Back to School Night

Welcome to Our Class! 

Whether you have a Meet the Teacher, Back-to-School Night, or something similar it is best to come prepared and that is what this post will help you do! I do most of these preparations before the school year begins, although putting together folders might be a weekend job or something that a family member might be willing to help out with.  I really believe in these items below, as it keeps parents/guardians on the same page from Day #1.  They know my expectations, and they realize they have their own set of expectations as well.  Look through the post, and feel free to comment with other suggestions and/or questions. 

Parent Folders

Parents receive "Parent Folders" that is filled with many helpful resources and information.   It is located on their child's desk, and I explain the folder during my presentation.  I put together a bright yellow folder with the following pieces of literature (most of which I found through Pinterest). Thank you to my fellow bloggers for providing these wonderful resources! 

- Helpful "At Home" tips for spelling
- Helpful "At Home" tips for math
- Why Read at home?
- Questions to ask child during reading: Fiction & Nonfiction
- Parent School: Reading Skills #1 (give these out monthly)
- Magnet with my contact information
- Brochure (below)
- Any school forms
- Classroom volunteer form
- Classroom Dojo Forms (Classroom Management)
- Common Core for Parents (If your state has made the switch)

Parents are told to keep these folders, as I will send helpful resources home throughout the year, so they are able to help with skills and standards at home as well.  I know it seems like a lot, and not every parent will take advantage of those items.  But if you can just help one parent make learning at home easier...the folders have done their job! The folders are a must in my classroom now, and I now that I have all the documentation organized, it makes it a lot easier from year to year!

Brochure

This year I decided to do something different.  I wanted to create a brochure for a different "look" rather than the letter format.  I wanted it to look different as I knew I was already giving them a lot of paper within their folders.  I put information that parents need to know and have a resource to check periodically.  I go into detail during my presentation (see below), but I do not offer handouts of my PPT just to save paper. In the brochure I highlighted main subject areas, technology use, grading, standardized testing expectations, transportation, special class schedule, and a quick read about myself.  I felt these were the most important pieces of information, but obviously you may have other needs within your own classroom.

Student Work

Our Back-to-School Night is a few weeks into school, so students have completed a decent amount of writing activities/projects. Students are asked at the end of the day to open their Writing Binder to their favorite writing assignment they have completed.  This is great for parents to go in the classroom, find their child's seat, & start reading.  It allows me to be able to greet parents at the door, rather than having a back log of parents waiting to get in the classroom or speak with me.

Parent Sign In

On our back table, I have a sign in sheet, any documentation from the school (technology permission forms) and any additional notes I'd like the parents to see or have their own copy.  You can also make these nice for parents with some decor back there. Check out Pinterest if this is something that interests you! I know there are some other amazing set-ups.

Presentation

I give about a 15 - 20 minute PowerPoint presentation for a quick run-down on my expectations and items I want parents to know from the beginning.  I include things like:

• Daily Schedule (Breakdown of how much ELA, Math, etc)
• Detailed Schedule for morning & afternoon
• Reading expectations
• Spelling expectations
• Math expectations
• Expectations for the end of the year (Reading level, passing of tests, etc)
• Daily communication (Daily Red Folder, Planner)
• Homework (I talk about Writing Homework, as I feel parents need to know my high standards with this weekly assignment)
• Parent Recommendations
• Class Rules
• School Rules
• Classroom management (Class Dojo)
• Pop Tab Program (Year-long philanthropy project)
• Technology
• Parent Involvement (& yellow folder discussion)
• General Information
• End with contact information (leave screen so they can program it in their phones if needed)

Using Social Media & Technology in the Classroom

I challenge you to choose 2 of these forms of technology below to integrate into your classroom this year. As a person who loves technology, it can become overwhelming at times trying to stay up with posts as well as doing your daily job.  I am an avid user of a blog, Twitter, Classroom Dojo, & QR codes. I commend those educators that can include so many of these technologies in the classroom, and get a great participation from parents.

**Check your school district's policy on posting pictures, names, etc. on any type of social media website.  Each district has specific rules that you may have to follow. It is better to be safe, than sorry! 

