I've had quite a bit of time these past couple of days to dedicate some thinking to setting up my classroom for the 2014-2015 school year. (It's hard to believe I started teaching in 2008-2009, but it's true. Good old ACE was definitely a few years ago...) While I realize that in teaching 2 separate subjects and 3 different grade levels will prove much more of a challenge this year than last year (1 subject = religion, 3 different grade levels) in terms of setting up my physical classroom space with bulletin boards, seating, related items/resources, etc., it's a challenge I am eager to meet.
My thinking has taken me down a path of possible themes/frameworks for my 2 Religion classes, which I have narrowed down as follows:
8th grade = Living out the Catholic Faith Through Catholic Social Teaching (& By Modeling the Saints)
7th grade = Fostering an Attitude of Gratitude (& How This Reflects in Our Daily Lives)
(Okay, so the "titles" (if I can even call them that) need tweaking, but I think the ideas are there. I just need to plant these "seeds" and give them time to grow over the rest of the summer. Side note (somewhat related) - this reminds me of a quote I came across today: "We like a microwave; God prefers a crockpot." These things clearly take time...)
Ooh, and I have also started to transfer my units/curriculum overview for 8th grade Religion into the ACE course curriculum template. I hope that by the end of the year, all the units & respective LPs will be in there. Woot!
The farthest I've gotten in planning for ELA has been to decide on my first read aloud for the year (The Phantom Tollbooth!) and to organize my ELA Pinterest Boards, of which I now have 8 related to reading/writing/language arts. That's not too successful, but in all honesty, I need to discuss things with my partner teacher (we each will have a section of 6th grade ELA) before putting any ideas into more concrete plans...
Summer's good for something, right?
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