Tag: positive classroom

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School Test Scores Won’t Tell You the Important Things

We moved to a new area about a year ago. We relocated to a rural farming community of about 2,700 people. For the sake of this blog post, let’s call the town Smallville. In this community, there is one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, and that encompasses the entire school district. 

During our period of searching for homes, I also spent time researching schools in each town and area that we were considering moving to. Of all the cities we possibly could have chosen, Smallville was last on my list because the school rankings for the district were… well… not great. In fact, they were some of the lowest. 

But lo and behold, we ended up in Smallville. With my oldest starting kindergarten just three months after moving there, I was in constant worry about what we should do for school. Should we keep her at Smallville Elementary or drive her to one of the surrounding town’s schools each day? Every passing day throughout the summer it was constantly on my mind. 

We ultimately decided to keep her at Smallville Elementary at least for her first year of school, see how the year would go, and then move her to a new school for first grade if needed. 

After her first full year of school, I was absolutely humbled. Sure, the school rankings on the Idaho State Department of Education website weren’t favorable for Smallville by any means. But do you know what the website doesn’t tell you? 

It doesn’t tell you about the principal that is outside each and every morning and afternoon, no matter the weather, helping the teachers manage school drop-off and pick-up lines. 

It doesn’t tell you about the kindergarten teachers and how every single one of them loves their students something fierce and will do anything to help the students succeed. 

It doesn’t tell you about the first-grade teachers organizing a fundraiser all on their own to help raise money for a field trip. 

The website doesn’t ever mention the school janitor that helps your daughter clean up her spilled lunch box off the floor of the cafeteria and then comforts her when she is in tears from embarrassment. 

There aren’t stats for what a community bonding experience it is to attend a high school basketball game and have everyone come together for the evening, catch up, and rally together to cheer our athletes on to victory. 

Never once did the website mentions how the superintendent, principal, and teacher would bend over backward when you make the difficult decision to pull your child from school temporarily and give distance learning a try. 

It doesn’t tell you about the text your child’s teacher will send you in the middle of the school day, “I noticed your child was struggling with a specific math skill, I sent home some classroom manipulatives she can work with this week to help her.” – Classroom manipulatives that the teacher surely purchased herself. 

It doesn’t tell you the important parts of the school. 

The website can show statistics of test scores all day long, but what it can never show you is what an incredible community you gain in any one specific school, or in our case, one specific school district. 

Going to school is based on academics, but that’s not our only goal at the end of their 12+ years in those hallways and classrooms. The goal is to raise good humans that know how to problem solve, interact with others, be a friend, have empathy, and more. 

I’m grateful for our little Smallville school district and I’m even more grateful that we didn’t try to send our child away from such a community-driven school, regardless of what the test scores said. 

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Dear Students,

You’re walking through my doors for the start of the school year soon. You’re not the same kid you were a few months ago when you left for summer break. You’re bigger, stronger, and smarter. 

I know you may feel so small and not ready to be in this classroom, but let me tell you- you are needed here. You have a place, a desk, a seat in here. And you are more than ready to start this school year in this classroom. 

This year you’ll make new friends, meet new teachers, and explore the walls of not only our classroom but our school. You are here to make your mark and take up space, and I cannot wait to see how your school year unfolds! 

I am excited to meet you and get to know you and your heart. I cannot wait to learn more about you, what your favorites are, and how your mind learns. 

This school year we’ll not only build a classroom, but we’ll also build a family. And you are an important part of our classroom family. 

I can’t wait to see you. 

Sincerely, 

Your Teacher ❤️

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Beat Spring Fever: Bring the Outdoors Inside

Spring fever is hitting hard in our town, school is out in three weeks and everyone is ready for summer vacation. One of my favorite ways to combat spring fever is to bring the outdoors inside. Flowers are blooming and the weather is nice, so naturally we gravitate toward the growth. Instead of suppressing this, why not embrace it? Here are a few ways to bring the outdoors in: 

Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-classroom-without-student-8500643/

Plant something: Have each student plant their own vegetables or flowers to grow in the classroom, or have several classroom plants that students help care for. Our kindergarten planted six different plants in cardboard egg cartons. Once they started popping through the soil, they were sent home to be planted. These individual sections can be cut apart from each other and planted directly into the ground for continued growth. 

Open the windows: This may or may not work in your particular classroom. But if you’re able, slide open the curtains, open up the windows, and let the sunshine and fresh air fill your room! 

