It's Been Awhile

But I have a good excuse for not posting...

Baby Sneaker (who isn't such a baby anymore) is going to be a
BIG SISTER.

So, instead of blogging, I have spent my free time napping along with my little one because when I get home from teaching 26 little kinders, I am all worn out. I typically spend the first hour of her nap time getting my lesson plans ready for the following day and the second hour of her nap resting or sleeping. First trimester of pregnancy and the beginning of the school year herding cats in Kindergarten is a tough combination!

 I had high hopes for blogging more about using iPads in the classroom this year, but that hasn't really come to fruition. I will, however, be doing a presentation called Accelerating Reading and Writing with iPads at the NCCE conference in Seattle with one of my teammates on March 12th.

I will also be presenting at the ACT 16 - 16th Creative Teaching Conference in Paris over New Year's with my adviser.

I'm very excited about both and will hopefully muster the energy to post about them!

The Kid Who's Driving You Crazy

I am a tad bit too exhausted to come up with an interesting post on my own so I am sharing something I just came across that I feel like I need right now. Definitely has some good reminders. The title is a link to the original posting. 

When a student is driving you crazy, don’t start building up a wall of defense. Try these ideas instead. 

1. Love them. We know we are called to love our students, but it’s not always easy. What we need to remember is that love is a choice, and true love is given even when it’s not deserved. God loves us even though we are undeserving, and we must do the same for our students.
   
2.  Pray for them.  Praying for a student accomplishes two things. Obviously we are praying that God will work to change their heart, but God also uses our prayers to change ours – to give us a love that we didn’t think we could have.
   
3. Pour into them. Be intentional about showing them you care. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey gives the metaphor of an emotional bank account. If we are going to be making lots of “withdraws” in the form of correction and discipline, we need to be making plenty of “deposits” by encouraging them, complimenting them, and showing them we care.
   
4. Find out more about them. Talk to their former teachers and parents to try to discover what makes them tick. Is there a particular challenge that they are facing? What do they enjoy? What helps them succeed?
   
5. Talk to them.  Talk to them as often as possible. Yes, talk to them about their attitude and behavior but also find time to ask them about their interests. During these conversations, try to do more listening than talking. They probably don’t need another lecture, and you’ll find out better how to help them by truly hearing what they’re saying.
   
6. Speak to their heart. Don’t just always get on them for their behavior. Seek to get reach the root of the problems by speaking to their hearts. 
   
7. Seek advice. If you’re at your wits’ end, seek advice from a fellow teacher or administrator.
   
8. Be consistent. Don’t lower your standards or let them get away with misbehavior. Be consistent in your expectations and your follow through. But show them you care every step of the way.
   
9. Be patient. Sometimes we forget that growth takes time. Our students are works in progress, and we should never give up on them.

I have the feeling I am in for a hard year. With 25 kiddos in all and about 7 or 8 that need significant help understanding school expectations, I found this piece helpful in remember that challenging students are not out to get me and that I can certainly put my best foot forward in helping them learn the ropes rather than getting frustrated.

I do have to share though, that I was just about at my wit's end today when I was trying to explain the directions for our mandated narrative writing pre-assessment (which is totally developmentally inappropriate to administer to Kinders when they have been in school for only 7 days, but that is aside the point). My kiddos were beyond their capacity for daily listening and I had three girls right by my feet fighting over a beaded bracelet, tugging at it until it broke and the beads went flying all over the carpet. So needless to say, there was no way that their attention was anywhere near focused on me because they were enthralled with beads on the carpet. I even tried encouraging them to listen by offering up recess following the writing task, but alas, after the bead incident I just postponed the writing until tomorrow. Hopefully it goes better...

How is your class so far? 

Angelic worker bees or chatty patties giving you a run for your money?

I have a few boys that I refer to as "too cool for school" because no matter whether it is Pete the Cat, A Tootie Ta, Shake Break, or the Exercise game, they don't want to participate :0(

Turn and Talk

I am getting ready to teach my class Turn and Talk tomorrow and I came across this video, which is really helpful for preparing to use them as a language and learning tool. I introduced my kiddos to their assigned carpet spots today and I am going to give them some opportunities to share with partners tomorrow so we can spend some time practicing that routine before we officially start reading the week after next. I definitely want to use Turn and Talk a lot this year to help my ELL student advance their language skills.

I also like this information about Turn and Talk I found from Teacher Toolkit...

How to Use

1. Question

Pose a question or prompt for students to discuss and tell them how much time they will have. A one-to-two minute discussion is most productive.

2. Turn

Have students turn to a specific partner. Pair students using Eyeball Partners, Shoulder Partners, or Clock Partners (see variations below). Partner assignments should be set up beforehand so that students can quickly and easily pair up.

3. Talk

Set a timer for the allotted time, and have students begin discussing the assigned question or prompt. When time is up, ask partners to share out thoughts and ideas from their discussion.

