Progress

Well, thanks to the baby boy shipping off to Marine Corps boot camp, I have THROWN myself into my job and my room is almost ready to go. Just a few finishing touches....but it's coming along.
Here's what I've done so far:

Finally finished the hall bulletin board. Went with an Olympic theme...yes, I know Olympics are over, but it went well with my giant flag,which I LOVE!

This one is a little hard to see, but I moved my banner from the top of the window to the middle. It was driving me crazy..and I planned on curtains, but am told the fire marshal says that's a no-no. I'm such a rule follower. UGH!

I improvised to block out the light in the window and door at the back of my room AND make it useful. This is where I display my monthly helpers and birthdays. Its not my fave, but it'll do.

I'm utilizing every inch of space I can! I SO wanted a Boggle board, but didn't have the space. So I'm using my magnetic letters (which I have  TON OF) and my file cabinet to make a magnetic boggle board. I can change it weekly and although this is a small one, I'm starting them off easy and looking to expand the Boggle board to full size when they get the hang of it!

Thanks to PINTEREST, I found these cute birthday balloons which I attached to birthday pencils, and this cute little "Birthday Book" where the kids will write about what they want for their birthday.  I ran the balloons off on colored cardstock...love the different colors!

We start Monday...and I'm still working, but am pretty comfortable with my room's status!! Ready to get the year started!

Birthdays- 2nd Grade Style!

I LOVE birthdays!
Not mine, that just means it's another year I'm going to have to lie about my age!
But in school, I LIVED for birthdays!
Mine was always one of the first since I'm a September birthday, so I couldn't WAIT for school to start as a kid.
However, when I was in school, teachers stopped making a big deal about birthdays in about the 2nd grade.
Major let-down.
I was DONE with school after that.
Not really, but it was sad!

So, I love to celebrate birthdays in my class!
Kids are allowed to bring treats for the class....which they LOVE to do.
But this year, I think I'm going to do things a little bit different!
First of all, when it's their birthday, their morning work will be a little different.
They will get a fun "Birthday" book color page to do instead of the regular morning work!
The Birthday book will then be put in the writing center for students to 'sign' and say a nice word or two about the birthday boy or girl!
It will be their keepsake at the end of the day to take home.

Secondly, they get to sit in the "rolly chair" for the day.
BIG deal in my class!
They love the rolly chair!

Next, they will get a Birthday pencil, and a "Pick a recess equipment" tag to use whenever they wish.
(Not just the day of their birthday)

And finally, we will sing the Birthday Chant (Marine Corps Drill Instructor Style ) to them
Saw this on pinterest....can't take credit for it....
But in true Marine Corps cadence style, I changed the ending......
Here's mine....

I'll throw this little gem on my not-as-smart-as-yours-board and we'll chant away while marching in place for full effect! Then I'll tell them all to drop and give me 20!

And for the final touch, I'll take their birthday picture and give them that as a keepsake too!

I've seen TONS of ideas of what other people do for birthdays! I think this is gonna work for me this year!

Student Binders- Intro and Home/School connection section

It's the one thing I have to RETHINK every year.
If it's not done right, it drives me BONKERS!!!
And I've YET to find a perfect system......
I'm talking about ways to help students organize their work.

I've tried different things.
I've tried hanging files...and letting the kids file their own work.....NOT a great idea.There are not a lot of 2nd graders that have promising secretarial skills....I know..I've tried to use them!
I've tried regular folders with brads....2nd graders aren't the best at working the brads...plus they tend to break after a while and upside down/backwards paper drives me INSANE!
I've tried pocketed folders.....turns into a hot mess with my little messy marvins.

This year, I elected to put poly binders (the floppy kind) on the supply list instead of the traditional braded folders.

3rd grade used them last year and LOVED them.
I'm hoping to have the same result.
This is going to be their ONE and only folder...( I hope)!!!

