Building Blocks of Back-To-School - Building Relationships

Last week we talked all about getting to know you as the teacher.  This week it is time for us to think about how we can get to know these little ones that we will be seeing everyday for the next 180 school days!  And don't forget getting to know their moms and dads is important too!

Getting to know the kiddos may be the MOST important thing that you can do during the first few days of school!  Of course you need to learn names and faces, but we all know being a teacher is way more than that.   You need to find out what makes each kiddo tick.  What do they like?  What do they HATE?  What motivates them to do better?  Who is their family and what does it look like?  Are they worrying about things at home?  

Now remember Rome wasn't built in a day nor will you get all of your answers day #1 (in fact you may not get many!), but the routine building and getting to know you activities you complete during the first week lay the ground work for building those relationships.  

Here are two popular back-to-school sets that I use in my room.  They have fun getting to know you games and activities for the K-2 set!

Check them out:

Fun with Firsties by Babbling Abby

Back to School Math and Literacy Fun by Deanna Jump

Sometimes getting to know families can be intimidating - it's one thing for me to build a relationship with my firsties, but sometimes their moms and dads make me nervous!  Now that my oldest is headed into Kindergarten I get it!  It's tough on both sides!

My best advise is to communicate!  We always used to make a first week phone call to all families to welcome them and to let them know that their first grader was having a great week (always nice to have a  positive first interaction!).  We found though that since so many of our families worked we were talking a lot more to their voice mail!  Now we send a check in email - works the same way - and we get more interaction back from families.  Bonus is that now your email is in their system, so if they need to get in touch they have no excuses! :)

Good luck with your relationship building - I wish you all of the success in the world!  Please feel free to share some other ideas in the comments!  I am always searching for even better ways to start of the year!

And don't forget to check out what some of my friends have to say about this week's topic...

An InLinkz Link-up

Back-To-School Giveaway!

I am so super excited to be partnering up with some other amazing bloggers to bring you a great giveaway for back-to-school!

Here is what you can win...

• (1) 24oz. Teacher Tervis
• (1) 5 pack of Dry Erase Pockets
• (1) 12 pack of Flair Pens
• (1) pair of Kendra Scott's Parker Stud Earrings in Periwinkle
• (1) pack of 5 Super Sticky Post-it Notes

This package is valued at over $100 and is ready for you to win! Go back to school in style and be ready for anything the first days will throw at you.

Hop on over to Mrs. D's Corner to enter!!

My Favorite Website!

I use many websites to help me plan and prepare for my students - they use the iPads instead of laptops, so my favorite websites are ones I use to get things going.  

Today I am sharing one that luckily my district covers the cost of, but if they didn't it would be one that I would be happy to shell out the cost of - Reading A-Z!

I know that there are so many Guided Reading resources around and many of them are great, but I love reading a-z because it is everything all in one!

I can choose books based on level and genre (which is usually what I am looking for).  There are TONS of informational texts, so I can be vigilant that my first graders are reading lots of nonfiction!  I also like that I can print and copy the number of titles that I need!  There is nothing more frustrating than heading into the book room wanting a specific title and finding only 3 copies!

Each book has a list of vocabulary words that students should be familiar with before reading.  My school has a HUGE ELL population, so this comes in SUPER-DUPER handy when planning groups for them!

Each book also has worksheets to accompany the book if you want them - and a lesson plan if you aren't sure where to start. You could even project most of the books for a shared reading experience if that's what you are feeling that day!

What is your favorite go-to website for kids?  I would love to hear it - I always want to try out the latest and greatest!!

**This was NOT sponsored by Reading A-Z.  All opinions are my own.***

Building Mathematical Comprehension - Chapter #9

Happy Tuesday!

I really had planned for this post to be ready for you all this morning, but life got in the way!  11 days until baby's due date and I am moving slowly - but life is moving at warp speed!  Spent the day in my classroom - getting things ready for the kiddos I won't meet until December!  

This week's chapter was all about monitoring comprehension in math.  Whether or not you choose to teach all of the strategies in math, I feel like this is one strategy that kids NEED to have.  Students need to be able to figure out what they know and what they don't know - what they don't understand and how they can fix that misunderstanding.  

This chapter listed some signs that students should pay attention to when trying to decide if they understand the concepts at hand...
-  Your internal voice is not interacting mathematically with the concept or problem.
-  You are unable to visualize the mathematical concept or problem.
-  Your mind wanders away from the mathematical work at hand.
-  You are unable to recall the details of a math idea or problem.  
-  You cannot find answers to the questions asked to clarify meaning.  

Then, once they have decided that they do not understand students should be aware of some fix-up strategies that they can use to gain understanding.  

Some of these fix-up strategies mentioned are:
-  think about my mathematical purpose
-  identify and unfamiliar vocabulary
-  reread the mathematical text or problem
-  look for text features or text structure to give any clues
-  ask questions
-  connect to other known mathematical concepts
-  relate to personal experiences
-  visualize the problem
-  draw a diagram to represent the problem
-  use manipulatives
-  restate it in your own words
-  think of a similar problem
-  try a different problem solving approach
-  talk with another student
-  ask someone for help

Hopefully these ideas gave you some things to think about adding into you math teaching this year -  We have one more week left and during that post we will be talking about how all of this mathematical strategy teaching fits into our Guided Math programs!

An InLinkz Link-up

I am back for one more installment of "Dear Future Teacher...".  This week we are talking all about what the first day of school looks like.  I remember my first year planning the first day and trying to cram everything in.  DO NOT make the same mistake I did - Go slow and teach them about everything in the room!

We head back on a Tuesday and for our district the kids always get out at 12:30 on Tuesdays, so teachers can have their PD hours.  This is a nice way to ease into the year, but it doesn't give us much time to introduce everything!!

Of course - you need to make your schedule work for you, but if you have any questions about my first day of first grade - leave a comment - I would LOVE to help!

An InLinkz Link-up

Random Acts of Kindness

This summer link-up has been fun - and a great way to share a little about me - not just chatting about my classroom!  This week we are talking about a random act of kindness that we have given or received!  I also have a FREEBIE in my store that I updated, just for this week's post!  Woo-Hoo!!

When the tragedy at Sandy Hook happened a few years ago, it hit me harder that I would have expected.  I am not the emotional type for the most part - or at least I am good at hiding it inside, but I'm telling you this go to me.  After the holiday break, I decided I was going to do one Random Act of Kindness a day for 26 days (at least I think it was 26 days - I did one day for each person killed).  Some of the things I did cost $$ (not a lot) buy the person behind me in line at the coffee shop's order, flowers for someone who may not get flowers often.  Many cost nothing - notes of thanks and appreciation, lunch for a friend, letters to service people.  It made me feel better and helped me heal - I hope it made others smile too! 

Once I started my TPT store I made a holiday RAK freebie which got some love, but since it was seasonal I imagine it had limited range.  Today I gave it a more general facelift for you to use in your classroom anytime!

Find the set HERE!  Please leave me some TPT feedback love once you download - I would love to hear what you have to say!!

The Building Blocks of Back-To-School - Meet the Teacher!

Welcome to the four week long link up to help you get ready for back-to-school! A special THANK YOU to our host Mrs. D's Corner for organizing and getting it all ready for you to read!

Each week we will be chatting about one new element you will NEED to know about before you head back to school - and hopefully we will have a few tips and tricks that will make life a little easier during those first few weeks!!

Here is the schedule...

SO this week we begin with some meet the teacher info...

I teach first grade and in my district we DO NOT have a step up day in June where the kids meet their new teacher.  In fact families only receive the teacher assignments about 2 weeks before the first day.  So, as a team we decided a number of years ago to host a Meet-and-Greet on one of our teacher prep days the week before school starts.  

This has worked well for a number of reasons...

-  Kids get acclimated to the room.

-  Parents meet you and are more comfortable dropping off on the first day (and not staying too long).

-  We can collect dismissal information - especially the changes that will be happening for dismissal on the first day!

-  We can collect supplies and have time to organize them before the first day. 

-  We can distribute some of the first day paperwork early so moms and dads have some time to complete it before the influx of school papers come home.

-  We can share our wish list with families.

-  We can hand out READY CONFETTI in person to get everyone ready for the first day!!

This Meet-and-Greet has been a work in progress, but last year I used this editable set from Reagan Tunstall to help me organize the families as they walked through.  There is no set agenda for them, but I do expect them to follow the numbered signs, so they can at least check out these 4 or 5 things...

Theses are editable, but I always use this one first to make sure the families get that NEED to KNOW BTS info right away - and with any luck they will fill out some of the paperwork in your room!!

We used to ask kids to bring in their school supplies on the first day, but then we spent tons of after school time organizing them, when really who has time for that on the first day!  Now we have the kids bring them in to the meet-and-greet and they do the sorting.  We have labeled bins out on the Guided Reading kidney shaped table and the kids sort away.  All we have to do at the end is put the bins on our supply shelf!!

As a part of their BTS folder, I send home a dismissal form for the majority of the school year, but if your school is anything like mine, the kiddos have different ways of heading home on their first day (a lot of working moms and dads take the day off!).  So this is a way to get that first day info before the first day chaos!

These two are my favorite!  I made these cupcakes (HERE) to ask families to send in special items (wipes, tissues, legos, etc).  Then I set up my cupcake stand and let them choose.  I used this for the Meet-and-Greet, but I also put it up for our Curriculum Night in a few weeks.  

Finally, I give kids some Ready Confetti to open the night before the first day to help them get rid of their jitters.  You can find the freebie poem HERE - just copy onto cute paper and the freebie labels I used HERE - use Avery or Staples label that have 6 to a sheet.  

I hope you got some good ideas about BTS and meeting your new families!  I would LOVE to hear your ideas about meet-and-greets - I am always up for trying something new!

An InLinkz Link-up