Throwback! Classroom Seating Edition

Once upon a time, this was my classroom:

Do you see those low white seats? They are the popular IKEA bookcases, turned on their sides. Very sturdy! They lasted for 10+ years!

I made those cushions. Horrible. Did not last 10+ years. They are simply foam covered with fabric. They slid all over and kids pulled at the fabric, which I hot glued together. It did not work.

Fast forward...well, 10 years!

These are the same bookshelves. The EXACT same bookshelves. You can see there is wear at the bottom, where kid feet rested, but overall, still in amazing shape! Sturdy and functional and cute!

The biggest difference is the cushion. I got plywood, foam filler, batting, and covered all of that with the cute indoor/outdoor fabric. Then, I did not use a hot glue gun, my old best friend. Instead, I used a nail gun. Seriously, these things have held together!!!

Currently, they are in my basement at home, being used regularly by two toddlers, a dog, and a cat. But they were in multiple fourth grade classrooms, a third grade room, and a second grade room. They lasted through more classroom moves than I can count. They were the perfect meeting area for every mini lesson and classroom meeting I ever held. When I had to move classrooms, first I would place my benches for our meeting area, then I would figure out where my classroom library would go, and then everything else just fit in where it could because those two elements were top priority in my mind. 

Whether you are homeschooling, teaching in a classroom, or a mom looking for functional seating in the playroom, I highly recommend using the IKEA hack!

THROW BACK: Genre Graphs in the Classroom!

This is a major THROW BACK!

I used to always have a genre graph in my classroom. Now, this was before the days of my school district having any kind of curriculum. I take that back. We technically had some boxed program, but I started using it and it wasn't meeting the needs of my students, so I asked my principal what my options were and she literally told me to teach the standards however I saw fit. So....I did my own thing!

Now, this genre graph helped me a lot. As we worked through texts in fourth grade, We would add the title and author on a sentence strip and put it on the graph above the genre it fit with. This was beneficial is a variety of ways:

1. We were working on graphing. Who doesn't love cross curricular displays?

2. We were reviewing the genres and discussing them as we placed each text.

3. We were practicing how to cite texts when we wrote them on the sentence strip. And yes, I had kids write them. Get those kids involved in your classroom displays!

4. It held me accountable. I have favorite genres. I have favorite texts. Does that mean I can teach just that genre all year. No. I need to hit them all at some point. So, when I saw my kids' scores on a benchmark and they were rocking nonfiction questions and then I realized we had read 13 nonfiction texts and only 2 fiction texts so far....well, that made sense. And it helped me adjust what I was doing.

*Also, those genre posters were a freebie. Just a plain old google search.

Looking to Kick Your Classroom Management Up a Notch? BRAG TAGS!

I have always focused on the positive side of classroom management - EARN EARN EARN - No taking things away from kiddos, especially if they have already earned it! I also have always tried to give specific feedback, whether it is constructive or just plain old supportive. This is where Brag Tags come in.

I have a dog chain for each student. I print an array of Brag Tags, most of them freebies on TPT, that way I always have them handy. I see a lot of teachers organize them. I did not. I had a big old bin of them to grab from. Nothing fancy. But they were all pre-cut and hole punched each summer so they were ready for the school year.

When kids do amazing things. Or show improvement. Or follow directions. Whatever. I give them a Brag Tag. The front of the Brag Tag is related to the thing they did (ie: 100% on a test, helped a friend, etc.) and the bag is a personalized message from their teacher, explaining why I appreciate them and what they did. 

Now, depending on the class, I might leave the Brag Tag on the student desk and have them add it to their necklace when they have free time. Or I might add it to the necklaces myself and the kids will check them.

The necklaces don't go home. They stay in the room. But kids can wear them every day and just hang them back up at the end of the day. They can take them home at the end of the school year.

This is pretty close to free classroom management. The dog tags and chains were a few bucks on Amazon, but the Brag Tags were freebies I prepped for the year. It's motivating. The feedback to kids is useful. And best of all? The bulletin board does not need to change!!! WIN - WIN - WIN!

A Reading Rainbow!

Two bulletin boards...because it's the first year I don't have a gigantic bulletin board, of course. And all I wanted was to make this reading rainbow!

So, it is spanning two bulletin boards, side by side. And I love it.

I love the texts I chose. I love the look. I love that I don't have to change it ever again. 

It's the little things in life.

Classroom Theme Posters

Theme posters are one of my MUST HAVES!

I printed the theme posters below from Beth Newingham. But there are TONS of free theme posters floating around on TeachersPayTeachers!

In the past, I always had theme posters hanging on my wall. I had them blank in the beginning of the year, and as we read books as a class, we added pictures of the book covers to the theme we thought it matched up with. I would print the book cover and when we finished the book, we would talk about the evidence to support various themes, always understanding that a book really can fit many themes, but that we were going to choose the one we felt it fit in with BEST.

Now that our school is using a new program, Collaborative Classroom, for all things ELA (Seriously, everything. If you are looking for new curriculum, this is it.) I still wanted to do theme posters but make it work for that program. So, since I work with grades 2-4, I printed some freebie theme posters for each of them. Then I printed and laminated the book covers that the teachers will be reading to their students for the comprehension piece of the curriculum. Now, as teachers read a book aloud, they can connect it to the common themes. And anyone who teaches at a state testing grade knows, theme will be tested. Oh yes, theme will be tested.

Bonus? Talking about theme is a great conversation. It teaches kids how to provide evidence to support their opinion and to respect the opinions of others!

Classroom Management and Google Tip of the Day

Hi everyone!

Here's a quick little tip to start your Saturday. I always number my students. Number your students! For SO MANY REASONS. 

First of all, confidentiality. I can take anecdotal notes on student number 4 without everyone in the school knowing who that is. 

Also, I don't need to relabel things in my classroom every single year - there are some things that are numbered and just stay. Next, the teacher is number 1. 

When I set up programs or sign up for things online, I am student number 1, and I can experience everything as a student. 

When we line up for fire drills, we are in numbered order to make it simple for the teacher (or substitute) to determine if we are missing anyone. Just yell, "One!" and everyone else starts yelling their numbers in order. 

Finally, in Google Slides, if I give kids an assignment, slide 1 is the directions, and the students can each work on their numbered slide. It makes life easy!

Just another tip to make life easier for us teachers!

Classroom Fairy Door

This little door from Amazon has worked wonders in my classroom for behavior management! My little third graders really believe that there is a fairy living on the other side of the door. They think that diary brings them clean desk notes and treats, messy desk reminders to clean up, and little rhyming notes for fun in their mailboxes!

The coolest part about the fairy door was the WRITING it inspired. My kids write stories about the purple door and what is behind it. They write mysteries, fictional fantasy stories, and riddles. It has been INSPIRING! And a ton of fun for me to sprinkle glitter on the floor every once in a while. :)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Classroom-Fairy-Starter-Pack-2938546

School-wide Writer's Gallery

Our school started an initiative this year to CELEBRATE writing! We are all writers and we have begun implementing a Writer's Workshop daily for 40 minutes. In the hallway outside of our cafeteria we have a bulletin board for teachers to post writing across the grade levels. 

It shows the span from UPK writing to fourth grade writing.

How To Writing

Our third grade class used Amy Lemons and Hope King's Write On unit to help us through procedural writing. The kiddos LOVED  making Pie In a Cup! We discussed the materials, made it ourselves, used sequence words to write a paragraph, and saw our writing through to publishing! It was a lot of fun and something different. All third graders have done How To Writing before, but none of them had made Pie In a Cup before!

Writing Narratives

Our class revisited our old anchor charts about personal narratives this week because we are starting narratives! We are writing descriptions of our own personal Neverland as we read the novel, Peter Pan.

Our third graders are LOVING the book, Peter Pan, which is part of the EngageNY English Language Arts Modules that our school district is using.  Last week we warmed up our brains to the idea of writing about our own Neverland. I demonstrated writing with a timer. The class put a 3 minute timer on me and I wrote about my own Neverland in front of them. I didn't stop writing AT ALL. Then, the class got a five minute timer and had to write about their own Neverland for five minutes WITHOUT STOPPING. It was really amazing how much they got done...much more writing than a laid back writer's workshop day!

Check out the anchor charts we revisited this week:

Secret Agents Day

Last year we had so much fun transforming our second grade classroom. I used white string and went crazy taping it all over to make the lasers. I bought black lights from Party City on sale. Each child had "spy" glasses. I also printed secret agents badges and put them on string to make necklaces. I had four tasks throughout the day, each in a manila envelope. The tasks in second grade focused on each subject area. We had a close reading, Oregon Trail writing, math activities, and synonyms/antonyms. 

This year I plan on doing four tasks ALL ABOUT AREA. My third graders have been struggling with area so I created four tasks to practice this skill before our state assessments. It's going to be a lot of fun!

WE HAD A BLAST LAST YEAR! 

And I am so excited to bring this to my third grade class this year.

Check out the product on TpT if you're interested:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Secret-Agents-Day-AREA-2989107

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Secret-Agents-2350119

Student Writers As Mentor Texts

BRILLIANT IDEA:

I had a kind of awkward bulletin board in my classroom behind my library area. I wasn't sure what to do with it for a while. I recently decided to use it as mentor wall for writing. I took excerpts from the writing journals of my students and hung them on the bulletin board for other students to look to as mentor writing pieces. It makes those kids feel GREAT that they are being celebrated, and the other students have tangible examples of the kind of writing I want from their peers.

Mid-Year Classroom Tour 2016-17

Good morning!

Although it is a little late, here is my new third grade classroom tour! I moved into this classroom in August, when I switched from teaching second grade to teaching third grade. I only moved one floor up in the building, but it was a LOT of work! Enjoy!

Writing Area

Math Center

How We Get Home

Book Boxes

Classroom Library

Our Schedule

Classroom Door

Photo Backdrop

Meeting Area

READ lights

Brag Tags

Writing Center

Our schedule

Tally charts for books read together

Theme Charts and bulletin board

Small Group Table

Open House Backdrop for Photos

Daily Five posters

View to the front of the classroom