Category Archives: Classroom

Our First Class Meeting!

If you don’t know about how we do Class Meetings around here, be sure to check out the previous posts Lessons in Democracy and Class Pet Petitions for a little background first….go ahead.  I’ll wait for you. 🙂

We had our first real class meeting this past Friday and it went really well!  I say “real” because the week before (our first Friday) I walked them through the process of 5th grade class meetings, to either remind or inform them of how we’d be doing them this year.

Here’s our chart after dots were added: Screen Shot 2013-09-03 at 7.28.13 PM

We had a busy week, huh?  The lists at the beginning of the year always seem to be a lot longer because we do many more short activities as we’re getting to know the classroom and each other, as opposed to longer projects as we move further into the year.  And for some reference, SRI is the Scholastic Reading Inventory and helps assess readers.  Students get their Lexile level from this assessment, which helps them as they choose books (which I guess is why so many kiddos gave this a blue dot–signifying that they learned alot from that activity).

I found it really interesting (and surprising, honestly) that so many kiddos chose Appletters as the topic to discuss and problem solve around.  And with that many red dots I was dying to find out their thinking about how we could fix it for next time.

After they shared their concerns, these were the things they mentioned that we could work on:

  • kiddos using really loud voices during the game
  • some just sitting (not participating or waiting for others to come to them)
  • not allowing others to join their words
  • leaving others out on purpose, or replacing their letters with other letters
  • only trying to make words with friends, instead of trying lots of options
  • people stepping on each other, running into each other or shoving as we move around the room

Then we were on to problem solving (we actually had a lunch break in between to do some thinking), and came up with some ideas on how we could improve our game the next time we played it:

  • aim at using a Level 1 or 2 voice (which at our school means whispers or soft voices), so even if we get a little louder we’ll still be at a reasonable volume
  • give kiddos time to think independently before we move together to build words
  • make a rule that you could add letters or rearrange them to make new words, but NOT remove letters once they are there
  • play in another part of our room, or try to use more space instead of clumping together
  • have a place for “odd” letters (like Z, X, Q, etc.) to go if you can’t build a word, then those letters try to build something.
  • I also suggested that I would add some other guidelines for what kinds of words they could build.

These were pretty good, and we were excited for the next time we played!

Little did they know that their next opportunity would come that afternoon!  The “rules” this time was that their words had to be at least 4 letters long, and could not be names (remember GIBY from last time?). We all agreed that the next time we were much improved.  Check out our words the second time around!

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Someone said this word was inspired by a book cover they were looking at just before we played our game–funny that they were actually able to find the letters to build it!

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Check out the way CAR turned into CRATES--a longer word with more friends involved! Success!

Check out the way CAR turned into CRATES–a longer word with more friends involved! Success!

 

All of the "odd" letters met at Table 4 to see what they could come up with...

All of the “odd” letters met at Table 4 to see what they could come up with…

 

...and many hands made for light work.

…and many hands made for light work.

 

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Definitely not an Appletters “fail” here–that’s a good word!

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Check this one out! Another one where someone (Owen!) was just looking at the letters and this came to him! Genius!

What a FABULOUS example about how a group of people with great ideas can change things for the better!  What a great start to the year, and an exciting precedent for class meetings to come. WAY TO GO, RM. 202!! YOU ROCK!

Appletters

Ok, so first of all, before Sunday, I didn’t even know this game existed.  Did you?

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I mean, I know about Bananagrams, and we had a TON of fun playing a variation of it last year at the beginning of the year.  So really, Appletters is just another version of Bananagrams (and there’s even Pairs of Pears, too)–really it’s just a fruit-shaped bag filled with letters.  But this one was cheaper. 🙂

So like with last year’s Bananagrams, we started by giving everyone a letter.  Then they had to find other friends and make words.  The first time around there are no rules (outside of the one that says you have to make words, hee hee), and we came up with these:

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So for the second round I added the guideline that the words had to be at least 4 letters:

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I wasn’t sure this one was actually a word, but then was informed that it’s a character from iCarly. I think next time we’ll change the rule about names.

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I like the story behind this one. It started as “bands” until we noticed that there were two friends with I and T who needed a group. Voila! BANDITS!

