Just typing in the title of this post made me feel a bit misty. I regret that due to school district Internet policy I can’t share photos of the many incredible things we accomplished this year, but I’ll do my best to help out you visual learners:
I, personally, process information best when I have lists. Because it’s my job to figure out how to best help us learn, I put everything in list form so when we come back in September, I have a clear plan to lead us where we need to go!
Let’s celebrate first:
Things we did well this year (as a school, as a teacher, as a class)
- We were consistently complimented as having exemplary behavior in the hallways, in the library, and in assemblies.
- We received good sub reports, for the most part.
- We created and ran Wildwood’s first bookstore!!
- I made at least two positive family phone calls each week.
- We piloted The Daily Five!
- We used Letters to Ms. Houghton for the first time.
- We piloted the self-manager program!
- We had a good spiral review system for math.
- We started math team!
- We had a year-round track team.
- I won Wildwood’s Teacher of the Year.
- We earned more than $200 for our listening library from Donors Choose.
- We went to the zoo for free!
- We had several exciting Marble Rewards and writing celebrations.
- The community of King Lake was introduced to the world through Storypath.
Things I’m looking forward to improving next year
- More science and social studies! (yes — more Storypath! You don’t actually think I’d teach straight from the textbook, do you?)
- More rubrics sent home so families know exactly how their students are doing
- Better behavior reports from music and PE
- More high-quality art projects
- Making sure Letters to Ms. Houghton don’t stop after the WASL
- Using self-managers schoolwide
- Starting a math team page on the Wildwood Web site so we can post pictures
- Keeping my area of the classroom neat and tidy
- Having homework ready by the time school begins in the morning so we can pack it up right away
- Making sure everyone is in the habit of using planners
- Using the focus board more effectively
- Improving the Daily Five and using CAFE strategies
- Revisiting Afternoon Stations
- Getting all the books in our classroom cataloged and onto the shelves!
What did I miss? What are you looking forward to? Let me know!
Let’s be proud of all the hard work we did, and excited about what we have ahead of us! And for those of you moving or heading into a different classroom, you will always be a member of our community! I love you, and remember to stay safe.
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Sounds like you had a wonderful school year!