Helping My Future Self - Another Binder

I think we have all established that I love binders.  I'm a binder girl.  I really like being organized.

Last year during distance learning I had 2 powerpoints continually being updated on my computer.  One with all the weekly focuses (Essential questions and I can statements), and another with all the weekly checklists.  Maybe you had the same kind of thing happening for your classroom?  

It was the very big reminder of everything we do on a weekly basis with and for our kids.  I wrote down everything, meaning I had to preplan everything for the kids that couldn't log on to know what the class was doing.  I gave them access. I kept track of everything.  I call it being organized, my own kids might call it a little extreme...  

By Thursday of the week before, I would update our Virtual Checklist with all the must dos that the kids would have to turn in the following week.  Each day there were reminders of independent activities to tackle and what needed to be turned in.  

I would also update the next week's Focus with our new Essential Questions and I Can Statements.  Every Monday I would send both PDFs to my families via email and then go over them with the kids. The kids would fill in the I Know I Can Because... section on Fridays in their Color Teams.  

I started thinking that having a print out of the Focus would be beneficial for when I have to update my whiteboard this year. I guess last year I helped my future self.  So last week I printed them off and stuck them in sheet protectors in a new binder.  I'm planning on keeping it handy at school when it's time to weekly update the board.

Now where did I get all the essential questions?

Math - My grade level team came up with the questions. It helped to focus us when we were planning out our common formative assessments, which also helps when we do intervention and mix up our classes for WIN time.  

STEM/Science - My district came up with them for each week of our units. Backwards planning to reach our goal.

Social Studies - They are the essential questions that came with our curriculum, and then the I Cans are specific to the weekly lesson. 

Reading and Writing - I took what my kids needed via our units.  Again backwards planning, what was the big picture, and adding a little each week to reach our goals.

All the individual subject info is over in my Pacing Binder.  I showed that off last week. This is just a spin off with a weekly view, while that has everything by subject.  There's a purpose for both.  

I know I stuck to typical pacing last year.  Yes, I couldn't go as deep, and there wasn't time for as many examples or projects, but still the same pacing.  So going into this next year, the essential questions and I can statements will be close to what I can expect again.

After all this printing, I started thinking of the Weekly Checklists that I made last year. What activities and page numbers, what formative check ins I had them do, what states/capitals we learned... It's all written down already based on the week of the year. Even the beginning of the year read alouds. So I printed off a set of those, and stuck them in those same page protectors so the weeks of both corresponded with each other.  

I know I can't be alone in this, and maybe it can remind you of everything you also accomplished last year.  For a while I just wanted to forget last year, it was so hard. We already know we learned a lot of our own strength and flexibility last year.  We learned so much stuff, use that to help you. 

And if you didn't keep track last year, maybe you can keep track this year.  Maybe a quick jot on a powerpoint this year can help you in the future.  Help your future self too.  Keep track of those essential questions and I Can statements that you spend way too much time perfecting.  Use your lesson plan book from last year to remind you of what you accomplished.  

Okay, motivational speech over.  I hope you have a wonderful day! 

Pacing Binder - Easy Summer Project

When I start thinking about the next year I always head over to our staff portal to download and print the next batch of pacing guides. I know some of them get updated yearly with new dates. I know I don’t have to print them, but since I’m such a paper/pencil kind of person that I need this… 

I have a binder with sheet protectors for all the papers. I use sheet protectors since it makes it easier to flip and find the pages.  I got the binder from the Get Your Teach On conference last year.  :) This has everything in it for the year. It's basically my brain and keeps me on track. 

Here's what I have inside:

*Overall district yearly plan for ELA (includes our STEM units too) and Math. These have specific dates on them for my district.

*The report card plans with unit and score explanations. We are switching from academic and standards based to ONLY standards based for next year.  Its going to be an adjustment.  :) 

*Our spelling plan (we skip some lists), the weekly focus, and the actual words. 

*Our states/capitals lists and answer key. In past years we’ve alternated states/capitals one week and spelling list the next. Flip flopping to give kids time to memorize.

*I have the list of Mentor Texts in there from Jessica Ivey (Jivey).  I do use Mentor Sentences on a weekly basis.  Since I skip around and use texts based on the units that we are studying, it makes it easy to keep track of what I still need to cover.

*Math plan has each lesson in order for the year- we skip around in the math book as we go through the standards. This also has the essential questions that we’ve decided on as a grade level. 

*Social Studies has the units, lessons, and essential questions, and projects. I need to go back and update with the different tech links after this year. 

*Science unit planners have the lessons, essential questions, and materials lists. 

