Classroom Reveal 2012-2013

First, I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to Corrina from Mrs. Allen's Fifth Grade Files for guest blogging for me on Friday.  If you missed her post, click here to read about a fabulous new app.  Then, go check out her blog for even more wonderful posts.  She's also having a Teacher Survival Kit linky party.  Um... FUN!! Thanks for being here Corrina!

Next up...the big room reveal.  It started with a couple cans of paint and now it is ready to be viewed. And thank goodness because....

School starts tomorrow! And, I'm as giddy as a first year teacher.

My classroom is ready.  My  plans are....well, almost ready. And I'm ready and eager to begin a new year with new kiddos.

Meet the Teacher night was last Thursday and I had so many kids show up to say hello and drop off supplies.  I have some really great kids this year.  AND I have some super high readers!!  I'm really excited about this because (as many of you know) I LOVE books and I LOVE reading, so I LOVE having students that share my passion.  So excited!!

So, without further ado...welcome to my classroom.

 Remember? No door and fake walls.

Not much in my room is magnetic, but my file cabinet is. So... I turned it sideways, put up some butcher paper and border and made a check-in board. Sorry for the blurry pic.

Most of the kids at my school order hot tray, but I do need a small space for a few kids to put their lunch box.  I got this laundry basket at Target for $4 and it works perfectly.

 This is the front of the classroom. 

Left Side: 

Clip Chart is from Teach-A-Roo. I reorganized the colors to fit my class/school behavior system.

Right Side:  

The problem solving pencil I love.  Click here to read my blog post all about it. I was inspired by Oh' Boy Fourth Grade. 

The classroom bingo board (black and white calendar looking thing) is all ready to go. This was a huge hit with my class last year.  Click here to read about how that works.  (It is one of my more popular posts.)

 Also, you can download the super cute owl WBT posters from TPT here. Sorry I don't have a better photograph.  Everything was coming out blurry on my iPhone.

Oh, yes, and that rad calendar that comes with stickers and is super easy to use comes from Really Good Stuff.

This is my teacher area.  See how clean and organized it is?  Let's hope this lasts.

Oh yes...my bookshelf. The bottom shelf houses some of my favorite read alouds for lessons.  The middle shelf is resources. The top shelf is read alouds and other odds and ends. This year I took home a lot of my professional pedagogy books. I love Mosaic of Thought, but I typically don't pull it off the shelf for some light reading and lesson planning through the year.  Thus, those have been moved to my home office where I can access them and bring them to school as needed.

My guided reading corner.  Ahh..it's still so clean. My word wall is ready to go. Black and white letters are from Technology Rocks. Seriously. This year it will be a content word wall, meaning I am going to focus more on academic vocabulary words and less on those high-frequency words that they have had for years and years. 

This is for book recommendations.  The idea comes from the amazing Beth Newingham. I still need to print out the book recommendation forms, but then kids can just slip them into the pocket chart.

Here is part of my classroom library (i.e. chapter books).  I still need to print off a few more book bin labels to get everything cleaned up and ready to go 100%. The basket on the far right is for book returns.  I have found it is much easier to train one person at a time.  The class puts books in the bin and my librarian "shelves" them accordingly.  This keeps book from getting put back in the most random places.

My carpet/teaching corner is ready to go. My Daily 5 signs are up and there is plenty of space for all my I-charts to go in the next few weeks.  Those multi-colored bins hold... you guess it...more books.  I also keep comics, newspapers, joke books, and class books there.

Yikes... I just noticed I haven't loaded my chart stand with paper.  I will need to take care of that first thing.

 And...another book shelf.  This one holds picture books, poetry, and the unlabeled bin is the Myths/Folklore/Fairy Tale bin.  The little carpets that you see are from Ikea.  They are actually bath mats and just a few dollars a piece (sorry, I don't remember the exact price).   Students will be able to take them around the room for reading.  AND. I also plan on using them to spread out students during group time.  i.e. The red group will work over here.  (place mat) The blue group will be over here. (place mat) Etc.

This is new to my room this year and I an IN LOVE.  The book stand comes from Really Good Stuff and it is perfect for displaying a small number of books by season, genre, or whatever. 

