Responsibility

At the beginning of my 4th grade recorder unit a month or so ago, the students and I brainstormed strategies they could use to be sure they always had their recorders at school on music days:
- Keep their recorders in their backpacks anytime they aren't practicing, so they know it's at school every day.
- Put a sticker or other mark on their lunch calendar on every cycle day they have music.
- Make a note in their planners of every music day.

Many of my students have embraced these strategies and been very responsible about having their materials at school for every music class, but I have two gentlemen who haven't had a recorder at school in weeks and another student who still hasn't even given the order form to her family!  I helped them brainstorm ways to remember, we discussed the logical consequences of not being able to practice their recorders to prepare for playing assessments, and I contacted home to clarify my expectations to their families and offer my assistance in helping these families support their children.  Nothing seems to be working.

In past years, I have had a very specific procedure for how to handle forgotten recorders:
1st offense: Borrow a recorder from Mrs. Lindner
2nd offense: Contact home
3rd offense: Lowered recorder grade (you can't "meet expectations" if you aren't able to participate in class)

This year, insipired by the Eagle Creek "Love & Logic" push and my colleagues' approach to handling the same issue, I decided to allow students to experience the logical consequences of being irresponsible rather than trying to keep track of when and if 75 students have had their recorders at school.  I no longer track whether a student has forgotten his or her recorder on a given date, but I also no longer loan out school recorders to students who are unprepared.  The students and I have discussed that it will be awfully hard to learn the 1 or 2 songs per quarter they need to learn in order to "meet expectations" if they don't have their materials and school, and I only really address the issue with the "serial forgetters" who seem to need some support in learning responsbility.  Many of my students have responded very well to this approach, and I have had fewer students forgetting recorders this year than in the past.

As we are nearing the end of the quarter, I am really struggling with allowing my plan to see itself out.  These 3 students who never have a recorder at school have already missed out on an opportunity to play the 1 song I am assessing this quarter, and are quickly coming up on another opportunity to test after break.  I'm having a hard time deciding how I'm going to handle the situation if any of these students come without an instrument on that day - will I loan them an instrument and allow them to attempt to play?  What will I do if they attempt to perform and can't do it because they haven't prepared?

Any advice would be much appreciated.  I'm really struggling with the balance between teaching responsibility and my instinct to help these kids out by "holding their hands" while they learn this song.

Word Study Meeting (Hartman and Borgen)

On December 16 Sarah Hartman and I met to discuss word study and take a deeper look at the Fountas and Pinnell Word Study book that the district has provided for us. Sarah has been using it in her classroom and she is helping me understand it better. At our meeting we took a deeper look at what word study looks like in the classroom every day, for example tasks, management, process, and routines. We looked at lessons to see if we thought they were first grade appropriate based on when we are supposed to teach them. We found that not all the lessons have enough rigor for where the students are at at this point in the year. Has anyone else found this to be true? Sarah and I decided to map out lessons to be taught for the next month until we meet again to discuss how the lessons went, how we can improve our instruction, and student achievement. Our next meeting will be at the end of January and we will be looking more into word study and starting to discuss Responsive Classroom as well.

-Sarah and Heather

Causing a Problem for Others

One of the tougher concepts I try to teach across my case load is the idea of perspective taking and how an individual's behavior affects others. I want to try a game in my social groups called the good behavior game, in which a "team" of students have points and keep their points if all of the members in the group follow the classroom rules (practice "good" behavior). If one student does not follow the rules, the team loses a point. Research on this game has shown me good results; however, I am wondering if anyone has experience with implementing this in their classroom or with small groups? Thanks :).

January Bulletin Board

I am in charge of putting together our grade's bulletin board for the month of January. Does anyone have any ideas for a stellar bulletin board for a winter theme for 4th graders? It can be just art, and if possible always educationally related.

Area and Perimeter

One of the fourth grade standards in math is that students be able to find the area and perimeter of rectangles/squares and simple polygons. For the third year in a row students have a difficult time grasping this concept and being able to differentiate between the two. Does anyone have a really good saying or some type of device to help students remember the difference between area and perimeter? Thanks in advance!

Exciting Day

I work with a student who has been struggling with writing. He has a hard time thinking of ideas and is not able to write a complete sentence or use appropriate punctuation. Yesterday, we had a break through! I gave him a subject to write about and he had to write a complete sentence about that subject. Not only did he write a sentence but it made sense and he used periods at the end. I was so excited!

SPARK

I was in search of a book to read to fulfill my professional development hours and I had heard about the book "Spark" and that it is a good read. This book is about the science of exercise and the brain. I hope I'll gain some new insight on teaching Physical Education. Stay tuned...

