Time to Pump Up the Jam!

After about three weeks of school, it is time to really get things going in class. I am a firm believer in establishing procedures during the first day of school as outlined in Harry Wong's First Days of School. I really believe and love that book. Now that my students have most of the routines firmly established, it is time to really get into the curriculum. This year has been a challenging one already because of the transfer to Common Core standards in Reading, Language Arts, Writing, and Math. The change has made lesson planning more detailed than usual, but has opened up a dialogue between teachers that didn't exist as much as we share more than before ideas, plans, and materials to meet the standards with our students. Also, the first few weeks were busy for me as I took time off to attend my commenecement ceremony for my docotoral degree and a curriclum planning session with other grade level teachers.

This week, will still be a little different because it is a four day week, however, I am looking forward to beginning my literacy workstations as I mentioned in my recent post. I am also happy as I reflect on completing the first unit extended text which was "The Wizard of Oz." The students learned a lot and it was a fun unit to teach. We ended the unit with a Back from Oz treat day which included green juice  and shortbread cookies with "E.C." on them - that stood for Emerald City :)  Students also made necklaces - Why didn't I take pictures! The were fun and simple to make. I used green yarn and yellow construction paper cut into a square. The yellow square stood for a "yellow brick" from the "yellow brick road." Students then wrote on their "yellow bricks"  "Back from the E.C." and drew and colored a picture of their favorite character from the story on their necklaces. I ended the day by giving them each a "heart" (sticker of a red heart) just as the Tin Woodsman wanted and instructed them to go out this weekend and spread their love to their family.

This coming week, I am working on my short text aspect of the unit and will compare and contrast a traditional Cinderella story using my Kindle Fire to find and read my text and a traditional print copy of Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters. I will read both text and together as a class we will complete a Venn Diagram and review the aspects of a fairytale.

Along with careful classroom attention, did I also mention I am the PTO president and am getting ready to launch our first fundraiser of the school year, plan the first PTO event, and wrap up our membership drive....and don't get me started on the perils of getting my home back into the school groove. There's nothing to it but to do it...so off I go into my week fully ready to dance to the fast paced beat that being a teacher, mom, mother, wife, friend, and family member causes me to do. I think I hear the music playing now....until the next time!