I've been reading about different 'binders' teachers use for their students......and settled on this--my version of the STAR binder. (Students Taking Academic Responsibility). I've seen several people use this (or some form of this but maybe a different acronym)

I'm having different sections in their binders to take the place of different folders:
*Home/School Connection
*Language Arts
*Math
*Integrated
*Homework

Each section is separated by a different colored cover page (for lack of a better word) that is tabbed so they can find it easily.
The first section, Home/School connection is going to contain the STAR binder contract:

This serves two purposes: first, it holds the kids accountable for their binder and puts some 'ownership' of it by having them sign a contract AND
second, it lets the parents know my expectation so when they email or call me with an excuse of how little Phillip Johnny Bob forgot his STAR binder today, but it wasn't really his fault because mom forgot to put it in his backpack for him, I can refer to this little gem and tell them how it is so sad that little PJB isn't living up to his end of the agreement of responsibility for his STAR binder......maybe in subtler terms...but you get the gist!!!

The next thing in the STAR binder will be the divider page for the Home/School Connection, which looks like this:

I ran these on bright colored cardstock (this one is bright yellow) so we could distinguish them easily. We bought tabs to put on them and will label the tabs with printable labels.

Next, we put in the Communication log. This has two parts. Let me explain: Last year we had ready made (bought) planners with a section for the students to write in daily, and (if need be) for the teacher to write, the parent to inital and even a spot for the students to write their spelling words in.
This year, out of responsibility to spending our budgets wisely, we elected in K-2 to NOT purchase the planners (they were quite costly) and find other means to communicate. (Kinder never used them, some firsties did, and second was using them but I had this in mind!)
I still want a way to communicate with parents if I need to AND do want the parents to check their binder daily....so my dilemma was do I make something like the planner...and expect the kids to write every day, or not?
THEN , my bff (who is also 1st grade team leader at my school.....SHOUT OUT JJ!!!) told me that the PTA committee had talked of finding some way to inform the parents frequently (weekly, bi-weekly or every six weeks....its still in the works) what the kids were studying so when asked the age-old question "What did you do at school today?" the response won't be " NOTHING".
THAT got me to thinking....what if we had the kids write in the communication piece a little objective or area of study we are doing....then we would have " TABLE TALK" subjects the parents can bring up with the kiddos (i.e " So, I saw in your STAR binder this week you were learning about freshwater and saltwater fish.....what did you learn about them?") For those involved parents it gives them specifics to ask about and feel like they are connected with their school life!
SO, this communication log has a double sided page per week. One side for the students to write on (their learning goals/areas of focus/ what we're doing that interests them) and the other side for the parents and/or teachers to write.

The next thing I include in this section will be some ready-made excuses for :
*PE/Recess - if they miss one, they WILL miss the other..and more than 3 days requires a doctor's note.
*Change in Transportation- we go through this EVERY year...if they change the way they go home, it is school policy they MUST let us know....and EVERY year I have parents "just tell the kid" to change the way they go home, then we have the " Oh, you WILL get on the bus" conversation because your mom didn't tell me you were going home with so-and-so.....
*Absence excuses- these are for the 'missed a day' absences, not " went to the doctor/dentist" occasions.
I will include several of these in their STAR binder so they only need to fill it out and send it in....and there is my documentation for any of those occasions!!

This is the Home/School connection part of our student binders. Tomorrow we'll talk about the other sections in our STAR binders

Student Recognition

2nd graders LOVE attention! Most of them, anyway!
I've found over the years that if I can give them recognition on a routine basis, the better they respond!
A couple of years ago, I started recognizing a student a week as our " Star Student".
The kids ate it up!
Last year I read what several teachers did with their "Star Students" and I went a little on the overboard side. The kids loved it...the parents loved it....it got a little wearing on me!
SO, this year I am trying to find a happy medium.
I've already told you about these cutesy little Stars I'm going to use instead of the good ol' standby
Student of the Week poster I used last year.

We like to have a grade level ceremony every Friday afternoon where each teacher "Recognizes" a "Star of the week".

There is clapping.

There is fanfare.

There is cheering!

It's a lot of fun!

They will be given one of those stars and this paper which will explain to the parents what fanfare will take place during the week. (I've adjusted it a bit to 'tone it down' from last year and hopefully take some of it off of me!)

There are also other student recognitions I am doing:

*Knocked my socks off- I mentioned before I got this idea from Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade- she has cutesy little tags to attach to dollar store socks...I made my own. I'm going to give one a week to a student (Who is NOT my star that week) that has done a really good job of improving or just did something fantastic.

