Classroom Improvements

So I've been meaning to get back into blogging for a while now.  However I knew I needed to do it quickly because I REALLY wanted to link up with Angie at Lucky Little Learners and Ashley at Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd.  I've been following both of these ladies for awhile now, and I am just so in awe of all that they do (I want to BE them).  The two of them are my blogging IDOLS!!  Anyway, they started this amazing monthly linky called #2getherwearebetter and I've been dying to link up with them.  I was SO excited to see that this month's topic was Classroom Improvements.  I am constantly thinking of ways that I want to improve my classroom and my teaching.  Now that it's summer, I've been making list after list of things I want to do for next school year.  While this is no where close to all I want to do for next year, it's a start :-)

The first and most important thing I want to do next year is get RID of reading logs!  I've never been a fan of forcing students to read each night.  I want them to WANT to read on their own.  I believe that telling kids to read each night for 20 minutes and then write it down takes out some of the joy of reading.  I've always used reading logs because that's what my teams have done.  However this year I'm doing AWAY with them!

With that being said, I still really want my kids reading as much as possible.  That's why I'm going to start Book Talk Clubs as sort of reading incentive.  Every Friday students will have the chance to eat lunch with me in the classroom (for some reason this is always a HUGE incentive).  However we won't just be chit-chatting, we will be sharing the books we have read throughout the week!

During the week, students will sign up to participate (everyone is welcome).   They will choose a book or books that they have been reading.  These are books that they want to share with their peers.

When a student turns in their sign up form, I will give them a Talking Points sheet.  This is an optional sheet to fill out (I do NOT want this turning into a book report with an extra chore).  They can just write down the things they want to remember to share, I even say they can dictate to an adult and have them do the writing.  

On Friday at lunch time we will meet in the classroom.  Students will share the books they have been reading by giving a brief book talk and sharing why they liked the book.  Students will be given a list of all the books that are being presented, and can check off which books they have an interest in reading.  They can then take this list home to have their parents help them find the books, or they can take it to our school library.  They'll then continue to READ!!!

You can read more about My Book Talk Club and download the files for FREE at my Teachers Pay Teachers store here!

I am the WORST planner, so next year I WILL be bettter!  I always know what I'm going to do and am prepared for each day, but actually writing it down is PAINFUL for me.  I'd rather spend my time coming up with ideas and getting materials ready than writing it down.  However, I know I HAVE to do it.  To help me, I bought a fancy Erin Condren Planner to use.  Hopefully this will motivate me to actually do lesson plans.  I'm also all about the "cutesy" so I have been stalking Instagram for ideas on how to make my planner even cuter.  Washi tape anyone?!

So as I've said, I'm OBSESSED with Angie at Lucky Little Learners.  Last year she started doing Video newsletters as a way to communicate with parents.  She wrote about it here.  What an AMAZING idea! I've been looking up ideas on how to implement this with my class next year, and can't wait to give it a try!

Along with getting rid of reading logs, this is a big one for me.  I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do.  Next year will be my 10th (WHAT?!) year teaching.  I've tried everything under the sun, but STILL haven't found exactly what I want.  I've tried a classroom economy where students earn money for doing their jobs and demonstrating appropriate behavior and I've tried a Treasure Box as an incentive.  Last year I started using only Class Dojo, but had to abandon in it in January as it was becoming too much to keep up with.  I always had to have my phone or iPad on me (I didn't like to display points on the board), but I had a really good class, and felt like I wasn't awarding enough points.  After that I switched back to the clip chart.  The clip chart worked well (students move both up and down), but I still feel a little icky making students move down in front of everyone (it almost feels a little like shaming).  So I'm trying to find something that is POSITIVE and EASY to implement.  I have ideas, but I'm struggling when it comes to handling the students that consistently don't follow the rules.

