Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate my 2nd Blogiversary! 

Congrats to Melissa Cloud for winning my FB giveaway and to Susan Lopez for winning the Gift Basket and $20 Amazon gift card!

I am currently on bed rest thanks to my back deciding it was going to rebel anytime I moved by having multiple spasms.  I am enjoying taking some time off, but would rather do it without the pain...although the meds are helping a bit!

Today I wanted to share with you an online student portfolio one of my coworkers shared with me.  In the past I have always had individual student hanging files to keep all work samples, notes, and RtI information in.  Some files were larger than others and I always lugged them around to meetings and conferences.  Three Ring is the digital answer for student portfolios.

Three Ring is a free online student portfolio site, and is SUPER EASY to use!  Once you sign up you can download the app to you phone or classroom iPads to make it even easier to use!

Once you have created a class you simply add your students, you can even copy and paste your roster.  For those who have more than one class you are able to create as many classes necessary.  So if you teach all five 5th grade ELA classes then you can create a portfolio for each of your students and by class. Once your students have been added to your class you are all set to upload their work.

I created a portfolio for each of my boys to show you how the site works, it's also a great way for me to keep up with their work. :)

Once your students have been enrolled you are then able to provide them with their user name and password.  I love this feature because students can upload their own work samples and parents can view them!  In order for parents to view them you will have to provide permission for each item, but again it super easy.

I also like the idea of allowing students to upload their own work samples to provided them the opportunity to share what they feel is their best work and/or important to them.

There are two ways to upload work.  The first is on the webpage by adding an artifact simply upload the image as if you were attaching the item to an email.  The second and I think the most convenient for teachers is through the app.  

To add and artifact via the app you select the class, student name, and then picture, video, camera, note, or microphone.  To test it out I recorded my son reading the beginning of a book using the microphone.  What a great way to share with parents samples of their students reading aloud or presenting a project!

Once an artifact is uploaded you can go in an add a note, your notes are NOT shared with the student or parent. 

I love the variety of artifacts Three Ring allows you to keep!  What a great tool to have for parent conferences, data notebooks, RtI notebooks, teacher portfolios, etc.!!

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I {Heart} Recess

As many of you know I am now an Instructional Coach and recently have been attending Professional Development with my new district.  I will not have a classroom to decorate this new school year, but recently attended an administrative Professional Development that got me thinking about how I used to decorate my classroom.

At a recent Professional Development the topic of Word Walls came up.  The presenter didn't focus on how to use Word Walls, but rather how to ensure they are user friendly and "clean".  When looking at his examples it was easy to see how distracting some boards were and how others were simple and cute.

As elementary teachers we often focus on the "cutesty" or "Pinteresty" look for our classrooms, but forget that the room is supposed to focus around learning.  We often get carried away with everything looking perfect for us, but fail to look at our bulletin boards and anchor charts through the eyes of our students.  Some students may become overwhelmed with all of the information or over stimulated by all of the colors and designs.

To show you what the presenter was showing us I have pulled some images from a google search, if any of these images are yours I am not putting anyone down, but using them as a tool for us to think about how we decorate our rooms.

The background is cute, but it is too busy for little ones.  The images are what catches the eyes, rather than the words that the students are supposed to reference.  I asked my little guy going into Kindergarten (the board is from the beginning of the year K class) where the letters or words were, and he pointed to the title.

This one is for upper grades, but is very busy!  Words overlap, and there is no organization of the words.  From the PD I was reminded that our minds, and especially those of our students, work better when items are grouped or organized in to categories.  (This is why we teach with graphic organizers and make list. )

Again, this word wall is VERY busy and there isn't any organization.  Imagine you were a student looking at this board, would you know where to look for a word you needed to reference?  

This board is very cute and creative, but not very effective as a Word Wall.  The words are small and going in different directions.  As a student would you be able to know what the words were for, other than music?  Creating a large grid or tree map would be more effective for students to reference.

Personally, when I look at this through the eyes of a coach I see a teacher who is complying to the request of word walls in classrooms, not utilizing the word wall.  (Through the eyes of a teacher, very cute and took a long time to create.)

The background on this WW is simple and the words easily stand out.  I ask my little guy to find the words on this board and he found them as soon as he looked at the board.  This board is still cute and functional for students.

This board I believe is for an upper grade Science class, possibly middle school too. The board is colorful, but still organized, neat, and easy to use for students.

This word wall is great because it shows the relationship of the words in a graphic organizer.  As a student you would not only reference this for how to spell a word or to use in your writing, but as a reference for what the words mean.  ( I think I would even have my students copy this into their notebook.)

This is an example our presenter showed us.  The board is simple, clean, and organized. One of the great attributes of this WW is that there is a key at the top of the board letting students know that the words in red are for Reading, Green for Math, Blue for Science, and Purple for Science.

