Have you thanked a teacher today? Teacher Appreciation!

Have you ever had a week where you are like "What day is it?" "We need a bun for dance pictures?" "I have an IEP TODAY??" "I'm so full of food." "More candy?" "What day is it again?" "What's tomorrow's spirit day?" "Oops I forgot to e mail you back." "Which day is it again?"  "More snacks?" "I think I'll just eat my stress away." "The field trip is THIS WEEK?!"   ????  HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE THIS?  Well this is me this week!  It is teacher appreciation week (hence the snacks), MAP spirit week (which I am planning the assembly on Friday!) AND our field trip is on Friday.  Can you say busy?

Anyway, enough about me!  Let's talk about people.  The people we work with.  This week is teacher appreciation week and I am so grateful each and every day for the people I work with.  Today was "twin day" and I have this little gem ...

(We even have matching shoes and bows!!!)

Ashton is my teaching partner this year.  It has been such a pleasure to work with her all year.  We are not only partners, but I have also had the chance to be her "mentor" this year.  As her mentor, we meet once a week (aside from our normal planning and other meetings), and we chit chat about anything: about behavior, building plans, curriculum, procedures, rules, things to say, things not to say :),   It has been such a breath of fresh air mentoring a brand-new teacher this year.  She is so sincere and is a true learner.  I cannot say this girl has had any easy ride either!  Her first year of teaching has been ROUGH!! Dealing with problems and things that some veteran teachers have never even had to think about or deal with.  She has been strong through it all!  She's had students with emotional disorders, a student lose her mom, severe bullying issues, disrespect, learning disabilities, parents, and even more than that!   We've had tears (lots of tears) and I've tried to be there as a shoulder to cry on.  

As I look back on our year, I remember Ashton coming to me the night before the first day of school.  She got emotional because she just didn't know what to expect.  She wasn't sure if she was ready.  My heart dropped for her, because even though I knew she would do fine, she was so scared.   At that moment, these are all the things I wanted to tell her:  

This will be an emotional ride.  You will want to quit.  You will cry.... A LOT! You will not know what to do ...ALL THE TIME.  YOU WILL BE TIRED!  YOU WILL WANT TO SCREAM! YOU WILL FEEL CONFUSED!  Some people won't be nice.  YOU WILL FEEL LIKE A FAILURE!........................

but.. let's just say...I didn't want to overwhelm her, so I told her the same thing that everyone says before the first day of school, "You'll do great! :)"            And she did.

Every day, every month, every trimester... came and went.  Ashton stayed strong.  Her will-power was outstanding.  I began to see that she really cared for her kids.  She had the "it" factor.  She was a compassionate and loving teacher.  Her kids NEEDED her.  It's like magic!

This experience has been more than a "procedure" to me.  It has been a learning experience for me too.  So rewarding to see someone learning and utilizing things with her kids that we've talked about.  She keeps me together most days with planning.... "I'll take a copy of that great lesson plan idea Ashton!"   

I am glad I am able to share my experiences, expertise, and knowledge with her.  I can't wait (and I know she can't either) to see all the things she has in store for next year.  I know there is so much to do/ change!  It's my favorite part!

If you are ever in a teaching rut, go visit a first-year-teacher.  They will remind you why you got started in the first place.  They will remind you that teaching is more than just following a manual.  They will probably ask you for advice, and if they do, they are keepers... because just like our kids, we are learners too.

LOVE YOU ASHTON!  YOU ROCKED IT THIS YEAR! 

Pastries With Parents, Realistic Fiction Writing, and a class update :)

Today is Sunday, and I've had quite a busy weekend - which meant I didn't get to blog on Friday! Some things about my weekend:  Pizza night on Friday, worked out, got to watch my daughter sing a solo at church, my niece's 9th birthday party, trivia night, got good deals with my Cartwheel app at Target.  (PS - I found a star wars shirt on CLEARANCE to wear for our Star Wars spirit day Tuesday!  Score!)