My last goal (that I'm going to write about here, there are many more things I want to do next year) is to implement more math centers.  Last year, I began consistently using math centers.  I started creating centers that focused on the current skill we were working on.  So if we were doing place value, all of my centers involved place value.  However as the year went on, I began adding different skills to my math centers.  For example, if we were learning about time, I gave a mini lesson about time and when I met with a group we worked on time.  However the students that were not working with me, were working on other skills previously learned in the year.  There was a group doing a place value activity, a group doing a regrouping activity, a group practicing math facts, and a group counting money.  When I gave an end of the year math assessment, I was impressed with how well they did, and I believe it's because I spiraled skills throughout the year.  

This is an example of centers I put out during St. Patrick's Day.  As you can see, there are a lot of different skills being reviewed.  (P.S. Like my Facebook page to download these centers for FREE!!)

What I want to improve on next year, is the management of my math centers.  I want to be able to meet with groups more frequently.  I also am debating whether to do heterogeneous or homogeneous groups.  Last year, my groups were ability based.  BUT I found that my struggling students, struggled at their activities, and if I was meeting with a group I couldn't always help them.  HOWEVER it made it easier to differentiate when the groups were ability based.  

I am spending a lot of time this summer reading more about math centers and how others effectively implement them. 

Phew!  I feel like I wrote a novel.  I guess that's what happens when you haven't blogged for nine months.  

Make sure you go back to Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd and Lucky Little Learners to read about their classroom improvements.  You will also find other great blogs to read about other's improvement goals!

Thanks for sticking with me!

July Currently

So it's been FOREVER since I've visited my blog.  I had grand plans of blogging about all the wonderful things that were happening in 2nd grade this past school year, but the reality was that starting at a new school was more time consuming than I thought, and I just never got around to it!

Now that it's summer, I really really really am going to try blogging.  I have a lot of things that I wanted to write about during the school year, so hopefully I will get my act together and write about them over the summer.

To help ease myself back in to the blogging world, I'm linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for her July Currently!

LISTENING: I hate to admit it, but I'm obsessed with reality TV.  It's my guilty pleasure.  So I'm using the day to get caught up on the new season of the Real Housewives of Orange County.  My poor husband is telecommuting today, and is having to listen to this rubbish while working.

LOVING: I HATE cleaning, there's almost nothing I find more unpleasant than having to clean the house.  The cleaning people came today, so I'm loving sitting in a clean house that I didn't have to clean myself :-)

THINKING:  Summer is supposed to be a time of rest and relaxation for teachers, but my to-do list is already a mile long.  There are so many things I want to go ahead and start getting ready for next year.  One of my big projects is starting some anchor charts.  I like creating my anchor charts with the students because I find it more meaningful.  However, I also like things to be 'cutesy' which takes a lot of time to do with the students.  I want to create anchor charts using cute clip art and fonts, but leave blank space to fill in with students.

WANTING: I so so so wish that I was heading to Vegas next week for the TpT conference.  I remember seeing all the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter posts last year and being SO jealous.  However, we have some big expenses in the near future and it's just not in the cards for me this year.  Hopefully this time next year I will be writing a post about my excitement for the 2016 TpT conference.

NEEDING: I always laugh to myself when parents and co-workers make a comment about me being patient.  While I try to be patient with my students, I am NOT patient in my non-school life.  So this summer I am really trying to "chill-out" and not get upset when things I want don't happen right away.

ALL STAR:  I am an all-star at collecting clip art.  The number of pictures in my collection is embarrassing.  I put clip art on EVERYTHING!  We had to send our Wii back to Nintendo to get repaired, and I had to add clip art to the letter we sent in.   I think I need a support group for my clip art and font obsession.

That's it for now!  Hopefully it won't be nine months before I write again!

October Currently

Yikes!  It's been over a month since I blogged.  When I started my blog over the summer, and I was frustrated with not having to blog about.  Now that we are back in school and I have plenty to blog about, I am frustrated about not having any time.  I guess it's time that I make the time :-)  Today I'm linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the October Currently.

LISTENING: I love the show, Nashville.  I'm a huge country music fan, and have always wanted to visit Nashville.  The show has really made me want to visit now.

LOVING: Even though winter is my favorite season, I do enjoy fall.  I especially love everything apple!  I'm hoping to visit the orchard soon to pick up some apples, apple pie, apple cider, and apple cider donuts, YUMMY!

