Titling this brain dump *really* bothers me, because it’s such an awful term, but that’s what this post is going to be. Just because I need it today. So I’m going to roll with it.

• So, my new class. Let’s talk about them. They’re different from any class I’ve had before. Really challenging. I know my teaching tenure is short, but this is a first for me – to have such extreme diversity in learners. And sometimes, like today, I am frustrated because I just feel like I cannot do enough to advance my sweet pumpkins. Grrrrr.

• The Daily 5? I’m stuck at Day 11. And have been for a looooong time. I love what I’ve done with them so far, but I’m going to keep it real and say that I cannot get through material quick enough to move along efficiently in the program. Then, there’s the other part of me that thinks…I functioned fine without the Daily 5 last year. My kids excelled, so why should I change it? I’m thinking of reverting back to my old ways.   Feel free to convince me otherwise!!!

• So excited to do holiday stuff with my kiddos! I have some cutie stuff to do with my dears leading up to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! {PS. Only 88 days until Christmas! What?! Cah-razy!}

• Random phone photos.  Sorry about the quality.  Nothing life changing.  Just more anchor charts.

When we studied beginning, middle, and end… Last week we talked about author’s purpose, but I felt like they would develop a better understanding if we first defined fiction and nonfiction.  So, we spent the first part of the week distinguishing between the two, and then moved on to author’s purpose. {Does anyone who uses Treasures feel like it has waaaaaaay too many daily objectives? I do!!!  I usually review the ELA standards, see what fits with our district timeline, and then pick and choose what skill I want to work on for the week based on what’s going on in Treasures.  Totally exhausting when it comes to lesson planning, though!} For fiction, after I introduced the definition, we discussed the students’ favorite fiction characters.  Then, I handed them a small scrap of paper and they illustrated their favorite characters and we pasted them to our anchor chart.

• Speaking of learning targets, here’s how I post mine in my room…

This is a bulletin board sized poster, and the sentence strips are laminated so I can change them out frequently with dry erase markers.  It’s right by our whole group area, so we refer to our targets throughout the lesson and school day. 

• Would anyone be interested in Math in Focus activities (i.e. freebies, TpT units) to supplement the program?  I *really* like it for my firsties, but am adding a lot of extra practice to ensure mastery.  Let me know what you think!  I just wanted to see if there would be any interest.

Hope y’all are having a great week.  Tomorrow’s hump day!  Yay!