Let’s Get Acquainted Linky & An Apple A Day Linky, too! :)

1. INTERN – I know it’s probably hard to believe…but I’ve never had one! :/  Hopefully this year will be the year! 🙂  

2. BLOGGING – I’ve been really working on my blog over the summer and I want this to be a really great year of on-line community building!  Hope you’ll join me! 🙂

3. MOMMY – Some day, I’ll post a bit about my journey through this…for now, I’ll say that although this is something that I would really like…I know that the impact I make on my students and the impact I have on the girls I work with on Sundays is HUGE!  Even if I am never physically a mom myself, the journey I take each year with each class means something to the parents and children I serve. It keeps me going and fills me with joy in spite of the difficulties that I face with getting pregnant.

4. TRAVEL – I work a lot….I mean…a whole lot.  And those that love me, really miss me a ton.  I need to make sure that I am getting out and making time for them as well as creating awesome things for my classroom.

I’m also linking up with Leigh over at the Applicious Teacher!

Let’s talk about INTERVENTION!

So, what does Mrs. Russell do for intervention in her classroom?

Well, last week, we talked about data collection, and for me…these two things go hand in hand.  Whenever I give an assessment…it’s for the purpose of driving my instruction.  Intervention does not only mean…students who are struggling.  It also includes students who need enrichment.  At the end of the day….ALL students need to make at least one year’s worth of growth in our classes.

So, what I do first is give a broad diagnostic to help me set up my skill based groups.

This year, I’ll start off with this little gem from my bloggy friend, Nicole Lanier! 🙂  It’s a super simple test that will help me set up small groups really quickly!   I create a quick class spreadsheet with columns for each error.  Then, I mark what errors the students made.  

Then, I can group my students based on the data I’ve collected.  This is a sample of a math data collection sheet I made up last year.  Using the data from this sheet, I can group the students based on the math strand that they are lacking.  This is aligned to the beginning of the year benchmark assessment for the math basal. I would refer to this sheet often when working on remediation and enrichment in small groups during math–until I gave the middle of the year assessment. 

In my small groups with the students, I typically use a lot of my own resources, but in a pinch, I use this!

Thanks for stopping by today! 🙂