Our Library Mouse

It has been such a great start to the year in our library!  Certainly part of my confidence and optimism is due to the fact that it's my second year in the library...but that's not all. I think some of the success goes to this little guy...

What is a mouse doing in a library?  Great question!

A couple of days before school started, I was straightening books in the 800s (Literature) section of the library. A title caught my eye...What Writers Do. I started thinking about what a great theme that would be for our year -- exploring books through the lens of what the authors did to create the literature and text.

Imagine the possibilities!

That led to my thinking about the book Library Mouse, by Daniel Kirk. It's a picture book of a mouse who lives in the library and begins writing his own books. Eventually, he inspires the kids to begin writing and to see themselves as authors.

Well, you can imagine what happened next...I jumped in my car and zoomed over to the pet store to find our own library mouse.

Once school started, I began introducing the theme and the mouse to our students. As you can guess, they were enthralled. I read mouse picture books (If You Take a Mouse to School, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Library Mouse) to our K-2 students, and had our 3r-5th graders vote on read-alouds featuring a mouse as the main character. The Tale of Desperaux, The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle were the clear favorites.

I developed resources around the mouse theme, such as a library introduction unit for our K-2 students. Mouse theme signs and posters decorate the library this year.

A Mouse at the Library

I had the kids vote on a name for the mouse. First, each student submitted a potential name. Then, with the help of my library volunteers, we narrowed 600 names down to eleven. Then I had each student vote. At the end of the week, the students had selected "Nibbles" as our library mouse's name.

In my next post, I'll tell you about how we are exploring the theme of what writers do. I am so excited to share what the kids are doing!

Priority #1 for Back to School -- Establish Classroom Routines

It's that time of year. The planning. The cutting. The laminating. The stacks of copied printables (worksheets) waiting to be sorted. The joys of Back to School!

For me, part of the fun of teaching is getting to recreate my classroom every year. What theme shall it be? Ocean, rainforest, The Wild West? The options are limitless. I get all caught up in the anticipation!

And then, I remember... I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again. It's just so stinkin' awful, it STILL makes me sick to my stomach, some twenty-odd years later.

My very first day of school as a brand-new teacher was a disaster. (O.K., so the whole experience was a disaster, but that's another story). I was incredibly anxious about setting up a thematic classroom. I was surrounded by amazing classrooms that had decor based on themes. (This was well before the days of Pinterest -- imagine how I would have done with that!)

One teacher had this elaborate teamwork theme based on how birds work together to fly in a V pattern, each taking a turn in the front. Wow. Seriously impressive.

I had no elaborate theme in mind, but a friend suggested I think about trees. They develop a network of support under the soil with their root systems. Perfect, especially since we were in Washington state. I constructed this amazing tree in the middle of my room. It was going to be a part of my discipline plan. (I think the idea was that the kids would each get a leaf to add to the tree when they had done something good -- man, what a lot of WORK!)

I spent weeks cutting out leaves, and thinking about the community I would build. I planned the first day to the minute, and designed amazing, engaging "get to know" activities.

Here's what I didn't do -- I didn't think about the logistics of the first day. I didn't know about the importance of establishing routines.  Lunch and recess were a disaster. (Duty? What's that?) Bathrooms? (Again?!?!)

The time came for the kids to leave. The bell rang. I opened the door. They left. End of a very long day. I went home and collapsed.  That night, the principal called me. He wanted to know how "William" had gotten home. I had no idea. I had opened the door -- he left. Well, it turned out that William was new to the area, and didn't know what bus to take. He hadn't made it home.

You can imagine how frantic I was. I had lost a child. On my very first day.

Fortunately, William showed up at home. The poor kid had walked.

I learned an incredibly important lesson that day. It's not about who has the cutest classroom. It's not about developing engaging lessons that will inspire the kids. It's not even about getting all the mandated assessments done.

The most important thing in the first weeks of school is about establishing routines. It's about what the kids will do when they walk through the door. It's about teaching them what your expectations are and giving them the tools to manage themselves.  It's about knowing how each child will get home.

Over the years, I've developed classroom resources that helped me to help the students manage the classroom. It got to the point, even in first grade, that I didn't have to do a whole lot of classroom management, because the kids handled it.  From taking attendance (clip charts) to assigning classroom jobs (job charts), the kids knew exactly what they need to do. And they did it.

I still love themes, and over the years, I've developed classroom management tools in lots of different themes. Here are a few examples.  Be patient with me...I'm working on making more editable, so you can customize them for your own classroom. In the meantime, you can find the entire at Tools for Classroom Management (Decor with a Purpose). If you see something you can use, but would like it in a different them, let me know!

 

Happy Back to School, 2016!

