It's been a whole week in the land of 3rd grade for the 2016-2017 school year. The first week was CRAZY and I'm already behind. Go figure. I was supposed to do this lesson last week...Unforseen, air problems that caused us to have to move classrooms prevented me from doing so... SO, here I am sharing it with you today! :)
I love using "big" words with my kids to build their vocabulary. If I don't get a hand raised at some point during the day asking me what a word meant... I know I need to step up my game. The other day, I said "genre" and they had NO idea what I meant... Holy canoli, we have some work to do.
Today was choosing books that are going to help us grow as readers. We first analyzed the reading profiles of 3 students: 1 who read 100 easy books last year, 1 who read 3 really hard ones, and one that read 42 that were sometimes a little tricky but they could figure out what the author was trying to say. The kids discussed with a partner who they thought was going to grow the most. Nobody said the 100 book kid - I was pretty surprised, a few said the 3 book kid, but we fixed that one pretty quick. Most said the 42 books and they had great reasons why!
Then we compared choosing books to riding a bike.
I'll let the anchor chart talk for itself. Notice the uphill bike sweating, ha.
Hope you got an idea or two! I'll be back with some more ideas as I begin my 5th year with this new group of sweet, sweet 3rd graders.
Before I share this new song, I just need to get this off my chest...
SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW, Y'ALL!
Oh em gee. I cannot even believe it. Didn't we just end like...yesterday? No 6 weeks ago? Ay.
Excited. Scared. Butterflies.
It's sad knowing I won't have the same kids that I had for the last 2 years but so exciting to know I have a bunch of new kids ready and anticipating their #bestyearever. Send me your energy, I'm gonna need it! I imagine this will be me tomorrow afternoon...
Onto the reason for this post--
Every year I love to have a sort of "theme song" for the year. Last year was Best Year of Our Lives. You can find that post here. I LOVED that song and so did my kids. Everytime we were listening to music and the real American Authors song came on, they'd sing our song and remind me how much they loved it. It was and always will be our song.
This year, we needed a new song...and so I began brainstorming and one day it hit me when I was dancing with my class to Meghan Trainor's, "Better When I'm Dancing". That's when, "Better When We're Learning" was born!
Here are the lyrics. If you click one of the pictures, it will take you to a file that you can download.
And here is my horrible, no yes, that's what I meant...horrible recording of it :). Sorry the music is so loud. That's probably a good thing. It's drowns out my non-Meghan Trainorlike voice. Hope you enjoy and that maybe you'll sing with your class!
Believe it or not, I am just 2 weeks away from teacher work week and 3 weeks away from the start of the new school year. It's hard to believe. It feels like we just ended... although teaching reading camp for the last 3 weeks doesn't exactly help in the rest, rejuvenate, and energizer department either.
Anyway, I like to come by and share my welcome letter each day. I really feel that it's so important to create a great first impression on my students to get them excited about our year together. This year I decided to create my "theme" around superheroes...so my letter is centered around that. Hope you enjoy it and it gives you some ideas!
I'll stop by soon to share pictures of my room. I'm hoping to blog a little more this year - let's see how that goes, ha! Side note: Justin creates our headers with graphics we purchase- he's super graphic designsy and stuff (Yes I made that word up) and I love him for it!
Because seriously, who else can tell you that a kid looked them up and down, head to toe, and then asked if you were having a mid-life crisis at the age of 26 because you are wearing green pants?
Oh and also that when you are pregnant you should not eat Mexican food because it's spicy and it will make the baby explode out.
Or when you tell a kid that he was a small baby because he was premature and he responds by saying, "Yeah, I know I'm mature, I'm the most mature one in here!"
Or you put on a song to sing about the water cycle and a kid covers their ears and screeches "Ooohh, my ears are bleeeding."
5. You always have flair pens laying around. In you purse. In your coat pocket. Behind your ear. In the car. You never know when you'll need those suckers.
6. Immune system of a beast
7. Weekends and breaks- cause we earned them, dang it.
8. Pinterest counts as professional development... or wait, maybe it doesn't.
9. When you're a teacher, you always have craft supplies on hand.
Happy MLKjr day, everyone! A day that we remember the amazing contributions and changes that were brought about by the help of a man who refused to stand aside and allow injustice to happen before his very eyes. Today, I'm stopping by because I'm joining in a blog link-up in hopes of bringing attention and hopefully relief to some deplorable conditions that the teachers and children of Detroit Schools work and learn in. Each blogger is choosing a favorite MLKjr quote and interpreting it in a way that address the current crisis in schools in the city.
I have a lot of favorite MLKjr quotes but this one really spoke to me in relation to this situation:
I think this quote spoke to me because, as teachers, we deal with much controversy and challenge. Whether it has to do with CC Standards, standardized testing, the fact that we are trained professionals, pay- whether fair or unfair... and this is no exception. The children and teachers of Detroit need us to help their voice be heard, to help them shine light on the deplorable conditions they are surrounded by in their schools everyday. Those who do not work in Detroit, those without the uncomfort or inconvenience of working in these schools, cannot knowingly stand to the side and say "Well, it's not my school so I don't have to worry about it." We as teachers must stand together and feel the pain these kids and teachers feel going to work in this incredibly unsafe building and we must unite for change.
