I just finished my first week of school and I. Am. Exhausted. How about you?
Thankfully, Labor Day weekend came to my rescue. But even if you don’t have a long weekend to recover, here are some tips to help you rest and reset for another busy week.
1 – Make a list of all the things that went well this past week. It’s so easy to focus on all the things we need to do or finish or change. But we rarely take the time to think about all that went well. You could list things that went well in your classroom but also think about making a list of all the things that went well outside of school. Did you go to bed on time? Keep up with laundry? Pack a healthy lunch every day? Work out every day? Be proud of yourself for everything you did well!
2- Get some sleep. Go to bed earlier, sleep later, take a nap. Sleep when you feel the need to sleep. You will be much more productive during your waking hours if you get the sleep you need.
3 – Get as much fresh air as possible. Spend some time outside, take a walk, sit on a porch or a deck. Just take time to breathe and enjoy looking at nature.
4 – Develop a self-care plan for the upcoming week. Can you get up 15 minutes earlier and enjoy some time to yourself in the morning? Can you plan to go to bed extra early one night next week? Can you plan your workouts or trips to the gym or barre studio? Can you do any meal prep to make healthy eating an easier option during the week? Can you plan what days you might work later and what days you might leave school earlier?
5 – Similar to a self-care plan, can you come up with a morning routine that makes you happy? Even spending just a few minutes stretching, meditating, reading or praying can impact your mood and outlook for the day.
6 – Say no. If someone wants you to do something you do not want to do, just say no. Or readjust their request to something that you feel like you can do or that you want to do. Now is not the time to meet everyone else’s needs. You need to take care of yourself!
7 – Spend time with people you love and who lift your spirits.
8 – Go see a movie, watch TV, or catch up on favorite Netflix shows. Allow yourself to zone out.
9 – Read a great book that has nothing to do with school or with education. Get lost in another world!
10 – Reach out to friends you haven’t seen in a while. A text message counts!
11 – Get a manicure, a pedicure (or both!), a massage, or take a bubble bath.
12 – Enjoy some meditation and/or prayer time.
I hope these tips have given you some ideas for how to refocus and get some mental and physical rest. Your work matters and you matter! Take care of yourself.
Do you want more guidance with resetting your classroom? I’m creating a mini-course with more step-by-step tips. Sign up for the waiting list HERE and I will notify you when it’s ready! (Signing up does not obligate you in any way.)
This post was updated on 8-9-22 with some new titles! Here’s the link.
One of the best first weeks of school activities is to read aloud to your students. The first week, especially, can be unpredictable in terms of planning and knowing how long everything will take when your students are new to your classroom. Having plenty of picture books ready to go is a great use of time when you find yourself with a few minutes.
Besides being a great use of time, I find reading aloud helps bond our class together as a community. Reading books together and having a chance to discuss them builds verbal skills, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and empathy. Plus it’s just plain fun and relaxing. All kids love it, especially when the teacher is engaged and enthusiastic about the book being read.
Here are some of my favorite beginning of the year picture books. I’ve also included a suggestion for discussion with most of the books. This is not to say that you need to read every one of these books! Pick and choose what might fit you and your class, and what might be available.
NERVES ON FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL:
~First Day Jitters – a classic story for talking about feelings of nervousness at the beginning of the year
~Wemberly Worried – talk about nerves on the first days of school
~The Kissing Hand – a fun book about carrying your family’s love with you everywhere you go. Even upper elementary kids love this book!
HOW WE TREAT EACH OTHER – BUILDING CLASSROOM COMMUNITY:
~The Day You Begin – a great book for highlighting individuality and looking for common ground. You could follow this up with a “find a classmate who . . .” type scavenger hunt
~The Colors of Us – talk about similarities and differences
~Each Kindness – talk about the importance of kindness and anti-bullying
~Mistakes That Worked and Accidents May Happen- talk about making mistakes and learning from them
IMPORTANCE OF NAMES:
~The Name Jar – talk about the importance of names and the importance of pronouncing each other’s names correctly
~Alma & How She Got Her Name – same discussion as The Name Jar, but this is a newer book and may be one that students have not heard before. This would also fit well with the name origin “Homework” with Chrysanthemum below.
