What are you planning on doing different next year?

Since it is starting to be the count down for the end of the year...

Anyone have any plans for next year?

I am planning on changing my room set up (a ton) to make it more an open set up. Also starting to make plans for painting my classroom. Trying to decide on a color.

Also thinking about going back to giving checks & having the kids fill out a behavior slip instead of flipping cards.

Soooooooo, am I the only one making plans lol Perhaps I can get some more ideas

 

You just got me thinking:

Clean out the storage closet over the summer.

Use an interactive notebook for Social Studies.

Create more rubrics for writing assignments, and use more writer's workshop early in the year. With state testing in my grade for writing, I have to teach certain formats at some point.

I'm sure I'll think of more in the middle of the night!

 

We have a new reading curriculum this year. There are 7 different teacher manuals for it, to include the main manual, 3 different binder boxes for the leveled readers, 1 manual for grouping, one for struggling learners, one for challange activites. There is also a box of transparencies. I plan to (already started actually) create one binder with ALL the stuff in it. I know I'll be at the copy machine a lot this summer but it just doesn't make sense to have to use the 7 different books everyday!! I'm going to get those pocket dividers and put the focus wall cards and cds for each week.

 

I'm moving from kinder to 5th grade so I'll be making a TON of changes. Can you explain the behavior slip please? Thanks.

I plan to change rooms
Organize my room
More bins and tubs to orgnazie materials
Organize my library
I plan to implement a new behavior managment system
I plan to implement an econonomic system- part of my management plan
student store
I will have more classroom jobs


WHEW! There's more, but this is the gist of it. I am so very excited about teaching 5th grade. I hope they are a sweet group of kids, and not horrible kids that people say they are.

 

I have to box up all my stuff and take it home, because we are getting new carpet... all by the day after school ends. Yikes!

This summer I want to...
Move a white board, and move some furniture
Organize my files, throw out the junk I don't use
Organize my teacher books and thematic books

Next year I want to...
Reorganize the math sequence, and use more Marilyn Burns methods
Implement a complete reader's workshop from the beginning, get kids more psyched about reading
Reallllly understand my kids as readers and run more effective guided reading groups
Put together a phonics sequence that is best for first graders, even if it doesn't match the programs we are using
Be more organized with all the paper
Leave mostdays by 5:00!! (my first year I'd stay until 6:00, this year 5:30, so maybe next year I can move it up again)

This is all I can think of at the moment, but I know there is more. I should save this to think about later.

 

I always end up rearranging my room. I've got a challenging group coming up so I really have to plan out how I'm going to set up the room. I also want to beef up my social studies. This has been my 2nd year in 5th so I've done better this year, but I still see lots of areas for improvement. (Shoot, it's taken me 2 years to remember all that American history that I've forgotten! Our 5th grade curriculum covers from Early Americans - Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, etc to the causes of the Revolutionary War.)

 

Are you using Houghton Mifflin as well? I know we aren't far from one another...just wondering if we had the same reading program?

 

I am going into my third year of teaching. I cried a lot the first year and spent last summer revamping everything for this past school year. So, I am pretty happy with the layout this school year, except in ELA. We follow a comprehensive curriculum for the state and I hate it. It is very vague and really focuses on reading comprehension and writing. I would rather focus on grammar. So, I am going to redo a lot of my lessons on this subject and see how much of this I can fit in.
There is one thing that I have decided to do. I teach first grade so I am making a "First Grade Survival Kit." This kit(Ziploc bag) will contain teaching tools for the student to take home at the beginning of the year. I am card stocking all of these items. I got the math materials out of my Scott Foresman teaching tools manual.
Here are some things that I have already included:
100 First Sight Words
Movable Alphabet, including blends and digraphs
Number Line
Clock
Mini tens-frames
Shapes
Numbers and signs
100 chart

I didn't include money because I would hope that the students parents can provide change at home. I plan on sending these home at the beginning of the school year with a list of activities that the parent can use each of the materials for. It is rather expensive for me to do this and I will make it understood that they will receive only one packet for the year. At my resource center, it cost 8 cents a sheet for card stock. I am running 25 of each. Do you think I should spend extra for lamination? I realize that many of these will never be used. Any other suggestions?

 

What would be cool with that packet is if you had it out during your back to school night (if your school has something like that). I wouldn't send it home right away unless your parents know specifically what it is for. Perhaps even give them a calendar of what months they will need to practice with each item, and list that they will also need to use money at some point.

I have thought about having my students make something like that with the kangaroo bags, but again like you are afraid it would be a waste.