Pastries With Parents was on Friday morning. - Something new that we've never done at Lincoln before.  The event unfolded like this:  In the morning, kids could arrive with their parents and go straight to the classroom (for a 45 minute block).   Each classroom had something different to show or do.  In our room, we were showing off our recent work on our realistic fiction series books.  They just finished the series boxes full of books, and they were so good!  This event was so cute because, as kids were just hanging out with parents, and visiting the book fair,etc.  I got to see them all interact and show off their classroom and the things they do here every day!  It was so awesome to see the kids excited about their work.  They were able to tell their parents how they came up with their characters, gave them adventures and a problem, and then solved it in the end.  They were able to show parents "Hey, that's where I sit for readers workshop!" or " This is my turn and talk partner!" or " This is where I turn in my folder every day".  Those "ownership" type things are what make kids feel a sense of accomplishment and belonging.  They love to show off those things to their families.:)
Friday was so fun!

More about the realistic fiction books! This is my favorite writer's workshop unit because, well, frankly, it's the end of the year, and I FINALLY feel like I have TONS of writers in my room!  They are able to take the lessons and apply them more deeply than before.  Their books have so much more in them than at the beginning of the year.  I go from kids that are barely stringing together letters to kids that are writing 5..6..7 page stories!! This is why I LOVE teaching first grade.  The growth is so immense!  I don't think any grade has as much growth!  It makes for a very busy year, but it's all worth it in the end.  

Here's some of our realistic fiction book series sets!  These took a lot of time (and made a lot of mess all week long on the floor), but they are well worth it!

Rhylee's box set: Shimmer and Shine

Carolina's box set: The Adventures of Lily and Macy

Heidi's box set: Alis and Lilly

Isabella's box set: Lilly

Are we seeing a theme here?! :)

Max's box set: The Adventures of Ethan and Mrs. Corley

Ethan's box set: The Adventures of Kilr

And here's some from our writer's celebration in the afternoon!

 

 


That's all for now!  What's your favorite writing unit?

Some big news happening lately:

• Carolina gets to stay up until 9:00 on Fridays AND sleep with her mom and dad.
• Lillian and Dean won BIG in the ticket drawing on Friday :)
• Isaiah's last day was Friday :(
• Dean had a game this weekend.
• Keigen had a game this weekend.
• Bently won the drawing for a free book at the book fair!
• Lillian bought our class two new books from the book fair and we are so grateful! :)
• The kids are super excited for our spirit days this week (in preparation for MAP testing) and our field trip on Friday!

Hope your week treats you well! :)

PEACE

Bribery and a class update

There are 5 more weeks of school left .... FIVE!!!  I start to get all shaky and crazy at this time of year (even WITHOUT coffee) because there is SO much that has to be done before my kids can be second graders!!  They have to meet their reading goals, writing goals, know how to tell time, know how to use a map, know all the US symbols... WHAT?!  Oops - we are running out of time and this is what happens.  Teachers freak themselves out trying to make sure the kids are ready to move on.  After all, I do not want to be the reason that little Suzy doesn't know how to read or spell when she goes up to the next grade or her next school.  EEK!  Too much pressure I tell ya!

Anyways, in order to calm down some of the "crazy" at the end of the year (you KNOW what I'm talking about - the CRAZY KIDS :)), I do some bribery at the end of the school year.  I am not above bribery, and just about any teacher will do WHATEVER it takes at this time of year.  So today, I am starting my ever famous "ticket system"!!!

You got that right!  I give out tickets to my class all day long for following directions, listening at the carpet, working the whole time, helping out, etc - you get it....

There are already some names in here!  The SUSPENSE!!!!

 Then, the glorious part about the ticket system is that at the end of every day, we do a drawing for marvelous prizes - prizes so good, you will say "OHHHH  AHHH..."
I just give away random stuff from my room!  It's great!  Like the spelling poster that just fell off the wall last night, or any stickers that have been sitting on my shelf for 3 years, or a broken pointer!  THEY LOVE IT ALL!  So this is my apology (to the parents that is) for any post its, pointers, chart paper, name tags, old books, math journals or anything else that may come your way in the next 5 weeks.  Just think of it as NECESSARY for Mrs. Trauterman to keep her sanity (teacher appreciation if you will).  And please just smile and tell your child "Good Job!"  Because after all, THEY earned it! ;)

Here's today's goodies!:)

Here's some BIG NEWS from today!

• Jack and Ethan had "Saturday Funday" over the weekend and they loved it!
• Ethan also has his first baseball game tonight!
• Paige is starting soccer!
• Aunna's sister went to prom over the weekend and she looked BEAUTIFUL! (aww)
• Keigen had a game over the weekend and he scored the winning goal!
• Bently's brother broke his arm :(
• Keigen also moved up a reading level today!  He passed his end-of-year goal! <3
• It's Rhylee's sister's birthday party this weekend!

