The sale goes from May 5th-6th, so you have a couple days to check out and wishlist the items you want to buy when the sale begins. Click the picture below to go straight to my store. Happy Shopping!
Showing posts with label elementary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elementary. Show all posts
Friday, May 1, 2015
Teacher Appreciation Sale!
This was a "no brainer" for me to throw a sale alongside Teachers Pay Teachers. Feel free to browse through ALL of my products, as they are an ADDITIONAL 20% off. Check out my Products Page for many of my bundles. Great savings through TPT and my own personal sale.
The sale goes from May 5th-6th, so you have a couple days to check out and wishlist the items you want to buy when the sale begins. Click the picture below to go straight to my store. Happy Shopping!
The sale goes from May 5th-6th, so you have a couple days to check out and wishlist the items you want to buy when the sale begins. Click the picture below to go straight to my store. Happy Shopping!
Monday, April 27, 2015
Keeping Track of Data in the Classroom
As I have been out of the classroom now for over a year, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. This post will be all about assessments and data in the classroom. First of all, I always blamed my lack of assessments and data tracking to time and lack of resources. I know now that as long as I am prepared ahead of time (aka, summer break), I can complete the assessments and track them appropriately throughout the school year.
I am still working on which assessments I want to use in my classroom this upcoming fall, and much of that will depend on what grade I teach. I just know, I am going make myself the goal of testing to make sure my students have a balanced literacy experience (comprehension, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and phonological awareness). I plan on testing in these areas no matter what grade I teach, but they will be modified accordingly (i.e. I will not be testing 6th graders letter identification). You may be wondering why I would test phonics or phonological awareness even with 4th graders. I was working with a student over the last semester, and had an eye opening experience when the 4th grader I was working with was having issues with dipthongs, a few blends, and even some diagraphs. I was amazed that he did not know these skills, so I knew with a basic phonics assessments throughout the school year I can make sure my students know these basic foundational skills. My goal is to test in the beginning of the year, and depending on scores test some more frequently and others may not be tested again or just 3x a year. Hopefully I'll be able to update you all on what assessments I decide and how they work in my classroom!
A few things I do know is that I plan on testing fluency weekly and running records once a month. These are skills my former 2nd and 3rd graders struggled with and I did not test often enough. I used to test running records 3x a year, and moved students up to new levels without the data to back it up! YIKES! Now, I plan on testing 1-2 students a day and by the end of the month each student will have an updated score. This will help when they are self selecting books, deciding interventions, and guiding my differentiated instruction.
As I sat here, hoping to publish this post soon...I thought to myself "What would make this easier for me [and my readers] and what will help me actually accomplish this goal?" The answer was a recording sheet. Something I can keep at the front of my data binder or my lesson plan binder. So I stopped writing the post at the time, and went to create a recording sheet bundle for all of your ELA assessments. Now, because I know the struggle of keeping so on top of so many things...I am setting the price of this product as F-R-E-E! That way, you won't have any issues keeping track of who is left to give the fluency assessment or who is on my agenda for running records today?
Now, my next professional goal is individual interventions. I feel like this is still something I am not very good at deciding which intervention is best. So now that I have the data thing organized, my hopes is to do the RIGHT THING with this data. What is the point of having the data if you don't do anything with it, right? My first step is to look more into websites like:
Feel free to comment with other intervention websites that are free for myself and other readers to try. My hopes are that using some of these great online resources, I can get a good start on finding the right interventions for struggling students. Maybe one day, I'll be posting my own interventions on my TPT Store. Until then...
I love getting students involved in assessments and making goals. It makes it less scary and more motivating for all!
Another motivator and piece of ownership is data binders for math facts. Students had to get a 95% or higher at the time (this was my first time trying data folders). This upcoming year, I will ask students to get a 100% to move on. I'm so mean, right? haha!
I am still working on which assessments I want to use in my classroom this upcoming fall, and much of that will depend on what grade I teach. I just know, I am going make myself the goal of testing to make sure my students have a balanced literacy experience (comprehension, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and phonological awareness). I plan on testing in these areas no matter what grade I teach, but they will be modified accordingly (i.e. I will not be testing 6th graders letter identification). You may be wondering why I would test phonics or phonological awareness even with 4th graders. I was working with a student over the last semester, and had an eye opening experience when the 4th grader I was working with was having issues with dipthongs, a few blends, and even some diagraphs. I was amazed that he did not know these skills, so I knew with a basic phonics assessments throughout the school year I can make sure my students know these basic foundational skills. My goal is to test in the beginning of the year, and depending on scores test some more frequently and others may not be tested again or just 3x a year. Hopefully I'll be able to update you all on what assessments I decide and how they work in my classroom!
