Just making it through- behaviour management

I'm going back into the archive for this one...but it's a good one!

Every year in May and June it gets HOT in Ontario....soooooo hot.

The kids are hot, the teachers are hot...everything is hot.
(Most years…this year? Who knows!!)

What to do??
So how do I plan to make it through without losing my sanity!?

FREEDOM FRIDAYS!!!

As a general rule I am not sure how I feel about Freedom Fridays as a behaviour incentive for the duration of the school year, but for the last few weeks of the school year it works wonders to keep everyone (me) happy!

This is what the Freedom Friday board looks like in my room. 

I just used those markers that can write on the board and only come off with water. 

Fancy, right?

Then I have my students work in groups to brainstorm all the ways they could earn a letter towards getting Freedom Friday (a free period for games etc) and what they might do to lose a previously earned letter. 

There are always some great conversations going on in my room during this activity! 

I hear things like, "Mrs. Lyons is always reminding us to do ______ so it must be important!" 

(That one made me giggle a little.) 

We also have a quick review on how to brainstorm- take down every idea that is given and talk about it after you have run out of ideas.

I am always impressed by how focused my students are on the task...nothing like the allure of a little free time to get students motivated! 

Try it and let me know how it goes in your room. 

Classroom Pictures...Revealed!

These are pictures from last year's class. Why last year? 

Well, here in Canada we don't go back to school until September and usually can't get into our rooms until the last week of August.

Plus...this year I will only be teaching for a grand total of...wait for it...9 days! What?

That's right, I will be going on mat leave with my second child nine days after the start of the year. So setting up a room and starting the school year is going to look very different for me this year.

Here is what my room looked like when I walked in after the summer last year.

Everything on one side.

And nothing on the other...

Yes, all my stuff is piled up behind all the furniture in my classroom. 

Here is a round about tour of my room, starting at the back of the room. 

 In an effort to make my room more "numeracy rich" (as I learned about while reading Guided Math that summer), I downloaded the Math Alphabet Posters from Bridget over at Little Lovely Leaders...and they are super cute!!

These are the bins I will use to organize my student's notebooks and work. So far I have them labelled for Math Journals, Reading Journals, Science and Social Studies. I also want to create a label for a Homework bin. 

My bins started here on the back table but didn't stay there for very long. A few weeks into school I had to move them to a shelf at the front of the room as I gained 6 extra students from a split class for all my Science and Social Studies class and they needed a place to sit. 

This is my Math focus board. You can start to see the first hints of my Suess theme which I decided upon in the summer. I LOVE it. 

This did not stay my Math focus board. I ended up using my Math Huddle board a lot and then hung my anchor charts over the shelves in my room in an effort to gain extra wall space. 

You can head over the post about using Command Hooks for my anchor charts here. 

This is the set of Math Problem Solving Posters I created last year that I love. I think it's good to have a resource for students to refer to during their Math lessons.

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This is the view my easel on the edge of the carpet area. You can also see my teacher desk in the background. Last year, I faced my desk away from the class and loved the extra space it gave me in the room. As I hardly ever sit at it I figured I didn't really need all the space it always took up.

Once again I loved the extra space pushing the teacher desk against the wall gave me. The only thing I would change next year is to put it closer to my u-table so that I could still access the drawers and filing cabinet easily. 

You can also see the number line I put up over the windows. Another attempt at a numeracy rich classroom.

This is my classroom calendar board. The 2 hooks under the calendar are where I will put the daily helpers. After trying classroom jobs for many years, I moved to just having two daily helpers last year. It was so much easier to keep track of then changing a million jobs every week or so. 

I love having only 2 helpers, but I ended up moving these 2 hooks very soon as the calendar was actually behind my chair and a big pain to switch everyday. I moved them over beside our daily schedule. 

Here is my classroom library. I changed the book bin labels...again!! Why do I do that every year? 

When I return to the classroom full-time...in September 2014 (!) I am planning to purchase a set of Ladybug's Teacher Files Genre Library Labels. I just love how she organizes it and can't believe I've never thought of it before. 

I also want to buy ALL new bins from Really Good Stuff. 

I was a little worried that I wouldn't have enough books for a Grade 3 class. After 6 years in Grade 7 and 8, I really had to cut my classroom library in half, less than half a few years ago when I moved to Grade 4. But it turns out that I think it's okay...okay, not great, but okay.

