Weekend Homework

I have been putting a great deal of thought into the idea of homework this summer. Teachers who don't have children have asked me if it really makes that big of a difference being a teacher who has their own child. The answer is an emphatic YES. I, without a doubt, have a much better understanding of my parents by being a parent myself. I understand the frustrations and difficulties that they may have with their child's behavior. I understand that the amount of time that is spent as a family after school is both limited and precious. Most importantly, I understand that being a parent isn't easy and that anyone who thinks it is, isn't a parent.

I am lucky, right now. My child isn't in school, yet. I don't have to deal with homework and grades. Though I can't say that I've never gotten a not so happy call from his pre-school. But I digress. By the time I pick him up and get him home, it is around 6:00 (thank you Northern Virginia traffic). We all eat dinner and by the time this is finished and cleaned up, it is now 6:45 (if I'm lucky). His bedtime is 8:00. So, I normally start his bedtime routine at 7:30. This gives me 45 minutes of free time to spend with him. 45 minutes. That's it. So, this got me to thinking. What am I going to do when he starts school? We only have 45 minutes together as it is. Are you kidding? This leads me back to the idea of homework. 

Am I really going to want to spend my precious 45 minutes doing homework with my son? It's not that I don't want to know about or help him with the things that he is learning at school, but I want time for us to just be a family. I think that every parent wants time to just be a family and for their kid to have time to just be a kid. Let's take a look at daily homework in a completely objective way.

For the past nine years, I have assigned homework Mon- Thurs night. My students never had homework on the weekends. My first graders normally had a reading log due each day where they were required to read at least 15 minutes each night and have it signed by a parent. They also had a review worksheet of math, reading, words, or writing each night. Why did I do it? Well, when I first started I was required to. Then after a while, everyone else was doing it so I felt like I had to too. But now, as a parent, I find myself thinking, "Why?" Teachers claim it is to review, but let's be honest. I just saw your child earlier today and guess what, I'm going to see them tomorrow. Not much time to lose what we've learned. Weekends, however, are a different story. These are two full days where there is no teaching going on. No review. In some homes, not even a glimmer of something educational. So when does your child really need to review a skill? During the week or over the weekend when two long days are going by without school anywhere on the agenda. I want you to be able to spend quality time with your child. Here are my ideas for doing homework this year. 

Each night students will be required to keep a reading log. They will be required to read at least 15 minutes. They can read to you, you can read to them, or you can read together. It doesn't matter to me, as long as reading is happening. The easiest way to do this is to have a bedtime routine where you read before your child goes to bed. They love to spend this extra time just with you. Where they have your full, undivided attention. It helps to calm your child down from the day and can also be used as an incentive. Each night I tell my son that he has a choice. He can either go to bed or read a book. He chooses to read a book every time. Why? Because he gets to stall bedtime just a little bit longer. If he starts to get too wild after dinner, I tell him, "Oh no, if you don't stop, then we will only be able to read one book before bed." He freezes and quickly starts behaving better. If your child really doesn't want to read, it may be because they are not confident in their reading ability. Many students will struggle but whatever you do, do not tell them that they can not read! This kills their confidence at school, they become withdrawn and extremely hesitant to become a better reader because they are scared that they will fail. All because someone told them that they can't read! Even if they are having trouble, the 15 minutes doesn't have to be them reading to you. You can read to them. Just make sure that you point to each word while you are reading! This is SUPER important. When you point to the words, your child will begin to notice that every time you point to the letters a n d, they say and. They start to associate what you are saying to the words on the page. So even if you are reading to them, make sure that you point!

This will be the only homework that has to be completed during the week. I want you to spend that precious time with your child and not fussing over homework. With this comes a catch. I want you to do homework over the weekend. 

On Friday night students will come home with two pages of homework for the weekend. One page that reviews the reading or phonics skill that we learned the previous week. As well as another page that would review the math skill learned. I want this because I don't want them to forget what we spent all week learning about. Plus, there is more time on the weekend to complete these assignments. The weekend also gives you more time to see what your child is learning about in school (How much do you really pay attention to their homework during the week? Who has time?). This way, your child only has to do 2 review pages each week and they truly are reviews. No new concepts will go home. It will also give you a better idea as to whether or not your child is comprehending what has being taught in class throughout the week. 

Maybe I'm crazy. What do I know? My child isn't in school, yet. That's why I need your help. Let me know what you think of this idea. I don't want to just spring it on my parents if it's the worst idea of the century. However, if you like it, share it with your child's teacher or principal. I may be crazy but maybe we can get homework turned around to what it was intended for originally. 

