Parent Teacher Conferences

It is getting to be that dreaded time again, also known as Parent Teacher Conferences. This will be my second Parent Teacher Conference and it is still as nerve-racking as the first time. After talking with the first grade lead teacher, she assured me that they never get any less nerve-racking, but you just learn how to handle them in your own way. The conferences in the fall went perfect, other than that one father who stated "Are you even old enough to teach my son?" ... Took me a minute to rebound from that one, but I simply smiled and said, "Yes sir, I am" and continued on with the conference. I have found many helpful tools on Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers to help guide my conferences and help me to stay on track. With only 15 minutes for each meeting, it is crucial to stay on topic. I also like to provide my families with some literature to take home. I like to provide them with ways they can encourage, promote and support their child's learning at home. This time around, I have some fun little bookmarks with decoding strategies on them that I made for parents to take home to their child. I also have a colorful little pamphlet from Teachers Pay Teachers that I edited to fit our classroom/school. This pamphlet includes math strategies, sight word practice ideas, reading strategies to try, and some helpful educational websites.  I like to have a sign in sheet as well, for a few reasons. This way I can stay on track if parents are waiting in the hallway, I will know who is next (even though I have a list of conferences and times posted, it still helps) and also because it helps me to address the parents by the correct name. Since sometimes parents do not have the same last name as the child, this helps me to figure out their correct last name. Below are some pictures of the little set up I have ready for next week's parent teacher conferences.

Word Work

Daily Five is probably one of my least favorite parts of the day. For those of you that are not familiar with Daily Five, it is another name for our structured small group, guided reading time. Students are put into 5 different reading groups depending on their reading level using the Fountas & Pinnell scale. During Daily Five we have 5 centers that groups rotate through. The ultimate goal is that each group with get to each station every day. The stations are: Read to Self, Read to Partner, Teacher Table, Word Work, and Work on Writing. This is to promote strong literacy, reading, writing and independence skills. While the concept is great and I love the idea behind it, for some reason it is a bit chaotic in our classroom. I love that it allows for differentiation but I find myself constantly redirecting students during this time, taking away from my time with the students at the Teacher Table.

One part of Daily Five is word work. I love this station but this could be the reason why it gets a bit noisy in our classroom during this time. For me, word work should be something other than a paper and pencil. I feel that word work should be a game or activity to promote a specific literacy or phonics skill that is engaging to students. There are plenty of great word work worksheets that many of my students enjoy doing during Daily Five, but I like to give my class the option to play a word work game one in a while. I have made many games for my class, but here is one that is our class favorite.

We call it Fried Eggs. The object is for students to work together to flip over eggs- with a spatula of course. The eggs all have words on them that follow a specific spelling pattern. For example, we have a set of eggs that have words on them with either -ch, -sh, or -th. It is their job to read the word on the egg out loud and decide which frying pan it belongs in. The frying pans are also labeled with each digraph. Generally I will swap out the eggs each week with new eggs that have words that follow each week's spelling pattern.

Pebbles, Sand & Silt

Unfortunately science has become one of those things that we have to "squeeze in". For me growing up, we had science once a week like any other rotating specialist. At my school ( and I'm not sure how this works with other districts) but it is up to the classroom teacher to teach the science to their students using a science kit that is rented from another company. In first grade we have three different science units: Balance and Motion, Pebbles, Sand and Silt, and Plants and Animals. We are currently working on Pebbles, Sand and Silt right now and my students are loving it! Who knew that rocks could bring so much excitement into the classroom. Now the science kits we use are made by Foss and are super outdated as far as guided worksheets. I would be bored working with the worksheets so I know my students would be too. So, I went to the Holy Grail- also known as Teachers Pay Teachers. 🙌 I was able to find a science journal that another teacher had made with lots of student worksheets to go along with each investigation and they were much more kid friendly. So naturally, I paid the $10 and put together 20 science journals. I try to"squeeze in" science on Friday afternoons because it gives the kids something to look forward to during the week and it makes our Friday afternoons fun and easy- aside from the clean up that I have to deal with once we are done. I had my students bring in a rock of their own to start our very own class rock collection and almost every day some of my students will continue to bring in rocks to add to our collection so now I'm stuck with what to do with all of these rocks once our science unit is done. Below are a few photos of our most recent science investigation. Students are given three rocks, basalt, tuff, and scorcia. They were asked to take two rocks from the kit and rub them together over a black piece of paper to make observations about the hardness and softness of rocks. After that, they were told to place each rock into a cup of water one at a time to make observations about the colors and changes in the water and in the rocks. This was by far their favorite part of this investigation (it's the little things I suppose).

PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Support)

PBIS is an acronym for Positive Behavior Interventions & Support. "Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a proactive approach to establishing the behavioral supports and social culture and needed for all students in a school to achieve social, emotional and academic success." (http://www.sjusd.org/student-services/pbis/what-is-pbis/ ) This year my school as adopted this behavior management approach and it is safe to say that within just the first three months of using it, our school saw tremendous differences in student behavior. There is one thing that is crucial when implementing this type of approach and it is that everyone is on board. What I mean by this is, teachers, administration, cafeteria workers, janitors, etc. all need to be trained on how to enforce this and need to follow the system. 

PBIS in the classroom is a crucial tool to help decrease disruptions, model school appropriate behavior, increase instructional time, and improve students' social behavior and academic outcomes. Teachers may implement PBIS in the classroom differently but after going to a training on PBIS I found that the best way to enforce PBIS was to offer rewards and incentives for good behavior, rather than harping on those students with poor behavior. The theory behind this is if you call attention to the good behavior, students are more apt to follow along in order to receive that same praise and possibly a tangible reward.                  

There are so many different "types" of students that one single behavior management tool will not work for every child or in every situation. Students are classified into three different Tiers when understanding the PBIS approach. Starting on the bottom of this pyramid you have your Tier 1 students- all students, school-wide. This means that students here are expected to follow the "expectations" of how you should walk in the hallway, how you should behave in the cafeteria, etc. For example, it is a school-wide expectation that when an adult says "Give me 5" all students will raise their hand, stop whatever it is they are doing, voices are off, and you are giving that adult all of your attention. Then there are Tier 2 students that are a much more selected group of students. These students may require a daily check in with a teacher or administrator to assess behavior through the use of a behavior chart. They may need time during the day to "take a break" or time to go speak with a counselor to help regulate emotions. This tier encompasses only about 10-20% of a school population. And finally we have our Tier 3 friends. These students are on individualized behavior plans for their high-risk behaviors. They are known to administration and possibly other teachers in the school as a child that may need a little extra guidance or frequent reminders when passing in the halls or eating lunch etc. 

This year I am fortunate enough to have one of those Tier 3 students in my class. Aside from his frequent outbursts, aggression, defiance, and negative attitude, deep down he is a very smart child who has the ability to succeed but for one reason or another chooses not to (whether this is in his control or out of his control we're not too sure yet). As a first year teacher, this PBIS model was very new to me, but after attending several workshops and PD days on PBIS, I have gained a solid knowledge of this approach. In the beginning of the school year I struggled with different strategies for helping my Tier 2 and 3 students. My principal introduced us to a website called PBIS World, and I have to say it has saved me from a few mental breakdowns in the classroom. This website allows you to select a specific behavior that you are trying to provide interventions for. Once you select the behavior this site will lead you to a wide range of interventions that can help with this behavior. This website has worked wonders for me. Even if you are not following the PBIS model in your school, this website is still very beneficial to all teachers. 

Check it out!! (It is like your own little behavior management toolbox on one website) http://www.pbisworld.com

I think that at this point in the year it is safe to say that it works in our school. Now that's not to say it would work in every school, but it is certainly worth a shot if everyone in the school would be on board with it. 

Math Games

This week our first grade classes were lucky enough to receive lots of new math games from a grant given to our parent council group. We received close to 30 different math games, ranging from games that require logic skills, puzzles, building games, addition and subtraction games, etc! Now this meant that we all had to meet as teachers and figure out how to play each of these games in order to then try to find time in our already packed schedules to teach our classes. Some of the games turned out to be a lot of fun, and to be games that I would enjoy playing with my fiends at home! After racking my brain trying to figure out how I could possibly teach 20 students how to play one single math game, a fellow first grade teacher and I decided that we would invite parent volunteers in on a Friday afternoon and set up centers. The parents could come in and teach a group of kids how to play one of the games at each center- introducing only about 10 different games (given that I had 10 parents volunteer for this) and then students would rotate around the room gaining exposure to each of the math games. After sending out the invites, I was lucky enough to have exactly 9 parents volunteer their time which I thought was perfect because I could run the 10th station.

So on Friday March 31st we played math games during the afternoon. It was a lot of fun to have parents in to play these games and teach our class. Everything went very smoothly and after getting feedback from the parents that came in, they also enjoyed their time with us.

I am a firm believer in having fun in the classroom, and this was the perfect way to do that while still working on our math skills. Now that my students know how to play roughly 10 different math games, we will be making this a weekly thing on Friday afternoons!

Here are some pictures of our class playing with two of the new math games! Since I was managing a station during this time, I was unable to capture all of the games but I will list the names of all of the math games below in the event that any of you would like to check them out for your own classroom. (All of the games were purchased from Amazon and seem to be adaptable for any grade level)


Bananagrams
Mindware- Q-bitz
Flash the Lightning Fast Game
Bendomino: Dominoes with a Twist! Tile Game
Super Genius - Addition
20 Express Game
Sumoku
Double Shutter Tin
Pixy Cubes
Rummikub
Lucky Numbers Family Game
Educational Insights Even Steven's Odd!
Learning Resources Mental Blox Critical Thinking Game
Tenzi Dice Game & 77 Ways to Play
Shape-O-Metry
Mancala
Spot It! Numbers and Shapes
SET: The Family Game of Visual Perception
Architects Game
Tangramino Game
On the Dot Game
Brainwright Logic, Dice Dots Deduction puzzle
Brainwright GeoBrix, Solve Build Create Puzzle
Educational Insights Canoodle
Think Fun Math Dice
Learning Resources Sum Swamp
Sequence Numbers
Sequence Dice
Phase 10

Top O the Mornin' To Ya

 Is it just me, or do other teachers feel like St. Patrick's Day is even more hectic and crazy than the Friday before Christmas vacation?! I have to admit, the crazy antics of the Leprechaun did not help matters. That sneaky little guy made his way to our classroom sometime early Friday morning, before we all got to school. 😉 He flipped over chairs, threw gold glitter everywhere, made a mess of the room with green streamers, and dropped a few gold coins along the way. According to one of my first graders "that Leprechaun needs to take a tub because his feet are super dirty! He must have stepped on so many four-leaf clovers on his way here from Ireland!"  

While the morning was extremely crazy, the excitement began to wear off somewhere around lunch time. It was a relatively calm afternoon, until it was my bright idea for my students to do a narrative writing assignment titled "How to Catch a Leprechaun." I have to say, some ideas that my students came up with were very clever, and I'm sure had the Leprechaun not been a fictional character, some of the kids may have been able to catch him. 😜 

Many of my students even asked if they could use their writing to then draw a picture of their plan or their leprechaun trap, and some even asked if they could build a trap at home over the weekend. This gave me a wonderful idea for future years. I will make an attempt to have my students complete this writing assignment prior to St. Patricks Day. Then they will use their plan to actually create the trap (tying in a bit of engineering)! 

Overall even though it was a completely crazy day, it brought me back to when I was a first grader and my teacher did the same thing to our classroom on St. Patrick's Day. Seeing the excitement on my students' faces, once again reminded me why I do what I do! All I could say at the end of the day was "Thank God it's Friday!" 

Guest Reader: Officer Marini

Today marked the first day of Dr. Seuss' Read Across America Week. Our morning started off with a "surprise" visit from a guest reader, who my students later found out was my fiancé! (Their reactions were priceless). Officer Marini came to first grade for the morning, to read us the classic Officer Buckle and Gloria. Though I'm not sure how many of them actually listened to the story as they were so enthralled with the fact that there was a Police Officer in our classroom. Giving my students this opportunity was one of the greatest feelings. To show them that everyone, even the men and women protecting our streets and keeping us safe, enjoy reading books. Once Officer Marini was done reading the book, he asked my students a few questions about the book and almost every single hand was raised- which is often a rarity. This conversation quickly segued into the typical questions that kids ask an Officer. "What is that thing for?" (pointing to his duty belt) "Have you ever arrested anyone?" Thankfully we rehearsed these questions at home prior to him coming into the classroom. He was able to address their questions appropriately and efficiently, so that their innocent curious selves were appeased.

Tomorrow is Green Eggs and Ham day, we will be wearing pink and green and students will be offered green eggs in the lunchroom... can't say I would be jumping at the thought of green eggs from the school cafeteria.  I will update you all as the week goes on with more pictures of the fun activities planned for Dr. Seuss' birthday and Read Across America Week!


PS. Today was also "crazy hat day", we don't always wear leprechaun hats and gift wrap ribbon on our heads 😉

Well, the 100th day of school has came and went. Only 80 more to go!!! On the 100th day of school my first graders took part in a couple of different activities. As part of their homework assignment, the entire first grade team created t-shirts with 100 items on them (stickers, polka dots, legos, coins, band-aids, fingerprints, etc.) The kids were super creative with this assignment and I loved how different everyone's t-shirt was. For morning work, my students had to write 100 words that they knew- they could choose from our Word Wall Words, spelling dictionaries, sight word flip books, and any other basic print from around the classroom. Then we switched gears to work on our informative writing. My first graders were asked to think about what their life will be like when they are 100 years old. After much laughter, the response I got to this activity was amazing. My students are all 6 or 7 years old, so for them to comprehend the idea of being 100 years old, was a lot to ask. This activity had me in tears due to the hysterical responses from my students. "When I am 100 years old, I will be sitting on my couch eating Skittles with my fake teeth." "When I am 100 years old, I will be 'a-tired' (retired) to Florida with my Mimi and Papa, golfing everyday." "When I am 100 years old, I will go to the old people club and play board games with all of my friends." "I will have 18 grandkids and 2 kids, I will visit my kids and their family everyday." "When I am 100, I will go to church everyday because I think that's what my Grampy and his friends do everyday." They were then asked to draw a self-portrait of what they would look like when they are 100 years old. Their final products were hilarious!