"I don't want to do my work"

I just wanted to share a teaching moment I had yesterday. I have a student that is still struggling with the fact that he has to do work at school. He insists that we are in first grade just to play. I have been using logical consequences, choices and positive reinforcement. Things have greatly improved and he has made huge academic and social improvements. He was sick a few days and came back telling me again that he didn't want to do work and started to cry. I used choices and he replied no. I used a logical consequence and his sobs got louder. Finally, I sat down and said "I have something important to tell you." He quieted down. "Did you know that you will be doing homework until you are 18 years old and some people do homework until they are 25." His eyes got big and he was at a loss for words. I said, "We can make this work fun together by working hard together and working with partners or we can do it your way, which would work for you?"
He smiled and went right to work ;o) Sometimes a little truth about life can really help ;o)

Math Centers

I am trying something new this year with math. I noticed due to the fact that it is my second year with the curriculum that math was going a lot faster, so I started math centers. Once we go through whole group together and students finish their work they move to their center. They get a new center each day for the 5 day week and I have been keeping the centers for 2-3 weeks. One station is me where I work with kids at their level (they are in level based groups), another station is shapes, another is the games on think central on the smart board that match the lesson, a dominoe adding game station and a card station. I am having difficulty finding new fun games for math. Any ideas or resources out there that you enjoy?

Writing Curriculum

I am not sure what grades everyone teaches, but in the middle elementary level (3-5) a lot of teachers in our school are frustrated with the writing curriculum. We have been given a framework for lessons for each of our large units (narrative, informational, opinion, and writers launch). We then are expected to take one of the large projects and create lesson plans for all the teachers in the district. In essence, the district is asking us to write the curriculum for ourselves. I am a big believer in 6 traits writing, yet we have few resources for this "curriculum". However, 6 traits is not a curriculum, but more of a scoring guide. I have used the scoring guide and 6 traits framework to build my own curriculum focusing on each trait. My question is does anyone have any 6 traits lesson that they think are amazing or "must have" lessons that focus on one of the traits for middle elementary students? Furthermore, how are your schools and teams dealing with the writing curriculum conundrum?

Try teaching 90 5th graders at a time!

At my school we have a lot of students in band. We have so many students in band that it has impacted our cycle schedule this year. One day out of a ten day cycle we have 3 sections of 5th graders in our gym. We are currently on our bowling unit in Phy. Ed. It always seems that when cycle day 9 approaches we're forced to modify the lesson completely, or do something totally different all together. It is so difficult to attempt to stay in the same unit and have enough equipment and space that is appropriate for this group. We were supposed to bowl today and originally students were in groups of about 5 kids. I assigned each student to a task so they're not just sitting around waiting for their turn. With 90 kids I could not justify having 11 lanes to bowl in with one bowler at a time. Their bowling team would be larger than the usual 5-6, which means more kids sitting around and waiting. I'm thankful we have a good group of 5th graders, so we haven't had a whole lot of behavior issues. I am concerned that these students are missing out on a quality experience on cycle day 9 when in Phy. Ed. It will be interesting to see how we'll figure things out as we progress through the units for the remainder of the year.

Frustrated

I have  a student in my class who is low not the lowest but low and he continues to not pay attention. I feel like I have to stand over him and point to everything as we work or sit right next to him at all times for him to get his work done. He is not getting any support at home and doesn't turn in homework. I pull him everyday for reading small group and work with him as much as I can, but I have two others that need the same thing all the time. It is just really wearing on my patients and need some suggestions on how to deal with this type of child. This is very different then what I am used to seeing in my classroom and not sure how to deal with this type of child. I feel like I am complaining, but just really want to help this child and am frustrated over his lack of attention and focus.

Rowdy Kids

Today our 1st graders were a little crazy. I'm not sure if it was because today was the first day back from a long weekend or what, but they were having behavioral issues. Numerous kids were tattling on each other, asking to go to the bathroom during the warm-up, and struggling with keeping their hands to themselves etc. We finished the warm-up but instead of transitioning into the lesson, we did an activity with a CD. We performed two exercises to the song "knuckles knees" and "spin again." This seemed to help get the wiggles out. We did not get to the lesson as planned, but I felt the class was more productive with a modified lesson after the songs. I think it's important as teachers that we know it's okay to deviate from the lesson plan. If we notice things are not working that typically do with our students, it is perfectly fine to switch things up and we have to in some situations.