Have a great week all!  Don't forget - Bribery is your friend ;)

PEACE~

Rain Forest Research and a Class Update

My favorite science unit of the year is upon us:  Life Science - Habitats and Animals!!  The reason this is my favorite science unit is because kids seriously love animals.  They love to ask questions about them, read about them, write about them, and tell me all kinds of interesting (and sometimes gross) facts about them!  This week and last, we've spent most of our time studying the different animal habitats.  We have watched a few video clips about animals and their bodies, drawn animals in their habitats, sorted animal pictures by habitat, or land vs. water animals, etc.  Now comes the fun part!  We will start our Rain forest research!   Each student picks a different animal from the Rain forest to study, then we get going!  On Tuesday, each first grader watched a power point of tons of animals from the Rain forest.  They wrote down their favorites on a clipboard and then got to pick one to study!  Here's the list of animals we picked:

Rainforest Research 2016

Isabella - Leopard

Lillian - Ocelot

Jack - Jaguar

Draven - Gorilla

Paige - Flying Squirrel

Ethan - Cheetah

Max - Parrot

Bently - King Cobra

Heidi - Macaw

Dean - Sun Bear

Aunna - Morpho Butterfly

Cristian - Tarantula

Knox - Anaconda

Carolina - Capybara

Rhylee -  Sloth

Keigen - Boa Constrictor

Reagan - Tiger

Vicky - Anteater 

The kids were so excited to get started, that I ran to the school library (and our public library) to find books on their topics! -- Seriously, Draven told me it would take him a while to get out to recess because he was going "SLOW AS A SLOTH"! These kids... seriously crack me...up.   I was supposed to wait until next week  for the research, but I couldn't resist!  We started reading about animals today during readers workshop.  I just let them read about any Rain forest animal they wanted today, then they will start their research next week when we start our "Reading About Science" unit in reader's workshop (as soon as we finish character book clubs).  Part of our research will include reading about our animal, jotting about them, and also writing an "All About" nonfiction book on our animal!  It's seriously the best unit of the year! 

That's it for today! It's Friday - and I'm in desperate need of a ... B R E A K!  How many more days until summer?!!?  I lost track!

Here's some of our big news of the day!

• Knox is going to the Cardinals game tonight!
• Isabella, Knox, Vicky, Paige, Carolina, Jack, Ethan, Max, and Rhylee got a super special surprise from Mrs. Trauterman today since they were mentioned as super "big 3" with the sub yesterday! (Ask us about it).
• Keigen lost a tooth yesterday!
• Rhylee's seeing her dad tonight!
• Carolina got a new Baby Alive on Wednesday, and it poops (I died on that one)
• Mrs. Trauterman is eating pizza and drinking wine tonight. 

~ PEACE ~

Book Clubs and a Class Update

Book clubs started this week!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE book clubs.  Let me tell you why:  It is everything the kids WANT during reading time - TO TALK! They get to pick a character to study, talk with each other about their books, jot about their books, talk some more about their books, laugh about their books together, and learn at the same time!!!  Today was day 3 of book clubs and the kids were ON IT!!  I saw them jotting about their characters, talking to their group members about funny parts, asking questions about their characters, and having a good time!!  Of course, we start off with some book club expectations!

On day one, we picked our club names and picked a character to study.  I just had them all jot down their ideas and work together to pick them.

This group tallied the votes to come up with a character and club name.

Then, yesterday, we got our books and started rolling!  These kids are such learners.  Here's our club names and characters we are studying:

Book Clubs

1.        Carolina, Knox, Lillian, Draven, Paige

Club Name: Shine Bright Readers

Character: Froggy

2.  Vicky, Reagan, Max, Cristian

Club Name: Cardinals

Character: Piggie and Elephant

3. Ethan, Bently, Jack, Heidi, Aunna

Club Name: Laser Tag Readers

Character: Charlie and Lola

4.  Keigen, Rhylee, Dean, Isabella

Club Name: Blues

Character: Biscuit

(Yes, some of them crack me up too!)  

Here's some pictures of our groups and the folders we use to organize our thinking about our characters.  

