First, I have to start by giving a huge thank you to Janis Noble at Caffeinated Conclusions (see her page button over there on the right?). She published a version of her classroom procedures on her blog, and I used it as a guide for creating my Classroom Procedures Handbook. I borrowed her layout, some of her language, and followed her publication as a template for my own. (Here's a link to her Teachers Pay Teachers Store.)
Also giving credit where it's due: all that cute owl artwork is © Laura Strickland/MyCuteGraphics.com-- she's super supportive of teacher usage, so I can support her, too!!
Now, here it is!
I have a blended 3rd/4th/5th class, with students who spend parts of their day learning with me, and parts in general education settings. With students and teachers coming and going from our small classroom hundreds dozens of times throughout the day, schedules and procedures are our glue! I've always had in mind that our procedures should be in writing...it was just a matter of finding the time to sit down and work through the process.
What's so fantastic about Ms. Noble's template is how throuroughly she spelled out the expectations for each part of the day. It made it easy to tweak the contents to reflect our schedule and expectations without thinking through the day from a blank start.
I do plan to use parts of this handbook with my students; however, its primary use will be for getting all the teachers and paraprofessionals in my room on the same page. Hopefully this will clarify the expected behaviors for each part of our day, and give our students more confidence in the consistent expectations of all staff. (Plus, I can re-read and refresh my memory for the behavior standards I have in mind.)
Use, pass along, enjoy!! Hope this helps!
So, school is out, and yet, I can't stop working. Like any addict, I tell myself I can stop at any time...but I'm beginning to doubt it.
This week's project has been to create flashcards that correspond with our Kindergarten level reading material. Students in my class range in reading ability from kinder to 5th grade, and in only 90 minutes of reading instruction per day, we have to address all of those needs. Challenge Accepted!!
My kinders use a curriculum that is delivered through Direct Instruction. Each day, students participate in a set of routines that provide modeling and opportunity for guided practice. Part of those routines, for students at the Kindergarten level, includes reading sounds and sounding out words. The thing that makes this different from many basal reading programs, however, is its use of a presentation manual that lists both the letters and words the students will sound out alongside the script to be used by the teacher. The result? An overwhelming amount of text on a page. The solution? Flashcards!
By putting each student-response prompt (letter or word image) onto its own unique card, we remove the excess stimulus and allow the student the chance to focus on the priority task. And eventually, we can teach important text reading skills, like how to prioritize what gets the most attention on a page, and why things like small print, bold print, images, and captions are important. But for now, we can isolate the thing that should be getting our focus.
Items needed for this project:
1) shoe-box sixed clear plastic bin
2) 2,400 index cards
3) 6 black, wide-tipped permanent markers
4) 2 red, wide-tipped permanent markers
5) Curriculum text
6) Labels (80 per page)
Most of the creation process here is straightforward. I copied the student prompts directly from the text, including weird letter shapes and colors (this is why we need red ink, too). The weird letter shapes are because in this system, students are taught one-to-one symbol/sound correspondence from the start (see qu, er, and wh images above). 2,400 index cards later...I'm dreaming about them!
The trick came in when trying to connect the student prompts with the teaching script. Solution: create sticker labels for the back of each student word-reading card that tells which corresponding teacher script/routine should be used. So, I created an icon and title for each of the basic repeated routines. First, I typed out the routines onto half-pages, then created matching labels. Now all I have to do is put the label on the back of the card.
Next step is to create some training videos so that all the teachers on my team can get a head start on the routines for this school year! You can check out my professional web page at http://staff.rentonschools.us/the/raj .
Last year, I read Debbie Diller's Spaces and Places and was very inspired to create a classroom where every inch of space fostered literacy and learning.
This year, I moved into a new classroom and inherited "stuff" that a teacher who retired long before I came along left behind. I still-- at the end of October-- don't feel settled into my space. I have a feeling that in the coming weeks I'm going to be awfully tempted to take everything out and start over.
The biggest bain of my existence, currently, is my mammoth teacher "desk". It literally takes up 1/4 of one wall of my room, and does little more than collect piles of stuff. That's not the kind of enabling that I need...
In my last classroom, I followed some very sage wisdom and got rid of the teacher desk. I went to Walmart and purchased a $39 computer stand (because I do need a place for that), but gave away my "teacher desk"-- it became the student writing center, and housed all the supplies students might need for writing.
I miss those days terribly! I couldn't leave stacks of paper at the end of the day because there was no place to leave them! I would spread out and work at a table once the students were gone...but I would need to clean that up each night before the kids came in each morning. I didn't have to worry about the kids touching "my stuff" because I really didn't have any! :) Anything that was within hands-reach they were allowed to use, and they used it quite responsibly! There were no power struggles over encroaching on "teacher space" because I had very, very little...and the kids seemed to respect that I had a little bit of space for my own stuff like they had a little bit of space for theirs. In my re-imagining of the classroom, I get to go back to my little island, and leave behind the massive desk. I think that's really going to be the first step in beginning to fell more organized.