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I am hoping that this is a game we can come back to again and again this year.  I am excited to see how the words we make grow and change as we work with words and vocabulary throughout the year.  I’m thinking I might make it an option during Reader’s Workshop, too, as a word game.

Have you ever played Appletters?  What about Bananagrams?  How do you use them in your classroom? What other games do you play with words or vocabulary?

Finally! Time to Rest and Reflect….

I had forgotten how hard teaching is.  After so many days “off” this summer (while I could get on my soapbox about how teachers are not really off all summer, I’ll spare you the details.  For now. 🙂 ), we’re finally back into the school year.  Today was day 5.  And I am tired.  Exhausted. Sleepy. T. I. R. E. D.  Perhaps it comes from the fact that, even in 5th grade, you still have to do so much for your students this early in the year–mainly just since routines and procedures are not yet in place–or maybe it’s that I’m out of shape.  Either way, I’ve been ready for bed by 8:30 or 9 every night.  Granted, I haven’t actually GONE to bed that early because I’ve had work to do, but believe me, I was ready. 🙂

But by day 5, things are starting to settle down (at least a teeny bit), so I can stop to rest and reflect on how the first week (and then a day today) have gone.  And I’m happy to report that things have gone pretty well.  So far so good!

I mentioned in a post before school about how my team had come up with some great ideas for how to thoughtfully do our community building activities.  This turned out to be a genius move (if I do say so myself!) and I’ve loved how things have worked out thus far.  We even worked out the order together on a Google Doc (which has been a personal goal of mine).  It’s nice to know that even though we’re not trying to be copycat classrooms, we’re all doing similar things in a similar order.  Teams kinda work like that, you know. 🙂

While I would love to share EVERY MINUTE of what’s happened over the last 5 days, I don’t have time (nor energy) to do so–hopefully if you’re a parent in our room you have heard all the fabulous tales from your kiddo anyway!  What I will do, though, is share some highlights.  Then I will promise to eat my Wheaties and take Vitamin C so that I will not be so pooped next week and can instead update the blog more often. 🙂

HUMAN KNOT

IMG653One of the team building activities on our list was the Human Knot.  Basically, you “tie” yourselves together by holding hands across the circle, then you have to work together to “untie” yourselves into one big circle at the end.  We did this very early on, very shortly after we had all met each other, thinking (and hoping really!) that it would be hard.  We did pretty good for our first try, actually, and got two parts of the knot undone.  There was a pretty large tangle still left in the middle, though, that was ready to topple over at any moment.  We celebrated the way we worked together and let certain friends step up and lead, and vowed to do better next time.  I’m so excited to try this again after we’ve done some more community building, because I know they will do even better!

SAVING SAMMY!

I found an activity on Twitter the other day, posted by another #5thchat teacher, that I thought would be a great partner thing to try–Saving Sammy!  The basic idea is that you have to get a gummy worm (Sammy) into a gummy life saver (his life preserver) so that he doesn’t drown.  The only catch is that you can’t use your hands!  Instead you have two paperclips as tools.  I added in a step at the end for partnerships to write about how they figured out what to do and any advice they had for kiddos trying for the first time.  This went pretty well, and they definitely enjoyed it!

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SNACKS

If you read our first day post, then you are aware that we eat lunch around dinner time.  So on Friday I brought the snacks, which included cantaloupe from Terripin Farms CSA (to which I belong and LOVE!), as well as strawberries and raspberries.  These were from the grocery store, but were also tasty.  While I am not allowed to share like I would like to (because of school allergy rules), I do what I can.  I think there is something great about sharing a meal together, or in this case a snack.  Plus, we got to use the new table!  Bonus. And yummy! 🙂

More to come…

Even as recently today, we have had some FABULOUS conversations about grit, played Appleletters, done something called 3 Things and 3 Friends, and almost completed some rather involved work with multiple intelligences.  I hope to update you on those happenings soon!  Please come back soon to visit again and catch up on the great things going on in Rm. 202!

First Day of Fifth Grade!

Wow–how is it already the first day of school?  Seems like it was just the last day of school. 🙂

I only have enough energy to share a couple of things from our day–tells you how busy we were!  I need an early bedtime!

