Lately

Lately I've been doing a lot of micro-blogging about teaching and working on my new site http://www.elementary-teacher-resources.com.

I haven't spent a lot of time here, but I did just update my badge so all of my blog updates will be fed here.

Kelly :)

Summer's Here

Well, the year is over. I was not ready for it to end this year. In all of my years I have looked forward to the summer, but this year I am truly missing my class. They are just such a neat group of kids.

I hope that they are having fun.

:)

Thank you Ms. Thompson!

Thank you Sarah Thompson for giving my students a pizza party incentive to learn sight words this year!

They did amazing and they loved your constant positive motivation!

Rockin' with Mr. Andy and Mr. Jesse

Mr. Andy and Mr. Jesse came to play for the school one last time for the year. They got to read and play for 15 classes. (I think that their hands were falling off, and voices were cracking!)

My kids had a blast and wanted to know if they would come back again...

So, guys, comin' back?

Reading Buddies from Orange Grove

We were so lucky to be picked to have a middle school group of students come and read to our kids. They were from Orange Grove Middle Magnet, and coming to visit us was the culmination of a semester long reading project.

The students had to apply (from what I head the application was pretty intense!), practice, model reading, read infront of classmates, maintain grades and be ready to roll.



They read with my students for about 45 minutes. First they read books that they practiced, then my kids got to pick books, then my kids read to them. It was a very powerful experience for many of my kids. Some of my students come from homes where books are not a priority - it was so amazing to see these "cool kids" that were smart and wanted to share time with my babes. :)

At one point, a student of mine who hasn't spoken for most of the year started reading to his reading buddy. I shed a happy tear when I saw that.

The power of books. Amen.

Thank you Junior League of Tampa!

We have been blessed by having the Junior League of Tampa in our classroom all year. Mrs. Hobby has come to school twice a month to read stories, teach songs and promote literacy. The visits always end with the children receiving a book to keep!

Today she came with her son and helped have a "Book Fair" for my class. Each student got to pick out 5 books to ready and keep! What a great way to have the children reading over the summer.

The kids were just thrilled with their new books!

Thank you Junior League!

Scientists At Work

My kids LOVE the
science center! Here the kids are looking at their plants. We have marigolds, celery / food coloring experiment, basil, chives, parsley and cilantro growing.

The art teacher gave me some old goggles, I found some clip boards and - viola! They are scientists. A few of my kids will sit there for the whole hour of centers writing observations!

Jack Hartmann

We were so lucky to get to go see Jack Hartmann this week.

Last year we took the students to the show, the bus was late and we missed a song or two. This year I wanted to make sure we saw the WHOLE show, so we booked the bus for 15 minutes earlier. Well, we got to the show at 9:30 and it didn't start 'til 10:15.

BUT... because we were so early we were seated in the front row! How exciting!

The kids (and I) had a ball. We danced, sang, clapped and cheered. It was a great event.

I haven't gotten all the photos yet, but I wanted post this one. This is the "post-Jack Hartmann" picture. The kids were so worn out 12 out of 15 of my kids fell asleep almost instantly when we returned to school. They were so cute!

What Can I Say?

The face of co-teaching working!

Ms. Hack and I have been co-teaching this year and we love it!

(BTW - The A/C was out at school, and it's 84 outside today, that's why we look just so amazingly shiny.)

Making Words Center

My making words center is quite a hoot. My kids keep asking me to add more and more to it. So, I do. It has now taken over my entire science table! There are magnets, felt letters, foam letters, flash cards, and more. These two little guys were making much harder words, but then got camera shy. Don't they always do that??

Some of their favorite things to do here are make the "Mac Daddy Bonus Words", word wall words and names. I really like it when they make "new" words, create sentences and sort words my rhyme, number of letters or syllables.

Measurement with Unifix Cubes

The other day the children and I created unifix cube patterns. First, ABABAB, then ABCABC, and so on.

They wanted to see how long they could make the patterns, so I told them to make a pattern as long as they were, then count the cubes.

It was a great activity because it involved patterning, counting, measurement and tons of small motor work!

Ms. Cristina Meets Guided Reading

Ms. Cristina taught her first guided reading group in my class today. She did it with a DRA 6 book that was called "We are Special". I loved how she really made the kids feel special. They did some rhyming work with dry erase boards too. It was a great lesson!

Message Center

I got this idea at Dr. Jean a few weeks ago and started it recently. All I did was make a poster with all the kids names on it, then give them sticky notes and crayons, pencils, markers, and let them write notes to each other. So easy and so fun.

Paramedics!

Back in November we had the Great American Teach in and were lucky enough to have these paramedics come and visit our room. We learned to stay low, get out safe, how to perform CPR, what the paramedics gear looks like and more!

Thanks guys!

Geometry - Fun!

My Intern had a great idea, eat shapes!

She took straws and fruit treats and had the kids create squares, triangles and other shapes.

The kids loved it!

Read to Us!

Most kids just want to hear a good book and feel loved!

My Intern's mom came in one day and read to the kids. They just loved it. Some of them even climbed up in her lap for a story or two.

Thanks Mom! :)

Everyone is Welcome!

Recently two of my friends have come to read books and play guitar for my class. My kids think they are "rock stars"! It has really opened my students (and some of the teachers) minds to think about people that look different, and are "cool" and still read well.

Mr. Andy and Mr. Jesse have become role-models to my kids because of their love of books.

Thanks guys!

Pushing Yourself Further

This year I was asked to be the FUSE teacher - coteach with an ESE teacher, her teaching assistant and their students.

