Attitude of Grattitude

 

"Gratitude rewires the brain, boosting happiness, reducing depression, and improving overall well-being." according to the case study done by Tremendo. I found this to be true in my life as well and began thinking of ways we could help students cultivate an attitude of gratitude.

I believe it starts with US!

1. Lead by example. 

If we are going to help students practice gratitude, we need to be doing it ourselves. I love to let students know I am grateful for them by writing them notes, praising them, having lunch with them, and asking them specific questions to know them better.  I also write down 5 things I'm thankful for each day. Teachers could incorporate a time in their day where students quickly write down things they are thankful for. (See next idea). This simple action has truly helped me be grateful for the small things in my life, see how God has his hand on every detail of my life, and helps me choose joy each day.

2. Daily Gratitude Time

When I was in the classroom, I allowed my students a few minutes each day to complete a Daily Check In via a Goggle Form. I asked them how they were feeling, what they were thankful for, and what goal they had for themselves for the day. I would read these quickly before class got started and it helped me know where my students were emotionally for the day, gave me specific things to talk with them about, and encourage them to see their blessings. We also had a Thankful Thursday class meeting each week. This was a time students were able to share out loud what they were thankful for and give compliments to one another. 

3. Classroom Activities

Each month, I tried to incorporate an Acts of Kindness activity tied to the month, season, and/or holiday where students could let others know they were thankful for them or give back to our school. This helps students experience the joy of giving to and helping others. Some of the activities I have done include HartAttack, Light Up Our Classroom, and Gratitude Challenge.

I'm thankful you took a few minutes to read this. Let me know if you try any of the ideas here or how you help cultivate an attitude of gratitude in your classroom. 

Celebrating Student Writing

 

"If it is worth learning, it is worth celebrating." I have always believed in celebrating students in big and small ways. I recently listened to This Teacher Life Podcast by Monica Genta and in her episode, she said, "In schools we need more clapping than criticizing." This made me think about what are we doing to celebrate students on a regular basis. 

As a language arts teacher, I love to celebrate student's writing. Writing is not always a preferred subject, so I like to celebrate it even more. 

Here are a few easy ways to CELEBRATE student writing...

1. Author's Chair- Almost every day, a few students get to share their writing in the Author's Chair. This idea is from Brian Kissel. We always give a compliment or two and then the author gets to pick the other feedback they receive. Click here for a copy of the Author's Chair slide.

2. "Be a Writing Thief" Anchor Chart- As students share during Author's Chair and the class hears amazing lines from their peers' writing, we add it to our Be a Writing Thief Anchor Chart. There is no better compliment than your writing being on display as a model for others. 

3. The Golden "H" award- Like the Newbery Award, but because I'm Mrs. Hartzler it was the Golden H in my classroom. You can call it whatever you want. I bought a wooden H and spray-painted it gold. At the end of each unit, I would pick 2 boys and 2 girls to receive this "prestigious" award. They would get a certificate, take a picture with the Golden H, and then I would email the picture home and brag on them. Click here to grab a copy of the certificate. 

                                           

4. Pennants- Create a pennant that students can take a picture with or even take home. Celebrate that they are an AUTHOR. I always tell my students words are so important, and their words can tell their story and change the world. Click here to grab the template for the pennant. Edit it to say whatever you want it to say. 

 Let's clap loud and celebrate our students!

Compound Sentence Scoots

I am always looking for ways to make Patterns of Power and grammar more engaging, interactive, and fun for students. I also love Lead4ward and their Instructional Playlist. One of my favorite strategies is Odd One Out. It helps students extend their thinking, go deeper, and make connections about their learning at the end of a lesson or unit. 

1Compound Sentence Scoot #1

I changed up the activity a little bit and paired it down to two choices. As students become more proficient with compound sentences you can add in more choices. I created this activity to be done as a scoot with a partner. It gets your students up moving around and discussing and collaborating with a peer. Students have to read the two sentences, decide which sentence is written correctly, then write the incorrect sentence correctly. I think doing a few whole group to introduce the activity would be a great idea. Click here for this scoot.

Compound Sentence #2

The second compound sentence scoot has students choosing the correct conjunction and then joining the two sentences to create a compound sentence. As you introduce more conjunctions, you can add more choices to the slides. Click here for this scoot.

With each scoot I include a recording sheet for your students, but they can use a regular piece of paper as well. Feel free to make a copy and edit for the needs of your students. 

End of Year Reflection Activities

As another school year winds down, I love taking time to reflect on my goals for the year, talking about my favorite moments, and making the most of each day left with my students. I was thinking of some new ideas to do with students that would engage and motivate them in them in the last few weeks. 

1. Class End of Year Bucket List

I always create a Summer Bucket list with my own children, so I thought what about a Class End of Year Bucket list. You could brainstorm ideas together from things they want to recreate or do again to small things that will build memories these last few weeks. 

I made a simple template with some ideas, but you can tweak, make it your own, and definitely change up the list itself! Grab a copy of the Class EOY Bucket List here.

2. Student Reflection

I love reflecting on the year and remembering the best read alouds, stories written, favorite moments, and growth that was made. I created a digital student reflection by the numbers. Students can add their picture, number of books read, words written, share percentage of effort, participation and leadership they showed, insert their favorite read aloud, and share their strengths and all they learned. Making even more personal by adding a QR code sharing what they are proud of. Use vocaroo.com to record their voice and download a QR code.

As always tweak to make it perfect for your class. Grab a copy of the Student Reflection here.

3. Memory Lane-

Reflect individually or as a class. Students can add their own favorite memory, growth, or celebration from the year to the butcher paper. Also, it would be a great decoration for end of year party for parents to read and see all the great things happening in the classroom!

Performance Matter Help Sheets

 At our Data Digs this last week, we dove into Performance Matters to help analyze our most recent DPM data. We were able to find great data with Performance Matters that helped us create small groups based on TEKS, look at what we may need to reteach whole group, and what we need to change in our teaching to help students better understand a concept.

It took some trial and error with in Performance Matters to find what we were looking for. A 5th grade teacher helped me find (or what we think is) the best way to manipulate Performance Matters to get the information we want. I created some help sheets that give step by step directions to get to the data you may want and some questions to reflect on along the way.

Grab a copy of the help sheets here!

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you have found other ways to sort data in Performance Matters that you find useful.

New Year Reflections

 

Happy New Year! 

I love the start of something new! In education, I love that I have two chances to reflect on my life and set new goals. 

With my own family, we sit down and reflect together and then talk about the year to come.

This would be a great thing to do with students this year as well. Students love 3-2-1 FriYAY, so I created a 3-2-1 New Year Reflection. I'm excited for the conversations and the community it will help build for the remainder of the year. 

Click here to grab a copy of the digital template of 3-2-1 New Year. 

You can have students fill out digitally, print a copy for each of them, or complete as a scoot.

For the scoot, print a blank copy for each student and place the 3-2-1 sheets up around the room. You could partner students up in groups and have them rotate and discuss as they go around. 

Happy 2022!!

Digital Maze Activities

I was wanting to create a digital maze practice for our students that was similar to our mclass testing. I was researching some different options and came across this template. I thought it was great! I quickly created one for 3rd grade reading and math, but you could easily use the maze template with any grade level and content area or even just vocabulary.

This activity would be great for blended learning in a digital studio or future ready as the students could create their own maze for another classmate. This would show great understanding of the concept and transfer of knowledge.

Click here to make a copy of the reading maze.

Click here to make a copy of the math maze.

I highlighted the correct answers in the second slide, so when students are done they can remove the box and self check their answers. 

You could share this in Schoology as a Google Slide or Kami assignement. Kami makes it super easy for students to highlight the correct answer. 

How might you use this template in your classroom or subject area?