Well, I haven't had a chance to update anything in here because all I do is work. However, I have found this wonderful blog Sixth Grade Scott Foresman Reading Resources by this wonderful teacher from Alabama. The author is Shannon and she writes about what she does with her sixth grade Language Arts classes each day. She gives all of these wonderful links and shares her work and the handouts she gives her students. If you are using the Scott Foresman Reading street, I highly recommend her blog. It will help you immensely!
I usually teach more with novels but I have been presented with a class this year that is lacking in almost all their skills. So I have returned to the basal in order to help them come up to speed. I gave them their first reading test from the basal this past Friday and EVERYBODY passed. And not just passed, but with an 85% or better! And if you know anything about these tests, you know they are hard! I was so proud of my group that I gave them cookies, popcorn and a movie in the afternoon. Although I can't really afford to spend time on a movie, they have had such a rough start to the year and they have been trying so hard to do well (despite their overall lack of skills) and please me that I felt it was important to reward their work.
Now I am moving on to the next story in the basal and am hoping that they will do as well this week!
Now if only I could get them to write well and perform well in math! This is going to be a LONG year!