A few things I do know is that I plan on testing fluency weekly and running records once a month. These are skills my former 2nd and 3rd graders struggled with and I did not test often enough. I used to test running records 3x a year, and moved students up to new levels without the data to back it up! YIKES! Now, I plan on testing 1-2 students a day and by the end of the month each student will have an updated score. This will help when they are self selecting books, deciding interventions, and guiding my differentiated instruction.
As I sat here, hoping to publish this post soon...I thought to myself "What would make this easier for me [and my readers] and what will help me actually accomplish this goal?" The answer was a recording sheet. Something I can keep at the front of my data binder or my lesson plan binder. So I stopped writing the post at the time, and went to create a recording sheet bundle for all of your ELA assessments. Now, because I know the struggle of keeping so on top of so many things...I am setting the price of this product as F-R-E-E! That way, you won't have any issues keeping track of who is left to give the fluency assessment or who is on my agenda for running records today?
Data Recording Sheets {FREEBIE}
Now, my next professional goal is individual interventions. I feel like this is still something I am not very good at deciding which intervention is best. So now that I have the data thing organized, my hopes is to do the RIGHT THING with this data. What is the point of having the data if you don't do anything with it, right? My first step is to look more into websites like:
Feel free to comment with other intervention websites that are free for myself and other readers to try. My hopes are that using some of these great online resources, I can get a good start on finding the right interventions for struggling students. Maybe one day, I'll be posting my own interventions on my TPT Store. Until then...
Friday, March 27, 2015
Help Me Celebrate my Store's Milestone!
This past week has been great for 3L + 1T...I reached a personal milestone that I have been working on for quite some time. To thank all of my loyal customers, I am throwing a 10% Off Sale for all of my products. The sale goes from March 28th-30th. Please help me celebrate by picking up some of your wishlist
As for more products, I am so sorry I haven't been able to update the blog in almost 2 months! Yikes. I have many great new products that will get to prepared for the end of the school year...and I hate to say it---next school year as well! Hard to believe we're almost ready for another school year. But for now, enjoy all 110 of my products at a discount.
Again, THANK YOU for all of your purchases, support, and ideas! 3L + 1T would not be here without you! This milestone is the first of many because when I get 100 more sales I will be throwing ANOTHER sale! Help me reach this second milestone by shopping now with this great discount.
As for more products, I am so sorry I haven't been able to update the blog in almost 2 months! Yikes. I have many great new products that will get to prepared for the end of the school year...and I hate to say it---next school year as well! Hard to believe we're almost ready for another school year. But for now, enjoy all 110 of my products at a discount.
Again, THANK YOU for all of your purchases, support, and ideas! 3L + 1T would not be here without you! This milestone is the first of many because when I get 100 more sales I will be throwing ANOTHER sale! Help me reach this second milestone by shopping now with this great discount.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Celebrating Valetine's Day Early at 3L + 1T
It is February 1st so...Valentine's Day is RIGHT around the corner. Have you started to think about what you want to do in your own classroom? I'm sure there will be yummy treats, cute little crafts, and maybe some cards exchanged. Have you thought of some fun ways to include learning into the mix of it all?
Have no fear, Mrs. Valentine's Day to the rescue! Catchy, right? I have created a few products that will allow your students to still have fun, think about the holiday, and learn as well!
The Perfect Match: Synonyms & Antonyms
I cannot wait to use this in my classroom! I think this activity will be great when working in small groups during stations/centers. The product includes:
The assessments would also be great to use after a mini-lesson or when you feel your students are close to mastery. The assessments include matching, defining, using in a sentence, and identifying. The final assessment asks students to write a story of their choice. They must use a certain amount of synonyms and anytonmys. When finished, they must go back to underline and circle those words they used. I love assessments that allow students to be creative, but also apply the skills they learned.
Have no fear...this product isn't JUST for Valentine's Day. Use this all year around, as the only thing Valentine's Day about this is the hearts and the title.
Valentine's Day Letter Writing
I just reduced this price on this product! I created 2 templates---one a post-card and the other a letter for students to write friendly letters to teachers, friends, and/or family members. This would be a great way to start your day off. Have students finish up before starting your day of lessons and during the celebration in the afternoon...take a 10-20 minute break to go and hand deliver the letters/post-cards. It will make someone's day! I love teaching students about the gift of giving. Check out my Christmas post here to see how I try to do this all year long!
I would absolutely love to see these products in action, especially the post-cards and letter templates. Feel free to comment below to share some of your student's work!
Valentine's Day Synonym Cloze Writing
The last item for you to pick (also reduced in price) from is a Valentine's Day synonym cloze activity. This one is great for a writing center, morning work, or an "early finisher" type activity. Students are asked to read the letter and fill in words that would make sense or use the word bank in the bottom part of the paper to help students. The choice is up to you! Although there is a answer key included...but you can always ignore that! Make it even more challenging for your students and have them create their own letter using 10 "fancy" adjectives. Have them impress their loved ones.
