Tattle Box

This post was here, and now it is gone.  The only thing left was the comments, title, and labels.  How strange is that?  I was writing about my tattle box.  I have one in the classroom so the kids can write down all their tattles.   Basically in all my ramblings, I said that this is the best way to keep the kids from interrupting the class for tattling and have them practice writing all while feeling like they are still being heard.  Here's a picture of my tattle box.

The kids each have a pad of paper in their desks so they can write down what they need to tattle about.  They are only allowed to put tattles in the box when we line up.  The box is conveniently located on a shelf just by the door.

If anyone has the original post in an email, please let me know!  I will repost.  I can not remember all of my witty remarks from the first time around.  

Valentine's Day!

For the Halloween party I served the food too soon.  For the Winter party we had too many tasks to accomplish them all.  I think now I have it figured out.  One project, one Valentine's work book, and food served the last 15 minutes of the party.  I only let 5 kids pass out cards at a time, so it worked well.  I actually came through with my maze idea!  I love when I think of something and I actually do it.

The kids LOVED them - a lot more then I thought they would.

Their project was to make a book for their parents (or grandparents, or aunts, or uncles, whomever they preferred)  The front title was "I Love You"  by: Student Name.

The book had between 2 and 6 pages.  Each page said "I love you because..." and then they finished the sentence.

Normally I would have had them do more on their own, but I just did a sentence starter so we could get it done in the amount of time allotted and it would still be cute.

One of my little girls made this adorable valentine box for me to collect all my valentine's in.

Oh, and on a Teacher of the Year note... our amazing custodian put up my pole for me so I have a designated parking spot.  So excited :-)

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Tornadoes and Teacher of the Year!

This morning we had a gathering and I was awarded Teacher of the Year!  I'm so amazed and humbled!  I have awesome colleagues, so to know that they think I am great is just the best feeling.

We also had a short day for the kiddos and the teachers were off to Professional Development.  We have been learning about storms all week so today we focused on tornadoes and made some tornadoes with our big buddies (a third grade class down the hall).  The students thought this was the best!  It's so easy too.  I bought a case of the cheap bottled water (since you have to fill the bottles with water anyway...).  I tore the labels off and gave one bottle to each student.  We put in a few squirts of dish soap and some glitter.  I found the best idea for adding the glitter - just wet a pencil in water, stick it in the glitter, then put it in the bottle of water.  The glitter washes off into the bottle.  Simple, clean, no mess - and the perfect amount.  The buddies had a great time shaking the bottle and finding the best way to make a tornado.  We found that it is easiest to see if you turn the bottle cap side down and shake it very fast like a maraca as opposed to swirling or spinning the bottle.  I failed to bring my iPad to school today so no pictures of all the fun.  Maybe next time.

Still, here is a link to a great video with some visuals on how to make the tornado (including the pencil in glitter trick) Click on the picture below.

Classroom Songs

Corporations sell billions of dollars worth of junk just because they have a catchy song or phrase attached to it.  I'm a teacher, I don't sell junk, but I DO sell education - to my students, every single day.  I am a firm believer in marketing.  If they remember it, they will buy it.  Because of this, I make up hand actions for all kinds of things (QAR, Rules, vowel sounds, etc.), I try to think up acronyms or mnemonic sentences, and - my favorite technique of all - I sing.  Now, my repertoire of songs is minimal and my vocal chords are generally off key, but oh, give me a good sort of mono tone song about academics, I'm sold!  Anyone remember Animaniacs?  They had some great songs that I always loved and still use today: Presidents, states, capitals, and more.  Too bad most of them are for subjects a bit higher then first grade.  Still, I have some good ones for our firsties.  I have no idea who wrote these, but please know NONE of these are my personal creation.  I only dream of being that creative!

Handwriting (to the tune of "If You Are Happy and You Know It")

Always start your letters at the top

Always start your letters at the top

When you write a letter

you'll get better and better and better

If you always start your letters at the top!

Doubles Rap

It's the doubles baby, 

let's go, let's go

It's the doubles baby,

and it starts with zero!

0+0=0 oh!

1+1=2 ewww!

2+2=4 more!

3+3=6 kicks!

4+4=8 great!

5+5=10 again!

Place Value (this one I got from teachertipster.com)

It's an army marching song, the kids repeat each line after you say it.

I don't know but I've been told

(I don't know but I've been told)

10's are tall and 1's are small

(10's are tall and 1's are small)

First you count up all the 10's

(First you count up all the 10's)

Then add the little babies on to the end

(Then add the little babies on to the end)

Water Cycle (to the tune of "Oh My Darling, Clementine")

Evaporation, Condensation, Precipitation on my mind

Their all part of the water cycle

And they happen all the time

Those are the best ones I have but I am ALWAYS looking for more.  If you have some great ones, let me know.  If you have friends that have great ones tell them to log on here and let me know.  Lets get all the great academic songs in one site!  That would be awesome.

Educational Websites

Happy 100th day!  (well, to those of you who started August 10th or 11th or so).  I will have to post some of the activities later.  Tonight, let's focus on the world wide web.  The treasure trove of, everything.  I find it hard to invent my own things because, well, most of it has been invented!  I'm sure with my exploration of technology I will tweak lessons in new ways, but the days of creating lessons that work without knowing of someone who has done it before are quickly diminishing.  Blogs and community sights like ProTeacher or A to Z Teacher pop up everywhere with amazing teaching ideas.  So many that they can sometimes be overwhelming when you just need something specific.  I surf the web a lot, but I like to have islands I can land on when I'm too tired to sift through the waves.

For reading comprehension I have found amazing lessons on Readworks.org.  Not only do they lay out 2 or 3 great lesson for each reading skill at every elementary grade level, but they also align each of those lessons to every states standards AND the Common Core State Standards.  Don't have the book that they suggest to use in the lesson?  No problem!  The site also lists alternate books for each of their lesson plans.  So far each lesson I have used has been wonderful.  The best part about it?  Every part of this website is absolutely free.  It's run by a not for profit that just wants to make sure everyone figures out how to read.

Another great site is themathworksheetsite.com.  If you want access to the entire site you have to pay, but the fee is minimal.  Still, what you can get for free is awesome.  You can create math worksheets for any subject and they are good!  Simply choose the number of problems, the parameters, etc and hit publish.  Voila, yours for the taking.  Need multiple versions of the same quiz?  Done!  Not just facts either - they have geometry, time, money, measurement, early education, place value, fact families, function tables, graphing, algebra, logarithms, games, tangrams, checks and registers, and more!

A great site to have an actor read some great stories to your kiddos is storyonline.net.  The Screen Actors Guild members got together and volunteered to read stories of some really great children's books.  They do the voices, show the pictures, all of that.  It's fun for the kids.  Great for you if you don't have a book and they have it on there, or if you just want a picture book told to your students by someone who can tell a story better then you.

For my fun, crazy, classroom songs I turn to teachertipster.com.  This guy teaches 1st grade and has loads of fun with his kids.  I'm a rockstar at heart, so I have no problem belting out these tunes in an off key voice and my kids love it!

Of course there is teacherspayteachers.com.  This site has so many activities created by teachers for teachers that it can be too much.  However, they just reworked their site so you can now narrow by subject, type of document, grade, and price.  I spend a lot of time in the "free" zone.  Every seller is required to have at least one item offered for free so there are a TON of things in all subjects that are available for download without paying a penny.

What are your "go to" websites?  I am always looking for more islands!  Surfing is hard work!

Frustratingly Funny

Smaller... a seemingly simple word.   Apparently with only one meaning for one of my students.  This boy has a really rough time with subtraction and addition.  He always wants to add regardless of the sign or story problem, but he can't add or subtract anyway so the answer is never right.  I am really beating my head against a wall with this kid.  So today, I send him to study hall to try to finish more subtraction practice.  The other first grade teacher looks over his paper when he is done and says "No, we are subtracting, not adding."  "Subtracting?" My student says.  "Yes, see the minus sign."  "Minus sign?" my student says.  "Yes, when you subtract the numbers get smaller."  "Smaller?" my student says.  "Yes, smaller."  "Smaller." my student says.  The teacher smiles and off my student goes to try again.  He returns moments later and (I wish I had taken a picture of the paper) the answers are erased and rewritten in the tiniest handwriting he can manage.  He wrote the exact same answer just SMALLER.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

A Piece of Classroom Management

I realize classroom management is more then just the consequences (good and bad) but that is my focus today. Last year my kids were jumping off the walls.  Literally.  I had an observation by my principal and during the lesson one student got up, ran across the room, jumped off the wall and ran back to his desk.  I was mortified! I needed a better system.

Our school all goes by a color system for the most part.  "Green" is good, "Yellow" is a warning, and "Red" is a call home, or note, or whatever the teacher decides.  Nothing wrong with this system, but over the summer I found one I liked even better.  I actually saw it in several different places so I don't know where the idea originated exactly.  It is the same basic idea as the green, yellow, red - it just has more levels.

My kids had a great day today!  Anyway, every one starts on Green "Ready to Learn".  If they make good choices they go up to Blue "Good Choice".  If they do a great job they go up to Purple "Great Choice."  Should students decide to make poor choices they go down to Yellow "Warning", Orange "Loss of Privilege", then Red "Call Home."  I like this system because the students can go up as well as down.  It makes it easier to make an example of the good kids.  

Some logistics... I had the banner printed at Vista Print (great site if you have used it... you can get loads of free stuff, though I did pay for the banner).  It was their small banner.  I just uploaded a PDF document that had the colors and definitions on it as my image. Click on the link below to access the PDF.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0niKLdbTCbGOTlhZjM3ZmUtYWRmYi00YzdjLTkxYmYtNGFkZTBiMjYxMjFk

If my kids end on Purple they get a Money Card

These are again from Vista Print... 250 free business cards!  I just used one of their already made templates and changed the wording so it worked for me.  They also get a sticker to wear home (again Vista Print free address labels)

If they are on Blue they get two tickets (like the carnival tickets at a fair) and a sticker to wear home...

If they are on Green they get one ticket.  5 Money cards or 10 tickets buys them a prize from my prize box. It seems like a lot, but really, it takes a few seconds at the end of the day to hand out the money cards and tickets.  The kids like it.  They are sooooo excited to get the stickers and end up on purple or blue.  

This is individual behavior.  The class as a whole has the challenge to fill up a hundreds chart.  Each time they get a compliment in the hall from another teacher, or I think they have done an exceptionally good job at something as a class, they get to pick a random number from a bag and put it in the hundreds chart.  If they get 10 in a row we have a Popsicle party.

We have had one so far this year... we are working on our second!  Anyone else have a great system they use?  I'd love to hear about it!  I'm always looking for ways to make mine better.