Writing

I am really struggling with a small group of kiddos on the topic of ending punctuation. They are becoming better at writing down their ideas but still do not include punctuation at the ends of their sentences. When I prompt them to find something that is missing from the sentences, they have no idea. HELP! I have tried having them dictate their sentences to me and then they have to copy what I have written. But, even then, they seem to not even see the punctuation mark at the end. I have tried having mini lessons centered around periods, exclamation marks and question marks and they grasp the concept in isolation. However, when I want them to transfer the skill to their writing, they do not do it. Has anyone else struggled with this and found a way to help them understand the concept?

Positive Conference

I was discussing with my colleague about some positive conferences we've had this year. As physical education teachers, it is our goal that our students build a life-long love of learning and physical activity. We were pleased to be visited by a parent that was asking us for exercise ideas for their son so he could exercise more and play on the computer and do sedentary activities less. They acknowledged he would be going to the middle school next year and that he'd need to get stronger and build his confidence. My colleague and I were so refreshed to see parents advocating for their children and recognizing how school changes would impact their son. Hooray for involved parenting!

Word Study

I am sorry to bring up word study again but a few members of my team came across something today that really upset us. We were looking at the December phonics lessons in the Red F&P book and they want us doing letter matching with First graders in December! We are starting to look at this book and we were shocked to see letter matching in December. That is a skill that 99% of students can do in Spetember! Those of you who have used this book or are first grade teachers, how do you feel about this? Did you skip the lesson? What are you doing to give your students a strong phonics background? I am always looking for help and suggestions!! We just feel like this can't be the first time someone has brought this up!

Magnetic Letters

Just wanted to share the excitement kids get when we just let them be kids sometimes. I had a fancy lesson plan with all these steps and procedures and I noticed that the class was enjoying the first step and really thinking about the process of making words. I realized that sometimes we forget to make learning simple and fun. The concept was difficult but since they were having fun manipulating the magnets and making real words and Dr. Suess words they forgot about how challenging it was and really thought about each word.

Small Grouping

I have been working with small grouping with my kids in reading. I think that this is going well overall, but tend to spend a lot of time pulling resources for my small groups. For my average and above average groups, I have been using the book room and Reading A to Z. These are "ok" for reading with my low groups, but I feel that I am pulling from everywhere for these groups. Does anyone have any ideas that I could use for these low kiddos? They need help with vowels, high frequency words, sentence writing, and the list could go on and on. I pull this group almost everyday and try to read with them everyday, but need to be working with them on more intervention things. It would be nice if we had a intervention program to go with a reading curriculum to help support these low kids in reading and writing.

Student Goals

Goal setting can be a positive and motivating technique to use with students. However in the past I have not given the proper attention to these goals. At conferences we talk about MAP/MCA scores and our scores that we want to achieve by the end of the year. Yet, for the students this number is so hard to relate to and understand how they can be a better reader/math student/student in general. This year I wanted to do a fun twist on goal setting to make it more personal and fun for the students. We made a goal for first quarter and wrote them on the gecko lizards that make a tessolation when you put them all together. They thought this was really neat and it was an easy way to tell them that our goals are all connected and we need each other to learn (community). For the second quarter we are making Japanese Daruma Dolls. I had the students be real specific with what their goal was for the quarter, why was it important, what are they going to do to achieve this goal, and who is going to help them achieve this goal. I want to do a goal setting activity for each quarter. I was wondering if anyone had any fun ideas for goal setting projects/writing ideas?

Love & Logic

I am having great success with love and logic this year. Of course I am mixing in parts of Response classroom, but L & L is really helping with those challenging kids. I am noticing my two students with anger management issues are starting to understand that every time they break down there is a consequence and the consequence is not related to me. It is a direct consequence of their behavior and they are getting better at solving their problems themselves and coming up with a consequence that is appropriate for their behavior. I still have trouble staying out of it and sometimes I give them the consequence for sake of time, but most of the time they are doing it on their own. It has been wonderful because it creates a positive relationship between myself and the students because I am not the one making the consequences. I am simply a bystander. I am sure to let them know that it is very sad they made that choice and this has aloud them to still enjoy school and keep their self esteem intact. Give it a try. It really frees up time for teaching!

S-Team and IEP's

 This is my first experience with more than one student on IEPs and/or being referred to S-team services. I am finding myself spending what feels like 75% (although I know it is less) of my time on these students. I am having great success with Love and Logic and the students causing problems are solving their problems and making progress everyday with their behaviors, but I am having trouble finding ways to follow through with consequences and still give the rest of the class the attention they deserve. I have done my best to be sure only the students causing problems are missing out on the fun activities to solve problems and come up with their own consequences but it just doesn't seem fair to the rest of the classroom. We also do a lot of problem solving on my lunch and prep but it would be nice to have one or the other. I want to be sure I don't budge and start at the beginning again but I also what to be sure to balance it all. Any suggestions?

L&L and Challenging Parents

This past summer a group of colleagues went to Colorado to a conference at the Love and Logic Institute. We have had monthly staff development mornings where they introduce a skill that we could put to use right away. Recently we had a morning where they talked about having success with challenging parents. As we all have had experience with parents, some of us have had good ones and some of us have had "challenging" ones. The article compared dealing with parents in the same ways people deal with death and the five stages of they go through. I had never looked at dealing with parents in this type of way. Here are some highlights of the techniques our fellow teachers shared with us.

Denial

Parents may say things like "We don't have these problems at home." "Not my child. What were the others doing?"

Anger

Parents may things like; " If you knew how to teach, he wouldn't be having these problems." "You'll be hearing from our lawyer!"

Bargaining

At this stage, many parents begin to admit that there is a problem yet search for some type of "quick fix."

Depression

Understandably, they begin to feel very sad and hopeless when these treatments don't solve the problem. We often hear them say, "We've tried everything, and nothing works!"

Acceptance

At this final stage, parents begin to understand that their child's problem is a real one that isn't going to be solved with quick fixes. They also come to a point where they can love their child for who he/she is...not who they want them to become.

The techniques that the teachers shared was in the form of an acronym PARENTS.

P - practice preventative relationship building. Using "one sentence interventions" and contacting parents before their is a problem and share something positive with them.

A - ask for permission to describe your concerns "May I describe?" works better than "Let me tell you..."

R - remember that underlying the parent's anger are feelings of grief and loss. Don't make the parent's reaction personal. (Hardest one for me). I recently used a line with a difficult student and parent that, "I want to help" and "here is what I can do to help..."

E - end any attempts to give good factual information. Here are some things you can say when you feel stumped: How long have you felt this way. Tell me more. What would you like to see here? Help me understand.

N - note-taking has many benefits. Take notes on your current conversation so you can repeat what they say back to them. This allows for the parents to hear what they are asking from you and how they are coming across.

T - test the parent to see if they are calm enough to hear your thoughts, simply ask, "Would you like to hear my ideas?"

S - solve the problem, must show the parents that you care!!

Hopefully reading this might trigger some connections and maybe give you some new ideas on how to approach parents and the difficulties with dealing with them sometimes.

Word Study

I have added a new goal to my list of professional development plans for this year. WORD STUDY! For the remainder of the year I will be meeting with the lovely Ann Dettmann (our LC) for coaching sessions. We will be meeting every month to go through the red Fountas and Pinnell Phonics Lessons book and talk about how to best teach the lessons to my students and then she will observe me teach the lesson. I am excited about this because if any of you have taught from this book it does not go in order and it jumps all over the place. This drives me crazy because I like things in order and nice and neat! Ahh! Those of you who have used this book for teaching phonics.word study. What do you think about it? I am excited to dive deeper in to this book and learn new ways to teach me students!

Autism Conference

I had the opportunity to attend an autism conference two weeks ago that was led by author Michelle Garcia Winner. I have read her books before on social skills but, in person, she is so much more inspiring. She brought up so many wonderful insights into the minds of kids (or individuals) with autism. She not only presented many ideas for lesson plans but she had real-life scenarios that helped to reinforce her ideas.

I had the chance to buy many of her books that she referenced throughout the conference to help with running my social skills groups. I feel like all of the information I learned is applicable in the classroom.

Learning in "Stations"

My colleague at Jackson spends a lot of time having students learn music concepts using "stations" in her classroom.  Small groups of students travel together through several different activities throughout the class period, completing a different task or objective at each.  She encouraged me to give it a try, which I did during the last cycle of fourth quarter...

For two lessons, my fourth grade classes rotated through 4 stations each day:

• Station #1 was a SMART Board activity to help them practice note names on the music staff
• At Station #2, I assessed the students on their Orff instrument skills (a different benchmark each of the two days).
• Station #3 was a board game also focused on note names.
• At Station #4, students completed a worksheet (one side each day) with the various written benchmarks for the quarter.

Two of my three sections of fourth grade handled this format very well, while one really struggled to stay on task when they knew I wasn't "right there", especially at the SMART Board station.  In my other groups, though, I was really impressed by how well the students were working together - I really enjoyed seeing students help one another with concepts.

One thing I am realizing as I grade the worksheets, though, is that written work may not be a good fit for this model (especially when I need to be in a different part of the room).  Students really struggled to follow the directions on the worksheets, which means I am having a hard time distinguishing between the "I didn't understand the directions" folks and the "I don't understand the concept" folks - and the directions were pretty basic steps!

