Today I'm linking up with Ms. M's Blog for her 4 On The Fourth linky party. The idea is to share four new things that we are going to try for this upcoming year.
1. After reading In Pictures and In Words by Katie Wood Ray, I have decided to overhaul my old writer's workshop and start a picture book writers workshop. This book has helped me see writing in a whole new way. I'm super excited about it because I believe that writing is my biggest weakness and I want to change that ASAP. I will be using picture books to guide my instruction by having illustration studies with my students. If you are a K-3 teacher and have not read this yet, you must! I've read countless books on writing instruction and none have helped me as much as this book. I will be sharing a lot about my writer's workshop throughout the year.
2. Blogging! I just started blogging about teaching and I am finding it very fun! I have always wanted to keep a journal of my teaching experiences where I would document my activities, things I liked or didn't like about them, how my students did on certain lessons etc... I have never been able to keep up with it, but I'm hoping my blog will be my journal that I can look back at to improve my teaching.
3. Stay organized! I have always let things pile up left and right creating all out chaos in my room and my home. No more of this! Thanks to my 31 bag, I am going to be able to stay organized. I made a file for grading and filing, two of my biggest organizational problems.
4. Notebooking. Thanks to Donors Choose I have received a bunch of composition books that I will be cutting in half. I will be using these composition books as science, social studies, and reading response books to incorporate more writing in my day. I noticed that when my students write something down, it sticks much better than anything else.
What are some things you are looking to try this year? Link up with Ms. M today to share your 4 On The Fourth.
I plan on using my composition notebooks as part of the writing station too...on Pinterest I got the idea of making common themed notebooks for kids to write in...here is the post
ReplyDeletehttp://delightfuldaily5cafe.blogspot.com/2011/07/getting-teacher-started-with-work-on.html
But I want to cut my composition notebooks in half for this...
Laura
Mrs. Castro's Class
The common themed notebooks are such a wonderful idea! I'm going to have to try that out! I love Pinterest :)
DeleteI have not heard about the writing book you mentioned but definitely am intrigued! I loved No More I'm Done, and found a ton of great ideas for Writing Workshop- best part are there are lists and lists of writing lessons! Will be checking out your book too.. and probably coming back with questions :)
ReplyDeleteAmanda
Reaching for the TOP!
Thanks for suggesting this book! I'm going to have to pick it up! Thanks!!
DeleteStaying organized is on my list too! Good luck with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up.
M