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  Fun and Easy Icebreakers for the First Day of School

Here are some fun ideas for getting your students acquainted and putting them at ease as you begin your new school year adventure.

1.  Cut pieces of string or yarn in different lengths.  Make two pieces of each length, and just enough, in total, for each student to get a piece of string.  Have students walk around the classroom looking for the person whose piece of string matches their own.  When they find their partner, students will visit and learn a bit about each other.  Then, call on students in pairs, to come to the front of the room and introduce their partners.  Each students need to tell the name of his or her partner, and one or two facts about them.

2.  Get your students up and moving by having them find those with whom they have something in common.  For example, tell students to find a partner who has the same color eyes that they have.  Students will move around the room until they pair up with someone, then they need to learn that person’s name and one thing about him or her.  Then, give another direction, such as finding a partner who gets to school the same way you do (bus, walk, car, bike, etc.).  Do several of these so students become familiar with classmates, and lose their nervousness.  You may want to tell students that they have to find a new partner each time.

3.  You’ll need a good-sized space for this activity.  If you don’t have space in your classroom, you could go out to the playground.  Divide the space into two parts by putting a strip of tape down the middle.  Tell students to stand on whichever side they would like.  Then ask everyone to “switch sides if” the following statement applies to them.  Here are some examples:

          Switch sides if you rode the bus to school today.

          Switch sides if you love math.

          Switch sides if you have two or more brothers

          Switch sides if you were in Mr. _______’s class last year.

          Switch sides if you were excited for school to start.

Each time there is a switch made, students need to share a detail with someone on the same side of the tape.  For instance, if the switch came because of the number of brothers, student would tell someone near them, “I have three brothers.” etc.

4. I love to start the school year with the book Chrysanthemum by Keven Henkes, and this is a great icebreaker to go with that story.  Have each student count the number of letters in his or her first name.  Then have them find a classmate who has the same number of letters. If they can’t find a partner, pair them up with someone else who has no one with the same number of letters.  Students can then ask their partner questions about their name. such as:

         Do you like your name?  Do you have a nickname?  Do you know anyone else who has the same name you have?   If you could change your name, what would it be?

You could have partners introduce each other to the class by sharing what they learned about the partner’s name.  You could also have a graph prepared, and students could work with their partners to graph the number of letters in their names.  

Nine Ideas for Making the Most of Instructional Time

So much for students to learn and so little time!  We all feel the time crunch, each and every day. There isn't anything we can about the number of minutes in the school day, but we can do a few things to make the most of those minutes.  Here are nine suggestions for stretching instructional time:
1.  Teach routines and procedures for handing in papers, lining up, transition times, etc.  Students should know exactly what is expected so time is not wasted and you don't find yourself answering questions about how, when, and where.  A bunch of time can be saved in the little details. Start teaching routines on the first day of school and reinforce them as needed.
2.  Have your students start the school day when they walk into the classroom, not when the bell rings.  Teach the beginning of day procedures, such as: put your backpack away, hand in your homework, make your lunch choice, and sharpen your pencils.  These things should become an automatic part of arriving in the classroom.  Hold students accountable for doing these things without a reminder.  Post a reminder list in the classroom or put it on student desktops.
3.  As soon as the beginning of day procedures are finished, students should be responsible for starting on the first assignment of the day.  This should be review or practice with something they have already learned, so they can be 100% independent.  I give my students until first recess to get this finished.  If they don't finish the daily "Warm-up" by the time the bell rings to officially start the school day, they slip it into their folders and finish it up when they have a few minutes.
4.  Schedule core academics early in the day when students' energy levels--and your own--are highest.  You'll accomplish a lot more.
5.  Integrate lessons and instruction whenever possible.  For example, use a science concept as the topic for a writing assignment.
6.  Be clear, in your own mind, as to the objective of each lesson and choose the most effective and efficient way of using the lesson time.  For example, I could give students a chunk of Play Dough and have them form little balls to create an array for a multiplication lesson.   However, since my objective doesn't really involve creativity and tactile stimulation, giving each student some counters or colored plastic disks to make arrays, or having them draw an array on their individual white boards will cut the time involved in this lesson.
7.  Organize your classroom so that supplies and materials are readily available to teacher and students.  Also, plan student seating so their attention is focused on the front of the classroom, or where lessons will be presented.
8.  Engage all students.  Rather than having them respond one at a time, use group responses, or have students ask and answer questions with a partner.   Everyone does everything.  Students are not allowed to disengage and fly under the radar.
9.  Use homework assignments as extended practice for concepts and skills presented in class.  Don't send home meaningless assignments.
Each of these suggestions can save minutes, and minutes certainly add up, especially over the course of the school year.

