Summer School insights...

Sitting here, watching my students in summer school maneuver through lessons and learning how to do coding I am already thinking ahead for the 2017-2018 school year.  I have been fortunate to work with a really good group of kiddos.  For the most part, they want to learn and apply themselves to their learning.  But, there are the times where they waver off task and it gets a little frustrating.

 Summer school in our district only lasts 16 days (M - Th for 4 weeks) it amazes me how easily they get off task when we have worked intently to make the curriculum fun for these few days.  Our administrator, when given the option to select students for summer school,  advised us to select the kiddos which almost tested proficient on the benchmark post-test at the end of the school year.  We could not send the kiddos which these 14 days would not make an impact on their comprehension, students on a behavioral plan, or students who received services.  But, unfortunately, other administrators did not heed these suggestions by the summer school director for our district because I have a couple of students who are WAY BELOW grade level and are completely clueless on comprehending the content expected to get through these few days.  I really feel for these kiddos, like they slipped through the cracks and they are going to continue to struggle and be behind their classmates throughout their educational life.  I work with them as much as I can but, their understanding of the basic math facts is so low that they, unfortunately, will not be close to their peers when school starts.

This leads me to think about my incoming students.  What levels are they going to be at?  How are their reading skills?  Math skills?  Learning motivation?  Which ones need intense behavior

monitoring or who needs a lot of intervention when it comes to the expected content they need to leave the grade knowing?  The curriculum has already been set for us... our district has converted their overall curriculum plan to utilizing the EngageNY ELA & Math.  Alongside the EngageNY Math, I will be implementing the use of Zearn.org, the online element of  EngageNY Math.  A colleague of mine used it in conjunction with teaching the Math lessons and her class had the highest Math scores in the district by the 3rd benchmark test.  I have seen it work, so I want to implement this in my class as well.  Especially since I will be one of the Google Classrooms at my site - which I am extremely excited about.

I am anticipating a great turn out next year and I cannot wait to get with my 2 other teammates and get our calendar and curriculum in order for the next year.  Hopefully, they are as excited and ready to hit the ground running as hard as I am.  The anticipation is really killing me.  I haven't been ready for a school year to start since my first year of teaching...

The Countdown Begins

Well there is only 1 week left until teachers have to report to school, but the overachiever I am I have been working in my classroom since last Monday.  This past week I have been focused on painting my classroom and getting my stored stuff into my classroom to unpack.  Here is what my classroom looks like thus far....

Facing the front of my classroom walking in from the door.

Closer look at the wall color, called Sea Glass, and the desk/office area I created.  This will be so needed due to advising the Student Council this next school year.

This is my personal bulletin board in my desk/office area.  I love the hot pink against the light blue/green wall color.  The black border is sparkly/glittery as well.

So, I have at least 4 more bulletin boards to finish and then get all my resources and beginning of the year activities filed away I believe I will be ready to face my parent on "Meet the Teacher" night.  But, before I can meet my parents I need to finalize my math syllabus and get my welcome letter translated along with my supply list for my students so they can be set for success at the beginning of the school year.

I have to say a humongous THANK YOU!! to my mother.  Because I am switching curriculum this coming year getting resources for Math and Science have been priority one.  Upon looking at the curriculum map for 6th grade Math set by the school district I saw they are incorporating EngageNY's Math Modules.  My wonderful and dear mother took the time to print each of the six modules set by EngageNY - all 3 segments for each module; teacher material, student material, and copy ready material.  All this information was put into 3 5" 3-ring binders, and then each element separated behind a tab for each module.  I am very set when it comes to being able to utilize this amazing resource.  So, again THANK YOU MOM!!!

On a side note I was able to spend the morning alongside my sister and 2 of her daughters as we perused the aisles at Treasures4Teachers.  This company is a non-profit for teachers of all kinds to get supplies they need for the classroom at next to nothing.  It costs $35 to join and then you get a bag & everything you can fit in it only costs you $5.  There is also an area that has supplies like pencils, pens, markers for $0.50 - $1.00 for almost everything in the room.  Not to mention the plethora of free items for the taking.  All the products are donated to the business so that the teachers can get the necessary tools to help guide their students success.  If you want to learn more about this wonderful organization/non-profit check out the link below.

Because I have so much to do & so little time I am off to continue to get my homework completed and get the school year off to a great start.

My Deepest Apologies!!!!

    My wonderful friends, first off I need to ask your forgiveness for my lack of posting over the past school year.  But, as you can tell by the title of my blog I WAS a first year teacher.  I rationally thought I would be able to keep on top of everything and be able to regularly keep you all up to date, but alas I was not.
So, to aprise you of my status thus far.  I did end the school year wonderfully with signing a new contract for the 2014-2015 school year.     There is one great change, I was fortunate to stay on in the 6th grade, but I will be teaching Math & Science next year.  I really enjoyed teaching Language Arts and Social Studies (especially since I am a book hound and I adore teaching about Ancient Civilizations) -- I am ready for the challenge.  So, with my eyes and mouse constantly on Pinterest I think I am beginning to feel that I am ready to meet the task before me.  I also am going to be working with a new teammate.  One of our 4th grade teachers moved up to 6th grade and I am excited.  We have already begun collaborating and getting things planned for the insuing school year.
Along with having to recreate my curriculum from last year I have also been asked to be the advisor for the Student Council.  So, I have to get things ready to help ensure success for our future government leaders and help raise money to better our school community.

    Now on my enourmously growing to do list...

• Paint my classroom (it is 1/3 of the way done - I am painting it a calming and delightful color called "Sea Glass"
• Finish printing the the rest of EngageNY 6th grade Math Modules...our district has recommended them for a resource and has incorporated it into our Curriculum Maps
• Finalize my Math syllabus (I luckily have finished my Science one)
• Finish completing my bulletin boards for Meet the Teacher night.
• Get volunteers for our Scholastic Book Fairs (we scheduled it for Meet the Teacher night to boost sales and encourage parents to buy their students books to start the year off).
• Finish my schedule for the Student Council workshop that I will be advising the week before school.
• and there is so, so, sooooo much more!!!

So, my friends again I apologize for not making a better presence on my first attempts of blogging.  But, now I kind of know what to expect I will make a better effort on entering my adventures for these first few years of teaching.