I am saying good bye to the frog theme that I have had for 3 years and saying hello to owls. Before the end of school, I had already placed my order with Scholar's Choice for the Owl Stars products. It wasn't only pretty products that I was thinking about though. I also started thinking about what worked and what didn't.
Next year I will be doing Guided Math more. I am going to use some time this summer to read this resource and create a work station board, much like the one I have for Guided Reading. The small group approach is one I am comfortable with and think the students get more out of. I think that for next year's group it will be especially helpful.
Another thing that I've been thinking about is class set up and the look of the classroom. Summer is always a good time for me to be looking at changes, because quite honestly, once I get into the school year the curriculum is what is front and centre for me. I think the basic furniture set up with stay the same, but there are some things that I need to look at. Word wall is one of them. I know what the literature says, but with the kids in my class having word books in their desks, they don't use the word walls at all. I tried a math word wall this year, putting up the words as we worked through different units of math. I would draw their attention to it, but I never had a student refer to it on their own. It might go away this year. Maybe a math dictionary? I do want to incorporate more writing in their math journals. We used them for problem solving mostly this year.
I am doing a little DIY in the classroom this year which will help give it a little face lift. I'm always a little jealous of the rooms I see in different blogs I follow. They go in and paint walls and cupboards etc. I'd be shot if I did something like that here. Very strict rules about encroaching on union jobs (even though the stuff I want done will never make it onto their never ending list), and there is always some excuse from maintenance about why we can't add a coat of paint. I don't like ugly, no one does!
Because we are getting back from holiday 2 days before school starts, I want to go next week and do some purging and planning. As I was emptying my filing cabinet, I found files that I haven't looked at since my practicum! Yikes! I also want to get some boards done so the room doesn't look so empty when we get back. Currently it looks like this:
