Hey, friends! Do you remember when I told you that I would be teaching third AND fourth grade this year?! Well, I am really excited about it! Now that the new school-year is just around the corner, I figured that this is a pretty good time to fully explain what I will be doing!
I will be teaching basically the top 25% of the third and fourth graders at my building. I will still be departmentalized, and I will still be teaching language arts and social studies. This year, I will have a new partner who will teach math and science. My former partner will be teaching at another school in the district. So, on top of the new standards, a new teacher evaluation program, a new position, a new schedule, and a new partner, I am SURE we will have to work out a few new procedures as well. I should just go ahead and buckle my seat belt now. 🙂 It’s going to be a wild ride!
Now, don’t be fooled! I will not be doing a multi-age split. I will have two distinct classes with two distinct grade levels and curricular pieces. I am honestly really excited about the chance to work with some of my old students again, and I am really excited about the chance to have this year’s third graders again as fourth graders. It will be kind of like I’m looping part-time. 🙂 Ha! I’m chompin’ at the bits to pull a whole lot of MEATY components like Close Reading and Interactive Notebooks into our existing curriculum. At the same time, it’s double the prep work… and not really double the fun. At least not yet! I’m still missing a key component… my kiddos! In the meantime, I am working my tail off to get ready for another unforgettable year!
Since my in-laws were in town for a few days, I decided to stay at home and tie up some loose ends here before going back into my classroom tomorrow to work. So, I am sitting here cutting and organizing my two new spelling programs. The Reading Street spelling lists are too easy for this population, so I created Affix Avengers for the third graders to work with prefixes and suffixes and Word Warriors for my fourth graders to work with Greek and Latin Roots. 🙂 I am so excited because both programs run similarly, and both of them are SO focused on making meaning and examining patterns between words. I seriously couldn’t be happier with them!
I’ve also been busy with my fourth grade focus wall headers. I am SO glad I made the language arts set last summer because I totally wouldn’t have been able to handle creating them right now. 🙂 Instead, fortunately I was able to simply make a few aesthetic enhancements, print, and begin the process of cutting and laminating. I already have my third grade set ready to go at school… and I am really happy that I decided to go with the same color scheme for both sets. The third grade set is chevron, and the fourth grade set has a solid background, but the colors coordinate, so it should make displaying my I Can Statements a little more cohesive and a little easier to manage two grade levels.
In order to ensure that I don’t go crazy trying to display learning targets and effectively utilize my focus wall, I spent a whole day aligning the two grade levels by unit. I had to move some of the Reading Street stories around, but I think it aligned pretty nicely once it was all said and done. This will serve as a pacing guide for me… and a starting point. It will keep me focused on what will be accessed, and then I will use the skills and strategies as a foundation for other activities and projects. I am SO glad I was able to get this out of the way before I go back at school. Especially since I will be going back to college AGAIN this year to add another endorsement to the list. 🙂 Time will certainly be my biggest challenge this year, but hopefully this pacing chart will prevent me from spinning my wheels!
I really AM trying to keep up with all of my emails and TpT Q&As, but if it takes me a little while to get back to you, now you know why. 🙂 Please forgive me! As much as I love blogging and being able to share my creations with all of you, I really do have to put my own classroom needs first. Thanks for being understanding, friends! Have a great day!
Are you going to post the pacing guide/alignment chart you have displayed in the last picture? I would love to use that this year…I am also a Reading Street teacher and it's my first year doing third grade.
I don't mind sharing it at all. I just don't think it will help you too much if you are JUST teaching third grade. I did find nice pacing charts for third grade on this site: http://classroom.jc-schools.net/waltkek/Third%20Grade.html. It was a great starting point for me two years ago when I started with Reading Street. If you click on each unit from that site, there's a link called "Overview" that has everything for the unit laid out on one sheet. That's probably going to be more helpful to you. Everything is free on the site too. 🙂 I am going to be doing third AND fourth grade this year, so my chart shows how I am going to teach both grade levels. I had to move stories around to get skills to line up. You won't have to worry about that with one grade level, so that's why I think the other sheets may be a better fit. Good luck! Hope some of my third grade stuff will be useful to you!
Thank you! Have a great year!
This is my first year using Reading Street (new school, new grade…4th/5th ELA and SS!) and I've been reading all of your blog posts about it…they've been really helpful in helping me organize my thoughts! I'm just wondering how you do spelling…do you use the Word Warriors list and the words from Reading Street?
Thanks for your help!
