Building Stamina (+ Free Graph)

As many of you know, this was my last week in the classroom.  On Monday, I'm off to my new position as an instructional coach.  I spent the last two weeks transitioning my class (since I was supposed to loop with them this year).  The new teacher is all settled in and I miss the kids like crazy already.  I'll still be posting on a regular basis, so I hope you'll follow along to see what my new adventure brings.

I absolutely love reader's workshop and writer's workshop time! Over the years, I've searched and searched for a resource for reader's workshop.  I've found lots, but last year I fell in love with this fabulous book.  The best thing about it is that it includes a full year of reader's workshop and writer's workshop units. The reader's workshop and writer's workshop lessons are separate in the book (in case you have a required curriculum).  I used the 1st grade version last year and started using the 2nd grade version this year.  The same authors wrote kindergarten through 5th grade editions as well.  It is very user friendly and the mini lessons are clearly laid out.  There are recommended mentor texts and anchor chart suggestions in each unit.

We spent the week working on reading and writing stamina. We talked about reading stamina first (only because reader's workshop comes first in my schedule).  I made this anchor chart with my students.  I added the smiley/sad faces when we created it together this year to help one of my special needs students.  Each day I asked my students to choose something on either side of the chart as a goal to work on improving during our reader's workshop time. We did a "think/pair/share" at the end with partners to discuss whether or not they reached their goals for the day.

We did the same during writer's workshop as we discussed building writing stamina.

Beatrice Doesn't Want To by Laura Numeroff  is my favorite mentor text to use for stamina building mini lessons. The story is an excellent way to kick off a discussion about both reading and writing stamina. I read it toward the end of the week, because by then the students are able to identify the characteristics of reading and writing stamina (rather than having me point them out early in the week).

Throughout the week, we also refered back to our "Things Writer's Write" chart to discuss how we could build writing stamina by working on different types of writing.  We made a similar chart together at the beginning of 1st grade and they quickly ran out of ideas.  This year, my students were so full of ideas that they begged me to make another list to add to this one.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the second one.

I did not ask my students to fill out an individual stamina graph  for reading this year.  I wanted my students to be able to spend their reader's workshop time getting lost in their chosen texts, not watching the clock.  I kept track of the time each day on an iPad timer and we celebrated our stamina building efforts at the end of reader's workshop time each day.

We did use individual stamina graphs for writer's workshop.  I made the graph below.  

You can click on it to download a copy for yourself.  I included 5 days on the graph, so you can use it for one week or make extra copies if you need to continue focusing on stamina for additional weeks.

I'm off to enjoy this beautiful day! 

Reflective Teaching - Day 4

I'm survived day 3 of school.  That part was easy.  I love my kids.  It's the packing that is pushing me over the edge.  Packing up all of your teaching possessions in Rubbermaid containers at night during the first week of school, while you try not to make the room look empty, after you just spent the entire summer changing classrooms, preparing for a new grade level and setting up your new room is absolutely not fun.  When the packing is over, the class will have a new teacher and I will be off to my new job. I'm excited about having a new adventure and excited to be done with the packing/moving!

Here is what I learned this week...
I probably qualify for the Hoarders show simply because of the number of plastic bins I own.  It's kind of embarrassing and handy at the same time.

Dt. Dew is necessary during major life transitions.  I don't care what it has in it.  It's my coffee.

Focusing on kids is always a good idea.  I'm enjoying every single minute with my class.  It is an amazing feeling to have the same group of kids (even if it will only be for a couple weeks).  They are just ready to jump right in and get rollin'.

 I'm participating in the 30 Day Challenge for Teachers hosted by Teach Thought.  Reflecting on my own work is important to me.

Day 4 - What do you love most about teaching?

Kids, of course!

 My next favorite thing about teaching is planning.  Not the hours of busy work that you have to do on Sundays... Ha!  I love long term planning, data collection and reflection, curriculum mapping, planning to scaffold learning and planning using the RTI model to improve instruction and support student learning. 

I have two goldendoodles who are pushing my hands away from the keyboard for some attention.  

