"Vacation" In T-Minus 5 Days!

First of all, I would like to apologize for being M.I.A. with comments. I have gotten and read them, but have been awful and not replied to one in a week or so. I would like to acknowledge and thank those people for taking the time to visit, compliment, follow, and nominate for awards!! I am so, so grateful for you. I will properly post about the awards in the following week when camp is over. (As I have seen all of those require I go hunting for other well-deserving blogs.)

However, as camp is winding down/winding up simultaneously, I grow more tired and I've backed off the blogworld. I'm even 2 weeks behind in Monday Made-It! (Gasp, shock, awe!!)  I run a theatre camp, so come Thursday & Friday, we will be putting on our musical that we have been working on for the past three weeks. This week will be filled with shopping for props, set pieces, cast party goodies, and passing out in front of the TV. So I apologize for my lackluster status, but hopefully promise to pick it back up after it's all over. (But give me a grace period of a day or two in case I fail to report back here immediately haha)

I will so miss my 40 James Bond/Trash/Speed players. (And sadly, yes, that also includes my amazing 5 coworkers.) It will be my goal to introduce my new set of students to it so I can have 20 new players.  Moreover, I'm really intent on figuring out a way to make math games out of Trash & Speed like I intend to do with James Bond... Oop, I think I just figured one out for Trash using division!  It happened when I spaced out lol.

In any case, onto teachery business! I am SO excited to have received my copy of Guided Math so I can read along (or, rather, catch up) with the rest of you wise, wise bloggers out there! I'm really excited for it! I've already devoured most of Chapter 2 since Chapter 1 seemed to be mostly filler that outlined the rest of the book.  I really look forward to starting a rotation in math and improve the way I teach.  As a new teacher, it's nice to start changing my ways before I get too set in them. I consider math to be my strongest subject, so I think it will be the easiest change to make first.

I'm getting Debbie Diller's Making the Most of Small Groups because I hear good things about her, and I'm also aiming to improve my reading group instruction. I figure it may also (in a general sense) tie in nicely to the idea of Guided Math. I'm looking forward to bettering myself this upcoming year!

On that note, I have two requests:

1. I shared Guided Math with a friend, and she inquired about any good books out there on teaching writing. I second this question!  Teachers, are there any resources out there you have found helpful in making the most of writing time?
2. Then for myself, I'd really like to read up on any great books on inclusion or special education.  I had an inclusion classroom last year and I really don't feel like I did my kids justice. I really just don't know much about special education or anything that goes along with it. I only took 2 classes in college and they pretty much glossed over everything. I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think my principal will be giving me that class again this year (even though ironically I would love it because I've formed a pretty good bond with one of the students), but I'd still rather be ready in case she does!  I think the only possible reason I could get it again is because of the aforementioned bond.

Anyway, I'm off for another week!  Can't wait to get back into my classroom and start setting it up so that I can focus on the teaching aspect and not the aesthetic one. :)  This weekend I attended a former students' brother's birthday party and seeing him made me miss my little buggers. I hope they all come back to me at least once next year!