When to Use

Use Turn and Talk at any time during a lesson to encourage accountable talk:

• As a warm-up activity to discuss previous lesson or homework assignment
• After five to seven minutes of oral or written input, to help student process what they have just heard or read
• During class discussions as a way for students to discuss ideas before sharing them with the class
• As a closing activity so that students can review what was learned in the lesson
• As a clarification tool for a complex problem or new guiding question posed by the teacher

Variations

Eyeball Partners

When students are seated at tables or in groups, “eyeball partners” are students who are facing in front of each other.

Shoulder Partners

When students are seated at tables or in groups, “shoulder partners” are students who are seated next to each other. This may also be done when students are seated in rows.

Clock Partners

Using a clock template, have students “make appointments” with four other classmates, one for 12 o’clock, one for 3 o’clock, one for 6 o’clock, and one for 9 o’clock. Partners may not be repeated. When ready to use partners, simply say “Work with your [choose one of the times] partner.” In Primary Grades PK-1, partners should be assigned by the teacher.

and this information from Responsive Classroom 

Simple Beginnings

To start, I set aside a few minutes after lunch each day for working on partner chat skills. I begin by showing the children how to do the most basic things, such as sitting "knee-to-knee" and looking at their partner. Then I pair them up and the pairs sit together to practice.

Our first conversation topic is "What did you have for lunch?"—a question I know each child will definitely be able to answer. At first the partners simply tell each other, one at a time, what they had for lunch. We work up to something that looks more like a "real" conversation:

Partners Susanna and Brendan sit facing each other.
Susanna asks, "What did you have for lunch today?"
"I had chicken nuggets," Brendan replies. Then he asks, "What did you have for lunch?"
"I had chicken nuggets, too," says Susanna, "and chocolate milk."
Once both partners have shared, they move to the rug and take a seat in our circle.

After a few days, I also start having students report back to the group. For instance, after partners share with each other, we'll do a quick around-the-circle share about what our partners had for lunch. This gives the children an added reason to listen carefully to their partners and remember what they heard. It also gives each child a chance to practice speaking to the whole class.

Building More Complex Skills

I build on these simple beginnings all year with additional mini-lessons and lots of chances to practice. Students talk with a partner many times each day: during Morning Meeting sharing, during read-alouds, during math when they compare solutions, etc. I scaffold my teaching so that when the children begin talking with partners about academic work, they are ready to do so independently. By the end of the year, they will become skilled conversationalists—able to engage in rich dialogues with each other, with the older students who are their book buddies, and even with adults.

Day 2

I was super proud of how well my kiddos remembered our arrival routine. I am using numbers on their coat hooks this year because 1. I share my room and it reduces the amount of labels in the cubby area and 2. Using numbers means I don't have to make any changes when kids inevitably move and I receive new students. We use numbers on our iPads, so I figured why not use those same numbers for their backpack hooks and mailboxes. So, given that it's tougher to remember their particular number, I was impressed with how many kiddos actually did remember exactly where to put their backpacks. Yay!

We covered more rules today and read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? I introduced our class bucket and the kiddos were very excited to learn how they can earn recess since we don't typically have recess. They also liked the animated version of Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen that I found online.

And, they were very excited to Tootie Ta. Giggles galore!

I started a teenie tiny toe dip into reading instruction, which will continue to increase little by little until we truly start Journeys curriculum the week after next. Tomorrow I am assigning carpet spots and partners and I am very interested to see how that goes. I spent a long time this afternoon figuring out how to fit all 25 bodies on my carpet and who will work well together. It's tough to know who will click after only knowing the kiddos for two days, but I did my best. I laminated a color printout of the carpet I have and used a Vis a Vis pen so that I can easily change spots and rearrange partners as needed.

The end of day departure routines were a bit more chaotic than I would have liked in terms of getting everything put away, getting backpacks, and lining up in bus groups, but the kiddos did pretty well once we got outside for dismissal. I always line the whole class up on a crack in the sidewalk and dismiss pickups one at a time to make sure I actually make eye contact with parents and release their children to them. Then I take kids to the bus. This year I am the only AM class, so I have really been taking my time with that so the kids stay organized.

I have to turn in my professional goals by Friday so I need to spend some time working on those. There's never enough time during my actual work day. I have been spending between 1.5 and 2 hours everyday after school at home to get caught up. Par for the course I guess. Half time doesn't really mena half time.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the school year!

Day 1

Today was our first day and overall I think it went pretty well. I don't really like the beginning of the school year as much as I like that comfortable place that we get to by October and a lot less than that fabulous place we get to by spring. I love it when we've settled in and we've gotten into a groove. At that point, I always think back on the very beginning with a sigh of relief and thankfulness that we can go about our day and it's not all brand new and overwhelming.

But right now, we're just smack in the middle of brand new and overwhelming.