*Desk Fairy- I'm a neat fanatic....well, okay, don't look at my teacher desk and think that, but the kids desks being a hot mess just drives me UP the wall!! So, I tip over their desks when they're messy so they have to clean them up   encourage them at every opportunity to keep their desk clean and organized. The Desk Fairy is a trick a LOT of teachers use to do this....and I love it! I found this little poem at Mrs McCumbee's blog ....and although she calls hers "The Queen of Clean" , I'm sticking with the Desk Fairy.

I'm not yet sure what 'treat' I am going to attach to it...I have several students with SEVERE food allergies, so I am hesitant to do something food-related. It may end up being a "Pick a piece of Recess Equipment" tag or "Free Computer Time" tag....will figure that out in the next few weeks.

At the end of the year last year, I bought some cute  awards from Erin Stephan on TPT. I ran each one off on different colored cardstock and we had a little 'ceremony' to give them out. My students absolutely LOVED it. They would try to guess WHO got each award before I called out the name....and it was funny to me how they categorized each other ("He's a great artist", "She is always smiling", etc). So, this year, I think I am going to do this every 6 weeks. Here is the link if you are interested in the awards.

I think this is plenty for me as far as student recognition goes, but I am always opened to new ideas. So, how do YOU recognize your students?

Word Work

Sorry I've been out of the picture for a while! Things have been CUH-RAY-ZEE lately! My son is getting ready to ship out to Camp Pendleton, California in 3 weeks (sniff, sniff).SO, mom is making sure she gets all the time she can with her future jarhead before he leaves! PLUS he is turning 18 this week! (WHERE did the time go?)
On top of that a NASTY stomach bug has been going around the house lately. I haven't gotten it full-blown, but I had enough of it to appreciate NOT getting it!

In the meantime, I made 'cards' for my first Unit's spelling words for the Word Work center of my Daily 5. Feel free to grab them up if you are doing McGraw Hill Texas Treasures.

I think the one thing I am going to do differently is this year, I am going to make the words cumulative each week. Meaning, I am not going to take last week's spelling pattern out of that center when new words are introduced because I want them to continue to work with them and KNOW them rather than just memorize them for a weekly spelling test.

I will use a variety of materials in my Word Work center:

Including....using letter tiles

 marbles, rocks, and beans.....

Rainbow spelling with markers (including SMELLY markers)

Using craft sticks, pipe cleaners and any other materials I can get my hands on for word work manipulatives!

I'm also hoarding gathering up more materials to stick in my Word Work center.

What kinds of things do you use for Word Work??

Word Walls

This is a subject that I have spent WAAAAAY too much time thinking about. I've tried different things. I've tried different locations......I have even tried NOT having one (that lasted a week).
It has uses (if you SHOW the kids how to use it.....and hold them to it!)
I'm talking about word walls.
I have a bulletin board I COULD use for it.
That is, if I didn't mind climbing over 7 computers to post words on it.
( I do, by the way, mind that!)
My acrobatic skills are not what they used to be.....and principals tend to go into spasms when they walk in my room and I am perched and climbing like a howler monkey!

THEN,
I saw THIS.....

On pinterest, which took me to a blog called Kindergarten Smiles.

I liked the way she categorized the words. I could do that! I liked the way the folders were accessible to students when they needed them, but not taking up precious wall space. I could do that too!

I am considering making a 2nd grade version of this. I am also debating making a word wall to use with my interactive "not as smart as yours" board.

See?

I told you I was spending WAY too much time on this!

So, how do you use word walls in your classroom??? How often do you change them? Add to them?

How do you categorize them?!?

This thinking is giving me a headache. I think I am gonna go grab a Diet Coke and a few Oreos (the diet coke will cancel out the oreo calories, right!?!) and take a brain break!!!

If I Get Hit By A Bus....

One of my former principals used to love to say, " If I get hit by a bus, the person replacing me should be able to come in and pick up where I left off." One of THE hardest jobs on the planet is a substitute teacher. I know. I've done it.
You come in to someone else's routines and rules.
You come in to a sometimes not-so-willing audience.
You are often time given busy work to dole out and its not the most engaging work in the world!
This is the time everything will go wrong.....fire drill, kid throwing up, quiet kid turns into class clown, new student enrolls....you name it...Murphy's law is in full effect when you are the sub!