Back to School! (Scissors, Glue, and Assessment, Too!)

There is nothing like the feeling of back-to-school. Teachers, students and parents are all anxious to meet each other, and full of wonder and excitement for the new year!  I have nine siblings in my group this year! I held some of these little ones when they were newborns!  What an honor and a privilege it is to welcome them into my class as first graders.

We sure have had a busy couple of weeks!  I have two main goals during the first weeks of school:

1) Establish classroom routines and expectations.
2) Get to know my students' personalities and assess their strengths and needs.

To accomplish these goals, I use some key classroom resources.

Scissors, Glue, and All About You!

I love this new cut and glue, interactive, "All About Me" Book.  My students have been busy cutting, gluing and following directions to create their own books to share with each other and then with their families. What a great way to get to know each other!

First, the children cut out letter cards and glued them onto foldable flaps to to create a name page...

(student name blurred)

Then, they made an adorable "This is Me" page with a cut-out paper doll. They designed their own clothing, added hair, and drew a face. They followed directions to make a pocket envelope.

They made height and birthday pages...

...and address and phone number pages!

And a page with all of their favorite things!

Finally, they introduced their "family tree".

Of course, the whole time the students were working on their pages, I was informally assessing their ability to follow directions, cut, color, use glue, and write.  The kids loved it, and I got so much great information about them!  

If you think this would be a valuable resource in your classroom, hop on over to my TpT store. Scissors, Glue and All About You is available for $4.  Photographic directions are provided so you know exactly how to make each page.

Assessment Journal

Once I got my kiddos started on each page, I pulled them back one at a time to assess their academic skills.  I used pages out of my 1st Grade Assessment Journal to gather data on each student's math, letter and sound knowledge, sight word identification, and writing skills.  The assessments are aligned with common core standards, and give me a really good idea of baseline skills.

I will continue to assess students throughout the year, creating an informative binder of data to share with students' families during conferences.

Here are a few sample pages and some pages showing how I use them with students.

1st Grade Assessment Journal is available on TpT for $10.

I'd love to hear your strategies for getting through the first few weeks of school!  Share some of your ideas below!

I Wish I Had Known! (Student Transportation on the First Day)

Confession time...My first day of my first year of teaching was an absolute nightmare.  (Actually, the whole experience was a nightmare, but we'll save that sad story for another time).  I was singularly focused on creating a great impression that would set the tone for the rest of the year. I made a critical error. I didn't even think about how my 3rd graders were getting home. I guess I sort of assumed they'd know, though honestly, it didn't even cross my mind.

You can imagine what happened.  One of the kids did NOT know how to get home and got lost.  The principal called me well past 6:00 pm, and asked me if I had put the boy on the bus.  Uhhhh....no.  Was I supposed to do that??  Apparently, the family was new to the area, and the little guy had no idea how to get home, so he just set off walking.  It all ended well -- his parents found him.  But, I tell you, that was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.  23 years later, the memory still makes me squirm.

Now I know that I have to find out how my kiddos are getting home before school even starts! At "Meet the Teacher" night, I put out a survey question board, and before they leave, parents and students have to answer "How Are You Getting Home on the First Day of School?" Occasionally, a parent will tell me that they don't know which bus their child rides. I direct them to the office so they can get that figured out.

On the first day of school, I write each child's transportation mode on their name tags so I can sort them into groups quickly and easily. I also use this transportation display. I keep it up for several weeks -- at least until we ALL know how the kids are getting home!

The transportation display is available on my TpT store for $2 in several designs. I sure hope they keep another child from getting lost on that first day of school (and keep another teacher from going to bed in tears on the first day of school!)

"Ribbons and Stripes" Theme

Chevron Theme

Apple Theme

Chalkboard Theme

Learning School Rules with David! and My Mouth is a Volcano!

In addition to learning all about my new kiddos, our first week focuses on setting up our classroom behavior guidelines and reviewing school rules.

• I launch the school rules discussion by reading the David books, by David Shannon. You know these...kids LOVE No, David!, David Goes to School and others.  
• Angie Neal at Fall Into First  has an awesome craftivity to go with this David Goes to School. The results are hilarious, and they give me a quick preview of my kids' abilities for following directions, fine motor skills, spatial reasoning, and writing.

• Next up is a series of discussions to set up our classroom guidelines. This year, thanks to some awesome bloggers, I found a series of books that I'm using. I'll be sharing my thoughts on how things went with these books in the coming weeks.
• First up...My Mouth Is a Volcano by Julia Cook. This one is about a kiddo who's mouth keeps "erupting."  The focus of the story is how it feels to be interrupted, and how to keep yourself from interrupting during conversations. Perfect for 1st grade!  
• I found related activities at Teachers Pay Teachers. "teach4real" offers a set of writing activities that were a great follow-up to the book.