~My Name is Sangoel – talk about the importance of names and the importance of of pronouncing everyone’s names correctly.
~Chrysanthemum – talk about bullying & the importance of names. Optional homework: find out how you were given your name and the meaning of your name if your family knows that information! Then share those stories in class. Please be aware that this could be a difficult activity for some students. Don’t require kids to share if they are uncomfortable.
HOPES, DREAMS & GOALS:
~The Dot – talk about how you might “make a mark” – what are your hopes and dreams, both for this year and for the future?
~Miss Rumphius – talk about how you make the world more beautiful by being a teacher; ask students to talk with each other about some of their goals and dreams
~Ish – talk about believing in yourself & your dreams
~Only One You – talk about individuality and individual gifts
~Giant Steps to Change the World – talk about steps anyone can take to make the world a better place. It uses real-life examples, which is inspiring.
~What Do You Do with an Idea? – talk about the importance of acting on your ideas and turning them into something important
~Salt in His Shoes – talk about setting goals; good book for writing about student goals for the year
~The Bad Seed – talk about how to make positive changes in yourself
~Jabari Jumps – talk about having courage, overcoming fears and giving hard things a try
~Junkyard Wonders – talk about different gifts and supporting each other’s goals
SETTING UP READING WORKSHOP/READING BLOCK:
~Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind – great book for kicking off independent reading and reading workshop; talk about the importance of finding the right book
~Thank You, Mr. Falker – talk about challenges, bullying, the importance of teachers(!); good book for writing about reading memories & setting reading goals
~A Quiet Place – talk about the importance of reading and of the need for quiet when settling in to read
~Biblioburro & That Book Woman – talk about value of libraries & how lucky we are to have access to books
SETTING UP WRITING WORKSHOP/WRITING BLOCK:
~Author – talk about collecting ideas for writing
~Amelia’s Notebook – talk about keeping a notebook & using writing as a way think through your feelings; a funny book that makes this point without being “teacher-ish”
~Max’s Logbook – similar to the Amelia book, but about a boy who begins writing about science experiments, and moves on to writing about other topics; introduces topic of writing notebooks
~Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street – how to turn “nothing” observations into stories
Last year, I implemented #classroombookaday in my classroom with terrific results. Here is a link to the post which explains more.
My favorite way to begin math block at the beginning of the year involves focusing on fun math activities, building students’ confidence, and learning about growth mindset, all in the same task. Dr. Jo Boaler of Stanford University has done amazing work in this area. Her website is youcubed.org. I especially love the Week of Inspirational Math activities, which can be found HERE.
As of right now, there are four sets of Week of Inspirational Math tasks (since 2015), but the 2019 set will be posted soon. You could use one week’s activities as is, or you could check out different years’ activities and put your own combination together. The videos and activities are engaging and students get very excited about math, which is always a great way to begin!
Before jumping into academic content, I also like to set up my math block time with some common expectations. Teaching students to work together and talk about math is an important goal for me from day one. I found this activity on Sara Van Der Werf’s site and I want to try it this year. She describes using it in middle school and high school classrooms, but I think it could be easily adapted for elementary school as well. I’ll let you know how it goes!
I like to survey my students about their attitudes toward math at the beginning of the year. I like to use this survey from Donna at Math Coach’s Corner.
If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, you know I am a big fan of reading aloud to kids! So it will be no surprise to find that I love using picture books in math as well.
Here are some of my favorite math read-aloud books:
~One Hundred Hungry Ants — a great introduction to multiplication arrays
~Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream: A Mathematical Story – another good introduction to concept of multiplication.
~Each Orange Had Eight Slices — this book helps model the associative property of multiplication. A good follow-up would be for students to write their own multiplication stories.
~Six Dinner Sid — a cute story about a cat who visits six homes, eats six meals a day, and has six different owners. A twist in the plot causes a change in Sid’s life! Kids enjoy this book and it can be used for multiplication stories as well.
~One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale – a story with a great lesson and illustration of concept of doubling.
~Snowflake Bentley – another great story which can lead to mulitplcation stories using multiples of three and six.
~365 Penguins – another fun book with lots of possibilities for problem solving.
