A Giveaway!

Katarina, (aka "The Pioneer Teacher") is celebrating a milestone and having a big giveaway! One of my products, Irregular Verb Bingo, is one of her giveaways in the 2nd-3rd grade category! I am really excited to be sharing in this milestone with her. I am also excited to enter a couple of the giveaways myself. There are some really great products, as well as gift certificates! You can check it out and enter by clicking on the picture below:

Good luck!

All All Those Lutheran School Teachers Out There...

For all of my Lutheran teacher friends who read this blog, this post is just for you!  This video/song always makes me laugh, and my kids love to watch it each year!  This would be the week (Friday in particular) to show it in your classroom!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Well, it is that time of year again.  The school year is well under-way.  First quarter is over, and it is time for parent/teacher conferences.  Every teacher LOVES conferences, right?  While I do enjoy the opportunity to meet with parents I don't see very often, I would be lying if I said I enjoyed (or even liked) conferences.  I can't have a real discussion with parents about their child in only 15 minutes.  Of course, I can't really go over because then I will back up everyone else behind me.  (Plus, I already have to be at school for more than 12 hours.  I really don't want to extend that any longer.)

I have to use the limited time I have the best I can.  I came up with a planning sheet that I use to make sure I cover no more than 3 important points with parents.  I don't want my parents to get overwhelmed.  It is so easy to list problem after problem, but, without opportunity for lots of dialogue during conferences, it winds up sounding like all I want to do is complain about their child, which doesn't help anyone.  The sheet I use also helps me make sure that I focus on one important area for change or development.  One idea is manageable for parents to work on with you.  And, so parents know that I really do enjoy teaching their child, I make sure to include praise.  So many parents come into conferences fearful of what the teacher will say.  I want to make sure they know I am on their side and like their child (even if it is that one student that drives me nuts every day).
You can get a free copy of my conference planning sheet here.  (It's a Google Doc.)

Conference Planning Sheet

I also think that every teacher who has had to deal with parent/teacher conferences should get a reward.  So, through Thursday, every item in my Teachers Pay Teachers store is 20% off!  Click below to check out my store!

How do you manage conferences?  Let me know in the comments!

Teachers Conference

I spent Thursday and Friday at a teachers conference for Lutheran school teachers in central and southern Illinois. I LOVE conferences. This is the point in the school year where the year is no longer new and exciting. Besides the fact that it gives me a short break from my kiddos, I love learning new things and always come back to school with great ideas and the motivation to keep going. I thought that I would use this blog post to share some of the exciting things I learned with you!

One really helpful sectional was about vision problems and how to recognize them. (When I say vision, I don't mean eyesight.  While related, they are not the same.)  I also learned the majority of indicators for vision problems and AD/HD are the same.  This blew my mind.  While the optometrist that led the sectional is local, her website does have some good information: http://www.visionforlifeworks.com/addadhd.html.

Another sectional was led by a senior educator at the St. Louis Science Center about teaching chemical inquiry (even for lower elementary) in the classroom!  We did a really fun investigation with ice melt, cabbage juice, vinegar, and baking powder that I know my kids will love and learn from!  (Any time you get to change colors, temperature, or make something explode, my kids will love it.)  They have great resources here: http://mysteryofmatteroutreach.org.

I also attended fantastic sectionals about developing phonemic awareness (something I work with my first graders on quite frequently) and using number talks in the classroom.  While they were great, I don't have any great resources to share with you at the moment.  Those were more "you needed to be there" sectionals.

I hope that some of the information I learned has been helpful to you!  It has certainly inspired me to get back to my students on Tuesday!

Tricks and Treats Blog Hop

Today I am joining up with Jessica Plemons over at Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten for a Tricks and Treats blog hop!  THe idea is that you can learn classroom "tricks" from myself and many other teachers, as well as get great "treats" from our Teachers Pay Teachers stores.

