Happy New Year!

I'm welcoming the second half of the year with open arms! 

We have an opportunity to start fresh and reset things in our classrooms. Along with reviewing our classroom expectations and chatting about our holiday breaks.... we'll be setting a few goals for 2016!

Download the PDF version of our 2016 goals page here. 

Download the Word (editable) version of the 2016 goals page here. 

How are you kicking off the new year with your students? 

Photographing our Morning Procedure

Tuesday of this week began my SIXTH year of teaching! As each new year approaches, I find myself slightly changing our back to school routine. I imagine I'm not the only one who changes their plans from day-to-day and year-to-year. :)

One very important procedure we have to have down is our morning procedure.  Students begin coming into our room at 7:50 and we are out the door for specials by 8:12! Students have to check in, write assignments, get unpacked, etc. etc. There's a lot to do in that short period of time!

Last year, I wrote about using the "My Job, Your Job, Our Job" model to create our morning procedure. It worked wonderfully - my kids loved it. They knew the routine very well. 

This year, I decided to switch things up a bit. My kids were eager to start using our classroom iPads and I felt the morning routine would be the perfect opportunity to start. 

I grouped students by birthday (original, I know!) and asked them to take photographs of their morning responsibilities. This would include using the restroom (no bathroom pics please!, writing assignments, sharpening pencils, etc. 

After a quick tutorial on taking pictures, I sent the students on their merry way. 

This lesson also provided an opportunity for me to teach students more about our Connected Classroom. Using the Apple TV, I was able to demonstrate the "AirPlay" function and how to "AirDrop" images from one device to another. 

Once students had taken photographs around the room, we gathered together on the carpet and shared our ideas. While students were sharing, I assumed the role as the "Note Taker" and told students I would collect all of their information in a fancy document. 

Honestly, they thought of things I didn't even think of! 

It was a great way to incorporate technology into an often "boring" part of the back to school routine. 

Tell me... how do you teach routines in the classroom?

Let's Celebrate!

My list of favorite things about teaching grows each and everyday. Here's one of the things I love about being a teacher (put quite nicely by Todd Whitaker):

We all have the opportunity for this year to be whatever we want it to be. That is one thing that makes teaching so special. #IAedchat

— Todd (@ToddWhitaker) July 27, 2015

One of my goals for this brand-spankin' new year is to celebrate more. One way to celebrate more is with birthdays. We've all got them! Each one of my students deserves a day where they can be truly celebrated. 

Therefore, I present to you our birthday treats of room 52:

I made my schnazzy birthday tags with KG fonts, ribbon, and tasty kid-approved snacks. 

You can download your own copy of these birthday tags through Google Drive here.  

How do you celebrate in your classroom? 

Share with me! Help me reach my goals!

That's a Wrap, 2014!

Wow! What a year it has been.

I'll spare you all of the details, but it was an absolutely amazing year and 2015 is bound to be even better. 

Last year, I created a foldable for my students to make a few new year's resolutions using the numbers "2-0-1-4" based on another folder I found through Pinterest. You can read about that foldable here. 

With the new year approaching and Christmas break winding down, it became time to create another foldable! Last year, my students enjoyed kicking off the new year with resolutions and I hope my crew this year enjoys it just as much. 

Download the 2015 foldable HERE. 

Have a safe and happy new year!

Meet the Fairy Scientist

Every year, we begin our year in science by chatting about scientist stereotypes. Students illustrate a picture of the "scientist" they have envisioned in their head and we have great conversations about how we ALL are scientists.. we don't have to look like a mad man to be a scientist! Every year, I have structured the activity differently and each year yields different conversation. One year, I even dressed up like a mad scientist - now that was FUN! Read about it here.

Like year's past, students first illustrated a picture independently in their science notebook of the scientist they were imagining in their head. Then, we chatted about similarities in all of the pictures and common themes and characteriristics we noticed. 

For the most part, the illustrations looked something like this....

 

Then, I brought everyone to the carpet and showed them this video:

Lydia the Fairy Scientist

At the conclusion of the video I posed the following question to the class, "Why would I show you this video?"

The conversation was amazing! Students were breaking down stereotypes of scientists and talking about how scientists can be anyone and have a passion for ANYTHING. 

To wrap up the lesson, we wrote in our notebooks, "A scientist is someone who..." Then small groups filled in various characteristics based on our conversation. 

Fantastic way to kick off the year!

Seeking Input for our Morning Procedure

There are two procedures that have caused me the most grief over the past five years (see! I have so much to learn) and those are: morning and afternoon procedures.  This year, I decided to shake things up a bit and make a change - for the better! Instead of creating a procedure for the kids to memorize and follow... we established a procedure as a class. Which, I must add, coincidentally was exactly what I wanted them to do anyway! 

Using another idea, and quality tool, presented in our district-wide kick off meetings, I asked students the following questions:

What is YOUR job in the mornings? Specifically from 7:50-8:12 AM...

What is MY (the teacher) job in the morning?

What is our job as a classroom in the morning?

Each student was given the opportunity to answer the questions on their own and stick their post-it note on the front board. 

As a class, we read through and grouped similar responses under the "Your Job, My Job, Our Job" categories. Some of the "Your Job" responses were: filling out planners, sharpening pencils, unpacking backpacks, using the restroom, etc. As for "My Job", students wanted to be greeted, wanted me to prepare for the school day, drink my coffee (hah!), give hugs, and talk to them. For "Our Job" students felt it was important to get prepared for the school day. 

Umm.. NAILED IT. 

We drafted our morning procedure and hung it proudly on the whiteboard for all to see. It would have been easier to iron out this procedure for me to write this on my own, but seeking input from my students was far more powerful. When students came in Friday morning, the morning ran like clockwork. It was ah-maze-ing. 

Now... let's hope they remember over the weekend! If not, we can always practice the procedure they created. :)

What tips do you have for establishing classroom procedures?

Creating a Classroom Mission Statement

Like most teachers, our first order of business in the classroom is to establish a solid foundation for the rest of the school year. This includes establishing a classroom community, getting to know one another, ironing out the procedures and routines of our room, figuring out our daily schedule... and learning on the fly. Let's just say, we had several "teachable moments" today on the second day of 5th grade. 

My district kicked off back to school meetings by introducing six different quality tools we could implement in our classrooms in the following days. Of course, I left our meetings and started rewriting my lesson plans to start adding in some of the tools introduced. If you're interested in quality tools (i.e. plus/deltas, consensograms, affinity diagrams, etc.) click on the link here.  

In previous years (four to be exact), I've used the story "The Kingdom With No Rules or Laws" to begin our conversation on classroom norms. After reading the story, students would suggest classroom norms and we would compile all of the results into a positive list, sign the document, and post it for all to see. 

This year, in place of "The Kingdom..." story, we created a classroom mission statement. I began the conversation by showing students our SOTO Mission Statement - which was a conversation in itself. I'm certain none of my students were aware this "phrase" existed. 

Disclaimer: This is how I chose to do this activity in my classroom, by no means am I saying this is the absolute way it has to happen. :)

Yes! We can!

 Next, I explained to the class how we could create a classroom mission statement to simply state who we are and our purpose for the year.  After handing out post-its to five different tables, I posed the following questions:

Who are we?

What will you need to do in order to be successful this year?

What can I, the teacher, do to help you be successful this year?

What should the students do in order for things to run smoothly?

How are we going to accomplish these tasks?

After about five minutes, groups shared out their responses from the post-it notes. As students were talking, I help form their thoughts into a cohesive paragraph. After a few minutes of collaborating, our classroom mission statement had been created!

Perhaps I'm biased, but my favorite part of the statement is where they asked for me to entertain them. Oh, my students! Ask and you shall receive. 

To polish things off, each student took turns signing our mission statement and vowed to hold one another accountable to our classroom expectations. 

It's going to be a great year!

Thinking Like Scientists

 If you've followed my blog for a few years, you may remember my post "Power of the Pod" where I shared an idea about naming your tables or pods after material you wish for students to remember. Read more on that blog here.  

To kick off the year, I decided to create new table names for each of my groups. This year, we're starting our year with units of measurement. In 5th grade, we hit the metric system in science and math and this is an area where my kids struggle. They can remember the various tools we use in science (balance scales, thermometers, meter sticks, etc.), but struggle to remember the unit they are measured with. I'm hoping the repetition of the terms will help students remember the units. 

If you wish to download a copy of the posters to hang in your classroom, click here! You can access the docs via Google Drive. If you do use these posters in your classroom, I would love to see photographs! Please email me a picture and I'll post them on my blog as well. 

SPOTLIGHT Bulletin Board Idea

During my first year of teaching, and Fellows year, I conducted an action research project on using nonfiction text during read alouds and how it affected students reading nonfiction on their own. During that year, with guidance from my mentor, we created a hanging bulletin board where I would "Spotlight" the nonfiction text we were reading for the week. It was a great resource and reminder for students of the books we had read and were available to them as readers. 

