Classroom Management

I had a really great professor at Longwood University (Farmville, VA) that focused on the area of Classroom Management.  He had great anecdotes to accompany each lesson.  I'll never forget the one about the "Claw of Death."  The important lesson was- don't ever leave a student in charge of the class.  I'll let you use your imagination to figure out how the "Claw of Death" came into play there...

My college professor stressed the importance of having a plan in place and documenting everything.  As a result, I have always had a classroom management system in place and my students and their parents have always read and signed a behavior management contract.

Last year, a colleague was telling me about the great success she had with the clip chart system she had in place in her classroom.  I have always used some form of the green, yellow, red "stoplight" system for classroom management.  (I've never tried to go without a management system.)  My colleague told me that she really liked the emphasis on seeking out and rewarding positive behavior, rather than solely looking for negative behavior.  Because of that, she used a 6 color chart system.  Students began in the middle of the chart each day, and could climb up and down depending on student choices throughout the day.

Classroom Management Clip System from previous school year

Since that conversation, I've spoken with other teachers across the state about their classroom management systems.  My sister, a first grade teacher, uses a clip chart system similar to that of my colleague.

I began searching Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers for ready made resources for this year's classroom management system.  I knew I needed to find the following: a chart to use in the classroom, a monthly communication calendar to document student daily behaviors, and a classroom management contract describing the clip chart system and the classroom rules.

This year's clip chart system from Creative Lesson Cafe

First things first, I started looking for a clip chart system.  I found several variations of the clip chart system- some started with purple for outstanding behavior at the top of the spectrum with red for parent contact at the bottom level, like Lesson Plan Diva's behavior chart, while others followed the traditional spectrum from red for outstanding behavior to pink for parent contact, like what I found on TeachersPayTeachers via the Creative Lesson Cafe.  There was also this adorable Rocking Behavior Chart from The Inspired Apple.

Ultimately, I decided to go with the really great printable chart from the Creative Lesson Cafe Teachers Pay Teachers site.  It was a free download at the time- catch it while it's free!  I printed on regular printer paper, cut down each section, laminated, and then taped in the correct order.  (My home laminator is limited to smaller pieces of paper.)

The next piece to search out or create was the monthly communication calendar.  In my searching, I came across this post from Lori at Teaching With Love & Laughter.  She has created monthly clip chart take home calendars for FREE!  For the most part, this is not a huge change from my previous monthly communication calendars.  I love the fact that the behavior chart is listed on each monthly calendar page.  The students get to color in the blank chart at the beginning of each month and the parents get a visual reminder of the behavior system.  This is AWESOME.

Download from TpT

Finally, I needed to create a behavior contract.  This is something I have always had my parents and students read and sign.  I like to begin the school year with clarity.  I believe I've put the finishing touches on my behavior contract.  I have my own Teachers Pay Teachers site, where I've only posted things that are free, because I haven't made anything I would want to pay money for as of yet.  Here's the link to my behavior contract.  It's free and it's a Word Doc.  Page 2 lists our class rules, which I modeled after Sara Cooley's 5 Bee Promises from First Grader at Last.

Here's to a successfully managed class in the 2012-2013 school year!

Summer Reading

Just before beginning summer vacation, I elected to bring home several education-related books from my school collection.  These included Kathy Richardson's Understanding Number Concepts, Number Talks: Helping Children Build Mental Math & Computation Strategies by Sherry Parrish, my personal collection of Debbie Diller books (Literacy Work Stations, Math Work Stations, Spaces & Places), along with a few other books.  I really enjoy going back through these books and reflecting.  (Obviously, this is something that takes place when Sydney is napping or down for the night.)

The summer offers great opportunity- I have time to read!  I didn't want to limit my reading selections to what I already had either in my personal collection or borrowed from the school collection, so I often ask my friends and family (or scour the NY Times Bestseller lists) for recommendations.  This recommendation came to me by way of my neighbor.  She was reading the book Imagine, by Jonah Lehrer, in May and highly recommended that I read it keeping my experience as a public k-12 educator in mind.

