21: Words, Words, Words

Day 21: Favorite Quote

As a teacher, I often look for inspirational quotes when I'm having one of those days.  Those days, when the technology doesn't work, there are impromptu meetings, I've got several parent phone calls to return, and my munchkins are being more lively, non-compliant versions of themselves.  Those days do tend to coincide with full moons, long weekends, or worse, both.  

It's hard to pick a favorite quote.  I'm really, really blessed to be part of the DEN where one of our lovely members posts a daily inspirational tweet.  Most of the time, it's related to teaching, but it's always a nice reminder of why I'm working so hard.

These quotes are unofficially the quotes of the DEN, so I will share 'em proudly:

My tribe.  That's one of the things I'm falling more in love with.  I have the privilege to work along side some amazing educators at my school, whom I both respect and enjoy spending time with.  (These two categories are not mutually exclusive in some cases.)

However, at the end of the day, no one will stay there forever.  Families will move, new homes will be purchased.  I'm privileged to know I have such a great support system that extends beyond the walls of my school.  Heck, it's beyond the boundaries of my state.  Some days, I really, really need that DEN love.

Not related to teaching, but related to life in general:

In a post-breakup, angry, early twenties stage, I read a lot of self-help books.  I had quite a lot of anger that I needed to learn to deal with in a healthy way.  

Then I stumbled upon this quote.

This has really resonated with me.  A younger, sillier version me, had an unfortunate habit of dulling myself down when with a boyfriend.  Not all past boyfriends, but enough that it became a habit.  I was so uncomfortable "outshining" my partner that I'd always take a backseat to his successes.

That wasn't fair to either of us and was a definite red flag that those were not the relationships for me.

A few years ago, I decided to have "shine" tattooed on my wrist as a reminder of this quote and its message.  It's a subtle tattoo, done in a dark red color that blends well with my freckles and complexion.  It's in my own handwriting and is meant, 1000% for me.

(On a side note, my fiance B has never done anything but encourage me to pursue my dreams and shine.  #keeperstatus )

What words have made an impact on you?

Join the conversation and link up for the blogtember challenge!

Blogtember Challenge!

It's that time of year again!  Bailey from bravelove has her blog challenge.  Since she's in grad school and a tad busy, she's posted all her blog topics ahead of time.  I can't necessarily do each post (since teaching takes a lot of time), but it's nice to start brainstorming.

Will you be joining the Blogtember Challenge?  

Here are her challenges:

Tuesday, Sept. 1: Introduce yourself however you like! Pics, vlog, collage, your choice :)
Wednesday, Sept. 2: Describe your ideal day. Where would you go and what would you do?
Thursday, Sept. 3: Create a collage or inspiration/mood board that describes your blog.
Friday, Sept. 4: What are you passionate about?
Saturday, Sept. 5: Put your iTunes/music player on shuffle and share the first 10 songs that play.
Sunday, Sept. 6: Share your style. What fashion trends do you love, frequent, or avoid?
Monday, Sept. 7: Tell us about your blog name. Where did it come from?
Tuesday, Sept. 8: Tell us about your favorite season. Why is it your favorite and what does it say about you?
Wednesday, Sept. 9: Write a letter to sixteen-year-old you. Any advice or funny stories?
Thursday, Sept. 10: 10 items off your bucket list. If you haven't made one, now's a good time to start!
Friday, Sept. 11: It's a Friday night and you decide to stay in. What do you do?
Saturday, Sept. 12: What are you up to currently? I have examples here and here.
Sunday, Sept. 13: Create a collage or inspiration/mood board for this season in your life.
Monday, Sept. 14: The 5 books that have impacted your life the most.
Tuesday, Sept. 15: What's in your bag? Pick up your purse and peruse its contents, then share with us!
Wednesday, Sept. 16: The real you vs. the online you. Are they the same or different?
Thursday, Sept. 17: Just for fun, your latest obsession. What can you not get enough of these days?
Friday, Sept. 18: Record a VLOG! It can be about anything you'd like!
Saturday, Sept. 19: Tell us about one of the best days of your life.
Sunday, Sept. 20: It's guilty pleasure time! Shows, books, songs, foods, whatever it may be.
Monday, Sept. 21: A favorite quote/expression and how it has impacted you.
Tuesday, Sept. 22: Get creative! Sketch, paint, dance, play music, whatever then give us a glimpse.
Wednesday, Sept. 23: Grab a guest post. Recruit a friend or fellow blogger to share on your space for the day.
Thursday, Sept. 24: Shout out five of your favorite bloggers. Who are your regular reads?
Friday, Sept. 25: Three songs you are connecting with right now.
Saturday, Sept. 26: What's on your to-reading list, and what have you recently read? 
Sunday, Sept. 27: What's on your wish list? Be sure to include links so we can shop too ;)
Monday, Sept. 28: A day in the life. Take us through it with you.
Tuesday, Sept. 29: Write your own list of 10 blog topics to inspire us next month.
Wednesday, Sept. 30: A farewell coffee date. Take some time to breath, sip a warm drink, and share with your new blogging buddies. If you'd like a prompt: how did the Blog-tember Challenge go for you? Any surprises? What was your favorite prompt, or what would you like to see included next time?