Let me start off with my trick.  Like many teachers, I always have issues with my students moving their desks around all over the place.  I often have students that get squashed like sardines.  (Because my room is also used for morning devotions and other all-school events, I have to have my desks in rows most of the time.)  This summer, I bought some floor tape.  It is the same kind of tape that can be put temporarily on a gym floor.  It sticks well but comes off easily at the end of the year (or so I've been told).  I put down lines on the floor for each row.  That way, my students know how far up their desk is supposed to go and I don't get squished at the front of the room!

Okay, here is my treat.  For this weekend only, my Sentence Scrambles are on sale!  These are great for helping students put together complete sentences and work on parts of speech.  You can get these for only $2 here:

An InLinkz Link-up

Picture Day

Tomorrow is picture day. It is one of my least favorite days of the year. Yes, my students look adorable. However, pictures disrupt a good deal of my instructional time. When individual pictures are done, I can't take them out to recess because they will get dirty before the whole school picture. There isn't enough time to really get anything else done. Recess gets pushed back, which means I have less time for my reading groups. Some kids bring clothes to change into after pictures, and that takes time. Some don't, however, and always manage to get their nice clothing really dirty. (I won't help the situation tomorrow. We are doing a science project that involves lots of glue.) Plus, it takes extra time for me to get ready in the morning. I have to look cute, too! Fortunately, picture day only happens once a year. Oh, wait. I forgot about spring pictures...

I'm Back!

Hey, everyone!  I know I haven't posted in awhile, and I am sorry about that.  My life got absolutely crazy.  School started, of course, but there have been a few other obstacles as well.  My husband accepted a new job an hour away for which we have to relocate.  (For anyone who is wondering, I will be finishing this school year with my kiddos.  Next year, however, I will need a new teaching job.  Let the job hunt begin!)  This also means that we have had to work to get our house on the market.  It is officially listed!  All of this has meant that I have not really had time for blogging, but, now that the house is listed, I hope to be a little more frequent.
Now, back to school topics.  I teach at a very small school.  In general, the teacher know every parent.  I only have a couple of students this year that I have not either had before or had siblings in my class.  Because of this, my school doesn't do a traditional open house.  Instead, we have a cook-out for our first PTL meeting of the year.  The Kindergarten class prepares a skit (which gets the Kindergarten families there!).  This year we really had a cook-out.  We set out a fire pit and let kids and parents roast their own hot dogs and marshmallows.  Then we let the kids loose on the playground while we have a short meeting.  The teachers introduce themselves and briefly tell any important information and the PTL spends some money.  (I am also very fortunate that at my small school, our PTL has a large budget, so we get to spend money on great things!)
I have done a traditional open house, but I like this way better.  It brings the whole family to the school.  There is a lot of informal time to talk to parents and it gives parents a chance to connect with each other.  If your school is looking to revamp their open house, I highly recommend our approach!  (I am hoping I can find such a great school to work at next year!)

Helpful Websites

Many teachers have a collection of their favorite websites that they use in their classroom.  I am no exception to the rule!  I admit, I love examining websites that other teachers have successfully used in their classrooms. They have helped me come up with some great ideas!  So, here is a list of some of my favorites.  I hope they will be helpful to you as well.

Starfall - This website focuses on phonics and early reading skills and is perfect for the Kindergarten or first grade class.  While students can use it on their own, much of the website is actually very conducive to the interactive whiteboard, which is how I use it most frequently.  It is also a great website to use if you have an extra 5 minutes to spare and need something to fill the time!

Spelling City - This website focuses on spelling and vocabulary skills.  My school has a premium account, so each of my students have a user name and their data is recorded.  While the premium account is great, even the free features are very good.  After you enter your spelling list, students can play games to practice their spelling words.  They can even take a spelling test, although, without a premium account, their results will not be saved.  This is how my students take their spelling tests every week.  I don't have to worry about trying to read their handwriting and figuring out if the letter is supposed to be an o or a u.

Moby Max - This is another website that has both free and paid versions.  I use the free version with my students.  The website has exercises in several different areas.  If students don't do well enough on a section, Moby Max reteaches the information.  In other words, they don't move on unless they have performed at an acceptable level.  This is a great website to use for intervention.