I am fortunate to have access to a wonderful public library, with a branch located a few miles from my home.  I hopped online and searched the catalog to see if the book was available.  It was a newly published book at the time.  I found multiple copies that were all checked out.  I got on the waiting list (as number 17).  I thought I'd never see the book...

Until 2 weeks ago.  My turn had arrived!  Lehrer makes this book very easy to read.  He puts some very scientific knowledge into the hands of readers with vocabulary that isn't beyond the average reader.  The examples of creative moments in real life, creativity-icons such as Bob Dylan, the folks at 3M and creators of the Post It note, the Silicon Valley, Keith Richards, William Shakespeare, artists of Florence, philosophers of Athens, and others, hammer in the absolute importance of cultivating creativity.

As an educator, the sections of the book that spoke to me were those specifically education-oriented.  These were located in the Chapter The Shakespeare Paradox.

• "The point is that the typical school isn't designed for self-expression; the creative process is often regarded as a classroom failure." p. 231  
• Lehrer spent time visiting NOCCA, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, a program for teens around the New Orleans area.  The students that attend are highly creative, highly motivated, and show great perseverance.  Kyle Wedberg, CEO of NOCCA, was interviewed by Lehrer and said the following:
•  "Everyone agrees that creativity is a key skill for the 21st century.  But we're not teaching our kids this skill.  We've become so obsessed with rote learning, with making sure that kids memorize the year of some old battle.  But in this day and age that's the least valuable kind of learning.  That's the stuff you can look up on your phone!" p. 231
• Another facility of education that Lehrer visited was High Tech High, a San Diego charter school.  The school emphasizes "learning by doing."  Lehrer interviewed the CEO of the school who said the following:
• "[John] Dewey said it best: 'Understanding derives from activity.' Kids don't learn when they're consuming information, when someone is talking down to them.  They learn when they're producing stuff." p. 234
• Lehrer summarizes by saying "That's why the best schools ensure that unstructured play- what happens when the child creates and explores on her own- is an essential part of the classroom experience." p. 236

After reading Imagine, I am very thankful.  As a kindergarten teacher, I believe that I have the power to cultivate creativity in my students.  I don't have the pressures of high stakes testing, although I still consider myself to be accountable for student success.  May the 2012-2013 school year be a year of cultivating creativity in Room 39!

Father's Day Gifts

Father's Day 2012 has come and gone.  The Room 39 kids made their gifts in the last week of school.  Our mother's day gift was a beautiful necklace, made from a washer, a ribbon, and a decorative bead.  So, keeping in the same trend of diy gifts, we created a key chain for the fathers.  

Each student wrote their name with a Sharpie marker on one side of the washer. Is there any sweeter gift that one with your 6 year old's handwriting on it?

 For our Mother's Day gifts, the kids stamped their names.  Stamping just took too long for a last week of school activity.

Then, the students stamped "DAD" on the opposite side of the washer.  These stamps came from the Target Dollar Spot.  When I saw them, I got 5 sets, not having a specific task in mind.  After researching options for ink, we used STAZ ON ink (purchased at JoAnn's).

Key rings were purchased from a craft store as well.

To top off the gift, students created their own original cards.  We hole punched the corner of each card and attached the key chain with some curling ribbon.  Our father's received their gifts after the last day of school, so I'm not sure what the response was, but I'm guessing they were pleased to receive a practical, yet sentimental gift.

The Summer Bucket List

The last day of school has come and gone... and I'm now trying to catch up on the things I enjoy to do in my leisure time.  I plan on reading, blogging, and most importantly, spending time with my little girl and husband.

I said goodbye to my students last week and as my parting gift, I created a "Summer Bucket List" for the Room 39 kids.  

I have always given my students 2 gifts throughout the year- a Christmas gift and an end of year gift.  I purposefully give gifts at these times because the kids are getting ready to spend a large amount of time away from the routines of school.  I want to encourage them to keep their minds in some sort of "school" like mentality.

When I first began teaching, I was in a low-income school and my gifts were usually school supplies that students could take home and use.  I've kept in that trend, even when my students aren't as needy because I want the students to be able to "play" school, just like real school.

The bucket contains the following:

• summer reading program information and story time information from our local public library
• sharpened pencil
• 2 sets of addressed, stamped envelopes and cards (addressed with the mailing address for myself and our class paraprofessional)
• a piece of sidewalk chalk
• wedding bubbles
• 2 bookmarks

This bucket list is available on Teachers Pay Teachers as a freebie.  (I'm so new to TpT as an uploader, so anything I upload is free.)  Enjoy!

And I'm back!

 The chaos of the school year took over.  I am making a resolution (in April) that I will post at least weekly.  My great group of kiddos and I have been very busy over the past few months.  Here are some snapshots of the fun.

During the month of November, my kids brought in non-perishable food items for the holiday season to share with families in need.  I was so touched by the generosity and compassion my students demonstrated.

The PTO sponsors a holiday plate raffle in December.  Each class gets to decorate a plate and it is raffled off at the December PTO event.  Here's our cool plate- each student dipped their finger in white paint to make a snowflake.

One of my Christmas gifts was this sweet Christmas tree that lights up!  The parent had made an ornament for each child in the class.  This will be a part of my room for years to come.

My kids are really great at thinking and writing- We use a lot of thinking maps.  Here is a example of 2 thinking maps that we've completed through magazine collaging.  This was during a study of needs and wants.  The blue paper is the "Needs" thinking map and the yellow paper is the "Wants" thinking map.  (Please note, the photo on the top right is peas.)  

I love the way the kids apply their knowledge of letter sounds to their writing- the bottom picture on the left is of an I Pod Touch.  

I was lucky enough to attend a Debbie Diller conference (WOOHOO)! The conference was held at the beautiful Hotel Jefferson in Richmond, VA.  While at the conference, I picked up a lot about math workstations and building vocabulary enrichment during instruction.  I bought the Math Work Stations book and she signed it!

March came with Read Across America month.  For those not in the know, Read Across America is held in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  My class celebrated with a weekend meet up to see Dr. Seuss' The Lorax.  One of our awesome mothers made delicious treats for us to enjoy at school.  See Thing 1 and Thing 2!

In preparation for Spring Break and our math egg hunt, we read the book Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco.  Afterwards, we created our own papier mache eggs.

We also studied Community Helpers during the month of March.  The biggest hit by far were the firemen from our local fire station.  

 That's enough catching up for now.  I will uphold my resolution!  I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!

ABC Stamps

So when Target was having their awesome sale in the Dollar Spot, I was only able to find 1 set of alphabet stamps on sale (sad face).  But, the others were only $1, and to me, that's worth it. 

I created an activity for my students to "stamp" their name the very next day for morning work.  With the amount of stamp sets I had purchased, I was able to have at least 2 sets at every table.  The morning of, I quickly found out that this was very time consuming for my kinder-friends. 

I really was pleased to find the stamps at such a great price, but will be holding off on using the stamps until literacy workstations.

30 Cents Target Dollar Spot Deals

I suppose Target was trying to make room for new merchandise in the dollar spot.  Whatever... I made out quite well- check out my stash that I purchased, all for 70% off (of a dollar). 

I got some pointers, pom poms, pipe cleaners, happy birthday certificates, letter stickers, cheapo dry erase boards and markers, tin buckets, letter flash cards, animal flash cards, foam blocks, rubber stamps, stamp pads, name plates, labels, chap stick, and MORE!

I already have plans for what I've purchased.  Most of it has been put in the hands of my kids already.  Next week we'll be practicing our "Read/Write Around the Room" workstation and those pointers will be put to good use.  My kiddos already use them around the room for calendar, Reader's Workshop, and at our Word Wall.

We are celebrating our first classroom birthday this week, so the birthday certificates couldn't have come at a better time.  I also got sets of bookmarks and these have already found a home with each of my students in their daily book bag. 

Smellies!

When Target was having their killer deal in the dollar spot, I picked up some of these neat chapsticks.  Tootsie Roll Pops, Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Chocolate Chip Cookie, and Fruit Roll Up.  I am continuing my efforts this year to move towards an incentive program that is low cost, easy, and does not involve food or candy. 

Every once in awhile, some friends need an extra incentive.  These will be wonderful "Magic Smellies!"

