What I changed to make my first week a success

Last week was probably the best first week of school I've ever had! My new friends are a sweet little group, and I think we're going to have a great year together!

I tweaked some things this year that helped me have first week success. I used to plan out every minute of the day with story time and coloring sheets and art projects and school tours. None of those things are bad, but I was constantly "on" and by the end of the day, I was exhausted! Plus, I had to endure these questions all day:

"Can I play with the playdough?"

"Can I play with the Legos?"

"Can I play on the computer?"

That's when I realized that all my kids really wanted to do was PLAY! So this year, I LET THEM!! I changed my lesson plans and let go of some of the cutesy activities (not all, but some). Instead, I put in a lot of free play. Each afternoon, I pulled out some super easy activities for my kids to do:

• unifix cubes
• links
• pattern blocks
• 3D blocks
• Legos
• playdough
• art (markers and paper)
• toys (old princesses and dinosaurs)
• computers

Let me back up...Before we started stations each day, we practiced our 4 station rules:

     1. Stay in your spot

     2. Use an inside voice

     3. Share the toys

     4. Work the whole time.

These are the same rules we use for math stations and reading stations, so now the students are already familiar with them.

Then, I split the kids into 5 groups of 4-5 students, and they had about 10-15 minutes to play at each station before we rotated. This was FABULOUS!!!! It gave them time to explore the materials in the classroom, get to know their classmates, and practice their station behavior. Plus, this was a time when all eyes weren't on me. I could breathe. I could double check how everyone was going home. I could give baseline tests. I could sit at a table and just enjoy my students.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to use many of these same stations, but I'll replace one or two each week with more academic activities (handwriting, letter puzzles, spelling color words, rolling dice and counting...that kind of thing). This gradual approach will hopefully set us up for station success this year!

By the way, here are some cute videos we used this week to introduce station rules:

Inside voice...


Sharing...


Whether or not you've started back yet, I hope some of these ideas help you with your first weeks of school!

Five for Friday, May 8: New Listening Station Ideas

Happy Friday! I don't know about you, but we are in the home stretch of the year...only 10 more days of school! WHAT!!??

 

We had a great week that I'll share via Five For Friday. As always, thanks a lot for hosting, Kacey!

 

 

Old iPods + lots of books on tapes = our great new listening station!

I've had this idea for a while...ever since my super bulky tape player kept taking up valuable classroom space (I'm talking 1980s technology here). I tried using the iPods once, but my kids couldn't find the right book. Then a brilliant blogger (I wish I could remember who so I could give them credit!) suggested numbering the books. 

And then numbering the books on iTunes. 

 

And then putting them in the spiffy pink basket with the extremely fancy label. 

 

My kids pick a book and scroll to that number on the iPod. Most got it pretty quickly. When they clean up, they put up the book in number order. Now it's not only a listening activity, but a great counting/ordering activity, too! 

We reviewed authors and illustrators this week. We wrote about our favorite animal and then illustrated with water colors.

  

 

The key to water color is outlining! Students draw their picture with a black crayon, and then fill in with the water colors (like coloring in a coloring book). Their paintings come out super cute!

Happy Mother's Day!!! Here was our super quick craft with a super sappy poem. Moms, get ready to cry!

Get the poem {HERE}

This week I tried GoNoodle for the first time. Can we say AMAZING!!! If you've never tried this, go sign up for a free account today and try it with your kids!! They will LOVE IT!

 

There are so many ways to get your kids up and moving. We haven't nearly done them all yet! If you use GoNoodle, what are you and your kid's favorite activities???

We celebrated my mom's birthday this week! Happy Birthday to the greatest mommy in the world!!!

 

Tried-it Tuesday: Laminators and stickers and differentiation

It's time for Tried it Tuesday with Fourth Grade Flipper!!

I tried my brand new Christmas present...my very own LAMINATOR!!

I used my laminator for the first time yesterday to get some new literacy stations ready, and it worked so well! Plus, I got to laminate from the comfort of my own living room while catching up on Downton Abbey...LOVE!

 

In other news, my school just loooooooooves for us teachers to differentiate literacy stations. Does anyone else work at a school like this? At first, differentiating stations was so daunting. I have mixed-ability groups, so how will students know what activity to do? Here's my solution:

 

STICKERS!!!!

 

These stickers match my reading groups (I used to have an orange group, but I had to switch it to blue so I would have a sticker for it!). I just stick these bad boys on folders, cookie sheets, plastic bags, or puzzle boxes to show which reading groups should do each assignment.

 

 

What I've noticed about kids is they always want to do the activity that's NOT assigned to them. Sigh. The grass is always greener, right? So now I've started telling students they have to do their colored activity FIRST and then they can do the other activity. This seems to keep them happy enough.

 

So there you have it. My fabulous, not-so-fancy-but-that's-ok-because-it-works sticker system. I hope this helps you in your own differentiation!

 

Stay warm tonight!!!!

Five for Friday (October 25)

When I started my blog, I looked up some tips for being a good blogger. One tip said don't apologize when you don't blog for a while. I've always been one for good etiquette, so I'm not going to mention my month of blogging silence   =)  I'm just gonna move on to Five for Friday hosted by Doodle Bugs!

 

 

"But I'm not done!" Does anyone else hear this when it's time to clean up from stations?? I was going crazy trying to keep straight who was finished with an assignment and who wasn't. And the solution was just sitting there...it would have been staring me right in the face if only it had eyes. CUBBIES!

 

If a child doesn't finish something, they put it in their cubby. It doesn't get shoved into the abyss of their desk bag. It doesn't clutter up my desk. It's the one-stop shop of where students go to make sure they've finished everything. LOVE IT!

 

Another thing they keep in their cubby is their poetry journal for our brand new poetry station! One of my main objectives in a poetry station is to practice handwriting. Students write part of the poem (because the whole poem plus kindergarten handwriting does NOT equal fitting onto one page!).  After they write the poem, they order it in a pocket chart.

 

 

This is our first week, and I'm proud of their work! BTW, their poetry journals are definitely long pieces of handwriting paper stapled together. Fancy, huh??   =)

 

 

One of my goals this year was to provide some station activities to go along with Saxon Phonics. I think Saxon is good at what it does, but...well...let's face it. It's boring! I'm trying to put a little pizzazz into it by making station games to review letters in the same order Saxon introduces them. My newest packet includes the letters P, N, M, and S. Here's one activity that the kiddos really liked! It's a file folder game where students sort pictures based on beginning sounds. This is in my TPT store and is a flash freebie until I go back and change the price. I hope you can use it!

Click the Pic for P, M, N, and S letter activities!

Speaking of Saxon, we learned about the letter P a few weeks ago. For homework, students had to draw and label 4 words that began with P. This one just cracked me up!

 

 

 

In other random news, this is what greeted me when I got home. A happy hubby and a happy puppy! It's the dream!

 

 

Have a GREAT weekend!!!!!!

It's the Simple Things...

Is it just me, or does it seem that the SIMPLEST solutions are usually the BEST solutions? Here are a few simple solutions I've run across this week.

 

Problem: Students interrupt me while I'm with a small group or testing. I instruct them to raise their hand if they need something, but I don't always see them.

Simple Solution: The Problem Chair. I put this chair near my table and have taught students to come sit in it when they need something. I let them know that I can't always stop right away to answer their question, but if they are patient, I will answer their question as soon as I can. (Right after I introduced this, students sat here for EVERYTHING! I think the new is wearing off, though, because they don't do that as much anymore).

 

 

Problem: I'm constantly having to make new "I can" statements because the station activities are always changing.

Simple Solution: I made cute "I can" charts and laminated them. Now I just wipe off the old activity and write the new one. Also, I hung them up with ribbon instead of taping them. Cute, and easy to take down to write the new activity. You can get these charts for free at my TPT store.

 

 

I am starting Write the Room this week. I like to provide some structure for this activity, so we're going to start with looking for words that start with L and G (our Saxon letters), shape words, and free writing (where they can write any words that they would like).

 

Problem: The pencils for this station are always disappearing.

Simple Solution: Tie pencils to the clip board with handy dandy ribbon.

That's right...I'm rockin' the New Balances! I've had this same style of shoe since college and I LOVE them!

Problem: Have you ever had a student answer a question, and another student gets in a huff and says "That's what I was going to say!"

Simple Solution: When someone says their answer, my students use the ditto sign (like the air quote sign, but only using one hand). This says to everyone "I knew the answer, too!" without actually having to say anything.  

 

I hope these simple solutions will help you like they've helped me. Happy weekend!