Super creative ideas from a great blog

The Inspired Apple: Apple Activities for Spelling and Reading.

I love how Abby has amazing ideas that keep the kids engaged, but also learning. I need to do more of this. Especially since one of my friends has a VERY hard time sitting for more than 3 seconds (literally). My principal came in to watch him and told me to check in with him every three minutes. Um, how can I do that?!

Reading Joy

After 18 school days of practicing "Read to Self" (see The Daily Five), my first grade friends are finally getting it. We practice building stamina every day right after snack. As they finish snack, they get their "book" bags which have at least three books in them. One of these three books is one where they can read the words (usually from our guided reading time), one is one where they can read the pictures, and the last is one they have heard many times and can retell the story. They must sit quietly, stay in one place, and read the. whole. time. It has been HARD to get them to understand that I mean business when it comes to reading. I believe that the only way to become a better reader is to read. Today we read for nearly 17 minutes! This is amazing. I was able to work with two reading groups and watch how the Read to Self people behaved.

The piece de resistance was when we discussed what sang to our heart during the day and at least 5 friends said, "read to self" time. Hallelujah!

Perfectionism, or lack thereof

I love what I do and I'm pretty good at it which makes me like it more. I am, though, not a perfectionist. I look over other teacher blogs and see how amazing their rooms look. Everything is color-coded and themed. I start out to do these things and then quickly get bored of making them perfect. I work more on what I am teaching and how the kids are feeling than on the look of my room. I like it to be neat and orderly, but it is by no means SPECTACULAR. That said, I think it a place that children like coming to and where they feel pretty okay with spending more than 6 hours a day/30 hours a week.

But, wow, look at some of these other classrooms. I mean really, someone should start a non-profit where they come into people's classrooms and spice them up. I don't have the inclination, but I love the idea.

Classroom photos around the country

Finding the Positives in Everyone

There is something to love about every child I see and they all should have a second chance to show me that they can learn.  I wonder if the kids know that I see that in them. I have a couple little ones who challenge my patience regularly. I want to be the teacher who accepts the challenge and shows them that there is always an opportunity to turn everything into a learning session. You see, that's what they are there for...to learn.  If they see I know that, they may start to actually learn that I don't like it when they sharpen the pencil to a nub instead of working. They might actually take the sharpened pencil I gave them and use that today. Right? Right?!

Instead, I say, "Why? Why? Why?!" STOP.  Though I want them to learn about odd numbers and tally marks during the first grade, I also want this year to be the one where every child understands that the second opportunity is a way to feel great about yourself. If that happens, I will have taught them more than I thought possible.

Assessments

I have been struggling with how to assess my kids in math and literacy without taking hours and hours. In addition, I wanted to be sure my kids didn't need me too much. See the problem? Everything my district says to give the kids, required me to explain each question a million times. The kids were too tired and we had to take a break after about 8 questions. I found a great pre-assessment in our Calendar Math program. The answers were on the student paper, but the questions were asked out loud. This eliminated needless words that most kids couldn't read. We got through 20 questions in about 20 minutes! It was fantastic. I can't wait to review them this weekend and organize my math centers around what they need to learn. Phew!

As for literacy, I found an awesome assessment over at the A Teeny Tiny Teacher blog. It worked so well, I may adapt it for other writing assignments. It showed me what each student knows about matching letters to sounds and about rules for writing. I have been also doing running records and the other usual stuff. I am finally getting to a place where I am teaching and assessing regularly instead of running around like the proverbial chicken.

Today was better

I need to take pics and upload them. My room is flowing so much better. We practiced "Class?!" "Yes!" 100 times today. If this means nothing to you...go here...http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/ or just go on utube and search for whole brain teaching. It's amazing. It works. You give the kids plenty of time to talk and share things with each other instead of shutting them up. They LOVE it. But, it takes lots and lots of practice. So, I gave them that and it worked.

I also spent hours last weekend planning out every detail of this week and that paid off as well. It was the first time I felt like I could focus on the kids and how each one was learning instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Note to self: plan and reap the reward.

Keeping It Simple

If there is one thing I've learned in the two weeks I've been teaching First Grade, it's that I should keep everything simple all. the. time. There are so many amazing ideas out there in teacher blog world, but I can't incorporate most of them right now because first I need to figure out what the bare bones of my classroom must haves will be.

1) I really want more words on my walls.
2) I want all procedures to have written directions.
3) I want the day to flow obviously. In that I want the kids to know what to expect next because it ALWAYS happens every day.
4) I want the books to be more organized.
5) I want my lesson plans to be completed for the entire week every Sunday night including all copies that must be made.

That's it. I want to start there. A wise Kindergarten teacher told me to pick one thing at a time to work on. I am going to do these five only because they all fall under, keeping it simple. Feel free to share your simple ideas. I know there are a lot of cool ones, just make sure they are simple!!

I won something!

I entered a contest to win an apple math unit on Teaching Happily Ever After and I won! I can't wait to check it out. I am starting to feel more comfortable about what I want my room to be this year. I have to say that one of my big issues is having an Ed Tech in the room all day long. I really like her as a person, but we are so different when it comes to behavior expectations. I like kids to be themselves and she wants them to fall in line (if you will). This is so hard!

Feeling inadequate

I am feeling inadequate today. I can't figure out how to make my blog look prettier. I can't figure out how to make pictures appear in anything other than a straight line.

I feel like I should be more planned for the school year. The first year of anything is so hard. You don't really know what to expect. It makes me realize how hard being a child is. Every year is a first year like that. First Kindergarten year, First First Grade year, etc. They never get a "re-do". We should remember this. It must feel confusing and somewhat frustrating.

I am going to set some goals as a teacher. I think I'll post them and revisit them regularly to see how I'm doing. I want to make them SMART goals so that they are concrete and achievable. Stay tuned...

check out one of my favorite blogs

Please check out A Teeny Tiny Teacher because she's great. She's funny and makes you feel like you aren't the only crazy teacher out there.