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.  

Team 2nd Grade

The Friday before Spring Break my principal asked me if I was still interested in teaching 2nd grade... and the answer was YES! I taught 2nd grade for 7 years before transferring to my current school to teach 3rd grade. After 7 years, I'm ready to go back to my first love. I cannot explain how excited I am. I've been busy unpacking my new standards and purchasing resources. My new team even ordered me a shirt so it's official!

One thing that I love about teaching 2nd grade in Virginia is the curriculum! I've already started purchasing books to support my science standards. Have you heard of Picture Window Books? I love their Informational Picture Books, I've ordered all the ones that connect to my standards and they've already started arriving. 

When I taught 3rd grade, I created a learning handbook full of study guides from Adrienne Wiggins. Now that I'm going to 2nd, I knew I wanted to do the same thing. I spent my ENTIRE Spring Break creating study guides to go with every Standard of Learning in every subject in 2nd grade.

Language Arts

Math

Science

Social Studies

 

Check back throughout the summer, I can't wait to share ideas and resources for 2nd grade with you!

Pick a Partner Resource

Wow... it's been a long time since I've been able to blog! I don't know about you, but I could certainly use a vacation, Spring Break is just around the corner for me and I'm hanging in there.
My district is moving toward the Kagan Cooperative Learning Model, however I have not been trained yet. In the meantime, I created a resource that will hopefully save me some time in the classroom. I spend entirely too much time, choosing my students partners. I try to control who partners with who but at this point in the year I need to step back and allow my students to make their own choices. 
I came up with a partner resource pack. There are 3 different versions to choose from. Print and color for your convenience. I even included a slideshow to use with the Partner Sheets. 

• Partner Sheet- have students choose 6 different partners, they should each write their name for the same food match. 
  
• Partner Cards- give each student a card, have them pair up with someone who has the same card as them. 
  
• Individual Cards- give each student a card, have them find the “food match.”
  

This document can be found at the Teaching Oasis.