         Ten Things That Will Help You Wrap Up the Year
The kiddos have said good-bye and headed off for summer fun.  You're left wondering where the year went and reflecting on those things that you will definitely do next year and those things that you will NEVER do again!  Here are a few things that I have learned from wrapping up thirty-eight school years! (If you thought the school year went fast, you can't imagine how the summer will fly.)

1. The more things you can do before leaving for the summer, the better.  Get a head start on next year by preparing those things you use every year.  Maybe it's student math journals, or copies of math fact timings that you use every day all year long.  Replenish the copies in those files, and prepare students materials. 

2.  Create a "Back-to-School" binder or folder.  Include everything you need to start the year--lesson plans or outlines for activities, copies of your class procedures and rules to hand to parents,  masters for first day assignments, and masters for all those things you need to make for students such as name tags, desk labels, etc. Anything you need to start the year should be in this binder.  You might also want to include ideas that you come across that you'd like to try at some point. 

3.  Make a summer to-do list.  It is really helpful to create this list throughout the school year.  When you finish a unit or an activity and you think of something that could improve it, jot it on your summer list.  When you come to the end of the school year, you won't be trying to remember what it was about that rounding activity that needed to be fixed.  Then, prioritize your list, and check things off as you deal with them.

4.  If you are lucky enough to be able to leave up your displays and décor through the summer, hooray!  You might have a plan for giving something a facelift or a total make-over.  If so, try to do it before you leave for the summer.  If not, make note of the things you will need, such as a new border, and purchase or make those items before you get into the back-to-school rush.  If you must take everything down, snap some photos of those displays that you want to use again.  Then you won't have to remember just how you had everything arranged.

5.  Set aside a day or two to clean and organize that drawer, closet, or file that has gotten out of control.  I am lucky enough to be able to get into my classroom throughout the summer, except for a couple of weeks when floors are being waxed.  So, the week after school gets out, I like to come back when the building is quiet, and I can focus on those organizational things that have been put off all year.  All that stuff you haven't used in years--throw it away, give it away, or have a teacher garage sale.  It is a wonderful feeling to open a cupboard and have a bit of empty space.

6.  One of my organizational challenges is deep shelves and cupboards.  I forget what I put in the deep dark corners of those things.  It is really helpful to tape a list on the inside of the cupboard door that lists the contents.  Also, if you can, put all of  your math manips in the same drawer or cupboard, all of your science stuff together, and so on.

7.  Set aside part of a day during the last week of school for cleaning.  Have students shelve their text books and clean their own desks, chairs, and cubbies.  Clorox wipes are great for this. Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are also terrific.  Your custodial staff will probably be glad to give you spray cleaner and rags.  At some schools where I've worked, we actually had the kids take their desks and chairs outside where we turned the hose on them and used buckets of soapy water and scrub brushes.  If the hard covers of your text books are getting grubby, give the kiddos a Clorox wipe to clean them up.  Make sure you leave them sitting out to dry thoroughly before putting them away.

8.  Check with your administrator or custodial staff to learn how they want you to leave classroom furniture.  At my school, we move all the student desks and chairs into the hallways, (We have students help with this) so that the custodial staff can clean carpets, windows, etc. in the classrooms.  They then move the furniture back into the classrooms and deal with the tile in the halls.  If you must clear your teacher desktop and counters, box everything together and label the boxes.  For example, my Desktop box contains my staplers, scissors, tape dispenser, pen container, sticky notes, etc.

9.  If you are going to have new curriculum materials next year, such as a new math text, see if you can get the teacher materials to take home for the summer.  It helps so much to have a handle on how the program works before you're in the thick of actually trying to use it.

10. Finally, make sure you allow plenty of summer time for sharpening the saw.  Recharge your batteries with a few good novels, a vacation, or even just time to yourself out in the garden. 

Teaching Multiplication for Understanding

One thing I love about the new math standards is teaching for depth of understanding.  It makes so much sense to teach fewer things in depth, than a lot of things with very shallow coverage.  In third grade we spend a great deal of time on multiplication, and students now develop a real understanding of what multiplication is and how it works, rather than just memorizing facts.  Below are some of the strategies that I teach students to use when looking for the product of an unknown fact.

