5 Days…Keep on Trucking!!!
It’s the last week of school, folks. I can’t believe this year is over…I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet. It’s been a GREAT year. I have learned so much, and I am SO excited to start next year fresh. I honestly don’t feel like I’ve done my best teaching this year. I can’t pinpoint it…I’m ashamed to say it. I have no idea why I feel that way. My kiddos have done great…their Reading Levels have soared. I’ve hit every TEK…followed district curriculum, but I just don’t feel in my heart that I’ve done my best teaching.
So, next year a is a fresh start. I want next year to be my best year yet…Year 5! When I was in college, everyone talked about Teacher Burnout…3 years and tons of teachers decide it’s not for them. I want to tell new teachers that it can be the opposite. I am more excited to start this new year than I have been. I feel like each year I teach, I get more passionate about my job, find more love for my kids, and want to try even harder.
How are you feeling? How was your year? The best part of blogging is that we are a community. I hope that when YOU feel burnt out, you reach out. We can help you…and listen. 🙂
Anyway…I don’t know why I wrote all of this, it wasn’t planned, haha. BUT I wanted to say it. 🙂 On to what we’ve been up to!
Our last writing unit is Poetry. So fun! Next year, it will be at a different time of the year. I’m kind of sad about that…I love having it at the end of the year. We need some light hearted writing at the end of the year, don’t ya think!
I used three great units during our Poetry Unit!
I would DEFINITELY recommend all 3 of these! We were on a copy shortage so I didn’t get to use all of the pages that I wanted to, haha. BUT they helped me with ideas, and gave me everything I needed for our last writing unit!
To start our unit, I sent home Reagen’s Rainbow Name bow as a family project. When I purchased it, I didn’t realize a parent letter was included. But I LOVED that about it…it has definitely inspired me to do more family projects! Parents wrote adjectives to describe their kids…EVERY SINGLE one of my kids brought it back. That is cause for celebration if you ask me! I actually was able to leave it as a sub project when I had a training.
I wish I had more pictures of their parent pages, or some close ups. They brightened my room up SO much.
Next, we wrote our Color Poems. After they wrote them, I typed them up while they were painting a background for their painting. I told them that they could make any design or pattern they wanted…they just had to use the color they chose. 🙂
Did you celebrate Children’s Book Week?? We did, it was SO much fun. Every day, we had a theme. Teachers on my school came up with some great ideas!! We wear uniforms so getting theme days is the BEST! The kiddos get so excited, and they just look darling! Here’s how it went down…
Monday, we reread The Day the Crayons Quit. The kiddos go to dress in all one color. So fun!
On Tuesday, we reread A Bad Case of Stripes. Of course, they got to wear stripes.
On Wednesday, they wore sunglasses for Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses. We have been talking a lot about having a positive attitude, so this fit in SO perfectly.
On Thursday, we watched an adorable video review on Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Kiddos wore all black/white. So FUN…plus, our kid is like it’s own Wimpy Kid fan club.
And on Friday, we had our Character Parade. The kiddos came dressed as their favorite book character. This 2nd grade teacher totally DOMINATED Junie B. I can’t believe I didn’t get a picture of her. My team decided to be the girls from the Pinkalicious series. Now, I know that she always wears pink..but we just went with all the colors…and her little brother. AWESOME!
How cute is my team??!?!? And don’t you love Kendall’s Eric Carle art??! Our hallway was in charge of decorating with Eric Carle.
We also wrapped up our last Social studies unit…Needs/Wants and Goods/Services. We hit a little bit on Community Helpers and Authority Figures too! One of their favorite projects was making Goods Drive and Services Street.
I got this idea a few years ago from this adorable blog, but it won’t let me link to it. 🙁 Here is the pin…
Anyway, I hope you are having a great week. How much longer do you have???