So far I have 25 students. I say so far because I have a feeling that our numbers in half day are going to keep growing. Our full day classes are capped at 25, so they don't get any additional students unless someone leaves, which isn't all that common. I started today with 24 and already got an email after school that I will have an additional child starting Thursday. Although I appreciate the extra day to get ready for said new child, I'd also like for that child to not miss another day of learning routines and procedures. Missing the first few days is crucial even though we continue to practice and repeat everything many time for the immediate future. I know that many would consider me lucky because class sizes are absolutely insane and in the grand scheme 25 is actually quite small. Yet, when those 25 are Kinders, it doesn't seem that small to me. I am already out of backpack hooks and my new student results in a shortage of iPads. My tables are filled and the thought of more kiddos being added gives me anxiety. I guess I will just be thankful I don't have 30. Where would I put them all?

I ofte hear teaching Kindergarten likened to herding cats. That's exactly what I felt like I was doing today. Repeating instructions over and over only to be met with blank stares. Asking children to form a line and showing them exactly where to stand only to be followed by a clump resembling tangled spaghetti.

I can already tell that I have several students who don't understand a lot of English and I have 14 boys which is more boys that I have ever had in the past. Although it's only day 1, I can already tell that my teaching will be different this year. I need to find ways to engage active boys who are smart but want to play and be silly and I need to ensure that I am really focusing on language in the classroom and making my instruction comprehensible for beginning English speakers. I need to find a way to inspire one little cutie to listen and follow directions in a way that doesn't involve saying "please sit down" 47 times every half hour. I spent 2 hours after school today planning just for tomorrow trying to make sure that I balance sitting time with movement. For some reason this year just feels different to me. Maybe it will be a hard year and a great year for personal reflection and learning. Maybe it will be a great year. It's hard to tell from just one day.

In any event, I am relieved that the first day is over. None of the first day disaster dreams I had over the summer came true and I think the kiddos had fun. They loved Pete The Cat and we played the Exercise Game to get the wiggles out. Tomorrow I am going to blow their minds with A TootyTa after we read Howard B Wigglebottom Learns to Listen and Have You Filled a Bucket Today?

I highly recommend A Tooty Ta.

Take a look....

Still Not Feeling Ready

Students come on Tuesday and I still don't feel like I am ready or my classroom is ready. Being part time means a lot of time spent in training during in-service week and not a lot of time working in the classroom getting ready. I have spent a lot of time this week trying to pull things together, but when my four hours are up I am usually dashing off to get Baby Sneaker from daycare, so I don't have the "luxury" of staying until I get things done. And, I've mentioned that taking her to my room is like having a baby tornado tearing things down, so that isn't exactly an option either. Since my classroom photos don't look very different than they did a few weeks ago, I am opting to share some of my favorite back to school books.

A few of these are new to me this year including Too Much Glue and What if Everybody Did That. The message in Too Much Glue is more a tribute to creativity rather than the cautionary tale about using too much glue that I hoped it would be, but it does have a little bit of that. I thought it would be fun to read before we use glue for the first time.

I am hoping to get back into my room this weekend to get a few final things done. I have to say...having my own laminator at home has been SO useful! I spent a few hours last night getting things done, but I was able to do so in my own home while watching TV. So much better than the limited laminator use at school.

What are your favorite back to school books? 

What is the very first story you read to your class?

Not Your Typical First Day Back

Going back to work always fills me with excitement in a way (probably mostly for chatting with my co-workers who I haven't seen in a few months), but then the excitement quickly dies down as soon as the first staff meeting is called to order and we get down to business. There's always new goals, new acronyms, and talk of what will be different this year. Don't get me wrong, I like the freshness of the new year and the ability to start over with a new group of kiddos, but it's also daunting. As I stare at a list of kids I've never met, I always have a pretty big fear of what is yet to come. I am looking forward to meeting some kiddos on Wednesday during our supply drop and I am hopeful that by then my classroom will be looking a bit more organized and put together than it looks right now. I barely had anytime outside of our meeting to get anything done because I had to go pick Baby Sneaker up from daycare at 12:30. Thankfully tomorrow I can stay until 2 because my friend volunteered to get her and take her back to my house so I can have some time with my team.

Onto the unconventional part of the day. We received a postcard in the mail shortly after school let out indicating that the entire staff was being asked to meet in the library at 9:30 AM today and we were assigned TRIBE colors. Even support staff who were not paid to be there, were asked to come. So, what's with this tribe business? Well...we had our own little Amazing Race this morning. Families from school volunteered to take part and they had stations set up at their houses with different challenges. Each of the 8 tribes were given an envelope with an address so we had to hop in our cars, drive to a family's house, and complete the challenge. That family gave us our next address and we were off to the next challenge. Some were team challenges that required cooperation, some were word puzzles, and some were individual challenges. Some of the challenges had a set time and some were timed to see who could do them the fastest. All of the scores were tallied and once everyone was back the winner was announced.

When I first heard what we had to do, I will admit, I was not excited. But, it turned out to be really really fun. Our tribes are groups that we will remain connected with all year and we are assigned to help with one PSO event as a tribe, to plan one social event together, and to make sure that we take care of any "sunshine" during the year, which means getting gifts if babies are born, flowers for people who have surgery, cards for deaths in the family etc. I think that this whole tribe thing is a great way to get people connected and that will be a good thing for our staff.

