Motivate Me Monday: September 9, 2013

Hi friends.  The ladies at First Grade Buddies have started an encouraging link up about motivation.  One of my favorite motivators is to have a inspiring role model.  My motivation today really has nothing directly to do with teaching, but I'll share anyway.

I am a runner.  I started running as an adult and it took me a long time to build up endurance.  Over the years I have seen one man at my park out running that is very senior.  He is a very dedicated runner and turns out, very accomplished.  (I had a chance to meet him after my daughter was born.  He's a pediatrician in her group.)

Whenever I see him (or think about him), I am very inspired.  For all of my challenges when I am out there, I know his are much greater.  I tell myself, if he can do it . . . so can I.  

Some days, I need a lot of motivation to make myself get out there.  Having a role model is certainly one way to overcome that part of your brain that wants to stop.  

Best.

The Daily Five: The First Days of Picking Books

Hi friends.  Hope you are doing well.  I wanted to share a couple of little Daily Five tips since many of us are in the beginning stages of it with our kiddos.  These tips focus on students picking books for their book boxes.
The first tip is to limit your library for a bit of time as students pick their books.  My students pick new books for their boxes once a week.  They pick every Friday.  I have about twenty different totes of books in my class library.  They are all divided and labeled clearly.  At the beginning of the year, I tell the students about the contents of each box.  However, I do not allow students to pick out of all twenty totes in the beginning.  It would be just too overwhelming.
Instead, I usually put out about six totes for students to choose from.  I allow them to pick six books.  Over the next weeks I add one tote a week until all the totes have been introduced.  Limiting the number of the totes helps the book selection process keep moving along.

In addition, I tell students they can bring a book from home to leave in their book boxes.  Our librarian also allows them to pick an extra book each week from the school library that they can keep at school in their book boxes.

As far as teaching students to pick appropriate books, I love the lesson presented by the authors of The Daily Five.  However, I found another little resource.  BrainPOP Jr. has a video lesson about picking "good fit books."  This video reinforces all the points you will want to impress upon students when picking books:  interest level, purpose, readability, etc.

To be honest with you, picking appropriate, on level books is a challenge for young students.  I review my Good Fit books anchor chart every week before students beginning picking books.  The BrainPOP video is also a great quick little review.  Continuing to review and discuss what makes a book a good fit will eventually help students make quality choices.
Best.

George and Martha: A Language Arts Mentor Text and a Literacy Center Freebie

Happy Labor Day weekend.  I just got back from a family get together where I saw my sweet cousin (who is now a middle school guidance counselor).  She and I grew up very close and seeing her reminded me of some of my favorite childhood characters, James Marshall's George and Martha.  I knew I just had to share them during this week's Mentor Text link up.

I remember reading these books with my cousin and being totally cracked up.  When I finally got my own classroom, the George and Martha anthology was one of the first books I bought.
These books offer loads of opportunities for various ELA lessons and activities.  To begin with, the reading level is great for primary students.  Sequencing, drawing conclusions, vocabulary development, comparisons, and inferences are just some of the skills that can be touched on with these simple and awesomely illustrated books.

Below you will find a sentence order activity I created to go along with the George and Martha books.  Click on picture for your own FREE copy.

Students will sort the cards by matching pictures and them put them in the correct order.  After ordering the sentence, students can identify each sentence type and complete the recording sheet.  

These books are not new, but if you like James Marshall's clever humor in Miss Nelson is Missing, you will want to add George and Martha to your class library.

Here is the scoop . . .

For more Mentor Text recommendations be sure to stop by Collaboration Cuties.

Enjoy your last weekend of summer.

