Good Morning! Buenos Dias! Guten Tag!

One of the most important things we learned about and that was modeled for us that I have taken to my classroom is the importance of the Class Meeting.  Both Ruth Charney in Teaching Children to Care and our fearless leader, Eileen, stressed the importance of holding regular class meetings.  As with most things, I probably don’t hold them as often as I would like, but they are a common occurrence in my classroom, and the students understand the routines and expectations of a variety of meetings.  For this entry, we’ll focus on the Morning Meeting.

Every morning, we have an abbreviated morning meeting.  Based on my learnings in Diffily and Sassman’s book, Teaching Effective Classroom Routines and Ruth Charney’s book, Teaching Children to Care, the morning meeting should be short and contain no more than four elements.  The four elements are:  Greeting, Sharing, Group Activity, and News and Announcements.  Students like a set routine and this provides a transition step from the outside world to our classroom community.  It doesn’t take up too much instructional time and builds community and teaches students about respectful communication.  I will show you how I have implemented these guidelines.  Feel free to take what you like and disregard the rest!

I currently have my classroom set up in a horseshoe configuration so my morning meeting does not require any movement of furniture.  The students know we have it every morning and the routine has been established that their desks are cleared and they are active participants.  Before we begin the morning meeting, I check in homework, we do attendance and lunch count and wait for announcements. 

Once the morning “business” is finished, we begin our meeting.

1.      Greeting

We begin our day with a greeting in the “language of the week.”  So far, we’ve learned Navajo, Zuni, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Greek, Portugese, and I know I’m forgetting some and I also repeat them every few months to reinforce and remind.

2.       Sharing

We talk about events of the last 18 or so hours since we’ve seen each other last.  Someone may have had a baseball game, the royal wedding, a baby sister was born.  Not everyone shares every day, but we’ve learned to take turns.

3.      Group Activity

This is the one that often falls by the wayside.  We’ve played word games like “name an animal that begins with A” or math games like saying “buzz” for multiples of 3.  We’ve also had a guided sharing activity – stories about pets or siblings where everyone participates, or favorite baseball teams.  On Mondays, this activity is our “job swap” activity where we switch out jobs.

4.       News and Announcements

We go over the agenda of the day, which I always have written on a portable whiteboard. I explain how the day is going to go, what we are going to do and when.  I’ll give them sneak peeks at the day’s lessons, but they don’t get to ask any more details to build anticipation (especially in science and social studies!)  If there are things I need to communicate about upcoming events or if we’re collecting money to save the rain forest or a canned food drive, this is where we handle that class and school business.

These are just how I’ve been trying to implement these guidelines.  I know I need to tweak my group activity – when we first began the morning meeting we had more group activities as I built community and I know I need to revisit those.  I’d love to hear any other ideas anyone has!

Stay tuned for how important class meetings are at other times of the day…

Getting Creative With Scripted Teaching

Today, many school districts require teachers to teach content areas, such as math and language arts, with scripted programs.  These programs can be time-consuming, leaving teachers with little time for creative lessons, such as poetry and art.  Fortunately for us, one of our Monday night seminars discussed ways to include poetry and art into social studies, math, language arts, and science.  The following ideas are great reminders that teachers should and can think outside the box in order to guarantee students have opportunities to be creative and express themselves in various ways.  Our thanks goes out to Ree Chacon, a fifth grade teacher in Albuquerque, who does awesome poetry units with the students who are lucky to be in her classroom.  

Social Studies

Poems for two voices (look for a post on poems for two voices under our social studies label) – these poems work great for topics where you really want students to consider more than one perspective on the same topic, such as the Civil War.

Art: illustrate both voices

Math

Geometry poems, number poems

Art: Tessellations, quilt squares, tangrams, and pattern blocks

Science

Nature haikus, diamantes

Art: nature drawings/paintings (think Da Vinci)

Language Arts

Use poems to teach metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia, and parts of speech.

Art: use different media (pastel, chalk, watercolor, torn paper, tempera, pencil, and crayon) to illustrate poems. 

Other ideas

Poetry anthologies: Collect poetry from students throughout the year and bind them together at the end of the year.

Poetry with spelling: Every week, include poems with your spelling words that have examples of the sound/word family you’re learning.

Poetry Picnic: At the end of the year, celebrate all the poetry your class has learned/written with a picnic in the room.  Clear the desks, put down blankets, invite parents, and let kids share as much poetry as they like.

Pockets full of Poetry: April is National Poetry month – ask staff members to illustrate a book pocket and put their favorite poem inside.  Display on a bulletin board in the library.  Kids can do the same in their classrooms.

Poetry Slams: Hold a monthly poetry slam where students share their favorite poems, which can be poems written by students or poems students have found.  

Oh, Dear....Oh, Deer!

During the course of our studies, we were introduced to a conservation education program called Project WILD.  Project WILD is a curriculum designed for K-12 (and everywhere in between!) and is based on the core belief that as human beings, we need to be aware of the natural world and responsible for our planet.

Once you are certified in Project WILD (by attending a training that you can register for on the website linked above) you receive a fantastic telephone-book sized Curriculum Guide that is jam packed with life science lessons and activities that span PreK to 12th grade.  There is an index by topic for quick reference.  The lesson plans are so detailed and yet easy to read - they are organized with a clear objective, method, materials needed, background and procedure along with extensions, if needed.  Every lesson has a little box detailing grade level, duration, group size and settings.  There is really, something in there for everyone.  I have used Project WILD as a part of a larger life science unit, along with the life science kits and sometimes, as a stand alone lesson for Earth Day.

One of the more popular and well known Project WILD activities is one called "Oh, Deer."  I have always had great success with this game and especially the graphing extension!  The kiddos really like it and it's a very visual and tangible demonstration of the cycle of habitat.  (For the record, I'm almost always FOOD.)

Here are the directions.  Now that the weather is nicer, it might be time for a little Oh, Deer!

Oh Deer! Game Directions

1. Mark two parallel lines on the ground 10 to 20 yards apart. Ask students to count off in fours. The ones become the “deer” and line up behind one line with their backs to the other students. The other students become habitat components necessary to survive (food, water, and shelter) and line up behind the other line with their backs to the “deer”.

2. Explain that the deer need to find food, water, and shelter in order to survive in their environment. If they do not then they will die.

3. In this activity when the “deer” is looking for food, it should clamp its hands over its stomach. When a “deer” is looking for water, it should put its hand over its mouth. When a “deer” is looking for shelter, it holds its hands together over its head.

4. A “deer” can choose to look for any one of its needs during each round of the activity. Emphasize that the “deer” cannot change what it is looking for during a round. It can only change what is looking for at the beginning of each round.

5. The other students are the food, water, and shelter. Students get to choose what they want to be at the beginning of the round. They show their choice in the same way as the “deer” have. Emphasize to these students that they cannot change what component they are during a round. They can only change at the beginning of each round.

6. The teacher should begin the first round by asking all students to make their signs—hand over stomach, mouth, or head. Emphasize that students should choose one of these symbols before turning around to face the other group.

7. When the students are ready tell them to “GO!”. At this time each “deer” and each “habitat component” turns to face the opposite group continuing to hold their sign clearly.

8. When the “deer” see the “habitat component” that matches what they need, they are to run to it. Each “deer” must hold the sign of what it is looking for until getting to the matching “habitat component.”

9. Once the “deer” find their correct component they should take it back to their line, and the “habitat component” becomes a “deer”. Any “deer” who fails to find its “habitat component” dies becomes a “habitat component” on the other side and becomes available as food, water, or shelter to the “deer” who are still alive.

10. “Habitat components” not taken by a “deer” continue to be “habitat components”.