Blog

Created a blog was my "baby steps" into the educational technology world.  My school district provides each teacher with the option for a classroom blog.  I fiddled around with it, and ended up loving it.  I change my theme from year to year to get a different feel.  At the beginning of the year, I am better about consistently posting 1-2x a week about things we're doing in the classroom. My students' parents had to sign a permission slip to allow pictures to be taken on the blog and other social media websites. I did have a few parents who did not want their child's photo online, which was fine.  I just had to make a conscious effort to keep them out of photos.   I really enjoyed showing the students the blog, and did it almost daily at the beginning of the year to get them excited about it.  I did this in hopes they would go home to show their parents, and then at that point it would become a part of their daily or weekly routine!

I used Wordpress to create my school blog, but as you can see I love Blogger, too. Whatever one you prefer will work! Try them both out.

Things I posted were: 

• Photos of class activities
• Reminders about tests/quizzes
• Reminders about forms due, field trips, etc. 
• Websites that could help with particular topics we're studying in class
• Additional resources for parents
• Videos of in-class activities or even other resources
• Webcams of animals 

Screenshot of my blog.  You can see I have Twitter embedded in the blog as well.  

Check out my blog...HERE!

Twitter

I just started using Twitter this past school year (2013).  I attached the Twitter account to my blog, so they were able to see quick posts from Twitter as well.  Twitter seemed to be a good match for me.  I was able to put a quick picture up (immediately) without spending a lot of time typing a whole post. I did use this mostly for quick reminders and pictures.  It was nice to be able to show parents immediately what their kids were doing in class that day.  I would also follow other educational accounts and retweet ones that I find beneficial for my students and their families.

Things I posted were: 

• Special guest teachers 
• Pictures from science experiments
• Reminders about tests/quizzes
• Quick links to educational sites
• Pictures (no videos)
• Reminders about forms, field trips, picture days, etc. 

Facebook

As stated above, this is not one that I use in my classroom because I feel that my blog and Twitter combined is the same as Facebook.  I think I might have rethought my decision about a blog and did Facebook if it was allowed in the district at that time.  But I had already established a great blog that I enjoyed, so I wasn't going to stop doing that.  Many teachers use this to post pictures, videos, and reminders just as the other social media tools do.  I think that this and Twitter would be the best form to get to parents as they are common types of social media.  What are your thoughts?

Classroom Management

This year, I tried something new with Class Dojo.  This online program was amazing for my classroom! I explained it to students, showed them the online portal with the Sample Class they give you (with movie star names, might I add).  I also showed parents the online portal at Back-to-School Night.  This portal allows you to set up the positives and negatives, and it keeps track of a point.  One reason I really love this website is because if a student has a bad day and earns a few negative points, he/she can make it up later in the week by earning positive points.  I am a firm believer that everyone has a bad day, and you hate for a student to have a bad grade at the beginning of the week.  My guess is their behavior is going to continue to be bad, because Who cares?! I already have an "F"...it can't get any worse. I would often pull students aside to speak with them about their grade on Thursday or Friday.  This gave them the opportunity to push for great behavior and get his/her grade up.

Also, there are student and parent logins.  Parents can check daily on what their child is doing and how well he/she is performing.  I have parents who really appreciate a daily record.  They are able to talk about it with their child that same day. Students are able to login to a separate account to create their avatar and see how they are performing in class.

This is the report given daily & changes throughout the week. You can look at specific dates and even times of the day to try to figure out when students are doing certain behaviors.  To the left of the page is the personal citizenship score they receive.  The 94% is how the class is doing. I often will give extra rewards if they class together can earn an "A". 

**Updated: I received a few questions on how I distribute the grades to students/families and how I may discipline students for poor choices.  

Citizenship Folders: At my school, students receive a citizenship grade each quarter.  Students earn a citizenship grade each week based on their Dojo Score.  On Friday, I go to "Reports" and there is an option to print records for that particular week.  From there, Dojo sends out a report per student, and I would document that grade in the grade book.  I then would staple them in a manella folder.  Each week I staple the newest form on top.  This gives parents a hard copy to see how their student has performed from a week to week basis, especially if they do not have the ability to get online.  On the other side of the manella folder I have a sheet for parents to sign, recognizing that they saw the score from that week. Folders are due on Monday.  

