The Creative Apple: Planning Now for Later

I can't believe that school starts back for me {pre-planning} in just a short amount of time. After next week, this gal will be going at it full-force! One of the mistakes I have made in the past was not planning my quarters out. What in the world was I thinking?!? Last year, I did this well before it was time to go back, and it was such a life saver! Right now I have my year divided by quarter and the standards I am going to teach in each quarter laid out.

This part was actually easy because of our county curriculum map. We have a curriculum map for each grade and subject area. We met our first week out of school and the hard work was pretty much already done for me! Now all I had to do was plan it out by weeks.

So, the first novels I work with are The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg with my two lower classes and Elijah of Buxton for my two upper classes.

Last year was my first time reading both. If you have never read these books, they are a must! Homer P. Figg is hilarious with great character development. It's about a young boy who is in search of his older brother who was taken unlawfully and forced to enter the Civil War. Elijah is one of my favorite books! It's slow to start but SO worth it in the end. I actually had my students finish a chapter because it was so emotional. There is a real deep meaning to the story so you have to be careful of the students you read it to. It's about a young boy who is in search for something important but learns life lessons along the way. My students LOVED this book, and it's one they wouldn't read on their own.

The last book we will read in 1st quarter is the classic Hatchet. It's obvious that ALL students love this book! Hatchet is a great book to teach all of the story elements as well as figurative language.

Okay... enough book talk! Here's how my quarter is going to look and what skills I'm going to be teaching!