11. The activity should consist of 12-15 rounds. The teacher records the number of “deer” at the beginning of the activity and at the end of each round so that students can graph the results in the classroom.

A Quick Reminder on Positive Reinforcement

Here are some examples and definitions of positive reinforcement, which can improve students’ behaviors, attitudes, and motivation in the classroom.  This list was given to us at a Monday night CDP seminar.  I think it’s a nice, quick reminder of what is positive reinforcement. 

Positive Reinforcement…

• Should become intrinsic over time (natural consequences with positive behavior)
• Works best when it’s not “if you do this, then you get that”
• Is feedback, information, and praise, if it’s genuine
• Should reward effort and growth
• Can be a look, a smile, a touch on the shoulder, or a word
• Can increase a desired behavior or decrease an undesired one
• Can be from one student or many students to another
• Should be genuine, specific, and descriptive

Simple Ways to Refocus and Redirect Student Behavior

During the first semester of CDP, our cohort, mentor teachers, and coaches met every Monday night.  At these sessions, our mentor teachers and coaches gave us awesome ideas on everything from classroom management to incorporating art into the curriculum.  Unfortunately, most of these ideas were quickly filed away into my resource file.  So, with the hope that I will refer to these ideas more often if they're online, I’m going to begin posting some of these ideas, which were all given to us by experienced, creative teachers working in the Albuquerque Public Schools.  

Focusing and Redirecting Behavior Without Breaking the Flow of a Lesson

Through careful observation of students, teachers can identify when students need help refocusing and redirecting behavior.  The following is good advice on how to refocus and redirect behavior without breaking the flow of a lesson.  Although some of the following advice seems like common sense, it's amazing how during the middle of a lesson, even in my small-group lessons, I become frustrated with a student and blurt something out that later, I wish I hadn't said.  Classroom dynamics can feel so complicated when things aren't going according to plan!  So, take a look through this list of seemingly simple answers, because in the words of Dr. Seuss, "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."  

 The First Step is Prevention

Give clear expectations for…

• When students can talk
• Who students can talk to
• When students can provide group answers
• When students should raise their hands
• When students can ask questions

 Maximize the Use of Nonverbal Cues

• Make eye contact
• Show proper body posture
• Increase your proximity to the student
• Use hand signals (mimic the opening of a book with your hands, give thumbs up, put finger over mouth for students to be quiet, etc.)
• Using facial expressions (shaking head in place of saying “no,” smiling and nodding head in place of saying “good job,” etc.)

 When is it Best to Use Nonverbal Cues?

• Daydreaming
• Playing with supplies or hands are in their desk
• Talking to another student
• Distracting others
• Off-task

 When Do I Need To Use Alternative Interventions?

• Bullying
• Physical fighting
• Arguing
• Destruction of school property
• Stealing
• Endangering others

 What Kinds of Interventions Should I Use For These Situations?

• Pull student(s) aside, as not to give negative attention in front of others.
• Speak in an even tone (do not escalate or raise your voice, this is when students may become defensive).
• Be positive, state the behavior you want, not the behavior you don’t want.  Instead of saying, “Don’t get out of your seat,” say, “please remain seated.”  Instead of saying, “Don’t chew gum in class,” say, “Leave your gum at home.”

 Remember to use praise when you see students behave.  Even a simple “thumbs up” or a smile goes a long way in a classroom.

King Tut Can Build Community!

One of the first things we learned in our Social Studies Course was a lesson on conducting an Artifact Share.  We learned that it was much more than a show and tell, but was instead, an important way to build community in your classroom.

I have tweaked the Artifact Share and been able to throw in a little history, a little language arts and a lot of community building.  I’ve used this mini-unit, or a variation of it, twice, and plan to make this an annual event in the early days of my classroom.

Begin the Artifact Share with a lesson on King Tut. (Ancient Egypt  is a VERY high-interest subject with third graders, at least.) I usually go to the library and pull multiple children’s books on Ancient Egypt, including that all important DK Eyewitness Book called Ancient Egypt. (Unsolicited Teacher Tip:  The more DK Eyewitness Books you can have in your classroom library, the better.  My students gravitate towards those books – they can flip through and look at lots of pictures and when something catches their eye, they stop and read.)

