Challenges

Last week, I got two new students.

On the same day.

One boy was moved from another fifth grade classroom and the other was from a neighboring school.

The same day, I had four students who are normally well behaved decide to launch spit balls at one another.  This of course, is not okay, so we had to have a stern talk about classroom norms.

I did not scream, shout, or even raise my voice.  Instead, I shared how disappointed I was and gave them the opportunity to come forward, which they did.  We discussed consequences privately in the hallway and they determined what they thought was fair.  They then cleaned up their mess and apologized to the class.

We had a long talk about making choices and taking responsibility.  They made a mistake.  I told them that yes, they did and they will make more in their lifetimes.  It's what they do after the mistake that matters.  It's what they learn from the mistake that makes the difference.

Some of my students needed to hear this talk about forgiveness and making amends.  They weren't necessarily the ones involved in the mess, but it was a crucial moment for our class.  In six years, this was the second time spit balls have been an issue.

I don't know if it's the recent full moon, the two new students, the strange weather, or that winter break is a week away, but I'm having a difficult time with classroom management.   Anyone else in the same boat?

Getting to Know My Munchkins

Since I'm starting at a new school, I'm coming in at a disadvantage.  I don't know these kids or their families.

So I pushed myself to try to learn as much as I could about my new bunch of munchkins.  I gave them several "about me" surveys and this year, actually took the time to read them.  I mean between all their beginning of the year forms, we're looking at five hundred pages or so...good thing it was a three day weekend!

It took a few hours, but I'm glad I did it.  I learned a lot about my new students (and their families).  I can easily name off ten fun facts about each kiddo, which is impressive considering I've known them for five days.  I also made notes about what I saw during their games of 20 wins and various first week sorts.

Here's a top ten list of things I've learned:

1) I've got some pretty eclectic kids.  Some told me they love Mean Girls, others are in Tae Kwon Do, some learned the difference between debit & credit cards this summer.

2) Almost every single one said they struggle with spelling and reading multisyllabic words, which only justifies my decision to spend 10 minutes a day doing phonics during whole group reading.

3) A few of them live around the block from me.  I've never had students live so close. I will probably see them out riding their bikes or have them visit on Halloween.

4) They are pretty vocal about their feelings on reading.  Some love Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, others hate the series with a passion...and weren't afraid to show it!

5) I've got supportive families.  Some filled me in on situations at home, some voiced their concerns about where their kids fall academically, but most want to be involved which is a welcome change.

6) Some already listed me as their favorite teacher, which is adorable. It also makes me worry about their previous teachers...but we'll have a great year.

7) Quite a few want to learn how to use the dictionary.  I don't know if their third grade teachers skipped that standard, but we'll be sure to cover both traditional and electronic dictionaries this year. (Ninjawords.com is my favorite!)

8) They're really good at coaching one another.  I don't know if I should give their previous teachers credit for this (or perhaps their parents), but during our math games they were helping one another.  Yes, there was friendly competition but they were genuinely wanting one another to grasp the concept at hand.

9) They work well together.  Some of them said their best friends are in the class.  I've only had to move one child in the first week.  Very few needed a gentle nudge about participating with the group and I'm thinking it was because they already knew the answers and didn't want to give it away. I'm pleased they want to talk to one another.

10)  They are full of joy.  They're inquisitive.  They want to learn.  This is the best possible scenario I could ask for as a teacher.

It's going to be a great year. 

Year Six, Day 2

Day Two

With no duty to be had and the kinks from yesterday all worked out, the morning ran much smoother.

We started our day with this meme:

Before I showed them the wordle from their first day feelings exit tickets:

I was pleased many of them wrote in complete sentences.  My favorite may have been the child that just wrote "I'm satisfied."  I still have a few that are nervous, but that's to be expected. 

We went over more classroom procedures, did our number talk (which lead to some awesome discourse about making sense of problems!), made our class norms with a gallery walk, and did another read aloud:

This mentor text focuses on life skills and provides strategies on not erupting (interrupting).  Again, most of them had never heard this book so I'm on a roll!

Can't wait to read this gem on day 3!

I did make my first student cry.  Yes, we made it through a day and a half of fifth grade before there were tears.

He had his phone out and in his words, was just looking at the time.  Since his back was to the wall, I chose to believe him.  We had a conversation in the hallway because it's not a conversation for the whole class.  He apologized, we talked through strategies (look at the clock, keep phone in backpack), and I moved him seats so he would face the clock.  I gave him his phone back at the end of the day, but there were still tears. 

I guess the honeymoon is over?

Day three is a weird day.  We'll tackle second prep and our first assembly.  Fingers crossed!

Simplicity, part 2

As I blogged about last week, I'm excited to try some new, simple tricks in my classroom.  Last week I chronicled ideas 1-3, so today you can find the next four gems! I'm all for small, simple tweaks to make my classroom run a little more efficiently.

Idea Four: "Partners" Poster

In the past, I've used a handmade version of this poster for groups to set norms:

This groups one works pretty well.  I found this "partners" one earlier this week and can't wait to use it as well!

I like that this poster goes more in depth with expectations.  I also like the "explain your answer" part because students need frequent reminders to do so!


