Guided Math

I am throwing in the towel with whole group math and giving guided math a go! I decided to take a risk this summer and switch over and work on implementing guided math for the upcoming school year! Whole group teaching is great, for some things, but math is such an intense and vital aspect in our curriculum that I feel it really needs to be tailored to every students learning.  

I attempted guided math with my class last year, however I started in the middle of the year and it was just something that they could not handle.  To be honest, it was something that I couldn't handle either.  Being a first year teacher with the class that I had was overwhelming enough and I just did not implement it the right way.  So, essentially I gave up, but alas, I am not a quitter and I am most definitely trying it again!  This year I plan to start right from the beginning and layout expectations and routines early.

In our district we had 90 minutes for our Math block. I don't have a schedule yet, but that is a whole other rant that I could go on! I assume that this year it is going to be the same.  For the first five minutes of that block we will be doing quick warm up. It might be review from the day before, last week, last month, etc.  Essentially something super quick that the can do and I can go over with them within five minutes.  Our curriculum then goes on to have a "message."  That math message will be the next five minutes of the block. Again, long enough for them to read, discuss, and we can go over within that five minute allotment. When complete with that ten minutes, students will then transition into their math groups. 

Everything that I will be using for my guided math groups this next year comes from Miss West Best on Teachers Pay Teachers! You can find this guided math resource here. What I love about this resource is that it is editable and I can change what I need to in order to meet my classrooms needs.  

Resource purchased from TPT, here. Fonts I used to edit the pages are from Miss 5th and they can be purchased here. Photo Credit: 5th with Miss Gazda

On Monday's, my students will receive the agenda. They will use it all week long and it will tell them which rotation they will be in first and move to next and so on that day. I edited the original resource to my needs for my classroom. The lesson section will be the lesson that we are working on on this day.  I can go in and edit it every week, then save it for years to come.  This is something that will take a lot of prep time at first but then I can grab it and go next time. So I don't mind putting forth the effort now when I can. In the tasks column, I will have their rotations they are getting to that day, what centers they will be working on, and what technology they can access each day.

A big part of guided math is that the students are going to need to hold themselves accountable to finish their work and ask the questions when they need to. This is something that I will definitely be going over and teaching within the first few days of school.  Then it will eventually just become routine for them! Each week, students will fill out the guided math reflection.  Obviously I am going to personally know how each student did each week.  Will I miss things? Absolutely! However, in using the reflection, I know which students are being truthful and which of those I need to have a conversation with or go over expectations with again. 

The rest of the pages that I am going to be using will go in my teacher binder for guided math.  The groups pages are large enough that I can simply put a post-it note in the square and easily change groups if I need to! The lesson plan page is something that I will edit with each lesson that I am going to teach.  I will only be doing one lesson plan per lesson in our given curriculum. You'll notice that at the bottom of the lesson plan page I have a section for differentiation of groups.  Here is where I will put what differences I need to make for each of the groups so that they learn on their level. The assessment section is there so that I know I need to give each student a quick informal assessment to know that they understood what I taught them for that lesson.  If they didn't get it right then I know that I need to reteach to that student.

Photo Credit: 5th with Miss Gazda

This is definitely a work in progress! Right now this is how I am planning to implement it into my classroom.  As I actually start the school year with my kids I may need to change how I am running it and what they are doing.  There is research that I have read this summer that shows small group instruction is everything! Students learn at their level, retain information better, can ask questions without embarrassment, and the best yet, it helps you to form connections and relationships with your students that you wouldn't have if you taught whole group.

I am in no way an expert on this topic, but if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask! Until next time!

-Miss Gazda

It's time!

SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW! I get to welcome at least 23 new faces into my room tomorrow morning.  Internally I am freaking out...but know that everything will be just fine and I will ump back into the swing of things.  Now that my classroom is ready it's time for a reveal...drumroll please!

Before

After

Before

After

I went through everything in the room and it took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears...and honestly some (okay a lot) of wine! There is a lot of things planned for the first few days and just learning the routine...excited for this year and to see what happens! Short post because my brain is so filled with information and I need to get ready for bed because I am exhausted!

The beginning of the end!

So! By now I know y'all know that I have uprooted my comfy and cozy life in Des Moines and moved it to no so comfy, very different, where I know no one, Southeast Iowa! Much of my family know it as home of Radar O'Reilly and I am sure that it will be the running joke for quite some time. Here I will be teaching 5th grade at one of the elementary schools.  It is definitely going to be a change of pace and will put me outside of my comfort zones for the days to come! 

I came down for a visit in early June and met my co-teacher and got the keys to the school and my room.  Since I moved, I have been spending A LOT of my time in the last two weeks going through file cabinets, book shelves, desks, and taking things off of the wall..and I am not done yet.  It's a very daunting task and I wonder how I am ever going to get everything done in the month* that I have before I start professional development and a few short days later fill the classroom with children. I am really still in disbelief or maybe denial that I am going to be in charge of 26, give or take a few, students.

***A MONTH?!?!?!  Insert a terrified emoji here!

Photo of my classroom the day I took it over in early June!

Photo of my classroom the day I took it over in early June!

What it looks like now that I've gotten my hands on it, early July.

What it looks like now that I've gotten my hands on it, early July.

