Assessment Poster

Alright, I wrote in a previous post about my Post-It Parking Lot that I would post about this poster. A focus of my year is to help students become more metacognitive and better able to self-assess their work and progress. When I saw this kind poster on various other blogs (I'm not sure where it originated.), I knew I wanted to make one for my classroom. I had something similar that I created on the fly last year, but it was made quickly and was more specific. Once I got my Silhouette Cameo, I tested it out by making this poster.

I can't wait to teach my students to self-assess and be critical of their own work and progress. How do you incorporate self-assessment in your classroom?

Another Summer Project: Teacher Toolbox

A couple weeks in to every school year, my once neat and tidy desk starts to overflow with papers and office supplies. Last year, I saw many other teachers posting on their blogs about making a teacher toolbox and I couldn't wait until I had time to make my own. 

Here it is: 

I definitely took the longest route because I had particular scrapbook paper that I wanted to use and my printer was low on ink. The easy way to do it would be to print the whole label for each drawer with a colorful background so you just have to cut the labels out and stick them on the drawers. Instead, I cut out all the pieces of scrapbook paper for each drawer and then printed and cut out the cutesy framed label for each drawer and glued it to the scrapbook paper. Then, I taped the completed label mounted to scrapbook paper to the inside of each drawer. I would suggest not doing it the way I did.

I also didn't like the color of the original toolbox (dark blue) so I spray painted it white using the spray paint that works for plastic. I had better luck with the Rustoleum 2x Ultra Cover Paint+Primer from Home Depot than I did with the Valspar equivalent from Lowe's.

I'm posting a link to the Word document (here) that I created in case you also have specific scrapbook paper you'd like to use. You may also edit it to add backgrounds, change fonts, etc. Because the frame I used is actually a font, I'm not sure if there is a way to keep the fill of it white while changing the background of the other text box. If you find a way, please let me know! There are two layered text boxes, one with the frame which is a font called KG Flavor and Frames Four by Kimberly Geswein Fonts. The text is the font VanessaLovesYou by http://bythebutterfly.com. Both of these fonts are available on dafont.com.

Post-it Parking Lot

I love the idea of having a place for students to turn in a sticky note. It keeps each kid accountable and the sticky notes organized. Last year, I whipped up a parking lot using a sharpie and piece of chart paper. I wanted something more durable, permanent, and attractive for this year. So, here's one of my many summer projects almost complete, just needs to be trimmed and laminated. 

A post-it parking lot can be used in so many ways. Here are some of the ways that I plan to use my new post-it parking lot:

-do quick assessments where students either write an answer or their level of mastery (using the Assess Yourself poster that will come in a later post). This is a quick way to find out which students get it and who needs more help. A post it is also less intimidating to many kids which may improve performance for students who are more anxious about tests.

- have students brainstorm on a sticky note and post it on the parking lot so students can build on each other's ideas 

- post their writing topic or project idea when it's decision time and students need to commit to an idea and stick with it

- give each student the opportunity to ask a question, give a compliment, or make a suggestion

- use it for a place for students to post their ticket out the door

Do you have any other ideas about how to use a post-it parking lot in the classroom? (Post in the comments.) 

Anchor Charts Galore

This year, I posted my anchor charts in a way that allowed students to access the most recent charts along with others from the same unit. I tacked them up and used post-its at the bottom to label them like tabs. Then students could come up and flip to the anchor chart they wanted to reference. I was amazed at how much students used them.

The only problem was that eventually the thumb tacks just couldn't hold up any more charts. I switched to giant push pins that I got a Target which held up better, but still had their limits. With the giant push pins, I could usually keep a unit's worth of charts up. I'm looking for a way to archive digital anchor charts for students next year because often charts from past units are still useful. Do you have any ideas about a permanent digital archive that I could use that would be student accessible?

I took pictures of my anchor charts before recycling them at the end of the year. They aren't in any particular order, sorry! Obviously some charts are better than others. Keep in mind that they were made in response to where my students were at the time.

How do you archive your anchor charts? Do your students have access to them?

Root/Affix Word Wall

I've always wondered whether students' spelling actually improved from having a word wall in the classroom. I'm always short on wall space and after my students and I did not get very much use from the word wall last year, I decided not to make one this year.

I started thinking that if a word wall was going to be useful to students and actually improve their spelling, it needed to be grouped by spelling patterns, rather than alphabetically. That or it could be used as a "no excuse words" wall to hold students accountable to spelling some words correctly. I wasn't consistent enough with posting words regularly for it to be effective at holding students accountable. I also found that I wanted it to help students with vocabulary, though it provided no supports to help students remember the meaning of words.

Then, I saw (somewhere on Pinterest) that someone had made a Greek/Latin root wall. This idea has been floating in the back of my mind for months. We just started studying roots and affixes in class and the students are really into it! They are finding these roots and affixes all around them, in their books, in our science readings, in our read-aloud book, in their math texts, etc. Whenever they can define a word based on its roots they get excited and have to announce it. :)

I decided that the best way to keep roots fresh in their mind as we continue to add new roots to our repertoire, is to continue looking for the older roots in the world around us. On a whim, I made this root/affix wall after school today. The white cards have the root and the meaning. The colored cards are blank for students to add examples of words that use each root. My intention is for this to be an interactive bulletin board where students can add words they find to the cards under the root that the word uses. (Of course, students will probably have to stand on a chair to reach most of the cards because this is my only available, but least accessible, bulletin board) The example cards are thumbtacked so students can take them down to write on them.

Celebrating Birthdays

When it's a student's birthday, I put a Star Student chair cover on their chair and they may bring in treats to share with the class at the end of the day.

I can't figure out how to rotate it (sorry!)

I want to make sure all students get their own special time to celebrate their birthday with the class. For students whose birthdays are in the summer, we celebrate their half birthday during the school year. The kids really enjoy this! Some parents even get on board and celebrate half birthdays with their kids at home too. Today, it was one of my student's half birthday and his dad surprised him with this half birthday present at the end of the day.

 A half wrapped box with half of a bow and half of a card, 

containing half of a: Coke, hat, $10 bill, and Reese's. It also had a half dollar coin and a roll of pennies (1/2 of a dollar). The student opened it at the end of class. All the students loved it! Dismissal was a mess, but it was completely worth it for all those memories. 

Alternative Seating

After rearranging my bedroom over the long weekend, I had an extra set of tall bed risers. I have been thinking that one of my students could benefit from an alternative seating method since he's very active tends to lose focus while sitting. I decided to try putting his desk on the bed risers to give him the opportunity to have a standing desk.

In the past, I have considered getting exercise balls for students to use as chairs. However, moving out to the portables ended this dream of mine. There's nowhere to store a bunch of exercise balls or excess chairs.

I found these risers a while back at Target. They were on clearance from the dorm furnishings in August/September. These ones are the extra tall risers, I think they're eight inches tall. In all, I think they cost me $1.50. I will definitely buy more if I see them on sale again because more of my students would like to try a standing desk.

This kiddo didn't last very long while standing. I watched him as he slowly transitioned to kneeling on his chair, which is when I gave him my stool. (If I have end up giving more kids standing desks, I'll have to find more stools!) He asked at the end of the day if he could keep his desk that way though, so he must like it. He was also more aware and engaged in the classroom.

Long Term Planning

Coming out of college, I thought that I would have a year-long plan for my curriculum for all subjects in my first year. I knew it would take a lot of work, but I didn't realize how hard this really is. When you're not familiar with the curriculum or the district/school pacing guides, it's really hard to make a long-term plan. Even if you manage to make a plan, it is likely to change drastically when you find out new information. In my first year teaching last year, I never ended up with a long term plan for any subject other than science which is district directed. I had drafted some plans for other subjects, but ended up ditching them a month or two into the school year because they didn't match pacing guides or I didn't fully understand the curriculum. Because I never made a long-term plan for each subject and didn't write much down other than my short notes in my plan book, I didn't have much of an advantage going into my second year.

I am currently working on taking notes from each unit that I teach and trying to recognize and note what to add or change next year to fill any gaps. It just doesn't make sense to reinvent the wheel every year instead of having a foundation of a plan to build off of for each unit. Right now, those notes are jotted on random sheets of paper and I'm trying to find a good format to long-term plan for next year as I teach this year and to take those notes of things to change next year. I'm not sure what this will look like yet, but I would like to have one standard form for each subject or each month of the school year that I can have with me at all times. Then, I can jot notes whenever and wherever I think of them.

My biggest piece of advice for a beginning teacher would be to do exactly what I have begun to do, but start it earlier, on day one of school. Get in the habit of taking notes on everything you do and noting what you think you could change. Often we realize that we should have taught a lesson a little different, in a different order, or before/after another concept. Make a note of those things so you can change it next year instead of trying to remember what you did.