Add potted plants: Large, potted plants that grow in your home or classroom year-round can be pulled from the corners and brought out to more loved places in the classroom. Near your reading nook would be a great place! 

Photo by Madison Inouye: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-potted-houseplants-2894950/

Create a rock garden: Are children just predisposed to collect rocks like it’s their full-time job? Or just my kids? Put that skill to use! Find an area in your classroom to create a rock garden. Paint rocks for the rock garden if the time and space allow you to! 

Hatch a Butterfly: There are different programs and companies you can go through online to order a butterfly hatching kit. How exciting is it for students to watch the process of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly right before their eyes?! 

Create bug habitats: Research the best habitat for a specific bug and work together to create an ideal habitat for them to live in your classroom. 

Paint bug rocks: Another way to utilize those never-ending rocks is to paint them to look like bugs and add these rock pets to your classroom. 

Make a dirt sensory bin: If sensory bins are a part of your classroom, consider adding a sensory bin full of dirt, rocks, and small shovels. Sand can also work as well. 

What have you done in your classroom to bring the outdoors inside? 

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Dear Future Teacher Me

Dear Future Teacher Me, 

I know it’s been a few years since you graduated with your teaching degree and received your teaching license (OKAY it’s been more than a few.) But someday you’ll find yourself back in the classroom teaching again when it feels suitable for your family. Someday you will walk through those doors to set up your own classroom instead of walking your own to theirs. 

And someday when that day comes, there are things you need to remember to carry with you that you learned during your time as a parent in the school setting instead of a teacher. 

Remember that all you ever want is what’s best for your kids. So when it feels like a parent won’t get off your back about something, remember that really all they want is what’s best for their child. 

Remember that you’re doing the best you can to support your children’s teachers, but sometimes it’s hard to be as supportive as possible because your life is busy and there’s a lot going on. So someday when you feel like you’re not getting enough support in your classroom, remember that these parents have multiple children and jobs and responsibilities. Their time to volunteer may not be right now. 

Remember that every day you send your children to school and worry immensely about their safety, but also place a lot of trust in the teachers and staff of the school to do everything they can to keep them safe. Remember this, because someday parents will be sending their kids to you and expecting the same. 

Remember that you think so highly of your kid’s teachers and are constantly impressed by what they are able to create and do in their classrooms and that someday, parents will think the same of you. 

Remember that you often forget to convey your gratitude and appreciation for your kid’s teachers and that parents will forget just the same. But that doesn’t mean the gratitude and appreciation aren’t there. 

Most of all, remember that you love your own kids, but you’ll also love your students like they are your own kids, too. Someday, you’ll make a great teacher. You may not have been teaching in a classroom for the last several years, but you’ve done your fair share of teaching with the children in your home, and that experience will carry over to your classroom someday, too. 

You’ve got this. 

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Ideas On How to Support Our Community’s Teachers

It’s no secret that teachers within public schools (and even private and charter schools) struggle to find the resources they need. How can we as parents and community members help support them? Here are a few ideas! 

  • Give your time. Volunteer in classrooms, help out in the lunchroom, grade papers, put together class parties, or read with students in the hallway that could use extra practice. If you offer your time to the school, it’s almost guaranteed they’ll find ways to put you to work. 
  • Provide teachers with shelf-stable snacks. Oftentimes teachers are buying these for their classrooms out of their own pockets, so it can be helpful to provide them with some to keep around. 
  • Give them positive feedback on things you enjoy or notice about their teaching. It can be such a thankless job sometimes! So nice comments can go a long way for teachers that can use a pick-me-up. 
  • Provide Amazon or Walmart gift cards for their classroom so they can purchase needed supplies.
  • Ask teachers specifically what they need. Check-in throughout the school year to see if there are school supplies, snacks, or other things you can provide. Ask if they need help with classroom parties or if it would be a benefit for you to spend an hour or two in their classroom each week helping with things. 

As a rule of thumb, if you’re heart is in the right place and you’re trying to help, anything you do for your school and teachers can help them in some way. Don’t forget about the P.E., computers, music, and other extracurricular teachers too! They deserve and need help, too! 

If you’re a teacher, what would you add to this list? If you’re a parent, what is a way you like to support your local schools? 

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Sight Word Games For the Early Reader in Your Life

With my oldest in kindergarten this year, sight words have become a big part of our daily life. She’s practicing them at school and then we have a list at home that we can work on as well. And as I’ve written time and time again, “Play is a child’s work.” So we don’t just buzz through sight word flashcards as fast as we can, we use sight words in our play. Here are a few games we’ve come up with together to help along the way. 

