Looking Forward------------>

     Today we began our state assessment testing, which for 5th graders means three lovely weeks of testing for an hour or so a day, two to three days a week. 1 day down 6 to go. Yippee.

   Since the science team has been reviewing for several weeks at this point due to our super power ability to cram a years worth of curriculum in to 7.5 months (jealous math teachers?) I am flat out tried of thinking about standardized testing. Ugh!

    To motivate myself around this time of year I begin the great stack of lists! Organization makes my heart happy! The more detailed and anal retentive the better. Yes, I am the kind of person who can spend HOURS in The Container Store. Or I could before we moved to a state that only has one and that one is four hours away.  *sigh* But, I digress.... 

   The Great Stack of Lists! I have a list of science supplies we need to order for the lab, a list of materials I need from the Dollar Store for organization next fall, a list of improvements to make to units or projects I taught this year, a list of stuff to bring from home to make my classroom better for next year, a list of decorating ideas, and a list of ideas for next year. You'll notice a slight theme... most of my planning and organizing revolves around getting ready for the next school year, not finishing out the four weeks post-testing we have left of this school year. Hmmmm... once I realized what I was doing I tried to stop, really I did. I think I added a list of things to do to get my room ready for summer. Not really much better. I don't know what subjects I'll be teaching next year, who I will be teaming with, which room I'll be in, or even which grade I'll be in (new principal). So realistically it is a little absurd to put all this effort into next year at this point. 

      So, what's a girl to do? Break out the ruler and pencils to create a calendar of the remaining post-test days of school. I know I could print one off the internet but I like creating one from scratch, I can fool myself into thinking I am exercising my creative muscles. After carefully printing in the dates then marking off the ones with events already planned (DARE graduation/field trip and MAP celebration day) I counted up what was left. A whooping 16 days! I forgot to mention that I'll be taking maternity leave the last week of school so I can subtract 4.5 of those days from my personal schedule. 

   Sixteen days, sixteen days, sixteen days....what to do with sixteen days? I'll be expected to continue science rotations of my seventy-five science students for at least fifteen of those days. I need a really exciting science unit to end the year with and erase from my students memories the month of review which I have tried desperately to make exciting and fun. Some days were more successful than others. After talking with the science team we all decided on a Health & Nutrition Unit. 

  Back to my happy land of lists and planning as I put my energy toward coming up with fun activities to fill those fifteen days! Yay lists and calendars and planning! I'll post what I come up with once I'm done carefully filling in my calendar and making lists of the supplies I'll need.

My lesson planning in process.

Part of the stack of lists

The list I have taped to my

My pretty paper calendar