It's Saturday and that means it is time to reflect on the week and celebrate things both big and small. Join our community and celebrate this week by linking up or just stopping by the host Ruth Ayres' blog to read others' celebrations.
My biggest celebration is just a fantastic week at school. Our classroom just seems to be clicking into place. We did the things that matter this week. My students sustained their independent reading and are finishing more books and thinking deeper about them. Our math times went well. Our writing times are fun and productive. We are all enjoying our days at school. Does it sometimes get crazy? Yes, of course. Do the students still manage to drive me nuts some days? Yes. However, the majority of my day is a pleasant and enjoyable experience. This is such a nice situation and it doesn't always work this way. There are two things I did in the last two weeks that I think made a big difference.
First, I changed our morning schedule a bit to start our day with morning meeting instead of starting with quiet work and then doing the meeting. I think this focus on starting with our community has helped some students to center themselves during the day and to work on our shared goal of learning. This little change in our timing seems to have given us a more productive day each day.
Second, I have been working my way through the first Unit of Study for Teaching Reading. I am adapting it slightly since I already had my workshop pretty much set up. However, the language of the unit and the lessons about reading intensely are definitely helping my readers to focus. I need to improve in making sure readers in my classroom have goals that they are working on and keep track of. I also need to improve my record-keeping routines. The Units of Study are helping me with this because they give me the coherence in my teaching to help me get there.
The other fun thing at school is the holiday celebrations. We are doing some fun things as we approach the holidays, including a door decorating contest. It was really fun to brainstorm with my class and to come up with our idea. Yesterday, we spent a lot of the afternoon making the snowflakes and toys and presents and candy canes to put in our North Pole scenes. We also made some elves and Santa and Mrs. Claus. The students are so proud of our efforts and confident that they will win the hot chocolate party. It is a lot of fun!
What do you have to celebrate this week? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
Starting reading about your fantastic week made me happy for you and a bit jealous. I am glad you mentioned the crazy and kids driving you nuts. I wonder what could I change to have more of the fantastic and less crazy. Have a wonder and fun filled next week!
ReplyDeleteLove hearing it was a good week! So very jealous that you have Units of Study. Wish we did. Happy upcoming holidays!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun to read about your week and your work with the Teaching Reading unit of study. Love that your students are working on reading intensely and thinking more deeply. Congrats for a great week!
ReplyDeleteSounds like things are really working well, Andrea. That always makes things nice especially at this exciting time of year. The door decorating sounds like lots of fun. I'm moving along, finished working with the teacher at school last week & just have one more meeting with him. Have a great week next week!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great how a few changes - small or big - can really make the days at school go better? Sounds like great, responsive teaching and learning!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear that you are having a great year! I am loving my class this year too. I giggled when you said you rearranged your schedule -- I think I'm on version #6 of my schedule now. It's all about what works best for our kids, right?
ReplyDeleteI hope that your new schedule brings lots of positive learning and growing. Hot cocoa is such a comfort treat.
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