Five for Friday ~ Classroom Sneak Peek

Happy Friday!



My classroom is mostly done-I went in last week to set it up. The last I was in, my shelves weren't fixed yet, so I set it up as much as I could.

I thought I would show you some areas that are done (basically everything, except for half of my shelves) as a sneak peek!
This is one part of my shelves that are fine! I organized a little more, and was able to clear a spot for a display!

I've featured some of my favorite books, and will switch them out during the year. I'll also be displaying the Mentor Sentence book of the week here, as well as any crochet critters, or cute things I find.

My library!

I've moved some of the books from the long shelves over to this part of the library, to free up a little more space for their book bins-they don't fit quite as well one the shelves. :)



My small group area! I hope one day to get two (or three) trapezoid tables, so I can better reach all the kids, but we work it with the rectangle table.

My writing table/grade display/mathematical practice posters (although I tried to word them for every practice!)

Underneath the grade display, I hope to put examples of what each looks like for different things, so students have an example, as well as something to strive for and compare their work to.

Lastly, I got rid of my clip chart (more on that through the year!), and on my filing cabinet, I made a reading graffiti wall!

I put up two quotes two get them started (one from Wonder and one from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone).

Yes, I called it Harry Potter 1. I wasn't about to write our Sorcerer's Stone lying on the floor at an awkward angle!

We start next week! I'm excited to meet my class! (Not as excited to wake up to an alarm again! :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Five for Friday

Today is the LAST day of school (with kids!) :D



We started the week of with a bang-when my shelves FELL off the wall!

This is what happens when the builders don't secure your shelves correctly-they almost fall on top of you. 😬😑 #stupidshelves #noonewashurt #cleaningitupafterschool #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteachtoo

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Jun 16, 2015 at 1:58pm PDT

They may quite a mess-and fortunately no one was hurt-although it just missed me and a few students! (I was right in front of my computer-the red chair-and it just fell at my feet).

Sooooo, this happened. 😮😫😟 #stupidshelves #noonewashurt #alltheprettystoragegone #newstoragegotbroken 😑 #cleaningitupafterschool #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofinstagram #iteachtoo

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Jun 16, 2015 at 12:37pm PDT

We also received a new student-the very next day!

So, I got a new student today. It was decided that he (Jack-the kids said) should be in an outdoors classroom. 🐭 😳 #ifreakedjustalittle #andtrappedhimquickly #nothowthedayshouldhavestarted #iteach4th #iteachfourth #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteachtoo

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Jun 17, 2015 at 1:21pm PDT

Needless to say, Jack (as my kids named him in the 5 minutes we had him), was quickly relocated outside. Although he did get quickly run over! (I didn't tell the kids that part!)

My student was able to come in for field day! Which was perfect because our field day shirts this year were orange (for leukemia awareness), and we were all also wearing stickers that they designed!

Our field day is only a half day (the morning), so we spent the afternoon watching The Wizard of Oz and eating ice cream. :)

My student wasn't able to do most of the games, but we were all so happy to have them back and be together (mostly-1 was absent (and has been for a little while-the family was even declared missing for a little bit (but were found in another state a day later) because the mom didn't let anyone know they were leaving....it's been an interesting few weeks!) as a class.

Field day also marks the annual wearing of the sneakers-which are older than some of my kids!

Field day. The one and only time I wear sneakers (which, btw, are older than some of my kids! 🙊🙈) #fieldday #teachersmostfavoriteday #icandothis #itsonlyforthemorning #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #iteachtoo #igteacher

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Jun 17, 2015 at 5:24am PDT

We went on a field trip to an old time fort that's been reconstructed to the time before the French and Indian War (1750sish). The kids had such a great time, and it was the perfect way to end our year and our last full day!

Only 3 days of PD, and I'm free! :D

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like A Pirate~Chapter 3

Time for Chapter 3 with The Primary Gal!

This chapter is all about peer collaboration. This was a GREAT chapter-there was a lot of awesome information!

This was also a great chapter because Paul mentioned some things I already do in my classroom-which felt like validation, and made me feel like I do know what I'm doing!

