End of the School Year Tips (to be SUPER prepared for next year!)

Every June, I lock up my classroom for summer and FEEL like I have left everything ready to go when August rolls around. Yet, every August, I unlock those doors and realize how much work I have on my plate to get my stuff together for another school year. THIS year, I will set myself up for success for the next school year. I need to repeat that...

THIS YEAR, I WILL SET MYSELF UP FOR SUCCESS FOR THE NEXT SCHOOL YEAR.

My schedule is just about to hit the crazy fan, but here in my tenth year of teaching, I have learned that my August self will be much happier if I can stick to the following five goals:

1. {I will} Keep some student work for my August bulletin boards.

I learned this tip while student teaching but there have been many "doh!" years where I forgot to keep something that can decorate the bulletin boards. My mentor teacher suggested that I have my students write letters to the future students. They are cute, not to mention easy! I created the following FREEBIE letter writing paper for you to use in your own classroom. The download includes letter templates for grades K-5. Click here to get in on the goodness! (P.S. it is a google doc so no registration needed. Yay!)

2. {I will} REFLECT on what worked and what did not.

This year I have had a goal that I have {mostly} kept up with, which is keeping better records of what I taught and how it went. I have an awesome grade level team and we have all been on each other's tails about maintaining our reflection notes. But now when things are crazy, this is when we need good records to keep us straight for next year. Now, most of my notes are simply a scribble fest on a yellow pad. But this system seems to be working. Even as I move into my last four weeks of school, I am stickin' with the goal of writing down my steps for planning stuff like:

• Last day of school
• Cleaning schedule
• Celebration of Learning (parents visit the classroom and reflect on learning with students)
• End of the year party
• My final teaching units

I will be a happy camper to not have to make up these plans in busy May 2014.

3. {I will} Clean out the junk and stuff I don't use.

I have a whole shelf in my tiny classroom closet dedicated to geoboards. Not needed. Neither I, nor my students, have touched them in two years. This year they will find a new home. (Don't worry, I still teach geometry. Now I use a smartboard application). What about that box of old fabric scraps that we seriously do not touch. Oy vey. GONE. Little hands love helping on projects like this. I have a group of girls that would BEG to do this during their lunch hour!

4. {I will} Be ready to start student work portfolios on the first day of school. 

Student growth portfolios are a huge part of our classroom and school. The students each create a book with work samples and reflections on their growth. Even though this is supposed to be a year-round project, the bulk of the work happens in our last trimester. I always push the reflections and organizing of the book until the month before the end of the year. BUT, next year everything is changing. I am keeping a sample of a portfolio that is perfectly organized and put together based on what I used as an example this year. This will help me when I know that in October, we need to reflect on our Small Moment writing samples or our math journals, or in December we are checking in on our reading progress. Everything is fresh in my mind now which is the perfect time to write down what I have re-figured out in terms of organizing these bad boys.

I am SUPER excited about the following two products I bought for my portfolios for next year:

I Learn! What's Your Superpower? By Linda Kamp

Student Portfolios by Shelley Gray

There you have it! Even with only four tasks, this is a lofty goal. But if followed, hopefully our return to school is a little smoother. What do you think? Are some of these goals attainable for you this year?

TpT Sellers You May Have Not Yet Discovered...

The BIG sale is almost here! Can not wait! I have no idea how it works with the time difference. If we are talking Spanish time, that means the sale begins in an hour and a half. Perfect shopping time while I am sipping my Starbucks tomorrow morning (btw, the wonderful Starbucks girl gave me the WRONG drink this morning and I still haven't recovered from the related grumpiness). Anyhow...I have "met" (I should say that I have "virtually" met) some amazing teacher sellers out there. Perhaps you are looking for some new stores to check out before the sale...

Conversations in Literacy

 Literacy Without Worksheets

 Jessica from Second Grade Nest

1st Grade Fantabulous

Smiles from Second Grade

Enjoy your Teacher Appreciation Day!

Oh yeah! Teacher Appreciation sale and SHOPPING time! (see my wishlist...)

It is time for the TPT sitewide sale! If you type in the promo code: "TAD13" on May 7th -8th, you can save up to 28% on awesome teaching products! In fact, ALL of my products will be marked down 28% ;) This is the perfect time to stock next year's classroom. 

There are quite a few products I have been keeping my eyes on as I waited for this sale. Here is a little sneak peek at my wish list...

It seems like Linda Kamp read my mind when she made this product! Classroom superhero theme CHECK. Grade two CHECK. Perfect for end of the year portfolios CHECK!

What's Your Superpower Super Pack

Jessica Tobin has such great style and I am about to teach telling time. So this pack from Second Grade Nest is perfect!

It's Time for Summer

Totally adorable way to teach students how to (and why) use the dictionary from my bloggy friend Anna at Simply Skilled in Second.

Dictionary Detectives

This one from Karen Jones is really meant for Kindergarten or 1st grade but I DEFINITELY think it will be perfect for one of my 2nd grade ELL spelling groups!

