back to school Archives - Ideas by Jivey

Five For Friday!

August 16, 2014

Happy Friday! Whew, what a week!! You with me?? Here’s what I was up to this week…

I’ve been working on getting all of our workshops set up and rolling! I got this goodie during the TPT B2S sale – I have been using Math Workshop for several years, but I loved that this had foldables to go with my set-up!

We also started working on building our reading stamina this week. My kids are up to 13 minutes! :o)

Freebie Reading Stamina Poster with Ideas by Jivey

Launching Reading Workshop with Ideas by Jivey

You can grab this freebie poster here! It’s also included in my Launching Reading Workshop Pack!

I always start Writing Workshop by having the students collect some good seed ideas. I found a book that I used to use in 3rd grade (…that I had totally forgotten about!!! Do you do that, too?) and the kids loved it!

Collecting good seed ideas with Ideas by Jivey

It is seriously the cutest book! Click here to buy it on Amazon!

I had my students make 12 boxes in their notebook, and after reading each page, I had the students write down a time they felt the same way as the girl!

These will make great stories later! :o)

I was actually able to get in a few mini-lessons this week! One of them excited my kids SO very much. I like to show Pixar short films in reading for comprehension strategies… after all… they are just visual stories! We watched Partly Cloudy and used Lovin Lit’s awesome summarizing flapbook from her Interactive Reading Literature Notebook to practice “Who, Wanted, But, So, Then.”

Lovin Lit's flapbook from her Interactive Reading Literature Notebook with Ideas by Jivey

I was a good kid when I was in school (no, really!), but the only thing I ever got in trouble for was talking… I think sometimes my classes are my payback for that. 😛

I’ll leave you with this little funny. I certainly have a couple of these kiddos this year…! :o)

Uncategorized

Math Mentor Text – How Much Is a Million?

August 11, 2013

Happy Sunday! I hope you’ve had a great weekend! I spent my day today cleaning house. ICK! But with all the back to school hubbub, my house definitely got neglected.

I’m linking up with those cuties, Amanda and Stacia, to share a book and idea I use with Number Sense!

Place Value and Number Sense just don’t come easily to some students. At ALL. I think part of the problem is that they don’t know how to “see” the numbers. A book like How Much Is a Million? can help with that!

An attempt to help children conceptualize the immensity of numbers is aided immeasurably by the artist’s jovial, detailed, whimsical illustrations. Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician demonstrates the meaning of a million by showing his four young friends (plus two cats, a dog, and a unicorn) that it would take twenty-three days to even count to a million and that a goldfish bowl large enough to hold a million goldfish could hold a whale. Seven pages are printed with tiny white stars on a grid pattern against a blue sky — adding up to only one hundred thousand stars! And after that, a billion and a trillion are discussed, all with equally or even more outstanding examples; a trillion children standing on each other’s shoulders would almost reach to the rings of Saturn. The author concludes with several pages of the mathematical calculations which support his examples, very clearly and humorously explained. An unusual idea, smoothly and amusingly presented.

To get an idea of how my students see numbers, on Friday I gave them a quick formative assessment. (Formative assessment is just a fancy way to say “pre-test.” It’s a great tool to use to see what the students already know, and to differentiate! I like to use them to make my math groups for Math Workshop!) They had 5 minutes to put as much as they could on the paper. Here are two examples:

This student seems to have a fairly good grasp on how to MAKE 1,000. (Except for the 999+1=10… I think he just left off the other two zeros.) It still doesn’t really show me what he “sees” though.

This student is showing me he doesn’t have a good grasp on 1,000 because he thought he could draw 250 4-legged animals in 5 minutes…

If you’d like to give your students this quick formative assessment, you can grab the freebie here! In the directions I say to give them 10-15 minutes. We only had about 5 minutes left to do it Friday because we’re still getting used to our schedule. 😛 It’s really up to you, though, honestly! It’s very open-ended, and just a way for you to observe their thinking. :o)

This formative assessment is also found in my Common Core Aligned Place Value Unit and my Numbers and Operations Bundle if you’d like to see more ideas to teach number sense and place value! :o)

Make sure to visit Collaboration Cuties‘ post today to see all the other great Math books that are linked up!

