Pick Me, Pick Me....

Jennifer over at Rowdy in First Grade posted a really great idea for managing Popsicle sticks to pick students.  It is really so simple, yet brilliant.  Check it out here!  I don't know about you, but I use Popsicle sticks to determine who is going share their writing, lead our Fundations (phonics) drill or lead our daily math routines. Each task requires two cups, picked and not-picked, and it is inevitable that I end up playing "pick-up sticks" at some point in the day.  Jennifer's posted idea would have gone a long way to cut down on that fiasco!!

Last year I discovered an App for the iPhone called Teacher's Pick  or virtual Popsicle sticks. I think it is a bargain at $0.99 and it helped me cut down a bit on the "cups o' sticks" that were floating around. 

Teacher's Pick allows you to set up a class with the names of all your students and you can easily copy that list for multiple classes.  Here are some screenshots to give you an idea of the interface:

I set up my class and then made several copies for all of my different purposes.  We even set up a game that the kids use during Morning Meeting. It is called Earth, Air, Water and Fire.  I set up a class called "Game" and instead of student names I made a stick that said "Earth", "Air", "Water", and "Fire."  The student who is the leader will go around a circle and press the selection button.  If it says  Earth, Air, or Water the child in the circle has to name an animals that is on land, flies or swims.  If "Fire" comes up, the leader sits down and the child from the circle becomes the new leader. The game ends when we have gone around the circle at least once, or we run out of time. Quick and fun!

If you have an iPhone, iTouch or iPad, give it a try!

What systems do you have in place for selecting students for different activities?

Where It All Goes Down Wednesday

I wasn't going to participate today because....I don't have a classroom and I haven't pimped out my cart just yet.  (Check out this post to understand). But I did set up a brand-new classroom last year and it looked pretty good and was functional although there are very few things I would have changed.

This was what it looked like when I walked in.  The furniture was pulled away from the wall because they painted the room.










Everything piled in the center.

I always feel better when I get all of the desks set up.  Notice my gorgeous new rug ready to lay out!

My room theme was space and I couldn't resist this galaxy paper.  This year I created templates for my Daily Five posters.  We brainstormed our "I Charts" on the whiteboard, and then I transferred it neatly to the charts on the bulletin boards. Things to change:  If I had stayed in third grade I would have returned to solid color bulletin boards. I found the galaxy paper to be visually noisy! 

You will see many of  Beth Newingham's ideas in my room. The character trait posters were used to discuss and identify specific character traits.  When we discovered a character who displayed that trait, we would add the book to the poster.  (Beth puts mini pictures of the books, but I am not nearly as clever or organized.  We wrote the titles with whiteboard markers).

This is my "desk" area.  I used one section of the computer station and stored things in the rolling cart drawers.  You will also notice my Desk Apprentice on top of the fridge. This is a teacher's dream.  Some day I'll fancy it up....

 

Genre posters and my easel.  The genre posters were stuck to radiator with magnets, but the kids kept knocking them down.  We eventually put them on a ring and clipped it to the side of the cart. Update:  I put the posters in a binder and made a flip chart!

I really enjoyed the reading map.  Each child had their own unique tack and when they read a story with a real setting, they placed their pin in the city/state.  The kids really got into this and would use the Internet to find exact placement.  Eventually, the class decided to add the other continents.  We also used the map to identify the city with the high and low temperature each week (another special tack) and when Flat Stanley went on his adventures, we noted that! 



My Cafe Board is set and ready to fill.  I use the bottom portion for the kids to place their post it with a goal. 

All ready, just need the kids!

Data, Standards, Assessment, Oh My!

Is your "To Do" list longer than your arm now?  Have the school nightmares begun?  We all need to do what we can to find some easy solutions for those little annoying things that we know we have to do, but just isn't fun.

How does your Data Notebook look?  Mine is an old binder with a bunch of boring, ugly sheets stuffed in.

That is all about to change...click on over to Primary Graffiti and check out her Data Notebook packet.  It will be posted on TpT tonight, and I can't wait.  Here is my theory--if it's pretty, I will use it.  We'll see how that goes!  In the meantime, check this out at Primary Graffiti and don't forget to visit her TpT store!

My Not Weird School

I mentioned yesterday that Dan Gutman will be coming to our school for our Young Author's Day.  Usually our author comes in the spring, but Dan was available in early October so we jumped at the chance.  The downside is that everyone will be crazy busy with back-to-school.  But I have a few tricks up my sleeve:

• I have encouraged everyone to make their back-to-school bulletin board do double duty as their author bulletin board.  To emulate Gutman's My Weird School series teachers can create a board rhyming their name.   So if your name is Mrs. Fry your board might say:  Mrs. Fry's Class is Soaring High....and you might have a hot air balloon with the name of each student. 
• We always create a board in our lobby with pictures of the entire staff to help new families on back-to school-night.  Title of this board?  The Not Weird Teachers of (Insert school name here).
• In honor of Gutman's Million Dollar series I'm thinking of labeling The Million Dollar Office, The Million Dollar Water Fountain or The Million Dollar Lunch Room.

Do your students love The Weird School Series?  Listed below is a pdf Teacher's Guide. 

Teacher's Guide for Weird School Series

You can find this and other fun things at Dan Gutman's website.

What types of activities have you done for Young Author's Day or Author's Visit.  Let me know!

A Teacher with No Class

I have no classroom.  I have often moaned that the worst part of teaching is keeping up with the real estate so I should be thrilled. I am.  Really.  Okay, maybe thrilled is a strong word.  I'll say that I am optimistic, yet guarded.

My move to the Teacher of Writing has required me to downsize from a classroom (with nine years of stuff) to a desk and a cart.  To be fair, my desk comes with a filing cabinet and rather large bookshelf. 

My "classroom" will be a little red wagon similar to this. But not all decked out with side pockets.  I'll post a picture when I go back to school. Within the wagon I will have all the materials I need as I go from classroom to classroom providing Academic Support Services. 


The good news is I downsized from classroom to cart pretty well.  The bad news is my dining room has become my classroom library.

Does anyone else have a dining room that looks like this?  Bins hold paperbacks.  Grocery bags hold picture books. 

How full is my bucket?  Pretty darn full of books!

Three more bins.

 On the left are bins that are stacked in the garage for now but need to come inside.

The three bins tucked into this closet were from last year when I went from second grade to third.

 This is the office table with a few bins.

So my job this week is to get all my books organized, placed in bins and stored in one place. Finding that one place is the trick.  Suggestions from husband: 

• Basement     (Sometimes it gets musty, I don't want musty books)
• Garage         (Temperature change not good)
• Attic             (Who is going to carry all the bins up the ladder into the attic?)
• Landfill         (Not funny)

My plan is to keep the books in my tiny office, neatly stacked in bins.  They are close enough in case I need them AND they will start to annoy me after a year.  If after one year (maybe two) I haven't gone back to the classroom, I'll send these books to a good home.

Anyone else storing their classroom in their house?  Any good tips?