A Happy Little Family

One week in the books. Phew!  27 first graders and 1 exhausted teacher discussed classroom and school rules and expectations, read books, did some math and a little writing, and somehow made it through the first week of school.  I am super excited to get right into the academics with my new class, but I know I've got a little bit of community building to do first.  I have found over the years that the more team building, memory making, and bonding time that I can cram into those first few weeks of school, the harder they will work for me (and each other) for the remainder of the year.  I have a few tried and true favorites that I always use to get the ball rolling.

First, we discuss our hopes and wishes for a great school year!  This little sesssion usually starts with me talking about what I hope and wish will happen during the year.  It is a great opportunity for me to explain how much I love being a teacher, especially teaching first graders like them.  I talk about how I have always wanted to be a teacher, how long I've been teaching, and how much I love finding out what each indivdual student needs from me so I can help each one reach their goals.  My goal is to establish the safety, security, and respect that they'll need from me in order to take risks in their learning.  Next up...their turn.  First, I let them share their hopes and wishes with their "elbow buddies".  This wakes them up a little bit, and even helps to open up those that aren't used to sharing.  I listen in and guide as neccessary, and eventually I have them start sharing with the whole group.  This is where you want to have your clipboard handy.  I write down what they say!  For example, when one on my students said, I hope I can learn to read Frog and Toad books this year, I wrote that down.  I am always so curious to find the root of their hopes and wishes.  After a little probing with this particular student later in the day, I figured out that her older sister reads Frog and Toad books.  This student feels like you've "arrived" as a reader when you can read chapter books, so this is her biggest goal.  Knowing this will help me a lot down the road.

Next, I wrap up our little discussion by displaying and reading this poem from Fun in First.  

I lay it on reeeeeeeallly thick as I start passing out their "magic playdoh".  I make the biggest deal possible about how I hope, hope, hope their playdoh changes color because there's nothing I want more than to have a great school year with them.  Low and behold, their playdoh changes color.  Shocker, right?  It's such a great time of giggling and bonding.

Have you ever made your own playdoh?  I promise you'll never go back to the store bought stuff after you've given it a try.  It's a little scary at first, but trust me, it will work...and you'll love it!  

First, mix all of these things in a big pan (By the way, I doubled this recipe because I have so many kids this year.):

2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 T vegetable oil
1 T cream of tartar 

Just keep stirring over low heat.  Here's what to expect...

Step 1:  Denial

There is NO way this will be playdoh...like ever!

Step 2:  Confusion

Did she say this will turn in to playdoh?  It looks like runny mashed potatoes.  Am I supposed to keep stirring this?  I'm not sure, so I'll just keep stirring while I try to go back to her post and look at the directions again.  Great, now there's flour on my iPad.

Step 3:  Anger

Did I seriously just waste 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt on this?  It is never going to be playdoh!

Step 4:  Acceptance

Hey!  Look!  I just made playdoh!

Go ahead and pull it off the stove and let it cool.  Next, divide it up into little balls, poke a little dent in each one, put in one or two drops of food color (NO MORE- TRUST ME) in each dent, and carefully pinch the dent closed.  Make a baggie for each student and staple a copy of the "Magic Playdoh" poem to the front.  

This is a memory maker that your students will talk about all year long!  I hope you have fun!

Ready or Not

Well, here it is...the eve of my first day back to work.  I've spent a lot of time this morning thinking about what a fun, albeit short, summer vacation I've had.  You see, my district sufferred through an unbelievable winter which resulted in 18 SNOW DAYS!  Our state forgave a handful of them with no penalty, but the rest were left to make up...as in go to school two weeks into what was supposed to be our beloved summer vacation.  Oh well, even with two less weeks, I enjoyed so many wonderful things.

The Highlights

Attended a leadership conference as a panalist (very surreal and cool)

Road Trips!

My beautiful family ready for the road trip!

Spent some time splashing at a waterpark

Bought a boat

Boating

Boating

Boating

My middle, Bubby.  Adorable...and the only one of us with a boater's license!

Spent one week in the Smokey Mountains

Swam in the "Dirty Dancing" lake

Lake Lure, NC- This is where Dirty Dancing was filmed

Seven mile hike in the Smokey Mountains

Got stung by a bee on a seven mile hike in the Smokey Mountains

Maybe got stung by a KILLER BEE on a seven mile hike in the Smokey Mountains

Seriously, it really hurt!

I must admit, the hike and the sting were worth it!

Soaked up so much family time I was gushing

Welcomed my new nephew into the world with 1,273 hugs, kisses, and cuddles

Tell me you don't want to kiss those cheeks- dare ya!

Said goodbye to gluten- darn thyroid

Spent a week at a cabin in Northern Michigan 

Mullet Lake- Northern Michigan

More boating

Sunning, relaxing, floating

Campfires, crashing waves, one with the world...Ahhh

Dunked my hubs for a good cause

My husband is in a dunk tank on the other side of that little slugger!  Dizzy is ready to dunk his dad to raise money for Special Olympics!

Pre-season volleyball and football for my oldest kids

Got invited to a Def Leppard concert, and...well...we went!  This concert provided me with enough material for an entire post. Maybe I'll get to that eventually! For now, I'll just smile and shake my head.

Look at us...all dressed up like we are headed to Micheal Buble concert.   The entire time we were there, I just kept thinking, Wow, at one point in my life these were my people!

University of Michigan FOOTBALL tailgate and game!  Go Blue!

Wore athletic shorts or yoga pants almost every day!

Enjoyed [and reheated the same cup of] coffee all day long.

As I reflect on all of this, it's hard to feel even a tiny bit unsatisfied.  I soaked up all of what summer had to offer.  I made so many memories with my beautiful family.  Yup, I think I'm ready to go back.  Of course, it helps that I'm going back to this place...

This is a picture of just a small part of our outdoor learning area.  The water in this pond starts waaaay in the back of this picture from an amazing waterfall that travels under a small footbridge.  What a beautiful place to learn and grow!

Wild About Words

We spend so much time focusing on "Word Work" in our room.  Although spelling and orthographic development varies from student to student, isn't it nice that all those researchers have mapped out developmental milestones for us to use as guidelines?  Our school uses a lot of resources from Words Their Way, and it really helps us monitor students as they progress through the spelling continuum.  A couple years ago many of us thought, If WE are using this stuff to monitor kids, why don't we teach them how to monitor their OWN progress?  The results were better than we expected.  First, we noticed that many kids were making much smarter "Word Work" choices during Daily Five.  Also, kids were applying their new found knowledge across all content areas.  That is, we weren't just seeing them get better at word work worksheets; we were seeing evidence of new learning during their daily writing, in their math journals, and in their science and social studies writing (Oh, look at the quote at the end of this post!  It totally brings this point home).  It's easier than you think!

First, I set the stage for understanding spelling development.  You've really got to spend time building comfort here.  Chances are, your class is made up of several different types of "thinkers", and you need to make a big deal out of how great and special this is!  I remind them that we are all different.  Just like we all didn't walk, get potty trained (they love this example), ride a bike without training wheels, and lose our first teeth on the same day, we won't all spell the exact same way on the exact same day.  It's not about where you need to be at the end of the road, or even getting to the end first; it's about knowing what part of the road you are on right now, and knowing what to do to get just a tiny bit farther.  It takes me a while to convince a few skeptics in my room, but eventually I have a classroom full of students who feel the sense of relief that comes with understanding their teacher doesn't expect them to move mountains.  Tiny jumps is more like it!

Next, I test the kids using the Words Their Way spelling inventory, but a similar benchmarking system will do just fine.  Most of my first grade students range from the Emergent and Letter Name stage (beginning and ending sounds) to the Within Word Pattern stage (basic understanding of long vowel patterns).  This, along with what the Common Core expects out of first graders, determines the "path" we want first graders to travel throughout the year.  After a quick conference with each student to provide them feedback on their assessment, and to give them one last pep talk, I'm on my way to handing the responsibility over to them!

If you want to try this, the next thing you need to do is decide on a way to give them a visual of their path.  One of my colleagues created a long paper tree branch that stretched across several cupboards in her room.  She divided the branch up into the spelling stages mentioned above.  She simply wrote all of her students' names on cute little owl cutouts, and the kids moved along the branch as they progressed through the continuum.  Some used rocket ships blasting off to different planets.  Others used hot air balloons traveling through clouds.  I used monkeys climbing up a tree.  One thing we ALL had in common, however, was that we had kids who knew where they stood and were comfortable with it, knew what was ahead for them, and knew how to make plans to get to the next stage (smarter Daily Five choices, working with friends with similar goals, etc.).  Above all else, we had kids who knew why spelling development was important, so they worked so hard to improve bit by bit!

This year I wanted to create a display where the students moved horizontally.  I loved their monkey climbin' last year, but moving "up" can sometimes be mistaken for "that person is smarter than me", and that is a feeling I want to avoid at all cost!  I decided on a display that would be more conducive to horizontal movement.

Here's what I came up with...

 First, I bought some of these for 97 cents at WalMart.  They aren't the highest quality item I've ever played with, but they'll do for 97 cents!

Next, I bought some of this in bright green from Dollar Tree.

For around $3 and ZERO hot glue burns (I always burn myself with that darn stuff), I made this display on a few cupboards.

All that's left to do is to name the lily pads.  I just ran out of time!.  Before the first day of school (gulp, next week), mine will be labeled "Letter Sounds and Short Vowels", "Blends and Digraphs", and "Long Vowels".  The students' frogs will hop along this year as they move through the spelling continuum.  Thanks to the large Diet Coke I splurged on before I got to school that day, I came up with a last minute idea that I'm super excited about.  Do you remember my color-coded Word Work area mentioned in this post?  I decided to put a flower on each lily pad that matches the corresponding Word Work activity basket.   For example, the blue baskets contain long vowel activities, and the lily pad with the blue flower represents the "Long Vowels" stage... blue basket+blue flower=kids who know how to pick a smart Word Work choice

Winning!

There's a little bit more to this, but it will be easier when I have actual kids in class!  More to come...

“Never confuse movement with action.” 

― Ernest Hemingway

The Daily Five- The [Right] Choice

I have been using the Daily Five in my room for quite a few years now, and  I still love it.  I love the sense of ownership it fosters for the students.  It's a great day when you see a 6 year old take charge of his own learning by making choices during Daily Five that will help him work on specific literacy goals (many of which he set for himself- yay).  Over the years I have found that my classes seem to be made up like this:
80%: I got this, Mrs. Mahar!  I'll make smart Daily Five choices for life!
10%: Help me a little bit, Mrs. Mahar and I'll learn to make smart Daily Five choices for life!
10%: Daily what now?   Never mind, I'm just going to go draw puppies in my notebook!

It's that last 10% that has haunted me year after year, and that's why I came up with these guys...

I plan on hanging these near my Work on Writing and Word Work stations as a way of guaranteeing that all kids will at least do something academic during these two Daily Five choices.  I'm thinking something quick and dirty here; something that they can complete in 2 or 3 minutes and then move on to the activity of their choosing.  I've got a few ideas, but this is where you come in...

What would you write on these lines?  Give me some ideas for "need to" activities, and I'll give you a set of these posters.  While you're at it, tell me what your favorite thing about the Daily Five is!  How have you made it work in your room?

Have a great day!

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” 
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Fact Fanatic- How Do YOU Get One?

I have spent the last few years working on a multi-county team of Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers working on the Common Core math standards.  We have spent countless hours digging in to the standards to get the best possible picture of what each and every one expects the students to know and be able to do.  What an eye-opening experience!  When you really start looking, you start to notice all of the Common Core's different verbs:  demonstrate, distinguish, identify, compose, describe, and the list goes on and on. Knowing what student work needs to look like by demonstrating vs. distinguishing, for example, really gives you a clearer picture of how you should be teaching the standard.

 After immersing ourselves in the standards, we began to develop clarifying document sheets for each of them.  Each sheet lists the standard, highlights the vocabulary, lists the "I can" statements involved, and details the Mathematical Practices, the Depth of Knowledge (DOK) level, and examples of what the standard looks like.  You can actually see those documents here.  I have spent so many hours with my first grade group, and we have had so many great discussions.  Perhaps the most lengthy and [maybe] heated discussions revolved around the word "fluency".  What pops into your head when you hear this word in terms of mathematics?  For some of us it involved a time frame.  Kids should know how to solve _____ problems in _____ minutes. For others it meant solving the problem with ease. I don't care how long it takes them, I just want to see some type of strategy.   I am so curious to hear about your thoughts!