Uncategorized

Five For Friday – First Week Back To School!

August 9, 2013

Whew!! What is it about the first week? I am SO TIRED. I can’t even describe to you the feeling, but if you are a teacher reading this, you know. I don’t have to try. I am soooo glad it’s Friday! Time to share my week with the Doodlebugs Linky!

Wednesday was our first day. I like to do a lot of procedures, team/community building, and just FUN STUFF on the first day- no routine really the first day. I did this activity last year, and had to do it again this year. It’s a great way to show the kiddos why I differentiate in the classroom…but also for them to share something about themselves with the class, and it ends up being pretty funny!

I have the students think of a time they got hurt in their life, and share it with the class… but no matter where they got hurt, or to what extreme, I give them a band-aid on their elbow.

“I flipped over my handlebars and scraped up my face.”

“Oh no! You’re face? That’s terrible! Well, let me see your elbow!” {apply band-aid}

By the 8th person, they were all laughing, saying, “let me see your elbow” with me, even though they had no clue why. 🙂 It was good that they all said it WITH me, because it will drive the point home later…

After everyone had a band-aid, I asked the students who had a “boo-boo” that the band-aid would have actually helped to come up to the front of the room. The 5 you see in the picture came up. I asked the class if the band-aid I gave the others helped. Of course, they said no. So then I asked, well what if I gave everyone the same activity to do, even if they didn’t need the practice, or the help? They said that wouldn’t be good!! I told them if they asked me why so-and-so was doing this activity but they had to do that activity, I would tell them to let me see their elbow. 🙂 I think they totally got it!

I like to have my students help establish my class rules and norms. To prepare them for this, one of the books I read is Do Unto Otters. I read this to them yesterday.

It’s also on BookFlix which is really fun, but I forgot until after I read it. 🙁 Anyways, we talk about “the golden rule” and what it means after reading it, and then they tell me ways we can “do unto others.”

I follow it the next day (today) with the book, The Golden Rule. This is a really neat book that shares the golden rule in various religions and cultures. My school is VERY diverse, so it’s a great way to also talk about how there are lots of differences in our room, but that doesn’t mean we can’t believe the same thing.

From here, we create our class norms. I encourage them to think about what they want their classroom to be- the climate and community more than the “rules.” I haven’t finished creating our poster, so I’ll have to share it another day, but they did a great job coming up with their norms!

Another activity we did today was called, “Save Fred!” Click the link to see the “long version.” The short version: students must get a gummy lifesaver from under a cup and put it around a gummy worm without touching the worm or the gummy saver with their fingers. They may only use 4 paper clips (and mine were in groups of 4, so each person had one). The “cup” is the worm’s boat that has been knocked over by a big gust of wind- so the desk is the “sea” and Fred the Worm cannot fall into the sea more than once or he drowns. They had a lot of fun!! My class wasn’t as successful as other classes- only 3 of my 6 groups were able to do it… and now I can tell you who will NEVER work together in a group again! LOL!!

Just as promised in this post, my first hall display is super cute!! I bought some over-sized glasses at the dollar store and took pictures of my kids in them, starting on Meet Your Teacher Day (last Friday) and then I got the rest the first day. The students set goals for themselves for their 4th grade year and wrote them on the sunglasses, then cut out the blank side and put their picture behind it. 🙂

They had a lot of fun with it!

Soooo #5 is your freebie! 🙂 Grab the sunglasses activity for free! I made it for 2nd-6th grade! 🙂 Please be kind and leave feedback! Thank you!!