~Sea Squares – introduces the concept of square numbers
~The Doorbell Rang – my all-time favorite book for introducing (or reminding) students of what is happening when we divide numbers.
~A Remainder of One – a good book for showing division with arrays.
~The Great Divide: A Mathematical Marathon – another book with great possibilities for division stories and using halving as a strategy.
~The Warlord’s Puzzle – introduces tangram puzzles and can also be used for fractional parts.
~Grandfather Tang’s Story – same as The Warlord’s Puzzle
~Full House: An Introduction to Fractions – a fun story that introduces fraction concepts.
~The Wishing Club – in this book, four children wish upon a star but are granted wishes in fractional parts that follow a pattern. Several extension activities are listed at the end of the book.
~The Lion’s Share – a great story with a message and lots of fraction concepts, along with multiplication and division. If you ever read the Aesop fable of the lion and the mouse, you will want to use this book during math.
~The Greedy Triangle – a great review or introduction to various geometric shapes. Plus, if Marilyn Burns wrote it, you can count on it being a great math resource!
~Perimeter, Area & Volume: A Monster Book of Dimensions – this book is new to me, but I plan to use it this year to help review area and perimeter and then introduce volume.
~Sir Cumference Math Adventure stories – kids love these! There are a variety of concepts covered in different books.
~The Librarian Who Measured the Earth – a wonderful biography of Greek philosopher Eratosthenes who did accurately measure the globe’s circumference.
~G is for Googol – a Math Alphabet Book – a variety of math concepts are introduced in this fun alphabet book.
~any books by Greg Tang – these are fun and engaging.
~Round Trip – kids LOVE this book. I always use it during a geometry unit. It is illustrated in black and white. You basically read the story all the way through, then turn the book upside down and read the rest of the story. I know that’s confusing! Here’s the blurb from Publisher’s Weekly:
“A visual stunner….The format is wonderfully inventive–once the traveler arrives in the city, the book is flipped over and read back to the beginning, with the black-and-white pictures taking on new meanings….Sure to delight and fascinate.”–Publishers Weekly.
*Donna at Math Coach’s Corner has an awesome site with engaging math resources that are easy to implement. HERE is her post about structuring math workshop and her tips for getting started.
*Curriculum Corner is another website with specific lessons for getting your math block started. You can easily modify these lessons to fit your class’s needs.
*Achieve the Core is another good site with Common Core-aligned resources. I like to use their mini-assessments throughout the year as quick checks on specific standards. HERE is a link to their assessments, which can be filtered by grade level.
Even if you don’t have a full hour for writing instruction, notice that students should be doing their own writing for most of the block.
There is a lot more to say about teaching writing, but this post will focus on getting the writing workshop started.
In the blog post from Two Writing Teachers, they talk about how to explicity teach your students the different parts of the workshop and what is expected during that time.
When minilessons follow a predictable structure every day, students know what to expect. They know how to come to the meeting area, how to turn and talk (and to whom), how to stay focused during the lesson, and how to transition to independent writing time.
You can build independent writing stamina in the same ways you build independent reading stamina. Talk about the importance of stamina, what to do when you feel “stuck,” what they can write about when they are “done” or waiting for a conference. On the first day, start with a small amount of independent writing time, then build up gradually from there.
Teach your students to work with a partner during partner time. This is where they will share their writing with each other and give each other feedback. A good way to start this is to model a partner share with a student so your whole class can see what it should look like and sound like. I usually start the year by assigning partners, but they don’t stay with the same partner all year. Change them up frequently so that everyone can give and receive different feedback.
The last few minutes are for sharing and reflection. You might have a student share something they did in their writing that day. It’s especially nice when partners suggest their writing partner’s work should be shared with the class! You also might take a few minutes for students to reflect or self-assess their writing work for the day instead of sharing publicly.
*Curriculum Corner also has some great resources for getting started with writing workshop HERE.
*I recently discovered this blog – Amanda Write Now. I really like her quick and easy lessons for implementing writing workshop in the classroom. I plan to try her lessons this year. Two things I especially love about her site: the short videos that she creates for some lessons and the anchor charts. The charts themselves could remain on display all year long to be referred to frequently.
*A fun writing option for the beginning of the year is to write an I AM poem. There are lots of templates for this on Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teachers, but HERE is the template I have used many times.
