Wrapping Up a School Year-Finishing Strong

Hey Educators!

I feel like it's been forever since I  last posted....probably because it has been since summer. Once the school year starts, it is easy to put all of your energy into your classroom, family, and everything else going on. This year has been a HUGE adjustment for me. Although I have taught many years and this is my third year teaching fifth grade, it was really different working under the middle school model. In this model, I taught 4 sections of ELA to 120 squirrely fifth graders.  Now that we are finishing our SBAC testing and planning for the end of the year, I'm curious on your thoughts about how to maintain a strong attitude about school as the days countdown.

I've always had a mentality of "Finish Strong". I got this from Teach Like a Champion and one of my first schools I worked in. It was important to maintain the same high expectations and quality in the classroom for a couple of reasons. First, who wants to make up puzzle worksheets and word searches for the last four weeks of school? Believe me, there are some teachers that are completely okay with this, but for me, it seems to be more work pretending to keep students engaged and calm than actually doing it.  Second, there tend to be more behavior issues as we begin releasing the reigns of our classroom because it is the end of the year. So how do you keep students engaged and making them and their parents feel like what you're doing in the classroom is valid?

I am speaking as an intermediate elementary teacher but this most certainly can work in any grade level. After testing, I begin preparing my students for the next grade level. Everything I give them to work on, I remind them that we are preparing for sixth grade and beyond. We get into some novels in each of my classrooms and we begin thinking in a higher level way.  In our middle school, we use a program called, Spring Board. Although fifth grade doesn't use this, we are exploring introducing our fifth graders to this program as a way to intensify what they do this year and give them a taste of next year.

Doing these highly engaging and more challenging lessons through the curriculum sends a strong message to the students and parents. In my grade level we have to do state testing, but if we stop teaching after the test, we are saying that we teach to the test. If we continue to push our students past the testing benchmark time frame, we are showing them that we want them to be successful on more than just a test.  It isn't easy, students begin to check out and we have to constantly reel them back in, but I'm willing to do it to maintain the structure and academic ambience in my classroom.  How do you finish the school year?

Aside from this, I am going to begin turning my blog into a VLOG. This will put you in my classroom live and ready to see my class set up and works. I will still post my vlog videos here, but you will be able to hear me versus just read me. Can't wait for this exciting change.

Until next time...

How Much Involvement is TOO Much Involvement?

I cam across this post on Teachers Pay Teachers' Instagram page and couldn't help but giggle a little. Can you imagine if you put this on your door? Depending on where you teach 1 of 3 things would happen.
#1-No one would ever see it because you haven't seen or heard from a parent since......well never.

#2-A few parents would read it, accept it and grow from this (this is not the norm).

#3-A parent would see this, contact all other classroom parents, create a picket line outside of your classroom door, tell the principal, and promptly ask for their child to be moved from your classroom.

I'm not going to tell you what kind of school I am at, but any one of these scenarios could cause problems. So my question goes out to all viewers as I continue to think of this in terms of my own classroom. I think I have worked in schools that would have parents from all three scenarios. As much as I hated being part of scenario #1, I also liked the freedom to be in my classroom and not worry about "pleasing parents". Last year, I was at a new charter school in a very tight knit community. I was worried because our school requires that each parent earn 30 hours of volunteer hours. Well, this was beyond my scope because I personally do not need parents in the classroom and often prefer not to have parents in the classroom for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that I notice that when parents are in the classroom a lot, a bit of your power leaves the door-if the parent is "THAT" parent. I like students to know that this is my house and we are one family. If little Johnny's mom comes in, I don't want him wandering out of his desk asking his mom to sharpen his pencil or use the restroom. So how do you deal?

If you are in a school without parent involvement, you do not need to worry about too much involvement. You want parents in and you want parents to be a part of the school process not only to show their child that you are both on the same page, but because it could be hard to wrangle students in this setting. One way to get parents involved is to BRAG, BRAG, BRAG. Schools in these school settings have little to no parent involvement, so why not change the status quo of calling when a student is in trouble? Call just because the student did something good that day. You can also write a note about something the child did. We all know there are those students that can make it hard to write a positive every day, but when that shining star had an awesome morning, or did ONE amazing thing, praise the crap out of them! This is how you build parent relationships. We are always on the defense when working in these communities and remember that just because a parent is not present in the classroom, it doesn't mean that they value education any less for their angels.

Now, the parents we REALLY want to tackle are those "helicopter parents". What do you do when you have parents that want to know their child's every move? What do you do when you have parent that wants to "observe" or volunteer your classroom? The best thing you can do is SET BOUNDARIES. This is so important. Here are my tips for those really good but sometimes overly helpful parents....