*I have my list of novels tucked in there too. There is a certain order that ties into the learning of our units and standards. For example we read a lot of historical fiction that ties into our SS. I keep more information for each novel, with activities and specifics, in a file folder in my cabinet.

*We have a social emotional curriculum, and I have a list of the different lessons in there as well. We skip around as well, since a lot of them are covered during our DARE lessons.  

I'm also considering typing up the normal STEM projects and Open House projects to add for this next year. I really like having as much information as possible together for an easy flip.  My brain keeps getting more and more forgetful when stressed, don't know if it's an age thing, or a mom thing, or whatever... so I'm learning that I need to have more things written down to refer to. 

Do you have a binder too? What’s inside?

Hope this helps.

Highlighting Kids - Easy Check Off Sheet

For the past 7 years I've found how easy it is to use a highlighter to keep track of basic information.  Not grading, but for participation, or as a check off.  On powerpoint I have this template.  It's really simple to create. (I just covered my student names for privacy.) 

After creating, I save it as a pdf so then I have the option of printing more than one page per sheet.  

Yeah, I bump it up to 9 copies per sheet. It makes it so that the names are still able to be read, and seems to be the perfect size for a highlighter. 

Then I save that as a pdf so it's easier to print when needed. I usually go through 1 of these sheets per week between using one per day for participation, and then other check off types of things.  

These always come in so handy.  I use the top line to write the reason.  This year I'm using it every day for participation.  When a kid volunteers I make a dot with a highlighter over their name.  Our morning question is one color of highlighter, then I switch to a different color for other subjects. I use my highlighted dots to then transfer to Class Dojo for points.  It also helps me know who to call on if I haven't heard from them. It helps me know who to check in with on their private channels, and if I don't hear from them there, then it reminds me which parents to contact with concerns.  

I've used it a lot over the years for different things, but this year it's really come in handy.  

Hope this helps, hope you have a great day!

An Ode to State Testing

I don't know how to make an ode, but I just wanted to let you know the current plan for testing.  

Right now I just want to fast forward the next 4 weeks. Or we can even start the countdown to summer. That’s okay too. I’ve got spring fever and I’m ready for state testing to be over... 

Week of 4/19 ELA testing 

Week of 4/26 Science testing 

Week of 5/3 Math testing 

3 weeks... come on May! 

It probably doesn’t help that we got word that in class and distance learners can not test at the same time. The plan had been that half of the DLs would test with Group A, the other with Group B, so no afternoon testing would be needed, other than make ups. But that now won’t work, so here’s the current revised plan. 

Every morning all the kids will log on for a few minutes to take attendance and go over their must do’s. Then in class will start testing, and at home will go about their daily independent work. 

Monday am - Group A is in class, testing 

Monday pm - all Distance Learners log in and test virtually 

Tuesday am - Group B is in class, testing 

Tuesday pm - anyone not done with that part logs in to finish it up at home

Wednesdays- the only day we are all together, virtually, doing review, catching up, moving forward together. Hopefully we can also have some fun. I feel that testing is going to suck up all the joy of school. :(

Thursdays and Fridays - more testing, same schedule. 

The kids at home that aren’t testing will have work to do that is due that same day. Distance learners will have both days to do the must do’s since they are testing in the afternoons. I figured out a basic outline that I can plug in content. We are still at the limit of 4 hours of school stuff per day, and with testing that pretty much doesn’t leave a lot of other time. 

I figure the only way to move forward is to record intro. videos for Social Studies and Science. I do an overview, and they do the independent work. Then I will also record sections of our novel so they can still listen to our story. We will be starting Ben and Me over the next few testing weeks. :) 

I’ll have to record the lessons the week before to add to our assignment tab and our Weekly Breakdown. So more to do on my to do list. I really like Screencast-o-matic. It has made it so easy this year!! 

For Math, they will be working on their game boards for Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader? to review for the math test. It’s a whole thing in itself, so I’ll share about it in a separate post. 

It’s about to get a little crazy up in here... who am I kidding?  I guess it’s been crazy all year long. I can’t wait for things to be back to normal. Whenever that happens it will feel like a piece of cake compared to all this. 

Now I want cake. Baking does relieve some stress. 

Hope you are well. :)

What I Tackle After the Kids Leave

We all know being a teacher, especially this year, is a lot more than just teaching the kids. Here’s how I’ve been setting up my to do lists to keep on a weekly schedule. These are mainly things I've done all year, and now I'm adding in the in person items...