Sight word board game: My daughter and I made this game together in a similar way to how you would play Candyland. There are two ways you can play it- make your own cards with sight words written on them to indicate where your next square is. Or, roll the dice, move forward that many spaces, and read the words as you move. For pieces, we use Bingo tokens, various board game pieces, or small toys. Yes, Skye and Chase help us play this game! If you know, you know!

Sight word Jenga: We bought a few of these tiny tumbling tower sets from Dollar Tree and wrote various sight words on them. Once we pull a brick out, we read the word, and once the tower has tumbled, we take turns making sentences with the words we pulled. We did multiple sets so we could add in more sight words as they learn them in class. I plan to do CVC and CVC-e words someday when she’s ready for that. 

Sight word sentence builder: I bought a pack of sight word flash cards for cheap on Amazon to save me the time and effort of making my own. We use these cards, plus a few index cards with words we decide to add, to create fun sentences. We also use our Jenga blocks for this as well! This one is my daughter’s favorite way to play with sight words! 

Sight word seek and find: For this, we use our sight word flashcards, or sometimes I’ll write them out on sticky notes and use those instead. One of us hides the sight words and then the other one finds them while reading out which word they found. Pictured here is your classic “hide it in the Christmas tree” move. The amount of random toys I pull out of our Christmas tree at the end of the holiday from various hide-and-seek games is unreal!

Sight word seek and find + builder: This game is a two-part game! I place sticky notes with letters throughout our family room, then she is required to find the letters and build the sight words out of the letters. This one took some scaffolding. In the beginning, it was just a letter here or there omitted in sight words that she had to find, but as she got better and better at it, she started spelling her own words with less prompting. 

Sight word hopscotch: This one can be as intricate or as easy as your time and energy allow. We’ve done this quickly outside with sidewalk chalk, quickly inside with our flashcards, or intricately with painter’s tape boxes taped out on the floor or full sheets of paper with the words written on them taped to the floor. SO many different ways to do this one! While jumping from square to square, we read the words. 

Sight word beanbag toss: This one is a simple one we like to do in addition to the other games we’ve been playing. I simply just lay the flashcards out on the floor and my daughter takes a beanbag (or a soft toy, stuffed animal, etc.), tosses it at a card, and if it’s touching the card she reads the word, then she is handed the card. If she doesn’t read the word correctly, she tries again!

Not only are these sight word games building awareness of words, but they are also utilizing fine and gross motor skills, moving around the room, and using, deconstructing, and building these words in ways they haven’t before. Learning sight words isn’t reading. It’s memorizing. And play is a child’s work, so in order to work through memorizing these words, they must play. 

What sight word games would you add to this list? 

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Playing Preschool Round ✌🏽

A few years ago I started Busy Toddler’s Playing Preschool curriculum with my oldest. She was about three years old at the time and I wrote my review on the curriculum here. 

And now I’m back in the same position with my second child, utilizing our Playing Preschool guide once again! We trekked down to our storage room in the basement and pulled out the tape, dot stickers, pipe cleaners, and paint. We even dedicated a little corner in our home and call it the preschool room! 

Our Melissa and Doug calendar is set up on the wall and we start off our preschool day with poems and songs just like we did in the past. 

This is my second time around with the Playing Preschool curriculum and I am impressed all over again! It truly is learning through playing. As Susie from Busy Toddler promises, there are no worksheets and nothing complicated. It’s just everyday supplies gathered and utilized to help little minds grow and learn. A few things I’ve learned the second time around: 

  • I’ve taken the pressure off of myself to accomplish every single activity outlined for the day. Some days we get through it all, other days I see that learning isn’t happening and we need to take a break for the day. 
  • The repetition of one unit for two weeks can feel really… redundant for adults. After the 7th day of the apple theme, I didn’t want to look at or talk about apples ever again! But the repetition for those preschool-aged minds truly is crucial for learning. 
  • One of my cons on my last review was the hard time I had finding books to use because the pandemic shut down a lot of resources for finding what I needed. However, this time around with libraries open, it’s been much easier. After going through each of these units a second time, I’m more aware of what the needs are with the books used and can change and adapt the books as needed. 
  • The most important part of the entire Playing Preschool curriculum is to have fun. If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong! 

Have you purchased Playing Preschool? What are your thoughts on the curriculum?