Regardless of which "fluency team" you're on, chances are you would really like it if your students practiced math facts more frequently.  I took a quick peek at the standards, and realized that Kindergarten through third grade all have specific fluency standards (This really was a quick peek; there are probably more grade levels with specific fluency standards):

Kindergarten: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/K/OA/A/5/

First Grade:    http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/1/OA/C/6/

Second Grade: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/2/OA/B/2/

Third Grade: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/3/NBT/A/2/

I created this sheet to send home with my first graders.  You can get it for FREE today at my TpT Store if you like it.  

I just started this last year, and it really seemed to help.  I know that some parents are extremely uncomfortable and/or intimidated by some of the things we ask them to do at home, but I have found that math fact practice is something that most parents feel comfortable with.  This year I want to make it even better, and I'm looking for your help.  If you or your school uses some type of incentive slip for math fact practice, do you have any advice?  How do you make it powerful?

Enjoy your day!  My first official day of school is on Monday, so I'm trying to enjoy every last minute of sitting in my jammies and drinking coffee until way too late in the morning...or afternoon (only sometimes- don't judge me).

By the way, our Common Core team was named "Hair on Fire" from the very beginning.  The core developers of the team brought up the book, Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire:  The Methods and Madness Inside Room 56 by Rafe Esquith, and the name of our team was born.  This quote is perfect...

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.

William Butler Yeats

Stick to the Program

Ok, so my SPELLING SUPER PACK is finally done and available at my TpT Store.  Phew!  That baby took me a while to finish because...er...um...ok, fine- I'm a teeny tiny bit of a perfectionist.  

Enough about that, however.  The real purpose of this post is to fill you in on how this lil program changed spelling instruction in my room.  The history- I struggled with spelling instruction for many reasons.  I feel that spelling instruction should be authentic (as in right in the moment of writing) and individualized (because I always have SO many different achievement levels in my room).  On the other hand, trying to make everything authentic and individualized for each student would be impossible.  Seriously, I actually tried it one year and it did not take long for kids to start falling through the cracks.  My solution....develop a spelling program that has predictable weekly lists, BUT also provides the opportunity for differentiation AND (while I'm at it) throw in some opportunities for family involvement and student goal setting.  

Here's what I did.  I took the first 125 words on the Dolch Sight Words List and divided it by five (you can find a great resource here).  I gave each list a color name.  No real thought went into the color names, by the way.  I just happened to see a pack of stickers in the checkout lane at the grocery story and they had pink, blue, orange, purple, and green star stickers.  Next, I made a star like this for every student...

Five points, five lists- a match made in heaven.

The next thing I did was create a bulletin board like this...

Cute, huh?  I will explain the streamers later!

Now the hard part...getting the students to believe in spelling development.  Luckily, first graders are naturally curious, so on the first day of school it takes about 4.2 seconds for the first little cutie to ask, "Teacher, what's that for?"  Ha!  Hooked!  They're mine!  I use the next few minutes to explain the program using as many life-changing nouns and verbs as possible, all the while making spelling this magical and mystical being until they are literally begging me to do something...anything...that has to do with spelling.  Ok, really they just get a little excited and then ask when lunch is, but it's a start.

 Here's the gist of what I tell them:

• We have five lists of 25 words to cover this year.  At the end of the year you will be able to say, "I can read and spell 125 words!"
• I will send the whole list home at the beginning of each unit.  You can tell me when you are ready to be tested, or you can just go week by week with the rest of the class (differentiation) and I'll test you at the end of the unit.
• To help you practice our 5 weekly words, I will send home a "Fridge Facts" sheet for you to hang on your refrigerator.  
• When you master an entire list (via a spelling test AND evidence by me that you're actually using the words correctly in your daily writing) you get to add a sticker to your "Spelling Star" that coordinates with the list you mastered, and we will also celebrate your hard work by cheering and clapping because spelling is SUCH a big deal!
• I will also give you an award certificate to take home and show your parents, AND you will get to stand on your chair to announce that you've met your goal. (I so wish I had a picture of this because it is "goosebumps awesome".)  Many read the goal right off their award certificate.

 See?  It's right there on the certificate!

Pretty soon the stars start to look like this...Man, they'll work hard for those little stickers!

