Moving out & up! Big changes ahead!

While I must admit I haven't shared too much about it since my "I'm engaged!" post back in September, for those of you that did not know, I am getting married in two short days! 

While I will most certainly share more about how all of the festivities this coming weekend go with you all my blog family, when all is said and done and I am a new MRS., there are other big changes that I am truly excited to share with you all today!

After we get married this summer, my fiancé and I will not only be moving to a whole new state, but we will also both we starting brand new jobs! 

I have learned so much as a Dual Language Coach this school year that has strengthened my skills as a professional. Not only that, but I have learned so much in my four years working in my current building  and made so many wonderful friends and while it is bittersweet leaving, we are ready to move forward on a new adventure and start our new life together in a place we both see ourselves happy and potentially starting our future family!

I took this photo on Monday - the last day in my current building, and last school year with my last name... All moved out.

That being said...

drum roll please...

Next year, I will be moving "up" to 3rd grade, and I will be back in the classroom again as a 3rd grade Spanish immersion teacher in a whole new setting! 

I am so incredibly excited for this new adventure (as I must admit I did miss the classroom and being with kids each day!) and I cannot wait to share in it with you all.

In order to help me prepare, as well as to be able to share just a piece of the insight that my talented colleagues from my building over the last four years possess, I asked the 3rd grade teachers, if they wouldn't mind sharing a few tidbits of knowledge with me so that I could share it with you all today as well! 

I asked them about the three following topics:

*Some essential understandings they thought all third graders should walk away with

*Some of their favorite Daily 5/Station ideas

*Why they love teaching 3rd grade

I must admit, these ladies have gotten me even more excited for the fall with their responses! Enjoy (and a huge thank you to Jen and Jessica for being good sports and participants in my little blogventure!)

1.) Essential Understandings for 3rd Grade:

*Time Management- knowing how to manage their time and juggle homework with outside activities. Sometimes students have the opportunity to work on their book club roles during Daily 5 or take it home for homework; it's the perfect opportunity to teach them to prioritize their work and manage their time.

*Multiplication - Automaticity of facts is key!

*Comprehension- have a true understanding of what they are reading.

*A sense of determination- knowing they can do anything they put their mind to!

2.) Daily 5 Station Ideas for 3rd Grade:

* Buddy reading- students love to have time to read with and discuss books with their friends

*iPads - students love creating books and they come up with such clever ideas

* Student Choice- When they can choose where they go, they are more likely to be engaged in the activity, however, you may still need to set up some rules for this like "at least 1 station a day must be read-to-self", "no more than 3 per station", etc.

*Being open as the teacher to new ideas presented by the students - For example, I taught the students the basic rules of the game Bananagrams and left the rules in the station. I also gave them the option to potentially develop a new way of playing it as well. They ended up adapting another Pyramid game I had taught them for magnetic letters and added a twist and incorporated it into Bananagrams. Guess which station is always busy? They love it and are truly trying to then spell words correctly using word walls, etc. 

3.) Why do you love teaching 3rd Grade?

* I love teaching 3rd grade because I see how Independent they start to become at this age. They seem to start venturing out on their own, taking on responsibilities and become little thinkers! I love hearing their thinking during Guided Reading. Book clubs are my favorite. I prefer listening to their thinking rather than focusing on building reading skills like in the younger grades. I am very interested in listening to their thoughts, their perspectives, and I feel I start seeing this more midway through the year once we get past the "learning how to read" stage. Of course you have those few low readers that still need that, and that's fine. But the majority, are reading to start thinking! :) 

* I love teaching 3rd grade because I love our reading group discussions. When you find a book that students really connect to, it's like discussing a book at book club with your friends!

I'm seriously pumped ladies and gents! Anyone else have some 3rd grade wisdom you'd like to impart - I'd love for you to share below!

Now after all of that excitement, there is still one more thing I wanted to share with you (I know I am full of fun today). As my fiancé and I will be heading out on our honeymoon after our wedding, I will be out of the country for the next two weeks! I didn't want to leave you all without content to kick off the summer in style, thus I have partnered with 6 other amazing bloggers to bring you a guest blogging series entitled "While the Teacher's Away, the Bloggers will Play", that will begin next Sunday, June 8th and run through June 14th. Each day a new post from a different blogger will be up to share with you all a favorite classroom game that you can "play" with your students! Seeing as it is nearing the end of the year for some and/or others are already prepping for the following school year, I thought this would be the perfect thing to share that can be used by all!

A huge thank you again to all of the participants and tune in for the first post on Sunday, written by yours truly, about how I used the game "Four Corners" in the classroom. 

Until next time!