Have no fear, Mrs. Valentine's Day to the rescue! Catchy, right? I have created a few products that will allow your students to still have fun, think about the holiday, and learn as well!
The Perfect Match: Synonyms & Antonyms
I cannot wait to use this in my classroom! I think this activity will be great when working in small groups during stations/centers. The product includes:
- 21 pairs of matching synonym cards
- 21 pairs of matching antonym cards
- 1 quick check assessment for synonyms
- 1 quick check assessment for antonyms
- 1 combined assessment to use a synonyms and antonyms in writing a story and identify the words they used
The assessments would also be great to use after a mini-lesson or when you feel your students are close to mastery. The assessments include matching, defining, using in a sentence, and identifying. The final assessment asks students to write a story of their choice. They must use a certain amount of synonyms and anytonmys. When finished, they must go back to underline and circle those words they used. I love assessments that allow students to be creative, but also apply the skills they learned.
Have no fear...this product isn't JUST for Valentine's Day. Use this all year around, as the only thing Valentine's Day about this is the hearts and the title.
Check it out...here!
Valentine's Day Letter Writing
I just reduced this price on this product! I created 2 templates---one a post-card and the other a letter for students to write friendly letters to teachers, friends, and/or family members. This would be a great way to start your day off. Have students finish up before starting your day of lessons and during the celebration in the afternoon...take a 10-20 minute break to go and hand deliver the letters/post-cards. It will make someone's day! I love teaching students about the gift of giving. Check out my Christmas post here to see how I try to do this all year long!
I would absolutely love to see these products in action, especially the post-cards and letter templates. Feel free to comment below to share some of your student's work!
Grab the product...here!
Valentine's Day Synonym Cloze Writing
The last item for you to pick (also reduced in price) from is a Valentine's Day synonym cloze activity. This one is great for a writing center, morning work, or an "early finisher" type activity. Students are asked to read the letter and fill in words that would make sense or use the word bank in the bottom part of the paper to help students. The choice is up to you! Although there is a answer key included...but you can always ignore that! Make it even more challenging for your students and have them create their own letter using 10 "fancy" adjectives. Have them impress their loved ones.
Get the product here
Start a Valentine's Day theme next week with your students right before the holiday. I am really excited to complete this project with my class. The project goes through each of the stages of the writing process. Students can start with a heart shaped graphic organizer so they can organize their thoughts. I focused a lot on the next stage which is explaining each one of those hearts in greater detail. This is where I see my students struggle as they do not know what to say about these subtopics. From there, there a page dedicated to each heart where students can organize their thoughts deeper so they can elaborate on the individual hearts.
The next steps are to write the first draft, edit, and revise. Students are given the appropriate paper, and a small quick-check rubric so they can remember to check their own work. I normally incorporate another rubric into the mix---one that I make with students before starting the writing so they understand their expectations and objectives from the start.
Students can finish the project by rewriting their paper on the final draft format and complete a picture in the decorative hearts as a final step in their publishing. I also like this project because you can make it into packet format to complete together, in small group, or individually if you think your students are up for the challenge.
Hope you enjoy this and more importantly...your students have fun with this!
Happy {Early} Valentine's Day! Don't forget to share the love by pinning, liking, and sharing my products on your social media sites!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Great Americans Day/President's Day
Another holiday is right around the corner. Some of you around the states will be going to school on this day and I'm guessing others may have it off as a "Snow Make Up Day". Whatever your story is...this holiday is not one to be forgotten.
I'll be honest, in the past I always do some sort of activity...but I never am completely satisfied with the level of authenticity at the end of the day. I have been guilty of just finding a few president based worksheets or discussing it for a little with my students. We never dig deep into the true meaning of the American holiday.
So...I have created two products (hopefully more to come) that I would be proud for my students to complete. I would feel like they could apply reading, writing, thinking, collaborating, and listening all into one activity. After taking a few courses recently in hopes to get my Certificate for Literacy Instruction I have learned the importance of authentic work and having students understand the connection between reading and writing.
Research a President
This first product is a breakdown of all of the presidents we have had in the United States. There is a page per president to fill out information such as:
I am really excited to use this in my classroom, as I can see it will be an easy project to prepare for and students will gain the necessary skills when it comes to researching and putting that into an essay form. I'm not asking students to write a 3 page report on their president, as there would not be enough information to get that complete. But I feel the lesson is authentic and can teach students a lot about our past presidents. Plus it will make a great bulletin board!
Interviews with Great Americans
Another idea that I am wanting to try in my classroom is a product where they research a Great American (or President) and pretend to interview them. They will answer the 9 questions as if the Great American (or President) is answering. If you feel this could get too confusing for students, have students pair up. For example, I would research Abe Lincoln and my partner would research George Washington. We would interview each other answering the questions about our person we researched.