Still need more age appropriate books. 

This is my Power of Retelling board that I posted about earlier. I am very excited to get it going with my students. 

Loved this! Loved my Book of the Week. Can't wait to do it again.

This is my agenda board. I've put it close to the carpet area this year so my students can sit on the carpet to complete their agendas each day. Plus, more Suess fabulousness!

I liked this but it took up too much room...I made it too big. Something to remember for next year. 

I hung 3M clips on a wall last year for chart paper and LOVED it! It was so great to be able to stand and write during shared writing and brainstorming sessions without having to be cramped over in a  chair by an easel. This year I have the easel on one side of my carpet area and the chart paper hung on the wall on the other. 

This was the inspiration for my Must Have Monday post about Command hooks. Click here to check it out. 

Brillant? I think so!!

So here is the main area I plan to be in when I work with my students. As I pushed my desk against the wall, my u-shaped table will be my command centre. From here I will be able to do guided reading, math workshop and conferences.

In real life it didn't look that messy to me, but here in the picture it does...looks like I have more work to do. 

This is my Math Huddle board. A teaching partner of mine organizes his math lessons this way and it made a lot of sense to me, especially after reading Guided Math. I will definitely be posting more about it soon!

This is the best thing I implemented into my Mat teaching last year. Click on the Math Huddle category to the right to check out more posts. Now if I could just get the process of Guided Math the way I like it. 

Class supplies. I decided to organize my markers by colour after seeing a similar idea on....where else, Pinterest!

I might create the Sterilite drawer organizer I've been seeing everywhere for next year and save table space. 

This is our daily schedule board. I created labels and put magnets on the back so I can easily change them. I also created some blank ones that once they are laminated I can write on them for days when we have an activity that doesn't fit into our normal routine, like a field trip. 

The view of the whole room from the back door. 

Whew!! I hope you enjoyed the tour of my room from last year....there will be NO pictures of this year's room as it will just be too sad!

I'm heading over to link up with A Class*y Collaboration's A Class*y Cruise.

 Hope to see you there!

Daily Math Calendar (Freebie)

As many of you know I participated in the Guided Math book study this summer and have been attempting to incorporate some of my learning into my math program. I didn't want to overwhelm myself so I set some long and short term goals. If you are interested in reading my previous posts about this topic please click the following two links:

Morning Math Meeting/Math Stretches (Freebie)
Math Stretches and Calendar (Freebie)

As per my goals I have implemented Math Stretches and Calendar, or as I call it, Morning Math Meeting everyday this year. I have found that the Math Stretch is a a great way to get my students on task as soon as they arrive each day and we are able to gather on the carpet immediately for a small bit of community time as well.

I feel like I am learning new things about my student's abilities everyday during our quick Math Stretches. I have seen that the same students struggle repeatedly with completing a number pattern or skip counting which has allowed me to easily target who needs a little extra practice. In addition, our discussions about the Math Stretch has provided information about who is comfortable communicating their knowledge about math in front of the class as a group and who tends to hold back and let others do the talking.

Our Morning Math Meeting (Calendar) has not been done as consistently as our Math Stretch due to the fact that there were certain days in our timetable where we only had 20 minutes in the morning before my students had a rotary class (gym/music/art/etc) but after receiving a new timetable this week that small problem may be fixed!

I did find that the Calendar board I had created for September didn't quite fit all the needs I had for this time with my students. There was nothing wrong with the board per se but I just wasn't super happy with it! At times it seemed almost too easy for my class, (i.e. when we were using small 2 digit numbers) but then other times they really struggled with completing the tasks (i.e. using a 3 digit number). I decided to stick with it for the month of September just to get some routine under our belts and then change it up a bit.

So here is the new board I have set up for October. 

If you choose to download this freebie please remember that feedback and comments are always appreciated.

In other Math-y news, I think I am going to attempt to go whole hog next week with Math Workshop! I am going to jump right in with 2 feet. I have noticed that quite a few of my Grade 3 friends are getting lost in the crowd and just can't concentrate during a whole group lesson so I am going to get together some games and independent practice work this weekend. First thing Monday morning we are going to jump in and see how it goes. Nervous? Yup!!

I did a small trial where I had my class divided into 5 groups- while I met with one of the groups the other 4 played games. It worked well except for the noise level in the class. However, this is something I have been working on with my students in almost every setting and I feel like if I wait until we are totally perfect in this area I might never get Math Workshop off the ground!

