Almost a Nine Weeks

I can't believe we are coming to the end of the first nine weeks. Nine weeks assessment are upon us (always a happy time). Homecoming is next week, followed quickly by Halloween and the goes-by-oh-so-quick second nine weeks. My students are doing better than I thought with Go Math (says the teacher who is still chapter 1) and I think I'm adjusting to it as well....most days:) I am thoroughly enjoying teaching social studies and science. My students also seem to enjoy it. We do lots of graphic organizers and are currently using a book from TPT to take notes about vertebrate groups. They know their animals!

Long time

It has been a long time since I've posted to my blog. I can't believe it's been three weeks, and it's been a busy three weeks! My students went to centers this week and did very well. There were only a few problems (very small) and I wasn't pulling groups, just showing the listening group how to work the CD player. They handled the transition and movement well, and I was pretty proud. I think this week I could try to pull a group and build up from there. Now to clean my group table!

Focus!

Focus has become my new word for my students and me. It was a short week which was even shorter for me so I had to make concessions this week. As you can probably guess, my centers took the hit. The kids didn't do so great on their reading test last week so that took high priority for me this week. They also seem to be struggling with number sense concepts and this disturbs me because they've been practicing rather successfully since week one. A connection is not being made somewhere between the white boards I let them practice on and the practice tests and clicker activities. I'm now looking forward to next week which will give me more time to actually teach.

Mentioning clickers, I came up with something on the fly today that did seem to help. After our first activity I had about half of my students who had passed. I gave them stickers (which of course didn't stick to their clothes and thus an idea was born!). I gave thm a sheet of paper for their sticker and told them I would pass out stickers to those that passed each time. When you collect ten stickers, you will be able to go to the coupon basket and draw for a reward. By the time we finished clicker activities, all but two had earned a sticker sheet, so yes, stickers do motivate!

Week Two

Let me say up front that week two did not go as planned. I did not get to focus on Read to Self like I wanted, but I did introduce Word Work and it was a hit. Listen to Reading was not as impressive to my students, but I thought they did a great job listening to Boom Town each day. On Thursday I was brave enough (and prepared) to introduce my clickers - big yay and amen to that activity!!! My students begged me to use clickers everyday, all day - oh how I wish I was that prepared! So now my weekend will be used grading and creating clicker activities.
Now onto a few pics:

I wrote loose objectives on boards from Pinterest. They were more focus skills than objectives, but they reminded me to stay on track.

These adorable guys are Quiet Critters. They can be found in the Halloween section of Michaels for $2.99 of sixteen. They sit on my students' desks and remind them to be quiet. They don't like a loud talking or talking when teaching is going on, nor do they enjoy being handled. Quiet Critters leave when these behaviors go on, and no treats are given if they leave. On the other hand, Skittles, Gummi Bears, and tickets were rewarded for keeping Quiet Critters all day! Very popular and successful for most of my students, so yay me!

These are part of my Word Work center/station. I've read about them on several blogs, and downloaded an activity sheet called Shake, Read, Write from a blog (Fourth Grade Frolics I believe). I have four: weekly spelling words, weekly vocabulary words, sight words, and Teacher's Choice (words I think third graders should know - right now I have days of the week). The students sift through the pom-poms (tactile and just fun) to pull out a word, read the word, spell the word as they write. Then they repeat, but highlight vowels when they are finished writing, and finally rainbow write.
Here is my reason for using a center that is perfect for first grade in third grade: writing. In a few years the ARMT+ (or whatever it will be called by then) will be used as writing assessment. Spelling is part of writing. Our students are taught to read sight words, but not always to spell. Or sometimes they just need more practice to be successful at spelling. There are words such as days of the week, months of the year, holiday, etc., that I think kids should learn to spell, so this is the perfect place for this as well. And let us not forget, third graders are kids - they like to do things like this. Give them a pencil, tell them to write their words, and you can forget it; but give them highlights and ink pens of different colors and tell them to write their words - they love it!

Plan for Monday

So we practiced Read to Self again on Friday. The good news is my students know what it is called. The bad news is we're still reading for five minutes at a time. Did I mention I am an impatient person? As a result, I've revamped my plan. Now we will work on being at ten minutes of reading time by this Friday - just in time for the long weekend. I've also decided to introduce rainbow writing to my students to my students and work o n rotation. This is my least favorite part of centers/ stations so please send good thoughts my way!
Will someone please join my blog? I have no members and would love to have some!

We did it!