Will you be joining us? If so, link up! 

Week 3: Decor & More

As I previously shared, I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back into my classroom early due to trainings.  However, I got to go back on Wednesday (instead of Friday!)

My room isn't done, not even close.  However, when the AC is only on for six hours, you're kind of limited with what you can get done.  Here are some snapshots of my room.  I'm ready for year seven!

Without further ado, my classroom reveal!

Here is what I walked into:

Overall, not bad! My roster shows thirty one kiddos and I have 35 desks.  I use two by the door and one underneath my projector.

However, let's zoom in on some of my favorite things:

I've struggled with class bucket organization...so this is my solution.  I'm hoping that it will yield better results.

I went in on Wednesday and Thursday, but somehow neglected to take pictures.

More will be revealed next week!

What do you want to share? Join the conversation!

Don't be a tease

I love freebies, especially on TpT.  I get really excited when I see the word "freebie" on pinterest on teaching boards and frequently repin if I think the printable or activity will be useful in my classroom.

As a TpT seller, I have freebies.  To me, a freebie means it's downloadable and immediately usable in the classroom.  Sure, there might be some prep work (especially if it's a center and I want to laminate it), but as the name implies, it should be free.

For example, I stumbled upon this great {freebie}!

She's got lists upon lists for classroom organization, prep, and managing back to school stress. She also wrote a great blog post about how she uses this product, which you can read {here}.

However, not as TpT sellers & bloggers are as cool as her.  Many times I click on a link that's described in either the picture or the pinterest description (or both) as "free", only to discover it's not free at all.  I don't want the "free" preview that just has the table of contents, I want to see what the actual product looks like.  

Don't be a tease and advertise exciting classroom products as freebies, only to discover that's not the case. 

Thanks friends!

I started this blog a few years ago as a way for me to document my growth as a teacher as well as share ideas with others.  Since then, I've had several wonderful educational opportunities and expanded my PLN outside of my district.

Maybe you're here because pinterest brought you here.  Maybe you follow my teaching board and clicked on one of the pins I generated about anchor charts. If so, welcome to my blog!

Maybe you're here because you saw something I posted on facebook about wedding planning.  If so, hi!  We still don't have a date or venue, nor have I officially asked most of the wedding party (just the MOH and officiant), so you didn't miss any major announcements.  

Maybe you're here because you saw my post on twitter or we're in the same professional learning network. If so, welcome tribe!

To my followers, thank you. I have followers here and on TpT, both are highly valued!

To my readers, thank you. I know my 50,000+ views aren't all my mom!  If you are a frequent viewer, why not become a follower?  