Have you tried Math Workshop yet?

First Time Clip Art Purchase!!

I have never purchased clip art for my school materials before because I was always so confused by the Terms of Use presented on the different sellers websites. So when Scrappin Doodles came out with a License for Teacher Freebies I was over the moon...this is exactly what I want. I have no interest in selling my stuff only in giving away freebies (lucky you all) so this license is perfect for me. If you look over to the right sidebar of my blog (maybe scroll down a little) you will see my pretty little license button AND if you click on it, it will take you straight to Scrappin Doodles!

To celebrate my first ever clip art purchase I have a freebie for you....double yeah! All I ask is that you leave me a COMMENT about how you use clip art in your classroom, your favourite clip art supplier, or any other nice tidbit you'd like to share on this lovely Friday. I am counting on you guys...honour system!

When I saw this classroom management sign on Pinterest from Ladybug's Teacher Files I knew it was a great idea and that I wanted to "borrow" it for the upcoming school year. My sign is essentially the same as Kristen's (because hers was pretty awesome to begin with!) but I wanted to make something using my new clipart!!

Highlighter Name Check- I have added a line to remind students to check off their name on the class list because I also LOVE this idea I saw on Pinterest...which is also from Ladybug's Teacher Files!! That Kristen is one smart cookie.

All clipart used in this freebie is from Scrappin' Doodles.

Happy Birthday to Me! And a Freebie for You!!

Disclaimer- I live in Canada. I spell words with a "u" in them. Like colour, honour, behaviour, neighbourhood. Most likely anything I post will be spelled this way! I am happy to change things to an American spelling if asked...however, today is my birthday so it will NOT happen today.

In honour of my birthday..TODAY!...I am posting some materials I have made for my classroom.

First, this is the behaviour chart I made after seeing so many amazing ones on Pinterest. I am very excited to try this out with my students as i found last year I did not like the turn a card system at all. I think this will be much better because the "good" students have the opportunity to be recognized as well as the students who seem to know exactly how to grab your attention...in the wrong way!

Behaviour chart (The font used on this chart is A Red Bucket from KevinandAmanda.com)

Secondly, here is the reflection form I plan to use for the students who move down to that level on the behaviour chart. It will give the student time to reflect on their choices, to cool down and I will have a record of the incident as well.

Reflection Sheet

Here is the Parent Contact sheet I will use for when my students reach the bottom level of the clip chart (hopefully this happens rarely.....!). I find it useful to have forms like this prepared and ready to go so you aren't spending valuable time writing out information that could already be done.

Parent Contact Sheet

Whew...well, I hope you all have a great day on my birthday!! I will. I plan to create some forms that go along with the upper levels of the clip chart as well and will post those when I get them done.

Have a great weekend.

Pre-Birthday Freebie! Morning Routine

Friday is my birthday!!!

Yesterday I read an amazing post on Clutter- Free Classroom about a great idea for a morning routine. A similar idea had been growing in the back of my mind ever since The Book Whisperer read along and an earlier post about using music in the morning from Clutter-Free Classroom. Thank goodness for Clutter-Free Classroom!

As Donalyn outlined in The Book Whisperer that any time that the students can steal for reading is good! Practicing with your students to know to pick up their books whenever there is an interruption in the day, while they are waiting for an assembly, and in the morning when they enter the classroom allows for there to be all sorts of extra reading time in the school day. I can identify with everything that Clutter-Free Classroom wrote about the varying types of "bell work" they have used in their rooms...nothing ever really works the way you want it to. I am super excited to try this new method of having my students read their books as soon as they enter the room and sit in their desks.

The basic idea is this:
- when students enter the room they will put away their belongings and sit down
- I will play a new song each morning (I will probably choose 5 songs- one for each day, and perhaps will let students suggest songs or make a soundtrack as a reward)
- students are responsible to be seated and reading their book before the music ends

In order to promote this system I have created a "poster" along the same idea as Clutter-Free Classroom, however I will project mine on the LCD every morning when the students enter the room. I am not going to have my students read for a full 20 minutes though, just until the morning announcements start. I also hope to tie this into my behaviour clip chart as well (more on that on Friday...my birthday!!!) I will be on the look out for students who are settled in and reading right away and have them move up the behaviour chart one level from "Ready to Learn".

Only two and half weeks left of my mat leave and until school starts!!