Snap shots

So in our performance zone in our district, we have a facebook page (which you can follow here).  Our school is clearly overachievers when it comes to anchor charts since we've got over a hundred pictures in our album.  Of those, about eight are mine which gives me some warm and fuzzy feelings.  

Here are two snap shots that haven't been previously mentioned on my blog:

Our QR code:

I was a little hesitant at first but this was actually super easy to create.  I turned my welcome letter and info packet into a PDF, which I then uploaded into dropbox.  From dropbox, I did "share link" and emailed the link to myself.  Then, I copied the link and went to one of the numerous free QR code creators and pasted in the url.  After triple checking from various devices, I printed on pink cardstock and stapled it outside my door.

I'm not sure how many parents have downloaded the welcome letter but it's a good strategy for those with smart devices!

Phonics instruction:

We were doing a power point presentation on the 6 types of syllables (CLOVER) at the beginning of the year.  My students were still working on getting the main idea into their notebooks, so I was modeling what to write down by using the smart board markers with the power point:

Just an easy way to give explicit instruction on exactly what you want your students to put in their notebooks :)

Parent involvement

I love helpful parents and am always trying to get more community involvement.  However, as educators, we are posed with the problem of how to get parents and community members to help.  I love help with copies, bulletin boards and grading progress monitoring.  What I love even more is parents that work with their students at home and are on top of school work.  I love parents that support their children and realize that education is a journey.  Not every child learns the same way and at the same rate.  This might be one of my biggest reasons why I am an advocate of the Common Core State Standards: the goal is end of year mastery.  This helps students realize that learning isn't a "one time thing" and that they must continually practice skills.  But back to parents and families, I am asked often how they can help beyond reading with their kids and checking homework.

Then I stumbled upon these gems on pinterest, courtesy of this blog:

 

I love the simplicity and transparency of these hand outs.  They provide straight forward ideas to help with comprehension and number sense.

I plan to get them translated into Spanish for our demographic, then make them into QR codes and post outside my classroom as well as on my welcome letter.  By posting them as QR codes, families will always have access to them electronically. I will also send them home with my welcome letter and have them at  both Meet the Teacher and Open House.  I'm excited and looking forward to more family involvement this year :)