Was today your first day back too?

What did you talk about at your meetings?

Wall Art

Tonight Mr. Sneaker and I were discussing getting some prints for the empty walls in our bedroom. We love these city posters and are thinking of getting this trio. 

 where we met

 where we live

where we spent holidays

I also want to get something like this cool artwork frame for Baby Sneakers's playroom so I can display her cute little projects from daycare and easily switch out projects from month to month. 

While I was getting all excited for some wall decorations in my home, I came across something I had pinned that I want to laminate on my classroom walls. 

Images found from this site. 

Here are some of my favorites...

I probably won't hang this one, but I love it.

(I bet Raye will too!)

I kind of want to frame some of these for Baby Sneakers room too. I heart them!

Do you have any special sayings or words of wisdom you share with your students?

Sight Words

My little project this morning was finishing up my first set of word wall sight word cards. I am not sure what comes with our new reading program, but I know I want to post sight words on my word wall, so I went ahead and made my own set. As we learn each word, I will add it to my word wall below the alphabet letters.

This is a pile of 87, yes that's right, eighty seven sight words that Kinders will learn this year. 

printed, cut, laminated and then cut again. 

Whew. 

I have to redo these because I didn't feed the sheet in straight and the sheet is all buckled and lumpy. 

Oops. 

Depending on what is provided with our curriculum materials I might make another set because I have another wall space where I plan to post words to review. 

If the kiddos have to learn 87 words, I want those words in their face 

all. the. time.

My colleague came across this post and this post on a blog called i Teach With iPads about personalized learning and helping students develop ownership of their learning. She is planning to have her full day Kinders manage their own learning portfolios where they add stickers to standards they have mastered. 

In half-day Kinder, I am curious about the idea, but I need to pare it down to something reasonable for the short time I have the kiddos. I may focus on objective skills in reading and early literacy rather than all of the standards. I am thinking about making a placemat sized (11 X 17) version of our word wall so that students can add stars or stickers next to each word they can read. I would have them bring their personal word wall with them when I assess 1:1 and then based on their assessment add stickers with them. They would then keep their personal word wall in their work bucket so they could have everyday access to the list of words they still need to practice. Possibly, I would add the letter sounds to the back so they could earn stickers for mastering sounds as well. 

At this point I am just playing with the idea and I'm not sure how it would work, but I feel like I definitely need to make some changes in order to help my kiddos be successful at learning 87 words. 

How do you help kiddos learn sight words?

If you have any great activities, I'd love to hear about them!

Productive

I had a nice little productive afternoon in my classroom since my in-laws are visiting and they were able to stay at home with Baby Sneaker. I feel like I finally got some solid organizing done and I am very thankful because certain parts of my room have been a mess since I moved in. Now that I share, I have less space of my own, yet there is tons of storage space in the room and some cabinets are still empty even with two teachers sharing the room. 

My goals today were to

finish organizing my books-check!

organize my desk-check!

organize my file cabinet-check!

move my games and activities to the cabinet where I took my books from-check!

I'm really happy with how my little library came out. All the sections are labeled and I know I will have a much easier time finding books when I need them this year and will be much more prompt and timely in putting them back where they belong! I hope that my students don't think it's fun to pull the red dividers out. 

I also organized my curriculum materials and put them on this shelf that is next to my desk. I may put labeled card stock dividers in here to separate my subjects just like I did with my picture books. 

I remembered to take photos of my display boards this time because the borders are up now, but I think I need to redo them because I didn't staple them enough and there are gaps. Boo. I also need to trim the edges still. 

My phonics and reading walls look so plain, but I am definitely waiting until we have our Journeys training to put anything up on the reading wall and the phonics wall gets built up as we learn, so I don't start the year off with much on there. 

The last major project I want to complete before school starts is sorting the math pages from our student workbooks and homework books. We never use the workbooks the way we get them, so we have the bindings cut off and them sort them so we have a class set of each page. Usually I have parent helpers do this, but we had boxes sitting around for SO long last year because it took a long time and I want all this stuff organized and put away right off the bat this year. I am not sure exactly when I will get this accomplished, but I want to make an effort. This year, we will also be sorting our pages by math strand so we can easily access pages that relate to whatever strand we are working on. I don't really feel like I can have a parent sort the pages like that because I need to think about it myself, so all the more reason to do it before school starts. 

I definitely feel like I could have stayed in my room for several more hours, but I wanted to come home and play with my baby girl. Hopefully I can get in there a few more times before we are officially back. 

Do you like organizing your classroom or do you feel like it's a chore? 

I heart organizing!