This ins't a WW, but an example of a focus wall that is also neat, clean, and functional for students.

As you begin to redecorate your classrooms in the coming weeks sit down in one of your student's desk and view your room through their eyes.  Just something to think about :)

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I {Heart} Recess

Today I am linking up with my friend Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper.  I am not sure how your school is, but we are limited on our number of copies per month.  We receive 1300 copies for the month, I am jealous of those who have copy centers!  Recently I have been stretching my copy limit my reducing sheets to half a sheet of paper.

Here is a full sheet vs a half sheet.  I use the half sheets for any sheet the will reduce well, some sheets have a lot going on which makes them hard to read when reduced.

I try to use the half sheets for morning work and homework.  I have used them for classwork as well.  By reducing the sheets I am able to double my copy limit and cut down on how much paper I use.

For our copier if I print front to back it counts and two copies, again I will reduce the sheets to fit them on the front of one sheet of paper to stretch my copy limit.  These sheets are reading passages from my March Bundle.  Even reduced they are still easy to read and write on.

Another trick I use to save on copies is using the cooperative learning strategy Fan-N-Pick.  I have six teams and therefore only use six copies of a worksheet.  I then cut the worksheet into task cards to use for Fan-N-Pick.

Angela over at The Teacher's Desk 6 is hosting a great giveaway to celebrate her resent milestones!  I hope you stop over and enter to win a great prize pack.  I have donated my March Bundle for her giveaway.

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Anonymous

Today I am linking up with my friend and Best Blogging Buddy, Amelia from Where the Wild Things Learn for her "A Day Our Way" linky party.  For this linky we are sharing what a day in our classroom looks like.  I hope you enjoy hearing about our day; I know I love seeing how other teachers plan their days and how education is not "cookie cutter".

Morning Work:
My students arrive between 7:30 and 8:00, during this time they unpack, work on morning work (usually Accelerated Math or Math review), go to the library, take Accelerated Reader test, etc. We are required to stand outside out doors to greet the students and parents.  I usually work on grading homework during this time or put grades in the online grade book.  I have a cart I place my laptop on to work on grades and to collect homework.

Reading:
Our reading block begins between 8:15-8:30, depending on our school announcements (they are on the tv) and the amount of morning work assigned.  We begin our lesson with a phonics lesson, based on the rule our grade level spelling words follow.

I then move onto our whole group lesson and students usually add to their interactive notebook or reference back to it during instruction. We do not have text books so their interactive notebooks are their text books.  During the lesson I use the Smartboard to drive my instruction.  We are not required to write out our lesson plans in written form (six point, etc.) we do them all in Smartboard.  The first slide states the CCS and each slide afterward is step by step to our lesson.

After whole group instruction students then work in pairs or teams to dive deeper into the skill.  (You can check out my Theme or Main Idea posts for more info.)  I always incorporate some sort of cooperative learning structure, I just don't know how people teach without them!

 

 After whole group, students read silently, I do not use centers or stations in my classroom. As I posted earlier this school year, I follow Laura Candler's Reading Workshop you find that post HERE.  I have an amazing group of students who LOVE to read silently, they were actually whining when the timer went off today.  While students are silently reading I pull small groups to my table to work on specific skills.  A tip I learned years ago was to pull your intensive learners second.  These learners are the ones who often have difficulty staying on task in centers or silent reading, due to their struggle with reading, so if you pull them second you are breaking up their independent working time.  Therefore, providing a mental break and the ability to get up and move.

 After small group and silent reading students complete an Independent practice.  This is directly related to the skill we worked on during whole group and small group lesson. After reading my students use Head Over Heels for Teaching's Reading Response product.  (My kids LOVE these little menus!)

Math:
I have enjoyed teaching Math this year. I feel like I have a better understanding of the CCS and have challenged myself to finding and using some sort of hands on activity each day. Which is why I have started my Mathematical Monday linky :)

Our math curriculum is more of an inquiry based method.  Every Monday students work on solving a Meaningful Math Task with no front loading.  They are able to get some quickly and others can be challenging for them.  During the week we refer back to the meaningful math task as they learn more and more about the skill.

I like to incorporate math games, activities, cooperative learning, and math task cards for scoot into my lessons.  The kids really enjoy the variety of activities.  For more about my math lessons check out Monday's Mathematical Monday linky.

I do not give daily Math homework, this is the first time I have ever made that decision.  I chose not to this year because I am using more hands on activities I have noticed the students grasping the skills better than in previous years.  I do a constant spiral review for morning work and for weekly homework with my Monster Math.  Students are assigned Monster Math on Mondays and it is due Friday, this is when we go over the questions.  Having the spiral review has helped tremendously.