1.  Draw equal groups.  Students model equal groups by drawing a circle of each one, then putting the correct number of objects in each group.

2.  Skip count.  To find the product of 3 X 4, count three fours: 4, 8, 12.  Teach students that these numbers are multiples of 4.

3.  Draw equal jumps on a number line.

4.  Relate multiplication and addition.  3 X 4 = 4 + 4 + 4 + 4

5.  Make an array.

6.  Use the Commutative Property of Multiplication.  If you do not know the product of 3 X 4, perhaps you do know the product of 4 X 3.

7.  Use doubles.  To find the product of 4 X 4, think of the product of 2 X 4 and double it.  To find the product of  6 X 4, think of the product of 3 X 4 and double it, and so on.

8.  Use the Distributive Property of Multiplication to break apart larger factors into smaller factors.
5 X 8 can be thought of as (2 X 8) + (3 X 8).

9.   Make a bar model.

I have developed several items to help my students master both the concept of multiplication as well as multiplication facts.  The products shown below, as well as others, are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Multiplication: Adding Equal Groups Power Point

Mutliplication: Adding Equal Groups Printables

 

 Big Multiplication Flash Cards

Distributive Property of Multiplication

Multiplication Facts Practice: X8

Ideas for Teaching Rounding to Young Learners

1.  Use a number line.  If you are rounding 44, make a number line that begins with 40 and ends with 50.  Put a red line on the number that is halfway between 40 and 50.  Circle 44.  Which side of the line is on?  Is it closer to 40 or 50?  Circle the answer.  Have students practice and practice until they can do the steps mentally.

 

2.  Make a number line on the floor using masking tape and have students use their bodies.  Have them stand on the number line where their number fits.  Then decide which ten it is closer to.

3.  Make “rounding mountains”.  Draw number lines that are shaped like mountains with 5 at the peak, 0 at the bottom on the left, and 10 on the bottom at the right.  Students think of a train trying to cross the mountain.  If it makes it to the top, it will coast down the other side.  If it doesn’t make it to the top, it will slip back down to where it began.

4.  Use place value blocks.   Give students tens strips and one cubes.  Have them show the number 44 using 4 ten strips and 4 ones cubes.  Then tell them that ones are no longer allowed and they need to show the number using only ten strips.  Would they be closer to the actual number if they used 4 ten strips or 5 ten strips.  Do this repeatedly and help them to see that when they have 4 or fewer ones, they stick with the number of ten strips they are already displaying.  When they have five or more ones, they need to trade them in for another ten strip.

5.  Use the picture book Coyotes All Around by Stuart J. Murphy to help students understand why rounding and estimating is helpful.

6.  One thing that has really worked for me is using the “Strong Man” of rounding and the “Wimpy Guy”.  I created these characters to help my students decide whether the digit in the place being rounded to stays the same or gets pushed up to the next number.  After they have spent some time with number lines and are pretty good at using them to round, it is time to switch over to doing the steps in your head.  I have students underline the digit in the tens place if they are rounding to the nearest ten.  They then look at the digit behind it to see if it is a “Strong Man” number-5,6,7,8,9 or a “Wimpy Guy” number-0,1,2,3,4.  A strong man number will push the digit up to the next number.  A wimpy guy number isn’t strong enough to do that and the number will stay the same.

I have created two power points and set of printables that provide lots of practice with the “Strong Man” and the “Wimpy Guy”.  They are available here:

Rounding is a skill that takes a lot of practice to develop proficiency.  I have found that my kiddos master rounding to the nearest ten and are doing great, then when I introduce rounding to the nearest hundred, I have mass confusion!  Lots of practice is the cure for this malady.  Once I have finished the rounding unit, I do not leave rounding behind.  I have my students round numbers to the nearest ten and hundred almost every day.  They soon become masters of rounding!

Happy Teaching!

