Thankful Updates!

Thankfully I'm finally finding some time to blog! I even had time to decorate my door! I'm feeling so grateful for the teachers who have helped me; at Welborn and other schools! 

Like the door decorations were things that a retired teacher from Onaga gave my mom to give to me! I've also had a chance to work together with teachers to collaborate ideas for teaching and behavior.

Word Work

I created this "game" for a new word work station to practice compound words that "anyone" :) could make! I just wrote on both sides of popsicle sticks (writing to one side or the other depending if it was to be the first or last part of the compound word) and students will have the chance to pull sticks to make words and will write their created words onto a notecard to turn in (for that accountable piece).

Math Anchor Charts

I am working very hard to continue to use anchor charts this year and I've seen a real difference in the class. Even if I take down or move the chart, the students will still look there like they can read the words somehow!

I already had my money identification anchor charts posted (though I may need to review/ refresh those soon!), I made some recently for word problems and strategies for solving. We also reviewed even/odd numbers this week so I made a mini anchor chart for that!

My plan is to try to develop more anchor charts for reading. We already use songs for learning digraphs, vowel sounds and compound words, but perhaps I should post the songs or some rules. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Behavior

I am very happy to announce that our school has taken on a school-wide behavior initiative called "Welborn Bucks." I was able to be a part of the committee that got the program started and so far I've had a lot of success with it-- I've even used it as a replacement for some of the other strategies I've been using (it was time to adjust anyway!). The school has a system set up that if students earn 100 Welborn Bucks they can buy a "dress down pass." I also love that any teacher can give the dollars to any student in the school.

They can earn Welborn Bucks for following the guidelines: I am peaceful. I am a learner.

So I am giving bucks out during class and giving them for successful formative and summative tests/quizzes. The students love their bucks-- and I'm loving them too! I can't copy them fast enough!

Gateway Game

Wow I've gotten busy! Here is a new classroom management strategy that I'm using my classroom to have students monitoring themselves and others' behavior.

The Gateway Game

Our school made a big push last year to address gateway behavior. Gateway behavior is those behaviors that aren't huge displays of disrespect, but minor things like eye rolling, sighing, or tapping their feet and they can lead to bigger gateway behaviors like cussing, talking back, or shoving others. These are the kind of behaviors that lead to trouble.

I like to explain it to the kids with an analogy. A puppy!

We start by talking about what a puppy is like, particularly how puppies try to get out of fences.  Then I ask if the puppy is safe when they get out and of course the class says no because there are cars and other animals or the puppy could get lost.  That's when I tell the class that my job is to make sure the fence is strong.

Then we talk about how the fence can get holes in it when people start doing little behaviors that aren't very safe.  This is where I use the marker to draw holes in my fence and the students share out gateway behaviors that would cause that hole.  I have this on the front board and have reminded the students that I will add to the holes if I see any new behaviors that are causing holes and letting my puppy out!

The scoreboard in my room is changed every week with me vs. the class. If they do gateway behavior, I get a point. If they do responsible, caring, helpful, or respectful things, they get a point. At the end of the day we see who has the most tally marks.  The yellow page below is our overall score for the month. At the end of the month is the class beats me, we'll have a big celebration. Then, the competition will restart for next month!

Sometimes I know that kids may do little behaviors like tapping their feet without really thinking about it. I like to give students a fair chance so I have two reminders that I say to students if I notice them doing a minor gateway behavior. They are "are you okay?" and "Don't let my puppy out!"

The cutest thing ever is when the students catch each other doing gateway and they whisper "you're going to let her puppy out!" :)

I just started this last week, but it's been very successful so far! Feel free to leave any comments or questions!

Double Trouble Mysteries!

I'm overdue for an update so I thought I'd catch everyone up on what we've been up to and where we're going!

Math

We've just finished up working on our doubles facts and working with money (although we will certainly continue reviewing and practicing those skills). We had a magic doubling pot and have practiced using graph paper to work on our doubling facts.

We're now moving into geometry! We're working on shapes and symmetry-- hopefully the next post will have some of those pictures :)

Continue to work on those skills at home and we'll continue at school!

We are preparing for the end of the first quarter and our summative test for math is coming up on October 8th and grade cards come out on October 10th!

Reading and Writing

In addition to practicing writing complete sentences (with a naming and telling part and with end punctuation), we just started looking at mystery writing last week and now we are working on creating our own mysteries in our Daily 5 reading groups.

We've been reading The Mystery of the Missing Moon and we completed this graphic organizer to organize the story.

Tomorrow we will be watching a Scooby Doo mystery while using the same graphic organizer to understand the format of a mystery story.

For the rest of this week we will be working on creating a mystery in our leveled reading groups (with my guidance).  I'm hoping to have the groups read their mystery to the rest of the class by Friday-- we will go to Monday if need be!

This was our first week doing full-out reading groups! Today was our first day and it went great! I'm very excited and hopeful to get math groups started shortly as well.

We are preparing for our main summative test for reading on October 3rd.

Science

I wish I had more pictures of us doing science, but I don't right now-- I will be sure to get some up for our next post as well as some social studies pictures!

In reading, we've been learning about the phases of the moon. In our National Geographic curriculum, we've been studying rocks, minerals and soil and are preparing for a rocks test on October 2nd and a soil test on October 5th.

Extracurricular

I was a part of the Welborn kickball team. I can't say that we won any games, but I was able to rediscover my skills :)

Until next time!

Classroom Management and Routines

In addition to using the safe pocket system (mentioned in an earlier post), I'm using positive reinforcement systems in my classroom that emphasize good character traits and following directions.

Class Rules

We only have one real rule in our classroom and that is that it's never okay to be hurtful or disruptive (from the BIST philosophy). Then, we came up with ideas about what it would look like to be hurtful or disruptive and we added several examples of what following the rules looks like in class. Those definitions are for being non-disruptive: Use inside voices, no extra noise, and listen when others talk.  Our definitions for not being hurtful are to keep your body to yourself and use kind words.

I also had all of the students sign the poster in a kind of "ceremony" where they add to agree to try their best to follow our rules.

We also have coming to attention rules as you can see in the picture! We also use clapping and a bell for variety sake :)

The Peace Table

I haven't had the chance to fully explain how this works to our 2nd grade class yet, but I am hoping to this week. I used this a lot in 4th grade last year and I think that it teaches some valuable problem-solving skills for kids.

How it works:

If two students are having a problem, one of them will invite the other to the peace table (or if I see that there is a problem, I will suggest they go to the peace table).  At the peace table, there is a form that the two fill out. They hold the bear when they have something to say and then pass the bear to the other person when they are finished talking.

After the two fill out the sheet, they have to come to peace with one another before they're ready to rejoin our class. Once they feel ready, they will turn in the page to me and let me know that they've made peace. (Teachers: Email me if you'd like a copy of the sheet. I'll have to scan it!)

Class Rewards

I like to have a lot of raffles in my class that give students a chance to be rewarded for doing the right thing and for being kind and caring.  That is why I have the lunch bunch raffle (using the safe pocket system mentioned in a prior post). If their kangaroo ends up in their own pocket at the end of the day, that means they've made safe choices and they will get a raffle ticket into the pot. Every Friday I draw 5 names.

During math time I do something similar, but instead I do it daily (the afternoon time is very tiring for kiddos). I give tickets for following directions and at the end of the day I do a candy raffle for one piece of candy (like a sucker).

Our big class reward is not a raffle, but uses beads. Every table group has a cup on their desk and during each instructional time, they can earn beads for coming to attention, participation and effort.  If the class earns 40 beads at the end of the day, we get a tally mark. Five marks and we get a reward! Last time we had no shoe day in class, but the class voted and this time we will be getting ice cream! Two marks down; three to go!

Another big reward for students is having jobs. I just got them started this past week, but I think they're a hit! I try to rotate them so if someone didn't get a job last week, they'll get one next week. I've had some requests for a pet monitor.... but I think I'll pass for now. I've had bad luck with pets!

Important dates:

• Thursday, Sept. 6- Math MAP testing
• Friday, Sept. 7-Spelling test, Reading logs due
• Wednesday, Sept. 12- Family Advocacy in the afternoon
• Thursday, September 13- No school for students, family advocacy day all day (check your child's backpack for the sign up sheet!)

1st week of school

So ideally I would've posted some pictures from the first week of school at the end of the first week (instead of the end of the second week), but since I'm still getting back into school mode, blogging hasn't been my first priority right now! Anyway here are some pictures of some of the activities we did the first week and I'll recap for what we've started this week as well.

Reading

One of the things we really hit the first week of school was how to ask for help and when it is okay to talk.  A book that really goes along with this idea is My Mouth is a Volcano! It's a very cute story about a boy named Louis who can't help but blurt out when an idea comes to his head. After we read the book, we did some brainstorming about what we can do when we think we might "erupt." We used some of the ideas from the book and also had some ideas of our own for dealing with those overwhelming ideas that want to erupt out!

I had all of the volcanos up for Back to School night and I think I'll keep them up for at least another week or so. It works as a nice reminder to just be able to point if someone is having a problem erupting that day :)

Writing

We have already done our first writing project. We did a word inventory the first week so that we could see how many words they could think of in 10 minutes and we also did a self-portrait.  I do this three times a year because I think it's very exciting to see the growth happening academically and developmentally. I will be sure to share these with parents at conferences.

Also, we wrote our first story about our summer. Those will be added to a portfolio so that students and parents can see how much they improve throughout the year.

In addition to practice writing, we are working on practicing using the right language when responding to questions.  Right now for our read aloud book, we are reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid (by popular demand!) and we are working on using academic language when responding. I will add to this list throughout the year (I just didn't want to overwhelm anyone right now!)

Math/Notebooking/Science

I don't have any exciting pictures to post yet. Right now in math we're mainly reviewing a lot of concepts like using a number line, hundreds chart, skip counting, and representing numbers.  

I will say that we are notebooking in reading, math, and science this year. What I like about notebooking is that students have a chance to look back at their practice work (like graphic organizers and worksheets) to study for tests. In math, it's a good place for them to see how to work out certain problems and reflect on focus questions.

In reading, our notebooking is more about vocabulary, phonics and comprehension skills (like summarizing, retelling, main idea).

In science, our notebooking is used to organize important vocabulary and ideas to prepare for tests and for reflecting later.  I will post resource links for students to use the National Geographic curriculum on this website as soon as I get access codes! The National Geographic Curriculum is great!

For parents:  This will also explain why you won't be getting a lot of worksheets coming home. Usually we will go over the answers together (so students can make corrections) and then they'll glue it into their notebooks. I will however start sending home some weekly homework on Mondays that should be sent back on Fridays. (My thinking is that it is less likely that the students will lose a stapled packet--individual sheets of homework sent home on random nights can be hard for them to remember). I hope we can work together to keep helping these 2nd graders :)

Upcoming dates:

Tomorrow, August 24- Reading logs due, Spelling test (words should be written in their planner)

Tuesday, August 28- I will be testing students' reading level all day. Please make sure they don't miss!

Friday, August 31-Reading logs due, Reading test (over the unit) and spelling test

Monday, September 3- No School!