Teacher vs. Student

One of my students has been working on The House of Hades for about a month now.  He's on page 188 and has read other books in the mean time, but he's stalling.

I only have one copy of this book and two other students are ready to read it.  

Instead of demanding that he finish the book over the long weekend, I game him a challenge.

If he finishes his book (The House of Hades) and I don't finish my book (The Sword of Summer) by Wednesday, the class gets to pick my outfit for Thursday.  They voted on a Denver Broncos jersey and a San Francisco 49ers hat.  As an Arizona Cardinals fan, this is hurtful and they are so excited about the idea of me wearing my rival team's attire.

If I finish my book and he doesn't finish his, his table team gets to pick his outfit for Thursday.  They voted on a pink tutu.

If we both finish, there is no public embarrassment.

On a side note, he started on page 188.  I was on page 20.  I've got a lot of reading to do before Wednesday!

Rethinking the classroom calendar

I admit it, I have a laminated calendar very similar to this in my classroom:

It's very cutesy and frustrating to change out each month.  As diligent as I am, I inevitably miss a child's birthday each year and that's super uncomfortable.  The calendar just kind of hangs there without any student input.  

Next year, I'd like to change that.

So I purchased a very basic desk calendar:

Before the school year starts, I'll go through and label all the crucial days: staff development days, three day weekends, and student birthdays.  

But here's the change:

I'm going to have students write their Reading Ranger goals, both short and long term, on the calendar.  When they achieve their goals, they'll get to highlight their goals and we'll do a classroom celebration.   

Students will get excited because it's a small brag wall, but it's the goals they've set.

I'm excited because I will keep this calendar by my small group table to help with accountability.  If all my data (in terms of students' goals) is in one place, it should stream line my goal setting weekly meetings.  Plus if I'm saving time on goal setting conferences (which will be Mondays and Thursdays), that leaves more time for small strategy groups and book chats.

Of course, the calendar will still be cute...but now, also practical.

What new strategies are you trying in your classroom next year?

Rethinking the Prize Bin

My first few years of teaching, I was guilty of spending too much money on my classroom.  Most of it stemmed from having a real adult salary for the first time with minimal expenses, but I also wanted my students to feel loved and cared for. I was at a title 1 school so my students didn't come in with everything they needed.  I had a bit of a savior complex and that hurt, financially.  I spent more than I should have on more than one occasion. 

I visited the dollar store and target dollar section to stock up my prize bin.  I spent a lot on crayons, pencils, and various other trinkets.  I bought flavored lip glosses and stretchy bracelets.  Of course I wish my students were intrinsically motivated to make good choices, but let's be realistic.  They're ten.  They thrive on positive reinforcement and small goodies.  I picked up some freebies from various places.  My students look forward to the prize bin, but many of the "good" prizes are snatched up quickly.  Some of the original things I bought are still sitting in the treasure box.

So I changed up my strategy.  I didn't want to keep restocking the prize bin, especially when I was still funding some of their classroom supplies and paying for other classroom rewards.

So I switched to coupons.  Yes, coupons.  Some of them are for individual rewards and some of them are for class experiences.  I'm still in the process of updating them to post on TpT, but some of the coupons are:

-extra iPad time
-extra computer time
-extra recess time
-sit with a friend for the day
-sit in the teacher's rolling chair for the day

My students love these coupons.  My favorite part? The rewards are free!

Thankful catch ups!

Ah, the weekend.  It's time to catch up on blogging and class updates.  But first, time to pause and reflect upon the things that I'm thankful for:

-My students are so incredibly excited about everything we're doing.  Their immediate buy-in makes my job easier.  Their zest for learning is contagious.  Their desire for reading, especially anything by Rick Riordan, is insatiable.

-Many of my students are bilingual.  I have a new-to-country student who is just learning English. It's an incredibly tough struggle, but he's a sweetheart. He's from Mexico and about half my class speaks Spanish.  I've got him on English-learning programs, reading bilingual books, and he's very excited about math.  I'm so thankful he's got many partners who can translate and are so eager to help him acclimate to our classroom and feel successful.

-I'm thankful for the flexibility I'm allowed at my new school.  Math runs a few minutes over because I'm working with a small group? Ok. It happens. I'm not in trouble for it.  I decide to take my small groups outside to read because we are having gorgeous 80 degree weather in November? Sounds good, provided I let the office know.  It's great to be treated like a professional and not have every decision I make scrutinized. 

