My Daily 5 Twist!

Do you remember that lunch date I had a week or two ago, the ones with my new BBFs (Blogging Buddies Forever) well one of the smart ideas was to schedule your posts, this way you don't feel so bad for not blogging...so tonight I am writing 5 posts that will be posted via a Schedule...what  a great idea...So now I can spend one night on blogging, four nights on Grad school and every other night on what ever (the boy, the classroom, the laundry...)

 

So here I am explaining to you what came to me at 7,000 feet up on my trip to Vegas earlier this summer. I am sure the two men I was sitting in between were thinking I was one weird chick, I had my notebook out scribbling designs of bulletin board and furniture arrangements and notes to think about...and here is what I came up with.

 

 

The ELA (English Language Arts) board. It is a way for me to organize my Guided Reading groups and make my kiddoes more accountable for their learning. Plus it allows me to informally use formative assessment as well as diagnostic assessment in the classroom.

As you can see, I've divided the groups into five categories.

This group will focus on Close Reads, the trick is they don't have to work together but they do have to Read to Someone OR Read to Self OR Listen to Reading as they are using the strategy of Close Reading and documenting their activities in their RRJs(Reading Response Journals) I will also have Close Reading materials to help them with this focus.

If your number is written on this laminated cardstock then your focus is on the Grammar Skill of the week, You or you and your group MUST be Working on Writing or Word Work and you must be providing evidence  of the skill. (I will be walking around as they are in their focus groups)

This group will be a Comprehension skill focus group. I could work with a group or pull individuals, it depends on the day and my scheduled conferences. It will make me more accountable to them by keeping our scheduled reader's conferences!

Just like the Grammar focus group, this group must Work on Writing or Word Work and produce evidence that they focused on this week's vocabulary. I will have documentation sheets and games for them to help each other with the skill.

Of course I had to include Spelling, I struggled with the heading...Spelling or Phonics...then decided Kids knew what spelling was and could relate to it better. Again the focus will be the phonics skill of the week with evidence included!

I am thinking the kids can switch groups every 15-20 minutes, ..but in the beginning I think I will just have them do two a day until they can handle the routine.
I am excited and hope this system works, I tried to tie in the areas my kids would avoid from years past with a CCSS twist...wish me luck and if you have a BETTER idea and want me to try it, leave me a link and a comment!

Common Board goes CCSS

I found an idea on Pinterest and ran with it! (you can see it on my Common Core Board) I really liked the verbiage and decided to make it my own, with a CCSS twist.

 

As you can see I wrote "What's the Buzz?"  then Today I am...with a list of the things they will be taught today.

 Don't worry I fixed the "Today I am..." sign, I know it's crooked!

The next piece of my NEW Common Board is "So that I can..." Under here I will hang, or write using Dry Erase Markers the 'I can' statements for the CCSS in ELA and Math...For Science and Social Studies I will incorporate the ELA CCSS standard as well as the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS) in the 'I can' statement way...the next picture is my "Twist"

On the bottom cabinets, I put "I'll know I've got it when..." then I attached  two charts,(yet you only see one). I laminated post-it notes with numbers (I number my kids to save me time and grief), so they can write (prove/evidence) what they learned in that lesson. At the end of the day I collect their sticky notes from their parking spot and file it away in my observation notes, and voila a quick informal diagnostic assessment done! Plus you have proof in parent conferences of what their child is capable of!
I hope you like this TWISTED idea!

Here you can see it all...I will update with new pictures once it is up and functional!

I'm linking up!

My good friend over at Head Over Heels for Teaching is having a Linky party!
So of course I have to link up!

Now here is the hard part...what to write..    L O L

At Meet the Teacher Night I sent home some Jitter Glitter ! I  can't wait to read the story and then have some Jitter Juice. I am worried though because I have to change the recipe...I usually use Ginger Ale and Hawaiian Punch, but one of my newbies is allergic to punch...yikes so I am trying to think of a substitute for punch...any ideas?? HELP School starts MONDAY!!!!

This year I am starting out with a great idea I found on Pinterest, it comes from Mrs. Robinson's Classroom.