First of all, here’s how I introduced myself to my kiddos today:

I was so excited to read about this idea when my friend Michelle shared it with me from here.  I took a little bit of a different twist on the content, but really enjoyed making it!

While we did not really follow our “official” schedule today, since it was just Day 1, we did try to fit our community building and routine learning activities somewhere near the time they would actually happen.  We read aloud some of my favorites–I Want My Hat Back and This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen, as well as First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg.  We did a 5th Grade pursuit (the old “find someone who” game where you sign each others’ papers), found a new book for each kiddo to read, started investigating ways we are smart (more with this tomorrow!), did our first Math Warm-Up of the year, introduced Writer’s Workshop and wrote postcards home about the first day of school.  Like I said, we were busy!

But even with all that fun and excitement, I’m pretty sure that the only thing my new kiddos will tell their families when they get home is that

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Yep.  Definitely gonna be needing some snacks this year. 🙂

So all-in-all it was a great day! Can’t wait to get back in there and do it all over again tomorrow.

But before I go, I have one thing to say to all of new my friends–new to me and new to Kirkwood: WELCOME! You belong here. 🙂

One Kirkwood, One Team

Every year on Opening Day, each school comes with their own school shirt–all different colors with that year’s theme or focus for their individual building.  It’s not officially a competition (because of course everyone knows Robinson would win for the coolest shirts every time!), but there’s definitely pride for your school and the teachers with which you work.

This year was different, though, as the whole district come together with just one shirt.  One Kirkwood.  As we start a new school year, with many uncertainties and possibilities, it’s more important than ever that we are united.  That we are all working toward the same goals.  And seeing everyone in the same shirt definitely helped visually remind us of that unity.

The same is true with my teaching team this year.  Now of course, there is always a level of “oneness” among the team–we have the same curriculum goals, for instance–but this year we’re taking that to a new level.  We are making it our goal, from day one, that every kiddo in our 5th grade knows that they have many teachers, many people to care for them, support them, and help them achieve their best. We’re considering all these fabulous new kiddos OUR kids, rather than MY kids.  This year we’re intentionally including ALL the members of that team–including interventionists, teacher assistants, instructional specialists and special education teachers–in our community building, introductions, class activities, etc.  We are all working together to help make EVERY kiddo in ALL of our classes successful.  Together.

Our FABULOUS 5th Grade Team--Mrs. Cheatham, Mr. Shelton, me, Mrs. Hong (back); Ms. Turken, Ms. Yun and Mrs. Bell (front)

Our FABULOUS 5th Grade Team–Mrs. Cheatham, Mr. Shelton, me, Mrs. Hong (back); Ms. Turken, Mrs. Jeon and Mrs. Bell (front) Mrs. Sondermann, Mrs. Meihaus, the special area teachers and our amazing TAs are not pictured, but still a CRUCIAL part of our team, too!

One Kirkwood, One Team! Go Roadrunners!  🙂

A Little Twist

Remember when I shared my new door idea yesterday?  Well…today my friend and new teammate, Rachael, suggested something that would put a little twist on the whole thing: put in on the INSIDE of the door instead of the outside.

Ok, I know at first mention it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal.  Not really that different from what I did originally.  But really for me it was a huge thing–turned my whole thinking on end, mainly because I had thought long and hard about why I wanted it to go outside: my goal was that I wanted every kiddo (or anyone really) who came into my room to be reminded about who they are, what they are capable of and how much I want them to succeed, every time they came into the room.

But then Rachael pointed out that if my door is open (like it usually is), then all of that will be on the BACK–hidden from view.  And then she reminded me that when we all come into the room (from specials, lunch, etc.) the only way they would be able to see it is if they each came in individually–again, the door would be open and the words would be on the BACK of the door.

Ha!  SO simple, but so obviously not how I was thinking about it.  Don’t you love it when other people get their eyes on things and give you a completely new way of seeing them?  Brilliant idea, Rachael!  And yes, I think I will be moving it tomorrow! (Lucky for me that I didn’t finish attaching it all permanently yesterday! 🙂 )

When did someone help you see something a completely different way?  What did you do in response?

In This Classroom…

I added another thing to my room today, and I LOVE HOW IT TURNED OUT!