The superintendent of our district visited my classroom the other day.  He is a very positive person who has made a significant difference in our district over the last eighteen or so years.   He quietly watched the lesson, asked a couple of questions, paid a compliment and then moved on to visit another classroom.  He has, for the past few years, visited the classrooms of teachers in their first three years of teaching.  This year he decided to spend an entire day at each school.  So, after visiting with beginning teachers, he rounded out his day by scheduling visits with veteran teachers.  That's how I got on the schedule.  I enjoyed his visit, though observations by anyone always make me nervous, even after 37 years.  At the end of the day, we had a staff meeting with him.  One thing he complimented the entire staff on, was being dressed professionally.  He said he recently visited with the education department at the state university in our community and asked them to stress the importance of dressing appropriately with college students preparing to become teachers.  He said he was so frustrated, during interviews with potential teachers, with the impression they projected, that he finally took action and requested that the university address the issue.  My personal opinion is that this is a reflection of prevalent attitudes in our society.  Perhaps we have become a little too casual overall.  Perhaps the way we present ourselves adds to the lack of respect for our profession.  I think that, as professionals, who represent the district that employees us, we need to give this some thought.  We don't need to spend a lot of money for clothes, and we can wear jeans occasionally and still present a professional image.  It has as much to do with grooming and attitude, I think, as it does with the way we are dressed. When we respect ourselves and our profession, it will show.

Why I Give the Comprehension Test First, Instead of Last

My district uses Pearson Reading Street for Tier 1 reading instruction.  I really like most of the passages in Reading Street, as they are tied to either science or social studies.  I don't like the fact that weekly comprehension tests are not tied to the passage we work with  all week.  So I wrote my own comprehension activity and test to go with every passage in the book. I also wrote my own comprehensive vocabulary tests.  At the end of every week, I test comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling. The comprehension tests are open book, and each one has only fourteen questions.  Even though we have read the story two or three times by Friday, I insist that my students use their books.  This  goes back to the Common Core standard of having students refer specifically to evidence in the text when answering questions.

These weekly comprehension tests have been a great source of frustration for me.  Most of my students would rather guess, or go on memory alone, instead of finding answers in the text.  They do not want to put forth the few minutes of effort that would almost always give them a good test score.  They have been content to get low scores, as long as they don't have to work for a high score.  I have talked, coaxed, pleaded, and explained the reason for referring to the text.  All to no avail.  I have sat next to kids and made them show the answer in the book before marking it on their paper.  I have gone over the test together when handing back the corrected papers, pointing out where the answer is found in the story.  I have given them a certain amount of time that they must spend on the test, and have not allowed to do anything else until that time is up.

This week, I gave the comprehension test first, on Monday morning.  We had not read the story together, I had not introduced the story or the vocabulary words.  I simply told them to open their books to the beginning of this week's story, gave them the test, and told them to use their books.  Guess what?  They used their books.  They had to.  They had no memory of the story to rely on.
Of twenty-three students taking the test, 2 had the same score as on last week's test (which was taken last Friday), 1 had a lower score, and 20 students had higher scores.  My class average last week was 79%, when taking that comprehension test after reading, discussing, and studying the story.  This week, on the first reading, my class average was 93%.

From now on, we will take the comprehension test with the first reading of the story.  This makes sense, because on standardized tests, they answer comprehension questions the first time they read the text, not after a week of discussion and re-reading.  They are in a situation of relying on the words of the text, rather than their own memory.

Family Literacy Night

My school hosts a Family Literacy Night every year during the first week of March.  We invite students and their families to spend the evening celebrating reading and literacy.  The first grade classes usually open the evening with a couple of songs about books and reading.  Then we have break-out sessions.  Each session lasts 20 minutes and there are three different choices during each time slot.  Our evening involves presentations by the students, as much as possible.  They give book talks, present reader's theater, showcase book projects, or share research reports that they've done.  Our kindergarten teachers do a puppet show that is a big hit every year.  We have "Are You Smarter than a . . .(third grader, fourth grader, or fifth grader) where parents compete against their kids in answering test questions similar to those found on end-of-year tests.  The local public library is invited to share resources such as free e-books. One of the big hits of the evening are the free books that are given to each of our students and their pre-school age siblings.  These books are purchased with Title 1 funds.  There is a room assigned to each grade level where student can choose a book of their liking.  This evening also is the culmination of our One School, One Book project.  About a month ago, each family was given a copy of a novel, this year it was "The World According to Humphrey", along with a reading schedule.  Students have been winning prizes all month for correctly answering questions about the book.  At Family Literacy Night, the whole family gets to work together to answer questions about the book.  Prizes are given to the families with most correct answers.  The evening is capped off with ice cream.  As students and their families leave the building, they are all given ice cream sandwiches.  This evening has become an important tradition at our school, and is looked forward to by students and their parents, alike!

