Focus Wall

It was sure good to have a day off after 3 weeks of school!  Today I wanted to go over my focus board just a little bit more with you.                                                          

                                                                                 Here's some pictures of it...

I just started having a focus board this year but I have wanted to have one for years.  Every two weeks I will change the standards on my board to meet the skills taught in my classroom.  As you can see I've divided the board up into four parts or subjects with two or three standards below each one.  This focus board not only keeps the kids focused on what we are learning but it keeps me on track also.  The statements on the board are in the form of "We Can".   

This year I've incorporated the "I Can" statements into my classroom too. At the beginning of each two week I send home email my parents the "I Can" statements we will be working on those two weeks. All I do is take the standards and put them in parent/kid friendly
terms.  At the end of the two weeks I send home to the parents the paper with the standards they can do checked off.  I have gotten great feedback from the parents on these so far.  They like getting the extra feedback on how their child is doing in my class (since I'm not doing as many "worksheets" things don't get sent home "graded" as often).      


These are GREAT for me as well.  It keeps me up to date with my assessments and helps to drive my instruction.  Waiting for the results of the tests we give 3 times a year or for report card time 4 times a year is not enough!  This way I know right away how my students are doing and what we need to work on or what we are ready to move on from. 


You might say WOW that's a lot to keep up with, but if its tied to your curriculum and your assessments its not at all.  We have a standards based report card so it fits in well with that.  When I make my lesson plans I have an area where I put the "focus" of the week.  That doesn't mean those are the ONLY standards I am covering that week.  It just means those are the ones that I am going to focus on and assess after two weeks.  Some standards will be on there longer than two weeks depending on the skills.


Have a great short week!
Nicole Berg