The First Six Weeks: 2012-2013

Ruth Charney's invaluable book, Teaching Children to Care, provides the backbone I use for the first six weeks of the school year. Charney provides a step-by-step guide to creating a caring classroom community.

Each year the first six weeks in my classroom look a bit different because I am responding to a new group of students, and because I incorporate the learning from the past year into the next.  What will the first six weeks of the 2012-2013 school year bring?

I want to ponder this question early in the summer so that during long summer walks, bike rides, reading and research, I can further my investigation of each area of focus. Hence, I've created the menu below:

The First Six Weeks Menu 2012-2013

• The Ninety-Minute Literacy Studio: Reading, Writing, Speaking, Research
• Protocols
• Room Design
• Writing Menu: blogs, Google docs, NING, paper/pencil. . .
• Book Choices: Classroom Library Introduction
• Individual Meetings: The Book Whisperer
• Assessment
• Collaborating w/PLC
• The One-Hour Math Block
• Protocols
• Math Materials: folder, website, math book, notebooks, online sites.
• Assessment
• Learning/Teaching Strategies
• Number Sense: Starting Unit
• Teamwork: We Are Team 15
• What is team?  How does a successful team work?
• Rules and Protocols Related to Classroom, Tech Use, Recess. . .
• Getting to Know Each Other.
• PhotoBooth
• Learning to Learn Skills*, Habits and Environment
• What do successful learners do?
• What attributes do successful learners display?
• Desk, Room and Learning Centers Set-Up, Understanding.
• Class Culture.
• Patterns of Thought
• School-Wide Expectations: We Are Part of a Greater Community.
• What's Your Culture Unit?
• mental maps
• self portraits
• culture flags
• culture discussion/readings
• culture interactive read aloud: The Gold Threaded Dress
• Project Base Learning: The Self Portrait Poetry Anthology
• Establish Routines
• Weekly Folder/Sign-Off Sheet
• Regular Lexia, Reading Response, Math Open Response, Writing
• Regular Homework Review

In the coming weeks, I'll pull together each of the units above in specific posts. I welcome your thoughts and ideas as I plan for a new year of teaching.  Like the sweet smells of a bread baking in the oven, this is just the sweet start of a wonderful year to come.

*This is the film I created for the GTA application.