Planning by the Pool Blog Hop!

Hello, everyone! Thank you so much for visiting my very first blog hop! Make sure to work your way through the entire blog hop because every participant is offering an amazing freebie! (Not to mention their great ideas about planing over the summer.)

I don't know about you, but I always have big plans for the summer. If I end up getting half of what I plan done, then I consider that an accomplishment.

One big thing I am working on this summer is planning an entire curriculum for the year. My goal is to have every worksheet, test, exit ticket, and homework assignment created and ready by September. This sounds absolutely crazy, but I have to try because I know how good life will be next year if I can get this done. Our school district does not have a curriculum for anything, so things get pretty hectic throughout the year!

This year I used Engage New York (or Eureka Math), and I really liked some parts of it. However, my biggest complaints were that I didn't really like the order, especially at the end of the year and it didn't spend enough time focusing on elapsed time or area and perimeter. So, I am taking what I like from there and reworking it to fit my needs.

Another area that I really want to focus is my literacy block. I started the year doing Daily 5, but that kind of fell away as I worked to teach all of the standards. This summer I am going to spend some time researching and thinking about how to do Daily 5 and teach all of the standards. If you have ideas, I would love to hear them!

Finally, I want to refine how I do Genius Hour in my classroom. We have been doing this to end the day most days, and I love that it offers kids some choice right when they are getting restless. It made the ends of our days so peaceful and refreshing. However, I feel like I gave them too much choice this year. Next year, I want to have kids come up with a plan and work towards a goal. For example, learning how to knit and then knitting a sweater, drawing a comic book, scoring a certain number of points in chess. I think that I will come up with sample plans this summer. Kids can choose these plans, or create their own plans. That way their progress can be measured throughout the year, and Genius Hour doesn't become synonymous with "free time".

Now, for my freebie. This product has become one of my biggest sellers, and as a big thank you to all my readers as the summer starts, it will be free for one week. You can get it at either Teacher's pay Teachers.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my summer plans! Now, please visit the next stop on the blog hop!

Summer Blog Hop

You will have to wait a little while longer to read the Planning by the Pool Blog Hop, but lucky for you, you can still join in being a contributor! Just grab the picture below, and send me the link to your post. I will e-mail you with the post you need to link up to. Happy blogging!

My Goals for the Summer

So, I am staying up way too late to link up with I Heart Grade 3 for her weekly summer link-up. This week's topic: Goals for the Summer. Let me tell you, I have quite a few, and they are big!

1. Write Curriculum for Next Year

Yep, that's right. Write curriculum. Why on Earth would I have to do that, you ask. Well, our district does not provide curriculum. We have this weird online portal they are building that has links to different resources and lessons, but that just doesn't work for me, so I am making my own. Well, as much as I can.

This year we decided to use Engage NY for math, and I really liked it for a lot of reasons. However, I also really didn't like it for a lot of reasons too. I have already made my new math plan, and while it doesn't work in the same order as Engage NY, I will be using a lot of their ideas. 

Luckily, for reading and writing, I have been creating a lot this year, so I will just have to pull from resources I have already created.

2. Vegas, Baby!

Not really a goal, but I am so excited for Vegas! It is going to be a huge whirlwind because we are only coming in for two days (one night!). I still need to get my stuff ordered... I guess that is a goal...

3. Up My Performance on Teacher's pay Teachers

Teachers pay Teachers has been so good to me. It is a blessing in my life for so many reasons. However, I really neglected it last year while I was pregnant, and I didn't see the growth I was capable of. 

Now it is time to nurture my little store again and get back to business! I have a dream that someday my husband will be able to stay home and take care of our many, many kids. I know I can make that happen if I stick with it!

4. Start a Video Presence

I have been wanting to add a video presence to my TpT Universe for a long time, but it is really hard to shoot videos with four kids running around - well, you know, three running and one crawling. I am really committed to getting this videos made this summer. We are hiring two, yes, two, babysitters to watch the kids, so I can take care of business.

Well, I am super-pumped for summer now! It is like ten months long, right? Anyway, thanks for reading! Be sure to click on the picture at the top of this post to visit the linky and read all about everyone else's summer goals!