Fast forward to my current 5th grade classroom. I am fortunate to have a HUUUGE wall in the back of my room. The past few years, I've bounced back and forth between what to put on that wall and this year I decided to create another spotlight!

Because I teach three sections of science, the bulk of my material posted on the wall revolves around our science content. If you're like me, I am constantly swapping out posters and materials depending on what we are studying. One of our first "spotlights" will be on the scientific method, once we move onto weather, I will change out the posters and objectives for our next unit. 

What bulletin boards do you have around your room spotlight content areas? Share your ideas with me!

Updated Post - The Job Market is Officially Open!

To date, the most popular post on my blog is from July 2012 where I shared with you fine folks about my classroom job system. You can read about it right ---> here. Over the past few years, I've received so many emails from teachers all over the world (seriously!!) asking to share my job application document. Nothing is more exciting than swapping emails with a teacher around the globe at 7:00 AM!

This year, I've updated my job application and you can access it through Google Docs ---> here. (click the blue link!) You'll only notice a few changes, but I've tweaked a few of the jobs to fit the needs of my classroom and I've added a "You're Hired" portion at the bottom. I needed something for my students to reference if they forgot/needed reminders on their job responsibilities. Once we have our "job training", I'll have my students stick their responsibilities slip in their binders for safe keeping. 

---------------------------

In Room 52, the following jobs have been posted for hire:

Accountant: The accountant’s daily responsibility is to adjust the attendance cards to a horizontal setting at the end of the day.

Librarian: The Librarian checks the room for stray books, straightens the fiction and nonfiction shelves, and checks to make sure all books are in ABC order.

Computer Technician: The computer tech is responsible for turning on the laptops and logging them into the eMINTS network. At the conclusion of the day, the tech turns off the laptops. In addition, the Computer Tech is responsible for helping their peers with tech issues. The Computer Tech will help their peers troubleshoot and solve tech problems before consulting the teacher.

Assignment Sorter: Puts all collected assignments in student number order, paper clips together, and places them on Ms. Furnell’s desk. The assignment sorter marks off who brought their homework from a list and hands it into the teacher.

Postal Clerk: Delivers graded work and other items to student mailboxes daily.

Custodian: The Custodian is responsible for checking the floors and tabletops (desks and shared work areas) at the conclusion of the day for trash. The custodian uses the lint roller on the floor to get all scraps.

Recycling Chief: The Recycling Chief takes the blue recycling bin to the larger bins daily.

Board Cleaner: The Board Cleaner is in charge of wiping down the white board at the end of the day. Remember to check with Ms. Furnell on what to erase and what to keep!

Scheduler: The scheduler changes the calendar at the end of each day to reflect tomorrow’s events and date.

Caboose: The Caboose stands in the back of our short, straight, and silent line. Once leaving the room, the Caboose turns off the light and changes the sign to reflect where the class is located in the Upper Elementary.

Pencil Sharpener:  The Sharpener makes sure there are enough sharpened pencil in the “sharp” bucket. Reminds peers to return any borrowed pencils and replaces dull pencils.

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The first page of the document is a simple overview of the jobs available, the second page is the actual application, and the final pages are the detailed responsibilities of each job. Again, these are based on what works in my classroom but it may be helpful for you with planning!

Happy Wednesday!

Magnets for Families - Meet the Teacher Night Takeaway

As a little takeaway for parents at Meet the Teacher night last year, I gave each family a magnet with my contact information listed on it. I used a template (which you can download here) and I added in my room number, extension, email, and website.

 I'm having trouble locating the original blog it came from - but once I do, I'll update the link! 

This year, I reached out to an oh-so-extremely talented friend and asked her to recreate a new image for me. My request was to have an image (similar to the magnet from last year) with all of my contact information be made into a GIF file for my weebly site. 

She responded with, "umm sure best friend!" It went something like this:

Then I replied with great excitement...

Source

Because it has ALL of my contact information listed on it, you'll just have to use your imagination! :) 

Then, I asked for yet another favor of my oh-so-extremely talented friend and asked her to create a JPEG of that same image so I could create a magnet for my families this year. 

Of course, she responded with great enthusiasm. It went something like this, "JPEG for YOU, YOU, and YOUUU!"

Source

I printed the images on card stock, laminated each one, stuck a magnet on the back, and...

viola! 

Now families can stick my contact information next to their favorite Michael Scott magnet on their fridge, too. :)

Share with me teachers, what do you have planned for Meet the Teacher night? 

A Welcoming 'Treat' For My Students

In 17 days, I'll begin my 5th year of teaching! 