1. Don't shut them out: I have a love/hate relationship with allowing other people in my classroom. It can be parents, administrators, guest speakers, or other teachers. I like being in the grind with my students every day and so allowing parents to be involved can be an extra layer in the classroom. However, you NEED your parents.  In the past, I have made my classroom a closed classroom in which parents were not rejected, but they were not welcome just to pop up whenever they wanted to. This bit me in the butt big time. When I needed something for the classroom-from glue sticks to paper, I got nothing. When I needed parent chaperones for field trips-I got nothing and I really couldn't even be mad about it, because this was the dynamic I had set up.  Now, I welcome parents into the classroom, especially in my parent letters, open house meetings, and meet/greets, and I communicate ALL THE TIME.  I send a weekly email to my parents about what we have done in the classroom, what we need, and where we are going. Some parents felt the emails were long some weeks but I never once got a complaint that a parent did not know what was happening in my classroom. I also had the support when I needed it. If I needed a volunteer, I had to turn parents away, if I needed a donation for something my parents were right there. It was beyond rewarding for me to be open to parents.

2. Communicate: I've mentioned this and I continue to mention this because it is so important. Parents have to know what is happening in your classroom whether you had the most amazing week, or a pretty standard week. I work to make sure my parents hear from me. Parents receive the following communication:

• Weekly Email: Talk about the week, upcoming projects, and other big things happening in and around school.
• Homework note: Homework is important practice in my opinion. My thoughts on homework have changed throughout the years but that is a different blog. When a student does not complete their homework, I send a note home to parents that must be signed. I stayed consistent with this throughout the year-sooner or later a parent will be tired of receiving these notes and work to make sure their child is getting their homework done.
• Tuesday Folders: I try to make ways to communicate with parents that does not take any time out of their day. Every Tuesday, I send home papers that must be reviewed. These are in-class assignments, tests, and notes from me. Students with a grade of D or F must have the paper signed by an adult.
• Agenda Notes: I always make notes in agendas for my students. It can be a smiley face, happy birthday, good luck on your game, or anything that is a relevant connection. Parents will see this because I require parents to sign the agenda each night but I am showing concern with the student and the parent sees this as well. 

3. Create a volunteer sheet: There are ton of volunteer survey sheets on Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest. Send one out at the beginning of the year so that parents can check what they want to volunteer in. Then let parents know that as opportunities arise, you will reach out. This does not shut parents out but also lets them know, you do not need a line outside of your door every morning waiting for volunteer opportunities. Then, actually refer to the list. Inevitably you will find parents you have a better click with and can do the jobs you request but it is important to spread the love.  In this instance, it is also personal preference if you decide you want a "room mom" or not-this will allow a mom to be in your room a lot.

Bottom line, parents are your friends. Play nice with the parents and they will spoil you and do what you need them to do. Shut them out and you're looking for a year of complaints, emails, and other hassles.  Create concrete communication and set boundaries with the parents :-) 

School Culture and Being the New Kid

We have all had the school year in which we came in as the "new kid". It is so difficult at times and may be even harder than infiltrating a clique in a high school. So why are teachers so hard to befriend? Is it because we are always working independently in our classroom? Is it because our social skills have begun to lag with the constant socializing with children? Are we afraid the next person may be our competition? Whatever the reason it is ever present, and I want it to end ASAP. I'm the worst, I am quiet to begin with and many take my quietness as being stand-offish or something, when really I'm spending the weeks before school trying to get in the right head space for the school year, thinking of ways to support my team, and getting my room ready. I'm also always on a time crunch, I want to get a million things done in a short amount of time because when I am at school and my girls are away from me, I don't like to have them in someone's care for too long.

In my school, we recently underwent a huge shift in administration. As a result, more than half of our teaching staff as new. As a veteran teacher in the building, I no longer feel like I have turf because most of the incoming teachers know each other. I went to work today to set up and there was a sense of wanting to feel each other out among all the teachers. I want to be better than that. My goal when school starts is to see everyone as a valuable member of a new team. It is not the school from last year, it is a new school and I happen to know some of the teachers (this is the mind game, I'm playing with myself).  As we enter a school year, it is important to note that everyone has anxieties, everyone is nervous, everyone wants the best for students. We all must be open minded and soft hearted as we meet our new colleagues for the upcoming school year.

I am more than excited to get my school year started and begin to understand what each teacher has to offer our incoming students. As I reflect on my practices, I think of myself as a soon to be administrator who will not only have to welcome new teachers each year but I will also have to build a warm and welcoming culture so that no one feels they are the odd one out. Have you ever had an experience like this?

Where do we begin on the first day?

