A Bit of Departmentalization Housekeeping!

So where I teach-  the fifth grade classrooms are departmentalized.  What does that mean?  Well, in my school most of the fifth grade classroom have 2 teachers- a  homeroom teacher (me) who teaches either mathematics(me), or literacy.

Yeah, so I teach Math primarily along with the other core subject areas.  They travel to their literacy teacher once a day for their literacy block.  Which is great too becuae is give them an early start or taste of middle school, more responsiblilty, and many assignments :-).

So by now you must be thinking- so you don't teach literature?  Yes and no.  Not formally however I do teach literacy through math, science, social studies, and character education (just about everything).   At first I was on the fence about moving to the upper grades especially with this system in place, and having someone else teaching my students and test scores and everything. (CRAZY).

I gave it a try last year and I loved it.  I plan for my Math Block (1hr 4mins worth), and other areas its great!  My classroom is filled with numbers and literacy like any other classroom, but more numbers than anything.  My partner teacher's classroom is in close proximity, and it went well.  I think it works best with a great partner teach anyway.  BELIEVE there was some headache in that building at times.  I was lucky.

My main issue as I digress- was TEST SCORES, PROGRESS, AYP!

So I made it my business to make sure that I knew what they were doing in literacy at all times.  Skills strategies you name it, howerver when there is a walk through, or when I get observed it is not for lesson in ELA.  My students read dailying the the class, hand in reports, take vocabulary & spelling test with me within my class- for my knowledge.  If you too have this system within your school it is important to know your students.  Know them as a person, reader, mathematician, scientist etc. 


A Treat
A couple of years ago when I taught 2nd grade we developed a reading tracking sheet as a grade.  I have tweaked it over time, and would like to share it with you.  For the love of teachers and for me to remain sane this year as well, I have to know where my students are in terms of reading in order for them to succeed in any subject.  Especially since this is going to be my second year teachinf 5th, I'm using what I know AGAIN for the 5th year.  If it's not broke don't fix it - I guess.  It's my responsibility to teach, and help them learn in any way.

So here it is, it is in  my TN shop for free!

Reading tracker from grades 1 -5. Track your students reading levels. If your school uses these tracking systems this will help you find the correlating level from book to book as well. I usually highlight their first assessment with green, second with yellow, and the final assessment with red. If you want to show their progress in between assessment dates you can always do so.

25 student list allotted
color coded
DRA2
F&P
Rigby


Happy Tracking! :-)

P.S. I ended up with GREAT scores! Pin It