Vowel Activities

This unit from Ms. BBZ's Classroom is pure genius! I love inferencing and I love charades. YEP!

Show, Don't Tell

Don't even get me started on my clip art wishlist :) That one is a little out of control. Soooo....anything you are really excited to buy on this week's sale?

Interactive Read Aloud in Six Easy Steps...

Interactive Read Aloud has completely changed the way I teach reading! I want to shout this from the teachers lounge rooftop :) My school has been teaching Lucy Calkins' Writing Workshop for the past several years. At the beginning of THIS year, I was asked to be a Reading Workshop "lab classroom" which basically means I committed myself to learning how to teach Reading Workshop and then sharing my experience with my colleagues. If you are already familiar with Writing Workshop, the Reading Workshop format is very similar:
- 5-15 minute mini lesson
- 15-30 minutes of independent reading (while you are conferring or leading strategy groups)
- 5 minute "Readers Share"

Planning for Reading Workshop is easier than planning for ANY reading program I have ever taught. That is a hands-down, absolute, total FACT. I can work with every reader individually and I can teach the rigorous Common Core standards through REAL literature (which I love!). I outlined the six steps that I think can get any K-5 teacher started with teaching Reading Workshop through an Interactive Read Aloud...

The Common Core standards are a great starting place as the goal for what our students need to be able to do to be successful readers. They are challenging. They are deep. They are asking a lot. I have found that by breaking up the standards into smaller skills, I have a great outline for what I need to teach throughout the year. I have actually broken the standards down into skills and strategies for grades 1-5. Click on the links to find the grade level you need: Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5

We have access to many great mentor texts in our school libraries, classroom libraries, or public libraries. You can find book lists organized by skill (you can find a great one that is FREE here) OR you can just flip through the books you love. If you are looking for a certain skill, you will be able to find it. I usually spend about 10 minutes a week looking through my books with my upcoming reading strategies in mind.

Your goal will be to model how you use the skill in your own reading during your mini-lesson. The more authentic your modeling is, the more effective. To do this, sit down with the book before you teach the skill. Read it with the strategy in mind. For example, if you are going to do a lesson on "context clues", read the book and notice when you use them yourself. Write this down on your post-it.

When you read your book aloud, you will also be teaching your mini-lesson. To do this, stop 3-5 times during your read aloud and model how you used the strategy. You should also give your students a chance to practice the skill. Our classrooms are too full for us to rely on calling on one student at a time. Every student needs to be thinking and interacting for every question you ask. For some more detailed tips on how to make your lessons more interactive, you can see my related blog post here.

 

Independent reading is a critical part for a Reading Workshop. Fountas and Pinnell say it best:

"Students learn to read by reading continuous text. There are many times during the school day when your students will focus on how to spell a word, the relationship between letters and sounds, or the meaning of a word, but it is essential that they spend the bulk of their time processing continuous text."

For my second graders, this means 25-30 minutes of independent reading each day. While they are reading, I am conferring (I try to confer with 3-4 students per day). My students are reading books they choose that are at their "just right" reading level.

I require my students to respond via a post-it note when they use the strategy we are working on. For example, if they are working on using context clues, they should write out how they used it independently. This gives me a great starting off poing for my conferences. It is also a simple and effective formative assessment that shows me what is "clicking".

There you have it! If you are already doing a regular read aloud, I hope you see it is just a little bit more work to make an engaging and meaningful mini lesson. If you are interested, I also have a downloadable file that contains all of this information and MORE. This is perfect for sharing with your colleagues. Download here (google doc). Enjoy!

(Below are some related products aligned to the Common Core standards by grade level)

Sneak peak into my tiny Spanish apartment...PICS!

I LOVE sharing about my life here in Spain. It really was not too long ago that I was teaching in Portland and dreaming about adventures. Three and half years ago, I did not think I would be posting pics of my Madrid apartment on my teaching blog. Things sure do change quickly!

Anyway, people often ask me what my life is like here in Spain. In my classroom, we are working on "show, not tell" so I am going to apply the same principles here today (kinda) WITH PICS!

There you have it! I hope you likey!

Graphics Factory...

So, my wonderful colleague down the hall is hosting a giveaway to win a one year membership to Graphics Factory! As of today there are only a handful on entries so you have a great chance to win it ($50 value)! You can enter in less than FIVE clicks...

http://1st-things1st.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/another-50-graphics-factory-giveaway.html

Good luck!

Five tips to increase student engagement in your lessons

How do you keep your students engaged and motivated throughout your lesson? Do you have any special techniques to make keep your students interacting throughout? We know that just calling on one student who raises their hand is not the best way to create learning for everyone. Active engagement is critical.

We are now past two-thirds into our school year. The students know us, our expectations, and our procedures so well. We are starting to get into that deep learning I was dreaming of back in September. Well, the temperature is also rising outside and the summer-brain is starting already. This is a critical time of year to keep your students engaged in your lesson. I have compiled my top five strategies for keeping students engaged and participating throughout the lesson.