-I'm thankful for Rick Riordan.  In his latest books, he reveals one of the male characters has feelings for Percy and is struggling to admit these feelings to others.  The books are in no way sexualized because they're written for children, but I appreciate that Riordan made a gay hero for students to look up to.  Plus he's an amazing author anyway, so this just added one more reason to the why he's great list!

-I'm thankful my school cares about me as a person first and a teacher second.  I have yet to take a sick/personal day but am trying to coordinate schedules with B to see when we can sneak in a 3 day weekend.  I doubt I'll have to explain myself and I'm sure a mental health day will be encouraged, provided I leave sub plans.

-I'm thankful for the numerous potlucks at work!  Seriously, there are several each month and they are all themed. It's great!

-I'm thankful the post office had both Batman and Harry Potter stamps.  Mailing out Jamberry samples just got a whole lot more fun!

-I'm thankful for my (assuming) future parents in law for gifting Olive Garden gift cards.  We had a spontaneous mid-week dinner date and it was fabulous.


What are you thankful for on this fine Saturday morning?

Thankfulness, Days 1 and 2

I frequently fall into the habit of focusing on the things in life that aren't going right, rather than stopping to appreciate the things that are.  Like so many others, I'll be participating in Thankful November.

The premise is simple: find time each day to be thankful for things in your life.  Speak them aloud, post on social media, spread the thankfulness.

Day 1:

I am thankful my car was returned from Carmax in a timely manner and earlier than promised. I am thankful Carmax & Chevy have a good relationship. I am thankful I was in a stable financial situation to buy a newer car (she's a 2012) from Carmax and be covered with a warranty.  The check engine light came on and everything was checked out and fixed, free of charge.  They even washed the exterior and vacuumed inside, which was a pleasant surprise.  I'm thankful for transportation and I'm thankful for companies that truly do their best to take care of customers. 

I am thankful for my students' effort.  One munchkin retook his first math test for the third time.  Yes, three times taking a math test on the same concept.  The numbers are changed each time but I know he's been working hard on mastering place value and powers of ten.  His dad is a math teacher so I know he practices at home.  He failed the first test.  Got a D on the second.  We've kept working on it and I know he plays math games at home with his family.  This time? 90%.  Can't wait to share that with him!

Day 2: 

I am thankful for two healthy kittens who have such sassy personalities.  Crookshanks, who is normally sweet tempered, gave me this face when I stopped petting her:

Yes, major sass right there.  I plan to use this image as a morning meme with my students the next time they need a reminder about putting their names on their papers.

I'm thankful I was able to make the decision to adopt my two furballs a few years ago. I went to a no kill shelter with the intention of adopting a 12 week old Chloe, but when she was curled up with her sister...I ended up with both furballs.  One of the best decisions I've ever made since they bring me so much joy.

What are you thankful for?

Craft time!

The beginning of the year is always an expensive time for teachers. I've stocked up on supplies for six table teams, including new buckets for them.  I bought some new border and letters for bulletin boards, got burlap to make border, and various other items at the craft store(s) for new cute things in my classroom.

One of the projects I just completed is my "good effort beads":

I saw on pinterest a fellow teacher made "smart beads" for her students to wear.  I modified the idea to more mesh with my growth based teaching mindset. 

By switching from "being smart" to "great effort", this shows my students that I'm focused on them. Our goal is progress.  Our academic journey focuses on improvement.  My students are in competition with themselves.  They aren't all coming in at the same place academically, nor will they all end the same place.  I have high expectations and will continue to push each of them to do their best. I believe in praising growth and progress, not "smartness".  

In a TFA (Teach for America) flashback, I vividly recall one of our many Saturday sessions ending with this idea:

Smart is not something that you are.

Smart is something that you become.

How powerful for students to realize that being smart comes from effort, perseverance, and continued hard work.  It doesn't happen overnight.

I can't wait to encourage my students to keep trying their best.

Continuing with empowering students, I picked up some lanyards:

Which I turned into:

I'm very excited for my new brag necklaces.  Again, this emphasizes a student's progress over time rather than a numerical score.  

This year, my students will be reading...a lot.  We are utilizing AR with our "reading rangers" program that focuses on comprehension and stamina.  I'm excited that this is used consistently K-5 in every classroom, so there is a school wide support and buy-in from students.

I also am a realist and know I teach ten year-olds...

Which is why I created this:

I know I will have books get damaged. I understand small rips from wear and tear, but I think if a student completely destroys a book, the family should replace it.  I'll need to double check with my grade level and administration, but I'm thinking of putting that in the library contract I send home at the beginning of the year.  In five years of teaching, I've only had to collect from a handful of families.  One student left my copy of Hatchet on the bus.  One had a water bottle explode and flood her backpack.  A third left it out for the dog to find (comically yes, the dog ate it).  A fourth ripped the spine in half.  A few others lost the books in various places.  I think it's fair to hold families fiscally responsible.  After all, if they lose library books, they have to pay to replace the books...so why shouldn't the same be true for my classroom library?

I wanted to jazz up our information space, so I had a little fun with chalk board markers.  I bought a banner from the party supply aisle at Target:

I also borrowed a neighbor's cricut to make:

We are expected to post our calendar so it's obvious what the students are working on, so why not make it fun? 

I also want to to focus on small groups in math, which means I'll need an additional management strategy.

I decided on student math coaches, which would be designated by these:

I'm all about collaboration, so they'll soon say "math coaches".  Students will prove to me they can handle the concept, then I'll give them the lanyards and let them coach their peers while I work with a small group.

More pictures coming soon!

Motivation

For the past few years, I've used the "kiss your brain" jar to reward students for thoughtful answers.

It works fairly well but I was ready to try something new.  While searching pinterest, I found this idea:
 

I think making a jar of treats to celebrate their growth and academic progress.  I just need a jar, a printer, and some markers!

Battle of the Books

On Friday afternoon, I took my enthusiastic team of four students to the district semi-finals.  Clad in our matching navy shirts, they were eager to win.

They participated in the first two rounds, but didn't earn enough combined points to advance.

I stayed with them for both rounds, one round acting as a time keeper and the other as the host.  Both our principal and librarian showed up, which was wonderful for my kiddos to feel supported.

My students lost gracefully and displayed wonderful sportsmen-like conduct, which was heartwarming to see.  I congratulated the winning team and had the audience clap for the effort of both teams.  There were some disrespectful parents, which was a tad frustrating.  Of course each school and family goes in wanting their child to be successful.  But not every team can win.  Every team, however, can conduct themselves with dignity and grace.

I wish those parents were more focused on the true purpose of the event: building enthusiasm for reading.  

My team did their best but most importantly, they had fun. They did the competition completely on their own but were supported the whole time.  They read some great books, strengthened friendships, and enjoyed quizzing each other about the novels.

One of the boys was inexplicably thrilled when I told him that there isn't just one sequel to The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, but four.  I know what his summer plans will be--reading.  Lots of reading.

That's a wonderful thing.

Aww

I have a teacher facebook. I'm very careful of what I post and use this social media platform as a way to connect with my students and their families, both former and current.  It's completely separate from my personal account. There's nothing I put on my page I wouldn't share with my principal or superintendent.

When I discovered there was a third in the Al Capone... series, I took to facebook to let my students know.  Here was the almost immediate reaction:

Yes, my student responded almost immediately with giddy excitement.  These moments make my job worthwhile.  I won't have to tell the rest of the group, this student will do it for me and most likely today or tomorrow morning at recess.

These are my students.  

CRT testing

Standardized testing is up on us.  In our district, spring break coincided with Easter so some of the fifth grade testing was done before spring break with the rest after.

Third grade went first and we had our math test on the Wednesday and Thursday before spring break.  The Friday before spring break was field day, so no testing was done.

We had a fifth grade pep assembly and they got these cute testing treats:

I don't know what happens at other schools, but we are very strict with our testing protocol.  My pink CRT bucket does not leave my sight after I sign it out in the am.  I lock it in the cabinet and then lock my door when I go to pick up my students and when we take our restroom break.  This year, our district was even stricter with test proctoring rules.  No technology could be on, which includes my teacher computer, iPads, and my cell phone.  I understand the rules and it saddens me that some teachers would cheat, giving the rest of us a bad name.  However, I also understand the incredibly high stakes of this test and when job security depends on the moods of eight year-olds, it seems like a catch-22 situation.  But again, I'm not the one making the rules...just the one meticulously following them.  Even though it means no email during the test.

We do class adoptions during testing season.  Primary classes adopt the testing grades and create good luck banners and treats to motivate our kiddos.  I wish we would have this adoption all year so that our classes could read to one another and share their writing, but I am not in charge of these things.

