A Peek into My Class...The First Weeks Back From My Maternity Leave

No, I didn't forget about you guys and my little ol' blog over here. I just didn't quite anticipate how much more juggling there would be with 2 kids and going back to work. Add in an entire new focus on working out and getting fit (I'm talking 7 days a week) and there just isn't enough time in the day!

I have some pictures of my class to share and I promise to try and be back more regularly to share....

Fingers crossed.

The start of our lesson on "Just-Right" books...notice that the t-shirts are all different sizes. 

Finished posters to be posted soon!

Our carpet and Morning Math Meeting area. 

Class library

Bulletin boards

 (I love that I painted them black!)

More carpet area

View of the room from the back corner. 

Our first Math Huddle....success!

We focused on math talk and didn't worry too much about the actual math being done (good thing...) and it went super well.

We've done a second one since that I want to post about soon. 

Close up of the Math Huddle board. 

Anchor created during the Math Huddle...notice where it says "kids loving math"?

Totally their input.

Love it.

Turn a card behaviour system used school-wide. 

Small group meeting area...under construction as well are still getting our routines in place.

View of the whole room. 

And that's where the magic happens folks!

I have promised myself that I will set time aside for blogging...and I will do it.

If I don't- can you all drop me a line and yell at me?

Thanks!

Guided Math Posters and Planning (FREEBIES)

“Graphics by The Hazel Owl @ http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Hazel-Owl”

One of my biggest goals for this coming school year is to have a solid Guided Math/ Math Workshop program in my class. Over the course of this year I have been doing a lot of reading, pinning and planning to get ready for this... and here we are, only three weeks away from the start of school!

I've posted a lot about my learning and my plans for my Math Workshop and you can find those posts starting here.

Below you can see the posters I have created for each of the 4 rotations/ centres/ stations (whatever you want to call them) that I will have in my class. I really liked the idea of using MATH as an acronym for my Math Workshop so I played around with it and this is what I came up with.

**On the Teacher Time page of the freebie it will say "Small group lessons that will be done with your teacher." instead of being customized like the one above for a teaching colleague of mine.**

Please click on any of the above images to be taken to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to grab this freebie for yourself. 

I am also in the process of planning out the first 20 days of my Math Workshop...and beyond. I have purchased Guided Math in Action by Dr. Nicki Newton as well as downloaded this AMAZING freebie from Mandy's Tips for Teachers. 

Another blog I recommend visiting is Tina's Teacher Treasures. Tina has some amazing products in her TPT store as well.   

I've also created a Workshop at a Glance template for both my Math and Literacy Workshops. I like to see where I'm going and where I've been as I plan my lessons and move forward through the year.

Click on the image below to grab your copy!

I hope you can make use of these freebies, either in your own classroom or in your planning. I am working on a weekly planning template for both my math and literacy workshop and plan to have those ready soon.

A Name Art Project- A Wonderful Way to Start Your Visual Art Class

In anticipation of the coming school year I am hoping that I get to teach my own visual art. It is an area of the curriculum that I love and really enjoy teaching. 

In the Ontario curriculum for art we concentrate on the elements of design: line, colour, value, texture, shape and form, and space. I found a great resource for explaining the elements on this site. You should definitely check it out if you are teaching art this year.

This is a great project that could be used as a display for an Open House night and even double as the cover of our art portfolios.

Deep Space Sparkle had just the art activity I was looking for, Name Designs: Line Art...go take a look at this fantastic project to do with your class.

What an amazing site...so many ideas, techniques, supply lists. 

Everything you could ever need to teach art!

The last time I taught this lesson I started with a discussion on lines and patterns. 

My class and I looked at some art by Keith Haring, Van Gogh and others (multiple mediums) and discussed the moods, emotions and types of lines we saw. 

It was very interesting to talk to the kids about their impressions of the famous art works. 

Then we did a lesson on how to draw block letters and we practiced various size letters, shapes of letters and talked about the contours of the lines. Once we had spent a good deal of time on the block letters we moved on to different types of patterns we could create using lines... thick lines, wavy lines, round lines, thin lines...you name it. 

The students created a tic-tac-toe board on their practice paper and drew 9 or so different types of patterns. 

When we had finished that we did a gallery walk to get new ideas from what our classmates had tried. 

(This was my first art class gallery walk and I LOVED it!)

Now we were finally ready to start the project! I must say that the kids were focused, quiet and hard at work make their name projects.  

As a side note: my teaching partner thought this project would be way too hard for grade 4 but I disagreed and felt that if we teach high they will learn high...and I was right! 

 Here are some pictures of my students working away on a rainy Friday afternoon. Some are close to done, some are done and moved on to other line drawings but many are still in the process. 

I can't wait to see what they all look like when they are done and on display!

This student's name only has three different letters and they are all very angular, no curves. 

He has added a TONNE of patterns and I can't wait to see the finished product.

This is one of the finished ones! 

This student chose to use pencil crayons instead of markers for his letters. 

It's going to take more work to colour everything in so that it pops! but he is pretty determined.

This student used a ruler A LOT. 

It will be an interesting contrast to this students who worked free hand.

Click here to see the finished projects on display. 

(Grade 4 students)

Click here to see some more examples taken from a different year. 

(Grade 3 students)

This post was originally published in 2011. 

First week done! Pictures and more pictures.

We returned to school year in Ontario on Tuesday and had a nice 4 day week to ease us back into the routines to school. This year is a little very odd for me because I am only returning for the first 2 weeks of the year!

