Currently: Lesson Plans!

Happy September 1st!

I ♥ Autumn!

While I love my birthday month of July the very best, autumn is my favorite season! I cannot get enough of back-to-school shopping for sweaters, boots, and school supplies. And then the ultimate symbol of autumn:

This cute graphic is from Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Designs

I love everything pumpkin. I could probably live on pumpkin pie. But there will be no venti pumpkin spice latte from SB for me. I follow Whole 30 religiously and feel tons better for it, so my pumpkin spice addiction will be fulfilled with this:

The beginning of this wonderful month also means it's time for linking up with Farley for her monthly Currently linky!

Listening - noooooo, say it ain't so! We seem to have that awful end-of-summer plague. It comes, and goes, and then comes back :(

Loving - one of my all time favorite bloggers left me an awesome FB message and hopefully we will continue to chat! This year, I have more pull-out sessions to support my students. This is great, however, after only three weeks into the school year, I'm starting to feel slightly "isolated" from the fantastic first grade team.  Chatting with awesome teacher bloggers who totally "get it" certainly helps and I really appreciate it!!

Thinking - Velcro is competing with my other go-to BFFs: lamination and Boardmaker. Unfortunately, this new must-have is HARD to find locally (I have to order from Amazon) and is a bit expensive, in my opinion. However, it only takes 30 seconds of observing my precious students tearing into an adapted task featuring these magical Velcro dots to confirm it's TOTALLY worth it :)

Wanting - I want everything! I want every single teaching tool...whether store-bought or handmade...that will help my students. I would do anything to help them succeed.

Needing - I need absolutely nothing :) Although I want to purchase so many amazing teaching materials I see, I know what my students really need is patience and support. And those are both things I am happy to provide.

Three Trips: It may seem like I'm cheating here, but our Florida trips are truly the way I survive :) My MIL lives here and graciously lets us visit several times per year whether she is in town or not. We are now up to four visits every year (this will be year 4) with the next one coming up at the end of October! It's hard to explain, but this town feels like home to me. I know the neighborhood, the sights, the people...I truly feel like I belong there. When days are long here in Baltimore, I look at real estate in Redington Beach. I already have a place picked out! 

Here's a few pics from my future home!

Before I log off, I wanted to share my lesson plans for the upcoming week. I'm required to upload these plans two weeks in advance. I create one lesson page per day for the three main content areas: math, phonics, comprehension. I work from the general education lesson plans in those three areas and then I'm "on my own" for the intervention block (focusing on my students' IEP goals and objectives), Guided Reading (we don't start until October), and writing (because my students are below grade-level in this area). My lesson plans are approximately 16 pages long every week and I'm required to carry them with me. I use a clipboard and then refer to this cover page to keep the objectives in mind:

These plans are actually for the following week. Here's a glimpse of what the one-day lesson plan looks like:

I write these plans soooo far in advance. The weekend before I teach them, I look at the objective and assessment more closely, plus the guided practice. I then create any visual supports/accommodations to help my students gain access to these general education plans. This year, it's all about sensory materials, including an interactive notebook component. I will be sharing out what I learn after everything's been student-tested and approved!

I'd love to do the cute "peek at my week" visual plans that I see from fellow bloggers, but I don't even know where to begin!

I'd love to hear how all of you plan your lessons!

Have a fantastic day!