After the initial reaction of, "Whoa...! What?" I thought about it for a long time and decided I was ready to push myself further.

Futher meant off the cliff. A scary, scary jump.

This jump meant having 20+ children in the room and as many as 6 being VE. It meant having to teach infront of someone else most of the day. It also meant having to have solid plans and community planning so we were all on the same page.

After coteaching now for almost a year, I can't imaging not having it there. It is safe, secure and you always have someone to fall back on. It means having more than one brain working on a problem. It means more people to help celebrate successes!

For the children, it has meant growing in acceptance, learning how to model for each other, loving people different than you and having friends that are wonderful.

9 months after starting coteaching, I have grown to be an advocate for it. For the teachers benefit, the students benefit and the joy of it.

Passion for reading and thinking

I have two favorite times during my day: when we are singing and when we are reading. Both times put a smile on my heart.

Today the little boy in the picture moved up from a DRA 6 to DRA 8. It was a great celebration. The class cheered, we sang, laughed, clapped and were truly excited for him.

It made me think... When does this joy and passion for reading start, and when does it stop?

My students this year are amazing readers, writers and thinkers. There are times when I want to do something "just for fun" and they turn it into a deep, thought-filled activity just by the questions they ask and the comments they make.

Why can't this feeling continue through all their years in school?

Why does it stop?

What can I do to help it grow?

I don't know the answers - but what I do know is at the end of this year I will be saying goodbye to people who I wish were my age, that I could spend more time with, because they have taught me as much as I have taught them.

Tracing paper and a 5 year old

For Dr. Seuss' birthday I let the kids take tracing paper and create pictures from their favorite books.

This photo just shows how much patience a 5 year old can have when engaged in something they enjoy!

Simple, and sweet!

Sparkle Words

Hi!

I got this great idea from the Dr. Jean training a few weeks ago and my kids LOVE it. We have been talking about adding words to our stories that make them sparkle. We modeled sentences then "sparkle sentences" (ex. I see the cat. became I see the big, black cat.) What a difference. :)

Then each child picked their favorite "sparkle word", wrote it on a sentence strip and glittered it.

This simple bank of words has been a blessing to adding spice to our writer's workshop!

Kelly :)

Dr. Jean

Wow!

Wow!

Wow!

I was so lucky to get to go see Dr. Jean on Wednesday. She was even more captivating, exciting and idea-filled than I thought.

She is so energy-filled that I left and my head was spinning with all the things I could do in my classroom.

One of my new favorite ideas is using "Smart people..." to start command sentences. For example, "Smart people follow line procedure in the hall." I did it on Friday and let me tell you, they did it!

I also loved the idea of making big phones and keyboards on shower curtains and having the kids "type" with a fly swatter.

If you get a chance to see her - GO!

Buy in Bulk Huge Hit!

The "buy in bulk" has been such a hit that I'm going to make it a feature for a while.

With this I have also lowered the price $5....

Now $24.99 for all 9 of my teaching books!

Cool. :)

Tip of the Week: Keep It Super Simple

K.I.S.S. (Keep it Super Simple)

I hear of so many teachers that spend 60, 70, 80 hours a week working. I like my job. I love my students. I adore teaching, but we don't get paid enough to spend that kind of time on our career. And the best part is that you don't have to.

I work from 6:30 - 4:00 most days. Then, I go home with empty hands and don't think about school again until the next day. Even maintaining these hours, I am able to run a well organized, exciting, academically driven, high-achieving classroom.

My goal is to provide you with a few quick strategies to streamline your planning, organizing and work so that you can be successful as a teacher and still have a life!

First, plan with a team. In team planning you "share the wealth". Each teacher brings strengths to the table, and putting them together to plan raises the level of everyone's plans. Working on a team also gives you the opportunity to bounce ideas off of other people in a non-threatening setting.

If there are not other teachers at your school to plan with, find some in the area. Teaching is, sadly, a mostly isolated profession - teaching, planning, grading, and working alone. Planning shouldn't be. You're only as good as your plans, so find other professionals to plan with.

Second, plan "in bulk". At my school we take one afternoon a week and plan for each subject for a month. The first week we plan reading, the second week we plan math, the third week we plan writing, and so on. In doing this you know what you need in advance, so there is never a last minute rush. This also covers you in case of illness or other unexpected emergency. If you have teaching aides or parent volunteers coming into your room, you know in advance if you need something for them to help you cut, buy, or put together.

Planning in bulk can also help you make sure you are covering all of the standards and expectations. You're never left hanging in the wind with 3 weeks of school left if you are continually looking forward in big blocks of time.

Third, simplify your lessons. Every lesson does not need to have some cute art project, worksheet or product. The best lessons are lessons that have a clear purpose, concise goal, streamlined teaching and maintain academic flow. My classroom is a "no worksheet" zone. Children do not learn from worksheets. They learn from clear teaching, real-world application and use of all of the senses.

One of my all time favorite teaching tools is plain, white copy paper. You can do almost anything with plain, white paper. There are 100’s of ways to turn it into graphic organizers, stories, books, reviews, word family charts and more. The children feel ownership in their products, and it is authentic assessment. To find great things to do with paper, visit http://www.dinah.com/egroup/Archives.htm

I have every type of student in my classroom - just like you: "typical", gifted, ESE, ADHD, and the list goes on and on. Most of these students do not want to be in a chair all day - they would much rather move! Having a classroom that allows children to learn in the way that they are most capable makes sense. During my day we have tons of music, movement, dancing, writing, drawing, cooperative work, hands-on centers and structured "learning through play".

Try one of these tips and see if you become a happier teacher with more time for YOU to play!