Daily:

*Grade

*Send reminder to tomorrow’s in class group about items to bring 

*Update Class Dojo points and give praises if reach certain milestones

*Respond to kid messages and questions in their private channels, answer emails, and host a daily Q/A afternoon meeting (where I can multi-task if kids don't show up).

Monday:

*Give out weekly materials to Group A when they arrive at school.

*AM - Make all TEAM assignments active

*Send morning email to parents with weekly information (Weekly Breakdown and Weekly Focus). If something is happening to the schedule for Monday, then I send it out on Friday afternoon.

*Grade all the late work that came in over the weekend...

Tuesday:

*Go through email and clean up mailbox

*Update parent portal with missing work

*Play catch up...

Wednesday: (Everyone DL day)

*Start making plans for next week

*Sketch out next week’s Breakdown of assignments 

*Update next week’s Focus for essential questions and I can statements.

Thursday:

*Fill out engagement log and be ready to upload on Friday

*Prep any materials for next week, including drafting assignments in TEAMS

*Start drafting next week's parent email

Friday:

*Give out the next week’s paperwork to my Group B while they are there in class.

After class:

*Update whiteboard - Change out the essential questions, I can statements, and next week’s reminders

*Spray down front table and set up materials for Monday.

*Change out DL office crate to next week’s materials for pick up

*Upload engagement logs

*Turn in temp check forms to office

*Update Parent Portal with grades

*Update TEAM with new color teams, new Breakdown, new Focus 

Of course everything is subject to change, but this is my goal each week. 

Every Unit:

*I sketch out what the ideal pacing would be, knowing that things change.  But at least it's all in my plan book and I know where we're headed.  I also use the drafts in my email to have an ongoing list of unit web links for science, social studies, and math.  I update those links on a weekly basis as I find more resources.  I may not always use everything in my "menu" but it's just a click away.  

And to think... a lot of this random paperwork is new this year... I wonder if it's going to be something we have to do for a long time to come, or if it's a one year deal.  I miss the simpler days.  

Hope you had a great day!

Weekly Breakdowns & I Know I Can Because...

Sometimes I feel like I created a monster with all the paperwork that I can generate in a week.  It's kind of funny that I'm adding more stuff by starting to blog again... Just kidding, I'm using this as my online journal to remember this crazy year.  

I started doing something like this checklist last spring when the world shut down and distance learning started.  A simple breakdown, broken down by day, so that students knew exactly what to do.  Back then we weren't meeting every day - weekly yes, but not daily. The kids were used to writing down their daily homework, but without planners this worked. Since it worked, and helped me as well to know what reminders to give the kids, I kept it going this year.  Every week I duplicate the slide in ppt and just switch out the information - then I email it home, stick it on Class Dojo, and add it to our TEAM for easy access.

I also turned our Weekly Essential Questions, I Can statements, and our I KNOW I Can Because into a digital document for this year.  In the classroom this would normally be on the whiteboard in a grid with washi tape, and kids write their responses on post it notes and stick it up there.

This year I update the word document every week, send it home to families so they know what we're working on, and go over it with my class as well. We talk about it all week long, and then on Fridays I throw a screenshot of it into the color team channels so the kids can respond and "teach" each other their strategies and how they know they know.  It only takes 5 minutes but has made a big impact.  

As they are responding, I'm looking into the color teams and thanking the kids aloud to acknowledge that I see their responses.  There are always so many more kids that start responding just to get their name recognized aloud. My big kids are still kids... 

Am I the only one that does something like this?

Hope you are having a great day!

Back to School: Setting Up Those Notebooks

Setting up those notebooks are a big task, but it's one that my class tackles the first week of school.  I really believe that my taking the time to do it all at the beginning, that it makes it easier to keep it organized the rest of the year.

For years I had 5 notebooks per student.  Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science.  I was happy with that for years, other than there were still a lot of empty pages at the end of the year... Then switching to 5th grade I decided to try and only use 4 notebooks to see if I could get away with it, and it worked (plus it's cheaper)!

The last 2 years we have used four notebooks - Reading/Writing (we just call it ELA and divide it in half), Math, SS, and Science.  The first time we pull out the notebooks, we start out labeling the front covers and pulling out the highlighters.  That's something that I do - every student has a set of multiple colors of highlighters.  It's important to me to have different colors for different purposes.

Each notebook gets its own color highlighter.  I used to stand in Walmart during the back to school sales counting out 35 of specific colors (32 kids plus a couple of extras if kids move and come).  Then I realized that I could order them for about the same price through my district warehouse - the con is that they are all Black and White covers and look exactly the same.  To solve this issue, the kids take the specific color (that we all have only that one out) and holding the book closed, color the bottom of the notebook pages to be that certain color.

