Brainstorming

The first 5 weeks of school have been really busy for me. It's that time of the year in which you get to know your students, learn how to deal with time management and try to get a flow working in the classroom. Now that things are starting to settle down, I will be blogging more with ideas. I have several new posts that I want to blog about! Check out my blog soon for more posts!

Great First Week!

My students and I had a great first week! The first week consisted of three days which I absolutely love because it isn't too long or too short. It's a time to get to know the students better and assess the reading/math levels.

On Friday, I introduced the Clickers to my class. They were thrilled! They thought it was so cool to answer each question and see if they got the answer correct. On Monday, I did a small pre-assessment on the weekly vocabulary words. It was a great way to see which words I needed to focus on and which to just discuss.

If you have access to Clickers and a Smartboard, I highly encourage you to do so! It is a wonderful pre-assessment and post-assessment tool to see if they are on-track for your instructional goals.

I'm ready!

The first day of school is tomorrow and I think I am ready! I met 15 out of 19 of my second graders last night during Back to School Night. I am looking forward to a great year!

Small Group Chart

Each day during reading instruction, students will rotate through 3 different stations: teacher mini-lesson, seat work, and reading/language arts center/station activity or working with words. Every day, each student can look at their schedule via the pocket charts. The groups will be based on their reading ability/skill level so that differentiation is possible.

Progress!

Today I got a LOT accomplished! Despite challenges getting in and out of my classroom, I think a considerable amount is finished. I was VERY happy to come into my classroom to see that my carpet was cleaned and that my Smartboard was mounted on the wall! The projector will be mounted to the ceiling once the correct mounting equipment is found. It will really make a difference with space!

Working in my classroom

I haven't been posting as much as I would like. Right now, as most of you teachers are doing, I am in the midst of getting my classroom ready for another group of awesome second graders! Tomorrow and Thursday, I'll be working in my classroom and meeting with my co-teacher to go over the new reading curriculum. On Friday, Teacher Inservice begins and Back to School Night is Monday. Our first day of school will be August 18th. I am posting a few pics, but will post more possibly pics of my complete classroom tomorrow evening!

These pics are still a work in progress!

Fun Songs

I have mentioned this website before, but I want to post it again with the Youtube link. If you teach preschool, Kindergarten or first grade, this is a wealth of songs for the alphabet!

Go to:

http://www.youtube.com/user/havefunteaching#p/u/13/36IBDpTRVNE

My own children who are in Kindergarten and first grade this year was mesmerized by it and it's a great way to practice those phonics sounds!

Goals

Each year, I try to do something different. This year I am trying to differentiate more and am going to focus with my reading instruction. We have a new reading curriculum called "Treasures" and they highly suggest small group instruction daily. This will be a change because normally I teach whole-group most of the week (minus leveled reader days).

Differentiation and using Senteo clickers with the Smartboard are my goals for the new school year. I am looking forward to getting them and creating quizzes for about every subject.

(Senteo clickers are given to students. They select the correct answer to each question displayed on the Smartboard. It can record how they did and how many children scored correctly/incorrectly on any given answer. This is great for review for a chapter test!)

If you have not made a goal(s) for the year, I highly suggest it!

The Daily Five

I am ordering this book. I have heard lots of wonderful comments about this educational strategy for teaching reading/language arts instruction.

To learn more about this, check out their website:

http://www.thedailyfive.com

Smartboard Resources

I use these websites often for ready-made Smartboard lessons:

http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/howto/smartboard/lessons.htm



http://www.longwood.k12.ny.us/longsmart_elem.html



http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-us/Ed+Resource/Lesson+activities/Notebook+activities/

Great resource

I belong to a second grade email group through Teachers.net. Each month, the website has a newsletter with articles, ideas, lessons, photos, etc.

Check it out:

http://teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/august-2010/

Starting to see some progress...

Last week, I started the job of getting my classroom ready for the new school year. I have a lot to go, however, I did make some progress! I will post more pics when more progress has been made.

Great Deals

Today, while I was shopping for school supplies for my own children, I stumbled upon a few great teacher deals. Check out Target dollar bins at the front of the store. I found red pocket charts for $1 each and I also found a teacher grade book for $1. I am all about saving money! Target also had a few other teacher goodies there as well. Here is a pic of all that I bought for a grand total of $4!

Word Walls

Do you use word walls in your classroom? I am creating a word wall this year. I have a long bulletin board that I will use.

Here are a few websites that explain word walls:

http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/word_walls/words.html

http://www.teachingfirst.net/wordwallact.htm

http://www.teachnet.com/lesson/langarts/wordwall062599.html

Video About Organizing Your Classroom Library

Check out this video! Amazing!

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/video.jsp?pID=1740031591&bcpid=1740031591&bctid=43601098001

Teaching with Songs

I like to incorporate music with my teaching. It really helps students to memorize facts. Check out this website!

http://www.havefunteaching.com/songs/

Spelling City

If you haven't used this website with a Smartboard, I STRONGLY advise it! It's a free program and you type in the weekly Spelling Words. Students can play games, practice and test all on the same website! They also can access it from home!

Go to:

http://www.spellingcity.com

Wonderful resources

I stumbled upon this website today which is a great resource if you have a theme in your classroom. The theme printables are free!

http://teachfactory.com/?page_id=31

Also, if you are a second grade teacher who would like to join a community of educators who teach the same grade, check out:

http://secondgradeclub.ning.com/

Class Websites

Do you have a class website for your students? I had a very simple website a few years ago and it became neglected and I trashed it. Last week, I joined TeacherWeb and for a low, yearly cost, I now have an easy website where parents and students can access all the necessary information from home. It will be handy when they lose their Spelling/Vocabulary/Bible Verse list (happens to most sometime!) and they can access and print them from the website. I will also be posting our weekly newsletter, calendar, and other information that will help parents.

If you have a class website, post a comment. I would love to see your website!

Here is mine (it's still under construction, but you can access what I have finished):

http://teacherweb.com/OH/CincinnatiChristianElementarySchool/MrsSchmidtsShiningStars/apt1.aspx

Organization

How do you organize?

I organize my library with book bins and tubs. This year, I am going to group the books by Accelerated Reader levels.

I keep all teacher resource books on a tall teacher shelf behind my desk. I try to keep them categorized by subjects.

For lesson planning, I created a Microsoft Word template that I use and then print out. It saves time and money than the old teacher lesson planner book.

I am trying to get a great organizational system for differentiation and our new reading curriculum.

As I was checking out http://proteacher.net I found a wealth of resources including this teacher's website on organizing students' work.

Check it out!

http://www.vickymoore2.com/for.cfm?subpage=408445

Differentiation

Each week, I will feature a way to differentiate your student's learning. This year in our staff meetings, we have learned lots of strategies to do this. My new Reading curriculum has been set up specifically for differentiation so I am very excited to do that!

What is differentiation? That is teaching to your students where they are. Not all students will be gifted, therefore, it's best to plan different instruction/activities based on what they know what they can do. If you homeschool, you do this often.

You may already differentiate! If you have literature circles, reading groups, and enrichment/remedial centers, you have differentiated!

Below, you will find some excellent websites to get you started!

http://www.differentiatedinstruction.com

http://www.learnerslink.com/curriculum.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJMkcL6Do0Q

The Smartboard

Most teachers have Smartboards in their classroom or have access to one somewhere in their school. I was so excited to be the first teacher in my school to have one. (I'm one of the technologically advanced teachers on staff.) My co-teacher and I saw them in another second grade classroom and knew we just HAD to have them!

For those of you who haven't seen a Smartboard, I'll explain what it does. The smartboard is like a whiteboard, but is electronic and highly interactive. It is connected to a computer in the classroom where the teacher has created lessons through a software program or goes online and finds lessons, games, websites.

A student goes up the Smartboard and moves objects around, or clicks on the right answer or writes using the special markers on the ledge. The possibilities are endless AND you can watch movies on it as well! It's like having a big screen tv, manipulatives, posters, games, and charts all in one!

I'll be posting Smartboard resources once a week. If you have any questions, I am here and will help you as best as I can. I am not an expert in any way, but am very familiar with them.

Need a Mommy break?

Here are a few things that my children enjoy AND keeps them busy for a little while:

*Give them a paintbrush and a bucket/cup of water and paint the house, fence, swingset

*Spray paint rocks with gold spray paint and hide them throughout the yard and have your children go on a treasure hunt

*Give your child a piece of sidewalk chalk and have them write their spelling words, high frequency words or vocabulary words on the driveway

*Take a ball of yarn and your children (or you) create a maze in the backyard. Take turns complete and unraveling the yarn maze

*On hot days, give them spray bottles and squirt themselves with water or they can help you water the flowers (You can get them for less than a dollar at Walmart)

*Keep all leftover craft supplies in a tub and let your child create their own animal/creature with some of the leftover supplies.

Need specific coloring pages?

Go to:

http://www.coloringbookfun.com

http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages

http://www.dltk-kids.com/coloring.htm

Homeschool Resources

http://www.donnayoung.org

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com

http://www.letshomeschool.com

http://www.homeschoolingadventures.com/worksheets.html

http://www.home-school.com/

http://www.homeschoolcentral.com

Helpful Websites

Here are a few of my favorite teacher websites:

http://schooldays.top-site-list.com/

http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/2nd/websites.htm

http://www.teachers.net

http://www.sitesforteachers.com/

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/

http://www.allteacherwebsites.com

Back to School Decorating

It is now time to start ordering for the new school year. I like to order the majority of my Back to School items since the closest teacher store is about 20 minutes away. I have taken advantage of Really Good Stuff. It's a fabulous online teacher store that has about everything you need for your classroom! This year I used the EZ Pay Program in which it splits your order into 3 smaller payments spread out for 3 months. This is great for the teacher on a budget!

I also ordered from Oriental Trading Company. I order from this online/catalog company throughout the year for our Egypt unit, holidays, and craft ideas.

Don't forget to check out Staples and Office Depot who host Teacher Appreciation Breakfasts and give away free stuff when you visit as well as having sales in which you can get glue or crayons/folders for a cent each!

These fabulous websites are:

http://www.reallygoodstuff.com
http://www.orientaltrading.com
http://www.officedepot.com
http://www.dollardays.com

I am also trying to decide my layout for the new school year. I have posted last year's design and decor. If you would like to share your new classroom layout with photos, feel free to drop me a comment and I will send you my email address!

Classroom Layout

Welcome!

This blog is designed for teachers and for parents who are looking for resources, tips, ideas on teaching and parenting your child from birth - the elementary years. Feel free to invite others to my blog. I will update the blog several times a week with tips, advice, and on-line websites that will help you educate your children/students. If you have a blog, you can bookmark my blog from your site. Please feel free to comment on any posts that have helped you!