2014 Class Schedule

source

I worked on this schedule most of the day.  I was not at the in services the first three days due to the death of my father-in-law, and so I think I may have the short end of the schedule this year.  Oh well, I will make the best of it. 

We will have some changes at our school this year, first of all, we will have to teach our own technology classes, two a week.  Also, our lunch hour moved back a few minutes to make room for longer special classes in the morning. 

We also switched to two lunch hours instead of three so we will have an extra recess duty due to the larger number of students outside.  Yeah!

I hope this will work out for me.  I had to double up in some areas to make it work out for the correct minutes.  

This is our tentative year at a glance.  I know we will be revising the English/Language Arts as we learn more about the common core standards this year and what we need to improve.

And With A Light Touch Chapters 3 & 4

This week I read the Chapters 3 & 4 in the book And with a Light Touch.  The focus of the chapters is Environment and Tone.  These are the perfect chapters for teachers to read and reread this time of year, as we are getting ready to set up our classroom and prepare of our new students. 

Chapter 3 was title Classroom Climate.  Carol writes about the importance of involving the children in the decision making process in the classroom from the very beginning.  She writes about the importance of creating routines in the classroom.  She writes about the importance of the teacher’s tone.  What kind of teacher are you?  The type that rules the kingdom and the subjects just do what they are told.  Are you the type of teacher who creates a million activities to keep the children busy?  Or are you the type of teacher who listens and observes the students and believes that you learning along with the children?  

This is the point that stuck with me: 

We work together, we are a learning community.

I’ve heard this before, but it is a good reminder as I get ready to begin the year.  I love the word community.   It is a word that pops up in our Religion, Science and Social Studies books. 

How do you teach children what a community is and how to be part of one?  At the first grade level Carol suggests through literature and daily modeling. 

She begins her year with having the students create the class rules.  She of course guides them in positive phrasing however she lets them feel as though they are in charge of the rules.  All classrooms have the same basic rules:  We are kind to each other and we work hard together. 

My plan for the first day of school…………I am going to guide my students to help them create classroom rules as well.  We will write the rules on chart paper so we can remember them.  Then on the second day I will tell my students that I took all their ideas and created a poster of First Grade Rules….

I plan on combining two of my ideas from the past, faces and names.  The students will create their faces and we will put them around this poster I found at eighteen28 to show we are a community together.  

Then we will decorate our names and put them around our new rules to show we will do our best to follow them.  

Chapter 4 is all about Planning and Preparing 

Thinking about how you set up your classroom and how you manage your lesson plans and records. 

Carol’s main point is keep your room kid friendly.  Don’t spend a lot of time over decorating your classroom; just set up the basics and let the kids take part in the rest.   She said she can set up her classroom in one weekend!  Wow, that is something to aim for. 

Next Week's Reading is all about Writing in the Classroom.  Sounds Good!

New Book for Professional Reading

source

…..And with a Light Touch

Learning About Reading, Writing and Teaching with First Graders

By:  Carol Avery

This is my second book selection for this summer.  I picked this book because I vaguely remember reading back 16 years ago or so when I taught first grade the first time.  I remember I enjoyed the book, but to be honest I don’t remember why.  So when I came upon the second edition of the book I decided to read it again. 

 I am not going to report to you with summaries of the chapters.  I am going to write about key points and how I see them impacting my classroom.  I cannot do my usually two chapters at a time because that is not how Ms. Avery has the book set up. She has the book broken into seven parts, so I will try to stick to those same parts.

Beginning

This is what Ms. Avery calls the first two chapters of her book.  They focus on how Ms. Avery came about her philosophy of teaching and how the first days of school have changed over the years.

One quote that stood out to me was:  “I better understand now that reading aloud to children is teaching and that how I read and the talk surrounding that reading has a direct influence on children’s growth as readers and writers.”

This is TRUE!  This is the lesson that I know I cannot recreate for children who are absent.  I send home the books we read however I know that the parents do not spend the time with the books like I do.  Sometimes the talk I plan does not go as I plan, the children take it in a whole different and meaningful direction.  This is something you cannot recreate!  First Graders learn so much from GOOD literature and the discussion that takes place afterwards!  Reading is so important!

 

google image

“We worked to form a community……learner-centered classroom.”

I want to work these key phrases into my teaching philosophy because I feel that it is very important.  We are a learning community and it takes a lot of hard work to build a successful and beautiful community.  Ms. Avery points out many times that a true community is form when everyone has input in the decisions.  She has many class meetings to get the children to work together and learn to listen to the needs of everyone in the community. 

I especially like the term community, which is a word we read about a lot in literature, social studies, science and religion.  I feel if I can reinforce that vocabulary in the classroom community as well it would help the students build some understanding.    

google image

Rewards for Good Behavior

Last Week, I shared with you my classroom management steps.    This year I am doing something a bit different.  Instead of giving a prize bag each time a student earns five stickers.  I decided to have them earn reward coupons instead. 

I was first inspired by Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts., A few months back she wrote about how her students have so much compared to the children she worked with on a mission trip.  This really hit home with me because I work at a Catholic School and the children I work with are very blessed.  Most of them behave well and they really do not need any little gifts.  However they do like the extra recognition and the opportunity to be special for the day.

On Pinterest I saw lots of teachers selling reward cards for good behavior.  So I thought of 14 rewards that would be fun in my classroom.  I made several copies of the cards and laminated them. 

If you would like a copy of my cards, please click here.  They are free to all my readers.