Have any of you had success with work in stations?  What kinds of activities work well with your classes?

Progress!

Last week, I suddenly got that horrible, overwhelmed feeling about school.  All at once, it seemed like I had a ton of work to do and it had been a day where it felt like the kids weren't picking up on anything.  I think all teachers have those moments from time to time, but I had to figure out a way to get out of that funk.

This weekend, I was entering scores for my students' language arts testing.  We had done this at the very beginning of the year, and this was the Quarter 1 benchmark.  It helped so much to see proof of their progress.  Even though there are bound to be those days where it seems like I'm just not getting through to them, there is almost always evidence that shows otherwise.  I could see progress. 

I would encourage everyone to take just a moment or two to think about your kids at the beginning of the year, and then think about them now.  Just thinking about the difference in their behavior has helped me to put a more positive swing on my week.  Even the toughest kids have shown growth.

Blocks

I have had a very chatty class so far this year. I finally decided something needs to be done. I am implementing the 3 block system. Every morning when the students walk in the load themselves with 3 blocks (which are kept in their desks). I take the blocks away as I see fit. For any behavior that is not safe, respectful, or responsible. So for example, planner is not signed, I take a block. A student is talking while he or she should be listening, I take a block. If a student cannot show me at least one block by recess, they have to stay inside. After recess, the kids reload again. If they lose their afternoon blocks as well, they get a note home in their planner. It has been working like a charm. The best part is...I have parents calling ME!!! They are totally on board and the kids respond quickly.

Responsive Classroom

As many of you know I was part of the Responsive Classroom blog last year. I am continuing to use RC in my classroom this year. I love the RC framework and how it gives ownership to the students and builds community!

For staff development on Wednesday we had a lady from Origins come in and talk to our staff about RC and what a RC classroom/school looks like. We are thinking about becoming a RC school so we wanted to know what we needed to do. It was very inspiring to hear our speaker talk about making our schools a better environment for not only the students but the staff. We have a lot of things to think about after our meeting...my questions are: How many of you are using RC in your classroom? Does your school use the RC framework as a whole school practice? If you aren't using RC what are you using that helps with classroom management/behavior issues? Also, older grades (3-5) do you use it in your classroom? A big complaint was that there is so much curriculum to teach at the older grades that there is no time for a morning meeting, etc. What do you think about this?

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this and respond!! :)

A Clicker test!

Tomorrow we'll be administering our first official student response system clicker test for quarter 1. Units they'll be tested on: Footbal, Soccer and Fitness Tests. I'm excited to see how it all works and how the students respond to it. (no pun intended) :) I informed them that the test would not be paper/pencil but that we wanted to use technology. Many kids were so excited about that little piece. I'll let you all know how it goes.

New Technique

I have a student with whom I work who struggles with writing. Not only is the process of writing difficult for him, but he also does not like touching the paper. I saw a classroom teacher practicing spelling with her class one day with shaving cream, so I thought that I would give it a try with this student. It has changed his attitude towards working on his writing with me. He will try his best on his spelling words and high frequency words when he is writing with the shaving cream. Yesterday, I also had him write math problems with it and he did so much better. It has taught me so much about this student - that he is a kinesthetic learner. I have been brainstorming other ideas for doing writing tasks that we can intertwine with paper-pencil writing.

Small Things

A co-worker and I have signed up to be Bingo callers for our schools Bingo night next week. A few students found out we are going to be callers and the smiles on their faces was priceless.
I know it is often hard to sign up for "extra" things because our plates are already pretty full, but after I participate I am always so glad I did. The students truly do enjoy seeing their teacher at these type of events and it is the smallest things sometimes that can make the biggest difference.

Goal 2011

Well, I came up with a goal that I really think is going to be great for me and my students this year. I have a hard time each day with teaching math and seemed to get stressed about it. I have a very diverse group of students this year and find it difficult to get through a math lesson in one piece. So, I have come up with a solution to this problem. I am using a para that I have during my math time to work with differentiation cards for the math curriculum. I am able to have the low group and high group work with her several days a week on the differentiation cards for the lesson I am teaching in the class. I am then able to teach the lesson to the middle/average students in my class. I have found that the low students who I have tried this with over the past couple of weeks are really benefiting from workin in a small group of 4-5 students on the basic skill for the lesson. They are able to work at a slower pace and have individual guidance with the lesson and practice sheets. I am going to try when we get back from break to have the high students rotate half the time a couple days a week out of the classroom also to work with the para on skills but at a higher level thinking. Another part of my goal is to use the whole math curriculum including the routines, quick practice, and cards with my students each day to increase fact fluency and increase their ability to use the math strategies. I am not doing Fastt Math this year to piolit this for my class and see if using just the curriculum and all its components the students are able to increase their fluency with facts. I am glad that this week is over, here at Eagle Creek we have had conferences this week. We are going on a field trip to the Landing. It is sure to be a great time!

