A Night of Reading Centers

Hey everyone!!!

It's been a while but we have been busy as bees here lately so let's fly right in. This semester we hosted our first Parent Night. Students worked together to decide what parents should get to know and see from our Reading Centers. We discussed how these centers are a part of our every day and families should see how we spend such a big part of our day. I then sent out a survey using the wonderful Google Forms to find which day worked best for families. After that, well, it was time to get some invitations made and get them in the hands of students and families. Thanks RedStamp for the beautiful and easy design process!

Since we do centers daily, there was no extra prep (which we can all appreciate) AND the students are the pros at doing this so they were the teachers the entire night. We had a great turnout! Check out my students in action!

We had a blast! The students are already excited about hosting a Math Center Night soon. Be on the lookout for our next event!

New Year, New Tricks?

Happy New School Year!!! Okay, even I chuckled writing that seeing as it's already October. Where did the beginning of the school year go? Hopefully you all have had as great a start to the school year as we have. This is my 9th year teaching! You read that right, 9th year! While I feel like I've finally got a great handle and picture of myself as a teacher, my content, and my classroom style I haven't just gotten comfy. This was the perfect time for me to step out and try new things. We never gain or learn without trying, right?

So this year I'm trying a few key changes in my room.

These are the 3 biggest changes I have made this year. Let me tell you a little bit more about each one as so far, they have been great additions to our class and connecting with families. First up lets discuss my main communication tool.


Last year, I began using the Remind service (previously Remind101). This is both an app and web based service. I've created our class. Parents can then join the class. They can choose to have messages and announcements sent to their phone via app, text, or email. This really allows for parents to choose their contact preference while allowing me to reach them all from one app. I have the app on my phone and can quickly contact parents as well as instantly get notified when they contact me. I can send out mass emails to all families or I can individually chat with families. This has been a great tool for our class. While it has really helped when dealing with behavior issues, this week I am challenging myself to start using it for more positive communications. I am hoping this app will continue to strengthen the school-to-home connection.


At the beginning of the year I tried thinking of ways to cut down on my paper usage. Our school has recently moved to online newsletters and I thought I'd take the leap as well. I've started using the website Smore to create classroom newsletters. I got this idea from the fabulous Mrs. Koster who also uses their service. This website lets me create beautiful "flyers". I can include text, pictures, videos and more. Why is this such a great change? Let me list the reasons for you:

•  No paper to keep track of!
•  Families can revisit the newsletter as often as they need
•  I can email it out to all families quickly from the site.
•  It tracks and reports to me (who opened the flyer, who interacted with the flyer, where in the world it was accessed).
•  It can easily be shared with other family members if wanted.

Lastly, I decided to lessen our paper load and really focus on the work I was sending home. I understand that families have responsibilities outside of school. I also understand that my little kiddos work hard 7 hours out of the day while they are here and need a break from that just as I do. I also still want to give families a chance to connect with the content we work on in school. Some families ask for work and want students practicing each night. How did I manage to melt all of these together in a happy concoction? Please welcome my weekly homework grids.

These go home on Mondays and are due back the following Monday. Students have the choice of completing as many or as few tasks as they and their families would like. I incorporate items for each of our key content areas (reading, math, science or social studies, writing & grammar) as well as fun activities they may or may not already be doing with their families. I wanted to give students a chance to show their families the skills they are learning in the classroom while also acknowledging the fun they are having outside of the school day. So far, these have been a huge success. This week I had all but 3 students return their forms. "What about the reward each week?" you ask. Each week it varies. Some weeks it is a sticker. Other weeks it may be a few extra recess minutes, working with a reading companion or even a coupon for a treat. It is always different from the week before which keeps students interested but the rewards are always my choice, simple, and manageable.

So that's what's changed in my room. Small changes but they have had a huge impact. Don't ever get too comfy. Growth comes from trying new things!

In the words of Ms. Frizzle, here's to taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy!

Weekend Update- Long Weekends are for More Work, Right?

Hey all! If you are anything like me you were not only longing for this 3-day weekend, you were ecstatic when it arrived! What did I have planned for this great weekend you ask? All of the usual of course: sleeping, watching Netflix, relaxing, reading books, and STAYING INSIDE! (It was a game weekend in my college town and I wanted nothing to do with the mix of crowds, chaos, and people.) Well now my weekend is coming to a close and what have I actually done?