-OneCrazyS

Name Tags for Dummies

I know what you're thinking, "Name tags, really?" I have had a love-hate relationship with name tags for almost a decade. They can be an awesome tool or a straight up pain! I am the type of teacher that when something doesn't work how I want it to, then I continuously try new things until it does. Trust me when I say that I have tried every name tag out there. I have tried dollar section ones, nicer paper ones from the teacher store, self-stick tags, plastic tags, plastic self-stick tags, and pretty much any other version you can think of.

No matter what I tried there were always problems:

1. Students love to pick and destroy them all day long (I have tried bribing).

2. You inevitably run out of them (5 kids don't go by their given name and you had 4 come into your class throughout the year).

3. They all leave sticky, obnoxious residue at the end of the year that you have to hand scrape and rub with goo gone until you hand goes numb

4. Unless you got the ones from the dollar tree (which are junk) they weren't cheap.

 I finally realized that I wasn't going to be able to find exactly what I wanted, I was going to have to make my own. To me, the most important tools on the tag were the hundreds chart, number line, alphabet, color words, and of course their name. I made them so that I could print them out, laminate them and then tape them onto their desks.

Here are a few tips and tricks:

1. If possible use a home laminator. The laminator itself costs about $25 and you can find lamination sheets on Amazon for about $22 for 200 sheets. It is MUCH better quality and will not get destroyed over time (unless you have one of THOSE kids who likes to cut everything for fun).

2. Laminate the tag first THEN write each student's name with a permanent marker. If a student moves or leaves for no reason, just take nail polish remover and remove the name. Re-write your new student's name.

3. Use the GOOD clear packing tape. You know what I'm talking about. Not the stuff that is cheaper than cheap and costs $1 for 2 rolls. You need the stuff that costs $3 for 1 roll. Believe me, it is much easier to get off at the end of the year and rarely leaves behind sticky residue.

4. Print and laminate a few extras just in case your principal walks in at 7:00 am one day and tells you that SURPRISE you have a new kid and they'll be there in an hour.

5. If you have students who are super pickers, put magnetic tape on the back of the name tag and "stick" it to the front of their desk (this is great for a sub). This way they are still able to take it off and use it but it is not a constant distraction.

Click below to get the name tags that I made. There are 11 different color choices with a chevron pattern. Only $1 and you'll never have to buy a name tag again! Just print more for the next year (:

Click Here for Chevron Name Tags

Any tips or tricks of your own? Let me know in the comments below!

Keep On, Teachin On!

-OneCrazyS

Set some GOALS!

I am currently teaching two grades, taking two classes, and I am now in my third classroom this year. How I'm alive is a mini mystery. Gotta say, that even with all of that, I'm happier than ever. In the midst of doing my DRA (our county's assessment) class homework, I have been reawakened into the world of goals. This isn't my first rodeo or my first time having my students make goals, but over time things get swept under the rug. Everyone has their students make goals at the beginning of the year and maybe even again after the new year, but it is rare that we have time to hold our students accountable for their goals and help them to turn their ideas into a reality. I truly think that students need a clear focus, that they came up with, to help them become better at honestly anything they do. I wanted to make something that would hold the students accountable for their goals yet wasn't tedious for the teacher. I created a few things just for that purpose. I wanted my students to focus on becoming better readers but most of this can be used for any subject.

First, I had my students fill out a reflection page that helped them to celebrate the great reading strategies that they are using as well as focus on what things they may need to work on.

Then, I printed bookmarks for each student on card stock (I know, card stock is like gold but they won't hold up for weeks as paper, trust me, I tried). I had everyone pick one goal and write it on their bookmark. then they kept it in their independent reading book. Every time they practiced their goal, they wrote the date at the bottom.

You can use these instead and have the students write the date on the back (it saves some of that golden cardstock). 

Once they had 10 days of practice (or however much you'd like). I gave them a "met their goal" card. They wrote their name at the top, what their goal was, and the date that they met it.

Then I posted the "We Met Our Goals!" sign on a bulletin board in our classroom and they got to put their card underneath. They were so proud that they were able to accomplish their goal that it motivated them to create new goals and work to accomplish them too. 