Idea Five: The Ten Commandments of Math

I may need to tweak this idea so it's not so overtly religious, but I like this anchor chart:

I think laying down some ground rules for math would be a great thing! It might be cute to make it like a constitution and have my students all sign our declaration of math.

Idea Six: Additional Rewards for the Mystery Walker

I already implemented the mystery walker idea last year but I like this extension idea.  All I'd need to do is recreate this with my favorite fonts (we don't have time for cutesy clip art in fifth grade!) and dedicate a bucket to collect raffle tickets.

Idea Seven: Color Coding Notebooks

In a perfectly coordinated, OCD controlled world, all my students would have the same color notebooks for each subject.  I'm aware that won't happen.  But this could be a good back up plan:

The original pin was about text books, but we don't really use those in my classroom.  When we set up our notebooks at the beginning of the year, I could have each subject be a different color.  Having students search for their blue math notebook would definitely help with the desk organization and help struggling students with staying focused.  I know that it's tough for fifth graders to use a different notebook for each subject, but it's definitely necessary for middle school!  I'd rather they struggle with me and enter middle school prepared to switch classes and stay organized.

I'm committing to small, simple steps toward a better, more organized and positive classroom!  Who is with me?

Battle of the Books Book Club!

Today we had our first book club for our district's BOTB and it was so much fun! I have about thirty students participating and they're so excited to read :)

(Aren't they lovely?)

We started with clarifying my expectations and then creating groups of up to four students.  From there, they created their own team flags and generated their own norms/social contract.  I read them the back covers and then had them decide which book they wanted to read first.

There are 8 books in the challenge and each student must read at least 3 of them.  

Some of the books will be kept in the classroom for students to read during small group times but the rest will be available for them to check out and take home.

We're going to meet on Wednesdays for the next two months.  Per advisor guidelines, I can't ask them comprehension questions about the novels because the task is entirely on them.  However, I can support them by giving them a quiet space to read and modeling how to use our comprehension stems.  I'm excited to watch them take ownership of their learning!

Tech Tip: Wordle

I blogged about wordle in the beginning of the year because I love using this (free) web 2.0 tool to make our accountable talk posters and norms, like these:

However, I haven't really used it since.  So in the interest of trying new strategies with my small groups, we will keep track of characters in our novels this way :)

So, for example, if I was making a wordle about Hermione Granger, I'd start with brainstorming a list of descriptive words, character traits, quotes, etc.

I'd type up a list in word (so it's easy to edit):

Helpful hints:

1) If I'm using a phrase or more than one word, I have to use a ~ between words with NO spaces.  The ~ is above your tab key if you're on a PC

2) If you want a word to appear larger, type it more than once (ex: her name)

From there, I'd go to wordle and select create:

Then after selecting create, I copy and paste in my list from word:

Then hit go.

From there, I get my wordle:

Which I can customize with the font, layout & color until I get one I like:

From there, I can print or use another web 2.0 tool like Jing to take a snapshot & save as a png (picture).

I can also go back to my list in word and add more words, then repeat the process!

Enjoy!

Day 2 Down

Survived the second day.  We still need to work on being respectful listeners and not taking half a dozen bathroom breaks but it's a definite work in progress.

Yesterday (day 1): 

We read Ms. Nelson is missing and made these anchor charts in a gallery walk:

Today, I turned these into wordles:

Our class norms

Our individual goals

Small group norms

I prefer wordles for the class rules because they take up less space :)

Today we read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and discussed how students should treat one another.

Here are the "I'm moving to Australia" cards for when students are having "one of those days".

On to day three!

Rules, rules, rules

I don't like the word rules. I tend to want to bend them, immediately.

Instead, I prefer "guidelines for harmonious living" but that's a little long for an elementary classroom.

So instead, we shall call our guide lines norms.  Norms, in contrast to rules, are created by and with the group that they'll affect.  Rules are imposed upon a group by a leader and often met with resistance.  Not to go all social contracts and political science on you, but rules don't always lend themselves to I-Thou relationships.  I want I-Thou relationships in my classroom where respect, individuality, rights and cooperation are emphasized.

(Thank you to countless political theory classes and the ideas of Locke, Socrates, Hobbes, Rawls, Buber & the whole gang)

So instead of making rules posters, we are going to make a class constitution and set our norms during the first week of school.  By creating a social contract with my students rather than handing down rules, I will create an environment where discourse is encouraged.  I won't tell them what I want our class norms to be, I'll guide their discussion and let them generate norms of how we'll thrive in room 45. 

To do this, I'll generate their question stems for gallery walks and let them go.

After they've had a chance to answer all of the questions, I'll bring them back together for a Socratic chat about each poster.  We will establish norms for general classroom cooperation, small group interactions, student-teacher expectations and most importantly, they'll get the opportunity to reflect upon their own goals.  They get to decide how they want to conduct themselves and how they want to grow academically this year.

Granted, they won't have total control because well, they're ten.  However, they hopefully will feel a lot more ownership over the classroom and hold one another accountable to our norms.  Not my rules, our norms.  

I'll display our norms on a wordle and something cute like this:

(Except it won't say rules!)