It's Thursday...Time to Plan!

So it's Thursday again, time to start looking at next week.  I was lucky to get the end of the day to myself to day (a very rare thing), so I was actually able to finish my plans AND get everything copied.  With testing 8 weeks away, we are in that vital part of the year when the focus seems to be cramming as much teaching in as we can.  I fully understand the push, although I don't necessarily agree.  However, this is the time when I really focus on small group work so that I can hit those skills each individual needs to work on.  Unfortunately with the focus turned to small groups, there are times when kids are in my room but not working with me, so I've devised the work menu to keep them focused and on track while they are working independently. 

Each week I personalize the work menu for each student.  I try to include material from previous lessons for a review, as well as work related to the information to be covered that week.  My students have gotten quite proficient at working through their menu with little direction from me.

What's even better is that they are aware that because everyone is working on different things, no one has the same work.  True, this took a bit of time at first, but now I have quite the collection of worksheets, centers, and activities that I simply pull and copy for each student.  I am able to give them work on their level and tailored to their needs.  It never fails that two of my boys are always comparing work, seeing "whose is harder."  By doing it this way, they have no way of knowing if their work is on grade level or not.