I LOVE Back to School! {Giveaway}

It's official!  Summer is over. I was at a training this last week, but today I get to start setting up my classroom for this coming school year.  District meetings start later on this coming week.  The fun is about to begin!  

Several of us bloggers have come together to give you some awesome ideas for Back to School Books! These books can be used to set up your classroom community, begin a good lesson, or just as a fun read-aloud.

The book I'd like to share with you is...

I read this book every year with my 4th graders during the first 2 weeks of the school year.  It is set up as a picture book, with one story for each habit.  Each day I take about a half an hour to read the story full class, and go through the discussion questions afterward.  We complete an activity together as we read - sometimes we create our own skits to show comprehension, sometimes we draw a picture, write up a goal, etc... something to turn the habit into something personal to easily remember.   In my classroom, I then display these posters (one per day) as a way to remind students of the Healthy Habits we have learned, as well as our Character Pillars and Classroom Rules.

Have you heard? Teachers Pay Teachers is having a site-wide Back to School Sale August 3rd and 4th, so you will be able to get the Eagles Classroom Poster Pack 28% off using the promo code BTS15!

We know what else really "lights a fire" in you, and that is fabulous technology! We are giving away a brand new Kindle Fire HD6 to one lucky winner! 

Enter the rafflecopter below by hopping through each of our blogs and entering the secret word that can be found on the tablet in each of our posts. Also make sure to follow our TPT stores because the winner will be announced through a message in your TPT inbox! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We are also giving away a $25 gift certificate to Creative Teaching Press!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck! We hope you have a successful start to your school year! 

Tried it Tuesday: Daily 5

Last summer I shared a bunch about my thoughts on the book Daily 5, and how I incorporate the concepts into my classroom.  Since I didn't know many of you back then, I figured I would write a post with the different links to make it easy.

Word Work and Work on Writing

Read to Self

Daily 5 - Organizing groups

CAFE to FACE strategies

Yes, my 4th graders use Daily 5.  No, with our schedule it isn't possible to do all 5 rotations throughout the day.  I set it up a little different than the book, it's more like a Daily 3.  We complete Read to Self at the same time (right after lunch) every day.  Many of my kiddos over the years have always needed complete quiet to really focus, so it didn't make sense to have kids reading with a partner during that time.  Everyday we also complete Work on Writing.  They have their assignment that they must do (a small portion of the main weekly project), but when they are done they get to work on their writing choices.  In my district we have to use Open Court for our reading, but I also incorporate time for students to have 20-30 minutes of their choice of Word Work, Work on Writing, Listen to Reading, or Read to Someone.  So - about 3x per day it's set up in a partial Daily 5 format.  We make choices, we do mini lessons, we have that motivation that the Sisters talk about.

During one of our times of rereading the weekly OC story, I give students the opportunity to Read to Someone (partner reading) with their comprehension checkmarks, and the opportunity to Listen to Reading using the MP3 players.  My teacher time is in small groups or working with individuals during that "workshop" choice time, during silent reading, or any other moments of the day that I have time to check in.

During teacher time that first year I did try to do the Open Court lesson with the small group of students, but going through the long stories 4 times throughout the day took forever - and it wasn't a good use of my time.  Small moments with those 4 "region" groups made a bigger impact.  (I broke my students up into our state's "regions" since we learn about them at the beginning of the year - so I have a coast, valley, mountains, and desert group.)

Have no clue what I'm talking about?  I highly recommend reading the Daily 5 book - and just read it knowing that you can adjust it to fit your own classroom.  The first year I tried to do it all - and was left feeling completely overwhelmed.  When I reread it during the next summer and made it my own - I was much happier. Linking up with Holly over at Fourth Grade Flipper since this is something I've definitely tried.  :)

Happy Reading!

Part 3: Teach Like a Pirate - Transformation and Enthusiasm

Yes, it's the last day of what I've learned from Teach Like a Pirate .  He does share a ton of hooks and lesson ideas in the last half of his book, but that's more resource material for lesson ideas.  Did you get your copy yet?  Totally worth it!  I grabbed the Kindle version, costs less and it's portable for me. :)

  So today is the last morsel from me regarding Transformation and Enthusiasm.  Before I dive into that, did you read the other parts?  

Day 1: Passion and Immersion

Day 2: Rapport and Ask/Analyze

Transformation

In this chapter the author talks about being remarkable - that good isn't good enough.  I don't want to be a brown cow when I can be a purple one (or in my case a pink one).  He mentions constructing a vision of what your students will get out of your class, this reminds me of those dream boards from way back when.  What is my vision, what is my dream?  

After coming up with my vision and dream class, then I need to take a realistic view of my current classroom and see what needs to be improved.  Summer is the perfect time to do that - I've already done a lot of reflection on here and don't want to bore anyone - but it's basically reflecting on the past and taking ownership of it for the future.  

The author mentions trying to blur the lines between education and entertainment.  I feel like I am good at this.  I sometimes do feel like I'm on a stage when I'm at the whiteboard.  I bring in materials, we complete hands on projects, I act out lessons and make them memorable.  I hear from past students that they remember learning this or that, and other 4th graders have told me they wished they did those same activities.  I know I must be doing something right. 

What got me though was when the author talked about the need to stand out from everything else that is vying for my students' attention.  It's so hard to be "on" all the time.  It's exhausting.  It's something to build my own stamina with.

Enthusiasm

The thing I'm taking away from this section is that I will try to create the best situations possible, but I won't beat myself up when things that happen outside my control get in the way.  I will breathe.  I will work on being a control freak.  I will focus on the good things, and not worry so much about the negative.  I will smile more.

After this section comes the hooks and lesson ideas - they all tie into this Enthusiasm piece.  :)

Okay - here's the Book Study information one more time.  I hope these 3 days made you interested in reading the book for yourself.  It definitely has made me rethink somethings for myself.  

 

*Before I sign off - wanted to remention that I'm starting to plan a 500 & 500 celebration.  If you are interested in helping out please email me at ilovemyclassroom@ymail.com or leave a comment below.  Thanks to the wonderful people that have already contacted me!

*Also wanted to mention that today is the last day of my sale over at TPT.  Everything is 20% off - including those 5 new products.  :)

Have a wonderful Independence Day!    

Part 2: Teach Like a Pirate - Rapport and Ask/Analyze

I'm back with the next part of the Teach Like a Pirate book.  It was an easy read - basically read it in a day and a half, very entertaining.  Did you miss my post yesterday about Passion and Immersion?

Today I'm going to share my thoughts about how I'm doing with Rapport and Ask/Analyze (the R and A of PIRATE) in my own classroom... This is basically my own accountability thing... 

Rapport

This past year was a tough one.  I did every trick and strategy that I could think of with that group of kids... and then I turned to the blogs and my teacher friends for more tricks.  Nothing seemed to work for a couple of kids in my class.  I wasn't willing on letting them run the show - and that was basically the only thing that they wanted to do (and then had temper tantrums when they didn't get their way).  So I had to turn into military type teacher for part most of the time, and that just isn't me.  I'm the "mom" type of teacher.  You know the type - the kind of teacher that is huggable and lovable, but the chores still get done... I get called mom a lot actually... 

Anyway, going into this next year this chapter made me get my head on straight.  It was askew.  I really had started viewing my makeup as war paint by the end of the year.  I AM the teacher that eats lunch with the kids, that has conversations with kids during recess, the one that the kids walk like snails out the door after school.  I get hugs and love notes, and I write encouragement notes in return.  The kids trust me, love me, and I love them back.  I joke, I play, I kid, I laugh, I sing in class... things that were missing for a good portion of this past year.  

A long time ago, one of my students told me they knew I was in a good mood because I was always humming or singing in class - meaning instead of calling out directions or vocabulary words I would sing them.  I can make a song out of anything.  It's a gift.  

This next year is supposed to be a breath of fresh air - all the past teachers have said so, and I believe them.  Where I live we have some really bad air with all the pesticides and the farm "cow" smell.  I hope it's the air after the rain - really fresh!

Something I am going to imitate from the author is adding in his play dough lesson (from the book).  I am going to give kids time to create - and then I am going to spend time having the kids share about themselves.  I am also going to add a sign to my behavior board that says, "This is a no-meanness zone."  Love it!  

Ask and Analyze

I seem to always be asking myself questions and analyzing my teaching - if you have followed the blog for a while you probably have noticed I'm always tweaking something about my teaching.  I'm usually hard on myself if something goes wrong in the classroom - if I wasn't perky enough, or if something wasn't exactly perfect.  I'm the one when discussing an observation with my administrator that comes up with things to change for next time...  I'm still learning that teaching isn't perfect.  Learning needs trials and errors so that more growth can occur.  

Growing up I was that child in class that wanted to be perfect.  It was a huge crash when I fell off my own pedestal.  I remember being in 4th grade, I always got 100% or A's on my tests.  This one test came back and I saw an "A" at the top of the page.  I bragged about it to my neighbor (yeah, that wasn't okay to do), and the teacher came by to whisper that it wasn't an "A" but a "D".  An "A" on it's side... I was so embarrassed and I learned my lesson.

I love the thought process that the author mentions - how can you make a lesson better?  Instead of asking yes/no questions, by turning them into open ended questions the brain gets thinking... "Could this lesson be completed outside?" turns into "Where is the best place to complete this lesson?"

Then there is a section with understanding Failure vs. Feedback.  I'm going to be honest and tell you that I get so nervous when someone is giving feedback to me.  I am my own worst critic and it's hard for someone else to agree with me.  I would rather someone tell me how wonderful the lesson went.  I got so much out of the author telling me that if I haven't failed lately, I haven't been pushing far enough.  I don't want to just be safe, I want to be extreme...  In real life though that's hard for me, since I'm about as safe as they come.  I'm scared of needles, I'm scared of pain, I'm scared of heights, I'm scared of a lot of things...  I'm really scared of failure.

Yesterday I mentioned the Book Study going on - I didn't start on time with the cruise and all...  Here's the link to the information.

Hope you have a good day!  I'll be back in a while to share the 5 products I finished up recently.  :)  Yippidy doo dah!  I'm getting things accomplished!

Part 1: Teach Like a Pirate - Passion and Immersion

I have enjoyed reading Teach Like a Pirate so much.  It has validated my teaching style.. which over the years has been compressed due to the stress of "THE TEST".  This is going to be a 3 part series of the book... the author asks a bunch of questions for the readers to thoughtfully consider... so I decided to consider them over here on the blog. 

Now, I totally think you should read the book for yourself (and I don't want to get in trouble with anyone by sharing any copyrighted information) - so please don't expect a ton of quotes from it.  Just my thoughts regarding my own teaching... there is also a Book Study going on about it - check the bottom of the post for more information.

Pirate: Passion, Immersion, 

Rapport, Ask & Analyze, 

Transformation, and Enthusiasm

Passion

I am passionate about my 4th grade content.  I love CA history, probably more than science... and I know how to make even the drab things exciting.  I figure that if I am bored by the topic, that others will also be.  Growing up I loved reading more than math, so when I began teaching I wanted to make math as fun as possible.  I would have appreciated someone making it fun for me when I was little.  I don't think that this area is something I need to work on, I feel secure in this area.  

I am passionate about teaching and education as a professional.  That's why I became a teacher.  I loved being able to help children build their foundation (when I taught primary grades), and now I love helping them build onto that foundation in addition to filling in the cracks.  The kids are the reason that I go to school everyday.  I do feel though that I need to remember my professional passion a little better though when it comes to the stress of "THE NUMBERS" or "THE TEST".  I need to remember the bigger picture - my goal is to teach these kids to love learning.

The last part of passion is something I really really need to work on.  Personal Passion...  When I was younger I had so many things that I enjoyed.  Over the years of being a mom and having to be responsible for other human beings, some of my own interests have gone by the wayside.  It's just not possible when our home schedule is dictated by the kids' schedules, or the fact that we are trying hard not to pay a babysitter.  I used to love painting, horseback riding, learning new baking techniques,etc.... at this point it just doesn't seem possible to add anything into the schedule.  My boys enjoy doing some things with me, but the extra girly things that I would love to do... well, I'm not going to torture myself by dragging them with me to do it. 

Immersion

I got a lot out of this section.  I am a wonderful multi-tasker.  Something that I need to work on though is slowing down and being in the moment.  If you read the book, I spend a lot of time as the lifeguard instead of as a swimmer.  Now I'm not up in the chair type of lifeguard, I'm down at the water's edge with my feet in the water.  I'm connected to the students, I am there to grab them if they start drowning, but I'm not in the water.  I really don't like swimming in real life either...  My brain usually goes a mile a minute during the school day, so when the kids are working independently, I do write notes of things I need to do during prep... or I do have my laminator set up that when I make a lap around the classroom to check work, I stick another sheet in.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that this next year I want to work more on being 100% present.

The other part to the chapter had to do with taking the time for those teaching moments.  I need to work on slowing down.  I think I might over schedule my days - which I know there is tons to accomplish throughout the year - but I need to allow the kids to breathe (and I need to breathe myself).  I do a lot in my classroom for character pillars, kindness, etc... but I need to take moments to just be flexible and "let it go..."  Sound familiar anyone?

Here's the Book Study Information:

Click the link above to go to the main schedule page over at Rowdy in First Grade.  I didn't have time to start the book when everyone else did... Check back with me tomorrow for the next 2 parts to it.  :)