4 for Friday: Preassesssments

I've made great progress in my classroom, I've managed to get all of my boxes unpacked and put away. I won't be back until teachers report on the 27th. I'll spend the next 2 weeks vacationing with my husband and binge watching Netflix.
This week I want to focus on preassessing your students. It's important to gather data on your students at the beginning of the year so you can pinpoint exactly what they need before formal instruction and assessment takes place. 
Beginning of the Year Preassessments
Newmark Learning has created some wonderful assessments for every grade level in every subject. http://newmarklearning.com/free-resources.html 
1. Reading- I've been using the Comprehension Assessment for years now. I give the Pretest in September and the Posttest in January. I use the data from this comprehension assessment to form my flexible reading skill groups. My students will complete one passage a day for 7 days, I do not give it to them in one sitting.  Groups run from September to January and then January to May. I do guided reading from Monday-Thursday and on Friday I pull strategy and skill groups. Any student that scores 0-2 in a particular skill is placed in that group to be met with on a Fridays. I have 8-12 reading skill groups so I don't meet with all of them every Friday, it rotates. 

2. Math- They have a math assessment but I have never used it. When I taught 3rd grade I used the 2nd grade end of year benchmark assessment to assess what they had retained over the summer. Now that I'm moving down I will use a 1st grade cumulative assessment that targets our state standards (we are not a common core state). I use this data to form my guided math groups. 
3. Writing- It's important to get baseline writing data on your students so they can begin setting writing goals for themselves and so you can begin your list of writing mini lessons they'll need. I'll be using one Fiction and one Nonfiction prompt from Newmark Learning. 

4. Spelling- Now Newmark Learning does have a Phonics Assessment but I have not used it. My county administers the DSA: Developmental Spelling Assessment to each child. I use that data to form my word study groups.
I'd love to hear about how you preassess your students at the beginning of the year, leave a comment here or hop on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment.

4 for Friday: My BTS Favorites

Summer School is officially over and I'm headed to the outlets with my husband to do some shopping! My whole body hurts just from working 6 hours in my classroom. I went in two hours on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and with this heat... that's all I may be doing until teacher work week, this teacher needs some AC! I have one more day, well half day planned in my classroom and that'll be it. In 3 short weeks teachers report back and I have got to get some rest. Below are my most favorite back to school items!
Back to School Favorites
1. Erin Condren Teacher Planner- I've fallen in  love with the Erin Condren teacher planner. I usually purchase them on sale each April but with them being predated now, I'll probably have to splurge on the newest edition next year. In addition to the planning pages, I love the two page calendar spread for all my important dates, the stickers and sheet protectors to hold my district calendar and pacing guides. It comes with 1 but I add 2 more for $3 for a total of 3. Are you a new customer looking to purchase, check out my referral link! https://erincondren.com/referral/invite/jessicasaunders0426-8175

2. Enso Silicone Ring- After damaging my wedding set and having to purchase another one, I was looking into something different to wear to school. Because let's face it, I wash my hands 80 times a day, sanitize 160 times a day and constantly bang my hands on everything! My #teambff and I decided to get silicone rings to wear during the school year. I've already been wearing mine while setting up my classroom and I love it, it's comfortable and I forget I have it on. I got mine off of Amazon but they do have a website. I purchased the Infinity Misty Gray ring. 

3. Tieks Ballet Flats- Have you heard of these? They are my newest favorite shoe and it's all I wear now. Before you mention the price, if you have family and friends give you gift cards for Christmas and your birthday, technically you're not spending your own money! That's how I've purchased 3 of the 5 pair I have. Since I'm on my feet all day, just like you, I need comfortable shoes. Before I discovered Tieks my Clark's flip flops were always on standby. My feet swell something terrible and are usually throbbing by the end of the day but with Tieks they don't anymore. I can literally wear them all day with no problem and they're super cute! I bought my first pair, Silver Screen, last summer, I got Tangerine and Fuchsia (my ABSOLUTE favorite color) for Christmas, Matte Black for my birthday and I just purchased Cool Grey thanks to my summer school pay. I really want California Navy but we're buying new living room furniture (did you know that they are making furniture that have electric recline in the headrest and footrest and equipped with USB ports so you can charge your phone?!?) so I gotta save that money. Everything I read said to size down, I'm a size 8 to 8.5. But due to the swelling the 8's were just too snug so I sized up to a size 9 and now my feet are in heaven (all of my friends sized up as well). Check out my photo that's on the Tieks website, I was on my way to church on Resurrection Sunday in my pink Tieks!   

4. Essential Oils- So yes... I'm that person! I love my  essential oils. I've been into them for about 2 years now and they have made all the difference in my health.

I took a picture of some of my favorites. I use Balance as a calming agent during the day. Serenity at night before bed. I love to rub Peppermint across my forehead and on my neck when I need rejuvenation. I diffuse Motivate in my classroom during teacher work week to well... um... to keep me motivated. And then there's OnGuard, their immunity support blend. I use the hand sanitizing mist, foaming hand wash, diffuse the oil in my classroom and even take it internally to keep from getting sick! I have a Modern Essentials oil book that tells me how to use them. I wear them topically, diffuse them at home and in my classroom and take some internally. In two years I've only been sick once and it was the mildest case of Norovirus my doctor had ever seen, my symptoms literally only lasted 4 hours! Some people buy theirs on Amazon, I have a membership with them so I buy them wholesale. 
I'd love to hear about your BTS favorites, leave a comment here or hop on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment. 

4 for Friday: Growth Mindset

Just one more week to go and summer school will be finished and I can finally REST... I'm just going to pretend my principal didn't email me yesterday and tell me my room was ready whenever I wanted to come in, get unpacked and set up!
Back in June I had the honor of attending a professional development in which my good friend Adrienne was presenting how she cultivates a Growth Mindset in her first grade classroom. Which got me to thinking about what I've done and can do in my own classroom. This week I want to focus on developing a Growth Mindset in the classroom.
Growth Mindset in the Classroom
1. Learning Environment- My go to resource for teaching this is the Mindsets in the Classroom book and their Resource book. Here's what it says about the learning environment:

• Teacher believes that all students can achieve at high levels.
• Deliberate instruction of perseverance, resiliency, grit and persistence. 
• Teacher feedback/praise is based on effort, process and strategies used. 
• Students are given opportunities to safely struggle. 
• Failure is looked at in a positive light. 
• Grades and scores are not emphasized. 
• Students are saying "I don't understand this yet. I'm am not going to give up. If I practice, I will get it."
• Teacher is saying "Let's think of a new strategy. Yet. I can see the effort you have put into this. Keep Trying."

2. Parent Communication- It is very important to communicate growth mindset to parents so that they understand and support this mindset at home as well. I give out this newsletter to my parents at Back to School Night. I also cover it in my presentation. This can be downloaded for free from Teachers Pay Teachers. 

3. Literature- There are so many books that can be aligned to growth mindset. I like to read them during morning meeting. A few of my favorites are:

• Bubble Gum Brain by Julia Cook
• Not Yet by Lisa Cox
• The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett
• The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires
• Someday by Eileen Spinelli

4. Activities- There are tons of resources available for teaching growth mindset, some free... some paid. Here are the links to my favorites:

• Growth Mindset Flip Flap Book
• Mindset Sort
• Growth Mindset Exit Tickets
• Not Yet But I Will
• Growth Mindset Activity Poster
• Growth Mindset Word Search
• Making Your Mindset PBL
• Mindset Messages (I highly recommend doing a monthly mindset message in your classroom!)

Do you think you could implement any of these ideas in your classroom? Have an idea to help cultivate a growth mindset in your students? Leave a comment here or hop on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment.

4 for Friday: Positive Classroom Environment

After a long and arduous school year, I am thrilled to be on summer vacation...even though I've taught a week of Camp Invention and I'm currently teaching summer school. I'm excited to have time to get back to blogging and I'm super excited about this new blog series, so let's jump right into it!
Positive Classroom Enviornment
1. The main component of creating a positive classroom environment starts with you. I know... I know... easier said than done. But when I start to get ready in the morning and can't find the energy to have a positive attitude, when my stomach starts to hurt the moment I get in the car, and those times, though rare, when I actually cry all the way to school...I walk into my classroom and I'm immediately uplifted. I've tried my best to make my classroom a welcoming, motivating environment. It doesn't take much, there are many resources out there for you and some great printable posters on Teachers Pay Teachers. I especially like these Positive Posters and posters from Digital Divide and Conquer. So with the bright and inspirational decor {and the smell of my essential oils} I can usually turn my frown, upside down.

2. I implemented the Super Improver Wall from Whole Brain Teaching years ago. My student teacher this past year loved it so much that she's implementing it with her first graders next year. With the SIW, students can earn stickers to level up the wall for anything you want. So pass out those stickers, the students love them! If you want to read more about it, check out my blog post here. 

3. I implemented Brag Tags {SMART Tags} in my classroom two years ago. Students can earn them for a variety of reasons but I especially like to give out the tags that relate to positive choices and character traits. Search the Teaching Oasis for Brag Tags you can use!

4. I bought this Positive Notes bundle last summer and I LOVED writing my students notes daily to encourage and celebrate them. I got great feedback from the parents of students who were absolutely excited to receive these notes. I used the square size and just purchased the clear sticker pocket sleeves from Target to put on students desks so I can slide the notes in them at the end of the day for students to read in the morning. You can download a free set of Fun Pun Notes here. Are you and your student's into Emoji's... she's got a set for that too!

Do you think you could implement any of these ideas in your classroom? Have an idea to create a positive learning environment? Leave a comment here or hop on over to our Facebook page and leave a comment. 

2nd Grade Daily Math Review

It's Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer! I still have 3 more weeks of school but I'm already getting ready for a new school year.

One strategy that I've found to be very effective is spiral review. This year in 3rd grade I did a Daily Math Review and Daily Reading Review. I truly feel these daily reviews made the difference in their standardized test achievement given this month. I knew I wanted to do something similar in 2nd grade. 

Next year I've decided to create a Daily Spiral Math Review booklet using this resource Math Spiral Review. Even though this product is aligned to the Common Core Curriculum and I teach in Virginia and we don't use those standards, I still intend to use it. I love it because it's 100% editable. I'm also going to buy the 1st grade version and modify those for weekly homework practice.

I also received the rest of the Picture Window Books I ordered for the 2nd grade curriculum, I'm super excited!  

2nd Day of 2nd Grade

I spent my weekend working on 2nd Day of 2nd Grade resources! I use to do this back when I taught 2nd grade and then a couple of years ago I started celebrating the 3rd Day of 3rd Grade. Here are some snapshots of some of the activities I created:

 

 

 

 

If you're a 2nd Grade teacher and would like to celebrate as well you can download the 2nd Day of 2nd Grade.

2nd Grade Homework

I've been thinking about what I want to do for homework next school year. This year, while teaching 3rd grade, they had a reading passage with 12 questions (Thunks Reviews) and 2 spiral math sheets (Math Madness). I sent it home on Mondays and it was due on Fridays.
For next year I created a Weekly Homework Menu. It will go home on Mondays and be due on Fridays. I wanted to be as flexible as possible which is why I listed "weekly suggested times" instead of "nightly" ones. I know how busy parents and students can be so I want them to be able to schedule their homework options.  
Reading- Reading for enjoyment is a given. I'm not into reading logs so I won't require them to track their reading. I also wanted to incorporate Find the Evidence passages so they can practice Text Dependent Questions. 
Math- Our county has a subscription to Dreambox Learning. It's an online math program that all elementary students have access to. I also wanted to incorporate math card games into our homework. While in 3rd I gave each family a ring of games and playing cards when they attended Math Night. I use the Dealing with Math Homework from Teacher's Clubhouse. I plan do the same next year during Back to School Night. My goal is to list the games that will help reinforce what's being learned in class. 
Study Guides- Like I shared last week, each family will also get a book of Study Guides that also have Study Methods included. 
Word Study- Since we do word study each day in class, it will not be apart of their weekly homework but I'll include options for parents who want their children to complete them.