Retired Books

Each year I struggle with what to do with the old, worn-out books in my class library. I'm not one to throw away anything that could be of value to someone else, and often times second-hand stores won't take donations with the kind of wear and tear I'm talking about. This year, I decided to start "retiring" my old books. When a book gets super worn or shows early signs of falling apart, I put a label on it explaining that it is a "retired book". Then I give the book to a student to keep. There are lots of ways you can do this; include the books in the class prize bin, auction them off to the kids, put them in a "retired books" library where kids can take them as they please, etc. The kids become genuinely excited to let a book live its retirement years at their house. Here is a picture of the retired books I pulled from my library this week.

The label helps communicate to parents that these books can stay at home. All of my books have my name in them, and I wanted parents to see that it isn't one that has to be returned to me. Click HERE for the label pictured. It is a standard template. If it doesn't work for you, you can make your own labels using the label maker in Microsoft Word.

Enjoy!

Love Monster and Other Valentine Centers

It's Valentine box time ...

For the past four years, I've done THIS for Valentine boxes. So I wanted to try something different. I had kids make love monster bags, based on the story Love Monster by Rachel Bright. The story is geared for younger kids, but my kids still loved the message. You can also click HERE to watch the story being read aloud. I got THIS from TPT for the template. They turned out so cute! I let kids choose a variety of neon colors for all the various parts, and I told them they could add eyelashes if they wanted to make girl monsters. Here's how they turned out!

I also threw together some quick Valentine centers to review skills we've already learned. This weeks centers include:

1) Valentine Hearts Puzzle and Valentine's Hearts in Boxes - These are two math activities I found on TPT. They require problem solving skills as well as guess-and-check strategies. The kids loved them.

2) A Sweet Story - I found THIS graphic organizer on TPT and put it in a bin with the story I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose. The kids had to sequence the events in the story onto the organizer.

3) Fun Packet - THESE are activities I found on TPT. I included the word search, making words with "Valentine" and the "I Love Addition" page. These types of activities are always favorites.

 4) Love Wins - I put THIS graphic organizer in a bin with the story Love, Splat. Kids read the story with a partner and filled out the graphic organizer depicting the friendship in the book.

5) Make Valentines - Click HERE to see how I set up my Valentine center.

Groundhog Day Activities

I have a confession ... I actually get really excited for Groundhog Day. I think it's because ever since I was young I bought into the whole "maybe he won't see his shadow and spring will start tomorrow" idea. So, for me, Groundhog Day is my first ray of hope that our brutal Kansas City winter is almost over. (Nevermind the fact that Groundhog almost always sees his shadow.)

This year, I wanted to help the kids get into the spirit by picking new activities to do in the morning. Here's what we did today to commemorate the day.

Kids were allowed to work on THIS and THIS as early finishers activities. One allows them to use their doodling and coloring skills to color in a groundhog, and the other is a blank hundreds chart where they have to locate numbers using their skip counting skills to color. Here are samples of the completed pieces (sorry for the sideways pictures ... no amount of "rotating" is actually correcting them).

I start the actual lesson by reading "Groundhog Gets a Say". I've always read this to my class on Groundhog Day because it is funny, and it is full of facts about groundhogs. Click HERE to buy it through Scholastic and to see other fun Groundhog Day books.

 

Afterward, I had kids use the new facts they learned and finish a "I Am a Groundhog" writing and craft activity that I got HERE on TPT. It causes them to use their newfound knowledge and creativity to complete sentence starters about groundhogs. I have two copies of the book, so kids were allowed to share those to go back and pick facts for their writing. Also, I have a QR code of this book that I got from THIS listening center bundle on TPT. Several kids opted to listen to the story on their iPads to narrow down their facts.

For the craft, I changed a couple of things. We changed the arms to dark brown so they could be distinguished from the body. Also, I don't know if it's the changing temperature in our hallway/sunlight exposure, but any time I glue "things" to craft projects (like googly eyes, or chicklet teeth, for example) they fall off and we end up putting tape over them. This does not look good, so we just made everything out of paper (whiskers, teeth, eyes, etc). I found standard eyes online that we used. Also, we mounted them on red paper because everything is Valentines-y around our room right now and I wanted to continue with that vibe. Here's how they turned out!

When all was said and done, we watched today's VIDEO of the groundhog finding his shadow. You could easily do this before all your activities to get them excited. We did it more as a wrap-up from our morning writing activity.

Happy Groundhog Day!

100th Day Activities

Today was the 100th Day of School! This is one of those days that I sometimes have a hard time getting into, mostly because we always have so many "normal" lessons we still have to get done that the 100th Day ends up being a short celebration. This year I committed to an entire day of activities to celebrate. It was a lot of prep, but it was totally worth it. (In our class, it also happened to be the day of their hot chocolate pajama party, so they really do think it was the BEST day ever.) The activities I chose are below. None are original ideas, and most were found on TPT and teacher blogs. I will give credit where credit is due.

After scouring The Brown Bag Teacher and The First Grade Parade blogs, as well as TPT, I adapted several ideas to my own 100th Day centers and activities.

Arriving to School - When kids arrived, they had this waiting on their desks. I included a list of their 100th Day centers (idea taken from the aforementioned bloggers). This helped the kids pace through today's centers. I also provided Smarties and a cute note that says Happy 100th Day of School Smarty. I can't find where I got the original, but click HERE for lots of freebie options. The school provides a pencil and donut holes to write out "100". It's a fun way to welcome them to school.

Creative Drawing - In this center, kids used die cuts of "100" to create any picture they wanted. It was fun to see how creative they got with this.

 

If I Were 100 Writing Activity - Students wrote a paragraph about what life would be like if they were 100. This is an activity we do every year, but this year I used the template from The Lesson Plan Diva. One additional thing we do in our grade to spice up this activity is take the kids pictures and import them into an app to make them look old (I used Effectify this year, and have used Oldify in the past). We add the picture to their writing. Parents and kids love seeing these aged portraits.

Measuring and Hundreds Chart - Yvonne Dixon has a freebie that includes some great activities for the 100th Day. I used her hundreds chart and measuring activity from THIS packet. It ties in nicely with what we've been studying and it gets kids up and moving.

If I Had $100 Writing Activity - I used THIS packet again (from The Lesson Plan Diva) to get a writing template. Kids wrote about what they'd do with $100. Then we took pictures of them posing with large, fake money (that equals $100, of course). We pasted the picture in the center of the bill on the template.

Hershey's Kisses Hundred Chart - Such a cute idea that The Brown Bag Teacher mentioned on her blog. This was a favorite today! You use garage sale stickers to number the bottom of each Hershey's kiss (1-100). Then give partners partially-filled-out (or blank for a challenge) hundred charts. They take turns drawing kisses out of the bucket and trying to find where each goes on the hundred chart. At the end of the day we did a division lesson and split the 100 kisses equally between everyone to eat.

Hundredth Day Predictions - Very cute freebie that I got from The Brown Bag Teacher. We also used the activity cards in this pack as an early finisher activity today.

That's it for this year! I've already got some changes in mind for next year ... but I'll take a rest from 100th Day stuff for now. :)

11 Ways I Use QR Codes in My Classroom (...this year)

Like most teachers, I do things a little differently from year to year. I evaluate what's worked best in the past, as well as the particular learning styles in my class that year. Below are some of the ways I'm using QR codes in my class this year.

1. Listening Center #1 - I put up a cork board with QR codes I bought from TPT (click HERE to see). Each QR code is a link to a story being read aloud. I pull the hard copies of these books from my library (the ones I have, that is) and place them at the center so kids can follow along if they'd like. Sometimes kids are assigned to go to the listening center, and sometimes they go when they are finished early with work. This year, I've changed out the books each quarter. There are several ways you can set up a QR code center (see below for another option).

QR codes displayed on a cork board

2. Listening Center #2 - Next year I plan to set up my QR code listening center like this (below). I have the QR codes (that I purchased on TPT ... click HERE to see them) printed on cards and placed on a ring. There is a stack of new cards for each month, and they are themed for that particular month. The coordinating books go in the bin that the cards hang from. This way they will take up less room, and it helps keep the books organized according to their appropriate month.

QR codes displayed on a ring attached to bucket holding books

3. Blended Math - This is my favorite way I use QR codes in my class. (Pardon the blandness of the QR code presentation ... maybe next year I'll work on making them pretty.) My teammates and I spent last year recording each math lesson for the year. We turned each lesson into a QR code (hosted on YouTube, then converted to a SafeShare link). Kids now scan into the lesson(s) for the day, complete the coordinating practice piece (usually a worksheet), then move onto centers. They can work at their own pace. Often times, kids will pause, rewind, or re-watch the lesson before trying the independent practice piece. Since I no longer "live teach" the whole group lesson, I can pull kids needing extra help, as well as kids needing enrichment at this time. *We made sure to coordinate our examples in the videos to the independent practice piece. This eliminates a lot of the "How do I do this?" questions kids have simply because they do not understand the directions. Also, we take note of the lessons that need updating year to year due to us feeling we did not cover the material well in the first video lesson.

Student scanning into the blended math lesson

4. Supplemental or Content-Area Help -  Since kids this age have a hard time researching reputable facts online, I will often make QR codes for my favorite online resources that the kids can scan into during lessons. Right now we are studying the six major land biomes of the world. After studying each biome, kids get to explore the plants and animals of that biome. These QR codes take kids directly to web pages (each found at www.blueplanetbiomes.org) with the information they need.

I've also used them to record myself reading important content-area books, then taping the QR code to the inside of the book. This allows my struggling readers to still partake in the independent content-area reading. Below is an example from our insect unit.

I've also created fun QR code books for themed weeks. During our study of bats, students receive a booklet with fun bat information, activities and stories (click HERE to see it). During the week of Thanksgiving, students receive a booklet with fun Thanksgiving stories to during "early finishers" time (click HERE to see it).

Biome QR codes

QR code in content-area book

5. Preview/Pre-Teach Brochures - Every Monday, kids receive a "preview brochure" (click HERE to see a sampling of mine). This is a brochure that introduces all the L.A. skills for the week. There is one skill per column. Kids scan in to watch a short video. Sometimes they are videos I find online, fun songs I find online, or videos of me teaching the concept (have mercy on my video lessons ... they're a work-in-progress). After kids have watched the video, they are asked to complete a short activity demonstrating their understanding. *These activities should mirror the learning from the video or song, etc. We have all kids complete this brochure during their "finished early" time. I've known other teachers who do similar activities to help those who might struggle during the live lessons. In those cases, they can be given the week before to prepare the student, or even after as extra reinforcement.

Student working on preview brochure

6. Centers - You can find a TON of QR code centers on TPT using a simple search. But you can also use QR codes to spruce up some of your older centers. I record myself giving directions for each center (which includes me actually doing the activity), then I place the QR code on the front. This is for kids that struggle with following written directions. It eliminates all the time I used to spend explaining - and re-explaining - the directions.

Center with QR code directions

7. Small Group - There are hundreds of ways you can use QR codes for small groups. One way that's a real time-saver for me is to find already-made quizzes online for certain books I read with my small groups. I make a QR codes and have kids scan in and take the quiz. When they are done, they come show me their final score. You can also have them screen shot their final score for you to review later. This cuts down on the interruptions to show you they're done.

Quizzes for small group

8. Newsletters - Use them to add videos to your traditional printed newsletters. I've added videos from fun class assignments, fieldtrips, interviews with the Stars of the Week, me explaining especially hard concepts in class for at-home help, etc. Click HERE and HERE for examples (QR codes are on the second pages of each newsletter).

9.  Bulletin Boards - I work for a private school that often hosts touring families. One year, I made it a goal to periodically post a QR code outside our room that showed the kids during a fun lesson, center, activity, etc. Usually I put a short explanation next to it and invited viewers to scan to see more. It's a fun way to give visitors a peek into our classroom at their leisure. Plus, I am able to highlight the most interesting activities this way.

QR code displayed outside my door with a peek into my classroom

10. Music - I could do a better job with this myself, but one of my teammates has QR codes that link to wordless music online (pic below). She leaves these on her board all year, and kids can scan in and listen to the music while working independently.

Music QR codes

11. Student Projects - We've done several projects that kids must present to the class. We've recorded their presentations before and turned them into QR codes to put on display in the hallway. We've also had them create their own presentations (through iMovie) so that they are in control of the quality in the final product. A couple of years ago, we had the kids record their Kansas City landmark presentations during a unit about our city. Then we turned those presentations into QR codes and included them in the informational brochure for the next year. The kids loved seeing their older friends and siblings in the videos. Click HERE to see them.

Lastly, any time I'm looking for new, innovative ideas, I check out Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) or Simple K12 (an awesome professional development site that often has free webinars). Within minutes, I have too many new ideas. :)

Table Bins

I'm trying something new this year ... I have created table bins for each of my student tables. The purpose of these buckets is, ultimately, to save time. When we have a material-heavy project (like our Love, Splat art activities we did the other day) I have a lot of different martial to pass out to each kid (multi-colored paper, googly eyes, liquid glue, etc). So I spent a few minutes prepping for the lesson by loading each table bucket with enough material for each student at the table. It saved me a ton of time! We'll see how this evolves, but I'm always a fan of organizational time-savers!

I got the bins at the dollar store, and the labels from Amy Lemons.

And just for fun ... here is how our Love, Splat projects turned out this year. In true teacher form, I can't ever seem to do anything the same way two years in a row, so our "Splat" projects and display are a little different than previous years. I got the Valentine garland at the dollar store.