Last year:
Math - purple
ELA - green
Social Studies - orange
Science - blue

It really doesn't matter what color, as long as EVERYONE has the same color.  Looking in their desks they will be able to see that color easily and can pull out the correct notebook in record time.

Math Notebook - This is the notebook that we don't do much in until we are actually making the pages together throughout the units.  We do write in the Math Practices, a problem solving acronym, and this year I want them to also to write out a multiplication chart (they can do it by memorization and by using their table if they need).  Then the rest of the book is set up by units.

ELA - like I mentioned above, this notebook I let the pages fall down the middle.  The beginning half is our Writing/Grammar focus, the back half is all about Reading.  At the beginning of the year we go page by page (mine under the document camera) writing the headings for each page.  That's it, only the headings.  Everyone is literally on the same page, and it helps down the road when it's time to go back and fill in those specific areas with our brainstormed anchor charts.

Writing/Grammar:
The first pages we have the following:
-conventions that 5th graders are expected to ALWAYS use
-2 pages each (double spread) for each type of writing they are expected to master: Narrative, Summary, Informational, Research, Opinion - we go back to draw in graphic organizer examples
-one page per part of speech
-one page per type of figurative language
-then the rest of the Writing pages are for our weekly Mentor Sentences (they don't fill those in at this point).  Each mentor sentence needs a double spread.

Reading:
The back half of the book has the same type of thing - page by page, just the headings:
-Book List (this is where we write all the books that we read together both Mentor Sentences, Read Alouds, and Class Novels) - needs 2-4 pages
-Each genre gets it's own page.  We go back later to add definitions and specific examples/opinions.
-one page per comprehension strategy
-one page per text structure
-half page per common theme (I've tried it with quarter pages as well, it works UNLESS the kids write huge.)
-when we did AR the kids also had a running list of books they read by themselves and would make checkmarks when they had taken a test, nowadays they just keep track on their 40 Book Challenge paper (that is kept in their classwork folder).
-In the very back of the notebook, we take the last 5ish pages for our academic vocabulary words.
-Most novel work is done outside of the notebook when we do Novel Notes (in addition to the novel vocabulary words), but I do add at least a little bit into the notebook so the kids can see their own growth as a reader.

It's free if you need it! 

Overall, I love having both in the same notebook.  It's a ready reference that they really do refer back to.

Science and Social Studies: Both notebooks don't really get started until the first units (later on in the first/second week), but here's the quick run down.  In both subjects, I try to implement a lot of GLAD strategies.  When we start a unit, the kids write the unit title in the middle of the page in that specific notebook.  I have related images (just found on Google) that I have printed out and have sitting around the room, and the kids wander around making observations and wonderings in their notebook on that initial unit page.  They then head back to their groups to brainstorm and make a long list of both, then we share full class.

Each unit also has a vocabulary page where we continue to add content vocabulary words throughout the unit.

For Social Studies we make a 4 square for each article we read (in addition to the close read highlighting we do on the article):
-Important Dates and what happened
-People and Places mentioned
-Main Idea(s)
*4th quadrant - I choose one of the non-fiction comprehension strategies to focus on.

For Science - we add the NGSS Science Practices and the Cross Cutting Concepts at the beginning of the notebook, and a list of Science Sentence Stems for our discussion.  We refer back to them to see where each activity lines up... I think it helps kids to see the purpose.

Woah - another long post.  I hope this helps someone.

Moving Toward a Digital Seating Chart

This is year 17 and I'm still learning.  Up to a couple of years ago I would hand draw my seating charts.  Then I moved to making a computer template that I would print and fill in with student names.  Usually there has always been a lot of erasing as I methodically place the students in the best spot for them to learn, and then realize that so-and-so can't be next to them in that area.  This break, after being inspired by Ladybug's Teacher Files, I decided to try a digital seating chart.

In powerpoint I created a simple background template with the approx. size to fit my most favorite seating arrangement (I call it the huddle).  With my 32 students I fit 12 in the front row, and 20 in the second.  I love this for many reasons, but mainly because 12 kids get the front row and I can see all faces very easily.   

After the background shape, I made squares to fit the arrangement and added my student numbers.  The asterisks mark the girls.  I like to do a boy/girl pattern, it helps with the chattiness aspect in my classroom.  I then color coded the boxes with the different learning levels.  Red is IEP (1's), Orange is ADHD/504/approaching/keep a close eye (2's), Green is at grade level (3's), purple is advanced (4's). I like that I can easily switch colors as students move on up.  