After lunch, we switched gears from ELA to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math). Unfortunately, it is very rare that my first graders get much time with science, let alone STEAM. So for this special day, I decided to throw out my typical afternoon plans of reading, and I brought a couple of different 100th day STEAM activities into my classroom. I put my students into teams of 3 and set up the stations (as pictured in this post) around the room. I told my class that they were to work as a team, and using the materials at the stations they had 100 seconds to build anything they could. They really enjoyed the freedom to build without being told what they needed to build. This allowed for creativity and most of all, teamwork. Something that children this age need a lot of practice with. They thoroughly enjoyed rotating throughout all of these stations, and really loved that they only had 100 seconds at each station. After seeing their enthusiasm and their creativity with this activity, I will be making more of a point in the future to incorporate STEAM challenges whenever possible!

Morning After the Superbowl

Being fans of the Nation's greatest football team isn't as easy as it sounds. Especially the morning after a late night of friends and family, Superbowl snacks and a whole lot of yelling. The thought of having to teach 20 first graders this morning seemed nearly impossible... That is, until I got my 87 cent iced coffee from Dunkies! Fuel power at it's finest.

9:05 A.M.  rolls around, and the first few students came strolling in with big grins on their face. It wasn't until about 9:20 when the last few stragglers made their way to their seats that mayhem broke out, and the only conversation in the classroom was, "Oh my God! Did you stay up late last night for the Patriots?", "I watched it! They won!", "My mom and dad were screaming so loud!", "Tom Brady is the best football player of all time!", "The Patriots turned it around after the half", "I stayed up until the end and it was way past my bedtime!", "The last touchdown was the best one!" Due to their innocent (and natural) excitement, I let them be for a few minutes and simply listened. It quickly became very clear to me that most of my students had in fact watched some, if not all of the Superbowl game. Some knew exactly what they were talking about, while others just repeated the statements they heard from an adult at home, or from the Morning News. Either way, it made for a great writing assignment. Motivating young learners to write is a constant struggle, so to hear them discuss what they did for the Superbowl game, I took it and ran with it. I thought, what better prompt for a narrative writing piece than to have them write a paragraph about what they did for the Superbowl game. I provided my students with a few different prompts to get them thinking." Did you watch the game at home, or did you go to a Superbowl party? Who did you watch the game with? Did you stay awake for the whole game? Did you eat Superbowl snacks? What did you do when you saw they were losing? What did you do when the Patriots came back to win?" 

Next came the quietest 30 minutes ever! My class was so enthralled and focused on their writing, it was unbelievable. They put so much effort and detail into their work, and a few even asked if they could present their writing. Seeing their motivation truly turned my morning around. Though I was an extremely sleep deprived teacher, I suddenly got that extra boost I was looking for all morning, even after the coffee kicked in. For once, my first graders were excited about writing, and it was all because I saw and felt their excitement regarding the Patriots and the Superbowl. This enforced the idea that if you find something that your students like or take interest in, they are more likely to be motivated to want to write about it.

Yay Patriots! Thanks for a "not-so-bad" morning after the Superbowl after all. :) 

Introduction

First grade is truly fabulous! I began teaching first grade in October and I am so in love with it. This age group is extremely challenging, but when my students call me "Mom" or sometimes even "Dad", to me, that is one of the biggest rewards of teaching. This tells me that my students find comfort in me and that I am doing my job as being a nurturing and relatable role model. I was once introduced to who is now my favorite poet, Taylor Mali. The first time I heard his poem "What Teachers Make" the hairs on my arms and back of my neck stood straight up. It reminded me of why I chose the career path that I did.

"You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder,

I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write.
I make them read, read, read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math
and hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you’ve got this,
then you follow this,
and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this.

Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
Teachers make a god**** difference! Now what about you?" 

For all of my teacher friends, I encourage you to watch the full skit of this poem. It will forever change your life. 

Most, if not all of my students spend more time with me in the classroom than they do with their own parents. Unfortunately that is just the world we live in these days. But for me, it is my job to not only teach to the Common Core Standards, but to also instill the values of life, the self-help skills my students need to succeed, and I choose provide my students with the hugs and smiles they may need on a bad day. 

I believe in having fun, dancing and creating. I am super excited to document my journey through my first year (technically second year if you count 1998) in first grade!


PS. As I document my journey through first grade, check out Angela's blog about her first year of teaching in fifth grade Live From Grade Five . And check out Jocelyn's blog for some fun and creative DIY craft projects, great for your home or for your classroom! DIY Home Decor