School and the City

Every year, my school does a Curriculum Night. You might call this Open House, Parent Night, or something along those lines. Basically, parents are invited into the classroom (without their students) to learn about: grade level curriculum content resources standardized testing schoolwide expectations  PBIS important policies like transportation changes classroom expectations schedule behavior homework communication It can be super intimidating, but it's a chance to show your parents that you LOVE THEIR KIDS and that together, WE'VE GOT THIS.  First, the parents trickle in. This year, I had them each sign in because I had confidential paperwork that I handed out to them and they had to sign for it! (In the past, I haven't asked them to sign in.) Also on my table I had my volunteer sign up form, which is provided by my PTA, and sometimes I put my wish list there, too. Then parents go find and sit at their child's desk. On the d...

No matter what type of class we teach, we always have a range of levels that requires many levels of differentiation. I know. It's a challenge that all teachers face. However, I'm facing a new challenge this year: a split-level math class. For me, that means half of my class is starting at the beginning of the third grade curriculum (place value and rounding), while the other half is starting halfway through the third grade curriculum (area and perimeter) and will begin fourth grade curriculum in January. YIKES. I know the gradual release model to scaffold students towards independence. I know how to differentiate to meet the needs of different abilities and learning styles. I know how to pull small groups for remediation and enrichment. But teaching a class two totally different, practically unrelated content units? This is new for me. I stressed about it all summer, asking WHY and then WHY ME? Well, I've been in the trenches for two weeks. I've fai...

Last year, I blogged about my first week of third grade . That's still a good resource for you if you're looking for ideas, but I did change things up just a little this year, so I thought I'd provide some more details for you. MONDAY Students come in with the option to read a book or draw a picture.  Read aloud Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and complete activity to make inferences about the teacher, then inferences about other students.  Discuss class mantra (Be kind. Work Hard. Have Fun.) What does it mean to you? Discuss team jobs  (blog) - How do we take care of our classroom? Teach call and response.  Team building activity: cup towers.  Read aloud The Crayon Box that Talked . Make chart for "Accountable Talk" to discuss how our words and tones matter.  Another team building activity: tangrams  (free). Afterwards, discuss. Did your team work together better this time? Were you more successful? Wh...

Year six has officially kicked off, and I had a successful Sneak Peek with my new students. Here's a few things I've learned throughout the years: 1. Be explicit with visual instructions.  You may be mid-conversation when a new family walks in the door. Don't let them feel uncomfortable while they wait for you!  2. Make sure there is a (labeled) place for everything.  Again, you may be mid-conversation. Make your expectations clear to set students up for success right away.  3. Set the tone with your new students. This is your first impression, and it's important.  Learn their names before they arrive.  Smile, greet them at the door with a handshake, and make genuine conversation. 4. Start laying the foundations to develop students' love for reading.  Before my students leave Sneak Peek, I ask them to pick out two books for their book boxes. Right away, I know what types of books their drawn to, and th...

WHY You Should Use Choice Boards: There are so many research-based reasons to use choice boards in your classroom. Here are just a few reasons why I've found choice boards to be a valuable resource in my own classroom:  1. intrinsic motivation Choice boards provide students the opportunity to make their own choices, which increases intrinsic motivation and therefore increases meaningful learning. Students are more likely to internalize content if a learning activity is interesting to them or if they can make a connection to their own life.  2. learning styles Choice boards also cater to multiple learning styles, allowing students to explore content in ways that are exciting for them. That’s empowerment! Students will naturally 3. differentiation I always encourage my students to choose activities that are beneficial to them. I try to make my classroom an environment where students are comfortable taking risks and challenging themselves. In order t...

I was inspired by Cult of Pedagogy to keep my classroom a rigorous, engaging, meaningful classroom environment EVEN on the last week of school. We usually do theme days during the last week. I stuck with the idea of theme days, but put a little more effort into them so that students' time was valued AND I was still able to wrk on packing up my classroom. One of our theme days was Art Day , and I think it was one of my favorites!! I decided to do the most structured activity first before students got too fatigued. This is a project that third grade has done for years, so I adopted it from my wonderful teammates! First, students trace their hand. I modeled to show them how I wanted it to look so that their hand and wrist took up a large amount of space on the page. Next, students created a border of some kind. Then, they decorated the border and their hand. Some designs were realistic, while others were more abstract. Last, they filled in the white space with writing all...