Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

...seriously be done with half the school year, can we? How did we already get to this point? Maybe it's just me getting old, but it seems like these milestone moments of the year come and go in a flash. Before I know it, Easter will be here! But I won't get ahead of myself... Being that this is the middle of our school year, it seems like a good time to reflect on some of the highlights for this year. Math this year brought about a change of structure, and I really like it. Using the Daily 3 model allows me to really get a lot of face time with students at the individual levels they are working at. This model really requires me to put the responsibility of learning in the students' hands, and I need to trust that the students are making good choices with what they are working on when they are not working with me. We have also made a change to the system we use for learning multiplication and division facts. Beginning last year and then over the summer, I worked on a ma...

The book Wonder,  by R. J. Palacio, has been all the rage in my classroom these last few weeks. A few students saw the movie during winter break and brought books in that they received for Christmas. Since then, they have been rather popular books to check out from the library. I have to admit that I haven't read the book, but I've heard wonderful things about it. I know my daughter has read it, so I'll have to see if it is a book she has that I can borrow. I know one of the main themes of the book is kindness, which is a major topic that we have been discussing in the classroom this year. Speaking of kindness, one of my students did a very kind thing for me recently! She was one of the students who received the book for Christmas. Apparently her book was part of a set, and one of the books in the set was a book of quotes. She thought of me and the mindfulness thoughts that we do every week, so she is letting me borrow the book for the rest of the year :-) One more me...

That's what it was. Like, "I can't remember what I did on Monday" long. The main issue was that I have a cold, so it made for some tired days. That and I was kind of losing my voice. I'm pretty sure all of Wednesday must have seemed like I was going through puberty the way that my voice was cracking. I definitely am very thankful for the Redcat hands-free microphone and speaker that I have in my room after this week! Luckily, I feel like I am on the tail end of my cold--most of the stuffiness is gone, and I just need to catch up on sleep. I probably should have stayed home one day to give my throat a rest, but I'm stubborn... It was a pretty eventful week. All the testing that I talked about last week is pretty well finished up. I'm very pleased with the progress that the class made with the aimswebPlus testing. The class as a whole showed some pretty nice growth! I haven't had a chance to check the math fact tests yet, so that is on the docket for t...

Well, just like that we have come to a new year! And with the turn of the calendar we are also getting close to the end of the semester. Wow! Already almost halfway done with the school year...where has the time gone? With the middle of the year fast approaching, so are the mid-year assessments: Words Their Way inventories, Fountas and Pinnell guided reading testing, aimswebPlus testing, and math fact testing. Luckily, I took care of the Words Their Way inventories before we left for winter break. This allowed me time to check them, reorganized my word work groups, and get all the materials ready for the next several weeks (I took care of that on a nice, quiet day during break :-)  Guided reading testing is a bit more time consuming, however. In the beginning of the year, we are given a sub day to do our testing by pulling students one-on-one. At this time of year, though, the testing takes over my usual guided reading group time. Within the week I am able to meet with students...