I'm off to school! Have a great day!

Back to School FUN with Chrysanthemum!

I have to say, I LOVE my class! Such a bunch of cuties!

The first week is always such jumble of excitement, nerves and anticipation -- and that's just for me! I can only imagine how my kiddos and their parents feel knowing that they are headed off to start a new year.

I like to open the year with a few activities to get us focused on learning about each other. Here are some of the things we did on the first day of school!

Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes

If you haven't read this picture book, find a copy!  It has a great message about learning to embrace our individuality. Love it!

I read it to my kids on the first day of school, and talk about how Chrysanthemum felt when she was teased for having a unique name. Of course, that leads to all sorts of discussions about bullying, being kind, etc.

I found a great suggestion a few years ago for a lesson that incorporates retelling the events of the story and brings in the theme of treating each other with kindness.

• Prior to the lesson, I draw a poster size version of the main character. 
• After reading the story, I have the kids retell it to me. 
• As they retell, I crumple the poster (the kids are horrified) each time they mention teasing. 
• When they get to the part about the kids saying nice things to her, I try to smooth it out -- of course that doesn't work, and I'm left with with a wrinkled, torn mess. 
• That leads to a discussion about how cruel words don't just go away with "I'm sorry." They leave a lasting mark. 
• I post the wrinkled picture in my classroom as a reminder to be kind.

I follow up this lesson with name games. So much fun, and it sure helps this teacher to learn names!

• Matching names to photos. We add these to the word wall.
• Name puzzles 
• I scramble the letters of their names. They cut out the letters and put them in order.
• Using the same letters, they make new words out of their name letters.
• Decorating name tags (written on large pieces of tag board) with beads, sequins, etc. Later in the week, they make face plates (with yarn for the hair, scraps of material for the lips, etc.). We match the name tags and face plates.
• Name Graphs - the kids participate in answering questions such as, 
• How many letters are in your name?
• How many syllables are in your name?
• How many vowels are in your name?

Finally, one of my favorite activities of the week is learning the Name Stories of my kids.

• I send home a letter to parents asking them to share the story of their children's name (how did they choose the name, why is it perfect for the child). 
• We spend the week reading their name stories -- the kids just beam when they hear their name story.  

Resources:
There are some great resources to go along with Chrysanthemum.

• There's a great story mapping sheet from "travel teach and love" on Teachers Pay Teachers. 
• Amanda Peavy offers Chrysanthemum Name Activities, also on Teachers Pay Teachers. 
• Kelly Hallahan has Name Activity to download.  
• Of course, I love Kevin Henkes' website.  He offers a host of connected activities to go along with many of his his books.

Have fun and Happy Teaching!

Woo-Hoo! I love Back-to School!

Does anybody else get more excited about Back-to-School than say...Christmas?  I love Back-to-School! It's like we're wiping last year's slate clean and get to start fresh.  (Not that I WANT to wipe last year's slate clean -- I had an awesome class!)

My classroom is close to being set up, and I've been getting geared up for implementing Common Core in my room. Today we're going to take a close look at the Backward Design Process in developing CCSS lessons.  A bunch of us worked all summer to preparing for sharing it with the rest of the staff, and I hope they embrace it as much as we have!

Anyhow, a few new products to share...I've been busy!

Apple Theme Letter Pack and Apple Theme Number Pack
Chalkboard Theme Letter Pack and Chalkboard Theme Number Pack

In these packs, you'll find sets of 2"x5" and 5"x7" letter (print and cursive script) and number cards (0-200).  You'll be able to use the small cards for small groups and centers, and the big cards for display or large group activities. They are $2 each. Here are a couple of sample pictures. Click on the links above for a closer look!

Chalkboard Letter Pack

Apple Number Pack

Next up are Behavior Clip Charts in three styles -- Chalkboard, Apple, and Ribbons & Stripes.  All three of these sets have two different color/terms choices each!

Chalkboard Behavior Clip Chart

Apple Theme Behavior Clip Chart

Ribbons & Stripes Theme Behavior Clip Chart

Also, check out my store for complete sets of my Chalkboard Theme Decor and Apple Theme Decor. For $15 each, you get 8 sets of each theme. These include the Number Packs, Letter Packs, Hall Pass Sets,  Where Are We - Class Location Cards, Attendance & Lunch Count Clip Charts, Agenda Cards, Behavior Clip Charts and Helping Hands Job Charts!  

Chalkboard Theme Classroom Decor Pack

Apple Theme Classroom Decor Pack, photo 1

Apple Theme Classroom Decor Pack, Photo 2

Have a GREAT Back-to-School start!  I know I will!