THINKING: I really want to visit the beach.  I was looking through my pictures from my trips this summer, and I miss it.  I'm going to try to convince my husband to make the seven hour drive after work one Friday, stay for Saturday, and head back Sunday.

WANTING: I am counting down the days until we have off for Columbus Day.  My to-do list feels like it is a mile long, and I just need more time to try to get it all done.

NEEDING; When school started, I planned on writing a "First Day of School" post.  I came home exhausted.  Then it was going to be a "First Week" post, but again I felt exhausted.  Each week in September I said I was going to post, and I just never found the energy.  Maybe by posting this here and now, it will motivate me to work on a "First Month of School" post over the weekend :-)

TRICK OR TREAT: I really don't like tricks, I dread when April 1st is a school day!  I do love treats though :-)  This week we did some of my Falling for Place Value Centers.  My students really enjoyed the activities, but I realized I didn't have any technology incorporated.  So, I quickly whipped up some place value task cards with QR codes.  As a "treat", I'm sharing them with you.  You can pick them up here or by clicking on the picture.

That's all for now!  Hopefully it won't be November before I blog again :-)

Student Recognition

I'm sure we've all had that student that needs a bit of extra guidance when it comes to behavior.  I know that when I have a student that seems to really struggle, I want to jump on any positive thing they do and praise them for it in hopes that they will like the positive reaction from me and want to continue the good behavior.  That's why I made these buttons and stickers:

After praising the student for their positive behavior I give them a button to wear around school and home.  The buttons encourage others in the building to ask the student what they did to earn it. The student is then repeating the positive behavior several times throughout the day.  My hope is that by seeing all of the positive reactions from people other than just their teacher and repeating what they did they will want to continue the positive behavior.

I have used  a clip chart in the past where students moved their clip up for demonstrating positive behaviors.  At the end of the day I asked students why they moved their clip up so that I could record it on their chart that went home. I found that a lot of students forgot what they did to move their clip up!  By having to repeat it several times a day when they wear the button or sticker, it's harder for them to forget what they did that was good.

I used PowerPoint to design the buttons.  I made the circles 2.33" in diameter and then added clip art and text boxes.  These were the buttons I purchased from Amazon.  I liked these because you didn't need an expensive button maker.  After printing your circles, just cut them out, pop off the top of the button, put your picture in and snap it in place.

Here you can see all of the buttons I hand out.   You can download them for free here or by clicking on the picture.

The stickers are even easier to make than the buttons.  I just buy the 2" by 4" shipping labels.  I use the template for the labels in word, add my text and clip art, and print!

Here you can see the stickers and the labels I used.  You can download my stickers for free here or by clicking the picture.

I teach 2nd grade so my students think it's fun or cool to wear a button or a sticker.   I'm not sure how older kids would handle it. When I put these on my students they just love to get the recognition from others.  I made them all bright yellow so they were hard not to notice when they are wearing them.

Currently September

I can't believe it's September already!  I'm liking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her monthly currently linky party.

Listening: I'm having a relaxing Sunday evening.  My husband helped me out in the classroom today, so I'm not complaining about him playing on the computer :-)

Loving: I am so happy that it's a three-day weekend, I have SO much to do before school starts on Tuesday.

Thinking: I've made copies for the week, but I haven't written down any of my plans yet.  I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do, but I really dislike writing down lesson plans and I put it off to the last possible moment.

Wanting: We've been lucky and have had a pretty mild summer, until today when it got extremely warm and humid.  I prefer cold and snowy.  I am so ready for winter.  We had 14 snow days last year and I've heard reports that this winter may be colder and snowier.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Needing: I have copies made, but I need to figure out what exactly I'm doing each day and get that organized.

3 Trips to places I haven't been: Switzerland sounds like the perfect place: cheese, chocolate, and snow (what more could I ask for) Chicago looks like a fun city, and Maine because I love New England and haven't been to Maine.

My Classroom

This is my last weekend before school starts.  I'm so excited to get the year started.  I have been busy working away in my room for the past week getting it ready for Tuesday.  I love looking at pictures of other teachers' classrooms so I thought I'd share my room :-)

I switched schools this year so this is what my room looked like after I moved everything from dining room into my classroom.  I pretty much just dumped it all in the room.

