Last Day of November: My Holiday Joy Math and Literacy Unit is Nearly Finished! Ho ho ho!

Did November just fly by or what?!

December, here we come!

This is an amazing month full of all kinds of holidays and activities and cuteness... but too many times I've seen children truly overwhelmed by the festivities and excitement. They get tired and cranky, and before we know it,  they're just struggling to keep it together! I'm determined to do everything I can to prevent my babes from getting too stressed out. Here's my plan:

1. I already sent home a note about sleep! The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends a minimum of 10-11 hours per night for children ages five to seven. A recent study on children and sleep found that “a modest addition of sleep  each night (27 minutes in the study) resulted in significant improvement in their ability to regulate their emotions.” Many parents don't realize how much sleep their kiddos need, so I decided tell them!

2. Routine, routine, routine! We have worked so hard to establish routines since the first day of school. Now is not the time to throw all that out the window. In our classroom, we'll be sticking with the routine as much as possible. Yes, it's that time of year with the schedule is constantly changing, and it does require flexibility. But the fewer the disruptions the better!

3. I try to keep the number of holiday activities in check. We will stick to our usual Writing Workshop activities, and our Reader's Workshop won't change. I'll include fun holiday activities in each day, but I'm careful not to overwhelm my students with CHRISTMAS EVERYTHING.

4. We're going to spend some time focusing on others. What can we do to show our appreciation for our office staff, our buddy class, the lady in the cafeteria, and our custodian? Is there anything we can do outside of our school to help those in need?

5. I'll be including extra community-building activities this month, in addition to some "reminder" lessons for showing respect, being responsible, and showing compassion.

That said, I will make certain that we have a completely fun month! Santa, reindeer, toys, candy canes, gingerbread, music... we're going to have a great time!

My Holiday Joy Unit is almost ready! I can't wait to share with you!



Enjoy this last day of November!

It Rained Today

This is big news in our dry, little corner of the world!

Oh. My. OMG.

I can't make this stuff up, you know. Kids were asking me, "Is it raining?"...while we were walking down our open hallways with rain blowing on everyone. I kid you not. I heard that question today. AT LEAST 8 TIMES.

And later, when it was Choice Time, this is how my darlings chose to entertain themselves. Seriously.



So we will be doing some writing about rain tomorrow! I've got to seize this opportunity while I can! Most of the time, our weather is sunny and beautiful. Our calendar graph is a joke! Sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny... I know. Sad story!

My Classroom Library

A year or two ago, my son was going through a difficult period and needed some activities to distract him from his own challenges. So I gave him a few jobs around the house and in my classroom. He fixed a couple of things, moved heavy furniture, ran some errands, cooked some meals ... and then I had him count the books in my classroom library. Haha! What a job!

My classroom library is organized into five sections. First, I have a lot of books that are sorted by level for guided reading instruction. I keep them in bins near my reading table, and I give them to students (and then students store them in bags inside their book boxes) when appropriate. Second, I have a collection of books that I use to teach lessons. I generally don't let students have access to those books. I know, selfish! But this set of books is very carefully organized and that's just how it is.

So two of my five sections? Really just for me. The students are exposed to all those books in some way, but they don't get full access. It's okay, though... there are plenty of books that the children have access to all the time! According to my son's calculations... there are nearly 4,000 of those books!

The third section of my library is organized by author. I have 19 book boxes, each one filled with books by the same author: Tomie DePaola, Kevin Henkes, Mo Willems, Audrey Penn, Patricia Polacco, Keiko Kasza, Steven Kellogg, Mercer Mayer, David Shannon, Dav Pilkey, Eric Carle... This picture only shows eighteen boxes, but I promise there are nineteen!



The next part of my library is organized by character or series... Pete the Cat, Berenstain Bears, Clifford, Magic School Bus, Dr. Seuss, Angelina Ballerina, Arthur, Curious George, Jigsaw Jones, Nate the Great, Magic Tree House, Franklin...



I store the coordinating stuffed animals in the boxes, and students are allowed to read to them at certain times.

The fifth and final section of my classroom library is organized by subject/genre/type. I have books about food, weather, friendship, families, frogs, mammals, reptiles, holidays, birthdays, math, inventions, bears, school... there is a Joke Book box and a Fairy Tale box and a Word Book box. One box is filled with Rhyming Books, and another holds all the ZooBooks.