Reading Comprehension: Fix-up Strategies

Good readers automatically monitor their own comprehension.  They know when they don't understand the text, and they use various fix-up strategies to make sense of what they are reading.  Poor readers, however, often do not recognize that they don't understand.  They muddle through, reading in the same way and at the same rate, even though the text is meaningless to them.  Sometimes poor readers don't expect the words they read to make sense.  They are so used to failing at reading comprehension, that they don't know any different.  For these kids, explicit teaching of fix-up strategies is essential.  Listed below are strategies that can help poor readers improve comprehension.  They can be used separately, or in combination:

1.  Stop and re-read.  This is the most important fix-up strategy.  Don't just keep going if you don't  understand.  When you reread, you might find a word that you skipped or misread.  Sometimes a single word can make a huge difference. 

2.  Slow down.  Read slowly and carefully when things don't make sense.  Vary your reading rate, depending on your understanding.

3.  Question yourself as you read.  Think about whether or not the sentence or paragraph makes sense to you.  Could you retell it to someone in your own words?

4.  Read ahead a few sentences.  Maybe getting a little more information will make things clear and help with the confusion.

5.  Visualize.  Make your own movie in your head and "see" what is happening or what is being described.

4.  Figure out words you don't know.  Look for prefixes, suffixes, and base words.  Use a dictionary if you need to.

5.  Make predictions.  What do you think will happen next?  Check to see if your predictions were right.  Make new predictions as you read further and get more information.  Predicting can keep you focused on what is happening in the text.

6.  Look at pictures, diagrams, charts, and maps.  Read captions and sidebars.  Especially in expository text, a lot of understanding comes from sources other than the paragraphs. 

Struggling readers can benefit greatly from the explicit teaching of these strategies.

 

Academic Vocabulary

 

One of the key shifts in Common Core standards is an emphasis on academic vocabulary.  These are words that are used in the classroom, in textbooks, and on assessments.  Understanding academic language is essential to student success.  Academic vocabulary needs to be taught explicitly.  It is not likely to be acquired through students’ independent reading or incidental classroom exposure.

Vocabulary words can be divided into three tiers.  Tier 1 words appear frequently in spoken language.  They are commonly used in various contexts, not just in classroom or educational settings.  They rarely require explicit instruction. These would be words like clock, house, or walking.

Tier 2 words are used less commonly, and are likely to appear more often in written text than in spoken language.  These words are generalized, and used in many different contexts.  They are often more precise ways to say rather simple things. They are essential to understanding, and need to be taught explicitly.  Examples of these words are: conclude, define, and dialogue.

Tier 3 words are highly specialized, and domain-specific.  They are not generalized, or used widely. These words must be explicitly taught. Tier three word examples are: isotope, tectonic plates, phoneme

Here is a suggested procedure for teaching academic vocabulary:

1.  Introduce the word by providing a description, explanation, or example in student-friendly terms.  Do not use dictionary definitions when introducing the word.  Write the word for students to see.  Have students repeat the word, and spell it orally.  Provide several opportunities for students to read and say the word.

2.  Have students explain the term in their own words and let them share examples, synonyms, or uses of the word.

3.  Have students represent the word in graphic or picture form.

4.  Working with partners or in small groups, have students discuss their ideas and understanding of the word.

5.  Provide opportunities for the word to be used in context.  Teach a word when it will be incorporated into the lesson activities.  For example, teach the word develop when students will be working on writing assignments and can be encouraged to develop their ideas and add more information.

6.  Be sure to teach other forms of the word.  For example, when students learn conclusion (a noun), they should also learn conclude (a verb).

7. Review and revisit the words after they have been taught.  Use the terms frequently during instruction in all subjects.

 

I have  new academic vocabulary packet in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  It has page-size posters for 48 academic vocabulary terms that are taken directly from Common Core standards.  I purposes chose words that were not tied to one domain, but are very general and are useful in any subject area.  You can find it here:

Academic Vocabulary from Common Core Standards

 

 

 

Best Fraction Strips EVER!
I bought a class set of these fraction strips from EAI for an amazingly low price because they were made for use with overhead projectors and were on a close-out sale.  They are great for kids to manipulate.  Each denominator is a separate strip, so any two strips can be moved to compare side-by-side. They are sturdy plastic and are much more kid-friendly than the fraction circles that I had been using. 
The circles were really hard for the kids to put all the pieces together to make an actual circle.  These are so easy to use!

Classroom Management Tips for the First Day of School

Don't know where the summer's gone, but it is going fast!  As we approach the end of July, it is time to start thinking about starting a new year with a new group of students.  Here are a few tips for getting your year off to a fabulous start!

 

1.  You have only one chance to start the year off right.  Plan and prepare for a day that will set the tone and expectations for the whole year.

2.  Smile and be approachable.  When I started teaching, several veteran teachers advised me “not to smile until Christmas”.  That was not good advice for creating a classroom environment that is warm and supportive.

3.   Set your expectations high.  Be specific about what you expect from students.  Teach routines and procedures explicitly.  Model and practice them.  Practice them again.  If students don’t perform routines and procedures as you expect them to, stop and re-teach, then have them do it again.  Time that you spend in teaching procedures is an investment that will pay high dividends.

4.  Teach a routine for everything—what to do when you enter the classroom in the morning, how to hand in your homework, how to line up, how to pass papers down the row, etc.

5.  Don’t relax your expectations at the end of the day.  When it’s time to send them off, stick to your end-of-day procedure.  Model and practice how you need your students to clean up the classroom and get organized to leave.  Again, if they don’t follow expectations, stop and try it again.

6.  Spend time as needed throughout the first days, and even weeks, of school to make sure that routines become routine.  Whenever you see a problem, stop and re-teach.  If you become lax with your expectations, behavior will start to deteriorate.

June-my favorite month.  It is so nice to have a bit of freedom!  I am still doing school work as well as housework and yard work, but I am doing it on my own terms!

During the last week of school, our literacy coach shared some information she had gleaned from a literacy conference that she had recently attended.  She shared a lot of great tidbits, but one that stuck with me was this:  "Students comprehend text better when it is on paper, than when it is on a screen."
That was really interesting to me.  I, personally, prefer a page to a screen, probably because I am  not a "technology native".  My kids get frustrated with me because I don't even like cell phones much.  Here is a link to an interesting article from Scientific American regarding the question of comprehension being hampered by an electronic screen.  I'd be interested to hear your thoughts .
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/14/do_e_readers_inhibit_reading_comprehension_partner/

Meantime, have a great summer!

Teacher Appreciation Sale

It's nice to be appreiated!    We hope that while we are busy doing so much for so many, with so little, that there are grateful recipients of all our efforts.  Teachers Pay Teachers is showing appreciation by having a site-wide sale.  All items in my store are 20% off.  When you check out, enter the promor code TAD13 and you will get an extra 10% off for a grand total of 28% savings.  This is a great time to treat yourself to all those items on your wish list, and also to look ahead to the beginning of next year.  Enjoy!

 

May 1, 2013

Wow!  What a whirlwind year it has been.  Sometimes I feel like every time I walk into my classroom, I get plugged into an outlet and the energy flows OUT of me!  There is so much energy invested every day and the opportunities to recharge are so few.  As we enter the last month of school, things tend to get even crazier.  Ever wonder if your energy is going to stretch as far as the school calendar does?  Here are some suggestions for maintaining a grip as the year winds down.

·         As much as possible, maintain your classroom schedule and structure.  It's so much easier to just keep on teaching.

·         After your testing is finished and the pressure has eased, fit in some of those fun units and activities that you couldn’t fit in earlier.

·         Plan, plan, plan.  Look ahead and calendar special school events and activities.  Plan around them and go with the flow when your schedule is disrupted.

·         End-of-the-year is a good time to schedule a field trip to culminate a unit of study. Keep it tied to your curriculum objectives and hold kids accountable for learning, even though field trips are fun.

·         Don’t get lax with behavior expectations. Stick to your rules and consequences, but ramp up praise and rewards for kids who also stick to the rules and expectations.

·         Make a list of things you need to do to wrap up the year—reports and records that need to be completed,  things that need to organized,  major cleaning projects, thank you notes that need to be written, etc.  Don’t rely on your memory. Lists are wonderful!

·         When it comes time to put things away and clean, make a list of chores and assign students to specific tasks.  Instruct them on exactly what they need to do and your expectations for task completion.  Though you may not be eager to clean, they will be!

·         Let your class earn a game time.  Have them bring board games from home and then put them in groups to play each other’s games.  This will free you up for a couple of hours to take care of tasks that only you can do.

·         Make yourself a summer to-do list.  Write down all those things that you would like to get done before coming back to school.  Have a game that you would like to get made, files that need organized, books that need to be repaired or labeled?  Make a list, then during the summer you can work on them at your leisure.  Leisure.  Love that word.

Spelling has long been a thorn in my side.  Not spelling, itself, really, but spelling programs.  I have yet to find a spelling program embedded in a basal series that is worth using.  The basal series currently in use in my district has a spelling component.  This is our third year using the series and the first year I have said "No more of this spelling!"  The words on the list are not only really hard for third graders to spell, but way too many of them are not high utility words.  Take for example the word Creole. Granted, it is a challenge word.  But what third grader in Utah needs to know how to spell Creole?  I was spending more time talking about the meaning of spelling words than about the meaning of vocabulary words  (Which, by the way, are far too easy, but that's another rant.)  And then, I had parents asking, "Where DID you get these words?" So, I've taken matters into my own hands and am writing my own spelling program-- high utility words, lists that are centered around one sound or spelling pattern, etc.  I have already compiled 36 word lists, made of words that are actually useful to third graders.  Every sixth list is a review of the five previous lists.  The list following a review is labelled "No Excuse" words.  These are words that may not fit a specific spelling pattern, but students are expected to spell them correctly EVERY time they write them, no excuses!  Each list has 18 words.  The first ten are basic words.  The next four are a little more challenging, and the last four are harder challenge words.  Some students will do only the first ten words, some will do the first fourteen, and some will do all eighteen words.  Surely, this will work better that a spelling program that has Creole as a third grade word, right?

Pull-outs Are Making Me Crazy!

I have an interesting problem this year.  I have a class of 25 students, and I have 22 pull-outs.  Many of them are the same kids pulled out for this special service and then that special service.  I have one student who goes to ESL for 45 minutes.  I have two who go to Resource for math for 45 minutes daily, and three who go to Resource for reading, 45 minutes daily.  I have three who see the school counselor once a week for half an hour or so.  I have seven (way too many) who go to Enrichment once a week for an hour.  Then I have six who receive speech therapy for 30-90 minutes weekly.  I have two  half hour blocks every morning, and an hour and a half on Monday afternoon when I have all of my kiddos in class.  There is always someone coming or going.  I have had to post a schedule near my desk of who goes where and when, so that I can pretend to keep track of them.  I am struggling with what I should hold some of these students accountable for.  It seems that, no matter what I teach, someone misses it!  The real frustration is that the teacher next door, (also third grade) has no Resource kids, no speech kids, no ESL kids, and no kids seeing the counselor!  Wow!  Anybody else struggling with kids who are pulled out so much, that it seems like they're never in class?  I would really love to hear your tips and suggestions, if you'd be willing to share!

While you're busy doing your holiday shopping this weekend, don't forget to treat yourself on Cyber Monday to some great products for your classroom that will save you time and spice up learning in your classroom.  The Teachers Pay Teachers Cyber Monday sale will be in full swing on Monday and Tuesday, the 26th and 27th.  My entire store will be discounted 20%.  Then, when you check out, enter promo code CMT12 to get an additional 10% off. Enjoy!

First of all, a big thank you to all current military personnel and their families, as well as all veterans, on this Veteran's Day.  I am so grateful to all of you, and grateful for this great nation.  I am so proud of my dad for his service during the Korean War.

The journey into Common Core Math Standards has been interesting, to say the least.  It has been fustrating, as we have tried to shift gears in the way we think about math, and the things we expect of students.  We are using "GO MATH!" for the first time this year.  My kiddos have had a struggle with all the problem solving.  We have not, in the past, expected them to THINK so much!  They are beginning to get a little better at it.  I know it will be a process.  I am anxious to see how our American kids, overall, do with math in the next few years.  There are some things about the Common Core standards that I really like.  I think the shift toward more problem solving is good.  I think that emphasizing fewer topics and going more in depth is good.  I have to admit I'm a little worried about some of the things that seem to have been left out.  Topics that were a big part of our third grade math curriculum previously, seem to have just disappeared. . POOF!  We no longer directly teach place value, for instance.  Maybe with the emphasis in first and second grade, there will no longer be that need. . . .we shall see.
I was asked a question today on my Teachers Pay Teachers page that is a very good question, indeed.  I created a quadrilaterals unit, based on the Common Core Standards.  A teacher who bought that unit wondered why I included trapezoids, rectangles, squares, rhombi, but not parallelograms.  The answer is that the word parallelogram is not used in the Common Core.  I don't know if that's good or bad.  It's one less definition to remember, but also one less classification to use in making sense of quadrilaterals.