Bean dip & Yoohoos

The fact that I've been back at school for 8 days and just now sat down to write a blog might be a little insight into how insane these first weeks have been.

Before I vent about the craziness, I will tell you about how amazing my kids are.  Seriously.  They are everything my last years' kiddos were and more!  Of course, there are always the Johnnys of the class (sorry, bubba, your name is just pretty common :), but even those kiddos are endearing in their own ways...and very, very, small groups.  Ha!

But honestly, they are such a sweet group of kids.  Some of the bad attitudes that I had last year aren't represented in this group.  The whole 6th grade demeanor is just very sweet and kind.  I have found myself as hopelessly attached to this group as my  last.  It IS a fantastic feeling seeing my old kiddos, though.  Sometimes I intentionally walk through the 7th grade hall when classes let out :).  I get a few hugs, high fives, and even 20 second book talks.  Maybe I did something right last year!

Now on to the insane part of my year.  It feels as if I am starting all over.  Last year I taught reading to traditional and Pre-AP classes.  My lessons plans were often the same for each class, making planning a 2 prep event at most.

Although I am slowly but surely getting the hang of it, my plan book is a hot mess.  Not only am I teaching 2 different classes/subjects, I am teaching those objectives to 3 distinctively different levels of students.  Somehow it was decided that we would try to a create lower, more intensive class of students for each English teacher.  What has essentially resulted from this separation is a special education class....in MY care!  While not all of the students are considered to be so, a large majority fall into that category.  It is obvious that the class has to be taught much differently from my Pre-AP classes and traditional classes.  I do have a co-teacher in that class with me, but I am the captain of the ship!  It is by far the most challenging thing I have ever done.  Every single  day I realize something that I need to change about the way I work with them.  Last year, my most difficult class was a challenge mainly because of behavior alone- the struggling kiddos were interspersed with the more traditional students, which leveled out the playing field and helped pull the struggling kids up by example.  Now I'm dealing with zero focus, plenty of behavior issues, and a different learning style.  I will survive, though!  NEXT year I'll be perfect at my job. :)

One of the first things we did in a few of my classes was to create a page designed to help me get to know the students.  There are a lot of activities out there that serve this purpose, but I saw this on a teacher's blog and knew I had to do it!  I gave each kiddo a sheet that said "I am a...." and they had to fill the large 'I' with as many positive things as possible.  The results were pretty neat!  We ended up using them as a brainstorming activity for a writing assignment, so it actually served a double purpose.  Check out these cute papers.  I feel like this assignment made them dig pretty deep.  I really know what is important to them...plus I know who is really silly!

Back to lesson plans :)

-Mrs. Combs

The Phantom Tollbooth: Dodecahedron Activity

This year I will be teaching The Phantom Tollbooth to my Pre-AP classes, and I could not be more excited! I didn't teach it last year because, well, last year was crazy.  I happened to read the book during our MIRP time and LOVED it!  I don't know in which quarter this will happen, but I'm gathering/creating resources already because I'm THAT excited.

One of the characters is not just two faced, he is twelve faced!  Therefore, he is known as the Dodecahedron.

I stumbled onto the following concept on Pinterest and made my own activity for Mr. Dodecahedron.  Can you say cross curricular?  I can see a discussion of the other geometrical affixes happening at some point.  Anyway, here is what I came up with!

(Link to template here)

My example.  The kids will spend more time on theirs than I did on mine :)

Work is so much fun when you can do it at home with coffee and Facebook! Eleven more days until school starts.  Woohoo!

Library Madness

Warning: This could be a very boring blog for non teachers!

After several days looking up information, sorting books, and using a million stickers I am DONE with my classroom library!

Ta dahhh!

First, I entered all of my books into Booksource: Classroom Organizer.  After setting up an account, you can enter your books to create your library catalog.  Some books can be scanned if you have a smartphone, which saves time!  If your classroom has student computers, this website will allow your students to check books in and out just like a legitimate library.  My classroom, unfortunately, will probably never have a spare computer.  I'm mainly using the program to be able to track my book titles, genres, and lexiles. (I plan on eventually writing the lexile score on the inside cover of each book.)