My hat goes off to them! I have been BLESSED with some REALLY good subs! I've also had a few who left me scratching my head wondering why they bothered to show up!!!
I TRY not to be absent...but, hey, life happens!
And when it does, I want to be prepared.....and make it as easy for the person filling my shoes as I can!
So, I have a sub binder. It is the go-to resource for any sub I have. Now, I will say that my sub plans are usually VERY detailed...but the more information you can leave them on your students and routines, the easier it will be. This is the sub binder from last year....there will naturally be some changes, but this will give you an idea of what I put in it!

How do you prepare for subs?

Teacher Binder- Part 2

This is part 2 of what's in my Teacher Binder.
I put more thought into this tool than anything else (besides lesson plans) I use because it is SO important. One of the main things I try to teach ALL my kiddos is the importance (and effectiveness) of being organized. Of course, it's not a "Do as I say, not as I do" thing....I try to show them also and this binder is my main source of organization!!

So, let's pick up where we left off:
4. Lesson Plans- Our district has a curriculum department that has planned each aspect of our curriculum to make sure:
* Everyone is on the same page
* All the TEKS are met

Their planner is a 'guideline' and we are free to supplement with anything that meets our kids needs AND is curriculum appropriate.
SO, I DO supplement....big time!
But, our team meets once (sometimes more than once) a week to go over the lesson plans, and throw out ideas of what we are going to do. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my team! These ladies are opened to trying to new things and have some of the BEST ideas!!
Anyway, our lesson plans are kept online (for the boss lady to look at when she needs/ wants to/ needs some reading material for her spare time) but I always print a copy off and keep in my teacher binder incase of memory loss, computer crash, substitute or whathave you!
Here is a sample of our template this year (going with our grade level theme)

5. IEP goals and Accommodations- Each year, I have more and more students that are classified as SpEd. My oldest son has Down Syndrome and graduated High School in June along with my youngest son.

 The one thing that lead to him being successful in school, the one thing that made a HUGE difference in how he felt about school and him feeling accepted is all the WONDERFUL teachers he had that, when mainstreamed, made him feel like "just one of the other kiddos". They followed all of his accomodations, but did so without any big deal!! Cody loved school and I am SO grateful to all of the teachers he had!! I want to make sure that I give my best to all my students, but also that if I have a student with accomodations that I follow them to the letter to give them the absolute BEST opportunity to succeed. But if you are like me, it is sometimes a juggling act to figure out who gets what and am I following ALL of them???

By law, we are given a full copy of each SpEd students' IEP. I three hole punch them and keep them in a section of this binder for quick reference. But I needed something to tell me WHAT I am supposed to be doing for my kiddos at a glance without me having to shuffle through a gazillion pages of each IEP.

So I use a seating chart that I color code with the most common accomodations...and a small writing space for anything 'special'. (I make sure a copy of this is in the sub binder because of a fiasco I had with a SpEd student and a sub years ago---I'll save that for another post). Here is an example of my seating chart and what it looks like:

 6. Daily 5 Section- This is the section I keep all my 'stuff' for the daily 5. The first thing I keep in this section is my Check-in Calendar. This way I know who I need to conference with and when! This is my September calendar:

The next subsection of this is the Conference sheets-

And then the Strategy Group Sheets-

Anything else Daily 5 related will also go in this part of my binder.

7. Calendar- Our office manager puts out a monthly calendar wth all important school related functions filled in (field trips, assemblies, etc). I keep a copy of it in my teacher binder so if I have a meeting/conference with a parent, I can schedule around all the other 'stuff' I sometimes forget about until I look at my calendar!!

8. Committee/ Team notes-  This last section is reserved for any team planning notes I have or notes from our Leadership Team meetings. We have several committes and 'teams' we are on and I find it more convenient to keep everything in one place!

Well, that is a look at my binder! How do you keep your things organized??

New Blog Design and Teacher Binder- Part 1

Did you notice?
I decided to change up my blog template AND I created a blog button! Yay me! We won't talk about how long it took me....but it's a fresh change and I am LOVING it! Thanks to the FREE, (my favorite price) templates at  The Cutest Blog on the Block, I customized it my little ol' self!

Okay...enough about that....here's my original post:

It's my right hand man.
It's my go-to-guy.
It's my brain most of the time!!!
I'm talking about my Teacher Binder.