Once one student had their card posted, everyone wanted to achieve their goals too! It is a great way to motivate students to not just write a goal on paper but to work towards it and actually achieve it. The beauty in it all is that it requires little to no effort from the teacher. HOORAY! All you have to do is put the sign up on a bulletin board or wall and let the students keep track of their progress. You can get all of these for FREE at my TPT store. But hurry. It will only be free for one week! Just click on the link below:

FREE GOALS PACK GIVEAWAY

Don't miss a one week give away again! Follow my TPT store and get all of the latest and greatest giveaways.

After a week I will be adding more goodies for math and behavior goals and you can get all of it for only $1!

Let me know what you think of this idea and if it worked for you. Have any ideas? Let me know those too, I'd love to hear how you used this in your classroom!

-OneCrazyS

Mouse in da House

You might call me weird, you might even call me crazy, but I like to think that I know how to take advantage of a teachable moment. Right now our school looks like a mini invasion of mice. Frankly, I can't blame them. The walls of at least six ground room classrooms are entirely knocked out leaving the school at a balmy 30 degrees and opening the flood gates to tons of cold furry friends. Most rooms in the building have maybe one furry critter while my neighboring classroom has multiple. Her friends were starting to become brave and were coming out and walking all about while she was teaching her class. As you can imagine, this was making her classroom a constant nightmare of kids yelling and random hallway walks to let adults come in to "catch" the mice. We put down a few traps overnight and BINGO caught one! The head construction guy came and put it in a box and drilled some holes in it. Almost everyone he showed it to was either grossed out or scared of it. I however, thought he was pretty cute. He actually is a baby mouse but looks much bigger in this picture. I have had lots of different pets throughout my life (fish, aqua frogs, dogs, cats, hamsters) but this mouse was a first for me.

I saw him as something that the kids would LOVE and a great opportunity to teach about mammals. Am I supposed to be teaching about mammals right now? Well...umm...not technically, but who could pass up this opportunity. As expected, my students were very excited. Don't worry, the lid is taped on. He can't get out and the kids can't get in. Some of them had never seen a mouse before and I decided that it was my job to give them an up close and personal viewing. Surprisingly, no one was scared (thank goodness). I started to talk to them about how he was a mammal and that he had fur and was warm blooded (yada yada). One of my second grade students said, "A mammal?" Like he had never heard of such a thing. I went on to explain that there are different types of animals and that our super fun friend here was a mammal. We talked about why and made a web. It was a great real-life learning experience. I think that we will write letters to him or persuasive letters to our parents to let us keep him as a classroom pet. Should be fun! They can't wait to see him again on Monday and I can't wait for them to see his new home! 

Hopefully he'll live until the end of the school year (at least). He should make the classroom a little more interesting. Now if only we could agree on a name... 

Cyber Monday SALE!

Black Friday has come and gone but Cyber Monday is here! Don't miss out on getting a great deal on all of my TPT products. My WHOLE store is 20% off.

Check it out here: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Onecrazys

Student Centered Library

This year I tried something a little different in my library. I used to use a sun tent as my reading center. However, when I moved to my new school, I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to use it. Sadly, this year, there is no reading tent (tear) yet I continue to tell my students to go to the reading tent during centers time. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Instead, I decided to try something new with my students. These bins used to be painted with crabs, fish, and turtles (my old reading groups) but I re-painted them, gave them snazzy new labels, and made them a little more student centered. Now, these are my students' go to books every time they come to the library center. They can "like" books and put them in the Recommended Books bin. They can write their own books, newspapers, or magazines and put them in the Student Authors bin, and I am in charge of the Seasonal Books bin. I use the wonderful dollar books from Scholastic to fill these up for each season throughout the year.

You may be wondering where I got these cool chair bins. Many moons ago, back when I was a sparky new teacher, I found them at Five Below. However, I have since hunted high and low for replacements and have come up dry. I'm sure you could use 3 crates tied together if you felt so inclined. The fabric bins inside came from the Dollar Tree and I'm pretty positive that they would fit in a crate, though I haven't tried it. Either way, just having these three bins in one form or another in your library center will be sure to spark their interest in reading and even writing. My personal favorite is the Student Authors bin. Some of my students actually write weekly editions of their own classroom newspaper and put them in there. I remember one headline Johnny Throws Rocks at Recess! I laughed pretty hard at that one. 

Here are the signs if you would like them:

 Student Authors and Recommended Books

Seasonal Books

Stay warm and happy reading!

