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!

Our In-School Snow Day

If your area is anything like ours then you've had a few encounters with snow already. I'm going to be completely honest, I am over the snow and winter already. Now, I realize we still have a good amount of winter left. I'm not crazy. I understand that. However, I would be completely happy with the cold weather if we could hold off on any more snow. We all know what happens when it snows....
- playgrounds get covered up
- we have inside recess for days (maybe even weeks)
- we may get a snow day
-we may not get a snow day....when we totally should have

The last scenario was our reality last week. The weather wasn't great but we still had school. I'll admit that it could have been much worse but the conditions weren't the best for continuing to require school to be in session. So what do you do when you should be having a snow day but are stuck in school? Well, you have an in-school snow day of course!

Since we couldn't be out in the snow all day we brought it in and made the whole day focused around snow! We started the day doing a little persuasive writing during our journal time.

Then we did a little expository writing. To connect with our previous unit on sequence we wrote the directions to making a snowman. Students were challenged with giving detailed directions to correctly sequence the building of a snowman. We then tried to follow these directions to see if they would result in a snowman.

We learned that when giving directions we need to be very specific. So we tried again as a class and found success!

During reading we worked through a ton of books that were snow related.

Then we had science. Student groups were tasked with forming a plan to melt a cup of snow. Their goal was to find the fastest method. Groups each came up with a different plan of attack.

After plans were made groups were given their cup of snow and began. It got intense extremely quickly!

Afterwards groups went around and observed how other tables' methods how worked. We then discussed what worked best and why.

When it came to math, we kept with the snow theme and had a snow ball fight! Now, don't worry. This was an indoor fight and no I didn't bring snow in for this. I don't think that would go over well with a lot of people. So I took an idea from a wonderful colleague Ashley Smith and we used paper to write our math facts. We then tossed our snow balls around. Students then found a snow ball, solved the equation and wrote their answer down. They then crumbled their snowball and threw it again. We will definitely be having more inside snowball fights!

So while I'm not a huge fan of school days when I consider the weather to warrant a snow day....I can say that we will be prepared if another one rolls around!

:)

What's Field Day again?

While I am super glad we made it to the spring I can do with out the rain. How's the song go.... "Rain! Rain! Go away! Come again another day"  I don't know about you but I could do without a little rain now. How about it comes back in a couple of weeks. Not only can the rain mean indoor recess (Gonoodle is awesome-sauce but we need some outside air too!) but it can mean delays and cancellations.

We got to experience the latter this past week. Miss Redfern (our fantabulous P.E. teacher) designed a great Field Day for the whole school. She scheduled the days for last week and everyone started getting excited! We blocked off Thursday afternoon and got ready to get our fun on.....cue the rain :(

Since we couldn't have it last Thursday we tried for this Thursday. Again, we got pumped and excited to play some games in our field! And then it rained from 4 p.m. Wednesday into this morning. You can imagine the sad faces this morning when we heard the announcement. So what's a teacher to do with a restless group of first graders who are craving some out door fun??? Create a Mini Field Day, of course!

We LOVE our mini Field Day!

Up first we did a timed race to see which group could walk quickly to the office, politely ask for a block which I had given the secretaries, and then walk quickly back. We FaceTimed my phone so the person walking could take us on the journey. Polite groups got a :20 second reduction and this resulted in a win by :02 seconds!

Next we took it outside for some relays and a water bottle showdown! Thank goodness our interior courtyard was dry!

Relay Race

The Over-Relay

The Under-Relay

Beanie Baby Relay

The switch off!

Obstacle Course while balancing a pom-pom on a spoon.

Knocking dominos down with water guns!

Down they went!