Monday, February 25, 2013

[waves hi...]

What a roller coaster this year has been.

Feeling like I'm getting my "teacher legs" under me a bit again.
Still have moments where I get knocked flat with sadness, but those moments are gradually being replaced by the memories of the 12 1/2 years we had with Kenton.

I've been working (s.l.o.w.l.y) through my to do list...it's LONG.
I have "create a year long writing plan" as one of my goals this year.
Sigh. Yeah, need to get to work on that one.
Soon.

This month we've been learning how to take notes while listening, viewing, or reading, and how to organize those notes onto a graphic organizer (mostly tree maps or spider graphs), and then take those notes and move them into sentences and into a cohesive paragraph.  This week is the big test to see if my littles are understanding.  They have been given a non-fiction passage, a graphic organizer, and will have this week to create a paragraph. 
{shudder}
This could get really interesting really fast.

There are some great SHORT first grade non-fiction passages here: http://www.freereading.net/index.php?title=Decodable_passages
They're free (BONUS!) and they have about 80 words and come in several formats.
Helpful if you're needing to increase your littles' non-fiction reading selection on a budget.  ;)

One of my other goals this year is to better utilize the time I have scheduled for rotations (aka centers).  One part of my goal is to equally divide the time between math and literacy.  I do great with math, not so great with literacy.  I'm working on it...

If you teach Saxon Phonics and Spelling, here's a fun and free little UNO type game for Spelling List 16. 
Sometimes I have my littles write the words they have in their stack after they finish.  What I've found is that recognition of the word, being able to know what it is and read it, helps so much with their ability to spell it.
Yeah, I'm slow.  I know.  LOL.
Graphics are from the one and only incredibly talented Dustin Pike.  Stop by and see what he has in his shop.  Seriously the cutest stuff.

And now, I have 45 minutes of silence here in my classroom while McKayslin is at Paige's house and Luke is home doing dishes and folding laundry (yes, I'm spoiled!).
Time to work on items 1, 2, 3, and maybe 4 of a bazillion things on my to do list.

Have a great week!
And, seriously, thanks for sticking with me through the past 8 1/2 months.
Seriously.
It means a lot.

4 comments:

  1. I'm glad your teacher legs are coming back! :) Thanks for the reading site. I still think of you guys often.

    Jenny
    Luckeyfrog's Lilypad

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for these great tips!

    Great your teacher legs are coming back!

    Always thinking of you guys!

    Love,
    Steph

    ReplyDelete
  3. Prayers and much love sent your way! Your strength is an inspiration!

    ReplyDelete