After the (9) questions have been answered, you can choose how the students present the information. Do you want them to dress up and present it to the class? Do you want them to write an essay? Compare and Contrast two of the people selected? Or my personal favorite...make a newspaper article about the information they found. This would be a fun way to write informational articles! I have created a few newspaper templates, and left space for students to draw a picture next to their writing. Once again, I see great potential with this for a bulletin board idea. How fun is it to let students draw at any age? They really can surprise you! I know what you're thinking...where do you get the time to let them sit and draw? These spaces are fairly small, so it won't take a lot of class time out of the other subject areas.
I'll be honest, in the past I always do some sort of activity...but I never am completely satisfied with the level of authenticity at the end of the day. I have been guilty of just finding a few president based worksheets or discussing it for a little with my students. We never dig deep into the true meaning of the American holiday.
So...I have created two products (hopefully more to come) that I would be proud for my students to complete. I would feel like they could apply reading, writing, thinking, collaborating, and listening all into one activity. After taking a few courses recently in hopes to get my Certificate for Literacy Instruction I have learned the importance of authentic work and having students understand the connection between reading and writing.
Research a President
This first product is a breakdown of all of the presidents we have had in the United States. There is a page per president to fill out information such as:
- Presidency dates
- Previous office/job
- Vice president during term
- Political party
- Research collected about president (early life, family life, important events during his time in presidency)
I am really excited to use this in my classroom, as I can see it will be an easy project to prepare for and students will gain the necessary skills when it comes to researching and putting that into an essay form. I'm not asking students to write a 3 page report on their president, as there would not be enough information to get that complete. But I feel the lesson is authentic and can teach students a lot about our past presidents. Plus it will make a great bulletin board!
Get the product here
Interviews with Great Americans
Another idea that I am wanting to try in my classroom is a product where they research a Great American (or President) and pretend to interview them. They will answer the 9 questions as if the Great American (or President) is answering. If you feel this could get too confusing for students, have students pair up. For example, I would research Abe Lincoln and my partner would research George Washington. We would interview each other answering the questions about our person we researched.
After the (9) questions have been answered, you can choose how the students present the information. Do you want them to dress up and present it to the class? Do you want them to write an essay? Compare and Contrast two of the people selected? Or my personal favorite...make a newspaper article about the information they found. This would be a fun way to write informational articles! I have created a few newspaper templates, and left space for students to draw a picture next to their writing. Once again, I see great potential with this for a bulletin board idea. How fun is it to let students draw at any age? They really can surprise you! I know what you're thinking...where do you get the time to let them sit and draw? These spaces are fairly small, so it won't take a lot of class time out of the other subject areas.
Find the product here
Good luck teaching about Great Americans/Presidents. I hope you can create an authentic activity for students to complete and not stick worksheets in front of them and cross your fingers they leave with new knowledge about the holiday.
Links for the Research:
Other In-Class and Online Activities
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Planning, Planning, & More Planning
Although you're already halfway-ish (totally making that a word) through the school year, the new year is right around the corner. So obviously we think of resolutions when talking about the new year. Instead of focusing on giving up pop, losing weight, or stopping your shopping addiction (wait, is that just me?)...why not make a career-based resolution? Think about your lesson plan template...does it work for you? Are you able to put everything you need to keep you on track during the day or prove to your administration that you're meeting all the demands of the lesson design process? After years of messing with multiple lesson plan templates, I think I found something that works for me, and hopefully it will be your lifesaver as well.
The "odd" thing about this template is it is used vertically instead of horizontal. Before you think I'm crazy, I still keep my lesson plans in a binder, only it is vertical on my desk rather than horizontal. It actually takes up less usable space on my desk. Win-Win!
A breakdown of what the first half of my day looks like:
At the top
*Note the dates are not at the top of this one, since the binder is turned to read down per day, rather than across like many of us are used to. The rest of content is filled in per lesson.
Bottom:
The "odd" thing about this template is it is used vertically instead of horizontal. Before you think I'm crazy, I still keep my lesson plans in a binder, only it is vertical on my desk rather than horizontal. It actually takes up less usable space on my desk. Win-Win!
A breakdown of what the first half of my day looks like:
At the top
- Spot for date
- General objectives for each subject area (in red)
- Breakdown of days of the week
- Time slots throughout the day (Do not have the subject area listed on this copy)
- Each standard I am currently teaching in that subject area (in green)
- All lesson ideas (Room for all parts of lesson design: Antic=Anticipatory set, GP=Guided Practice, IP=Independent Practice)
- Just an FYI, since assessments take a decent amount of time, I use larger font.
A breakdown of what the second half of my day looks like:
Bottom:
- Homework section: Helps me get materials ready, remind students, and stay organized on what is expected of them throughout the week
- Meetings: Helpful to see what meetings after-school, whether it is with staff members or parents.
- Misc/Birthday: I also will type in a section for miscellaneous information or student birthdays as well.