Here's to year 5!

The past few years, I've made it a habit to send a welcome postcard to my incoming fifth graders. I've received great feedback from parents and students in the past, so I see no reason not to continue this great tradition! 

Thanks to the greeting card site, Treat, my welcome postcards received a much deserved facelift! Using a template for a teacher appreciation card, I used Treat's customizing options and tailored it to my needs. Now, my students have a pretty schnazzy card headed their way through the U.S. Postal Service! 

Treat allows you to customize personalized greeting cards for any occasion. I kind of went a little wild on the site and made one for every wedding and birthday for the rest of the year. Expect posts about those... later. :)

On the inside, I typed a little note welcoming my new crew and important dates for families to jot down on their calendars. Most importantly, I invited families to our Meet the Teacher night before school begins. 

There ya have it, folks! One of many back to school preparations I can check off the list. 

17 more days!!

Letter to Future Me

Tuck this idea away for the start (and end) of the school year....

 I was inspired to do this project by a teacher at my high school who had her students write letters to themselves in her classroom. Her promise was mail the letters back to each student several years down the road. Imagine the surprise when my friends opened up the letters they had written in high school to themselves! I wanted to create the same type of nostalgic experience for my students... with a slightly shorter time period. 

On one of the first few days of school, I have my brand new 5th graders write letters to their "future selfs". After discussing goals for the school year, I have students write a letter to themselves for the last week of school. Then, once my students leave my doors for the last time (and I've dried my tears), I send their letters to them in the mail. Of course, I always take a peak once more at their writing and admire how much they have grown over the past school year. I'll admit, it's a neat experience for me as a teacher. 

This year, I had several students remind ME about my promise to send the letters in late May. They were not going to let me forget that I had made them a promise on the first day of school!

Calling Mr. Postman!

Teaching Like a Pirate!

I know for a fact I am not the only teacher out there obsessed with Dave Burgess' book, "Teach Like a Pirate". It captivated me this summer and I encouraged several of my coworkers to read it as well. We are constantly swapping pirate-like ideas and love speaking out Burgess' book like he is an old friend. If for some reason you haven't jumped on the Pirate bandwagon - now is your chance! 

Hop to it!

Fresh Out of the Amazon Package!

In the book, Burgess walks teachers through his first three days of school. One of the activities he does with his new students is with play-doh. He gives each of his (high school!!) students play-doh and asks them to create something that describes them. While students are making play-doh creations, he walks around the room getting to know the students on a personal level. 

As soon as I read this idea, I knew I had to try it with my class - plus, who doesn't love play-doh? One afternoon, I passed out play-doh and gave the students the challenge of creating something with the 'doh about themselves. As I moved around the room, I witnessed a variety of objects being created. I had softballs, flowers, bow and arrows, high heels, horseshoes, and so on. It also gave me time to ask students why they were creating what they were. What that bow and arrow or softball meant to them - it was an excellent time to really get to know my kids. 

A Horseshoe for the Horse Lover

How do you get to know your students at the beginning of school? Do share!

Classroom Blueprints

We are starting the fifth week of fifth grade and I am just now blogging about our first week activities! Oops, I guess with the start of a new school year something had to take the back burner and my poor little blog was the one that got tossed. 

Thanks to an inspirational blog post by a teacher blogger, I decided to have my students draw blueprints for the tables and chairs in the classroom. (I could have let them move the bookshelves...but I stuck with just tables!) 

In small groups, students collaborated on a set up for our classroom. They had to agree upon a layout for our five tables. My only request was for there to be at least four chairs at each table. Once groups were finished with their blueprint, it was hung on the board for class voting. 

To end the activity, students walked around the room and added a tally mark to the layout they liked the best. It was a really fun activity, and I was quite impressed with the table arrangements my kids came up with - very creative use of space! 

Happy Monday! 

Back to School - Setting Goals!

Wow! The first week went by so quickly. By Friday I felt like we were getting into a groove for the school year and my new crew was coming out of their shells. We even had several moments of dancing as a group. Talk about a good week! 

The entire week was devoted to getting to know each other as a classroom community and becoming one big happy family. An activity we did involved goal setting and decorating pennants. I can thank my wonderful friend/coworker for giving me an idea on how to get us started thinking about goals. Here's how the activity played out:

My entire class is standing in the grass on the playground in a straight (horizontal) line. I looked at them and said, "Are you ready?" I got blank stares. I said, "Are you READY???" Then I said, "GO!" No one moved. I said.. "GO!" I heard several confused responses from my class like, "huh?" "where?" "are you serious?". Then I said, "RUN!"

