School and the City

At the end of the first quarter, teachers at my school are expected to hold conferences with each child's parents. This is the third year that I have chosen to do student-led conferences, and I don't plan on ever turning back! Let me tell you why: It takes a LOT of pressure off of me. Students do a lot of the preparation and the spotlight is on them.  Students take responsibility for their own learning, behavior, and progress.  Students get to practice their speaking and presenting skills.  Parents see their child in an environment and situation that they do not typically get to observe.  Teachers can see how students interact with their parents, and parents can see how their children interact with the teacher.  Students, parents, and the teacher work together as a team to set goals and determine next steps.  It is truly amazing. It's an excellent learning experience for the students - and for the adults - and the sense of pride they walk away w...

I'm really trying to be better about holding writing conferences this year. These simple questions have completely changed the quality of my writing conferences: 🔹What did you write about? Why? 🔹What was the easiest part of your writing process? 🔹What was the most challenging part? I've found students to be very open and honest. It's helped me build relationships and obtain valuable insight. It makes note-taking easy! As for feedback, I'm just using sticky notes. It's easy, fast, and they stick right in students' notebooks! For now, I'm making a "Glow" sticky note and a "Grow" sticky note. This keeps conferences short and sweet, just like this blog post. ;) If you're looking for a conference log, I have one that you can download for free in my TPT store!  Happy conferring!  Pin me!

My Curriculum Night was just a few weeks ago, and I wanted to find something to keep parents busy while they waited in the hallway. I decided to bring my students' writing to LIFE by recording themselves reading it! Here's a detailed tutorial to show you just how EASY it is!  I used the Voice Memos app on my iPhone to record students reading aloud. It was very easy to trim and alter if needed, and the quality is good! Best of all, it's an app that's already on your iPhone so it's totally FREE! Students were called one at a time to enter the "recording studio," AKA my closet, where they read aloud their writing nice and clear.  After recording, I used the share button to upload my recordings to Google Drive.  I love Google Drive and use it for just about everything!  In order to get the QR codes for my students to scan, I just used the shareable link from the Google Drive file and copied it into GOQR.me. I...

On a recent Instagram story, I mentioned that we earned a new unit for our 3rd grade team. I'm not sure how common this is, but you all had lots of questions for me! I had 25 students in my class, which is the state maximum for first, second, and third grades. However, we had to wait for the ten day attendance count and allotment funding to come through before hiring a new teacher. We were so lucky to find someone amazing, but at this point, we were 4+ weeks into the school year, so the transition was tough for everyone! How many students did you lose? Five. Five sweet, clever children that I had spent 5 weeks bonding with. How were students selected to move? There were so many details that went into this decision, which was made by the administration team: reading levels and math levels - We have leveled classes, so this is important! demographics - The new class needed to be just as balanced as ours, as far as ethnicity and gender.  exceptionalities - The n...

So you have a ton of dust jackets from all the amazing new books you picked up over the summer. Now what? Every new classroom I've moved into has provided me with new dust jackets to inherit. I don't know why teachers leave them behind... maybe they are a lot like me and just can't bear to trash them! of course I ended up with a bunch of dust jackets of my own, too, and had to ask my Instagram friends for suggestions on what to do with them. The most sane suggestion was "Don't be a hoarder; Trash them." OKAY, OKAY. I hear you loud and clear. But... is it hoarding if you make something out of the dust jackets instead of just shoving them in a cabinet? (#askingforafriend) Here are the rest of the *brilliant* ideas I collected: Laminate them and tape to books like library books. Cut them into bookmarks.  String them to make a pennant Frame them for a gallery wall.  Mod Podge letters, or wallpaper a whole wall!  Make a bulletin boa...

I love to read, and chances are that you do too. As educators, we often read children's literature to stay in-the-know and professional books to improve our practices. But how often do we read fictional novels that can teach us just as much as a teacher textbook? Years ago, when I was in college, my mom (Hi, mom!) handed me a book and said, "If you're going to be a teacher, you need to read this." That book was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. She told me it was about a school shooting.  I refused for a long time, because I felt the content was too “heavy.” But, mama knows best, and she kept insisting. Now, I'm hoping you will read it too.  Nineteen Minutes tells the story of a school shooting, including multiple perspectives leading up to, during, and after the nineteen-minute event. It’s eye-opening, thought-provoking, and absolutely heartbreaking. It’s changed me as a person, and it’s my favorite book of all time. I fell in love with Jodi Picoult...

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...