drinking the kool-aid

Friday couldn't be soon enough this week. My assistant was out for 3 days this week, which only served to remind me: a) how awesome he is and b) how much I've delegated to him, even though he says I don't give him much to do. On the upside, I taught (essentially) solo for half of the year, so it wasn't too rough.

The week after Valentine's day was National Engineers Week. My littles engaged in a few engineering projects, although not as many as I had hoped for (I planned a TON that we didn't get to complete.) I think that's one of the things I'm going to plan out over the summer before next year. They had a blast creating things, but I think that next year I need to put more emphasis on genuine problem solving. Although, truthfully, the one activity that had the most components of our design process (aka problem solving model) caused the most stress/meltdowns among the little people.

Here's (some of) us with our hoop gliders:

We also did lots of other things that I have no pictures of.

Anyway, if you're wondering about the title of the post. . . 

I don't know how it is where you're from (and depending on if you're regular or special ed, YMMV) but around here direct instruction doesn't exactly mean Direct Instruction. And scripted, systematic, Direct Instruction is kind of a bad word. Kind of like basal reader, except somehow worse.

But, I was trained in DI. My college program lived/breathed/thought DI. And we learned how to test, place, adjust, remediate, supplement, modify, enrich . . . but most of that was done with a curriculum in mind. Every classroom I went in (13 observations, 2 internships, and one practicum = 15) used at least one scripted curriculum. (The school I did practicum in was school-wide DI! Regular ed kids used Reading Mastery.)

When I walked into my classroom in August, my first question was: "Where is my curriculum?" (Answer: "What do you mean?")

My school uses a Balanced Literacy approach. We have no core curriculum program for literacy. We use the workshop model. I have never seen it done, because it happens in regular ed classrooms. I could go observe now at my school . . . if I had time. We didn't really cover guided reading in college. I'd never seen anyone do conferring. It's foreign to me. So I read. Guided Reading, Literacy Workstations, The CAFE Book, Daily Five, everything I heard about. My literacy coach tried to help, but we come from very different training and I work with very different kids than she's used to. 

I think I'd love what they're doing . . . if I taught regular ed. But I don't. So I'm drinking the Kool-Aid, so to speak. I borrowed Reading Mastery 1 Classic from a colleague (because there's tons of RM stuff in our district's SpEd division) and I'm requesting that they buy my class Reading Mastery Signature Grade 1 (possibly other levels, too, as my kids come in/out.) I'm going to do Fast Cycle through Classic unless it seems like I need to slow down, and two of mine should be through it pretty quick (I started them at lesson 60 per the assessment guide, and they got through a lesson today super-fast and very easily) then continue on in the signature series (because we need the writing and language instruction, too!) 

So, if you know anyone who uses RM in their classroom that blogs, can you point me their way? I want to make sure my literacy block is still extremely interesting and engaging . . . but also efficient and systematic and effective. Yeah.

Also, two things I really love:

1) Engaged little people! (Bonus points for being engaged in good and not awesome evil!)

2) My enthusiasm for this one probably makes me a little weird, but . . .

snow, penguins, and bees

I am really bad at keeping up with this whole blogging thing.

Really, really bad. It's been over a month.

Anyway, so I got a new assistant. Which was actually amazing. Although spending over half the school year without help has turned me into a bit of a control freak. Like I wasn't bad enough already.

Also, I've taken four days off. Four. In a month. I am trying not to feel guilty about it. One was a mental health/doctor visit day, two days I was sick with the plague, and this past Friday I was at our state Council for Exceptional Children conference.

My littles have done some pretty cool things in January and February. We did our New Year's Resolutions (why had I not already posted this?) using the template from Step Into Second Grade. My littles loved it, especially the glitter and pom-poms. I was really glad to see them seriously consider what they needed to work on.

Then, we got our leveled library from DonorsChoose!

It doesn't look like much, but that's $800 worth of books.

All set up!

We did a lot of winter/snow activities in January, including this one inspired by both The First Grade Parade and Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade. My assistant (who'd only been there two weeks) asked if I was obsessed with snow and snowmen. Um, no. It's January. Snow, snowmen, and MLK are the high points. . . 

