Educational resources for elementary students. Helping teachers, parents, and students become active thinkers and future leaders. We encourage giggles, grins, hugs, & high fives!
I go out to our line at 8:15 and remind ALL of my students to get out of their BACKPACKS their BLACK homework folder (provided by me at the beginning of the year..black because I don’t use black for any other folder in my room..and their READ AT HOME envelope with TAKE HOME BOOKS.
They have them “in their hands” before we walk to the door.
WHY?
NO ONE has to “dig through” their backpacks when we get in the door.
While we are at the door…I have a Home Depot shelving unit next to the door.
Gray Home Depot Garage shelving Unit. this helps with the beginning-of-the-day routines!
They put their backpacks and jackets ON THE SHELVES! Great beginning-of-the-day routine! NO backpacks or jackets on CHAIRS! No room!
After we enter..2 baskets on the table next to the door. One “homework”..the other RAH (Read AT Home) Envelopes.
Black folders in HW basket, Book envelopes in RAH basket.
DONE!
(Any notes or OTHER STUFF…in HW basket).
NOW, they get a chair
( stacked at the back of the room..see routine #3)
and WALK to their desk. They know the routines.
When the starting bell rings at 8:25
(5 minutes after we enter…)
I choose the HELPERS for the day.
You can only be a HELPER if you are sitting in your seat when the bell rings! I am prompt!
( No tardies, wanderers, “chatting”).
If you are TARDY…you won’t be a helper on that day if it’s your turn. You will have to wait until tomorrow if you are on time.
An incentive for getting to school ON TIME!
I choose my helpers.
2 of my 10 helpers for the day are
TECH TEACHERS.
I ask the TECH TEACHERS to choose a “quiet partner” to help them pass out Chromebooks ( We are a 1:1 school ) and earbuds ( they have their own in numbered baggies.
(We number EVERYTHING!)
They get their Chromebooks, long into our district reading/phonics practice program, and GO TO WORK!
ALL of this takes 10 minutes.
8:20-8:30
NO MUSS…NO FUSS! Routines help manage the classroom!
When the timer goes off…we freeze! I tell them they have one minute to clean up and return to their desks.
Always return to their desk.
Kind of like their “LANDING PAD”.
After everyone is sitting down ( well, almost everyone..there are always the 1-2 stragglers )
I say.. “One, two, three EYES ON ME!”
They respond ” One, two, EYES ON YOU!”
And then a call out… ( I have a list )
Could be “MACARONI & CHEESE”
They respond “EVERYBODY FREEZE!”
AND THEY DO!
I hold them “frozen” for 3-4 seconds.
THEY LOVE THIS!
While a few stragglers are getting to their desk, we play a game! A TRANSITION game. I only need a doc camera, my riddle cards, and a SOFT VOICE. If they can’t hear me..they can’t play! See my post on the TRANSITION GAME!
After we are settled, I can give directions for our next
activity. I do this SAME ROUTINE ALL DAY FOR TRANSITIONS!
No problems!
The third routine!
The LAST 30 minutes of CLASS. End-of-the-day routines.
It’s almost OVER!
The day has come to an end.
HOW TO GET THEM OUT THE DOOR?
STOP!
Many things to do BEFORE we leave.
REMEMBER…The class is ALL of yours.
It’s NOT my job to clean up, put everything away, and pick up the classroom AFTER they leave.
We ALL work here. The community is for ALL of us.
We dismiss at 2:30.
Clean-up ROUTINES!
At 2:10
we STOP, put our work away,
and FREEZE to go back to our desks.
At 2:15 we begin the EXIT PROCESS.
My 2 TECH TEACHERS (helpers) put ALL of the Chromebooks back into the cart ( I have taught them HOW to do this MANY TIMES.They know the routines.)
*UPDATE… They now put them in the cart & plug them in! I put a number on each Chromebook with Sharpie Paint Pens. Then I put a RED dot (Sharpie PAINT pen) on the side above the plug. They know ALL the red dots must line up, every number has to have a matching Chromebook, and they PLUG them in on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays! TECH TEACHERS are awesome!
2 of my other HELPERS are the
CLEAN UP CREW.
They EACH choose a ‘friend’ to help them
STACK ALL OF THE CHAIRS
into stacks of 6.
Push the stacks to the back of the room, and clean all papers, crayons, pencils from the floor.
While these HELPERS are working SILENTLY..
the rest of the class goes to the carpet. Workers who are TOO LOUD..can be FIRED! If you don’t do your job in the real world with a “respectful” tone..YOU can be fired! #lifelessons
Each day 5-6 of my students can come to
AUTHOR’S CHAIR Routine.
( 5 color coded groups )
As we transition to the carpet, I ask “RED GROUP” if they would like to “READ…in the teacher’s chair” OR PASS (for this week).
They read one story from their JOURNAL. Their choice.
We LISTEN ( being a good audience )
and then they can choose 1 person to
“ASK THE AUTHOR A QUESTION”.
We must listen, to formulate a HOT question.
At the beginning of the year, we learn the difference between a HOT question…and a STORY!
After all 5 have read…I have one student bring me EVERYTHING from their cubby. (Student mailboxes ).
I go over ALL work we are taking home.
I open the BLACK HOMEWORK folder, where I have taken out last night’s HW and put in tonight’s HW.
and
I show them their RAH books to read tonight.
After all of our work has been reviewed,
I excuse them 3 at a time to clean out their cubbies, take everything to their desk, get their backpack & jacket, take it to their desk, LANDING PAD, and pack up to go home.
If you get a chance to hear her, see her, and/or youtube her…
DO IT!
When I teach reading, I don’t want my students to stop and ask for help.
I want them to have skills to be independent readers.
I want them to be problem-solvers.
So, I am…
How to create a community of readers
How?
What do you do BEFORE reading?
Take a picture walk.Cover the words.
Make them use the visual cues in the story.
Frontload any vocabulary that may change thinking,
distort comprehension, or unfamiliar to them.
Have them make predictions PRIOR to reading.
After reading, check their predictions.
When you finish reading, do something!
I LOVE this!
After reading..then what? DO SOMETHING!
Reread it for NEW information. Retell it to yourself or a friend. We use our 3 fingers retell. I love this part…DIGEST IT! Just as a good meal…when you are finished, appreciate it. Think about it.
ENJOY IT!
Read MORE!
You are NEVER done!
When you finish…read more! My kiddos love to stack ALL of their books on the left..as
they finish reading a book…place it in a pile on their right. Keep reading! Their goal is to
read more every day! STAMINA! Reading MATS are used to make goals.
Our goals are to read MORE!
Use your eyes to read…not your fingers.
We want kids to quit using their fingers to read.
Good readers use their EYES!
“SCOOP” up words (phrases) with your eyes. When reading, put 3-4 words together
and read the phrases! GREAT time to teach prepositions & prepositional phrases!
Always reread text
Always, always…reread!
You will see more, read more, and understand more when you reread a story. Read it to a partner, a
parent, a friend. The same book can sound new when you are reading it the second or third time!