- Did You Know? Although, this example does not show it. In the past I have done a "Did You Know? spot in my room where I put random facts...sometimes in cursive so students can practice reading cursive. Just a fun & silly way to incorporate more learning in the classroom!
Friday, December 12, 2014
Help! What do I do with Students who Finish Early with....EVERYTHING?
What to do with students who finish early on EVERY task? Well, we all know the best thing you should be doing is differentiated for that student. You should be giving them the appropriate level of work. But, as teachers, we know we need them to prove themselves with their current grade level material before we move onto more challenging work. So what do you do in this battle?
We all know everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is keeping up with my blog posts like I would like to!!
When I am unable to predict a student is going to finish a task early; I have a back up plan! I have created these folders to hang on my wall, but if you don't have the space, you can easily put them in a binder or on a shelf.
I created mini-topic sheets that go along with the Common Core Standards (Both Math & English Language Arts). It works for grades 1-5. Each topic sheet is correlated with a standard subject such as, Figurative Language or Subtraction. I normally keep them general, so many different activities can go into those folders. I do not put out all the subject areas at one time because that tends to be overwhelming or we may have not covered that particular subject yet. I put out four ELA and four Math folders, and the subjects include ones I am covering that quarter (but this could easily be done monthly or even weekly if you prefer). Visit my TPT Store for activities and worksheet ideas!
I put the covers in a clear plastic binder sheet, and attach it to a regular pocket-folder. Inside each pocket-folder is a variety of activities, worksheets, resources, etc. that a student could do if he/she finishes early. I train students early in the year when you can/can't go get "extra work". This eliminates students getting up saying they are "done" with independent reading. HA!
Now I know what you're thinking...worksheets?! Really? I select these worksheets to be a challenge or great extra practice for students with that particular skill. I am not just throwing out random worksheets as "time killers". I want students to get better. I mean, that's my job, right? I look through the internet or my file cabinet to find appropriate activities/worksheets and make a handful of copies. I learned early on to not copy 20+, because it will just be a waste of paper.
Along with the early finishers, I allow students to pick a few worksheets to take home for "extra homework". Before you think I'm crazy, I give students a reward if they do it to the best of their ability and bring it back so I can look it over. In our school, we use a tally system which leads to bigger prizes, etc. I gave them a tally for each paper they brought back. If you don't have something like this in your school, you can easily handout coupons to reward them for going Above & Beyond! You could keep track of how many "extra" sheets they do, and they get a reward ever 4-5 times they turn something in (depending on the grade you teach). It may seem little, but these extra minutes of practice are going to help them become successful students, pass those high-stakes exams, and be proud of the fact that they are working harder than they need to!
We all know everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is keeping up with my blog posts like I would like to!!
When I am unable to predict a student is going to finish a task early; I have a back up plan! I have created these folders to hang on my wall, but if you don't have the space, you can easily put them in a binder or on a shelf.
I created mini-topic sheets that go along with the Common Core Standards (Both Math & English Language Arts). It works for grades 1-5. Each topic sheet is correlated with a standard subject such as, Figurative Language or Subtraction. I normally keep them general, so many different activities can go into those folders. I do not put out all the subject areas at one time because that tends to be overwhelming or we may have not covered that particular subject yet. I put out four ELA and four Math folders, and the subjects include ones I am covering that quarter (but this could easily be done monthly or even weekly if you prefer). Visit my TPT Store for activities and worksheet ideas!
Glue them on the folder or a clear sleeve. Put them in a bin or hang them...the choice is up to you!
I put the covers in a clear plastic binder sheet, and attach it to a regular pocket-folder. Inside each pocket-folder is a variety of activities, worksheets, resources, etc. that a student could do if he/she finishes early. I train students early in the year when you can/can't go get "extra work". This eliminates students getting up saying they are "done" with independent reading. HA!
Now I know what you're thinking...worksheets?! Really? I select these worksheets to be a challenge or great extra practice for students with that particular skill. I am not just throwing out random worksheets as "time killers". I want students to get better. I mean, that's my job, right? I look through the internet or my file cabinet to find appropriate activities/worksheets and make a handful of copies. I learned early on to not copy 20+, because it will just be a waste of paper.
Along with the early finishers, I allow students to pick a few worksheets to take home for "extra homework". Before you think I'm crazy, I give students a reward if they do it to the best of their ability and bring it back so I can look it over. In our school, we use a tally system which leads to bigger prizes, etc. I gave them a tally for each paper they brought back. If you don't have something like this in your school, you can easily handout coupons to reward them for going Above & Beyond! You could keep track of how many "extra" sheets they do, and they get a reward ever 4-5 times they turn something in (depending on the grade you teach). It may seem little, but these extra minutes of practice are going to help them become successful students, pass those high-stakes exams, and be proud of the fact that they are working harder than they need to!
