Hey! Now There Are Words In Those Boxes!

It's Friday! It's Friday! {Happy Dance, Happy Dance}
(Not sure about the capitals, capitals...)

Yesterday I shared the template I use to structure my day.
Looking at it in BlogContext made it as clear as... I bet you thought I was going to say MUD, but I was thinking more along the lines of chocolate pudding--because I like pudding and mud... well, I've never been a fan.

Can you tell that Friday giddiness is already taking hold and it is not yet 6 am?!

When I write my lesson plans, I just fill in the boxes with a scrawling shorthand that makes sense to me.  If you've seen my handwriting, you would note that "shorthand" is a very generous adjective!

In order to share a legible copy, I typed the lessons in the boxes (and having such limited skills in the tech department... well, let's just say it almost took me longer to type it than to to teach it!)

I think that's how it went. It's already a bit of a fog--and I was there teaching it. Of course we didn't get through some of it (I like left-overs) and I had to make a few switcheroos, but we survived.

Our "Vivid Vocabulary" word today was cacophony.  There's usually a story or drawing or hint to help them remember the words and definitions we study. After today's ramblings, I'm guessing a few kids went home confused enough to say that a cacophony is "the loud noise made by a bunch of people coughing."  At least they understood the "noise" part!

One more note: I try to arrange the groups a bit randomly on the page so that it doesn't look quite like "high to low" or "low to high" to a parent or a child who sneaks a peek.  Each small group has six or seven kids and I post the rotations on the Promethean Board so they know which tables to sit at... but that's the subject for another post!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend...  with an extra hour of sunlight (or at least daylight) to enjoy!

All the Little Boxes....and Moving Forward

I have been reflecting for a while about why I had been feeling so overwhelmed.  When I was enduring my BlogDentity Crisis (and my BloggyFriends lifted my spirits until I felt like a fairy princess in a Starbucks megastore), I tried to "take apart my struggles" and analyze the bits and pieces of life that had gotten the best of me.  It has been a challenging year, yet I wasn't sure precisely why I just felt so... depleted. I'm not unhappy. In fact, I think I have been blessed with a wonderful life, but school has just been... difficult!

Now that I am feeling a little better, I can take two steps back and really LOOK. As I prepare to go to school this morning, I have an inkling of why my school day feels like a merry-go-round...

When I sat down to plan my day this morning, my lesson plan looked like this:

Each of those "little boxes"? Those are my attempts to differentiate instruction for the WILD range of abilities in this year's group. It's easy to see why I often feel like I am not doing enough for anyone. I am so thankful that I have TWO reading groups doing the same (or at least similar) things each day. I don't dislike the planning--in fact, it's almost like an out-of-control Sudoku game--I just want so desperately for the kids to LEARN and enjoy sixth grade.

Even with THIS MUCH emphasis on literacy and math, I still have quite a few kids who are below grade level.  Yet I am constantly telling them that "forward" is the goal. Everyone started the year at different places in different subjects.  The key word was FORWARD on the very first day.  And that has become my OLW as well.

I have a few kiddos who have slid backwards, but, for the most part, we ARE moving forward. It hasn't been an easy year, but with middle school looming in just 67 days, we just keep trying with each new day to learn the skills that will make our middle school experience more successful.

So... not a Pity Party, just an explanation. I love when I can make sense of the oatmeal in my brain.  I keep looking for the good... and I keep finding it. Life is good!

With that, I have to gather the rock samples, the integer line-up cards (Thanks, Stephanie!), the shared reading text and questions, and the Book Club materials. 

A new day awaits!