Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire

     My first week of summer started with a lot of time by the pool reading some great books.  The first book I read was Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire by Rafe Esquith.  This book left me with so much to think about as I start the next school year.

• To begin the book Esquith introduces the six levels of learners students can chose to be.  He discusses how many students are Level 1 thinkers who come to school and behave in order to avoid getting into trouble.  He wants his students to reach Level 6 which is when they want to learn and do right for themselves and no one else.  My take away from this was that students shouldn't always be given a tangible reward for behaving appropriately at school. A step I think second graders can take toward being Level 6 thinkers is practicing looking through the eyes of others.  There are many picture books that teach empathy that I will be reading to my students next year.

• Esquith gives many suggestions for how to help struggling readers.  He spends many hours preparing how the class will read stories before introducing it. For students who cannot read he picks very simple paragraphs for them to read a loud with confidence.  He also constantly explains the material to make sure everyone is up to speed. 

• When discusses writing instruction Esquith explains what he calls the "Dreaded Rewrite." On grammar assignments students are required to get at least 90% or more correct, otherwise they have to rewrite the assignment.  I really like how high of expectations he holds for his students.  I think I will implement something like this in my class next year to show students that it isn't acceptable to rush through assignments.

• Another writing instructional strategy he suggests is to type up writing assignments exactly the way students wrote them and review them with the class.  By typing them up and removing the name, no one knows who wrote the assignment.  Together the class can learn from each others mistakes and strive hard to write a wonderful essay worth everyone knowing who wrote it

• While reading about Equith's math instruction, he discusses Marcy Cook.  I had not heard of her before but after checking out marcycookmath.com I found a lot of great math warm up ideas I plan to implement next year. 

I wish I could step inside Room 56 to see Esquith in action but reading this book has been eye opening to what my goals are as teacher. I am now reading his book "There are No Shortcuts," and getting more and more exciting about what my classroom next year will look like.   What books are inspiring you this summer?

End of the Year Fun

Friday was my last teacher workday so Summer has officially begun for me!  The end of the year was so much busier than I thought it was going to be.  The last week was a lot of fun for my kids.  My favorite day was a beach theme day.  We started our morning by laying on beach towels in the room and reading our favorite books to each other.

We then made some different beach themed crafts.  My students loved making a flip flop craft I found on Pinterest and they also enjoyed painting sea shells.

On Thursday we had our class party.  We started with a pizza lunch and a slideshow I had put together.  It was great having used Class Dojo all year to keep up with my pictures.  My students really loved seeing all of our memories together.  Next, I rolled out the red carpet for end of the year awards.  I had my students write their names on yellow stars to add to the carpet.  When their name was called they took a walk down the red carpet and stopped for a picture when they received their awards. 

After awards we planned a few fun, but simple games.  They all loved racing to get the cup to the other side of the table.  Another game I had was who could keep the balloon in the air the longest.  I couldn't believe how excited they were over balloons. 

At another area of the room students were racing to fan a paper fish into the box.  It was a great game in teamwork. 

On the last day of school, we cleaned the room and had a board game day.  I am happy it is Summer now but I will miss my kiddos.  Second grade was a blast to teach this year.  I can honestly say that there was not a single day where I dreaded going to work.  So now it is time for some Summer professional development, relaxing and getting ready for my next bunch of second graders!



Spring Break Reads

LSpring break is this week for me and many of my NC teacher friends.  I am looking forward to many things about this week, but mostly for getting time to recharge my teacher batteries.  I started the day with some time in the gym and lunch with friends. Later in the day I spent some time in the sun with a book.  I love days like these!  On Wednesday I will be heading to the beach with a couple of teacher friends.  Of course when I go to the beach I have to have plenty of great books to read.  I have three different piles of books. 

1)  Guided Reading Books to read and create TRC question for this week

2) Professional Development Books. 

3) Non-teacher related reads

We will see how many of these books I complete over the break.  I hope to at least finish one book that is non-teacher related.  It's hard to get my teacher brain to turn off even when on vacation.  How about you?  What is on your reading list for Spring break?

I'm Back!

