Parent Initiated Conference

I am sure all of us have several parent initiated conferences a year! I know I do. It is great to have a form on hand to use. I print several of the below form and have them ready. I can then copy the notes for other teachers who may have attended or missed the meeting. You can download it for free in my store!

Sociogram

A sociogram is a terrific way to get to know your students. This is not something they share with their peers. It is something they fill out privately and turn in to their teacher. It gives you a great glimpse into their world!

 Download it at my store!

Team Building 101

What is one of the biggest challenges teachers face every year? Students forming clicks, students not wanting to work with each other, and someone being left out. Now, I will say that most students work well with each other and are willing to accept others into their "group." 

Every year we all do team building activities in our classroom:

• Keep the balloon off the ground while holding hands with your team.

• Freeze and/or switch dance (Play a song and start dancing, then stop and let a kiddo choose a move. Everyone must do the move for 15 seconds, then they choose someone else to model a move.. keep going for the duration of the song)

• Friend Scavenger Hunt - (download this in my store!)

• TEAM Puzzle - What does TEAM stand for? 

Together 

 Everyone 

 Achieves 

More! 

                Have students write on a puzzle piece how they will contribute to your class (or entire grade level). They should color the puzzle piece and then cut it out. Put all the puzzle pieces together on the wall with the TEAM poster 

- Download the poster for free here - you can blow it up or print it on regular 8 x 11 paper

- Download the printable puzzle piece!

My team did some awesome team building this year. 

• Hot Lava - Don't you remember playing this when you were a kid? I know I used my mom's "good pillows" for this game a few times. :)

• Hula Hoop Challenge - Your students need to be in a giant circle (you can split them into teams, but mix the classes if you can) and have the students hold hands. Put a hula hoop on the shoulder of one member and the students will have to get the hula hoop around the entire circle without dropping hands. This requires intense team work.

• Graffiti - Yes, you heard me right! Let students bring in sidewalk chalk and they can write positive graffiti all over the blacktop and sidewalks around school. Example: Always try your best! OR Team work rocks! - They were super creative with this one!

My Classroom

It is funny how I was only away from teaching for what seemed like a hot second, aka one year, before I actually started my new job. The first week my feelings changed, I felt like I was a first year teacher all over again, just a better foundation than before.

For those of you who don't know, I moved from Fairfax County to Loudoun County Public schools. Sounds like a smooth transition, I mean they are both in Virginia. It wasn't bad, but it is funny how quickly I forgot about all the boxes that needed to be moved, unpacked, organized. How many meetings you had the first week and how many times you had to run to the store. You know for "essentials" like first day gifts for the kiddos, Expo Markers, and organizing bins. I am pretty sure my husband thinks I should NEVER buy another basket or bin again. :)

Not only was I a little overwhelmed by the new county, new school, and sorting through my things (after I loaned them to a first year teacher and realized quite a few things were now missing), I lost my Uncle Ben. It was unexpected and threw a new whole version of "overwhelmed" into the mix. Luckily, it helped me to get to know my new 5th grade team. They are absolutely amazing people: Andrea, Christine, Matt, Bobby, Lisa, Lydia, and Tristan. They were so supportive and jumped in when I couldn't be at Open House. I honestly don't know what I would do without them. God definitely put me at this school and on this team for a reason.

Back to my classroom, now that life has slowed down and I am less overwhelmed. I finally took pictures of my classroom, which will continue to evolve as the year progresses, but for now. This is what it looks like. :)

Our Hands-On Manipulatives

My desk and folder organization for each round of kiddos who will come through (3 classes of language arts).

Keeping Us Safe and Independent

Organization behind  my desk. I heart my label maker.

I have signs like this around my room. It is so students can put things back and remember what they should look like. Thanks Responsive Classroom training. :)

Classroom Jobs...can you tell dots and owls are my theme this year?

Another fun sign. Keeping the sink area clean. They are learning :)

Right now I have three large "pods" of desks. I will let the students change their desk this week.

Keeping track of our writing progress.

Classroom Library. All books and bins are labeled by genre and level. I will be using a checkout system this year too (check back for another post about that). Mom, Jeff, and Julie - Thanks for your help with organization!

Close up of the classroom job signs. You can write on it with Expo marker.

More organization behind my desk. Ignore the blue bag it left. :) The fridge is from my lovely mother-in-law!

Getting ready to start the year off by studying reading genres!