This is all my storage space.  We call these giant things elephants.  The right one is for backpacks and the left one holds all my math manipulative, art supplies, and extra school supplies.  It  was a challenge to get everything in there, but I did it. The small space makes you really think about what you keep and what can get tossed.

All cute quote posters are from Technology Rocks.Seriously.  One word - AMAZING!

Here you can see my "door" and my extra bookshelves that hold...well..everything.

See the books on the top of the tall bookshelves?  Those are my "top shelf" book.  i.e. The books most 4th graders can't read at the beginning of the year but are too good not to have available.  I just pull them down as needed or as requested.  :)

Here is a zoomed in shot of my job board.  I have my students apply for jobs and they keep the job for a month.  This way they get really good at it and can train the next person who takes over.

 Desks are set up and waiting for kids.  Each supply cup is ready with one super sharpened pencil, courtesy of The Quietest Classroom Pencil Sharpener and one dry erase marker with pom-pom.

Below are just some general shots of the room, so you can get a sense of how everything is laid out.

So, there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed the tour and maybe even found some good resources along the way.

Now, I'm linking up with all the wonderful bloggers below. I can't wait to see all the other creative classrooms that have already joined the party.

Best Free App to Boost Your Productivity

Hi everyone! I'm Corrina from Mrs. Allen's 5th Grade Files, and I'm thrilled to be Amanda's guest today. Last year I discovered this fantastic resource, and I'm so excited to have an opportunity to share it with you!

I'm sure many of you sometimes have the same trouble  I do - you're trying to accomplish something (at school or at home) and you're finding it extremely difficult to stay focused and actually finish what you're working on!  Perhaps one of these scenarios sounds familiar.......

• You have a giant stack of essays to grade during your planning period but you can hear every word of the lesson your colleague is teaching next door.
• You're at home trying to finish up lessons plans but your darling family is raising a ruckus.
• You are on the computer attempting to compose a terrific blog post but are constantly stopping to check your e-mail, text a friend, glance at the tv, look for something to eat - anything BUT what you really want to get done.
• It's one o'clock in the morning and you desperately need to get to sleep but in the words of my favorite cartoon pig, Olivia, "tomorrow is chasing today through my head.."

Every single one of those situations happens to me on a regular basis, but I finally found a way to give my focus, productivity (and even sleep) a boost: a Free App called Relax Melodies - available on iPhone, iPad, or Android.

Simply download it for free, put on your headphones, and create your own custom mix from 44 different sounds. (Each has it's own volume control, too!)  There are soothing Nature Sounds (Birds, Ocean Waves, Frogs, Night, etc....),  beautiful Musical Sounds (Flute, Medieval, Zen, Wind Chimes, etc....), tons of Weather Sounds (Thunder, Winds, Storm, Icy Snow, Rainstorm, etc...), and a myriad of Ambient Sounds (Whitenoise, Grandfather Clock, Cat Purring, Vacuum, Monk Chanting, etc....).

 (My personal favorite is Night, Rainstorm, Zen...with a touch of Thunder.)

Then select one of the Binaural Beats settings. If you need to improve your attention, pick "Concentration". If you want to fall asleep, then select the "Relaxation" mode. According to the App developers, binaural beats are produced using a beating tone between ears. (That's why you need the headphones.)

I'll be completely honest and tell you that I was really skeptical at first. (It just sounded a little too much like New Age crystals.) But I gave it a try - and even if I credit the placebo effect - it really did work for me!  (As I am typing this, my husband and our two little girls are stomping around upstairs playing a rowdy game of Dinosaur vs. Princesses.  Is it distracting me?  Not a bit.)

You could also use the Relax Melodies App to create some calming background sounds in your classroom while students are working. Or...if you're one of the lucky schools that has iPads available, you could have students give it a try when they need to calm down or block out the sounds around them in order to stay on task.

If you do try it, I'd love to hear how it worked for you.  And thanks again to Amanda for letting me share this resource with you today!







