Plan-Plan-Plan

Five for Friday (on Friday!!!)

July 18, 2014 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 5 Comments

… could it be? I’m actually posting the Five for Friday on Friday?! What is this sorcery?! It looks like I’m doing a wee bit better at this whole consistency bit.

So. Five. for Friday!

Ugh. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh. This was my afternoon. Teaching summer school usually has one great perk for me: leaving before rush-hour traffic! Well, not today. Today, when I left at my usual 1 o’clock, I was met with a twenty-five MILE back-up. So I took every backroad known to man. My 35-ish mile commute took me an hour and forty-five minutes even still. But, it’s Friday, and I’m home now! And only have one. more. week. to go!

I’ve been working on updating my yearly planner… and it has turned into a HUGE undertaking. We’re talking going from your average planner (calendar, blank weekly pages, yearly overview, variety of covers), to all of that, PLUS, gradebooks, rosters, alert pages, information pages, data, etc. and so forth. I am SO excited about this update because it is something I pieced together over the course of the year based on my own needs, and I just know it’ll really benefit all of you, too! Look for it this weekend on TpT.

I’ve started my back-to-school shopping… not in earnest, though. Just more leisurely. That is, until, I happened upon the newest limited edition Mr. Sketch markers in the B2S aisle. Okay, let me first disclose that I’m not a Mr. Sketch fan. I know, stop the world. I’m partial to Scentos if I *have* to have a scented marker, but I really just like plain-ole fine-line Crayola. Anywho, I thought let me try these out — I love the movies, and how bad could these be? Well. Let me just tell you. Nacho cheese is LITERALLY the worst smell I’ve ever smelled. Even after being a teacher and a Mom to two (sometimes) smelly boys. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT go smell it. Ever. I already did for you, and it’s awful.

No picture here, but there will be this time next week! One of my favorite people in the whole wide world is coming to visit me — my cousin and kindred spirit, Rudi. You see, Rudi and I are four years apart, have seen each other less than 10 times in our lives, live on opposite coasts, and yet she means the world to me. She is my firstborn’s godmother and the most incredible human being. I can’t explain how I feel so close to her despite the limited time we’ve spent together, but it just is — do you have a friend or family member like that? I hope you do, because it’s such a special bond. Expect LOTS of picture spam on Instagram of our visit!

This might be the most exciting news I’ve heard in a while. I’m anxious to see how many children’s books are available, because can you imagine what this could mean for us as teachers? We could have a virtually unlimited library of read-alouds at our disposal, without worrying about where to store them or whether we can afford yet another Llama Llama book (and the answer is always). Will you sign-up?

Five for Friday

August 9, 2013 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 5 Comments

I do love a good linky party, so I’m very happy to be linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for my first Five for Friday!

1. I’m still very much in vacation withdrawal… though the trip up was long (10 hours, y’all — it usually only takes 6!), I so enjoyed my time with our NY family. It was awesome to be able to be there to celebrate our incredible nephew’s graduation and bon voyage to college, and to be able to introduce him to his godson Henry. I miss everyone so much already!

2. The pile of lamination grows. And grows. Will I ever be finished cutting it? Le sigh.

3. I’m starting to get incredibly nervous about leaving this little guy each day. I’m nursing this time around, which has created a whole host of concerns and conundrums I never had with my first, William. I’m working around the logistics of being a nursing working Mom, pumping, etc. But most of all — I’m trying to figure out how I’ll not be a weepy mess the first week of leaving him! I stayed home with William until he was 11 months old, so this is a new one for me.

4. Yesterday was the first time our new second grade team met to plan — and boy was it awesome! I’m so happy to be joined by two fabulous ladies this year, and know that we’ll create an incredible year for our kiddos. To celebrate our new team, I made each of them (and myself) a back-to-school planning binder, complete with dividers and note pages for everything I could think of.

5. And speaking of that Back-to-School Planning Binder… how would you like to have one? I decided to start creating exclusive Facebook fan freebies, and finally figured out how to set it all up. To celebrate, I’m posting this 100 page freebie for you to enjoy! Just come on over to my Facebook page, select the “Fan Freebies!” tab, and like my page.

Classroom Management Real Talk + Giveaway

August 2, 2013 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 7 Comments

If there’s anything I wouldn’t change about my first year in the classroom, it’d be my sometimes epic failures in the areas of classroom management. I’m not sure why, but I’ve been hesitant to gleefully admit defeat in this area. However, after some careful reflection in this area (and re-reading some blog posts on this very topic from some of my favorite teachers, such as this one from The Meek Moose), I’m fine with it.

My classroom management needs a serious overhaul. I know that because of my epic failures, and I’m happy to do something about it because I know that failing is the first step to success as a teacher. Critical reflection and all that!

So here are the top three things I learned, sometimes the hard way last year — that I’m going to work to improve this year:

1) Start early and review often. I completely underestimated the need for procedures. I thought sure, I need them, but do I really need to write them down? Yes. Do I really need to explicitly teach them every day for the first month? Yes. Do I really need to review them multiple times a month — even after I think my kiddos have “mastered it”? Yes. Do I really need to re-write my procedures and re-teach them based upon the changing climate on my classroom? YES.

I could have saved myself so much grief and “managing” of behaviors if I did a better job of teaching procedures, modeling, correcting, and reviewing (until blue in the face). Front-loading those efforts could have made me more effective in the long run, and it 100% without a doubt (of the run out and buy a lottery-ticket variety!) could have reduced “negative” behaviors in my room.

2) Be. Consistent. Ohhhhhh. Oh. Just oh. If there’s anything I regret about my first year, it’s about not being consistent enough — in modeling and correcting procedures/expectations, in applying consequences, etc. If I’m being honest (and my goal here is to be honest), I was so overwhelmed at times by trying to get my sea legs in my own classroom that I lost sight of the importance of consistency.

And just like explicitly teaching and modeling, being consistent in absolutely every area of management could have made my year — and more importantly, my students’ year, so much better.

3) You really can just be positive. Or, as it’s otherwise known, ditch the clipchart and communicate better. (Disclaimer: Clipcharts just might be your thing and work wonderfully for you. No judgment here — this is really and truly about me and my classroom!) I must have gone through three or four clipchart iterations last year, trying to find one that worked. I never did. It’s pretty easy to see why — clipcharts worked well for my students that had excellent behavior because they were always reaping the benefits, but all it did for my students that struggled with making good choices is put them on the defensive and in a sour mood and — you guessed it! — led them to making even worse choices.

I don’t know why, but I was afraid that my classroom would become Lord of the Flies if I focused on the positive, didn’t “clip down to red” multiple students a day, but I was. I was terrified that without the threat of orange/yellow/red or whatever iteration it was that my students wouldn’t be motivated to perform. Boy was I wrong.

So — what does this translate to? This translates to balancing out the equation and sharing the responsibility with my students. I’ll be better equipped to start my students out on a level-playing field this year by being aware of explicitly teaching procedures and expectations, providing supports in consistent application of consequences (communicate, communicate, communicate), and most importantly, ditching the clipchart and learning to love the art (and it is an art!) of praise.

I’ve started this journey to improving my classroom management skill-set with something small — my “rewards” this year. Last year I tried classroom coupons, a treasure box, etc. and nothing felt quite right to me. Enter brag tags. You’ve seen them in various forms — necklaces with cards or tags that recognize a specific moment, trait, or success for students.

Above all this upcoming year, I want to recognize even the smallest of successes — because for some of my students, that small success may be the only success they have that day and building upon that is key. [We’re a PBIS school this year, so this is especially important.] I wanted to find something that could be a year-long “reward” and a source of pride for students, something beyond the five-minute joy of a trip to the prize box. That’s when I settled on Brag Tags.

Miss Nelson has a fabulous set of her version, Behavior Beads, which I’ll be using for sure. But I wanted something to fit my personality as teacher too, and something that goes along with the classroom theme I’ve already got in place.

So I started making these. I wanted to recognize both academic and behavioral successes, so the included tags do just that — in keeping with my Oz-Inspired classroom.

I plan on starting off my students with the “There’s No Place Like Second Grade” tag in a special ceremony the first Friday of school. Every Friday thereafter I plan on awarding additional brag tags to students, recognizing them in front of their peers (with specific praise!), and allowing them to wear their necklaces all day (with lots of pride!). My entire team is implementing Whole Brain Teaching this year, so specific WBT-themed brag tags are next on my to-do list (any requests?).

And if one of my kiddos has an off day? An off week? I won’t have to feel like clipping down is my only (or any, because I won’t have a clipchart) option; I’ll be able to point to their success in a tangible form on their necklace — and give them a “Dream BIG” tag for encouragement — communicate (again and again) my expectations, and work with the student to find a solution.

SO, if you managed to make it through all that (it was seriously cathartic, y’all) I’d like to give away three copies of these brag tags. What did you learn most about classroom management your first years as a teacher? Leave me a comment and I’ll pick three winners Sunday night.

It feels like a month…

September 9, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 6 Comments

It honestly feels like a month has passed since I went in for orientation, then work week, and then of course the much-anticipated first week of school! In reality, it’s only been two and a half weeks but ohmyword does it seem like longer!

I caught my son’s nasty sinus infection the first day of school and hardly have a voice — I’m hoping that changes by Monday morning! I’ve been laying low, trying to get as much sleep as possible, and trying to get into a groove with my class.

I now have 23 kiddos — seven girls and sixteen boys. Yes. I have more boys in my class than I had total students in my third grade class during student teaching! It has been a challenge to get a sense of their little personalities and what works for each of them, but I’m getting there!

I have some plans for this blog in the next few days (after I finish planning/starting assessments) and that involves rolling out the following posts (which are all in some form of ‘draft’ stage right now!):

classroom reveal
implementing the Daily 5 as a first-year teacher
reflections on a first first day of school
update on what we’re working on

I am spending some time tonight going through e-mails, catching up on blogs, and trying to figure out Scholastic Book Clubs. I’m eager to get my first red book box (you have no idea)! I hope everyone has had an amazing first few weeks of school and that you all haven’t succumbed to germs yet like I have — it’s no bueno!

Overwhelmed — but only a little!

August 23, 2012 by Sarah Plum(itallo) 5 Comments

I admit it. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.

Not necessarily in a bad way… just in an overwhelmed kind of overwhelmed way. (I’m also really excited, fulfilled, and happy, so it is balanced out!)

After spending the first two days of the week in my room (and making some decent progress), I’ve spent the last two days in training and my brain is a bit fried. It is a lot of information to take in all at once, especially as my brain is already preoccupied with the “I’m never going to finish my room!” and “I really have a class?!” jitters.

So I do have a small request: the biggest piece to me feeling overwhelmed right now is the practical parts of the first few days of school — establishing procedures and routines. If you could be so kind as to leave one piece of advice to that end, I would very much appreciate it, and will share it with my friends that are also embarking on their first first day of school!

I’ll leave you with a sneak peek of my word wall, which my husband graciously helped me put up. I’m so excited to get some “starter” words up there, and to put my mobile word wall on the shelving below it!

Excuse the bad photo — the alarm was about to be put on and we were rushing out!

I will be back this weekend with several freebies and a new TPT product (hopefully… if I can keep my eyes open) that I’ve been meaning to upload for two weeks!