And Another One Bites the Dust!

I stumbled upon this great linky party from Amber over at Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher. She wants to know what was great and not so great about the school year. I thought this would be a great way to reflect! Be sure to check out Amber's blog! 

 

The Great:

1. My Kids!

I have the most loving, adorable, sweet class ever! I will truly miss them. 

2. Classroom Decor

I kept my classroom bright, cheerful, and neat. I think it was a comfortable and inviting place for my students. Here are a few of my bulletin boards from the year. 

Brightly colored buttons were glued to the clothes pins. Next year, I think I will paint the clothes pins too! 

3. Hands-on Activities

I worked hard to keep my students engaged in meaningful lessons.

My students created these posters after learning about the different text features.

4. Literacy

I helped instill a love of reading through my book bag program. My students loved it! I had many parents tell me how much their child enjoys reading now. 

The Not-So Great:

1. Organization

I am still VERY disorganized when it comes to keeping track of resources, worksheets, and lesson ideas for the different units I teach. Some of it is filed away, some of it is in my cupboards, and other things are saved on my computer. By the time I get to that unit, I have forgotten what I did last year and waste too much time searching for it all. I would love to make organizational binders for all of my units. That way, when I find an idea on the internet or create something on my own, I can easily slide it into the binder that goes with that unit. I think this will work better for me than file cabinets. 

 I love the color scheme of these binders!

 

2. Reading Groups

I think I've improved in this area, but I hope to be better at teaching guided reading next year. I want to improve at being able to teach the different reading strategies and be able to better identify my students' needs in terms of what reading strategies they need help with. 

3. Paperwork

This also kinda goes with organization. I want to be better at completing all school related paperwork right away. I tend to leave it on my desk and forget about it until I get an email from the office asking for it. oops.

4. Challenging my high achievers

 I can easily help my struggling students, but sometimes I find it difficult to find activities to challenge my more advanced students. Next year I hope to have more activities to support these students as well.

5. Leaving on time

 Let's just say, the custodian and I are best buds. I want to manage my time better so that I can actually get out of there at a decent time. I'm tired of all the, "so did you sleep here last night?" jokes!