We did make good luck signs for the two third grade classes that we share a hallway with and they made super cute ones for us as well.  We also write good luck messages on our boards, since we take down all of our anchor charts and visual cues during testing.  

We were adopted by two first grade classes since their combined numbers are about equal to one fifth grade classroom.

Our first treat said we would rock the test and was baggies of rock shaped chocolates:

Our second treat was that we're on a roll with tootsie rolls.

I can't wait to see what the next four days of testing treats will be.  My students love the snack and the motivation signs are super cute.  I'm actually really excited about testing because I'm so proud of the hard work my grade level has done this year to prepare our students. 

 I only hope the standardized tests match what we taught in terms of standards.  We adopted the Common Core and have followed our state's roll-out plan meticulously, so we hope the test reflects the standards we were mandated to teach.  

(In all likelihood, this won't be the case.  I'm sure the test will be the old standards and our school will look poor in rankings because we did our job and taught them what they were supposed to learn...but alas, I'm not a policy maker and am not able to be in charge of everything...yet?)

Attention Getter

We do a lot of different attention getters in our class.

Here's our newest one:

What I say is in blue and their response is in green.  They're enjoying our new attention getter!

Venn Diagrams

For tutoring, we've been reading a book on the Olympics from Reading A-Z.  They're having a lot of fun with the topic, so I decided to use the large Venn Diagrams I have to make the afternoon just a tad more special:

They loved it! It's amazing what lamination and vis-a-vis markers can do for student motivation!

Monthly Mystery Motivators (February)

We've had some escalating behavior concerns, so we decided to focus on the following positive behaviors:

We are trying to set our students up for future academic success as well as to be kind people.  We had an assembly with them and gave them contracts to sign, outlining the four behaviors we are looking for.  

If students do not follow the behaviors, they earn strikes in the given reward period.  They must display positive behavior choices 80% of the time to earn the monthly mystery motivators!

For February:

The students who earned the reward had extra recess time with their teachers (and the art teacher during his prep).  The students who didn't earn the reward wrote a behavior reflection with the counselor instead.

Our next reward is on the 12th and then again at the end of the month.

Each reward is different and we have 6 rewards in all for the duration of the school year.  Students must earn 4 of the 6 rewards to be invited to the end of year, fifth grade only dance!

We want to show students that by making good choices, being respectful to others and completing your (home)work, you get rewarded in life.

Sometimes, the reward is as awesome as an hour of kickball!

Ursula, several weeks in

For those of you following the adventurous building of Ursula, here is her most recent glamour shot:

As you can see, she is nearly complete!  With three weeks left in this class motivator, I'm pleased to see a nice change in some of my students. Did this motivator work for all of them? No, of course not.  But I have seen more effort out of most of them, which is what I was going for.

We'll be having a lunch time party for those students who fully completed their homework for eight of the ten weeks.  It will be a juice and donuts party during recess time and by invitation only!  I'm excited to get to positively reward my students who are consistently trying their best.

Tomorrow she'll get her arms, next week her yellow shells and her sea horse scepter on the final week!

Student Input

Since we are doing affixes and Greek & Latin roots during our whole group reading classes, I decided we needed to revise what we're doing in our small groups.

However, deciding what we need for word work isn't entirely up to me.  I'm not in their brains and I wanted to make sure our 5-10 minutes of phonics/word work was well spent in our small groups.

So I asked both periods a series of questions and had them respond with what they wanted and needed:

By allowing them to have input, they feel more of a sense of ownership in our small groups.

It's not my classroom, it's our classroom.

Book Club for Battle of the Books

Wednesday afternoons mean one thing for me: Book Club.

For one wonderful hour, me and my twenty-five (ish) readers trek to the library, sprawl out with pillows and enjoy reading.  They've also been working on writing questions about the books, so they break off into small groups and hold their own literature circles.

She made her own questions for the group!

I love that they knew to go back to the text to find answers!

I also made question stems for them to use to guide their discussions, which you can snag here.  Per Battle of the Books norms, I'm not supposed to guide their comprehension of the novels, only encourage them to read and provide strategies.

It's so rewarding to get to spend an hour with my fifth grade book worms.  I love that they're so into reading!

I'm also really appreciative that one of my students encouraged his cousin to join, even though reading is difficult for him.  They're reading the same book and helping each other out, which is great to see.

Today my principal popped in and read with some students:

It totally made their day!  I'm thankful she's supportive of this endeavor and I know she loves talking about reading with students.  