ABCya - This website is great for Kindergarten through fifth grade and has learning games.  My students don't get a chance to use this website too often (as I actually try to minimize computer time in my classroom), but, when they do, they love it!  It has lots of math, language arts, and typing games.

Math Fact Cafe - This website if more for you than your students.  If you need extra math fact practice worksheets or want to create some that cover specific facts for your students, this is a great place to go.  It makes it easy to create custom fact practice sheets.  (It also has worksheets for time and money, which my students really need!)

Easy CBM - This is a website to help you collect and manage progress monitoring data.  Many schools subscribe to their own progress monitoring program, but, if yours (like mine) does not, this is a great free way.  It has been helpful when I have had to work with the public school for student evaluation.

What websites to you use all the time in your classroom?  Let me know in the comments!

Back to School Boost - 1 Day Sale!

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a one day back-to-school sale and I am participating.  If you missed the Back to School sale and didn't get my products then, now is your opportunity!  Every item in my store is 20% off.  If you use the code BOOST at checkout, you will also get an extra discount.  Click on the picture below to visit my store.

Back to School Movies

I am fortunate in that I don't need to actually be in school the day before school starts.  As long as my classroom is ready (and it is), I can stay home and enjoy my last day of summer.  So, I started my own day-before-school tradition.  I spend almost the whole day on the couch watching teacher/school movies.  I don't let myself do any school work or work around the house, either.  I just enjoy the day.

This year I am going to watch a couple of movies I haven't seen before, as well as some favorites.  Here is my list this year:
Won't Back Down (I haven't seen this yet and am excited about it.)
Dead Poets Society (No, this is not because Robin Williams died.  I haven't seen it yet and that seemed like sacrilege, so I decided to do it.)
Stand and Deliver (This is one of my favorites!)
Good Will Hunting (I have also never seen it, but we do own it.  Not a traditional school movie, but still inspirational and yet another Robin Williams flick.)
And, if I have time:
Lean on Me (Another favorite)

It's a long list, but I have so many movies I had to leave out (Chalk, Freedom Writers, Mr. Holland's Opus, To Sir, With Love, etc.)  I'll get to what I get to, I suppose.  I try to rotate from year to year.

What are some of your favorite "back to school" movies?  Let me know in the comments.  Maybe I'll discover a new one to try next year!

My Obsession

Today I am going to finish up my short series of journal prompts.  I have already talked about my excitement for the new school year, as well as what makes me nervous.  Today, let's move to a topic that doesn't really have anything to do with school.

What is something everyone should know about you?

I absolutely love books.  I read as much as I possibly can.  All of the book lover memes you find on Facebook describe me.  I admit, I mostly read YA literature.  Besides the fact that buying books at the book fair supports my school, I think many authors actually write better for young adults.  Many of the best selling books lately have been in the child and young adult sections of the bookstore: Divergent, the Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, The Heroes of Olympus series, Harry Potter, etc. 

I love books that deal with fantasy and mythology.  I love new takes on fairy tales.   I also like spy novels, mysteries, and the dystopian trend.  I get invested in the characters and cry or get frustrated with them.  I don't like putting books down and have stayed up way too late many nights because of "one last chapter" syndrome. 

I have a library card that I use as well as an addiction to Amazon.  The best gift you can give me is a gift card to a bookstore.  I don't understand people who don't read.  I feel as if they  are missing out on one of the most vital parts of life.  I never feel as though I have enough time to read.  My favorite part of the summer is getting a good start on my reading list.  My favorite part of the school year is helping my students develop a love of reading as well. 

What is something we should know about you?

Nervous Moments

In my last post, I started a short series in which I respond to the same journal prompts my students will be at the beginning of the school year.  Last time I answered the question "What are you most excited about this year?"  This time I will look at the upcoming school year from a different lens.

What are you most nervous about this year?

I am nervous that I will let my students down.  Like most teachers, I know that I am not perfect and always have more to learn.  My temper will be shorter some days than it should.  There will be a lesson that fails, a student that I can't quite figure out how to help, and a disciplinary decision that I make wrongly.  There will be times in which I react out of anger instead of out of love and care for my students.  I am nervous that I will let my students down by not being the best teacher they could have.  Of course, I will try, but, the fact is that there are times I will fail.  

