Now about our new year. For ELA I made folders I found on Pinterest. You take a two pocket folder with the three prongs in the center. Then you take another two-pocket folder (no prongs) and turn it inside out. Trim the top about 1/4" or so, and three hole punch it on the loose end. Put it in the first pocket folder and secure it with the prongs. Voila! Four pocket folder. In the front two pockets, I put our Reading stuff...foldables, weekly vocabulary work, and other papers that they'll keep (character trait list, comprehension strategies, etc.) for the year. The back two pockets are for Writing. Again, foldables go on one side, and their resources and drafts go in the other. It's working out very well so far. No lost papers.
Math is a HUGE change for me this year. I've taken ideas from many people and created a new way to deliver math this year. It is going VERY well so far. From Runde's Room I am doing math journals. The kids love this!! We do the lesson on the left side and practice/proof on the right. We're writing standards and objectives and highlighting and doing vocabulary and foldables and and and! The kids are obviously not the only ones who love this. Instead of doing a lesson a day, we've gone through our book and eliminated lessons that are not on grade level or don't assist the students in mastering the standards. So I am doing the good lessons for two days. It's very freeing to give up that program imposed timeline. Day one is all about the lesson, examples, and guided practice. And of course, opportunities for me to check for understanding.
On Day 2 I have taken Working 4 the Classroom's Math Matters method of independent practice and applied it to my room. The students sit on the floor, back-to-back, and do their work silently. When they are ready, they turn and sit knee-to-knee and correct their papers together. Then we come back together and I have a little session of check for understanding. This part of my lesson has never gone so well. The students are not struggling so much. They are thinking about their mistakes and discussing them. There is just a ton of time for us to practice, practice, practice. IMO, this is seriously lacking in current adopted Math programs. But this is a happy post, so I'm not going there.
On Fridays I'm spending a large amount of time doing math workshop so I can target each student and work to get them up to grade level. While I'm working with a group, they are working on extending lessons, multiplication practice, and calendar math that I got from Stephanie R at Teaching in Room 6. It is fabulous! This really gives the students consistent practice with numbers and concepts.
Science...LOTS of foldables. LOTS. I bought my students colored pencils this year instead of crayons. They are doing diagrams and labeling parts of plants and coloring things. Very cool. We did Vascular Plants last week. We did a three-flap foldable with root/shoot systems at the top, classification of vascular plants (spores, seeds: flowers/no flowers) in the middle, and parts/purpose of the flower in the bottom. On one of the days of this lesson a student said, "We're doing Science, but it's like Art!" They are so excited to do Science!!
Social Studies. Just a repeat of Science. Lots of foldables. When we get to the Colonial period and the American Revolution, we'll start creating books as well as doing fun projects like stick figures in history and fake Facebook pages for our Founding Fathers. Lots of writing opportunities there as well. This is my favorite subject, but I seem to be focusing more on my less favorite subjects. I guess I'm still trying to find my balance.
I won't be so picture heavy again! One subject at a time!
