I won’t explain why it’s important for teachers to have a summer break – you all know why. But for me it gives me a chance to recalibrate. Next fall, I am taking on two new grade levels: Kindergarten and 1st grade. I will be teaching math to K-4th graders, previously I taught 2-5th grade. So this summer I have three main goals:
Goal 1: Create the first three weeks Kindergarten/1st curriculum.
I’m excited to get a chance to develop the complete elementary spectrum. I will need to develop a Kindergarten/1st curriculum to go along with my 2-5th curriculum. My goal for my budding mathematicians is for them to be engaged in their math thinking. I want them to be inquisitive, excited, and confident with their math problem solving and skills. I have four resources that I am going to heavily rely on:
This book will help me with the structure, format, and management of my math time. I will have about 45 minutes a day, so I will need to be efficient .
While I don’t have this newest edition (I have the 1999 version), it’s a math bible for me. So I’m going to use this to help with the content of my lessons as well as establish the topic flow.
These two books by John Van De Walle are the perfect companions to my Marilyn Burns bible. My edition is dog-eared, scribbled in and is well-used for my 2-5th graders. Now I get to focus on the K-1 content.
I am picturing a math workshop format, starting with a whole class discussion, using Number Talks or a class discussion on the topic we are exploring. After this, students will move to the station they want to explore. The stations will be hands-on and open-ended, at least for awhile. The students might be playing with blocks, making patterns with buttons, or sorting shapes. Not sure yet, but I will be developing this over the next couple weeks and posting my plans on this blog.
Goal 2: Should I incorporate Google classroom?
I do have a growing collection of google drive ready math materials designed for my upper elementary classes (3-5th grade). I am going to research whether I should be using Google classroom. Stay-tuned on this blog to see this process.
Goal 3: Archive my math materials.
Over the years I have created many math resources that are in binders and folders. I need to spend some time making online versions of the resources and archive them so I can use them on google classroom (if necessary) but at least have them in a digital format. This might take awhile and isn’t as much of a priority as the goals 1 and 3, but it’s something I can do while binging on some of my favorite shows.
These are ambitious goals, especially since I teach at a year-round school I will be going back to school in about a month. I will focus on the 1st goal and have a plan for at least the first week. So stay tuned!
