Back to School, A Little Late

When I said a few weeks ago that the school year had hit me like a ton of bricks, I wasn’t really employing hyperbole.

Unfortunately.

Anyway, I tried to warn you that posts may be delayed/fewer than usual/nonexistent, and I wasn’t just being self-deprecating. Any good teacher knows that the day starts long before students arrive, and continues way past when they get on the bus to head home. Add into that tutoring two previous students, stuff with church, and, you know, trying to be married and keep a household semi-functioning (which actually takes time), and there’s precious few moments left to blog.

Enough of the excuses. I just felt the need to explain myself, and justify the weekend hours I spent running errands, spending time with family, and reading a book instead of on here.

I wanted to round up a few of the resources that I found invaluable as a new teacher in the first week or two of school. Those first few days define craziness, and it all flies by in a blur of learning names, needs, and personalities, trying to teach classroom routines and procedures, and maybe, if you’re really lucky, actually getting some learning done.

This is an actual photo of my first week “plans.” I downloaded the plans template from Pinterest, and edited them to my needs and liking.

Source

Then I made loooong lists of possible activities for those first few days. I tried to tell myself to relax, just take things one step at a time, and not sweat it if we didn’t actually get that much accomplished. After all, I’m not only new at this myself, but I’m teaching brand new 5 year olds!

Of course, I had to make myself fairly detailed plans for the first day, so I wrote it out on a piece of notebook paper. That only lasted two or three days, and now I’m quite comfortable fleshing out plans in weekly format.

Yes, those are my actual plans for this week. Luckily there are no coffee stains this week. ;-)

In those first few days, I tackled the following:

• Teaching classroom routines (this could be a whole post in and of itself...hmm, note to self…). I focused on everyday routines, such as unpacking in the morning, snack and lunchtime routines (we eat in the classroom), lining up and walking in the hallway, sitting on the rug, and packing up in the afternoon. This list really helped me decide what to teach right away.
• Get-to-know-you-activities and crafts. This included making self-portraits, morning meeting activities, and a graph of the letters in our names.
• Practicing centers and other classroom usage. I have a very hands-on, interactive teaching style, so my room is full of ways for students to learn independently. Nothing makes me happier than seeing students play math games, choose good books from our class library, or practice their handwriting--WITHOUT REALIZING THEY ARE LEARNING. I absolutely believe learning should be fun, and kindergarten is the perfect place to practice that. Anyway, I taught my kiddos how to use the library, the math and literacy centers, and the art center.

Blurry literacy centers...I change out the materials every few weeks to make
sure we are practicing new skills! 

After three days of this stuff, the children felt comfortable in the room, and seemed ready to move on to actual learning! So we launched in our phonics program (we use Fundations, by Wilson Reading), our language arts (Foundations and Frameworks) and some math (Everyday Math). The fact that we had practiced so many routines and procedures meant that we could focus on the content.

In the first week and a half or so, did lots of simple activities to get used to the way learning happens in kindergarten. Those activities usually included a book, of course! The ones I am definitely planning to use again are:

• First Day Jitters (talk about and make lists of how we feel on the first day of school)
• Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten (alphabet review, where to find things in our classroom)
• I Like Me! (make our self-portraits)
• If Everybody Did (talk about our classroom rules, and role play how we act in kindergarten)
• Pete the Cat: Rockin’ in My School Shoes (for fun--play the song from youtube!)
• Chrysanthemum (by Kevin Henkes, count the letters in our names and make a graph showing how many letters are in our names)

These covered several days, and let us get plenty of practice in using our materials, and our minds! Plus, they give us some cute things to hang around the room for back to school night.

Any other teachers out there have any “go-tos” for the first days of school? It’s such a tricky balance of letting the children adjust and breathe, and trying to get them used to the new schedule and (sometimes) rigorous expectations!

Author Study

Sorry for the long break in posts, guys! I started (well, resumed, after a long time) an after-school job in January, which leaves me with very little time in the evenings. Also, now that the days are longer and the weather is warmer, I'm spending more time doing things and being outside, and less time in front of my computer.

All excuses aside, I have a cool teachery thing for you! 

Last year in my second-grade class, I had a leveled reading group, compiled of students from across the grade. My crew were some of the high-fliers from the grade, so I was free to do some unit planning and curriculum creating. One of my favorite units was an Author Study of Patricia Polacco. 

The unit I did last year took us over a month of 30 minute lessons four days a week. This year, I am supporting a 2nd grade class in the afternoons and the teacher kindly offered to let me do something fun with a small group of students, so I'm recreating that Patricia Polacco unit, and I wanted to share it with you. 