My goal was to let my students check out Good Fit books from the class library today and we did! After they checked out a book they went to their desk and most voluntarily read the books they chose. Then we practiced Read to Self for about five minutes and they read! I was so proud of them! On to six minutes in the morning! 

Day Two

After working most of the summer on my room, there are finally students there! It's not going exactly as I planned (I bet your days haven't either) but I do think some of my new ideas have  paid off. My students are remembering to use the Where Am I? Board without me reminding them...which is nice because it's very new to me as well. They love my ticket board and will love it more because I actually put their tickets in the pockets this afternoon. 

As for the Daily Five, I am very proud to say that we have talked about Read to Self and practiced three times at their desks. So far I have just had them read from their science book ( always a hit) because we hadn't completed STAR testing. They are reading for about four minutes right now and will hopefully be up to ten minutes by the end of the week. We finished STAR testing today so tomorrow I plan on letting them check out Good Fit books after we discuss that again. Wish me luck and enjoy your week!

Almost There

After working all week my room is finally almost finished. The decorative touches are finished until the students show up and I know for sure who will be in my class. All that's left is to straighten my group area. Tomorrow is our first ever Meet the Teacher day and I am so excited! I hope many parents come with their children so I can meet as many as possible.
Thanks to all who have visited my blog, and I promise more pics and hopefully more meaningful blogs later when I'm not worn out from working in my room. Have a great rest of the week!

Looking Around

I read a blog last week that talked about room decorations. The blogger said that they no longer had commercial cutesy boards in their room anymore, but lots of blank space for student work  and charts. I looked around my own classroom and realized that I had taken down the last space filler in my room to make more room for anchor charts and work. Yes, I still have commercial border and cutouts for a background for student work and I do have a bulletin board tree on my door, but I have finally finished the transition from "but I like that!" to "my students and I need this!" I do have blank space (and it is daunting when I just walk through the door) but it will be filled with student and class made charts soon. I am determined to make the move to letting my students write on my anchor charts this year. This is a big deal for me - I like my charts neat and symmetrical and spelled correctly. I'm not saying it's going to happen week one, maybe not even month one, but I am determined to get my students writing their charts. Hopefully this will encourage them to use them more. Big writing is the key - after all, that is what started me on the road to blank walls. I love commercial products too, but most of them couldn't be read from a desk or across the room. They had to go. I have tried the past few years to ensure that if it was on my walls it was useful and not just cute. I don't put things up that I haven't taught my students. It makes their lives easier, therefore mine is too. So I encourage everyone to look around...do you see cute and "I'll teach that in the spring, so it stays," or do you see room for student work and anchor charts? Which do you place more value on? Do you have to squint to read that commercial made chart? 

this Week

Believe it or not, I have not been in my classroom everyday this week. I went yesterday to paint a bookshelf my daddy made me (lucky girl) and put away a few things. I have my CAFE board up with headers, have read quickly through both books by the Sisters, and have planned Word Work activities. Don't worry, just because I'm in my room doesn't mean I haven't been preparing. Just this morning I edited labels for my AR points board and supply buckets. 

Tech Tip: if you purchase something off TpT or Teacher's Notebook, you can email the seller for an editable file that will allow you to type on the images.

To see my owl themed labels vist:

http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/FlapJack/owl-themed-classroom-materials-pack

Have a great last weekend!

Sunday...Again

Yes, I once again met up with CC (JW is on vacation - good for her :) ) at school for just a few hours. We completed my door (sorry I don't know how to rotate pics on here yet). I think it turned out very well, and will add owls with student names on it as they show up.

My other new addition was my  new mantra "Keep calm and teach on." If I can do this, it will be a successful year!

The Daily Five thoughts

I've looked through The Daily Five book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser and am really excited. From what I can tell, the premise is that students need to know what they are doing and be comfortable with it so they can focus on reading. I've spent years trying to come up with new and different activities in centers/stations so that my students won't be bored. I've also spent years complaining that my students don't know what to do in these same centers/stations. One of the other concepts of the Daily Five is training. Students need to be trained from scratch each year and given time to learn the routines and practice what they are to do. There are templates for the mini-lessons addressing each of the Daily Five components that includes making a chart of behaviors and discussing the chart before and after practice until students are independent. One point the sisters make is that teachers are to stay out of the way - students can not be independent if teachers are hovering. I can't count the times I've said, "I have to stand over my students for them to do ..." Guess I've missed the idea of independent over the years! So now I'm working on five to seven activities for Work on Words and a few different things for students to read to each other on a daily basis. I plan on having my students Read to Self and Listen to Reading daily; Word Work, Work on Writing and Read to Others may be rotated or given as a choice center for students.

Weekend

The weekend is upon us, but that only reminds me that I have one week left of summer! Where did it go? Well, onward to a new school year with new students and new course of studies and textbooks, and ...you get the idea. The best part is my new classroom, which I like more and more. It's so done finished, so here's my weekend list:
1) paint clothespins with my daughter (these are for my AR area)
2) study up on the Daily Five and CAFE (books came last night)
3) put up my door decor (felt, anyone?)
4) print up AR points headers for AR area
5) put more thought into tickets and behavior plan

Progress!

Most of the trash is out, the old furniture removed and a lot of stuff put away. I consider that progress! I'll paint my new bookshelf and move it in next week and hopefully that will let me clear away the rest of the stuff that is on my desks. Today, I put up my door decorations (most of it anyway) and try to work on my small group area.
My Daily Five books are on the way (thanks, Mom!) and I've found several good blogs about using it in the classroom. I went to Momma's school yesterday and got ideas from her colleague (thanks, MCG). One of the ones I liked best was having the students place a clothespin to the bookbasket they checked out from in the classroom library. I'm thinking bookmarks or something flat since I don't think clothespins will work on my baskets, or looking for new baskets (always fun and mine are chipped). My momma also showed me the magic of air freshener - spray on white board, wipe, and magic - the board is clean!
I did finish my ticket board (sorry for the sideways picture)and it did turn out cute if I say so myself. I'm going to put owls on the corners where I wasn't thinking about the ribbon overlapping. I put up objective boards above my calendar (not perfectly spaced, but they will be taken up and down so much so I can write on them, hopefully they will look like I use them). The paper lanterns added a fun and playful touch to the room and another splash of color. I hope my students like all of this!

Two more days of working and my classroom is beginning to look like a classroom again. I have desks and chairs out, old bulletin boards down, things cleaned up, and some things actually put away. Hopefully two more days and I will be pretty well finished. Now onto look into The Daily Five for reading.

My Room Today, Sunday

Yes, I know. Why was I at school on Sunday? Because CC and I decided to go when all the other people we love weren't around for us to talk to  (Our other team member couldn't be there, so CC and I made copies for her too.). I get a lot done when nobody else is around...however I do miss the hustle and bustle of everyone else. I finished my bookshelves so tomorrow I can move them back and put stuff on them again. This will help a lot since I have stuff everywhere.

On the other hand....doesn't my blue wall and painted boards look nice? So tomorrow I go back to organize and move things and hopefully it will begin to look like a classroom again.

Daily Five

As I previously mentioned, I have spent many hours searching and printing from TPT and TN. One of the things I have downloaded is an adorably cute owl themed Daily Five file. It has labels and task cards, as well as coaching and reminder bookmarks, that go with the Daily Five program. So my questions is: Who has use the Daily Five or attempted to implement it with your reading program? Particulary Reading Street. I'm thinking I could use these for my centers, but would like feedback, please.

I'm putting ideas for next year on here so I will hopefully keep up with them...
1. Ticket for behavior. I have a foam board I have painted to go with Chocolate Dots, have the library pockets laminated to put the tickets in and write names on, need idea for how to manage and reward with tickets. Weekly? Monthly? Nine weeks?
2. Rewards in jar for students to pick...computer time; five minutes to draw, talk to a friend, etc.; candy; pencil; treasure box...other ideas? I found several cheap and quick arts and crafts at Michael's today and purchased them. I'm thinking of allowing that to be a draw from the jar . I'm also thinking about setting up a certain number of tickets for each type of reward...
3. Hanging student work around room on jumbo dots with clothespins. Have to paint them!
4. Would love to have a calendar/number of the day for students to complete each day. Have a few templates for this, now need idea for display in room - foam board? science board?
5. Classroom library - see Clutter Free Classroom idea for seperating by genres, not levels; then switch out periodically.

My first post...again...so bare with me. I've already lost my first blog, so I don't know how this is going to go. I'm getting ready to start my seventh year as a third grade teacher, and love it! I taught first grade for five years and sixth grade for one before landing in third; third grade is definitely the charm for me! I've spent the past month on TPT and TN looking for new materials. I'm also redoing my room; painted one wall and the bulletin board and went with Chocolate Dots for my design. Now on to the new classroom management tools (tickets, anyone?) and centers/stations (easy but worthy please!). Wish me luck!