Back to First Grade!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go."

— Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"

Lots of changes are up ahead for me in the next month and especially the next school year.  I thrive on change and new adventures though, so I could not be more excited than I am right now.  I got a new job (teaching First Grade again), in a new district, and moving to the East side of Michigan (where I grew up)!  I taught First Grade for two years before my last two years teaching Second.  I absolutely LOVED Second Grade, but there was always piece of my heart that was left in First Grade :)  The growth in First Grade can just not be compared to any other grade in my opinion.  Reading and writing growth are HUGE and it is so exciting to be a part of this.  Can you tell I have endless passion for First Grade?  I think it's going to be a phenomenal year to say the least...

Here's the thing though...I need to immerse myself back into that First Grade mindset I was in 2+ years ago.  I know it will come back naturally, but I could use any advice you have.  In the past year, I have really gotten into technology with my students/families such as using: KidBlog, classroom Facebook page, classroom Twitter page, and many other abundant resources out there.  I am determined to use most/all of these but will of course go about them in a whole new way.  This I am excited about.  Something I am familiar with, but a new twist on it!

Where to start?  Morning Meeting/Calendar routine.  Today I will be comparing/contrasting the Michigan GLCEs and CCSS.  My new school has not made the switch to CCSS yet, but I figured that I may as well begin making the connections.  I need to update my routine with this part of the day making sure to touch on certain GLCEs/CCSS every day to make my students successful.  I have a few questions for my PLN out there:

What essential activities do you do for your Morning Meeting/Calendar time?   

My goal is to create a daily page for students to fill in as we are doing Calendar time to help with the date, weather, telling time, counting, etc.  Do you do something similar?  If so, please share helpful tips as I am creating mine.

I look forward to this new journey and learning from all of you on the way!  I will be sure to share what I come across as well :)  Stay tuned.

Summer Communication with Students

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.” 

-Mother Teresa

The last day of school can be bittersweet saying goodbye to your class.  Thinking about how you have seen them almost every day since September and now it will be months before you see them again...Even that depends on if they will stop in to say hello or perhaps they have moved on to a new school.  My solution to this: continue the conversation!  I like to write postcards to my students a few weeks into summer asking how summer is going, telling them a little bit about what I have been up to, and then ask them to reply!  Now, I can't say that all my students jump on the opportunity to write to their teacher over the summer, but for the few that DO respond, it really puts a smile on my face :)  I also like to think that receiving a postcard in the mail from their teacher puts a genuine smile upon their face!

This summer though, I have a new challenge for my students that I discussed with them at the end of the school year.  Instead of waiting for them to write me via snail mail, I asked them to continue to post on their KidBlog from home and that I would reply!  So far, we have been out of school for 16 days and I have had 3 students post/comment on our class blog page. Again, this isn't a lot, but it makes me smile and makes me think that I taught them a "life-skill" that they are choosing to do OUTSIDE of school.  

Well I am off to mail my postcards, how will you continue the conversation with students over the summer? 

The Great Poetry Race

Invitation 

By Shel Silverstein

If you are a dreamer, come in,

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

A hope-er, a prayer, a magic bean buyer...

If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.

Come in!

Come in!

My classroom started a project for Poetry Month called The Great Poetry Race.  I first heard of this project through ProTeacher Community.  This was my go-to for about 5 years B.T. (Before Twitter).  It's essentially a forum with teachers ready to share information and chat about classroom happenings.  Sounds similar to Twitter, doesn't it?  


So anywho, The Great Poetry Race explanation...  Each week during the month of April, my students are given a new poem.  They receive this poem on Monday and turn it with with signatures of who they read it to on Friday.  The student who has read it to the most people, wins The Great Poetry Race for that week.  As their "reward" they get to keep the Poetry Trophy on their desk the following week (stuffed Dr. Seuss character).  They also record their voice reading our poem for the week on a VoiceThread which is posted on our classroom website: http://wilsonh.weebly.com/special-projects.html  Enjoy and feel free to leave comments :)  This will be added to every week with our new poem.


Why I love this project?  My students get so passionate about poetry during this project time.  Their fluency is being practiced and they realize what fluency really is from reading the poem selection over and over.  They turn into little actors and actresses:)  Also, families love having them call grandma in Arizona, or their older brother away at college to hear them read the poem.  It's a project that connects people in a 'poetic' way.


Now, deciding what poem to have my students read for next week?... Taking suggestions!  
How do you inspire the love of poetry in your classroom?

Looking for a Poem in Your Pocket Skype

MACUL 2012

A year ago, I went to my first MACUL conference.  At the end of the conference, my mind was sWiRlinG and my brain was overflowing with information.  I remember thinking to myself, I am never coming to this conference again.  This feeling came from the fact that I was learning about all these new things and I wasn't doing any of them. This made me feel clueless. Not only that, I didn't know where to begin!  I was so overwhelmed with ideas and emotions, so I thought giving up was the answer. (I was SO wrong)  Well, here I am at MACUL again.  So, what changed?


I was able to change because I realized I don't have to do EVERYTHING I just learned.  Once I made this realization, I was able to breathe and start to filter the information I had gotten.  This was the most important lesson I learned at MACUL last year.  I went to MACUL because I knew that I loved technology.  I left MACUL learning, as an educator, how to use technology in a useful and not overwhelming fashion for myself and my students.  Technology is thrown at us every day of our lives and when new ideas come into our path we have to stop and think:


-Can I see myself using this? (if the answer is no, just let it pass.  If it's really worthwhile, you will hear about it again and maybe this time you will know someone who can offer their background in it making it a little more appealing to you.  And, you may have more courage to try it out.)
-How am I going to REMEMBER to come back to this later? 


In a year I have gone from loving technology, to becoming Knowledgeable about technology.  When I hear about something "new" I ask myself the above questions AND I dig into it deciding right then and there, can I use this?  For me, if I don't start using it right away, I won't use it.  So, if something doesn't appeal to me as being able to utilize it right away, I let it go.  Maybe another time it will work into my classroom, but not now.  This tiny lesson has made me have more courage to try new things and not beat myself up for NOT trying the "newest" and "coolest" thing I heard about, yet.  I like to let it soak in for a bit before taking that jump. 


So, I am going to spend tonight "filtering" through what I have come across these past few days and I welcome you to come back and see what I am going to start implementing "Next Week" ;)


I have added some fun finds to my classroom links page over the past 2 days so feel free to peruse those for now! http://wilsonh.weebly.com/students.html

Thanks MACUL for making me a better teacher and wanting to become a better teacher for my students.