Year-End Round Up!

Over the next week or so, I'm going to talk in depth about some of the things that worked really well for me this year in terms of instruction, building relationships, classroom management, technology, and of course, organization! I couldn't wait to share these, so I had to give a brief overview today!

Instruction

ISN's: Not a new topic for me, but we did a bit more with it this year, and I was pleased with the results!

Writer's Notebooks and Grammar Invitations: Yes! I'm going to talk more about the writer's notebooks, and the grammar invitations, at long last!

Writer's Workshop: This strategy grew and blossomed this year, and I really enjoyed the results!

Paper Annotation and Checklists: When there isn't time for a full blown workshop, this was a great way for students to self-check their work and take ownership to understand what and how they wrote!

Genius Hour: Oh, genius hour, how I loved thee. As did the students. Can't wait to talk about this one!

Reading Conferences: Want to really know what books to have your students read? (Hint: don't just give them a list based on their lexile score)

Technology

Edmodo: Still kickin'. Still the absolute best way to communicate with students.

One Note: I hadn't used it in years, and I was hesitant because I'm such an apple snob. Guess what, it's still amazing!

Weebly: Students blogged about their progress this year, and took amazing ownership of the process.

Padlet: Online bulletin board, so many ways to incorporate into your lessons.

Class Gmail Account: Talk about a nice way to keep track of student progress!

Organization

Classroom Calendars and CONSTANT reminders: I was absolutely obnoxious this year about reminding my students when things were due. Obnoxious. It worked for the most part!

While You Were Out Binder:  I had a lot of chronically absent students this year, this saved me so much time explaining myself over and over (when I remembered to do it!)

Intelliscanner (Classroom Library): I was so faithful with this system this year and only had ONE, yes, ONE missing book from my classroom library at the end of the year. It's a miracle!