Planning for Next Year

The school year is coming to a close. Every day on Facebook there is a message from another teacher who is done for the summer.

Well, in my class we are still going strong. We start the SBAC math test next week. Insert sad face here, but that is a whole different topic.

Anyway, even though we still have a few weeks left of school, I am at that point in the year where I have covered the major things I want to cover, so a lot of my major planning is done. It is a great feeling.

Now, it is time to focus on next year.

My school district, like many other districts in Washington, has no elementary curriculum. None. This has made the last two years a little bit stressful. I moved grades last year, so I couldn't even reuse what I came up with the year before.

Last summer I tried planning with my new third grade team, but we just didn't get as much accomplished as I had hoped. I still ended up scrambling to gather resources and create a coherent plan. 

This summer, I am working on the plan on my own, so I know I will get it done. And, I am putting everything I create up on Teachers pay Teachers, Teacher's Notebook, and Edmodo, so I can share it with you! 

My plan is to create a curriculum that works for both teachers and kids.

I have already started working on the math plan, and I am so excited about it. This year I was really excited to use Engage NY. It worked really well this year because it gave me a plan. Having that plan made math this year a lot more successful than it was last year. However, I think it can be even better. 

Have you noticed that there are some lessons in Engage NY that just don't make a lot of sense? I found myself working so hard to teach a lesson to my kids, and then saw that it was never brought up again. I understand that Engage NY was designed to help kids understand math, but some of their steps just didn't work for me.

I also hated the tests. I felt like the exit tickets did not get the kids ready for the tests which were really heavy on the reading. This was a nightmare for all of my ELL students.

My goal is to create a curriculum that takes the best parts of Engage NY, uses specific direct instruction, creativity, and fun to teach math. I have already come up with the framework for the year, and it looks so good! I have time for every Common Core standard with buffers built in because you know we are always behind. 

Now, it is time to create the lessons, worksheets, quizzes, foldables, anchor charts, etc...