Reflecting Back...

Now that the school year is over and summer is upon us (and it's an amazing one so far), I'm reflecting back on some of the amazing things that occurred this past year in first grade.  This past year I went from having 1 i-pad in my classroom to having 7.  It still isn't the 2:1 i-pad program that we envision for our first grade classrooms, but we're moving in the right direction!  By having this many i-pads in my classroom, I've been able to do so much more technology wise with my students.  

One of the programs that I've been able to use with my students so much this year is Reflex Math.  It is a great program, where the students practice math fluency facts based on their grade and ability level.  My students were obsessed with it this year and begged me to play it more often!  I loved being able to watch them become more confident in both their math and technology skills through the use of this program!  

However, only having 7 i-pads (usually 6 as there always happened to be one that needed to be charged), it was a challenge to make sure all of my students were able to reach the recommended amount of time for the program so that we would be able to see results.  I was able to help my students be able to see more results by creating a specific Reflex Math Schedule.  There was a morning and an afternoon schedule.  The morning schedule allowed all 6 i-pads to be used daily to make sure ALL students were able to have access to reflex math (and play until their light turned from red to green) twice a week.  6 students a day would unpack in the morning and then play reflex math during morning work time.  Then there also was an afternoon schedule.  This schedule was different.  This schedule was a "bonus" schedule for students whom needed extra time with their math facts.  These students got 2-3 "bonus" Reflex Math sessions a week where they would be able to play only AFTER they completed their daily math work.  These schedules helped my students know when they each were able to play the game, helped me be able to know whom already had played that week and whom also needed more time, and also helped me figure out who wasn't playing at home (and needed extra time at school with the program).  See examples of the schedule here.

As the students continued to use this program, I noticed that they weren't challenging themselves with the program as much as I believed that they could.  So, in order to help my student challenge themselves more I created a place cart.  This chart helped my students see what place they were in against their classmates with the goal being to move up throughout the rest of the school year.  I don't normally like to add competition into the classroom, but this really helped my students.  The sense of competition helped them realize that they needed to push themselves a little more and so I started seeing their scores improving and my students were so excited to see what place they were in-it goes up to the 21st place (I updated it every other day on a laminated chart).    

Feel free to grab this chart from my TPT store.  

Turning over a New Teaching Leaf!

At the end of this school year, I finished my 9th year teaching and my 7th year teaching 1st grade.  It is still mind blowing to me that I am old enough to have been teaching for 9 years.  I am in a place (physically-being in Baltimore and professionally-teaching at a Urban Charter School) in my life that I never thought I would be in, and I'm loving every second of it.  There are ups and downs of course, but there are definitely more ups then downs.  I never thought I'd leave Long Island to teach and here I am finding myself living in Baltimore for the past 8 years-a city that I have come to love and call my second "home".

Dressed up like we're 100
years old for the 100th
day of school

I have been so lucky to teach 1st grade for the past 7 years with a great team.  They've gone along with all of my crazy ideas and we have created a strong curriculum that has helped us empower our students to become strong readers whom love school and learning! 1st grade is near and dear to my heart and has been one of the best teaching experiences I have ever had.  I love the excitement and joy that the little ones bring into my classroom every day and the look of pure awe they show when they accomplish something that they thought was impossible just a day ago!  

However, throughout this year I have felt that it was time for a new challenge in my teaching career.  I spent a good portion of my out of classroom time, thinking of what I would like this new challenge to include and the 2 main things that have continued to come up were-special education and educational technology.  I've always had a passion for special education (being dual certified in elementary and special education I always teach an inclusive group of first graders), and felt that it was time to challenge myself in that direction, while still continuing to pursue my educational technology passions.  

So, next year I will be changing positions at my school.  I am very excited about this new change and challenge, but am also very nervous.  I will be leaving the safety net of my amazing team to challenge myself and will be joining a new team that I am very excited to work with.  I am excited to learn new things and push myself in a new direction.  I'm excited to be able to use my passion for technology with a new group of students and see how that passion can help my students grow and thrive towards their goals.  I'm nervous about all of the unknowns that I of course can't control and the fact that I will be trying something new.  I'm nervous of a different type of work, and the fact that I will need to re-teach myself how to balance my life.  But, the excitement continues to outweigh the nervousness and so...it's time and I look forward to whatever comes next. :)    

I look forward to this new challenge and all that will come with it!  Here are to new changes and challenges and all of the possibilities that will come with it!!