Anyway…pull lots of Ancient Egypt books of a variety of reading levels to have in your classroom for students to read during their read-to-self time or downtime for early finishers.  You will be surprised at how fast those books fly off the shelves!

I always begin the Ancient Egypt unit by pointing out Egypt on a map and then having a short read aloud about the discovery of King Tut’s tomb.  I usually read an excerpt from this book:

Then, I show pictures from different photo books on what was discovered inside Tut’s tomb and relate the story that archaeologists were able to piece together so much information on life in Ancient Egypt based on their findings.  This discussion can take at least two days and sets up our own artifact share/class museum as a way of learning about our life.

We move on to choosing an artifact to represent ourselves in our museum.  I model at least 3 personal artifacts, along with my accompanying brochures that I have created.

The students and I create a rubric for what should be included in their artifact brochure and then the students create their own brochures.  (This can be a mini-writing lesson on something you want to concentrate on – we always do a sloppy copy first.)

Once brochures are finished, we set aside a day to have a museum - - the students bring in their artifacts that accompany their brochures.  During a recess, I rearrange the desks and set up the artifacts and brochures for the museum.  We discuss appropriate behavior in museums and the students have post-it notes to write positive comments as they wander the classroom exploring the artifacts.  The museum has been such a success!

After the museum, we have a discussion/debrief where we reflect on what artifacts were shared and what we learned about each other and our society.  There are often similar objects (stuffed animals, trophies, favorite books) and we make connections.

This is a mini-unit that covers community building, social studies, history and language arts.  Both times I have done it have been very successful and the classes have bonded over shared experiences and artifacts.

National Geographic has some similar lesson plans on how to use Ancient Egypt and make current connections.  King Tut's Treasures is one that has some resources to use with this mini-unit.

As a close, I put the brochures on the wall as one of our first examples of student work to remind all of us of who we are.

One Step Closer to Fluency and Brilliancy

I’ve probably said, “I love reading” thousands of times.  While true, this statement could use an addendum, such as “I love reading certain books.”  If a book is boring, it’s probably being returned to the library or hidden away on a dusty shelf.  See, I’ve been captivated by too many books in my life to read books that bore me.  To me, signals of captivating books are thoughts like, “Please, don’t end.  Where will I ever find another book that compares,” or conversely, “What?! No way.  I need to know how this ends immediately!” So, for me, instilling students with an interest in reading is highly exciting.  I think an interest in reading requires positive reading experiences.  These experiences can happen before children learn to read, like when adults or older children read to them, and can continue as children begin having success reading on their own.

Reading success doesn’t happen quickly for everyone.  When I started my current teaching position, where I provide small-group reading support for around thirty first- and second-graders, many of my students were in the very beginning steps of reading.  I mostly used Fundations, a program used throughout the district that focuses on print knowledge, alphabet, phonological, and phonemic awareness, as well as decoding, vocabulary, and spelling.  While most of my students knew their sounds, decoding words was and can still be laborious, which doesn’t make reading tons of fun.  Slowly but surely, however, decoding is becoming easier and most of my students are making steady progress towards becoming fluent readers.

In CDP, we learned about Balanced Literacy programs, which combine guided reading, shared reading and writing, independent reading, and teacher modeled reading and writing.  Although I’m required to make Fundations and another program called, Triumphs, the core of my small group interventions, I’ve also found time to sneak in some aspects of balanced literacy, such as shared reading and read alouds.  I find that a short, fun read aloud can really lift spirits and change students’ attitudes about reading.  Furthermore, as we work on fluency and reading with expression, I think students need to see and hear me read.  