Curriculum Must Haves! {Week 2}

I love reading Diane's blog posts on {Fifth in the Middle} and {Fancy Free in Fourth}.

This week's blog challenge is about curriculum must-haves. 

Our district, perhaps like most, is in a state of turmoil.  We've adopted the Common Core State Standards without curriculum to match, expect teachers to make due with out dated text books (seriously, the books are older than my students), and expect teachers to do more with less...including less money.  Yup, we took a pay cut and an insurance hike, so double whammy to the bank account!  To make matters worse, new to state teachers are given a several thousand dollar hiring bonus and to make up for the teacher shortage, retired teachers are invited back.  I have no issue with (qualified) retired teachers returning to the district, but I do have a problem that they receive both a salary and their retirement accounts.  Yup, they're allowed to double dip into funds, yet current teachers all took a pay cut.  

We also adopted the standards (which I have no problem with), but then rebranded them the Nevada Academic Content Standards (NVACS).  Why?  To deal with the critics who are outspoken against the Common Core.

From what I've read of the Common Core (which is not the whole thing, just the elementary portion), I don't really see a problem.  Are the standards perfect? No, of course not.  But the depth of what is expected of our students is much deeper then previous standards,  Seeing how Nevada is consistently at the bottom in terms of educational testing for a wide variety of reasons, I think challenging our students is a good thing.  When you're close to the bottom, you can only go up!

Long story short, we have no provided curriculum and have to rely on collaboration to create our lesson plans.  There are lots of inconsistencies across the district, but at least everyone in my grade level (and school) are pretty much on the same page.

So let's dive into this week's blog challenge and look at some curriculum must haves:

I can't say enough good things about this book.  We start each math lesson with a warm up that focuses on building number sense. 

We've tweaked it a little to roughly follow this format:

Mental Math Monday: The focus is on decomposing and composing numbers for computation.

Ten Minute Tuesday: The focus is on logic puzzles and brain teasers.

Word Problem Wednesday: The focus is on multi-step word problems and making sense of the problems.

Thinking Thursday: More logic puzzles and "tricky" problems.

Fast Facts Friday: Timed tests to focus on multiplication and division facts mastery.

Must haves:
Teachers pay Teachers products!

My novel guides are a life saver! I'm trying to keep track of several different novels at once with my small groups, so it's nice to have all my notes and homework questions in a nice, organized fashion.  

I've also founds tons of free stations that are great for independent and partner practice during RTI time!

As an added bonus, most stores are having their back to school sale right now! I know everything in my store is currently 20% off!  Go get inspired.

 

This book was truly a life saver.  I struggled with knowing how to teach phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency.  I felt pretty good about my comprehension strategies but struggled with foundation skills.  This had great strategies and graphic organizers.  My copy is well loved:

Finally, one of my go to websites: FCRR (Florida Center for Reading Research)

This site has graphic organizers, centers, and games broken into grade level bands (K-1, 2-3, and 4-5).  They've recently added the Common Core State Standards to the center activities so it makes it even easier to find what your students need.

What would you add? Join the conversation!

Currently in August

A few months ago I saw Bailey at Brave Love, which is a super fun blog that you should also follow, doing "currently" blog posts and I decided to give it a try!

Reading... nothing :(  I just finished The Blood of Olympus last night and my copy of Love and Logic isn't here yet.  I'm also eagerly awaiting Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard but that's not due out until October.

Playing... various silly iPad games. I recently found Oregon Trail and the inner eight year old inside is thrilled. No one has died of dysentery yet!

Watching... nothing currently, but lately there have been epic amounts of TLC's (ridiculous) bridal shows. B even watched a few hours of "Say Yes to the Dress" with me.  He also asked if I'm going to have two gowns.  (The answer is no.)  I'm eagerly awaiting the next season of Once Upon a Time and Arrow to be on Netflix!

Trying... to be productive while still enjoying my last few weeks of summer.  I'm trying to knock out small wedding crafts like these:

We'll do a questionnaire at our engagement shower in Sept and have people vote on who they think the statement applies to: me or B.  He has mustache ones that are currently drying.

Cooking... nothing! Just enjoying left overs.

Eating... healthier, or at least trying to! 

Drinking... a mimosa.  It's Sunday morning, it's brunch time!

Calling... no one. I'm enjoying quiet time.

Texting... my gals.  I will be off to deliver Jamberry wraps in a bit!

Pinning... wedding ideas.  (Mom, I added you as a collaborator, so you can pin ideas to the wedding board too!)

Tweeting... about my pets. I love them.  Sorry twitter & instagram followers!

Going... to the DMV this week.  I'm expecting it to be an all day adventure on Wednesday, so I'd better find a new book to read. 

Loving... naps. Plus they're encouraged during the summer!

Hating... how frequently I burn myself on the hot glue gun. I am an adult, gosh darn it! I should be able to handle the glue gun.  Also hating that the naps will be severely limited again.  Oh, and hating Waffles's love of cat poop. 

Discovering... patience.  Walks with Waffles are still an adventure.  Yesterday there was a roller blader and that was simply terrifying for her.

Thinking... about what I still need for my classroom.  I stocked up on new highlighters (although I probably need another pack of six) but am sure I need new markers, pencil sharpeners, and colored pencils for the buckets.  Good thing there are Target coupons AND Cartwheel's discount.

Feeling... lots of emotions about the end of The Blood of Olympus.

Hoping (for)... a good bunch of kiddos this year!

Listening (to)... nothing.  B is out with friends and I'm enjoying the television being off.

Celebrating... Mike & Monique's upcoming wedding!  My future siblings in law are getting married Saturday and I'm excited for them.

Smelling... nothing. Thank you allergies.

Thanking... friends for their love and support on all the wedding matters.  Thank you for not letting me be a bridezilla and giving me a few minutes each convo to provide them with updates before we talk about all the other exciting things in our lives.

Considering... a walk with Waffles before it gets too hot.

Starting... to get excited for back to school!  Not the work part, but the seeing my friends on a daily basis part! (In other words, I sound like a teenager.)

Finishing... folding laundry.  There are only two of us and it frustrates me, so I can only imagine how much there will be when there are kids involved.

What are YOU up to currently?

Book Blog Hop!

Diane from Fifth in the Middle (one of the blogs & TpT stores I follow) posted earlier about books that are being used in the beginning of the school year.  Obviously I love books and totally hopped on board with this book blog-a-thon!

I'll be using a few different picture books during the first week of school before starting our first novel, The Lightning Thief. 

Picture Books:

I use Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? to start our math conversations.  

Before we go over Number Talks and math norms, we read this and start talking about the size of things in relation to another.  I think it's a great way to subtly introduce place value without mentioning those vocabulary words. 

I read Boris Ate a Thesaurus to start our conversations about word choice.

It's a silly book and they love it.

I also use My Mouth is a Volcano to talk about classroom norms.

It ties in well with listening and speaking norms, which we establish within the first few days of school.

I also leave out copies of Ms. Nelson is Missing, First Day Jitters, Unique Monique, and Thank You, Mr. Falker  for students to read during independent reading time.  


I also start the year with Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief as our first novel.  It's great for seeing how the chapters build on one another because the author does an amazing job of foreshadowing.  Students (hopefully) were exposed to Greek Mythology in fourth grade, so it's nice to tie in with their background knowledge.

As an added bonus, the main character Percy, isn't a typical hero.  He struggles with dyslexia and ADHD (a side effect of being a demigod) and has trouble in school.  My students really get into the book and as an added bonus, there are many, many sequels!

Directly following The Lightning Thief is The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labryinth, and The Last Olympian. 

There is a Greek & Roman spin off series with The Lost Hero, the Son of Neptune, the Mark of Athena, the House of Hades, and the Blood of Olympus (which I'm finishing tonight!).  What is great about these books is the narrator flips every few chapters, so you get multiple perspectives.  This literary technique lends itself to some interesting discussions.

There is an Egyptian trio of books: The Red Pyramid, the Throne of Fire, and The Serpent's Shadow.  These also alternate narrators between Sadie and Carter Kane, two very different siblings.  Their sibling love-hate relationship is beautifully and subtly captured in the different ways the chapters are narrated.

Since Rick Riordan is determined to drain my bank account with his amazing books, I'm super excited about this new series:

It stars Annabeth's possible brother?! The last name can't be a coincidence.

What do you read with your munchkins?

A nice refresher

Besides conquering both laundry and an exciting day at Chevy (recall on my car, nothing major), my other goal for the day was to get started on my first week lesson plans.

While emotionally preparing to open Curriculum Engine (the site where we make & store our digital lesson plans), I got distracted on pinterest by preparing for your first week articles.  Most of them weren't that helpful, but I found this {one} that had some good points. 

Here are my favorite take-aways from the article:

#1: "Set up your classroom in an active learning format"

Fingers crossed the rumors are true and my projector got ceiling mounted over the summer!  I was spoiled with a ceiling mounted one for years and forgot how much I'd missed it.  Not having a desk or table in the center of the room really clears up space.  Not to mention I'd get to skip the daily (okay, several times each day) frustration of when a child accidentally (or sometimes on purpose) would bump the projector, causing the smartboard to need to be recalibrated.  Without the desk and cord set up (hello tripping hazard), I would be able to teach from the center of the room and strategically move closer toward off task students.

#2: Starting the day off with something other than roll call

We have our morning procedures (unpack, papers turned in, backpacks hung up, pencils sharpened, etc) and class jobs (lunch cards, attendance) but then we do our morning meme.  

Yup, we start our day off with a meme and it just sets everyone off on a good day.  Laughter is always good thing!  You can follow my classroom meme pinterest board {here}!     Plus if you've got a funny classroom meme, send it my way!

#3: Make Up work:

I've done the orange "while you were gone" folders and I haven't decided if I want to keep it again.  I already have them made, so that's a plus.  (Apparently I don't have a picture, but it's a florescent orange folder that says "we missed you".)
 
I like the idea of using a tub and putting a file in for each day in the month (1-31).  All extras would be filed there (minus one for me to use as the master copy if needed).  With this system, I'd only have to clean it out once a month :) 

#4: Class Norms:

Preach! This is one of our first week activities with a gallery walk.  I remake the class norms poster each year and have them sign it.  It helps with our buy in and provides a nice link to the US Constitution (when we get there in social studies).

#7: Noise

We are near a kinder classroom.  We do our best.  Sometimes there is just loud shouting, crying, and other unidentifiable noises so I just shake my head, try not to laugh, and remind them that I teach fifth grade for a reason. 

#9

We don't do questions stems per say, but rather accountable talk stems.  I want my students to answer in complete sentences and know that it's okay for them to disagree with one another as long as they do it in a respectable manner.

It started like this:

 

But has evolved to this:

 

I have these in my classroom at the front of the room.  They are color coded to help students know how to phrase their comments.  Accountable talk stems also help students listen to one another because I expect them to give credit to one another for ideas.

#11: Encouraging risks

I want to do more of this, but I'm not sure how.  Wheels in my brain are spinning, stay tuned!

#12: Self-reflection

I have them reflect on their learning throughout the day and we have class discussions after we try something new (particularly if it doesn't go exactly as I've planned).   I don't know if my fifth graders could handle a written reflection daily, but I like when they reflect upon their learning (which should happen often).  

#17: Blog

We've got a weebly and I hope I have more parent communication with it.  I'll be doing class dojo as well to foster communication with families.  I do want to turn some of the responsibility of blogging over to my students.  I think it'd be a great venue for collaboration as well as authentic writing.  They have an audience: their classmates and their families, so I think they'd do a good job trying to impress one another.  It'd also be a great way to imbed those mini-lessons on technology that are so important. 

#18: Class jobs

Again, amen! My first few years in the classroom, I tried to do all these things myself.  But fun fact: kids want to help!  Fifth graders are not too cool to be motivated by a high five or a sticker.  They want to feel in control and help, so I might as well turn some of the smaller tasks over to them.

I have 36 different classroom jobs and it helps me stay sane.  Obviously I can't have them grade essays, but I can have them remind me to take attendance, file nurse notes, lead the class in the pledge, pass out lunch cards and papers, and other small time-consuming tasks.  I like to set aside the last five minutes of the day (during our "pack and stack") for class jobs and tidying.  Another "negative Nancy" teacher has commented time and again that her students don't need classroom jobs and that things just magically get done.   I like structure and I don't think that's a bad thing.  We switch up jobs every month and I have students vote on their top five choices.  

#20: Learning Styles Assessment

I try to shape my lessons to hit multiple learning modalities (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) but it's nice for my students to realize what type of learners they are.  Most of them have never really thought about this before fifth grade, so it's nice for them to think about themselves as learners.  I stress that it's okay to be a combination of styles.  Knowing what "type" they are empowers them to take charge of their learning and that's never a bad thing!

What were your take aways from the article? Any "ah ha" moments?

Teacher Favs

Fifth in the Middle and Fancy Free in Fourth are two of fun teacher blogs I follow (and you should too!).  

She just did a post about teacher favorites and (not) surprisingly, ours were quite similar! Great minds must think alike.

Here are some of my favorite teacher things!  Some of them make my classroom run smoother and some of them just make my heart happy.  I wish I'd had all these things on day one, year one of teaching!

I think I must have asked PTA to do a little too much laminating for me because for teacher appreciation week, I "mysteriously" won a free laminator!  I use this beauty to laminate all my {centers and sorts} so they can be reused.

Costco stopped selling laminating sheets in store, so I now purchase them in bulk from Amazon.

I also trained my coworker's daughter to laminate and cut out for me, so she does that as a side job.  She is very involved in extra curricular activities (cheer, church, choir), so this is one of her ways of fundraising.  Plus B is very happy to not have to help!

If it's pink and/or has polka dots, chances are I want it...and office supplies are no exception.

My planner is pink and this year, I'm determined to stay organized! I also picked up several of these pink and gold polka dotted portfolios at Target to use next year.  One will be for writing conferences, one will be for reading conferences, and one will be for meetings.  

I organized by genre and I have coordinating solid and striped colored bins. I've gotten lots of compliments and love my classroom library!  It's inviting for students and fits into our cozy classroom.

What puts a smile on your face? Join the conversation!

3 years and counting

Three summers ago, I toyed with the idea of starting a blog and having a store on TpT.  I had just finished another school year, was newly single, and excited for a summer full of professional development opportunities.  After weighing the pros and cons of my decisions, I decided to take a risk and go for it.

I wanted to create a venue for me to process my ideas and since I'm not very good at keeping up with journals (I've tried, for years, it's just not me), a blog seemed like the ideal fit.

I didn't start my blog to have a ton of followers.  I started it for me, as a safe space to reflect and grow as both an educator and a person.  I more than welcome followers and invite comments and discussions.  I turned down the option of paid Google advertisements on my blog because that's not who I am.  I didn't like the idea of having things posted on my blog that I didn't have control over.  Things that are advertised or discussed here are because I endorse them, not the advertisers over at Google.

I also started my online store on teacherspayteachers (TpT) not as a way to make a plethora of money, but to share the resources I'd made for my classroom.  Some are free and some are not.  I have paid products because I do value my time.  Many long hours were spent creating these products, especially the teacher guides for novels, so compensation is fair.  One product I'm working on, is sitting at fifty pages and I'm not done.  I've spent weeks working on it.  When I'm done, it will be available for purchase.  When the revenue is broken down, that's pennies for each hour worked.  

I enjoy making products for my classroom and since time is a luxury I have (mostly due to the fact I don't have kids yet), I am willing to share my resources with others.  As of right now, I have 160 products in my store with 38 followers (thanks guys!).

A colleague brought up wanting to start a store on TpT and I encouraged her to do so.  She was a tad annoyed that some of the products have to be free, but that's their policy.  

I warned her that TpT might not be an instant financial success.  My first month, three years ago, I put up a dozen products.  I anxiously checked my email, waiting to see if someone had downloaded my product.  To this day, some of my products have never been purchased...and that's okay.  I made them for my students and I know they're being used.  My first month, I sold two products and made five dollars.  Yup, five whole dollars.  That was beyond frustrating and I was ready to quit.

However, I didn't.  Things worth having take time.  Slowly but surely, I added more products.  I pinned the images on pinterest to expand my network.  I reached out to other educators and began following their blogs.  

I blog for me.  I blog to see my changes as an educator. I blog to keep all of my ideas in one place. I blog to start conversations and connect with others.

Some days, teaching is frustrating.  I am overwhelmed by work and I go for weeks without an update.  I'm working on this; I'm working on being more forgiving of myself and also more consistent with my commitments.

So if you're a newbie or an avid reader, thanks for stopping by! 

Happy third birthday to my blog and TpT store! It's been quite the ride.

Things I love about my classroom

A fellow teacher, former coworker, and adorable new mom Katie posted about her favorite things about her classroom in her blog, which inspired me to do the same.

Scholastic Book Orders

I love how excited my students get for the book orders.  I love that teachers get free coupons and reward points based on the parent orders, so I get to stock up on new books for my students.  This year I've noticed they're obsessed with the "Who was..." series, which is great!  I've read a few of these informational texts and they're very student friendly.  If you're looking for books on a specific person, I'd try here first.

Plus every few months or so, Scholastic includes coupons for the students.  If they spend $10, they get a coupon for a free book (under $5).  It's a pretty nice way to encourage reading.  Plus the prices are cheaper than local stores, which is always a bonus!

Class Competitions

We are a Reading Rangers school and use AR to gauge students' comprehension on their independent reading books.  We are in a competition within the grade level for the highest engage time and the highest percentage. 

However, this competition isn't enough for my students.  We have additional competitions within our classes and across the grade level.  Our current one is a race to 50 passing tests (85% or above) between the girls and the boys.  However, the catch for this one is that any time someone scores less than 80%, that team loses a point.  The kids are loving it!

Other successful competitions include:

-race to 100 100%s

-race to 100 points (each book is assigned a different point value depending on it's complexity and length)

-table team percentages

What competitions do you have with your students?

Class Dojo

I joined the class dojo train late this year, so I am currently only using it as a reward for reading rangers.  For each 100% students earn, they get 2 points.  85 or 90% gets 1 point, filling a badge earns 3 points, and graduating earns 10 points.   They are motivating one another to be in the top five, which is excellent.

Next year I will be using this exclusively as my classroom behavior system.  As helpful as the card system is, I'm over it.  With class dojo, I can reward specific behaviors.  More importantly, I can easily share the information with my students' families, which increases our home-school connections. 

Plus, it's free!

Our Anchor Charts

I haven't done the best job at posting pictures of all our anchor charts (there are a lot!) but I am proud of them.  I make them with the students and they have mini-versions in their notebooks for reference.  This year I stepped it up and have them color-coded.

Teal: reading

Yellow: foundational skills (fluency, phonics, word parts)

pink: math

white: novels

I love that my students have internalized that these are a resource designed to help them learn.  They often ask to go up and look at the charts for clarification (success!).

I ended up just stapling them on top of one another since we're out of space.  I don't have any cutesy inspirational posters up, but still ran out of wall space!  

Classroom Library 

For the first time in my teaching career, I had to level my library.  I used the reading rangers program to level my library (school mandate) but I went beyond that. I grouped my library by genre in adorable book buckets:

I've had a little bit of backlash because it's not organized by fiction/informational text or by point value.  For me, it's more authentic for readers to pick a book a book based on the topic instead of the length.