Corrina Allen lives in Central New York with her husband and their two young daughters. She taught 6^th grade in a middle school for seven years and is excited to be taking on 5^th grade this year. She is the creator of the blog, Mrs. Allen's 5th Grade Files, where she shares teaching strategies, free resources, and reflections on her classroom experiences.

Teaching, Technology, and Head Spinning Statistics

Technology has certainly changed our world. The technology I have seen in my own lifetime is pretty phenomenal.

In kindergarten, we had computers.  The screen were black.  The font was green.

In elementary, we had better computers.  We had Windows, you just had to load that from the DOS screen. Do you remember that? I spent many hours loading my various print shop programs and The Oregon Trail from DOS.  All printing was (naturally) black and white.

By middle school, things were getting fancier. Windows loaded all my itself.

High school was the age of AOL instant messenger and ICQ. Also...pagers were awesome and made you look cool. Napster, anyone?

Suddenly, cell phones started to take over.  Remember, your Nokia? Pagers were out.

The iPod came out while I was in college.  It was a heavy bulky piece of equipment compared to today's standards. Then, everyone had a Razr.  Hooray for a colored screens and a camera! Facebook began and you were only eligible if you had a college email address. Those were the days.

Since college, I've seen smart phones and everything associated with smart phones (email, apps, texts, etc) take over. The Kindle and other eReaders have changed the way people by books.  Forget about buying cds; stores don't sell them. There have been multiple generations of iPhones, iPads, and iPods. Twitter. Computers are touch screen and everything is wireless.  It is a different world.

So, what does that mean for our students?  With an ever changing world and increasing amounts of technology, how do we teach students who will live in a world that we cannot currently imagine?!?

Check out this video for some interesting and surprising statistics.

I certainly don't have the answers, but it is something to ponder.  My school isn't a technology hub or anything, okay...truthfully...it's not even close.  I don't have a lot of technology to work with, but I sure need use what is available.   I think the first step is getting technology in the hands of my students as often as possible. My new goal for the school year is to never miss my computer lab time.  That's step one.  I will build from there.

Anyone else out there limited with technology at school?  How do you incorporate technology into your day? How are you preparing your students for a world surrounded by technology? I'd love your thoughts on the video.  What stood out to you?  What surprised you?  Comment below. :)

Speaking of technology - Stay tuned for a great app recommendation from my fabulous guest blogger tomorrow: Corrina Allen from Mrs. Allen's 5th Grade Files.  She is my first guest blogger (super excited!) and you won't want to miss her post.

Daily 5 Reflection and My Questions - Please help!

Stay inside people! Have you heard? It is tax free weekend in Texas and the stores are packed!

Or at least that is what everyone is saying on Facebook.  That's a reliable source, right?

I desperatly need to go to Staples, but I'm scared. I hate crowds...and long lines...and traffic.  So, pretty much, going out to join the hoards of back to school shoppers is a terrible idea.

Instead, I spent my day finishing up The Daily 5.  Now, I know... I know everyone in the blog world has already posted on The Daily 5 because 1) it's awesome and 2) there were so many great book studies going on this summer, but I'm a little behind and I'm hoping you will still read and provide advice, feedback, and wonderful words of wisdom.

I actually read The Daily 5...wait, let me check my reading log...back in August 2008.  Since reading it then, I have used bits and pieces of Daily 5 every year.  The steps they use to train students and build stamina are indispensable. I honestly can not imagine setting up expectations in my classroom without using their method. However, I have never gone all out Daily 5.

This year, many other teachers at my school are trying out Daily 5 and so I'm going to jump on board ALL THE WAY.  Okay...most of the way. I have to tweak it to give my kiddos more writing time as I teach 4th grade and have the writing test looming over my head and I'm counting my read aloud as Listen to Reading, but...mostly...ALL THE WAY.

I'm thrilled that so many teachers will be switching to this framework.  I teach at a low-income school and our students have very little structure and predictability in their lives.  Daily 5 gives that much needed structure and a common language. Love that!

So... this was actually my 2nd read through the book cover to cover. On my second read, I caught some things that I must have missed and/or forgotten over the years. Many of these thoughts are just reminders of things we know but I find myself forgetting about when I get back into school full swing.