Everyone enjoy your weekend!! 🙂

Uncategorized

10 Things I’ve Learned From Teaching…

July 23, 2013

There are so many things I’ve learned from teaching, honestly. I’m going to start with what I think should truly be #1, and then the others will come in no particular order of importance. 🙂

#1 – Do what you KNOW is best for your students. I know this sounds like a “duh,” but you’d be surprised at how easy it is to get caught up in what everyone else on your grade level is doing (or on a blog, or on TPT), but might not be right for your own kids. You are the expert in your classroom!! Sometimes, I just have to tell myself, “shut the door and teach.”

#2 – Humor is a great teaching strategy. Example: When I taught first grade, it never failed… someone spelled “put” like “foot” because they rhyme. All I had to do was tell them we don’t “poot” on our papers, and they never misspelled it again! And they laughed and laughed and laughed. 🙂 On that note… Kids will be kids. They think words like, “but” and “nuts” are funny (even when you aren’t talking about a butt or… well you get it). They think it’s hilarious if you have to spell something that has a double-p or a double-t aloud. Just roll your eyes and keep moving along!

#3 – The students who make you want to pull your hair out are the ones you just have to remind yourself to love. Every day. Maybe every minute. 😛 When we got in this profession, we knew we would not get to “choose” our students. We agreed to love any and all students that walk in that door. But a reminder never hurts. Time-out in another room doesn’t either.

#4 – Classroom Management Is Key. That would be the title of my book if I ever wrote one. Setting expectations on DAY ONE and staying consistent all year is so important. And sadly, we were never “taught” this in our college classes. In fact, there are a lot of things I wish they’d teach us, but then again, I guess the only way to learn those things are with experience! But I think one thing they SHOULD teach us when it comes to classroom management is that the best plans are ones that don’t just punish for negative behaviors. This was how I started my plan when I first started teaching, and I noticed I was only ever saying names for bad behaviors. My mentor swooped in and told me, “kids are looking for attention. They don’t care if it’s positive or negative! Rewarding students for the positive, though, will make those kids who generally receive negative think twice about their behavior.” I changed my management plan right then and never looked back. Will you still have “those kids?” Of course. But I AM A HAPPIER TEACHER because I look for the good instead of the bad!!

#5 – Parents can make or break your school year. Get them on your side!! I like to follow the compliment sandwich rule in conferences – (positive) (concern) (positive). I also like to send something home in the first week of school praising something their child did that week!

#6 – Pick your battles. Some things you are very passionate about just aren’t valuable to others. Don’t let that devalue you, though. Keep doing what you know is right and only “fight” for what you feel is absolutely the most important.

#7 – Be realistic about grading. I can’t tell you how many times a week I carry my school bag home full of papers, and there it sits on the floor until I walk out with it again the next morning. I do a lot of work at home, don’t get me wrong. But you know when you just aren’t in the mood. Save your back some strain. Or even better- grade one stack before you leave school. You feel good that you accomplished something, and you can leave the rest!

#8 – Vent. No one likes a constant complainer, I know. But if you keep all of it bottled up, it makes a not-very-nice teacher. Find someone who will listen, and who will vent back. But just remember, that can’t be the only conversation you have! Share positive stories, too!

#9 – Don’t reinvent the wheel. There are SO MANY great resources out there, some free, and some not. Don’t spend every waking minute creating or thinking up lesson ideas. I’m not saying don’t ever create. I’m saying, COLLABORATE. There are many ways to do this. With your grade level of course, but also through the online teacher community! I’m a part of several great online Facebook groups for teachers, and of course…. BLOGS! I have gotten some of my best lessons from teachers who share their ideas on blogs. Just be sure when you enter these communities, you are willing to share ideas too, and not just take from others.

#10 – Maybe this last tip should be tied with #1 actually, because it’s pretty darn important. Make learning FUN. You know the feeling of sitting in an inservice, totally bored because the presenter reads every slide, never lets you talk or get up and move around… don’t do that to your kids!! Let the kids TALK and SHARE with each other. That’s actually proven to be the best way for students to learn! A quiet room is a boring room. And make them move! Those kids who never want to stay still will thank you.

