D-Ice Breaker- A Fun Get to Know You Activity

 

I love the play on words with dice and ice breaker! :) On our campus, we will be implementing Stanford Harmony to help with social emotional learning. One thing they suggest is doing a Buddy Up and asking them questions to discuss with their buddy. I took some similar type questions and put them into a QR dice that the students can roll, scan, and answer the question. 

I plan on using this the first week of school for sure as we are getting to know our classmates and build relationships because QR codes and dice make everything more fun!! 

Questions on the cube...

-If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

-If you were stranded on an island, what three things do you take with you?

-If you could only eat one food for the rest of you life, what would it be?

-If you won a million dollars, what would be the first thing you buy?

-If you could spend the day with a fictional character, who would it be?

-If you found a magic lantern and a genie gave you three wishes, what would you wish for?

Students could even answer the question a second time with another answer if time permits. 

Click the cube to make a copy.

Tip: Print on card stock, it makes putting the dice together a lot easier!

If, you want to change the questions and add your own QR codes you can do that do. Click here for a copy of the dice template. Then go to your favorite QR generator website, type in your question, download QR code, and put into your dice template.

Happy Rolling!

Purposeful Classroom Design

It's that time of year again!! We, teachers, get to set up our classroom. I get so excited for this day, and I am the one that goes up the first day we are allowed to. :)  I'm sure we have all seen the picture perfect classrooms on Pinterst and Instagram, but that kind of classroom is not necessary for student learning to take place and success to occur. 

I put a lot of thought into my classroom design and want my room to echo what I believe as an educator. I have learned over the years that less is more. When planning and setting up my classroom, I make sure to have a focus on a few specific things. 

1. Whole Group Area- 

This is a must in my classroom!  It must be large enough for everyone to sit comfortably on the floor and in a circle if needed. We come together for many things each day; class meetings, read alouds, mini lessons, writing share time, and so much more. This area is where our class grows as a family and builds relationships together. 

2. Small Group Area- 

A lot of my teaching happens in small group, so this area is equally important. I want a place I can easily gather students and store materials, but also see the rest of the class as they work on their other activities. This is also my teacher area. I get rid of my desk to allow for extra room for students and flexible seating.
Lots of selfies happen here!:)

3. Classroom Library-

I believe every classroom should have a library no matter your subject matter. Students should have access to books everywhere. I'm a reading teacher so I have a rather large selection of books for students. I want my library to be assessable, inviting, organized, diverse, and appealing to all my students. My goal for this area is that it is well loved and used daily!

4. Student Seating-

After I have figured out my whole group, small group, and classroom library, I focus on student seating. I make sure students are able to collaborate, are able to move easily around the classroom, and have a variety of seating options. I like to incorporate flexible seating in my classroom to give students choice and ownership over there learning.

Some different options I have in my classroom:

5. Decorations-

Honestly, the last thing I think about is wall decorations. Like I said earlier, less is more. I like to incorporate our school vision, positive messages, and space to hang up the learning that we do together and student work. I incorporate a few colors, which are usually the school colors as well, and try to keep it

6. Class Materials-

When designing your classroom, also think through where students will find and access all supplies and technology. Have a spot for everything and it is organized! Remember that you will need to teach students your routines and expectations for using them all. 

Have fun, be creative, be YOU, and make your classroom an extension of what you believe! Remember you and the relationships you build with your students always trump anything you could decorate your classroom with!

I'd love to see your classroom, leave a picture. :)

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!