Organization...Me?

Ladybug's Teacher Files

I can't believe I am even THINKING about joining an organization linky- I have a lot of strengths but organization isn't one of them.  But I do try!  Here are some things I have done this year that have made my life a little easier.

Last summer it seemed like these teacher toolkits were everywhere on blogs and Pinterest!  I am so glad I jumped on the bandwagon.   I love knowing where all my supplies are!  Now I just need to remember to restock it from time to time. 

I have shared how I organize my math supplies in previous posts, but I love how this system works for me.  I like my students to have access to many different manipulatives.  The labeled boxes make it easy for the kids to find what they need and know where to return everything.  Another math idea I used this year is a math toolkit for each student.  Each students keeps a ziplock bag in his/her desk with counters, a number line, a double ten frame, and a hundreds chart.  I loved not having to pass out these things when starting a lesson, and they had many tools for problem solving right in their desks.

These little coupon holders from the Dollar Spot at Target are perfect for organizing word cards and journal prompts!  Click here if you'd like to read more about how I use journal prompts.

Evernote may prove to be the most useful organizational tool I have ever used!  I'm still just exploring the possibilities, but I'm already in love!  I am the new team leader for our first grade team and will need to attend a lot of meetings and share information with my team.  Hopefully by using Evernote to take notes and organize them, I will be able to keep my team informed and complete whatever tasks administration asks of me.  Read about my love of Evernote here!
Evernote has been very useful during writing conferences these last few weeks. Right now I'm searching for other useful tools and tips as I really want to step up my writing instruction next year.  Please check out my very first linky- Writing Tips- and share some of your tips and strategies for effective writing instruction.

Click here to link up!

Resolution Reflections

As I was enjoying my coffee early this morning, the notification beep sounded on my phone.  Curious as to who else was up so early on a Saturday, I quickly checked.  It was a calendar reminder:  Blog about goal progress.
Back in August I wrote a post about my resolutions for the new school year (here) and set a calendar reminder to blog about them each month. Oops, that didn't happen!  I guess I've ignored most of the reminders so far!  But since it's a Saturday morning and I have no real plans, I decided to revisit my resolutions.

Organization:  I think I just have to accept that this is always going to be a challenge for me!  However, I have done a much better job of keeping my teaching table usable this year.  My math supplies are well organized but not particularly tidy right now.  I am using a paper sorter to keep my homework sheets and other worksheets/recording sheets organized.  For the past 2 years I would often find myself frantically searching for the day's homework assignment at dismissal time.  This year I know exactly where they are!  My desk is a disaster but I am hopeful that now that I have discovered all that Evernote  (see here and here) can do for me, some of my paper clutter might be eliminated.

I really need to get rid of all this!

Guided Math:  I still can't believe how much I am enjoying teaching math!  With my background as a literacy coach and reading intervention teacher, I never imagined that I would now consider math to be my strongest area as a teacher!

Math station fun from December.

Guided Reading:  One of my goals was to spice up my guided reading activities.  Thanks to Pinterest and TPT, my activities are now much more varied and fun.  Since most of my children are reading at or beyond grade level at this time, I'm thinking about conducting my reading block in more of a workshop format for the rest of the year.  I'd like to have my students work in reading partnerships or book club/literature circle type groups and really focus on having meaningful conversations about books.  I'll still pull groups, but they will be skill or strategy groups and not necessarily leveled groups.  Still planning it out in my head and gathering ideas from these 2 books:

Technology: With all of the new tools, apps and ideas springing up all the time, I don't think I will ever be exactly where I want to be with technology.  Personally, I am using more and more technology in my teaching every day, but I still need to do a better job of putting the tools in the students' hands.  I had hoped to have them blogging by now, but getting them to use individual logins and saving their work is a little harder than I anticipated. Plus there is just so much that has to be done in first grade! My kids did such a great job using the Ipod touches and Kindle during our Dr. Seuss unit; I just wished my Ipods weren't so old so I could download new apps.  Since the Kindle is my personal device, I'm hesitant to use it all the time at school.  (I don't want some tech-savvy little friend to discover Fifty Shade of Grey in my archived books!)  I have checked out some Netbooks to use and hope to do more, but I really need Ipads or the newest version of the Ipod Touch!  Our PTA is working on it for us so maybe next year!

So right now I feel pretty good about this year, and with 2 months left, I think there is plenty of time to work on those areas that need strengthened, at least until the end-of-year craziness sets in!