tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79901600292870030712024-03-12T23:32:17.244-05:00Hippo Hooray for Second Grade!Hi, I'm Angela! I'm a teacher, blogger, and curriculum resource designer. On my blog, I share classroom tips, teaching and lesson ideas, and freebies to make your teaching easier. Thanks for coming along on my journey!Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.comBlogger204125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-10431973316746280322019-09-02T09:37:00.000-05:002019-09-02T22:11:49.522-05:00Staff Sunshine: Flair PensI'm on my school's PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) committee, and part of our year long plan is to provide our staff with pick-me-ups throughout the year. I love a good pun, so of course I volunteered to be in charge of that!<br />
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Here's what we did for September:<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TlZH3r5nIR8/XW0ggN0o05I/AAAAAAAAHIk/p_XIjncXqRYxjK8zG7q_g1ANvznVnBE9QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BTS%2BFlair%2BPens.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TlZH3r5nIR8/XW0ggN0o05I/AAAAAAAAHIk/p_XIjncXqRYxjK8zG7q_g1ANvznVnBE9QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/BTS%2BFlair%2BPens.jpg" /></a><br />
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<a name='more'></a>My school's mascot is a Wildcat, so that's what the paw prints are about. There are 8 tags on a sheet of paper. I printed them in color, quickly chopped them with a paper cutter, and then used a hole puncher to make a hole so I could fasten the pens.<br />
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I tried tying the tags onto the pens with string, but it was more of a pain than anything, so I just stuck the clip of the pen through the hole. When you're punching the holes, you have to make sure it's not too close to the edge, but at the same time, not too low so that the clip can get all the way through the hole.<br />
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I'm sure the next thing you're thinking is.... how much does all of this cost?! We have 85 faculty and staff members at our school, so it wasn't cheap. I found 12 packs of <a href="https://amzn.to/2ZEh3KQ" target="_blank">Flair Pens</a> on Amazon for $9 each. It was probably a back-to-school deal because I normally don't see them for that cheap. Thankfully, my school has a PBIS budget, plus we get money from our parent group, so that's how I was able to buy them.<br />
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Also, Random Side Note: I took out the yellow ones because who wants a yellow pen?!<br />
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I know not all of you are Wildcats, so the file also includes versions of the tags with an apple in the corner, and one that's plain. Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Gnq6qI-mowj-qFINKy-69q--xJHx7gAh" target="_blank">HERE</a> to grab it for free.<br />
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Happy Back to School Season!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-64622174363902516572018-07-26T05:00:00.000-05:002018-07-26T05:00:03.422-05:00Keeping School-Aged Kids Busy on Road TripsThis year for Spring Break, my family of 5 made the 15-hour trek to the Florida panhandle. While we have a TV in our car, I really didn't want my kids to be glued to a screen for the entire trip. After a fruitless search on <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> for road trip games for kids, but I couldn't find anything, I decided to make my own.<br />
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Road Trip Bingo kept all three of my kids busy for at least an hour. And then they started cheating...<br />
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There are three different versions of the bingo cards so they could all play.<br />
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We all worked together on the License Plate Game, with my older girl keeping track of our finds for us.<br />
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The third one, which I don't have a photo of, is an Alphabet Bingo game. The first person to find a word on a sign or a building for each letter of the alphabet is the winner.<br />
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I don't want you to have the same struggle I did, so grab these <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1AfH1q8fE_jGLVX1A_idsHwmMwu6L2MPt" target="_blank">Road Trip Games</a> free!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-45347616465881374942018-03-18T21:48:00.001-05:002018-03-19T18:09:09.301-05:00Lice in the ClassroomLast month, I had lice in my house.<br />
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Yep. I said it. I'm admitting it on the World Wide Web.<br />
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I'll spare you the saga, but basically, both of my daughters AND I had it. I spent 2 days trying to fight it myself. When I realized I was not only losing the battle, but losing my sanity as well, I waved the white flag and called The Lice Lady. Yes, she's a thing. No, that's not technically her name. She has a machine that kills all live lice and dehydrates the nits so that they all die, and then she combs them all out. She is a MIRACLE WORKER, I tell ya.<br />
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While we were there, I picked her brain about treatment/prevention, so today I want to share some of the things I learned. A lot of this info was new to me, and I was able to take this knowledge back to my classroom.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. For more info, please see my <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/p/disclosure.html">full disclosure policy</a>.</span></div>
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THINGS I LEARNED FROM THE LICE LADY:</h2>
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1. Lice don't fly or jump. </h3>
In fact, they don't leave your head unless they are looking for a fresh head or are forced off (scratched off or removed). Every few days, they will move on to a fresh head, so they will crawl down a strand of hair and wait for their host to brush up against another person's hair. 95% of the time, head-to-head contact is how lice is transmitted from one person to the next. The other 5% of the time is from sharing hairbrushes, hats, etc.<br />
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<b>TEACHER TIP:</b> Wear your hair in a ponytail or bun <i>behind your head</i>. Then your hair can't brush up against other's hair. Hair must be behind your head. Pig tails on the side of your head don't work. I have short hair that doesn't fit in a pony, but that's fine because my hair doesn't hang down low enough to brush up against someone else's hair.<br />
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Also, you can put your hairbrushes in a plastic bag (zipper bag or grocery bag) and put it in the freezer for 10-12 hours to kill anything that might be on them.<br />
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2. Lice can't live for more than a day or two without a human head. </h3>
And it's actually more like 12 hours that they can survive, but they say 24-48 hours to be on the safe side. Nits also need the warmth of a human head to incubate, so usually only the ones close to the scalp are viable to not only hatch, but to survive. If any eggs fall onto pillows or stuffed animals, the chances of them hatching are slim to none.<br />
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<b>TEACHER TIP: </b>You don't need to bag pillows, cushions, and stuffed animals for two weeks. Unless a person with lice was literally rubbing the object on their head, you really don't need to treat it... and according to #1 above, even if lice or nits are on them, the chances of them not only living, but finding a new host are minimal.<br />
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But if you can't wrap your head around that, get a <a href="http://amzn.to/2FWAq8X">lint roller</a>. They are seriously your best friends! That's how she recommended I clean my carseats, hoods of our coats, and the backs of our couches. Just roll the pillow/cushion on all sides and any lice or nits will stick to the roller. Another thing you can do is throw stuffed animals in a super hot dryer for 30-45 minutes. The heat will kill anything that's on them. Weekends are also great for the classroom. Two days without any people? The bugs won't make it.<br />
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Spraying your classroom with pesticides or fogs is NOT a good idea. Exposing people to the chemicals isn't worth the little benefit it would have on anything that is crawling around.<br />
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3. Lice doesn't happen overnight.</h3>
Sure, it takes a second for a louse to crawl on your head, but that doesn't mean you're instantly infested. When a louse lays an egg (nit), it takes 7-10 days for the nit to hatch. Then it's another 10ish days before they're an adults and can lay eggs of their own. A female louse will lay 3-5 eggs a day for the next 2ish weeks, or until she crawls onto someone else's head. So if you find 20, 30, 40 nits in your hair, it means you've had lice for a while...<br />
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<b>TEACHER TIP: </b>Be prepared, just in case. I now have a <a href="http://amzn.to/2Ga7BJm">lice comb</a> at home, and I quickly run the comb through my hair every 1-2 weeks. Since strands of hair are 3-dimensional, make sure you comb your hair from different angles to get anything that might be on the underside of the hair. I also use the <a href="http://amzn.to/2HOfXDA">Fairy Tales lice preventative shampoo and conditioner </a>about once a week. My husband uses a <a href="http://amzn.to/2FSXchP">shampoo/conditioner with mint and tea tree oil</a>, which are also natural deterrents. A friend of mine swears by the <a href="http://amzn.to/2HPAUym">repel spray</a>, but I haven't tried it yet.<br />
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IN CONCLUSION...</h2>
Yes, head lice is gross, but if a student in your class has it, DON'T PANIC! Just be prepared. And if you do end up getting lice yourself, see if there is a Lice Lady in your area!<br />
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Here's my daughter getting the lice treatment:<br />
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And now my head itches again...<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-54341658080680624952017-08-02T00:35:00.001-05:002017-08-02T00:36:50.800-05:00Classroom Jobs Made EASYTeachers all have different priorities, and for me, classroom jobs just isn't one of them.<br />
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I've done classroom jobs a few ways. I've had jobs for every person in the class, including a job called "Vacation" which gave that lucky student the week off from doing a job. I've had jobs for only about 1/3 of the class, so kids were 1 week on, 2 weeks off. I've let students choose their jobs (which takes FOREVER, by the way), I've assigned jobs... and I've hated every single second of it.<br />
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Yes, I know that giving students jobs in the classroom helps to give students a sense of responsibility in the classroom community. But I just don't have the time or the desire to switch jobs every week, track who's doing what, or getting on the case of students who aren't doing their jobs. I have better things to do! #sorrynotsorry<br />
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However, there are times when I need someone to grab the lunch bin and bring it back to the classroom, or I need someone to run across the hall and borrow a book from another teacher. So last year, I started using The Hip Helper.<br />
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Every day, a new students is my Hip Helper for the day. Whatever odd jobs need to be done, this person does. Some days I need more help than others, but my kiddos love to be that special person of the day! I keep this sign near my door, so when we're lined up at the end of the day and waiting for the dismissal bell to ring, my Hip Helper will randomly choose a new person for the next day.<br />
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See that super cute pocket that's holding all the names? Want to know what that is? It's a thank you note that I cut up and used clear mailing tape to close up the sides! All of the kids who haven't had a turn are in the pocket, and once they've had a turn, I put their name in a basket just below the sign. Once everyone has had a turn, their names all go back into the pocket and we start again!<br />
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Since switching to this system, my classroom jobs routine has been SO much easier for me to manage! And it doesn't take up an entire bulletin board either! Want a copy of the Hip Helper sign and name cards? Fill out the form below, and I'll send it right to your email inbox!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-51508839479186866992017-07-19T23:24:00.000-05:002017-10-01T22:08:38.451-05:00Formative Assessment: the What, the Why, and the How<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: none; text-align: center;">
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I remember the first time I heard the words "formative assessment." I was a junior in college taking a class called Measurement and Evaluation, and my professor wasn't very good at making the topic of assessment exciting... which in hindsight, is very unfortunate.</div>
<br />
Fast forward about 10 years, and my principal asked us all to participate in two book studies for the books Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan William and Feedback by Jane Pollock. Through reading these books, I discovered the importance of purposefully using formative assessments in my classroom.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CzB9V_J8kZo/WYPtsAX08NI/AAAAAAAAG84/-WM9NmpS-v0-ob5yjy5dJ_sL_VHxionMwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/FB%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CzB9V_J8kZo/WYPtsAX08NI/AAAAAAAAG84/-WM9NmpS-v0-ob5yjy5dJ_sL_VHxionMwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/FB%2Bimage.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<h2>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #545454; font-family: "source sans pro" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">This post contains Amazon Affiliate Links. Clicking on these links adds NO extra expense for you; however, I earn a small commission from each purchase that I use to buy books and supplies for my classroom. To see my entire disclosure policy, click </span></span><a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/p/disclosure.html" style="color: #07afb3; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", sans-serif; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.5px; max-width: calc(770px); outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease 0s;">HERE</a><span style="color: #545454; font-family: "source sans pro" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">.</span></span></span></i></div>
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</h2>
<h2>
So What IS Formative Assessment?</h2>
Formative assessments can be defined as continuous informal evaluation to check for understanding of skills/concepts throughout the learning process as students work toward mastery of the standards.<br />
<br />
<h2>
Why Use Formative Assessments?</h2>
There are numerous benefits for using formative assessments in your classroom. Formative assessments:<br />
<ul>
<li>drive instruction</li>
<li>allow for flexibility in instruction</li>
<li>provide immediate feedback</li>
<li>allow teachers to adapt quickly based on feedback</li>
<li>allow students to take ownership of their learning</li>
</ul>
Formative assessments allow teachers to really know their students, their academic strengths, and their areas that need more practice in real time, and then they can makes adjustments as necessary.<br />
<h2>
How Do I Formatively Assess My Students?</h2>
So the ironic thing I learned through my book studies is that I'm actually formatively assessing my students all day, every day without even knowing I'm doing it! Have you ever asked a student, a small group, or your whole class a question during a lesson and realize they have no idea, so then you quick change your lesson? Guess what??? That's formative assessment!<br />
<h3>
Formative assessment can happen during or after a lesson:</h3>
<h3>
During the lesson:</h3>
I don't like asking questions to the whole group, or even to a small group, because then only one student is doing the thinking. So I design all of my questions so that all students can be engaged and actively participating.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Show Down</u>:</b><br />
Each student has a <a href="http://amzn.to/2tpSIs9">mini white board</a>, a dry erase marker, and an eraser (I use cotton socks), and they answer the question on the board. As they are writing their answers, I circulate the room to see how they're doing. Then when I see most students have their answers, I'll say "3, 2, 1, SHOW DOWN!" and they show their boards to me. I quickly scan to see who has the answer and who doesn't, and make a note of how they did. Especially in math, I might then ask a few students who have the right answer to come to the front of the class and show their boards so we can see multiple ways of solving the problem.<br />
<br />
<b><u>ABCD Cards</u>:</b> Each student has a binder ring with four cards on them, labeled A, B, C, and D. Similar to multiple choice questions, students are asked a question with four possible answers, and they hold up the card that matches their answer. Another option is to put the whole sheet into a <a href="http://amzn.to/2tTwWR9">dry erase pocket</a>, and they circle the answer with a dry erase marker.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2psENkYIBlM/WYK76hi3LMI/AAAAAAAAG78/3Aly9i7mUhcNFlQHMmrFeOtHW1v4MrXyACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Use dry erase pockets for formative assessments! Just slip this ABCD page in the pocket for students to choose the right answer." border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2psENkYIBlM/WYK76hi3LMI/AAAAAAAAG78/3Aly9i7mUhcNFlQHMmrFeOtHW1v4MrXyACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide3.jpg" title="Use dry erase pockets for formative assessments! Just slip this ABCD page in the pocket for students to choose the right answer." width="530" /></a></div>
Either way you do it, it's super easy to scan the room or scan your group to see who is secure with the skill/concept and who needs more practice.<br />
<br />
<b><u>Teach a Friend</u>:</b> I L.O.V.E. <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/2015/12/5-ways-to-make-partner-talk-effective.html">partner talk</a>, and another way to check for student understanding is after you've taught a skill/concept, ask them to turn and teach it to their neighbor or partner. While they're doing this, take a lap around the classroom/carpet and listen in.<br />
<h3>
After the Lesson:</h3>
<b><u>Student Self Assessment</u>:</b> This can be as simple as thumbs up/sideways/down or using a traffic light visual (green means good, yellow means OK, red means I need more help) to indicate their level of understanding.<br />
<b><u>3, 2, 1:</u></b> Students complete this super simple graphic organizer. They write down 3 things they learned, 2 things they find interesting, and 1 question they still have.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2g77yd-jylk/WYK8J7deD4I/AAAAAAAAG8E/NH0e0blvYLwJwPHDBZP8rgPuKp2xc5MrwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="This simple 3, 2, 1 self assessment page allows teachers to formatively assess their students' understanding in any subject area." border="0" height="636" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2g77yd-jylk/WYK8J7deD4I/AAAAAAAAG8E/NH0e0blvYLwJwPHDBZP8rgPuKp2xc5MrwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide4.jpg" title="This simple 3, 2, 1 self assessment page allows teachers to formatively assess their students' understanding in any subject area." width="640" /></a></div>
