Mega Management: Transitions

Coming at ya with the 4th post in my series:

Post 1: Series Kickoff. Why Classroom Management

Post 2: Entering the Classroom

 Post 3: Turning in Homework

 

Today we're talking about transitions. I love using a bell (the kind you ding, not shake) to signal a transition is coming, but my favorite transitions tool is Word of the Day.

Here's how it works:

Each morning I introduce the Word of the Day. We discuss the meaning of the word and how it can be used in different sentences.

The students know that when it's time to transition they're not allowed to move until they hear the Word of the Day. For example, when changing from Math to Language, and if the Word of the Day were voyage, I might say something like this:

"I'm looking for whole body listeners.

(Proceed when you have everyone's attention)

When (emphasize when in the beginning)

you hear the Word of the Day

I'd like you to clean up your math practice

and have your language books open to page 125. 

The word of the day is voyage."

Later I might ask for the definition of the Word of the Day prior to saying the word. Or I might say, "Today's word of the day means a long trip or journey. The word is____." The students will fill in the word when I pause. 

Here is a FABULOUS video from Teaching Channel where Ms. Noonan shares how she uses the Word of the Day and some other cool ways to manage transitions. 

Throwback Thursday- A Turkey's Plea

Back for another week of the Throwback Thursday Linky. 

It all started when someone purchased my persuasive writing lesson on TpT. I had posted this last year after the Thanksgiving holiday was darn near over so I thought now would be a great time to give this little turkey another shout out. Especially good timing for those of us trying to prepare NOW for the fall...which is probably anyone reading this!

I LOVE persuasive writing. We have a blast doing it in class. The parents even commented on how much they loved the writing graphic organizer. Without further ado...last year's post:

We just finished parent-teacher conferences this week...yay! I was able to get lesson plans done all the way up through the end of the month, which feels fantastic. Here is the activity that I'm most excited for next week:

 

I'll start the lesson by reading My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza. It's an adorable story about a pig who outsmarts a fox by giving the fox different reasons why the fox shouldn't eat him. It's the perfect lead in to persuasive writing. 

  

When I teach writing, I use an "I do, then you do" method. This allows me to model writing techniques and talk through my thinking process. I have a blank graphic organizer like the one below and all of my students do too. I fill in a section and then I let them fill in the section. I let students share so that reluctant writers can hear variations and different ideas. Hopefully it spurs an idea within them.
 

 

Here's what mine might look like when I'm finished. Theirs should be similar, but with their own ideas. 

 

 

After this planning stage, we write rough drafts. I also model this for them using the graphic organizer that I completed the first day. It allows me to share my thought processes as I take information from the organizer and turn it into complete sentences. 

After rough drafts we revise our own work and then have peers proofread for us. I  have a checklist that I hand out to each student. 

Then we write our final drafts and share our work. I'm going to have students write their final drafts on the paper below.   

You can find all of these resources, along with the revising checklist and a brief 5 day sample lesson plan here.  

Throwback Thursday- Spruced Up Spelling

I am so thankful to Mrs. Carroll over at The First Grade Parade for this Throwback Thursday linky. It's such a motivator for me to go back and reflect on things that I've blogged about over the last year. 

This week I chose my Spruced Up Spelling post from June 22, 2012. It's a long one so please take a minute to click here and read it. 

Here are some of my reflections on each step of my sprucing up process:

Step One. Spelling Patterns Year at a Glance
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to figure out a way to successfully incorporate a lot of spelling practice in class. Since finding the Daily 5 book, I think I'll be able to make a plan for this. More on that coming some time this summer I'm sure. 

Step Two. High Frequency Words
I LOVED incorporating HFW's into my spelling this year. It was interesting to see the mix of ability here. I had many that couldn't even make it past the first 100 words, which are pretty simple. 

This year I want to make sure that I give my better spellers  opportunities to move through the words more quickly. Once we did initial testing they only progressed at five words per week. That was a slow pace for some. 

Step Three. Vocabulary
This portion went really well. It was easy to pick out words that I knew they would be unfamiliar with. Now that I've read up more on effective vocabulary instruction I realize that by giving them the definition and just asking them to memorize it is not really the best...BUT I'm not sure that I'm going to change this part. I might consider just using this portion of vocabulary as exposure and then do different vocabulary instruction in class. We'll see. No final decision yet. 

Step Four. Homework
I had most of my spelling pattern sheets ready before school started which was helpful. I uploaded them all to my class website which the parents loved. I still can't decide if I'm enabling irresponsibility, but hey, I figure when I lose a paper I go online a print a copy if I can. That's the world we live in folks! 