He talks about letting students work wherever they want-check! Partner work-check! Available student supplies-check! It's good to know that I'm already on the road to a student led classroom. :)

Another thing that I already do that resonated with me was

While I was reading this, it strongly reminded me of Responsive Classroom, which I've blogged about before.

I always start the year off with Morning Meetings, and they usually stay strong until the holidays (when we start switching for science and my schedule gets a little tighter-and this year I had a TON of kids in band and chorus (which takes place during our MM time), so it usually fizzles out around then. Hopefully next year will be different!)

I find this is a great way to build our community, as well as talk about different issues that may pop up.

One idea that that I LOVED that can be done at meeting time is

Which is giving everyone the same number of marbles, but having them divide up the marbles into different categories of things that they're good at (or not so good at). I love how this shows that everyone is smart in different ways.

I do talk about this in my room a bit- 'easy' is a bad word in my room. We talk about how while it might be easy for you, it might not be easy for someone else, and you could make them feel bad.

For example, someone left a comment on my blog on how crafty I am, and what else can I do. Now, I'm sure it was meant as a compliment, but I didn't read it that way. I felt like this person was judging me for being crafty.

I'll be honest-I am crafty! I love to dabble in different crafts, and seeing things that I create-plus is relaxes me. I'm pretty good at crafts-BUT, I am horrible with anything to do with athletics (or reaching things on high shelves! ;). My marbles are just allocated differently. But this person made me feel bad because their marbles weren't in a crafty cup-and that's not right. I will TOTALLY be doing this lesson with my kids next year! In addition to something not being 'easy', I hope it will encourage the kids to realize that they are ALL smart-some are just smart in different areas.

Another idea that I will totally be implementing next year is Responsibility Partners.

I love that kids will have a partner to help keep them on track, as well to talk to and clarify information. Plus, it will give them a chance to work with all different kinds of students (something I also do-since we can't always pick who we work with!), and become leaders.

Speaking of leaders-did you know that there are two different types?! I didn't!

This makes so much sense! I love how it is explained, and that we need both types of leaders to have a successful classroom.

I definitely had a lot of active leaders in my class this year-as well as some passive. And some who would rather sit back and do nothing at all (don't we all have those students?). In fact, one of my greatest joys this week was seeing one of my 'active' leaders become more group sensitive (sometimes the 'active' becomes bossy and overwhelming...), and suggest to the rest of the group that they let the student who had not picked anything yet go (and these two are not friends-there have been issues between them in the past). They did it so nice and quietly too. Be still my heart :)

Part of taking a leadership roll in the classroom calls for a why to get attention quickly-with

This has everyone stopping (even the teacher) and looking a the speaker, who will make an announcement, tell about a transition time, improving behavior or task, asking a question (after talking to the people at their group) or make a suggestion.

This reminds of my magic wand, which is kind of the same purpose. It will be interesting to see how the kids do with this. I love all of Paul's suggestions on times to use it (not in other classes or with a sub), as well as how to redirect those who may be using this inappropriately.  This is a great way to empower students (which is another chapter!), and get them to take more control of their learning.

Since students are working together, there are bound to be problems that creep up. The class I had this year was pretty good at solving partner problems without my involvement (Love that! I'm going to miss them next year...), but the year before....oh dear! We wound up implement some simple strategies to help with that-some that Paul mentioned!

I LOVE that Rock, Paper, Scissor is choice. Of course, you could teach your class Rock, Paper, Scissor, Lizard, Spock for even more problem solving strategies ;)

It's clear and simple, and kids can never argue with the outcome (of course, I then hear "best two out of three?").

Compromise is a great one too-it teaches kids that they can't always get it the way they want-but if they give a little, they may get some of what they want. This is something we'll definitely practice.

The choose kind strategy really spoke to me. Just let the other person go. They may be having a really bad day-and letting them get their way in this one thing may make their whole day brighter. It's like my student above-who 'choose kind' to make sure a student got a turn.

Paul also talks about competition, and how we win as a team and not against one another. I talk a lot about how the only person you're competing against in this class is yourself-striving to do better. You don't need to compare yourself to others-they're not you! Just keep trying your best, and you'll go far.

This chapter was chock full of information-and most of it easy to implement and use. It showed me that having a student led classroom may not be as far away as I thought it was. In small steps, this could definitely happen-and I'll have better students for it!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Curriculum Mapping ~ Math Style

I recently(ish) blogged about how I map out my ELA curriculum for the year.

I thought I would share how I am going to do my Math curriculum-which is different from how I handle my ELA.

The first thing you should know is that I do follow the math program (although I do supplement, I follow the order of the lessons).

I follow it because this was our first year with it (and we spent a lot of money on it!), and I'm not as comfortable yet pulling away from it as I was with ELA (although I should note that it did take me three years to get frustrated with the order of the ELA program before I ripped it apart and reorganized it).

The things I recommend in my ELA post, I also recommend here.

The first thing I did was to sit down with the math book, and sheets of paper.

Since we had testing for TWO weeks, I used that time to work on this.

I started by going through each chapter/lesson and writing down the skills that it focused on (not just what the book says it focuses on) and write down the CCSS it covers.

This way, I could clearly see the skills that are being covered, as well as the standards.

Now, having said that ever since we looked at this program that it is not CCSS aligned (and there have been articles to proven I was right-it often goes above and beyond, or just mentions a standard here and there in a problem-which is not the same as teaching it), I also went through and added 5th grade CCSS where applicable (mostly in our fraction unit).

I also added the number of 'recommended' days to teach each lesson.

Now all the chapters are planned out, with skills and standards.

Then, since we had ANOTHER three days of testing for science (and we still have MAPS to take....sigh), I brought in my computer to start transferring it over.

I sat down with the chapter maps I had created, the book, and iPad (turned to CCSS standards so I could write them down) to plot it out (I pretty much use PowerPoint for everything now-it just gives me so much more versatility).

I talk about this app here and here

I started going through each chapter again, and noting down the skills in more detail on the computer.

Sorry for the glare...my desk is right under the fluorescent lights

I'll also be adding the big idea in.

Now (when I finish), I'll have all the chapters and skills at a glance, and can fill in and supplement as needed. :)

Since I'm doing this one by chapter, and not necessarily by week like my ELA maps, I'll be able to use it for years to come.

I should add that I usually follow the 'flow'-chapter 2 follows chapter 1, etc., although I did put in geometry, angles and area and perimeter in between the fraction chapter and the decimals chapter-mostly because we were testing and I wanted something more fun. I also think it gives the kids a break from the heavy computation math.

Ideally, I would put the 'fun stuff' in between division and fractions-but we'll see for next year :)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Colonial Settlers

We've just finished up our colonial unit-something that I've been revamping each year I've done it!

I wanted to share how we did it this year-which will change for next year!

This unit also saw the introduction of doodle notes in my class-where we write down a note, and then draw a picture to represent that note or something to help us remember it. The kids loved it!

We just finished our Explorer unit. Now that Europe knows about all the land that's over here, people want to start coming over.

So we talked about the reasons why people would leave their lives to settle in a new, untamed wilderness.

After we talked about the different reasons for coming to America, we discussed the first settlements.

We used some information that I had sourced on the web for our foldable.

Then, we watched different videos for each colony.

For Roanoke, we watched the In Search Of... (from the 70s, with Leonard Nimoy (Live Long and Prosper! ;)
For Jamestown, we watched a video I got from our school library.

 And for Plimouth, we did the Scholastic webcasts.

We also played the Jamestown settlers game-more than once! 
My kids always love this game-they often ask for the address so they can play again at home!

After we settle, we talk about the different roles that men and women have.

This year is the one on the left-last year was the one on the right

 Then we start discussing colonial dress-and how it differed for your social class. We use this website to help us fill in an organizer I found a few years ago.

Then, we move into the different colonies-coloring in a map.

This year I added PowerPoints to make the colonial regions more interesting.

I started out by planning what I wanted to cover for each one.

They all have the same categories, but the information in them is unique to each colonial region.

Then I spent some of my vacation time creating PowerPoints for the class.