My behavior plan until this year has been for my kids to receive a check on my check board (my clip board) and then for them to fill out a slip of paper where they write what they did, and why they received a check. I may still have them flip cards (so they have the visual of their behavior), but I miss having the students written documentation of their own behavior.

I hadn't even thought about the new reading series I am receiving I am hoping to make folders for each story, and to have everything ready to go with my spelling, language, and everything else.

 

I thought about that, but we didn't have Back to School night until almost the 1st 9 weeks was over. It was very late! I didn't want to wait that long, especially with the numbers and the alphabet. I have several kindergartens who do not know their letters and numbers when they come to me. However, what I thought about was having a few bags prepared(I have only a few parents that come-1 this last year!) with the list of activities. I would have us do the activities together.

 

I would suggest the parents laminate it themselves. Suggest a couple of places where they can go. You could also take a picture of a roll of contact paper and tell them where the parents can buy them and they could do this themselves at home. Most likely the parents who will actually use your kit will be the ones who go out of their way to laminate it or cover it with contact paper.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking about next year. I already bought the bulletin board and classroom helper chart that I'm going to use next year. My theme will be jungle/safari. I want to start planning my first three days (Kindergarten Staggered Start), I'm changing the layout of my monthly newsletter,the layout of my lessonplans and so on.

Good luck!

 

Besides planning on changing schools. If I don't find a job someplace else. I plan on starting a readers notebook for grades 1 to 5.
I also plan to do more word problems in math for second to eighth graders. I want to get rid of the reading loft in the little kids room. And making a comfy reading corner.
I also, plan on changing the social Studies curriculum. Since I don't have a guide to follow I'm going to make up my own.
I also want to add more guided writing activities into my day and I want to change my "little" kids literacy time. I don't like how it is going this year. I think I can get more learning in by changing it.

 

Yeah, that sounds like Houghton Mifflin to me.

Hopefully I won't have to change rooms or grade levels next year. If I don't, so far the only thing I might do differently is come up with a better way to keep track of homework. I might try Homeworkopoly next year. I'm sure by the beginning of next school year I will have thought of a million different things to change.

 

shortening my hours so I can take time to smell the roses.

 

Yup, Houghton Mifflin. This is our first year with this series. I think that next year will be so much better. We didn't get some of the materials until more than half way through the year. So I'm looking forward to knowing what to do next year.

 

This is our 3rd year with it and yes, it does get better. I really like it and have found that my students are reading and writing better than in the past.

I think that before next year I will:

clean out my cupboards and storage closet (That will probably take all summer. )

create my own lesson plan book to be run off (no more writing it all out every week)


organize the classroom with bins for storage and such

create a way that I can meet with small reading groups more effectively and easily

I know I will think of much more...give me time.

 

I'm going to really dive into the Sitton Spelling over the summer and get it all planned out for next year. I didn't start it until most of the way through this year and I'm seeing improvement like never before but I want to have a better grip on it for myself.

Like many I'm going to clean out cabinets! how do they get so messy? I know I couldn't be the one doing it.....hahahahahah

I'm also going to have a larger class so I want to plan for that.

 

HOpefully, fingers crossed, moving from a tiny room to one that is larger!!! I hope I hope I hope!

 

I am moving from Computers to first grade. I'm super excited!

I have a lot of stuff I am going to do differently, I just haven't put it down in list form yet.

 

I'm planning on getting a teaching job... does that count

 

I plan on making Kindergarten writing offices with file folders. I also plan on making a new behavior management system (doing the cards and starting on green but if someone is having a super day they can go UP to purple) I also plan on organizing my books better because I normally just grab one off the shelf in no order!

 

That's the most important change!

I'm going to try to do a better job of keeping organized (yeah, right). Actually, now that I know more about this job, I know how I am going to organize my room and my program differently in order to make things run more smoothly. I'm not taking a course this summer, so I'll do more at home to get ready for the new year.

 

I'm going to rearrange the placement of all my major bulletin boards.

I'm going to re-do my daily routine, to incorporate a "question of the day" and to revamp my calendar routine.

I'm going to go through my filing cabinet and make sure that I only have one copy of everything; no multiple copies that just take up space.

I'm going to organize my classroom library and make a list of "to buy" books to keep me on track when I buy books.

I'm going to rearrange my classroom to make it more open and easier to move around.

 

I don't know what I'll be teaching yet, but I plan to toss, toss, toss so I can streamline.

I plan to clean my room more often, allow more time for writing, come up with a few great longer-term projects.