Lunch:
Yeah! We get to eat!  However, at my school we do not have duty free lunch.  We sit in the cafeteria at the "teacher table" and are frequently interrupted by students who need things opened, students tattling, loud classes, and the occasional random parent teacher conference.

Recess:
I {Heart} Recess!  We are required to provide students 30 minutes of outside time each day.  This is unstructured time and the boys spend their time playing football or kickball and the girls spend their time playing on the equipment.

Resource:
My class has a resource everyday except Thursdays, makes for a long day. This is the only time of day that is duty free, I get to use the restroom, check my mailbox, make copies, etc. Tuesday's we have back to back resource to provide our grade level time to meet weekly for planning purposes.  For more information on how we plan please check out my Team Planning post.

Writing:

I break up my ELA block because this group needs the break.  They need a change of things every 45-50 minutes, so teaching writing directly after reading they would be in lala land or trying to continue reading their books.  We use Jivey's Mentor Sentences, my Language Pack, and work on a writing piece during the week.  I try to link a skill from the mentor sentence to the needs of my students.  For example one of the mentor sentences had a prepositional phrase, my kids were struggling with this skill so I taught a mini lesson one day and the next day my students applied it to their writing.

Science & S.S.:

I am not sure about you, but some days it is difficult to get to EVERY subject, especially with testing pressure in ELA and Math.  To try to solve this problem I alternate Science and S.S., this is not ideal but you do what you gotta do.  Some weeks I teach Science three days a week and S.S. two days, then alternate the following week.

Our Science lessons are based on my Interactive Notebooks, again we do not have text books and the ones we do have are out dated and we don't have class sets.  I also incorporate Brain Pop, Studyjams, and Youtube into my lessons along with hands on experiments or activities.

For Social Studies we study North Carolina using a variety of resources and students work on a few projects throughout the year.  

Cursive:

This year NC made some changes and we are now required to teach Cursive again.  I just started teaching it after break and my kids are eating it up!  They can't wait to learn the next letter, and I am impressed with how well they are doing.  This is a short lesson 10-15 minutes tops!

Read Aloud/End of the Day:

I read aloud to my kids at the end of the day because it keeps down the noise level and takes the opportunity for chaos away.  We just finished Wonder and started Number the Stars yesterday.  They LOVED Wonder and so did I!

Our contracted time is to 3:00 and kids are dismissed at 2:30.  For the 30 minutes left of my day, well my contracted day, I catch up with other teachers and staff members to debrief from my day.  Tuesdays we have Family Meetings (staff meetings), Correlate Meetings, Vertical Team Meetings, or other meetings.

After 3:00:

Mondays, Tuesdays (non-Family Meeting days), and Thursdays several teachers and I run in the neighborhood behind our school.  We started after the holidays and are up to six teachers.  I am blessed to work at a school where we are a family and support one another professionally and personally.

I hope you have enjoyed a visiting my classroom for the day!

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Anonymous

WOW!  This has been a crazy week!  Finally, getting back to a routine and able to blog...yay!

1. MIA
I was MIA all week due to being back to work and hubby being out of town.  I give a lot of credit to all the single parents out there...it is exhausting! Since I was gone I wanted to make sure I had a fun blog post for you :)

2. Classroom
I finished my classroom!  I am so excited for how it looks!  I call it Dr. Seuss for big kids :)

3. Birthday!
My birthday was yesterday and it was absolutely wonderful!  My coworkers all sang Happy Birthday to me in our meeting, a few of us went to lunch and I was serenaded my the waiters at the Mexican restaurant, my dear friend brought me chocolate covered strawberries from edible arrangements, and my BFF endure my birthday workout at Cross Fit with me.  My hubby asked me what I wanted and I asked for him to go out of his comfort zone and help the boys make me something.  He did a fabulous job with them in just one day, see below to see what I received!

4. Cross Fit
I am proud of myself, and my BFF, for keeping up with our workouts now that school has started back.  Everyday we remind ourselves we have a 4:15 appointment with our friend and coach.  Just looking at going to workout as a personal appointment has made a huge impact on ensuring we workout everyday.

5. Reading Response Notebooks
Each night my students are to read 30 minutes and write a response to their reading.  I usually use a large paper cutter to cut spiral notebooks in half for these response journals, however this year I am trying composition notebooks.  I had my hubby cut them in half with a saw, apparently a table saw would work better...note from hubby :). I glued a small piece a of ribbon to the back cover so students can mark the page they are on, and then glued the weekly assignments on the front inside cover.

Here is a FREEBIE for you!  If you like the Reading Response Journals I have posted the link to my weekly assignment page for you.  Note: I did change "is" to "are" in the direction sentence :)  Please leave feedback if you download it...THANK YOU!

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Anonymous