School and the City

Hey teacher friends! I am so excited to show you my new tool for goal setting and data tracking in my classroom. But first, let's rewind to August. During the first week of school, students filled out these goal sheets. They wrote in one goal for each category. It made for a gorgeous, colorful, and meaningful bulletin board for the first half of the year!  A few weeks ago, I pulled my students in small groups to revisit their goals from the beginning of the year. I took them off the bulletin board so we could look at them carefully. They put check marks in the boxes of goal they had achieved, and wrote "not yet" in the boxes that they were still working on. They loved seeing how many goals they had already achieved, and they loved seeing how their handwriting had changed since the beginning of the year! I encouraged my students to use their slips as bookmarks to be a constant reminder of their goals. You can grab a few variations of these goal sheets...

I teach in a great area of Metro Atlanta that is a true melting pot. The diversity in my classroom is truly amazing. I have learned so much about other cultures and languages from my students.  That being said, I can't do Christmas in my classroom anymore, so I thought I'd share an activity that I did a few years ago.  After Thanksgiving break, I chose Flat Stanley's Christmas Adventure as our read aloud. It's short and sweet, and the kids were thrilled to hear that they would get to take Stanley home! We were working on letter writing, and I thought it would be a fun way to learn more about my students and differing holiday traditions. It went so well!  I chose to use two notebooks, since I had 25 students and I didn't have 25 school days until Christmas. Split in half, it took a little over two weeks to get the project done.  I had a schedule taped inside the notebook, along with instructions and a pocket for Flat Stanley.  (I ha...

As you may know, I was "promoted" to third grade this year. Because of that, I'm not using Words Their Way anymore (GASP - shocker, I know!). My students have a new spelling list each week, and after a few weeks, I realized I HAD to do something to make spelling practice more engaging for them. I decided to shop with Oriental Trading because they offer a TON of fun alphabet things ! I was impressed with the selection and was excited that I could purchase everything in one place. First, I looked for some letter tiles. I had some plastic tiles that my students loved using at the beginning of the year, but I confiscated them because they made so much noise while other students were trying to read or write. These tiles are colorful and QUIET! They are just thin pieces of cardboard, but I think they'll last a while if my students treat them correctly. Plus, it came with so many pieces, I put many pages aside in storage to pull out later if I need to. Find ...

Yes, even you, upper elementary teachers! Earlier this month, my third graders took the ITBS. Before the testing week began, I had to completely cover or take down anything "academic" in my classroom that students could possibly glean answers from... even my alphabet. I decided that since I was taking down the alphabet anyways, it'd be the perfect opportunity for my students to make their own alphabet. I'd seen this done in younger grades before, but never in upper grades, so I spun the idea to make it work in my classroom. I did this by tying it in with our content , involving writing , and using cursive letters . First,  I just posted an anchor chart with the alphabet written on it. I told students that as they were learning about and researching Georgia, they could add something to the chart if they found a noun that started with one of the letters. (We were studying Georgia habitats AND working on nouns!) I told them that when we filled the alphabet, we wo...

I have been SO VERY BUSY lately (hello testing, conferences, and report cards) but I am SO VERY EXCTIED about this that I just can't hold it in anymore! So, I don't have whiteboards. I have two very large, very black chalkboards. They're magnetic (whooo) but other than that, they annoy me to no end. I don't like writing with chalk. It's messy! Chalk markers are EXPENSIVE and dry out so quickly... I feel like I've tried them all. And when I DO suck it up and write on the chalkboard, it's hard for kids to read.  Then came the day a few months ago that my friend Emily from Munchkins, Inc. shared an image on her Instagram   showing how she covered her chalkboards with dry erase contact paper. I thought about it for a while... Hers looks so good that I just had to try it myself!!  Here's the before... ... and here's the after! I did the first half with the help of a friend, but did the second half on my own. I used a credit card to...

Third grade! Yay! I survived the first two weeks of third grade and finally have the time/energy to tell you a little bit about it. I won't be going into total detail, so please leave a comment if you have a question! The first read aloud for third grade was How to Be Cool in the Third Grade . It was great and opened up the opportunity for discussions about bullying, "being cool," and friendship. The kids loved it so much that they gave it a standing ovation when we finished it on Friday! On the first day, we read The Crayon Box That Talked . Then students completed this (very challenging) team building activity that required them to build a tower of cups without touching them. Afterwards, we discussed kind and respectful language and made an anchor chart called "Meaningful Conversations." (See below.) One of my favorite back to school books for teaching respect and responsibility for actions is called What If Everybody Did That? I find myself re...