Educators, do you do book clubs?  If so, what are some tricks you've used to make it go smoothly?  I'm always looking for new ways to get them involved and excited!  Comment below if you have any worth-while advice!

Here's some of our recent happenings:

• Max saw ET over the weekend, AND he's got that movie at home too!
• Rhylee lost a tooth over the weekend!
• Keigen's game was cancelled on Saturday because of the rain :(
• Dean got a tablet for his birthday!!!
• Bently straightened up his whole house last night!
• Paige has allergies :(
• Knox plays flag football and he got a pick 6 (apparently that is like an interception - Knox knows I'm NO EXPERT on football) :)
• Our class earned our 20th class sun on Friday - They picked extra recess as their reward! :)
• Reagan and Knox moved up reading levels AND met their end-of-year goals!!!

Ideas for Reading and a class update :)

We've had a busy day!  I love this time of year in first grade because it becomes more and more evident that what I'm doing IS ACTUALLY making a difference! They are all so much more mature and grown up!  I've been trying to make sure my readers are all getting to their end-of-year goals, and I've been assessing most of the week during my reader's workshop block.  I wanted to take this time to ask all the teachers out there, "How do you organize your reading data?"  Also, "What interventions do you do in order to make sure kids are making yearly growth?"  I have some tricks up my sleeve, but I'm always looking for new and different ideas.  If you have any, post below!  I would love to hear it!

One way I keep track of my reading groups is by using a little folder (see pic below).

I use it to organize them into groups.  I have to give credit to my amazing partner, Ashton --  She made this for me - (I think we got the idea from Pinterest - go figure!) Each name has velcro on it so that I can easily move them around.  This helps out a lot when I'm trying to decide what groups work and where they need to be.  I also keep track of their growth on a year's growth chart.

Each time they move up a level, I highlight the level to make sure they are working toward their end of year goal in reading.  This is REALLY helpful to see when kids aren't making the right amount of growth: I can see it easily and then can start to brainstorm intervention ideas.  The green level is where they started and the red is supposed to be a year's worth of growth. (I cannot take credit - shout out to the literacy coaches including my good friend Nicole Adams for this sheet!)

Anyway, the hard part about readers workshop is getting all the groups in within one reader's workshop block!  I do readers workshop for a total of 1 hour and 10 minutes each day (10 minute mini lesson, 30 minutes independent reading, 30 minutes partner reading) - This leaves time for 4 slots of groups or conferencing one-on-one.  below is a schedule I use to keep track of who I am meeting with on each day.

This certainly helps me to know if I'm getting to each of my readers on a weekly basis.  I make sure I meet with my below-level readers every day, while my at or above-level readers only need a check in twice or 3 times a week.  I love readers workshop, and would recommend it to anyone.  In my life as a teacher, I've tried centers, Daily 5, and reader's workshop.  Nothing is as effective for growing in reading as the reader's workshop model. Of course, it has to be paired with shared reading, read aloud, writers workshop and a word work block to be effective all-around.  Let me tell you, IT IS effective.  :)  

In other news, here are some graphs that we completed today during math.  The kids were collecting their own data and representing it in bar graphs.  

Pattern block graph - Isabella

Pattern block picture - Isabella

What's your favorite Pet? - Keigen

My personal favorite: Who's your favorite singer?
- Aunna

Big News of the day:

• Rhylee and Ethan moved up reading levels!
• Tonight is Science Night and the kids are super excited to come up and do all things science!!!
• Max told me today that he's sorry I will be sad tonight that his mom cannot accompany him to science night - he feels really bad that I will not get to see her tonight - It's ONLY GRANDMA he said LOL. 
• Today is Dean's Birthday!  Happy Birthday Dean! (BTW, Dean can't make it tonight to Science night because grandma has Bunco. LOL
• Jack is writing a comic book and it's going to be 50 pages long!
• Vicky loves writing time! <3

Have a great rest of the week and weekend! :)

Our week has started back!  It was full of energy both yesterday and today!  The kids are excited to be back and it was sweet to hear their stories and see their faces after a week off!  My kids are always changing, so it was especially exciting to see some with missing teeth or new hair cuts.  They get so excited about those little things.

