Making Words on a Budget

So one of my favorite things to do when teaching phonics is “making words” as a class. It’s so fun for both the students and me! For those of you who aren’t teachers or haven’t been lucky enough to try it yet, I’ll give you a quick run down.

The teacher instructs all students to get specific letters. This could look like letters on paper, letter tiles, magnetic letters, etc. The teacher then instructs the students to create words with different prompts, like “a three letter word that starts with ‘c’ and ends with ‘t.’ It has the ‘a’ sound in the middle.” Then the teacher checks that the students have spelled “cat.” Next the teacher might say “switch one letter to spell the word ‘mat.’” See! Fun! You create all sorts of words with the letters that have been brought out and even let the students make a mystery word that uses all the letters. There’s a great book (found HERE) with tons of lessons that are completely guided. Students LOVE them.

I’ve been racking my brain on how I could bring this into my classroom this year. I knew I couldn’t afford to buy letter tiles or even make them from tiles found at a hardware store. Paper was out of the question considering the extreme budgeting we are doing at our school. I gave the whole system up as lost until a teacher friend offhandedly suggested using foam.

GENIUS.

Today I decided to head to Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon in search of foam and a way to store my letters once they had been cut. It was a huge success – I found a 50 pack of fun bright foam pieces for $6. Once I used my coupon, it was only $3.50! I was pumped. I looked around for storage and was not disappointed – Hobby Lobby had plastic jewelry storage for $2 – I got 2. The whole project cost me about $8!!! I call that success!

Once I got home and finished planning my week, I allowed myself to work on the project I was so excited for! I started by figuring out how exactly I wanted it to work. I decided that 1×1 inch squares would be perfect. I would cut one inch strips and then cut them again. Each piece will have a capital letter on one side that lowercase letter on the other.

I cut the strips while watching Pride and Prejudice so it felt not only enjoyable, but quite productive I have 23 students in my class so I decided to put 25 letters in each slot compartment for the time being. I made 50 Os, As, and Es so accommodate words with several vowels. I’m also sure that I will need doubles of some letters so I cut extra squares in preparation.

The consonants are all yellow or green and the vowels are hot pink!

Tomorrow I will finish writing the letters and it will be ready for use in my classroom! I am also using the rest of my foam pieces to make large letters to put in my pocket chart. That way I can do a large example as my students work on their own at their desks. I’m really excited to do this activity with my kids because I know they have not been able to do it before and they LOVE hands on learning. I’m going to introduce it as a privilege at first so they understand that they need to treat the materials with respect or we won’t be able to do it anymore. Hopefully they’ll love it as much as I do and we’ll get to do lessons all year!

I also hope that you were able to find this useful and maybe even make your own set for your classroom on a budget!

Faith in the Positives

Well my friends, I am writing to you at the end of a very long, challenging, distressing week. I have had a few “wins” and many discouragements. I am priding myself in the fact that I can keep moving and keep working.

This week was more than tough. It was grueling. My kids are testing me more than ever. Their behavior is close to the “out of control” point and I’ve had complaints of fighting and bullying. They’re first graders. I NEVER expected to have a student crying from bullying at the age of 6. It was disheartening to say the least. I feel like much of my time this past week was spent recovering from mishaps and things that just plain went wrong.

Despite the discouraging past few days, I was able to leave school today with a list of goals for myself. I’ve discovered, through this process, that I am actually a positive person. People have been telling me that for ages and I never really believed them or fully understood what it meant. Even though I find myself feeling cynical much of the time, I have the ability to look forward and keep moving. That doesn’t sound too impressive, but it’s what I needed this week. All I needed was to keep moving, keep trying, keep loving on my kids. I struggled with the last one but I know next week will be better.

So with my goals for this weekend (better establishing my library, creating classroom jobs, tightening up procedures, mapping out my next week and getting my printing done, etc…) I am able to move forward from this not so great week and turn my energy towards positive solutions.

Here is my anchor point for these next few weeks

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

 

Thank you so much for blessing me with your thoughts and prayers. I appreciate any that you send my way – especially during the school week. I need it! Today during lunch I was able to relax in the knowledge that there were people praying for me. You all are wonderful and I dearly love you.

Behavior Strategies I’m Pumped About!

So, I was sitting on my couch, eating ice cream, watching Gilmore Girls. Pretty typical. I figured I deserved it considering the planning I accomplished earlier this evening. I planned my whole week, complete with lessons, timing and objectives. YES. So satisfying.

