Better Late Than Never

Tomorrow starts week 7 of the school year and I spent a big part of today looking at my reading textbook and trying to figure out how it all works. We use Reading Street by Pearson and I gotta say, I think I like it!

I've been using different stories and bits and pieces while trying to follow our district curriculum and I've had to create a lot of my own materials and search for things online to fit it all together. It's kind of like forcing a square peg into a round hole.

Well, I've already covered all of the objectives for the first benchmark, and I've still got two weeks to go. So I kind of felt like I had a bit of freedom to do what I want to review before the test.

Well, I discovered this little link on the Pearson website called Teacher Resources. You can probably guess why this post is titled better late than never! Yes, I just today discovered the teacher resources. Let me tell you, a whole bunch of treasures fell out! Haha!

To make a long story short, I think I have a decent grasp on how this is all designed to work, and I've decided to be a bit of a rebel and abandon the so called curriculum our district has provided and try out a week using the book our state spent a fortune to provide for us. I'm going to try to use a chapter in the book as designed, as closely as I can, because I want to see how it all works. 

This could be a disaster, jumping in like I am, or it could be exactly the stress relief I have been looking for... No more searching and creating anymore. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to use the amazing resources provided, and it just might work beautifully!

Stay tuned. I'll let you know how it goes...

My Time Issue

There are never enough hours in the day. And if there were, I don't know if I could get enough caffeine in my system to make the most of them!

Today at school, we learned about a really neat (really expensive, I'm sure!) resource called LLI. I can't even remember what that stands for! Leveled Something-that-starts-with-an-L Intervention. (I just remembered! Leveled Literacy Intervention) It's basically guided reading lessons for below grade reading groups. It's really cool and comprehensive and teacher friendly. I have seven kids in my class of thirty reading below grade level. I am supposed to be reading with them every single day. Sounds perfect, right? It would be, if I had the time to use it!

I basically have an hour and a half block of time for Reading/Language Arts. I spoke to our reading specialist and asked her how we could fit this into our day. She said, ideally, you'd have a two and a half hour block for Reading/Language Arts. I'm missing an hour.

So I have a choice. I can do guided reading groups and get/keep my kids reading on grade level, or I can teach them the learning goals they will be tested on throughout the year on benchmarks and in April on our state test. 

The best compromise I can see is teaching them the tested curriculum and try to fit in reading with my kids one on one, hopefully once a week.

That's my current plan. Keep your fingers crossed, imaginary readers. Those LLI boxes will be sitting in a corner of my room collecting dust. Every once in a while, I shall glance longingly in their direction...

In which I talk about school incessantly...

Since nobody reads my unknown little blog, and I'm okay with that, it's kind of like my online journal. I've been working on school work all morning long, so it's on my mind and I want to "say it out loud" to someone. This seems like the best place for it.

I teach third grade this year and I love it! But being at a new school in a new grade, there is a lot of work to be done. I like to think that all the work I am putting in this year will make everything a lot easier next year. I will beg and plead (and refuse to move, if it comes down to it) to stay in third grade forever. I know my principal likes to change things up, but that is not a worry I need to focus on in September! So I am working very hard these days just knowing this will all pay off in the long run.

Let me lay out my system for you, dear imaginary readers. I teach third grade language arts and social studies. My partner teacher teaches math and science. This year, we are team teaching. We have classrooms that have a "curtain wall" dividing them. We've open up the curtain and mixed up our classes. Basically, we have thirty kids and two teachers in a self contained environment. Only I am still only responsible for language arts and social studies and she is responsible for math and science. We just take turns teaching and supporting each other. So far, it works beautifully. We've been doing it for two weeks and we've pretty much ironed out all the kinks.

Now, here is my plan for teaching. Each week, I choose a reading strategy, a grammar skill, and a story from our reading book. 

Monday is word study day. I give the spelling pretest and then the list of vocabulary words. My students look the words up in the glossary and record them in their personal dictionary. Then they listen to and follow along with the story on audiobook. (Different spelling activities are assigned for homework each night.)

Tuesday is reading strategy day. I have a prepared half sheets of notes about the chosen strategy. These are the things that are tested on district benchmarks throughout the year and the state test in April. We've already covered summary, inferences, and character relationships. This week we are doing locate facts and details. So I introduce the strategy, they glue the notes into the reading section of their reader/writer notebook, and we do a crafty/hands on/fun activity to apply the skill. This is usually a foldable or graphic organizer or the like. They read the story again with their table groups then we do the application activity.

Wednesday is Critical Thinking Questions day. They read the story independently, then answer the 5 critical thinking questions from the book after their story. These are also done in the reading section of their reader/writer notebooks.

Thursday is Writer's Workshop day. I have a prepared notes page for the weekly grammar lesson. We've done singular and plural nouns and we are doing common and proper nouns this week. I introduce the topic then we brainstorm and make a class T chart/poster. They glue their notes into the writing section of their reader/writer notebook and then write a story on a given topic that relates back to the story of the week. This week it's about things we collect. Then, they use two colored pencils to search for and underline their common and proper nouns. Later it may be verbs, adjectives, compound sentences, whatever. They are applying the grammar lesson to their own writing. Then I have a worksheet to complete on the topic.

Friday is Poetry day. We do our Spelling Test. Then we read a poem. I have been searching online for various poems that go along with our weekly story. We read it as a class and discuss the poem. Then they glue that in the reading section of their reader writer notebook, write two sentences, making a text to self and a text to text connection, then they illustrate their poem.

Whew! I also have two or three social studies lessons during the week. We take turns teaching science and social studies. Luckily, another teacher on my team plans those. We also have a set time for a read aloud and independent silent reading each day. That's a school wide initiative. We also spend fifteen minutes at the end of each day writing in our reflection journals. Basically, writing about what they learned each day. That's also a school wide initiative.

Stations is the last thing we are working the kinks out of. We are trying to set aside about forty-five minutes in the afternoon for stations. The current plan is to have eight stations. Two Language Arts (one independent/hands on activity and one reading with the teacher), two math stations (again one independent/hands on and one with the teacher), one science, one social studies, and two computer stations. Since we have combined our classes, we have 8 student computers. The plan is for the kids to do two stations a day and get through all eight stations in four days. Friday's station time will be spent on Ketchup and Pickle Time.

Today, I made a list of all the things I need to do to prepare for the upcoming week each week. Since I am determined to follow this weekly routine, my prep work should also become routine. Then I made it cute and printed it on card stock, of course. I broke the list down by day, Friday, the weekend, and Monday. So far, it made things feel less overwhelming and I should be pretty well prepared for the week.

Well, that's all my current thoughts on school. I still have papers to grade and a quick trip to Walmart to do. I need pretty plastic folders and another bowl for taking my lunches. Plus laundry to work on, finger nails to paint, a movie to watch, and dinner to cook. I better get going!

Until next time...

Yes, my class is the size of a large family. Here's why...

Last night I was at school until nearly 7pm because I was in a meeting with the objective of coming up with a list of ways the school district can save money.  Our district is looking at $38 - $76 million in budget cuts from the state.  We were told at the start of the meeting that we could discuss any ideas we had, apart from personnel cuts.  Oh, there are going to be personnel cuts, but those decisions are going to be made by someone in a much higher pay grade than a group of teachers, counselors, and principals.  Well, that didn't stop a certain teacher from putting the idea out there that we should consider increasing class sizes.  Her argument was that she can be just as effective teaching classes of 32 as she is with her current classes of 28.  "And really, we've got teachers on our campus with classes the size of a large family."  These were her words.  I was sitting right next to her.  It's not the first time she has made the exact comment about the size of MY classes.  Now let me explain.  I teach ESL.  English as a Second Language.  It's an intervention class.  I have kids in my classes from all over the world.  All with varying levels of English proficiency and academic achievement.  In one of my classes (a class with 5 students) one of our activities yesterday was to write the alphabet in 30 seconds.  I timed them.  Not a single one of the 5 were able to do it.  One of my students, put his hands to his head and said in frustration, "I don't know the order!"  Now this child has been in our country for 4 years.  He comes from a part of the world where going to school every day is not a priority.  They have bigger things to worry about.  Like finding clean water to drink.  His parents sent him to the US to live with his aunt, so he might have a better life.  This is a child who is uneducated in his first language and now struggling in his second language.  A child who's academic success is so low, he doesn't even qualify for special education.  He's not a bad kid.  He's not a dumb kid.  He's an uneducated kid who is in the 7th grade and trying to figure it all out.  Since he has been in our country for 4 years, he will take the state tests in April.  With no accommodations and no modifications.  While this other teacher is up until 2 o'clock in the morning grading papers, I am up until 2 o'clock in the morning wondering how I am going to work a miracle for this child, and others in my class with similar stories.  And the tests in April are not the end of the story.  Every year I send my students across the parking lot to the high school.  I just pray that my kids find success in high school.  Find a teacher they connect with.  Pray that they do not drop out.  Because if they don't pass those tests in high school, they don't graduate.  Then they are faced with a future of poverty and a new generation of students with the same struggles.  So yes, Other Teacher.  My classes are the size of a large family.  Could you imagine having this student in your class of 28? There are 23 others this year with their own stories of success and struggle.  There are plenty of ways the district can save money.  Cutting my intervention class isn't going to make things better for anyone.