Each of the three sections for students is organized in alphabetical order, either by last name (authors), character name or topic.

There are a total of 96 book boxes. How ridiculous!

I started collecting the boxes about five years ago. They were $2.95 at Lakeshore, and I never bought even one without a coupon of some kind. Most of the time I had a buy one, get one 50% off coupon, so the boxes were around $2.25 each. Not as cheap as the dollar store, but they are unbelievably sturdy. After a year or so (I had purchased about 20 boxes), the price went up to $3.95, but by then I felt pretty committed. Luckily I had a very large PTA fund that year, and I bought most of the boxes then.  Now the boxes are $4.99 each, which I think is pretty outrageously expensive. I have no plans to add new boxes. And if I really feel the need, I will likely regroup and use a box I already have (I could put all the Magic School Bus books into the Science box, or move all the Halloween books into the Autumn box.) I never would have chosen these boxes if the price had been $4.99!  That said, however, these boxes will last forever! They are in perfect condition after five years.

Actually, I have one more collection of books. They are organized by level, and they are for students to borrow and take home. I'll talk more about how I manage the take home books at another time.

Four. Thousand. Books.

Where did they come from? Many were acquired for free... public library giveaways, school library giveaways, the "free" section at garage sales, Scholastic bonus points, books my own children's friends grew out of. Most were very, very cheap... from RAFT or thrift stores or from clearance shelves. One nearby thrift store sells most of their books for 19 cents... and they frequently have 50% off sales. I've walked out of that store with 70 books for $7 plus tax on a number of occasions.  A few books I purchased from Scholastic (and then earned more free books), some are from Amazon, lots I cleaned off of my own kids' shelves.

One of my daughters organized all those boxes. Which was another job in itself! She sorted and alphabetized for a couple of hours and all it cost me was $30 in Think Geek t-shirts! What a deal!

 

 

Nearly Everything Links to Literacy!

I love books. I love teaching reading, and reading to my students, and talking about books. I love the Scholastic book orders, and all the choices there. I love the stuffed animals I have that are characters from books.

And so, without even knowing it sometimes, I connect things to literature.

A few years ago, I saw the idea of making a caterpillar to count the days of school. A friend of mine added a new segment to a caterpillar each day, and had a gigantic pastel-colored caterpillar that wrapped around one side of her classroom. I made a mental note to do something similar the following year. But, me being me, the idea had morphed a bit by the time the start of the next school year came along.

I decided to make my caterpillar be The Hungry Caterpillar.



And I decided to change the color of the caterpillar segments for each set of ten.

And I ended up with something like this.



Last year, the caterpillar wound up and down across two walls. The year before, it scurried straight and was on three walls. We'll just have to wait to see what happens this year...

My students this year have gotten onto the idea that that hungry caterpillar is gobbling up days of school!

Another way that I've incorporated literacy into areas of my classroom... my table groups.

This year, I have five table groups: Pigeon Table,  Lilly Table,  Pete the Cat Table, Rocket the Reading Dog Table, and Hungry Caterpillar Table.



I will sometimes say, "Pigeons, you can go line up for lunch," or "Reading Dogs, it's your turn to go get your book boxes." I excuse them for recess or to get supplies by tables, frequently. And sometimes I get a bit casual.

Last week, I cracked my class up. I'm not even sure where it came from, but I said, "If you're a Very Thirsty Caterpillar you can go get a drink now." They loved it! Silliness!

I've also decorated the bathroom that's inside my classroom with book jackets. But I won't post a picture of that!

Literacy and literary references... gotta love it!

 

Place Value Boxes from Target and a Corner of my Classroom

More calendar math... Each day, we add a Unifix cube to our collection. When there are ten, we stack them into "one ten" and move the entire stack to the tens column. Well, I saw these cute little boxes in the dollar bins at Target and they are perfect for collecting the cubes. Today was the ninth day of school, so tomorrow my students will stack the cubes into a ten.



I printed the Ones, Tens and Hundreds labels from my unit, Common Core Calendar Math, and taped it on! Easy! Yes, I know that the words are in the wrong order in the picture! Not sure how that happened, but it's fixed now.

Today my students finished up some little Pete the Cat paper projects, and I couldn't resist hanging them all over the classroom.  I think they're just adorable. My kinders and first graders were both able to do the project somewhat independently. The best part is the tail. I shared my idea for a spiral tail, but told the students that they could make any kind of tail they wanted. The variety is awesome! They're all different, which I love!

I still have organizing and unpacking to do in my room. I'm trying to do a little each day, but I'm waiting for the district to deliver a couple of big bookshelves.

Geez, is that picture blurry? Or am I just in need of sleep?

A Hundred Numbers for Your Pocket Chart

It seems like lots of teachers are loving bees this year! It's a great theme! So I made a set of number cards with bees on every one.

The cards are for those nylon pocket charts that so many of us have hanging in our rooms. You know, the kind with 100 tiny pockets? Yep, I have one too! I have never loved the red numbers that came with the pocket chart, and it finally hit me---- why not make cute numbers?! Yes, I know I wrote that post about too much cute in a classroom. But if it's functional and cute, I think that's awesome!



The great thing about these cards is that they can be used alone or with those red cards that came with the pocket chart. You can use the "cute" cards to highlight number patterns or a number of the day or whatever. I love Marcy Cook's "Color It on the Hundred's Chart" and these cute numbers work really well with her lessons.

So far, I've made a black and white version with bright bunting, and a bee version. Any other requests? Let me know and I'll get right on it!

What a Difference Six Hours Makes: My New Classroom!

My Wacky Week, Part 2

After staying up way too late last night organizing packets for kindergarten orientation, I finally slept. Briefly.

I was up at 6:00, in my old classroom by 7:00, and I got to work: packing, prioritizing, sorting, wondering... was it even possible?!

My husband and two of the kids went and picked up a truck and met me at the old school. The four of us packed and taped and taped and packed until we ran out of tape! We took a quick Jamba Juice break, stopped by the store for more tape, and had the whole room completely packet by 11:00! Un. Real. We filled the truck with pretty things, furniture, and things I needed right away. We boxed up most of the books and some other things, and they should be delivered in a few days.

We arrived at the new room around noon, unloaded, dashed out for Chipotle salads, organized, unpacked, hung things, put things on shelves and voila! A classroom, ready to go! Okay, it was pretty much nothing like "voila!" My husband and son are the heroes of the day. Good heavens! They lifted so much heavy stuff!

So I made it to kindergarten orientation. The parents were lovely, and I met one adorable little boy who said, "Nice to meet you," and was ready to shake my hand all night long! A few of the parents were really, really excited, and said that they loved the room!



I hung a cute "Welcome" sign on the door, and I'll add some student work tomorrow!

I

Thank heavens for a wonderful secretary who copied all my handouts for the Kindergarten Orientation! I emailed them to her at 1:23 this morning! Yikes!



Since most of my books are still in boxes, most of the book bins are empty! But 4,000 books will soon fill them up!



A kind and generous kinder teacher gave me a rug because she had two! I'm so pleased and grateful! Not every teacher would do that for someone else...

I'm feeling pretty good about the room. It's not done. But tomorrow is the first day of school, and I did all that in six hours. Whew.

Good night, friends! We all need sleep!

What's Making You Feel Excited About Starting a New School Year?

I'm starting my year with some big changes! There will be lots of little changes, because there always are when you work with children! It's the big changes that have my attention this summer. I've been thinking and planning and discussing, and now I'm starting to feel excited!

1. Technology

Finally! I will have modern, working computers right in my classroom! And because of that, things like digital cameras and videos will be much easier to integrate into lessons. I've got all kinds of things planned, beginning with how to use each tool in the classroom. The real goal is for students to learn some new ways to connect with others inside the classroom, around our school, and beyond. Twitter? Yes, it's on my list. Skype? You bet. YouTube and a class blog? Yes, yes, of course!

2. Classroom

"I had all the desks moved out."

When I said those words to a colleague, she was beyond stunned. I wish I had a picture of her expression. O.M.G.

Early in the summer, I saw my new classroom for the first time. It was very similar to my old classroom. But the orientation was just a little different. The new/old rooms weren't mirror images. A few things were the same, but other, major things were different (like the location of the door, sink, a few cupboards.) Where would I put my cubbies? There wasn't really a logical place near the door. Where would my teaching easel go? And how would I arrange all those desks?

Soon after seeing my room, I started thinking about Genius Hour and the spaces I wanted available to students. And then I realized that those awesome new iMacs would need a home, and then there was a giant furniture snowball of information in my head. And it made me dizzy. So I laid down and closed my eyes, but all I could see was a room full of desks. Thirty desks.

The thing is, when I started thinking about why my students needed desks, I couldn't really come up with any good reasons. A place to put their crayons? A place to keep a notebook? Somewhere to sit? Yes, but I was quickly able to think of alternatives for all of those uses. I thought back to last year... what did we use the desks for that was so critical? The only thing I could come up with was that they were a place to keep children contained. "Please go to your desks."  Was this just a case of continuing to do something because that's the way we've always done it? Maybe.

So I started making lists and sketches and jotting down ideas. Pro: storage, a place for everyone, work space, order. Con: makes the room crowded, difficult to change students to a new work space, kids get territorial. My students spend a good part of every day doing things that don't require that they're anchored to a desk. I use a workshop model for reading, writing and math, and students often work on the floor, in a beanbag chair or on a small rug. What if the desks weren't there at all? What would it be like, I tried to imagine. I thought of a friend's art studio and the Montessori school where I worked in college and the Exploratorium.

And then a few weeks later, I saw Alice's post. This is a high school classroom, but wow! Her room has some great collaborative spaces, it's totally set up for conversations, and it looks so warm and happy. Her video made me think of a Starbucks. And you know how much work gets done there! Alice's video nudged me over the edge.

So my room doesn't have thirty desks anymore. I'm still arranging everything and I will share pictures next week.

3. Genius Hour

Talk about a perfect fit! Genius Hour will work great in the physical classroom and with access to technology. I am eager to get started with my students! Two books I plan to read with them right away: Big Plans by Bob Shea and Lane Smith, and Swimmy by Leo Lionni. I want students to think big! They can change the world! And Swimmy is a lovely little book for discussing collaboration.



What new things are you trying this year? Any great new books you have found that you love? What's getting you excited about going back to school?

Happy Wednesday!

 

What Good News/What Bad News (I Got the Key to my New Room)

Okay the good news first: I got the key to my new room. And more good news: when I went to get the key, I also got to meet my new principal!  (I'm thankful that she offered to hand out keys a little early. I don't want to spend the rest of my summer vacation getting reading for school to start, but I do like to have access. I've been working on a few things at home this summer, and I was very happy to get a pile of projects out of my entryway and into the classroom!)

And more good news! My room is in a great location. It's close to the parking lot and the office. It's also much closer to the cafeteria than my old room was, and it's very close to the bathrooms, which will be great for first graders.

Carmen, my next door neighbor from last year, is smart, supportive, and funny, and I just loved having her next door. Guess what? She has moved to a new room, also, and we will still be pretty close. So that's good news!

Bad news, you ask? Really? Are you sure you're ready? It's pretty bad.

What's that saying? "A picture is worth a thousand words?" Are the thousand words more like screaming sounds?

The bad news: my new room.



That's a lot of boxes, friends. You can barely even see the counter!



Are you thinking that it looks like it's pretty disorganized? Yeah, me too. It bothers me that I see at least one bookcase on its side. I should have fixed that before taking a picture...



And this picture couldn't be more misleading! Doesn't it look like the room is just gigantic?! I can assure you that it's not!



The doors in the first picture lead to the classroom next door. The doors in this picture lead to a closet. It's not big enough for too much, but I'm planning to put my little fridge and microwave in there... and if there's room, I'll fill the rest of the space with textbooks.

Total side note: In the last picture, you can see a little pink dollhouse. It was given to me by a principal from a few years ago. She is a total gem, loves kids like crazy, and passed this dollhouse along to me when her daughter decided she was too old for it. I love it! Every time we have Choice Time, my students get that dollhouse out first. And I always think of Michelle, and what a treat it was working with her!

So I have some work to do... and this year I'm going to shake things up just a bit.  When the room is unpacked and organized and ready for students, I'll take pictures and let you know...because it will be good news!

Technology in First Grade on the First Day

Did I mention that the day I spent at Google was inspiring? No? Well, I've been thinking of everything school and Google and technology and collaboration and creativity ever since... and while I can't give Google credit for all my ideas... that day made a difference for me.

I had an extremely hard year last year. I had unbelievable challenges. The population at my school is not a particularly easy one anyway, but last year was extra special, if you know what I mean. It was one of *those* years. Times a hundred. Or maybe a thousand. Egad. I worked way, way too hard. I'm feeling the need for a margarita just writing about it!

When school ended, I didn't feel relieved right away. My husband jokes that I was experiencing a little Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Whatever it was, it took a few weeks for it to sink in--- That. Year. Finally. Ended. Soon after that, I let a few thoughts about next year sneak into my brain. And when I went to the Google Geo Teachers Institute, I admit my expectations were low. Heck, I was still trying to forget last year, and I wasn't ready in the least to begin thinking about next year. But then I met some talented teachers and learned about some amazing tools and I got all excited.

Last year, the technology in my room was limited to the four iPods my students use to listen to stories. I take that back. I also had a MacBook Pro (district issue!), a LCD projector and document camera, and my own iPhone. I used the camera on my phone every single day for both still shots and video. And the document camera, LCD and MacBook got quite a bit of use. But I didn't have a lot in terms of "hands on" technology tools for my students.

Our school had two beautiful computer labs.



Okay, I'm not so sure about "beautiful," but I was really pretty thrilled when I first saw them. Brand new iMacs! There were thirty computers in each one, so during my lab time (every day for 30-40 minutes) my students each had an iMac to use. However, they had limited choices for how they used those computers. Wait. Who am I kidding?! Their choices were so limited that THERE WAS NO CHOICE. Two days a week, students used an online math program. Bleh. Three days a week, they used an online program with a reading emphasis. The math program was somewhat engaging, and the students liked it better than the reading program. The reading program caused many children to throw tantrums and refuse to participate. Honestly, I can't blame them. It was as close to a drill and kill phonics ditto on a computer that I've ever seen. But even worse than a ditto, if students missed any questions on a level, they had to re-do all the "activities" on that level. And there wasn't any teaching happening in this program. Omg. I could go on for hours. The kids hated it and I hated it, and despite the "research" praising the program and outlining all the magical things it could do, it just didn't work for my students.

Every day, I thought about those instructional minutes. Thirty to forty minutes per day were dedicated to those two programs (mandatory, with each students' minutes monitored by the district,) and yet I felt like I never had enough time to teach everything I felt I needed to. I started to share my feelings, and explain the reasons why I thought the time was not well spent. Every child, no matter his reading/math levels, was required to be "on" that computer for  the prescribed number of minutes every day. I just didn't see the point. They weren't engaged, it wasn't good instruction, and at least twenty students asked to use the bathroom during the computer lab time every single day. That was telling!

Thankfully, I was heard. At the end of the year, the decision was made to break up the computer labs and distribute the computers among all the classrooms. Yahoo! So now I can add "four iMacs" to my classroom technology inventory. And although I probably won't be able to completely wiggle out of having to use those online math and reading programs (it will likely be required for some students), I have bigger plans for  those iMacs!

And so... some of my plans for incorporating technology on the first day of school:

1. I am going to teach a quick lesson on how to use Photo Booth on the iMacs, and on the very first day, I will have students record themselves talking about... themselves! I plan to put all those recordings together into a little show about our class. Students can learn about each other when they watch it, and you can bet I'll have some writing activities to follow up the viewing! (Likely they won't watch it the first day, but probably a couple of days later.)

2.  I'll be using my iPhone... to take pictures and video of students on the first day. I always send a note home with students during the first week. Last year, my notes looked like this:



I had ordered those post cards from Vistaprint several years ago. This year, I'm going to create my own cards and I'm planning to include a photo of each child. I will also be taking video to use in my Back to School Night presentation.

2. While scrounging around home for any technology bits to take to school (more on that later), I found the Flip Video camera that I got for free a few years ago. All I had to do was attend a workshop to learn to use it, and it was mine! I know that there are better versions. I got my Flip Video about four years ago. But it takes decent video and it is simple enough for a first grader to use successfully.



And those first graders are going to use it a lot this year. I want students to take videos of each other, and we are going to start the first day. Our first project is going to be a presentation about the rules. After I teach procedures to the students, I am going to have one student record while the other students practice and demonstrate. Behavior is a gigantic issue at my school! Last year some of us were on a committee to help establish new procedures based on PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports.) I will review those procedures from last year, have students record each other, and we will compile to create a group project. And I know I can find a way to share that project with the other classes at our school. Bazinga!

4. And my last bit of technology for the first day... my students will be taking lots of digital pictures! I know, I know, my plans are pretty heavy on the visual technology side. But we have to start somewhere, right? I want students to have practice using the digital cameras I have (old cameras my children and friends of mine used before we all had iPhones!) First they need to know how to use the cameras, and then later they can do great things with the pictures!

I'm actually getting excited about going back to school! I can wait to share lots of technology tools with my first graders, and watch them use them in meaningful ways!

Technology Thoughts

Yikes! I can't stop thinking about my day at Google. It's going to have an effect on me for a long time. I met lots of inspirational and talented people and just got a million ideas. I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed... like I need to sit down and make a priority list. But I can't stop reading the tweets and blogs! And every time I read one, I think of more ideas and questions.

There are so many fabulous ways to get technology into our classrooms. Great ideas are everywhere, but it's challenging to use most of them with non-readers (or very beginning readers.) I don't have a class set of iPads, or I'd be thinking about some of the many apps and eReader applications. The iPods I've been using with my students have been exciting for them, but seem so dated... as if they're not really technology anymore at all!

 

[caption id="attachment_301" align="aligncenter" width="171"] Image from Bill Ferriter[/caption]

I'd like to have my students create with Wordle this year, but I'm a little concerned about the amount of support it will require.  Sometime this summer, four computers are supposed to be moved into my room (Where they will fit, I'm not sure!) and I'm hoping to use them with small groups so that each child has an instructional session once a week. I envision using Wordle at the beginning of the year for some autobiographical presentations. Later in the year, I think Wordle could be used as a tool for presenting students' responses to literature and as a way to highlight important concepts and vocabulary in science. Wordle seems like such a basic place to start. But we're talking first graders!  It will give my students some experience with computers that is not just the drill and kill language and math programs that my district loves. I want the children to begin to see that computers are tools for communication and creativity. They are a means to an end. Something like a Wordle should be taught as a tool for expression, and then used for expression/digital writing that is meaningful.

I created a set of Robot-Themed classroom labels and you can get them here.



 

MacBook Air, School Supplies and New Ladybug Labels

So it was an expensive day at the Apple Store. To quote Liz Lemon, "Blerg."

I spent HOURS trying to decide what kind of computer to buy. My trusty, white MacBook was definitely on its last leg after my *amazing* day at Google. Truthfully, I've had problems with my laptop for months. I knew it was coming.

I ended up getting a MacBook Air. I got the Apple discount for educators, and because they're doing a Back-to-School promotion, I got a $100 gift card good at the App Store or iTunes. Of course, I parted with a pile of cash at the same time...

So far, so good. It took all night to transfer everything from my old Mac (via Time Machine), but the MacBook Air is up and running now! Yahoo! So fast! So shiny!

More school supply sales are being advertised now. Crayons are on sale for 50 cents a box at a few different stores. I just can't remember if that's a good deal or not! What do you think? I'm still waiting for bargain composition books and spiral notebooks...

And the New Ladybug Labels... I updated a set I made several months ago. I added many classroom objects, numbers, colors and a student page. There are nameplates, too! Click below to get your own set!



 

 

 

Ladybug Labels for the Classroom

Kindergarten teacher Kara asked for some happy and colorful labels for her classroom. She didn't have a strict theme going when she asked me to make the labels. She did have lots of things that were primary colors... and she loves red, and she collects ladybugs. Done!

...And you've just gotta KNOW that there will be more ladybug things coming soon!

CLICK HERE for Ladybug Labels!

I made this set just for her, but I'm sharing it with you now, too. The large labels are for different areas in the classroom. The smaller ones help students learn to read and write the words that they might use in their writing, and can be taped onto the appropriate items in your room.  And I included a set of nameplates, as well. Just because.