I am a binder person.
I know....some of you prefer files or something else....I've tried other methods, and ALWAYS ,,ALWAYS, ALWAYS go back to my binder system!!!

It's my quick reference for....
*Emergency Numbers
*Parent Contact
*Testing data
*IEP goals
*Lesson plans
*Calendars
*Anything else I can think of!!!

This is such an important tool, I am going to be posting info on this in several parts! TODAY is the first part.

I purchase a BIG binder (I bought purple  eggplant for my whole team),

 tabs,

(Love these because you can write on them with sharpie!)
 and sheet protectors and pockets.

 I start out by deciding what sections I want. Here is what I am doing this year:
1. Emergency contacts- this is where I keep the sheet I have the parents fill out on Parent Orientation Night. It tells me everything I need to know in a pinch. Here is the paper:

I got the idea for this last year, when I was blog stalking happened upon Mrs. Carroll at The First Grade Parade...and she had her info sheet listed as a freebie!! I took some of the questions from hers and tweaked them to fit my needs, added my own fonts and clipart...and this is what I came up with!

I run these front/back on two different colors (one for boys, one for girls, just because I LOVE color coding) and I print a label with the student's names AND STUDENT NUMBER  for the first blank at the top of the paper.This way, once the parents fill them out for me (legibly, I hope!) I can take them up, put them in number order and that section is alphabetized and color coded by boy/girl so I can quickly find what I need on each child!!!

2.Parent Communication- This is where I am keeping my Parent Communication Log. (My principal stated when she walks in our classroom this is the ONE thing she wants to be able to access rather than lesson plans...because of COURSE we are teaching our district curriculum!) I also bought one of those dividers that serve as a pocket (See above). This is where I will keep all the notes from home!

(Incase you missed it, my Parent Communication Log is two posts ago!)

3. Awards and Checklists- We give several awards in our school, grade level and in my classroom.I've already talked about the Postive Referrals. (I keep a sheet protector in this section with extra postive referral forms) In our grade level, each week, teachers choose a "Star of the Week". (I'll post more on this in the future)We have a grade level meeting and make a big deal about it.....they get  got a poster(that is SOOOO last year) to take home on Friday and bring back Monday.THIS year....they will get these little gems to take home...

CUTE!!! I found them at Really Good Stuff.

They are about 8 bucks for 24....and SO worth it because if I DO go with my Red White and Blue theme, they will fit in perfectly!! CLick HERE for the link to the product page.

We post them in the hall and they have special 'events' they get to have each day that week. This year, I am contemplating going with a Red, White and Blue theme in our hallway..(THIS is the picture from Clutter Free Classroom that inspired me)

..making our bulletin board a GIANT American flag (like the picture only making the stripes run horizontal rather than vertical) and putting stars all over our walls down the hallway. I've been so consumed with my classroom theme,I haven't given much thought to our hallway/grade level theme (and no, I don't like them to be the same because I would get sick of them very QUICKLY!) and with this year being an election year, Olympics and all, I am thinking the American theme will be cute..but that will all be worked out on another post..after July 23rd when I can get into my building.

ANYWHO, In my classroom, I also give a clean desk award (weekly) which consists of a certificate and usually a pencil or something.... and a CUTE idea I got  from Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade but, basically you go to the dollar store (love me some dollar store!) and buy cheap kid socks (designed are the preference)....but any will do! Then you print these cutesy little tags (she has some but I made my own to fit my theme) and attach them to the socks and give it out as an award weekly to a student who has done something outstanding! THANK YOU DENISE!!! I love this idea and am SO excited about using it!

Here are my tags: ( I plan to keep them in a cute boot planter I found at some dollar store--picture to come later)In my class, the day they wear their 'special socks' they can take their shoes off in class...which is a BIG deal in my classroom!!!

Now, to keep up with who has had what award, in my teacher binder, I keep a checklist. Here is my template. Feel free to grab up!

I will date when each child has won an award so I don't get into that all-too-easy habit of picking the same ones over and over and forgetting someone!!!

Well, this post is long enough for now...and I may have overwhelmed everyone...so I will post more of what is in my teacher binder later...because there is a LOT more!

(If you need pdf or powerpoint form of any of my documents, email me and I will send it to you!)

 Time to go grab some food!

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