Bright Ideas Round Up

This time of year always makes me nostalgic, so why not take a look back at all the Bright Ideas that have been shared in 2014!

I love how this link up showcases genius classroom ideas from so many amazing bloggers! Literally, thousands of "ideas only" posts have been shared over the course of the last 10 months. Let's take a peek at some of the Bright Ideas I've shared this year:

This post shows how I organize my guided reading groups and paperwork using a set of two-pocket folders. I love that I'm not constantly flipping through pages in a binder or lugging a huge binder to and from data meetings!

Going along with the guided reading theme, this post shows how my team and I have compiled our guided reading books into one central location. We actually ordered a TON of books this summer and will be needing another cart! Not sure where we're going to put it though! 

In this post, I took a break from classroom ideas to share a trick for tying shoes that I learned in college. It works wonders on my kindergarten son!

 Lastly, I shared this post during the back to school season that explains how to use visuals to establish classroom routines and expectations. I love how my students' faces are all over my classroom!

Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane with me this month! I hope that you've been able to use or have been inspired by the ideas I've shared. Grab your coffee and snuggly blanket and check out the other Bright Ideas Round Up Posts from my friends below. Have a super weekend!

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Bright Idea: Using Visuals to Establish Routines and Expectations

Setting routines and expectations is so incredibly important at the beginning of the school year. It will be an uphill battle for the entire year if you and your students aren't on the same page. I learned very early on in my teaching career to never assume ANYTHING when it comes to routines!

One thing we spend lots of time doing at the beginning of the year is set expectations for classroom and school routines. From transitioning to the carpet, transitioning back to desks, how to organize desks, how to use the pencil sharpener, how to find a book and put it away, lining up, walking in the hall, using the bathroom, hanging up back packs, and so much more, I can't stand the sound of my own voice by the end of the first week of school!

In order to set these routines, my students and I develop rubrics and use lots of photos to create anchor charts we can refer to throughout the year. The first kind is a 3-2-1 anchor chart. In my school, we are striving for 3s. This first chart shows students how to line up to walk in the hallway:

We start by making a list of appropriate lining-up behaviors. Then we practice lining up like a 1: YIKES! I take a picture. Then we sit back down and try it again; this time we are a 2: ALMOST... I snap another pic. We sit back down. Lastly we are a 3: PERFECT! Notice the colors too: red for 1, yellow for 2, green for 3. Green = good to go! After I get the photos printed, I will put the chart together and we review it again. It's hard to tell in the above photo, but the chart hangs right by the door to remind students what to do. 

The awesome thing about the 3-2-1 poster, is that I will hold up 3 fingers, 2, fingers, or 1 finger to signal to the kids where we're at. I also train my kids how to remind others around them to be a "3 Line." You know, because shouting at friends to be quiet and shushing them loudly is COMPLETELY counterproductive. So I teach them to tap their neighbor on the shoulder, give the quiet sign (putting a finger to their mouth, as if to say "shh"), face forward, and be a 3 again. I will change my fingers as we improve, and as soon as we're a 3, it turns to a thumbs up, and we are on our way! I also have green, yellow, and red cards on a ring that I will hold up when we are in super crazy situations, like coming in from recess.

The next one hangs in the hallway. Each student gets one hook, although each hook has two hooks, one on top of the other. So we talk about how backpacks need to be zipped and hanging up, with lunch boxes on the top shelf. As it gets colder, we also talk about how to hang up and organize snow gear. It's quite the balancing act, but it IS possible to hang up snow pants, winter coats, and backpacks on the hooks. And most kids usually have a tote bag too, to carry their snow pants and boots home. Does it require a bit of rearranging? Yes. But I want my kids to be responsible and take care of their belongings.

The second kind of routines anchor chart I have is a list-type poster. Last year I noticed a lot of my kids slouching in their seats or resting their heads on their desks or arms during learning time. So we came up with a list of what "Ready to Learn" looks like. Then we practiced, and I took some pictures of kids who were ready to learn.

I hung up this poster at the front of my room so that I could refer to it if I needed to. There was some serious competition to be in the photos! :) I've also made posters like this for what the Daily 5 stations look like, what math work time looks like, what it looks like to work at a computer/with an iPad, etc.

In case you're wondering, I do this with my class every single year. I do not keep these charts from year to year. I feel that creating these charts together helps students "buy into" the routines, plus I want to use THEIR photos, not photos of my class from previous years. Also, each class has different needs. Last year was the first year we needed to review "Ready to Learn" behaviors, but this year *fingers crossed* we won't have to do that.

If you liked this BRIGHT Idea, please consider joining me on Facebook, Instagram or TPT. For more BRIGHT Ideas from over 100 bloggers, make sure you check out the link up below. Just choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for stopping by!

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Bright Ideas: Shoe Tying Trick

Who's ready for some more Bright Ideas? 

No products, no sales pitches; just really great ideas to take back to your classroom!

We all have them... those kiddos whose shoes are NEVER tied... And why is it that those kiddos' laces are the longest ones on the planet?

As a second grade teacher, my general rule is that I don't tie shoes. At 7/8 years old, you should be able to tie your shoes. And if you can't, then you find a friend to help you. But I have a soft spot in my heart for those kiddos who try and try and try, but just don't have the fine motor skills to do it... probably because that's going to be my own 4-year-old when he's in second grade.

So, yes, I will help some kids tie their shoes. Except I'm not going to double-knot the laces because then kids can't take them out, and it usually leads to a big, knotty mess. Instead I'm going to use a little shoe tying trick I learned in my Teaching PE class I had to take as an undergrad.

I figured the easiest way to explain it to you would be to make a video:

This trick is the only thing I remember from the class. In fact, it might be one of the only things I remember from my whole undergrad experience. Hey, cut me some slack... it's been 10 years!

Can shoes still come untied using this method? Yes. However, it does take some effort for shoes to come untied. You might have noticed that I did have to tug a bit on the loop to get it to come out. I don't want it to be impossible for my kids to get their shoes untied; in my school, they have to change into shoes for PE class, or even when they get home and want to take them off. However, I've been tying my own shoes and my kids' shoes like this for the last 10+ years, and they have never once come untied on their own or if someone accidentally stepped on the laces.

If you liked this BRIGHT Idea, please consider joining me on Facebook, Instagram or TPT. For more BRIGHT Ideas from over 100 bloggers, make sure you check out the link up below. Just choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for stopping by!

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Bright Idea: Organizing Guided Reading Books

I'm back for another installment of...

I love this linky! No products, no sales pitches, just really AWESOME ideas!

Last time I shared how I organize my guided reading logs and anecdotal notes. Today I want to show off how we organize our guided reading books. We? Yes, we! I really have the bestest teaching teammates EVER, and a few years ago, we decided to combine all our guided reading books together in one central location. Check it out!

First off, it probably helps that we have some room for this set up. My school is divided up into three wings. At the end of each wing is a large common area we call the breakout. Then there are 6-8 classrooms around each breakout. Maybe if your hallways are extra wide or if you have some unused coat hooks, you could put yours in the hallway?

We purchased these carts and book bins from Calloway House (thanks to FB friend, Renee, for tracking them down!). The OCD in me had to put them in rainbow order :) The red & yellow ones have our literary texts (fiction and traditional lit) and the green & blue ones have our informational texts.

The books are all organized by Fountas & Pinnell guided reading level, going in order of course! On the outside of each bin, we typed up the book titles, so that we would know where each book belongs. Depending on the size of the book and how many copies we have, we can fit quite a few titles in each bin. Some levels need just one bin, while others have 3-4 bins.

Don't hate on the Comic Sans font! We don't have cute stuff on our school computers :(

Why I Love This Set-Up:

1. I don't have to store my guided reading books in my classroom anymore. Don't worry, I quickly filled up that space with my math manipulatives!

2. We each have a set of about half of our titles. So that means we have 18 copies of one book. It makes it a lot easier if one book gets chewed up by the family dog to still have enough copies to read with future groups.

3. We only have one set for the whole grade level (six copies) of the other half of our titles, so this system is MUCH more accessible than when we stored them in the supply closet. 