The first day of school can be exciting and anxiety filled even more the most experienced teacher. I am going into my ninth year as an educator. I started in the classroom as an assistant, then a long term sub, and finally a full-time classroom teacher. I've watched rooms get set up and torn down many times and I've done my share as well. I am a very content driven teacher and the first days of school would drag on and on for me. How would I get through 6 hours with these new students when really I just want to know what the students know and how can I begin to help them! About two years ago, I came across a book, "The First Six Weeks Of School" and fell in love with the idea that I had a fool-proof way to enjoy the first six weeks of school while creating the rules and procedures that work best in the classroom.

Before you start this book, and I highly encourage you to check this book out, you have to believe in the fact that without an effective management system, you do not have an effective classroom.  Let me say that again, IF YOU DO NOT HAVE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT, YOU DO NOT HAVE AN EFFECTIVE CLASSROOM.  The more you begin to accept this, the faster your classroom will look the way you want it to. Management does not have to look the same in every classroom, but if you do not set the foundation for procedures and rules from the very start, you will be micro-managing your classroom for the entire year. This is what you DON'T want. You want to set the foundation and then let the classroom move naturally, when you don't set the foundation you will get burnt out. This is why I love this book, the book tells you hour by hour, step by step how to set up the procedures in the classroom.  You start at the beginning of the day with an activity or ice breaker, and every thing you teach that day procedure wise is done with a lesson. For instance, I LOVE interactive notebooks but it takes time to show kids (even fifth graders) how to cut, color, glue, and decorate in a timely fashion and ensure that it is neat. So instead of lecturing to the students how to complete your interactive notebook, you allow them to do it.

Remember, students have been wanting to "do" something for the past few months they have been out of school so don't tell them, let them do it.  This book gives you everything you need to launch into your procedures successfully. I highly recommend getting this book and taking a look at how to jump start your school year!

5th Grade daily sample from the book. Look how everything is listed hour by hour! You can't beat it!

Class Dojo-Positive Management

Class Dojo, funny name right? Have you heard of this classroom management system? I have heard of it probably for the past five years and never felt that I needed to use this way to manage classes. I've always described one of my strengths as being classroom management and depending on my grade level I would use color charts, clip charts, and the classroom economy. Most recently, I've used the classroom economy to manage my fifth grade classrooms. In the past two years, students loved managing themselves and having the jobs in the classroom and being paid for the jobs. I love the classroom economy as well and felt it really helps build responsibility for the students. Last year, my students who come from a very affluent area were less than motivated solely by my treasure box and having a lack of money in their bank account. They loved the classroom economy, don't get me wrong but there were still a lot of students struggling with returning homework and putting in maximum effort because up until this point, they never had to. Either that or their parents somehow got them out of those responsibilities.

By the second half of school also known as the 3rd quarter, also known as "please help", I decided to use Class dojo to track the participation, accountability, etc. in the classroom.  Let me explain what Class Dojo is. Class Dojo is an online management system in which teachers put in every student into the online page, each student is given six expectations during the day for positive reinforcement and five missed expectations for negative behavior. The positives are:

Helping Others
On Task 
Participating
Persistence
Teamwork
Working Hard

These positives were right on target with what I wanted my students to learn this year. I have very high expectations as many of us do, so when I saw that I can give points for persistence and participation as well as team work, I was more than excited to jump in. These are the conversations I was having with my students all the time-I want students to be active participants as well great people with great character (a quiet classroom is not always the best classroom).  The negatives are:

Disrespect
No Homework
Off Task
Talking Out of Turn
Unprepared

These negatives are listed on the teacher page, student page, and parent page as "Needs Work". How awesome is this? I loved seeing things like no homework and unprepared on the list of things that need work because this was what I was struggling with as a teacher.

Another component of Class Dojo is the instant access parents have. Once parents were added by email, they were able to see what points students received as well as message me whenever they had a question. This is instant parent communication and every school wants to have excellent communication, check this off your list!

So what happens at the end of the week? Theoretically, the best a student could do in a week is earn 30 points, this is 6  positives, 5 days a week this is if they get no negatives or don't miss out on the positives. For my students I allow some "ooops" moments in the beginning of the year so students with 25-30 points will  get a chance to go to the treasure box at the end of the week.

I was not a believer from the start, but Class Dojo makes digital management easy and effective. It also allows for immediate feedback to parents.  Have you used Class Dojo before? Will you use it now? What management do yo use and how do parents understand it?