I want to really to set my class up for success this year, even more so than any other year! So instead of diving into the new Reading Series I am going to really create a great learning environment where everybody knows EXACTLY what is going on and what is expected AND the routine is routine by week 2!
My first activity, or maybe the second is Mrs. Robinson's activity seen here:

I have two weeks of team building, conflict resolution, procedures done RIGHT activities planned!

Good thing Teachers Pay Teachers is having that sale starting tomorrow!!!

Meet the Teacher is TONIGHT!!!

I am not sure if I am "Excited" for Meet the Teacher this year...the only reason I say that is because we changed the meet times to the evening, and I will be tired and not so 'fresh'.
I also have to go over to the Middle School, for my 1st time Middle Schooler and grab his schedule and walk through his day with him, PLUS I have to meet my Mom, so she can grab the boy for dinner, because...yes I have to go back to school from 4-6:30...I am going to be d r a g g ing!

But here is what I have planned for the evening. (Thanks to Reagan Tunstall's Editable Table Signs)
My new Families will walk in and grab a Student info sheet then find their Kiddo's desk!

 

 

When I took this picture we did not have our class lists, so you can't see their cute BEE name tags.

 

Then as the parents are busy filling out the paper work, the Little Bees will buzz around the classroom thanks to Christina Bainbridge getting to the Core of our Classroom!

 

Station 2 on the Classroom Tour is the (make shift)Supply area...I have some bins on the floor are near the cubbies where the kids will sort their supplies (if they brought them, also next to the supply are sort station is my "Bee Kind" sign, in other words DONATE please!!!

 The 3rd stop on the Tour is the TRANSPORT station...

Here, they will write their name and either bus name, or front or back car rider, day care  on a Sticky-Note, then apply it to the graph!

 

The last stop on the tour is the Parent Wishes and Jitter Glitter Station. I also have a helpful "Guide to 2nd Grade" from my last year's students, with tips and advice!

Hopefully I will be perky as usual, and the Families will be wonderful, I am hoping to have some repeat parents this year!!! (Pretty Please Principal Lady)

 

I'll let you know how it went!

Things I already Tweaked in the new decor

After studying those pictures I ran back on Friday and here is the fix....

Notice the paleness and the sloppiness of the first one? Yeah so did I ..I guess I was getting tired, but no worries I fixed it!

Next up those super cute ideas, the lost buckets...still need to find ribbon but hey I'm on a budget!

 Sorry about the blur...but you get the idea!

Oh the next item of business was that RED and ORANGE debacle ....

I am so glad I spent 10 minutes fixing and finding a new poster!

I was also setting up for open house at the same time and I put my last stop in the back of the room...

   

That was a quick fix!

I hope you like the improvements...and here are some better pictures of the whole room all done...As I go back to school next week I am going to ask my teacher friends if I can capture their rooms for you to ohh and ahh over!



Oh did I mention I have a great new shirt for the first day of school?

Well maybe not the first, don't want to scare them!

 

The NEW room decore!

I spent the ENTIRE week at school, and my report date isn't until this Monday. I HAD to, my Dad is sick and IF I have to duck out of school this week or next I wanted everything and I mean EVERYTHING done and ready for the first week with kids! (lessons and ALL) I didn't want you thinking I was a workaholic or something! UPDATE....DAD made it through surgery  (whew)

I don't know if you remember but I went in on the first week in August just to drop something off...and took pictures and stayed a little while...I posted that here, you might want to go and see the before pictures to refresh your memories... (or in case you didn't bother to read it in the first place).

So on Monday when I left the place looked like this:

I was pretty happy, curtains up, bulletin boards covered, stuff out of the closet!
Then on Tuesday I went back for a workshop, and of course stayed AFTER the workshop and accomplished a lot more:

 I don't usually put the strategies up, but I wanted to see how it looked, not bad.

 I used the heading from last year's hallway display, and set up the gallery for this year!

What classroom would be complete without Jack and Annie? They guard the chapter book library in our room!

 Something new this year, I put up a "Book Shopping" list near the Fiction Book Library. All I have to do is use a dry erase marker and write their numbers under the day of the week. ( I number my kids, it makes classroom management work well for me!)

You might remember this guy from Thursday's post...I made my pencil sharpener into a BEE!

I didn't stay long on Wednesday as I had a date with my Mom, so I didn't really get too much physical stuff done, that was laminating day!