I am nervous that I will not make enough of a difference in my students' lives.  I know that they will pick up at least some of the academics, but I worry that I will not teach them how to care for other people.  I worry that I won't be a good enough role model for my students.

I am not perfect.  I will fail.  Hopefully I will learn from my mistakes and be a stronger teacher because of them.

What are you nervous about?  Let me know in the comments!

Thinking About the School Year

This past week I spent some time printing off my writing journals for my students and assembling the first part of them for my students.  (You find find out more about them here: Primary Writing.)  As I looked at some of the journal prompts for the beginning of the year, it made me start thinking about journalling myself.  So, for the next few posts, I will be completing some of the journal prompts I will have my students do at the beginning of the year.

What are you most excited about this year?

I am excited to meet and get to know my new students.  I am excited to learn about my incoming first graders and getting to know my returning second graders better.  I am excited to see the moments of recognition when a student "gets it."  I am excited to learn more myself through reading, conferences, and my students.  

But most of all, I am excited to teach about Jesus and his love and forgiveness.  That is the best part of being a Lutheran school teacher.

What are you excited about this year?

Back to School Sale!

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a Back to School sale on August 4th and 5th!  Everyone can receive a discount by using the promo code BTS14, and many sellers are having sales.  Everything in my store will be 20% off!  So, if you have had an item on your wishlist, this is the time to purchase it!  I am excited and have a few items on my wishlist that I will also be purchasing.
(For example, I used to buy "Getting to Know You" posters from Scholastic for my students to fill out.  These cost $9 for 30.  I have wishlisted an item for $1.75 that I can copy and use as many times as I want.  It is smaller, but comes with other resources besides the poster.  How great a deal is that!)
If you haven't checked out Teachers Pay Teachers Yet, now is the time!  It is a great way to support your fellow educators who have worked hard to create the kinds of products they use in their own classrooms.
You can visit my sale by clicking on the picture below:

If you are a TpT seller who is also having a sale, feel free to let us know about it in the comments and pass my store info along to a friend!

Let's Have Some Fun!

Back to school season seems to be the time for Linky Parties!  This time I am linking up with Sally over at Elementary Matters as we talk about fun times in our classroom and fun products on Teachers Pay Teachers!

First, here is my fun story.  Remember, I teach at a parochial school.  One day during our Bible Story time, we were learning about God calling Abraham (actually, Abram at the time - see Genesis 12 if you need a refresher).  One of my students asked a great question, "How could God have called anybody?  There weren't any telephones!"

Now, for my fun product.  My favorite science unit to start the year with is my five senses unit.  I love to start the year with this product because it is fun.  The students have a blast while learning about some early science concepts.  It really gets them excited about science for the entire year!  You can get it by clicking on the picture below:

To laugh some more and find more fun products, go visit Elementary Matters!

Back to School!

I am joining Schroeder's Stars and other bloggers in a Back to School Linky Party!  We are sharing tips for going back to school, the first day, etc.

Here is my favorite back to school activity:
I take the students outside to the cement pad on the playground.  I pair students up and pass out chalk to each group.  One student in the group lies down and their partner traces him or her.  The students switch places.  After they are done tracing, they get to use the chalk to decorate themselves.  I love this activity because it is fun, lets me see my students' creative sides, and has them working together from day 1.

To see other back to school ideas from our linky party, click on the picture below!

What is your favorite first day activity?  Let me know in the comments!

Guided Reading and Literacy Centers

I said in a previous post that I would describe my guided reading and literacy centers.  As the beginning of school is getting closer, I thought this would be a good time to do so, as well as to explain some of my organizational tools.  After all, I would go crazy without good organization in my classroom!
I have five different reading groups in my classroom.  They do change frequently and are organized based on reading level or reading skills that different students need to work on.  I meet with four groups a day.  I see the red an orange groups every day, while the yellow, green, and blue groups meet with me 2 out of 3 days.  The red and orange groups are usually my struggling readers, although if I have a group reading a chapter book, they will often be in the orange group so that there is less disruption to the book.  While I am meeting with my guided reading groups, the rest of the class is in literacy stations.  I have a variety of different stations, from journals, to reading to self, to listening, word work, or spelling practice.  They also have some seat work that makes one of their daily stations.  My students have a pocket chart they use to figure out which station to go to next.