Speaking of Martin Luther King, Jr., we made our own MLK posters. I got the link to the activity from The First Grade Parade. Although I think covering MLK is important, I almost wish I had waited until next year to tell my littles much. He died? Someone shot him? Someone shot him. Is someone going to shoot me? Or my mama? I don't want to die. Will I ever die? When I get old? I don't want to get old! It was awful. 

On a lighter note, we did some engineering work. I'm gearing up for Engineering Week to start tomorrow, too. (Our school is an engineering magnet school.) This was the only picture I could find where you couldn't really see the kids. They used a 4th grade engineering kit to build this car independently. The two littles working on this are only six and seven (1st grade.) They impressed a lot of people at my school.

Oh, we made penguins in January, too. Mostly to dispel the notion of my snowman obsession. They were from Erica Bohrer. They were supposed to write about penguins to go with it . . . but that was on my mental health day. It apparently didn't go as I planned.

I saw an activity that Heather from Heather's Heart did with her kids to work on blends. I sometimes have my morning littles work in teams to find/think of words that have certain blends. I made a little chart for them to reference when challenging each other to a friendly game during our learning games time in the morning. The little definitions on them are actually mostly for the adults in the room (my mentor couldn't recall the difference, then I started doubting myself. . .) 

Finally, Valentine's Day. I don't mind the holiday at school with the kids, where we focus on friendship and familial love, but I really hate Valentine's Day as a romantic holiday. Because I'm cold and bitter like that. Anyway.

I needed a hallway display like woah because we were having a bunch of visitors and the new years stuff was getting old. I'd seen some cute ideas on Pinterest, but I wasn't sure what I could do that would be cute + super academically relevant. I loved the bees from A Cupcake for the Teacher, but I was undecided. What to do with them, what to add . . . I finally had an idea. I made a sheet for each little (yes, everyone got to be included in this one!) with their name on it. Everyone had to write why each of their classmates was a good friend. We were bee-ing good friends! (So corny. . .)

You should keep in mind that anything that looks not-too-hot about the bees is my fault, not anything wrong with the craft packet, because I didn't actually buy it since valentine's day was the day before payday and i was broke I decided to do this last-minute. So, all the awesomeness was her, any lopsided bees was me. 

So, tomorrow I'm off to professional development at another school, plus trying to nail down my stuff for Engineering Week. 

P.S. - If I made an Engineering Week unit for elementary and put it on TPT, would anyone even be interested? I don't know how much demand there would be, much less if I could even make it look attractive and engaging . . .

procrastination (and a small freebie-ish thing)

Kara gave me a blogger award . . . and I'm totally not with it enough to do more than just give her a shout out right now. I think if I listed seven random things about myself right now( per award rules,) they would all start with, "I am stressed out because . . ." But, if you're actually reading this, go check her blog out.

Three things:

- One: I get a new paraprofessional. TOMORROW. Guess when I found out? In the middle of the school day today. Guess who doesn't know? My kids. Guess who is going to be hating life tomorrow because we don't deal well with change? Anyone that comes anywhere near my room.

Also, they didn't even tell me this guy's name. Yes, that's right, GUY. I, um, am not good with talking to guys. I, umm, got teased a lot at lunch today. About my new man. *gulp*


- Two: I have a cute display in the hallway. Pictures tomorrow because I was going to lose the game if I didn't pack up my stuff right then. (My mentor and I occasionally try to race out of the school. This sounds slack, but it never happens until we've both worked at least 30 minutes past quitting time. I won today, but usually loose.)

- Three: I made labels for my new leveled library (that should arrive tomorrow if UPS doesn't randomly leave the box somewhere!) They fit the layout for the Post-It 1 Inch circular labels. If you by chance want labels to go on your books to label them by guided reading level, click for the PDF on Google Docs:

Levels A - C

Levels D - F

Levels G - I

Levels J - L

Clutter-Free Classroom, Week One

I've never done this whole "linky party" thing before, but when I read about the Clutter-Free Classroom Project that's going on, I knew I had to join in. As a first year teacher, I'm still getting my organizational system down. Add that to my classroom not being finished until after I'd had students for a few weeks and not getting my bookcases until December, I feel like I'm behind the game. At the beginning of the year, I was embarrassed for our principal and assistant principal to come into my room. It's so much better now, but . . . ugh. It's definitely a work in progress. 

The challenge for Week One was to take "before pictures." Some of these are cringe-worthy . . .

Our Classroom

As you walk in . . . you'll notice that there are no desks. I teach a primary-grades special needs class (emotional disorders,) and I only have 4-5 kids at a time. This means my room is kind of small compared to the regular classrooms in my school, and it's positively minuscule compared to some I've seen on blogs.

And here's my whole room, from the far side. To the right in this picture are my cabinets, which I don't have a good photo of. Both of these photos were from right before break, so there are a few things I've organized this week that you'll see below.

Teacher/Group Area

At the beginning of the year, I had my desk and the parapro desks away from the main tables. I'd wanted this so that the parapro and I would keep engaged with the students. This worked for me, but not for her. Now that I have no parapro (but interviews are ongoing!) I have my desk behind me so I can quickly get to the phone or my e-mail without interrupting our learning. 

Here's our small group table, my desk, and my bookshelves. My laptop sits on my desk, so I can get to it quickly to check e-mail or google the correct spelling of Lusitania. The bookshelves are much more organized than they were in August, but they still need intensive work . . . 

These magazine files (IKEA!) hold our current work in each subject (reading, writing, math, science, and socio-emotional.) I need to make labels for each of them to make it easier for a sub to find things, but since I was reminded once again on Friday that I'm not allowed sick days . . . it's not at the top of my list. If I have to have a substitute anytime soon . . . we'll have bigger problems than just finding materials quickly.

Here's my teacher toolbox, inspired by Create - Teach - Share. It just got finished on Friday, actually.

One of my two teacher bookshelves. It is a mess. I think my first step will be adjusting the shelf heights. They're not really working for me. The second thing? Finding if I can get rid of the books on the top and bottom shelves. I inherited them, so I think they're school property. I'm going to ask my mentor and AP about it, because I don't use them. 

This is my calendar area and behavior chart. Obviously this picture wasn't taken this week, but it still looks the same. I want to clean up my random-note area near the phone.  I think I could maybe make a cute bulletin board?

Classroom Library

Okay, this is one area that had given me a lot of trouble. Just Monday it looked . . .

Ugh. Atrocious. Our "most loved" books were stacked on the top shelf, lesser ones neat but hard to look through on the second. Dry erase slates piled on the bottom. Tons of unused space, but no organization at all. Yuck.

I finished with this at 4:30 on Friday. My mentor walked in right as I was finishing to say goodbye, and she stopped mid-sentence and was like WOW. I still need to figure out what to do with those last few books and the square containers, but it's so much better. These books are all organized by category. When I get my new leveled library on Wednesday (thanks, DonorsChoose!) they will be organized separately. 

I just got this bookcase at the end of December, so it's on my to-organize list. I want to get the shelf heights changed here, too. My leveled library is going to go here, and should take up the middle two shelves. I think our personal book baskets will stay on top, the lap desks on the bottom, and our bucket-filler buckets will move to the top of the black bookcase. 

The Closet

Ummm. I don't really want to show you these pictures. If the library was pretty atrocious, this is horrifying. . . 

It is a wreck! So much of the stuff in here that I inherited is just taking up space, and the three things I put in here (puzzle mat, stuffed animal bin, and crate seats) are just lying on top. I really need to work on this. I've tried several times, and got a lot of things into plastic boxes and put up the little metal shelf, but it's still . . . ugh. And, umm, triangular. Yeah. It matches my irregular octagon room. 

So, there you have it. I'm pretty pleased with how my room is now compared to in August, but I know it still needs lots of work. I'm hoping that this project (and learning from other teachers completing it) will help get me motivated and give me more ideas.

oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree . . .

We've been crafty lately, with mixed success.

My guys tried to make the traditional, white paper snowflakes one morning this week. I'd been in an IEP meeting, and came in about ten minutes late and tried to do it with them. . . no go. Two problems: our imaginations aren't very big ("What do you mean, just cut out shapes? Which ones? Where? But I don't want mine to be different!") and our cutting skills just aren't too great, considering we can all kind of be perfectionists. It didn't exactly work out.

All of my morning sweethearts made Christmas trees, though, and they look amazing. I saw the idea on A Special Kind of Class and wanted to go for it. We used die-cut circles and stars, and I punched out billions of colored dots to use as ornaments. I think they turned out adorable!

The one in the middle is by one of my darlings. Mine is left, the assistant's is right.

My friends that are in my class during Literacy Block as well wrote a sentence to go with it, then typed it up. Someone is missing, BTW; I have more than two during Literacy.

They all loved it, especially the hole-punch ornaments (the custodial staff hates me.) They look so cute in the hallway, too. The only thing I was conflicted about was the typing. When one particular little darling writes, no one but me can read it. I've been letting him type after he edits any time that our work goes into the hall. I want to recognize his awesome ideas and let him put up something his classmates in his other class will oooh and ahhh over when they see it, but I don't want to send the message that his handwriting is hopeless or an unimportant skill . . . 

Anyway, I'm really glad they had an awesome time and felt successful with this. 

stupendous snowflakes!

I feel like I've posted mostly about logistics, or little funny situations, or quotes from my class. I haven't talked much about what we're actually doing.

So. Here we go.

Normally, we have at least one activity a day that specifically targets following directions. Now, we follow directions all day at school, but I usually try to work on this behavior during a fun activity (a game, a craft, etc.) that is relatively non-threatening and doesn't really involve heavy academics. This keeps lack of academic skill and low motivation from being huge variables in the activity.

I was looking for a winter time craft that we could put up in our room when I ran across  a tutorial for snowflakes on Teaching in Flip-Flops. I immediately wanted them in my room. . . but I wasn't so sure that the activity would go that well with my guys and girl. She has third grade regular ed, while I have mostly first (and one second) graders with low tolerance of group activities, low rates of following verbal directions, etc. Also, first graders generally don't have the same fine motor skills as third graders. 

I decided we would try. And . . .

It went amazingly well! There were some hiccups:

- My guys wanted to pick their own colors, so we don't have an amazingly coordinated winter wonderland. I did not even bother to fight this battle; I only gave one prompt for how cool it would be if we had all blue/white, but they didn't bite. One even said, "Snowflakes are not blue, anyway." True that.

- They didn't have a whole lot of success with the cutting part. After we made one with them doing it all by themselves, I did all of the cutting/stapling and they did all of the folding/taping. Teamwork! I think if we ever do this again, I will get them into triangles and draw cut-lines on them prior to the activity. 

- One of my kids flat out was not interested. Could not have cared less. After the first mandatory snowflake part was done, that was it. She read a few books to herself while the boys got amazingly crafty. 

- I didn't have any fishing line or something transparent, so the black yarn is kind of a buzzkill. I'll be prepared next time.

Here are some pictures of our success!

This one was our "All By Ourselves" one, with extremely limited assistance. There were many do-overs, but they loved the finished product. They did two more mostly independently (not pictured.)

These two were our "I'll cut/staple, you fold/tape" ones. 

dear general ed teachers . . .

Do not jerk a child by the chin to get him/her to turn their face towards you under the premise of teaching eye contact. That child will then come to my room and jerk my chin in their direction when I eventually (and inevitably) speak to them without making eye contact (we're all a little autistic sometimes. . . ) Now you have that child invading people's space without permission, being rough with others. . .  And this child? Is not making eye contact with me, either, so now he/she is grabbing me by the chin while staring over my shoulder while nervously telling me, "Some teachers make you look at them. You have to."

You didn't just teach a pro-social skill. You just put me three steps backwards on the target behavior I was working on (asking for permission to touch/hug/etc.) and made both the child and I uncomfortable.

Thanks.