But on Thursday I really stayed all day...from 8am to 4pm...and here you can see I have started setting up for Meet the Teacher which is on Thursday of this week, like I said I NEED to get everything all set just in case I need to fly out to Vegas again! (He's having the surgery--perhaps??)
Here is how it all turned out by four o'clock that night:

This is the entrance area, here you can see my transportation display, and my NEW Common Board configuration...I'll post more about that later.

 

the Café board is on the right and on top of my Mailboxes are the cute "lost" buckets I made...they need ribbon on the handles and a trim of those signs, I got them as a FREEBIE earlier this summer...they are on one my Pinterest boards.

 

These are the closet and bathroom doors...they are the same as last year, I just put the clocks on top, if you notice I didn't put the time for RECESS up...yeah I have no idea when that will come into play with our new schedules this year!

 

This is the Learning Rug! We meet here a lot! something NEW for me, and don't laugh, is the kidney shaped table...I've never used one...I know 19 years in the business and NEVER used one...I usually do small groups at their desk area or on the Learning Rug...wish me luck!

 

This is another view of the doors and the Chapter Book and Favorite Author Libraries, you can also see my NEW ELA board...I will deconstruct that idea in another post! You might like it- all you D5 fans!!!

 

On the opposite side of the ELA board is my Math board, it's right behind the NEW Kidney table...that is where I plan on teaching Guided Math. As you can see (or not) on the Math board are my group headers and I plan on using Dry erase markers, or a Vis a V marker to write on the laminated cardstock to keep track of who is in which group that day!

 

This is another view of the Math board. If you notice on the left, that container is going to be repurposed to store my Math lessons this year... next to the bulletin board is the biggest white board ever...which I RARELY write on...I use it as my demo/anchor chart hanger!

 Calendar is divided from Vocabulary and Spelling Words, something new for me is that task chart...another Pinterest find!

 Here's a better up-close picture...plus something I implemented last year my BLURT CHART...also one of my Pinterest boards

 

A better look at the Blurt Chart. See that HIDEOUS blue/white shelf...ugh! I hate it, but that is the only place to put those out of date dictionaries. I WISH I could give them away...I want more practical ones...and ones with more words! Trade any one??? (Blue shelf included)

 After seeing this picture, it looks like I need to RE-DO my "Are you With Me?" anchor chart...get rid of that RED and in with the YELLOW! I also need to find a less ORANGE "First thing you do" poster...ick, I know what I'm doing this week-end! But I do LOVE my bees...yes another Pinterest idea!!!

 Speaking of Pinterest, I found this chart a long long time ago...but this year I updated my old one and got rid of the blue and made PINK the top...I'll let you know how blinged out we get! (When they reach PINK they get a jewel to add to their clip...once you run out of space on your clip, you get to put your bejeweled clip, in the clip hall of fame!)

 Next to the clip chart is the ELA board.  I am going to devote a whole post on that, but under the ELA board is my Word Work materials, as well as some Read to Someone task cards and Vocabulary games. 

 

 

Another NEW item in my room this year, is the Writing Process Status Chart...they will move their clip (We have a clip for that, is my favorite saying) so I can plan out my conferences better!

 In the back of the room are the computers. As you can see I have an MEET THE TEACHER Station set up...but I am going to switch this around too, as I study the picture I see that this is not a good idea to put the last station in the back...anyhow, I also put my subject themed word walls here in this part of our room!

 You can't see it, but there is a table next to the computers, here is where I plan on doing all my writing conferences and small groups. Therefore I put the Writing Goals up back here, notice I messed it up last year, instead of gluing down Writing Goals I glued down Goals Writing...now it just looks edited!

I also have a clip for our new and improved A.R. Chart! It's Bee Themed-thanks Mariella!

While out shopping with my Teacher Friend Neighbor, the one I bought lunch for in exchange for that fabulous sharpener...we found this perfectly matched cushion...now all I have to do is sand and paint that rocker BLACK!

In the backity-back of the room is the Non-Fiction Library and Math Tools area...I also put up the touch math numbers to help my kiddos who like to use their fingers...it gets them away from it after a while!
Holy Guacamole, this post is long! Sorry I just had to get it all out...be on the look out for a post talking about how I am re-structuring the D5 and more....Happy Back to school Week all!