BTS READY

My Intervention classroom is ready for Back to School 2017!  Check it out!

When you first enter the room, there are 2 tables for meetings, or for when other teachers need a space for working with individual students or small groups.

I set up a green screen for teachers and students to create fun videos!

My desk, data, and conference area.  I conference with teachers a great deal, so it helps to have a designated space!

My small group table.

I inherited this short preschool table, but my seat crates fit perfectly!

View from the door.  I'm not really fond of the room divider placement, but it will allow for different groups to work in the room with less distractions.  

 

A new addition to my room are the Dr. Seuss "READ" letters made by Redesign by Yaya.  Find them on Facebook!  These letters are just so cute!

MORE BTS 2017

More Back to School pictures!  I am getting a lot done in my classroom, though I am so grateful that we're getting more classroom prep time this year during our week of Staff Development.  I can always use more time!  Day 3 was spent on bulletin boards, unpacking, and organizing!

Every year I take the "empty box" picture!  I think I used less boxes this year, so that's a good thing!

This area still needs some work, but I discovered something awesome about the cubbies!

These Target fabric cubes fit perfectly!  I bought 6 to organize my materials.  I'll have a bin for multiplication, addition/subtraction, and so on!  I will label them to make it easier to find what I'm looking for.  When planning Interventions for K-5th grades, you just never know what you might need!  I am looking forward to organizing this area!

  I found the pink and blue fadeless bulletin board paper on clearance at Hobby Lobby.  It really brightens up the room!  The Dr. Seuss ABC border is so cute!  

BTS 2017

  Going back to school in August is always a challenge.  Summer is over and I have inevitably moved into a new classroom.  This makes seven moves in seven years in the same building.  This year I am moving into an awesome room though.  It has plenty of storage, a sink, closet, and even a restroom!  First, I had to deal with the left over issues from the previous occupants (PreK classroom, Dyslexia/GT combined classroom).  Then I can start unpacking all of my stuff, which is really a lot!  Aside from my own materials, I have school materials that will be useful in K-5th grade Intervention groups.  I also have a plethora of materials from my United Way After School Reading Camp.  There is stuff everywhere!

Unfortunately for me, the carpet was not cleaned yet when I arrived.  So everything had to be moved off the carpet onto the small tiled area, which had already been waxed.

I made great progress on Day 2.  I started on my classroom library.  I have a small rug to go in front.  When I need to work with one student, the rest can sit here and read.  The metal shelving with the blue buckets holds more books!  (The door behind the metal shelving is for the restroom of the adjacent Pre-K classroom which we will not use.)  These books are intended for my after school Reading program, but hopefully now more kids will enjoy them during the day as well.  

Almost finished....

I inherited this Pre-K table, which must stay in the room.  My seat crates fit perfectly with it!

I LOVE the wall cabinets!  I do have a lot to sort through, but I still have time.

A two-stall restoom for us!!!  (with some Pre-K furniture stored in there as well.)

Time for a break!

GUIDED READING

Summer Reading Alert: 

The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading: An Assess-Decide-Guide Framework for Supporting Every Reader

by Jan Richardson

I've been thinking a great deal about how to improve Guided Reading.  I think over time, it's easy to cut corners and not plan ahead for such an important component of Reading Instruction.  I believe that Reading Instruction without Guided Reading in the primary grades is not effective. Guided Reading is the time to work with kids at their own levels.  Guided Reading is when you see the most growth in a child's Reading ability.  It is absolutely vital to developing good readers!

The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading is easy to read and easy to follow.  It is organized by Reading level, with Pre-A having its own section.  Kinder teachers are often overlooked in regards to Guided Reading training, but this book is a must-read for every Kinder teacher through 3rd grade Reading teacher.  Our 3rd grade teachers tend to skip traditional Guided Reading groups, but with fewer 3rd graders able to read on grade level these days, it is an important component that needs to be put back into practice.  