Weebly

Last year our Kindergarten program got infused with a technological blast because my team was selected to participate in the district's Digital Learning Collaborative. We are incredibly lucky to have iPads for all of our kiddos, which resulted in a lot of instructional revamping. I really wish I had posted more about teaching with iPads last year, but I think I was too engrossed in trying to figure everything out that I forgot to stop and take photos and create posts detailing our iPad adventures. (And, I was also figuring out how to do the whole working mama thing and writing my dissertation so blogging took a backseat...) This year I hope to do a lot more writing about what it looks like to have iPads in Kindergaren. I know there are other bloggers out there who focus exclusively on teaching with iPads, or even teaching with iPads specifically in Kindergarten, but my blog will always be a bit more eclectic because I like to remain open to talking about anything and everything having to do with teaching, learning, and my life. I would, however, like to make teaching with technology more prominent than it has been. Teaching with iPads is the biggest way that we have integrated technology into our program and our instruction, but I've also made some changes to other things based on what I've learned this past year through the DLC team. 

In the past, I used blogger for a classroom blog. I really like blogger as a platform, but when my district switched over to google, I had trouble moving my blog over to my new school account. What resulted was that I could make new posts, but I couldn't edit any of the pages I had linked to my tabs at the top. So, the tab that led to a meet the teacher page contained outdated information that I could no longer edit. I also had a page detailing classroom info such as birthday policy, homework routine etc, and although I had made changed to those procedures,  I couldn't change the descriptions on the blog. Now, I don't really think that my students' parents flock to my blog on the daily to get the 411 on our classroom activities, but I didn't like having outdated/incorrect information posted.

So, after hearing a lot about Weebly from various colleagues, I decided to give it a try. I created a new classroom website and I am really happy with how it's turning out. 

Using Weebly is really easy and very intuitive. You can add pages and then customize each page by simply dragging the elements from the tool bar on the left. 

You can also choose from a variety of templates or you can upgrade to Weebly Pro and customize even more (I am using the free version).

I remember really struggling to figure out how to add elements I wanted using Blogger. I had to google tutorials to add things like tabs and it was really time consuming, but Weebly automatically creates tabs at the top so you can have a variety of separate pages to provide information to parents. I have created a blog page where I will post on a weekly basis about classroom activities and there are icons on the top that allow me to easily share on facebook, twitter, and email. It's easy to add photo galleries, slideshows, and other images and that's awesome because photos mean more to parents than just reading about activities. I also have a page detailing our Kindergarten curriculum with links to the Common Core State Standards in each area. As the year goes on, I will also maintain a page with information about all of the apps that we are using so parents can download them at home as well. 

So far, I have invested very little time in building my site and I think it will be a great resource for parents. I am excited to show them at Back to School night and emphasize to them that this site is replacing classroom newsletters so they should check in often. 

If you're looking for a platform for a class website I highly recommend that you check out Weebly. 

Do you have a classroom website? 

Has email/tweeting/blogging replaced traditional newsletters?

Do you Dojo?

I've been hearing a lot about Class Dojo lately, so I decided to look into it and created an account for myself. For those of you who aren't familiar...

You can log in on a computer and see your class 

(Note: this is a sample class. I do not teach Matt Damon and Johnny Depp)

Or, you can use the Class Dojo app on your iPad or iPhone

From the data perspective, I think this looks like a great way to collect data on student behavior and have sufficient info readily available for report cards and conferences. 

However, I am not sure I really understand how this motivates kids and how functional it is to keep track of an entire class using this system. I thought I heard that the app makes different noises depending on whether you make a note of positive or negative behavior, but that's not happening when I use it on my phone. Maybe I need to change a setting or something...

Anyway, I have also run into this article on facebook a few times this week. It has got me thinking about the behavior management system I use and, honestly, has got me feeling a bit defensive due to all the educators out there arguing that a visible behavior management system (like the red, yellow, green stoplight one pictured in the article) is "publicly shaming" children. I do not at all feel that the system I use shames children or embarrasses them in front of their peers; yet, that article just makes me think because I would never want that to be the case and many educators are against such systems. 

Things that make you go hmmm....

So I looked into class Dojo as an alternative. If I managed this data on my iPad, it wouldn't be "out there" for all students to see. Yet, am I not supposed to let a student know when they are not behaving according to my expectations? Is that supposed to be a secret? If I make a verbal comment about who is getting a point or losing a point, then the kids are still aware of who is "good" and who is "not good." If I don't say anything and just plug it in, how exactly are kids getting specific feedback?

Can someone walk me through this please????

Do you Dojo?

What makes Class Dojo different from those others systems? 

Do you find it easy to manage? 

The system I currently use involves each child having three sticks that they keep/lose based on their behavior. At the beginning of the year sticks are replaced daily, then as they become competent with rules/procedures, the sticks are only replaced weekly (Once a stick is lost, it is out for the remainder of the week). Sticks are lost when students are not following expectations. Each students' sticks are in a little pocket so they can see how many they have. If all three sticks are lost, a student does not earn choice time on Friday. Instead of choice time, they sit with me and talk about why they lost sticks and I fill out a note to send home to parents that needs to be signed and returned. Students who have 1, 2, or 3 sticks on Friday get to have choice time (which lasts 15 minutes). Students who keep all 3 sticks for the whole week get a special certificate to acknowledge their good behavior on Friday and we clap for them.

