Laura Ingalls Wilder Schoolhouse

Sorry I am MIA for the next couple of weeks, I am on vacation with my husband, son, and daughter-in-law.  We are traveling to Yellowstone National Park.  A new adventure for me,  I have been to many places in the world, but not westward.  If you are interested in reading more please go to my personal blog, Fruity Lemonade. 

The first place we stopped was, De’Smet, South Dakota to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder settlement.  It was a house that the family lived in four awhile while her father worked in a store in town. 

We saw the schoolhouse that Laura and Carrie attended.  

It was very simple.

  It had a wood burning stove in the middle of it.

 My favorite part of the schoolhouse was the bucket for water when the children get thirsty.

Next we saw the little schoolhouse where Laura taught when she was fifteen years old.

Here are the little desks the children sat in.

This is the teacher's desk.  How easy teacher set up is.  I picked up some of the early reader books and phonics books to look at.

It is interesting to see how similar our teaching still is to the old school days.  

Red Chairs for the Writing Center

My Kindergarten Writing Center

This was my writing center in my kindergarten classroom last year.  Well moving to a new grade and a new classroom means you need to make some changes.  My biggest fear is that some of my kindergarteners will walk in my new room as first graders  and take a look around and say, Hey this looks just like kindergarten.

I don't want that to happen so I am going extremely different in my color scheme.  RED!

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This little red school house is my inspiration.

It took me a couple of days to adjust but I made it through....I had to take my adorable colorful chairs,

sand them down to ugliness, clean them up, and.....

Good Bye Colorful Chairs

Look out  here comes the RED.......

I hope is comes together as nice.  

Poetry - I Like Jam

I am working hard and reading lots about first grade.  I created large letters for my focus wall.  

Then cut up all the scraps for an art project.  I am reading a Guided Reading Book, which is a great refresher for me.  Lots of reminders of what I am already doing and taking it up a notch for first grade.

I typed up another poem today for the second week of school.  It is one that my  own children brought home from their first grade classroom.  It was a hit when I taught first grade years ago, so I thought I would use it again.  I am sorry I do not have an author to give credit it too and I don't reminder if my children did this in kindergarten or first grade.  

I created a worksheet to go with it. 

 Click Here if you would like your free copy of the poem.  Enjoy!

Friday Favorites - Must Do Ideas

Friday Favorites is something I started this year on The Very Busy Kindergarten and I am going to carry it over here to my new blog.

Friday Favorites are amazing ideas I find by other bloggers that I want to try to incorporate in my own classroom.  I put the links underneath the pictures so that you can go to the source and read more.

I found three ideas this week I want to make for my first grade classroom.

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Ok I cheated for this first one, I just ordered it.  It is so cute and it is only $20 plus shipping.  I figured I just saved some time to work on something else.  I hope it fits under my book stand there are no measurements.  I will make it work somewhere!

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I will have to make these on my own.  Luckily there is a video to watch to see how to make these.  I love the washi tape to add some color.  Cute Idea!

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Every year I say, I am going to get the book made for the beginning of the year.   It never happens.  This is the year!  It will get done!  I just need to buy some ink for the printer!

Enjoy!  I hope you have a great weekend!  Sue

Teach Like A Champion -- Book Review

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The book club at school this past month read, Teach like a Champion by Doug Lemov.  Our principal selected the book for us and my son said it was because he (the principal) did not want us to teach like a bunch of losers.  Thanks Mike for the vote of confidence.

Teach like a Champion is a wonderful book with great techniques to engage students in discussions.  The book is focused on setting the children on the right path to college. 

Many of the techniques are not new techniques, however it is nice to refresh your thinking once in a while.  After teaching for a million years you tend to do the same thing over and over.  The book is a gentle reminder that they’re other techniques to use to engage the students and get them excited about learning.

Here are a couple of techniques I want to make sure I incorporate in my teaching right away:

1.    No Opt Out—A sequence that begins with a student unable to answer a question should end with the student answering that question as often as possible.  (Yes!  How many times do you hear---Oh!  I forgot!)

2.   The Hook-a short introduction that captures what is interesting or engaging about the material

3.   Name the Steps—teach the process slowly so the children understand what to do next

4.   Exit Ticket—a single question or problem to solve at the end of class.  I have seen teachers create something on Pinterest for this:

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5.   Cold Call—call on students regardless of whether they have raised their hands

Other Good Points from the Book:

“Students who know more words learn more words.”

Teach lots of vocabulary!

“Read aloud to your student regularly.” 

 It will teach more vocabulary and expressive language.

In my opinion, I think all teachers should read this book.  It is very valuable to refresh your teaching style or if you are just beginning, this is perfect to get you started.