Kris
Prior to this year, I just used the RS lists, but they weren't appropriate for all of my students. My principal doesn't want me to use the RS lists with the gifted clusters I will be working with, so I created the Word Warriors and Affix Avengers programs to use in place of the RS lists… which are typically too easy for the population I am going to be working with. If I have any kiddos who really struggle with the lists I created, I will most likely give them the RS lists. We will see. 🙂 I will just have to differentiate if I find that I need to. I do plan on making sure I hit certain things with the third graders though… like homophones… contractions… etc. I am sure there will be a few things on the fourth grade lists that I will want to plug in as well. I am still trying to wrap my mind around how I want to approach everything, but I hope that helps.
Amanda…you never cease to amaze me! Your units look incredible…and I'm sure your students will love the challenge! They're so lucky to have you. 🙂
Thanks, Gladys! You are always so sweet! I just adore you. Your students are lucky to have you too! 🙂
I am also teaching a 3/4 combo class! I'm so glad I found your blog. I'm completely overwhelmed going into my 16th year of teaching. Two years ago I was teaching 4th grade and last year I taught 3rd. Now I'm combining them! Our 3rd and 4th graders have different dismissal times and our 4th graders have specials, but not 3rd grade. Here's to a great & insanely busy year!!!
I feel ya! 🙂 We start next week, so I am just now getting my schedule. It is causing me to scratch my head a little. I am definitely expecting a bit of a learning curve! Ha! I expect to be saying lots of extra prayers this year! I'll say a little prayer for you too! Good luck! We will both do great… I'm sure of it! 🙂
Love the way you organized your pacing chart. Good luck this year! Those are both great grades to work with!
Thank you! It took me FOREVER… but I think it will definitely help me with my planning. 🙂 I'm super excited about the new year and new assignment!
Wow! You have done a lot of work — but truthfully that sounds like fun. I teach second grade, but I love Greek vocabulary and decoding words. I tried to put a little of that in last year, but I had a really high class and they got it. I wonder if I can this year. Good luck this year – your kiddos are super-lucky to have you!
Bobbi
Bitty Bilinguals
Thanks, Bobbi! 🙂 I am totally excited about both spelling programs! Can't wait! Hope you are able to work in some Greek again this year!
Love your spelling units. Since you teach the upper 25%, and I teach the lower group for 4th grade, would you suggest using the Affix unit with my fourth graders and just throw in some of the Greek vocab. occasionally? Love your blog so much!! I don't see how you get it all in. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Thank you! Well, our RS lists for third grade had a lot of basic prefixes and suffixes throughout with some other patterns like VCCCV and homophones and contractions thrown into the mix. I thought that focusing on prefixes and suffixes would be a great fit for third grade because I would hit just about every pattern on the existing list… and even more. Plus I was able to make the words a little more challenging too. Since I will have my third graders again as fourth graders… I thought Greek roots would be perfect to layer on top of what they learned about prefixes and suffixes… and both lists would really enhance their word knowledge and vocabularies. I probably WOULD focus on affixes and sprinkle in some Greek/Latin Roots occasionally if I taught the lower group of fourth graders. I think that sounds perfect! Best of luck to you and your kiddos!
Just think about the prep involved for me! I teach all the subjects to a 3rd/4th multi-age classroom. So I definitely know what you mean about having to prep for two grades. (And it means having to buy/create twice the resources)
I've been really wanting to upgrade/change the way I do spelling. Your units are intriguing. Are the affixes and words in the 3rd grade set different from the ones in the 4th grade set, or is it just the theme?
-Nick
Sweet Rhyme – Pure Reason
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Hi, Nick! I cannot even imagine doing all of that prep! You are a champ! 🙂
The two sets are completely different. None of the patterns repeat. I will have my third graders two years, so I want to expose them to a ton of different word parts. Hope that helps! 🙂
I have 3 words for you: YOU ARE AMAZING!!
I love your pacing guide! You will definitely be organized this year! Good luck with EVERYTHING! Have a super year!
Jamie
You will be absolutely fabulous!!! And, by the way, I love your new blog design!
❀Jodi
Fun In First
Those spelling resources look amazing! The characters make a great hook. 🙂
I'm also going to be teaching third and fourth grade reading using Scott Foresman and love the idea of aligning the weekly skills! Would you be willing to share or sell your alignment document? I've loved all of your resources that I've purchased and can't thank you enough for everything you do!
Thanks,
CM in Michigan
I purchased your word warriors, and I can't wait to use it next year. I was wondering if you would do a blog post or post your lesson plans for different activities you do each day with the students. What does a lesson look like? Thanks So Much!
Genaya