Hello everyone! I am so excited to start back blogging again.  I took some time off as I was getting settled in my new job.  When I previously had this blog I was teaching sixth grade and going to college for special education.  I then taught special ed for two years and just returned into the regular education classroom this year.  I am now teaching second grade and so far it is my favorite grade I have taught. I can't wait to share with you all what I am doing in my classroom and collaborate with some other elementary teachers out there.  

As a fun freebie for starting by blog journey again, I posted a new free download to my TPT store.

Check it out here!

New Blog

I'm moving! 

Please visit and follow my new blog at http://thebehaviorroom.blogspot.com.  You can read more about my move on my first post there.

I am hoping to broaden my PLN there and with my new twitter account @thebehaviorroom.

Summer Professional Development

We all know that summer doesn't just mean time to play around, but also time to learn some new things for a better school year.  This summer I have so much I want to read and learn about.  This week I've been in a conference learning about MTSS which is a layered system of support for identifying struggling students and helping meet the needs of all learners. It has been an eye opening conference and I am looking forward to the changes that will be taking place at our school. 

Other than conferences I also have my own list of books I want to read this summer. I've already almost finished the book pictured below and it has been one of my favorite books related to students with learning disabilities.  

One idea I love is the concept of literally picturing what success looks like in the classroom. The author suggests taking or finding pictures of what you think a successful environment looks like and putting them into a college. Then post the picture in your classroom as a reminder to always have positive expectations for students.

Below is a picture of my current stack of books I want to read this summer. Some books are rereads, some are just for fun and non school related and most are related to learning more about teaching students with disabilties.

What's on your professional development menu for this summer? 

Last Week Fun

Last week was the last week of school for students.  We celebrated in my room with a different theme for each day.  Monday was math games, Tuesday was fun with reading, Wednesday was science, Thursday was reflection of the year and Friday was summer activities.   My students enjoyed these theme days and overall were able to keep their focus the last week while enjoying themselves. 

Reading in the dark on reading day

Getting to learn from a therapy dog on science day

Rain in a jar on science day

Started off our week growing grass.  It sprouted in just a few days and the kids loved watching how much it grew each day.



Lately & Sunday Scoop 4.19.15

     I have had a lot of fun lately, with spring break and going to the Bahamas.  I'm very happy to say the hardest part of this school year for me is behind me.  I've got most of my IEP meetings done for the year and I finally feel like I have a good handle on my new job.  I have grown a lot over the course of the school year as an EC teacher and it is nice to know feel like I know what I am doing.   I'm especially happy that now all my students current IEP's are ones that I have written so I know exactly what I need to be working on.  

      On a non school related note, I had an amazing spring break in the Bahama's.  I took a cruise with some girls from work and it was one of the best vacations I have been on.  The food was wonderful and the whole trip itself was so relaxing.   I loved having everything all in one place. 

 

 

On the water taxi in Nassau

 

 At Atlantis

Our view as we left the port of Nassau

 

I also wanted to share my Walmart clearance finds.  I went on a Wednesday night a week ago to Walmart to find my niece and birthday present and ended up with a cart full of toys and prize box items.  I have birthdays and Christmas for my niece and nephew done!  I'm not sure what day clearance items are put out but going mid week was definitely a positive for me.

 

 

$297 retail value for only $88!  Lots of toys were more than 75% off.

 

 

I also wanted to link up with Sunday Scoop.  Nothing too exciting is going on this week but I sure hope it stops raining so we will have a nice field day at the end of the week.

 

 

Join in on the link up here!

What Tommy taught me

   This post is the story of one of my students who I've worked with a lot this year, let's call him Tommy. He has really changed my thinking about my job and I am very thankful for that.  Tommy is a young elementary student who I serve in my classroom for 75% of the school day.  He does get to go to enrichment, recess, lunch and science with his regular class but the rest of the day he is with me.  Often, it is just Tommy and I working together in my classroom.  You would think Tommy would progress immensely with so much time working one on one with me.  This hasn't been the case this year.  We are still working on name recognition, counting to 20, letter formation and other IEP goals.   During the first half of the year I was so motivated to do whatever I could to help him learn.  One day I assessed him and he could recognize all of his letter sounds! We celebrated big time as this was a huge accomplishment for him.
   
       After winter break, he came back to me and it was as if everything we had learned before break just completely left him.  This was hard for me to accept because even after weeks of review, he still was not getting back what I once thought he had learned.  For a while I kept trying new ways to teach him; visual cues, kinestic games, incorporating his favorite super heroes, anything and everything I could think of I tried.  Eventually, I became frustrated that it seemed like he would never learn the basic things I wanted him to.  I began to give up on him and thought things like, well this behavior support class is not the right placement for him, he needs a different placement where he can work on more functional goals and less academic goals.  I started to lower the expectations I had for him.  I would even get mad at some of the behaviors he presented just because I was upset I had to deal with him and the fact that he also didn't seem to be showing any academic progress.
 
     Not long ago Tommy charged me with a hug and told me thank you for reading with him.  In that moment, I felt very guilty for the attitude I had towards him lately.  I thought, how can I be frustrated with a little boy who I know is 100 times more frustrated than I am.  Have I tried every single strategy out there to help him? No, so I can not give up on him and I certainly can not be upset with him.

     The point in me posting the story of Tommy is to remind us all to NEVER give up on a child. You may not even realize you have given up.  It took me a while to realize my own attitude was affecting how much effort I was putting into teaching Tommy. While it may be true that Tommy will need a life skills class in the future rather than a behavior support class, it is my job now to try everything in my power to help him learn.  It is going to take A LOT of effort on my part to come up with new strategies to teach him.  It's going to take a lot of time, maybe even some money to buy the resources best suited for him, but I can promise little Tommy that I will always believe in him. Tommy waits for me at the top of the hallway every morning, counting on me to be there for him.  I want to really show up for him from now on.

      So my challenge to you is to think about your classroom and decide if there is a student you may be starting to give up on.  Is there a student who you are allowing to sit and do nothing, just because nothing is better than arguing with him?  Is there a student who you've stopped practicing multiplication facts with because he still can't pass his two's tables quiz?  Is there a student who you send to another teachers room constantly because you just can't deal with his behavior another day? Trust me, I know how discouraging it can be to have tried what seems like everything and still not see progress.  Whenever you feel like you've ran out of ideas, talk to someone else at school to bounce ideas off of.  If that doesn't work, get online and research new strategies.  I have found lots of twitter groups, facebook groups, message boards, etc for collaborating with other teachers.  Don't let your students see you discouraged.  Most importantly, don't give up on any child because you just might be the only person who believes in them.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

    It has been a long but fun St. Patrick's Day for this Carolina girl.  I had a little too many activities planned today for my kiddos and some we didn't get to, but lots of learning went on in the CBS room today.  Next time I will try to do better at taking pictures.

1.  We started our day by learning why we celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  We used getepic.com to read a nonfiction book called St. Patrick's Day.  This book was great because it had mini chapters that each explained why we do certain things on St. Patrick's Day.  We then wrote a summary of each chapter on shamrocks.

2.  We listened to the story That's what Leprechaun's Do by Eve Bunting.  We then created our own Leprechaun's and will be do a writing activity with the book tomorrow to talk about what we do if we were a leprechaun.

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3.  We used Magic Stars cereal to count and graph the marshmallows. Tomorrow we will look closely at our graph to answer questions about what we had the most of, etc. 

4.  We did not have time today to get to the pot of gold hunt I had planned for outside.  I have a list of directions for my students to follow in order to find the pot with gold coins inside.  I know they will enjoy this so I will try it tomorrow.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Worship Wednesday

     Today I'm linking up to an awesome new link up I found called Worship Wednesday. In this linkup you just share any scripture, verse or experience that has encouraged you during the week. I've been reading a great book recently called You'll Get Through This by Max Lucado. A quote that stuck out to me this week while I was reading was "Hard hearts never heal, spongy ones do." I have been pretty bitter about certain things that have happened to me recently and let certain people harden my heart. Reading this was a wake up call that I needed to let go of things that were weighing me down. 

     It is so easy when something bad happens to want to run from God instead of draw closer. There are times when I have thought, how could God let this happen when I feel as though I'm doing everything he has guided me to do. Then I came across this verse:

Even in the depths of despair, God is still there.  When I feel like running because nothing seems to be going right, God is still guiding me.  It look me a while to realize that I needed to open my heart to what God was teaching me, but when I did I found a lot of joy.   God is always with us, even when we may feel like he has left us all alone.

Has someone hardened your heart? A co-worker, friend, or someone from a past relationship? If so, don't close your heart to God. His intent is for us to shine and be filled with happiness.  Show the negative people in your life that your light shines regardless of how much they try to break you down.   

Now I will stop rambling and leave you with a song that has encouraged me recently.  Don't forget to go link up to Worship Wednesday! 

Snow Day!

    I must say I'm pretty stoked about being able to post today.  It is a snow day here in North Carolina and for what seems like the first time this year I am caught up with work and have some free time. I'm sorry it seems like I keep disappearing, learning this new job has taken a lot of extra time.   For those of you who are new to my blog, this is my first year as an elementary behavior support teacher. This means I have a classroom of students who come in and out during the day that has behavioral disorders. I've worked really hard this year at trying to find ways to engage my students.  Here are some things I've done recently in the classroom that have helped it run much more smoothly.

1. More imaginative play.

    My students love pretending to be someone different.  One of my students love playing chef so we opened up a "Red Ranger Restaurant."  I made some foods with sight words and numbers on them and a menu to go along with it.  Every week we read a new story and make a character who then we serve in our restaurant. I will play the role of the character who is making out their order and my student will find the right word or number and cook it.  We then work on adding and subtracting by figuring out the customer's total and how much change they will get when they pay.  This is just one example of imaginative play but I love it because my students are engaged and they are learning multiple content areas at the same time.  

  Another idea I did with an older student was opening up a "Shape Shop" where the student had to serve me the polygon based on the attributes I gave.

2. Sensory Play

     It took me a while to realize how much my students benefit from sensory breaks.  I have used sensory bins with sand and objects inside for students to investigate.  I have also done sensory science projects like in the picture below.  We made Valentine's Day slime and after making it my students had to write about what would happen if their slime came to life.  I found the slime recipe here.

3. Organized Independent Activities

     We had another snow day earlier this year but it was a teacher workday.  I decided to completely organize my back shelf which has helped me so much! I have file folder games, puzzles, sorting games, flashcards and all other activities grouped by what skill the activity focuses on.  The picture below may look like just a bunch of random things, but having manipulatives grouped together has saved me so much time! 

4. New Classroom Management System

     At the start of the third quarter I introduced a new reward system to my students which has worked wonders! It is based on constant positive reinforcement. With my class, you never know when a student will come in and have a day when they don't even want to write their name on their paper.  This is where this system comes in handy. Students earn gems for everything.  Green gems have the lowest value and have to be traded into blue gems in order to be worth anything.  If a student is having a rough day, I can simply say "Have a seat in the blue chair" and then give them a chair when they comply, then "Can you write your name on the paper?" and give another gem. Once they earn 5 green gems they get a blue gem which can be spent on a reward like 5 minutes of reading time or 5 minutes of coloring.  They can also save up blue gems in order to get an orange gem.  3 blue gems earns an orange gem which is good for 10 minutes of iPad time, prize box or 10 minutes of playing with magnetic blocks.  There is also a special gold gem that can only be earned when they have made a 90 or above on a quiz or test.  Students each have a door in my room they keep their gems on until they decide to spend them.  Then they put them in the treasure chest on their door for everyone to see how many gems they have earned.  It may sound a little complicated at first but it has been the best reward system I've tried so far.

   5. Common Curriculum

   I've started using a new online lesson planner.  It's called Common Curriculum and it has so many options in setting up a lesson plan template.  What I like best about it is, you can search for multiple standards on the same screen and then click to import them into your lesson plan.  You can also invite people to view your lesson plans and then can enter comments.  This has been great for me and my assistant.  She pulls up the lesson plans on her iPad and can add a comment to let me know how certain activities went with my students.  In the picture below you can see that I have it colored coded by who is doing what activity.  Did I mention this site is free? Check it out here.

What things have been working well with you lately? I really hope to be able to start posting more now that I feel much more settled into my job.  Happy snow day!

December Catch Up

I know it probably seems like I disappeared this month but it has just been too busy.  I am very much looking forward to a new year and a new start. Mostly, I'm looking forward to the busyness of this month to slow down.  However, January will bring some changes for me with a new student in my class and a new assistant. I also have several IEP meetings that I know will keep me busy. Regardless, a new year is always exciting as you think about a new start.  But I wanted to end the year with a recap in pictures of my December.

Max, our classroom elf on the shelf.

Max enjoyed partner reading to his friend Mr. Potato Head.

He also loves stickers and got a little carried away. 

My handsome puppy ready for Christmas.

I took Jack to Petsmart to get his first "pawdicure."

My cousin got me in interested in the fiddle and I ended up buying one!

Well that is all for this year! I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve, see you next in 2015.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Today I'm linking up with Wordless Wednesday to show what I've been up to outside of school lately!

Thematic Thursday - Pumpkins

I'm loving all of the fun themes for the month of October! This week I have been working a lot with pumpkins.  I still need to get tomorrow's activities ready so this will be a quick post.

 

Bottle Cap Area- My third grade is beginning to talk about area and perimeter in his regular class so we did a bottle cap pumpkin this week.  We talked about area being the amount inside of a shape and counted how many bottle caps we could fit inside.  I have different size pumpkins for us to use as well so we will discuss the concept of larger and small and determine which sizes have more surface space. 

Make a word- I have all of the letters of the alphabet in pumpkin die cuts which are fun to use to have students make more words out of October words.  Since we are focusing on pumpkins this week, we tried seeing how many words we could make with "pumpkin." 

Pumpkin Addition/Subtraction- I bought cupcake toppers and this craft pumpkin at Dollar Tree but a cheap $2 math center.  I will give my student a math problem and have them use the spiders and the pumpkin to solve the problem. This was great for motor skills too because it wasn't too easy for them to push the spider in.

Pumpkin Pals-  This has been a week long project of painting pumpkins and writing about them.  We are writing a pumpkin pal story about the life of their pumpkin.  We are also working on question words and doing interviews with their pumpkins.

I've done a lot more with pumpkins this week but just haven't remembered to take pictures.  Next week I will be finishing up pumpkins and then moving to spiders! 

Sunday Scoop

As much as I didn't want summer weather to be over, there are many things I'm looking forward to this fall.  Since this is the first full week of fall, most of my Sunday scoop link up is about getting ready for fall activities at school.

3 things I have to do: Tomorrow we have an early release day at school and we are doing a potluck lunch.  I'm bringing ham & swiss croissants so I definitely have to make those tonight.  I also need to make IEP data sheets to track my students goal progress and make reading group lesson plans for the first grade group I work with. 

2 things I hope to do:  I have so many files saved on my computer that if I just added some cute clipart to I could easily put on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I really hope to get on that sometime this week.  I also hope to make time every day to take my dog, Jack for a run.  He doesn't go outside and play as much when it's cooler so I've got to start making it a point to go for a run with him.

I am very happy to go shopping today for some crafts for my fall units.  I have planned pumpkin, leaves and spider units and now I just need to get the the materials I want to use for the activities. I'm pretty sure getting to do so many fun hands-on activities is one of my favorite things about elementary school. 

Click my Sunday scoop picture above and join in on the link up!

Wordless Wednesday - Independent Work

I've been so busy lately to be able to blog, so with Wordless Wednesday I'm able to make a quick post! This post is to give some ideas of what I use for students to do independent work. With my students, anything independent is not desired. They always want someone to work with then but with different grade levels and abilities, I usually have to work just one on one, which leaves someone doing independent work. So here are some activities I use that my students usually seem to like. 

and of course, the iPad! 

What type of independent work do you give your students?