I've been teaching for nine years, but I'm just beginning a new assignment in a 4/5 class. I start on Thursday!! Anyone out there in a simillar situation? I'd love to keep in contact with you to swap advice and ideas....
i am in a smiliar boat, I have been teaching 5th grade and this coming school year will be doing a 4/5 combo. We also use OCR. I thought is to mix the lit circles by level across grade, I also jsut purchased a book by Debbie Diller, it has great reviews on ProTeacher.net. She talks about how to set up literature centers for the upper grades. My plan is to do alot of centers. They will rotate through with a buddy. Late last year I started to use cetners as a review and the students did really well working independently. I also used learning contracts for the high students that always finished really, that way they always had something to work on. I also keep a variety of take to your seat folders around the classroom for students to use when they have down time.
Good luck! and let's keep swapping ideas.
-Karen
On 6/27/07, Christine wrote: > I have been a 4th grade teacher for 5 years, and am going to have a > 4th-5th combo class next year as well! I will also have the GATE > students in each grade level. We work with Open Court and the > Harcourt Math program. Any ideas for projects/early finisher work > would be greatly appreciated. I also want to do literature circles > with the O.C. thematic books. Any other ideas??? Anything helps! > THANKS! :)
I'm in the same boat - only I had a week's warning and began the year knowing that I was teaching a 4 / 5 Combo. My problem was that my finger prints took 3 weeks to clear in the new district, and the kids had subs as I was not allowed on campus (not to mention, I subbed in another district so that I would have some income for September). Anyway, I feel as though my kids have lost 3 weeks of instruction and I am still scrambling to implement systems that I had planned to do the 1st week of school! I am finding that Math and Language Arts aren't too hard, but Social Studies is a challenge - California vs. Nation. We've been working on geography and reading maps, but now I've got to come up with a balanced system. Any ideas?
Two more states to go! MT and WY where are you????
Free Mailing Labels
***These are the states we still NEED***
MT and WY
I am looking for teachers who are dedicated and will participate fully in this project. Last year we had had a wonderful response rate and I would like to see that continue.
Each teacher will be responsible for sending a postcard to each of the other states. Please include information about your state such as state symbols and interesting facts. Our third grade curriculum includes learning about our town so we will include that information as well. In return, you will receive a postcard back from each of the states involved. Address labels will be provided to you if you wish. Also, a list of names, addresses, and school websites will be e-mailed to you. My goal is to mail address labels by mid to end of September. The mailing deadline for the postcards is October 27th.
If you are interested in participating in this exchange, please send the following information to my email address: [email removed].
Name
Grade you teach
E-mail address
Name you would like on mailing label (Ms. G's Third Grade Class)
I am teaching a combined 4/5/6/7 this year and need help with organizing Free Choice activities for socials, science and health. Can anyone share ideas with me? I also need a math program for the four grades - any suggestions?? Does anyone have a copy of behavior contracts?
I am a university student pursuing a degree in childhood education and my intent is to become a 4th or 5th grade teacher when I graduate. I would like to know if anyone has any reliable learning strategies for students in this range. I'm interested in anything that works! Thanks in advance, I truely appreciate any responses.
This is my first year teaching a combined class, and the only subject that I'm really frustrated with so far is math. Both grades have their own text books, and I struggle with checking for understanding. How do you check work?!? I'd be using up approx. 30 mins just to check to see if kids understood their work. Do you pick 1- 2 questions from each grade? Do you do partner checking? Please share any/all ideas.
I am teaching in a small school in Africa. THis year I have years 5/6 (American 4th/5th grade) combined.
two questions...
how do you teach two grades at the same time...any advice?? (I feel like I'm either not challenging year 6 enough or doing stuff too hard for year 5)
For reading/writing...is it ok to not group by grade but by ability? (It seems like there is not much of a difference in standards/objectives between grades so it makes more sense to me to group by where they are at with their English and reading/writing skills--my background is teaching high school--so I really have no training or experience in this area.)
I am teaching a 4/5 combination, also. What kind of standards do you use at this school? If they are not too stringent, I'd suggest using a Readers and Writers workshop approach in reading/writing. You're right - ability grouping would be just fine in this case, and it is actually an easier and more natural way to teach both subjects, in my opinion.
As for the other subjects, you could do something similar. For example, you could set up your whole day with a centers or small group learning approach. You would teach small groups for guided reading, focused writing lessons (based on what you notice from student writing), math lessons based on ability, history/science research, etc. You would have to set up your class with high expectations and be very consistent with your routines, but it could work.
I actually taught in a 3/4th classroom. The first thing you need to do is to assess the children, if you have not already. The assessments would be in reading and mathematics. I had all students in 3rd/4th reading and also divided the students in 3rd/4th reading depending upon their results. You can do the same in your grade levels. Each child was responsible to independently complete spelling and handwriting. I would pull small group for reading and math while the other students worked on work that did not need assistance. After I met with the students for one group, I'd pull the other group and assign work. So basically they always meet with me and may work together quietly if they have questions or may come to me when I was not in a lesson. This was actually a Montessori school, but was also more of a traditional based school with multi-grouping. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help. Just let me know. Good luck.
PS. I currently teach fifth and would be glad to help you.
On 10/13/06, em_we wrote: > I am teaching in a small school in Africa. THis year I > have years 5/6 (American 4th/5th grade) combined. > > two questions... > > how do you teach two grades at the same time...any advice?? > (I feel like I'm either not challenging year 6 enough or > doing stuff too hard for year 5) > > For reading/writing...is it ok to not group by grade but > by ability? (It seems like there is not much of a > difference in standards/objectives between grades so it > makes more sense to me to group by where they are at with > their English and reading/writing skills--my background is > teaching high school--so I really have no training or > experience in this area.) > > Thanks ahead of time for any advice or ideas!! > > >
I am trying to find information on the a one room school in Lawrence County Kentucky. It was called Evergreen School and grades 1-8 were taught there. If anyone has any information please contact me or if you know where I might obtain information I would appreciate your help.
i am in a smiliar boat, I have been teaching 5th grade and this
coming school year will be doing a 4/5 combo. We also use OCR. I
thought is to mix the lit circles by level across grade, I also jsut
purchased a book by Debbie Diller, it has great reviews on
ProTeacher.net. She talks about how to set up litera...See More