The tic-tac-toe board did not work for my kiddos. It just wasn't enough practice. Maybe it was the choices I gave. Of course my super spellers were doing fine with it, but my low kiddos were bombing tests every week. I changed homework to a standard  assignment: write words in ABC order, write words 3 times each, do sailboat spelling with each word, and write HFW's in a sentence. Test scores improved overall so we did that for the remainder of the year. I don't love that homework, so I might rework that for this year. Still thinking on that. 

Step Five. Assessment
I loved the test form that I came up with. It was easy to divide the assessment into a language and spelling grade. I liked that it was all on one page too! The only thing that I would caution is that at the beginning of the year the process takes FOR.EV.ER! I had a moment where I thought of scrapping the whole thing and going back to traditional spelling. I'm SO glad I didn't. After several weeks of patient practice they had it down. Testing eventually became a breeze. I had a class set of clipboards which really helped when students were testing each other on their HFW's. 

So there it is. My throwback to spelling. Go link up with The First Grade Parade, or at least check out some other posts from the past.

Teacher Toolbox Trio Linky

Alison from Eberopolis is hosting a linky dedicated to all things Teachers Pay Teachers.

 

Here are Alison's rules for the linky:
1. Share a product that you've made that you couldn't live without.
2. Share a product that you've purchased that you love.
3. Share something from your wish list that you're hoping to get for next year.
She says: "If you're not a seller on TpT, no worries -- just share two products you've purchased that you love!"

1. Something I've Made

I'm a baby TpT seller, but one thing that I LOVE to use is my Buddies for Reciprocal Teaching set. 

It's a simple product, but I love using this reading strategy with my students. You can read about the buddies here or purchase them here. I'm hoping to add a buddy or two this summer!

2. Something I've Purchased
I'm a TpT freebie lover, but one thing I've purchased recently is the  Multiplication and Division Boot Camp from Teacher Chick. I haven't used it yet, but it's all printed and ready for next year. It looks fabulous. You can read about it on her blog 3 Teacher Chicks. Buy it here.

 
3. Something on my Wish List
This is a huge pack from Fancy Free in Fourth that helps you cover root words all year long. It's the newest item in my wish list and also the thing I'll probably purchase first when it's time to buy!
Check it out on her blog here or buy it here.

 

Now go link up with Alison and if you haven't started following her blog, you should!

She's celebrating the 100 (almost 150!) follower milestone by giving away this...

 

 

Thanks Alison, for the chance to link up and win!  

*I too am nearing the 150 follower milestone. Please email me if you'd be willing to help with a fun giveaway: teachonalimb@me.com 

My Friday Finds

I'm really looking forward to next week. Not just because of Valentine's Day, but because I'm hoping to be fully recovered and healthy! Can I get an "AMEN" from any fellow sniffly-nosed coughers!?

While on my little hiatus from school, I was able to find some cute resources that I plan to use on Valentine's Day. The best part of course is that they're free. 

The first one is a darling scoot activity from the Paisley Primer.

It comes with 24 scoot cards that cover a variety of skills and a recording chart with an answer key. Some of the questions might be a tad easy for my 3rd graders, but they'll have fun doing it! You can snag it here.

The other freebie I found was an activity pack from Cute Classroom Creations. The pack also includes original ideas for a container decorating contest and a writing prompt, but I'm focusing on the graphing and make words activities. 

 Thanks ladies and happy Friday everyone!

Trashcan Thesaurus from Teacher's Clubhouse

Today we got busy making the adorable Trashcan Thesaurus activity that you can get from Teacher's Clubhouse.

I first saw them when Amanda from Teaching Maddeness posted about them here. 

They were too cute to pass up. Thanks Amanda!

 

 

Contraction Caterpillars

I found some adorable contraction caterpillars on Pinterest. They were pinned from Adventures of First Grade, and even though I teach 3rd grade, and these were SUPER DUPER easy for my kiddos we did them anyways. They were so fun! I wish I would have read Jayme's post more carefully and downloaded the template. I just had to wing it when I made mine!

 

Verb FREEBIES!

I spent a few hours this weekend coming up with some activities to help my third graders review verbs. 

Here is a verb sort activity that I created to help review verb tense. I need to work on another activity for irregular verbs. Hopefully that will be coming soon. 

This memory game is to help with remembering the helping verbs we've learned this year. I was thrilled when it only took minutes to whip up. 

Since I'm STILL not on TpT (crazy lame, I know!), I'll go ahead and email this out to you if you'd like it.


*As of 10/24/12 I am on TpT so check out these activities here. That didn't take long {wink!}
  Happy Monday everyone!