Borrowed from Rainbow City Learning: Please let the teachers of Detroit know that you stand with them and will continue to stand with them. Look for and use the hashtags: #supportDPSteachers and #dpsteachersfight back. Search for photos, articles, and videos of Detroit Public Schools online. I promise you'll be shocked at what you learn. Sign the petition .
Write letters, send letters to the editor of your local paper, or whatever you can to add your voice. The sea is so wide and their boat is so small. (paraphrased from Marion Wright Edelman, of The Children's Defense Fund) It's your boat too.
"Ms. G. I was sleeping and then, I just...woke up and remembered- we are sorting into our houses today!
Those were the words from one of my students as he walked in this morning. I had created excitement around this day ALL week. I was even awarding pre-points that they were going to add to their score once they got sorted. If you build something up, whether it's a flop or not, I tell ya- the kids will eat it up.
So what are the houses?
Back in October, I was lucky enough to attend the 2 day teacher training at The Ron Clark Academy. It was amazing. I really wish I could go back but unfortunately, I had to pay for all of the travel/hotel rooms and that got expensive (I got a PD grant through Donor's Choose to cover the cost of the training). Maybe one day I'll be able to go back for their tacky prom night.
I took away SO many things from the academy- one of them being their houses. It may sound familiar if you know anything about Harry Potter! At The Ron Clark Academy- when the kids come in as 5th graders, they get to spin the big wheel to get sorted into a house, are rushed up the stairs, thrown down the electric blue slide, and welcomed into the house that they'll spend the next few years being a part of. The houses are competing for 2 very simple things. 1. The winning house gets to have the end of year banquet decorated in their color and everyone wears that house color. 2. Bragging rights for the next year.
I was already sold, but the fact that I'd only have to buy some colored decorations was a bonus!
At The Ron Clark Academy, they have 4 houses. Justin is good at all that graphic design stuff and he made signs for 3 of the same 4 houses they use at RCA, so I stuck with those 3.
Here are our 3 houses:
Side note: Go Blue!
This year, my kids are majorly into Harry Potter, so they were stoked about the whole idea. They even asked if we had a magic sorting hat. While we didn't have a magic hat, we did have "magic" balloons!
This afternoon, we talked about each of the houses, what they stand for, and how the whole thing worked. They, we turned off the lights, turned on the disco ball (Yes we have a totally awesome disco ball), blared some music, and popped some balloons! This is the playlist I created for our ceremony:
After they figured out what house they were going to be a part of, everyone cheered them on, we snapped a picture, and celebrated! Kids were chanting their house name as classmates popped their balloons. Is.i.bin.di - is.i.bin.di.... REVEUR, REVEUR!! - C'mon Amistad! They were loving it!
After everyone was sorted, we had a little 5 minute dance party. Did I ever mention how much this group likes to boogie? Yeah- the whip and nae nae? They never get sick of it.
Last- they got to write their name and stick it on their house poster. I love the one girl who wrote "Roar like a lion!" to represent her new house, Isibindi.
Right before we left, they added their points that they've earned all week and Isibindi is already in the lead!
I can't wait to see where the rest of this house adventure takes us. My hope is that by the 2017-2018 school year, I can get my whole school on board, but I'd love to start it even earlier! Send me your positive vibes! :)
So let me tell you why I cannot stand when I hear people say, "Oh, you can use this for your fast finishers!" *eye roll*
1. When I hear it, I think of kids being forced to do EXTRA work - the regular classwork that is far too easy for them, plus another task, worksheet, or whatever it is, that practices the same exact thing. Maybe the numbers are bigger or there's a challenge to it. But it's still EXTRA work. Why do they get punished for understanding the content quicker than other students?
2. It implies that I do not know how to differentiate for my students. If I am a good teacher, I know my students and I can give them all tasks, appropriate to their level, that practice the same content. Some tasks will be easier for those kids who take to things a little slower while other tasks will provide that challenge for my high kids. No extra work- just challenging work for everyone.
3. I do not have "fast finishers" in my classroom. If you are wondering why, See #1 and #2.
I don't want you to misunderstand this post. I do, sometimes, have students who may finish a task more quickly than other students. However, I do not give them extra work to do. Instead, they do things like- practice their fast facts, choose a math practice station, or help a friend (because what better to know they really understand than watching them really teach and help someone else how to do it!) If I'm challenging them appropriately, they should not need to have extra challenge work, because they already had it.
And, actually, if I'm really being honest, I really don't have a lot of times when I have students that are done before everyone else. In fact, we rarely finish anything (mostly in math) because the tasks and problems that we do have so much extension to them that goes beyond what the kids really need to know, that by the time my lower kids finish with practicing the curriculum part of the task, my higher kids still aren't finished with the extension part of the task. Maybe that's creating bad habits, but then the kids have some really meaningful work to do at home and they love it!
Now, this works for me and I understand it doesn't work for everyone - and that's TOTALLY OK. That does not make me or you any better or worse of a teacher. You may have required curriculum or other reasons why you have students that might finish quickly, but I just know that all the wonderful teachers out there aren't giving their high kids extra work in an effort to challenge them - because I'm so envious of so many of you and I know how awesome you are! & Thank you for that!
Maybe it's just the term that makes me cringe like nails on a chalkboard...