My students use the Spelling City program on the computer for their spelling work.  I have a separate tables in my classroom for the listening and word work stations.  Students do seat work and journals at their desks.  I have several comfy spots in my classroom for them to use for reading.  Each student has a bag of books to use during this time.  The books are at the appropriate level for each student.  Students do have some choice.  Each group has a drawer of books to choose from.  When they finish a book, they can pick another one from their drawer.

 Since I meet with four guided reading groups a day, I have to keep myself organized.  I have two ways of doing this.  I have an organizer by my guided reading table.  I have one basket for each group and one basket for the items I use for every group (white boards, paper, etc.).  I keep my guided reading binders on top.

Finally, I need a way to keep my guided reading books organized.  While I keep chapter books separately, I use Reading A-Z for much of my guided reading texts.  I keep them in bins organized by level (or decodables).  I do not keep these in my classroom but in the Title I room so that the Title I teacher can easily review books with students.  

Of course, I could talk forever about my literacy block, but, alas, that would be too much for a blog post.

How do you keep your reading groups organized?  Let me know in the comments. 

Primary Writing

As I have mentioned before, reading and literacy are passions of mine.  So is writing.  I admit, I get frustrated when I see various writing statistics.  While prepping for a session on writing workshop I was leading at a teachers' conference, I discovered that my local school district had fewer than 20% of students meet or exceed the standard in writing.  While I wish I could track progress since then, the state has gotten rid of the writing assessment portion of the standardized tests.  Now, I know that a standardized test is probably not the most accurate assessment of student writing, but it is the assessment we had.  More and more college students are needing to take a remedial writing class so that they can simply write at a collegiate level.  When I was working on my Master's degree, some of my classes involved critiquing my classmates' papers.  While some were well written, some made me wonder how they managed to even graduate college with their writing skills.  (If you are in a master's program, you should be able to write a thesis statement.)

How do we solve this problem?  Teachers, we NEED to spend time teaching writing in the classroom.  I also believe that we need to teach writing in a variety of different ways.  Because I teach a multi-grade classroom in which I have several mandatory curriculum (one of which is an English curriculum that has a poor writing component), I am not able to do writing workshop every day, although I would love to.  However, I ditch the English twice a week (and skip all of the writing units) for writing workshop.  My writing workshop time consists or three main parts: minilesson, writing/conferencing time, and sharing.  I don't have students share every day because they do not have finished pieces every day, but we do share often.  My minilessons are very focused on what my students need and are based on the Six Traits of writing. Conferencing time with individual students, both formal and informal, is the most valuable part of writing workshop.  While we do work on conventions some, more time is spent on the other 5 traits (ideas, organization, word choice, voice, and sentence fluency).  

In writing workshop, students work on more formal writing.  However, I think it is also important for students to have informal writing opportunities.  As part of my literacy centers, students have journals.  Some days they respond to a prompt and other days they have an opportunity to freewrite about anything they like. The only rule is that they have to write the entire time.  My students love their journals.  They give students a chance to express themselves and simply write.  The best way to develop writers is to let them write.  I don't grade these or conference over these, but I do check them occasionally to make sure students are writing.  I have seen writing proficiency increase greatly with the combination of formal and informal writing.

If you want a copy of my writing journals (which can be edited to meet the needs of your own classroom), click on the picture below:

  

How do you teach writing in your classroom?  What has worked for you?

