Reading and Writing Progress and Goals

USD 500 is closed today so I'm making the most of it! I'm caught up on all my grading and making some plans for the rest of this year and the next!

I'm going to share some of the great things I got to hear and see in my professional development meeting!

Reading

Sometimes students struggle choosing books. They will either choose something too easy or too hard. In addition to the Goldilocks rule (Too hard, too easy, just right), I think I'd like to use the IPICK method next year.

Courtesy of Ms. Peterson, 1st grade, we got to see a video of an IPICK rap for the kids to remember all of the pieces to choosing a good book.  Enjoy!

Another teacher also showed up the 5 finger method for choosing a book.  It means that when a student looks through the first page of the book, if there are 5 words they don't know then the book is too hard.

She also had her students help make anchor charts for her classroom. (3rd grade, Ms. Labar)

I think that's a great idea if I teach upper grades again someday!

Word work:  I still have some students that are struggling with vowel sounds and patterns so I created a new word work station for those students to practice matching and recognizing similar vowel sounds. There are four words with the same vowel sound and they have to match them together. There are also words on the back for an added challenge. I think they'll really like getting to manipulate these puzzle pieces. :)

Writing

The teacher leaders provided us with a format to help students work on opinion writing which is a part of the core standards.  I haven't had a chance to scan the original, but if you contact me I can get that scanned and email it to you.

I had the students write an opinion paragraph about a book in their leveled book bag (each student has 4 books at their F&P level that are swapped out each week).

We are really working on the structure of sentences and paragraphs so for this first attempt at opinion writing, several papers were selected to be published in the hall.  There were very proud! We will certainly be using this format again.

MAP testing

I am so proud of our class! We have only done the reading MAP test so far, but with three students still left to test, we have managed to exceed the district improvement goal (stating 55% of the class must reach growth goal).  So far we are at 76% and as I am beginning to wrap up Fountas and Pinnel testing, I am confident my class will meet or exceed the district goal to have 70% of students at level M by the end of the year.

Classroom Library

While I do already have my books in my library sorted by genre, I want to have at least part of my library sorted by F&P level.  So I have started to collect cereal boxes for my containers! I will need to paint or cover the boxes and label them. This is my summer goal and I've posted it on my blog so I can be held accountable! Look for a finished product to be posted over the summer.

Spring Break is not a break!

So Spring Break is looking more like a snow break, but I'm still managing to do a lot to prepare for the last quarter of the school year. It was really too pretty to ignore for the first day. I posted a video of it snowing at my parent's house. The break had a very calming start, but now I'm in high gear!

Reading

I'm still doing the Daily 5 in my classroom for reading groups, but I'm noticing that some of my students are struggling repeating their Word Work station so I'm planning on having a sign in sheet where they write in what day they did the activity on. I've also limited the options to only 5 choices because I think I may have had too many choices as of late which is why they may be getting confused.

I've also been checking out pinterest a lot for more options for my word work station. I'm already picking out some Spring themed word work for the first week of April. I'll try to get better about posting that once I get it in April. It's hard to keep up with when I'm teaching!

Math

I'm also still using the BUILD math model mentioned in a previous post and this is another creation for those centers.  To help students work on fact families, they use the numbers on the peace signs. It's crazy how much more students enjoy practicing fact families when the numbers are on glittery neon  peace signs! :)

Also, kind of with math is my new whole class behavior system.  They met their cocoa compliments goal and now they are working to get 10 numbers in a row on our 100s chart.  At the end of the day, if the class agrees that we had a good day then I'll have one student pull numbers to decide what number we get to color in today. I think they'll love it!

This idea is from pinterest from this blog. This time I think we'll work a classroom party-- they really enjoyed that the last time we had one. 

Classroom Management

I already have behavior contracts set in place for several of my students, but I know with the end of the year in sight that I may need to change it up a bit for my students.

For most of the class I'm going to use Caught You Coupons when they follow directions for the first time. I'll give them the chance to "cash" those in for computer time at the beginning/end of the day or prize box.

I think it's important to have a prize that everyone can get (not just target behavior students) because it's important that the students see that good behavior is rewarded.

For my students who have more behavioral needs, I found a site that had so many behavior charts I was up to my neck in them! Sorry I couldn't help being cheese-tastic! :)

They have behavior sheets for all ages of students ranging from ages 3 and up. They have some for parents at home too!

I did already have some behavior sheets, but they weren't a great fit for the skills the students were working on. I love the sheets I found because they have single target behavior or multiple behavior pages.  You should certainly check it out if you want to mix it up. Get the link here and look around! They have contracts, homework charts and tons more!

Homemade classroom goodies!

While I spent most of my Christmas break with my family visiting from Ireland, I have been able to in the past two days to really crank out some homemade new learning activities for my reading centers and my upgraded math centers.

Firstly, I would strongly recommend that you look at this link. This is where I got the ideas to make all of these centers and where I will be going to get more ideas. It also includes a sample worksheet that you can use with each center! I will probably just have students record work on notebook paper to save on paper (it is scarce!).

Word Family Cans

I used snack size cans for the container, milk/orange juice lids and notecards to create a great review center for students doing word work.

Students will record their created REAL words to turn in for accountability.

Paint Stick Sentences

I used paint sticks from Home Depot, clothespins and notecards (although when I can, I will probably find some flash cards to use instead). 

Students will take a notecard with a clothespin to plug into the sentences on the paint sticks to create a sentence that makes sense. They will then write down their new sentence.

I think this will be very helpful for my ESL students because I'm trying to use visuals to help them understand a patten in sentence structure.

Dolch Word Cards

I cut apart paint cards from Home Depot to write the Dolch words from each list to sort into groups. Now I may use these as a practice flash card center or what I really like to do is make a telephone center.

For the telephone center, you have two telephones linked to each other. One student calls the other, the student will say one of the Dolch words to the other, then they must write the word correctly. The student will hold up the word they wrote, the caller will check it; if the word is correct then they hang up and switch roles.

Now I just need two phones.....

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I am doing something brand new in Math. I've been really happy with using the Daily 5 for reading. The students love it and I've seen tremendous improvement in almost every student. I was looking for a way to bring that kind of excitement and results to math when I found BUILD.

They are math centers set up a lot like the Daily 5 with a lot of independence. It stands for:

Buddy Games

Using Manipulatives

Independent Working/Reading

Learning about Numbers

Doing Math

I'm going to start with whole group math and then pull small groups for reteaching and reinforcement while the rest of the class is doing their BUILD centers. I am so excited and I think the students will be too!

Clothespin Facts

To help build (ha ha) up their knowledge about fact families, students will choose a number on a notecard and then must find facts in the container that equal that number. Students will write down their answers on an accountability sheet for every BUILD station (just notebook paper for me!).

The first one I've made is just addition facts for numbers 8-18 that have switched factors. I tried to focus on double, double plus 1, and plus ten facts when choosing the facts.  I think for my next one I'll have just subtraction and then maybe mix them once the students get really good at this.

Math BANG!

This is a fun game that just requires popsicle sticks with math concepts and skills written on them (mainly for review) and some sticks with the word BANG! written on them.

To play this game, a group of students would take turns drawing sticks from the container. If the student can answer the stick correctly, then they get to keep the stick. They keep playing until someone draws a stick that says BANG! which means that round is over and whoever has the most sticks won that round. The sticks go back in and the game restarts. 

I think my students will love this :)

I looking forward to kicking off the new year will all of these new goodies! I will continue to be posting more homemade things that I make so you can see what we're up to in class and you might want to make your own!

Transformation

This post will mainly be pictures. I got my classroom all set up and I just wanted to show it off because I think it turned out pretty nice!

 <---Before

 <------- After!

Some highlights of the room include:  

A very organized classroom library, sorted either by author or genre. And I was inspired by Ms. Chambers, our reading intervention teacher, to add scrap book paper to the back of the shelves to really make the library look great!

Also reading related, I will be doing the Daily 5 this year! I have signs all around the room also for where they have their listening center, word work, etc., but I also have this posted up on the board so students can choose which station they want to go to next by moving their magnet or clip (haven't decided what I'll use yet) to that card-- and it lets me hold them accountable :) I'm very excited to get that started as soon as possible in my classroom! Just as soon as all of the first days of school routines get finished!

I saw this idea on pinterest (of course!) to use a hanging shoe rack for centers. So I am using the top (that 2nd graders can't reach) for my teaching supplies and then I will put math activities for early finishers below that and then I have a sign that says word work and I've started to label the pockets with different activities that students can choose from for word work in the Daily 5.

Math

I'm very excited about my math and calendar area. I have a rolling calendar (not pictured) that will be in front of this bulletin board during calendar. The colored folders are for my centers for my leveled reading groups. The number chart, days of the week, place value chart and piggy bank chart are all just a part of calendar time! I also have all of the students' math manipulatives in containers that are labeled off to the side--perfect for a "math recess." I have Mrs. Mills to thank for inspiring me with all of her container-ing! It makes the room look so neat! I'm excited to do calendar again!

Procedures

One thing I am really focusing on this year is procedures. I wanted to make sure I posted more of my expectations so here is one for entering the room that I made.

One hello to your teacher

To your seat direct(ly)

Three sharp pencils in your desk

Forward with your morning work!

I have other posters too, but they're not nearly as cute :)

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I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at my 2nd grade classroom! I am hoping for another wonderful year!  

I had such a nice moment today when I had my students out at recess when one of my more challenging students came and gave me a bear hug. It's just nice to know that even though sometimes teachers may butt heads with students, deep down the students know that it's because you care. I hope that I will get to have many more moments like that.

Ideas, not yet creations

Since I am off to Ireland on Friday and working on packing for our move to our new house, this post is more of a list of things that I hope to make as soon as I get back from my trip or maybe just before I go (some of them will be easier to make than others).

Reading Groups

First here is a blog with some wonderful ideas for word work using a modified daily 5 (she does the daily 3 for 5th grade). I'm interested in using the daily 5 in my classroom next year. I'm not sure how to modify it for 4th grade yet, but this daily 3 blog may led to more ideas. I was particularly interested in the word work post.

I haven't heard of all of these options, but I will do more reading to find out!  That is the first project I plan to accomplish right before or right after my trip!

Grammar

Now this is something that I would think I can handle making before we go. One area that I really want to hit a lot harder next year is grammar. I plan on changing the sticks to match spelling words for students as well as high-frequency words-- as the end of the year I am hoping to even add adverbs and proper nouns! 

Math

I am planning on creating these early in the year next year because my kiddos certainly needed a refresher before they were ready to move on to the big money problems.  I think this could be great for many age groups (maybe not 5th and 6th), but a good review and practice.

I will probably need to adapt quite a bit of these activities to be school/age appropriate (some are religious). The original source is from here. 

I hope this gets some of your idea gears turning! Hopefully I will be feverishly working-- it's just hard to get going knowing that I will be leaving for Ireland in 3 days! I'll post when I get home; perhaps even with some pictures from Ireland :)