<b><u>Triangle, Square, Circle</u>:</b> This is another graphic organizer students can complete. The triangle stands for three important points they learned, the square is something they agree with (something that "squares" with their thinking), and the circle is a question(s) they still might have (something that is "circling" in their heads). This graphic organizer works better with upper grade students.<br />
<b><u>Exit Slips</u>:</b> a question a student answers on a slip of paper or a sticky note as their "ticket" out of the lesson.<br />
<br />
Another type of formative assessment I use in my classroom is Mighty Math. I teach in a CCSS state, and I was looking for a way I could formatively assess all math standards each week in a snap. This was when Mighty Math was born.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xcl8y7jt5m4/WYK8RYo2uwI/AAAAAAAAG8M/cf76UsOqW7cxjeoucEuUOlzX9YL4wlK8wCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mighty Math is a CCSS aligned weekly formative assessment. In just 20-30 minutes a week, you can assess all of the standards! Grades K-3 available." border="0" height="606" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xcl8y7jt5m4/WYK8RYo2uwI/AAAAAAAAG8M/cf76UsOqW7cxjeoucEuUOlzX9YL4wlK8wCK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide6.jpg" title="Mighty Math is a CCSS aligned weekly formative assessment. In just 20-30 minutes a week, you can assess all of the standards! Grades K-3 available." width="640" /></a></div>
It takes my students about 20-30 minutes to complete this two sided sheet. All 12 of the second grade cluster standards are assessed each week. The data I get from Mighty Math is incredible! I use it to form small groups for reteaching, and I've even used it as a pre-assessment.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eVWvRRkILS0/WYK8fP0VHWI/AAAAAAAAG8U/yWBYHPdrtXkBGbZnJmmxWybZDRsAK22AACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mighty Math is a CCSS aligned weekly formative assessment. In just 20-30 minutes a week, you can assess all of the standards and use the data to specifically target your students' strengths and areas that need more practice! Grades K-3 available." border="0" height="488" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eVWvRRkILS0/WYK8fP0VHWI/AAAAAAAAG8U/yWBYHPdrtXkBGbZnJmmxWybZDRsAK22AACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide5.jpg" title="Mighty Math is a CCSS aligned weekly formative assessment. In just 20-30 minutes a week, you can assess all of the standards and use the data to specifically target your students' strengths and areas that need more practice! Grades K-3 available." width="640" /></a></div>
If you want to check it out for yourself, hop over to my TpT store and download the preview. Each preview has a free week you can try out in your classroom. <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hippo-Hooray-For-Second-Grade-By-Angela-Nerby/Category/Grade-Kinder-Assessments-249659?utm_source=HH%20Blog&utm_campaign=MM%20Kinder">Kindergarten</a>, <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hippo-Hooray-For-Second-Grade-By-Angela-Nerby/Category/Grade-1-Assessments-188701?utm_source=HH%20Blog&utm_campaign=MM%20First">First Grade</a>, <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hippo-Hooray-For-Second-Grade-By-Angela-Nerby/Category/Grade-2-Assessments-188702?utm_source=HH%20Blog&utm_campaign=MM%20Second">Second Grade</a>, and <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hippo-Hooray-For-Second-Grade-By-Angela-Nerby/Category/Grade-3-Assessments-188703?utm_source=HH%20Blog&utm_campaign=MM%20Third">Third Grade</a> are all available.<br />
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<h2>
In Conclusion...</h2>
Formative assessments have completely transformed my teaching. I feel like I know my students better, and I'm more responsive to their academic needs.<br />
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What are some formative assessments you use in your classroom? Leave me a comment below so we can all add them to our teaching toolboxes!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-37260362304338296302017-07-03T00:49:00.001-05:002022-11-04T21:32:00.109-05:005 Tips for Surviving Your First Year as a Teacher<br />
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I loved my first year as a teacher. I had a great class with super supportive families, and 12 years later, I still keep in touch with several of my former students and their parents. That first year is filled with emotions: excitement, enthusiasm, exhaustion, confusion, fear, stress... Today I want to share my top 5 tips for surviving in your new chosen career. Chances are, this is your first professional job, and you do <b>not</b> want to mess this up!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kc_5i-pz9CY/WVnYc8HytgI/AAAAAAAAG5c/4zSVip-z2DMFYjCjl390oSdmjAdtnACYgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Calling all beginning teachers! This blog post has 5 tips for making your first year as a teacher a successful one!" border="0" height="384" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kc_5i-pz9CY/WVnYc8HytgI/AAAAAAAAG5c/4zSVip-z2DMFYjCjl390oSdmjAdtnACYgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/cover.jpg" title="Calling all beginning teachers! This blog post has 5 tips for making your first year as a teacher a successful one!" width="640" /></a></div>
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1. Find Your People </h3>
I was lucky to find my People right away at my first teaching job. I didn't have to go far... my teacher friends consisted of my team and a few first grade teachers across the hall. We were all first, second, or third-year teachers, so we had a lot in common.<br />
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But what happens when you don't click with your team? Unfortunately, it does happen some times. <br />
<a name='more'></a>This is when you look outside your team. Go to staff gatherings after school, sit by other teachers during staff meetings, connect with the special education or ELL teachers that work with your students, or just go up to someone you think you might have things in common with after school and say hi... You might have to go clear across the school to find the people you connect with, but they're there. Frienships don't form overnight, so give them time to happen naturally.<br />
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And if you can't find anyone to connect with, look to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HippoHoorayForSecondGrade/">Facebook</a>. There are TONS of teacher Facebook groups that are grade level specific, location specific, content specific, instructional programs... You can also build your Personal Learning Network (PLN) on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hippohoorayforsecondgrade/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/hippohooray2nd">Twitter</a>.<br />
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2. Make Friends with the Secretary and Custodian</h3>
The secret behind a great school is the secretary and custodian(s). These are the two (or more) people who keep your school running like a well oiled machine, so you want to be on their good side. Talk to them and take a genuine interest in their lives and their interests. Bring them coffee or treats. Have your students make them cards and pictures. Because you never know when you're going to need that book shelf moved for the 87th time that day, or when you come down with the plague mid-day and need someone to scramble together a sub for you... They're more willing to help you out if they like you.<br />
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3. Ask for Help</h3>
I was 22 years old when I started my first teaching job. In my efforts to prove my worth as a teacher and my place at my school, I had this mindset that I could fix all my problems and do everything myself. WRONG!! I was fortunate to have a good class that year, but I shouldn't have gone that journey alone. Here are some ways you can reach out to other staff members at your building<br />
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<li>Ask the previous year's teachers for information about your students. Is there a family/home situation you need to know about? Or a behavior plan you should begin on the first day of school? I try not to ask too much because I want to give students a fresh start every year, but some information should be shared ahead of time.</li>
<li>Have a difficult student? Ask the guidance counselor, social worker, school psychologist, or maybe even the principal if they have any suggestions for helping your student to be successful. Or maybe a teammate or teacher friend has a trick that you could implement.</li>
<li>Have students with special needs or English learners? Reach out to the special education teacher, EL teacher, SLP, OT, PT, and aides/assistants to learn more about these students, their IEPs, or services they receive. </li>
<li>Have students in the GT/TAG program? Talk to your gifted teacher to see if they have a DEP or other plan that needs to be followed.</li>
<li>Working with a difficult parent? Talk to your teammates, your mentor/veteran teachers, the previous year's teacher, guidance counselor, or principal to learn more about the history with that parent and steps you can take to diffuse any tense situations. </li>
<li>Have a question about the procedures at your school? Ask your mentor or another veteran teacher. </li>
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The most important thing, though, is to <b>not</b> wait until you are at your wit's end before you reach out. It just puts unneeded stress and pressure on yourself.<br />
<h3>
4. Dress Appropriately</h3>
So here's where this post gets awkwardly uncomfortable... but someone's gotta say it! One of the first things my cooperating teacher said to me when I met her was, "Nobody wants to see your boobs or your butt." Wellllll, OK then! I've always dressed more on the conservative side, so I never really thought much about it. Are your pants high enough and shirts long enough in back so you can squat down to help a student? Do your shirts come up high enough so that when you lean over your guided reading table, your students don't get a show? Are your dresses and skirts long enough so that when you're standing and your class is sitting on the carpet, they won't see your underwear?<br />
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I know that for my body type, I <b>always</b> need to wear a cami under every shirt. Does it dig into my armpits all day? Yes. But it's better than the alternative! And leggings, people! <b>Wear leggings!!</b> Nobody wants an uncomfortable conversation with their administrator about their choice of clothing. My husband, who's a principal, also tells me how much administrators hate having that conversation too. So do everyone a favor and make sure you're covered up. You'll thank me for this tip later.<br />
<h3>
5. Watch What You Post on Social Media</h3>
Confidentiality and professionalism is the name of our game. Never post a student's name, photo, or identifying information without his/her parents' permission. Or just play it safe and never post this information at all. Never complain about a student, your coworkers, your principal, your school, or your district on any platform.<br />
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You might be thinking, "But I have my Facebook profile on lockdown. I'm good!" Not so fast.... you never know who's reading your post and who they might know. I would even extend this practice to the Facebook groups I mentioned above. Teachers have gotten fired because of posts they make on social media. This doesn't mean you have to pretend everything about teaching is rainbows and unicorns... if you needed to, you could occasionally post something like, "Had a tough day. Wine is calling my name!" But less is more on social media, especially when it comes to your job.<br />
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So there you have it: my Top 5 Tips! Your first year is going to be both amazing and exhausting all at the same time, so make sure you take a few moments every day to just soak it all in. If you've been teaching for a few years, what other tips would you add to this list? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-39628917884312661452017-04-05T23:01:00.000-05:002017-10-01T22:10:49.209-05:00Take a Break: A Place for Students to Self RegulateSelf regulation is one's ability to manage his/her emotions and the behaviors that accompany these emotions. These emotions can be perceived as both positive or negative, and many times our students don't know what an appropriate response is for various emotions. Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter: Antarctica.<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Antarctica: A place to go when you need to <i>chill out!</i></h2>
#seewhatididthere?<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0DaqXZ--xc/WOXDeeiGkwI/AAAAAAAAGzI/b-tp4Z7v4OQkP6jYiTz56wDeGvGiX4jLQCK4B/s1600/FB%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." border="0" height="450" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-p0DaqXZ--xc/WOXDeeiGkwI/AAAAAAAAGzI/b-tp4Z7v4OQkP6jYiTz56wDeGvGiX4jLQCK4B/s640/FB%2Bimage.jpg" title="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." width="640" /></a></div>
Every classroom in my school has a Take a Break spot. It's a space in the classroom where students can go when they need some time and space to be alone and self regulate their emotions. I just happened to name mine "Antarctica." My students can choose to put themselves in Antarctica, or sometimes I ask them to go when I feel they need a break.<br />
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<h2>
What It Looks Like:</h2>
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I used my teacher wardrobe cabinet in the corner and a file cabinet to make this little cubby in the corner of my classroom:</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1dbBGyAS1Yc/WJ1GDiZfuwI/AAAAAAAAGvg/EuwkkJRJzCQbO6vGlWaVJpUhu3cjUbwzwCK4B/s1600/Slide5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1dbBGyAS1Yc/WJ1GDiZfuwI/AAAAAAAAGvg/EuwkkJRJzCQbO6vGlWaVJpUhu3cjUbwzwCK4B/s640/Slide5.jpg" title="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." width="514" /></a></div>
On the side of the file cabinet, I have a few photos of Antarctica that I printed off of Google. As the students sit in the chair, they face a bulletin board that has self regulating signs on it. We use the <a href="http://www.zonesofregulation.com/index.html">Zones of Regulation</a> at my school to help students understand their feelings and emotions, so one of the posters has the colors and the associated feelings, and the other has calming down techniques. Click<span style="text-align: center;"> </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKVHdWYmU4Rks5bTA/view?usp=sharing" style="text-align: center;">HERE</a> if you'd like a free copy of these posters!<br />
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Here are some of the fidgets that are inside the desk:</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GKsNBNGbP50/WJ1GCevGUqI/AAAAAAAAGvY/Jj0P6s59vRo9n8IdO78pgz8Qm6aXIQr7wCK4B/s1600/Slide2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." border="0" height="418" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GKsNBNGbP50/WJ1GCevGUqI/AAAAAAAAGvY/Jj0P6s59vRo9n8IdO78pgz8Qm6aXIQr7wCK4B/s640/Slide2.jpg" title="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Affiliate links to some of these self regulation tools are listed below. Clicking on these links adds NO extra expense for you; however, I earn a small commission from each purchase that I use to buy books and supplies for my classroom. To see my entire disclosure policy, click <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/p/disclosure.html">HERE</a>.</i></span></div>
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Most of the items above came from Amazon. The coloring pages I got from the Target Dollar Spot, the foam car was a freebie giveaway from the county fair (lol), and the rainbow colored square is something my school social worker made. Basically, it's two pieces of fabric sewn together with a flat glass pebble inside. Then she sewed lines to make it like a maze and the kids push the pebble through the maze. It's pretty cool!<br />
<h2>
How it Works:</h2>
When my students are feeling angry or out of control (which also includes being overly excited), they can move themselves to our Take a Break spot. While there, they can take out a tool from inside the desk to help them refocus, or choose another strategy for "getting back to green:" deep breaths, coloring, writing, taking a walk, etc.<br />
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After a few minutes of the student using the Take a Break spot, I will come over, ask how it's going, and see if they need any help from me. I try to get them back to learning in about 5 minutes, but sometimes it can take a shorter or longer time. My students know that once they're "calm, focused, and ready to learn," they need to come back and join the class.<br />
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Here are some photos of our space in action: </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MOFwE8bWjWk/WJ1GD-Us4JI/AAAAAAAAGv0/5SEzAd3eriQvCizWjbEmHVMaGpk2SMS5wCK4B/s1600/Slide4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MOFwE8bWjWk/WJ1GD-Us4JI/AAAAAAAAGv0/5SEzAd3eriQvCizWjbEmHVMaGpk2SMS5wCK4B/s640/Slide4.jpg" title="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." width="478" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nF809OlQEi8/WJ1GD-svZTI/AAAAAAAAGv4/KbBuvEQ7mXwEI2EYil9Mj1IJVaw1zYzpgCK4B/s1600/Slide3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nF809OlQEi8/WJ1GD-svZTI/AAAAAAAAGv4/KbBuvEQ7mXwEI2EYil9Mj1IJVaw1zYzpgCK4B/s640/Slide3.jpg" title="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." width="482" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wgt3ppeLhT4/WJ1GDq0Yg2I/AAAAAAAAGvo/JJUjoDIO8tYTnpr8Z5JYW1UyyLBOZptZQCK4B/s1600/Slide1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wgt3ppeLhT4/WJ1GDq0Yg2I/AAAAAAAAGvo/JJUjoDIO8tYTnpr8Z5JYW1UyyLBOZptZQCK4B/s640/Slide1.jpg" title="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." width="478" /></a></div>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
IMPORTANT!</h2>
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The Take a Break spot should be <b>IN</b> the classroom, rather than out in the hallway. This allows student to stay in the classroom and still be exposed to the learning that's taking place during the break. There are times that my Take a Break spot is not enough of a break for my students and they need to be further removed from my classroom. If this is the case, then all teachers have a Buddy Class, and my student would go over to my teammate's classroom to use his Take a Break spot. Again, <b>NOT</b> in the hallway. We want our students to be <b>IN</b> the learning environment.<br />
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Looking to add some fidgets or calming tools to your Take a Break spot? Here are some of my favorites!<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hiphooforsecg-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B01MCYBXR1&asins=B01MCYBXR1&linkId=b67b469820eb87ba399eefcc2e85993f&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hiphooforsecg-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00ZY6JHU4&asins=B00ZY6JHU4&linkId=7a7bb0a833f65497a1da2a5066f68ec5&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hiphooforsecg-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B001EWC5M4&asins=B001EWC5M4&linkId=a0f94e5c5e7c12344b5fad9b3a064c5c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hiphooforsecg-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B00XZKO0DK&asins=B00XZKO0DK&linkId=974a63f6c386c262f67510596f59c7e5&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=hiphooforsecg-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B001QAIC08&asins=B001QAIC08&linkId=6f6b1e6a3f41d4b0c619c55471b28985&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div>
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For more classroom management ideas, check out my Pinterest board here:</div>
<a data-pin-board-width="400" data-pin-do="embedBoard" data-pin-scale-height="240" data-pin-scale-width="80" href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/classroom-management/"></a>
