Flower Power

So today was our first planning day since school started! I plan with three grade levels one week on Tuesdays, for an extended 90-minute planning period. Then, I plan with the other three grade levels the next Tuesday. Today I met with third, fifth, and first grade.

We're getting started with our fiction study by really spending some time on character analysis. I'll have more on that in a few days! Excited to share some of the ideas we came up with!
To kick off our year on a positive note, I spent about an hour or two last night making 40 flower pens! I followed the directions Tanja from Journey of a Substitute Teacher wrote as a guest blogger on my blog two summers ago. They were easy to follow and the pens turned out so cute! You can find the directions here.

Each teacher walked away today with a pen, and I saved a few to cute-ify my room! Love these, and they took SOOOOO much less time than the Rolo Pencils I did last year!

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Letters to Misty: My Thoughts for a New Teacher

This year will be my eleventh year in education. After eleven years, you learn a lot, but you also realize how much there is that you just don't know. What's the best way to manage a classroom? My ideas on this change frequently. How can I structure my word study time to make it especially valuable? I'm always encountering something new to make this better.
At the end of each year, I think about what went well and what didn't go so well. And at the beginning of each year, I think, "This is it! This is going to be the BEST. YEAR. EVER!"
And sometimes it is. But sometimes it's a time of change and struggle to grow in.
When Misty from ThinkWonderTeach asked me to write a letter to her about my teaching experience, I sat and thought for a while. There are lots of things to write about - every minute is new in the classroom. So I thought and thought, and spent two hours on Pinterest searching for "new teacher advice" and this is what I came up with.
Misty, Good luck with all that. Sincerely, Ms. B
Kidding!
Here is my proper letter to Misty.

Dear Misty, You are so lucky! You can read this letter and learn from all of my mistakes! You can do it right the first time! All of the dumb things I did that I regret can be avoided by you. I hope so, because we can only have so many nutters wandering the streets after their retirement, babbling about pinterest and book studies.

Young(er) me, before teaching ruined me. Haha kidding. mostly.

This is me now. 

This is my nutter face. It happens when I'm so sleepy I no longer realize people can see me.

You are starting to teach in a time where we have a professional online community, full of 'words of wisdom', 'don't do what I did's, and helpful hints. The information of the world is accessible to us in our classrooms and homes. But this can be a double-edged sword. My first important thought is this: Don't Pinterest Yourself to Death. Pinterest is a great place to find a collection of ideas people have shared. Many people. Many different people. Not any one person does ALL of the things that have been collected on pinterest. Most people do a few of them a year; maybe even only one. Trying to do all the 'cute' things we see on pinterest will eventually result in a pineuriusm, or an aneurism caused by pinterest. Choose one or two things that will be helpful and try them. If they don't work out, remind yourself that you have years (many years. Many, many years) before you are able to retire to keep coming back to the classroom and try some more.

Pinterest should come with a warning label.

Of course, if you're wanting to throw yourself in pin first, check out my pinboards! I constantly pin things I will probably never do. Follow Me on Pinterest Be a Lover, not a Hater This one was a big one for me (it's probably not that big for you). When I started teaching, I had a plan! I was ready to start and had lots of ideas and knew how I wanted to do things. However, other people had lots of ideas, too. I had a way of listening to the ideas and thinking, "Not doing that. Boring." Sometimes, though, if I had taken the time to think through them a little more, I might have walked away with something great. So my advice is to listen to everyone first, before you decide what you think. And read, read, read about your profession, too. It's hard to know what you think if you haven't heard both sides (or all eight sides sometimes) of a discussion.
Don't Reinvent the Wheel I know that was cliche, but I'm trying to take my own advice. Why make up a new phrase when this old one does the job? And that's kind of what I'm getting at. When I started teaching, I spent hours on things that weren't really that important. I'd lay out a document for recording grades, when I could've spent a dollar at Target and bought a gradebook (not that the Target Dollar Spot existed in the olden times). I didn't like the paper guided reading format, so I created an electronic version. Just write on the darn paper. The charts I put up were messy, so I rewrote them. Who cares? Just write neater the first time around. Basically, don't waste your time on stuff that's not that important. Figure Out What's Important Not everything is. The really important thing is your kids. Their learning is important. Not how cute stuff is, not if your binder cover matches your calendar, not if your library check-out system is revolutionary, not if you get to teach about your favorite butterfly. Your kids and their learning is number one. Everything else is teacher stuff, not student stuff. So when you have a decision to make about how to spend your time, spend it on something that will directly impact your kids' learning. That might include lesson planning, preparing questions that will support quality thinking, teaching your kids necessary rituals and routines that will support their day-to-day learning, and mining your colleagues' brains for effective teaching tools to use with struggling readers. This actually leads me to my next (and, I think, last) point.

Source

Sometimes, you're allowed to say no. So when I started, I worked at a campus that was heavily involved in lots of professional organizations and had a lot of practiced teachers who knew what they were doing when it came to reading. This meant that they had been exposed to lots of great opportunities to participate in presenting at, attending events for, and serving those professional organizations. So I did, too. Here's the issue: when I was creating a newsletter for members of the PTO, voting yay or nay at a meeting, or spray-painting my nostrils shut while putting together decorations for a dinner event, I wasn't spending time working on learning that directly impacted my kids. I am NOT saying that you shouldn't be a part of a professional organization that will grow you as an educator! I AM saying that you can't be part of ALL the professional organizations that anyone asks you to join. It will make you crazy. As it did with me. After a few years of this craziness, saying 'yes' to every opportunity, I was nuts. I had to learn to say, "I don't think I'll be able to make that kind of a commitment at this point. I would love to help out, but unfortunately, I don't think it's in the cards this year."  After I got better at that, I started to have time for things like eating dinner, vacuuming, getting hair cuts, and going on dates. Those are all important things. So be selective. Choose an important cause that you really care about and feel like you will grow from. That's when you say yes; when it's going to support you. Not because you can't say no.

But don't say no ALL the time, because sometimes you make your best buddies when you're both spray-painting your nostrils closed together.

Be Part of the Team Make friends. My closest friends that I've made in the last eleven years have been made in the hallway, outside our classroom doors. You're going to spend a lot of time with these people; try to appreciate them and share yourself with them. Your team or colleagues can be the very thing that gets you through the most difficult days, when you receive that snotty note from a parent you've never met because they won't come to conferences, or when you don't know what else to do with your child who's still reading at a first grade level in the fourth grade, or when you forgot to enter all of your middle of year math benchmarks before you go out of town (and your buddy calls you and tells you she did it for you - true story). So cherish them.

 That doesn't always mean you have to dress up like a pineapple on Halloween so you can try to win the costume contest... but it might.

In closing, you are going to love this. Teaching is so special. People are trusting you with their little people. They send them to you and you will grow them and send them back. You will impact these little people, but you won't know when, how, or how much. They will go off and be part of the world, and you will have been a part of them. And they may remember you, and they may not remember you. And you may remember them, and you may not remember them. But it happened; they've been shaped by you somehow. Leave the mark you want to leave! Love what you do most of the time, and the rest of the time, like it.  And I'll leave you with the best advice my mentor teacher gave me: They're coming back tomorrow.  (So no matter what happens today, they'll be back and so will you!) God bless you in your teaching and give you the tools you need! Chrissy Pin It

Reader's Workshop MiniSeries: Episode Seven: Guided Reading* Freebie!

This is the last installment of my Reader's Workshop miniseries. Make sure you click over to my Reader's Workshop giveaway before you go - there are still a few days to enter! 

Guided Reading is frequently not part of an upper elementary reading program. I know many people do (and I would enjoy doing as well) literature circles or other small group reading activities. And with my highest group, above grade level, I do often use a literature circle or study format. However, many kids (I feel) need more explicit instruction in how to use the decoding and comprehension skills that have thus far eluded them. Guided Reading is an opportunity for this to happen.

Here are some tools & tips that might help you get your space started this year!

Space for Guided Reading

This is my guided reading area. I know I could do guided reading at the students' desks, in a group, or even on the carpet. But I find that, by having a dedicated space, I am more consistent with guided reading. If I'm making a space as I go, it'll happen when it happens. In addition to this, if it's important to you, make a space for it! That's the first step toward making it happen.

It also helps me be prepared: I have a special space and a special time for this crucial piece of reading instruction with all my tools here.

Keep their tools handy
I believe in keeping tools handy for kids. We're putting them in text that is a little more difficult than what they could do on their own. To help them learn to struggle and help themselves, I encourage them to use their tools. These are the tools I keep on the wall behind the table: A blends chart,  a vowel teams chart, a vowel-syllable types chart, and decoding strategies in a pocket chart

It's not pretty, but it serves its purpose! 

You can get the blends chart from Carl's Corner.

Also kept handy on the wall is the word wall of high-frequency words.

On the table, I keep Guided Reading Tools Folders. These are laminated folders with smaller versions of the above tools, accessible to kids in an easy way. Each student uses these to review the word patterns before guided reading by pointing to each one and verbalizing the letters and sounds.

Keep your tools handy

Behind my table, I have a bookshelf and a rolling cart full of tools for guided reading. It's the only way I'm prepared for teaching my lessons consistently!

On the bookshelf, I keep a storage drawer thing with stickers, white-out, erasers, etc. Each drawer is labeled so I know what's going on inside. In the basket to the right of the drawers are the student tool folders and dry-erase boards. In the vertical magazine holders, I keep the materials necessary for each group. This includes the upcoming lesson plan, running record form, and the books for the lesson.

The middle shelf has a hanging file divider that I use to keep track of documentation. Also on the middle shelf are basic tools like stapler, hole puncher, and tape dispenser. Reward pencils and erasers are there too.

The bottom shelf has two baskets. Each basket has materials for word work. In the left are word patterns such as blends and vowel team centers and in the right are sight word building activities.

On top of the rolling cart (which has many other shelves full of index cards, sentence strips, and magnetic letters & cookie sheets) is my carry-all for guided reading. It's easy to organize with smaller cups. I keep dry-erase markers, post-its, regular markers, highlighters, and my special guided reading pencils. 

Special guided reading pencils? YES! I figured this one out a few years ago. I purchase a ton of colorful pencils. These happen to have bees on them (of course). I buy a bunch of the same kind so I can replenish as we wear them down. 
This is why: I don't want to waste time with kids bringing their own pencil to the table, forgetting it, it's unsharpened, it breaks, it turns out it's not their pencil at all, etc.
I got sick of it and realized every minute counts. So, in order to help things roll seamlessly, I kept the guided reading pencils at the table. Kids come to the table, borrow a pencil for the time they spend at the table, and then leave it there when they go back to their seats. The best part is that, since my G.R. pencils are special and all the same, I can tell if one of the naughties stole one! And I can make them put it back.

Document and organize

I keep my documents organized in my Guided Reading binder.

To find out how I organize my binder and plan lessons, visit this post!

To help you get your Guided Reading ready & rolling, here's a freebie pack full of materials for Guided Reading! Grab it at TPT!

Check out the other "episodes" in the Reader's Workshop MiniSeries:

August 3: Scheduling Your Day! How to spend your time in Reader's Workshop

August 6: Classroom Libraries

August 8: Read Alouds

August 10: Shared Reading

August 13: Independent Reading & Reading Responses

August 15: Word Study

August 17: Guided Reading

And for my complete Rolling Out Guided Reading Pack, visit my TPT Store!

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Reader's Workshop MiniSeries: Episode 2: Classroom Libraries *Freebie!

Today is my second installment of my Reader's Workshop MiniSeries! Today I'm sharing about an important instructional tool: Classroom Libraries.

Not everyone gets a classroom library issued from the school. Even when you do, yours may look more like this than you would like it to.

So the responsibility for a great classroom library is often on the teacher. A well-organized library can help your kids make appropriate book choices.

Key Points
1. Less is more!  Well, not too much less. But when you're faced with having an enormous library full of books kids won't read, or a smaller library full of books kids will read, go for the latter. If there's too much in there, kids have to sort through the rubbish to get to the good stuff. And let's face it.... a lot of our kids don't have too much stamina for hunting through a crummy library! 2. Think Bookstore. I was taught this by my first Literacy Leader. She said that bookstores do things for reasons. (I know, duh. But wait! There's more!) They break up the monotony by placing books in different directions on the shelf and by putting some on display. This gives your eyes (and your kids' eyes) places to go. One easy way to do this is with book displays. Mine (in the picture above) came from a book set someone else purchased. It's durable cardboard, so I covered it with a glue gun and fabric.  Bookstands are also great for displaying books you want kids to notice:

You can get a simple one at Amazon for 2.49 each! 3. Organization.

I purchase baskets at the Dollar Store and put labels on each one. In my classroom, the library is divided into sections: Fiction and Nonfiction. I often separate the two into two different spaces. I had a student who called the Nonfiction section "The West Wing." lol I also differentiated the labels by color, putting Fiction on green and Nonfiction on yellow, so students could easily tell the difference. More popular baskets often include... -  Special authors, such as Lois Lowry, Barbara Park and Jerry Spinelli. - Series books such as The Magic Treehouse, Bailey School Kids, and A to Z Mysteries - Subjects such as school stories, holiday stories, and sports stories - Genres such as historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. 4. Teach and Track!
A library sign-out sheet is also important for keeping track of your books. It's easy for kids to toss books back willy-nilly if they've never been taught to take care of them and return them to a special place.  I set a special day as the "Grand Opening" for the library. On that day, I teach students how to find books and we chart out some possibilities, using the color-code system.  I have a "Return Basket" and a librarian. As students return books to the basket, they mark that they are returned in the Library Binder. In the morning, before school starts, or during breakfast, the librarian returns books to the appropriate place in the library. To help you get your Reader's Workshop ready & rolling, here's a seven-page Reader's Workshop Freebie Sampler from my Rolling Out Reader's Workshop!
Check out the other "episodes" in the Reader's Workshop MiniSeries:

August 3: Scheduling Your Day! How to spend your time in Reader's Workshop

August 6: Classroom Libraries

August 8: Read Alouds

August 10: Shared Reading

August 13: Independent Reading & Reading Responses

August 15: Word Study

August 17: Guided Reading

For my complete Reader's Workshop Pack, visit my TPT store!

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Reader's Workshop MiniSeries: Mark Your Calendar!

This summer, I spent a lot of time thinking about what tools would help a teacher new to teaching, or new to teaching reading. We're going to have several of these on our campus next year, and I know that reading can be overwhelming.   I don't know about anyone else, but when I think about reading, it almost seems like there are so many options, that I have a very hard time choosing what to focus on. It's true that you can only do a few things well and once we start to throw in everything, quality and consistency suffers. This is why I put together my Rolling Out Reader's Workshop Pack. To provide materials and tools that teachers can use to get their Reader's Workshop rolling.    Starting August 3rd, I'll be sharing Reader's Workshop ideas, sources, and pieces of my Rolling Out Reader's Workshop pack with you as freebies and tips.

August 3: Scheduling Your Day! How to spend your time in Reader's Workshop

August 6: Classroom Libraries

August 8: Read Alouds

August 10: Shared Reading

August 13: Independent Reading & Reading Responses

August 15: Word Study

August 17: Guided Reading

For my complete Reader's Workshop Pack, visit my TPT store!

And stay tuned for my Rolling Out Reader's Workshop Giveaway!

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Stick a fork in me! My Classroom is Ready!

Cause I'm done! Well, you know. "Done". Not DONE, like I won't have to change it but "done" like good enough for now.   Except that as I wrote that sentence, I thought of two two things I still have to do. Oops.   I took a bazillion pictures. As a blog reader, classroom organization and layout one of my favorite things to read about, so I tried to be thorough.   

This is the view from the door to the far corner. The large "U" (which I'm not super crazy about, actually) is for teachers to meet and plan. I'm toying with separating the tables, but I don't have enough chairs for four separate tables anyway, so for now, it's a U. 

My sink, with my fridge (so excited to have one) and my cute little birthday balloons on top!

This is the corner where business gets done. Or will get done. It's making me crazy that the printer is off-center, but that's the only way the cable will reach the jack! I may have to purchase a longer one, because every time I look at it, I cringe. 

The boxes (also cringe-worthy) are full of materials for my filing cabinets, but the drawers don't have racks to hold files. This means my files are still in limbo. That's one of the things I remembered I have to do!

This shelf holds planning materials for teachers and me. The binders are for the three grade levels I'm mostly responsible for planning with (third, fourth, and fifth). I have the first nine weeks of curriculum printed, the state assessment released questions and tested items, planning documents, and some other miscellaneous planning materials. The tubs say "Teacher Materials" and they're full of materials for planning and making samples. Markers, post-its, etc.

More blank bulletin board space and the scanner for scanning benchmark assessments. Still not hooked up! I don't know what I'll do on the spaces. Maybe some assessment information, so teachers can see how their kids are doing? What does your literacy lead have?

Back wall of the room. I just noticed two things. That's a double-cringe. *cringe cringe* 

One is that my student made book basket (on the floor next to the brown shelf) is awfully messy. I think I just crammed them all in there! So I need to straighten them out a bit. Two is that I forgot my basket o'cords on the floor under the computer table. LOL! That's getting shoved in the closet on Monday!

My mini-library and part of the word wall. I used the word wall letters from my bee themed classroom set, and the library labels, too. I added a few of specific series books I had.

Zoom in.

My featured back-to-school books on top, and nonfiction baskets below.

Cozy.

This is my guided reading space. I'm going to borrow small groups of kids, and I'd like to model strategies and structure of guided reading here for teachers as well. I left a space to add a reading strategies chart once I start working with kids On the back wall are decoding tools and strategies.

Here's my teacher tools. On the bottom are word work games and activities and the top is organized for groups. I also have dry erase boards and supplies.

From the other side, my student space.

This space is for teachers to check out picture books for their classes. I placed my favorite read-alouds for the beginning of the year in the basket on top.

This shelf holds teacher resources. I organized them into resources for reading, writing, thinking maps, old school data, and lots of English Language Learner resources. On the bulletin board, I made some sample reader's workshop charts that teachers might want to use with their kids to start reader's workshop and independent reading.

Who's Responsible During Reader's Workshop chart

I-PICK to choose books

What is reading chart

Independent Reading Expectations

The whole teacher tools section

Cozy window!

On the opposite side from the picture books, I have chapter book sets that teachers can check out for shared reading. On the wall is a list of the titles I have available. I love my owl rug, but I'd kill for a bee! Haven't found one (cheap enough) yet!

More chapter book sets!

The front of the room. I really wish I'd done yellow paper instead of white, but I had planned on using a different border and it didn't work out. I kind of hate the little projector cart. I want to put a pretty fabric skirt on it, but I haven't done it yet. Obviously.

From the part of the room opposite the door. Teacher workspace.

Calendars and important upcoming dates for district and campus. I'd like people to know where I am when I'm not in my room in case they need something.

I'm pretty darn happy with it! Especially considering this is how it all began:

Ack!

Aaargh!

Waaaah!

So... what does your literacy leader/instructional specialist/ whatever they call my position at your school do or have? I'd love ideas on how to make my room more useful for teachers. 

I think that's my job now.

I'm linking up! I couldn't help but link up to every single classroom linky party because I love classrooms so very much. You should link up too, so I can see what your classroom looks like!

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