With about two months until their competition, they are going strong!  Many are finishing up their first book and beginning their second.  They have also taken our persuasive writing unit to heart and are encouraging one another to read certain books next, which is adorable.  All the books are wonderful and I love how they're supporting one another.

Happy reading!

Motivational Posters

Since a majority of my room is covered with anchor charts and student work, there isn't much room left over for motivational posters.

However, I do have these two displayed at the front of the room:

For me, effort is everything.  I'm an inclusion teacher and I know my students have a wide variety of current levels.  I also know that it doesn't matter where they start, but where they finish with me.  Because we are standards-based with the Common Core (although I'm supposed to call them the Nevada Academic Content Standards, or NACS for short...I'm still getting used to the new acronym), my students have through June to master concepts.  This means a lot of spiraled reteaching and frequent opportunities for students to demonstrate mastery of concepts.

I would rather a student try a math worksheet, miss every problem and learn from those mistakes than simply write "IDK" or leave the sheet blank.  Not trying isn't cool!  At least that's the focus of our life skill this week.

Second, I really like our THINK poster. We are a be kind school and I think it's important that students realize not every thought in their brains needs to be verbalized.  Not that their thoughts aren't important, but sometimes they don't say the nicest things to one another and that's simply not okay in my classroom.  I do my best to create an educational environment where students feel supported, encouraged and safe.  Negative words take away from our community.

 I think we all, kiddos and adults included, need to pause to THINK before speaking some times.  The world just might be a slightly brighter place for it!

Impromptu Parent Teacher Conferences

When I dismissed my kiddos on Friday, I had a parent waiting by the door wanting to chat.  This wasn't a scheduled meeting, but the look on her face said it was urgent.  So I asked her to wait a few moments while I took care of some last minute end of the day issues (calling another parent, printing report cards for magnet school applications and dealing with another upset student).  She gladly waited and politely looked the other way when some choice words were used by an upset ten year old.

She came in and expressed her concerns about her son's math performance.  My neighbor, his math teacher, popped right over (without me having to ask, because she's amazing like that) to join the conversation. 

She expressed all the strategies she was trying to use at home and we talked about the strategies we're using in school, including changing his placement during our intervention/extension portion of the day to allow for more math support.  We talked about the importance of bringing home the math notebook and having her son talk through the math strategies we go over in class.   

It was a short, very positive conference.  My student was there and we all clarified that he wasn't in trouble, we (family & teachers) just wanted to work together to help him succeed.  They left feeling confident and armed with ways to support learning at home, which is wonderful.  I made sure to let her know how much I appreciate that she was concerned and wanting to help her son do his best.

While it wasn't a planned conference, I love that my students' families know I have an open door policy and that the whole fifth grade team supports their children.  I love that they know it's perfectly acceptable to come talk to us about ways to help their kiddos.  At the end of the day, we're all on the same side with the same goal: helping students grow academically and become successful, confident young scholars.  It's nice to have support at home! I'm glad my student's family cares so much for him and isn't afraid to ask for help!

Spin on Book Reviews

Obviously, I like books.  Okay, love them.  I'm lucky enough to spend about half of my instructional day talking about literacy with fifth graders, so that's pretty awesome.

I was reading a librarian's blog and she posted this fun idea:

I like the idea of using speech bubbles and having students write about the different books.  I think I'd tweak the idea a tad and have larger images of the books with smaller student faces with thumbs up signs, as if they approve of that text.  I have around seventy five kiddos in my small reading groups, so a bulletin board with all of their faces just won't work.

However, a bulletin board of the top twenty five books we're reading and why they like them is completely feasible!  I think I've figured out my final bulletin board of the year!

Friend Bench

This upcoming week is Peace Week at my elementary school in honor of Dr. King.  The counselor does an awesome job at preparing grade-level specific and appropriate lessons while still delivering the same anti-bullying message.

We are a Be Kind school and I think most of our students have done a wonderful job embracing the motto of "be kind".  I love "catching kids being kind" and acknowledging them for the simplest, selfless acts.

I saw another school was doing this:

If a student is lonely and in need of a friend, he or she heads to the bench.  Other students then go over and invite him or her to play with them.  What a great way to encourage friendship!

And I'd love to implement something at our school!  I know metal will get extremely hot during the summer months, so that is a concern.  It'd be great if student council could paint the bench.  Perhaps it could be a parting gift from this year's fifth graders?

I think it's definitely worth looking into :)