Three Marvelous, Three Parent Contact

I'm linking up to  Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher's Linky Party. I read about it at Buzzing with Ms. B's blogspot. Ms. B cracks me up...three yays and three boos. I decided I'll base mine on my Clip Chart...clip all the way up to "Marvelous!" or all the way down to "Parent Contact"--"you have a choice each day" has been my mantra this year.

The first "Marvelous" is actually blogging. I have learned so much and it has really been awesome. My students have gotten so much more awesomeness this year because I can peruse all these fabulous ideas, choose the ones that work for/with me, and ShaZAM! Marvelous Mrs. S. strikes again! ;)

The second "Marvelous" is actually two...the Clip Chart and the Volume Control Levels we used this year. Behavior has been so much sweeter this year with these two awesome tools!

My third "Marvelous" is continuing to work with my teamie across the hall. One of my teamies is retiring, another is moving on up to fourth grade, and the third one is moving down the hall to the classroom of the retiree. We will have four second grade teachers next year, so a teamie from my years in third will be joining us in second. It looks like we will once again have an amazing team. :) I will miss the two leaving terribly, though!

Now...do we really, really have to Parent Contact? I mean, I can go all day without this one...well, if I must! First, I am going to cull and organize materials in my classroom. I get so involved with my students that "stuff" just seems to "pile up." I, too, wanted to do the "Classroom Organization" thingee...that's on my summer to-do list.

My second Parent Contact has to do with consistence and the Volume Control Levels. We started off the year fabulously. It sort of slipped my mind these past three or four weeks. My students (and consequently, I) have gotten louder and louder. >:(

Third Parent Contact--hmmmm--too many students. That's a Parent Contact for whomever "they" are... :D I stand by my professional opinion that 18 is the absolute maximum number of students a second grade class should have. It's just so much easier to give each of those children the one-on-one attention they need for optimum (well, maybe not excellent optimum, but you get my drift) growth. I've always believed that the child's age should dictate the teacher-student ratio. Seven- and eight-year-olds should have a 1:7 or 1:8 ratio. However, in the real world, 18 is the best it has gotten for me in my 23 years teaching...except for the year I taught 20 second graders with an assistant! That was heavenly!

I am excited about getting some R&R this summer after cleaning and organizing my classroom, my house, and my basement. First things first, ya know!

God bless you each and every one!


†~Melly~†