Lessons from Summer Camp

This weekend I will be at summer camp.  Yep, I am going to camp!  Actually, I will be attending a staff reunion at the summer camp I both attended as a kid and worked at for four years while in college.  Besides the fact that I LOVE camp, what better job is there for a preservice teacher than working with kids all summer?
As I have been getting ready for this weekend I have been checking the schedule so I know what to pack and looking through the old photo albums I plan on bringing.  All of this has led to some reminiscing.  Why am I writing about this here, on my teaching blog?  Well, I learned lots of lessons as a camp counselor that have prepared me for the classroom.  Here are just a few:

1) Brain breaks - This is a hot topic in education right now.  If you look at Pinterest, you find all sorts of brain break videos for the classroom.  At summer camp we had brain breaks all of the time!  Plus, I learned so many different brain breaks I can use in my classroom.  One of my favorites is six-count.  It is hard to describe, but, basically, your right and left arms are doing different things while you count to six.  It is challenging, but it is a great way to help my kids focus!

2) Check for understanding - Every time we played a new game, directions had to be given.  Usually we were playing the game with a variety of different age groups.  If the kids don't understand the rules, there is chaos.  We ALWAYS checked for understanding before beginning a game by asking questions and encouraging the kids to ask questions as well.  While there was always at least one camper who was confused (isn't there always?), for the most part, games were able to run smoothly.

3) PATIENCE! - Unlike in a classroom, a camp counselor is with her kids 24 hours a day, with maybe a 45 minute break.  Nerves get raw very easily.  I had a different batch of kids each week (or even twice a week, as the youngest campers would only stay 2 nights).  This meant that I needed to go over the camp and cabin rules every week.  I needed to explain the game I explained last week all over again.  I need to reteach kids how to do KP (kitchen patrol) duty every week.  By the fourth or fifth week of camp, this can get quite old.  Add in the fact that I was perpetually sleep deprived, and it is very easy to lose patience with a camper or my cabin as a whole.  Patience was tested and developed at camp.

4) Differentiated instruction - Although the goal was to have campers of the same age together in a cabin, due to numbers and requests to be in the same cabin with others, often cabin groups could be of diverse ages.  I had groups that had fourth through seventh grades in the same group.  In every cabin there are campers who have never been to camp before, as well as those who come back year after year.  This meant that I had to differentiate instruction.  After all, someone who did archery last summer,  and someone who has never touched a bow and arrow before are going to need different instruction!  The camp I worked at was a Christian camp, so we also had Bible study every day.  While the lesson plans were set for the entire summer, I had to greatly modify them based on the particular campers I had that week.  I would have some that knew how to use their Bibles well and some that may never have even seen a Bible.  I had to think on my feet, modify as I went along, and try to help every camper understand.  This is a skill I use in my classroom every day.

There are too many lessons I learned as a camp counselor to list here.  However, I think these were certainly some valuable ones.  If you know any preservice teachers (or are one yourself), encourage them to work at a summer camp.  It was one of the best experiences I could have ever had to prepare me for the classroom.

Have any of you worked at a summer camp?  What did you learn?  Let me know in the comments!

Balanced Literacy

I am passionate about literacy. One of my favorite parts of teaching first and second grade is getting to teach reading. I believe very strongly in a balanced literacy approach. Phonics is important and is an integral part of learning to read. It is not the only part of learning to read, however. There seem to be three main camps on the teaching of reading and the viewpoint of the general teaching population have (and will continue) to move between these three different camps throughout time.
The first camp is what I call the "Phonics First" approach. Now, while there are people out there that believe that phonics instruction is the only part of reading instruction, they are few and far between. The more widely held view in this camp is that phonics skills need to be taught first and comprehension can come later. In other words, teachers should not worry if their students can understand what they are reading, as long as they can sound out the words on the page. Understanding comes in second or third grade after students get the phonetic basics down. A teacher who takes this approach will have her students reading "The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat" stories and nothing else. Systematic phonics instruction is important, but I don't believe that this is the best approach.
I refer to the second camp as the "Just Read Literature" camp. This camp believes that students need high quality literature and will just pick up the phonics skills as they go along if they are read to and read themselves. Reading comprehension is emphasized here, and phonics instruction is generally looked down on. A teacher who takes this approach would read a lot of books to the class while asking comprehension questions, but would generally not have give students stories they could read on their own without teacher assistance, at least in the younger grades. (They may give a child a book that the teacher has read several times to the class, however.) Using high quality literature and helping students comprehend is important, but I don't believe this is the best approach either.
I believe in the third camp, which is a balanced literacy, or "The Best of Both Worlds" set. Students do need phonics instruction for at least two years. This has been backed up by countless research. This does mean that occasionally a student will read "The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat." However, this needs to be combined with read literature that students love to read. This may mean that there are words in the story a student cannot sound out and will have to use context clues or other strategies to figure out. And, yes, there are some phonics skills that a teacher can try to teach but students will not remember unless they have plenty of opportunities to read. In my classroom, students have a chance to work on phonics skills, comprehension skills, and simply have time to enjoy reading. I have five reading groups for my first and second graders. These are flexible and are occasionally grouped by certain skills students need to work on, but are most often grouped by reading level. In each lesson, I focus on a phonics skill, we read a story, and we work on comprehension. With my lower level readers I spend a bit more time on the phonics portion and with my higher readers I spend very little. But, no matter what, we cover both phonics and comprehension every time they meet with me. Both phonics and comprehension skills are addressed during their literacy centers as well, but I will save that discussion for another post.
Before I meet with my reading groups, I meet with the whole class, where we work on a class-wide phonics skill as well as vocabulary. I try to make this fun and memorable and use lots of songs and poems. I have several wonderful flip-charts with songs in them (one for the alphabet and one for other phonics sounds). In my phonics song flip-chart, I have a "Bossy R" song, but it does try to address all of the r-controlled vowel sounds in one song. I decided that I needed songs for each song, so, I wrote some of my own. You can get them for free by clicking on the picture:

If you would like my entire packet that included the songs and worksheets to go along with each song, please click this picture:

How do you approach reading instruction in your own classroom?  Let me know in the comments!

The Small School

I teach at a small, parochial school.  For the most part, I love my job.  I have taught in the public schools, but, frankly, I love my small school.  There is such a sense of family.  My kiddos aren't just my kiddos, but are really the kids of the entire faculty.  I love seeing the eighth graders helping a first grader read the Psalm during our devotion time.  I love how the older kids will often play with the younger ones during recess.  I love the fact that after teaching there for four years I have had most of the kids in the school in my class.  I love that the faculty is a family and tries to problem solve together.  I love the fact that I actually know who the parents are, not just for my own students, but for all of them.
Teaching at a small school also has its disadvantages, however.  I am one of only 2 truly full time teachers.  (We have a teacher on 3/4 time who is basically there all day and two teachers that are half time, although one also works as our Title I teacher, so is there basically all day as well.)  This means that before school, I have all of the PK-2nd grade students in my room.  I don't get a plan time.  I don't get a lunch break.  In fact, I have to help serve lunch.  I do my own recess duty.  Besides my five reading groups and other activities during my literacy center time, I have to prep 2 math lessons a day, 2 English lessons a day, 2 handwriting lessons (3 times a week), plus science, social studies, and all of my own specials (PE, music, and art).  There is never enough time in the day to do everything.  There is never enough time to prep everything.  While I know every teacher works over the summer, if I want to create anything innovative, I HAVE to do it over the summer as there is simply no time during the school year.
I admit, I get upset when I see teachers teaching a single grade say that they don't have time to do basic, important things, like handwriting.  If I can manage to fit it in three times a week, you should be able to get 5 or 10 minutes a day without a problem.  Yes, I know that there are many things you are required to do and that handwriting is not in the Common Core standards, but would you neglect teaching a child to make a better choice because it isn't in the standards?  Would you simply tie a shoe for a child over and over because shoe tying isn't in the standards?  When I see teachers complaining that their planning time got cut from 300 hours to 225 hours a week, I almost want to cry.  What I wouldn't do for 100 hours a week of planning time!  (I am not saying teachers with planning time are evil.  I taught in a public school.  I really enjoyed having my planning time.  However, I have a lot more perspective now than I did then now that I teach in a small school and am making only 2/3 of the salary I made in my first year of teaching.)  Okay, my rant is over now.
Multi-grade teachers - how do you manage your time?  Leave me a comment and let me know!