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Do you have a space like this in your classroom? Leave me a comment below and tell me more about it!</div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nfow0BrcBbU/WOXAbgJm15I/AAAAAAAAGy4/o9fnpu79XWcdiZ5yYQkMT6a_wiA99rQDACLcB/s1600/take%2Ba%2Bbreak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Nfow0BrcBbU/WOXAbgJm15I/AAAAAAAAGy4/o9fnpu79XWcdiZ5yYQkMT6a_wiA99rQDACLcB/s640/take%2Ba%2Bbreak.jpg" title="Sometimes when students have an inappropriate response to events that are out of their control, they need time and a safe space to process what happened. Enter Antarctica: A place to go when you need to chill out! This blog post is all about creating a Take a Break spot for your students to self regulate." width="376" /></a></div>
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-46764666402967518752017-01-24T15:00:00.000-06:002017-07-11T11:17:29.557-05:00Making the Best of Timed Math Fact TestsWho here gives timed math fact tests?<br />
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I remember doing them when I was in school. I was pretty good at them, but my anxiety and nervousness was through. the. ROOF. every single Friday afternoon.<br />
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Knowing that timed tests are so stressful for our students, why do we continue to do them? Well, some of us are required to... However, when you look at the CCSS for second grade, students are supposed to "<b>know</b> from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers" by the end of second grade. And the wording is the same for third grade and multiplication facts.<br />
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We know that automaticity of math facts is crucial for when students move on to higher level math. My students practice their math facts every day in a variety of ways, including math games and using the <a href="http://www.xtramath.org/">Xtra Math</a> website, but when it comes time to assess, the only option I can think of to assess automaticity is using a timed situation, which seems <b>so</b> old school. GROAN...<br />
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<b>So how can I make these painful assessments less painful?</b></h2>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZak0IjMC3k/WIbfscIEFBI/AAAAAAAAGus/jcm_S1pjpzYSYwU-ZsG-ikisSlRO-ZDEQCK4B/s1600/fb%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Are you required to give timed math fact tests? Check out this one simple change you can make during this routine that can help ease the anxiety and high pressure of timed math fact tests." border="0" height="444" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZak0IjMC3k/WIbfscIEFBI/AAAAAAAAGus/jcm_S1pjpzYSYwU-ZsG-ikisSlRO-ZDEQCK4B/s640/fb%2Bcover.jpg" title="Are you required to give timed math fact tests? Check out this one simple change you can make during this routine that can help ease the anxiety and high pressure of timed math fact tests." width="640" /></a></div>
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What is considered "knowing" math facts?</h2>
<a href="https://www.oci-sems.com/ContentHTML/pdfs/Research%20and%20Results.pdf">Research</a> says that students should be able to automatically recall math facts orally in 2-3 seconds per fact. Students should be able to write facts at 2/3 the speed of their oral ability, so that means on a written timed test, it should take students about 3-4 seconds per fact to complete.<br />
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How I try to lessen student anxiety during timed math fact tests</h2>
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Even though I hate giving timed tests, I have to, so here's what I do. Each student takes out a <b>pencil</b> and a <b>marker</b> from his/her desk. They write their names on their papers and then flip them upside-down until the time is ready to start.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SWdA18tSspw/WIbgRKQ5bWI/AAAAAAAAGu0/covrmEPRZLwtMtGHbptTxjLvlYMl7TajwCK4B/s1600/Slide1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Are you required to give timed math fact tests? Check out this one simple change you can make during this routine that can help ease the anxiety and high pressure of timed math fact tests." border="0" height="494" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SWdA18tSspw/WIbgRKQ5bWI/AAAAAAAAGu0/covrmEPRZLwtMtGHbptTxjLvlYMl7TajwCK4B/s640/Slide1.jpg" title="Are you required to give timed math fact tests? Check out this one simple change you can make during this routine that can help ease the anxiety and high pressure of timed math fact tests." width="640" /></a></div>
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I count down to the start of the time, and then students busily get to work with their pencils. If they finish before the timer goes off, they go back and check their answers. When the timer goes off, I yell, "switch!" Students put down their pencils and pick up their markers to finish the test. It's after the timer goes off that they're allowed to get up and turn in their papers. While I encourage the speedy completion of their papers, students then can take as much time as they need to finish their tests with their marker.</div>
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For my students with IEPs and/or anxiety, tests that must be completed in a certain amount of time are not their friends. I should add that many of these children often have extended time written into their IEPs or 504s, but even that is stressful for them. This simple change attempts to lessen the emphasis on time and places additional importance on actually <i>completing</i> the test. My students know that the four seconds per fact expectation so they have that goal in mind, but time is not the only thing I value. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RO_lnJtjdls/WIbgzSecAhI/AAAAAAAAGu8/C2iTO2vXT9ogqfKUmCPZ79k7NiBWBH27ACK4B/s1600/Slide2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Are you required to give timed math fact tests? Check out this one simple change you can make during this routine that can help ease the anxiety and high pressure of timed math fact tests." border="0" height="432" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RO_lnJtjdls/WIbgzSecAhI/AAAAAAAAGu8/C2iTO2vXT9ogqfKUmCPZ79k7NiBWBH27ACK4B/s640/Slide2.jpg" title="Are you required to give timed math fact tests? Check out this one simple change you can make during this routine that can help ease the anxiety and high pressure of timed math fact tests." width="640" /></a></div>
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When I grade the timed tests, I only record the problems written in pencil. Students should be able to recall and write 15 math facts in one minute (15 x 4 seconds = 60 seconds), and 80% or better is considered meeting expectations, so I am looking for at least 12 facts correct in that time limit. </div>
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I still hate giving timed tests. But making this small, yet powerful change has eased the stress and anxiety in many of my students. Have you tried this tip? Let me know how it went in the comments!</div>
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-20804899331321278022016-12-27T08:00:00.000-06:002017-10-01T22:11:49.400-05:00Classroom Bulletin Boards Made EASY!I have 5 GIGANTIC bulletin boards in my classroom. FIVE. Two of my walls have end-to-end bulletin boards. While I know that bulletin board space for some of you is a hot commodity, for me, it is almost a burden trying to fill them up.<br />
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There are SO many amazing bulletin board ideas on <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/hippo-hooray-for-bulletin-boards/">Pinterest</a>, but honestly... not only do I <b>not</b> have the creative juices to plan for that, but I just don't have the time or the desire. We know the importance of anchor charts and how bulletin boards should serve a purpose and not just focus on the "cute factor," so how can we use this prime real estate in our classroom to showcase meaningful content?<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pEJJnL95P1M/WGB3HOOj_kI/AAAAAAAAGsM/nePo4IqM3qQeYCGRXkYW2ec_AB0TzR3nACK4B/s1600/Slide5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" border="0" height="374" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pEJJnL95P1M/WGB3HOOj_kI/AAAAAAAAGsM/nePo4IqM3qQeYCGRXkYW2ec_AB0TzR3nACK4B/s640/Slide5.jpg" title="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>This post contains affiliate links. Clicking on these links adds NO extra expense for you; however, I earn a small commission from each purchase that I use to buy books and supplies for my classroom. </i><i>To view my entire disclosure statement, click <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/p/disclosure.html">here</a>.</i></div>
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I have one bulletin board for each core subject area: reading, writing & math, and the other two I use for my class rules, calendar, Take a Break spot, student work, and more. But let's focus on the three subject boards, specifically, my math board.<br />
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My boards are big enough to hang three 24"x 36" pieces of chart paper. So on my math board, I have my Number Grid posted for student reference and two blank pieces of chart paper. One piece is labeled <i>Vocabulary</i>, and the other sheet is titled <i>Concepts</i>. I leave a space at the top of each chart to add a sticky note with the unit number, and I change that out for every unit. At the top, it says "Focus on Math" in large letters.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AdGWOK_Mk14/WGCAEXRiX4I/AAAAAAAAGsc/96EnVwv1es8vBxF1dCBCirkmxZzcYF6jACK4B/s1600/Slide7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AdGWOK_Mk14/WGCAEXRiX4I/AAAAAAAAGsc/96EnVwv1es8vBxF1dCBCirkmxZzcYF6jACK4B/s640/Slide7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Love the fadeless wood bulletin board paper? Click <a href="http://amzn.to/2hXP2f3">HERE</a> to check it out!</div>
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Then, for every new lesson, I add a sticky note or two with the concepts and vocabulary we learned. I use the larger <a href="http://amzn.to/2hlMSFt">6" x 8" sticky notes</a> for this. By the end of the unit, we've accumulated all sorts of concepts, strategies and vocabulary words that my students can refer to when they do their independent work. I even leave them up during tests because why not? If they are resourceful enough to refer the anchor charts, then let the kids use them!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JvjR75B4HjY/WGCAOQ7VjrI/AAAAAAAAGsk/qgbXiX_kuyUZoXxEC-FlAEpNr_XweYE9QCK4B/s1600/Slide4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JvjR75B4HjY/WGCAOQ7VjrI/AAAAAAAAGsk/qgbXiX_kuyUZoXxEC-FlAEpNr_XweYE9QCK4B/s640/Slide4.jpg" title="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" width="640" /></a></div>
Here's a close up of the Concepts anchor chart:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ELiafWPgn6I/WGCBIe1aizI/AAAAAAAAGsw/_YN17JZRxCsSCLptsxYfJ2-Tsev9Le5_gCK4B/s1600/Slide2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ELiafWPgn6I/WGCBIe1aizI/AAAAAAAAGsw/_YN17JZRxCsSCLptsxYfJ2-Tsev9Le5_gCK4B/s400/Slide2.jpg" title="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" width="320" /></a></div>
And the Vocabulary anchor chart:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pPQ9dJ0V1Dw/WGCBLz5d0SI/AAAAAAAAGs4/f2VRbvhjuis77VS9XrqdIB1Q0KBhek20ACK4B/s1600/Slide3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pPQ9dJ0V1Dw/WGCBLz5d0SI/AAAAAAAAGs4/f2VRbvhjuis77VS9XrqdIB1Q0KBhek20ACK4B/s400/Slide3.jpg" title="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use! Options" width="380" /></a></div>
My reading and writing boards look similar, but have additional smaller charts on construction paper that break down larger strategies.<br />
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Why This Works</h2>
I heard this question during a PD and it really struck me: Are your bulletin boards wall PAPER or wall POWER? We are definitely aiming to display wall POWER on our boards! By adding something new every day to my bulletin boards, my students are eager to see what I will add. I often create these sticky notes with the students and ask for their input for wording, diagrams, etc. Sometimes I even let my kids make the sticky notes and hang them up!<br />
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And when a student asks me a question about a strategy or vocabulary words we've learned, I can just point to my boards, and they can independently find the answer to their own question!<br />
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Want to pin this post? Use this image:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mhEnW-kYCcE/WGKg90VpGWI/AAAAAAAAGtE/MbPXBIeOW2oNL1um20uUIqkbZNR7RLLjwCLcB/s1600/bulletin%2Bboards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use!" border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mhEnW-kYCcE/WGKg90VpGWI/AAAAAAAAGtE/MbPXBIeOW2oNL1um20uUIqkbZNR7RLLjwCLcB/s640/bulletin%2Bboards.jpg" title="Struggling to fill your bulletin boards with meaningful content? Check out this blog post for an easy way to create anchor charts to hang on your bulletin boards that students will actually use!" width="350" /></a></div>
For more bulletin board ideas, check out my <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/hippo-hooray-for-bulletin-boards/">Pinterest Board</a>.<br />
<a data-pin-board-width="400" data-pin-do="embedBoard" data-pin-scale-height="240" data-pin-scale-width="80" href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/hippo-hooray-for-bulletin-boards/"></a>
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-42107880483042977962016-12-06T22:05:00.000-06:002017-07-11T10:15:41.571-05:005 Things All Teachers Should Do Before Going HomeOne of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. And that feeling is even worse when you're hectically running around before school starts, trying to get everything ready for the day. So a few years ago, I made myself a list on a sticky note of things to do before I leave for the day and stuck it on my computer screen. It really helped to focus my efforts after school was over (so that I don't waste 15 minutes catching up on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/HippoHoorayForSecondGrade/">Facebook</a>...), as well as helped me be better prepared for the next day.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i664EMj87Z4/WEeVJqTluVI/AAAAAAAAGr4/MRLga6g4QOIELqRuSFbvNoSWrklpZP2SgCK4B/s1600/cover%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." border="0" height="436" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i664EMj87Z4/WEeVJqTluVI/AAAAAAAAGr4/MRLga6g4QOIELqRuSFbvNoSWrklpZP2SgCK4B/s640/cover%2Bimage.jpg" title="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." width="640" /></a></div>
Here are five things I do every night before I leave school:<br />
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1. Change Your Boards</h2>
Nothing makes me happier at the end of the day to erase the day's date and write tomorrow's date on the board! On my front board, I also list the tasks my students complete each morning and display our daily schedule. On the side board, I list our learning objectives for each subject.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxXY64ylHg4/WEd4AngHZJI/AAAAAAAAGqg/TSBPiGyi1hoa746o45NSnrOG9qHaWg09wCK4B/s1600/front%2Bboard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." border="0" height="492" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RxXY64ylHg4/WEd4AngHZJI/AAAAAAAAGqg/TSBPiGyi1hoa746o45NSnrOG9qHaWg09wCK4B/s640/front%2Bboard.jpg" title="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." width="640" /></a></div>
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2. Write Your Morning Message</h2>
My class holds a morning meeting every day, and one of the components is to write the class a message for the day. I'm embarrassed to admit I have frantically written this message <i>while</i> my students were completing their morning work, just a few minutes before morning meeting starts. So now, I make sure I write my morning message for the next day before I go home. That way, I make sure to include everything I want to say AND it's legible!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QMXpBj2grgY/WEd4MnOSAxI/AAAAAAAAGqw/PFxiByV4LEsalBKNMb6853Nb7rTNlU_YACK4B/s1600/morning%2Bmessage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QMXpBj2grgY/WEd4MnOSAxI/AAAAAAAAGqw/PFxiByV4LEsalBKNMb6853Nb7rTNlU_YACK4B/s640/morning%2Bmessage.jpg" title="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." width="466" /></a></div>
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3. Stuff Mailboxes</h2>
Have you ever realized 10 minutes before dismissal that you forgot to put the math homework in mailboxes, and then frantically try to stuff mailboxes AND dismiss your class? I have. More times than I care to say... So every night before I go home, I stuff mailboxes: papers I'm passing back, homework, notes from the office, etc. I keep a tray on top of my mailboxes where I put the papers so that I'm not wandering around my classroom, trying to remember where I put that stack of papers...<br />
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4. Answer/Write Emails</h2>
I hate notifications, and I am not one of those teachers that lets 2,491 unread emails pile up in my inbox. So I always take a few minutes to respond and write to parents, admin, and other teachers before I leave.<br />
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5. Clean Off Your Desk</h2>
I don't claim to be Miss Organization whatsoever, but I do straighten up my teacher table a bit before I go home.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ASofhNmNzuw/WEd4dHNRiNI/AAAAAAAAGrA/wwvmZUUtTGskpIZYcDBbPV5mgz7nl1CcgCK4B/s1600/desk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ASofhNmNzuw/WEd4dHNRiNI/AAAAAAAAGrA/wwvmZUUtTGskpIZYcDBbPV5mgz7nl1CcgCK4B/s640/desk.jpg" title="One of the worst feelings as a teacher is that feeling of being unprepared. Check out this list of 5 things you can do before you go home each night, so that you can be more prepared when you start the next day." width="640" /></a>For some reason, I always find 187 pens/pencils/markers and 12 pairs of scissors on my teacher table, among MANY other things. This was all the JUNK I found on my table today...<br />
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My teacher space isn't spotless; I still have my stacks of papers and books, but at least I have a clean spot to work the next day.<br />
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Depending on how organized you are, you could even take this a step further. A teacher friend of mine leaves her desk every single night with everything a sub would need in the event one of her kids gets sick and she has to call in. Now that is NOT me AT ALL, but maybe it would work for you!<br />
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In all, it takes me about 20-30 minutes to do all of these things (depending on how many emails I have to write!). But it saves me a huge amount of stress when I come in the next morning, especially on Mondays. And it allows me to settle in when I arrive and not run around like a crazy person.<br />
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What else would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments!<br />
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Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-19642261290391876992016-11-01T21:34:00.002-05:002017-07-11T11:18:54.508-05:00Building School-Wide CommunityLast year at the end of the year, the administration asked all of our students to fill out a survey about our school culture and climate. When the results came back, we were pretty discouraged. Over half of our students reported that they don't feel respected at school. HALF. We are a <a href="https://www.pbis.org/">PBIS</a> school and all teachers use components of <a href="https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/">Responsive Classroom</a> and <a href="https://www.loveandlogic.com/">Love & Logic</a> techniques school-wide, but something more had to be done.<br />