I decided to focus on curriculum rather than routines because I have no idea how the teacher coming in will want the class to be set up...at least curriculum is constant and by completing some expectations they will be able to focus on the typical beginning of the year community building. 

Here is the makeshift calendar that I created (only using chalk...blah). The first math expectations I have been covering with the class are place value to 1000 and skip counting...nothing too complicated.

I have been reading picture books that focus on the theme of inclusivity. First we read Odd Velvet by Mary Whitcomb and worked through the structure I followed last year after reading The Power of Retelling.  I love following this structure because it keeps all of the comprehension strategies fresh in the student's minds. 

The first writing unit in Grade 3 is procedural writing so we did 2 different shared writing procedures to provide some examples for the students. These are the only real "classroom routines" I have tried to implement for the new teacher coming in. I hope they are okay with it. 

I was pleasantly surprised when I asked the class to make a mind map of everything they could think about math...and they came up with so many good ideas!

Here is a chart I made to illustrate the math goals we have been covering during our calendar time and during different class discussions. 

On Friday, we made this class bar graph about our birthdays. The other curriculum expectations that are covered in the beginning of the year is graphing and sorting so I thought that by making a bulletin board bar graph the students would have a HUGE anchor chart for how a bar graph should look...and it created a small sense of community when we could see when all our birthdays fell during the year. 

My biggest goal of these two weeks was to create a portfolio of diagnostic work to help the new teacher have a sense of where the students are academically and not feel as though they are coming in super late...it's what I would want someone to do for me. So in addition to the diagnostic tasks we have been working on creating a portfolio cover. I blogged about this art assignment a few years ago when I taught my own art (oh how I miss that!)

Lastly, we brainstormed all the things a good classmate is/ does/ says and is not...a great idea I found on Pinterest(!!) but is originally from Using My Teacher Voice. Hopefully, the new teacher coming can use this to create the classroom rules they want to have posted in their room. 

Well, there's my first week in a nutshell...and tomorrow I start my last week! What a weird feeling. 

Back to School Sale! And a FREEBIE!!

Unless you've been hiding under a rock you must have heard about the Teachers Pay Teacher Back to School sale today and tomorrow... who doesn't love a sale??

Now, I don't have a TPT store to direct you to for great savings...all my stuff is always a freebie here at my blog.

But I did buy some great items!

Since I am only going back to school for 9 short days before my mat leave starts I have been racking my brain about how to go about planning and teaching for those 9 days. I don't want to set up too many routines in case they're aren't what the teacher coming in will want for the class, but I also don't think I should teach any routines at all. Such a dilemma.

Then I start to think about curriculum...my school board has a process every September/October called re-organization. This is where schools and classes that have either too many students or not enough students get re-organized into proper class sizes. I understand the need for it but it's a lot of disruption for staff and students as classes can end up collapsed and teachers moved from one school to other overnight. Horrible, right?

Well, the chances are high of my school getting re-organized because our numbers are so high. This has happened to us every year for the last three...this year isn't looking any different. I want to spend my short time in the classroom creating small portfolios that my students can take with them in case they are moved to a new class and the teacher will have a glimpse into what they can do and have been doing without feeling like he/she needs to play catch up.

So when choosing my products for the sale I looked for items that covered a lot of general expectations and would allow the students to have fun while showcasing their abilities.

So what did I get?

Click on any of the images to be taken directly to the sellers TPT store and the product.

I love the idea of Math About Me...students start to think about numbers and math in a whole new way. I think this will be a great starting activity for my grade 3's and to pass along to their new teacher. 

After a whole summer off it can be difficult to get students to start writing again. I am hoping this will jump start their writing muscles and provide some diagnostic information for their new teacher. 

Gotta see how well they can make connections. I am hoping to do a 9-day (LOL) intensive connections unit while I am school to gain some insight into my student's reading ability that I can then pass on.

This product has some great get-to-know you activities and many of them could be used to create some cute class books. I think I will use a lot of them as time-fillers and seat work as I try to complete as many reading assessments in 9-days as possible.

Math diagnostic!! Grade 3 is a testing year in my province so I want to get my students started on the right foot (even if I won't be there at testing time) so they can be prepared. 

Lastly, I got some more of the ADORABLE Pink Cat Studio clip art that I have been using for my Back to School Teacher Binder Series. I am in love with it. 

If you've missed on on the freebies so far make sure you check out

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

And now for Part 4...more freebies for you!

Here is a little form to help you keep track of all your student's birthdays!

This a is cute package of forms I put together to help you prepare for a substitute. This freebie includes a spot to leave information about your class/students, classroom rules, procedures, behaviour management, recess routines, lunch information, dismiss routines, morning routines, and a feedback form.

Finally, I'd love for you check out the TPT stores for my fellow contributors over at A Class*y Collaboration.

Click on the buttons below to head to their  TPT stores.

Kathy is participating too! She has a tonne of math games that would be great for math centres.

Brenda has some amazing Beanie Bag Decoding Strategy Posters...just added to my cart!

Everything in Ciera's store is sooo cute! I love the Author's Purpose Powerpoint and colouring set.

Jacque has some super cute alphabet posters.

Rachel is in on the sale too!! She has a wide variety of sub plans available.

Sabra has two cute fraction sets- Fraction War! The kids would love it. 

Hope your shopping is going as well as mine!