This book includes lesson plan guides, strategies, and many resources for understanding, planning, and implementing Guided Reading in the classroom.  I used my highlighter and post-it note tabs frequently as I read through it, and I will continue to use and reference this book for some time to come!

As for Lesson Plan templates, I have been using the Guided Reading Lessons Plans from JD's Rockin' Readers, and I highly recommend those.  They are easy to use, easy to plan with.  The ones included in The Next Step Forward are also good, and have a little more to do.  I find that keeping these lesson plan copies are great documentation for RTI.  Our RTI committee can be strict in their request for data showing interventions, and these Guided Reading Lesson Plan templates have been wonderful to show in RTI meetings.  I keep notes in each section, or at the end to document struggles and growth. 

If you are a Kinder to 3rd grade Reading teacher, Reading Specialist, or Reading Intervention Teacher, I highly recommend getting your own copy of The Next Step Forward in Guided Reading.  I'm also really looking forward to getting my hands on the new Fountas and Pinnell Classroom, but that's a topic for another time (it's AWESOME!!!).

Happy Reading!

AWESOME

I can't believe it's the last day of school with students! Where has this year gone!!  More on that later....  Today was a very busy, exhausting day.  Then I came home to a beautiful box!  My new Erin Condren Life Planner!

 Why thank you, I will enjoy!

 Lots of goodies!  I am especially excited about the labels!  They will make my planner very organized and color coded!

Flamingos remind me of the San Diego Zoo!  

I am so excited to start using this!  I have one more day of school and then I'm going to spend some time setting this up!  I even bought the stand so it won't get buried on my desk!

SPRING BREAK

Spring Break has been so wonderful this year!  I stayed home and was able to get a lot of things done, though I still have plenty more to do.  Guess some things will stay on my To-Do list until summer.  Oh well.  I found a few memes to describe how I'm feeling...

One more day left.  Hope it goes by very slowly!  

JANUARY SQUIRRELS

January has been busy!  Our Christmas Break went longer into January this year, and then we hit the ground running with Fountas and Pinnell Reading testing of our Kinder, First, and some Second grade students.  We also held several grade level RTI meetings to smooth out that process and help it run a little smoother and a lot faster!  We also had IOWA testing for 3rd-5th graders.  I'm looking forward to getting back into my regular schedule next week.  I've even added a few new groups based on the testing results.  I just need more time to plan for all the groups!

I was very glad to put away the Fountas and Pinnell BAS Kit 1 this week!  I still have Kit 2 out to Progress Monitor one fourth grader and one fifth grader, and then I'm all caught up and will put it away too!  Yeah!

ALL DONE FOR NOW!

With so many things going on in my Intervention World, I remembered seeing this meme and just had to find it!  I don't just have a lot of ducks to put in a row, I have crazy squirrels running around!

Then I remembered a wonderful piece of advice I received about my new position.  No matter how many things you have to do, you need to be able to stop whatever you're working on, handle something else that comes up, and come back to it later without stressing over how much you have to do.  This week during a meeting someone needed to use my laptop and it took awhile to minimize all the tabs I had open.  I have plenty of things I'm working on at once.  But the good news is....I wasn't stressed one bit.  I know everything will get done eventually, so there's no need to stress about it.  That's a really big step for me!  No worries little squirrels!

ORGANIZE

I love to organize things!

I have many Reading Groups throughout the week from Kinder to 5th Grade, but didn't have a good way of organizing my Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Library Intervention materials for each group.  I decided to lay everything out on an unused table and then create a printed sign for each pile.  But it was unsightly and I was going to run out of room with all of my groups!  I have several more piles that needed to be added!

I purchased tall IKEA Trofast storage shelves a few years ago for my daughter's room.  Now that she doesn't need them anymore, I knew it would be the perfect answer to organize my Reading materials!  I have some clear label pockets I will add to each tub so I can change out the group title as needed.  I placed this very close to my kidney teaching table so I can grab the tub when it's time for that group and return it with ease!

I haven't decided how to use the rolling black drawer cart yet, but I'm sure it will be put to good use very soon!