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This summer, our PBIS team caught wind of another school in our district that organized their students into "families." Similar to how high schools have homerooms, every student is assigned a family and stay in that family for their entire time at our school. This idea could be the ticket to getting our school community back on track!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JbRQJbTr_PI/WBQtopspcCI/AAAAAAAAGmM/rMzcA8VAPY8n3WYeceUrj8BJTu8D4h0JwCLcB/s1600/cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Strengthen your school community by establishing school-wide family groups! Similar to homerooms in high school, a family group consists of students from each grade at your school that travel together as a cohort for their entire time at the school." border="0" height="450" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JbRQJbTr_PI/WBQtopspcCI/AAAAAAAAGmM/rMzcA8VAPY8n3WYeceUrj8BJTu8D4h0JwCLcB/s640/cover.jpg" title="Strengthen your school community by establishing school-wide family groups! Similar to homerooms in high school, a family group consists of students from each grade at your school that travel together as a cohort for their entire time at the school." width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>We have three goals for the family groups: </b><br />
1. To foster a positive school environment<br />
2. To teach character education<br />
3. For students to get to know other children and adults in the building they might not come in contact with.<br />
Every single faculty and staff member in the building belongs to a family: from classroom teachers to interventionists; specialists to special education; pupil services, administration, custodial staff, and even the cook... everyone has a "home."<br />
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It took our counselor and school psychologist about 3 hours to thoughtfully place all of the students into 28 family groups. Part of their strategy was to place some of the hard-to-connect-with kiddos with fourth and fifth grade teachers. Let's build those relationships NOW, so that when they get into the upper grades, the connections will already be there!<br />
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My family group consists of myself and our library aide, and we have 16 students in our family group, 2-3 students from each grade, kindergarten to fifth grade.<br />
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How It Works</h2>
Every Wednesday from 2:30 to 3:00, the entire school transitions to their family groups. The principal makes an announcement for the fifth graders pick up the kindergarteners, the fourth graders to pick up the first graders, and the second and third graders just go on their own to their family group classroom. I will admit the very first meeting was a little hairy, as the entire school met in the gym to learn who their family group teachers would be... But now that we are two months in, the transition is fairly quick and only takes about 3 minutes.<br />
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At 3:00, the principal comes back on the announcements to end the family group time. The fifth graders and fourth graders walk their younger students back to class, and then we get ready to go home (we dismiss at 3:10).<br />
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What We Teach</h2>
I am on the team who writes the lessons for each session. We do our best to provide <i>everything</i> the faculty and staff needs to complete the lessons with little to no prep for them, even down to the exact words they can say for each part of the lesson. We wrote the lessons using a combination of the Morning Meeting and TCRWP Minilesson structure. Each lesson has an objective, usually related to a character trait. We start the lesson with a greeting, then there is a Teach, followed by the students actively engaged in whatever the objective of the lesson is. At the end, we send the kiddos off with a Link, just a final sentence or two relating back to the lesson objective.<br />
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Our first three sessions were focused on community building. We came up with a family name, took a photo, made a poster for our group, and set goals for ourselves for this school year.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_ct5VxtK4Y/WBUDeuTkT1I/AAAAAAAAGnI/EoBeAxEK9rgK-x5bKsFJGusB0l-H8WpawCK4B/s1600/pic%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Strengthen your school community by establishing school-wide family groups! Similar to homerooms in high school, a family group consists of students from each grade at your school that travel together as a cohort for their entire time at the school." border="0" height="338" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y_ct5VxtK4Y/WBUDeuTkT1I/AAAAAAAAGnI/EoBeAxEK9rgK-x5bKsFJGusB0l-H8WpawCK4B/s640/pic%2B5.jpg" title="Strengthen your school community by establishing school-wide family groups! Similar to homerooms in high school, a family group consists of students from each grade at your school that travel together as a cohort for their entire time at the school." width="640" /></a></div>
After that, we took the next four sessions to review our school rules: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe, Be Trustworthy.<br />
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Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKblFxTHNsb1dLc1U/view">HERE</a> if you want a copy of the safety flip book pictured above.</div>
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Now that we have established our families and reviewed the school rules, we are going to switch to meeting every other week. The topics that we cover are going to be based on our PBIS data and what our students need. Our upcoming lessons are going to be about <b>empathy</b>, <b>giving</b>, <b>perseverance</b>, <b>acts</b> <b>of kindness</b>, and <b>being thankful</b>. Lesson plans are flexible, and so if we need to throw in a few lessons on respect, we can do that. We are also planning on having each group do some kind of fun send off for their fifth graders at the end of the year.<br />
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<h2>
Benefits of Family Groups</h2>
I don't have any hard data, but walking through the hallways, I can definitely feel a difference. Whether or not it's related to the establishment of our family groups, I don't know. But I do know that I have fifth graders who know my name, and smile and greet me every time we pass each other. I have had three K-2 students from my family group who have traded in their PBIS tickets to hang out with me and play with Legos during recess.<br />
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There is a real camaraderie and family feel in the building. I love how the older students take the younger students under their wings and act as a mentor to them. We all feel like we belong and are in this thing called "school" together.<br />
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And our hallways are too cute with all of the family group projects and activities we've created!<br />
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Do you do something similar to this at your school? Let me know about it in the comments! And if you're feeling like your school climate needs to be lifted, share this idea with your administration. We need to take care of students' hearts before we can fill their brains.<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-66570634827482276312016-10-14T22:17:00.000-05:002018-07-15T12:20:21.799-05:00Interactive Notebook Essentials: Sticky Notes!It's no secret that I'm obsessed with interactive notebooks! I have been using them in my classroom since 2012, and through a lot of trial and error, I have discovered what works... and what doesn't work!<br />
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<b>Want to know a way to make your interactive notebooking life easier? Buy sticky notes! Lots and lots of sticky notes!</b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H2vlruAU-5M/W0t4q52G1fI/AAAAAAAAHEE/0FdsvqQtPncxce3pbJ65RUdvp3ofdVg7ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Interactive Notebook Essentials: Sticky Notes! A blog post from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade" border="0" height="486" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-H2vlruAU-5M/W0t4q52G1fI/AAAAAAAAHEE/0FdsvqQtPncxce3pbJ65RUdvp3ofdVg7ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide1.jpg" title="3 ways you can use sticky notes to make implementing interactive notebooks in the classroom easier!" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>This blog post contains affiliate links for your convenience at no extra cost to you. For more info, please see my <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/p/disclosure.html" target="_blank">full disclosure policy</a>.</i></span><br />
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Oh my goodness, sticky notes have saved my interactive notebooking life! These little gems can be used in so many ways, giving you and your students back the time the need to actually <b>learn</b> (not cut out a bunch of little pieces of paper!).<br />
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Here are a few ways I use <a href="https://amzn.to/2zCXn24" target="_blank">sticky notes</a>:<br />
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1. Sticky Notes as Flip Flaps</h2>
Don't have time to create a cute foldable? Or maybe the task of cutting is just too time consuming for your students? No worries! Just give your kids <a href="https://amzn.to/2zCXn24" target="_blank">sticky notes</a>. They label what's underneath right on top of the sticky note, which will help to increase student ownership of the notebooks. I do like to come around with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Transparent-Finish-Versatile-Inches/dp/B002U3VABI/ref=sr_1_5?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1531674605&sr=1-5&keywords=scotch+clear+tape" target="_blank">clear tape</a> while the students are working and put a small piece at the top, just to make sure the sticky notes don't fall out of the notebooks.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bI4RIDdJRN0/W0rq6h0dHKI/AAAAAAAAHDg/uiBV95jwYsID7QfJvY3VAEcLeUuPpUmFACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide5.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Interactive Notebook Essentials: Sticky Notes! A blog post from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade" border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bI4RIDdJRN0/W0rq6h0dHKI/AAAAAAAAHDg/uiBV95jwYsID7QfJvY3VAEcLeUuPpUmFACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide5.jpg" title="3 ways you can use sticky notes to make implementing interactive notebooks in the classroom easier!" width="536" /></a></div>
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2. Sticky Notes for Tabbing Sections</h2>
Again, another way for students to take ownership of the creation of their notebooks is for them to make the tabs for the sections of their notebooks. They write the heading on the opposite end of the sticky side, and put it on their table of contents page for the section. I like to use a different color for each section. Then I cover the whole sticky note with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Heavy-Shipping-Packaging-3850-60/dp/B002VPDKV8/ref=sr_1_17?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1531674403&sr=1-17&keywords=mailing+tape" target="_blank">clear packaging tape</a> so that they are durable.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77NGWq9fVMk/W0rq_YQFdkI/AAAAAAAAHDo/WvwTecVtb_ok1gtOwO7tGSFz3sFPf3SlACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide3.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Interactive Notebook Essentials: Sticky Notes! A blog post from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade" border="0" height="552" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-77NGWq9fVMk/W0rq_YQFdkI/AAAAAAAAHDo/WvwTecVtb_ok1gtOwO7tGSFz3sFPf3SlACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide3.jpg" title="3 ways you can use sticky notes to make implementing interactive notebooks in the classroom easier!" width="640" /></a></div>
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3. Sticky Notes for Labeling the Parts of the Notebook</h2>
We use the left side of their notebooks as the "Thinking Side" (the output/interacting side), and the right side of the notebook as the "Information Side" (the input/note taking side). So I use <a href="https://amzn.to/2zCXn24" target="_blank">red/pink and green sticky notes</a> to label the sides. Red for the Thinking Side: STOP and think! Green for the Information Side: GO ahead and learn! Again, I cover these with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Heavy-Shipping-Packaging-3850-60/dp/B002VPDKV8/ref=sr_1_17?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1531674403&sr=1-17&keywords=mailing+tape" target="_blank">clear packaging tape</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cgXgcbCPPqM/W0rrIaicRGI/AAAAAAAAHD0/WQ2v4B2p1DkzZUUnWaKBZXmOEBdupEu4ACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/Slide4.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Interactive Notebook Essentials: Sticky Notes! A blog post from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade" border="0" height="438" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cgXgcbCPPqM/W0rrIaicRGI/AAAAAAAAHD0/WQ2v4B2p1DkzZUUnWaKBZXmOEBdupEu4ACK4BGAYYCw/s640/Slide4.jpg" title="3 ways you can use sticky notes to make implementing interactive notebooks in the classroom easier!" width="640" /></a></div>
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If you want to learn more about interactive notebooks, I have a <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/2015/02/what-are-interactive-notebooks.html" target="_blank">series of blog posts</a> that tell how I plan for and use INs in my classroom. I also have a Pinterest board dedicated to all the interactive notebook gems I find online:<br />
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<a data-pin-board-width="400" data-pin-do="embedBoard" data-pin-scale-height="200" data-pin-scale-width="80" href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/interactive-notebooks/"> Follow Hippo Hooray for Second Grade's board Interactive Notebooks on Pinterest.</a><!-- Please call pinit.js only once per page --><script async="" src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
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<b>What else do you use <a href="https://amzn.to/2zCXn24" target="_blank">sticky notes</a> for? Leave me a comment below!</b><br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-31509407563026259732016-07-25T14:29:00.003-05:002017-07-13T09:52:53.496-05:00Spelling in the Writer's Workshop"Teacher, how do you spell ______?"<br />
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Is it just me, or is that question like nails on a chalkboard to you? How do we deal with this age-old question our students ask us a million times every day? As teachers, we know that spelling isn't our main focus during writing time. We know the importance of invented spelling, students applying what they know about letter sounds and spelling patterns, and stretching words out.<br />
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However, instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to give our students more concrete resources and tools so that they don't feel like we've just rejected them. I want to empower my students by giving them the tools and the resources they need so that they can be independent writers.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8lJLJqqa7Z4/V5ZnT0cNBTI/AAAAAAAAGgo/m64RK-zwiQk585UPfLfhENtWe54ubWUqACLcB/s1600/cover%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8lJLJqqa7Z4/V5ZnT0cNBTI/AAAAAAAAGgo/m64RK-zwiQk585UPfLfhENtWe54ubWUqACLcB/s640/cover%2Bimage.jpg" title="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" width="640" /></a></div>
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One of my favorite tools in my classroom is my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Sight-Word-Wall-for-Primary-Writers-2698352">Word Wall</a>. There are some <b>gorgeous</b> word walls out there in Pinterest-Land, but for me, a word wall needs to be first and foremost <b>FUNCTIONAL</b>. I want my word wall to be accessible to my students so that they can easily take words down. In order to make this happen, I put all of my word wall cards on a ring and hang them from hooks on my whiteboard.<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Sight-Word-Wall-for-Primary-Writers-2698352"><img alt="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EW5_ELoUjY0/V5ZgxCRqeeI/AAAAAAAAGgU/bnga3ZHy8KoQIAwikV_liGZeHWcaq8_TgCLcB/s640/word%2Bwall.jpg" title="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" width="640" /></a></div>
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I also encourage my students to use the other visuals in the classroom like anchor charts and posters when stuck on a word. Here is one of my friends who <b>independently</b> made the connection between the literary essay unit to the current persuasive essay unit, took out this anchor chart, and copied down one of the sentence starters. This was, by far, one of the proudest moments I've ever had as a teacher!<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pe5OdDtullA/V5ZgwJWc1QI/AAAAAAAAGgM/jYwHVVu4eLoOUhYUZYGEUSLmKw6TS_KJwCLcB/s1600/using%2Banchor%2Bchart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pe5OdDtullA/V5ZgwJWc1QI/AAAAAAAAGgM/jYwHVVu4eLoOUhYUZYGEUSLmKw6TS_KJwCLcB/s640/using%2Banchor%2Bchart.jpg" title="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" width="598" /></a></div>
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Another tool we use is these Give it a Try booklet. Students love it because they're not messing up their story, and teachers love it because their students are still using what they know about letter sounds and spelling patterns to stretch out words. It's super easy to use. If a student is stuck on a word, they try to write it three different ways in their booklet. Then they bring it to me, and I will either circle the correctly spelled attempt or write the word on the right side of the dark vertical line.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hv06AbxM6Xs/V5ZgwKJTJ-I/AAAAAAAAGgQ/w43JZLU8ccoe208WmBUrhoPl0hzKOhULgCLcB/s1600/Give%2Bit%2Ba%2BTry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" border="0" height="505" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hv06AbxM6Xs/V5ZgwKJTJ-I/AAAAAAAAGgQ/w43JZLU8ccoe208WmBUrhoPl0hzKOhULgCLcB/s640/Give%2Bit%2Ba%2BTry.jpg" title="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" width="640" /></a></div>
I would say that 75% of the time, my students are able to spell the word correctly on their own. They just need that little boost of confidence to know they spelled the word correctly. An added bonus is that the Give it a Try will eventually become an individualized dictionary for each student! Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKYXljSW1yeWk3eWc/view?usp=sharing"><b>HERE</b></a> to get a FREE copy!<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Student-Dictionary-1537214"><img alt="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" border="0" height="538" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VXpQY_uc-yk/V5ZgxSPZIWI/AAAAAAAAGgY/H5eiiPedrAMZztTG2soI-Z2EEzKzT7V-wCLcB/s640/writing.jpg" title="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" width="640" /></a></div>
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Speaking of dictionaries, my students also keep their <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Student-Dictionary-1537214">SUPER SPELLER</a> in their writing folders. It has frequently used words for every letter of the alphabet, as well as color words, number words, and family words. Because I can't even tell you how many times I've been asked how to spell the word "cousin" in the last 11 years!<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Student-Dictionary-1537214"><img alt="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" border="0" height="542" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEIUdfw2Jpg/V5Zgv0jhdpI/AAAAAAAAGgI/7AnE9o5Nk7khsbbbDJTZWlypjJHb-nxyACLcB/s640/using%2Bdicitionary.jpg" title="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" width="640" /></a></div>
I've recently updated this resource to also include an editable version, if I didn't include a word that your students need. Click <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Editable-Student-Dictionary-1537214">HERE</a> to check it out!<br />