Christy, I have tons and tons of 5th grade social studies resources. If you have any area of need, just ask and I will get it to you.

 

I am currently enrolled in a classroom management course, and the instructor swears that research proves that the best color to paint a room is pink -- apparently it calms everyone down!

 

PINK?? Really. I thought light blue would do that. Hmmmmm... Something to think about. I don't know about my 5th grade boys being too happy about pink room.

 

The idea of a pink room kinda threw me for a loop, too. She also says that if you don't have a window in your classroom, you should paint one on the wall, complete with outside view and frilly curtains inside! (Can you tell that she was once a school psychologist?)

 

I am lucky that I have windows Previously I have not. It really does make a difference with the lighting in a room.

I am leaning towards a buttercup yellow color. Perhaps just on my back wall (where the windows are). The white in my room really needs touching up too.

 

I will be beginning my fourth year teaching, but it will be the first time that I teach at the same school two years in a row! Here's a question for everyone out there: this year the kids started out on the right note and got progressively more wild as the year went on. What are your best management techniques for an all year good year? I teach grade 8, but am hoping to move to 6. Either way, I want to keep it a lot quieter, much more focused, and more engaging. Any advice? Thank you!

 

Upsadaisy,
If you have anything for 2nd grade that you plan on tossing, I'll take it off you hands. I am in Florida too.

 

I would love to take anything anyone is tossing that is for k-2. I love those grades. Currently, I'm a LST in kinder, but have taught pre-k and 2nd grade last year. I love K so much, but would be happy if I got k or 1st next year.

Miss Frizzle, let's hope we both get a permanent teaching job (and others out there looking).

Please, send me a PM if you have any great k-2 stuff (i'm certified pre-k to 3rd, but really most experience is in k-2 which is why I think I'll get something in those grades if I get a job that is).

Thanks!

 

I'm really working on becoming more organized. I've actually already started. I just finished redoing the Social Studies, Science, and Health curriculum maps for our grade level. I'm going to go throughout he Language Arts frameworks and create a curriculum map that will be more beneficial for us as well. I don't like the one that I currently have. In the next month I plan to go through all my files and clean them out. I want to organized them by subject and in order of how we teach them. We were in such a hurry to move in and have the school ready (we had 2 days before school started because we're in a new building) that we just kind of shoved stuff out of the way.

I will also change my classroom layout, which I always do. Actually ( ), I've changed it about 4-5 times already this year. We kept getting our furniture in after school started, so we had to change things around several times to make it work.

I also plan to revamp my website (again) so it's a little more friendly. I like it the way it is, but I still need to work on parts of it.

Another goal before the end of this school year, is to have a 1st of the year box with all the things I need for the 1st 2 weeks. It made it so much easier this year. I had copies already made for everything. You never know how those first 2 weeks are going to be. Since we moved buildings last year, I also took that box home so I knew it wouldn't get lost. I'm still missing 4 boxes from the move, so I'm glad I did.

 

touchthefuture, I haven't taught 2nd grade in about 10 years so I really have nothing. Sorry.

 

I like the idea if putting everything you need for the first two weeks of school in a box. Especially since I have to pack everything up yet again because we are getting new carpet, that would be nice to have all the supplies I need (nametags, bathroom passes, books, etc) all together so I don't have to frantically hunt for things! I'll do it now while I'm packing up, so I can have it handy and ready to go. Thanks.

 

It was nice to have it in a safe location at my house so I knew where everything was. It really saved time for me at the begining of the year. I did it as a "just in case" we didn't get into the new building in time, and I'm sure glad I did. I'm going to do it again because that's one less thing to worry about at the beginning of the year. It was also nice to be able to work on the little stuff like that during the summer.

 

Okay. Here's my new possible website. I don't have the correct inks on it yet, because I'm not 100% positive that this is my final draft. Let me know what you think.

New website:

 

I like it! It's a lot cleaner looking. It's easier to see all the links at a glance.

 

Thanks! I needed someone to confirm it.
For those just joining us, I've already changed the links on my last post. I replaced my old website with the new version. Of course, my link below is the actual first page of my website.

 

I plan to work on "preplanned" centers that are more independent for students. This will allow me the time to do one-on-one assessing and helping students with journal writing toward the end of the year.

I am likely going to be in a K classroom by myself next year, and doing EL lessons and reading intervention in the afternoon. I'm excited about having only to pick up after myself in the classroom! I hope that motivates me to get my lesson planning done on a more long-term basis, instead of weekly!