Last Year's Field Trips

In February we went to the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden. I'd never been before but had read online that they had a wonderful school program involving nature hikes and a focus lab. My students were able to use microscopes to look closer at some of the plants they collected while hiking through the beautiful garden area. Several of my sixth graders commented that this was the best field trip ever!

There was so much rain before our field trip!

The rain made the creek very full, and the garden was thriving with life! 

As you know, since I have three grades, I rotate through the social studies. This year was the fifth grade curriculum, which is United States History.  I thought the Ronald Reagan Library was perfect for this year. We went at the end of March and did the Discovery Center. I wish I had more students to fill each of the simulation rooms, but with my small group we were able to fill the Oval Office and part of the Command Decision Center. My students absolutely LOVED this field trip. After our simulation, we got to do a quick guided tour of the museum portion of the library. It was wonderful! Next time I am on the fifth grade social studies, I will definitely book this field trip again. Hopefully, I will be able to coordinate with another fifth grade class to fill more of the spaces!

This coming school year I have a field trip I am super excited about! It is a place I have always wanted to go, and ties in perfectly to our sixth grade social studies :) You'll have to wait to see where it is we are going!

What Happened?

Well, it looks like I was really bad about blogging (again) last year! SO much happened after my last post! Here's some of it in a nutshell.

Remember, I was pregnant and due October 23rd? Well, we were just getting ready to start interviews for my Long Term Sub when I was hit with crippling sciatica. I couldn't move without excruciating pain, and had to leave work early and take a day off. I thought that was it. That'd I'd be unable to work. Luckily, my doctor recommended an amazing chiropractor that was able to ease the pain. I ended up seeing him twice a week until my daughter was born. 

In that last month before my leave started, my class did their first Literature Circles using Roald Dahl books. This was actually the project that was sponsored by Donors Choose! We read Fantastic Mr. Fox, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and The Giant Peach, and Matilda. I used the same format as last year, where we had lap books and my students seemed to really enjoy it. I ended up having to start my maternity leave a few days early, so their last literature circle meeting was done with my substitute. 

Speaking of my substitute, I went a little overboard with planning for her. I'd been a longterm sub before, and knew how nerve-wracking it could be, so I made her an entire binder full of information including: class rules/procedures, class list, information on each student, a planning outline for each subject, sample lesson plans, projects that needed to be completed, and much more! I think my class can be somewhat overwhelming (it IS three grades, after all) and my hope was that this binder would take some of the edge off. Even though my sub didn't use everything in my binder, I think it is something I'll use again in the future. 

When I returned from Maternity Leave in January we jumped right into the Spelling Bee, Science Fair (my sub started the planning packets in November), and a new Language Arts Curriculum. I had started the school year out piloting the Journeys program. There was so much to this particular program, and with me getting ready to leave my class, I am not afraid to admit that it was overwhelming. My sub continued to use Journeys, and I used it the first month or so back then switched to the National Geographic, Reach for Reading Program. 

Both programs had a lot to offer and had their positives and negatives, but at the end of the year I felt the best choice was Journeys. Having a tri-grade classroom is tricky and I really need a curriculum that is easy to adapt to the needs of my students and myself. Reach for Reading was wonderful, but really not conducive to the multigrade classroom. 

That's a bit of what happened in the last school year. My next post will be about the two amazing field trips we had before I dive into this coming year! Until then, here's the first picture of my daughter and I after she was born and one from the park yesterday :)