Personally, I don't see anything horrible about this system. Yet, comments from other teachers on the stoplight system post made me feel uncomfortable. When teachers throw out words like "punitive behavior management" and "publicly shaming" to describe something that I am doing, I do not feel good about it. I don't agree; yet, these are knowledgable professionals who are finding huge fault with something that I am using. It's not personal, but it is. Is calling a child out for poor behavior truly "shaming" them? I don't want children to feel stress or embarrassment, but I do want them to know what is okay and what is not okay. 

Some things I am considering for this year:

• using numbers instead of names on the chart I have posted (easy)
• moving the chart closer to my desk so it is more private (easy)
• replacing lost sticks during the week for good behavior  (not sure how this would play out)
• using a new system altogether (maybe Dojo)

Please tell me your thoughts! 

I want my behavior management system to focus on the positive and I think I do that because kids are excited to keep their sticks and most kids keep their sticks most week. If a stick is lost, it comes with a reminder that whatever behavior that caused it is not okay. I'm not mean, I don't yell, and I certainly don't shame kids when they lose a stick. When three sticks are lost they don't play, but is this a consequence or punishment? What's the difference? Most of the time every child earns choice time. Most of the time, kids who lose a stick realize they don't like to lose sticks and make efforts to keep them by following expectations. When kids struggle with the system, I don't let them continuously fail, I provide them with something more tailored to their needs. 

Lots of questions in today's post because I really want your feedback and input! 

Organizing Classroom Books

This morning I took Baby Sneaker to my classroom to attempt some classroom library organizing.

Last year a good portion of my books were put away in my cabinets to make room on my shelves for my games and learning activities. I realized it was really tough to locate books when I wanted them and I decided to change things around this year. Because I share the prime real estate shelf space with my classroommate, I cannot keep all of my things easily accessible, but I do want to have a better system for organizing my books so that I can keep track of them more easily.

I've seen many ideas on Pinterest for how to organized books, but most often they are to organize the books in a way that makes them easily accessible for kids. I am not trying to covet my books and not let kids touch them, but I am keeping my books on a "teacher shelf" and only putting out a limited number at a time on my rain gutter shelves for kids to look at. In half day Kindergarten, our time is so scheduled, that the books I have are really for read alouds and instructional purposes and we don't do a reading workshop where kids can self select and read on their own. I am not planning to utilize baskets and labels like I've seen a lot of other teachers do, but I wanted a way to sort my books by time of year, theme, author, etc. with a way to clearly separate the sections.

So, I decided that rather than looking to how other teachers organize their classroom libraries, I really needed to look to the actual library. When Baby Sneaker and I went to storytime at our local library I liked how they separate their books by the first letter of the author's last name and they have dividers to indicate the letter for each section. I tried to using cardstock to make dividers and it looks okay, but I think they need to be laminated. They are too long as they are right now for me to laminate them with the pouches I bought, so I still need to figure out how to make them sturdier. I may try to cut them a bit shorter if it will still allow enough to stick out on the end.

My next step will be to print out labels and stick them on so that I can easily look through the dividers and locate the books I am looking for. The bottom shelf is kind of a journey through the school year.

Kindergarten/Back to School

Expectations/Behavior

Fall

October/Halloween

November/Thanksgiving

Winter/Snow

Gingerbread Stories

Christmas/Santa (don't get a lot of use out of those)

Groundhog's Day

Valentine's Day

Presidents/USA

100th Day of School

End of the Year

Some additional groups are:

Multicultural Stories

Individuality/Being Special

Colors

Math

Science

Then on the middle shelf I started grouping by favorite authors/characters

Pete the Cat

Froggy

Dr. Seuss

Berenstein Bears

Little Monster

Clifford

Mo Willems

I have a huge pile left that still needs to be sorted, but working with a 16-month old in tow is pretty difficult. I had this dream that maybe she would nap if I brought her blanket and her paci and of course Curious George, but she wanted nothing to do with that. 

While she naps at home, I'm going to work on my labels and then hopefully I can finish the rest on Friday since my in-laws will be visiting and they can stay at home with Baby Sneaks while she naps so I can have some really good work time by myself. 

I don't know why I am feeling this way, but I have this huge urge to organize everything. I have gone through almost all of the closets in my house and I want to do the same in my classroom--it's just harder to get time in there without my mini tornado that takes everything out while I am trying to make things neater. She can be a great helper at home, but there is way too much tempting stuff in the classroom for her to check out. 

How do you organize your classroom library?

 Do your students have access to all of your books or do you keep some in a location that is off limits for kids?

Experimenting

Let's talk baking.