Strategy #1: Turn and Talk

(a.k.a. Turn and Tell, or Think Pair Share) Assign thinking partners that students sit next to during group lessons. My group lessons are almost always on our classroom rug. The students know that when they are on the rug, they are sitting next to their partner. In nearly EVERY one of my lessons, I give the students a chance to share their thinking with their partner. For example, during an Interactive Read Aloud - "Is this character likeable, why or why not? Turn and tell your partner what you think". This way EVERY student in the class is involved rather than just the student you call on when they raise their hand. This totally helps with "blurts" as well.

Strategy #2: Sign Language

I have seen many creative teachers out there use excellent sign language in their lessons. My signs are pretty basic, yet very effective: 

* Thumbs up = I agree (or I understand). Thumbs down = I disagree (I don't understand). Thumbs sideways = I am not sure (or I "kind of" get it)

* When students make a "connection" in reading, math, science, or social studies, let them show you with a symbol rather than blurting, or raising a hand and sharing (pretend these are cute, kid hands rather than my wrinkly old lady fingers :)

* If a student was going to say something that someone else said, the "I agree" symbol is so perfect! You definitely cut down the blurts if they all get to silently tell you "I was gonna say that!" (ha ha, this pic shows evidence of the whiteboard marker that always seems to be on my hands and arms :)

Strategy #3: Word, Phrase, Sentence 

During a lesson, or after an activity, ask students to choose ONE word, phrase, and sentence to sum it up (or some variation of these three). The students can share this response on piece of paper, a post-it, whiteboard, or with their turn and talk partner. For example, after a science lesson on Aztec homes, ask the students think of one word to describe the homes and share this word on the whiteboard in front of the class. It is actually quite a rigorous activity to find the perfect word!

This strategy can also be used to summarize reading. Ask the student to choose one word, phrase, and sentence that is taken directly from the text that summarizes what they have read. There is not a lot of writing involved, yet a lot of thinking that must go into this activity.

Strategy #4: Exit Slips

Exit slips are a fast and easy formative assessment, that if you have not yet tried, I definitely recommend you give it a go! There is very little prep needed and you can get so much information. For example, if you are teaching a lesson on regrouping in subtraction, ask the students to show how they solve 70 minus their student number. At the end of the day, glance at the post-its to see who "got" the lesson and who is showing some confusion. I have a "show what you know" board hanging in my classroom. It has a space for every student's name so that I can quickly see who has turned in their post-it. Exit slips can be used in EVERY classroom subject and make a terrific formative assessment.

Strategy #5: Mirroring

Mirroring is an excellent Whole Brain Teaching technique that is easy to implement and keeps your students engaged. There are much more official methods than what I will describe, but the way I use it is by holding my hands up with palms out, I say "Mirror". Then I make motions and the students immediately mimic them. This is an great strategy when using manipulatives in math but it can be used across your curriculum. Here is a great example of a teacher using mirroring...

I hope these tips are helpful for  you as you as your classrooms heat up.  My question for you is: How do you engage ALL of your students during your lessons?

Context Clues FREEBIE!

Hey there online friends! I just wanted to pop in really quick and let you know I just posted a helpful little resource for helping your kiddos use the sentence level context clues to find meaning. I wrote eight short passages and inserted a nonsense word instead of a real word. The kids read the passage and circle the clues that help them make guesses toward the meaning. I used this in my classroom today and it was a hit!

You can download this six page Context Clues FREEBIE at my TpT store. If you use it, I would LOVE it if you left a feedback comment at my TpT store saying you found this resource here :)

Enjoy!

Opinion writing idea and FREEBIE!

I wanted to share a simple and effective activity I did with my 2nd graders last week. We are working on opinion writing right now. I was not really interested in writing prompts such as "What is your opinion on...cats?" BORING! That is not my style AT ALL! So instead, we did the following:

Step 1: Play the movie "UP" from 11:19 - 20:16. This is a short nine minute section where Mr. Fredrickson is living alone after his wife dies. The neighborhood around his house has been turned into massive development. He loses his cool when a construction truck knocks over his mailbox and he hits someone with his cane. Right away, "Shady Oaks Retirement Village" is the suggestion for where Mr. Fredrickson should go.

Step 2: Ask your students if they think Mr. Fredrickson should move to Shady Oaks retirement village where he can have someone take care of him, make friends his age, and not be a danger to others, OR if he should continue to live his life on his own. A big part of opinion writing is providing reasons so I gave the students the following worksheet to record their three main reasons for their opinion:

Step 3: Let the kids discuss and debate. I was amazed by some of the philosophical insights from some of my students! One actually said "it is better to be dead than bored" and another responded, "it is better to be bored than dead". I now know which one is more likely to send me away in thirty years :)

Step 4: To practice letter writing skills, the students wrote a letter to Shady Oaks saying if they should go pick up Mr. Fredrickson or if they should leave him alone

This was a fun activity that really helped the students identify their strongest REASONS for an opinion. As faithful readers of my blog, you can download this opinion writing freebie here. It is a google doc, so no registration needed. Enjoy!