Then I began to contemplate my behavior issues. Well not mine, my students’. (Okay, maybe sometimes mine…but that’s beside the point.) I’ve recently started using this really awesome website: http://www.classdojo.com – it’s an AWESOME way to keep track of student behavior, both positive and negative. It allows you to input all students, upload your own images (or they have cute ones available), and choose your positive and negative options. I chose to make all of the negatives our class rules – that way when they break a class rule I can immediately reprimand them and they see the repercussions. This is what my page looks like: They have green numbers for positive and red for negative. I love it because even if they are having a rough time, they can improve. It’s really helpful for my students who are really struggling with behavior but want to be good. The other great thing about the site is that when you “end class” you can see individual and whole class report cards. It shows the percentage of positive vs negative behavior. You can set it up so the student’s specific behavior can be sent by email to parents each day. Obviously I can’t get enough of this website!

If my students get an 80% overall on behavior, they get a letter toward a class reward. If they get 95%, they get two letters. They LOVE this.

If one student gets to negative 5, he or she loses recess or specials. If it gets to negative 10, it’s an automatic phone call home. As we get into the year those numbers will get more strict. I’m trying to give them some leeway since we’re getting used to the rules.

This is the other part I’m super excited about: business cards. I ordered these today! 250 for free from vistaprint.com

When a student gets 10+ points, they get a punch in this card! Each student will have one in their pencil pouch – there will be 10-15 sharpie dots in the blank space. They’ll get a hole punch. Once they fill their cards, they’ll get a big reward!

I really think my kids are going to love these cards. It will be a great personal and class motivator.

So, in the interest of being positive (I’ve been having a really tough time with behavior), I’m ready to try some new strategies and get these kids in line so we can learn! There is a statistic that says many teachers spend 50% (FIFTY PERCENT!!!) of their time in class on management. If my students are going to reach their academic and social goals, that CANNOT happen in my class. We need to stay on track to get where we need to be.

Hope this was helpful to my fellow teachers!

Music to My Ears

Last night was open house, round two at my school. I hoped for a great turnout but knew it was unlikely.

I had two parents come.

TWO.

Yep. That was definitely not my goal. Fortunately, I was able to have great conversations with both of these parents. One was the grandmother of one of my students – we’ll call him Calvin (as in Calvin and Hobbes….yep). Calvin is a little charmer. He makes teaching interesting to say the least. I was able to sit down with his grandmother and have a serious chat on how best to help her little darling learn in my classroom.

Then I got the common (and dreaded) question: how many years have you been teaching?

Me: Oh, well this is my first (said a little sheepishly)

Her: Oh really?

Me: Yes (backtracking now…) but I can assure you that I have every intention of making this year the best and most valuable educational experience Calvin has had. He is going to be on or above grade level in math and reading and will have 100% mastery in his sight words….(babbling continues…)

Her: That’s nice. Well I can tell that you really care and that you’re not just here to sit for a paycheck. I can see it in your eyes. I know you’re going to help Calvin learn this year. We can keep him on track together.

music. to. my. ears.

After this conversation, I was walking on air. There is nothing more affirming than talking to a parent who REALLY cares about her child and truly feeling her confidence in you as the teacher.

That’s all. I really just wanted to share my small victory with you.

No Internet, First Day of School, and Sickness. Oh my!

“Whirlwind” does not even seem to do justice as an adjective for the past two weeks. I have trained. And trained. And trained….and trained some more. I thought I was really sick of training, actually…and then the first day of school happened. OH that I could go back to my life of sitting in trainings once again My WHOLE first day is a bit of a blur to me, actually. I can’t really remember anything that happened. It may or may not be because of shock.

Bottom line: Teaching is hard!

Without internet last week to get me through, I struggled. Some silly person at my apartment complex broke into the cable box and unplugged my internet cord! My lovely internet provider could not come out to fix the (then unknown) problem for a week. I think my least favorite phrase is “we can come out a week from Saturday between 8  and 11 am.” Really?! That’s the best they can do? I despise my dependence on internet, really. So in my week of stress and complete confusion, I had no escape, no outlet, no way to keep up with the lives of most of my friends. That being said, I did unpack the rest of my boxes. I found that without the distraction of internet, I can be quite productive! Who knew? So it wasn’t a total loss, I suppose.

My first three days of school were definitely very eye opening. I’m teaching in an inner city, very low income school without many resources. There’s no gym. The art and music teachers do not have classrooms. Our library is a resource used mostly by the older grades. When I asked when my students would visit, the answer was an undefined “ohhhhh…maybe in a month.” My classroom library is currently a disaster as well, with everything from one-word-a-page books to several installments of the Babysitter’s Club series. I haven’t let my students in there for fear that they will be as overwhelmed as I am by the stark dichotomy and complete lack of organization. Other supplies are scarce and I find myself looking for alternate routes of educational experiences to avoid using any supplies at all.

The situation most definitely has it’s challenges and I am a bit overwhelmed, but I’m mostly excited. I’m excited about my students. When I first met them, I was scared of our differences. We have so many: age, culture, background, areas we were brought up in, family dynamics, I could go on and on.