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What else do you do in your classroom to guide your students to be independent writers?<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eN_YQP2dFKM/V5ZnT0IgJmI/AAAAAAAAGgs/WjT4ZJrcqkwe1jz0LW4K_KbZRvQ_Hr6LQCLcB/s1600/pin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eN_YQP2dFKM/V5ZnT0IgJmI/AAAAAAAAGgs/WjT4ZJrcqkwe1jz0LW4K_KbZRvQ_Hr6LQCLcB/s640/pin.jpg" title="Instead of simply telling students to "stretch it out and write what you hear" and sending them back to their seats, we need to empower our students to be independent writers and spellers. Check out a few tools and resources you can use to ensure writing success!" width="426" /></a></div>
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-61897509107012944142016-07-14T15:30:00.000-05:002018-07-14T15:37:32.627-05:00Mass Made Easy: Strategies for Teaching Students to Find MassOne of the third grade Common Core math standards asks students to estimate and measure the masses of objects. Our kiddos have a hard time relating to weight, and now we have to teach mass?<br />
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What Exactly is Mass?!</h3>
<b>Mass</b> is how much matter is in an object. Mass never changes, whereas weight can change depending on how much gravity there is. This distinction can be a little high-level for third graders, so I say "how much stuff is inside an object." We typically use grams and kilograms to measure mass. Here are some of strategies I use to help my students understand this tricky concept.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GgaSf6mGlC8/W0pbZo1HQAI/AAAAAAAAHDA/NKq-dp7qxO0dIX3zkQKrAomFr0-ZhU1cgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/main%2Bpost%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Mass Made Easy: Blog Post from Hippo Hooray for Second Grade." border="0" height="498" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GgaSf6mGlC8/W0pbZo1HQAI/AAAAAAAAHDA/NKq-dp7qxO0dIX3zkQKrAomFr0-ZhU1cgCK4BGAYYCw/s640/main%2Bpost%2Bimage.jpg" title="Strategies for teaching students how to find the mass of objects. This blog post includes freebie worksheets!" width="640" /></a></div>
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My goal when teaching my students to measure and estimate mass is to give them as many experiences as I can with different masses and helping them to connect each measurement to everyday objects. I teach this concept during both my math and science times, as mass is typically associated with science. My kiddos love to be "real scientists" who measure in grams and kilograms!<br />
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Fist I start with these bags. I filled each bag with macaroni noodles for each unit. When I first did this three years ago, I used rice instead of noodles. Rice is a lot harder to clean up if it spills. Not like I have experience with that....<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mDgxKxwNRzI/VpHmdgfUcFI/AAAAAAAAGEg/cgfKbphNqj8/s1600/noodle%2Bbags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="Mass Made Easy: Strategies for Teaching Measuring Mass" border="0" height="315" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mDgxKxwNRzI/VpHmdgfUcFI/AAAAAAAAGEg/cgfKbphNqj8/s320/noodle%2Bbags.jpg" title="Hippo Hooray for Second Grade" width="320" /></a></div>
It might be hard to see, but there are just three macaroni noodles in the gram bag. That bag always gets many surprised looks from my students! I pass the bags around the circle, so my students can physically feel how heavy each unit is. They also like holding two bags at the same time to compare them.<br />
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The next thing we do is find objects in the classroom that have the same mass as 1 gram, 5 grams, 10 grams, 20 grams, and 100 grams. When students can connect these masses to everyday objects, it makes it easier for them to estimate the mass of other objects. We use these pan balances and gram pieces for finding the mass of objects.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9XYMpybhmTo/VpHmdjz87nI/AAAAAAAAGEc/01_6J5aySG4/s1600/finding%2Bstandard%2Bobjects.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Mass Made Easy: Strategies for Teaching Measuring Mass" border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9XYMpybhmTo/VpHmdjz87nI/AAAAAAAAGEc/01_6J5aySG4/s400/finding%2Bstandard%2Bobjects.jpg" title="Hippo Hooray for Second Grade" width="400" /></a></div>
I give my students this recording sheet to write down their findings. When I use it, I actually trim it down to just the table and we glue them in our <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/2015/02/what-are-interactive-notebooks.html" target="_blank">interactive notebooks</a>, but I've made it a full sized worksheet for those of you who don't use INs.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lGf_KDqPm8w/VpHxuy33muI/AAAAAAAAGE8/5_JvibRRlAo/s1600/wksht1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Finding Mass Worksheet *Freebie*" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lGf_KDqPm8w/VpHxuy33muI/AAAAAAAAGE8/5_JvibRRlAo/s400/wksht1.jpg" title="Hippo Hooray for Second Grade" width="308" /></a></div>
After they have an understanding of different masses, we then practice estimating and then finding the actual measures. This is the sheet we use for this experiment. I always have my students write all of their estimates with a marker or a pen. That way, they can't erase them when they realize their estimates are WAY off :)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IPl9SkbHFnE/VpHx0YZsuFI/AAAAAAAAGFE/LrfNWduY_bg/s1600/wksht2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Estimating and Measuring Mass *Freebie*" border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IPl9SkbHFnE/VpHx0YZsuFI/AAAAAAAAGFE/LrfNWduY_bg/s400/wksht2.jpg" title="Hippo Hooray for Second Grade Blog" width="308" /></a></div>
If you're interested in either of these activities, you can download the freebie <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKcDV1MjJsa2lOeHc/view?usp=sharing">HERE</a>.<br />
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Estimating mass is SO hard, but with lots of practice, our third graders will get better at it. What are some tips and tricks you use to help your students understand mass? Let me know in the comments!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-3574591977333610602016-07-02T23:53:00.003-05:002017-07-11T11:21:59.319-05:00Teach the Reader. Not the Book.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I was sitting in a professional development class this spring where we were watching a webinar previously recorded from the Heinemann Group, and one of the instructors made this statement:</div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7sF7rEiViSw/VxveT22quFI/AAAAAAAAGRQ/LmdWwtmkaTAOCxaD2O4gTRCVrLPUS-y6QCLcB/s1600/teach%2Bthe%2Breader%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Using knowledge of text bands of complexity, learn how you can "teach the reader and not the book." " border="0" height="271" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7sF7rEiViSw/VxveT22quFI/AAAAAAAAGRQ/LmdWwtmkaTAOCxaD2O4gTRCVrLPUS-y6QCLcB/s400/teach%2Bthe%2Breader%2B3.jpg" title="Using knowledge of text bands of complexity, learn how you can "teach the reader and not the book." " width="400" /></a></div>
Have you ever heard something and you thought, "Wow. Just WOW." That's what happened to me when I heard Dan Feigelson say, "Teach the reader, not the book." I felt like I was smacked in the face by a 20-ton truck. In a good way. If that's possible.<br />
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For so long I had been doing just that, teaching the book. For 10 years the bulk of my reading instruction was through guided reading. I would pick out books, preview them with my group, students would read individually (yes, I did have the common sense to know that round robin reading is NEVER OK!), and I would pop in and listen to them read, often asking comprehension questions during and after reading that were text specific.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BkhAm_7GEdw/V3iPSd7bbHI/AAAAAAAAGbM/8cKeIjqk9YwibaUGf4kEU4So0fBosUA4gCLcB/s1600/guided%2Breading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Using knowledge of text bands of complexity, learn how you can "teach the reader and not the book." " border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BkhAm_7GEdw/V3iPSd7bbHI/AAAAAAAAGbM/8cKeIjqk9YwibaUGf4kEU4So0fBosUA4gCLcB/s400/guided%2Breading.jpg" title="Using knowledge of text bands of complexity, learn how you can "teach the reader and not the book." " width="326" /></a></div>
Did my readers grow? Of course. But was it because of my teaching? Wellll.... I'm not entirely convinced. Even as I transitioned this past year to conducting more strategy groups and individual conferences instead of guided groups, I still fell back to teaching the book. It's the easy thing to do.<br />
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Here's the problem with teaching the book: it doesn't grow the whole reader. Students answering surface level or even higher level comprehension questions based on a book doesn't help the reader when s/he reads his/her next book. And besides, teachers would never be able to keep up. We cannot possibly read and be knowledgeable of every single book that our students will read during the school year.<br />
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So how do we teach the reader? </h2>
Instead of focusing on individual books, focus on what skills and strategies students need to work on at their reading level. Fountas & Pinnell, in conjunction with the Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project has placed all guided reading levels A-Z into groups called text bands.<br />
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What is a text band, you say?</h2>
A text band is a single or a small group of F&P levels that have similar characteristics. Within these text bands are instructional considerations related to decoding, word work, comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and structure you can work on with your students. Have you ever wondered why it is <b>so hard</b> for students to make the leap from level M to level N? It's because they're in different text bands. And let me tell you, that jump is HUGE!<br />
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<b>What's the difference between an M and an N?</b><br />
In a nutshell...<br />
<b>Level M: </b>Traditional story structure with one clear/central problem/solution in the text. Character feelings change but the traits stay the same.<br />
<b>Level N:</b> Moves away from traditional structure with characters dealing with one (or more) complex problems that are harder to identify. Characters tend to be complicated and conflicted.<br />
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Of course there are many more differences between the two, but those are my big takeaways.<br />
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Wondering what the text band groupings are? I made this little chart:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HCTiq-fJWEE/V3iPSCZlIzI/AAAAAAAAGbI/wtLMRmxlqCYi84eEMbJekQpXE5lYB3iDwCLcB/s1600/text%2Bband%2Bchart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Using knowledge of text bands of complexity, learn how you can "teach the reader and not the book." " border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HCTiq-fJWEE/V3iPSCZlIzI/AAAAAAAAGbI/wtLMRmxlqCYi84eEMbJekQpXE5lYB3iDwCLcB/s400/text%2Bband%2Bchart.jpg" title="Using knowledge of text bands of complexity, learn how you can "teach the reader and not the book." " width="386" /></a></div>
I feel like this chart is the missing piece to my reading instruction puzzle. I always wondered why my students struggled to move from I to J. And then J to K. That's because up until Level I, we were hitting decoding strategies hard. Once they get to J, they should have more automaticity in decoding. In J we are switching our focus to more comprehension and students have to hold on to longer stories. WOW. Did that 20-ton truck just drive by again??<br />
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So how can I use this information I now know about text bands to teach the reader, and not the book?</h2>
If you are well versed in the characteristics of the text bands, you will know the skills and thinking work your students will need to do in order to move to the next text band. So, for example, I know that if I sit down with a student for a conferring session who is reading a level N book, that child is going to need to do a lot of inferring and putting the pieces together to understand the central story line and struggles & motivations of the main character. I might comment or ask questions such as:<br />
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<li>"Talk about why the main character does what s/he does."</li>
<li>"What does the text seem mostly about?" (and teaching that this does and can change over time)</li>
<li>"What is the big, underlying problem?"</li>
<li>"How does the setting play a role in the the plot/character development?"</li>
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These types of questions can work for any text at this level because they are relevant to all books at the NOPQ text band. And as the teacher, I can coach in to students who are struggling with any of these concepts, as they will need to have them mastered to move on to the next text band.<br />
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How can I find out more about text bands? </h2>
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I got my information about the characteristics of text bands from the <a href="http://readingandwritingproject.org/">Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project</a>. Because I don't know the copyright of the document I have, I don't feel comfortable sharing it out on the world wide web. However, if you do a Google search of "<a href="https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=text%20band%20characteristics">text band characteristics,</a>" several links/documents are available for you to do your own research. Personally, I found the ones from Fountas and Pinnell to be the the easiest to locate and pretty straight foward. I also thought <a href="https://lifelongliteracylearner.wordpress.com/tag/fountas-and-pinnell-text-bands/">this site</a> had some great information on what to work on for each text band if you click on her <a href="https://lifelongliteracylearner.wordpress.com/resources/">Band Aids</a> section :)</div>
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I hope this blog post has been an "aha!" for you, just like Dan Feigelson's simple statement was to me. As for me, I am really looking forward to digging into the text bands more this summer, so I can <i>really</i> teach my readers. The whole readers.</div>
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Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-86951176222603422992016-06-22T23:51:00.004-05:002016-06-25T18:04:55.723-05:002016 Wisconsin Teacher Blogger Meet Up!We had such a blast last year, that we've decided to do it again this year! Please join Jessica from <a href="http://www.mrsplemonskindergarten.com/">Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten</a>, Paige from <a href="http://ourelementarylives.blogspot.com/">Our Elementary Lives</a>, and me for the second annual Wisconsin Teacher Blogger Meet Up! It will be an awesome opportunity to meet, connect, collaborate, and grow your business with other Wisconsin blogging friends.<br />
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This year we are moving the meet up to a location a little more centrally located: Madison! The plan is to meet up at <a href="http://www.erinssnug.com/">Erin's Snug Irish Pub</a> on Saturday, July 30th from 11:00am-3:00pm.<br />
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Erin's Snug is conveniently located just off of Hwy 151, one mile off from I-90/94 on the far East side of Madison. We'll meet in the County Dane room to have lunch, give away awesome prizes, and chat and get to know each other in REAL LIFE! We will also sneak in some Teachers Pay Teachers/blogging tips and tricks you can apply to your own small business. You'll also take home a sweet bag of SWAG to kick the 2016-2017 school year off with a BANG! If you want to see the fun we had last year, click <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/2015/09/recap-wisconsin-teacher-blogger-back-to.html">here</a>!</div>
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To join us, please <b><a href="http://bit.ly/WITBM2016">CLICK HERE</a>!</b></h3>
Please note that you DO NOT have to be from Wisconsin to attend :) Madison, WI is about 2 hours from Chicago and 4 hours from Minneapolis. Please RSVP by July 21st so we can make sure we have enough goodies for everyone! Our space can only accommodate up to 40 guests, so make sure you sign up right away.<br />
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We can't WAIT to see you next month!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-41193938282896745032016-06-20T13:49:00.002-05:002017-07-11T11:22:58.137-05:00What's the Deal with Collective Nouns?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BEACH-BASH-Singular-Plural-Possessive-Noun-Party-637330"><img alt="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" border="0" height="285" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LpPXaBdndc4/V2gtB_ndNgI/AAAAAAAAGW4/c8AWcRX_3zIhinqaP1JLw-1HOHNwLGu4ACLcB/s400/cover%2Bimage.jpg" title="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" width="400" /></a></div>
I first learned about collective nouns when we made the switch to the Common Core State Standards several years ago. The standard reads: <i>L.2.1a Use collective nouns.</i> And my first thought was, "What the heck are collective nouns??"<br />
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So just like every second grade teacher, I Googled it:<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BEACH-BASH-Singular-Plural-Possessive-Noun-Party-637330"><img alt="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals,freebies, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ttp5Z394dTM/V2g3MT5-y4I/AAAAAAAAGXI/ZvKE_jSNE_UtxcOZAdZy-1IyQCJtrRg7gCLcB/s400/definition%2Bposter.jpg" title="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals, freebies, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" width="308" /></a></div>
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Then I Googled "examples of collective nouns" and got a ton of them. But, really? Do second graders <i>really</i> need to know that a group of geese is called a gaggle? And did you know, a group of geese could also be called a flock, a skein, a team, a wedge, or a plump, depending on whether they're on the ground or their position in flight? REALLY?! Who cares??? It all seemed very surface-y, very rote to me, and from what I've learned about the CCSS, the focus is depth rather than breadth.</div>
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So at first I decided to focus on collective nouns that students could relate to: class of students, band of musicians, team of athletes, school of fish...<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BEACH-BASH-Singular-Plural-Possessive-Noun-Party-637330"><img alt="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MQH172iM1VY/V2g3MaC5teI/AAAAAAAAGXM/mtz2HdMUoF0pZqd9OmllIlrBbyc5uqq8gCLcB/s320/collective%2Bnouns%2Bin%2Baction.jpg" title="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" width="320" /></a></div>
I found this really great <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/56013589095307893/">PIN</a> that helps students to see that collective nouns are everywhere around us. But again, besides matching the noun with the prepositional phrase and memorizing a bunch of people, things, and animals and their collective nouns, <b>what's the point? What am I missing???</b><br />
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After much thinking about this standard, I think I finally figured out how I can make it meaningful and applicable to my students' writing. While it's important for students to learn examples of collective nouns, I think the focus should actually be on the <u>verb</u>. Collective nouns name <b>one</b> group of individuals, therefore the verb is usually singular. Consider these two sentences:<br />
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<b>Eight geese</b> <u>fly</u> south for the winter.</div>
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The <b>flock of geese</b> <u>flies</u> south for the winter.</div>