Craziness

It seems lately my school has been having major issues with kids and their ability to pay attention and listen. Another major problem is students are constantly struggling with keeping their hands to themselves. My teaching partner and I feel like we're always babysitting. This seems to be a common trend with other teachers within the regular classroom setting.

Today we had a lock down drill and my class had to practice the drill three times because they could not sit in our designated lock down area (the PE equipment room closet) quietly. We ended up missing the majority of our PE class. By the time we finished practicing our lock down drill we had time to go outside and run two warm-up laps and then we came back inside the school because PE was over with.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any suggestions in situations such as this? I explained the importance of taking an emergency situation seriously and why it is so important. I sent a fix-it plan home with one of my students who appeared to be an instigator of the chatty disrespectful behavior. Hopefully today was a lesson in listening for all.

Writer's Workshop- Personal Narrative

In October we are teaching personal narratives for Writer's Workshop. I will be the first to admit that writing is not one of my strong points (it is actually another goal of mine this year--become a better writing teacher). Do any of you have any great ideas on how to teach personal narrative to First graders who are just learning how to construct a sentence much less write me a personal narrative? What has worked for you? How do you start? What books have you used? I feel like my lessons are lacking and I am looking for some fresh ideas!! THANK YOU!!! :)

Clicker Training

In PE our goal is to incorporate technology into our lessons. We're going to use the student response systems for the first time at the end of quarter one. My teaching partner and I are gradually learning and meeting with professionals that can help use utilize the system. I'm excited to take this step forward.

Recently I attended more of an informational meeting about the clickers. Come to find out, Wayzata school district has a 1:1 ration of students to clickers. Some times I think we struggle to take the technology leap, or we have one foot in the water, while the other foot is securely on land. I feel that if we don't start investing more in this area, and take some risks as a whole and learn about other technology out there, we're making our students fall behind. The clicker system can be used to check for understanding, keep track of data of all students or separate sub-groups. I also think using this system is a more efficient use of teacher time when it comes to correcting assessments, because the system does it for you! :) What an awesome thing.

More to come...

Professional Development Plan

I am really struggling with knowing what to do for my professional development plan. There are two areas that I want to improve in this year: teaching writing to my low kids and becoming proficient in writing standards-based IEPS. I have been reading books about teaching writing but I would love to take a graduate school class in this area. Unfortunately, I can't find any classes that look like they would be helpful. I would like any advice, if anyone knows of a good class or even a good resource.
I am attending a conference for learning about standards-based IEPs in November which will help immensely in that area. Most likely, I will focus on the writing skills as I teach two writing groups and I feel as though this is the area of greatest need. I reeceived one of my degrees in 7-12 language arts so I feel confident in teaching writing to older students. However, I never received instruction in teaching writing to younger students.

PIN

This past week I decided to have a Parent Information Night. I took this idea from the legendary Dwayne Cates. I had about a fourth of the parents show up for the hour of information. My goal is that this meeting will smooth out some communication problems between the students and the parents. It was obvious that the parents had lots of misinterpretations of the expectations of fourth grade. I was able to explain my website, homework, late work, book reports, word of the week, and how are planners work. I am hoping that spending the hour on one evening, will prevent hundreds* of emails from parents asking for me to explain how the spelling list works. We will find out if this was worth it. I think this will also help the conferences go smoother and can focus on the kids vs. how the system works. I will let you know at the end of the year if it was worth it.

Trying to create my professional goal

Well, I am not sure were to begin with this blog today. I have a million things running through my mind and don't know what direction to go with my goal this year. In the past, I was very sure of my self and what I wanted to work on professionally this year. I have a very different class this year compared to the past couple of years. The dynamics of my classroom is difficult at times. I have 20 children in my class with 10 children who are at 12 or below, 4 ESL, 2 on IEPs, 2 going through evaluation, and 1 I just brought to S-team for interventions. I am thinking that I should work on something with differentation using small groups and conferences. I will really have to focus my attention on working in small groups and conferences this year due to the range of ability I have in my classroom. If anyone has any suggestions to create my professional goal this year or word it I would could really use some help. Thanks!

New Year

As I am completing my fall DRA's, I am finding them very interesting. Having ended the year last spring knowing where my students were at in reading, then testing them this fall, many of my students have remained close to where they were at in the spring. I had anticipated many students possibly going a bit backwards over the summer due to change in schedules and not as much time to read. I have been pleasantly surprised by students commitment to read and continue their growth over the summer! I can't wait to start the "reading" year off running!