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
10 Amazing Links to Christmas Crafts
Happy December! I, personally, cannot believe it is December let alone almost 2015! To start off the holiday season, check out the Top 10 Links below that include crafts, gifts, and food ideas to do with your kids and/or students! I made this list thinking about a variety of skill levels, amount of resources to create them, and of course...time. Depending on which of these you struggle with, hopefully you can find one...or two that will work well for you and your children/students!
Top 10 Festive Activities to do with Kids:
The Gift of Giving
In my classroom, every year we make an ornament for students to share with someone at home. They wrap it in a small bag, and take it home the day before Winter Break. Students are really excited about this! I also think it is important to teach them the gift of giving. Since I cannot control what they do with their ornaments when they get home, or enjoy the look on their parents' faces when they give it to them...I do this at school as well. We make about 20+ extra ornaments to pass out to administration, support staff, and other special helpers that help us in our classroom. Students work together to complete the extra ones. The last day before Winter Break, we walk around the school with the wrapped ornaments to give to these special people in our life. Students are SO excited to see the faces of the teachers open their packages. Students do a really great job walking around the building finding our gift receivers. All-in-all, my goal is for students to feel the gift of giving, rather than receiving. My hope is they will continue to love the feeling of giving so they grow up to be well-rounded, caring members of their community.
Ornaments My Students Have Completed
As friends and family members are putting up their Christmas decorations, a great friend of mine sent me this picture below:
It makes me happy, as I'm sure it would as well for my students last year, to know teachers are proudly displaying my students' work of art on their trees still! So we obviously made Christmas Trees out of Popsicle sticks this past year. It was a total of 1 center a day for 3-days...so not much academic time was missed out to make these trees. Day 1: Painting the sticks; Day 2: Gluing the sticks together & decorating; Day 3: Items are dry, so we write on the back & add a ribbon to hang! I leave a day in between the gift giving just in case someone is absent or something goes wrong. By Day 5, students are giving out their gifts.
A mentor of mine taught me how to make cinnamon ornaments with my students. We have done this activity in the past, which makes my room smell wonderful. It does take a little more effort as baking is involved. One year, students made these circle-shaped foam ornaments one year. They were able to draw, decorate, and glue tons of fun things on them and they only took a couple days as there was minimum amounts of drying. So if you're running low on time, run to the craft store and pick up multiple shaped foam pieces and make some cheap and engaging ornaments.
Good luck finishing those presents and have fun sharing the holiday spirit with your students, fellow colleagues, and your own family!
Top 10 Festive Activities to do with Kids:
- Popsicle Stick Ornaments
- 36 Adorable Ornament Ideas
- 30 Kid-Friendly Handmade Ornaments
- 25 Kid-Friendly Crafts
- Child Friendly Christmas Tree Ideas
- DIY Holiday Wrapping Paper
- Applesauce Ornaments
- Easy Snowmen Crafts
- Yummy Holiday Treats
- All Skill Levels for Festive Treats for Kids
The Gift of Giving
In my classroom, every year we make an ornament for students to share with someone at home. They wrap it in a small bag, and take it home the day before Winter Break. Students are really excited about this! I also think it is important to teach them the gift of giving. Since I cannot control what they do with their ornaments when they get home, or enjoy the look on their parents' faces when they give it to them...I do this at school as well. We make about 20+ extra ornaments to pass out to administration, support staff, and other special helpers that help us in our classroom. Students work together to complete the extra ones. The last day before Winter Break, we walk around the school with the wrapped ornaments to give to these special people in our life. Students are SO excited to see the faces of the teachers open their packages. Students do a really great job walking around the building finding our gift receivers. All-in-all, my goal is for students to feel the gift of giving, rather than receiving. My hope is they will continue to love the feeling of giving so they grow up to be well-rounded, caring members of their community.
Ornaments My Students Have Completed
As friends and family members are putting up their Christmas decorations, a great friend of mine sent me this picture below:
You just have to smile when looking at art of an 8-year old. Made with lots of LOVE!
It makes me happy, as I'm sure it would as well for my students last year, to know teachers are proudly displaying my students' work of art on their trees still! So we obviously made Christmas Trees out of Popsicle sticks this past year. It was a total of 1 center a day for 3-days...so not much academic time was missed out to make these trees. Day 1: Painting the sticks; Day 2: Gluing the sticks together & decorating; Day 3: Items are dry, so we write on the back & add a ribbon to hang! I leave a day in between the gift giving just in case someone is absent or something goes wrong. By Day 5, students are giving out their gifts.
A mentor of mine taught me how to make cinnamon ornaments with my students. We have done this activity in the past, which makes my room smell wonderful. It does take a little more effort as baking is involved. One year, students made these circle-shaped foam ornaments one year. They were able to draw, decorate, and glue tons of fun things on them and they only took a couple days as there was minimum amounts of drying. So if you're running low on time, run to the craft store and pick up multiple shaped foam pieces and make some cheap and engaging ornaments.
Good luck finishing those presents and have fun sharing the holiday spirit with your students, fellow colleagues, and your own family!
Happy Holidays
and as always...
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Adding Literacy During the Holidays
Book Clubs
Winter Break is right around the corner which means students will start getting a little antsy as they are getting ready to be on an extended beak and well for the most of us around the States they are stuck inside because of cold and snowy weather outside. I really try to make the 3 weeks in December really engaging, although I want them to still have lots of academics before break as well. Chances are many students won't read a single word over their 2-week break. Scary, Scary, Scary!
I LOVE book clubs, or many call them, literature circles. I enjoy these because they are highly engaging, group oriented, bring a lot of discussion amount equivalent readers, and all have the reading/writing connection. I have created 4 different holiday book clubs for my third grade classroom. The book selection was based on the needs of my classroom, so these may not translate to every third grade class around the world.
Each group met with the teacher 2-3 times during their 7-day book club project. I know 7 days does not match up with a normal school week, so it was technically a two week project (10 days). Seven days they were reading, 1-2 days to catch up if we were behind, and/or 1-2 days to complete the final project.
The final projects were group oriented and we spent 1.5 Literacy Blocks completed them. Because I wanted everyone to learn about the books other groups read, we created large movie posters (No pictures...bummer, I know!) to try to entice classmates to read this book over break. Each student had a job (writer, artist, leader, supply manager, time manager, question master, presenter). I hope to have a blog post soon on how these group activities work in my classroom.
After they completed their movie poster, they presented to the class what the book was about (without giving too much away). It was a great informal assessment as you could truly tell which group members understood the book well and could answer the questions their classmates asked with confidence. I added this as a grade as well.
A little more about the books/questions:
Adjective Passage
If you are not looking to create a huge project around the holidays, as there is too many assessments, projects, papers, etc. due I also love included reading into grammar skills. No matter the grammar subject, my students are always reading and identifying it in text. I think students retain the information more when they practice in text rather than the skill in isolation.
I have created a passage that has LOADS of adjectives in it. Students are asked to read the passage and find the adjectives within it. Where does the holiday part come in you may ask? Well, the passage is about a snow day! Many of us can already relate to a snowy filled day already this year!
Students will circle all the adjective they find in the text, but then they are also asked to draw a line to the noun it is describing, as that is just as important as the adjective itself.
Winter Break is right around the corner which means students will start getting a little antsy as they are getting ready to be on an extended beak and well for the most of us around the States they are stuck inside because of cold and snowy weather outside. I really try to make the 3 weeks in December really engaging, although I want them to still have lots of academics before break as well. Chances are many students won't read a single word over their 2-week break. Scary, Scary, Scary!
I LOVE book clubs, or many call them, literature circles. I enjoy these because they are highly engaging, group oriented, bring a lot of discussion amount equivalent readers, and all have the reading/writing connection. I have created 4 different holiday book clubs for my third grade classroom. The book selection was based on the needs of my classroom, so these may not translate to every third grade class around the world.
- Judy B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake (GR: Level M)
- Judy Moody & Stink, The Holly Joliday (GR: ~Level M)
- Miss Holly is Too Jolly (GR: Level O)
- Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? (GR: Level Q)
Each group met with the teacher 2-3 times during their 7-day book club project. I know 7 days does not match up with a normal school week, so it was technically a two week project (10 days). Seven days they were reading, 1-2 days to catch up if we were behind, and/or 1-2 days to complete the final project.
The final projects were group oriented and we spent 1.5 Literacy Blocks completed them. Because I wanted everyone to learn about the books other groups read, we created large movie posters (No pictures...bummer, I know!) to try to entice classmates to read this book over break. Each student had a job (writer, artist, leader, supply manager, time manager, question master, presenter). I hope to have a blog post soon on how these group activities work in my classroom.
After they completed their movie poster, they presented to the class what the book was about (without giving too much away). It was a great informal assessment as you could truly tell which group members understood the book well and could answer the questions their classmates asked with confidence. I added this as a grade as well.
A little more about the books/questions:
Judy B. Jones group is asked to complete summaries of each chapter they complete using Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then and then completed a final summary in paragraph form of the book. Judy Moody's group is asked to complete a variety of questions about the text. They are comparing/contrasting, describing, identifying, and summarizing.
Miss. Holly is Too Jolly asks group members to complete a variety of questions including grammar based, comparing, identifying, giving details, and summarizing. Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? is all summaries of the chapter(s) read in paragraph form.
*Each group has the "Rate this Book" at the end of
Adjective Passage
If you are not looking to create a huge project around the holidays, as there is too many assessments, projects, papers, etc. due I also love included reading into grammar skills. No matter the grammar subject, my students are always reading and identifying it in text. I think students retain the information more when they practice in text rather than the skill in isolation.
