Peek at My Week: Week #5

I can't believe it's week #5 already. We are going slow and steady, but we will get there! Instead of a 2 week character trait unit, I'm looking at more than 3 weeks! We were a little busy last week, so we are just introducing character traits this week.

Here are some things I refuse to give up no matter how much time I lack!

• Independent Reading Time
• Read Aloud Time
• Student Conferences

 I am working on a new resource that I will be using this week. I'll be using it in my classroom first to see how it goes before I post it in my store. It's a stand-alone unit that can be used to teach character traits. I will be using it to help get my students to start comparing characters since that is our 5th grade standard. It's not ready yet, but you can find it in my store in the next few weeks.

I will be posting later this week about how my introductory (or review) lesson goes this week. I'll also include some pics of my students using my new product I'm working on.

Have you ever used Quizlet? I'll be posting about it later this week over on the iTeach Fifth blog. Go check it out! It will be posted on the 11th!

Go and link up with Mrs. Wills for her linky par-tay!

Peek at My Week: Week #4

Y'all, I can't believe it is week #4 for me! This year had started off in a hurry, and I feel like it's still the first few weeks of school! I can't believe it's been a month since we started this school year! I have such a long ways to go before I start feeling comfortable with my new schedule! I have learned that we are just gonna go at a much slower pace than last year... and that's okay!

I'm trying to make every second count, and you can tell in my plans. Here are my weekly plans for week #4!

 Anchor Chart // HL CC Reading Lit. // IXL // Quizlet // Character Traits // CC Seatwork

I will also be using some of my character passages that are in my seat work bundles. These are also GREAT for homework. You can get them here.

Here are some examples of them in action!

Here's a FREE sample!

What are you doing this week? Don't forget to link up with Dee Dee!

Peek at My Week: Week #3

Well, another week is upon us! That means it is time for a Peek at my Week with Mrs. Wills' weekly link up. Here are my visuals, and I'm going to explain a little bit about what I'm doing!

Text Talker Cards // Text-Based Evidence Posters (Hello Lit.) // Comp Files (by LAR) // Task Cards (TWAMV)

To say that I'm a little disappointed with how last week went is an understatement. I am already so behind what I had hoped to have done. My read aloud time is pretty much non-existent, and only one of my classes has time for independent reading time. That is TOTALLY unacceptable! I'm definitely going to be doing some major reflection on how I need my literacy block to work and how I can accomplish that. To help a little, I have decided to have a formal grammar and writing lesson on alternate weeks.

After this week, I'm sure my plans will look a lot different. I am going to try to read a little more and talk a little less :) I already have an alternate plan for my co-teaching class. There are three teachers in the room and we are each doing a small group each day, so I will be teaching the same thing for three days while the others teach something different.

One thing that went really well was my vocabulary study. It took a little longer than expected, but I was pleased with how it finished out. 

If you want to read more about it, you can here.

Go link up with Mrs. Wills!

Peek at My Week: Week #2

We are starting week 2 tomorrow! Last week was our first full week. We spent a lot of time talking about routines, what our class schedule will look like, and choosing good fit books. We also had our first book share on Friday which went really well! I don't have any pictures to share because I was OH.SO.TIRED! I swear I went to bed around 8 or 9:00 every night. Tonight, I'm linking up with Dee Dee to share my visual plans for this coming week.

Before I get into my plans, let me say a few things. This is my first year teaching four classes. Last year I had a little over 2 hours with each class! I have no idea what this schedule is going to actually be like once I begin, and I can honestly say that I think I have way over planned! I just don't think I'm going to have enough time! Secondly, 4th & 5th grades are in a separate building from the rest of the school. We have a designated day every other week to devote to library time. It pretty much takes up the entire day. In between visits, my students use my classroom library and 2-3 book carts in our building. 

These are not my lesson plans. I am putting them in a visual format for you, my readers, to see. I use a lesson plan book that I write in. I've done digital plans the past three years, but I'm too OCD for that! I found that I spent more time on changing fonts and making them cutesy! It took me forever to lesson plan!

If you have any other questions about anything you see, leave them in the comments section below and I will try to answer them!

Resources Link

Anchor Chart // Lapbook // Vocabulary // Task Cards // QR Codes

Since we do a lot of constructed response right away (in science & social studies, too) I always start off with this unit! This is the unit where I also introduce my text talker board. I will probably focus more on that during week #3. I always start my Monday off with an anchor chart. We usually use it for the entire week. It will go on my reading board in my classroom. 

I am going to use my lapbook that I created for this unit for note taking, partner work, and independent practice. I plan on blogging about this when my students finish it this week. After the lap book, my students will get more practice by using task cards. I will use this time to work with students who had a difficult time with their independent work from Tuesday. 

I can only devote 2-3 days to grammar and writing. I plan on alternating weeks so I can fit them both in. Even though I do not have it here, my students will have time responding to what they read with writing. I haven't figured it all out yet so that's why I didn't post it.

I will devote some time each day to read alouds. This will also be connected with the skill we are working on for the week. For vocabulary, we are using words from our read alouds as well. This is something new I am starting this year after reading Word Nerds. I'm not really sure how this will go, but I'm excited {and nervous}! Our first day is tomorrow! I also plan on blogging about how it goes this week. 

This week is pretty much going to be a try and see. I have a lot of new things I'm trying in a shorter amount of time. I can't wait to see how it all flows together. If you haven't already, go link up and see what everyone else is teaching this week!

Exciting News!

Hey, ya'll!

I'm back this week with a quick check in!  First of all, it was announced {2 weeks ago} that I was named Teacher of the Year at my school!

It is truly an honor and something I am very proud of.  Since I became a teacher, I always wanted to earn this award.  Here's the catch... now I have to write a {VERY} lengthy paper this summer, but that's okay!  I am actually looking forward to sharing my journey to teaching.

This week, we are finishing up our state testing.  We had reading last Thursday and ELA last Friday.  This is a relief because these are the subjects I teach.  I feel relief knowing that part is over with.  We have the day off from testing tomorrow and resume on Tuesday.  Since social studies and science are coming up, I am going to spend tomorrow close reading an informational text about World War I.  So fun!

Right now, I am finishing up chapter 3 of Falling in Love with Close Reading and will be posting about chapter 2 this week.  Also, look for my May Print & Go packet similar to this April one.

I need to get a move on.. I haven't even started it yet... YIKES!

Looking forward... I am working on a close reading packet.  It will probably be a while before this one is ready.  I want it to be just right!

Happy Week!

Peek at my Week Linky... for the first time!

Okay, so I've been DYING to link up with Dee Dee for her Peek at my Week Linky.  It was kind of difficult since I use an EC teacher planner (which just isn't me.)  I refused to give up the planner since I spent so much money on it.  Well, I did it!  I put it in my crate this week and decided to do things my way!

First of all, I teach 5th grade which is a lot different from most of the teachers who link up.  But, I just love looking at all the lesson plans and cute things they are doing in their classrooms.  Most of my plans are in words... sorry!  I did try to throw in a couple of pictures to make it interesting.

When looking at my plans you will see that we are doing a lot of things with close reading.  This is something I have just started to focus on, so it's kind of in the developmental stages.  Also, on Monday, my students will be presenting their story board research projects they have been working on the past two weeks.  This is something I have been totally impressed with and will include a post devoted to it as soon as the students finish them completely and present them to the class.  So far,  I am very impressed with how they have turned out.

So... here we go!  You can download the pdf file by clicking any of the files below.  The links to the products are below the files.

This week I used:

Morphology Dictionary by Kristen

These plans were very time consuming, but I feel that I am ready for Monday!  I know exactly what I'm doing, what standards I'm covering, and what materials I will need.

Go ahead and link up with Dee Dee!