I Do Not Have the Words

Last Thursday my students were leaving the classroom to line up in the hallway for bus dismissal.  A boy went behind me and his rolling bookbag swept my feet out from under me. I fell and landed on my wrist and elbow.  I wasn't hurt physically, just sore.  My heart was hurt though because one of my students pointed and laughed at me while I was on the floor.  My teammate took my students out to the bus lot. I went in my classroom and closed the door as tears ran down my face.

I do not have the words to describe how hurt I felt by this boy's laughing and pointing.  I am a 47 year old woman who had her feelings hurt by a 9 year old boy.  I am a professional educator and he is an immature child.  Why did this hurt me so badly? I guess I feel that I have taught him better.  I preach empathy for others. My classroom runs on caring and kindness.  I know that it was probably his initial reaction, but the fact that it was so public just sliced even harder.  

The next morning, the boy who laughed at me walked up with a very serious look on his face. He said, "I am really sorry for laughing at you when you fell yesterday."  He handed me a folded up piece of paper.  I read it and once again he caused tears in my eyes.  

I do not have the words to describe how touched I was by this genuine apology.  I'm not crying...you're crying.

 

Shazam! If You Move It They Will Come

As a teacher you have a superpower! Your power of suggestion can influence learners. 

If I take a book and simply move it to a table somewhere in the room, students will decide to read it. STUDENT: Hey, these books are about today's Social Studies lesson! I didn't know you had these. Can I read them?

If I put it on the front ledge and spotlight it, they will read it. STUDENT: OMG these books are what you talked about in SEL! We should read them.

If I stick a big book in a smaller basket, they are intrigued and will pick it up. STUDENT: Did you put this book like this? Can I read it?

If I stand picture books in the midst of chapter books, they will pick them up. STUDENT to STUDENT: We should read these books because the girls look like friends!

How Many Books Do You Have?!

There are two reasons I spend a lot of time organizing my library each school year.  1. I love books. 2. I teach Literacy. I stay current with reading research which seems to change every year.  Some years we should Lexile our books. Some years we should use F&P or DRA or AR levels to group our books.  One time I tried the color-code method.  I have tried all of these various ways to organize my classroom library, but I have observed that students respond to books that are grouped by topics.  

The first thing I do when organizing my classroom library is to split them into Fiction and Nonfiction.  Then I put them into baskets and create my topics.  Sometimes they are grouped by author or series.  Sometimes they are simple: cats, dogs, horses. I also take suggestions from my readers and they come up with some pretty funny topics! This also helps me collect books that they want to read.

*TIP--I place Historical Fiction and Diaries between Fiction and Nonfiction.

*Even though these are four different bins, they are related. Horizon, Lost, and Stranded series are next to books about Survival.

Again, these are separate bins that are all related: Boxcar Children, 39 Clues, A to Z, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew are all next to the Mystery genre bin.

*Draw the readers to certain bins by adding props!

*Does your classroom library make every reader feel represented? I noticed last year that my library clearly represented Caucasian and African Americans, but I need to increase my Asian and Hispanic culture books. I added these topics into my bins. I also added a Native American bin.

Students will value reading books about students who are like them.  This is my favorite bin because it has such great stories!

Readers will connect with characters who have families likes their own.  Readers won't feel alone or like an outcast if they can read books about families that are not perfect.  

You can read this topic bin two ways: Family Matters (like they have issues) or Family Matters (like it is important).

Every year I seem to have twins in my class, so I like to have a bin for them!

Who doesn't love books about dachshunds and hotdogs?!   

Ease is the Word

Ease of use is one of my top priorities when creating new activities.  They need to be easy to store, easy to use, and easy to adapt.  I took all of my ELA task cards and ELA student games and grouped them together by standard.  They are stored in containers with the standards written on the front.  I do not mind spending money at Dollar Tree when it makes my teaching job easier.

Now if I need a quick review activity, because yesterday's exit tickets showed a lot of misunderstanding, I can just grab a container and do an activity.  When planning for small groups, I can hand the container to the person meeting with my students.  It is easy to add new cards/games when I find them.  If a TA is scheduled to meet with a group, but she can't make it, then I can show students how to play the game and let them work together.

Indoor Recess Conundrum

A rainy day that causes indoor recess also forces teachers to make a decision.  The children usually just want to go on their Chromebooks or draw or sit and talk.  Well, if I choose those for indoor recess, then I can probably sit and get some work done for myself.  This makes me feel guilty because I know they should be doing something somewhat active.  I collected a bunch of activities that I had in my cupboards and made some indoor recess bins.  Some of the games I found at Dollar Tree, so I do not mind spending a couple bucks on some games that might make a rainy day easier.

Student Ownership

In a previous post, On Purpose, I explained how our classroom works as a community.  This week our Kindness Captain (another blog post) created some new signs and even had the students sign one of them.  Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but it also lets a teacher know that the students internalized and valued the activity we did in class.  Whenever a student shows you they made something for the classroom, and they want to hang it up in the classroom, let them.  Do not be in control of your classroom decor--it is their classroom, too.

Sticker Madness

Staying current on popular trends with students is important to help develop relationships.  I talk about the latest video games, play the latest music, add You Tube/Snap Chat/Tik Tok to my lessons.  One current trend that brings me back to my own childhood is the sticker collecting.  Students have the opportunity to choose stickers for random reasons in my classroom.  It might be for helping a classmate, using manners, having an organized cubby, or just because I feel like it.  They are NOT linked to behavior.  Throughout the week I make sure every student receives one.

*Warning:  make sure you always look carefully through stickers sets to remove any that are inappropriate for school-age children.

Most students put their stickers on their water bottles, but some stickers have shown up at fun places around the classroom!  I love that the students are comfortable enough in OUR classroom to add their stickers to enhance the environment.  

Don't miss out on the Among Us video game trend right now.  If you know about this game and you can use the vocabulary from it, you can get students excited about anything!  I picked this bag of stickers up at a discount store this weekend and I cannot wait to show my learners.  I know they will be excited.

 

I Am

 

Yoga has taught me many lessons about myself, but most of them begin with "I am."  I am strong. I am loved. I am enough.  When I read this powerful book I knew I wanted to spread the "I am" lesson to my students.  The message of this book is incredible not just for children, but for adults.  If I could recommend a book for every person on Earth to read, this is that book.

  

After I read the book to my learners, they created an I Am display for their cubbies.  They included literal responses: a son, a daughter, a 4th grader, a friend, a sister, a brother, a baseball player, a gamer, a dancer.  They also wrote words to describe themselves: intelligent, funny, athletic, kind, creative, neat, organized, independent, and many other amazing adjectives.

Playdough and Tell

This is my favorite back-to-school getting-to-know-you activity.  It is creative and active.  It is detailed or abstract.  It is a positive experience for the quiet students and the talkative ones.  It is great for 4th graders because it is WHATEVER they want it to be!

Each table received a box of clay sticks (I get whatever Dollar Tree has in stock.  Sometimes they have 4 packs of Playdough, but this year it was 12 stick pack of clay). Students use the clay to create something that shows us about themselves.  It can be a specific item, like a football, or it can be a symbol that represents something, like a heart.  Then they create a display by writing a description on an index card.  They have a choice to write their names on the front or back of the card. I leave these displays out until Curriculum Night so parents can see them.

*I did not create this activity.  I read about it somewhere or saw it at a training, but after 26 years I cannot remember the exact person or I would give him/her credit.