Five for Friday {October 18, 2013}

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday to share some highlights of my week.  We had Monday off from school but those shortest weeks always seem the longest!

 I am slowly getting into the groove of organizing three blocks of ELA classes.  We are departmentalized this year and I teach three 80 minute blocks of ELA.  I finally cleared out this organizer to make room for each block to have its own shelf.  In the folders are papers for each block (they are packed full of grading to do this weekend...ugh!) and I have a clipboard for conferencing with individual students during each block's Daily 4 rotations.

This week we finally started Daily 5 (4) centers with students at different stations.  The first five weeks of school were spent training Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, and Word Work as a whole class.  Those weeks flew by and it is always a breath of fresh air when I can let the students work freely on different tasks and I can begin individual conferences on a regular basis.  The students did an amazing job!!!  A reading specialist pushes in for 30 minutes of each block and I save that time for rotations to allow for more individualized conferencing and instruction.  Here is what my calendar looks like on the front of Block One's clipboard.  There are two columns for two different teachers conferencing.

Right now, I am keeping these D5 sheets (copied front and back) under the calendars on the clipboard.  I am placing the sheets that my reading specialist will need for her conferences that day on her clipboard.  She has one clipboard that she uses throughout the day.  We can easily see the notes from the teacher that met with the student last time.  Last year I had a binder with a section for each student but it was too cumbersome to carry around.  I like carrying around the clipboard and the ease of finding the sheet for each student by placing the students who I intend on conferencing with that day at the top of the pile.

 For now, the students are assigned to their center topic but have their choice of the activity at Word Work and Work on Writing.  When I put this up today on my SMART board, the students were SO excited to see their center assignment.  One girl was doing a little dance at her seat and said in the sweetest voice, "I am so excited that I get to read to self today!"  It just gives me the warm fuzzies. :)

I use this simple tracking sheet for students to write down their Word Work and Work on Writing tasks.   They also record a little note if they need to go back and finish it later.  

You can download it here as a freebie! 

We are starting our poetry unit next week and reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech.  The students started making predictions about the book.  Each student made their own prediction and then the groups placed their post it notes on one group handout.  The groups discussed their predictions.  The handout is from this pack that I purchased during last weekend's TPT sales.

My daughter was so proud to earn her yellow stripe belt at karate last night!  It was a surprise and she was SO excited.  I am in the same class as a combo class for adults and children about 5 and up.  She was presented the belt at the end of class in front of everyone and it was so neat to witness it in class!

I love this time of the year and we have had gorgeous weather the past few weeks in NY (knock on wood!).  Here is a picture of a little hike we went on last weekend with the kiddos.  I am probably my most relaxed in the woods and this is definitely one of my favorite ways to spend time.  

The stillness, smell, and beauty just captures me every time!

Happy weekend everyone!! 

Monday Made It {Getting Classroom Ready!}

Monday Made It with the wonderful Tara at 4th Grade Frolics is up for the month of September!!  I started working on this post this afternoon but my Buffalo Bills kept me on the edge of my seat and I was completely distracted.  Of course they wound up losing after I was already all worked up:(  At least it wasn't a shut out and the Bills gave those Patriots and Tom Brady a run for their money!!  It would have been nice to see Brady cry though! :) You wouldn't think that is mean if you were a Bills fan and watched them lose the last 24 of 26 games to the Pats.  Our day will be coming soon. I can feel it!

Anyway, school started for me last week and I have been busy getting things ready for open house and the first day with students last Thursday.  I made these cute CAFE letters and headers to go with my owl theme.  You can download them here for free from my TPT store.  

I later saw this post by the amazing Emily at I Love My Classroom and I was intrigued that she used the acronym "FACE" instead of CAFE.  I asked her about that and she said that 4th graders don't really know what a Cafe is (uh, yep!) and she explains her board as "This is what the 'face' of a reader looks like".  I love that!  I forgot to take a close up picture of my board changed but you can see the "FACE" acronym in this picture.  Emily also gave me a link to some free CAFE strategy cards for your board that you can download from the Down Under Teacher.  You can read more about my owl tree and the papers above my board shown in this picture here.  

I also made these smaller labels for my Daily 5 book boxes to coordinate with my owl themed book bin labels in my classroom library.  Since we are departmentalizing this year, I needed to find space for 50 book bins!  I decided to number them 1A to 17A, 1B to 17B, and then 1C to 17C.  The letters are for the three separate sections of ELA that am teaching but I can use the same numbers for all three sections.  When I use my popsicle sticks to draw names or any other "number" organization strategies, I can use the same numbers for each class.  I like that I don't have to keep 50 popsicle sticks with names on them and I can reuse the same 17 numbers for all three classes.  

 I added the smaller labels (almost 3") as an addition to my editable book bin labels for sale at my TPT store.  There are five themes available (owls, chevron, polka dot, zebra, and superhero).  This is the owl preview version.    

Here is a closeup picture of the book boxes (sorry it is so blurry).  I taped the labels over them using clear shipping tape (one of my favorite school supplies!).  The brown book boxes were given to me by my teammate.  The best part is that they were free! :)

 I didn't make these Citing Evidence posters but my lovely friend, Joanne, at Head Over Heels for Teaching did!  I printed and laminated some of them for use on a bulletin board.  Citing text evidence is essential for the 4th grade Common Core and this will be a great visual.  I am planning on having student examples posted for each on sentence strips around the posters and change them out often.  

 I also printed and laminated these colorful genre posters by Sabra at Teaching with a Touch of Twang to display below my board.  They are a facebook fan freebie but I don't know for how long!!  I love how the posters have examples of books for that genre.  We are working on exploring genres as we get to know the classroom library and have already referred to them in the first two days of school. 

I remembered to take pictures of each student the first day of school with this freebie sign I laminated and printed from the fabulous Run Miss Nelson's Got the Camera.

 Finally, I laminated these super cute owl bookmarks by Michael Friermood (another freebie!) for each student.  I haven't passed them out yet.  I gave each student a plain strip of colored paper for a bookmark and plan on giving them a fancy bookmark after they reach some reading goal (not sure yet!).

I am off to check out all the creative Monday Made Its (mine are not very crafty!).  Those artsy bloggers just amaze me! :)  See you Tuesday for Tried It Tuesday and don't forget to check out the amazing 1000 followers giveaway at Ideas by Jivey!

Workshop Wednesday and My Celebration Giveaway!!!

My kids go to daycare one time a week over the summer and today was the day this week.  I went to school with high hopes of accomplishing a lot more than I actually did.  This seems to happen to me a lot!  Either I am a really slow worker or I set too high of goals for myself.  

Who am I kidding?  

I met two friends for lunch and I should have known better because it turned into an almost 3 hour lunch!  Hey, but that girlfriend therapy was MUCH needed! :)

Then, I had to lifeguard tonight so it is a good thing that I made my button for my giveaway last night:)  Hint, Hint!

First, I am linking up with one of my BBB's, Jivey for her Workshop Wednesday!  She will be posting every Wednesday in July but the same linky will be open all month.  Keep checking back to stay current with any new entries!  The topic is TOOLS FOR WORKSHOPS!

I would like to share a couple tools I developed to use with Daily 5 this year.  It was my first year trying Daily 5 (well, Daily 4).  My ELA group was only in my room for 80 minutes each day (we switch students for ELA only and group them by ability).  Anyway, I LOVE, LOVE the concept of Daily 5 and how it changed the way I organize my instruction.  After training all the students in Read to Self, Work on Writing, Read with Someone, and Word Work, they were finally ready after a good six weeks to move into "free choice" and have all four activities occurring simultaneously.  Whew!!  Training took a long time but it WAS worth it!

My main problem with "free choice" was letting go and not controlling how many of each activity they were completing each day or week.  Most days I had time for only two D4 rotations and sometimes only one.  I found that there were some students always "avoiding" certain activities.  However, I could really see the benefits of free choice and the willingness of students to work hard so I didn't want to take it away.  I worked on this problem by creating this tracking chart.  My students fill out a chart like this when choosing their centers.  Get a modified version of this chart here in an editable format.  I couldn't figure out how to get three on a page in google docs.

They write down the date, task, and rate "how they did" at the center at the daily check-in. I use a 3 star rating system where one star=Wasted a lot of Time, two stars=Worked Most of Time (they get two stars if they had to leave their area even once or bothered someone else, etc) and three stars=worked the whole time.  I kept a little chart with this visual of the "stars" and what they meant on the wall.  I allowed time at check ins after each center to complete the 3 star rating and had students share (not tattle) if someone was off task near them and they noticed they were giving themselves three stars (we show star ratings by a raise of hands).  I also kept a simple chart on my board and anytime a student gave themselves two stars or one star (never had one star this year...thank goodness!), I recorded it next to their name on the chart.  This is how one student had free choice taken away from him.  There were too many 2's on the chart by his name!  

I also created this handout (get it here from google docs in an editable format) and students were required to complete certain activities within a quarter.  As new activities were added, I had students take out their charts and add to the list (continued on the back).  It was inspired from the amazing Tonya at Tonya's Treats for Teachers in her post here.  At check ins after a center, students were directed to also update this chart and they could add a note if they needed to go back to that task to finish it.

If you use a Daily 5 approach, I recommend that you try free choice and have something like this to hold them accountable and keep track of their choices.  For example, when we did our quick checks before starting a rotation, I would ask, "How many students would like to read to someone?"  It never failed that the SAME three or four students would ALWAYS want to read to someone!  Of course, I couldn't remember how many times they actually had read to someone recently because many times I told those few students to pick another center.  However, if I wanted to check how many times they had completed a certain center recently, I could just look over their shoulder at their tracking chart!  It was easy to see if they were avoiding, say, Work on Writing (offered everyday according to my tracking chart!).  If they did not keep track on their tracking chart, they could lose the privilege of free choice (this didn't happen last year).  

So, those were some quick tips but I would have liked to have them when I started out in the fall!  Maybe it is something you can use or keep in your arsenal.:)  I might be back later this month to add some more ideas for Tools for Workshop (writing, reading, or math!).

Next...I realized about a month ago that my birthday (it was yesterday...Happy Birthday to me!) and my ONE YEAR Blogiversary are exactly one week apart!  My Blogiversary is July 9th!  Is it weird that I am much more excited about my Blogiversary than my birthday?  Haha!  

I knew I wanted to celebrate with a giveaway that was a thank you from me to you!!!  

Through this blog, I have met so many amazing teachers!  

I am so grateful for all the people who have given me support, offered suggestions, answered questions, and just taken the time to comment on aspects of my professional and personal life!  

It really means so much that I know there is a network of amazing teachers that I can turn to for advice at any time.  

Thank you for the role that YOU have played on my amazing journey of constant change and growth as a teacher!!  I am always "flipping" my classroom and tweaking ideas to what works for me.  I couldn't do that without the inspiration provided by all of you!!!

As a small token of my appreciation, I am having a giveaway that will end on July 11th.  

One lucky follower will win a $50 Gift Card to either TPT or Amazon (your choice!!). Wahoo!!!

Kudos for the Giveaway Button:

The chevron background was made by the super talented Megan at I Teach. What's Your Superpower. 

The birthday clipart was made by one of my favorite places to buy clipart, KPM Doodles.

I also am going to try and add some flash freebies to my Facebook page for fans only with some items from my little TPT store:)  Stay tuned for that one...it may have to wait until the weekend.  

My daughter (6 years old) is in our huge county parade tomorrow (think 3 hours long)!  She will be cheerleading for the first time in public and she is super excited!  Wish us luck that it doesn't pour (the hardest downpour you can imagine!) like last year:)

Reminder: Tried It Tuesday will be back Tuesday, July 9th for the only link up for July.  I will leave the linky open the rest of the month so you can link up any time the rest of the month!

Enter the Giveaway HERE:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tried It Tuesday (Shared Writing Journals!)

It's Tuesday and time to share more "Tried It" ideas from your classroom or home!

What is Tried It Tuesday?  Read more about it here.

<center> <a href="http://fourthgradeflipper.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt15/04fallingstar/3AM%20Blog%20Design/3am_triedittuesday_3_zpsd7a240d4.png" width=225 height=225 border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></center> Awesome linky button above designed by the talented Michelle at The 3am Teacher! My Tried It: Shared Writing Journals! I started using shared writing journals this year after reading about them all summer in the blogging world.  You can read more about making them in my post here. I started the year with these four journals.  These covers I picked up from my blog idol (the reason I started blogging myself), Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.

 The Avery stickers are placed inside the journal and when students finish their entry, they place a sticker into their "individual writing journal" to keep track of finished journals.

Stickers placed in front cover of their individual writing journal after completing a shared writing journal:

Entries started out simple as one paragraph and gradually grew to multi-paragraphs following the format learned in class.

What I LOVE about SWJ (shared writing journals): 1.  Students were super excited to write in these when they were introduced. 2.  Students work on their writing stamina on a topic they are comfortable with. 3.  Students work on writing using multi-paragraphs on a topic they are comfortable with. 4.  Students can read other students' entries if they have extra time. 5.  Students were producing great writing examples as the year progressed! What I DON'T love about SWJ: 1.  Students don't love to write (surprise, surprise) and the novelty wears off fast! 2.  Most students don't finish planning their entry and writing it during one center time and need to finish later.  That means there is only one journal and it needs to be available for them to finish at another center time soon.  Sometimes they forget to finish. 3.  Most of my students only finished TWO writing entries this year so far!  This is mostly my fault because I have so many work on writing and word work activities that they can choose something else with the free choice aspect. What can I do differently to keep the interest alive? This is tough because it seems like the students really would rather do any activity that involves less writing than it takes to complete a shared writing journal.  Although, I do think that I need to manage this better.  It is still my first year trying a lot of new strategies and there has been quite the learning curve!   I FINALLY introduced some "new" SWJ's today.  I know, I know...what have I been waiting for?  I guess I was waiting for most students to have written in three out of the four journals, but with our time constraints and the lost novelty of the "old" SWJ's, this was not happening unless I took away the free choice of Daily 5.  One new SWJ introduced was a persuasive topic on whether or not gym should be cut from the curriculum.  That sparked some interest!  I forgot to take a picture of that one but you can find them by Fancy Free in Fourth here. This journal is about your best friend (easy, right?).   You can find this in a pack from Fancy Free in Fourth here.

This journal is a compare/contrast of two members of your family.
You can find them by Fancy Free in Fourth here.

Have you tried Shared Writing Journals?  I would love to hear more about how you use them!  

Check out other Tried Its by these amazing bloggers!  

Thank you so much for taking the time to share and collaborate ideas!!

Monday Made It January and Giveaways:)

I am linking up with my favorite gal, Tara, at 4th Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It!  This is my all-time favorite linky and is really a great motivator:)

I spent quite a few days over my Christmas break working on four fraction centers for my 4th graders.  The Common Core stresses fractions heavily in 4th grade and they can definitely use more practice!  This product of 43 pages total and four centers are available at my TPT store.  I am so proud of this product and hope to find time soon to make more products to meet the new CCSS and supplement where my curriculum is lacking.

This is the "Freaky Equivalent Fractions" center I laminated where students make equivalent fractions by multiplying the numerator and denominator by a number.  I laminated the cards and students show their work with a dry erase marker at a center.

 I made two sets of the center complete with directions and an answer key.

This is the "Monster Half Smack" center where students play a game by identifying fractions as greater than, less than, or equal to 1/2.  When a card is flipped that is equal to 1/2, the first player to smack the card gets to keep it.  The other cards go on the game board.  There is a fraction bar diagram for students to check their answers at the center and directions that I laminated.  I made two sets for this center also, one set with a blue back and one set with a purple back.

To laminate the cards with a back, I first put tape on the back of each card before placing it on a piece of blue or purple paper.  

Next, I cut the cards out and laminated them.

I also made a new handout to keep track of my students' completion of Daily 5 centers (I use Daily 4).  My students fill out a chart like this when choosing their centers.  Get a modified version of this chart here.  I couldn't figure out how to get three on a page in google docs.

They write down the date, task, and rate "how they did" at the center (I use a 3 star rating system).  I have 24 students for ELA and allowing them to choose centers has been working for most but some students are avoiding certain activities.  I am having a difficult time giving up control because I want them to complete certain activities and be held accountable.  So, I gave them this handout (get it here from google docs) and they have to complete these activities within the quarter (some are already completed).  It was inspired from the amazing Tonya at Tonya's Treats for Teachers in her post here.

I hope that this will make them more accountable!  For the couple students that it may not work for, I will have to start choosing their centers for them.  I just don't know what else to do.  

I also found some great center activities that I printed, cut-out, and laminated.  That counts as a Made-It, right?  These "Winter Compound Sentences" and "Winter Wonderings Quotation Practice"(this one is FREE) are by 4th Grade Racers.

I downloaded and laminated this FREE Happy New Year math game board 

from Making Math More Fun.

These Fact or Opinion Task Cards are by Rachel Lynette and they are great for "bigger kids".  The facts and opinions are a little more difficult to determine.  It comes complete with an answer recording sheet, answer key, and 32 task cards.

I typed up these directions because my students started using this center last week and were writing on the task cards with markers.  I have them use this method for some centers but wanted them to use the answer sheet and turn it in for these task cards.  Then, some students finished and they wanted to go to a different center (even though we have talked about this over and over).  I have my students stay at a center and do more with the center until time is up.  I typed these directions to really spell it out for them:)  How am I supposed to do my writing conferences if I have have to constantly monitor center behavior?  Daily 5 is new to me this year and I think it has been an adjustment making it work for me.  I am getting there, slowly, but surely!

While I was at it, I typed up more specific directions for the Compound Sentences and Winter Quotation Practice.

These geometry cards are from Collaboration Cuties.  It is a jam packed Geometry Complete Unit of 75 pages.  This is a must-see for 4th grade teachers!

What have you made recently?  Link up with 4th Grade Frolics and go back and check out other blogger Monday Made Its!

Come back on Wednesday to enter my upcoming 300 Follower Giveaway that goes live Tuesday at midnight!  I am so grateful that many fellow bloggers have donated their products and I am offering two winners $20 to a store of their choice for educational resources.

In the meantime, check out these other giveaways happening right now!

 Diane at Fifth in the Middle is hosting a 100 follower giveaway.  I am giving away 2 items from my TPT store!

Jennifer at Elementary School Garden is hosting a 300 Follower giveaway!