Discipline:  I'll be honest, this part of Dojo was tricky for me and I had to get in a routine before I became successful at it.  I would keep track on a piece of paper (one of the only forms of paper I used) to see how many minutes students had to sit out of recess time.  This part is completely up to you, and it will depend on how often you give positive/negative points throughout the day.  I would go off percentages.  For example, I would say if you had a "B" in citizenship before recess, you may have to sit out of play time for 5 minutes.  Like I said, it depends on how you run your class and how anchored you are to using the Dojo system.  You could even have students check into their Dojo accounts if you have tablets or devices in the classroom.  

Remind (Formerly Remind 101)

I'll be honest, I have not used this type of technology in the classroom, because I do not want to overwhelm parents with the amount of technology I use in the classroom. Plus, I want to make the most of the few pieces of technology & social media for parents and their children.  Remind is a texting service, where your number is hidden.  You can send reminders out to parents about tests, picture days, bringing certain items back to school.  You set up the service, give the parents the number, and start sending them texts from the teacher.  Now, I have talked with fellow educators who have used this service, and some years they have better participation from parents than others.  What a great way to get a quick message across to parents without having to put together a last minute note to send home.  This service goes out to the whole group, not individual numbers, so clearly it is used for something that the entire class needs to know about.

QR Codes

This is definitely not a piece of technology I use a lot with parents, although I occasionally will put a QR Code on my Weekly Homework Sheet.  QR codes are little digital squares you've seen in magazines and many other products.  Once you scan the QR code with the app on your device, it will take you directly to a website.  You can create your own QR codes for free at QR Code Generator.  You will just save it as a picture and upload it to any document you would like to have it on! I created a QR Code Scavenger Hunt for something for parents and students to do while they wait for their Parent/Teacher Conference.  I attached my blog website, My Big Campus website, and a few fun websites for them to do while they wait for their conference.  I ended up leaving it outside my classroom for the rest of the year for another resource. I found this on Pinterest and adapted it for my own classroom use.  I found it at Transforming Teaching & Learning with iPads. Thanks to this blog for the great idea!! 

Also, since my classroom had a class set of tablets, I would create QR codes for certain websites (normally passages to read), and then students could scan the QR code with their tablet to begin the assignment. It just gives the lesson an added amount of engagement.  If you have just 1 tablet in the classroom, you could rotate it between tables/groups to complete an activity.  Get creative with what you have! 

Tablets/iPads

I applied for a small grant within my district to pilot a class set of tablets for my third graders this past year.  I will be honest, we had out ups and downs during this process but it was AMAZING for many of our classroom projects. I started off the tablet project with learning how to handle them.  I took this part very seriously, and students were sent to a regular classroom desktop computer if they mishandled them.  They were still able to do the activity, but without the tablet.  A few weeks into it (with the occasionally off day) they respected the rule and followed the directions.  Students did activities, special websites, and research.

Activities & Sites Often Used: 

My Big Campus

• Used consistently as it allowed me to create lessons (bundles), have discussions, post websites/activities.  This website is a must as it allows the teacher to prepare things for the students ahead of time.  Help with organization and time saving for students! 

Padlet

• I use this as a discussion tool.  Students may be reading from their reading books, passage, etc. and they will use this tool to post an answer or response to a question given.  I often turn on my Dukane to show their answers on the screen.  

Today's Meet

• I use this also for discussing.  It is also a great first tablet activity.  I pose a silly question that they must answer on this website.  I turn the Dukane on, so the screen shows all of their answers.  It gets the students really excited about discussing! Then I sneak in some real questions. So sneaky, right? 

Adding Philanthropy in the Classroom

A large part of my teaching philosophy is to make sure students are becoming well-rounded people even once they leave my classroom.  I started this tradition when I was student teaching years ago.  My students and I brainstormed ways we could help people around the world.  After a long list, students wanted to collect pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.  Along with that, we recycled the cans collected as well.  Overachievers that group of 5th graders!

This really opened my eyes to continuing this in future classrooms.  My first year as a second grade teacher, my students collected over 38,000 tabs (we weighed them, not counted!)  We did not reach our million tab goal, but we did collect quite a few and started to get the school involved as well.  I continued this philanthropy project the next year and we reached over 500,000 tabs.  And the next year...1 million pop tabs! My class was so excited, although I think we're still waiting on our plaque. I guess I need to make some phone calls. The neat part about our 1 million pop tab collection was that students from previous years would come down to my class to still help with the collection. I just loved that this was embedded within them and they still thought about the good they were doing for sick children and their families.

