Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being a teacher, but I might love having two weeks off for Christmas just as much! We got out yesterday and we do not go back until January 7th! I am glad that Christmas happens near the start of our break because that is always such a busy time.
I thought in order to have a productive break I would make myself a little to-do list of things that I would like to get accomplished. Hopefully between this list and your wonderful people I will hold myself accountable for everything on it. :)
One. Revamp my Lanugage Arts block by adding more reading and writing workshop strategies into my lesson plans. I did a really good job with this last year because I had two hours, but with only 55 minutes with each class this school year it has been difficult.
Two. Organize the book room and all of the newly acquired guided reading books that I got with my grant money earlier in the month. This is also something that I want to incorporate more into my classes, but I am just not sure how. I think I will do this more in the form of a book club, but I am not 100% sure yet. How do you do this in your classroom?
Three. I want to read at least three books. I finished book one tonight. I started it during Thanksgiving, but I finally finished Matched. I really liked it. I am glad that it is a trilogy, so I will be reading the rest of the series.
Four. Tackle my file cabinet at school. It needs to be organized and I have almost gotten rid of all the older materials that are not pertinent to my class that had been left by previous teachers.
Here is to hoping I can get it all accomplished!!!
Also, be on the lookout for my 1000 followers giveaway! I am only 10 people away from it going live!
I got Reached, the third part of the trilogy, for my birthday at the beginning of the month. It's been so long since I read the other two, I'm having a hard time getting into it but hopefully it will pick up quickly. I really liked the first two.
ReplyDeleteI use my guided reading books in my Daily 5 groups. I leveled them according to our district placement test data. We use the Fountas and Pinnell books, and most of my ELL students are between J and M right now. Our district tests our students three times a year, so I'll reevalutate formally after the next test, but I am continually assessing the leveling within the groups.
ReplyDeleteWow...we aren't allowed in our schools over any breaks. In some ways I am glad for this, but I'd love a day to just file everything I haven't had time to do!
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking for another good book to read, try Out of My Mind. It's about a girl with cerebral palsy and how other students respond to her. Very powerful! Another one like that is Wonder. I've done Out of My Mind as a read-aloud for two years now, and kids have loved it.
ReplyDeleteMy Reading periods are 65 minutes long, and in one of my cores, I only get 40 minutes of teaching/reading time. But I run book groups two days a week for about 15-20 minutes where we work on strategies in small groups. I need to do that, because I believe so strongly that kids need to fall in love with authentic literature, not just the short segments in our anthology.
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ReplyDeleteok, I'll try it again without any spelling errors...or as I tell my students-typing mistakes.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas
I don't go back until Jan. 7th also, and we received an early break because of a snow day.
My main goal during this break is to work on my reading curriculum--fun!
Enjoy your days off.
Pat
Now you're 9 away from 1,000 followers. I'm your newest follower. Good luck on your goals! I need to do a lot more more reading-both school and personal goals! Jacqui@?Resource Room Rules
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