I started off by giving the students (6 children, 4 girls and 2 boys) some background information on Patricia Polacco. You can go to her website for her full biography, but I just gave some basic facts--she is a prolific author and illustrator, she writes her own stories, retells folktales, and shares things from her own life in her writings and illustrations. 

The first book we read was Mrs. Katz and Tush. It's a great story, and a wonderful introduction to Ms. Polacco's writing and illustrating style. I asked the children to notice colors and patterns in the illustrations, and we talked about the types of characters in the book--namely, a child interacting with an older person. We also discussed the variety of religious backgrounds and skin colors in the book (Mrs. Katz is an older Jewish lady who befriends a young black boy). 

Next, we read Thank You, Mr. Falker, which is a story near and dear to pretty much every teacher ever. We had similar discussions as above, but including a discussion on learning disabilities and how we should approach differences in learning in ourselves and others. This is really valuable for students around 2nd grade, I believe, because they are becoming so acutely aware of who is different. Reassuring and imposing the belief that differences are ok is so important. At this point I also had the students make a T-chart about Patricia Polacco--one side was things they had learned about Ms. Polacco from her stories, and the other side was any connections, observations, or pattens they had noted while reading the first two books. 

This is where I got all teachery. The next two books in my mini-unit were Chicken Sunday and My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother. I divided my group into two sets of three students, and gave each group a pile of sticky notes and one of the books. I told them to picture-walk through their books, and jot down any questions they had or observations they made. I did ask them to keep their observations focused to the books at hand--any colors or patterns they recognized from other books, use of photographs in the illustrations, etc. This really served to pique their interest in what they were reading, as well as giving them purpose for the actual read-through since they wanted to answer their own questions. 

I asked the groups to write a 1-2 sentence summary--what they thought their book would be about based on their picture walk. Then, finally! Each group read their stories and I checked in (frequently--the groups sat at either end of a long table and I sat in the middle literally leaning back and forth between groups) to answer questions or help with sounding out tricky words. 

Next, rather than doing a traditional jigsaw, I asked the groups to essentially play the game Two Truths and A Lie. The groups wrote down two true facts or events from their book, and one false statement. They swapped papers and books, and predicted which of the other group's statements were false. Finally, they read each other's books! They loved this--it made the second book like a treasure hunt, and the group that guessed correctly was so proud. I was also pleased because they were reading closely and staying focused. 

From here, we went back and added to our T-charts. The last part of this mini-unit was a journal entry. I asked three questions: 

1) Which of the books we read was your favorite? 

2) Give two reasons why it was your favorite. 

3) Write two things you learned about Patricia Polacco from that book. 

It was super fun, and the kids did really well. I'd highly recommend any of Ms. Polacco's books, for teachers or parents or students. She writes so brilliantly and so feelingly. One of my personal favorites is The Junkyard Wonders, but beware, it's a tearjerker. 

What children's books or authors do you love? 

Crafts for Kiddos

Since I'm kind of a glutton for punishment, I decided to lead a craft club for my school's after-school program. It was only 5 weeks, and I kept the crafts simple and fun. It turned out to be a total blast, and a great way to get to know a few students (16, in fact) better outside of class.



(As an aide, I get to move all around the school and thus know about half of our ~500 students by name, but I don't know many of them very well, so this was a golden opportunity.)



After scouring Pinterest, as well as getting some input from my 2nd-grade babysittee, I came up with five awesome, age appropriate crafts for 5-8 year olds.



Since we started in January, I wanted something seasonal and cute. I also wanted to make pretty much all of my crafts things that would actually functional or decorative, rather than just fun to make. This was our first shot:

Source

Then we made hang-able monograms, simply by cutting foam sheets into letters and decorating them. I failed to take pictures of that, but they were super simple and cute. My babysittee has hers hanging on the basement door of her home. Heh.



Next, we tackled exotic birds, made out of terra cotta pots. Add pom-pom heads, googly eyes, and feathers, and you've got...

My mom made something like this at a craft class when she worked at Michaels.

My little flock!

I love seeing their unique ideas and creativity!

Our last week together (one week got snowed out) we made a Valentine-y sort of craft. Add together some wax paper, tissue paper, and Modge Podge for some adorable little lovey-dovey stained "glass."

The hardest part for my kindergarten students? Cutting out those hearts. I tried to keep it simple
by folding black paper in half and having them cut out two question-mark shapes, one inside the
other. Even with very careful, slow instructions I had to help a couple of them.

Cute.

