Achievements

We have arrived at the end of the year!  Final assessments are complete.  We just have four very fun filled days left before we say goodbye.  This week is going to fly by, but I'm going to try my best to enjoy every moment.  We are going to make memories watching a movie, going to a baseball game, and of course the traditional last day of school Field Day!  Looking back, I am amazed at the strong learning community we created.  The bonds between my students and I and between students is incredible.  They have all come such a long way since the first week of school.

The worst part about the end of the year is the reality that many of my students didn't meet the standards for passing to the next grade level.  It's not because I'm ineffective or because they didn't put in the effort (believe me, we all did our very best), but the kids came to me a year or more behind and with some very challenging behaviors.  As I was putting together their writing portfolios for our celebration of learning open house, I realized just how far each student has come.  I sat in awe as I watched one portfolio show a students progress from scribbles to shapes to letters to words.  It's incredible to see child development so clear on paper.  Unfortunately, developing even a great amount is not enough if the child does not meet the benchmarks.  It's discouraging to tell a parent, "We all tried.  Our team failed.  Your child has to repeat."  I know we didn't fail.  The child made a huge amount of progress and will soon be on track, but soon is not good enough because there is no time left in the school year.

Do you have any tips for having these conversations with students and parents?

The Importance of Appreciation

I've been blessed this year with a very giving class. They have shown their love and appreciation throughout the year.  Still, I find Teacher Appreciation Week to be a valuable opportunity to feel appreciated.  The week comes at a time when most teachers are burdened with the stress of state testing and end of the year assessments.  We've been testing almost all day long for a week and a half now and we still have another week to go.  As scores come in, I can't help but feel discouraged.  I lay the blame for failing scores on myself.  Certainly there is something more I could have done.  The message from the media, lawmakers, and politicians seems to be that student failure is directly related to teacher failure.

This week, I'm giving myself an excuse to appreciate myself and the progress students have made.  Even if they haven't met the standards, each of my students has made tremendous progress.  They have overcome obstacles such as lack of support at home, fine motor delays, and learning disorders.  They have struggled to make new friends and repair damaged friendships.  Just today a student remarked, "We're like family."  That's how I choose to measure my success.  It is a helpful reminder to me when my students, their families, other staff members, and community members offer their expressions of appreciation.  It reminds me that I have made a huge impact in the lives of these children.  It reminds me that they are more than test scores, they are respectable citizens and dedicated learners.

To all of you teachers out there, you are appreciated for everything you do!  Stop by my TeachersPayTeachers story for 28% savings when you use the code: TPTXO at check out.

Where has time gone?

It is hard to believe that there are only three weeks left in the school year.  Looking back, it seems to have all passed in the blink of an eye.  With the constant changes and disruptions throughout the year, I don't think we ever got into a solid routine until about two weeks ago.  As I am giving the end of the year tests, I am realizing all the things I forgot to teach and seeing more clearly the areas that my students needed more practice with.  It's not that I was negligent or wasn't monitoring their understanding throughout the year.  Actually, I think I spent so much time assessing, that I never did get much of a chance to teach.  There is just so much to cover (especially across three grade levels in one classroom) and so many state and district mandated assessments to give.  I'm confident I did my best this year and I'm hopeful that next year will be even better.  Regardless, so many of my students made huge gains that I am certain I must have done something right this year!
Here's to two more weeks of assessments and one week of end of the year celebrations!

Halloween brain breaks

This post is coming days later than I had planned.  Work has been a little (ok, more than a little) hectic with the start up of a new intervention class and the battery of assessments we are required to administer before report card are due next week.  It seems like I have done nothing but assess this year.  Beginning of the year assessments, state assessments, and now first trimester benchmark assessments.  Of course, much of the first trimester has been spent building the classroom community and learning the rules and routines.  I'm looking forward to finishing up these assessments and really diving into content.

With all these assessments going on, I've started using brain break videos.  Our favorite so far is the gummy bear song, but last week we did the skeleton dance a few times.  My students quickly figured out that at the end of the video you can click on other songs.  When they had really great behavior last week, we did two in a row and they got to choose the second.  We settled on this really neat Spooky Halloween Song.

I like it because it shows a simple label with each image and is great for teaching Halloween vocabulary.  It's great to stumble upon a great engaging educational resource.  I don't think my students even noticed they were reading the labels as they danced along!

Do you have a favorite brain break?

-Olivia

New Stuff For The Teacher!

Orders are finally coming in.  Remember how I got my classroom furniture the day before school started?  Well, now a month in to school I finally received my desk, technology cart, and student laptops.  I'm really happy about the new desk.  It has been a great motivator for me to get organized.

 



 Academics have started to pick up.  We are a month into school and students know the expectations.  We are building reading stamina.  My students were thrilled to reach 20 minutes!  We are getting close to our goal of 30.  We also just learned this week how to pick our own books.  This fit perfectly with our first visit to the school library.  We learned the I Pick Rap and earned a bookmark by being able to tell what each letter stands for.  You can see a better photo of the bookmark and download it for free in my TPT shop.



My math time has been taken up with state testing.  It is the only time of the day when we have the students grouped by grade level.  Reading and math screeners are done, now we must tackle the writing screener. I have had students exploring math materials while I give the individual portions of the assessments.  This is "Sir Pattern" that a student made with tiles.

 

 

I hope you had a great week!

 

-Olivia