First a story–because of course I couldn’t just show you a picture and be done with it. 🙂

I’ve seen this on Pinterest and blogs before (and in fact, Mrs. Hong has a really great version, too!), and liked it:

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But, alas, I always have to put my own spin on things, so I got thinking.  I’ve been in many meetings over the last few weeks that have been focusing on EQs and EUs and really focusing in on what I want for my students and what I hope they want for themselves.  So I thought of this idea, and then thought I could switch it up a little. Here’s what I came up with:

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I’m pretty excited about how it turned out, and excited about the message it sends to my new friends. 🙂

You Matter and You are Smart!

Gotta start with major shout-outs to my teammates–Genie and Rachael–for some AMAZING thinking today as we worked together!  I am totally not surprised, but instead really impressed by what we accomplished together. 🙂

Our goal in getting together today was to collaborate on beginning-of-the-year community building and icebreaker activities.  But what came out of our time were some really intentional and focused plans for how we can plan, organize and order the activities we choose to do–all with the goal of helping make sure our kids know in their hearts and minds “YOU MATTER” and “YOU ARE SMART!”

We have great ideas about how we can better use data we gather with our classes about how our students are smart (using Gardner’s multiple intelligences) to group for community building activities, as well as the order in which we present the many activities we do (ie. partners first, then small group games, then whole class challenges).  After we do each activity, then, kiddos will debrief on how it felt, why it worked (or didn’t) and how each new experience compared to the others we’d done.  I know it sounds simplistic right now, but stay tuned–I promise there are amazing stories to come about how it went!

Because this is the first time our team has been together, we (well, Genie really 🙂 ) had the idea that we should work through the same personality/intelligences activities that we’re going to ask our kids to do.  We hope to gain insights into what each of us brings to the table, what our role will be in the team, as well as just how we should interact with each other based on our personalities.

I AM SO EXCITED about what we planned today!  But beyond that, I’m jazzed about how we’re working so well together to create focused, meaningful experiences for our new friends.

My team pretty much rocks. Just sayin’. 🙂

How do you building community with your teaching team? How do you build community in your classroom?  How do you help your students know they matter?  I’d love to hear what you do! 🙂

Room Updates!

Hopefully you’ve seen the little bit of work I’ve been doing in our room to get ready!

Today I was at school for another big chunk of time, and look who showed up to help me!

IMG_1077Anna and Sophia were busy bees working to figure out that big pile ‘o books that was on the table the other day.

IMG630They ended up with many new categories to divide the titles into, and actually recreated some of the old tubs I used to have–that part was funny to me!  I’m excited to see how these changes (along with some other ideas I have) make our library an even better place to be!

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I also got our time zone clocks hung today (and yes, I realize that it’s ten to two everywhere.  Forgot batteries. Oops.)

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And then….my favorite part showed up:

It's a beauty, isn't it? Just like I imagined. SO EXCITED for what's going to happen around that table this year!

It’s a beauty, isn’t it? Just like I imagined. SO EXCITED for what’s going to happen around that table this year!  Thanks again, Nancy!

Getting excited!

Starting to Get Settled…

I love to share what things look like when I first walk into the classroom in the summer.  Remember these from a couple of years ago?

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It’s the classroom I was in 2 years ago, but gives you a good idea of my first sights when I return to school at the beginning of the year to get stuff put together again.  This year’s view was very similar, only in the room next door.

Putting a classroom back together is a tedious process, with lots of bits and pieces to put in their places and a big puzzle to work out.  And that’s if you put everything back where it was last year!  If you decide to make any changes (because something didn’t work last year or just because you want to try something new for a new group of kiddos), then it’s pretty much like starting all over.  Your plan has to be completely different.

So I started by putting all of my furniture back right where it was at the end of last year.  And then I started thinking….

