Absent Teacher

This teacher has been very absent from the blogging world.  Seems that everything gets CRAZY during May.  Lots of family stuff and school stuff. 

Well, now I'm ready to relax because yesterday was the last day of school.  This is what I've been up to:

My room yesterday...

...and my room today.  So bare looking!

 

Tomorrow is our last day of postplanning and then I'm outta here!  Mr. Biz and I are going on a much needed trip to visit friends.  We both need a break!  Because, of course, when I get back, I'll start thinking about school again...a teacher's job is never done!  :]

Happy summer, everyone!  And if you aren't done yet, you can make it! 

Count the Room freebie

Hi guys!  If you're reading this, then you probably survived one more Monday at school!  Only three more to go for me! 

Today I did a fun little activity with my Kindergarten kiddos that they loved.  I've been seeing this "Read Around the Room" activity all over blogland, and I really wanted to try it.  So, I modified it for my K ELL's, and came up with this "Count the Room" activity.  I stuck sticky notes all over the place (some easy to find, some more challenging) and they had to find as many as they could, then mark them on their paper.  I stuck the gameboards in page protectors so I can use them over and over.  (Sidenote: this really isn't a game, but the second I called their pages "gameboards," I could see all of them perk up and think, "OHH! A game!")

 

These are some examples of the sticky notes I put up.  The different ways to represent the numbers was fantastic...for my kiddos that struggle a bit more, they could find the numbers written regularly (like the 3), and then just match.  For the kiddos who needed a challenge, they could do the simple addition problems.  They all loved searching around the room to find as many of the numbers as possible.  We did this for about ten minutes and no one finished.  I think I'll leave the numbers up tonight so they can try again tomorrow.

So this really is a simple "game," but it was great for us (especially since one of their goals in K is to recognize the numbers to 30).  I've uploaded my little "gameboard" to share with ya'll.  I'd love to know if you use it and enjoy it!  Click here to download it for free.

Happy Monday, friends!

It's magnetizing!

Just last Friday my 1st grade kiddos finished up a unit on magnets.  I love teaching science at this age because they are so curious about everything!  This magnet unit was a great way to bring in some hands on science practice.  None of these lessons are super intense--all I'm looking for is a way to teach the content, but still keep the main focus on learning English.  So anyways, enjoy these magnet lesson plans and please let me know if you use them!  :]



I hope you've all had a pleasant Monday.  My Mondays are never that bad...Tuesday is when the weekend hits me and I feel exhausted all of the sudden.  Am I the only one, or do any of you guys deal with that Tuesday sleepiness, too?

Random notes:

1) I bought a Kindle Fire a couple weeks ago and I really like it.  So far I've read three different books on it.  For a long time I thought I'd never get one, but I like that it's an eReader and a tablet.  Anyone else biting the bullet and jumping on the eReader bandwagon?

2) Today and tomorrow are parent/teacher conferences!  My first ones ever...can you sense the little bit of nervousness?  :] 

3) Moe's Monday is the bomb.com.  Five dollars for a burrito, chips, and a drink?  Score!

Ok, enough randomness.  Have a marevelous rest of your Monday!  :]



Learnin' Letters

I have one small group of Kindergarteners that I serve each day after lunch.  They are quite a fun bunch, but WOW, they have a ton of energy!  *Side note: I'd like a little dose of their energy each morning!*

Anyways, with getting them after lunch, we barely have 30 minutes together before I have to take them back to class.  I had these grand ideas of doing all of these activities with them, but the reality is, if it can't be completed in less than 30 minutes, we probably won't do it. 

The main thing I'm working on with my littlest ones is letter recognition.  Each week we work on a different letter: we've just recently finished Q, R, and S, so on Monday we will start with T.  I've found some really good letter resources on the 'net and I'd love to share them with you.  :]  Enjoy, and let me know if you have any great resources you use!  I'm including stuff from when we did R last week.

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Day 1: Watch Starfall video about the letter R and then talk about it using our pocket chart in the classroom.  Then we will go to our seats and do the writing worksheet from the Starfall website.  These are all great worksheets!  Once they finish the front, I have them "read" it to me...all very simple sight words (is, for) and pictures.  I find being able to read a page to me, even if it's mainly pictures, is a great confidence boost for my kiddos. 



Day 2: Start class by remembering the sound the letter R makes.  Watch YouTube video from "Have Fun Teaching."  In all honesty, these videos are super annoying--but since it's so repetitive the kids can sing along and they really start remembering the sound of R and words that begin with that letter.  Then we brainstorm words that start with R and make chart to go with it.  Each kid them picks some of the words to write and illustrate. 

Day 3: I like to start each class with a super short clip, so normally on day 3 I'll start it off with a short Sesame Street song (this week we watched a song about "Sammy the Snake").  Then we finish writing our words and illustrating them.

Day 4: Picture scavenger hunt!  We find a pictures in a magazine that start with the letter R and make a collage.  Very fun, and then we get to see it hanging up in the classroom!

Day 5: On day 5 I like to finish off the week with some games.  We play a version of Mother May I about letter sounds/words.  I call a kid, and they have to say a word that begins with a certain letter.  We can either just do "R" words, or we can go through the alphabet.  If they get it wrong or can't think of one, they go back to the beginning.  They love this game!

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So, those are my Kindergarten plans that I tweak each week.  This particular week we only had four days, so I'm not doing the day 5 lesson.  We're going to finish off the week with our picture collage, instead.  These lessons are very simple, but the letter practice is so beneficial for my little Kinders.  Does anyone else have any favorite ways to teach letters?

Happy weekend!  :]



SUPER Teacher Brain

So yesterday one of my groups finished their work early.  I definitely was not planning on that.  Normally we're rushing to get all of the work done in our little 40 minute timeslot.  And I know, "always plan more than you can get done," but then I get all worked up because I want to get everything done.  So I normally try to plan just enough.

But anways, enough rambling about that.  Long story short, one of my groups finished early.  I have to brag on my teacher brain for a second, because at that moment I had a serious "lightbulb moment."  I mean, it was like a 100 watt bulb going off in my head.  We all know that kiddos looooove games--call any activity a game and they're all over it.  I decided to take an old game and put a new twist on it AND THEY ATE IT UP. 

Did anyone ever play "never have I ever"?  We used to play it all the time in youth group (you know, a million years ago when I was in HS).  This game is loosely based on the concept.  My kids had picked four important facts about George Washington Carver and written/illustrated them on a piece of paper.  We all sat in a circle, and one at a time I let them stand up and share a fact they wrote.  If you wrote the same fact as the "sharer," then you stood up, too.  All the kids that were standing then had to switch spots with someone else.  SO SIMPLE, but they loved it!  I couldn't believe it! 

Needless to say, I was super proud of my teacher brain yesterday.  It seems that my brain is getting good at being sneaky about getting kiddos to learn and like it, too.  They had no idea that while they were playing the game, they were actually getting a great review. 

Two random things, because I hate uploading a post with zero pictures:

I invented a prize for the best partners.  I simply printed "Awesome Partners Award!" onto some return address labels and then gave it to the kids who worked together the best.  A very effective but simple reward!

Last Friday we did a science experiment and then filled out a worksheet about it.  If they finished early, they were supposed to write a sentence on the back about what we did.  I'm just glad this kiddo was honest.  :]

Sorry to rub it in, but today is my Friday!  We have a four day weekend!  WAHOO!  :]  I hope you guys have a fantastic Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend!  I'm gonna go live it up!



Valentine's Day Freebie!

In my personal life, Valentine's Day isn't such a big deal.  The man and I agree that if you only lavish love on your significant other one day a year, there might be a problem.  Why save it all for one day?  We choose to be loving every day.  But that's another post for another time... 

So anyways, in my personal life I don't really celebrate Valentine's, but at school it is a BIG DEAL.  I think that it is a 100% appropriate holiday for elementary schoolers.  It's a great time to teach them about love and acceptance of their peers--the world can only use more of that! 

I'm planning a little Valentine's lesson for my kiddos that focuses on some of the main tennants of the holiday.  Some of my kids are very new to the states, so they have never celebrated this holiday before.  We are going to talk about some of the big words associated with the day.  I created this little powerpoint to go be an intro to our lesson.  Nothing too fancy, but I wanted to share it with you guys.  :]  Let me know if you use it!  I'd love to hear about your Valentine's Day activities, too!

Valentine's Day Powerpoint

I'll be back soon to tell you about the rest of our Valentine's Day activities.  Random note: I just bought Valentine's for my kiddos at Kroger--super cheap and cute, too!  I got a box of Toy Story and a box of Disney princesses for $2 each!

Happy Friday!

My Very Important "Organization Spot"

One good thing about this testing is that it has given me plenty of time to work on my classroom.  As a new teacher, my decorations, etc., are pretty sparse.  I see all of these classrooms (at school and on blogs) that look AMAZING with all of the decorations, books, games, and so on, and then I wonder why my room doesn’t look like that.  Which has led to me spending tons of time trying to make my room look cuter.  With all of that said, I’m not too worried about the issue of not having enough stuff, simply because I know that having too much stuff will someday be my problem.  It seems that after a certain number of years, all teachers complain that they are drowning in resources.  One day that will be me, but not today!

Long story short, I am learning to be resourceful.  I’m taking what I have and using it to its’ full potential.  Today I want to show you one little area of my whiteboard.

I’ve been thinking about what to call this area…maybe just my “Organization Spot” for all of the little info tidbits I need.  I got the border secondhand from another teacher and it already had magnets on the back…perfect for my board!  Somehow I ended up using only red and blue in this area…totally not planned, but I love it!

Here are some different aspects of my Organization Spot:

Vocabulary for the week (or day).  I already have these on pieces of tape, so after we’re done with those words I can stick them straight to our word wall in the back of the room.

Essential Questions.  Do you use these at your school?  I put them on our intro activity on the computer, but I think it’s good to have them visible all the time.  Obviously there aren’t any questions up right now because we’re not having class!  Although, I guess I could write “How can I cope with testing?”  Seems like a good question!  :]

 

Love bots.  Valentine’s Day is in a couple weeks, and I just couldn’t resist these little love bots in the Target dollar section.  So cute!  And I love how the glare makes the boy bot look like he has angry eyebrows.  He has some angry love.

Schedule stuff.  I have my daily schedule, the specials schedule for a group that I take to specials, and the day of the specials rotation.  I could never keep track of where I was supposed to be if I didn’t have these up there.  I also have my name in this area because I know the kids can’t remember my name.  Maybe seeing it written will help (maybe).  :]

So there you have it—my Organization Spot!  How do you stay organized and on schedule?

Testing, Testing

So, I’ve been doing this job for three weeks, and right now we’re in the second week of testing.  Which means that I’ve seen my students a total of three whole times.  Goodness!  I am so ready for this testing to be over so that I can start really digging into our material.  Of course, the testing is very important, but I won’t be sad when it’s over.  :]

Here are some things I’ve been thinking about this week.  When testing is over, I am going to spend three days doing a review of two major topics: map skills and curiosity (in science).  I’m still thinking about how to do the map skills days, but I have curiosity down.  And I’d like to share with you.  :]

Back in college we did a project where everyone created a short science experiment that had an unexpected outcome.  We had a blast coming together as a class and checking out the really awesome experiments that everyone had found.  My friend Michaela did one called Dancing Raisins, and to this day it is one of my favorites.  Kids absolutely love it. 

To do this experiment, you need ginger ale (or another clear-ish soda), raisins, and a tall clear container.  Pour the ginger ale into the container and ask the kids for their hypothesis.  Do they think the raisins will sink or float?  When you drop the raisins in, they will sink at first, but then the bubbles will attach to the wrinkles, which makes them float back up to the top.  Once they reach the top, the bubbles burst, and the cycle happens all over again.  It will keep going for quite a while—for as long as the drink is still slightly fizzy. 

With my kiddos we are going to focus on one big word: hypothesis.  We will define it and talk about what it means.  Then after the experiment, they will complete this worksheet at their seats.  The statements are cloze statements.  I will provide a word bank on the board.  I have uploaded the worksheet I am using for you guys to “borrow.”  Let me know if you do this experiment!  I’m sure your kiddos would love it, too!

The Almighty Marble Jar

Several years ago I had the pleasure of observing one of the best teachers ever for the first two weeks of the school year.  She is honestly the most fantastic person I've ever seen standing in front of a classroom.  So many of the ideas that I use originated from her, including this gem of a classroom management tool.

This is the almighty marble jar.  (A note on the name: it really isn't a jar, but my ESOL kiddies have a hard time with lots of the more fitting words, like "container."  And "Ms. S's Marble Container" just doesn't sound as good.)

I made a huge deal about this to the kids, so they are super pumped about it.  Every time I catch them all doing something good, I drop a "marble" into the jar.  It makes quite the racket when I drop one in--I can see all of their faces light up, and then they start concentrating on their work even harder.  It's pretty hilarious. 

When the jar is full, they get a special surprise.  I told them it could be a day of free centers, games, computer time, a video, playdough, or even a fun snack.  It's cool because each of my six groups are using the same jar, so they get to help each other out (also hence the large size of the jar, since I could possibly put 12 marbles in it on one day). 

Obviously we have a long way to go before our first treat, but once classes start back up I think we'll start earning marbles like crazy.  Right now we are doing testing, so I don't see my kiddos for two more weeks!  Sad day.  :[
 

Do you have a favorite classroom management tactic? 

Woo hoo! Teaching Blog!

It's felt like I've been waiting for ages, but the day has finally come...the day we've all been waiting for...dun dun dun...

I have a teaching blog!  Hooray!

I knew that I couldn't have a real teaching blog until I got a real teaching job...so when I started teaching ESOL last week, the teaching blog wasn't far behind.

I graduated college in May of 2010, and since then I've done just about everything except teach.  I was a regular sub; a long-term sub in 3rd grade and K-5 art special; a camp counselor; and a parapro in two different special ed classes (SID/PID and then MOID).  Whew--just think, all of those jobs were in less than a two year span.  Slowly but surely I've been moving my way up the educational ladder.

Then the clouds parted and the sun shone down on me (just kidding), and I got a call offering me a job as a 1st grade/Kindergarten ESOL teacher.  Lemme tell you, I jumped on that without hesitation!  As of today, I have been an ESOL teacher for two weeks (obviously I am now an expert).  I am so excited to begin chronicling the adventures (and misadventures) of my first real teaching job.  My plan is to share lots of the things we're doing in class in the hopes that maybe it will inspire someone else out there.  I love following teaching blogs, so please comment and I'll go check you out!