News

Last week I left my teaching position. It was a difficult decision. I mean, we had a month left of school, the kids would have to have a substitute, and I might upset people at the school. However, stress and work hours had came to a point that I was feeling sick, having daily headaches and frequent migraines, and finding it difficult to get through the school day. So, I resigned. 

I thank those in my family that were there to support me and even send me a card from Michigan. After grading those last papers and handing them off to the substitute after entering the grades, I've been feeling a lot better. I'm feeling my old self again, something for which I'm grateful (and Isma is too). After working about 80 hours a week, it's been strange to have so much free time. Hopefully I'll find a new, less stressful, position soon.

Ukraine Adoption

Awhile back I wrote a post (see it here) about a friend, Crystal, whose family is trying to adopt a little boy from Ukraine. They plan to travel there the end of May or mid-June. Here is a video about their last fundraising effort to pay for all of the adoption and immigration paperwork.



If that doesn't work, you can try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C38j47huM80#t=0s

Decomposition

As part of our ecosystem unit, I took the class outside to collect leaves in varying states of decomposition. Kids didn't get them very decomposed. I think they didn't want to get messy. After getting back upstairs, they put them in order from least to most decomposed in small groups. It was a fun activity to blow off some steam and complete the energy cycle.

Poster donated by a student.

Some Writing Charts

Sloppy hamburger

hangs on my wall

reminding of paragraphs

and bad school food.

Word Wall

Towards the beginning of the school year, Mom made cute letters for our word wall. We add five words to it each week. I'm happy that I'll be able to reuse it with my next class. I wish that we could add words other than high frequency words, though. High frequency words are words that, by the end of a certain grade level, students should be able to read and spell. Some of the words that my kids struggle with spelling aren't as simple as the high frequency list, which I feel should be learned in the younger grades. As I said, some are helpful for my students who flip letters in words and for my special education students, but the rest need something else for reference! If only there was more room in the classroom.

Organization, Organization, Organization

At the beginning of the school year I was constantly finding graded student work, newsletters I'd slaved over, and other papers meant to be seen by parents, stuffed inside student desks and hidden inside the recycling bins. A colleague suggested I use mailboxes to put all of their papers inside, and give them a moment at the end of the day to pick up their papers and put them in their backpacks. I, however, was not one of the lucky teachers to inherit all sorts of wonderful organizational materials. So, I took the books for guided reading out of their cardboard shelves, found another home for them, and labeled each shelf with a student name. It's been working well, and MOST students are much more organized and good at getting their papers to their parents. Now, what to do with those students who purposely lose their papers.

RAPP

It surprises me how much terminology and other teaching related things have changed in the four years since I graduated from college. One thing that the school does for reading responses is RAPP: repeat the question, answer the question, and prove it with two examples or details from the story. It's a great way to ensure students write in complete sentences and connect their answers back to the text! Below is a chart I made to help the students get started.