Parent communication made simple!

School has started, and thus the reason for not blogging in the last few day! L  Hope that all of you teachers have had a great start to the year!  I have 23 new kiddos in my class, and am already enjoying them so much.

Last week I had a BREAKTHROUGH in getting parent contact information, and just had to share.  I tried something new for Meet the Teacher this year, and was thrilled with how smoothly it went!

It started with a simple Google form.   These are relatively easy to put together, and make it a snap to gather parent emails, contact information, transportation and such.  After putting together my Google form, I added it to my class website.  This is easy to do, and allows new parents to add information later if needed.   Next,  I bookmarked our website on each of our 3 classroom computers.  When parents came in for Meet the Teacher Night, I directed each of them to kindly fill out their contact information at this computer station.  They did, and I now have a quick, accurate (yay!) record of all of my students and their families.  It took all of 3 minutes per family, and the parents loved it.  Cut and paste into my distribution list--check! :)

One more new touch—using the Remind 101 website to stay in touch with families.  It’s free and it’s a lifesaver!  Parents simply text a given number with an access code (provided by Remind 101).  Once that simple step is complete, they can receive quick text updates from me—with just a simple message and “click” on my end.  I’ve already been able to send out a quick blurb to “remember gym shoes” to the class quickly and easily.

Ongoing communication with parents and families is so important.  Thank you technology for making this part so much easier!

Ten Things About Me FREEBIE

Pretty soon, 23 new students will be walking through my classroom door!  On the first day of school, I love doing a simple get-to-know you activity with the kids.  This "Top 10 Things About Me!" is a great welcome tool to put on the students' desks as they start their first day.  Teachers can even fill one out and share with the class too!  Enjoy this freebie by clicking here. J

Behavior Chart FREEBIE

Classroom management is such a huge part of teaching.  Red, green and yellow card systems… point system….token jars…. They’re all great strategies and work really well for most children.

But there’s usually at least one child that needs just a little bit more.  Some kids need more behavior feedback, more coaching, and more positives through the day to do their best.  I had a first grader a few years ago that used this Smiley Chart with great results.  It’s easy to use—simply track the number of prompts needed during a time frame and record the corresponding smiley face from the bottom key.  This is great for self-monitoring too, as students can discuss with you how they did or even track their behavior as well.   Parents like the feedback, and this can go home in the take-home folder each day.  

Hope that you find it helpful—or maybe you won’t even have any students with behavior needs this school year? J   Maybe…   Click HERE for this freebie and enjoy!

Writing Process Rings

Like teachers everywhere, I’m working hard on those last minute preparations for back to school.  It’s going to be here soooon!  Time to focus on those little details and getting everything ready. 

Today I’m putting together Writing Process Rings for my kiddos.  I came up with these last year as a  tool for students to use with their writing.  It was the simplest little thing, but I saw SUCH an improvement in the way that my students grasped the writing process!  For many students, this can seem like such an abstract concept—they want to write, turn in their work, and move on.  Revise?  What’s that?  Proofread?  Huh?  Thankfully, these writing rings helped solve this problem! J  My students really got the writing process, and used it independently through the year with just a little practice and these rings.

Each child had their own ring, which was a set of 5 different colored cards on a book ring. Here’s a picture of the rings that we used last year. 

Since then, I’ve tweaked them a bit and also included a “name” card on the front so they wouldn’t get lost! 

The cards on the ring list the steps of the writing process in order, which helped the students know the formal vocabulary for writing.  Underneath each, I also defined each step in kid-friendly terms. J   As the students wrote, they simply pulled out their rings and placed them on the corner of their desks, turning to the step that they were working on.  I could easily see what step of their writing they were working on with just a glance at their card!

Easy to put together, and they made a big difference!  These templates are formatted so that all of the cards are the same size—simply cut, hole punch, and assemble.  There are 8 cards per page to make multiple rings easy to copy.  Click HERE to get your copy! 

Place Value POUNCE!

I’m working on some number sense math centers, and have come up with a fun one for place value!  I think that my kiddos are really going to like this one!  Place value is such an important skill, and kids who really struggle with number sense need repeated practice here. 

So, the latest game going into my math center rotation is “Place Value POUNCE!”  This card game is sort of a cross between “War” and “Slap Jack.”  Students will play in pairs and evenly divide a set of number cards.  They spin a spinner and see what digit they will be hunting for (for example, highest 10, lowest 100, highest 1). Next, they turn over two cards and “pounce” (gently—hee hee) on the card that meets that spin.  The player who collects all of the number cards wins!  I think they’ll love playing the game, and at the same time they will be needing to instantly recognize ones, tens, hundreds and thousands. 

The number cards are really cute, and I'll be making a few spinners and sets of cards to have on hand at my math station.   

Click HERE to get your copy of Place Value POUNCE!