My Thoughts:

• Do not stop talking about Good Fit Books! Ever! Keep having that conversation and using that language all year. I know, duh, right?  Yet... I know I am less focused on that come November when I am focusing more on thinking strategies.  Yet, if a kiddo does not have a good-fit book, how will they become a better reader?  It's just that important. 

https://www.thedailycafe.com/

• Always walk them through the IPICK book steps when they are choosing a book. This helps solidify the language and the process of finding a good-fit book.  (see above) 

• Use students All About Me survey from the 1st day of school to help you fill book boxes.  Although the reading level might not match, hopefully there will be interest in those books.

• Create an anchor chart for what to do when you hear the signal. Um...brilliant. Why have I not done this in the past?

• When creating an I-Chart give them some information, don't let this be a full on guessing game. i.e. "Why do you think we read to self?"  Go ahead and say, "We read to self to become a better reader. (write that down on anchor chart) What are some other reasons we might read to self?" Then, take a few ideas.  If they haven't hit upon the main points.  Go ahead and tell them - teach them.This will help keep lessons short and focused. I am a master of the 30 minute long mini-lesson. Wait?  30 minutes?  That is no longer mini my friends.

• Place students around the room for practice for the first few days and choose different spots for each kid the following day.  In the past, I always let my 4th and 5th graders find their own spot. I thought they were too old to be placed. But, I think it will be really beneficial to place them this year so they will experience success in a variety of locations. It will also tell them where it is acceptable to read and where it is not without me having to say, "Nope.  Not there.  Find another spot."

Alright, those are pretty much the highlights. Good reminders I think, don't you? I really do love this book because I think the sisters explain their framework so well.  It is very clear how to establish Daily 5 and create a classroom of independent productive students. 

My Questions:

I do have a couple of questions for those of you out there who are experienced in full Daily 5. Please help!

1) When you pull small groups during a rotation, the kids will likely be coming from various daily 5 activities.  Do they make up that activity or do they skip an activity that day?

2) What do you do for reading grades?  In my current district, I must have a minimum of 9 numerical grades each nine-weeks. Grades must be taken from a class wide assignment on 4th grade material, meaning I can't differentiate graded assignments too much. (If I do, RTI becomes an even bigger mess and I can't get kids help if they really need it because their grades are too high?  Does anyone else have this problem?)

My Personal Side Note:

Yes, I have my own reading log. I have kept a reading log since I graduated from high-school.  To this day I still record everything I read on it. It's pretty interesting to look back at the reading fads and authors that I have loved over the years. I highly recommend starting one if you don't already have one.  My students always find it fascinating and very motivating.

Please, oh please, leave your thoughts and comments below.  I would especially love to hear how other teachers balance good assessment like anecdotal/conference notes with the mandates of numerical grades.

Thanks!

Fiction Friday: Chapter 10

Well book lovers, it is time for our final summer installment of Fiction Friday.

I have to say, I have really enjoyed hosting this linky all summer. I hope it was as helpful to my readers as it was to me.  A huge thank you to everyone who has linked up in past weeks. 

I started the summer reading two books each week, but as we got closer and closer to school I couldn't keep up. I was only able to read one book this week. The good news is that the one I read was WONDERFUL!

I read......wait for it...

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale

by Carmen Agra Deedy & Randall Wright

Set back in London in the mid 1800s and the days of Charles Dickens and Queen Victoria, Skilley is a most unusual cat.  He comes to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a popular inn, under the pretense of capturing mice. However, he is really there for their famous cheshire cheese. Skilley quickly befriends Pip, a mouse of the inn, and they become fast friends.  As they fool the innkeeper into believing Skilley is "keeping the mice away" another cat arrives who does not share Skilley's love of cheese or mice.  Suddenly, mayhem breaks out at the inn.  Can Skilley protect his new friends from this devilish new cat?  Plus, what about their secret.  Who will protect Maldwyn? How will they restore Maldwyn to his rightful place before war breaks out between England and France? And, what does Charles Dickens have to do with all?