Speaking of lexiles, Lexile.com is an invaluable source for leveling your books.  I would say that 90% of my books were listed on this site.  

Once I entered the books into Booksource, I was able to sort the books into 9 basic genres (General Fiction has 2 bins).  I've heard that it's good to use clear bins so that kiddos can see the covers more easily, but I found these bad boys at Dollar Tree and couldn't resist!  I sorted my books into these 9 genres.  Of course, your library may have a different variety of books and therefore different genres.

General Fiction
Adventure Fiction
Realistic Fiction
Historical Fiction
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Mystery
Classics (I doubt this bin gets much action. Ha!)
Biography/Autobiography

Next, I created labels for the bins.  I've seen where people have posted their versions on TPT, but I doubted that they would have my exact selection.  I created them on Microsoft Word, and printed them on 3 1/2  x 5 Avery labels.  Here's a sample!

After the bins were labeled, I still wanted to keep track of which books belonged to me personally, and which books belonged to the school. I used these same labels, but printed several little strips on each sticker, then cut them apart.

Finally, based on extensive personal experience with sixth graders, I know that they need very clear, easy procedures.  It would be fantastic if they could recognize the genre and simply place it in the correct bin, but something told me they might need a little help.  So I color coded the books and bins.  At first I thought I needed 10 different colors of labels, and spent hours trying to find them online.  Then I realized I was making too difficult.  I ran to Staples and got a pack of basic colored circle stickers.  Even though there are only four colors, I was able to make 10 colors OR color combinations. Check it out:

  

Red = General Fiction A-M

Blue & Red = Historical Fiction

Think they'll figure it out? The hope is that this library will run itself.  Surely they can match the color on the book to the color on the bin. If not, reorganizing the library could be an easy classroom job for some brownie point seeking kiddo.  

Final picture :)

Now I have to actually plan actual lessons.  School starts in 12 days!

-Mrs. Combs

ReadysetGO!

As far as I'm concerned, school is back in session.  Truth be told, the kids won't show up until August 12.  However, now that Kyle and I are back from the beach, I have officially gotten the back to school butterflies!  I spent time in my classroom today, working 1/2 of a million little projects (as usual), and finally settled on just one: my classroom library.

Last year, my library consisted of the Hunger Games and about 50 ridiculously old books just thrown on a shelf with some bookends slapped on the end (where else?).  Until the middle of the year that I realized I hadn't even alphabetized them...and I never did.  Hopefully adding some organization will clear up a few hundred of the "Mrs. Combs, where's that book I read yesterday?" issues.  It drives me crazy thinking about how much time I spent scouring for students' MIRP books.  It's time for change.

Obviously, the school library is always available, so my library doesn't need to be huge.  What it does need is organization and shine (worn out books don't attract readers).  Thanks to my adventure in elementary land, I realized that these kiddos are used to having their books organized in bins.  I was unsure of using bins originally, because I thought they should use a legitimate library system.  I've now decided to let the ACTUAL library give them that exposure, and keep mine simple.

I've got a long way to go before it's all in order, but here's what I have so far!

 Thanks, Dollar Tree!

I can't wait to share the final result!

-Mrs. C

You hear that? It's the winds of change.

I remember recently asserting that last year was my rookie year, and this next year I will be perfect.  I've made all my mistakes, and I know exactly what I'm doing now.  I regret to inform you that this is no longer true. Things are changing.

The way our department is set up, sixth grade has had 2 Language Arts (reading) teachers and 2 English (writing) teachers.  We were separated into teams- 1 LA teacher and 1 English teacher both had the same set of kids for an hour each.  This system worked, but not as great as it could have.  Reading and writing are difficult to separate because one leads to the other.  Reading teachers needed to be on track with their English partners, and also be on track with the other reading teacher.  If we had been completely in sync with our partners, it would have been fantastic...but that that didn't always happen.  Part of that is due to the fact that our 6th grade English staff was completely new (with me being EXTRA new :).  

