If all doesn't go according to plan...

This is always fun to find when substituting, especially at the end of the year when students are ready for school to be out but end of year testing assures you that it is far from over...

Luckily I was fair warned and ready for 5th period. I have an incentive system on days such as these where the class and I have a contest. The contest is based on a point system. If the class is following directions well, participating, on task, etc. they can earn class points. On the other hand, if I am witnessing the opposite, I can earn points. I tell them that the points don't matter for me...I don't "win" anything for having more points so I am always on the lookout for awarding points to the class.

Their points definitely matter! At the end of the day, or class period, however many points I have, is subtracted from the number of class points and results in the total number of students I call for a small treat. Whether it be a starburst, jolly rancher, etc. I always use popsicle sticks to draw the name so that it is fair and unbiased.

I made one small change to this "nightmare" of a class and it certainly did the trick! As we worked through the assignments that day everyone had their popsicle stick at their desk. The same rules applied to my point system, however, they had to earn their popsicle stick in the drawing. I saw this group of THIRTY FOUR 7th graders wanting to participate, volunteer, answer questions, read aloud and, with each popsicle stick added, given praise for something positive they contributed to the class!

So, if you're having a rough day. Try switching things up a little bit! It was fun to compliment the students individually and in front of everyone as their popsicle stick clinked in the cup.

***

While substituting for 4th grade, I was happy to see in the plans that there would be parents coming in to run an Art and Literacy lesson for an hour of the day! After 5, 10, 15 minutes of stalling, and no parents present, I decided to have a little art lesson of my own. It was one I found on Pinterest and am going to share with you! 

I believe this lesson and activity would be great for any objective whether it be character education or reading visualization. This original idea came from a FHE lesson and I adapted it for the classroom.  Students would listen to the story and visualize what The Zelmgld looked like, then they would sketch out a picture of Zelmgld. Below is the story and some examples...I've also included the info to the original link! 

A Jump Start For Next Year...

As the end of school approaches I know most teachers are probably thinking...

...and rightfully so! After the million reviews, multiple programs, testing, fun days and field days the last thing you want to think about is next Fall! However, I'm going to share a few ideas for the early print order planners in hopes to save you a few of those precious summer hours this year! 

First, The Welcome Brochure. When I first began teaching I shared all the information parents would need to know in a Disclosure Document. It served it's purpose well, but was black and white, three pages long and looked boring. In hopes for parents to keep all the important information on hand I spruced up my document. I turned it into a colorful brochure with a brief statement about the things I found myself repeating during the first parent teacher conferences. Here is what it looks like...

The brochure was really easy to make, in fact it was already made for me in a Microsoft Word template. There are so many designs to choose from and I didn't need to spend hours decorating my own. Most of the work came when I had to decided what I wanted it to say, so I included this example for you to browse as you adapt this idea for your own classroom specifics!

Second, and last, (I know your busy) is the SMASH Journal. This idea came from putting a Smash Book and Wreck This Journal together to create a SMASH Journal for my students. 

I absolutely love journal writing and struggled with my students lack of love for journal time. I found that they were bored with following a journal prompt and that I didn't care so much about the responses but wanted them to practice their writing skills. The SMASH Journal was the perfect answer! Not only were students practicing writing, but they were doing a lot more of it! 

How? Well, at the end of everyday we opened up to a new page in our SMASH Journal and the students knew to follow these three tasks using complete sentences and correct capitalization and punctuation...

I have 8 format pages, (like the one above) they are all different and I rotate them throughout the book. I counted the number of school days and make copies accordingly. Students get to decorate their own cover. I decided to make some special SMASH pages for holidays, first day of school, etc. Here are some examples...

After implementing the SMASH Journal into my classroom I saw my students write more than they ever had and they truly cherished their journals. 

Mr. M and Yertle the Turtle vs. The Grinch

Another game idea! This takes 15 - 20 minutes and very little equipment... another form of tag that students enjoy!

Mr. M and a New PE Game

I love learning new PE games and think they'd be a great incentive for a class reward. As the year beings, take time to have fun with your students and teach them a few of your favorite group games. Once the students learn a fun game, they will ask to play it again and again. That was the case with this game I learned yesterday..."Medic." The PE teacher I am subbing for told me this was a favorite among all students. From fifth to first, when they heard we were playing "Medic" they all cheered! Using "game time" as a classroom incentive won't cost you a penny and will get your class motivated to work together so they can play together!

Preparing for all of those End of Year Reviews!

 Spring is coming which means lots of review!
The "Kahoot" quiz, a technology based review, I'm going to share is extremely interactive and engaging while still heavily monitored and run by the teacher! Pictured below are some snapshots from the site as well as a few notes. The thought bubbles will explain the teacher side of the site (orange frames) and the student side of the site (purple frames.) I've also included some ideas on how to smoothly run this in a classroom...they are listed below the pictures!

Ideas...

• If available, each student could have their own device. However, for larger classes giving one Chromebook, I pad, etc per group works just as well!
• Instead of having students choose a Username, have them type in their computer number or their student number. This controls goofy/inappropriate usernames to be displayed as well as confidentiality. Group numbers or names would be another idea!
• When the "Score" screen comes up, cover the projector. This may seem silly, but the scores are displayed after EVERY question. When students see that they aren't in the top scores displayed they quit trying. Keep everyone engaged and display the score at the END of the review! 
• There will be some goof balls in the class who will purposely answer incorrectly to see the graphs change on the data. In order to stop this I made sure that if the question had any incorrect responses displayed in the data we had to pause and have a discussion about why "such and such" wasn't the correct answer. I also tallied how many times the class answered 100% correct and matched it with an incentive. 
• MAKE A PRACTICE QUIZ FIRST...or at least a few practice questions! Having the students, and yourself, learn to maneuver through the site is a bit tricky at first. But after a couple of questions they really get the hang of it! 

Mrs. B and the Classroom Zones

I enjoy substituting for Middle School, each teacher is so different! If I've learned anything from Junior High it's this...the more organized YOU are, the more organized your STUDENTS will be for you! It's interesting to see the same students rotate to different classrooms and how they magically "change." If the class is organized and structured, so are the students. If not, well...let's just say the kids know it and that's when the "change" happens. I found it surprising to sub for Teacher A where the students were on task and well behaved and the next day, subbing the same students for Teacher B and thinking, "You weren't like this yesterday." Routines, procedures, organization and consistency are just as important for Middle School students as it is for Elementary students, if not more!

I've shared a few ideas for organization in previous posts and I'd like to share a couple more. Mrs. B teaches 3 Block classes of 6th grade Language Arts. Her organization for students in each of those classes helped me have a very productive day while she was absent.

There was 1 clipboard for each class, each with a class photo list and seating arrangement. 

Mrs. B used this clipboard to keep track of tardy's, table points, individual points, etc.

Now for the Classroom Zones. The pictures below are pretty self explanatory, but to elaborate Mrs. B introduced classroom zones for noise level control. The zones let students know the expectation for the classroom throughout a lesson, project assignment, partner work, individual work, etc. Super easy to implement as well as remind, "Remember, we're in a yellow zone." Take a look...

Only one color would be showing at a time, of course :)

One more thing to share...Mrs. B was very generous in sharing materials, but VERY serious about making sure they were returned. (The students were as well!) They were in charge of counting Sharpies, erasers and White Out's. All had to be returned before anyone could leave. 

Mrs. F and "Danish Rounders"

While subbing for middle school PE we played a form of kick ball called "Danish Rounders." This game is definitely different, however the 7th and 8th graders really enjoyed playing. I hope your students do as well!

Mrs. T & Mrs. P and the Daily 5 Centers

I've been to two classes recently that use Daily 5 during their Literacy Block. I found a few good ideas for setting up and carrying out Daily 5 routines that I'm going to, hopefully, remember for the future!

In the first classroom, Mrs. P had a bulletin board for her Daily 5. She has her first grade students select their Daily 5 choice by moving a mini clothes pin that have their name on it. My favorite part of the bulletin board were the specific posters for each choice. Listed on the poster was a description of the choice and then two columns of instructions. The first column listed what the student does when selecting that specific center and the second column lists what the teacher does. I especially like the part about what the teacher does, it reminds students that we are ALL working during Daily 5! 

The second classroom was third grade and Mrs. T had a Daily 5 Report the students fill out each week. There are 15 Daily 5 sessions a week and she has come up with a way to monitor who goes where and when. What a great way to ensure that students are rotating to each center!!  

To interpret the Daily 5 report, Mrs. T has 3 twenty minute sessions a day, 5 days a week. That's 15 sessions :) The students rotate to 3 different centers in one day and check them off on their report as they go. The number of times a student visits a center is preassigned by the teacher. The tickets are turned in every Friday and graded. I love that Mrs. T uses this card to manage where students can/should go to accomplish Daily 5 choices! Her system can be implemented into any classroom, changing the centers and stats would be easy to ensure these Daily 5 Reports have the "just right" fit for your Literacy Blocks!

Mrs. T and the 3rd Grade Zooland

Today, I subbed for third grade, walked into the classroom and this was the first thing I noticed...

No, this isn't stuffed animal jail but a project for their Animal Unit. This idea is going to be short and sweet, all I have is a few pictures, one poster and a discussion from 3rd grader about Zooland.

Me: I'm curious, what are all these stuffed animals doing in the classroom?

Student: We're starting Zoo World! (Later I found out it was Zooland)

Me: That sounds fun, what is Zoo World?

Student: We all brought an animal to study and then we're going to invite other classes to our zoo and teach them about the animal we've been taking care of.

 She didn't elaborate much about their study and/or lessons. I did find the letter sent home about Zooland...and will hopefully have the chance to create a zoo someday!

Mr. P and the Bathroom Pass Notebook

Having students leave class to use the restroom is never convenient. No matter how many times you remind them to use the restroom before school, during lunch, at recess ,etc. it's always going to be a hassle. For teachers who choose to monitor the restroom ins and outs, I've seen two ways to do this...

First, the Printed Bathroom Pass. Here are a list of reasons why I'm going to pass on bathroom passes.

1. Having to print them out.
2. Watching students frantically search for their pass.
3. "I lost mine and I really have to go!"
4. Tearing off passes one at a time.
5. "I don't have any more and it's an emergency!"
6. Printing them again.
7. "I had a bathroom pass but then I traded someone who really needed it and they didn't give me one of their new bathroom passes like they said they would." 

Second, the Bathroom Pass Notebook.  I saw this in Mr. P's 4th grade class and thought it was a great way to monitor bathroom in and out's. It works like a sign out sheet, here is an example.

• Bella has 3 bathroom passes for the week. 
• She may leave the classroom at a teacher-approved time.
• Before leaving, Bella finds her name and writes the date in the first column. 
• The two empty columns indicated she has two more bathroom passes that week.

I like the notebook because I don't have # 2,3,4,5 and 7 happening during a lesson! I don't throw away little pieces of paper I spent time printing and cutting out! (Okay, #5 WILL happen, but a teacher can tell a real emergency from a fake one!)

•  Laminate one sheet, rinse and reuse!
• Keep it in good view! Wouldn't want a little rascal signing out on another student's name...
• No roll over minutes ;)
• I'm sure there are many more...let me know if you have one to share!.

P.S. The picture of the toilet paper comes from my favorite inspirational speech about teachers...

Mrs. S and Battleship

While substituting for a Middle School PE class, I observed a game called BATTLESHIP. I love this game for many reasons! First, this game requires teamwork. Second, this game can accommodate for many different class sizes. The class I observed had 42 students and I tried this with a 5th grade PE class I substituted for that had 26. Third, this game is separated into teams - the teams get a break now and then, but the play is quick enough that they stay have to stay on their toes and be ready. Last, the game is like Dodge ball - what student doesn't like Dodge ball?!

If you're looking for a fun game to play with your PE class, a new game to play as a class incentive, or for a rainy day activity..try BATTLESHIP! Lesson plan attached below...

Ms. M and the Color Coded Classroom

After teaching 4th grade for a number of years, my first experience outside of 4th grade was in Middle School. I taught an 8th grade block class. I had three, 90 minutes block classes teaching language arts and social studies. I thought I did pretty well organizing the hundred plus students I was working with but that was until I substituted for Ms. M's 7th grade social studies class. She definitely takes the gold in organization! She has a grand total of 163 students separated into 6 different classes. Her classroom organization is AMAZING!

The very first thing I took note of was her folder...

As a substitute I absolutely love having this as a reference. In addition to a detailed lesson plan and prepared materials for your sub, you NEED this reference! It helps big time! Ms. M's Seating Chart and Class Lists Binder is above and beyond, it no doubt took her a few hours to organize, but well worth the time! I believe this is a great resource for middle school teachers as well as elementary teachers. Elementary teachers...this won't take you hours! :) Included below are photos and a few notes for creating a Seating Chart and Class List Binder like Ms. M's! 

1. Print out a picture of your classroom layout for all classes you teach.


2. Label each classroom layout. The "4" you see in the pictures represents 4th period. For elementary teachers, this will only need to be done once.

3. Assign a key in the bottom left corner that you can highlight. Some options may include IEP, ESL/ELL, TAG, + (for medical notes), Resource, etc.

4. Laminate the classroom layouts.

5. For each class, print out a class picture roster. Cut out each picture so the name is included.

6. Label each student's picture. Highlight first names according to your key, use white out to write your notes. Ms. M wrote everything down from how to pronounce names to what the student is allergic to.

7. Place a 'peel and stick' glue dot on the backside of each picture. They stay on the paper, but allow you to move students on the laminated layout to create new seating arrangements.

8. Arrange all students on the layout.

9. Buy the heavy duty sheet protectors and place each classroom layout inside... the fancier the better, you'll be flipping through these a lot!

Back to the title of this post... 

...Ms. M's color coded classroom! She begins with color coding her classes, then has those colors match color coded schedule posters, assignment collectors/returns, assignment organizers, Popsicle stick containers, and even magnet clips! Take a look below how color coding can help 6 different classes stay organized!

One last note, Ms. M taught me something about her Popsicle stick containers. She told me that on the top and bottom edges she put a mark on a student's Popsicle stick if he or she should not be called on to read aloud. She said she shuffles them around, grabs two or three, then drops the one that has the color. Students who feel uncomfortable reading in front of the whole class, have a speech IEP, etc., will not be accidentally called on, which is great...and you won't have to explain why a student  was "skipped!"

So many little things learned from Ms. M's classroom that have added up to ONE BIG Blog post! Thanks, Ms. M! 

Mrs. C and Notice and Note Bookmarks

I first saw Notice and Notes Bookmarks in Mrs. C's classroom while I was substituting her 7th Grade Language Arts class. Each student had a bookmark (on the left) to fill out as they read their book report book.


Mrs. C also had these 6 posters around her room (on the right), no doubt a visual from a lesson with her class about Literary Signposts where you Stop, Notice and Note as you read!

While teaching 4th grade, I loved book reports! I was always trying something new. When I saw Mrs. C's bookmarks I didn't think "book report." Instead, I thought they'd be a great tool to check student accountability when they are silent reading during centers. It's hard to monitor if the student is actually reading while you're meeting with groups, etc. This is the perfect assignment for students to do independently and turn in at least one a month for their center grade...requirements adaptable to grade levels of course! This could even take the place of book reports...I'm sure parents wouldn't mind at all :)

If you like this idea, I'd begin at the beginning of the year with a class read aloud. Together we'd practice the procedures and have mini lessons focusing on each literary signpost. You could implement this into every read aloud and then students will be confident and comfortable with this assignment when it's time for them to complete one on their own!

After visiting with Mrs. C about her signposts and bookmarks, she told me that this came from a training she went to recently! This was all new to me and as I Google"d" Notice and Note, I found a lot of resources as well as the source! I look forward to learning more about Notice and Noting and thought I'd share with all my teacher friends out there! Good Luck, and if you try this, let me know how it goes!