-OneCrazyS

Candy Activities Split

My family is a little cuckoo for candy. My husband has eaten large amounts of candy daily since I met him 8 years ago. Apparently he always has and always will. I have embraced his fruity candy love and we celebrate candy season every year. In case you didn't know when candy season is, it starts in the beginning of October with Halloween candy and ends in April with Easter candy. We obviously take our candy very serious here. In case you were wondering, my son hardly touches the stuff (we tell him it's yucky). However, every night for our daily us time, my husband and I bring our nightly ration of candy downstairs watch TV. With so much candy in the house, I knew that there had to be some way that I could use it at school (and not just for good behavior). I created a candy activity pack last year and my students loved all of the activities. At some point this year, I realized that everyone probably doesn't want all of the different subjects and they may just want one or two. I decided to split the product up so that all of the different subjects could be purchased separately. I finally finished this morning and they have been posted to my store. In case you didn't already know, all of my products are 50% off for the first 72 hours, so don't forget to follow my store so you don't miss any new products or awesome savings! Get them while they're hot!

Reading Candy Activities

Math Candy Activities

Science Candy Activities

Social Studies Candy Activities

Language Arts Candy Activities

Happy learning!

- OneCrazyS

Busy Busy Bee

So yes, I am aware that it seems like I have fallen of the face of the earth (or at least the internet). In the past 3 months my husband and I have painted 17 rooms, packed up a house, unpacked a house, and I have started a new job. I am at an elementary school in Springfield, VA and I couldn't be happier! All of the students, staff, and administration are absolutely wonderful. We had a fire drill the other day and I have never been more impressed. Over 700 students stood outside of the building in what seemed like dead silence. Absolutely amazing! It has taken a little while to adjust to my new environment full of construction workers and noises (our school is in the process of renovation). My year has also had an interesting twist when my class changed from a second grade class to a first and second grade split class. It has brought some new challenges to my day but SUPER organization has helped to keep me on track. My students work great with each other and we have a wonderful dynamic in our room. As you can tell, to say that I've been busy is an understatement (especially considering that I have an almost 3 year old at home too). Either way I'd like to rejoin the world of the internet and keep sharing great teaching ideas.

This year I have already come up with some great things on my own and learned some awesome things from my new colleagues! Today's share is from my new team leader who has been so helpful that I can't thank her enough. This year I put my color coded stickers at the bottom of my journals. This way my students barely had to pull their journals out of their desks to see which journal it was before deciding if it was the correct one or not. I have to say, I thought that I was pretty smart.

 Until I saw my team leader's journals. Without a doubt they were better than mine.

She had her students color the pages on the outside all the way around the journal so they didn't even  have to take their journals out at all. All they did was look inside and boom they could see the pink or green and pick the journal they needed! Genius. 

Of course, I then had all of my students color the outside of their pages too and now it's never been easier for them to find their journals. Thank you Ms. Navarrete for the super tip! Hopefully you can use this in your classroom too. Do you have a tip that helps to keep your students' desks organized? Leave a comment below!

-OneCrazyS

Back to School Sale!

It's that time of year where everyone is starting to go back to school! I have to go back for new teacher orientation next week though I know many of my friends are going back this week. To make this time a little easier on you and your wallet, I am throwing a SALE in my TeachersPayTeachers store! You can save 15% from me as well as another 10% from TPT. That's 25% OFF of a whole bunch of products. Check out a few that will be on sale: 

Originally $3 on SALE for $2.40!

Originally $3 on SALE for $2.40!

Originally $5 on SALE for $4!

Originally $6 on SALE for $4.80!

Originally $3 on SALE for $2.40!

Have fun shopping and I hope you have a great start to your new year!

-OneCrazyS

Classroom Library

Our move is COMPLETE (minus the unpacking of a million boxes). Thank goodness! Our new house is like our own personal gym complete with several flights of stairs. I should be in pretty good shape soon enough!

I am definitely excited to be in a new state, county, and school. Change is always a good thing in my world. I am even going to teach a fifth grade class this year! It will definitely be a different teaching experience but it should be tons of fun. I have to say that if I had to pick one thing that I will miss the most out of my old first grade classroom, it would be my library. My library was always something special. It was a place for students to sit down and get lost in a good book. For five years, my classroom library was in a tent. In fact it was in a sun tent (they are like half-tents that you take to the beach). It was something that new students were always excited to see. Here is my happy place:

I don't know what my new classroom will be like so my hopes of having a tent may be lost. However, I already have some new ideas! I just painted those bins in the back of the tent white. This year I will use them as bins for: Recommended Books, Seasonal Books, and Student Author Books.  I can't wait to get started! I know that we will have a great year!