When I was taking courses for my ESOL endorsement, I took a class about culture. One of our assignments was to bring in a food/dish representing our culture. One woman brought in a recipe for her grandmother's banana bread and I have since then never made my own mom's banana bread recipe because I really liked this classmate's grandma's recipe. I still have the handout she gave us with the recipe. At the top she wrote:

Every time I went to my grandma's house when I was a kid, she had warm banana bread waiting for me. I never knew if she did it just for me, or if she had always made it. It is a memory that I associate with all of our holidays, family dinners, camping trips etc. I remember making it with my grandma and even saving our yucky bananas to take to her house. This is something I make now when I want to think about things from my childhood and wallow in nostalgia (or whenever I have nasty bananas).

And that, my friends, is why I decided to make banana bread (well, muffins actually) tonight.

Nasty bananas.

When the peels start to appear more black than yellow you know you have a situation on your hands.

A situation that requires pulling out a recipe that is crusted with batter and the Kitchen Aid to get some bread or muffins started fast.

Usually I follow the exact recipe, but tonight I decided to experiment with some innovation.

The original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of sugar. Since I am making these for Baby Sneaker, I wanted to cut down on the amount of sugar, but also add some fat and calories because she is a tiny peanut that can stand to have some hearty grub.

So, I only used 1/2 cup of sugar and added 1/2 cup of full fat Greek yogurt in addition to about 1/2 cup of chunky peanut butter to the mix.

peanut butter and bananas ==> #winning!

My special version looks like this:

Ingredients:
3 or 4 overripe bananas ( I used 2.5 because that's all I had)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (I used full fat)
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1/4 lb (1 stick) butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Place the bananas and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and "whip the bejesus out of them" for about 2 or 3 minutes.

Add yogurt, peanut butter, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Whip well and scrape down the sides of the bowl before each addition. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda, and mix to combine. Pour into prepared muffin cups. Bake until golden brown and firm in the center.

My recipe yielded 15 muffins and I baked them for 20 minutes. I started with 15 minutes then continued for 3 more then a final 2 because I didn't want to overcook them.

yum!

Mr. Sneaker gave a thumbs up and asked for more, so that's a good sign, but the real test will be if Baby Sneaker likes it in the morning. 

I thought the batter tasted a bit salty (I used salted peanut butter) but the cooked muffin doesn't taste too salty. I do think they would be even better with the addition of chocolate chips, but I left those out since these are for Baby Sneaker and I was trying up the health factor and reduce the sugar. The look very plain, so chips would make them look a bit better too. But, the overall taste is pretty good. They are not as moist as the original recipe, but that means they are less sticky and that is not a bad thing considering sticky equates to messy little hands and face. 

Are you a by the book recipe follower or creative innovator when you bake/cook?

Do you have a favorite food memory?

800

Ok guys. This is monumental. This is my 800th post on Sneaker Teacher. 

Cue the party horns and confetti. 

Woo Hoo!

I wish I had a big announcement or a giveaway. 

But, I don't.

I feel like I need to say something really important.

 But, I really just want to share the photos of what I accomplished in my room today....

It's far from done, but I only had 3 hours to work before I had to go to the dentist, so I did as much as I could with my classroommate. It doesn't look like much, but putting up all that paper takes time...

I was disappointed to realize that the borders I bought were in my car, which Mr. Sneaker took today because it has our only carseat and he drops Baby Sneaker off at daycare. So although we put up fresh paper for our display boards, they are lacking fun borders to make them look complete. 

oops.

 This will be the space where I gather with the kiddos every morning to review our letter of the week, words of the week, and to do some quick math practice. I moved my math wall to a new location this year so I could have separate walls for phonics and for journeys.

Fortunately this wall stayed in really good shape last year, so I actually didn't have to do anything to it. I am not sure if those things will all stay up against that wall, but we want to have a space for our "throne" that allows us to access/reference either of the display walls. I have not yet put up anything on this wall which will be dedicated to our reading program. The program comes with large Focus Wall posters for each lesson (so a poster that gets switched out each week) and we want to add something cute to decorate it that goes with the theme of journeys (maybe a hot air balloon?)

This will be our phonics wall which will be home to our alphabet, our letter cards that we add as we complete each sound lesson, and our word wall. I plan to staple the words below the picture cards as we introduce them. We decided to leave some open space at the top for photos or student work that we can hang throughout the year. And, you might notice that my alphabet is really low. I've never had it that low before, but I think that it's easier for the kids to see and reference since they are small and sitting down on the carpet. Plus, then I can add the letter cards on top and the words below. If I want them utilizing the word wall, then I figure it should be more on eye level. I feel like I am breaking some rule by having it that low, but that's what we decided we want to try this year. 

All of these areas will look better once they are actually completed and I will post more pictures then. The biggest change is that my classroommate and I want to save more space for student work instead of having all the spaces covered and decorated right off the bat. I want the visuals to be meaningful, which means things will be added as we go. We also want to preserve space to put up more photos of students. 

I'm really trying to hold back and not put everything out in its place now because I want to avoid having students and siblings touching everything when they come to drop supplies off the week before school. I love getting everything all set, but I just need to think about all those untrained kids grabbing at everything and I remember that I can do all that in good time. 

I really wish I could have stayed all day. I love setting up my room and getting everything organized. I need time to attack my desk, file cabinet, and shelves. 

I need to seriously organize my books. I should check out Pinterest for some ideas on organizing books. ooh that sounds fun!

When I picked Baby Sneaker up from daycare she was sleeping on a little cot with all the big kids instead of in a crib like she did last year. When did my baby get so big?

She was wiped out after spending time with her friends today.

I'm going back in tomorrow to chat with the new teacher on our team. I don't know if I will be able to get much done because Baby Sneaker is coming with me (yes, now I have a grabby child of my own who just might wreak havoc in my classroom), but hopefully I can at least staple the borders up!

Do you decorate everything before school starts or add as the year progresses?

Do you cover every square inch of space or use your real estate selectively?

TPT Treasures

I spent a lot of time laminating today in preparation for spending some time setting up my classroom tomorrow, so I thought I would share some of the TPT treasures that I am loving right now. Most of them are for math, so I also spent some time organizing math files so that I can have my loot organized as I go through the year. 

So, first I'll show you what I got. 

Then I'll tell you what I plan to do with it and how I'm organizing it. 

Sounds like fun, right?

Common Core {Kindergarten Math Vocab list & cards}

This packet contains lots of math vocabulary cards with images to help illustrate the definition. Math vocabulary is really important so these will help me stay accountable for using "math words" and will give the kiddos a good picture representing what I am talking about. 

Math 3D Shape {Mini Posters} for the Primary Classroom

My kiddos always have a tough time learning the names of the 3-D shapes so I am trying really hard to gather resources with good images to show 3-D shapes (in addition, of course, to having actual models to show the kids). These posters are great for showing 3-D shapes and a real life example. 

 Solving Math Problems {Strategy Posters for Addition} Common Core

I LOVE these posters that provide visuals for different ways to solve math problems. The images are really cute and I think this will be a great addition to all the story problem work we have to do.

"Owl" About Numbers {Math Posters 1-10} Kindergarten Common Core

We have a "number parade" that goes along with our math program to reinforce number order 1-10, but I love how these number cards show the various representations of each number. Each card shows the numeral, number word, dots on a 10-frame, tally marks, and how the number looks in dice dots. I think this will help provide differentiation for kids who know their numbers right off the bat because I can have them show me the numbers in the variety of ways these cards model. 

Shape Friends {Posters and Poems}

I have been really surprised by how difficult it is for some kiddos to learn the names of basic shapes. This packet includes a variety of posters in both black and white and color that show 2-D shapes. There are plain shapes, shapes with faces, and shape poems. I plan to do a lot of shape review so I'm excited to have additional visuals for my kiddos. 

Shout to Cheryl at Primary Graffiti who made these!

Then a few things for Reading & Writing...

Writers Workshop POSTER: Adding DETAILS using FEELING WORDS.

I'm very excited about this poster visual because as part of narrative writing, the kiddos have to express how they felt about what they did. I get a lot of "I felt good" or "I felt happy," so this poster will give a few more examples of feelings that we can talk about and hopefully include in journal writing. 

Journeys Through the Year...Kindergarten Edition

This was a bit of a splurge at $25.00, but I know that quite a bit of work went into making this. I am planning to have a wall dedicated to our new reading program, which is Journeys. This collection focuses on what should go on the word wall and includes all of the essential questions, comprehension strands, phonics we focus on and everything is labeled with the particular lessons it goes with. It also has binder covers so that all the materials can be organized into binders for each unit. Great stuff. The cards might be a bit small, yet I'll take it considering it's all ready to go! 

Now for my plans...

My plan is to create a much better math wall than I have had in the past. I am moving the math wall to a different area in the room and plan to make it a lot more interactive that it has been in the past. I would like to make the calendar and the 120 chart staple items that remain all year, but also add a space at the top where I change out the posters and cards depending on what we are studying. I had shapes posted all year last year, but some kids still had trouble because the poster just stayed on the wall and we didn't really interact with it. I want to use the math wall as part of a new morning review so that we can look at and talk about vocabulary every day. 

I have different things to post for each of the CCSS strands, so I will change the top section of the math board at the beginning of each unit. Once a unit is over, the visuals I used will then move over to the side of the board specifically for reviewing concepts. I hope this will be a great way to learn the current content better and continuously review as we go. 

I decided that in order to keep track of all the things I got and when I want to use them I should make file folders for each CCSS strand. That way at the beginning of each unit I can locate what I purchased and put it to use. 

 Measurement & Data

 Counting & Cardinality

 Geometry

Numbers & Operations in Base Ten 

Operations & Algebraic Thinking

I'm excited to get into my room tomorrow with my classroommate and start getting some of these instructional boards ready. We only have a few hours together because I have a dentist appointment at noon, but we'll try and get as much done as we can. 

I think setting up my room in preparation for the school year is one of my favorite parts of the school year. But this year, I swear that I will remember it's not necessary to put everything out before we have our supply drop because there will always be kids who start playing with anything and everything they can get their hands on and who will ring my bell and that always drives me nuts!