Reflections From My Beach Chair...

There is nothing like reflecting with people you trust (and who are removed from your specific school setting) while sitting on the edge of the ocean in your beach chair. I have decided that this is where I do my best "thinking." My family has a lot of teachers in it, so I had some great discussions with them while I was away. I thought I would share some of my "a Ha" moments before I get back into the meaty topics of blogging.

First of all, it feels so good to have been able to sit back and relax these last few weeks. After coming off of a tough year and then that being complicated with a possible job change...I was burnt out. I have decided to stay at my current school and I am confident and excited about my decision. This will be my third year teaching first grade and I know it will be the best yet, because I have learned SO much over the past two years.

After pow-wowing with my family of teachers, I decided I wasn't nearly as explicit with my classroom procedures and expectations as I needed to be this past year. I knew that I needed to have procedures and teach them explicitly, but I'm not sure I really understood what explicit meant. For example, I taught how I wanted students to ask to use the bathroom, but  I didn't review what to do when they walked out of my room. This resulted in numerous bathroom discussions throughout the year and a lot of headaches. Eventually we resorted to taking class bathroom breaks because the behavior was getting out of hand. This year I am going to take the girls into the bathroom and review step-by-step what to do...it sounds slightly crazy, but I think this is what my students need. It is crucial that I make my expectations very clear to them and assume they do not know what to do. Then hopefully they will want to please and do the right thing and will follow through.

My next epiphany came a few days later while walking up and down the beach; I need to find a way to teach social skills within my read aloud time. My aunt suggested Making Meaning. It sounded like the perfect way to combine classroom procedures/social skills with comprehension strategy lessons. Plus, it comes with a very explicit teacher's guide for me. Although I typically think I can do a lesson without a guide, I have realized that it is helpful to use some of the guides to help me learn the explicit language the children need to hear.  Come to find out...I already have Making Meaning in my room! As a new teacher a few years ago, I was overwhelmed with all of the materials in my room, so over the past two years I have focused on using our HM reading series, Words Their Way, and guided reading resources. Making Meaning will definitely be one that I incorporate into my whole group lessons this year!

Our conversations continued back at the beach house one night. Although I know I need to be CONSISTENT, it's not as easy as it looks! We brainstormed several ways for me to stay consistent, including ways to get the class's attention. I like the "call & response" type attention getters because I think they help the students know exactly what it should look like when I need their attention. We also talked about brainstorming a list of rewards that students could earn when they follow through with my expectations. My aunt suggested rewards are more meaningful when the students come up with them and what they want may be so simple, the teacher failed to think of it.

These are just a few of my reflections from the past week. I am already feeling re-energized and excited for the new school year!

Very Excited!

A few weeks ago I hosted a Stella & Dot trunk show for some of my teacher friends. It was such a great way to unwind and talk about something other than school on a Wednesday night. Needless to say, I fell in love with this company and am so excited to start my own Stella & Dot business. Although I could very easily spend hours in front of my computer working on school related projects, Stella & Dot will be another creative outlet where I can also earn some extra money...and all teachers need that! Click on the picture below to see this irresistible line!

Corn Harvest

Two days of school and one teacher work day are all that come between me and sweet summer vacation! In the meantime, I am enjoying our last days together. On Friday we "harvested" our corn... we walked out to the garden, pulled up the entire corn stalk and then found the ear of corn on each plant. My students were amazed at how such a tall plant could grow from a tiny seed. They LOVED the corn and even ate it RAW, right off the cob! They took a lot of pride in their harvest and this is definitely a project I will do again next year. 

Room 102's Corn Factory

In awe at how tall their corn plants grew!

This came from a seed?

Mama, Is It Summer Yet?

I know this is THE question on everyone's mind at my school! So today we read Nikki McClure's book, Mama, Is It Summer Yet? As I was reading this book to my class, I realized that my planned lesson on schema was good, but my students were more into guessing what season Mama was describing to her child. A light bulb went off in my teacher mind and I decided that this book would also be a great review for the Science SOL on seasons...so I created these "book bits" to use tomorrow as a follow up lesson.

I plan on cutting each excerpt apart and passing them out to small groups of students. Their job will be to guess what season their "book bit" describes. Then we will come back together and discuss each group's inference. The objective is for the students to realize that all of the "book bits," except for one,  are a description of spring because spring comes right before summer! I will ask them what season MOST of the book takes place in. After we discuss our inferences and conclusions, I will have students choral read the book with me one more time.

Under the Sea Unit

With just 2 more full weeks of school, I am determined to keep our schedule consistent while planning some fun activities that we finally have time to do. I loved the under the sea painting that Really Roper shared. This will definitely be one of our art activities this week.

Here is a math station game I just finished making for our Under the Sea unit. We are going to review time in math because we need more practice! I have some activities in the "Time" math station basket that are harder (i.e. they work on telling time in 5 minute increments), but my students who are struggling need to practice time to the hour and half hour... click below for the game!

Poetry Notebooks

I planned to share some of our poetry notebooks from our duckling unit we finished a few weeks ago, and low and behold Just4Teachers also posted on poetry notebooks. I will definitely be borrowing her idea about having my students autograph each other's notebooks.

Recently, one of my students was out for a week and I sent home some work for her to do with her mom. One of the things I put in her bag to work on while she was out was her poetry notebook. Her mom called me and told me how much she loved looking through the notebook and seeing not only how much more complex the poems became over the course of the year, but also how her daughter's illustrations became more detailed. I can't wait to send home her notebook complete with the end of the year poem and autographed class picture ! I hope it is a keepsake my students will hold onto and maybe even read over the summer!

Math Station Numbers

Here are the numbers that I used this year for my math station management chart. The colors behind the numbers correspond with the color basket I used for each station. I am rethinking the basket idea for next year because they were too small and didn't hold up well. But I will definitely incorporate these numbers again! A few people asked for them, so here they are!