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Notice the first sentence has the irregular plural noun <i>geese</i>, so the verb is plural. But the second sentence has the collective noun <i>flock</i>, which is singular, so the verb is singular. Forming irregular plural nouns is another second grade CCSS, so these two standards would work well together as you teach your students subject-verb agreement when using plural nouns and collective nouns in sentences.<br />
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There are instances when a plural verb can be used with a collective noun (Ex. The band of musicians <u>play</u> at the concert), but the reason why is more complicated that what our second graders need to know. Although if you're a grammar nerd like me, if a collective noun acts as a single group, the verb is singular and if the collective noun acts as individuals, it is plural. In the sentence above, each musician is individually playing his/her own instrument in his/her own way. Wowsers! I don't recommend trying to explain that to a second grader :) One way you could work around that example sentence is to take out the prepositional phrase and say, "The band plays at the concert."</div>
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If you'd like a FREE copy of the two posters and the sorting activity above, click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKLW5iOVJNQmd0b2M/view?usp=sharing">HERE</a>! If you're looking for a way to teach singular, plural, and collective nouns (with a little possessive nouns thrown in as well), I have this resource in my <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BEACH-BASH-Singular-Plural-Possessive-Noun-Party-637330">TpT store</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BEACH-BASH-Singular-Plural-Possessive-Noun-Party-637330"><img alt="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" border="0" height="266" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mwqr7xT1hkg/V2g3M0a4jsI/AAAAAAAAGXQ/nDYdRwMCyrkXtvZRQDsAbhvLm32m1IcjQCLcB/s400/beach%2Bbash%2Bpromo.jpg" title="Not sure where to begin when teaching collective nouns? This blog post contains ideas, visuals, and activities for teaching your students all about collective nouns!!" width="400" /></a></div>
It's been updated recently to include the collective nouns component. Check it out<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/BEACH-BASH-Singular-Plural-Possessive-Noun-Party-637330"> HERE</a>!</div>
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<b>What's your biggest struggle when teaching collective nouns? Let me know in the comments! </b>I hope my perspective has helped to clarify your own thinking and teaching of this tricky, yet fun to teach standard.</div>
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For more language/conventions teaching ideas, check out my Pinterest Board:</div>
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<a data-pin-board-width="400" data-pin-do="embedBoard" data-pin-scale-height="240" data-pin-scale-width="80" href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/languageconventions/"></a>
<script async="" defer="" src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js"></script>Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-39739453413210681842016-06-16T23:25:00.003-05:002017-07-13T09:54:15.758-05:00Student Writing Keepsake BooksI try not to send my students home with a lot of paper. As a mom myself, I have plenty of clutter around my house; I don't need school clutter as well! But one of my most favorite things to do in my classroom is to make my students a keepsake book of all of their published writing pieces throughout the year.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hdv5p8fsa4E/V2NzS1vcnGI/AAAAAAAAGVw/qihh-S1XIPMp9hioBfjl7T1b0RqI-oRRgCLcB/s1600/facebook%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Keep your students' published writing pieces from throughout the year and bind them into a finished book. It will be a great keepsake for your kiddos to remember the year they spent with you. Blog post includes a freebie table of contents, dedication page, and about the author page." border="0" height="287" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hdv5p8fsa4E/V2NzS1vcnGI/AAAAAAAAGVw/qihh-S1XIPMp9hioBfjl7T1b0RqI-oRRgCLcB/s400/facebook%2Bimage.jpg" title="Keep your students' published writing pieces from throughout the year and bind them into a finished book. It will be a great keepsake for your kiddos to remember the year they spent with you. Blog post includes a freebie table of contents, dedication page, and about the author page." width="400" /></a></div>
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Organization is key for this project, so I always start with creating a file folder for each of my students before school starts. I used to store all of my writing pieces by genre but I was always scrambling to assemble the books at the end of the year. Not this year!! Take a few extra minutes to organize by student and it will save you a HUGE headache in the end!<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GWQJj5QeVO0/V2NzSlElEDI/AAAAAAAAGVs/OEmX9FlNEUI3EkY7_Qq76gVz53VlH4brACLcB/s1600/file%2Bfolders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Keep your students' published writing pieces from throughout the year and bind them into a finished book. It will be a great keepsake for your kiddos to remember the year they spent with you. Blog post includes a freebie table of contents, dedication page, and about the author page." border="0" height="281" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GWQJj5QeVO0/V2NzSlElEDI/AAAAAAAAGVs/OEmX9FlNEUI3EkY7_Qq76gVz53VlH4brACLcB/s400/file%2Bfolders.jpg" title="Keep your students' published writing pieces from throughout the year and bind them into a finished book. It will be a great keepsake for your kiddos to remember the year they spent with you. Blog post includes a freebie table of contents, dedication page, and about the author page." width="400" /></a></div>
Then, as we publish pieces throughout the year, I add them to each student's file folder in chronological order. We always have a few personal narratives, an information report they write from their own knowledge, a persuasive essay, a literary essay, a fairy tale, and my favorite is their final piece which is a persuasive letter to the next year's grade level stating why they should move onto that grade!<br />
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During the last week of school, my students and I head outside so that I can take individual photos of them standing against the brick exterior. I don't know why, but I just love photos of kids in front of a brick wall! I use the photos to make the cover of the books. My students get to choose what color card stock they want for the front and back covers. I glue their photos on the colored paper and laminate the front and back covers.<br />
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Before I bind the books, I add a table of contents, dedication, and about the author pages.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RpfGV_4b84U/V2NzS9xxoyI/AAAAAAAAGV0/4YSy6DxExB8RLSCtxuJL04-q6HdybuAXwCLcB/s1600/insert%2Bpages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Keep your students' published writing pieces from throughout the year and bind them into a finished book. It will be a great keepsake for your kiddos to remember the year they spent with you. Blog post includes a freebie table of contents, dedication page, and about the author page." border="0" height="280" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RpfGV_4b84U/V2NzS9xxoyI/AAAAAAAAGV0/4YSy6DxExB8RLSCtxuJL04-q6HdybuAXwCLcB/s400/insert%2Bpages.jpg" title="Keep your students' published writing pieces from throughout the year and bind them into a finished book. It will be a great keepsake for your kiddos to remember the year they spent with you. Blog post includes a freebie table of contents, dedication page, and about the author page." width="400" /></a></div>
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Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKa1lQY3BodDBtbU0/view?usp=sharing">HERE</a> if you'd like a copy of these pages. </div>
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Lastly, I use my school's comb binder to bind all their stories into books. If you don't have access to a comb binder, you can take the books to an office supply store and get them spiral bound for a few dollars a piece. Yes, it's a little pricey, but the looks on my students' faces when I give them their books is <i>priceless</i>! They chatter excitedly with their classmates, taking a walk down their third grade memory lane. My hope is that these books are stored in a safe place and when my students are "80 years old and all wrinkly" (those are the exact words I use!), they can have a small piece of their childhood to look back at.<br />
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For more writing ideas, check out my Pinterest Boards!</div>
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-11948860956268792132016-03-27T12:50:00.000-05:002018-04-03T13:26:16.753-05:00Beyond Acrostics & Haiku: Teaching PoetryWe are quickly approaching the month of April, which means that a lot of us are gearing up for our poetry unit. Me? I've actually already taught it! My poetry writing unit is my scope & sequence to be taught in January, and I'd love to share what worked for me... and what didn't.<br />
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Poetry is SO much more than rhyming verse, acrostics & haiku! I love teaching students the beauty and power of words and language, and I feel like forcing students to write certain types of poems can actually hinder the creative process. So instead of starting my unit teaching the different types of poetry, I focus on teaching students to write thoughtful, meaningful poems. Here are some of the things I do!<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFOroIfGSOA/Vv9Zyd63KuI/AAAAAAAAGPU/0WxY9KEXXn0jduKiw1XAEK62XJnHtW0JA/s1600/COVER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poetry is SO much more than rhyming verse, acrostics & haiku! Check out this post to learn ways to teach your students to focus on the beauty and power of words." border="0" height="386" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eFOroIfGSOA/Vv9Zyd63KuI/AAAAAAAAGPU/0WxY9KEXXn0jduKiw1XAEK62XJnHtW0JA/s400/COVER.jpg" title="Poetry is SO much more than rhyming verse, acrostics & haiku! Check out this post to learn ways to teach your students to focus on the beauty and power of words." width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">This blog post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. For more info, please see my </span><a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/p/disclosure.html" style="font-size: small;">full disclosure policy</a><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span></div>
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1. Read Poems First!</h2>
One of the first things I do before my students <b>write</b> poems is that we is <b>read</b> poems. Lots of poems. I immerse my class with poems. By reading poems, students become aware of the flow and form of poems. Although we all love Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky, I try my best to not focus too much on rhyming, funny/silly poems. Poetry is a genre that allows writers to share their big, strong feelings, and I don't want my students to associate poetry with only humor. Some of my favorite poetry books/poets are: <a href="https://amzn.to/2GRiL6g" target="_blank">Silver Seeds</a>, anything by Douglas Florian (<a href="https://amzn.to/2JjdHWO" target="_blank">Mammalabilia</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Handsprings-Douglas-Florian/dp/0060092807/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459278989&sr=1-15&keywords=douglas+florian">Handsprings</a>, and he has a bunch of seasonal poetry books), <a href="https://amzn.to/2H5Xvau" target="_blank">Red Sings from Treetops</a>, <a href="https://amzn.to/2Ipwf6d" target="_blank">Mirror Mirror</a> (this is also fun when studying fairy tales), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Poem-Your-Pocket-Young-Poets/dp/081099142X/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51DoqXAhy8L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR116%2C160_&refRID=0M6EVN0HNWT828MP7S2V">A Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets</a>, <a href="https://amzn.to/2GxYlvw" target="_blank">Poems to Learn by Heart</a>... and so many more!<br />
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I like to project the poems with my document camera (or you could make photocopies) so that my kids can see the poem while I read it aloud. I read it a few times aloud, and then there are a few things you could do with the poem: I like to hold a whole-class conversation about the poems. Or you could do word study, vocabulary, or fluency work with it, depending on the needs of your class.<br />
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I started doing this about three weeks before my poetry writing unit, but next year, I want to dedicate my one of my Read Aloud days per week to do this, starting at the beginning of the year.<br />
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2. What Exactly IS Poetry?</h2>
It's really important for kiddos to understand that poetry is a completely different genre than fiction or nonfiction. This is the finished anchor chart I used with my class this year, but it was definitely a work in progress throughout the whole unit.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dUbbY7vuH4A/Vv9Zya960JI/AAAAAAAAGPQ/H4iWCG8kJ9IIs5EvgRl5XYrpoppzo2kvw/s1600/anchor%2Bchart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poetry anchor chart that lists the elements of poems. ALL Poems Have... Some Poems Have..." border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dUbbY7vuH4A/Vv9Zya960JI/AAAAAAAAGPQ/H4iWCG8kJ9IIs5EvgRl5XYrpoppzo2kvw/s400/anchor%2Bchart.jpg" title="Poetry anchor chart that lists the elements of poems. ALL Poems Have... Some Poems Have..." width="320" /></a></div>
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On Day 2 of my unit, we began to build this anchor chart. We started with the definition and making the list of what <b>ALL</b> poems have. They came up with the first three, but I had to supply the last two: white space and line breaks. They came up with rhythm, repetition, and rhyme themselves, and we added them to the <b>SOME</b> Poems Have side. As we learn the characteristics and elements of poetry, we add them to the list.</div>
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3. Options, Options, Options!</h2>
This year, I went to the Dollar Spot and scooped up as many different kinds of papers as I could find. Giving students the option to choose papers of all shapes, sizes, and colors can assist with the creative process, and sometimes even spark an idea for what to write about! Here is what my poetry writing station looked like this year:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zypko5zx58A/Vv9ZzYM-BWI/AAAAAAAAGPY/SkBQpcCK074bHJxWYaDH1JoQGjD3DPp_w/s1600/paper%2Bstation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poetry Writing Station: Give your students the option of using paper of many different shapes, sizes, and styles. It helps with the creative process!" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zypko5zx58A/Vv9ZzYM-BWI/AAAAAAAAGPY/SkBQpcCK074bHJxWYaDH1JoQGjD3DPp_w/s400/paper%2Bstation.jpg" title="Poetry Writing Station: Give your students the option of using paper of many different shapes, sizes, and styles. It helps with the creative process!" width="398" /></a></div>
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My kiddos also had the option to write in their Writer's Notebooks.</div>
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4. Idea Generation</h2>
Coming up with topics to write poetry about is tricky. So we make lots of lists of <b>people</b>, <b>places</b>, <b>things</b>, and <b>ideas</b> that are important and special to us. We also make lists of things that make us <b>happy</b>, <b>sad</b>, <b>scared</b>, or <b>angry</b>. Topics that give us big, strong feelings often spark the best poems. I also love to write poems about <b>every day objects</b> and see them in a new way. One of my coworkers brought me a hot chocolate from Starbucks one morning, and it sparked the BEST poem!<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1vROZQ90iE/Vv_35pI9qDI/AAAAAAAAGQQ/u6KqPvoMAdQ-7pbsTDnKokSWVFXBlRKLg/s1600/teacher%2Bpoem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="TEACHERS! Model writing poems in front of your class. Show them that anyone can write poetry!" border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-S1vROZQ90iE/Vv_35pI9qDI/AAAAAAAAGQQ/u6KqPvoMAdQ-7pbsTDnKokSWVFXBlRKLg/s400/teacher%2Bpoem.jpg" title="TEACHERS! Model writing poems in front of your class. Show them that anyone can write poetry!" width="356" /></a></div>
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Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKeGhybnJJc3dQQ28/view?usp=sharing">HERE</a> for a freebie poetry ideas graphic organizer!</div>
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5. Look at Your Subject in a New Way</h2>
The beauty of poetry is being able to look at ordinary things in extraordinary ways. I like to take my kids on "field trips" throughout the school so we can study our subjects. We've been to the playground, cafeteria, and our favorite place, the courtyard, so we can get up close with our subjects.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nkOiq-qLVDE/Vv9ZyKKb_tI/AAAAAAAAGPM/cEI71UBqfCwYR4qMQ5ccHekeI56fyMqzA/s1600/field%2Btrip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Take your students on a field trip around your school to give them ideas for writing poetry. " border="0" height="385" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nkOiq-qLVDE/Vv9ZyKKb_tI/AAAAAAAAGPM/cEI71UBqfCwYR4qMQ5ccHekeI56fyMqzA/s640/field%2Btrip.jpg" title="Take your students on a field trip around your school to give them ideas for writing poetry. " width="640" /></a></div>
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6. Boil Down Extra Words</h2>
Even though we teach kids to write phrases or even single word lines, they still gravitate to writing complete sentences... or at least in third grade they do! I'd bet if you're a primary teacher, your kiddos would have an easier time with this, haha! So I teach my kiddos to read through their poems and cross off the extra words, helping them to choose precise words with intention.<br />
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7. Share Your Poems!</h2>
Poems are meant to be shared. To be read aloud. I bought these 8-pack of blank books from Target in the Dollar Spot ($3 per pack) for my students to publish their poems. Our poetry anthologies had a Table of Contents, at least 5 published poems, and an "About the Author" at the end.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VtG_5einKXQ/Vv9Zz1wC9wI/AAAAAAAAGPc/V1C1VBZHvpQWqKz-39iipoM8_XSToGmlQ/s1600/pub%2Bbooks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="These $3 packs of blank books from the Target Dollar Spot are the perfect place for students to make a poetry anthology!" border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VtG_5einKXQ/Vv9Zz1wC9wI/AAAAAAAAGPc/V1C1VBZHvpQWqKz-39iipoM8_XSToGmlQ/s400/pub%2Bbooks.jpg" title="These $3 packs of blank books from the Target Dollar Spot are the perfect place for students to make a poetry anthology!" width="395" /></a></div>
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Here are a few poems that my students wrote. They BLEW my mind!</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PmfZY-ToUGA/Vv_zEm99uTI/AAAAAAAAGP8/Gxt0ig4B6aAunfwT8x7kkBQbCtAEJ4j0w/s1600/poems.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Examples of poems written by children. These are from third grade students! AMAZING!!" border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PmfZY-ToUGA/Vv_zEm99uTI/AAAAAAAAGP8/Gxt0ig4B6aAunfwT8x7kkBQbCtAEJ4j0w/s640/poems.jpg" title="Examples of poems written by children. These are from third grade students! AMAZING!!" width="544" /></a></div>
Third graders wrote these! Can you believe it?! And the amazing part is that all four of these poems were written by some of the lowest readers in my class! DISCLAIMER: I did write the bottom two for one of my loves, but I just copied her drafts :)<br />