Something else that’s been improving students' fluency and expression is Readers' Theater.  Over the last week, all of my students have been practicing a short script, which they will perform for their parents next Thursday night at a reading party.  The script, which I adapted from a script I found on the website, Reading A-Z, has three roles: narrators, parents, and kids.  Basically, the script is a back and forth between kids and parents, where the kids keep asking the parents when they can do things, like stay up late or eat anything they want, and the parents repeatedly respond “When you grow up!”  It’s a great script for young kids because they’re familiar with the roles in real life!  I think this prior knowledge about the roles is really helping them read with expression.  I can’t wait to see how the play goes next week and plan to use Readers’ Theater in the future.  

Oh, just one last thing. I introduced the topic of Readers’ Theater with Aliki’s book, A Play’s the Thing.  Students loved this book, which is about a clever teacher, Miss Brilliant, who helps her students write and perform a play.  Only one of Miss Brilliant’s students is unhappy about the play.  We learn, however, that this student’s bad attitude isn’t due to being forced into acting, making this a great book to talk about Readers’ Theater as well as reasons children might act mean sometimes.  I was pretty happy when one student left class saying, "You're just like Miss Brilliant!"  I sure hope I'm like Miss Brilliant, kid.  But, even if I'm not there yet, I promise to keep trying.

When Journal Prompts Just Aren't Enough

To me, it feels like teaching writing is one of the most difficult things I do.  I remember we had an evening seminar during our studies on how to teach writing and our mentor teacher said, "Write about Spring!" as a writing prompt.  This was to show us that when we give prompts like that, sometimes it's just really hard to be creative.  Imagine how an elementary student must feel.  I always tell my class that somedays journal prompts flow easily and somedays they don't.  If they never do, there's a problem.  But, for the most part, journal writing is a nice way for us to begin the day.

However, eventually, journal writing can become...shall we say...stale?  I know when I'm looking through my daily journal prompts that if I don't want to write about it, neither will my students.  Plus, I never want writing to become a chore - especially this particular kind of free-verse, just for fun writing that helps us get our brains working in the morning.

My mentor teacher introduced me to something called Write Abouts - Silly Starters.

They look something like this:

You get the drill.  You have your choice of plot, setting and character - there are endless combinations.  My students LOVE Silly Starters and Story Starters.  It's a nice way to swap out journal writing with some creative thinking and provides students with a chance to use their imaginations without any fear.

Try it.  You'll thank us later. 

Making Classroom Management Manageable

Catherine, here, with my first post on what is, in my opinion, one of the biggest challenges new teachers face: classroom management.  So much to be managed, where to begin?  Students, materials, books, desks, chairs, schedules, testing, homework, allergies, permission slips, pull-outs, behavior, special needs, communication with parents, and the list goes on.  Students, especially young students, need to know and understand their teacher’s routines and expectations for everything that happens in the classroom.  Everything.   For example, where do the scissors go?  Because, if kids don’t know where to put the scissors (or the many other supplies in a classroom), they’ll vanish, never to be seen again!  What about the backpacks and homework and lunches and notes from home?  What happens when students finish their work and have nothing to do?  How do students resolve conflict?

Don’t be fooled!  These questions do not have simple answers, which is why, they are best answered by expert teachers.  So, either seek out a teacher at your school who makes teaching look easy or check out the following resources, written by teachers, which have helped (and will continue to help) form our beliefs and ideas about classroom management.

Ruth Charney’s book, Teaching Children to Care: Classroom Management for Ethical and Academic Growth, K-8, discusses ways to help children develop self-control, which contributes to children's ability to take care of themselves and others, as well as contributing to the overall well-being of the classroom community.  Charney gives advice on how teachers can manage their classroom so that all students will be successful.

Another book that's proved helpful is Teaching Effective Classroom Routines by Deborah Diffily and Charlotte Sassman.  This book includes strategies for teaching routines and procedures in the classroom, as well as photographs of how teachers have implemented these strategies.  