This can be modified in many ways. You might have students just write one stanza, for instance. I have changed the “I hear” and “I see” to things that are real instead of imaginary. Do whatever fits your class.
*For all things writing, Jennifer Serravallo’s Writing Strategies Book is a great go-to resource.
WORD STUDY:
*This has always been a tricky one for me. My district does not have any specific recommended resource so we tend to just try random things. Not the most efficient way to teach word study. Another issue with word study is that it tends to fall “off the radar” when teachers get busy and need more time for reading or writing.
But continuing to develop decoding skills, understanding spelling patterns and building vocabulary are all so important. So what are some things that work?
*Equipped for Reading Success by David Kilpatrick – I saw this book mentioned in a Facebook teacher group. I have a master’s degree in literacy instruction so I am well aware of the need to ensure that phonemic awareness skills and phonics skills are effectively taught in the earliest grades.
Unfortunately, those skills have been de-emphasized for many years, resulting in kids being in fifth grade and still not having the skills needed to decode multi-syllabic words.
When I got the book and read it this summer, it emphasized what I already knew. BUT — it includes an assessment that can be used with any student who is having difficulty and it gives a step-by-step intervention plan for helping those students develop the skills they need.
You might be familiar with the PAST assessment – that is the assessment that is used in this book.
This year I plan to use this book and its guidelines for working with any of my fifth graders who are lacking these necessary skills. I’ll post about this as I try it out!
*Words Their Way – this is a great resource that I have seen mentioned over and over as one of the most effective resources for spelling patterns and word study.
This book also includes an assessment that is given to students as a “spelling test”. Then you go through the student tests and assign points for certain parts of the word that are spelled correctly, along with whole words that are spelled correctly. The assessment part is kind of tedious, but it gives great information.
When you finish, the students are grouped according to different levels of spelling understanding. There are books available with different spelling patterns lists and different activities you can do with the lists. But you can also do the entire program with the main book. If you have ever seen or heard anything about “word sorting”, it is probably referring to this book.
*Teaching grammar and writing conventions are other topics for Word Study. We used Patterns of Power last year and I really like how it teaches grammar and conventions, but in an authentic way. It uses children’s literature as examples and talks about the importance of getting students to look back at their own writing and apply what they’ve learned.
The first day of school is a little unpredictable in terms of time. Since you will be introducing so many classroom routines and procedures and doing community-building activities, you might not actually start your academic work blocks on the first day. Still — you want to emphasize the importance of the subjects you teach, especially reading.
Here are 15 ideas you could try to get your reading block started during the busy first days of school!
1 – A fun way to emphasize the importance of reading is to use several read alouds during the first days of school. Even if you teach one subject such as math or science or social studies, there are some great books you could read during the first few days. Here’s a link to my list!
HERE is my post about great picture books to introduce and HERE is my post about great chapter books to begin reading at the beginning of the year.
2 – You will probably want to introduce your students to your classroom library on the first day of school. There are many ways to do this.
Here are some tips:
~if you have a large classroom library, you might want to only put part of it out at the beginning of the year. This keeps students from being overwhelmed by all the choices. Another good thing about this tip is that it adds novelty and interest when you introduce more book bins throughout the year.
A big drawback to this idea: you might not have space to store the books you are not introducing yet. So do whatever is easiest for you.
~you might pull a selection of different books from different genres and put them in one bin for each table. Then, when it’s time for your first independent reading time, you can place the bins on each table and allow students to select books from the bin.
You could even rotate the bins halfway through the independent reading time if you want. When I tried this, I did allow kids to keep reading the book they had chosen from their first bin if they found one they wanted to keep.
~before you let your students explore, you might want to discuss some of the following procedures with them. It also helps to make anchor charts for these procedures and post them near the library.
1 – how to check out and return books
2 – how to take care of and protect books
3 – how the library is organized
~consider making “classroom librarians” a class job. These students would be in charge of returning books to the appropriate bins once or twice a week. While I find this to be a tedious process, I am always amazed at the number of students who really like this job!
~after you point out how the library is organized, let everyone explore the library but not take a book yet! The point of this is to allow students to “shop” for books and get acquainted with the library first. Give them about ten minutes for this activity.
