Bitmojis in the Classroom

Who doesn't love using Bitmojis? I know I do, and I love to find fun ways to incorporate them into the classroom. They seem to always make my students smile!

Here are two projects I have recently been working on.

1. Positive Student Notes-

I am a firm believer in handwritten notes of encouragement! So what's better than adding my Bitmoji to some note cards I can send home with my students?!

I created them in Slides, and then I like to download to PowerPoint and print 2 or 4 notecards to a page. You can duplicate the note card you want or print all of them in color or on a variety of fun colored paper. 

 Click the photo for a copy of the ones I have already created. Edit them with your Bitmoji or make some of your own!

Love encouraging a growth mindset and student's setting goals!

 You can also order your own notepads with your Bitmojis from Office Depot if you want. :) 

2. Book Basket Labels-

My classroom library is a very important part of my classroom, so I thought why not add my Bitmoji there too! Students can also infer why I chose the Bitmoji I did for each genre. 

Click the photo to grab a copy and see the Bitmojis I used. 

I'm hoping to build students up and make them smile with my Bitmoji in my classroom. How are you using your Bitmoji in the classroom? Please share!!

Student Book Recommendations

I love sharing my current reads and books with students, but I also find it super powerful for students to recommend books to each other and share their voice!

Want an easy way for student to fill out a Book Recommendation? Stick up a QR code or a few in your classroom library and as student return their book they can easily fill one out. 

I used Google Forms to create a simple and fast form for students to fill out.

You can take a look at the form and make a copy here.

I have a special spiral bookshelf where students can place books that have a recommendation. Then, once a week I download the responses and upload the Google Sheet to our Google Classroom. Students can easily sort by title, author, or genre and read the recommendations to see if any books sound like one they want to try.

I'd love to hear how students recommend books to one another in your classroom!

Happy Reading!

First Week Feels Scoot

I try my best to get to know my students, let them know I care about them, and that they have a voice in our classroom the first week of school. One way I do this is by finding out how they feel and allow them to express themselves and feelings. We know students can have many different feelings and emotions that first week.

While introducing and explaining our blended learning rotations at the end of the week, I incorporate a First Week Feels Scoot. It has questions for students to respond to about how they are feeling. It gives me a peak into their thoughts of our classroom, school, and tap into their social emotional side. And I love to get them up and moving! Post the scoot around the room and students can go to the questions in any order. There is also a recording sheet you can print front to back or any piece of paper works fine.

I do ask studens to write down their answers on paper for two reasons; as a writing teacher it gives me insight into their strengths, and I want to be able to respond to their thoughts and questions in my own handwriting.  I believe their is power in personalized, handwritten notes and hope to make a connection with them right away.

Grab a copy of First Week Feels Scoot here. Feel free to make it your own.

What activities do you do the first week of school to help you get to know your students?

Bold School- Book Review

I just finished reading Bold School by Weston Kieschnick, and I highly recommend you add it to your summer reading list!! His book is an engaging, fun, and easy read, but one that still leaves you self reflecting and challenging yourself!

I found myself saying YES! and AMEN! over and over as I read Bold School. "Blended" instruction + "Old" school wisdom = BOLD

Blended Learning can be scary and feel overwhelming, but I love how easy he makes it to implement blended learning in your classroom. He begins the book with breaking down the Bold School Framework that will be used with all of the high yield instructional strategies he shares. ALL teachers can benefit from this book!

The Instructional Strategies covered in the book are:

1. Interactive Video Method

2. Questioning/Socratic Seminar

3. Vocabulary Programs- One of my favorite chapters, especially since we are ALL literacy teachers!

4. Direct Instruction

5. Peer Tutoring

6. Concept Mapping

7. Worked Examples

8. Self-Assessment

9. Reciprocal Teaching

10. Problem Solving Teaching

11. Spaced vs Mass Practice 

Each chapter explains the strategy, has real life examples, tips for teachers, questions to make you think and reflect your craft, and Tech tools to move to Blended Learning in your classroom. I love the focus he also puts on rigor and relevance and pushing our students to Quadrant D. 

"Becoming a Blended Learning Master means knowing how to use technologies to move toward academic goals." Kieschnick makes this seem like an easy task and left me feeling empowered to teach others to do the same.

Do yourself and your students a favor

and go read and apply Bold School wisdom to your classroom!

Using Surveys to help you Reflect on Our Year

As another year comes to a close, I like to spend time reflecting on what went well this year and what I can improve, tweak, or change for next year.  

As I reflect on my goals, I also like to gather feedback using surveys from my parents and students. Surveys are a great way to elicit feedback anonymously. 

I always send parents a link to the survey the last month of school asking them for their thoughts on classroom activities, communication, academic learning, flexible seating, and any thoughts they would like to share with me regarding the year and their child.

Since you can't please everyone and some parents think I have the power to make decisions regarding the campus, I analyze the the data and look for trends and areas in which I can improve. 

This year, thanks to Lauren Bohm, I also had my students fill out a survey about my subject area, classroom activities, classroom culture, flexible seating, their feelings, and thoughts. My 4th graders did a great job of expressing themselves, and I loved their honest responses. 

Google Forms and Survey Monkey are both easy ways to create and send surveys for feedback. I love how you can look at results both individually and as a summary. 

The main take away from me from both my parent and student surveys is that building relationships is the most important!!! Which I knew! :) It was the main thing students and parents commented on. Take the time to get to know your students, their interests, and what makes them unique and then find ways to highlight and let them know you remember and care!!

Five Reflections from my 13th year as an educator:

1. Relationships are still Key

2. Writing Celebrations make writing relevant and are fun for students- I will definetly continue this!

3. Classroom community is best created spending time together discussing real world issues and allowing students to share what is happening in their life- MAKE time for it!

4. Blended Learning has transformed my classroom- I also want to improve and work on relevance and rigor of the activites students are completing 

5. Students crave for read alouds and independent reading- Grant this wish for them and allow them time to just READ

Make sure to take time for yourself this summer! Relax and recharge for next year!

Building A Strong Classroom Community

In addition to building relationships with my students, I believe building a strong classroom community among students is equally important. The way we have built a family culture in our classroom this year is through Fri YAY  3-2-1! This simple activity has changed our classroom this year!  Students learn new things about one another, cultivate trust, and create a learning environment that encourages risk and collaboration through be open with one another.

On Fridays, students write down 3 things they learned during the week, 2 things that went great during the week, and 1 thing they want to share with me or are looking forward during the weekend. Then, we sit together in a circle on the rug and share our 3-2-1. (Sitting in a circle is important because it encourages a sense of belonging and sharing.) These 15-20 minutes spent together are life changing!

I start the sharing and let students see me as a life long learner, overcoming obstacles or mistakes, and highlight great things they have done. Students can share one thing on their list or all of them. Other students are allowed to ask questions or share comments as long as they are respectful and kind. 

We have great conversations for the different things students share. I love how they begin to open up and share meaningful things and what is on their heart! Teaching and FriYAY 3-2-1 is much than just learning the curriculum. It puts students first and shows them how much you care about them!

You can use a cute form as below or any kind of paper as seen above. :) 

(Click the photo to make a copy of the 3-2-1 form.)

This is also a great self-reflection for students. It helps them to see all they learned and to find the positives in the week. I do like to collect their 3-2-1 sheets to read all of their responses, especially if they want to share something just with me. I will often write notes on the sheets before I hand them back. We learn so much about each other during this time. The students and I look forward to FriYAY each week!

A Book Review- Every Child A Super Reader

I thought I would share my notes and thoughts on a Professional Development book I just read with my PLN. I read Every Child A Super Reader by Pam Allyn and Ernest Morrell. (Click on any of the following pictures to access the notes I took while reading.)

The book is focused around the 7 Strengths that promote Super Readers:

1. Belonging

2. Curiousity 

3. Friendship

4. Kindness

5. Confidence

6. Courage

7. Hope

(Allyn and Morrell briefly touch on best practices, but this book is not focused on the components of Reading Workshop.)

The thing I love most about this book is I feel that these 7 Strengths can and should be nutured in across all grade levels and disciplines to help build social emotional well being in our students. I will be adding the 7 Strenghts to my vocabulary wall and theme wall. I will also be finding quotes that tie to the 7 Strengths. The 10 Fundamental Principles are important for us as educators to reflect on and make changes to our practices and classroom libraries as needed. 

(Click to see all 10 Principles)

One of my favorite quotes from the book states, "Every child deserves to know she belongs to the world of reading and the world of writing. Whether white or black, Latino or Asian, boy or girl-everyone and anyone can, will, and should benefit from a library as diverse as the world we live in." pg. 31

We must help our students see themselves in books. We must be purposeful with our read aloud selection and library choices. We must have a diverse books in our schools!!!

Allyn and Morrell also give practical advice on ways to promote the 7 Strengths in your classroom. Each chapter shares ideas for classroom activities, read alouds, technology integration, and ways to involve familes. 

(Click to see a few ideas for each strength)

I love the emphasis Ally and Morrell place on involoving families and educating them on ways to help their children connect the 7 Strenghts to their home as well. I think it would be a great idea to share the 7 Strenghts with parents when the year starts and continue to share ideas throughout the year via email, videos, newsletters, etc. 

The book is full of amazing assessment tools, rubrics, student goal setting, planning guides, and book lists. These book confirms my beliefs of building a community and that reading is more than just reading! 

What are you doing to ensure your students have the opportunity to become Super Readers?