Advice?

One of my goals this year is to implement Love and Logic strategies to help manage student behaviors and create more space for teaching and learning.  On that note, I'm looking for some ideas :o)

I am finding out that my two different classes have two very different personalities.  My morning class, for the most part, is quick to follow directions, excited to learn, and able to make changes with reminders.  In my afternoon class, I have about five students who are quite defiant and often choose to do the opposite of what they have been asked to do.  This, of course, changes the entire feel of the classroom and the amount of work we're able to complete within our time.  I've figured out that how the day goes kind of hinges on the behavior of one particular student.  The others fall in line.  I would love to hear ideas I could try to make the school day a more positive experience for him as well as for the rest of the kids in class.

So far, I have had some success removing privileges and having him practice appropriate behaviors during those times.  That does not seem to have a lasting effect from one day to the next, however.  He struggles with taking a break in the classroom because he continues to draw attention to himself there, and he now refuses to leave the classroom to take a break somewhere else. 

I know I need to continue to work on building a positive relationship with him for lasting change to take place, but I could use some help in the short term.

Technology

My teaching partner and I are taking active steps towards incorporating technology into our assessment piece of PE. We're having a meeting this week to learn how to use our student response clickers. We wanted to get away from the standard paper-pencil test, and use a more efficient way for our classroom environment. We're also thrilled because this system corrects the assessments automatically, so this will alleviate the manually correct by us teachers. More efficiency all around. YAY!

Goals

This year I thought long and hard about my professional goal and I thought it was fitting to have my goal be tied to technology. This is my first year using a Smart Board so I want to find new ways to use it (I welcome any ideas and suggestions- Ted, I know you are really good with the Smart Board).
I have committed to seeking out training sessions to help me learn new things. I am also creating Smart Board lessons for all content areas but especially Science, Social Studies, and Health to share with my team. As a team we have also committed to having 1 team meeting a month to talk about how we can use technology in our classroom to enhance students learning. I have found that my students get very excited when the Smart Board is on and they tend to be more engaged.
I will measure my goal by creating worth-while lessons to share with my team. There are 3 other members of my team who have the same goal so we are keeping each other accountable and helping each other accomplish our goals!
Sorry this is so long....what are some ways you are using technology in your classroom? It has been such a great tool and we are only on week 3!

2nd Week

We had a staff meeting earlier this week and we were informed that we had to come up with a goal for the year. My teaching partner and myself have been working with the other elementary PE teachers on incorporating technology into our assessment practice. This is a perfect goal for the year! We're hoping to use the student response systems to assess our students at the end of each quarter. I'm glad that we're not doing paper pencil assessments since we see such a high volume of students. I'm looking forward to trying out this technology within the PE setting.

Reason to Celebrate

I was pleasantly surprised when one of my very low readers from last year came to see me and read a Level 6 DRA book fluently. Last year, he was reading at a Level B. Something clicked for him and he is able to blend sounds together to make words. This was very difficult for him last year. However, although he is now reading, he continues to struggle with comprehension. I think that he is so focused on reading the words that he sees them in isolation rather than as part of the whole sentence. This will be one of my goals this year is to help him to look at the big picture of each story. He is very willing to learn this year and this motivation will help us immensely!!

Happy First Week of School!

I know that we have already started the second week of school,but I am trying to get back into being a full time 2nd grade teacher and a mommy to 2 under the age of 2. Awesome! Is the word that I would describe my first day of school this year. My team this year at EC took a step back from all the hussle and bussle of the first day of school and had a party. The student's were greated walking into the classroom with party decorations and me(wearing a crazy party hat) taking their picture like a movie star. We continued our day with some regular first day stuff like putting away supplies, touring the school, and going over the all important recess/lunch procedures. Towards the end of the day, I shared a book with the students called Happy New School Year. We then all gathered in the cluster with all the other second graders and the principal and cheered to a new school year. The students were then all given a mini cupcake to celebrate the school year and sang a song. It was great! I was able to teach routines that were needed that day, but really concentrate on having fun and getting the students ready for a great year. 

First Week

Wow- the first week is already behind us? I can't believe how quickly it went! I am enjoying the feeling summer has given me with being refreshed to begin a new school year! I feel that I am looking at this year with new eyes. I am looping with most of my same students from last year and am looking forward to seeing where we can head this year!

For those of you who do not know, I am a 4th grade teacher at Eagle Creek. I am assuming that we all have more than one professional goal that we try to accomplish every year. I have several goals, some bigger than others. I thought I would share one with all of you and see if you have any suggestions or "tricks of the trade" that might help me accomplish my goal.

My goal in reading this year is giving students more ownership of their reading. I have created a system where students will each have their own reading binder. The binder will contain all their daily journalling, graphic organizers, strategy definitions, and goals sheets. My goal is that every student will have a "goal" each week during reading. This will abe directed to their learning styles and skills they need improvement on, as well as the daily skill we are working on. I will meet with each student once a week to develop the goal and to check on their previous goal. This will alleviate me having to carry around my "pensive" that really never worked for me. This will also help me with the fact that during conferences or parent meetings I have all the student work for that quarter in one spot and can show them what their student has been working on for the past weeks and how they are progressing. The binder will also have their AIMs and DRA information. The binder will allow me to give students documents that we can continually come back to throughout a unit or year.

A question for classroom teachers...

I am teaching general music for 17 classes of students spread out over 3 buildings this year, and I have definitely met a lot of "big personalities" in my classrooms this week.  I have IEP Adapations for some of these folks, but (sadly) not for very many just yet.  Between the usual "beginning of the year" logistics and the added bonus of so many kids switching schools, information is just flowing a little more slowly than normal.

My question for classroom teachers is this:

When a specialist needs to know more about your students, what is the best way for us to get it? As someone who isn't always available in the same building before/after school from day to day, I struggle with the best way to communicate with classroom teachers. At the same time, I recognize that the classroom teachers know way more about these students than I do.

To the special ed staff among us:  What is the best way for me to work as a team with the SpEd staff?

I'm recognizing more and more as I spend more years teaching that the kids really need to see all the adults they work with as a "team," but some days that just isn't very easy to pull off!

First Week of School

I am so excited to see all of the kids today! There is so much excitement in the building! I have decided to do things a little differently this year prior to pulling my kids for services this year. Usually, I start pulling the kids the 2nd day of school and write my lesson plans according to where we left off in June. I have decided to pull kids individually the 2nd day and assess their skills so that I can make sure that the groups that I have formed are appropriate. Some kids seemed to have improved in their skills so much over the summer - just from checking in on them in the classroom today. I realized that I might need to change groups around already. I am so thrilled at the growth I have seen for some of them.

Citizenship

In our curriculum map this year (1st grade) the citizenship unit is ongoing because some of the topics we cover the students aren't ready for in September. Does anyone have any good ideas for teaching citizenship? We have little books to read to the students but that's about it! I want to make this unit more creative and worth while for my students! I welcome any ideas!! :)

Finding a Balance

This year, I have changed grade levels from 3rd to Kindergarten.  I'm thrilled to be teaching the little ones now, and I'm blessed to be working with a team that is incredibly organized--organized to the point that I have all of my copies and projects ready from the first day of school until conferences.  I told myself that this year, I was going to follow their lead.  I figured it was best to do what they do until I get a better feel for Kindergarten.  Then next year, I could put my twist on it.  That lasted about 3 days. 

A couple of weeks ago, I had asked to see their plans for the first week of school.  I'm used to having a full day to fit everything in, and I wanted some guidance as to how I might fit it all in in only half the time.  I really like the layout of the plans I was given, but I found that I was spending an awful lot of time walking back and forth between my classroom and theirs to ask for the words to a particular song, ask to borrow a book that was listed, or to ask about their procedures for particular parts of the day.  It was exhausting (probably for them too).

Finally, I had an ah-hah moment.  I'm a competent teacher too.  I could sing a different song to start the morning--one that I already know.  I could read a different book during that time in order to teach a concept that will be important for my class to know.  I can even create my own procedures for the end of the day.

My goal now has changed a bit.  I still plan to closely follow the plans that my team has laid out.  They are both very experienced Kindergarten teachers who know their students well.  I trust their judgment and know that I can learn a great deal from each of them.  At the same time, I need to use my brain this year.  I need to use the literature that I love, introduce things in the way I believe is best, and be okay with walking into their classrooms and seeing something slightly different being done. 

First day Jitters

Anyone have a good song for introducing each other for k-2? I use the responsive classroom song later in the year that goes..... roll call check the beat check check check the beat, roll call check the beat check check and begin....my name is _____ they call me _____- I am a _____ that's what I am.  I tried that son last year in the beginning of the year, but they were timid and shy.
Let me know if you have something that you think might be less intimidating for little guys.
Thank you.                           

Also, Anyone have a good transition song?
I use "The more we get together, together together, the more we get together the happier we'll be" but the kids get sick of it by mid year. Let me know if you have a good one.