4. We have a basket in the breakout where we put the books that need to be put away. So whenever one of us has a parent volunteer, we share the responsibility of putting them away. And by "we," I mean the volunteers :)

5. I don't have a mountain of used books stored in my classroom. Because I know that two other teachers are using the books, I don't hoard them as much as I used to. Now my actions affect others. And it makes the task of putting the books away a lot more manageable.

We actually got this idea from the third grade teachers at our school. They actually have NO books in their classrooms! They don't have classroom libraries; they have a GRADE LEVEL library! Can you imagine all those books their kids have access to?! We thought about doing that for our second grade readers, but decided against it because our kiddos go through books a lot quicker than third graders do.

If you enjoyed this bright idea, hop on over to my Facebook, Instagram, and TPT and follow for more great ideas!

For more bright ideas from more than 130 bloggers, please browse through the link up below. They're all listed by topic/grade level. Thanks for stopping by! 

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Bright Idea: Organizing Guided Reading Notes

Hi friends! I'm super excited to link up with so many amazing bloggers for the Bright Ideas Link Up!

Today I want to share how I organize my guided reading notes and paperwork. I used a pretty binder for eight years, but I like to have a scoring/anecdotal note sheet for each student, and flipping back and forth between +/-20 papers was not working for me. AT ALL. So last year, my school's reading teacher gave me this:

Can you tell my folder is loved? <3

This folder system is AMAZING! Basically, it's four 2-pocket student folders that have been folded backwards. The front cover/back cover is one folder that has been cut in half. Then she used the binding machine in the copy room to assemble it.
Let's take a peek inside, shall we?

In the first pocket is where I keep my log of dates when I meet with my groups and running record progress form. On the outside of the pocket, I made a schedule of which group I'm taking each day and when. I put the schedule on a sticky note, so it can be changed easily when needed. I like to map out when I'm taking my groups so that I don't waste precious minutes trying to figure out who I haven't met with in a while. It also works great for my students because I tell them what days I'm taking their groups (and they get mad if I miss their group! Haha!) In my district, I'm required to meet with below-level students every day, on level students 3 times a week, and above level 1-2 times a week. All of my kids are currently reading at or above grade level (L/21 or higher), so that helps with my scheduling. I am still taking my on-level group every day, because some of them were below grade level when the year started. I meet with my M's 3 times a week, and everyone else 2 times. I was even able to make time in my schedule to do my weekly fluency progress monitoring. It works out well that I only have 5 groups this trimester :)

A close up of my first pocket. The sticky note on the left tells me which group I'm taking and when. The one on the right tells me who is in each group (although I pretty much have in memorized!)

The next 5 pockets are for the groups, one pocket per group. I put them in order based on their level. There is a sticky note on each pocket with the names of the kids in the group. Then inside the pocket, I have each student's scoring/notes sheet, as well as my group lesson plan sheet. Sometimes if we don't finish the book during one session, I'll also put my copy in the pocket to remind me that we need to finish it.

Close Up

Each student has their own scoring/notes sheet because it makes my life easier at progress report and report card time. I can also easily move students from one group to another... just move their sheet to the new pocket! When I'm meeting with a group, I will pull their sheets out of the pocket and lay them out in front of me. It makes it easier to move from one student to another.

This is what my space looks like when I'm working with a group. Super easy to switch from student to student!

In the last pocket,  I have guided reading teaching "cheat sheets,"district guided reading and running record expectations, and extra copies of my note taking sheets and lesson plan sheets.

I love this folder system so much, I begged asked my reading teacher politely for another one to store all my progress monitoring and reading intervention materials.

I am going to change out the binding coil to a bigger one :)

I actually just found out you can purchase these kinds of folders, although I don't know what they're technically called, where to get them, or how much. But if you buy a bunch of folders during the Back to School sales, you could easily put something like this together for less than $1. And if you need more folders, just use a bigger coil.

Thanks for stopping by! I would love for you to stop by my Instagram and Facebook to keep up with more of my bright ideas! And don't forget to check out more awesome ideas... links below!

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