I hope you were able to learn and reflect on these tips- or maybe they were just good reminders to you as you prepare for your next school year!

Uncategorized

Favorite Pins Embedded Into My Staff Development Session!

July 19, 2013

Those of you that have kept up with me this week know that I led staff development at our county’s awesome Summer Literacy Institute. We had some excellent keynote speakers each morning- you can check out some things I took away from them here if you missed it.

I wanted to share some things with you from my session! Obviously, it won’t be quite the same as sitting in the two-hour session, but there were some really great things that I still think you’ll “get” without being there in person. :o) And ironically, guess where these ideas came from…….? PINTEREST. Of course.

So I’m linking up with The First Grade Parade!

I led this session with a great partner! The session was about how to use content-related extended texts in the classroom. For those unfamiliar with extended texts, here is the explanation straight from PARCC (which is who will be making my state’s assessments…): “This should be an extended, full-length work of literature (such as a novel or a play) or longer informational text, depending on the focus of the module. Like the others, this text would be aligned with the complexity and range specifications of the standards. As with shorter texts, students would perform a close, analytic reading of the extended text; compare and synthesize ideas from across other related texts; conduct text-focused discussions; and produce written work aligned with the standards. (Such a study could take around two to three weeks of concentrated focus on a single text.)”

In other words, for grades 3-5, it is a chapter book with appropriate text complexity that takes about 2-3 weeks to really “dive deep” into through close reading, A LOT of discussion that involves synthesizing and analyzing, comparisons with other texts and media, and writing. Basically, what we have always done for our good mentor texts, we are now stretching into much longer texts.

The BEST thing about using extended texts, in my opinion, is that you can cover ALL the reading standards through one book, and tie it in with your Science/Social Studies curriculum. Last year, I used an extended text at the end of each quarter to get a true feel for what my students really “knew.” Another great thing is, these are books you are reading aloud with your students, so you are able to choose books that are higher than what some would be able to do in guided reading group.

This leads to my pins. :o) Before we could really get into using extended texts, there were some other things we had to cover first! One being, text complexity. I found this great graphic which I thought did a great job “representing” text complexity. (Remember, click on the image to be taken to the pin!)

We had our participants create their own metaphors of why the reader and task was represented by the graham crackers, the marshmallow was qualitative and the chocolate was quantitative. We got some really great answers! The graham crackers are the reader and task because they are the foundation; they hold everything in. Without the graham crackers, you’d have a mess; it would fall apart. The marshmallow is very “fluffy” and represents all those immeasurable things because it changes shape. And the chocolate was quantitative because it’s more solid than the marshmallow. It also fits perfectly with the reader and task (it’s the same shape as the graham crackers).

Genius, right?!?

Ok, moving on. The next thing we discussed was text-dependent questions. It’s very important during discussions that students are staying “in” the text. To do this, teachers should be asking text-dependent questions. I don’t really feel like this is something we haven’t been doing. We’ve been training our kids for YEARS to “go back and find the answer.” But here is a neat pin I found that aligns the text-dependent questions to the Common Core Standards:

Remember a while back, I got the book, Pathways to the Common Core? That was to prepare for presenting this session. Lucy Caulkins really pushes the fact that we have to move students away from making “connections” in their answers and really “proving” the answer using the text. Common Core is ALL ABOUT providing evidence to support your answer. So here is a great anchor chart:

I’m going to create this anchor chart with my students as we read some of my favorite mentor texts. Then, I will turn OUR answers into bookmarks for them. I will post those as a freebie once they’re made (probably mid-end of August)!

Thanks for hanging with me through this long post! :o) I hope it was informative and you were able to get some ideas for your new school year. I’ll be back in another post soon to share the lesson ideas and activities for some extended texts!

Happy Friday everyone!

Uncategorized

Linky Parties, Freebies, July’s Workshop Wednesday, and Last Day of Giveaway!

June 30, 2013

Happy Sunday!! I am so excited to link up with Collaboration Cuties for BACK TO SCHOOL Mentor Texts, as well as Kristin at iTeach 1:1 for Tune into Technology (which I’m late for…)!

Like Stacia, I can’t narrow my favorites to just one. It’s almost impossible really. 😛

The first book I want to share with you is Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. If you’ve never read this book, take it from me, read it to yourself FIRST before reading it aloud to the class. A few years ago, someone told me it was a must-read book, so I borrowed it from a teammate and read it to my class. I almost could not finish the book I was crying so hard. My kiddos of course were very sweet and loving and some of them even shed a tear or two. But perhaps if I had read it first, I wouldn’t have been such a blubbering mess! 😛 It definitely made an impression on my kids… the next year, they had our reading specialist read the book to them as part of her mini-lesson, and she had some of my previous year’s kiddos. They piped up when she started and said, “oh! This is the book that makes Ms. Ivey cry!!” Ha!!

Anyway, if you haven’t read the book, it is a story from the author’s childhood. Patricia Polacco has dyslexia and had a very hard time learning to read. In this story, Trisha is excited to learn to read thanks to her grandmother, but when she struggles and the kids call her a dummy, she starts to believe it herself. Her fifth grade teacher, Mr. Falker, changes all of that. He sees her gifts and helps her believe in herself.

And if you don’t think you can make it through the story without blubbering like I did, you can have your students watch the story read to them on Storyline Online! Have you heard of this site before? It is awesome! Actors read some of our favorite picture books aloud!

There are several of my favorites on this site, including one that Stacia featured- Enemy Pie, and also my next favorite book to read during the first week of school: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox.

This story is the sweetest! A little boy, Wilfrid, lives near a retirement home and likes to go visit. He keeps hearing people say Ms. Nancy has lost her memory. He doesn’t understand what that means so he starts asking. People describe memory as a metaphor, so he brings things he thinks are memories based on their descriptions, like a puppet for something that makes you laugh… which reminds her of the one she owned that she used to entertain her sister… all of the things he brings actually does bring back her memory. 🙂

This is the first book I read to start Writer’s Workshop! We use it get seed ideas, and to introduce ourselves to each other. Here are some freebies for you to use with your own kiddos. 🙂 Click here or either of the images below to download them. Once again, Google has discolored the clip art, but I promise it doesn’t look like that when you download!

Speaking of Writer’s Workshop…
July will have a new Workshop Wednesday topic!

(Thank you to Amanda for helping me in my brainstorm.) 😉

July’s Workshop Wednesday topic is:

TOOLS for preparation of our workshops!

This might be resource books you are reading this summer. It might be the way you set up your rotations. It might be the way you set up notebooks. Possibilities are endless really, but we want to focus on that “before the start” step of Workshop models rather than “the start” with students.

Just like June’s Workshop Wednesday, you can link up any time in July! You can link up every week if you want… I will be posting every Wednesday, but you don’t have to! Workshop Wednesday will return to its weekly routine in August!

Don’t forget to enter my bloglovin’ giveaway! Today is the last day!!! I will be picking 3 WINNERS– there will be one GRAND PRIZE winner who receives JIVEY’S BIG BOX OF FREE STUFF plus their choice of ANY UNIT FROM MY TPT STORE! What’s in the box?? You’ll have to wait and see! But I can promise you, it’s some of my favorite things! The other two winners will also get to choose ANY UNIT FROM MY TPT STORE!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Five For Friday!

Math Mentor Text – How Much Is a Million?

Five For Friday – First Week Back To School!

10 Things I’ve Learned From Teaching…

Favorite Pins Embedded Into My Staff Development Session!

Linky Parties, Freebies, July’s Workshop Wednesday, and Last Day of Giveaway!

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram