Planning Our Reader's Workshop Week + Freebie

I have been using a twist on the Daily 5 for my Reader's Workshop for the past few years and I love it! If you'd like to read more about Daily 5 and how I incorporate it, click HERE.

I always start the year with bookmarks with rotations built in. I find this to be a good management strategy as the kids get to know me, I get to know them, and we settle into our classroom's rules and expectations. To learn how to make your own bookmarks, click HERE.

At this point in the year, though, I want the kids to be choosing their own rotations and making choices about where and how they are going to spend their time.

We don't have the time to plan each day, so every Friday, I have the kids plan for the week ahead using our Reader's Workshop Weekly Planner:

This is a full-size page, but I shrink it down to print two-to-a-page and find that size works perfectly. I copy it on blue paper (read more about my color coding HERE) and they keep it with them in their blue Reading Folders.

Each Friday, students receive a blank form and will begin my automatically entering in their "Teacher Time" (TT) space. This is our Guided Reading time, so it's the one non-negotiable when it comes to their schedules.

The other codes can be plugged in where the kids like-- there is a number next to each that they will need to follow. I want to make sure they are dedicating most of their time to Read to Self (4x/week) and Word Work (4x/week). Listen to Reading (1x/week) and Read with Someone (2x/week) are both for fluency practice, so they do those less now that the year is in full-swing.

The last option is Accelerated Reader, or AR. I have kids do this on their own at their own pace during Read to Self. We have Chromebooks in our classroom and my kids have been using AR for a year or two before they get to me, so it's a quick and easy to understand process for them. Days they take an AR Test they will add AR to their RTS square. Interested in a freebie AR Tracker? Click HERE.

At the end of each Reader's Workshop time, we will touch base whole-class and grade ourselves on how we did. We use my Mountain Climbers for this time of grading and I find that kids are very honest about this since they are so used to this scale.

I collect these on Friday and hand out new ones and the process continues! I have found that it has helped them develop the leadership skills we've been chatting about and also fits beautifully into our goal-setting discussions.

Here's one example from this week's goal-setting meeting:

To read more about goal-setting in my classroom, click HERE to get started!

If you'd like to pick up this freebie, click HERE. There are three versions: one like mine shown above, one without the number requirements, and one editable PDF where you can add in your own choices to fit your class' needs! Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: The Daily 5 & CAFE resources are unofficial adaptations of the Daily 5 by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser. This freebie is not endorsed by the 2 Sisters. http://www.thedailycafe.com.

Creating Class WOW Goals

We have really delved into goal-setting this year in our class and I have loved how our language has a class had changed. In years past, some students naturally set goals or worked to do better, but it was never a year-long focus for all students as it has been this year. While we are still experiencing some growing pains, I think overall the repeated exposure to goal-setting and goal-achieving has added a new dimension to our class conversations.

While we have worked a lot on individual goals, I wanted to develop a class-wide weekly goal to help keep us on the right track, especially this time of the year when we tend to get into a slump. We started on Friday during our goal-setting meeting to discuss whole-class what we wanted to work on to develop ourselves as leaders in our school. At first the ideas were very general: show the 7 Habits, follow class rules, be leaders not bosses, etc. But when we reviewed our SMART criteria, we really worked to narrow it down to make it specific and attainable.

What we decided was that we needed to work on Rule #1 and Rule #4 the most. Rule #1 is "Listen when your teacher is talking," and Rule #4 is "Make smart choices." *I have mixed and matched the Whole Brain Teaching and Teaching-ish rules to fit me best :)

Once we decided on that, we discussed how we would make it measurable. One way I sometimes track if I see/hear a group of students breaking a rule is to quickly say, "Rule #1" and the kids will reply back "Listen when your teacher is talking." while using gestures. One student suggested I do that, and it occurred to me that I had really let that practice slide this year (totally my bad!). It was a great suggestion and we knew that if I was calling out rules less by this time next week, we were moving closer to our goal. Now I just have to remember to stay on top of that ;)

I turned the one-pager into a poster by adjusting the print settings to 200% and taping the four pages together. I laminated it and used dry-erase markers so we can write on this week after week. For the freebie, keep reading...

I added a small part about "Follow your compass" to address the "smart" part of "Make smart choices." I reminded my students that all of them know what due north in our classroom looks like. The expectations are clear, the rules are reinforced, and I am very fortunate to be in a classroom full of great kids that truly want to do the right thing (this has not always been the case, so I feel extra lucky this year!). This doesn't mean they are immune to being tempted to verge off to the east or west, and sometimes even turn around and run due south. (And yes, I definitely squeezed in some geography into this! Ha!) I challenged my kids to remember their due north, specifically when choices arise that they know may take them off-course. I challenged them to stay committed to their compass and follow the path they knew to be the right course. We'll see how it goes next week, but I love the image of a compass and plan on planting one up on our front wall somewhere as a visual cue throughout the week :)

So next week's Class WOW Goal involves us all, including me, and I know that these small steps will help encourage us to demonstrate more leadership skills both independently and whole-group. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

If you'd like a copy of the Class WOW Goals sheet, click HERE.

Find more Goal-Setting Posts here:

Ready, Set, Learn! Attention Getter + Freebie

It has been several years since my class and school have been involved with Whole Brain Teaching. I love so many of the aspects, but I have found over the years it can sometimes grow stale if I don't work to spruce it up from time to time.

For example, I started this year as I always have and used the "Class Class" chant to get my kids' attention. The first year I implemented this, it worked like a charm. However, after three years, it has lost its excitement for both me and (unfortunately) my students. This happens, so I had to work to come up with something else.

There are so many fantastic twists on the "Class Class" chant, but I decided to include some gestures to help out some of my squirrley students. Kids keeping their hands to themselves is definitely more of a challenge this year, so I wanted something that would encourage them to get their hands in check along with their attention and their voice levels.

I came up with "Ready, Set, Learn!" and couldn't be happier with the result!!

This helpful poster hangs in the front of our class now and reminds the kids what's expected. The colors indicate their engagement with me. When we first start, they aren't (red), then they move towards it (yellow), and by the end, they are fully engaged, ready for me to start speaking/teaching (green).

I simply state, "Ready, Set, Learn!" pretty quickly. They reply by clapping twice while saying "Ready" and "Set." Then, as they say "Learn" they fold their hands and plop them down in their laps or on the table. It makes noise and I am a-ok with that final "thomp." I want it to be fun and I'll take a split-second of noise for the uninterrupted silence that follows!

Of course, I still do the Smiley/Frown face and I am super-strict about whether they get a smiley face. Especially because they have years of this under their belts, they know the expectation and it's also really obvious after the "thomp" whether anyone is still talking. I know that if I want this to work, I have to stick to my guns and mark a frown if we aren't all on board. Fortunately, kids get focused pretty quick and it has been a really fun change to our day!

Even better? My students have started suggesting different variations based on where or what we are doing. For example, when we line up, it's now "Ready, Set, Walk" where they clap twice and then hold up a zero with one hand. To learn more about how we walk in line using Magic 3, click HERE.

If you'd like this poster for your own classroom, click HERE to grab it for free. I hope you enjoy this twist and that it can help re-engage your kids if you've hit that midyear slump, too!

Have a great weekend!

Technology Resources for Valentine's Day

I cannot believe Valentine's Day is almost here! To help celebrate, I've compiled five fun and engaging technology resources for your students. I know these will be a hit in your classroom even beyond this sweet season!

Shape Poems with ReadWriteThink.org

I have shared my love for ReadWriteThink.org before and these shape poems are a great way to practice a quick poetry lesson in a Valentine's-themed way! Many shapes are available, but I choose the heart shape and then have kids practice writing Valentines to school helpers. It's a sweet way to spread the love this holiday and also very easy to differentiate for all of the learners in your class.

To find this shape poem maker, click HERE.

Valentine's Typing

Kids *all* need help with typing, especially as the assessments they take move towards more computer-based tests (sigh). Anyways, this is a fun way for kids to review letters on the keyboard. Letters come up from the bottom and kids need to type the letter before it reaches the top. This starts easy with one letter at a time, but gets progressively more challenging with multiple letter hearts as the game continues. There is no teaching or reinforcement of hand positions in this game, so adjust for that as you introduce this. We have been using TypingPal.com (through our district) this year, so I will encourage proper hand position before they play to hopefully reinforce these lessons we've been learning!

To practice Valentine's Typing, click HERE.

Valentine Hearts Sudoku

Some people are *amazing* at Sudoku.... I am not one of those people. Thankfully, this game is based on colors and there is a huge "HINT" button on the bottom, which makes this accessible to players of all levels! These types of games are so good for the brain, but we often don't have time to squeeze them into our day. Hopefully this game can get even more kids learning about and practicing Sudoku!

Find Hearts Sudoku HERE.

My Money Valentine

Calling all fellow children of the '80's! Do you remember the old computer game "Lemonade" where you had to stock your Lemonade Stand and then sell, hoping you bought just the right amount of lemons and sugar to turn a profit? This game completely took me back to that and so I knew this would be a huge hit with my kids!! You will need to stock your store with Valentine's Day merchandise and then open for business. At the end of the day, you see the profit you made and then adjust for the next sales day. These games never get old and you can really teach about some cool economic concepts as well! Try it yourself and I promise you'll be hooked :)

To open your store on My Money Valentine, click HERE.

Valentine Word Drop Game

This game surprised me. I thought at first it would be too simple for my third graders, but the speed made it a fun challenge and my Valentine's vocab was really put to the test! Scrambled words drop from the top and you will need to click on two letters to switch their places. Do this several times until the word is spelled correctly. It's a great review, especially since many of the words are found in my Valentine's Day Word Work packet, so it pairs very well! Love when that happens :)

To practice the Valentine Word Drop, click HERE.

I hope these activities can spruce up your technology usage this month and that your kids enjoy the games as much as mine did!

If you're looking for some Valentine's Day resources, be sure to check out my TpT Store here: http://3rd.gr/Valentines_Resources.

There are Word Work, writing prompts, writing with idioms, QR math problems, and more!

And now, a special Valentine for you!

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Find more Technology Resources throughout the year here: