Back to School!

Lots of teachers are putting the final touches on their rooms for the 1st Day of School. I'm not huge on different bulletin boards because I'm horrible about changing them throughout the year. Below are some pictures of my classroom.

 

 

I teach reading and social studies this year, but I wanted to support students learning in all areas. I found the digital times on Pinterest. Then I made the other clocks to show significant times throughout the day.

 

 

 

 

These are my Love and Logic Posters. I had to re-do them from last year as my originals got damaged over the summer. Boo. But I like this one better I think!

 

 

 

 

This is my Classroom Management Book. It's a binder with all my conduct management information. I got this idea from the Turn Around Schools: No Excuses University Institute I attended in Dallas this summer.

 

 

This is the Classroom Management Plan all of 3rd grade (and the campus) will be following this year.

 

 

Here is a picture of our Rethinking Letter

 

 

 

And of course the Love and Logic Classroom goes in the front of our notebook! I'm combining ideas from 2 of the best workshops I've been to thus far in my teaching career.

 

Goof Off

Goof Off has to be the best product ever when you need to remove last years decorations from your classroom

Do your desks have a film on them from name plates and packaging tape? Spray this on the desks. Let sit. Then wipe off.

The laminated poster you made las year have permanent marker or dry erase marker left on it? Spray and wipe! It's awesome. No more hairspray or nail polish remover.

Of course you wouldn't want to use this product with students in the room. Strictly for summer cleaning or at home use. You can buy it at Lowes or Home Depot for less than $10 (when I bought my bottle).

Back to 3rd Grade

Guess what?! It's back to 3rd grade for me! Now that my classroom has literally moved from one corner of the building to the other, I am working on getting ready for next year. Below are some pictures of Pinterest ideas for classroom organization. My friend and co-worker, Trina, had these in her room too.

I am teaching reading and social studies this year. These are my objective boards. I decided these were the 3 content areas that my class would have the same objective. While independent reading will be on the indvidual student's level, I want them working on a grade level objective that will be modeled through read alouds and mini lessons.

This is my class expectations board. I plan on using this to help remind students of the expectations throughout our 90 minute block.

The Teacher Clipboard System will be used when I am doing Guided Reading. Each student will be assigned a number that they will use in each of their class rotations. Each of the students will have their number written on a clothespin. If a student needs my assistance during a small group time they simply clip their clothespin to my clipboard and walk away. It's a silent way of them letting me know they need me without interrupting my group. I haven't used it before, so we'll see how it goes this year!

School Supply Shopping Trip # 3

Previously I mentioned how frustrated I was that Staples changed their policy on Extreme Deals Teacher Limits. Once again, I understand why Staples needed to change their policy. It's just a little frustrating as a teacher to have to pay all the upfront costs and get the money back in Staples Rewards. I still decided to participate in the deals, knowing that I could get a lot of products that I used for really cheap. The policy change just means I'm being selective on which Extended Limits deals I am participating in each week.For example, I entitled this Shopping Trip #3 because I did go to Staples last week but did not participate in the Extreme Deals Extended Limits for teachers.


 Staples still has great weekly deals on school supplies if you pay attention to their ads.

Here is the breakdown of my haul at Staples this week:

12 packages of Pencil Cap Erasers*

25 packages of index cards*

2 packages of Die Cut Post Its

4 packages of Neon Flag Stickies

4 packages of Sharpie 4ct Highlighters

*Indicates 2 regular limit, 25 Extended Teacher Limit with 100% back in Staples Rewards

Retail Value: $62.48

Used 15% Off "Back to School Savings Pass": ($5.75)

Paid In Store: $35.30

*Expected Rewards Estimate*: $30.00

The rewards will be issued at the end of the month for use in August at Staples. I'm still learning about the Staples Rewards program as I have not used it in the past.

I used the index cards all the time last year. The index cards played a huge role in my Guided Reading groups and small group teaching. We made index cards for sight words, building sentences, etc.

Reorganizing the Literacy Library

A project that Julie, Trina and I have taken on this summer is to reorganize the Literacy Library on our campus. This is the library that the teachers use to pull books for their guided reading groups.  It has become an absolute disaster zone. For someone who teaches reading every day, it became a huge frustration to try to find appropriate books and keep everything organized.

We have started the process by going section by section to make sure all the same titles are together and in sets for teachers to pull. Then we are using online resources to update the levels on the books. In previous years our campus used Reading Recovery as part of their reading interventions. However, that program is no longer used on our campus. We now determine student reading levels through DRA2 and teach through guided reading based on the DRA2 data.

This means that the books are currently still labeled with Reading Recovery levels. I didn't realize how off these levels can be from DRA2. So book by book we are checking the levels through publishers databases and other leveled library inventories that districts have posted online. Once this process is done we will also create an inventory of our library so that we can purchase new books based on the needs of the library.

We've been working on this for a few days now, but it doesn't feel like we've made a whole lot of progress (even though we have done a LOT!) This is definitely a time consuming process and we want it done the most effective way that will help us through the year.

One of my wonderful co-workers, Tracy, also thought of a new checkout system. We are going to put library pockets with labels on each of the boxes showing the DRA2 level, Guided Reading Level, AR level and number of copies of each title that is in the box. There will also be an index card for each title with the same information inside the library pocket.

When teachers pull the books for reading groups, they will pull the index card for that set and place it in a filing box by the door under their name. When they return the books, they will pull the index card out of the filing box then re-file the books and index cards, ensuring that they have the same number of copies as needed before returning the books. We're hoping that this method will help the library stay organized for a longer period of time.

I will continue to post on our progress of this summer project!

Classroom Posters

Before I (well really my wonderful Mother who came to help) started taking posters off my walls, I decided to take some pictures of my "teacher made" ones just incase they got messed up over the summer, or I wanted to recreate them again next year with my students. It is my goal to have less "decorative posters" in the classroom and have more "anchor charts" that I can change out throughout the year. If a poster stays on the wall too long and isn't referred to as a resource by myself or the students, then it just becomes decoration regardless of what information is on it.

 This poster went with our "How to Fill a Bucket" lesson. I noticed that around Spring Break our students started being really short with each other. I found this idea on Pinterest to use the "How to Fill a Bucket" book and then a teaching blog that had the bucket templates on it. Each student made a bucket. Throughout the week, they would write notes to each other thanking a student for doing something nice or filling the bucket by writing a nice note. I would like to start this at the beginning of the year next year, but with more guided templates. Then we could work up to the blank template that we had at the end of this year.
The poster lists ways to "fill a bucket" such as being nice, smiling, giving compliments to others, etc.

This poster was also an idea from Pinterest. However, I changed it for our classroom. The teacher who originally posted this on Pinterest had a different phrase, that I can't quite remember at the moment, but it kinda had a negative twist to it. Part of the "Love and Logic" philosophy is having students solve their own problems. I quite ofter tell my students they are "allowed to do _______ as long as it doesn't cause a problem". To go along with that mindset, I created this poster. In order to be a successful student, they must learn how to solve problems. I felt like this was an appropriate guide or discussion starter to help students understand what being a "problem solver" would look like. I referred to this poster quite often through the year.

I also created a poster that showed the difference between "Problem Solving Independently" or "Need Help with Problem Solving". I don't like to use the word "tattling" and really try my hardest not to use it in my classroom. At some point in a student's life, they are going to need help from others to solve problems. I want to teach my students that there are times when they can problem solve on their own and sometimes they need help to problem solve. It is part of my job as a teacher to help them learn the difference. I forgot to take a picture of this one before I took it down, but I plan to remake it with my students next year as a beginning of the year activity.

This is my "Love and Logic Classroom" poster I created. I use these phrases quite often in my classroom. I also create a separate poster with the school rules and refer to our "Love and Logic Classroom" poster as well. All students sign the poster in agreement for the class expectations through the year. If you have not read "Teaching with Love and Logic" I highly recommend it. It completely changed the way I interacted with my students and significantly reduced my stress level throughout the year. Not to say that it wasn't a challenging year, but Love and Logic gave me some tools to help me through it!

These are my pocket charts for my stations. I had one set for the morning "Reading Group/Literacy Stations" and one set for the afternoon "Math Work Stations". Since our students change for the morning, I couldn't keep one set for both the morning and the afternoon. I haven't completely decided if I am going to do "Literacy Stations" next year. I am reading up on Lucy Caulkin's Reading and Writing Workshop. I may do a mixture of stations and workshop, but I haven't figured out how it would work yet.

Prize Catalog and Punch Cards

This is typically the time of year that teachers find themselves struggling to motivate students. Its even hard to motivate ourselves! Students don't seem to want to work anymore. The usual "treasure box" has lost its magic touch. I found this Prize Catalog on Pinterest from a teaching blog. I really want to try this with must students when we get back from Spring Break. I love that the ideas are free and are centered around making a student feel special that they've filled up their "punch card". I think its a great idea. I'll let you know how it turns out in my classroom.

Love And Logic

"Teaching with Love and Logic" has become a staple in my classroom. I really don't think I would have managed and been successful over the past year without it. I've heard some people say that teaching gets easier as you go along. While some aspects have become easier, I feel that each year I have been challenged in new ways to improve my interactions with students and therefore improving learning.

I've also heard some teachers say that L&L was natural to them and was apart of their classroom before they could label it as such. Not for me. It wasn't until last year that I was sent to a L&L workshop that I really began to look at how I interacted with my students. I was never mean or anything, I just felt like sometimes I was carrying all their issues and they never had any responsibility for their actions. The whole warning and conduct mark system just didn't work.

I continue to use a conduct mark system in my room as that is part of our communication with parents on the daily interactions within our classroom. However now I try to focus more on the behaviors and the problem that is causing the behavior.

If you're a teacher and you've never heard of Love and Logic I cannot recommend their materials enough. They have books, audio CDs and even clips on you tube about working with children. This includes information for parents!

In the future I plan to blog more about how L&L has helped me become a better teacher. Im still learning and changing the way I think about discipline and classroom management. I feel as if all universities should add a L&L management course (or at the very least a book) to their curriculum.

So go check it out!