Attention Getters

Happy Sunday! The sun is shining, the air is cool, and the Gators are undefeated. A happy, happy Sunday, for sure! Fall is definitely here and we are getting in the mood for Halloween. We are also trying more and more Kagan and WBT strategies, which led to some new attention grabbers!

The first one I tried with the kids was actually from Whole Brain Teaching, which has been described as Kagan on steroids! Haha they've got some really fantastic ideas. My favorite is the "Class-Yes" attention getter. Basically, you say "class" and they say "yes", but you can mix it up however you want and they have to say it the way you said it! Here's how Chris Biffle suggests you introduce it:

This literally took about 45 seconds. Start small, people.

The fun part is changing it up so the kids don't get bored with "Class-Yes" or "Class Class-Yes Yes". I like to do "Oh claaaaaass- Oh yeeeeeeees" or "Hey class- hey yes" Here are some ways to mix it up!

Kids LOVE mirroring you with really silly tones and gestures and speeds!

You can watch more of his video about this here.

And since it's Halloween season, I also introduced one of the attention grabbers I saw in a list on Pinterest! I say "Hocus Pocus" and the kids repeat "Time to focus!" and then get to work on what they should already be doing. I used the "Class-Yes" to get them to freeze and look at me, but the "Hocus Pocus" to get them to refocus on work and stop talking. Check out the list of attention getters below:

Taken from this blog.

Hope you are having a fantastic Sunday! Now go outside and enjoy the weather before the week starts =]

Love & Logic

Happy Wednesday everyone! We get out an hour early on Wednesdays, so that made the day fly by! I wanted to write a post about a book I'm reading right now called Teaching with Love & Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom. Have you heard of it?

Written the year I started Kindergarten.
WHY AM I JUST NOW HEARING ABOUT THIS?

As I mentioned in my last post, I left the meeting with my principal and mentor teacher with a stack of books and this is the one I was told to start with! The ideas Fay and Funk describe are used by my mentor teacher and the principal and many other teachers at my school. The approach is basically what I believed already, just articulated much better than I ever could have!

The basic approach is not just to love your kids to pieces, but to make sure they know how much you love them. You can't withdraw from a bank account you don't make deposits in, and you can't make demands on someone you haven't built up. These children spend nearly half of their waking hours with us and I have so much influence on whether they have a good day or a bad day. I want to make sure they know without a doubt that they are loved.

One of my favorite teaching quotes-
and my attempt to make it pretty enough to be a printable!

One of my favorite strategies I've read about is giving children choices. Instead of just telling them what to do all day, you give them choices (make sure you're ok with either choice!) These can be little choices, like whether to start with math or reading, or as a form of discipline. I had the opportunity to do this today when the kids were reading their books silently around the room. Some kids were talking and I said in a friendly voice, "Hey boys, you have a choice. You can either read on the bean bags silently, or split up and go back to your desks to read. It's up to you." They chose to stay on the bean bags and stop talking. Such a little change from "Boys, you need to read silently", but it gives them the power! Love it!

Look how quiet and peaceful she is. Bet she doesn't need to be given choices...

That's just a little about that, but if you have some free time and are interested, I definitely recommend this book. For more info, here's their page. They have programs for teachers AND parents! I'm continuing to love my placement and am learning from a MASTER of teaching with love and logic. Things are looking up over here!!

Changes/An Ode to Morning Meeting

I've been slacking! I'm sorry it's been almost two weeks since my last post, but things have been crazy lately! To start with, I have some news: Thursday was my last day with my mentor teacher at my previous school. From the beginning of the semester, it was clear that we had very different styles, but I met with my UF supervisor and had her come to the classroom and observe. We talked about it and it was decided that (with such different styles), I would benefit from being in a different classroom, possibly in a higher grade. This was a difficult decision to make, especially since I'm only 5 weeks into the school year. Right now, I'm still waiting to hear where I'll be next. I'm hoping St. Johns county will have another placement for me, but you never know. As soon as I know where I'll be, I'll share it here!


Onto more fun things! Before I left, I got to try doing a morning meeting with my students two days in a row. For those unfamiliar with morning meeting, it's basically composed of 4 things: a greeting, share time, a game, and news/announcements. They're done every morning (hence the name morning meeting) and usually last 20-30 minutes. It's such a great way to build classroom community and teach vital social skills!

In our classroom meeting, we started with a simple greeting. Everyone stood in a circle and the first person walked up to someone else and said "Good morning, [name]", then the person responded "Good morning, [name]", then they high fived and switched places and the first person sat down. The second person then approached someone else and repeated the process. They kept going until everyone was sitting and everyone had been greeted. We focused on eye contact, appropriate distance from someone, and speaking at the right volume. Some things have to be taught!

We did a quick-share next, with each student getting 10 seconds to share something. On Monday, they shared what they did over the weekend and on Tuesday, they said what their favorite place to go was and why. I counted down 10 seconds on my fingers and when I got to 0, that person was done! Even my quiet kids had something to say and the kids had a chance to share with me, which is hard to find time for during a busy day.

Then, I went through the daily schedule and what we were doing in each subject, as well as which special they were going to (art, music, etc.) and any other updates they needed to know.

Finally, we did a fun activity: a listening activity with a coloring worksheet. I only said the instructions 3 times and they were things like "Color three leaves green and two brown". The activity can be education or just plain fun. Ours was a mix. This wrapped up the morning meeting and we got on with our day!

Overall, I noticed my kids had such great attitudes. They loved getting to share with me and each other, and they loved greeting each other. I heard less questions throughout the day about the schedule and they kept asking if they could do this every morning. I would definitely try to fit a morning meeting into your schedule if possible!! What do you think? Do you do a morning meeting?

Behavior Management

School has been in session for over a week and, while I know the kids in your class are sweet baby angels that love to sit still and practice their handwriting, I have found that some sort of behavior chart is necessary to make the day go smoothly. A lot of people remember something like this when they were growing up (I know I do):

I STILL remember the day I was told to move my clip in first grade. Strikes fear  in a child's heart.

It's just so tragic when you get on red, isn't it? Well say goodbye to the traffic sign and HELLO to the pocket chart!

TADA! We love pocket charts in elementary school! 

A little close-up to see the tallies.

Ok so here's how it works. Each child has a pocket with their name printed on a card (blacked out in the picture). When they come in in the morning, they take a little yellow person and put it in their pocket. BOOM. Attendance at a glance. Then, throughout the day, they can earn good tallies or bad tallies for their behavior. Good tallies stay in their pocket all day, but bad ones can be earned out if they "turn it around and make better choices". If you want to make one, the tallies are just strips of laminated construction paper, and the little people are also laminated construction paper. The name cards are about the size of business cards and have each child's name written on them. Hang up a pocket chart and you're good to go! Here's a breakdown of tally options posted above the chart:

Hmmm are you making appropriate choices today?

The biggest thing I've learned about discipline the past week has been to be super firm the first month or so. Every experienced teacher I've talked to has told me that if you don't assert your authority at the beginning of the year, the kids will eat you for lunch (or as one teacher put it, "eat your lunch". Not sure which is worse!). So our policy has been one warning and then a tally! As we give bad tallies, we jot down a note on a pad of paper so we can remember what it was for and so we know if someone gets it taken out. For example, we would write: [Jennifer- yellow (talking in line going to recess)].  At the end of the day, we write in the planner about good and bad tallies, even if they get it taken out for turning it around. If you want more deets, here's the letter sent home to parents explaining it. Hope discipline is going well in everyone else's classes! Good luck and don't let the kids eat your lunch haha!

Three/Thirty-three

Oh. Baby. What a week. I appreciate Friday afternoon sooooo much more than I used to! But I've had a great time and it's been an absolutely wonderful week full of learning- and I think the kids learned some too ;)

Biggest thing I learned? The three/thirty-three rule. It's something our principal says and it means that the first 3 weeks of teaching and planning will decide how your next 33 will go. Such a great reminder! Now is the time to set up the room; teach the procedures, rules, expectations, and discipline; plan the curriculum; and begin assessments. I can already tell that living with 3/33 in mind will help immensely come October, February, April, and other super busy times!!

For fun, here are some pictures of how our classroom is set up:

The kids started in pods, but now we're trying a U-shape

These are our computers and manipulatives along the back wall. Also some bean bags for reading, and our own bathroom!

My own desk(!) and the classroom library with bulletin boards just waiting for student work

The front board and a glimpse at our behavior system (pocket chart on the right)

 Some of the things we did this week were fun: read-alouds, writing activities, get-to-know-you activities, practicing procedures, and time on the computer. Some of the things we did this week were less than fun: math and reading probes (basic assessments for us to see where they are), FAIR assessments, sight word assessments, and STAR reading assessments. Yes. First week and we're already testing to get a baseline. Just a glimpse into 21st century education! I taught a little blurb on social studies, did a read-aloud, did some assessments, and monitored the kids. Definitely not sitting back and observing this year! Woohoo!

So to wrap it up, I love my kids, I'm learning a ton from my mentor teacher, my team is great, and I think I'll go back next week ;) I'll leave you with this picture, hopefully you'll love it as much as my kids did. Haha!

Ms. Douberly in second grade!