Now, I'll be honest.  When I first flipped through the book and read the first page, I thought, "Good grief! Really?" I mean... it starts with, "It was best of Toms.  It was the worst of Toms."  Um...corny! And, honestly, what elementary school child is going to get that reference?  Well...let me tell you.  It all makes sense in the end.  

I also thought, "These vocabulary words are outrageous!" There is a glossary to define words like: abulation, apoplexy, caterwaul, erstwhile, penury, prodigious, recalcitrant, turgid, and wraithlike.  The glossary goes on for 4 pages. I just choose a select few.  Um...who here off the top of their head can define all these words?  I can only think of one person in my life that could.  My oldest friend in the world, Rebecca, and she is working on her PhD in medieval literature at UNC!

Luckily, within context...not so bad.  You could easily take a page from this book and work on inferring with context clues.  I learned some new words.  

So, if you loved Tale of Despereaux you will love this story.  It's a classic tale of friendship and love and just like Despereaux there are characters that make profound observations about life, friendship, and truth.  It would be a wonderful read aloud 2nd through 5th.  Skilley and Pip are two of the finest heroes I've seen.

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On a totally NOT children's literature note.  I'm also reading  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  Have you heard of it?  The sequel is currently #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.  Oh... it's GOOD.  Every time I have a moment to read, I want to read this.  It is like a combination of The Historian and Twilight.  There's a little bit of history, a little bit of vampire, a little bit of magic and whole lot of "scandalous" love. I can't wait to start Shadow of Night.

So, hurry now and don't delay.  Link up for the final summer Fiction Friday: A Celebration of Children's Literature.  Let's make it the best one yet!  (Oh, I hope I don't eat my words and get 1-2 link ups.) C'mon people! It's easy, just tell us about your favorite books...new or old.  Give a quick summary, a lesson idea or two, and an age range for the book.  You can link up anytime during August!

My Amazon wishlist is always on standby.

Please remember to grab my button and link back to this post, so others can navigate through all the links.

As always, happy reading!!

WBT: Oral Writing Freebie

It's a simple idea really.

Get kids to talk in paragraphs and then they write in paragraphs...easily. That is the base of Whole Brain Teachings Oral Writing philosophy. Have you heard of it?!?

I discovered WBT teaching earlier this year.  I don't remember how I stumbled upon it, but suddenly I was consumed with watching YouTube videos.   All these wonderful teachers had ALL their students engaged. I found the website, signed up, used the weekend to read everything I could, and started implementing the 5 Rules and several other strategies the first day we came back from Winter Break. It changed my classroom dynamic. I love it!

Yesterday, Becca at Simply 2nd Resources posted about WBT Oral Writing.  I hadn't heard of it until yesterday and I'm already a believer.  I watched the entire webcast below right then and there on her blog AND I took 4 pages of notes!  Just watch and you'll see!!

Watch live streaming video from wholebrainteaching1 at livestream.com

Her post is perfect, so head on over and check it out. She highlights the most important points in the lecture and does a wonderful job describing the technique.  She also has several pictures of her super cute room that you won't want to miss.  Simply 2nd Resources: WBT Oral Writing

I'm especially excited about Oral Writing because my 4th graders take the state writing test and many of my students come to me very low in language to begin with. Teaching them how to formulate their thoughts and add on to their thinking is key! Oral Writing is a great way to develop language skills and incorporate higher level thinking while preparing them to be excellent writers. You can't beat that!

So... You can start building writing and elaboration skills from day 1 in a fun, interactive, whole brain way!

I was so excited about getting Oral Writing started in my classroom... I made POSTERS and you can download them for FREE!

Here are the posters I created that go through the Oral Writing Steps.  I plan on hanging these up by my white board as a reference and reminder to both my students and myself. Each poster is only half a page to conserve wall space, especially if you (like me) have only two real walls in your classroom.

 
I hope these posters are helpful to you and your class.  Please email me with any questions or suggestions.  You can grab my posters (plus 2 more not pictured) in my TN store by click here or clicking directly on the picture above.  Remember, all Whole Brain Teaching resources should always be 100% free!

Well, that's it! If you haven't heard of Oral Writing, I hope you learned something new today AND I hope you are as jazzed about it as I am.  The posters are just the icing on the cake!