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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

What I'm Loving Wednesday

 I'm so grateful for our early release on Wednesday so my team and I could do some curriculum planning that was much needed. We talked about some really cool science activities and centers that we have for sink and float, Johnny Appleseeds birthday coming up, Open House which is next Tuesday, and lots to do with spelling and spelling city. I think that we are such a cohesive team that works well because we all have ideas to bring to the table. I'm excited about using spelling city this year to help students! This is actually a free resources so go sign your class up! We will be doing a spelling contract for spelling homework.



Click here to get it! 


I am also so thankful that my old team read my blog! You girls are so amazing and I miss you! They gave me a wonderful rubric to use for my goals. I think that it will be a great resources I'm just waiting for my principal and team to approve. We all have to be on the same page here. To check out the rubric- click here.

I am loving that my boyfriend went to Publix after work and surprised me with a car full of groceries and dinner to cook tonight! We are having homemade pizza! Yum...my mouth is watering already. He is such an amazing chef, best friend, and boyfriend. (Not actually pizza...I think his looks better!)


I can't wait for Open House next week! I have a few really cute idea I'm going to be sharing soon! I hope to see a lot of posts about Open House so I have plenty of ideas!


What I'm NOT loving:
Haha well I'm trying to be a positive Polly here but I'm am so NOT loving FAIR right now. To be fair (insert laugh here) I actually have a love/hate relationship with this assessment. If you live in Florida you know what I'm talking about. FAIR stands for Florida Assessment In Reading. It is a wonderful assessment if it doesn't kick you out of the program that is online or not save any of your students work. K-2 teachers have to administer the test one-on-one with their kids and it is A LOT of testing. I have been at it all week and only completed four students. The test has a initial word list to see what their probability of reading success is that is pretty quick because it's only 12 words. Then they move on to a long list of words that start with me and look  and ends with words like unusually and receive.  Based on that list they get put on a certain passage that they have to read and answer five questions on (2 explicit and 3 implicit). But if the student misses 11 words in the passage they get bumped back to the previous passage. This happens all the time in the beginning of the year because some students aren't quite reading and by the end of the first passage they get bumped back to listening comprehension. After all that reading we still have to give a vocabulary part of the test to each student. Then if a student scored low on their probability of reading success they have to do a series of word study activities.  I know you're probably thinking this is a lot of testing and very time consuming....well it is and it isn't the only reading assessment we do with the students. We also test sight words and do HM leveled reading passages. Oh boy...I'm getting tired just thinking about it! In the end though it gives me a clear focus on what my students need to work on and is really helpful.

Hope you're having a WONDERFUL Wednesday and reflecting on what you LOVE and maybe don't love so much about teaching!

2 comments:

  1. We had Open House like 2 weeks ago and I was at a loss for cute stuff!! I will definitely be looking forward to thte ideas you have! :)

    Marvelous Multiagers!

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  2. I have nominated your blog for The Versatile Blogger Award:) Stop by 4th Grade Frolics to Learn More:)

    4th Grade Frolics

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