Weekly Routines {Tuesday: Tuesday Folders}

Several years ago, I received an email from a parent.  she was concerned that she hadn't seen any graded papers coming home and had no idea how her son was doing in my class.  I thought that was rather odd since my grade book is kept up to date and papers were mailed daily and their mailboxes were cleaned out daily as part of our pack up routine.  I explained this to her in my response.  Long story short...she found a bunch of papers crumpled up under his bed and in the back of his closet.  And those were just the ones that actually made it home...he admitted that some went in the trash can he passed walking home through the park.  

This experience led to a new routine in my classroom that year and it is one that I have used every year since....Tuesday Folders.

Each Tuesday my students bring home their Tuesday Folder filled with all of their graded papers from the previous week.  Inside the Tuesday Folder is a paper that parents sign saying that they have received and looked through all of the papers.  There is also a space that they can jot down any questions or comments.

Parents know to expect this every week and that if things appear to be missing that they should email me!  We also have an online grade book system that parents have access to so they can cross check to make sure everything came home.  

It has been a great way to keep everyone accountable.  It keeps me on track with grading because everything needs to be finished and my grade book updated in a timely manner.  It holds parents accountable, they sign saying they've seen all of the papers so there aren't any surprises come progress report or report card time.  And students are held accountable because they know that their parents are expecting to see their folder and its contents every week...nothing can get thrown in the trash!

Why Tuesday?

I chose Tuesdays because it gives me time if I need to catch up on grading over the weekend.  It also allows me time to input grades into the computer on Monday when we return to school. Sometimes the system we use is difficult to access from home and I wanted to allow myself time for technical difficulties.  Also, many of our school holidays fall on a Monday, so sending them home on a Tuesday helps account for those days off!

How I Organize Tuesday Folders

I have a bin in the classroom where I put papers that need to be mailed.

Graded papers and flyers that are going home go in this mail tray.  One of our classroom jobs is "Mail Person,"  it is their job to work on mailing the papers.  I sometimes have my junior high T.A.s help the mail person stay caught up.  

I have a crate with file folders in it.  Each students' Tuesday Folder goes back into their file when it is returned to school and the papers get "mailed," right into their folder.

On Tuesday when it's time for them to go home my helpers pass out folders and each student looks through their papers and organizes them into the folder.  

If folders aren't returned to school by Friday, I send an email reminder to those parents to please look through their child's folder and return it to school.

This system has been a great way to make sure parents are informed of their child's progress and that no one is missing important papers.  If you would like to try implementing Tuesday Folders, you can download an editable version HERE.

Invest Now {Part 2: Establishing Classroom Expectations}

Establishing clear classroom expectations is so important, and laying that strong foundation will pay out throughout the school year.  Whatever you use for your classroom...rules, expectations, whatever you call them, I hope that you will find some of these ideas helpful.

In our classroom we don't have "rules," we have expectations.  These are the things that I expect because you are one of Wood's kids.  We do the same thing at home with our own children and it has worked great for our family.  I also like that instead of a list of negative things like, "Don't do this and don't do that," it's a list of behaviors that are expected and it pretty much covers the gamut of behaviors that could come up.

We call them "The 5 Ways to Be"

I begin by introducing them to the 5 Ways to Be during our very first Morning Meeting of the year.  {You can read more about Morning Meeting and why I think it is one of the most important things we do each day by clicking HERE.}

At that first Morning Meeting the first thing I tell them about The 5 Ways to Be is that we don't have classroom rules.  I love to see the confused looks on their faces when I say this!  I then talk to them about what expectations are and why they are important and give them a brief overview of The 5 Ways to Be.  

For the next 5 days, we go in depth with one of the 5 ways each morning.  For each of the expectations I do a few different things.  

My favorite thing and I think the MOST beneficial is the Looks Like/Sounds Like charts.  There are a few ways that you can do these and in the past I have done all 5 Ways to Be on the first day of school and using the carousel cooperative learning strategy.  Last year I decided to slow it down and focus on one a day.  I think it is important to take the time to really build an understanding of what each of these expectations really mean.

So, each morning at Morning Meeting we work together as a class to complete the Looks Like/Sounds Like chart. 

When we finish with each chart I laminate it and hang it on the wall for the year.  It is so powerful because it is their ideas!  These are the things that they came up with from a class discussion and so when they need a reminder it is so much more powerful to be able to say, "Remember, YOU told me that being respectful means that you aren't making faces at people when they are sharing an idea!"

I also like for my students to do some self reflecting and think of something that they can do or will work on for each of the 5 Ways to Be.

The last thing that I do is I leave out compliment cards as we learn each of the expectations.  I encourage students to keep an eye on their classmates and when they see them being respectful or safe...grab a compliment card and fill it out.  We often save these for the compliment part of Morning Meeting but you can have students leave them at their classmates desks or pass them out at pack up time.  I love to fill them out when I see a student really living up to our expectations too.  It's a great way to send a positive note home with students too!

Once we've learned all of our classroom expectations, we fill out this flip book.  It's a great tool for them to take home and be able to communicate to their parents what is expected of them at school.

If you would like to try using The 5 Ways to Be in your classroom, I've put everything together for you in this little pack.

Click HERE to check it out and grab it on sale today only!

It's also available in my Back to School Essentials Bundle...you can grab that HERE...it's on sale also!

Whether you use The 5 Ways to Be or your own set of rules, I highly recommend trying Looks Like/Sounds Like charts!  I would love for you to comment and share some of your go to strategies for teaching your rules/expectations in your classroom.  Let's help each other to make an invest now, at the beginning of the year, that will pay out for the entire school year!

Classroom Routines I Can’t Survive Without #1 {Morning Meeting}

Each Tuesday for the next several weeks I will be blogging about the classroom routines that I can’t survive without.  My class is very routine.  That doesn’t mean that we aren’t spontaneous or fun, we are.  There are days where a class discussion takes on a life of it’s own and the lesson plan is thrown out the window.  But, for the most part, we have lots of structure and routine.  It’s one of the things that helps my class run smoothly.  My students always know what to be doing and I often joke that I could not show up for school and they wouldn’t even notice, the day would proceed as normal because they know exactly what to do!

This week’s post is all about Morning Meeting.  It’s how we start our morning every day.  I’ve been doing Morning Meeting in my room for 4 years now and I can’t imagine starting my day without it.

I think that Morning Meeting is a worthwhile routine for three reasons.

• Students problem solve and work together to find solutions to classroom issues during the “Status of the Class,” portion of the meeting.

• Students have the opportunity to share important news…good or bad.  This is such an important part of the meeting.  Students in the past have shared that dad is away on an extended business trip, that both mom and dad are out of town and grandma is staying with them, that mom left for the hospital late last night to have the new baby, or that grandpa passed away and they will be leaving town for the funeral.  This is so helpful for me to know as their teacher.  When parents are out of town, often folders won’t be signed, routines are off at home, and homework may not be getting finished in a timely manner.  When I know these things I can plan ahead, adjust and help the student.  Sometimes the news is great and exciting news.  This is helpful because I know why a student might have some extra energy or might be having a difficult time staying focused.  It also helps students have empathy for one another and be more understanding if someone is having a hard day.  I never require students to share, sharing news is strictly optional.

• Morning Meetings are student led.  In my classroom we work through a rotating schedule for Morning Meeting leaders.  Students can pass on their turn if they don’t feel comfortable yet, but I always encourage them to try. 

 

• During “Status of the Class,” the students determine the topic of conversation.

• “Goals and Reflection Time,” students are held accountable and they encourage each other as they work toward goals.

  

• Last year I had a student who was 10 points away from making the end of the year pizza party for A.R.  He shared at Morning Meeting that his goal was to earn 10 points that week to make the cut off.  His plan was to find as many picture books and small chapter books in his level to quiz on and read during all of free time and every night at home.  The class really rallied behind him…even the kids that where far from making the party.  They helped find him books and cheered for him each time he passed a quiz!  It was an amazing thing to witness!

• Effective communication skills are vital in our classroom.  My classroom can be a noisy place….mostly good noise I promise!  I love for my students to talk and discuss and Morning Meeting is a great place to learn and practice those skills.  Those skills then transfer over to academic conversations in the classroom.

• Speaking and listening skills are throughout the grades as part of the Common Core.  Each grade level has standards that can be addressed during Morning Meeting.

Here is a picture of my class practicing how to properly shake a hand as our greeting and using gestures to review some of our classroom expectations.


I encourage you to give Morning Meeting a try.  Tweak it to fit your classroom and your needs, there really is no right or wrong.  Your kiddos will love being able to share and feeling loved and listened to! 


Hop on over and grab my Morning Meeting pack on sale today only for 50% off! 

Happy Veteran’s Day, A Linky Party, and Common Core Standards (this might be a long one!)

I just wanted to take a moment to wish all of those who have served or are currently serving our country a Happy Veteran’s Day!  I come from a family full of Veterans and couldn’t be prouder of them and of all of our military personnel.  Our NJHS at school sponsored a Veteran’s Day Breakfast on Friday and every year I am so moved by the sacrifices that so many are willing to make to protect our amazing country.
This evening I am linking up for a “teaching tip,” linky party.  You can click on the button below to go to Miss Kindergarten’s blog.

Tip #1
I use secret codes in my room for just about everything.  My kiddos love pretending that they are super secret agents when they are using their codes! Hey, anything to entertain them, right?  Anyways…. 1 finger in the air means “I have something super important to say.”  Two fingers in the air means, “I have to use the bathroom.”  This signal is great because I never have to be interrupted during small groups, when I am progress monitoring, or working with a student.  If I don’t see them from their seat they walk over to my small group table, flash me the signal, and I nod my head and they leave.  Three fingers in the air is our “911,” it means, “I need help!”  Students use this one when they are working independently and they can’t move on without help from me. Finally, holding their pencil in the air means that they need to trade in their pencil. 
Tip #2….”Show Me Boards”
Each year before school starts I make a quick trip to Home Depot for individual whiteboards for my students.  It costs about $14.00 for the large piece of board.  Home Depot will then cut it into individual boards for teachers!  Whenever I need to do a quick check for understanding, I will have my students answer a question, do a problem, etc… on their “show me board.”  They tip the board on their lap and lean it on the edge of their desk so their neighbor can’t easily copy.  After giving them plenty of think time, I count to three (we do this in various languages and they love it!) and say, “show me!”  They all hold up their boards and I can see quickly who might need extra practice, who needs to be pulled for small group, and who is just not sure at all!
Okay, lastly….Common Core.  I know most of you have probably been here for a while, but my district is finally adopting them and I couldn’t be more excited!  There are, of course, the grumblings from some about change, but I have found that most of the standards are things that we already do. I am excited to have more time to teach concepts with more depth.  As I was reading through all of the standards, the speaking and listening standards really caught my eye.  Several years ago at my school, we began working on teaching our students how to effectively dialogue and have conversations about their learning.  I have compiled a lot of things that I have created over the years and put them together in this resource pack.

The best part is that once students learn how to dialogue effectively you can use this across content areas.  It helps them deepen their understanding of topics and you know as well as I do how much they LOVE to talk to each other! 
I’m off to watch Disney Channel with my girls, (I love that they are just about teenagers and still love to watch Disney shows!) No school tomorrow so we get to stay up a little later!
Happy Veteran’s Day everyone!

The 5 Ways to Be

This summer I learned all about Whole Brain Teaching and I absolutely love it!  The one thing that I just couldn’t bring myself to do though was to give up my classroom “rules” to switch over to the WBT ones.  For the past 8 years, I have used The 5 Ways to Be.

There they are hanging from the ribbon in my classroom.  I love the 5 Ways to Be because they aren’t really “rules,” but more of a way of living life every day.  They cover pretty much any classroom or playground scenario a kiddo could think of.  We spend a lot of time at the beginning of the school year learning about the 5 Ways.  On the first day we do a carousel cooperative learning activity and make looks like, sounds like charts.  We talk about what each of the 5 ways would look like and sound like in our classroom and other places around school.  These charts then hang in a high profile area (near the drinking fountain) part of the room all year.  We spend a lot of time talking about them and getting gentle reminders throughout the year about being the 5 Ways. 
I have been playing around trying out some new things on my new laptop and created these colorful polka dot posters for the 5 Ways. 

You can grab them by clicking on the picture or downloading them for free at my TpT store!