Pristine Classroom vs. Environment for Independent Learning

I was looking back at the pictures I took of my classroom at the beginning of the school year. It was so pristine! Now that we have been in school for over 100 days it has a more lived-in look! Using the daily 5 and giving my students time for independent learning has allowed them to really USE the classroom. They have access to what they need when they need it.

Our Daily 5/CAFE board has been put to a lot of use since the first of the year...

Comprehension Strategies

Accuracy Strategies

Fluency Strategies

Vocabulary Strategies

Before: Conference table, math centers, book display

After: Added anchor charts and all the stuff we need to learn!

Before:  2 student computers

After: 3 student computers!

Before: A library full of good-fit books

After: more books and other learning materials

Top 3 posts for 2011 Linky

Happy 2012! When I started this blog in May 2011, my intent was to focus mostly on couponing and saving money, but over the summer it evolved into a platform for me to share all of the new things I discovered about teaching through Twitter, blog-hopping, and Pinterest.

Fern Smith is hosting a really fun linky party where we can share our top 3 blog posts for 2011. Fern does a really good job on her blog by not only sharing all of her awesome teacher wisdom, but also all of the great deals she comes across through couponing.

Here are my top 3 posts for 2011 - check it out and join in on the fun. You may discover a few new blogs you want to follow this year. Teachers love to share what they do, and by doing so, we all become better teachers and mentors to the most important people in the world...our students.

Top 3 Posts for 2011

#1 The Life Cycle of a Snowman 
September 19, 2011 - 5,805 pageviews
In 2nd grade we are learning about the states of matter: solid, liquid, gas.  What better way to learn about this than to have a snowman visit our school and melt away throughout the day? The students really enjoyed watching him change but were a little sad when we "cooked" him into gas ;-)

Fill balloons with water  - small, medium, and large - and place in  bowls with the tied  side down so  it will create a  flat surface.  Lay something on top of the  balloons to create a flat surface on top. Once frozen, remove balloon and stack balls using salt to help them adhe - re to each other. Cut out decorations with felt and stick to ice.

#2 I LOVE Pinterest! 

July 23, 2011 - 1,521 pageviews

Have you heard of Pinterest yet?  If not, you should go check it out.  It's a great way to display items that interest you AND keep track of all the cool stuff you come across and then forget about.  My boards include teacher stuff, techie stuff, pretty stuff and more!  Michelle's Math in the Middle is hosting a linky party so you can  follow people that interest you.

  

This is a quick and easy link-up.  All you need is:

1. A teacher blog, where you will write a quick little post telling your readers about this Linky Party ~ Then go link it HERE
2. A Pinterest account
3. The Follow Me on Pinterest Button displayed on your blog

#3 A Four-Year Old Blog Post 

August 24, 2011 765 pagevews

My husband sent me a link to a blog post I wrote exactly 4 years ago on August 24, 2007.  At the time, my friends and I all had blogs where we would share family photos and write about our lives.  With the advent of Facebook, we eventually abandoned our blogs and joined the millions in Facebookland.  For a while there was a trend where we had to write 100 things about ourselves then tag someone else to do the same thing.  I remember taking a lot of time to come up with the 100 things about myself and I am please to say that after 4 years there have been very few changes.  Below is the original post with the changes and comments in red.  I hope this helps know the Frugal Teacher a little better: Read more...

I am including a #4 because it is another post about Pinterest. Once I got on Pinterest and started sharing items from my blog on my boards, my blog traffic increased significantly: 

#4 The POWER of Pinterest and a Useful Writing Tool - 

November 6, 2011 - 725 pageviews

A funny thing happened today. I was looking around my "stats" page just to see where most of my blog traffic is coming from.  I was NOT surprised to see that the majority of my traffic is coming from Pinterest! Over the past few months a lot of teachers have jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon. It's a great place to share and keep a visual record of all the great ideas out there!  One of the sources listed on the stats page was a blog I have never visited: In No Simple Language. There was a post about Pinterest and all of the cool things this blogger has discovered there. One of the "cool" things was this:

Thank you Fern and the other 60+ teachers who have participated in this Linky. I hope that we can all continue to help and inspire each other in 2012!

The Daily 5 in Action!

Mrs. Morgan's Superstars have been working very hard since the first day of school learning how to be independent learners.  The Daily 5 includes:
Read to Self
Word Work
Work on Writing
Listen to Reading
Read to Someone
So far we have been working on the first 3 and how to do these things independently while Mrs. Morgan works with students one-on-one or in groups.

This student is doing a great job following along with his finger.

This student is "In the Zone"

Learning spellings words AND the QWERTY keyboard with Spell Texting! (Thanks Teacher Tipster!)

Word Work with Bendaroos!

Choosing the right spot helps make Read to Self more successful!

Self Esteem = Poker Chips?

My husband, Preston, is a behavior intervention teacher at a Title 1 high school and he deals with a lot of really hard issues with his students.  I recently shared with him my plan to Raise the Responsibility in my 2nd grade classroom. He was very impressed with Marvin Marshall's Discipline for Promoting Responsibility and Learning and is also planning on implementing this system with his students. The beauty of this system is that it can be modified to work with any age student, but in order for this system to be successful, the teacher must provide positive feedback. Sometimes we may find it hard to be positive when dealing with difficult or impulsive students.

At the same time I was researching the Raise the Responsibility system, a social worker in Preston's PLN shared this compelling video on Twitter. After watching it I understood why positive feedback is so important not only for learning disabled students, but ALL students.



           

  When the chips are down
- Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Today at school, as I spoke to my students as a whole group or individually, I tried to imagine that my words were the poker chips described in this video.  It really helped raised my awareness of what I was saying to the students and how I was saying it.