Here are a few other things you should know:

Differentiation for Advanced Students:

As I mentioned previously, I tell the kids that they can tell me they're ready to be tested at any time  (Check out the "I'm Ready to Be Tested" section in this post).  Most kids just go with the flow of the class and learn the words five at a time each week.  Some, however, get the entire unit list on a Friday and then ask to be tested the following Monday.  I'm pretty sure these kids don't leave their bedrooms and/or drive their parents absolutely crazy over the weekend, but who cares!  That's awesome!  If they do happen to master the list, then they get all the kudos and hurrahs mentioned above.  For the rest of that unit, I engage these kids in something more appropriate for their achievement level (more on that, as well as what to do to help kids practice those words they just can't seem to master in future posts) during our regular spelling time.  

Differentiation for Struggling Students:

In some of my previous posts, I've mentioned that I teach in a full-inclusion/co-taught classroom.  My students range from cognitively impaired or learning disabled aaaaaaall the way up to advanced...as in Oh, Geez!  What am I going to do with YOU? advanced.  In my mind there would be nothing worse than seeing your classmates' stars fill up with stickers only to have yours sit empty because you you just can't master that many words at a time no matter how hard you try.  Here's what I came up with to handle this dilemma:

• I took the first 25 words on the Pre-Primer list only and divided those words by five. 
• I gave each of those lists a color name (just like the original lists).
• I created modified versions of all the take-home and practice materials.
• Each week these students still sit for the mini-lesson on the 5 words from the original word list, but when they go off to do individual seat work I provide them with materials that go along with their modified list.

When these kids get their sticker, absolutely no one in class even knows there was a modification.

Incentives:

Aside from the reward certificates and getting to stand on their chairs, we throw a "color party" when every student masters an entire list.  When the students all master the Pink List, for example, I purchase a few different pink snacks.  A little hot pink punch, pink glazed animal crackers, and pink gumballs go a loooooong way.  We spend a few extra minutes at our normal snack time toasting, cheering, and congratulating each other.

Then, we do one more thing...
Remember those streamers on the Spelling Stars bulletin board?

My teaching partner Angie came up with this clever idea...we tear off the color of the list they all mastered and hang it in our doorway under a sign that says, "Ask us about learning to spell 25 new words!"  Every guest that walks into our room is brushed by our streamer, which always prompts that person to ask all about it.  I get to stand back and gush (and sometimes tear up) as one student fills the guest in on the class' awesomeness.

I hope this is useful to you.  I just love how it all works now.  I can't wait to do it again this year, especially with my new and improved materials! It's sorta hard to explain all the nitty gritty details, so leave a comment if you have questions.

“Yours is the light by which my spirit's born: - you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars.” 
― E.E. Cummings 

A Spelling Star

One of the other posts I'm working on is ALL about how my grade level team and I introduce and practice sight words. Together we created, tweaked, field tested, cut and pasted, edited and rearranged, and eventually fell in love with our own system which we named "Spelling Stars".  In a nutshell, we took the first 125 words from the Dolch Sight Word List and gave sets of 25 words color names (pink, blue, orange, purple, and green).  I promise I will tell you later all about how this has helped changed sight word instruction in the BEST-EST way, but for now here's a sneak peak of what I'm working on for this year.  

Once a student masters a particular list (via an end of unit spelling test AND me noticing evidence of correct use in daily writing) we make a SUPER BIG DEAL about it in class.  One of the many things we do to recognize the student's hard work is stand up and cheer as that particular friend comes up to accept an award like this...

This particular award is for the Pink List.
There are 4 more lists to master:  blue, orange, purple, and green

Toward the end of the year many students master all FIVE lists.  We make an even BIGGER deal about this in class.  The rest of the kids all stand and cheer as the student comes up to receive one of these babies!  

It is truly amazing how hard kids will work for one of these!  I bring in the "big dog" (a.k.a our sweet lil principal) to sign this one.  

Oh, guys... I seriously feel like I'm teasing you with this!  Spelling Stars has soooooo much more to it.  You will love it...PROMISE!!  More to come very soon.

Ok, so normally I end my posts with a quote, but this was just too perfect not to sign off with!
Courtest of:  this place right here

Like the graphics and fonts I used?  Check these guys out!

her, or her, or her!