folks I am working with.
Lemme share a little about what's been going on...
So, first, I already made changes to my ELA in 50 Minutes a Day schedule!! Ha!! Who didn't see that one coming?
I had mentioned that my original schedule was inspired by Gallagher and Kittle's 180 Days. Well, several of the ELA teachers in my building have decided to use the suggestions in that book for our PLC this year. So, I modified my schedule to fit their recommendations a bit better.
No doubt, this schedule is jam-packed and FAST. But, I am amazed at how well the kids are doing with it. I've always known that 20 minutes is really about the max of their attention span, but I've never been able to make MYSELF adjust to that. This year, I'm not giving myself a choice. We move fast and furious. We make the absolute most out of our chunks of time. There isn't a second of down time and no one seems to be bored or off-task. Granted, it's still September, but I'm happy with this so far. I do foresee myself being exhausted by December, but oh well! My stamina will build, I'm sure of it.
This past week is really the first week we've been diving into the curriculum. The first two weeks were really all about establishing routines, learning procedures, and getting to know each other.
Much of this time was spent establishing our reader's workshop. This is the single most important routine we have, so it needs a lot of attention. I did tons of book talks, shared lots of first chapters, conferred with each kid several times, and taught several mini-lessons.
If you want to hear more about making reader's workshop a part of reading instruction, I have a video you can watch here.
We also talked quite a bit about academic vocabulary. If you've followed me for a while, then you know that I'm pretty passionate about this.
You can read more about how and why I teach academic vocabulary and check out the resources that I use with the following links:
- Academic Vocabulary: The What, The Why, and The How.
- Academic Vocabulary Posters
- Academic Vocabulary Teaching Resources
So... that was basically September in a nutshell!! I have this crazy idea that I want to post each week with my lesson plans to give you all a real "feel" for what's happening in my room, but I'm not sure that I can keep up with that! I have to think a bit more on this one to see if I can make it work.
Stay tuned because I will definitely be posting a classroom tour in the next week or two! And even if I don't wind up posting weekly, I still have a lot of great stuff planned for this year, so I hope you stick around.
How was your September? I'm eager to hear!! Comment below or check me out over on Facebook or Instagram.
Post a Comment