Sleeping, Netflix, grocery shopping, newsletter, WBT newsletter, school week plan and prep, copies of homework, SIW update, book box organization, and center organization! And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.

My main focus this weekend involved getting information to my families. Some of this was in the form of our monthly newsletter (our first to be exact). This gives a month snapshot of all we hope to cover this month while also giving important dates and reminders.

The rest came to be with a new newsletter I am starting. Since I am starting some new practices this year with Whole Brain Teaching I need my families to know what we are doing in the room and why we are doing it. Cue our new newsletters.

While we have gotten into the groove of using many of the Whole Brain Teaching practices such as Class-Yes, Mirror, and the Scoreboard....I hadn't taken the leap and started the Super Improver Wall. This week, we take on that challenge.  If you are anything like me a couple months ago, you are asking "What is the Super Improver Wall?"  It looks gorgeous but what is its purpose, how does it work and how will students benefit from it?

The Super Improver Wall, or SIW from here on out, is a great tool that is used to chart and encourage student improvement on both academic and behavior goals. Students are "rewarded" for improvement and not just for academic performance. For example, students don't just earn owls, or marks, for passing tests or scoring a certain score. They get to mark an owl off when they have shown improvement. So a student who normally only scores 5/10 on their spelling test might have a goal of getting 8/10 while a student who consistently gets 10/10 on tests might have a goal that includes the use of bonus words or enrichment. Once students show that improvement they get cross out an owl. Goals are geared specifically towards individual students and relate to their academics or behavior needs.

To start, our class will all start by using a class goal. For us, we will all start by focusing on WBT Rule #1- Follow directions quickly, as well as Showing "ready". (Ready is always 1. Eyes forward 2.Voices Off and 3. Body to yourself.) This will apply whether we are in line or at our desks.

Notice that our teacher names are on the wall as well. It's important that students see their teachers are working towards improvement also. This will also help my intern and I establish our own goals. After students pass the first level by getting 10 owls they will get to take that card home and it will be replaced with a card of the next level color. Starting at level 2 individual student goals will be assigned and monitored. I can't wait to get started with this tomorrow!

Here's to happy activities, big gestures, and lots of improvement this week!

It's a Party!

Well, it was a party.

Let me back up. <insert cool rewind sound effects> This past summer as I was working the awesome Northview Summer Camp I began thinking about what changes I wanted to implement for the coming year. Let's be honest: Our brain never really leaves the "teacher" mode, even during the summer. The big idea I kept coming back to was parent involvement. I wanted to get parents more involved with our class.

In the past I had tried different things. One year we used a flip camera. Students got to take it home. They recorded their parent reading a book and then brought it back to school. We then played the video for the entire class and it was as though the parent was reading the story to us. The kids loved that!

While I thought about trying that again for 2014-2015 I wanted to go bigger. Go big or go home, right?  So I thought, "Why not have a parent night?" That then quickly got bigger. "Why not have a parent night each term?" Which then got even bigger. "Why not have food at the parent nights AND do parent volunteer months during the fall and spring?"

So that's what I decided. I would have a parent night each term as well as host parent volunteers at two different times during the year. That brings us to this past Wednesday......

I hosted our Parent Poetry Night. It was completely centered around my kids and poetry. The students had selected a poem from amongst their poetry that they do daily. We then practiced reading in front of an audience and while wearing a microphone. It was a good chance to practice introductions and speaking so others can understand.

The night of the event students had different centers they could choose from. We had poetry books from the library as well as their poetry binders from class. (We've blogged about them before. You can check out that post here.) I also made copies of different word family poems they could choose from. To finish it off I bought a ton of pizza! Let me tell you, it was all eaten!

Thanks Little Caesars ®

I gave families time to mingle and watch their students work. Families were free to jump from activity to activity. About every 10 minutes I called small groups of students up. Everyone watched and listened as they read their poem. Each student was met with a round of applause when they finished.

This was such a fun event.  I can't believe I haven't done this sooner. Now we are preparing for our Parent Volunteer Month. I can't wait for our parents to see what a typical day is like in our room.

Here's to connections, fun, and parent involvement!

P.S.
Parents: How do you get involved with your student's class?
Teachers: How are you getting parents in your room?