What would I do differently next year?

It's so much fun to join a linky party, so for my first of the summer, I'm linking up with Kim over at
Finding Joy in 6th Grade

So what would I do differently next year? Well, some of the things are easy to identify- I'm switching grades again going from a 4th and 5th grade room to a 3rd and 4th grade classroom!

This past school year, I used rotations for part of the year, but then switched back to whole group instruction, with different tasks for the students in order to meet their needs. I really like the rotations of working with teacher, practice, and apply skills, so I need to plan this out better for the next year. Some of the problems were with staff- I had 4 different people for one of my aides during the year, with varying experience and knowledge, so it was difficult to depend on them to help out.

I need to challenge my students to do more, take more chances, even fail at times! My students tend to be scared of making any mistakes, so they simply don't do the extra work. I need to keep them accountable and make sure that they are performing at their best level.

Working with students with various emotional and behavior challenges, I need to incorporate more multi-sensory activities in the school day. It may be by giving them a choice menu based on learning styles or through different activities that use their senses and motor skills.

I guess I have my summer planned with all that I hope to accomplish next year. I've kept a reflection journal this year, so I know what I need to change and what worked in my class this year. So what are you going to do differently or the same next year?

Finally May Currently!

It's finally here! Spring has arrived in Ohio! I'm loving the warmer weather and the ability to go outside more with my students! The trees and flowers are in  bloom, along with my allergies! The state testings for my students are done- I have students from 5 different schools, so I had various students testing over a 2 week period! And, last but certainly not least, it's time for May Currently! I'm hoping that now that all my IEP, ETR, and other meetings are done for the year, I can get back to blogging!  So I'm linking up with Farley and the other fantastic bloggers for the May Currently!

I'm listening to Ellen- I love her show, it's a great stress reliever, too!  Today was a day off for my school, because of election day in Ohio! I had a great time shopping at the Teachers Pay Teachers sale! It's so hard to limit my purchases, I wish I could learn how to create cute, creative items for my students, but in the meantime I'll keep buying from all the talented teachers out there! Of course, it would help to have a TpT fairy to print out, cut out and laminate all the items I bought! I wonder how many credits I would earn for renting a TpT fairy?  I have 15 days left of school and 2 of those are personal days! It's getting hard to stay motivated to develop my lesson plans and materials (thank you again to TpT). My students don't want to be in class working anymore than what I do! It really didn't help that we had today off, Mondays are hard enough without having another "Monday" tomorrow! Then on Thursday, we have our fun fitness day, barring any rain! This week is basically a wash to start or complete anything! This summer I'm hoping to paint my kitchen and my bedroom, not totally sure of the colors, yet! I also need to get in better shape- hoping to exercise more now that it is nicer outside! I also want to take several mini-vacations around the area and state.