But then I got to know them. I asked them about their likes, their dislikes, what they were good at, why they were excited about being first graders…

They. Are. Awesome.

That’s all there is to it. They’re so excited to learn! When they understand something for the first time, it is truly magical. They grasp onto new concepts with joy and enthusiasm and they are SO smart.

I’m definitely not saying it’s perfect. They have already given me a headache (on more than one occasion). SOMEONE gave me a cold (grr!). They test me because I’m new and I look different than them. They excitedly burst out with any thought that pops into their head, despite our class rules. Behavior management is definitely something I’m still trying to hone (and probably will be for many months).

But we’re going to make it. I have high expectations for each and every one of them, and I KNOW they’re going to reach them.

I’m excited for you all to join me on the journey of my first year as a first grade teacher with my OWLs.

Outstanding

Wonderful

Learners

Thank you for blessing me with your interest and thoughts. I love you all.

Kelly

12 Days

Well, Friends, it has been 12 days since my last post, and what crazy 12 days they have been! I have wanted to update you all for a while now, but I did not have internet in my  brand new apartment until last night.

That’s right. I live in my own apartment! Crazy!!!

So excited to move in!

I have tons of other pictures, but this is the kitchen with the living room on the left, the dining room on the right and my bedroom behind. Soon I’ll be more settled and can post before and after photos

So events since I last posted:

I finished institute – OH MY WORD! I never, ever, ever have to go back

But I will seriously miss all of my little cuties! I will have new little ones in a week and a half!

I drove my Mazda3 rental car to pick my mom up from the airport on Saturday morning.  I made it to OKC much faster than when I drove my poor little crunched Tercel.

OUCH

My mom and I got our first look at my apartment and I signed maaaany papers. It was all worth it for this:

The view when you walk in my front door

Then we had a few whirlwind days of finding necessities for my apartment (i.e. lawn chairs for my living room), filling my massive closet with clothes, and running countless errands like joining the Oklahoma Educators Credit Union to get a car loan. Seth arrived on Monday and he and my mom traveled to Bartlesville on Tuesday to bring me everything from my storage unit. I, on the other hand, got to attend training. Yay.

So my apartment was now full of semi-useful stuff and I was training all day, every day. In the midst of all of this was a looooot of car shopping. My brother and mom spent tons of time researching frantically for a car within my budget that would be reliable for a long time. It was a challenge, to say the least. We spent an unfortunate amount of time in places like this:

Waiting, fruitlessly, at yet another dealership.

We spent a lot of time playing the waiting game with our precious amount of time in dealerships. It became VERY obvious that I should never buy a car (or any other valuable object) on my own. I am much too lenient on car dealers who are not very nice.

It was starting to look hopeless for me, and then my brother found this beauty:

My new car!

I was sitting in yet another training when Seth and my mom went to check this one out. They drove it to me and I loved it! It was the perfect fit in every way

This very same night, I met teachers from my new school (yippee!) and discovered that I will not, in fact, be teaching PreK as I thought. I am going to be a first grade teacher! I am SO excited! I have to make a few mindset changes and get ready to teach tougher concepts, but I think it will be really awesome! We visited the school earlier in the week and got this shot:

Outside my new school!

And then we got the opportunity on Thursday to see my actual classroom and the rest of the school. That was overwhelming but super exciting! They were waxing my floor so this was the best shot I could get:

My soon-to-be classroom!

I have a Smartboard and lots of space! It was so good to see where I’ll be spending the majority of the next 2 years

So to recap, in the past 12 days, I finished my intensive training, moved to Oklahoma City, signed the lease papers for my apartment, attempted to furnish it on a limited budget, bought a CAR (still can’t believe it!), found out I’m teaching first grade and saw my classroom for the first time, and went to a lot, a lot of trainings. Since I have internet now, I should be able to post updates more often – you will be able to see all sorts of pictures of my classroom! Until next time…

The “Why”

Tags

education

I’m humbled by the amount of people who read my post from yesterday and wanted to answer a common question that was asked: why.

My “Day in the Life” post outlined a hectic timeline that I have been calling daily life for the past four weeks. Many friends exclaimed in mock outrage at my military-like schedule with Teach For America (TFA) considering the fact that I graduated with a college degree in Elementary Education less than two months ago. That naturally spawns the “why” question. Mainly: why would I spend my summer at an intensive training when I already have the skills and requirements to obtain a job in the same field?

Well, friends, I have been given an incredible opportunity. There is no way around it. Teach For America is an incredible organization that I am blessed to be a part of. I discovered (long after I applied and was accepted) that it is a prestigious program worthy of members from all the Ivy Leagues as well as many other notable universities around the country. The fact that I was able to join the program with such little knowledge of it’s history, successes and future is a miracle in itself. If you do not know much about TFA, I really recommend visiting the website and exploring by clicking here.

The above paragraph alone is enough for me to trudge through a difficult summer. It inspires me to think about the brightest young leaders of the United States, devoting 2+ years of their lives to making a difference in the lives of children around the country. Sure, I could have gone into an inner city, applied for a teaching position, and most likely been hired. I thought of this route but found it unappealing. Here’s WHY. TFA works to teach it’s Corps Members the best possible ways to reach families in low income communities. It not only focuses on how to be a great teacher, closing the achievement gap, TFA works toward educating and empowering students and their families to advocate for themselves in a world where they have very few advocates.

Through TFA, I’m learning how to really inspire change in my students lives. Academically, socially, emotionally. I realize I am a little “starry eyed” and it won’t be easy to work toward such a transformational goal, but I have the ability to dream big for my students now as well as the tools necessary to make those dreams a reality. That realization gets me through each day and is the promise that pulls me every closer to my career where I can truly make a difference.

A Day in the Life

Teach For America (TFA) Institute is a whirlwind of teaching, sessions, new experiences and opportunities. I have been in this learning process for 4 weeks and have one short week (yippee!) to go. I thought I could take this opportunity of elation to share what a day in the life of a TFA corps member looks like at summer training.

5:30 Wake up. Well…roll out of bed and trick your brain into waking up. It’s a beautiful day, or it will be once the sun decides to join you.

6:00 Make your lunch. Walk into a room full of sandwiches, fruits and veggies, chips, desserts, soda and make crucial choices that will affect your day. Note: It’s very hard to make these choices when your brain has not yet decided to process the importance of lunch.

6:05 Grab a quick breakfast to go and walk towards your school bus among a mob of people dressed in business casual wear holding anything from freshly made posters, tons of schoolbooks, or (for the really dedicated) a roll-y bag full of every school supply imaginable.

6:25 Greet Nate, the bus driver, and find a seat close to the front. Eat breakfast and contemplate life.

6:31 Departure. Look out the window for anyone frantically running behind the bus that leaves at exactly 6:31 each day. No exceptions.

7:00 Arrive at school. Let the meetings, sessions, and teaching begin!

8:15 Greet sleepy four year olds and coax them to be excited for school. It is a struggle.

8:30 Teach your students. This part is pretty fun.

10:30 Leave the classroom and sit in sessions that teach anything from appreciating diversity to writing lesson plans to phonics instruction.

11:00 – 4:00 Continually repeat the above statement.

4:00 School meeting. Talk about things that make you excited, proud, etc. Leave on a good note.

4:15 Go outside and realize that it is 105 degrees and you are going to melt on the bus ride home. Greet Nate with a smile anyway and attempt to find a seat.

4:40 Crawl up to your room. Collapse on the bed.

4:45 Get everything ready for the next day to print so you do not have to stand in line later.

5:00 Print all of your things for the next day and let the feeling of accomplishment wash over you as you realize that people will have to wait in line for this later.

5:30 Realize that you have been up for 12 hours and you don’t get to go to bed for another 5. Eat dinner. Relax a bit. Revel in the fact that you can sit and do nothing for a while.

6:30 Lesson plan, prepare materials, get things done. Listening to music helps. Do it.

10:30 Go to bed with the realization you are lucky to be sleeping hours before many of your fellow corps members. Sleep in peace.

Tomorrow is another day.

Disney. Delightful.

So I’m a student teacher in probably the best second grade classroom in Bartlesville (I may be a bit biased). My mentor teacher is absolutely crazy about Disney. Everything Disney. If you know me at all, you know this is a perfect fit. What could be more fun than a Disney themed classroom?

You’re right. Nothing.

Anyway, I’ve been doing my best to find things I can contribute to our lovely classroom. I found these AWESOME Disney alphabet letters. They’re printable and free! We’re going to put them up on our word wall.

Delightful Disney Alphabet

This was such a great find! Not only does the site give an awesome alphabet for free, it has tons of other ideas and printables for your classroom or kids.

My favorite thing I’ve discovered, though, is an instrumental CD of Disney favorites. It’s called Heigh-Ho! Mozart It features 16 favorite Disney songs in the styles of different classical composers. I ordered this used on Amazon, received it a few days later, and uploaded it to the school computer immediately. We have been listening to it during all the quiet times of the day and the students really enjoy it. So do we! They know it is a privilege to listen to music so they are always on their best behavior when the music is on.

Our classroom is also decorated lavishly with Disney memorabilia collected over a lifetime. The kids seriously love it and it’s just so much fun.I look forward to finding more classroom friendly Disney things to add into the curriculum throughout this semester.