GET TO KNOW YOU GAMES (with your curriculum)

Do you use a Reading Basal at your school? My first year of teaching started with a Basal (Reading Street). For my first year, it really was fantastic. All my lessons were laid out in front of me. On TPT and Pinterest, I could search "Reading Street First Grade" and find countless resources online. There were blogs devoted completed to this reading program! After a while though, I started to feel tied down to this curriculum. Honestly, I became a little lazy with it. I knew the ins and outs of it. I knew how the powerpoints went so I didn't have to study much before I taught a lesson.

After two years of teaching with a Basal, I moved to a school without one. I was so excited for this! My school used thematic units and the district had written their own "Basal" to go with it. After starting the year, the excitement started to wear off when I realized that I had to find or make most everything to go with this unit. So. Much. Work. But, this was truly to best thing to happen to me. I learned so much about myself as a teacher. I learned what I liked, what I didn't, what my kids liked, etc. Every Friday, I sat down and planned out my entire week. I found all my anchor charts, centers, and Guided Reading books. I read all my books beforehand and put sticky notes with questions to engage higher order thinking questions. It wasn't easy. It took a lot of time. But, I truly grew as a teacher during this time.

Now - I'm moving to a new school in a new district in a new state. So, I'm starting all over again. This time - with a Reading Basal. I'll be teaching 3rd Grade Wonders. Anybody out there using this!? If so, share your advice or favorite resources.

My first step was the head over to Pinterest, Google, and TPT. I wanted to find bloggers and packs that I liked! For about 3 weeks, I just Wish Listed all of these items. I met with my team to discuss their resources and what they knew about the program. I picked their brains on what they thought it was lacking. My first step was to try to organize a newsletter to my parents. I know that each week I want to send out a newsletter to my parents with details from our week. I finally settled on this newsletter design:

(Interested in this newsletter format? Leave a comment, and I'd love to send it to you! I created mine on Google Docs so it will automatically update to my classroom Weebly. Or, would you be interested in purchasing all the units already filled out for Wonders?)

My next step was to see what each week contained - what will I cut and what will I keep? Something that really stuck out to me about Wonders in 3rd is that they cut the day-to-day plan. This was honestly the hardest adjustment for me. I loved having my day laid out, and, while I enjoy the freedom of playing with my days, I am missing that built in structure.

I know the best way to get to know a program is always just to study and jump right in, but I like to have a little background info before I start ironing out all the kinks. What do you do when you're getting ready for a new curriculum?