Today, our readers workshop lesson was on using expression with our voices when we read independently.  So our mini lesson had a clip from the cast of icarly doing a table read. https://youtu.be/Ld2HueWBoTc
This lesson started off simple enough... kids realizing that they have to know how to READ to do just about ANY job in this world!!  Then it turned into a sharing session of "What I want to be when I grow up!"  I didn't want to rip their dreams apart, so we took time and shared some of our dreams  and aspirations.   This kind of thing is so cute because we all have different ideas and aspirations in life!  After we figured out that Rhylee and Carolina want to be teachers, Ethan wants to be a farmer (or engineer maybe?),  Aunna wants to go to Maryville like her sister, Knox wants to be a football player, Keigen wants to be an auctioneer, Draven wants to be an astronaut (and many many more...), we talked about how each and every job they do will use reading of some kind in order to be successful. (!!!) Sometimes it's things that I don't plan that go the best, because at this point, they were all sold on the fact that they have to read to do anything in life - which made for a great readers workshop block!  I had kids using expression like CRAZY and trying to jot down information they were learning in their books!  Have I mentioned that I LOVE this class (seriously.. .best class ever).  Anyway, just another day in first grade! We ended the day with some animal habitat talk and some whole class yoga.  (Ask us about our downward dog!)

Some big news from our day:

• Our class got the big 3 flag this month! - That is a HUGE compliment!
• Ethan is definitely getting a hamster TONIGHT.
• Lillian lost a front tooth over break (it's adorable)
• Isabella, Vicky, Jack, and Aunna moved up reading levels!!!
• Knox wishes his dad would've made him wear athletic shorts today since it DID feel good outside at recess (HA!)
• Cristian's brother came home from Mexico over break and they got to hang out.
• Keigen was the super math friend of the day!

Spring break is over? Don't cry... a reading update and an inspiring note to teachers to end your year

It's Sunday night!  Where did my break go?  Even though it wasn't enough time to do EVERYTHING I wanted to do, I did have some fun with my kiddos, had time to catch up with good friends, and take a much-needed girls trip (adults only!!) to the Ozarks.  I did, however, lose sight of my reading goals (oops!) I really need to get better at sitting down and enjoying a book when I'm at home.  I just don't know how to sit and do that!!! Someone help me!  

I made it to chapter 6 of The Dark Ferret Society.  It is definitely getting good!  I do not want to spoil the book, so I will choose my words carefully, but I love how it got me hooked from the very beginning.  I also love how I have to pay special attention to the details in order to "solve" some of the mysteries that this book has to offer.  It has definitely been a fun one to read and get into.  I love the main character and her family.  I love her new friends she's making too through the course of the book.  If you haven't gotten your copy yet, do not hesitate! I can get you hooked up with a copy from my friend Scott (the author's husband!!)  Message me or comment below if you would like to read it!

As I prepare my heart and my mind to go back into the classroom tomorrow, I am reminded that I only have a short time (34 days to be exact) left to go.  Only 34 days?!?!!  How did this happen??  I immediately get anxious about all the things I have to do in order to close out the school year.  I have to get my end of year data all together.  I need to make sure my kiddos end up on grade-level for reading/ writing!  I need to make sure they are all readers and have a plan for the summer!  I need to get their final benchmarks for spelling and sight words!  I need to.....      STOP AND SOAK IT IN!  
Every year, the end of the year flies by - and before I know it - it's over.  Over.  And those kids (the ones I think about each night before I go to bed - the ones my husband knows even by name - The ones I am constantly worried about or praying about) - They are gone from my classroom.  They are like a speck of dust.  They are only in my life for a short period.  I hope I have made an impact on them, and I hope and pray that somehow I made their life better.  Maybe I didn't get them on-track with their reading goals.  Maybe I didn't teach them all of their sight words.  Maybe they still aren't using kind words to friends after lots of practice.  BUT MAYBE... just maybe they've seen how much I care for them or how proud I am of their small successes each day.  Maybe they realize that they have ambition and integrity to do the right thing in their life.  If I can instill a little of that in their lives in my short time with them, then I would say I've done my job.  So as you teachers are getting ready for the end of the year, don't forget to soak it all in.  These are the last moments you may spend with them.  Don't let them leave not knowing how much you care about them or without leaving a lasting impression.  Appreciate the small moments that make your job great.  Appreciate the kids because, at times, they will teach you more  than you will teach them.  

So go get em! And have some fun along the way!    Don't forget to keep those little notes and pictures they make for you.