How To: Task Cards

About two years ago I was introduced to the LOVELY website, Teachers Pay Teachers. If you have not heard of this website before this point, you've been living under a rock. This website is amazing. It has a ton of resources for any and everything you will need in the classroom. If you need a worksheet, concept board idea, pacing guides, creative management techniques, or any other item it is there. I love this website. I found a love for task cards a few years ago and I want to share why they are so awesome:

Task cards came to me two years ago because the school I was working at did not have a Science curriculum, however teaching fifth grade, students were to be tested on Science material. I teach every subject Math, Reading, Handwriting, Science, Social Studies, etc., and so to not have enough materials for Science was a struggle. I found task cards on Science and used them in small groups and I quickly found how amazing these small jewels are.

Task cards are just like what they sound. They are mini flashcards that focus on a skill. I have gotten flashcards in Math, ELA, Science, and even some Social Studies (even though these weren't very good). I always print them in color and laminate the cards. Lamination is good because the cards do not get destroyed and kids can write on them with white board marker. I make the cards accessible to students to get to whenever they have down time or especially in small groups.

In small groups, I usually always complete two rotations a day out of a total of four groups. Two groups will sit with me in one day and the other two groups have two independent periods of 20 minutes. Task cards are a great way to reinforce skills in a cooperative group learning setting. Students quiz each other using the flashcards and work to solve problems listed on the cards. The other way I use task cards is to review a concept for a test. Especially in Science, I will find a topic and ask questions to the whole group and get responses and discuss how we got our answer.

Task cards are also often FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers.......do yourself a favor and check them out. Who else uses task cards? How do you organize them??

Welcome Back to Fifth Grade

For the past two years, I have been teaching fifth grade. I LOVE fifth grade. The age range is so exciting because I can have real conversations with them, crack jokes, and oddly they understand my sarcasm.  I am returning to the charter school I started with last year. We are moving from a typical elementary model to fifth grade being a middle school model. I am teaching only ELA this year and at first I was very hesitant about this. I thought to myself how much I LOVE all the subjects of fifth grade, however now that I've started planning for next year, working with only one subject is amazingly easy to plan for.

Since I was in need of a revamped room that was ELA specific, I had to work on pulling out all of my ELA only items as well as make sure I changed the look of things in the classroom.  One of my favorite school websites to find hard-to-find items is http://www.mpmschoolsupplies.com. This website not only has great items but the prices are excellent. In the Las Vegas area we have ONE, yes one, teacher store. Luckily I live five minutes away from it but they tend to be pricey especially this time of year.

Here are some shots of my classroom so far. I am mostly done with the walls but I want to think about how to rearrange my desks and my horseshoe table. Now that I won't have one set of students all day, I don't know where I can put this table because I may not do small groups. Anyhoo, here are the shots:

 Here is my pride and joy! My classroom library has taken years to build up. I have over 1,000 books and have tried to organize them in every way possible. The best way I have found is to label by AR level. If you do not use AR at your school than try organizing by genre and then Lexile level. A lot of my books have come from Scholastic using bonus points and buying the 50 books for $50 collections. This year, I moved the bookshelves to the back of the room. With so many students coming in and out (about 100), I wanted the room to be fluid and not have students in the front of the classroom when finding a book. 

 This accent wall holds the literary genres bulletin set and the figurative language mini bulletin board set. Both of these sets were on the MPM School Supplies website and great additions to the classroom. I also printed off the genres and will laminate them to hang on the board while teaching that specific genre. I'm excited!

 This Language Arts board is from last year. I didn't feel the need to replace it. It was bright and vibrant still and all the information was still important. This board has descriptive words, parts of speech, and writing genres. I also added a dictionary skills poster. I think dictionary skills are so important in fifth grade. We have a tech based school where students can look up words by searching google but I try to steer students toward using a dictionary versus a device to find the definition.

Ooooh Kagan! I can write a whole post about Kagan strategies in the classroom and I think I will. I was introduced to Kagan strategies just two years ago but feel they are a vital part of any engaging lesson. This year, we are required to enter a Kagan strategy in each lesson we teach. Many of our teachers have not been trained in Kagan and I have offered my services to help train and share what I know about Kagan. Here are some structures on display. This is below the white boards.

This may be my favorite wall so far. It is a little bare and I want to continue to add structures on the empty spaces but I think it is bright. My theme, as it was last year, is Chevron and Polka Dot. It is fifth grade friendly and I can make it girly without excluding boys. I have to have my one pink wall though. My husband thinks this is just mean and cruel punishment for the boys but I love it. This is by the entry of the classroom and where the old bookshelves used to be. This will be a great resource for students.

So what do you think? I love setting up my classroom so that it is ready to go before I start professional development. I also like to set up all my organizational systems before professional development starts as well. Stay tuned for my next post, we have a lot to talk about!