Making some colonial PowerPoints for Social Studies this week-we're working on the 13 colonies! #socialstudies #iteachfourth #iteach456 #teachersofinstagram #teachersfollowteachers #igteacher #history

A photo posted by Smiles & Sunshine (@smilesandsunshineteacher) on Apr 25, 2015 at 2:02pm PDT

While the PowerPoint was up, students had to write doodle notes. I was also talking during this time, so the PowerPoints held the key points.

They did such an awesome job! Next year, I hope to add in stations of activities that the colonial settlers did. This year got a little screwed up with all of our snow days and SBA testing.

Next up, we fight! There should be no taxation without representation! ;)

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Curriculum Mapping ~ ELA Style

Teaching with a Mountain View posted a really interesting question on her Facebook page the other day about creating a scope and sequence (April 20th if you want to go look for it! :)

One of my favorite things to do is to play with curriculum, so I was watching it to see what others had said. In fact, if I could go back and redo my Master's, I would choose Curriculum! As it is, I'm looking for a CAGS or half-master's program in it-haven't found one yet, but I'm looking!

Then I got to thinking (always dangerous! ;)-why don't I share how I map it out?

This is what works for me-something different may work for you. And if so, can I direct you to Teaching Maddeness (who is currently running a planning series!), Ashleigh's Education Journey, What I Have Learned, and Scholastic?

First, pick one topic to concentrate on. Don't try to do the whole year for every subject at the same time. Small steps. Small.

Then, gather all the materials you need. I'm going to show you how I did my ELA map (which I started last summer-so I did have some 'pre-planning' done). This summer I'm going to focus more on math,

Lay out your months, then divide them into weeks. For this, I used to bottom half of my morning message chart paper-it gave me more room to work.

 Divide each month into weeks (or unit into days)

 And by how many subject areas you want to cover.

Some suggestions for things you need:
       

Since I did all of ELA, I divided my paper into sections-for each of the sections I will teach

Then, I started plotting out my year.

I first started with my Mentor Sentences. This gives me a mentor text, plus focuses on grammar skills.

 Then, I moved onto grammar.

Last year, I reorganized the sequence for our series-putting the parts of speech into what I thought was a logical order, instead of skipping all around. I allotted about a month for each part of speech-knowing I wouldn't be able to cover it everyday, but it gave me a guide of how long it took.

After grammar, I hit up writing.

Using what I have learned (here, and here), plus some advice from a colleague (who's an excellent writing teacher) who recommended some books, I started to plan it out.

I'm definitely heavier on the description in the beginning of the year vs. the end of the year-there are more 'smaller projects' we need to do before we can do longer pieces. Plus, I want to make sure that they have the basics and are clear on the expectations before I move forward.

Then I moved onto the biggies-the CCSS I'll be covering, as well the other skills that come along with reading.

This is where my previous experience came into the most play.

I took what I did this year, and moved things around a little, using the experience, plotted out (to me) a logical sequence that builds upon one another.

This is also where I pulled in my basal.

*Tangent* Unless you are absolutely required to teach lesson A on day 1 and lesson B on day 2, I would highly recommend  using your basal as a resource. You don't have to do everything they have in there! Pull out the best parts-and supplement the rest! You know your kids-and what works best.

I pulled out the comprehension focus for each of the units, as well as one or two stories that 'fit' with the focus. Some of these comprehension skills are 'implied' in the common core, and they are still important to teach.

Then, I went back, and using a checklist of the CCSS, I checked off what I had already written down. (I did this on my iPad using an Evernote checklist during SBA testing-but paper and pencil work too! ;)

When I got towards the end, any standards left over went into the months of April, May and June. This way, I've made sure that I've covered all the standards by the end of the year.

Now, I have a broad overview of things to cover and when, helping to keep me on track when I lesson plan. It also reminds me not to skip anything, and I know that I'll have covered all the skills they need when I'm done. 

My next step is to take my half charts and type them up. I'll print them out and have everything bound at Staples for $5-this way I have a easy, portable map that I can use to help me daily plan.

Isn't it pretty-it doesn't have to be boring!

I hope you found that helpful! It's a step by step process, and working at it little by little, you can get your whole year planned out. My goal this summer is to focus on math, and nail that down better.

Good luck!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn