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Thursday, July 9, 2015

My Resolutions for This School Year

August is like our New Year's holiday. This is when we start over and begin again with a new group of rugrats! It's a time to correct our mistakes from the past and reflect on what we can do better. I have a pretty long list for myself, however, here are a few things I'm working on this year.

1) Daily 5 implementation. My district has decided to implement aspects of this program. We started last year for the first time. My kids got very bored with "Read to Self" and "Read to a Partner"-especially those who were emergent readers. Plus I just didn't have enough books fitting the levels the way our program levels them. About 75% of my kiddos start out in level A. They want us to have at least 4 different titles for each child to read in their book box each week. That means the first week alone I should have had 80 level A books to accomodate this. That did not happen. I even had trouble finding them at the library-I mean Biscuit is like a level E! So I am now trying to shop around at thrift stores and garage sales, hopefully I can fix this.

2) Technology. *sigh* This is always something I am trying to get better at implementing. We have 2 ipads and 3 desktop computers. I always have high hopes of getting the kids blogging and tweeting and try new programs all the time (I'm not one of those who believes technology is just them playing on reading apps). But it takes a lot of work. Many students begin day one not knowing how to work a mouse (they are ipad babies) or type on a keyboard. It might take 20 mins for a student to write on our blog "I lk boks". A lot of one-on-one time sitting down with them, guiding them. But I vow to get better at that.

3) Do more science experiments! The kids love them and I found a lot of easy, cheap ones that we can do on a weekly basis. I have trouble always fitting in what I want to do with our district curriculum (sometimes we do a ramp experiment when we are supposed to be studying plants for the 10th week--shhh~). But the kids love it. I already picked up their comp notebooks at Walmart so we can do Science Journals again. I liked how that worked out this past year, we just didn't use them enough.

I know there are more, but that is going to be my main focus. What are your classroom resolutions this year?



10 comments:

  1. Hi! I've been following your blog for a while now but have'nt commented. I want you to know that I also began implementing Daily 5 last year and, like you, I am working to make improvements. I found that allowing students to choose the books they want to read regardless of ability is really important. Of course, at the beginning of the year most of your students are not reading and that's OK. We talk a lot about reading the pictures and making up your own story based on the pictures. One of my students was passionate about airplanes and wanted to always pick non fiction texts. He would spend the whole time looking at each plane and telling a buddy tons of facts about each one. Was he reading the actual text? Absolutely not! But he was reading. Perhaps if you allow your students to pick books that they are interested in, they may enjoy silent reading more. Just a thought. Have a great summer!

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    1. I'm so glad you commented! :) I appreciate those suggestions and will definitely keep that in mind as we go into the new year. I am a firm believer in choice! Thanks again!

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    2. I use D5 in K but it's more like D3. I am a veteran teacher but one can never have enough books. I attend an annual book sale from Friends of the Library in a college town Gainesville Fl. Go Gators! I spend about $50 on leveled books there and most books are a dime or a quarter. I get hundreds of books and even great literature for $2! Thanks for your blog. I just discovered it this morning.

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    3. Agreed. See most post below. Have a greAt year.

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  2. Great goals. I would suggest a subscription to RAZ-kids online to use on the computers and iPads. Kids start at aa so that would help. I also use KinderCraze sight word books and kindergarten Lifestyle ABC books to supplement. Good luck!

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    1. Thank you Silvia! Will have to check those resources out.

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  3. I hope you're able to track down some inexpensive books for Daily 5. It's hard to pull off without a lot of books. I've been able to get a ton through Scholastic using my bonus points too.

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    1. Yes, that has been a summer project of mine. I wish more of my kiddos ordered books from Scholastic-I end up ordering most of them myself! :)

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  4. Miss Trayers,, I am a year behind in this revolution. Excited to chuck the chart! Tell me about your year. I teach k and this is scary and empowering all at the same time. No daily reports to parents? No jewels? I feel like this will be a huge step in self regulation I read your post on another blog from Maine. I have been reading collaborative classroom material and have used Responsive Classroom stuff a little bit. I would love to hear how it worked in a K classroom. Have a great year. penken2010@yahoo.com

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    1. I did e-mail you! I also teach K-and I understand your nervousness. What I love is there's no more tattling-that urge to get a friend in trouble is gone. I do not send daily reports to parents. I do e-mail pics from class maybe twice a month to touch base with them but I tell them at Open House most behavior we can deal with in the classroom. There are extreme cases of course, where I feel like the parents need to support our classroom expectations, but that is rare and in those cases I will call or send a detailed note home to them. I'm excited that you are thinking about trying it! Good luck to you!

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