Best part? For 16 students, and four weeks of crafts, I came in just under $50. That was my prescribed budget, so I had a little help from my own craft stash (some feathers, paintbrushes, glue) and some really old supplies that my supervising teacher donated (paint, and she let us use her scissors). I was pretty pleased overall.

Kindness Day

Something my 2nd grade level partners and I decided to do was to create an ABC Countdown to track the last 26 days of school for our students. It would offer some fun and interest to those last few days that draaaag like nothing else.

The challenge was to come up with something appealing to 8-year-olds (as opposed to 6-year-olds, where things like ABC Countdowns are the norm). 

We each put our own spin on a list, and today was Kindness Day. 

I was a little surprised at the resulting day. 

I started off the day by reading Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler! It was a silly, cute story that the kids really enjoyed. We discussed some of the acts of kindness from the story, and how we would apply them to our classroom. I challenged the kids to do as many acts of kindness as they could during the day, and I gave each one an index card to keep track. Anytime I noticed an act of kindness, they would earn a sticker. 

(Now, this is Kindness Day, not Competitive Kindness Day, so we didn't count the stickers or declare a winner. It was more a celebration of their actions.) 

The surprise? (For me at least?) 

They loved it. They couldn't get enough. They spent half their day doing kind things for me and for one another, and the other half reporting each other's acts of kindness and congratulating one another on their stickers. It made the day so pleasant, and I was thrilled to hand out probably close to two dozen stickers. 

The other surprise? 

Two of my students wrote me little notes thanking me for what I do, and I couldn't believe how much it meant to me. We only talked about kindness to peers, not necessarily to me, so it was really touching to have these two share their kindness with their little ol' teacher. 

I just may keep this going (minus the cards...just randomly hand out stickers for kindnesses). It could just make our last 15 days that much better! 

No Excuses, Just the Truth

I've been a little absent lately...no real excuses. I'm just tired, feeling burned-out, and lacking any inspiration whatsoever. I'd rather postpone writing than write worthless words.



Anyway, I'm down to something like 32 days of school and 4 more weeks of Sunday School. I'm almost cleared to teach summer school, but those days will be really laidback and end at 12:30, so...hardly counts in my book. No papers to grade, no math lessons to mull over, no research (except some extra awesome crafts), it'll be a comparative breeze.



In the meantime, I do want to share a project that I completed at school recently! Our district utilizes RTII (Response to Instruction and Intervention) which is a great program that essentially looks like good, old-fashioned reading groups. The pedagogical idea is that when students are grouped for a portion of the day based on ability, we as teachers are able to target strengths and weaknesses, build necessary skills through carefully differentiated instruction, and maximize growth and learning.



Exciting stuff.



(Really, actually. This stuff lights my fire.)



Anyway, out of the whole second grade I teach the highest level readers for 30 minutes each morning (thanks to our great district, very few of our students are actually below grade benchmarks, but I work on some higher-level thinking skills). As such, I have a lot of flexibility and I've had a lot of fun designing my own curriculum for this group.



You know, because I don't have enough to do as a first-year teacher.



My most recent project has been an author study of one of my favorites--Patricia Polacco. She's an awesome and incredibly talented author and illustrator, and we've had a blast reading her books. We've discussed themes, genres, and made lots of connections between her texts. One of my favorite things about Ms. Polacco is that she injects so much of herself into her books, and so many of her stories have at least autobiographical elements, if not being totally based on her life.

Patricia Polacco's Official Website

As such, our culminating project was to skim through the books we'd read (complete list below) and glean information about her life completely from her books. We'd done other research on her life, but we put together this awesome timeline just based on her stories.

The kids really enjoyed this project. They loved digging through the books for factual information, and we got to practice our sequencing, comprehension, making connections, and main idea all in the bargain.



Now...just 32 days to go!

School Days

I haven't updated about school lately, but here's a few of the things that have been keeping me so busy--too busy to blog as often as I wish!

Fresh and lovely writing domain posters. I was kind of proud of these, I took my time designing them and made sure they were bright, colorful, and appealing. 

Alliteration Anchor Chart. Yeah, my artistic skills are being stretched every day. 

Our New Years Goals...made into a mobile. For funsies. 

This cracked me up to no end. We were working on fact versus fiction, and the instructions were to color boxes with factual statements red, and fictional statements blue. Over half of my students colored this red. 

Paper towel roll butterflies, made with our kindergarten buddy class. 

So cute!

This was formerly our Star Student wall, but now that all of my students have been Stars, I turned it into a Showcase. Each student can pin any piece of work they are particularly proud of in their spot. 

Spring bulletin board with "ripped" style flowers. 

More flowers. 

Contraction Flap Books. On the outside...

...and on the inside! The kids had fun with this, same work as a worksheet but way more fun. 

So that's school lately. I've been gaining enough confidence to branch out and design some of my own lessons, including an author's study with my leveled reading group. It's fun to be able to do all the cool stuff because I'm not as bogged down in the practical aspects. Baby steps, baby! 

Dinos + A Long Weekend

Since December, we've been working on dinosaurs at school. It's totally fun, we're reading lots of interesting books about it and studying extinction theories, jobs that go with prehistoric study, and all kinds of cool stuff.


Naturally, I'm doing a lot of research on my own so that I can adequately teach the material.



Also naturally, this is totally awesome.



For example, did you know that there are actual dinosaur mummies where the skin and scales fossilized along with the bones, so we can get a real understand of what their skin was like?



And did you know that if you buy the whole Pangaea theory (the idea that at one point in time the continents were all connected and over time they split apart, and water shifted to finally create the continents and bodies of water we know now) then there's this really interesting theory that dinosaurs carried diseases to one another? The idea concludes that, much like Native Americans were decimated by European diseases, dinosaurs were wiped out by varying germs. Fascinating, right?



Yeah. I'm a nerd. Is anyone still actually surprised by this information?



On another note, I had a lovely, long, three-day weekend this week. We had off for MLK Day today, and we slept late, took Lily to the pet store, and went to the Philly auto show. The only downside is a nagging case of sinus pressure. I'm not surprised--we have so many bugs going through school, viruses that are knocking out veteran teachers, that I was fully expecting to get sick at some point this spring.


That being said, these sinus colds are really getting old. I mean, I know I should be grateful to not have the flu or some such horrible illness where I'm puking my guts out every 45 minutes....but I'm not.



Go figure.



See, these sinus things wear me out and make me so miserable (I get the whole pressure+sneezing+watery eyes+headaches shebang) that it's utter torture to focus on anything, never mind running a class of 19 students (I know, I'm such a trooper, aren't I?). I would almost rather get something legit so I can call out of work and feel justified lying around like a mopey baby.



As it is, I just feel guilty. And sick.



But at least I'm not puking!

The Turkey Trot

(Yet another school post...get used to it, folks. My mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas and my immediate response was "teacher stuff."


Her immediate response? "Absolutely not."


This is what moms are for.)



Anyway, last week was American Education Week. Much to my (superintendent's) chagrin, I don't really know what that means. What I do know is that it means my week is crazier than usual.



Which, if you know me, is kind of saying something.



It was great for the kids. We had parent visits, a town meeting (the whole school meets to catch up on goings-on and celebrate achievements), a kindergarten play, and Friday morning, the Turkey Trot.



The Turkey Trot is really a great thing. It's a fundraiser for muscular dystrophy, (wow, it just took me three tries to type "dystrophy"), a disease that afflicts two FWES alumni. The Turkey Trot was established in their honor, and it's a school tradition.



However, in practical terms, it means giving up your Friday morning to "trot" two miles around the neighborhood.



500 children. Just imagine with me, if you will.



The whole school, staff, PTA, and other dedicated parents gathered in the gymnasium for the Hop-a-thon, a one-minute hopping spree to kick off the Turkey Trot. Then the 5th graders file out and walk the two-mile loop. Then the 4th grade, the 3rd, and onward down (really a good plan if you consider the strides and speed of fifth graders versus kindergarteners).



Each turning point or corner of the route is manned by PTA and other parent volunteers. Parents walk with their children's classes, some for the whole trot, and others for portions. One kind parent handed me a cup of coffee along the way, and everyone was very excited.



I was about to have a stroke. Coffee was entirely unnecessary, I was so wired.



Please understand, I've worked with kids my whole life. I spent four years as a paid camp counselor, and probably four more years volunteering at VBS camps. I'm no stranger to the chaos of unbounded children. I've done field trips to Dorney Park and Phillies' games.



That being said, nothing nothing NOTHING compares to the pure and utter terror of being solely responsible for the care and well-being of 19 rambunctious second-graders, and having so little control over the situation.



Pretty sure I counted those 19 noses about 14 times.



One of my room parents was there (bless her heart) and she laughed every time she watched me whirl around, frantically checking for my students.



Good news: I didn't lose anyone!!



Bad news: I'm pretty sure I'll be sprouting some gray hairs shortly. Four or five of my boys kept "trying to get lost" and scampering ahead. And of course, with parents around, you can't exactly play mean teacher.



Other news: the only terror left is for the turkeys.

There Is Always More

My best friend, a fellow elementary teacher, has said to me more times than I can remember, "there is always more you could do."



I don't think I truly understood what she meant until today.

That's her on the left. Sorry, she's taken (and not by me!).

Any teacher worth her (or his) salt knows that you're never done learning, adapting, adjusting, tweaking, and changing. It's part of being a good teacher. That lesson could always be better if, those worksheets could have been clearer if, that activity could have been more engaging if...



If, if if.



Today I realized that for all the improving I have to do as a teacher (and lemme tell you, when I come into my own and really settle into a class, I'm gonna be totally kickass. This is the greatest job in the world, and I full plan to own it) I have a million and one little and big things always plaguing me.



Completed work to be filed, updates to be emailed, new work to be sorted, posters to make, projects to arrange, centers to organize and improve, art to hang and take down and rehang, homework and tests to grade, grades to enter on paper and online, Scholastic book orders to fold and send home...

Seriously, this list could go on for pages.



But at some point, I have to realize that I'm done. My day starts at 6:15, and magically it's one of those points in my REM cycle when I can jump out of bed and start powering along. I get to school by 7:15, the kids arrive around 8:30. I work straight through my lunch, eating at my desk, and the only socialization I achieve is asking one of my grade level partners for help with something.



Kids leave around 3:45 (hallelujah) and I can clean and straighten my classroom for the next day, write out the schedule on the blackboard, morning message on the white board, and make sure all my worksheets, projects, and supplies are lined up and ready to go for the morning. I make plans and posters and copies, and I email parents and staff members. I organize paperwork, switch out completed units for new material, and try to get ahead by researching games, activities, worksheets and bulletin boards for the future.

Are you tired yet? I am.


Throughout the day, I'm constantly on my feet. I hear "Mrs. Henrich!" about eight trillion times, get thirty-four pats on the back (or hip, which never ceases to amuse me), repeat directions about ten times, hear 8456 tattles, and every time I pause to check my email because I see a parent's name pop up in my inbox, I'm interrupted by an "I don't get it."



Now please don't take this to mean that I don't absolutely love my job. For all its overwhelmingness, all its busyness and multitasking and never getting a break, I adore it. But I finally understand what my friend meant.



When 5 PM rolls around, and I've been in my classroom for more or less 10 hours straight, I look at that pile of papers to be graded, that stack of completed work that needs to be filed, that math center that isn't quite ready....

Writing center fail. Still not quite ready. 

And I go home.



There's always more to do. I could always stay another hour. It will never be finished.



AND THAT IS OK.



Hold onto your hats, people, because this may be the biggest lesson of my life.



When 5:00 shows up on my watch, and I know that when I get home I have to walk the dog, and make dinner, and fold the laundry that's been sitting in the hamper for six days, and oh, it'd be nice to spend some time with my husband....I can leave. And it doesn't make me lazy or a bad teacher, and I don't have to compare myself to the other teachers who don't leave until 8 PM.



I'm sure there will be nights when I don't leave until 8 PM. And there will be days when I leave at 4:30. And you know what? The amount of work will never really change. It will be there when I come back at 7 AM the next day.



And that's ok.

School Days

Since I'm not actually at school today, I decided to spend my time thinking endless thoughts about it. Ha.

In case you've been hiding under a rock or something, I'm a teacher, currently working as an aide in a multiple disabilities classroom, and I love what I do. My day-to-day is rarely glamorous, and I usually end up with yogurt, markers, paint, or drool on my hands and clothes (or some combination thereof).


But I love it.


I realized during my second lesson of my first practicum (my second time ever teaching a whole class of students) that teaching is absolutely what I am meant to do.

Of course, this can be a particular struggle, especially because teaching jobs are a scarcity and I itch on a daily basis to have my own classroom and my own students. I adore these children, and having a job that is simultaneously challenging, hilarious, stressful, and immensely gratifying is one of the greatest privileges in the world.


Especially when you get to finger paint.

And who doesn't love getting to read children's books and actually be excited about them? Everything from Dr. Seuss to Pete the Cat to Tale of Depereaux to Junie B. Jones.

Pete the Cat, I love my white shoes. 

Truffula trees, from the Lorax. 

We can't technically do Easter, but we can do bunnies. 

**Note: Yes, I'm doing it; I'm using my blog as a way to catalog (and later portfolio-orize) my school projects. With the exception of the rainbow, photo #1, all of these crafts were adapted or designed for our class by me. And yes, I drew the Seuss fish and the bunny. Be proud, mama.