The first year's collection

 Two years later..1 million!

Thank you note from the Ronald McDonald House. I copy it and send it home with each student. We also post it outside the classroom for all to see our hard work. 

I challenge you all to try something like this in your own classroom. Students will have a sense of pride and learn that helping people is the right thing to do. Ready, set, collect!

Common Core Checklists

As promised, I have created Common Core Checklists for English Language Arts and Mathematics for grades K-6.

I have created individualized checklists for each of the sections of the ELA and Math Common Core.  I used these this past school year in my classroom. I won't lie, it took me a while to get in the habit of having them out as I grade and assess. Within time, I got the hang of it and had GREAT data for each of my students. The checklists allowed me to show my principal, parents, and myself which students were mastering the standards and which ones needed more assistance/reteaching.  I found the checklists especially helpful when trying to get students tested. I had the data right in front of me to show the testing team what his/her strengths and weaknesses were...it really helped me stay focused on what the problem(s) were.

Visit my TPT Store or click on the links below to take you directly to the product you want. 

As the year winds down, this is a great time to download, print, and organize this product. I printed one for each student, and put them in a binder. Each student had a tab, so I could focus just on that individual student. You could also organize your binder by Common Core section. For example, label each paper with student name from the section of writing. This would show how your class is doing in that particular section of Common Core. I just personally liked organizing them by student rather than by standard section. I could just put all my focus on that student's complete performance of the Common Core Standards.

English Language Arts Common Core Checklists (K-6)
Kindergarten Common Core Checklist
1st Grade Common Core Checklist
2nd Grade Common Core Checklist 
3rd Grade Common Core Checklist
4th Grade Common Core Checklist
5th Grade Common Core Checklist
6th Grade Common Core Checklist


Mathematics Common Core Checklists (K-6)
Kindergarten Common Core Checklist
1st Grade Common Core Checklist
2nd Grade Common Core Checklist
3rd Grade Common Core Checklist
4th Grade Common Core Checklist
5th Grade Common Core Checklist
6th Grade Common Core Checklist

Sale. Sale. Sale.

On May 6th AND 7th, Teachers Pay Teachers will be throwing a site-wide sale. Along with their sale, please enjoy an EXTRA 15% sale from my store as well. What a better way to load up for the end of of the school year or even look into next year's organization!?!

Just a FEW of the products that will be on sale for the 2-day sale.

 

Teaching Literary Genres

I think teaching literary genres can be really fun, but difficult at times. Thank goodness for Pinterest, bloggers, and the other resources on the internet to give me amazing resources to teach the topic. Check out this website for great PDF versions of a few genre posters.

I start of teaching each genre in isolation, as each grade learns a few new genres as each year progresses. You can find amazing videos and teaching chart examples to teaching the units. As for my anchor charts, I like to make 1 chart per genre. I know what you're thinking: "Where do you put them all?!" When I am done teaching all of the genres, I do a review week where students have to start figuring out the differences and identifying them in a larger context. At the beginning of that week, I'll make one anchor chart to keep up for the remainder of the year that has all of the genres and just a short definition/characteristics so students can use it to reference later on.

This past year when I taught 3rd grade, I had students begin the "Traveling Through the Book Genres" packet where they are to read many different books to identify that book on the correct genre page. I had students fill out that particular genre page throughout the week we studied that genre. During our review week, they tied up any lose ends and compared/contrasted two of the genres we studied. My students did a really good job!

 

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Good luck teaching this unit and have fun! There are some amazing books out there! Look for a post soon for some read alouds for each of these genres!

Vocabulary Practice...FREEBIE Included

One skill set I find difficult to teach is vocabulary. I just fill like it is one of those "drill & kill" skills that are not much fun to teach and you unfortunately do not have as much time as you'd like to spend on it everyday. What is even worse is the fact that it is really important!

As I have tried many different types of vocabulary lessons, activities, technology, etc. I still need students to practice. Have I mentioned those awful worksheets the reading series always come with...gag! What a waste of time for students to complete and for me to look over.

I have created a matrix I use with my students weekly. They complete this matrix during their literacy station time. It is amazing for a spiral review, focusing on dictionary skills:

• ABC order
• Guide Words
• Parts of Speech (abbreviations as well: v, n, adj)
• antonym/synonym
• Using it in students own language
• Finding the correct definition
• Being able to visualize the word (illustrating

My students complete this task before they come to my small group rotation. Our books will cover those same words, and it is great when students have this background knowledge they have found on their own before meeting with me. As always, you learn more when you figure out the answers yourself rather than someone telling you. 

My students seemed to be more alert about the new vocabulary, and they also seem confident in their vocabulary and even dictionary skills. This is a task they knew they needed to complete and sat their independently with their dictionary...too cute! Check out the FREEBIE below to use it in your classroom as well. Good luck!

Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers Store or the FREEBIE here!

Classroom Rewards

One thing I make sure to always push hard in the beginning of the year is my reward system. This year, I tried Class Dojo which I absolutely loved and so did my students. Each week if they still had an "A" for citizenship I would give them some sort of treat. Some weeks I would give candy, pencils, treasure box picks, or one of my favorites (because it costs me absolutely nothing!) is my classroom coupons.

I am always trying to think of new coupons and whipping them up on the computer quickly or writing them on a post-it note (Yes, sadly I have done this before) isn't always the best method. I finally sat down and made some really fun and modern classroom coupons.

Click here for the full set of 17 coupons + 1 set of blank cards. For more products, please visit my TPT Store. 

And for my favorite followers, please enjoy a {FREEBIE} for the No Homework Passes!

Writing as Homework!?

Tired of searching and searching for the perfect prompt to use in literacy stations, small groups, writing time, and an every day practice? I felt the same way, as I have my students complete a prompt once a week for homework. This is how is works:

• Assigned on Monday Night---due Wednesday Morning
• Yellow 3-tab folder
• 2 dividers inside
• Resource Tab
• Rubric
• Word Wall Chart
• References for writing (transitions, adjectives, phrasing)
• Guidelines (Title paper, date, # of paragraphs, etc)
• Projects Tab
• Blank lined writing paper
• As the year went on my expectations grew higher (multiple paragraphs, on topic, word choices)
• I use a rubric and put a letter grade, but the grade never goes into the grading book, as I know parents are supporting at home. 
• I never discourage parent support with these unless I can tell the parent wrote the entire assignment. I know parents are giving great support at home with writing organization and paragraph use. I encourage it so they are able to do the independent work with me in class. 

 

Being new to third grade this past year, I had my checklist set at the beginning of the year. By October, I needed to raise the bar and set higher standards, so don't mind the correction on there! hehe!

I tried this first with my 2nd graders during the second semester. They did really well, but I tried with a notebook, and they didn't hold up very well by the end of the year. When I looped up with my class, I continued to the Monday Night Writing Prompt homework, but I used a yellow folder instead. I am so glad I did the folders because papers do not fall out and they can stand the wear-tear of going to and from school. 

I go back and use the rubric I provided them with to grade their work. I never actually put it in the gradebook as I know many students are getting too much help and others aren't getting enough help at home. I always write comments, so they know I am reading their work and taking it seriously. 

I get easily frustrating trying to find prompts to use. I worry I am giving them too many narratives and that I am not keeping track of the types of prompts I have given them. I finally created prompt task card file where it helps me coordinate which types of writing I have given them. This has helped a lot and my students always love guessing which type of writing I am giving them for homework! There are 150 prompt tasks cards total (50 Narratives, 50 Opinions, 50 Informative/Explanatory Texts, & a few blank cards to create your own). 

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I really believe in this method and will continue giving writing homework this week. I only give homework I believe students can benefit from. My parents commented by the end of the year and even the following year as I looped up with many of the students on how much better their writing has gotten. I saw a lot more confidence in my class when they were given independent writing activities as well. Now, I know what you're thinking...I did give other homework as well. My students didn't luck out as their only piece throughout the week. My breakdown was as follows:

Monday: Writing prompt & differentiated math fact practice (based on their skill level: add, sub, or multiplication)

Tuesday: Reading passage (to prepare for standardized tests) & math skill sheet (based on current skill) & reminder to bring Writing folder back tomorrow!

Wednesday: Re-read weekly story and answer a response to literature question; Study for spelling test

Thursday: Problem Solving worksheet & study for vocabulary, daily math review tests

Friday: Bring back signed Citizenship Folder (log) for Monday morning

I don't have parents complain as I try to differentiate where it is needed throughout the week, so parents know their child is getting what they need!