Star Student

I've been so busy getting ready for the BIG DAY!! 3 more weeks and I'm married and on my honeymoon. I'm all kinds of excited :) In between appointments and *drama* I've been working on changing how I do Star Student. Next year I'm going to have a class full of BOYS... boys who are competitive... so I've been thinking about how I can really establish community in my classroom and have them at least be competitive in a *good* way. Each week my school does Star Student on Fridays and the Star Student in chosen based on our value of the month (respect, trust, caring, responsibility, love, faith, etc.). Normally the teacher chooses the Star Student but this year I want to involve the students. I made this cute little star box. I got the box at Hobby Lobby for $2.99 and painted it and added some *not too girly pizazz*.

I cut a slit in the middle  because I'm going to have my kiddos fill these out when they catch a classmate showing the value of the month. At the end of the week I'll read and share some of the nice things that were said and use these as a factor when choosing a Star Student. The Star Student gets a certificate (Target dollar spot) and takes home the class "activity bag" for the week. The activity bag has things like books, games, play-doh, etc. So it would be like "Johnny showed trust when he let me play with his favorite toy at recess." Thoughts? What do you do for Star Student?

Don't forget you can find me on Facebook!

Meet Miss Tattle

Miss Tattle entered my classroom a few weeks ago when my kids were just getting so nitpicky with each other. It is a clear Chinese container painted black and decorated with yarn and ribbon. The top has a slit. 

Here is how she works: 

We spent about a week talking about what a bully is and ways to prevent being bullies and being bullied. We also discussed the differences between a tattle and something serious. So now when Jenny sticks her tongue out at Mary she can write to Miss. Tattle and not bother me with it. We, of course, spent a lot of time role playing using an "I message" and dealing with someone who does something mean. I keep a stack of scrap paper near Miss. Tattle and when the kids feel like they just NEED to tell someone that "Bobby said he won't invite me to his birthday party" they can write to Miss. Tattle. I do read them at the end of the day and not only are they hysterical, they truly are silly tattles so I'm glad I am not being interrupted anymore because Alex took 2 pencils when he was only supposed to take 1. Do you do anything like this in your classroom? How did it work for you?

BEST resource EVER!

Is this not the most amazing resource ever?! I posted it on What the Teacher Wants blog last night, but figured I would post it on my blog too. It's made planning for computer and extending my lessons MUCH easier. Thank to to the creator :)

P.S. I have some pretty amazing water cycle pictures coming soon! My finance and I are building an interactive bulletin board as I type (well I'm blogging and he's creating!). His Law School is on break right now, so why not put his creativity to work ;)

Speller's Choice

Homework can be a nightmare when you're photocopying and trying to find worksheets constantly. On Thursday nights I assign Speller's Choice homework. My students have a spelling notebook in their BEE binder along with a clear sleeve. Each month I change out the spelling activities so it's new and fun (activities will repeat but not in consecutive months). Activities are differentiated to accomodate a variety of learning needs. This has made homework so much easier for me :) You can get it here if you're interested. The document is in Word so you can change the directions or activities as needed. I hope it makes your homework management as easy as it's made mine!

Math Centers

I've been reading Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations book online for free. It inspired me to change my math routine. My school uses Saxon and can be very mundane at times. I also feel like it doesn't always meet the needs of my students. I decided that I needed to break my class in half. While I'm doing the Saxon lesson with group A, group B is working on a center then I flip and work with group B. I have a very small class so this works. 


I have a very small room and am out of "tub" space, so bought gift bags at the Dollar Tree (2/$1) and sponge painted them. I modeled and practiced with the kids how to treat the bags and so far there haven't been any problems. 


Again, Debbie Diller has amazingly easy ways to make math fun. Here is what are currently in my centers: 
Bag #1- Valentine's Bump
Bag #2- Heart Grid Game
Bag #3- Valentine's Fractions
Bag #4- Pattern Block Mat
Bag #5- War with a twist. Take out the face cards in a deck of cards and add a spinner or die. The students flip a card like they're playing War and then either roll the die or spin the spinner and add that number to their card. The player with the higher sum takes the cards. 
Bag #6- Measuring mice tails (see photo below). The picture below is from when I taught kindergarten last year, so instead of having the kids use unifix cubes, my second graders use rulers and measure the tails to the nearest inch. 

This is how I'm managing my math centers. I laminated it and write "Ms. D" if they're working with me that round or the center bag number that I want them to work on. The nice thing about many of Debbie Diller's center ideas is that you can easily make them more challenging. 

What are currently in your math centers? 

Exit Slips

A couple days a week I have my students fill out exit slips at the end of the day. I usually ask something quick to assess their learning. Sometimes I ask a fact question, sometimes a math problem, occasionally vocabulary. Usually I ask something that requires a short response, however, I created slightly larger tickets for when their response requires a sentence or two. I have the students write their name on the back and give it to me before they go home for the day. It really helps me see who "gets" something and who doesn't. 


On a side note, I'm all the sudden having trouble embedding a google document. What steps do you take to embed? I used to just see an "embed" link but couldn't for the life of me find it on this document!! Help, anyone? :)

Sign in the Classroom

3 weeks ago I tried something new in my classroom and I am not the least disappointed. I decided to try a little sign and not only does it make my life easier but the kids LOVE it. These are the signs we use and the cards are posted in my classroom as reminders. 

 The first sign is the bathroom sign. Instead of being interrupted during my lessons or during small groups, the students make the bathroom sign and I either nod yes or no. My students know they can only go during instructional time if it's an emergency. 

Warning: there will be a lot of "emergencies" the first week of implementation because they all want to try it.

The second sign is "L" for whole body listening. We practice a lot what whole body listening looks like and sounds like. When I give the sign, the students immediately stop talking, look at me (or the speaker), and know I mean business. I love the fact that I don't have to sound like a nag. I give the symbol and it doesn't require me to open my mouth. The students know that they can tap the person next to them and give them the symbol if they are not paying attention when I'm trying to give them the "L" sign. 

I have a lot of story tellers this year. I love discussion and participation from my students but sometimes we just need to get down to business. When my students raise their hands they will either show an "I" sign for "I have a question," an "A" sign for "I have an answer," or a "C" sign for "I have a comment." I also like when I see the "comment hands" because I have a few that will go completely off topic and I can say "I'd love to hear your comment but does it have to do with the story I'm reading?" The kids absolutely love doing the signs too. I'm on week 3 and the sign has become automatic for some, but a few still need the reminder.

I use the "F" sign to remind students to remain on task. If I see that they are in "la la land" or are goofing around instead of yelling across the room I just give them the "stay on task" symbol. The students will give each other this symbol if they're being distracted while working too. I was a little unsure about implementing sign at first, but I don't regret it at all!
Here are the cards for display. 

Welcome to Second Grade!

Clip chart

I use the clip chart management system in my class. I like that it is a positive reinforcer and encourages and rewards my students that are always on task, which then motivates the students who are not quite always on task. Instead of writing the student's name on the clothespin I assigned them each a number. I do this so there is some confidentiality. The students will memorize each other's numbers but outside visitors (parents, teachers, other students) won't necessarily know who's clothespin belongs to whom.The students keep the clip chart daily report sheet in their BEE binder.There is a spot for them to write homework, teacher to make comments, and parents to respond or write comments. 

Job chart

Since community helpers is a big 2nd grade social studies unit, I decided to model my job chart after that. I only made 7 community helpers but use them if you would like. I'll be creating more next year with a larger class. The heads are attached with velcro as we change jobs each week.

Organization

This is how I organize most of my math manipulatives. It is 4 shoe organizers stacked on top of each other. I think I originally got them at Walmart. The bins with the blue lids are word work bins labeled 1, 2, and 3. They all contain the same items and are used during Daily 5's word work choice. They contain: colored pencils, markers, alphabet stamps ($1.00 at Target in the back to school bins), magnetic letters, clothespin letters, and dry erase crayons. 

Author of the month

Each month I focus on a specific author. I write the author of the month on this laminated file. As we learn about more authors, we compare/contrast writing styles. The students LOVE finding out who the author is each month. By the end of the month the students are talking about the author like they're best friends. It's great! 

  CAFE board

I implemented Daily 5 and CAFE this year which is off to a great start!

Choices
To begin reading, the students sit on the carpet and we spend the first 5 minutes making our reading block choices. This sheet is laminated (you might have to edit/play with the text since the font I used is a downloaded font). I, of course, have guidelines regarding their choices. 

 Habitats

While learning about habitats, we created a fresh water habitat facts bulletin board. The students colored and created pond plants and animals and wrote facts on lily pads. 

  BEE binders

Here is a look inside the BEE binder. This is my first year using this organization system and I think next year I want to use a smaller binder (1inch) and only keep their reading journals in it. 

 My library area

Each bin has a designated number and the back of each book is numbered. Let me tell you, this has made my life so much easier. I rarely have books out of place now. You can't really see it, but on top of my mailboxes I have a "book doctor." This avoids the emergency interruptions during small group instruction to tell me a book has a rip. The students put a sticky note on the page that is ripped then they drop it into the "book doctor" bin. Ahhh love it!
The book shelves are plastic storage shelves but instead of doing them 4 tall, I made them 2 tall and got two sets out of them. Perfect and affordable! 

 Organization

My students' mailboxes are on the left (very small class this year). The middle section stores birthday pencils and certificates, birthday certificates, absentee forms, and CAFE materials. The section on the right houses a lot of my writing supplies: construction paper, white paper, lined paper, stationery, fancy paper, envelopes, and writing prompts and topics that I change out monthly. 

Calendar 

I made pattern calendar pieces for each month of the year with a variety of difficulties. My students love trying to guess what the pattern will be.

Math/calendar area

 The bags are for the hundred day count. Each day the students put a base ten block into the "ones" when they reach ten they transfer a base ten tens stick into the "tens" bag. When the "tens" bag reaches 100 then the students will transfer a base ten hundreds block into the "hundreds" bag. 

Money

I had several questions about my magnetic pig, so let me explain it in detail. First of all, this was a trial and error project and it's finally working out :) I bought a three piece cookie sheet set. I used the largest of the 3. The other 2 sheets along with a couple other sets are used in my word work station for magnetic letters. I'm not very artistic so normally my fiancé does anything requiring skill for me. He's in law school, so sometimes I'm just stuck doing things on my own... like the pig. That's when I rely on google. I printed this pig template, cut it out, and traced it in pencil on the cookie sheet. I painted the pig using pink acrylic paint. It will take 2-3 coats and you must let each coat dry completely before applying a new one. After the last coat dries you MUST spray it with acrylic spray (can be purchased at any craft store) or the magnets will peel the paint. I have 4 quarters, 10 dimes, 10 nickels, and 10 pennies on the magnet board. The first trial I used the magnetic strips with the sticky back, but the magnets were not heavy enough and the kids would constantly knock them off. I replaced those magnets with disc magnets which are in the school supply section of Walmart and are about 6.00 for a pack of 50, I think.. I couldn't find them online. I used hot glue to attach them to the magnet. I've had no problems since I changed magnets. To attach the heavy cookie sheet to the wall, or in my case the door, I used picture frame velcro grips. They're fantastic! And supposedly, they're supposed to remove easily from the wall, but there hasn't been a need for me to remove them. Lastly, I cut, laminated, and hot glued this tag  onto the magnet board. My school uses Saxon math, so I write the money problem of the day on it and my math leader puts the correct number of coins on the pink pig.  

Writing celebration

We created t-shirts to celebrate our first published writing piece. The kids decorated the front with their name and year. For the back, I scanned each student's published writing piece and printed onto iron transfers. This was A LOT of work.. I'm not going to lie, but worth it ;)