Windows + Paint = make the gloomies disappear

Not a great photo, but what I like most about my classroom is the light.  This is definitely not a picture that emulates that... but between the blue walls and the big window, the classroom is bathed in light.  (Now that I think back, I took this picture on a rainy day...) 

In my previous classroom, I had curtains hanging up that my mother made for me.  When I moved into a non-classroom/office type role, I passed on those curtains to my sister, a first grade teacher.  They were Clifford curtains and were super cute. 

As this school year was gearing up, and I found myself back in the classroom, I had to do some back to school shopping.  With all of the great finds that I picked up for the classroom, I was running low on funds.  I have been a long time fan of Sara's Art House and decided to take inspiration from her windows. 

I called in the help of my tall hubby (help was needed b/c I have Tyrannosaurus Rex arms).  I pulled out the paints that I had in my craft stash and a paintbrush, showed Tim some window-painting-inspiration from Sara Mincy's website and put him to work.  They really look better in person.  Everyone has really liked them so far. 


When the custodian came by, I mentioned to him that I would be responsible for cleaning the windows.  He was not at all worried.  When my principal came by, I again mentioned that I would take responsibility for the windows.... and she wasn't worried.  The painted window valance was a hit!

Today's Password: GO

Our Kindergarten pacing guide is really on a fast pace.  We just introduced 3 sight words during the second week of school and from here on out, it's 5 sight words a week.  That's right, one word a day.  So, to help my friends learn these words by "sight" I'm using some fun techniques.

Each time I introduce a new word, we give it a cheer.  You can Google search sight word cheers and easily find lists of different cheers.

Next we add it to the word wall.  We review our entire word wall each time we add a new word.


As a another way of assessing my kids, I make it the password for our room.  I put a cute sign on my door and any time someone enters the room, they need to tell us the password.  My kids think it's really neat!

Building a Community

 Our pacing guide has "Good Citizenship" listed for the first month of social studies instruction.  Well, we can only go over our classroom rules so many times.  After I think we've spent enough time on our classroom rules, school expectations, and basic safety stuff, we dive into our study of "community."  Not only is the word "community" foreign to most of my kids, they have varying levels of experience with a school environment.  Throughout the past week, we've been building up our classroom community. We made this "tree" of our classroom learners.

We have had 2 Fridays in our school year so far, and I am proud to report that on both days we concluded our day with our class meeting.  This was a time for us to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly.  We celebrated our successes and made note of how we can make better choices.  We close with our secret handshake. 

My goal for the school year is to promote problem solving skills.  When we've had some bumps in the road (behavior-related), I remind each student that they have two choices.  Then I spell out the two choices.  They have been able to assess and apply decision making skills successfully. WOOHOO!

Daily Math Routine

 I'm trying to strengthen my daily math activities.  I have always had a "healthy" serving of math during our morning calendar time.  We count the days in the month, recite the days of the week, count the days we've been in school (both with a 100s chart and a hundreds, tens, and ones pocket chart), and graphed the daily weather.







This year, I added a daily attendance count.  Currently, we're waiting until our math time after lunch to daily take attendance.  This attendance isn't what is turned into the office- this is really just a head count routine for my class.  We take the stick of unifix cubes and pass the stick of 20 all the way around our circle.  We count as each student takes a cube off.  Then, to double check our math, we count as we rebuild the attendance stick.  We make sure to make note of the students who are missing (none so far- perfect attendance-WOOT WOOT).

I'm considering adding another routine to our math time.  My mother gave me this really big container that used to hold pretzels.  It's huge- really!  To give you an idea of scale, there are about 10 baby food cups stacked together inside of the jar.  I'm going to make a label, slap it on that container and call it our "Counting Jar."  Each day, we can count something different.  I'm seeing this as more than just for counting though- think about how my kiddos can reach deeper into their minds to think about capacity! 

What do I need to use?????

When my students arrive in the morning, I have my calming music going... their morning work is on their table... and they know to look at the chalkboard for directions.  During my second year of teaching, I pulled this random idea out of my magician's hat with the help of some school supplies, magnets, and a hot glue gun.

In an effort to reduce the number of times I have to give directions about morning work, I write the directions on the chalkboard.  There are always some kinder-friends that say, "but I can't read." 

This is a great way to show students exactly what materials they need, without talking.  It helps give my classroom a quiet, calm start.

Dry Erase Boards

My kids LOVE writing on dry erase boards.  When I moved into my new classroom, I found 4 dry erase boards... and they were kinda yucky.  I poured over the internet to find a solution to my dilemma.  I knew about using the shower wall stuff that you can buy at Lowes or Home Depot, but I wanted something cheaper... and easier for me to make.  Learning Pavilion had a solution for me!  This post about plastic plates was a life changer.

Next I had to find my own plastic plates.  Luckily I was taking a planned trip to our IKEA store and remembered to keep my eyes out for plates that would do the job.  

And of course, IKEA has everything you could ever dream of needing!  The SOLBRÄND plate was just what I needed. 

 

My kids think it's so cool that they get to write on plates.  

M is for Miniature?

As I mentioned earlier, we've been learning more about the letter "M" this week.  Let me be clear, this is not a "letter of the week."  This is simply an introduction to the letter m.  The goal is to build letter recognition, letter sound knowledge, and begin to apply the letter sound knowledge to decoding.

My daily schedule includes morning work as the students arrive.  Later on in the school year, we will spend this time on word/language study, but at the beginning of the school year, we're focusing on letter recognition and letter sound knowledge.  This will naturally lead to decoding.  But until we're ready for decoding, our morning work is based on activities that we have practiced as a class.  For example, today's activity required cutting and using a glue stick .  We had practiced that as a class, so I felt confident that my students could focus on that activity for morning work.  I really like to have a quiet start to the morning, so I prefer to give my students tasks that I know they will devote their attention to.... like our "M is for macaroni" activity.

This activity started with a trip to Sam's Club to buy a 6 lb bag of elbow macaroni.  I think I got a good deal.... 6 bucks?  Tim had to convince me that a second bag wouldn't be necessary.  Again, I'm not great with spacial-math scenarios.  

Next I created my letter M template- Just used Word and added Text Art.  I printed this on cardstock because I was certain there would be a lot of Elmer's glue use.


In the morning, I put out containers of noodles at each table, along with glue for each student.  Some took the minimalist approach.....

While others layered up the noodles.

When we made our class list of /m/ words, one of my students pulled out "M is for miniature."  I paused for a moment, and repeated what she said.  "Yeah," she said, "you know, miniature, mini, small?"

Parent Volunteers

I am blessed to have a great number of parents that have expressed an interest in volunteering in our classroom.  I have a variety of ways that parents can help.

1.  The Play Dough Maker's Club
     These parents sign up to make an assigned color from our classroom play dough recipe.  We have a variety of allergies, so I prefer that parents make the play dough by the recipe.  My sister (a first grade teacher) mentioned to me that she preferred store bought play dough, but I thought that this would be a nice project for both parent and child.  We will use the play dough for letter formation practice and number formation practice.

2.  Writer's Workshop
    The second half of our Writer’s Workshop takes place immediately following lunch.  Students will be writing in their journals at this time.  Parent volunteers would be guiding students during their writing, encouraging students to write the sounds that they hear, and writing what students dictate as being their journal entry.   The time commitment for this would be on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

3.  Reader's Workshop
     During Reader's Workshop, I am making a special time in my schedule on Fridays for a Mystery Reader.  The Mystery Reader will come in during our Reader's Workshop with a special book to read, either from home or from our classroom library.  I welcome parents with younger children to come during this time.  As long as the younger sibling can sit on the carpet and enjoy the story, we are happy to have them as guests in our classroom.  Those that can volunteer without a younger sibling with them are welcome to stay and assist through our literacy workstations immediately following Mystery Reader time.

Here's a freebie download of my Volunteer Opportunity form.

Google Doc of Volunteer Opportunity Form

Homework in Kindergarten

During my first year of teaching, I sent home worksheets for homework.  Not my best moment, I know.  ALTHOUGH, I'll add that some of them were actually kinda neat that required interactive help from a parent.  

Since then, I've taken a new approach to homework.  Most of my homework assignments are not worksheet based.  For example, the homework on the first day of school was to bring in 3 things about you.  The kids loved sharing what they put in their bag!  It was also a great way for me to get to know them.

Homework on the second day of school was for the students to tell their parents about their day at school.  

Homework gets more serious from here on out.  There will be reading, word study, and math practice.  We'll kick off Book Buddys this week.

Journeys (aka Journals)

We began writing in our journals on day one.  I had to giggle when my new friends called the journals their "journeys."  Oh, how wise they are- their journals will truly be an example of their journey through kindergarten.  That's exactly why I like to begin writing in journals from day one.  When we look back, it will be so neat to see growth.

I've tried a variety of methods for keeping journals organized.  One year, I gave each student a binder clip as a bookmark.  This summer, I came across this ingenious idea from Jaime at What's The Buzz In First Grade.  A ribbon bookmark!  SO SMART!

So, first I scrounged around through my craft stash, and then through my mom's craft stash for ribbon.  We had ribbon from my wedding five years ago and ribbon from other projects.  I showed my wonderful paraprofessional the idea and she took care of business and added a ribbon bookmark to each journal.

Another part of the journaling process is making sure that each page is dated.  This is important for documentation purposes.  One year I begged a date stamp from our school librarian.  She no longer used it as the records were now kept in the computer database and not in the card catalog.  This was easy for me to do and I may do this again.

But to start off the school year, I printed the writing prompt and the date on a mailing label.  This solved the problem of having a writing prompt to accompany the journal entry.  My next step in the journaling process will be inviting parent volunteers to come in and help me during writer's workshop.  I'm so excited- I have many parents that have expressed an interest in volunteering in the classroom.  This will be a great opportunity.

M is for Marshmallows, Moose, and Mice!

We will be kicking off our study of the alphabet with the letter M.  My hubby asked a common question- "Why not start at the beginning of the alphabet?"  My response was.... well, it's kinda like Wheel of Fortune.  You start with the most commonly used consonants and then gradually fill in vowels.  Once you have the most commonly used consonants and a few vowels under your belt, you can begin to build words.

Our reading series begins with letter M.  In my previous school division, we had to use the core reading series with fidelity, meaning we couldn't deviate from the series.   We could supplement, but not replace the instruction suggested in the series.  Currently, I'm planning on using the reading series for my reader's workshop whole group instruction.  My literacy work stations will take place during small group instruction in reader's workshop but will not be guided by the reading series.

After the week is over, I'll give a report with photos of our fun with the letter "M."  For now, here's a sneak peak of some of the books we'll be reading this week.

Mathematician's Chair

Math instruction in my room includes a variety of methods.  I use hands on manipulatives with a whole group, followed by small group hands on practice.  I also use math journals with my students.  I haven't decided when the math journaling should take place, at the beginning of our math time to activate math thinking or at the end of our math instruction, to act as the closer.  Any suggestions? 

I'm giving math journals a revival in my classroom.  I tried them my second year of teaching and wasn't able to stick with the routine.  One of my new school year resolutions is to give math journaling a second go.  While browsing the internet, I found a great resources from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten- a freebie download of math journal labels, 5 writing prompts, and an example of her use of math journals in the classroom.

The night before school started, I created a "Mathematician's Chair."  While back to school shopping in my parents' storage above the garage, I found an old plastic patio chair.  I thought this would be a perfect addition to my classroom (mostly because it was free).  I originally was just going to spray paint it and call it a day.  But when I committed to having math journals, I knew my math journaling time would conclude with a time of sharing.  I found a combination of foam sticky numbers and shapes and wood chip numbers and used fabulous E6000 glue to attach them to the chair.  Then I spray painted away with one of my favorites- SILVER spray paint!  It looks splotchy in the picture but I promise it looks better in person- it's just difficult to get a good picture of it.  

As I intro math journaling, I'll be taking my time with it- I want to be successful and I know that in kindergarten, if you start things slowly and habitually, it becomes routine.  I'll keep you posted on my adventures in math journaling!