I'm Back!!

Well, that didn't last long!!!

I know I have been absent from my own blog but, when your heart really isn't in the content you are teaching it's kinda hard to write on it.  I love teaching and that is what kept driving me this past year.   I don't know what it is about the 4th grade age group but, wow their mouths don't stop.  In the past, with my 6th graders, yeah they talked, a lot of time when it wasn't warranted but, seriously I these 9-10-year old mouths/jaws should be exhausted because they were non-stop last year!  I liked my team and there were some highs last year but getting used to a whole different age group, curriculum, school, and administration did not leave a lot of time or drive to keep up on my posting.... and for that, I apologize  - to those who actually read my ramblings on...

Now I am excited and rejuvenated for the next school year.  This will be the first year I will be teaching in a contained 6th grade class since my 1st three years of teaching 6th grade was semi-departmentalized in which I focused on ELA & Social Studies.  Now, I will be covering all subjects so I say ... Bring it On!!  My Pinterest boards have been getting refreshed with new content and removal of some old (4th grade Social Studies especially).  I will keep quite a bit of what I did with my 4th graders this past year as a resource for interventions and scaffolding for content which some of my lower students may not have mastered as expected before entering  6th grade.  Planning has begun and it has created quite an excitement for me.   I LOVE 6th GRADE... the content and the kiddos.  I know there is the chance of great drama and anguish but, I deal with it really well and the kids seem to really get me at that age.

I already have my 1st activity of the 1st week of school planned ... I am going to do an Escape Room activity to help create teamwork, collaboration, and community with my new group of students.   I actually completed the activity with my summer school colleagues and  I LOVED IT!!  the thought process, critical thinking, and  challenge  presented  to get through the tasks to "Escape" was fun and gave a great sense of  accomplishment when you were able to solve a series of problems which in turn allowed you to earn your freedom.  Along with this activity will be a series of community building activities which will segway into starting the book Wonder by R. J. Palacio.  I fell in love with this book last year and want to have my 6th graders read it and implement many of the teachings and lessons which are integrated with the book towards our classroom environment.  This will also allow us to have a field trip in November when the movie is released in theaters to see it on the big screen then compare/contrast between the book and the movie.   Anytime I can use a movie to enhance a lesson I am all over it!!  Mary Poppins for setting being a background character, a montage of Disney movies to help hone in theme, comparing/contrast the literature to the movie... all that fun to help solidify the expected content is one of the many tools in my arsenal to help my students achieve success for the year.

See, I jump from one area to another because I am that excited to get the 2016-2017 school year started and back to my wonderful and delightful 6th grade.  I cannot wait and I will try to make this a better habit ...  I need to reflect and grow and this platform will give me just the avenue to do this.

On another note, I have decided, along with 2 other colleagues to pursue our National Board Certification.  Please pray for me as I begin this journey...  hopefully I will still retain my sanity and some hair when it is all done.

Let the planning begin...

So... after I have been advised of my imminent move from 6th grade to 4th grade, I decided to tighten by belt and dive in whole heartedly.  Our school district is offering a summer math academy, and since I have not taught all subjects to just one class...EVER ... I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity.  Even though school just ended - yesterday - I am already planning to take PD classes for my upcoming adventure.  Thus on Wednesday and Thursday of this upcoming week, I will be in a room will other 3rd and 4th grade teachers in my district to get a leg up on the math curriculum I will be expected to teach.  At least I will get PD hours for this and it will also go towards my 301 hours which will help supplement my pay next summer... a small savings account.

On another note, I am filling up my Pinterest boards.  Feel free to mosey on over to my Pinterest board and steal away!!  I have boards for each content area, as well as reading suggestions so I know what books to purchase to create a classroom library.  I am a big advocate of reading, because of this I will always try to have a vast classroom library available to my students.  At least it gives me an excuse to do what I love to do... buy books!!

One of the hurdles I need to wrap my head around is the limited technology available to me in my new school.  In my 6th grade classroom, I had a laptop cart available to me every day - because it was housed in my room.  All Jr. High classes had a laptop cart.  I am a very technology-based teacher, so now I have to plan ahead so I can request the laptop cart when I need it.  I had my 6th graders with an email account through tocomail, which is a teacher-moderated email service.  Also, they built their own web page which included a blog page.  So, I am not sure how much technology I can integrate into my lessons, but rest assured I will do as much as possible.

I did receive awesome news, though.  One of my classmates from my Master's cohort is moving from 1st grade to 4th grade... so we have already discussed planning together and doing some collaboration to help one another gear up for this change.  She is an amazing teacher and I cannot wait to work with her to make this the best year yet.

Stay tuned to see how the 2016-2017 school year turns out.  It seems like fate is directing me to teach 4th grade so I am going to heed this calling and enjoy this challenge and welcome the adventure!!

First Attempts

I have been reading many a "linky party" adages on various blogs, so I thought in true first timers form I would give the one started by my friend at Finding Joy in 6th Grade.  I hope I am doing this right...and away we go...

1. Make sure to have a comprehensible plan to start off my new adventure in teaching 6th grade on a good note.  There are so many suggestions and informative websites which will help guide and direct me in fulfilling this goal.

2. Start planning my classroom set up.  I already know the dimensions of my classroom are 30' x 27.5' and so far 24 students are registered for my class - and with the aid of Google I know there are a variety of websites and programs which can help me figure out a good floor plan that will be beneficial to my students and my classroom.

3. Make sure I have the necessary supplies to ensure my students are able to start off the school year successfully.  Because the neighborhood many of my students live in is low SES, many time they do not have the necessary supplies for success, and I would like to have a stock pile so the lack of resources is not an excuse they can use to not participating or completing the expectations set out to make sure they do their best.

I know I have a lot to learn and get ready for to begin my new career and adventure as a 6th grade teacher.  Having goals and a plan will help ensure I am on the right path to being the best teacher I can be for my students.

Let it begin

Well the paperwork is in, and my staff badge has been made.  Today I sat down with my new boss and discussed the plans and expectations for the ensuing school year.  The discussion was not as formal because I spent the past semester working with her during my student teaching tenure.  Within this conversation I learned that the format for the 6th grade would be changing.  My cooperating teacher and I will be each teaching 2 subjects, and I opted for Language Arts & Social Studies.  This new format will cause the 6th graders to get used to the changing of classes that comes with Jr. High.  I welcome this new process because this means less lesson planning for me.  Only having to focus on 2 subjects rather than all the subjects allows me to ensure all required content is covered.  Of course I will be implementing a cross-curriculum method, incorporating the Math and Science my partner teacher will be focusing on will help create a well rounded learning environment.  I left my meeting with the Principal with the curriculum created by the district.  With this arsenal in my hands I am not beginning to start curriculum map.  It will be nice to come with an idea already in line when I finally sit down and plan with my new 6th grade teaching partner.

After much research on the internet for curriculum map templates, I decided to create my own.  I downloaded an adorable universal border and using a table started the blueprint to begin planning my first year of teaching.  Below are the forms I created to begin this process.  Since I am only focusing on Language Arts and Social Studies I only created 4 templates - one each for Reading, Writing, Speaking/Listening & Language, and Social Studies.  Using this will help me get the year in line so I am not trying to scramble to make sure I cover all the required content to ensure my students are successful and ready for 7th grade.