This upcoming year, things will be different.  Instead of teaching just one subject, we are all going to teach both subjects.  For example, I will have one set of kids for an hour, they will take a break, then come right back to me for the second session. Repeat.  This is what my schedule could look like:

1st- Reading (group 1)  

2nd- Writing (group 1)

3rd- Reading (group 2)

4th- Writing (group 2)

5th- Writing (group 3)     

6th- Plan

7th- Guided Study

The only thing that won't be completely smooth about this transition is that because of our 7 hour schedule, and electives being at the end of the day, we will have to separate one group.  The highlighted 5th hour will have to have reading with my team partner at some point during the day.  It is not ideal, but it is doable!  Fortunately my team partner and I work very well together.  We are the most in-sync-est team in the building, so I know it will work! :)

Of course, there is one aspect of this new situation that scares the livin' liver out of me.  What is that situation?  Oh, it's "Johnny."  You know Johnny- he's the one who is ALWAYS in trouble, and is most often discussed in the teacher's lounge.  He blurts out, tattles, and calls people names.  Every class has a Johnny.  With this new setup, I will get Johnny for two hours in a row.  Usually by the time class is over, I'm ready to pull my hair out (assuming he hasn't made it to the office).  Basically, I'm worried about potential hair loss this year. 

On the upside, I will have fewer students , and those students I will get to know REALLY well.  If class sizes remain the same, I could deal with as few as 60 kids, versus 90-100. Of course, that could all change too.  

Here's to using my degree like it was supposed be used- ENGLISH! :)

-Mrs. C

Summer for Realz

School is out...again!

Today was the final day of my 4th grade summer school adventure.  I would love to say that it opened my eyes to the wonders that are elementary school, but that's not exactly the way it happened.  If anything, it made me realize that secondary is the place for me.  I really enjoyed many of the kids, but at times, the tattling, stubbornness, and rowdiness was just too much.  I'm ready to get back to kids who get my jokes and enjoy dystopian novels.

Tonight I will be meeting with teachers from the English department to discuss possible changes in our schedules and classes next year- I may end up doing more than just the reading element.  This will be interesting..!

-Mrs. C

The 25%

I have probably learned more in the past week than I will all summer long.  Trying my hand at teaching 4th grade has been quite the experience.  I will say, though, that I am definitely getting attached to some of them.  Because there are 2 middle schools, and each middle school has 2 teams of students, I have a 25% chance of having some of the kids again, assuming they don't move out of the district.  There are a few that I'm rooting for!  On the flipside, there are a few of them that I'd prefer landed in the opposite 75% ;).

One thing that I enjoy about 4th grade is that they are still VERY eager to please.  With my 6th graders, there are kids who are absolutely fine with sitting for an entire hour (every day) with their arms crossed and heads down.  No amount of praise or encouragement will make a difference.  Fourth graders, on the other hand, thrive on praise.  I've allowed them to work in groups, and I've noticed that if I praise one group for an EXCELLENT job in a certain area, the others hear that praise and try their very hardest to earn the same compliment.  Even the trouble makers- they still have some amount of pride in their work.  I like that!  I suppose somewhere in the journey from 10-12, kiddos change a bit!

One thing that I need to work on is training myself to only answer students who follow the procedures.  I tell them that they need to raise their hands and wait to be called on, but more often than not, if Mr. Blurts-a-lot yells the correct answer across the room, I will accept the answer, leaving Procedure Patty with her hand in the air, unable to answer.  It's so much easier to go with the blurted right answer, rather the right behavior...but I'm realizing it's not sending the right message and making class more chaotic.

On Thursday, a few of the kiddos really warmed my heart.  I know for a fact that I am not nearly as good with them as their actual 4th grade teachers (One of them was the district teacher of the year.  No big deal, right??!), but they do seem to like me.  One kiddo has brought me a Hershey's kiss for the past 2 days, and today, several from my 5th section made it clear that THIS was their favorite class out of alllllll of summer school.  Not bad for my first week, am I right? :)

Hopefully the kids do some funny stuff that I can write about.  It's about time that they made me laugh...!

-Mrs. Combs