2nd Quarter Wrap-Up

Another quarter has come and gone, and I have reached the half-point of the school year even though it is hard to believe. I remember how the time after Christmas break typically seems to go exceptionally fast, so I am gearing up for the end of the school year to suddenly sneak up on me.

With all three grades it was a relaxing last day of the quarter. All of the assessments/assignments for the quarter were due yesterday or before, so today we were able to have some independent reading and a writing celebration for students to share their imaginative writing from the quarter and provide positive feedback for each other.

My co-worker and I were also pleased with the way the new system that we set up to organize and document our conferring with students has been working. We have found a better balance of prioritizing check-ins, as well as weighing the importance of record keeping vs. the time it takes to do so depending on the student.

Next quarter the first two weeks I will be doing a writing to a prompt genre study, and then in the third week my 7th graders will do their state writing assessment, while the other two grade levels complete a writing work sample. This year the 7th graders will do their assessment on the computers for the first time (I was able to choose between paper/pencil or computer versions), so I will include focus lessons about computer formatting in my genre study.

With my 8th graders a lot of the second half of the year will focus on their long-term goals, gearing up mentally for high school, and reflecting on their experiences at our k-8 school. I also want to try out having some 8th graders host book clubs on their Google Sites for the younger grades for the first time. I will probably pilot it with no more than three eighth graders.

With sixth graders, I want to step back with writing and dedicate more time to writer's notebooks - gathering ideas and documenting everyday life, as well as focusing on details that catch and maintain readers' attentions.

Now until the end of the year will also be busy with a lot of state testing. Some of my students have already taken their first round of the reading assessment, but the rest of the students will do their first attempt the week after writing assessments. Then students who do not meet in the first round will have two more opportunities, as well as having three opportunities in math. Then there is the English Language Proficiency Assessment and science for the eighth graders. Even though all of the testing does not directly impact my classroom, the other teachers and I do coordinate so that students are not doing multiple tests at the same time so that they do not get burnt out of testing.

Let's see what the rest of the year will bring!