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We also took a day to share our poems with our writing partners and then those who wanted to were able to sit in my teacher chair with the microphone and share their favorite poem they published.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D5uN2R2ERA4/Vv9Z0o2wv3I/AAAAAAAAGPk/xrlGAl8nhosOXTTnq5Qvx5uh6Gs5s6OPg/s1600/sharing%2Bpoetry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poems are meant to be read aloud! Give your students the opportunity to share their poems with their friends and loved ones." border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D5uN2R2ERA4/Vv9Z0o2wv3I/AAAAAAAAGPk/xrlGAl8nhosOXTTnq5Qvx5uh6Gs5s6OPg/s400/sharing%2Bpoetry.jpg" title="Poems are meant to be read aloud! Give your students the opportunity to share their poems with their friends and loved ones." width="346" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6JQR02oVUBg/Vv9Zz57jyEI/AAAAAAAAGPg/LcKbP9h_D3U8YfVrm_-L31iPyLl4e_smQ/s1600/sharing%2Bpoetry%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Poems are meant to be read aloud! Give your students the opportunity to share their poems with their friends and loved ones." border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6JQR02oVUBg/Vv9Zz57jyEI/AAAAAAAAGPg/LcKbP9h_D3U8YfVrm_-L31iPyLl4e_smQ/s400/sharing%2Bpoetry%2B2.jpg" title="Poems are meant to be read aloud! Give your students the opportunity to share their poems with their friends and loved ones." width="342" /></a></div>
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So Do You Teach The Various Styles of Poetry?</h2>
Yes I do, but not until the end of the unit. We focus on the words & the elements of poetry as well as the revision process first, and then I show students several types of poems. We spend a few days discussing typical rhyming patterns for poetry, acrostics, haikus, and shape poems, but our main focus is on free verse. I encourage my students to think of their subject first, rather than choosing a type of poem and then trying to make it work. Nothing drives me more crazy than an acrostic poem with the student's first name and then a random adjective for each letter...<br />
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I hope some of these ideas have given you some inspiration for your own poetry writing unit! What is your favorite thing about teaching poetry to your students? Let me know in the comments below!<br />
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For more poetry ideas, check out my Pinterest Board:</div>
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<a data-pin-board-width="400" data-pin-do="embedBoard" data-pin-scale-height="200" data-pin-scale-width="80" href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/hippo-hooray-for-poetry/"> Follow Hippo Hooray for Second Grade's board Hippo Hooray for Poetry! on Pinterest.</a><!-- Please call pinit.js only once per page --><script async="" src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js" type="text/javascript"></script> </div>
Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-35874514072303256402016-03-20T14:11:00.000-05:002016-06-16T23:39:44.554-05:00Cooperative Learning Peep ProjectA few days ago, I was perusing <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/hippohooray2nd/">Pinterest</a>, and I found this <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/56013589094690669/">pin</a> which led to this <a href="http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/peep-catapults/">blog post</a>. She used classroom supplies to build a Peep catapult! It was meant to be a STEM activity, except I'm not a STEM expert by any means. However, I love cooperative learning activities, so I decided to take that approach and and bring this gem of an idea into my classroom. And the day before Spring Break was the perfect time to do it!<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTpu1HmjLak/Vu70lG3GcjI/AAAAAAAAGNc/8GzM42V48f00hGkOFQ-iBfHGqBybQi2VA/s1600/cover%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes supplies needed AND a freebie." border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FTpu1HmjLak/Vu70lG3GcjI/AAAAAAAAGNc/8GzM42V48f00hGkOFQ-iBfHGqBybQi2VA/s400/cover%2Bimage.jpg" title="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes supplies needed AND a freebie." width="397" /></a></div>
Since my focus was on cooperative learning, I told them they were to use the supplies to create a "launcher." Here's what I had available.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4g-pqWJMnk/Vu4VFCWtLtI/AAAAAAAAGM8/VCW_VjB7AlUrYXcp96J1oX51TqUqPWZhA/s1600/image%2B5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4g-pqWJMnk/Vu4VFCWtLtI/AAAAAAAAGM8/VCW_VjB7AlUrYXcp96J1oX51TqUqPWZhA/s400/image%2B5.jpg" title="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." width="361" /></a></div>
I also told my students that if there was anything else they wanted, I could see if I had it in my storage cabinet. They all wanted craft sticks, but unfortunately I was out. <b>Note to Self:</b> Get craft sticks for next year!<br />
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I randomly put my students into groups of 2-3. They had to first plan the supplies they would use and to draw a design on this <b><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKbkVYa1gybTZCbmM/view?usp=sharing">planning sheet</a></b>. This process took groups anywhere from 5-10 minutes. Then they came to me to get their supplies. I gave my class about 30 minutes to work on their designs.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f15oMcbDl1k/Vu4VGWYPjNI/AAAAAAAAGNI/E724TancFWsggu61W93cZnSnexkv8Ldmw/s1600/image%2B8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f15oMcbDl1k/Vu4VGWYPjNI/AAAAAAAAGNI/E724TancFWsggu61W93cZnSnexkv8Ldmw/s400/image%2B8.jpg" title="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." width="313" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YNootzkThyc/Vu4VGWsaXNI/AAAAAAAAGNM/rE2vsChtGjEH3qI1u70Psh7qTZ6fyPUbQ/s1600/image%2B9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YNootzkThyc/Vu4VGWsaXNI/AAAAAAAAGNM/rE2vsChtGjEH3qI1u70Psh7qTZ6fyPUbQ/s400/image%2B9.jpg" title="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." width="260" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dhFGUCgkPdo/Vu4VF2imCeI/AAAAAAAAGNE/EpfhJ6LXznImnvPcc8N04CD5DgxUZCG-A/s1600/image%2B7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dhFGUCgkPdo/Vu4VF2imCeI/AAAAAAAAGNE/EpfhJ6LXznImnvPcc8N04CD5DgxUZCG-A/s400/image%2B7.jpg" title="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." width="263" /></a></div>
We did need <strike>a few</strike> a ton of reminders to fill out their planning sheet along the way; they were VERY engrossed in the building of the launchers!!<br />
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After the time was up, we all sat in a line and each group took a turn to launch their Peep. Most launchers were successful, although two Peeps did end up flying backwards! HAHA!! I wish I would have had the chance to snap a photo of all the Peeps scattered on my floor, but my kiddos were super speedy in cleaning up when we were finished. I suppose I can't really complain about that! Here is a photo, though, of all our launchers:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pIa5TERLGWM/Vu4VFLNWqUI/AAAAAAAAGNA/rrGnt8bzg4MgaNpgKFt9tStT9mfy2IbRg/s1600/image%2B6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." border="0" height="341" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pIa5TERLGWM/Vu4VFLNWqUI/AAAAAAAAGNA/rrGnt8bzg4MgaNpgKFt9tStT9mfy2IbRg/s400/image%2B6.jpg" title="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." width="400" /></a></div>
I hope you are able to find some time to give this a try in your classroom! And if you do, leave me a comment and let me know how it went!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-akL-Kar_jAs/Vu4VE9scfEI/AAAAAAAAGM4/HrmVfMRRNQUyCVYUEVlbuDaDuVzrMXaoQ/s1600/image%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." border="0" height="301" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-akL-Kar_jAs/Vu4VE9scfEI/AAAAAAAAGM4/HrmVfMRRNQUyCVYUEVlbuDaDuVzrMXaoQ/s400/image%2B1.jpg" title="Looking for a fun, seasonal cooperative learning project? Challenge your students to make Peep Launchers! Blog post includes suggested materials and a freebie student planning sheet." width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These girls were SO proud of their creation!</td></tr>
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-72906139696764775862016-01-10T05:00:00.000-06:002017-04-18T23:03:12.162-05:00Student Accountability During Independent Reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I run a reader's workshop in my classroom, and at the midpoint in the school year, my students are reading independently for about 40 minutes a day. Because I am conducting small groups and individual conferences, I don't have the time to be constantly monitoring whether or not my students are <b>actually</b> reading. And you know we always have a few that appear to be reading but really aren't.... How can I get <b>ALL</b> of my students to take their independent reading time seriously?</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EDpC8GghzBw/WPbg2R8b5xI/AAAAAAAAGzs/I2ZuEbfCCG0dHycy5hdtTI1oJ31YDXbVwCK4B/s1600/FB%2Bimage.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Are you having trouble keeping your students focused during independent reading time? An independent reading reflection activity is the perfect solution to helping your students take ownership and responsibility over their own work!" border="0" height="482" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EDpC8GghzBw/WPbg2R8b5xI/AAAAAAAAGzs/I2ZuEbfCCG0dHycy5hdtTI1oJ31YDXbVwCK4B/s640/FB%2Bimage.jpg" title="Are you having trouble keeping your students focused during independent reading time? An independent reading reflection activity is the perfect solution to helping your students take ownership and responsibility over their own work!" width="640" /></a></div>
Enter the Independent Reading Report. It's a quick checklist that my students use to self evaluate their work during independent reading time. Every Friday, my students complete this half-sheet to reflect on their reading work for the week.<br />
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Students score themselves on three areas: Reading the Whole Time, Writing 2-3 Sticky Notes per Day, and Completing their Reading Logs (don't get me started on my opinion of reading logs... but I'm required to use them, so it is what it is...). They rate themselves on a three-point scale. One week I tried to use a 4-point scale, but how can you Exceed Expectations for completing your reading log?<br />
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Then, I take about 10 minutes on Friday to go through all my students' reports and I score them as well. Sometimes I'll check in with a few to look at their sticky notes and reading logs again, just to be sure.<br />
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You should see my kids run to their mailboxes at the end of the day to see how I scored them and see if our scores matched. I've even had a student approach me, show me her sticky notes for the week, and make me change my score :) And for those kiddos who maybe earned a 1 or a 2 for a certain area, they are motivated to work harder next week to get to the 3. Do I have students who overrate themselves? Yes, a few. But for the most part, they are very in tune with their efforts for the week.<br />
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My district's copy center can copy these on two-ply carbon paper, so I send the top copy home and keep the second copy. Then at report card time or for parent teacher conferences, I have lots of data that supports each student's classroom performance.<br />
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Want to use this in your classroom? Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKVlRBYkhvT2YwQWs/view?usp=sharing">HERE</a> to grab this for free!</div>
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What else do you do to support your independent readers?<br />
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Want to save this post for later? Pin this image below:</div>
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Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-91177501057357021122016-01-03T05:00:00.001-06:002022-11-04T21:54:12.135-05:00Quick and Easy Cooperative Games that Build Classroom Community<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: none; text-align: center;">
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My third class I ever had was pretty rough. Besides a few high needs behavior issues and a wide range of academic abilities, they struggled with social skills. Specifically working together cooperatively. As a beginning teacher, I was under the assumption that community building only happens at the beginning of the year. Boy was I <b>WRONG</b>! Building classroom community is something you have to do all year long. And coming back from Winter Break is the <b>PERFECT</b> time to start including community building into your daily routine. It will be so beneficial as we head into these next few long winter months.</div>
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With all of the standards and curriculum on our plates, it is <b>HARD</b> to find the time to do <i>another</i> thing in the classroom. If you're already holding a morning meeting, you can easily sneak this in during your activity time. If you don't have this time, all you really need is 5 minutes a day, two to three times a week for students to practice valuable social skills.<br />
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Since our time is at a premium, here are some of my favorite cooperative learning games that are quick and easy to implement:<br />
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1. Human Pretzel</h2>
Students work in groups of 5-6 and form a circle. Each student reaches one hand into the circle and grabs the hand of another student. Then they reach the other hand into the circle and grab a <i>different</i> person's hand. Then they have to work together to untwist themselves into a circle. I do allow students to let go of hands to readjust their grips, if needed, but other than that, they have to stay holding hands.<br />
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2. Balloon Bump</h2>
Start with groups of 3-4. Students have to hold hands in a circle and work together to keep a balloon from touching the floor. They can use any part of their body except for their feet. As they get better at it, make the groups larger. Maybe you can even get your whole class to work together with one balloon!<br />
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3. Hula Hoop Balance</h2>
Borrow a few hula hoops from your PE teacher and put students into groups of 5-6. Together, they will start with one hula hoop at about nose level and using only their fingertips, they need to work together to lower the hula hoops to the ground.<br />
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4. Pass the Hula Hoop</h2>
Keep those same hula hoops and put students into larger groups of 7-10. They will hold hands and put one hula hoop in between two students. Then the students will work together to pass the hula hoop around the circle by moving it over their heads, stepping through it, etc.<br />
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5. In the Loop</h2>
You can do this in groups or as a whole class. With a long rope or piece of yarn, make a large circle in your carpet area. Students work together to get everyone sitting inside the circle. Then you repeat the activity, making the circle smaller each time.<br />
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6. Minefield</h2>
I like to borrow the plastic spots from my PE teacher for this, or you could use pieces of paper. You need 25 dots/pieces of paper to make a 5x5 grid on the floor. The teacher maps out a secret path to get from one side to another (I write it on a sticky note so I don't forget it LOL). Students line up, and one at a time, they take a step onto the spots. If it is a safe place to stand, I say nothing. If it isn't I say "boom!" and the student goes to the end of the line and the next person goes. The student keeps going until they either step on a "mine," or they get to the other side. The class works together to get everyone from one side of the mine field to the other.<br />
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7. STEM/STEAM Projects</h2>
There are SO many ideas out there for STEM/STEAM, but many of them take up a ton of time. To keep it within 5-10 minutes, I pick the ones that don't need a lot of supplies and I set a timer for no more than five minutes. Give groups of 4-5 students 20 plastic cups and tell them to build a structure. Or give them a handful of mini marshmallows and uncooked spaghetti noodles and ask them to build a bridge or a structure to hold up an object. The key is to make sure the activity is <i>cooperative</i> and not <i>competitive</i>, so as to create a collaborative classroom environment.<br />
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After the Game is Over...</h2>
Take the time to debrief with your class when the game is over. Ask questions like, "What went well?" or "What can we do better next time?" <b>Don't forget or skip over this part!</b> This allows them to process their own actions and behavior, which reinforces good behavior and helps them to see what they can work on for next time.<br />
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If you like these ideas, check out my Pinterest board for Cooperative Learning. Not only does it have ideas for games, but also for cooperative learning strategies:<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-26995810789577822132015-12-26T14:15:00.002-06:002017-07-13T09:45:40.875-05:005 Ways to Make Partner Talk Effective and Productive<br />
Imagine this. You are teaching a mini lesson. You pose a question to your class and say, "Turn and talk to your neighbor!"<br />
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What usually happens?<br />
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3 kids just sit there. 3 kids ask every other kid in the room to be their partners, but never actually end up with a partner. Some kids pair up and just stare at each other. Maybe a third of the class is actually doing what you asked them to do..?<br />
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How can we make this time more effective and productive for our students?<br />
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Some call it Pair/Share, some call it Turn 'n Talk, but it's all the same: Partner talk is a proven strategy to promote oral language development, increase student engagement, and deepen their understanding of the content. Instead of students raising their hands and only one or two get the chance to share with the whole class (while everyone else is tuning them out...), now everyone gets a chance to talk. Everyone gets the chance to be heard. And when students are conversing about academic topics, learning is happening!<br />
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Here are a few tips to make partner talk successful in your classroom:</h2>
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1. Assign Partners</h3>
I never ever EVER allow my students to choose a partner in the moment. By choosing my students' partners for them, I am assured they are working with someone appropriate for them. I'm also eliminating the struggle of students not participating during partner talk time.<br />
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2. Keep Partnerships Long-Term</h3>
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I keep my partnerships together for at least a semester, and I'm thinking about keeping my current partners together for even longer. Why? By having the same partners, students form relationships and trust between each other. It's comfortable and familiar for them. It makes the discussions less awkward, and they become more deep and meaningful.<br />
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3. Partners Sit by Each Other </h3>
I teach almost all of my lessons at the carpet, so when I ask my students to join me up front, they know they are supposed to sit next to their partner. That way, when I ask them to turn and talk, their partner is right there and they can get started right away!<br />
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4. Give Each Partner a Name</h3>
