There are a few things I'm taking a bit of time to think about today. First, I'm reflecting on what I can do to make sure that my planning time is productive. No more multiple trips between my room and the copy machine. It never fails, I think I have everything I've planned to make copies of only to get to the copier and realize I've forgotten something. Because of this, I've decided to make myself a copy folder. The folder will have the originals that need to be copied and a list showing what the copies are for. I am also intending to have my lesson plans completed at least 80% by end of day Thursday. This will also help me to start my copy folder for the next week!
My second item of reflection is math. We've started a new math program this year. It's different than what the students are used to and it's different from what the teachers are used to. And for me it's even more different because I taught kindergarten last year! With all that being said, I have a wide array of mastered skills levels in my students' math skills. So I've decided, I'm going to change up/add to what I'm already doing in class. I am going to add fifteen-twenty minutes of focused and differentiated math where the kids will be working on the skill level they are currently most ready for and this will free up time for me to meet with students on their particular skills. Some days this will include multiplication facts, differentiated lists for different levels of readiness. Other days this will include remediation or enhancement of skills taught that week. I have a tub with folders, one pet student labeled with their number. This way each student can grab their materials during this time without me needing to pass out multiple levels of materials during our 15-20 minute focus time.
The third thing I've been reflecting on today was growing my kids' writing skills. We use interactive writing notebooks and some other writing tools in our classroom and we love them! But I have also decided to add in more free choice writing into my classroom. We have lots of topic directed writing that takes place, but I want the students to be able to focus on the skills we are using versus always making sure to write to a provided topic. My hope is this will help us build the skills so that when we do have to write to a prompt, the skills will already be there. Before break, we were very focused on paragraph format and so we will focus on that, but with their own choice of topic, and see how that helps our skills.
What are you up to on this first Sunday of January?
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