Sentence Scrambles

Okay, I admit it.  I am a bit of a grammar nerd.  (I can blame both my mother and my tenth grade English teacher for that.  Thank you, Mr. Russell.)  So, while I love teaching my first and second graders, listening to poor grammar while they speak and reading their writing with below-grade level grammar really gets to me.  The best way to help our students improve their grammar is by having them read A LOT and by using correct grammar around them.  However, what do you do when this is not enough?  I teach in a very rural area.  As are most rural areas, it is a relatively high poverty area as well.  People have their own grammatical dialect.  This is the grammar that my students have heard since birth, and just using grammar correctly myself will not teach conventional English well enough.  While I do not look down on this dialect, it is important that our students understand and are able to use conventional English, as this is what is used in academia and most of the workforce.  We have all seen the Facebook postings of poor grammar on job applications that make you assume the person never got the job.
One area in which my students really struggle in their writing is with sentence structure, capitalization, and punctuation.  We spend far more time on this than I would like, but, unfortunately, I occasionally still get second graders who can't seem to remember to start a sentence with a capital letter and end it with a punctuation mark.  I have tried  many different things.  My school uses Shurley English as our main grammar curriculum.  (It also included writing, which I do not use.  I use a writing workshop model instead.)  Its main focus in the early grades is capitalization, punctuation, and parts of speech.  It is very repetitive (which can be good), but it is not at all kinesthetic and uses the same strategy all of the time.  I find that I need to supplement it to help students understand the concepts.
One activity I use in my classroom are sentence scrambles.  Each student gets a word (or punctuation mark) in the sentence.  They need to work together to put themselves in the correct order to make the sentence.  This activity is fun, cooperatiive, and helps students see sentence order better.  It is easy to pick out the first word in the sentence because it begins with a capital letter.  However, as they do the activity, I hear them say over and over again, "That word is first.  It starts with a capital."  This helps them form the connection in their brain that sentences begin with capitals.
I have created 10 scrambled sentences that are easy enough for my first graders to read.  The sentences are of various complexities, and include sentences with subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, articles, and simple prepositional phrases.  I color-coded the parts of speech in each sentence so that I can also use them to discuss parts of speech with my students.
If you would like a copy of this activity for yourself, you can get it by clicking on the picture below:

What do you do in your classroom to help students understand sentence structure?  Let me know in the comments section!

Educating Parents

One of my biggest joys and challenges in teaching is helping students love to read.  However, while I know that I have a lot of influence and can make a big difference, my students still trust their parents most of all.  As any teacher knows, parental involvement is so important to helping students learn and grow.  I have found that many parents do really want to help their child, but just don't really know what to do or where to start.  So, every year, I send home some suggestions for parents.  (As a note, I require my students to read 20 minutes at home every night.)
Here is a copy of the handout I send home during parent-teacher conferences in the fall.  (My school does not do a traditional open house, or I might pass it out then.)  I send home enough papers home at the very beginning of the year, that I am afraid if I sent it home too soon it would just get lost in all of the other paperwork.  To get it for free, click this link:

Reading Parent Note

What do you do to help educate parents?  Let me know in the comments.

Welcome!

In this blog, I plan on sharing both the joys and struggles of teaching in a multi-grade setting, as well as provide ideas and resources that have helped me.  I am also interested in hearing your ideas!  
I currently teach a first and second grade combined classroom.  I teach at a small, rural, parochial school that has multi-grades because of school size.  However, in the past, I have also taught Pre-K, Kindergarten, and 6th and 7th grade Language Arts.  I will be beginning my 10th year of teaching this fall.  I graduated with my BA in Language Arts and Elementary Education from Hope College.  I have an MS in Early Childhood Education from Capella University and hope to begin working on my Ed.D. in Reading and Literacy in the coming year.  I am passionate about teaching and student development.  While I love teaching every subject, my biggest passion in literacy and helping ever child read, write, and love doing so.
I am excited to have you join me!