Pure Bliss

Hello bloggy friends! I am posting from the very beautiful Hotel Bellagio in Bellagio, Italy and I couldn't be happier or more relaxed. Mr. Sneaker and I spent a few days in Venice but we didn't have Internet in the room and for some reason my iPad wouldn't connect to the wifi in the lounge, so I wasn't able to post from there. We had a lovely time seeing the sights, eating delicious food, and riding water taxis and a gondola. I have tons of pics, but I will have to wait and post them when we get back this weekend.

So far we have been pretty lazy in Bellagio, but that's what vacations are for, right? I enjoy sightseeing and learning about new cultures and places, but I also like to just chill and hang out sometimes. And relaxing is good for me because I had some good classroom ideas and ideas for my paper.

I was thinking about what to do with the kiddos during ELD time this year which is when some of the kiddos are pulled out for English Language Development. We have strict rules about what we are not allowed to do during that time--basically we are not allowed to teach anything new that those children will miss, which I completely understand and agree with, but at the same time with our very short day, we want to use all the minutes we have, so that time of day is always difficult. Anything I do with the remaining kids, I wish I could do with all the kids...we are allowed to practice skills, review, etc., so last year I did a mixture of things. I had high hopes of activity stations, which started out as choice time, but then I felt like I wanted more structure during that time.

This year, I know I want to be more organized with the use of this 30 minute chunk of time. So I came up with what seems like a reasonable routine.

Math Mondays-I will have the kiddos work on the great Marcy Cook math tile games that I have. They are individualized and awesome. The kids love them and they are great for math practice.

Travel Tuesdays-going with my love of travel on this theme, I want to make each child a little passport to use as they circulate three table activities. Upon completion of each station, they will get a stamp on their weekly passport page. I am hoping to put together some activity boxes that will be easy to just set out each week. I will train the kiddos on what to do, so I will be free to circulate around. I was thinking of a reading station where I would include the leveled readers that go with out reading program and additional books as the kids get more proficient in reading. I will include some stuffed animals, whisper phones, and fun glasses, and silly fingers/pointers so the kids can practice reading to themselves, whisper read, read to a stuffed friend, and then read to me. I was thinking of having another station be the sight word station where the kiddos will make the sight word with wikki sticks, write the words in sand or salt, form the word with stamps, and maybe even some fun art supplies like pom poms or colored tiles. I am not sure what the final station will be, but probably something more art related or science related.

Words on Wednesdays-On this day I will have the kids work on picture and word sorts from Words Their Way. I will start the year with picture sorts and then move on to the initial sound sorts. I think I will start by precutting the pictures, but eventually I'd like the kids to cut, sort, and glue their sort. When they get really good, I would love to see them write how they sorted or at least tell me so I can write it.

Thoughtful Thursdays- I think this will be my favorite day of the week. We are allowed to do our Second Steps lessons during ELD, as if certain kids don't need to learn social skills, so on these days I would like to read some stories that make us think. I don't want the other kiddos to miss out, so possibly this will be a time to re-read and extend certain stories. Also, I want to focus some energy on doing kind things for others during this time. Maybe we will write letters or draw pictures for loved ones, make coupons for nice things we can do for friends or family, or brainstorm helpful things we can do around school. I would love to do some service learning with the kids this year, but I haven't thought that throuh yet.

Flexible Friday- This day will be for catching up, finishing other projects from the week, assessing, etc.

I feel like I have a lot to do in order to make this plan work, but I am so excited for it...especially the passports.

It's almost time for a yummy pizza dinner, but stay tuned for pictures later in the week!