I have one very small section to go through still but I am taking the day off and resting and will finish up next week! The custodians have gotten smart by putting large garbage bins and extra trash bags outside of my room for me...and have been so kind to take care of the many garbage piles I left them.  It has been a blessing to take over from a teacher that has retired because she left me ALL of her stuff for which I have been grateful for, but I have also found things from 1976...so it was time for much of it to go!

It was a rough start to finding a place to live in Ottumwa, but I ended up finding a literal diamond in the rough! It is peaceful and quiet and perfect for me.  I have dubbed myself the new "Snow White" because I've have multiple woodland creature sitings.  One of the first nights I was here there was an Owl just relaxing on the staircase.  I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me! Thank goodness mom was here too prove it. The next day or two we saw a momma deer and baby doe.  Since then I have seen the deer again, woodpeckers, a fox, many different birds, and I am sure in time I will see more and more! Pictures are below of my place...please don't mid any mess that you may see...I am still working on getting "settled"!

My absolute favorite part of the house, kitchen! Massive and lots of counter space to aide and abet my love of cooking and baking.

The momma deer Mom and I saw one of the first nights I moved in.

Sunset from the porch

Counter space galore!

Dining area and window seat

Living room, still waiting for my furniture!

Entry to bedroom

Screened in porch, amaaaaazing!

 I hope to continue blogging through my first year of teaching and updating with pictures as my classroom starts to be put together in the coming weeks! Don't hold me to too much updating because it is going to be an insane and crazy first year!

Just like that...

Just like that, spring semester is over!  I am also sitting here, currently on the last shift of my job that I've had on campus for the last year and a half.  I am not too sure what I should make of all these changes. 

Rewind and then fast forward.  I started writing this post last week and of course got distracted and or busy.  My bad! So I'll start all over again.  Spring semester is now over but summer courses started yesterday.  That's right, a whole 4 days of summer break.  Iowa State is SO thoughtful! (Sarcasm.)

Last Friday I got to meet my cooperating teacher that I will be with for the 16 weeks of student teaching.  I AM SO EXCITED! She was also very excited to be working in the Trinect project and excited to have me in the classroom.  It is also going to be a very different experience for both of us.

Saturday I got to see and celebrate graduation with a couple of my closest friends.  So happy that I met them in college, it wouldn't have been the same experience without them!

So I sit here and I have started another "semester".  This time it is about 4 weeks long and VERY condensed and shortened.  I have some of the best peers in my summer blocks and so far we are having a bunch of fun!*

Mom and Babcia are coming to Iowa this weekend! I am happy to have a small piece of home visit, I have been pretty homesick lately. (I thought that I was over that stage in my life!)

Since there is really too much else going on, I don't have much else to talk about now! I'll see y'all next time.

*Disclaimer: We will most likely change our minds towards the end!

The Sweetest Gift..

SO MUCH has been going on since the last time the I wrote!  Things have been really crazy with dead week being this week and finals next week! The light at the end of the tunnel is growing larger day by day.

A couple weeks ago was my last day at practicum with my kiddos.  After four weeks of being with them I didn't really want to leave them but I knew that it was time.  In leaving them I knew that they would be the first kiddos that I ever taught and I would remember them in that way.  My practicum experience was not the greatest compared to some others, but what I took out of my experience will be invaluable as I prepare for having my own classroom someday.  The title of the post is based on what I received in the mail the other day.  A package of letters and pictures from my students!  Something that I will have forever to remember them by.

Since my last day of practicum the weeks have been a blur!  We started having regular class again, there was homework on top of homework, and work to consume my time.  So now I sit here and think of some of the more exciting things starting to take shape!

In the midst of all things crazy, I had a meeting about student teaching. For those of you who don't know what I will be doing, let me fill you in!  I chose to part of a STEM grant that some professors are working on at Iowa State.  STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  This grant allows 10 student teachers to work with a cooperating teacher in the Des Moines Public School District and a Masters or PhD student in the College of Engineering.  The three of us work together to bring more of the STEM concepts into the classroom.  The grant is also supposed to help someone like me whose endorsements are not in science or mathematics.  Let me tell you, I need all the help with math a girl can get! Definitely not one of my strong suits.  Anyway, I found this to be a really interesting opportunity that I just could not pass up.  I will spend 16 weeks in one classroom, have weekly meetings with our group of adults, and I will be getting paid to student teach.  SAY WHAT? No one gets paid to student teach.  I told y'all that it was an interesting opportunity!  Back to the meeting; I met the PhD student that I will be working with, and got my placement!  I will be in a 3rd grade classroom at a DMPS that is 8 miles from my apartment.  How did I get so lucky?  I get to meet my cooperating teacher at the end of this week.  I AM SO EXCITED! I told you that light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger!

The next best thing to happen this week is that two lovely gems in my life are coming home to IOWA and graduating...all in one week! I am so very excited to see them and celebrate! :) 

The last thing is that finals are this week! This semester has been a long one and I can't wait for it to be over.  The only bad thing about this is that I get 4 days of summer vacation and then it is back to hitting the books for summer block.

Within the last week or so it has really started to hit me that other than this summer, I will not be on campus anymore.  This nonsense is playing games in my head!  To think that I wont be on a college campus everyday? What is this life that you speak of?  The road has been long...

Third grade, here I come!