Journaling

I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to start a GOALS Journal with my students next year.  Well I have a spent a few days of my summer vacation ( WHAT?!) :) putting this together.
 First I got composition journals that were left over and had a to buy a few extra. I took them to office max and they will cut them for you!  OFFICE MAX.. I called every other place that Pinterest tells you to go and they acted like I was CRAZY! Then I made a cutesy cover page.

 

Then I found that cute quote about mistakes here. Then I created this math label for a subject title page. I didn't save it :( because I am going to have the kids draw their own... if we do a reading part as well.

 

STARTING HERE, I will use the following forms for EACH UNIT.

 

The next page is used to chart their progress FOR EACH UNIT. We do weekly testing. I also decided to only do 12 question tests this year. No reason to bog the kids down and my math period got cut down to an hour. The chart is calculated to each box is colored in for each question they answer correctly. The star box is indicated for bonus questions. :)  If you don't 12 questions and you want to use this graph, you could just white out my numbers and write in your own. Now we might not do five weekly tests before the unit test and that's okay. Those columns will just stay blank. No biggie!

This is the next page. I don't know about you, but our district has been pushing learning objectives. This is for the students to understand what skills they were taught, tested, and had a hard time with. I even considered them highlighting the skills they thought were difficult. There is not a unit test section here because the unit test will be of all the skills for this unit.

STARTING HERE, the following will be used per weekly test.

This is the next page. I will use this every test we complete. At the top it is numbered from 1-12. Here the kiddos will color in the corresponding problem numbers that they missed. Then, they will write in the date and use each box to list the problem number they missed and why. The small box if for the problem number and the big box is for the mistake made.

Here is the next page. It is blurry so the next page is a zoomed in version of what the directions are.

This is the zoomed in version. Students will identify only one mistake they made to work on. You want them to work on the mistake that was made the most, but if its pretty evenly spread out, jus have them choose one. One goal per week is ideal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My MASTER PLAN : After the students finish their test and I quickly grade it, the students will visit a station where I will have a master copy of a completed test. This test will show strategies as we learned them, the correct answers circled, and highlighted key words. ( It will be what an ideal student test should look like) The students will then complete the data pages on their graph and the numbers missed page. They will then use the teacher version of the test to look for mistakes they made. We will use a class ANCHOR chart to help the students identify what mistakes they might have made. At the end of the testing period, we will have a small discussion on what some of their mistakes were. This is how we will create/build our anchor chart.

 

 I know some people will want their students to just write out everything, but that is such a time waster and the students are still writing in their journal, they just have guided pages! :)

 

REMEMBER. Modeling this process is key. You might have to do all the pages with them for the first full unit so they can be totally independent with it later on. Be sure to check in with them individually. You will have some students that will just write in any mistakes and not fully understand what they are doing wrong. Small groups might even be helpful with some of your struggling students.

 

I will make a new post with pictures about this in action once the school year starts. I have these pages for my journal in my TPT store. GO GET IT!

So, what do you think? Tell me what you think! Any suggestions??

 

 

 

Reading

Although, I don't teach reading I had to share this idea. One of my 3rd grade team members did this activity. After the STAAR, the reading team decided to try out book studies. They read How to Eat Fried Worms. Super cute! This was an activity she had them do for fun. They create their own recipe for a writing assignment. I had to share these pictures! :) Enjoy!

INCREDIBLE BLOG

This is one blog you need to check out! Just wanted to share, she is HILARIOUS and real!!

ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com

Behavior Management

END OF YEAR BLUES!

I know, you're feelin' it probably as bad as I am! Behavior gets super weird... One day phenomenal, the next down right rediculous.  I found this while surfing pinterest and put together a few ideas I saw and created my 30 days left! system for the end of the year...

I devised an evil plan to keep my students on their best behavior, so I stay sane. Okay so here is how it works:
First, I still use my Class Dojo website for daily classroom management. But, the spin I put on it is that at the end of the day (last 20 minutes or so) any student on POSITIVE gets to participate in popping a balloon to reveal an activity the class gets to do. :) Here is what I started with the first week:

Balloons blown up with helium and cute little paper weights...... and after the FIRST DAY, they were hanging on the floor!!! EPIC FAIL :( We kept those balloons, but the next week I came up with this:

These WERE NOT helium filled.  I just bought an air pumper from Target and put a few of my kiddos to work. I just stapled the tied part of the balloon onto one of my bulletin boards. It is difficult to tell, but I numbered the balloons to correlate with each week. I did this on purpose. Each week, the five balloons contained an extra recess card, a free time card, and 3different Minute To Win It games. I just went to the website, used their games, and altered some of the supplies needed. Now we don't get to it every day. So don't think I am perfectly fitting this into my calm schedule.