We really loved our room arrangement last year, and it worked for us based on our traffic flows and how we used each part of the room for different activities.  Except…that I knew I wanted to trade my desk with the table right next to it so that I could use the only whiteboard in our room for small group teaching times (instead of just having it behind my desk and covered with random things I tacked up there and didn’t really use).  Smart, right?  Yeah, it took me all year long to figure that one out…:)

So once I got the table and desk switched, I really liked it.  But then I couldn’t leave well enough alone, and it so it got me wondering what else I could move around that might work even better than what we had last year.  My carpet was the next thing on my list.  Maybe moving it into the corner (where my desk had been and where that new table was now sitting) would be a good idea–again because of that whiteboard.  Having it in our meeting space might be even better than for small groups.  So I picked up the fabulous carpet (remember when we got it last year?) and moved it into the corner, along with my easel and my chair.  That left me two tables, two filing cabinets and a supply shelf to figure out.  I think I like the new changes even better than last year.  I figured out that putting the rug in the corner also meant that the doors of my closets can now be used for charts and other things we’ll refer to during lessons (more on my ideas for that soon!).

And then….I looked at the spot where my next was and agreed that I liked it there…but then had another (even better!) idea: maybe I don’t even need a desk anymore.  I’ve gone back and forth over the last few years about whether or not I really need one; I don’t sit at it except before and after school, and it’s space that kids could probably use in a better way.  It really just serves as a place for me to house all my stuff.  What I really have wanted for a while is to have a dining room or kitchen table in my room.  I love the idea of kids (who are really a part of our learning family) sitting all around it having lively conversations and growing together.  The problem?  I still had a desk, and no table.  I knew I could probably find one on Craig’s List, after having no luck at Goodwill and garage sales over the last few weeks, but I thought instead to appeal to my friends on Facebook.  It worked.  I really quickly found a friend (who also happens to be a parent from our school!) who had a table that she’d been hoping to do something with–perfect, right?

I don’t have it yet, but I am SO EXCITED for what the room will look like when it’s in place.  My new plan is that it will go where my next was, and all of my stuff will find a new home.  Then, if I need a place to perch, that will be my primary home, but kids can also sit there with me when they like, as well as using it for conferences and small groups.  What do you think about that?  (Really, you can tell me. I promise. 🙂 )

So the title of this post is starting to get settled, then, because I feel like with the furniture in the right place, then I could start to get some things on the walls.  This makes me feel like things are closer to coming together, and it definitely makes it feel a little more like home.  So here’s where I am so far:

I got our We're Connecting with the World map up! It's just waiting for some time zone clocks (a new addition this year!) as well as all the pins to represent the new friends we'll make around the world this year! This is definitely an important part of our room.

I got our We’re Connecting with the World map up! It’s just waiting for some time zone clocks (a new addition this year!) as well as all the pins to represent the new friends we’ll make around the world this year! This is definitely an important part of our room.

I moved the calendar this year around the corner. We only really use it for reference, but on this wall we can see it more easily from most parts of the room (as well as if I'm sitting at my new table or if I'm on the phone). We'll see how we like it.

I moved the calendar this year around the corner. We only really use it for reference, but on this wall we can see it more easily from most parts of the room (as well as if I’m sitting at my new table or if I’m on the phone). We’ll see how we like it.  Oh, and I found that little bucket in my closet–it has the calendar numbers in it.  Cute, right? 🙂

This will give you a better idea of all that craziness I was trying to explain before: rug in the new corner, my desk which will become our new table. You can also see (as well as in the previous pics, too) that I got our Read Aloud Timeline hung up and we're ready to get started adding to it for this year's new titles!

This will give you a better idea of all that craziness I was trying to explain before: rug in the new corner, my desk which will become our new table. You can also see (as well as in the previous pics, too) that I got our Read Aloud Timeline hung up and we’re ready to get started adding to it for this year’s new titles! Oh, and that big mess of books on the table is the middle of a reorganization project in our classroom library.  Anna and I are going to start tackling it on Tuesday, and believe me, I’ll share when I’m done. 🙂

The new birthday wall will be next to our meeting space here, as well as those closets I mentioned before. I plan on changing the titles there to other topics...

The new birthday wall will be next to our meeting space here, as well as those closets I mentioned before. I plan on changing the titles there to other topics…

Ok, one last picture:

Just a little treat from the littlest Bearden's in our family! Had to keep them busy while Mommy was working in the room the other day. :)

Just a small treat from the littlest Beardens in our family! Had to keep them busy while Mommy was working in the room the other day.

What does your classroom look like right now?  What about at the beginning of your work?  How do you tackle that big pile of “stuff?”  I’d love to hear how it works for you!