Math Choices

After 2 weeks of trying MATH rotations, I have come to the conclusion that it just isn't meant to be with this special group of kiddos.  Life works better and more smoothly when we do things together as a group.  I found it was too stressful for me to try to manage the kids in the other 2 groups - since at this point in time they have a mentality that if I'm not specifically speaking to them that somehow my ears and eyes aren't working.  They really were engaged in their work, but the noise level of being engaged and feeling the need to share their excitement with others really didn't mesh with allowing my quiet group to focus.  I found that I loved using the games.  I just know that there are other ways that those games can still be out for the week so they can play them at different times and each have a turn.
So how have I changed it to make me happy?
We are doing the lesson full class (like before).
We then do guided practice together (like before).
They all do their classwork, and I am making sure to get around to the kids that I know are having a hard time (instead of doing groups.)
As the kids finish their classwork they leave it on their desks and get to go play the review games, do a skill on ixl, and practice their math facts through those specific activities.
They are in charge of making sure they try all the activities throughout the week - it's a checklist similar to the Daily 5 choices only for math.

The best part for me is that I regained my sanity.  
I'm glad that I tried it, I'm just glad that I feel comfortable enough with myself as a teacher to evaluate that it's not working the way that I envisioned it to be.
No more headaches!  

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Rainbow Edit Example

Hello! I hope your day is going great. Last week I received an email asking to see Rainbow Edit at work in my classroom.

The following picture is my example with the kids from today. Here's the breakdown.

Capitals are marked as red. We are working on remembering proper nouns too.

Orange is all the punctuation.

Yellow is the indent.

Green is the topic sentence with a box around the key words to show main idea.

Blue is adding any other words or details. The kids are trying to extend their paragraphs by adding more examples.

Purple is checking words they aren't sure about. If there isn't any words they are questioning they put a purple star on the bottom so I know it's a full rainbow.

After they check it all they use their now colorful rough draft to write their final. I keep the finals for their writing folder and they take home the rainbow to show their parents.

I'm on Blogger on my phone so if you want my write up with the colors head to the side page with all my Google Docs. That will take you to the post where you can download.

Hope this helps!

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Writing: Conducting the Orchestra

Tomorrow is the end of the trimester.
So, the past couple of days I've had to slow down on the amount of things on our to do list since some of my turtles needed a chance to catch up with their writing assignments.
You know, since I've been trying to help them understand that SOMETHING is better than NOTHING in the grade book.  
I'm a nice teacher like that.  
To be quite honest, this is the first year that these kids have had letter grades on their report card.  They don't fully understand what all the letters mean - though I've been talking about them all year long.  It probably won't be until the Trimester assembly that it really clicks and they want Honor Roll.
At that point it will be a "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit" type of moment.
It's a learning experience...
It really has felt like I'm conducting an orchestra in class during this catch up time.  It's been such a big couple of days with kids finishing up Summer Sandwiches (due the 3rd week of school), Personal Narratives (due the 5th week), Favorite Ecosystem (due the 7th week), and their own personal Risk and Consequences (due this week - tie into our Reading unit).
Not to mention that so many other things happened this past week with Cereal Box Book Reports, end of the unit assessments, STAR reading tests, CA Tribe file folder reports... It's been a big week and it's not over yet!
The rest of the kids - my perfect angels - that are completely caught up with all their work, well I gave them a file folder today and told them they could decorate it as their writing folder.  I have been keeping all their final drafts to save for parent conferences, and I wanted an easy way to store them and add to them in the future weeks.  It was like I gave them gold.  They had so much fun, and it encouraged the others to keep going in their work so they too could experience the joy.  
It really is the easy things in life...

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Student Observation Sheet

A parent emailed me last week and wanted to come in on Tuesday afternoon to chat.
I love working with parents - heck, I am a parent - but when I'm not sure if the conversation is going to be a good one I get nervous.  
I second guess myself and my abilities at times.  
Since parent/teacher conferences are right around the corner in a few weeks, I wanted to create a "cheat sheet" that I could record on for each child.  You know... just something that I could make sure that I knew exactly what I noticed about that one child in the different subjects (at this moment in time) - how they focus, how they learn, etc - before I sit down with each family.  Just something to have in addition to all the assessments that I will pull out to show.  
Since this conference was happening earlier than normal, I created the following sheet so I could test it out by filling it in over a couple of days.

It was a hit with the parents.  In fact, they wanted me to make a copy so they could take it with them to share with a doctor and a tutor.
Just be warned if you download - they might want a copy too. It's over at Google Docs.  By recommendation I saved it as a PDF so the font would remain the same.  Here it is a .doc format as well.  Hope it works!  

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Spelling City

I always thought that Spelling City was a paid subscription type of thing...  it's NOT!
Yesterday after school we had a grade level collaboration time and my dear sweet team set me straight on how wonderful it is.  
You see, every trimester I update my students' homework options for spelling on their homework reminder sheet.
For Monday through Wednesday homework this past trimester it was the normal...*3 times each*ABC order*Definitions*Sentences, Story, or a Poem*If they had an option they asked me first to see if it would count.
I give choices because I want them to want to practice spelling.
Thursday is ALWAYS a practice test.
The main thing was to work with the words to "hopefully" get it into their brains so it showed in their everyday writing.  
Enter Spelling City...
I created a free account and copy/pasted my spelling lists for the coming unit onto my homepage.  It wasn't hard, the lists were already on my computer.
Now my students will be able to choose one of those games or activities to work with their words.  Click the image above to head on over to the site to check them out.
I love how easy life really can be when I let others help me out. :)
Hope you had a good day!

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Monthly Monday Made It: Self Checking Centers and Organization

Can you believe it's already October?  It seems like school just started (I know it did for some of you), but here in my district we are finishing up the first trimester.  It's not a real trimester time wise - as it's only been 8 weeks, but this Friday means a minimum day to work on report cards!  I love minimum days!
Anyhow, the first Monday of the month means linking up with Tara over at 4th Grade Frolics to share what we've been up to.  

When I was thinking of what to share, I kept coming back to all the hours during the weekend I spend over my laminator.  Well, it's more I turn it on, and then I have to remember to keep coming back to stick the next sheet in... just being honest... 

I love all the things I've found over at Teachers Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook.  There are so many creative teachers and bloggers out there that know what to make.  I'm very appreciative, especially since I'm not overly creative myself.  

In my classroom I like using a game or skill at the different choices for Daily 5 and MATH rotations.  Since I can't be directly over the kids' shoulders to check their work, I have been adding a little something to the different centers before I stick them through the laminator.

Self checking examples:

Sometimes I add a label on the back that tells what the answer is.

(Example - adding the rounded number or putting the 

compound word on the back of the card).  A label makes it really difficult to see the answer through the card.

Or I add a colored dot on game cards that gives insight on 

how to organize the game.

(Example - one color for cause, another for effect)

I have added letters on the back of cards with pencil so they don't see the answer through the card.

(Example - "P", "I", or "E" for Author's Purpose, or 

"C", "I", "A" for Properties of Addition)

Other ways that I've been organizing centers:

*Binder rings!  It's so easy to split up flashcards into 6-10 per ring and it allows the cards to spread out to more kids during that rotation.

*Ziploc bags - sandwich/quart for individual partner sets, and gallon size to hold an entire topic.

*Pull out drawers to sort math fact activities - since 

these are used every day during that station.  

*Sheet protectors - anything that I want the kids to have a chance to write on I stick in those wonderful creations.  I mainly use work sheets in them, though I did create a game board that looked like this to review adding and subtracting greater numbers.  

With this, they rolled a dice and just wrote their number on the lines using dry erase marker.  Then their partner had to check their answer using subtraction (this was an idea that Stephanie over at Teaching in Room 6 had for math - I just adapted it to my grade and what we're learning).  

So, like I said - I'm not super creative coming up with brand new ideas.  I couldn't find anything to help my students review Properties of Addition, so I made up this sort game.  I know - I'm sure you are fawning over it... :)

  Here it is at Google Docs if you want it.  Yes, the line of 

that one page really is there in the real one...   

  Hope school is going well for you!  Have a great day!

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Writing: Pen Pals

Well, the letters are in the mail.  
This year, through a wall post on Facebook, I met my pen pal class.
They live in Illinois, we live in California.
So far it has been pretty easy.  She contacted me a little over a month ago and I sent her a class list.  She started with the first batch of letters and matched up my class with hers.  It's neat how many of the same names we both have, and how she coordinated those kids to match up.  
My kids were thrilled to get their letters 2 weeks ago.
So many of her students automatically thought that we run into movie stars all the time.  Others thought the beach was next to our town.  I love how kids' brains work.  
We "googled" their town, and watched a short video that showed clips of what her students see on a daily basis.  It even had a picture of their school.  We were able to start a compare/contrast anchor chart how we are alike and different. 
I'm so excited about this opportunity for my class.  It's probably not often that my students get a chance to talk to other 4th graders halfway across the country.  We will be able to check the weather, see the news, and get to learn about their experiences.  
As I said before... the letters are now in the mail.  It took my class 2 full weeks to write a rough draft and then a final one.  I thought it would take them a shorter amount of time, but they were really trying their best.  Of course it's also a crazy time of year with the end of the trimester and all the assessments that go along with it.  Hopefully next time around it won't be like pulling teeth.  
Do you have a pen pal class too?  
Years ago I had a pen pal class - another 2nd grade class that was at the next school over.  At the end of the year we had a field trip to a nearby park to meet each other.  Pen pals don't have to be far away, they can be close - even at your same school.  
Hope you have a wonderful Saturday!  We are celebrating my grandma's birthday today.  Lots of fun times with the cousins.  Enjoy!

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