~when students have returned to their seats, draw names or call students one by one to go to the library and get whatever book they want to read. Do this a couple more times so that every student has three books from the library to keep in their cubby as a start.
3 – To start my reading block instruction, I like to give some kind of reading survey. Here are a couple of examples HERE and HERE.
When you give a survey to students, you are collecting information about your students’ attitudes about reading and their reading interests. You could also create these surveys with Google forms.
This is also a great activity to repeat later in the year, such as at the end of a quarter or end of a semester.
4 – I just saw this activity in a Facebook group and I’m thinking about doing it this year. It’s free on Teachers Pay Teachers. This looks like a fun way for kids to share their reading interests. Putting it together might prove to be a bit challenging, but there is a video that shows directions. I’ll let you know how it goes!
5 – As soon as possible, I set up routines for independent reading time. We talk about what it should be like and sound like in our classroom and we usually make a chart of these expectations. While many teachers allow their kids to sit anywhere in the room for independent reading, I don’t do that at first. I have kids remain in their seats for the first couple of weeks.
Part of the reason for this is that I like to observe their engagement and their reading stamina and it’s easier to do this when everyone is sitting where I can see them easily!
6 – Give independent reading time daily and assess your students’ reading stamina. You might start with a shorter amount of time and gradually work up to your planned amount of independent reading time.
Make note of which students may need help getting started with finding appropriate books that they will enjoy reading and which students have difficulty staying focused on reading during the entire time.
Watch for a future post on what you can do to help readers who struggle with engagement or stamina soon!
7 – Start reading a great chapter book with your students. I wrote a post about great novels for upper elementary classrooms HERE. One of the best ways to get kids hooked on reading is to read aloud to them every single day.
8 – You might incorporate “status of the class”, which is a quick check-in with students at the beginning of independent reading. I just go down my class checklist & call out names. As each student’s name is called, they tell me what book they are reading today. I then use this information to check in with students who need help finding a book they want to stick with or finding a new book to read.
One thing I liked about the status of the class is that students also hear what other students are reading, which generates some excitement about different books and helps kids see which other students share their reading interests.
However, this does take a few minutes to do, so I typically only do it two days a week.
Last year, I also used Google docs for an occasional digital status of the class. Both my students and I really liked doing that, and it saved a ton of time. I was thinking about how I might try to do that this year and I found THIS article by Maria Caplin on Choice Literacy.
I’m going to try a version of that this year. I’ll report back on how it goes! I’d love to hear your tips if you try doing something like this.
9 – Begin daily book chats in which you “advertise” books in your classroom library. I love Pernille Ripp’s post on how to easily do a book talk.
I then “auction off” the book or books I introduced by drawing names and offering that child an opportunity to read the book. If they don’t want it, I draw another name until I find someone who wants to read the book.
10 – If you have never read Donalynn Miller’s book The Book Whisperer, it is a teacher must read. You might have heard of the “40 Book Challenge” or something similar on Facebook, Instagram, or Teachers Pay Teachers. That idea came from her book, but it has been altered in different ways by different people, not all of it in positive ways. Donalynn wrote a blog post about this a few years ago HERE.
Here are two of her important thoughts about the 40 Book Challenge:
Honestly, I don’t care if all of my students read 40 books or not. What matters is that students stretch themselves as readers and increase their competence, confidence, and reading motivation through their daily participation in our reading community. The 40 Book Challenge works for my students and me and for the many teachers successfully implementing it because of these core beliefs:
Everybody reads here. Let’s get started. Our direct influence on students’ reading lives lasts 40 weeks—36 weeks of school and 4 weeks of school vacation. Setting high expectations (roughly a book a week) communicates that reading is ongoing and continues from the first day of school to the last— hopefully longer. Students should spend more time reading than they spend completing reading-related activities like worksheets, reading responses, and projects. Students who read the most will always outperform the students who don’t read much (Krashen, 2004).
11 – If you are looking for some lessons for introducing your reading block, consider the lessons in Reading Wellness by Jan Burkins & Kim Yaris. The book has six, easy to implement lessons that effectively introduce and teach several key reading skills that will underlie all reading instruction for the year while getting kids engaged and excited about reading.