After many hours of sorting through nine years worth of stuff, I have finally finished (mostly)!  Here is my room now:

My name in the window and a "Welcome to 2nd Grade" sign above the door.

A view from the door. The room was set up for Back to School Night which is why there is a Sign In sheet. I'll blog a little later about Back to School Night.
The back wall drives me crazy.  I really don't like empty space, but I use that wall for anchor charts we create together, so I threw a couple random things up until we start making anchor charts so it wasn't completely empty.

Here is my room from the opposite corner looking toward the door.  On the far right wall are my punctuation posters which can be purchased here.

I am pretty happy with my classroom library areas.  I LOVE my crate seats that my parents and husband helped put together.  The two white benches came from Target and my mom recovered the cushion that they came with.

Closeups of my bench and crate seats.  My classroom library needs a little organization, but that will have to come later.

Curtains over the window.  I change the curtains every month to something seasonal.  

My desk area.  I printed out some clip art on the poster maker to decorate my desk.  In the second picture you can see the area behind my desk.  I have my "Teacher Toolbox" back there.  I also hang my class picture from all of my previous classes (that's what all the blacked out pictures are).
 

You can't see too much from this picture, but it's my reading table area.  The seats are from Target, and are great extra storage.  I also have a whiteboard easel back there.

My word wall.  I love the curtains covering up the mess on the bookshelves.  I use the numbered baskets to store weekly math centers.

Job chart on the bathroom door.  I put clothespins with each child's name on each card.  Each card has the job name AND a description of the job.

Famous American posters by my sink area.  I have all of the famous Americans that students are required to know from K-3.

My clock.  You can pick up the numbers here.

Content word wall.  As we learn important vocabulary we will add the words under the correct subject header.

Front wall.  I have our schedule, Class Dojo Hall of Fame, noise level, calendar, Promethean Board, birthdays, number line, and alphabet.

Schedule posted.  You can get the cards by visiting my Facebook page.  I will be using Class Dojo this year.  I will add students' names to the "Hall of Fame" as they reach certain points values.  You can pick up the Hall of Fame display here.

You can see my alphabet cards above the board.  You can purchase them from my TpT store here.  Since our school mascot is a Lab, I have a weekly "Top Dog" instead of a star student.  Students decorate a poster that is displayed on the board.  You can also see our stuffed dog that students take home. Here is the Top Dog letter I send home.

I hope you enjoyed the glimpse into my classroom.  There's still a little work to be done.  I'll update then :-)

August Currently

I can't believe it's August already!  Where did the time go?

Isn't that the truth?  I am more excited this year than any other year to get started on the school year, but at the same time, I do love my summer break. It doesn't help that I'm currently at the beach, and when I leave summer break will officially be over.

Since I'm on vacation, this is going to be a quick post.  I'm linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the August Currently linky.  Before I started my own blog, I always loved reading the Currentlys that others posted each month.  I have been waiting not so patiently for the beginning of August so I could finally participate.  So without further ado, here is my August Currently:

As I said, I'm on VACATION!!  It is a horrible, rainy, stormy day, so I don't feel guilty taking the time to blog while at the beach.  I LOVE my parents' condo.  It's right on the beach. I love LISTENING to the ocean.  I've set up my laptop on a table, and check out my view:

Too bad this is what the weather looks like: 

UGH!

I'm THINKING about and dreading having to move all my stuff into my classroom, and I'm really WANTING for it to be done for me!

Currently nine years worth of teaching materials are sitting in my house.  It took my husband and I a total of eight full SUV trips to get it out of my old classroom and to my house.  My poor dog had to find a seat in the middle of all my stuff.

I am NEEDING to finish all of the projects I have started, and start the ones I had ideas for.

This is currently my "Products in Progress" folder.  134 items in that folder!!!  Tomorrow is supposed to be another rainy day at the beach, maybe I'll use that time to get working.

That's it for now!  If you're already back at school, I hope it's going well.  For those of you that aren't back yet, enjoy your summer :-)