The Map

I love the map.  I love the postcards.  But more importantly, the map is getting my students so excited about geography and the other 49 states.  We are able to make connections with literature and informational text by linking the postcards with the locations named in books.  They are getting excited about colleges and starting to think about their options for their future. 

What are your favorite parts about your classroom?

Dear self

B had class last night (with the computer) and I had a long day at work, so I'm playing catch up with the blog-tember challenge!

Day 3's question:
"When I grow up I want to be..." Answer as your 5-year-old self or as you are now.

At five, I wanted to be a lot of things. I wanted to be both a ballerina and a fairy princess for Halloween, so my loving mother gave into my whining and combined costumes, much to the confusion of my neighbors.

The dream to be a princess never really faded.
 
I wanted to be a ninja or like Kimberly, the Pink Ranger from the Power Rangers. The same loving mother put me in gymnastics and dance instead.  A year later, I was still wanting to be Pink Ranger, so she let me start martial arts.

At 17, the day before an AP test, I earned my black belt.  I don't think my mother has fully forgiven me for not pursing her ballerina dream.

At five, I was also obsessed with Wendy from Peter Pan.  I tried to fly by leaping off a picnic table.  I met concrete and a hospital visit. I told my new Sunday school teacher that was my name. I got away with this deception for a few weeks before my lie was unraveled.  Apparently you're not supposed to lie at church...oops.  We kept the artwork.  Sorry mom.

At five, I also wanted to be in charge.  I didn't know quite yet of what, but I knew I liked giving directions and having other people listen.  This sometimes unyielding desire to be in charge was documented on my kindergarten report card and more than one parent teacher conference was held about me needing to learn to listen to my classmates.  At five, I guess I'd decided their ideas were silly and we should only do mine.

Sometimes I still feel like I struggle with this.

At five, I wanted to be a flying, fairy princess ninja who was in charge of everything.

Today, I am a teacher.

Pretty close, right?

A week in small groups

I spend 1/3 of my day doing small groups for reading.

My 12 groups range from DRA 40-70 and are split up by both DRA level and students' interests.  My afternoon group also has all the fifth graders in GATE/TAGs (advanced course work for gifted & talented), so I have to make sure to never schedule their group meeting days on Tuesdays or Fridays.  I also had to group them in the same 3 groups for this reason.

When they meet with me, we do close reads of important parts of the passage, go over comprehension questions, zoom in on vocabulary and work on predictions and inferences.  Lately they've been running more of their small groups, which is awesome.

We have daily word work and fluency practice.  I have to RCBM two kids a day (fluency progress monitoring with AIMSweb), so during this time, they read our weekly flueny passage (leveled passages from reading A-Z).  During that time, they coach each other on the components of fluency (rate, expression, accruacy and phrasing) to help each other improve.  By doing the same passage over the course of the week, they practice repeated reading and their accuracy improves over the course of the week.  I get to use this time to progress monitor so I don't fall behind on my case load.  I love that we multi-task and it's not wasted time.  

We have been working on weekly "must do's" as well with the A/E/I/O/U strategy and our science readers.  I chose informational text because they struggle with main ideas and supporting key details.  In fifth grade, they are expected to pick out the main ideas and make connections within text, including scientific ones.  Our science CRTs (standardized tests) are up first on the testing calendar, so I'm utilizing old science content to not only review science material but informational text as well.  If I give them a task, there should be a clear focus!  (Or in my overachieving case, several)

Here are some snap shots of what they're doing when they're not at my kidney table:

Collaboratively adding details about the characters in their novels on their large graphic organizers.

Using fifth grade description cards to analyze characters.

Responding to a post on kidblog.

Referring back to the text for evidence in a written response

Keeping track of characters in a novel

Collaboratively recording information about the novel, including juicy words, character development and settings.

Happy reading!