12 – Curriculum Corner is one of my favorite websites for quick activities. They have a great resource for launching reader’s workshop HERE.
13 – Tammy at Tarheel State Teacher has tons of great resources on her site. I love her free lesson for launching reading workshop HERE.
14 – The conferencing forms on the Curriculum Corner site are also helpful.
Other helpful forms on their site: written response to read alouds HERE and writing summaries of mini-lessons HERE.
15 – Since you will have forms and assessment data and lesson plans for reading groups, you will want to figure out the best way for you to keep it organized. There are many ways to organize for reading instruction, but using a binder is especially helpful. Here are suggestions from Curriculum Corner for setting up a binder to manage your reading workshop.
I hope some of these ideas help you get started! I would love to hear your ideas too.
In my next post, I will list some suggestions for getting started with your writing workshop block!
Every teacher wants to keep kids engaged and help to build a growth mindset in their students. Today’s post is all about ways to do that. Here are 7 of my favorites plus a few more I want to try this year
7 FAVORITE ACTIVITIES
1 – Morning meeting or morning rituals are a great way to start the day off on a positive note.
One of my favorites is to use Wonderopolis one or two days a week. While each Wonder has an entire lesson plan built around it, you can do as much or as little as you choose, based on the time you have available. This is a great way to engage kids with science and informational text.
For more about starting morning meetings (or class circles), see my post HERE.
2 – You may have heard about Kagan cooperative learning strategies. These strategies have been around for a long time and are proven to work.
Some benefits of cooperative learning strategies:
~kids develop better social skills and a spirit of cooperation
~improved self-esteem in students at all levels of achievement
~improved engagement with learning
~improved classroom community
~fewer discipline problems
~better empathy for others
THIS book is the “Bible” for all of the strategies. But if you are looking for just a few of the best strategies to try, here is “The Essential 5: A Starting Point for Kagan Cooperative Learning.”
3 – I created a list of 20 strategies for active learning. I keep it in my plan book so that I can remember to incorporate them whenever possible. Click below to download my list!
4 – Growth mindset is such an empowering concept for our kids. For one thing, learning about how the brain grows and changes is fascinating. Changing our “self-talk” from “I’m just no good at this” to “I’ll try something else and I WILL learn how to do this” is a game-changer for many students (and teachers!).
There are lots of great resources out there for growth mindset, but one of my favorites is Angela Watson’s resource on Teachers Pay Teachers HERE. It has detailed lesson plans, great videos to watch with your class, and a student booklet for writing and reflection. I use this resource at the beginning of the year. Then we refer back to what we learned throughout the year.
I have used some of the growth mindset TED Talk videos from THIS SITE and plan to check out the rest of them this year!
5 – Growth mindset is empowering for students and teachers. So is goal setting. You can have students set goals for themselves in any academic area, set goals for improving work habits, and set goals for social skills. You might try brainstorming some lists of goals in different areas so your students get some ideas.
As you brainstorm goals lists, think about trying to make the goals small enough to be achievable in a short time frame.
For instance, if a student suggests “get better at reading” for a reading goal, what could they do this week to get better at reading? Read for 20 minutes at school and 20 minutes at home? Make a list of books they want to read when they finish this one? Stop and figure out words instead of just skipping over them? Reread when something is confusing?
Once goals are set, it’s important to take a few minutes to review progress. Some teachers do this daily at the end of the day as part of their routine. I try to do it on Friday afternoons, but I have also found Monday mornings to be a good time. Figure out a time that works best for you and your class.
6 – Use music for transitions! This is something I have done sporadically, but really want to do more of it this year.
I’ve seen some teachers use specific songs for certain transitions (coming to the meeting area in the morning, transitioning from one subject to another, cleaning up at the end of the day, etc.). This way, when students hear the song, they know what they are supposed to be doing.
Other teachers use songs of a certain length and students are supposed to be “finished” with the transition by the end of the song.
I love using these playlists from Josie Bensko of Maniacs in the Middle!
7 – Use Twitter & Instagram with your classes. We have a fifth grade Twitter account, which is public, and a fifth grade Instagram account, which is private. We notify families about both accounts and encourage them to follow us. It takes a moment to “approve” the followers on Instagram, but it reassures families that their children’s photos are not just out there for everyone to see.
I especially like using student quotes about classroom learning on Twitter. We post their quote using student first names only. So if we are tweeting about how some math concept is helpful, or what we think about a character in a class read-aloud, I’ll ask students to think about what they might want to say. Then I will often draw a name or use a student checklist and choose someone to give us their thoughts for a tweet. Sometimes we combine two students’ thoughts into one tweet and use both names. Kids love seeing their ideas being shared with the “world” and families love seeing what the kids have to say.
With Instagram, we take pictures on field trips and at big school events, but families also love seeing pictures of kids during independent reading or participating in a science experiment or working on math problems.
Another good “side effect” of this practice is that you are modeling positive social media use with your students. You get some opportunities to sneak in a few more reminders about digital citizenship in the process of using social media in a fun way.
Basically, it’s a welcome message to be posted on the board when students enter your classroom in the morning. (You may be familiar with morning message for lower elementary grades – this is similar.)
It starts with a quote of the day, which you could then discuss during class circle or morning meeting. Then there is a direction for “greeting a friend” (with a talk topic) and “get moving” with a stretch and quick exercise. You could brainstorm and make a chart of stretches and exercises that would be most appropriate for your class.
2 – If you are not a part of Facebook teacher groups, you’re missing out! I participate in several groups and get such great ideas from amazing teachers. I keep hearing about using podcasts with students and I want to try that out this year.
The 6 Minute Podcast sounds interesting. I am planning to use this at the end of the day as “incentive” to get cleaned up and packed up quickly.
I would love to hear how you use podcasts and which ones you like!
3 – I have also heard good things about using CNN 10 to discuss current events.
If you use this, please tell me how you use it. I’m looking for ideas for the best ways to incorporate it in our busy day!
4 – Another great website for all kinds of life advice is Lifehack. I noticed this post about the 17 best TED talks for kids!
The criteria for making this list included the following:
~they’re short enough to keep kids engaged (shorter than 15 minutes – some are only three minutes);
~they include life lessons that are important for kids today;
~they’re kid-friendly;
~they’re interesting.
I’m going to have one of these ready to go each week and fit it in whenever we have a few minutes.
5 – I am a big fan of Brene Brown and her work. If you are not familiar with her books, check them out HERE.
I recently heard about her resource for teachers called “Daring Classrooms” in a Facebook teacher group.
I haven’t explored all the resources yet, but I want to try some this year. The first thing I plan to do is download some of the posters HERE and get them made for my classroom.
Here’s an example from the site:
Do you use this or have ideas for it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
6 – Larry Ferlazzo is a very helpful teacher blogger. You can read his work HERE. He also posts “Classroom Q & A with Larry Ferlazzo” on Education Week.
I came across an old post of his HERE in which he talks about engaging all students in a lesson. He shares some tips from his vice principal:
In order to elicit whole-class engagement, we need to ensure that we are implementing a series of factors that elevate our students’ focus and level of concern. We’ll refer to this series as “TAPN”. After all, our goal is to get all of our students to “tap in” to the lesson. “TAPN” refers to the words time, amount, public, and novelty.
Time: tell students how much time they have to complete a task. (This can be tricky because you want to give them a “do-able” amount of work in a fairly short amount of time. You’ll have to play around with this.) Students should feel a sense of urgency. (In other words: they don’t have all day to get it done!)
Amount: tell students how much they need to complete. For example: read one paragraph, solve two problems, write one sentence, etc.
Public: students need to know that they will be asked to share their work with peers somehow (as partners, with a small group, in front of the class, etc.)
Novelty: change up the ways that students respond. This keeps the energy up in your classroom.
He explains:
The first time you ask them to turn to a partner and share, you’ll feel a fresh energy in the room. The sixth, seventh and eighth time in a row that you ask them to do so, however, you’ll likely hear a growing sigh. You can mix it up by having them write their answer down and be prepared to share it with the group, write it on a mini white board and be ready to hold it up or just think to themselves for a few moments before they share out. Small changes of routine increase the motivation to attend to the task at hand.
When I find new ideas to try, it gives me energy and gets me excited about the upcoming year. I hope these ideas have done the same for you!
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