Labor Day Learning: A FREE Math Mini Book

Hi all.  I hope you are staying cool.  Most of the summer was rainy for us.  Now that we are back in school, the sun has decided to make up for lost time.  It has been hot, hot, hot.
We are out of school on Monday for Labor Day.  With all of the back to school craziness that has been going on, I am super happy about an extra day this weekend.  When I get back to school on Tuesday, I plan on doing a little word problem work with my firsties.
We have been back in session for about a month and there is still a lot of hand holding whenever students have to do word problems.  But, consistently working on them a little bit at a time, will pay off later in the year.
Below is the word problem mini book we will be using, Labor Day Learning.  Click on the picture if you would like to have a FREE copy of this activity.

This mini book includes work with addition concepts, time to the hour, pattern making, tally marks, and subtraction.
I hope you can get some use out of this little booklet.  Let me know if you have any questions about it.

September Smarties: Centers for September and Two Freebies

Hi friends.  August has just flown by.  I feel like this month has been like one of those trips in the car when you can't seem to remember the drive at all, only the arrival.
Anyway . . . If you are planning ahead for September, you may want to check out my September Smarties Centers.  I have created ten September themed literacy centers and ten September themed math centers.

Activities in this literacy center packet include work with rhyming words, initial sounds, final sounds, long and short vowel discrimination, abc order, syllables, contractions and more.  I've made one of the centers available as a freebie.  Click on either picture for more details.

free center from September Smarties {10 Literacy Centers}

As for the math centers, they offer practice with addition concepts, number order, ten frames, part part whole charts, number bonds, time to the hour, and more.

Below you will find the free math center from my September Smarties {10 Math Centers}.  Again, you can click on either picture to find out more information.

free center from September Smarties {10 Math Centers}

Maybe some of these activities will take some of the load off of you during this busy time of the year.

Thanks for stopping by.

Best.

The Daily Five: Outside the Box (Work on Writing)

Hi All.  For those still on summer break, enjoy.  That life seems so far away to me now.  I am in my fourth week of school with my new little first graders.  Getting them to this point is exhausting, but they have my class routine and procedures down.  Now we are ready to go.

We just completed our Daily Five training period, which I know many of you are wrapping up, currently in the middle of, or about to start.  If you are working toward the implementation of the D5, you may want to consider keeping the Work on Writing element as a whole group, everybody at the same time activity.  Read on to see why . . .

I really love many components of The Daily Five, however writing outside of the rotations has been one change I made and witnessed positive results.  You may love the traditional way and it may work great for your kiddos.  But if not, this may be the time to try a little something different.

For more about writing in my class, click here.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Best.

Colorful Kids: A Free Behavior Clip Chart and Reward Coupons

Ah . . .  I've made it through the first three weeks of school.  The first three weeks and the last three weeks always seem to be the most hectic.  I may not have everything up and going yet, but it's getting there.
One thing I do have up and going is my behavior management system and I thought I might share.  To begin with, I use the (certainly not original) color coded clip chart.

All students start their day on green.  They can move their clips up or down depending on their behavior.  I'm not going to go into specifics about consequences.  I really feel like that detail is very personal to you and your student population.
In my class, if one of my little sweeties is not acting so sweet and has made his way down the chart, I do allow the opportunity to move back up.  For my students, this chance for redemption is often motivating enough to regain some self control.

If a student is having a very good day.  Doing what is expected without being asked or going over and beyond, that student can move up the chart to blue, then purple.  If a student ends the day on purple he gets to add a jewel sticker to his clip (again, not an original idea).  When he has collected five jewels, he gets a special reward.  In my class it is in the form of a reward coupon.

Students can choose from a small list of reward choices that I then write on the coupon.  Students can redeem their coupon whenever they want.

sample reward coupons

Students also get to keep their bejeweled clip and start on a new one.  I send a note to the parents and attach the clip to it so they can celebrate their kiddos' accomplishments.  My students are really proud when they earn a jewel or fill up their clip and so am I.
If you would like a free copy of my clip chart, reward coupons, and parent note home, you can click on the picture below.

Clarity, consistency, and personal connections are important factors in effective classroom management.  This packet was created with each of these factors in mind.  I hope it can be of some use.

Best.