Next thing you know my kids are running all over the place. No one had any idea where to go, when to stop, or if they could start playing kickball. It was quite the mess of 5th grade confusion. I rallied everyone back to the grass and gave them a goal. I said, "Run to the soccer net!" My kids took off running with an end result in mind. Once everyone made it to the net, we began having a conversation about the purpose of setting goals, how we can help one another achieve our goals, and how we all reach goals at different times - and that's okay folks! 

After our chat, I instructed students to come up with two goals for themselves academically.  Each student was given a pennant (that I modeled after one I saw in a magazine and recreated on Word). The pennant was to be decorated to their liking, have two goals written, and their picture would be placed in the circle. 

All the pennants are done and goals are set.  Now they are proudly on display in our classroom. (Side note, another goal of mine this year was to incorporate more student photos around the room. I think this will add to the ownership factor of our classroom. It's their home away from home, might as well feel like it!)

How was your first week? Hopefully wonderfully! Share your fun ideas with me as well. 

Back to School!

My morning started at 7:00 blasting "It's a Great Day to Be Alive" by Travis Tritt. The lyrics of that song rang true all day long (except the growing a beard part...and the rice in the microwave... oh, and that tattoo. I suppose it's more of the message of the song that rang true. hah!) and I'm still on cloud nine after meeting my new students today. I had several former students come in and visit too - I was handing out hugs left and right!

This year will begin my fourth year of teaching and I'm still as giddy and excited as day one. I think that's a good sign! It's going to be a great year. I can feel it. 

C'mon in, folks! It's time for another year! 

Nuts & Bolts of 5th Grade

Bulletin boards are one of my favorite parts of preparing my classroom for the school year. I spend, way way way, too much time sketching out my ideas and pinning pictures of what inspires me. 

If you're a follower of my blog, you may have read about my Reading Graffiti board here. On black butcher paper, my students pulled favorite quotes from their personal books and wrote them on our class graffiti board. At the end of the year, we had compiled incredible quotes from many different genres of books. To start the year, I am going to use the same graffiti concept except begin with student's pictures instead of quotations. On the first day of school, I will photograph all of my students and print the pictures. Once I have the pictures printed, I'll stick them on our "Nuts & Bolts" bulletin board. I will give each students a metallic sharpie and let them write their name and write a little tid-bit about themselves on the board. Viola! We have our bulletin board full of cute faces and smiles. 

Pardon the crease. :)

What bulletin boards do you have planned? Do share!

Building Community with Padlet

I've started planning my first few days of school and my mind has been spinning with ideas. My mind is racing so much that it's started to affect my dreams. Each night they get a little weirder and complicated. Once, I dreamt I arrived at school to find the entire hallway decorated like a farm. Everyone was dressed in farm attire with cows and goats. I missed the memo and barely remembered to put on pants! I was distraught because my classroom looked nothing like a farm... Weird, huh? 

Back to planning... :)

In one of my Specialist classes this summer, our icebreaker activity was to post on the discussion board a photo that represents us and write a brief explanation. Why not have 5th graders do the same? Since I don't use a discussion board format, I thought it would be fun to get a jumpstart with Padlet (formally Wallwisher). This activity will introduce my students to the functions of padlet: uploading images, writing text, and posting on the board as well as introducing themselves to one another. Not too shabby if you ask me! 

I've started our Padlet wall with my own intro and image. I'm excited to see what unique posts my students create!

Created with Padlet

Teachers! Share Your Thoughts With Me!

My brain has started spinning into school mode, slowly... but it is certainly starting to spin. I've started lists in my phone, sent myself emails of things to remember when I get back to school, and constantly checked to see if my class list has been posted. I can't be the only one right? 

This afternoon, as I've been enjoying Sleepless in Seattle on E! this afternoon, I started thinking about routines and procedures and specifically signals for my classroom. I use a few different chants to get the attention of my class, but this year I felt bored with my go-to chants. 

Here are a few of mine:

Teacher:

M-I-Z

Student:

Z-O-U

Clapping Patterns (on tables and desks too!)

Teacher:

Holy Moly!

Student:

Guacamole!

Teacher:

Macaroni and Cheese!

Student:

Everybody FREEZE!

I found cute posters and printables of chants on Pinterest, but I'm curious about what YOU are doing in your classroom. What do you do to get the attention of 20+ busy children? What nonverbal and verbal tricks do you use to shift the focus and attention in your room? What is your go to signal? 

Share your secrets with me!