 

Here is the an example of cards I used:

You can get these here!! And remember, even though it's almost over you have to keep them motivated.

 

 

Multiplication

Learning those multiplication facts is sometimes a motivation struggle. I am still finding ways to motivate that doesn't include prizes all the time. I did this autograph wall this year and the kids responded well to it. I used fadeless paper and duct tape on my cabinet.  It was an eye catcher for anyone who entered the room! Here is a whole shot at the beginning of the year.

 Here is what it says when they get to their 12s.

 Here are views of my end of year product.

The kids sign each section that they PASS. Of course, I teach two sections of math so I had 34 kids signing. They loved it! Still working to get them to the end of the year and pass their 12s!  :) 

STAAR Testing

Ok, it has been extremely long since my last post. BUT! It has been STAAR TESTING! Finally DONE!  I will say my kiddos worked their BOOTAY'S off! I hope the scores come back this school year!

Those testing days sure are stressful and LOOOOOONNNNNGGGG! But I wanted to share what I did for my students to pump them up!

Day 1 of Testing - Math
We had parents write a letter and send it back sealed. We left this note on their desk the first morning for them to read before they began testing.  The kids seemed proud that their parents words were with them.

I also  had little goodie bags waiting for them when they arrived the first morning. I used small white paper bags I found at Hobby Lobby and just a few necessities. 2 Pencils - the green one was what the school got for them and it had a motivational message about STAAR. The other pencil is just a little flag of my mustache duck tape! My kids are obsessed with duck tape this year... or should I say I am obsessed?? :) I also bought neon colored erasers from the dollar store. For some reason, this neon pink one doesn't look sooooo neon... oh well. We usually pass out snacks during the test, however I stuck this little jolly rancher inside.

Now, I also stuck a cute note explaining these items. You can get that here.

 

I also created my own note on strategies to remember.

 

You can get that here. 

 

Day 2 of Testing - READING

I had the kiddos put their supplies back in their goodie bag so I could sharpen pencils and replenish candy.

I also had them keep their parent letter on their desk so they could read them again.

At the last minute before the kids arrived I was panicked about how to pump them up for the reading part. I grabbed my green GLITTER, put it in a little cup and as they walked in the door, I tossed some GLITTER over their head and sang MAGIC BRAIN POWER! My kiddos probably thought I was nuts, but I wanted them to come in a little excited! I knew how tired they were from the day before.

That's all folks! :)
Coming this week - 30 Days Left! Activities - How to keep your kids motivated to have good behavior after the state testing is done!

 

 



Behavior Management

After 4 years of teaching, I think I have officially changed my behavior management plan EVERY YEAR! Not this time! I found my groove and I'm stickin' with it!

Okay first, I use a computer tracking system called www.classdojo.com. Here is a view of my homeroom class page.

It allows  you to give positive points and negative points for behaviors. As you can see I have a rockin' class this year. Its totally customizable. It is amazing and allows a considerable amount of ways to communicate with your parents. Many teachers at my school use it! It also has an app for your smart phone so you can access it anywhere in the school building. WAAHOO!

 

Then, the last 10 minutes of class we review our points. As you can see most of my students ended with a positive day. There are two who ended with no points. Some days, I will have friends end on negative. Any student who is on positive at the end of the day is rewarded with a sticker in their personal behavior chart. They also get these following rewards:

 

Positive friends will get a punch on their punch card. I found these awesome nuggets on this blog http://whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com/2011/07/whats-bee-havior-buzzzz.html?showComment=1311703519596#c596228324457300652. When they fill up the punch card they can trade it in for a prize box pick.

Positive friends will also sign their name on the LEARN bingo board. I will then usually draw 3 balls and anyone with their name on that square will get extra rewards.

If they win bingo, I have either my Super Star Jar. (candy)

 

Or, I have lottery tickets that I got from this blog - http://simply2ndresources.blogspot.com/2011/07/project-of-day-inspired-by-pinterest.html.

My lottery tickets range from a new pencil, positive point on Class Dojo ( see beginning of this post), to prize box or eat lunch in the class room.

Any negative students will have the undesirable behaviors documented in their personal behavior chart. You can use any consequence you feel . I try to focus more on the positive, but I do sometimes have students who are on negative by recess time, owe me some thinking time.

 

As you can see I have many stages of my behavior management. However, it kept the kiddos engaged and aware of their behaviors throughout the entire year!