year 4

 

Another year bites the dust. I'll say it every year...but I CANNOT believe I'm entering my [5th] year of teaching. It's just kinda nuts. Teaching is super rewarding especially after 3 years deep and more in the groove. This year I was teaching the new Common Core which changed the way I sequenced out the year. I really love the new math core curriculum and got high praises from my principal from my students test results. At the end of the year I was very happy with how I planned things because I ended up having a very productive end of the year with my kids. They were learning and engaged till the very end. I completely adored this group of 1st graders. It's one of those years where classroom management was under control and the kids and I could let loose and laugh and really enjoy each other. I am honestly sick that they have to leave me for 2nd grade. I always get nervous about a new batch of kids.

Things I learned in year 3:
+importance of explicit teaching
+children are so forgiving
+using Dr. Jean cds were a game changer.
+admit to the students when I am wrong
+using parent volunteers to their strengths and interests
+making class books after Language Arts units was a great post-assessment activity and they loved reading them
+we worked really hard this year, but I still feel like there was so much I didn't get to teach them
+the value of teaching speaking and listening skills
+having students keep their own data from their test results causes them to really make the connection with how they did on the test. I had them graph their test percentage in a notebook. Some kids really understood what that meant in terms of how they did on the test. clutch
+teachers pay teachers is a great resource
+Annie Belle introduced me to Adventure to Fitness -- a real life saver for the snowy and rainy days with no outside recess.

++++++
year 3
year 2
year 1