Finally, Maria L. Chang's book, Classroom Management in Photographs, contains photographs of different ways teachers set up classrooms, create routines and procedures, establish learning environments, and manage behavior.  The photographs are really helpful for envisioning how these strategies might work in your own classroom.    
  
Just the TIPS of the iceberg.....
Based on ideas from these books, our wise CDP professors and coaches, and our own teaching experiences, here are some tips that we think are important for creating a classroom where students feel confident and safe, leaving them with only one concern: learning.  This list of tips will certainly grow longer as we continue our teaching careers.
Routines and procedures.  Establish routines and procedures for everything that's done in the classroom.  Whether it's arriving in the morning or sharpening pencils, have a routine and communicate expectations for those routines.
Model.  Model everything you want students to do.  Show students examples and non-examples of expected routines and behaviors and then practice relentlessly!  Be sure to model new activities.
Be consistent.  Remember to be consistent with expectations and/or consequences.
Transition Signals.  Create a signal that quickly gets students' attention and communicates that you need them to listen.   
Fidgets.  Some kids can't sit still.  Silent fidgets, such as squishy balls, are lifesavers for these students and their teachers.  Fidgets can be found at Dollar Stores or Walmart.  However, in case it's unclear what a fidget is, take a look at The Therapy Shoppe for some ideas on fidgets for your classroom.

 

Slowing Down the Everyday Math Freight Train To Speed Up

The school system that we work for has adopted Everyday Mathematics as the district math curriculum.  Everyday Math, or EDM, is a program that most of us are required to teach. 

EDM is a balanced instruction program that incorporates whole group, small group, partner and individual instruction.  EDM does not teach math concepts to "mastery,"  like most of us probably were taught, but bases its instruction on a "spiral" technique.  It is unit based around six strands of knowledge: Algebra; Data and Chance; Geometry; Measurement; Numeration and Order; Patterns, Functions, and Sequences; Operations; and Reference Frames. Every grade level has very detailed goals for learning.  There is quite a lot of content to cover in a school year and can feel overwhelming for both teachers and students.

Anyone who has ever talked "math" with me for longer than 5 minutes has heard my EDM is a Freight Train analogy.  If our students don't get on when we stop at the station, the train moves on, and if we're lucky, they can catch up at the next stop, but if not, they are lost.

While we all struggle with differentiated instruction, and EDM does provide helpful lessons and suggestions for helping those students we might leave behind, sometimes we all need to take a breath and practice a concept a little bit longer.  It is difficult for me to just "expose" students to a concept and then not let them practice or experiment with it for longer than a day.  So, I do a little extra.

I highly recommend the EDM math games.  I know at first I thought.."Games? In math?"  But, as I dug deeper into the program, I realized that within the games is the practice my students were needing.  We play Baseball multiplication, Top It, and Multiplication Bingo often.

I also like to supplement EDM with some practice worksheets that I have found at different websites.  I use two websites to generate math worksheets.  Both Math Drills  and The Math Worksheet Site are great places to go where you can create worksheets on everything from number sense to addition and subtraction, measurement and fractions and geometry.  When I slow down and teach and EDM lesson over two days, I use the worksheet as the second day's homework.   I also sometimes use worksheets as a warm-up for my students to activate prior knowledge before we start a new unit.

As one of our mathematics professors used to say..."sometimes you have to slow down to speed up."

Go, Gadget, Go!

Lisa, here, of Catherine and Lisa fame.  Welcome to our little corner of the Internet.  I can’t take any credit at all for coming up with this idea.  Catherine thought it would be really smart and helpful to create a website where we could house in one place, some of the fantastic ideas and information we’ve picked up along the way to becoming elementary school teachers.

Stay tuned for entries that may include helpful tips and recommendations, links to websites, and reflections on things we’ve learned both in our classes and IN our classes, if you know what I mean.

We hope that this website is helpful not just for both of us, but for any of you out there and we look forward to hearing your ideas, reflections and recommendations as well!

Stay Tuned…