Peanut Butter & Jelly. Salt & Pepper. Partner A & Partner B (Boring? Yes. But functional). Make sure your students know who's who. That way when you tell your students to turn and talk, you will also say, "Peanut Butter Partner goes first." and there's no arguing about who has to (or gets to) go first.<br />
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5. Post Your Partnerships</h3>
You always have one or two students who "forget" who their partners are, so by having a list of partnerships posted, you can eliminate time wasted trying to find out who their partner is. It is also incredibly helpful if you have a substitute in your classroom.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_hNcCAJvQEk/Vn71NI1XoTI/AAAAAAAAGCM/-EwejKeTwDg/s1600/partner%2Btalk%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_hNcCAJvQEk/Vn71NI1XoTI/AAAAAAAAGCM/-EwejKeTwDg/s400/partner%2Btalk%2B2.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I hang this on a bulletin board close to my carpet area so kids can check if they need to.</td></tr>
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How Do I Assign Partners?</h2>
In general, I partner students up with children of similar abilities. That way, they can have discussions and conversations about topics at their level, rather than one person carrying the conversation. I assign each student a reading partner, a writing partner, and a math partner. In math we also have clock partners with heterogeneous pairings, but we'll save that info for another post. Oh and by the way, don't forget that Common Core is big on peer editing in writing. Those writing partners come in <i>very</i> handy for that standard! I have a peer editing checklist freebie <a href="http://www.hippohoorayforsecondgrade.com/2013/03/peer-editing-eeekkk.html">HERE</a> if you're interested :)<br />
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<b>What if you have an odd number of students? </b>I make a group of 3. But I am purposeful when making this group. Usually I will put an ELL, speech student, or a special ed student in the group of 3 so they have two other children to look to for, and there is less pressure for them to talk.<br />
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What is the Teacher Doing While the Students are Talking?</h2>
When students are talking, I'm popping around from group to group, listening in. At the halfway point, I'll call out, "Switch!" to allow the other partner to talk, if needed. After a minute or two of partner talking, I'll stop the partner talking, and I will share out what the students said. "Oh my gosh! Sarah shared something really smart. She said _______."<br />
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Sometimes when partners are talking, they miss the answer or point and don't say what I want them to say. In those instances, I just make it up when I share out :) I'll say, "Someone in the back, I don't remember who it was, said ________." and in the blank, I'll say what I was hoping to hear from the conversations.<br />
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I never allow my students to repeat what they said to their partner to the whole class. I always do the final share after the partner talk is over. Why not? Because then we're back to one student talking and the rest of the students being disengaged. Plus, we all know what happens when you let a student share with the whole class when you're trying to wrap up your lesson....<br />
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Do you use partner talk in your classroom? Tell me all about it in the comments below!<br />
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For more classroom ideas, check out my Pinterest Board:</div>
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Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-91844312572197504472015-11-23T16:30:00.000-06:002016-03-05T21:38:32.252-06:006 Reasons to Use Reader's Theatre in Your Classroom<br />
<b>Reader's Theatre: not just for beginning readers! </b><br />
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I just love using reader's theatre in my classroom! Reader's theatre is defined as a group of readers who "perform" a grade-level text for an audience, usually without scenery, props, costumes, and most importantly, without the stress and pressure of students memorizing their lines.<br />
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Here are 6 reasons why you should be using reader's theatre in your classroom too!<br />
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<b>1. Increases Reading Fluency</b></h2>
Research shows that students who read with fluency have better comprehension of the texts they read. Reader's theatre scripts help increase oral reading fluency as students need to practice their parts numerous times before they perform them to their audience.<br />
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2. Encourages Reluctant Readers</h2>
You will find that reader's theatre is a great motivation for your lowest readers. Mine tend to choose to take on major roles (narrator, main characters) and have truly risen to the occasion. Seeing their faces when they perform in front of their peers and their grown ups makes my teacher heart soar! I've even had a few parents come up to me after the performance, thanking me for helping to build their child's confidence.<br />
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3. Encourages Fluent Readers</h2>
Fluent readers benefit too, as they can focus on the expression in their dialogue and are able to dig deeper when exploring the genre and their characters.<br />
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4. Allows Students to Perform and Practice Public Speaking Skills</h2>
Do you have any actors and actresses in your class? Or maybe you do, but they just haven't been discovered yet! Reader's theatre allows students to be dramatic and "ham it up" in front of their classmates and grown ups. We also used our performances as an opportunity for students to practice projecting their voices and not holding their scripts in front of their faces!<br />
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5. Increases Student Focus and Engagement</h2>
In order for reader's theatre to be successful, all readers in the group need to be paying attention, ready to read when it's their turn. Nobody wants to be put on the spot when they aren't ready to say their lines.<br />
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<b>6. It's Easy and Fun!</b></h2>
OK, so I know that sounds like a weak reason, but really it's not. Who has time to create scenery, costumes and props for a play? I sure don't! Reader's theatre is super easy to implement. You'll also find your students are so excited to perform their script in front of their audience. It's so fun to watch your class take ownership and lead their groups through the performances.<br />
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Now that we know <b>why</b>, let's talk about <b>how</b>.<br />
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I typically take about a week and a half for our reader's theatre unit. I like to use reader's theatre at the end of the school year (when teaching seems more like crowd control) due to reason number 5 above :) Here's a brief breakdown on how I implement it:<br />
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DAY 1</h3>
I first start by introducing the drama genre and the characteristics of the genre. I consulted a friend of mine, who is a theatre director at my local high school for a list of characteristics. I was also fortunate to have a student this year who performs in the plays at the local chidren's playhouse, so I let her do most of the talking :)<br />
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DAY 2</h3>
Then we talk about the difference between a play and reader's theatre. I introduced the four scripts we were going to use and gave a brief synopsis of each. Then I picked names at random for students to choose their parts.<br />
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<h3>
DAY 3</h3>
We discuss the importance of fluency and expression and using a loud, sharing voice (level 4 voice in my room). We also talk about making sure you're following along when it's not your turn to speak, so that you are ready when it IS your turn.<br />
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<h3>
DAYS 4-8ish</h3>
Then it's time to practice! I assigned each group a corner of the room. We practiced two times a day for 5 days. I also let them read their parts in the script during Read to Self. Gauge your class to see if you need more or fewer days to practice.<br />
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A few days before the performance, we sent out invitations. We invited our families to come in to see us perform.<br />
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Click <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3CoK6CEYIJKdnRHSzRIeGdtaFE/view?usp=sharing">HERE</a> if you want a freebie copy of the invite</div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
PERFORMANCE DAY!</h3>
On the day of the performance, we decided on the order in which the plays would be performed. I just picked student names at random, and if I picked a group member's name, then that whole group would go. I set up the chairs at the front of my classroom. Students picked a chair ahead of time, so that there wouldn't be any confusion or two kids going for the same chair. Before our families came, I pushed all the desks to the back of my classroom and pulled as many chairs as I could for the grown ups. Then my students sat on the floor in front of them.<br />
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<b>The trickiest part of implementing reader's theatre...</b> finding reader's theatre scripts that are appropriate for your readers. I've found that most reader's theatre scripts are meant for beginning readers (K-1) who are working on fluency and expression. And the ones that are written at the 2nd-3rd grade reading levels are ridiculously long! I bought a 2-3 grade reader's theatre kit and each script was about 10-15 minutes to perform. Multiply that by the 4-5 groups I have.... <b>#aintnobodygottimeforthat </b>And not only that, but the scripts were super boring.<br />
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So last year I decided to write my own!<br />
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<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hippo-Hooray-For-Second-Grade-By-Angela-Nerby/Category/Reader-s-Theatre"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QP_Zp8qeW18/VlHzMGBJLfI/AAAAAAAAF7I/XIS8D_RDXLE/s400/pin%2B5.jpg" width="233" /></a></div>
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I love that these scripts take approximately 4-5 minutes to perform, are funny and engaging, and the storylines are relevant to what our students are experiencing and are interested in. You can see all my reader's theatre scripts in my TpT store <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Hippo-Hooray-For-Second-Grade-By-Angela-Nerby/Category/Reader-s-Theatre">HERE</a>!</div>
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Do you use reader's theatre in your classroom? Tell me about your experiences in the comments below!<br />
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<a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D7990160029287003071%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D9184431257219750447%3BonPublishedMenu%3Dallposts%3BonClosedMenu%3Dallposts%3BpostNum%3D0%3Bsrc%3Dlink&media=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-GAO5n601rFs%2FVlAGK-q-ARI%2FAAAAAAAAF5w%2Fi1EEF5dL2lA%2Fs640%2Fclass%252Bperforming.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=F3_HcV5w6xhe&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 42px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 3209px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D7990160029287003071%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D9184431257219750447%3BonPublishedMenu%3Dallposts%3BonClosedMenu%3Dallposts%3BpostNum%3D0%3Bsrc%3Dlink&media=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-GAO5n601rFs%2FVlAGK-q-ARI%2FAAAAAAAAF5w%2Fi1EEF5dL2lA%2Fs640%2Fclass%252Bperforming.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=F3_HcV5w6xhe&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 42px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 3209px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D7990160029287003071%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D9184431257219750447%3BonPublishedMenu%3Dallposts%3BonClosedMenu%3Dallposts%3BpostNum%3D0%3Bsrc%3Dlink&media=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-GAO5n601rFs%2FVlAGK-q-ARI%2FAAAAAAAAF5w%2Fi1EEF5dL2lA%2Fs640%2Fclass%252Bperforming.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=F3_HcV5w6xhe&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 42px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 3209px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Fblogger.g%3FblogID%3D7990160029287003071%23editor%2Ftarget%3Dpost%3BpostID%3D9184431257219750447%3BonPublishedMenu%3Dallposts%3BonClosedMenu%3Dallposts%3BpostNum%3D0%3Bsrc%3Dlink&media=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-GAO5n601rFs%2FVlAGK-q-ARI%2FAAAAAAAAF5w%2Fi1EEF5dL2lA%2Fs640%2Fclass%252Bperforming.jpg&xm=h&xv=sa1.37.01&xuid=F3_HcV5w6xhe&description=" style="background-color: transparent; background-image: url(data:image/png; border: none; cursor: pointer; display: none; height: 20px; left: 42px; opacity: 0.85; position: absolute; top: 3209px; width: 40px; z-index: 8675309;"></a>Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7990160029287003071.post-32794577435841999512015-11-22T09:26:00.000-06:002017-07-13T09:27:16.558-05:00When You Teach at the Same School Your Children Attend<div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: none; text-align: center;">
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I never wanted to be at the same school as my kids. I was always fearful that I would struggle with separating being a mom and being a professional. My son is a typical, "active" boy, and I didn't want any tension between my colleagues and me if/when we needed to have those tough conversations about him.<br />
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When he went to kindergarten last year, we were at separate schools. But then our lives changed when my husband got a new job. When we found out we were going to be moving, I also got a new job at a school in the town we were moving to. Then when we found our house, it turned out that our children would be attending my new school. I suddenly realized there was no getting out of this one. We were going to be at the same school this year.<br />
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Benefits of being at the same school:</h2>
<b>YOU GET TO SEE YOUR CHILD IN THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT!</b><br />
It is so special to see your child interacting with his teachers, classmates, and friends. Very few parents get to see this at all, and I get to see it every day! Here is my boy getting a math award that I never would've been able to see if we didn't go to the same school.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zw2EmViJTdw/VlqaqPkCMXI/AAAAAAAAGAo/qNOtjqJIxcs/s1600/same%2Bschool-sly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Do you teach at the same school your children attend? Check out this blog posts for tips to make both you and your child(ren)'s experience a positive one." border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zw2EmViJTdw/VlqaqPkCMXI/AAAAAAAAGAo/qNOtjqJIxcs/s640/same%2Bschool-sly.jpg" title="Do you teach at the same school your children attend? Check out this blog posts for tips to make both you and your child(ren)'s experience a positive one." width="544" /></a></div>
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<b>YOU GET RANDOM SMILES, HUGS, AND "HI MOMS" SHOUTED AT YOU</b><br />
It's so cute when I'm in the middle of a math lesson and I hear, "Hi Mom!" shouted into my classroom as his class walks by on their way to specials, and then my class will shout "hi" back to him :)<br />
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<b>YOU'RE KNOWN AS "_______'S MOM" </b><br />
I love getting to know who his friends are! And they're so cute when they come up to ask me if I'm his mom.<br />
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<b>YOU'RE IN "THE KNOW"</b><br />
When he comes home frantic that he needs 5 boxes of mac and cheese for the food drive by TOMORROW, you can calm Dad down by telling him that the deadline is actually three weeks away. But more than school events, you know the curriculum and the programs your child's teacher uses, so you can better help him/her be successful at school.<br />
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Tips for making your experience successful:</h2>
<b>SNACKS, SNACK, AND MORE SNACKS!</b><br />
Seriously. Get snacks and DO NOT run out! Some of the snacks I keep in my cabinet and fridge are supplies to make PB&J, string cheese, a bag of clementines, a giant box of Goldfish, yogurt, and fruit cups. He's always <i>starving</i> after school, and I really don't want to hear for 30 minutes (or however long I stay after school to work) about how hungry he is. And it's also nice on the days he forgets to bring a snack for snack time because he just takes something from my cabinet.<br />
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<b>SET A ROUTINE</b><br />
After his snack, he does his homework and nightly reading at one of the tables in my room. That way, when we get home, we can play.<br />
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<b>GIVE HIM JOBS</b><br />
He sharpens pencils for me, counts good behavior tickets and fills in my PBIS chart, takes books back to the library, delivers things to other classrooms. I keep him busy!<br />
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<b>TECHNOLOGY</b><br />
I try not to do this too much, but sometimes he just can't be quiet and I have work to do! I will let him play on my phone, iPad, or even <a href="http://www.gonoodle.com/">GoNoodle</a>. He has his own GoNoodle account separate from my class's. Here's a little video of him I shared on IG a few weeks ago. It cracks me up every. single. time!<br />
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<b>IF YOU CAN, SEND HIM HOME! OR AN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM :)</b><br />
I have meetings 2 days a week after school, so we arranged for a responsible high schooler to meet him at the bus stop on those days and stay with him for an hour or two until I get home. It's also nice to have some quiet time after the meetings to get my work done.<br />
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<b>BE UPFRONT WITH HIS TEACHER</b><br />
I let her know that we are aware of his "activeness" (see GoNoodle video above), and to please treat me like any other parent. If she has a concern, I want her to tell me. I also work very hard to not discuss my child every time I see his teacher. I want to have a professional, collegial relationship with her, just like I do with the rest of my coworkers.<br />
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<b>TREAT YOUR CHILD LIKE ANY OTHER CHILD AT SCHOOL</b><br />
If you see a student running down the hall, you would probably shout after them to "WALK!" and then move on. If you see <i>your</i> child running down the hall, do the same thing. Don't call him over and give him a 5 minute spiel about how we walk in school. I always ask myself, "If I wasn't working here, would I find out this happened?" If the answer is no, then I leave it alone.<br />
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The Verdict</h2>
I never thought I'd say this, but I love that my son and I are at the same school! It's like something special that just he and I have together. I love that we drive to school together (even though most days he cries that Dad doesn't take him to school), and that we go home together. We have the same schedule, which is great for breaks, vacation, and days off. And when he forgets to bring his snow boots home, I can run in on the weekends to grab them! I'm going to be sad when he goes to middle school in 4 years!<br />
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Do your children go to your school? Leave a comment below and tell me about your experience!<br />
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<br />Angela Nerbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06850764825940118172noreply@blogger.com1