Introducing Video Lessons

 This school year many teachers will find themselves using video lessons for the first time. Some will be teaching entirely online, while others will be using video lessons in combination with in-person teaching. 

I started using video lessons as part of an in-class flip for my math workshop back in 2013. I get asked all the time about implementing video lessons and my biggest piece of advice is to be intentional about how you start the year. Just like we set clear expectations for other parts of our school day, we need to set clear expectations for video lessons. 

Usually I introduce math workshop (which includes video lessons) during the first week of school, often on day 2or 3. We start with a concept that is related to our first topic, but is a review skill. For example, we usually start the year with place value so I’ll begin by reviewing 6-digit numbers (a skill they learned the year before). This way we can focus on the process of workshop without the added challenge of new content. It’s also a great way to get them thinking about math again. 

The first day that we watch a video lesson, I gather the students on the rug and play the lesson for the whole class. As I play the lesson, I pause and model my thinking as I complete the notes page that goes with the video. The kids fill in the notes page along with me. 

After we watch the video and complete our notes page, we review the process. What did they notice about how I watch video lessons? As we debrief/discuss I create an anchor chart for video lessons. A lot of times this takes the format of a t-chart with the headings “looks like”/”sounds like”. 

The second day we do a video lesson, I start by having the class gather on the rug and we review the anchor chart for watching video lessons. Then we walk through how they will find the video and again go over my expectations (wear headphones, taking notes as you watch, pause when you need to, rewind if you need to, etc.). I then send them off to watch the video while I circulate the room giving reminders when needed. After everyone is done, we come back to the rug and debrief again. 

Okay great, that’s a normal year. So what about if we’re learning virtually?? 

My school will be utilizing a lot of live lessons, but even though there will be live lessons there will still be times when kids are watching a video (or a replay of the live lesson) and I want to set clear expectations for both live virtual lessons and recorded lessons. 

I plan to follow much of the same process as I’ve done in person. I will model and “think aloud” what I expect. For recorded lessons, I plan on showing a video through my screen share and modeling for students what they should be doing when they watch a video lesson. 

Want to know more about how I launch math workshop? 

Check out my launching math workshop series

Need more information on video lessons/flipped models? I have a *free* course that will teach you everything you need to know. Check it out here

The First Day of School PLUS My Class Schedule

I love getting to see other teachers' classrooms. Almost as much - I love to see their schedules. It's amazing to me how different all of our schools and classrooms are. So tonight I wanted to share my new class schedule for this year, along with what my 1st day of school looks like.

A little bit of background - I teach 4th grade math and science. My students have 2 teachers - 1 for math/science and 1 for language arts/social studies. So I have two instructional blocks. This year I have 20 students in each class. Our school day is 7:40-2:55.

The First Day of School

7:35-7:40 When students come in, there is a word search & a pencil at each spot. The word search has everyone's name in it. 

7:40-7:45 School announcements

7:45-7:50 Discuss hallway behavior

7:55-8:45 Specials - Art

8:45-8:55 Bathroom break - discuss expectations

9:00 Circle Up morning meeting - everyone will share their name and one word to tell about their summer

9:15 Technology lesson (we are a 1 to 1 campus - each student will get an iPad): go over iPad trust card and consequences for misuse of iPad

9:45 Brain break - play the clapping game (1 student goes in the hall, the rest choose 1 object in the room - when the student comes back in we have to help him/her find the item by clapping when they're close. No talking or pointing!)

10:00 Snack & Read Aloud - I'm reading The Most Magnificent Thing 

10:15 I'll show this clip on failure and have students connect it to the story. This will set the stage for our work on growth mindset later in the week. 

10:30 Sort school supplies - I use a slideshow that I made to help students know how to sort all of their supplies. This is my least favorite part of the day!

11:30 Rules - we'll have a class discussion about our school rules and the consequences/rewards that go along with them. 

11:45 Get ready for lunch (more rules!)

11:55-12:50 Lunch/Recess

12:55 Students are going to make a time capsule - they'll fill out a sheet about themselves that we'll add to a class time capsule. 

1:45 Switch classes - my other class will come in for an hour. We'll sort supplies and repeat the read aloud and failure video from the morning. 

2:45 Switch classes and get ready to go home

2:55 We made it!! 

I'm exhausted just thinking about all of this....

Okay here is my regular class schedule for 2016-2017:

7:35-7:40 Students arrive, unpack and read

7:40-7:45 School announcements

7:45-7:50 Circle Up (like a morning meeting, but following a district mandated format)

7:55-8:45 Specials (Art, Music or PE depending on the day - this is my planning time)

8:50-9:40 Personalized Learning Time (this is our intervention/enrichment block. This is when students who receive special services like G/T or dyslexia get pulled)

9:45-11:45 Instructional Block One 

11:55-12:50 Lunch/Recess

12:50-2:50 Instructional Block Two (math/science with the other class, an hour for math & an hour for science)

2:55 Dismissal

What does your schedule look like this year? Tell me in the comments below!

Classroom Scavenger Hunt

It seems like every year in the spring, I still have kids asking me where things are in the classroom. How can they not know where the trashcan is by March?!

I always start off the year by giving a tour of the classroom, but I realize now that they're trying to take in so much information those first few days that they just can't remember it all.

This year is different! This year one of our first week activities was a ...

First I decided on the most important things in the classroom. These are things the kids will use an almost-daily basis. I tried not to pick too many things because I really wanted them to remember where everything was! I also didn't want the activity to take forever...

You can see my scavenger hunt below. If you click on the picture, you can download a free copy and edit it to fit your classroom.

I paired my kids up and had them work together to find each item. I didn't make it a competition. This early in the year, I really don't know my kids well enough to know what they can handle. I was a little wary of sending them loose around the classroom in a race : )

I'm very lucky to teach at a school where each student has their own school-issued ipad. We get started using them right away, so I wanted to include a digital aspect to my scavenger hunt. I had the kids take a picture of each item in the scavenger hunt. They put them all together in the free app: Pic Collage Kids. This is an app we'll use all year and most of my kids are already familiar with it. Again, since it's so early in the school year I try to keep things fairly simple.

In my free download on Teachers Pay Teachers, I also included some other digital ideas.

Now when my kids ask me where the trash can is in March, I can kindly redirect them to look at their Pic Collage.

How do you help your kids learn their way around your classroom? Comment below!

Classroom Tour

I am so happy with how my room looks this year! I am still putting the finishing touches on. (Meet the Teacher night is this Thursday and the kids start school Monday)

Here's the view of my room looking in from the door. I'm most excited about having tables! I got rid of my clunky desks and my room feels 100 times bigger. I promise it did not look this big with the giant desks. 

Right when you walk in there's a bookshelf for extra supplies. On top of the shelf is a birthday sign that students put at their seat on their birthday. In the pot next to the frame are QR codes with birthday "treats". They pick one and scan it to get their goodie.

Right now I just have "great work" on the bulletin board. I'm not sure if I'll end up using it to display student work or not, but it's at least there until something else goes up!

Since I'm making the big switch from tables to desks, I needed a plan for supplies. On the shelves in the back of this picture I have book boxes from Ikea to hold student journals. Each table has a 3-drawer organizer. The top drawer holds white boards and will also act as a place to keep iPads when I don't want them out. The bottom 2 drawers will be for student folders. In the caddy will be some communal supplies (pencils, scissors, glue sticks, markers, dry erase markers & erasers).

I got the drawers for about $10 from Walmart this week. 

This is at the front of the room. Underneath the word Birthdays, I'm going to put little signs with each student's name & birthday, but I don't have my class list yet. 

The green tables & rug are from Ikea. I ordered some whiteboard adhesive to go on top of the tables, but I haven't been brave enough to put it on yet. That's my goal for Friday. This will be a nice place for students to sit and work. Under the tables are some floor pillows. 

To the left is my whole group meeting area. My projector projects onto the board. On the right of the board is a place for my learning targets. I bought "I Can" statements from Thomas Teachable Moments.

On the left of the board are these circles. I modeled them after the CHAMPS behavior management system and used Tina's Teaching Treasures directions to make the circles. The green circles are the different topics and the blue circles are options for each one. For example, the activity may be a table activity so I would stick the "at your table" circle next to activity. The supplies circles would let students know what supplies they can use. Each circle has stick-on-magnets on the back. I'm hoping this will help students understand expectations & eliminate some of those "silly" questions. : )

I'm really pleased with how my schedule cards turned out, but I might have to get a bigger pocket chart. I have just enough room for the regular schedule cards, but we all know the days are rarely this typical - or at least at my school. 

One of my favorite classroom management techniques is using special seats. I have lots of fun places to sit in my room - beach chairs, pillows, bean bag chair, etc. So instead of trying to make sure everyone gets a turn or worrying about whining or fighting, I created this simple poster. Each clothespin has the name of the special seat. Each student is assigned a class number. If a pin is on their number they can use that special seat for the day. Each day I move them down 1 number. If you're absent and miss your seat that day, then bummer! They go around a lot during the course of the year. This has saved my sanity!

Another small space for students to work. The stools, leaf & lights are from Ikea. The crayon artwork is from a former student and is always a hit with my classes. 

I have another white board on the back wall of the classroom. I use this space to post assignments that are due for students to keep track. I also have accountable talk signs form Tina's Teaching Treasures.

The table has the trays for students to turn papers in along with paper trays for extra copies and misc. stuff they need to give me. (I'm really trying to prevent giant paper stacks on my table this year...). I also have notebook paper and clipboards for students to use. The picture frame says "Stop! Did you remember to write your name?"

One of my favorite features of my room is my window. It looks out onto our school's BEAUTIFUL garden. I worked in a classroom with no windows for several years before moving to this school, so I really appreciate it! When it's not 500 degrees outside, I lift the blinds all the way up. 

I got the easel from Ikea and the hanging decorations came from Party City a few years ago and every year I almost kill myself trying to hang them...

This table is for my small groups. I have more Ikea stools (I may have an ikea problem...) On the back counter are materials to help keep me organized. The sink splatters everywhere when you turn it on, so I prefer not to let the kids use it. 

I absolutely LOVE my Growth Mindset bulletin board from Sarah Gardner. I'm in a leadership program in my district and our focus is on mindset so this was perfect! If you haven't read Mindset by Carol Dweck - I highly recommend it. 

There you have it. My new room! Now I can't wait to meet my new kiddos. Happy back to school!

Beliefs to Actions Blog Hop

I've been on a bit of a personal development journey lately. Last January, I read the book Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and it was really transformational for me personally. I've been thinking a lot about how I could transfer what I learned in the book to my educational life. 

So when I saw this blog hop from Whitney at With Love from Texas, I knew it was meant for me!

I loved reflecting on my educational beliefs. Here's what I came up with: 

So the next challenge was deciding how I would incorporate these beliefs into a daily morning routine at work. So I created my work "miracle morning". 

These are the steps that I plan to go through each morning when I get to my classroom. They're based on the steps described in Hal's book. My beliefs, from above, will be what I read for my one-page teaching affirmations. 

I really think that reflecting on these beliefs daily will help me stay focused on what really matters. I also plan on setting some big picture goals. These will be some more concrete goals related to my classroom (like how I plan to utilize technology and goal setting). 

My daily quote will be something I use with my kids. Each morning I will post an inspirational quote for them to read as part of their morning work. I will read and reflect on it as well during my morning routine. 

My hope is to start the morning off by being intentional and setting a positive tone for my day. 

Continue on with the Beliefs to Actions blog hop by visiting my friend K5 Science Gal (also known as the The Science School Yard) by clicking here!!

Celebrating Multiple Intelligences

This summer when I was looking for back to school ideas, I came across this blog from Two Nutty Teachers on the 8 kinds of smart.

I loved the idea of teaching kids about the different kinds of smart. Last year I had some students who really struggled with self-confidence because their strengths were in areas not focused on in school. I downloaded the 8 kinds of smart posters from Two Nutty Teachers and displayed them in my classroom. You can find them on TPT here.

During the first week of school, I showed the posters to the kids and told them they would be taking a questionnaire to find out their kinds of smart. I had all the kids take this questionnaire that I found on Scholastic's website.

Before the kids started, I modeled completing the questionnaire myself. I tried to be completely honest. Fortunately, I am genuinely NOT picture smart. So I was able to honestly leave all of them blank. Once I had modeled completing the questionnaire, I sent the kids off to do their own. This was a great chance to practice working independently. The kids were very serious about completing the questionnaire.

Hard at work

Once they had finished the questionnaire, I guided the kids through scoring them. Then I had them select ONE of their areas of strength. We compiled the different areas into a class dot plot.

Kinds of Smart Dot Plot

The next day, we looked back over our dot plot and reviewed the different kinds of smart. Then I told the kids I was going to read them a story. As I read, I wanted them to think about the main character and what her areas of strength and weakness would be if she took the questionnaire. Then I read Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. If you're not familiar with this book, I encourage you to click on the link and read more about it. It's a classic!

After I read the story, we had a brief discussion about the main character's types of smart. We also discussed how her original area of weakness grew into a strength. Then I let the kids know we would be setting goals connected to their different areas of smart.

I modeled this activity first with my completed questionnaire. They would choose 3 areas of smart: one that was a strength, one a weakness, and one of their choosing. For each area that they chose, they would create a goal. For example, for word smart their goal could be to complete our school-wide 25 book challenge.

Once they had written their goals down on paper, we used the app "Popplet" to create a thinking map displaying their goals. In the center of their Popplet was a selfie (they loved that!). Coming out from their selfie, they had their 3 goals.

I loved this activity and it gave me a lot of great insight into the differences of my kids. It has already been something we've been referring back to. One day we were working on a math challenge problem, and I heard a student say "I'm not math smart. I'm a lot of the other kinds of smart, but math smart is not my thing." How awesome that they could identify their kinds of smart! I also loved that it gave us the opportunity to discuss that just because you're not math smart or word smart, it doesn't mean you aren't smart.

Saving Fred

Saving Fred is one of my favorite activities for the first week of school. You can find tons of ideas online (especially Pinterest) of how different teachers are using Saving Fred in their classrooms. I use this as an opportunity to practice working cooperatively and to teach the kids how to use their science journals.

Before we start the activity, we make an anchor chart on how to work cooperatively. The kids brainstorm what it should look like and sound like in our classroom when they are working in pairs or teams. We also brainstorm some possible solutions to different conflicts that could arrive. My class this year had some great ideas on dealing with conflict. They were all about compromising, taking turns or letting your partner get their way. (Wow!)

This year I found a couple of free powerpoints on Teachers Pay Teachers to introduce "Saving Fred". My teammate and I tweaked the resources to fit what we needed for our kids. The kids were so excited about saving Fred and then their excitement grew when they realized Fred was a gummy worm and *gasp* "Can we eat him?!?"

I loved seeing how well the kids worked together. They really followed all of the norms on our anchor chart.

Great teamwork & determination!

A successfully saved Fred!

As the kids were working, I was taking pictures with my iPad. When they were all finished, I showed the pictures up on the screen and they LOVED seeing themselves!

I let them eat a gummy worm/ gummy life saver and then we got to work in our science journals. Working with their partner, they drew a flow map to show the steps they took in saving Fred. Their flow map needed pictures with labels. I did an example first in my journal, and it was a great reminder that we all have different kinds of smart. I reminded the kids I was NOT picture smart and to be nice about my illustrations. : )

In addition to their flow map, they also responded to some journal prompts about the activity. Once everyone had finished, they self-assessed their journal entry with our science journal guidelines. I loved seeing some students make changes in their journal as we reviewed the journal guidelines.

The activity was such a hit, they asked if we could save Fred again the next day!

iPad Set Up

This year my campus is 1:1 with iPads. That means that every student in grades K-5 got their own iPad. For this first year of implementation, their iPads will be staying at school. I am so excited about all of the wonderful things that we will be able to do this year using the technology!

Having the iPads added another layer to my first week of school routines. We had to get our iPads set up! Fortunately, our campus had parents come for trainings in the spring and got all of the students' iTunes accounts set up.

On the first day of school, we spent time as a class looking at our campus iPad trust card. The trust card has a set of rules that the students have to agree to. This includes things like only downloading approved apps, not touching other students' iPads without permission, using the iPad as a learning tool not a toy, etc. The students did think-pair-share with the trust cards and we went over the expectations together. Many of my students were in digital classrooms last year, so the iPads are not new to them.

The second day of school we had a team of IT employees who came into the classrooms to help the students actually set up the iPads. I was impressed with how patient the kids were during this process. It was a lot of sitting, listening and waiting!

Finally we had the iPads set up and ready to go! Before we really started using them, the kids had to pass an iPad skills test. They quizzed their partners over the different skills. The skills started basic - how to turn on the iPad, how to take a picture - and moved to more advanced troubleshooting.

The rest of the week we spent a little bit of time each day downloading apps and saving sites to the home screen. I'm sure it will be an ongoing process. The kids are so excited to get their iPad out each morning!

Here's a picture of my kids scanning QR codes to save important websites to their home screen:

Back to School!

Whew! What a wonderful and exhausting first week of school! I have the most amazing kiddos and I know that this will be an amazing school year. It always amazes me how tiring the first week of school is! I'm thankful for Labor Day weekend to rest and prepare for week 2!

I thought I'd share some of things we did this past week that helped start the year off great.

The first day of school we always have to tackle the dreaded supplies. At meet the teacher night, most of my students drop their supplies off, but I have them wait until the first day of school to put it away. This always becomes such a hectic part of the day and the kids always have a hard time listening to all of the different directions.

Well this year was SO much better!! I made a sorting supplies powerpoint that we went through together. I broke it all down, step by step. The visual prompt of the slideshow really helped my kids understand the directions and it saved me the time of having to write everything on the board. This way I could walk around and ensure the kids were all sorting their supplies correctly.

Here's the link to my slideshow:
Sorting Supplies Slideshow

Stay tuned for more posts about our 1st week of school activities!

Tour My Classroom!

After a GREAT Meet the Teacher night, I'm ready to reveal my classroom!

Here is the view from the back corner. The desks were all set up for Meet the Teacher Night. The paper fans hanging from the ceiling have my table numbers. The book boxes above the hooks will house my switch class students' folders and journals. 

This is looking in from the door. In the back corner is my teaching area. On the front board are the learning targets and an "I'm Finished" board. Hanging over the side door are our thinking maps (graphic organizers). The white cart in front of that board is where our ipads will go. 

My favorite part of our classroom - the garden view! A nice place for students to work and soak in the sunshine. The iPad cart is to the right of the window and the sink is to the left. 

This bulletin board will be home to fantastic work from my kiddos. The books are ones we will read at the beginning of the year and books that connect to our first unit in math - place value! Underneath the table is a crate that houses our floor cushions. 

Calendar area and extra supplies for students. On the top of the shelf is a frame that says "Today is my birthday!", special birthday pencils and birthday QR codes. When it's a student's birthday they will get to keep the frame on their desk, get a pencil and pick a QR code. 

My cabinets with my wonderful 8 Kinds of Smart posters from Two Nutty Teachers. You can get them here. Stay tuned to see how we use these the first week of school. The numbered bins will hold my students' extra supplies. The other shelves are for class materials and manipulatives. 

My teacher corner houses my small group materials, organizational binders, laptop and projector and supplies in my made over organizer. On the wall are two of my favorite things. Our Sink or Swim poster is used to help kids' self-assess their understanding. The paper with the clothespins is kind of hard to see, but it's our Special Seats board. I have 7 fun seats in the room (beach chairs, bean bag, director chair, floor cushions). They are written on the clothespins. Each day I move the clothespin to the next number on the poster. Whoever's number it's on gets to sit in the seat that day. Made my life so much easier!

Hope you enjoyed my room - the kids come Monday! I can't wait to see the room filled with all their smiling faces. Happy new school year!

5 things to try this year

I don't know about you, but I can get pretty overwhelmed by all the amazing teaching ideas out there. I LOVE learning about new strategies that other teachers are using and then I want to do them all! Unfortunately, that's not realistic. I've learned about so many great things this summer through twitter, blog posts, conferences, articles, etc. It's hard to decide what I'm going to incorporate into my classroom.

I read a great post over on Middle School Mullis about 5 things she's going to try this year. Her post got me thinking about what 5 new things I want to try this year. Here's what I've come up with:

1. Math stations using an in-class flip model. I'm going to do a separate post about my plan for stations. I played around with stations last year and my kids loved them!

2. Independent task cards for enrichment/intervention block. We have a designated block each day for enrichment and intervention. I am working on developing some standard based tasks that students will work through independently.

3. 1:1 with ipads. My campus will be going 1:1 with ipads this upcoming school year. Last year I had 6 ipads for my class to share. I am hoping to really use the technology to take my lessons to the next level and not just replace paper/pencil with an ipad.

4. Class Dojo. I have used Class Dojo in the past as a behavior tool. This year I really want to use it as a way to reinforce academic behavior - participation in a group, creative problem solving, higher level thinking, etc.

5. Coding.  I participated in the Hour of Code last May and I was amazed by my kids. I'd really like to incorporate more opportunities for coding in my classroom. At the very least, I want it to be an option for early finishers and hopefully I'll find more ways to connect it to our curriculum.

What are you planning on implementing next year that's new for you?