-OneCrazyS

New School!

If you didn't already know, I am moving up and out of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We are headed to Springfield, VA and we couldn't be happier! I officially have a new job at Springfield Estates Elementary School and I can't wait to get started. I already have so many new ideas to try with my students. I always put a large emphasis on the fact that our class is our "school family" however, this year I want my students to feel like the classroom is their home away from home. I want them to have an active part in making the classroom theirs. My idea starts with a white table (which I have to explain the background to first). My mom's friend Ms. Anita (who is my second mother), moved into her home in Florida and found a picture on her wall. She tried to remove the picture and realized that the person who lived there before her painted on the actual wall and then put a picture frame around it. The people before her called it the "Murial." Yes, the Murial, not the Mural. Anyways, everyone who ever came to her house was asked to paint a picture onto the Murial. I really liked this idea and I wanted to do a version of this at my own house. I had an old table from when I was a child and so I painted the entire thing white and then painted a beach background on the top portion of it. Whenever a friend or family member would come to the house they would paint a picture onto the beach scene and then paint their name. It was a fun tradition and it became a very interesting beach scene full of a dolphin, battleship, and even an airplane. 

I decided that it was time for the table idea to move its way into school. I took several pictures of it and then sanded and re-painted it white. At the beginning of the year I would like to have the students paint something on the top portion of the table and then paint their name. I have a Plexiglas piece that goes on top of that part of the table so we can use it without damaging our paintings. I have also drawn squares all over the rest of the table for the students to create a quilt like creation. I drew squares so no one would paint ridiculously large pictures that took up half of the table and so no one would paint over anyone else's art work. I will keep the table on top of a plastic bag and the paints and brushes inside of the table. I think the students will love the opportunity to be creative and help personalize their classroom furniture. We'll see if it works, I'll keep you posted!

P.S. - I am without a doubt upset to be leaving my students at Woodson. I will not be able to see them grow and change and say Hello in the hallways like I always do. I told them that they are more than welcome to write to me at my new school but at the end of the year I wasn't sure where exactly I was going. To any of them who are interested in writing to me I would LOVE to hear from you!! This is the address of my new school: 

Springfield Estates Elementary

6200 Charles C Goff Drive

Springfield, VA  22150

Please don't send any letters until after September 1st if possible (they start after labor day here). I truly look forward to hearing from you and I can't wait to hear how your summer went! Plus, I'd love to tell you all about my summer adventures as well! I hope to hear from you soon (: 

-OneCrazyS

Mrs. Soderstrom

Summer Birthdays Celebration

Every year I struggle trying to figure out what to do for those poor students who happen to have their birthday over the summer. Normally, I like to have a big class party where I make cupcakes and we sing and watch a movie for them. This year however, I had a much better idea. In case you didn't know, I love to bake! It's a sad thing for me though because no one in my house likes baked food. Not even my 2 1/2 year old boy! What's a sad baking girl to do? Bring baking to school of course! This year, I decided to bake our birthday treats as a class. Originally I was going to have us bake cupcakes but since I didn't want them working with raw eggs, I decided to use blueberry and chocolate chip muffin mix instead (where all you have to add is water).We used both of these yummy mixes to make muffin puffs (basically muffin cookies). Of course I couldn't just have them mix in the correct amount of water and be done with it, I let them experiment. We put more water in one mix than the other and made predictions on what we thought would happen. We also discussed what to do to make dough or batter thicker or thinner if we were following a recipe (this knowledge definitely comes in handy when cooking). We came to the conclusion that adding liquid to batter would make it thinner and adding a solid like flour or confectioner's sugar would make it thicker.

 First, I lined the cookie sheets with foil and sprayed them with cooking spray.

(The pans we used at school were smaller. I had to recreate this at home because I forgot to take pictures at school.)

  Then, I let each of the students put a blob of muffin mix from each bowl on the pan and then I put them in the toaster oven. (At school we put each of the different batters on different trays.) Don't worry if the blobs are too close to each other.

While the muffin puffs were baking, I wrote all of the students' names (with summer birthdays) and their birth dates on the board. I passed out colored paper and assigned 2-3 students a specific student from the board. We spent some time creating hand made birthday cards. 

Once I removed the golden brown muffin puffs from the toaster ovens (they only take about 5-7 minutes to cook), the students passed out their cards and we sang Happy Birthday. Then, we observed the different muffin puffs to see what happened when the batter was thicker or thinner. We also talked about why some of the muffins ran into each other and how we could avoid that if we ever baked them again.

 After that, I passed out the muffin puffs and juice. We had such a great time and I think the students who had a birthday over the summer really felt special. It was easy, educational, and tons of fun! I will definitely be doing this again next year!

-OneCrazyS

P.S. - Normally, I try to post something every week but over the summer I am going to try to post something every other week. We are in the wonderful process of moving which means fixing and painting EVERYTHING in the house. Oh the joys of moving!

What Teachers Really Do Over The Summer

Most of us teachers have been watching all of the funny teacher videos of "What Teachers Really Do Over The Summer." Ms. South organized the whole event and one day after school turned into a fun-filled costume show of sorts. Everyone came out in full force with their boas, horse heads, masks, wheelchairs, and wigs. It was a blast and I couldn't have asked for a better end to the year. Ms. South made a great trailer for the students and we all watched it on the announcements on Friday. The big day will be next week for all of the students to watch the whole performance in all of it's glory! I can't wait! She was nice enough to post it on YouTube for all to see. Check it out below and enjoy the show!

-OneCrazyS

The Magic of YouTube

Everyone knows the power of the Internet, but one specific site has changed the face of education today. YouTube is one of the most widely used sources for informal education. If there is anything you want to learn, just look it up on YouTube, and more than likely someone will be there ready to share their knowledge with you. Personally, I use YouTube all of the time to advance my own knowledge outside of professional development opportunities, grants, graduate classes, and the like. I am well aware that I do not know everything there is to know on any particular topic, therefore I am always looking for new ideas or a fresh take on an old idea. Some teachers may spend their summers at the beach, but honestly . . . I spend most of my time learning (just ask my husband). Last summer I spent several hours a day watching YouTube videos to learn how to create a blog, as well as the title, tags, and widgets for a blog. I stayed up late learning how to create professional looking teaching materials through the use of an open source program called Inkscape. I even learned how to film, edit, and publish teaching videos to share on YouTube. I cannot express my love and admiration for this site enough. Some people may spend their time watching cat videos or funny babies, but I use it as a free gateway to gaining knowledge. You know what they say . . . knowledge is power! It's possible that I spend so much time learning because I don't have any cable or public television service, nor do I want it. I truly see myself as a lifelong learner and I always want to acquire more knowledge about anything that I can; television is a distraction to this process in my opinion. I am an inventor at heart, which explains why I am continuously curious. I use everything I do as a learning experience and then I use YouTube to help me figure out how I can improve upon those experiences. More recently, I have been using YouTube to learn a new way of teaching. Some people may already know this, but soon I will be moving away from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. My family will be moving into the Springfield, Virginia area and we couldn't be happier. As a teacher in Somerset County, Maryland, I realize that many other counties (including Fairfax County, Virginia) use a much different teaching model than what I currently use in my county. I have taught in many different ways throughout my eight years of teaching, all of which have their advantages and disadvantages. The key to anything in teaching is to file away the successes for later use and to learn from the failures or challenges that have been presented to you. I never truly see anything as a failure and I discuss this in depth with my students. The only way to fail is to give up! If something does not go as expected or as you had hoped, then the only real thing to do is to stop and figure out what went wrong and how can you fix it to make it work better. I see students become upset and frustrated when they think that they have failed. I then explain to them that this is not a time to be sad, but a time to think: What happened? How can I make this better? They change, they immediately stop and their mental wheels start to turn. An inventor is not someone who is the smartest man or woman in the world, but someone who never gave up and tried something multiple times until they succeeded. Yes, I realize I have wandered away from my original YouTube discussion, but this was important to say, as so many teachers ignore struggling students instead of giving them the tools needed to become self-motivating individuals. Now, back to my move to Northern Virginia. We are moving to Fairfax County and with that comes new challenges and experiences. I have been on a few interviews and have learned so much from each and every one of them. I did not realize how different the actual classroom teaching model was in other counties compared to mine. The need to know immediately took over and I began doing extensive research into the way that Fairfax County teaches. I have asked questions and emailed the Elementary Mathematics Specialist in the county. I have learned about DRA2, Words Their Way, Guided Reading, Responsive Classrooms, and Math Workshop. I have watched numerous training videos and other videos of teachers in the classroom using these types of teaching models, all without having to go out in the rain. YouTube is simply a wonderful tool for any teacher who just wants to know more. After watching videos of teachers using these strategies in their classroom, I began using some of them in my classroom as well. I like to test and try things out before jumping into anything (if at all possible). My students and I have a wonderful relationship, and I have explained to them that we are going to be trying new things and they are more than happy to oblige. We now have daily morning meetings and use transitions to get from one place to another. We meet in small, leveled guided reading groups and work on individual skills based on their needs. We use secret passwords (e.g., stars with words) on our chairs each day to help us learn new word patterns at our individual level (stay tunned for this blog post later). We meet in small groups to learn specialized math skills, which are based on previous assessments. So many changes in so little time, yet I feel nothing but happiness. I see how happy my students are to greet each other and pick transitions. I see how much they have improved because of the more individualized instruction. Nothing makes me feel better than seeing happy children learning. I have started to wonder where has this model been my whole teaching career? I have always worked hard to have happy students who enjoy learning, but this was something different. This was a whole new way of thinking and teaching, and I welcome it with open arms. I know that there is still more to learn and I am excited to see what else my good friend YouTube has to offer. I know what I'll be doing this summer, what about you?

-OneCrazyS

Shaina Soderstrom

End of the Year Awards Necklaces

Black and White Awards Necklaces

Color Awards Necklaces

Necklace Pack

The year is beginning to come to a close and I have truly loved my class this year. We always become so close and yet I know I have to let them go. I love having my students vote and give class awards at the end of the year (like most teachers) but this year I wanted something different. I was tired of the same old certificates that ended up on the fridge for a little while, in a special box, or more than likely in the trash. I wanted something that my students could wear with pride and show off to their family. I wanted them to feel like they earned a real medal. I love to invent new things and I felt like the end of the year award necklaces were the way to go. I made a student voting sheet for the students to decide who gets which award. I also made a Teacher Tally Sheet because it used to be such a pain to figure out who won each category. With this tally sheet, I can just write the initials of the students who they voted for in each category, put tally marks if they were voted for more than once, and then circle the student who had the most tallies. Much easier!

Once I know who won each award, I'm going to print the necklaces out on card stock. After that, I will write their names and then laminate them. I made three options because I love to have different choices. Personally, I like the black and white ones the best. They are easy to print at home and don't use a lot of ink. Plus I can have the student who won the award color it themselves.

Then, all I have to do is laminate it, cut it out, punch holes on the black circles, and tie a piece of string long enough to go around their neck. Voila! Super awesome awards necklaces all ready to be worn and shown off. I am so excited to give these to my students!

There are also awards necklaces in color (so you can just print and go) and a pack of both color and black & white necklaces. However you like your necklaces, I know your students will love wearing them. I can't wait to see their smiles while they wear these! I hope your last few weeks are happy and not too stressful (: 

Check Out My End of the Year Awards Necklaces HERE:

Black and White Awards Necklaces

Color Awards Necklaces

Necklace Pack

-OneCrazyS

Classical Learning

I have spent several years working in teacher collaborative grant groups at Salisbury University. We spent many weekends and week-long summer sessions learning about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education.Throughout the past year or two, STEM became STEAM, adding a new element of the Arts into STEM education. Ever since I was a child, I have been deeply involved in the arts. I love to dance, act, and create anything imaginable. I honestly think that my arts education has helped to shape me into the teacher that I am today. I try to weave the arts into my daily lessons so that my students enjoy learning and are engaged in everything we do. I love to create chants and dances to help my students remember new concepts. I also love playing music during class, especially instrumental music. The students hear plenty of lyrics throughout their lives outside of school, but I want them to truly listen to the music behind the words. Recently, I came across a wonderful group on YouTube called The Piano Guys. Most of their work consists of instrumental remakes of popular songs. They cover songs like "What Makes You Beautiful," "Let It Go," "Titanium," "Story Of My Life," and more. All of them are beautiful and my students love listening to them. My absolute favorite one to watch is "What Makes You Beautiful." 

Take a look:

When my students watched this, they were completely engrossed in the video; it is absolutely amazing to watch. Who knew you could play the piano like that? I am truly inspired and in love with this group's work. All of the songs are appropriate for everyone. I can't wait to listen to more of The Piano Guys this week! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

- OneCrazyS

DEAR Time Contest

First grade is a wonderful age where students truly become readers. Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) time started several years ago. I'm not exactly sure when, but I know that we had DEAR time many moons ago when I was a young student. I used to only have DEAR time when I could squeeze it in. Mainly because many of the students would not read the entire time. Their attention would wander and I would see several of them just running their fingers along the words quickly or looking around the room. My inventor mind went to work and I came up with our behavior snack and the DEAR Time Contest. Once DEAR time begins, I pass out a small snack (goldfish, pretzels, or animal crackers) to everyone who has behaved well all day long (their card has not been moved for poor behavior). Then, I take out my book and read with my students. While I am reading, I look up at the end of every page or two to see who is also reading. I begin to keep a short list in my head of 4 to 5 students who are engrossed in their books. As I continue to look up, I narrow my winners to 2 or 3 students who were truly reading the entire time. Once the timer goes off (I set it for ten minutes after I pass out the snack), I have everyone put their books back in their "book bag" (i.e., a gallon zipper bag where they keep all of their books in their desk) and then I have them all come and sit quietly on the carpet. I bring 1 or 2 small prizes and announce my winners. To each winner, I may give out a pencil, a smelly sticker, an eraser, or anything small for their effort.

My students love to be the winners. I also make sure that I tell everyone else who didn't win that it could be them tomorrow.  Now, we make room for DEAR time every day and my students groan when we have to stop. I have noticed that many of them are reading harder books and that they even point out spelling words and phonics lessons that we have learned in the past. The addition of a very simple contest has turned what used to be a chore into a treat. Hopefully this contest can help to keep your students actively reading during your entire DEAR time. 

How have you kept your students engaged during DEAR time? Let me know! I'd love to hear about what you've done (:

-OneCrazyS

Perfect Awards Ceremony

Today we had our quarterly student awards assembly and I was worried about how a few of my students would behave during the assembly. It is long (about an hour) and not exactly engaging for a 6 or 7 year old. They are expected to sit in their seat quietly and not move a muscle while about 85 other students get their awards read off as they go up on the stage. The ones you expect almost always end up with their feet on the chair in front of them or talking to the person next to them. Today I randomly came up with a really great idea. I happened to bring some sticky notes and a pen to the awards and sat the ones who I thought might have a hard time near me. Every few minutes I would write a note to them on my sticky note like "You're doing a great job sitting quietly!" or "You aren't getting this award (honor roll) but it's OK." They looked like this: 

(I just used sticky notes that I already had on their awards folders but next time I will bring extras just for this)

I would tap them gently with my pen and show them the note. I had never tried this before and honestly I wasn't sure if it was going to do even an ounce of good. Surprisingly, every time I showed them the note, their face lit up with a big smile or they nodded their head and went back to doing an amazingly great job. I saw other teachers fussing with their kids while mine just kept looking at a new note every few minutes, smiled, and continued to sit quietly. Now I'm not saying I'm a miracle worker but it definitely worked much better than I ever though it would. I just wanted to share it to anyone who wants some peace at their awards ceremony. Hopefully it will work for you too. Let me know if you had any success or if you made any changes that worked even better!

-OneCrazyS

Plants, Plants, Plants!

The birds are chirping and Spring is in the air. It's about time! No more snow to be seen. Trees and bugs are waking up from their long winter nap. Sounds like a good time to start learning about plants! We've learned about seeds, roots, and stems so far. My students love seeing our plants grow. They've enjoyed all of the books and experiments so far. Their favorite was the headband but there is so much more to come...

Plant Parts Fun Pack

Inside you will find headbands, necklaces, pennants, a small book, experiments, and worksheets for each of the different plant parts (seed, root, stem, leaf, and flower). Free product in the preview! It doesn't hurt to look (: Have fun learning!

-OneCrazyS

OR Sound Song

This week we learned all about the OR sound. I like to let my students watch a video using their new sound to get them engaged in the weekly phonics skill. When I went on my quest, I became extremely frustrated with the selection. There were a total of 2 videos for kids with the OR sound. One with a giraffe where it found 4 things around the house with the OR sound. Another with the OR and AR sound. Pretty slim pickins. I always make up little chants for my students to help them remember a phonics sound. There are just so many  rules for the English language that they can be boring and hard to remember. We always sing our chants every day and practice blending words. I am by no means an expert song writer. In fact, several of them are not even songs but the kids love them and before the end of the week they know their phonics sound. Now will they apply the chant every time they read with 100% accuracy? Well, that's another story. I decided this week I was going to make a video of the chant that we did and then how we blend our words to read. Check out the video and pass it along (: 

Let me know what you think! Have a great week (:

-OneCrazyS