I switch desks at the end of every month, and this really was easy to complete (and eraser free).  Since I use classroom numbers, I won't need to change the basic template for future months or years, just will need to move the boxes to find the new spots.  :)

What have you recently started to do on the computer that you used to only do by hand?   

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Desk Organizer {Freebie Signs}

I found the last red plastic spinner in the dollar spot in Target a couple of weeks ago and decided to turn it into a pen catcher on my school desk, keeping everything sorted.  This replaced 4 mugs with sorted pens...  I attached the little signs to the edges using binder clips at home, because my glue gun was at school.... guess what?  It's been sitting on my desk for days now and I never used the glue.  I did push back the inner metal hinge of the binder clip before filling with my markers, but I realized that for me, I want to be able to change this out when needed.  I may grow tired of these signs and change to something else...doubt it, but it may happen... Anyhow, it's working for me and I wanted to share the tags if you need something like this too.

2 versions, both the perfect size for a little container.  Hope it helps!  

Christmas at Home

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are having a fabulous break.  Goodness knows, we NEED it!  I wanted to share a few pictures of what my Christmas has consisted of so far... I love this time with my family.  

 My boys have kept me busy.  Hubby had to work a lot last week, so I had my boys help tackle all those before Christmas projects... We hosted the big family meal (which meant a lot of extra cleaning since my parents and inlaws would be coming over - ha ha), so to keep the boys busy I had them make the place cards and decorations for the table.  These little trees were wooden doll bodies that they painted in different shades of green, and then decorated with puffy paint.  I had these little star/snowflake stickers that they attached to toothpicks, and placed in the top hole of the tree.  All in all they were so cute and helped make our table festive.  

I had to go to the grocery store on Christmas Eve for fresh bread and ended up finding three of these five drawer units too.  It's a wonder what the grocery store carries... Now, my boys didn't know it at the time, but they were getting new "big kid" desks and I wanted everything organized... no more pencil boxes upon pencil boxes of art supplies.  I ended up taking rainbow color stickers to help them sort their supplies and they fit perfectly on the shelves of their new desks.  

My older boys have been using folding tables as desks for the past 2 school years, so between their excitement over a real desk, and my kindergartener's excitement over having a big boy desk - well it made for a happy, functional Christmas present.  

We hosted the big (both sides of the family) dinner on Christmas.  It's a family favorite to have Party Chicken so I wanted to share the recipe with you.  :)  It's a flattened chicken breast, with a chunk of swiss cheese and a piece of ham tucked in the middle... then rolled up within a slice of bacon, and held together with one or two toothpicks.  Yes, it was delicious... then the sauce is cream of mushroom with sour cream (equal parts), and optional to add a little cream of sherry.  Bake for 3 hours at 275...  We had this and lobster tails, Napa Cabbage Salad, Baked Mac and Cheese (since the kids aren't adventurous), and Roasted Green Beans.  So good...

Hope your holiday was fabulous!  

Stickers and Folders - They Help!

This week I was reflecting on the new things that have worked well this school year, those things that I use on a daily basis that didn't cost me any money.  Maybe they can help you too, or maybe you have done it for years and somehow I was the last to the party. :) 

STICKERS

At the beginning of the year I put stickers on all their name tags.  Just these four colors to divide them up into 4 basic teams.  These have made it so easy to have them easily split up for grouping.  

For example:

*Yellows find a blue... Reds find a green... (16 groups)

*Or all yellows head to corner #2 (4 groups)

*Or one of each color in a group (8 groups)

These aren't for everything, but when I want to mix them up and still give them a little choice about their partner/group, then it works well.  I waited until about the 3rd week of school before I added the stickers to the name tags, since I wanted to make sure I knew who I wanted to be in which color (making sure what students should be together vs. separate). 

FOLDERS

This year I also implemented these 3 folders.  Super easy... I usually have specific dates that things are due.  Reading logs are due on Thursday, Grammar and Spelling on Friday.  In the past I would always have things come in on the specific days and then I would be grading all weekend long...  This year I decided to let kids turn things in early.  By using these 3 folders it keeps it all organized.  Every morning the kids come in and get out their homework.  Their math stays on their desk to correct, but if they have any of these three done early they hand them to me directly so I can sort them immediately.   I'm usually standing by my desk during morning work/getting organized time as kids are bringing up their materials. By letting them turn it in early I know they won't lose their papers, and I'm able to start grading the early birds early on in the week.  This has really cut down on my end of the week grading.  

I'm sure you have other ah-ha moments to share!  I hope this helped you in some way.  :)