I have created a passage that has LOADS of adjectives in it. Students are asked to read the passage and find the adjectives within it. Where does the holiday part come in you may ask? Well, the passage is about a snow day! Many of us can already relate to a snowy filled day already this year!
Students will circle all the adjective they find in the text, but then they are also asked to draw a line to the noun it is describing, as that is just as important as the adjective itself.
Get this product...here!
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!
Thanksgiving is a fun time for students as they are learning important parts of our nation's history (for those reading this blog from the States). But it is also a time to have a little fun by incorporating some of the great foods, traditions, and crafts into our lessons...when we all have time! I have some sneaky ways to include fun into your classroom, while students are still learning and highly engaged!
Thanksgiving Graphing:
I try to make my graphing unit (2nd grade) around the time Thanksgiving rolls around. This is a great time period to have student survey family, friends, etc. and graph their results. In the past, with my 2nd grade team, we would have students survey family/friends about their favorite type of pie and show results on a Bar Graph. You can also have fun with Pie Graphs given the name of the game!
I have created a simple document for you to model how to create data from surveying all the way to the analysis part. I have a teacher example for all three stages. The students have a "Take Home" document that tells them the steps to take and send the student copies home. Students are to complete a survey to at least 10 family/friends that they know, asking them their favorite Thanksgiving pie flavor. You can obviously pick your own prompt, but the questioning will not go with it. I have provided 25 survey ideas for you to use, to assign students, or to give students some ideas to survey friends/family members about.
Graphing: Quick Assessment/Activity
After finishing the "Take-Home" assignment, you can test student's knowledge by having them complete a pre-made survey to create the bar graph and analysis portion. I have used this as a quick assessment to check my students' understanding of basic graphic. Although, this activity does not make them do the surveying due to time. It is also a fun activity to have students do the day before Thanksgiving as an educated math lesson, but still involves crayons and food!
Graphing
Thanksgiving Graphing:
I try to make my graphing unit (2nd grade) around the time Thanksgiving rolls around. This is a great time period to have student survey family, friends, etc. and graph their results. In the past, with my 2nd grade team, we would have students survey family/friends about their favorite type of pie and show results on a Bar Graph. You can also have fun with Pie Graphs given the name of the game!
I have created a simple document for you to model how to create data from surveying all the way to the analysis part. I have a teacher example for all three stages. The students have a "Take Home" document that tells them the steps to take and send the student copies home. Students are to complete a survey to at least 10 family/friends that they know, asking them their favorite Thanksgiving pie flavor. You can obviously pick your own prompt, but the questioning will not go with it. I have provided 25 survey ideas for you to use, to assign students, or to give students some ideas to survey friends/family members about.
Get your own copy...HERE!
Graphing: Quick Assessment/Activity
After finishing the "Take-Home" assignment, you can test student's knowledge by having them complete a pre-made survey to create the bar graph and analysis portion. I have used this as a quick assessment to check my students' understanding of basic graphic. Although, this activity does not make them do the surveying due to time. It is also a fun activity to have students do the day before Thanksgiving as an educated math lesson, but still involves crayons and food!
Click HERE to get your own copy
Another cookie version is available HERE
Numbers
Roll a Thanksgiving Dinner:
I love the "Roll a..." activity, and I have a few in my TPT store for you to get during all of the holidays throughout the school year. If you haven't heard of this type of activity, here is the breakdown:
- Students usually work in partners or small groups.
- They take turns rolling dice.
- Once they roll the dice, they read the number. The number correlates with an item to draw to create their holiday picture. For example, if they roll a 1, they must draw the plate. The fun comes in when they are looking for a specific number to roll to complete their picture and they can't get it.
- Students should finish with, in this case, a Thanksgiving dinner drawn on the paper you provide them.
Here's the product...you know you want it!
For more "Roll a..." activities:
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
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.
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.
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)
Saturday, July 26, 2014
31 Reasons to Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store
I love the feeling of a sale! I guess you could say I have a shopping problem, but when I walk through the mall or get sale coupons in my email...I just get excited! My Back-to-School gift for my 3L + 1T followers is a sale on 31 of my Back-to-School products starting tomorrow, July 27th.
I have went through all of my products to select the Top 31 items that will make the beginning of the year go smoothly for you all. Take advantage of this sale it won't last forever! Hint: Sale ends July 29th!
Check out the products below:
I have went through all of my products to select the Top 31 items that will make the beginning of the year go smoothly for you all. Take advantage of this sale it won't last forever! Hint: Sale ends July 29th!
Click HERE if you're ready to go SHOPPING!
Check out the products below:
To find these items, visit my store. Then you can search for the title of the product you'd like to purchase.
I thank you in advance for your purchases. Please leave feedback once you have made the purchase. I wish you a smooth start to your school year and a fantastic year! Go Teachers!
Sunday, July 20, 2014
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:
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:
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.
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!!
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
Padlet
Today's Meet
**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!
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?
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