Hope you had a great week!

Goal for New Technology (Reflective Teaching Day 2)

If you read my post from yesterday, you know that I am starting a new adventure.  You can read about it here.

Even though the first week of school is crazy... I'm going to try really hard to complete the 30 Day Challenge for Teachers hosted by Teach Thought.  Reflecting on my own work is important to me.

Day 2 - Write about one piece of technology that you'd like to use this year.

Since I'll be working in the role of an instructional coach, one of my tech goals is to use a variety of presentation sites/apps.  The first ones that I'm going to focus on using more are Pear Deck (which was recently modeled by our Instructional Technology Coach and Prezi.  I like the features that each has to offer and using them more will hopefully enhance any presentations I need to share with staff.

Today is the first day of school for public school students in Michigan. I love the first day of school!  I have big plans to enjoy the day with my students (even though they'll get a new teacher in a couple weeks). I want them to have a happy first week of 2nd grade!

Happy first day!

Classroom Photos and Big Fat Change of Plans

My school has open house (kind of like meet the teacher night) before school starts.  The Michigan public schools don't officially start until September 2.  Our open house was last week on Wednesday.

Twas the day before open house and my room was unpacked (I moved to a new room this summer), set up for 2nd grade (to loop with my class from last year) and finally finished.   

All the book bins were labeled and put on the shelves.

I was ready for open house.  I'll leave you in suspense until the end 

about the big fat change of plans.

Welcome to my new 2nd grade classroom!

This is my family photo board.  

Since I had these students last year, I kept their family photos and hung them up for open house.

I use this board for anchor charts related to writer's workshop.

(My alphabet cards are from Marsha McGuire - A Differeniated Kindergarten.)

The bins on the top are for chapter book series. The bins on the shelves below are for single copies at each level.  This shelf has a "twin" with different level bins on it.

You can find my book bin labels here. I also use them on my word wall.

You can find my schedule cards here.

This is just a piece of fabric that I found that has a map on it. 

I hang it on the wall, so kids can refer to it and touch it throughout the year.

This is what my room looked like the day before open house. 

Then I received a phone call from one of the administrators in my district 

offering me a position as an Instructional Coach.

A

Big

Fat

Change

of 

Plans

Luckily, I am flexible and good at packing.

Seriously... 

As you can imagine, this kind of change of plans

 is a sensitive issue when you were planning to loop with a class. 

I'm not going to go into the details of how that went down.

Tears were shed by me, by many of the parents and again by me.

Parents talked to their children at home, 

but I will talk to them again on the first day of school next week.

I'll be teaching the class for two weeks until they hire another teacher.

I will be brave and keep things positive.

I am confident that the children will take the news just how I present it...in a positive way.

Children cope better than an adults in so many ways.

And, I'll cry on the way home because I absolutely love these kids and all of their parents. 

As for the new job...

I truly am excited for this new adventure!

It is an incredible opportunity to learn and grow as an educator.

I couldn't pass it up...even though the timing is not great.

In my new job, I'll be partnering up with teachers to help them reflect on their teaching.

I'll be doing lots of reflecting on my own work as a coach as well.

In the spirit of reflecting, 

I'm going to start by trying really hard to participate in the 

30 Day Blogging Challenge for Teachers hosted by Teach Thought.

Day 1 - My Goals for the School Year

(and a few of the most important things for me to focus on in my new role)

I'll still be blogging here...since something has to stay the same in my life. Ha!

Funky First Grade Fun almost turned into Funky 2nd grade Fun at the beginning of the summer.

Thank goodness I didn't change the name then.

Funky Instructional Coaching just doesn't sound quite right. Funny though...

All this moving, setting up, packing up and moving again (to an office in our high school) business caused me to order another Stitch Fix. Ha! I seriously love Stitch Fix.  You can read about it here.

 Oh...and it caused me to return to my Dt. Dew habit

 after completing 3 weeks with no Dt. Dew cheats.  

Don't judge...it's my coffee.

Holy longest post ever... Happy Labor Day!

Michigan Teachers - Happy Back to School Eve!