Two Classes - One Classroom

If you partner teach you know all about the pros and cons of having two class - 44 students. 

I LOVE that I only have to focus on ELA/Social Studies and don't have to worry about math/science. I also love having a partner, someone who can share and understands my joys and struggles with students and who is there for parent teacher conferences! 

What I don't always love is that it feels like I could always use more time, which I am sure I would feel even if I was self contained! Effectively managing two classes in one classroom can be a challenge all on it's own from how to organize their desks for two people to behavior management.  

My partner and I agreed to color code our classes, that way it isn't "my class" and "your class" - they are all OUR students. We just have a blue and green class. Everything is color coded blue for my homeroom and green for my partner's homeroom. 

I personally have tried EVERYTHING under the sun when it comes to managing my 44 students folders, spirals and books in my classroom. I have done tubs with their supplies on another shelf (all that did was take up my shelf room and take away from learning time having them go and get their supplies constantly). I have tried the bottom part of desk for my homeroom and the top part for my second class. The second class never had enough room for their books, pencil bags and all their other supplies! 

THEN it hit me. While my other ELA team member and I were planning our first few weeks and complaining discussing the issues we had with managing each student having 2 spirals, 1 daily folder, at least 4 books, a pencil bag and a behavior folder plus two workbooks in one desk AND the textbooks we would want to store in their desks for easy and quick access --I saw my two book holders and shoved them in the desk and sure enough - they fit! Now each student can have their own tub (obviously in their right class color with their names written on the fish) which clearly holds their daily folder, two spirals and a few books from our classroom library (the items that don't leave my classroom ever) with enough room left over for their other supplies. Those tubs will stay on the bottom and their textbooks will stay on top! PERFECT!!! 

Another problem that can occur when you teach two classes is how to manage behavior easily and effectively AND what to do with desk name  tags. The problem with taping their name tags down is that you would be taping down two student name tags on one desk and what would you do if only one student needed to change to different table but not the other student? (Besides picking off all that tape which is already gross looking because the kids have picked at it during your lessons and now it's brown from dirt -

I've  been there! Ew. Nasty!)

I use Velcro. (A product I spend WAY too much $$ on each August!!)  I Velcro down a green and blue name tag on each upper corner of the desk. That way if the student in the green class isn't meshing well with their table group and needs to move, but the table group is perfect in the blue class, all you need to do is rip off the green badge, grab their niffy tub and switch them to a new desk! 

I also use this for my management. If at any point a student isn't doing what they are suppose to be doing, they move their badge to the Velcro on the behavior strip. This is especially handy while I am teaching. I don't have to stop my lesson for little Timmy who is throwing erasers across the room. No, all I need to do is walk by, take off his name badge and stick it to the strip - without ever missing a beat in my lesson!! I'll talk to little Timmy about how throwing erasers isn't the best choice during a more appropriate time...  :) 

Another management tool my partner and I use is the blurt chart. This is for the minor behavior issues like blurting out, talking, or out of their seat to go talk to a friend across the room without permission. Each time they do any of those things they move a mouth, (because they were moving their own mouths!) each mouth represents a warning. They get 4 warnings. If they move a fourth mouth their behavior folder gets marked. This is the blue classes blurt chart. The green class has their own. The charts travel with the classes. So when my blue class goes to my partner's classroom a student takes their chart and bucket of mouths with them and someone from the green class brings theirs and hangs it up where the blue classes was. 

The mouths they earn in one class follow them to the other class. So if they earned 2 in my room and then get 2 more in the other class, their folder would get marked. This keeps my partner and I unified and makes it more of a seamless day for the students, reinforcing that the rules are the same. 

Students turn in their completed work into their colored tub, in the file with their name. This makes recording grades much easier because it is already in ABC order and eliminates the whole 

"no name... which of my 44 students does this paper belong to...?" 

 I take the tubs home on Friday, grade everything, file it BACK into their folders and then first thing on Monday the students will collect their graded work and take it home. 

I keep track of where each of my students are in the writing process. I do this so I know they are on track, especially since after the first few papers I just tell them when their paper is due and they have until then to get it done! I color the tips of clothes pins green or blue. Each student's name is written on a clip. The blue class clips are on the left and the green class clips stay on the right. The students move their clips as they work through the process. I love this because it is very easy for me to go up to it and call out the students who need to pick up the pace a bit on their writing. 

I have my students take home all failed assignments to be signed by parents and returned the next day. The past few years I have always had these thrown on my desk to eventually be mashed up into another pile and shoved somewhere. This year I am using these blue and green trays for students to come in and put their signed assignments here. I am hoping this solves my problem of papers everywhere!! 

I will post at a later time how I run my daily five and small groups with 2 classes... those areas aren't set up yet...!! :) 

Happy Teaching Friends!!! 

Third Grade is OCEANS of fun!

So our school theme this year is all things "oceany" and I am super excited about how the theme worked into my neon/bright room and especially how it turned out! :) 

I only teach ELA and Social Studies so you won't see any math or science gracing these walls but you will get your fair share of reading, writing and word study! I do teach two classes, one the blue class and one the green class and everything is color coded. I will post later how I manage 2 classes and 1 room! 

This is our library, or the "Reading Resort" (yes, I know the sign in the frame says Reading Cabana, but my husband nicely pointed out that all my other spots have alliteration and both words should start with the same letter) and I am over the moon with how it turned out. It is to the left of the door and begins the reading part of my room. The door with the netting is where I will hang up our "Daily Five" choices. The buckets will hold different daily five activities. I will post more about this when I am finished! 

Here is our "Behavior Bay" with our Whammie (a wonderful term I stole borrowed from my AMAZING mentor teacher while I was student teaching) Menu and our Behavior Strip. Look for my post about management to read more about this! 

Here is our "Reader's Reef" bulletin board which houses AR signup and will also host our "Story Elements" bulletin board set. I like to hang that up bit by bit as we discuss each element.  :) 

My white board is a central part of my classroom with a lot of information for the students. It also separates the Reading corner of my room from the writing corner. My white board is really just a wash board that has seen better days. To cover up the old yucky expo that won't come off, I put up contact paper and sectioned off my board into: 

Schedule, What Do I Do?, Table Points, and Genres. 

The four frames will be where I write our schedule for that day. I also stole borrowed this wonderful idea from a fellow teacher friend! Next to it, under the yellow sign, I hang up that week's assignments that are for grades and need to be turned in as a visual reminder. My classroom is very fast paced since I only get a little over 2 hours with both classes each day. They don't get much time during instruction (my time) to work on assignments. I usually give them around 5 minutes just to get started and make sure they understand the directions. Then they put it in their I/C folder and work on it during workshop (their time). Displaying the work keeps them from interrupting my small group instruction. 

This is the "What Do I Do?" chart. We use this throughout the day but especially during workshop time. Workshop time is about an hour long at the start of the year, but gets longer as the year progresses. I display here exactly what they need to do, in the correct order, and their options for when they  have finished everything. I write all the possibilities on  sentence strips so it is easy to change them out or rearrange the order. On the bottom I can flip the card to turn AR Testing On or Off and open or close our library. This seriously helps the kids and me during workshop time. No one comes up to me to ask any questions or what they should turn in or if they can do a certain activity. The chart gives them all the directions they need! 

My have 6 tables, each a Continent so I use the world poster to keep track of my table points. I started this at the end of last year and it helped some much during our Continent unit. We all know how students obsess over table points (or at least mine!) so I figured with as much as they look up to count their table points they can also get an eyeful as to where the continents are! My reading table is Antarctica because it also has my "cooling off" bucket for students who need to just chill! 

Below my table points is where I display the genres we are focusing on. Under "reading" is the genre of the story we are reading and under "writing" is the genre of the paper that we are currently taking through the writing process. 

To the right of the white board is our "Writer's Wharf" and begins our writing corner of our room. Here I display our colorful word of the week and also where I display my example of the writing paper we are currently taking through the writing process. 

Here hangs our writing process. I use this to keep track of where each of my 44 students are in their writing. 

 I keep their writing portfolios here. Inside the spine of the binders will be a blue (my class) or green (partner class) strip with their names on it. In their portfolios they keep all the pieces they have taken through the process including the piece they are currently working on. We use tabs to separate our fiction and nonfiction writing along with having tabs for the writing process and helpful hints to use while writing. 
They use the revising and editing pens while, well, revising and editing! :) They use the colorful pens during publishing to write any colorful words they used. 
(I'm sure all of you have seen that on pinterest. It is amazing. Kids love it!) 

Next to their portfolio shelf is the writing table, or "Imagination Island" which I will cricut out, frame and put on top of the white tubs. The white tub keeps paper, construction paper, foam shapes and other craft items for them to use while they are writing. Here they can write and create anything. This is one of the Daily Five choices. 

Two pinterest inspired items on my back cabinets are our "Boggle Board" and our "Classroom Rules", decked out in bright colors and sea animals!

This is my reading/small group table and our word wall. A lot of my organizational tools and planning items are here since this is also where we (the ELA teachers) meet to plan! The rulers are stapled up for when the Fire Marshall shows up! 

Next to my reading table is our "Computer Coast" and our "AR Points" bulletin board where I keep a bar graph of how many points each student has. The two classes compete against each other each 9 weeks and the class with the most points gets a prize.  

This is the front of my classroom and where we meet for floor time. 

Underneath the whiteboard is our "Buddy Beach" where students read to someone during the daily 5 and afterwards discuss what they have read by filling our a story map.  (JUST noticed that it says Beach Buddy instead of Buddy Beach... grrrrrrrrrrrr......) 

Underneath my Elmo is our "Listening Lagoon" where the students listen to reading during the daily five. 

This is my teacher area. I love using curtains to hid all the books and binders on open shelves. 

See my next post to read about my blurt chart and how I handle management and having 2 classes! 

Which brings us full circle to our bulletin boards where I post the posters that relate to the topics we are currently learning about. Above it is prefix/root word/suffix information because that is something we really stress all year long! 

........and.......
 I'm DONE! So excited about this upcoming school year!! :) 


Happy Teaching Friends! 

Vocabulary

Oh- vocabulary! Third grade is such a crucial time to build and expand students vocabulary. They take the writing STAAR test in fourth grade and a few "colorful words" can help them get more points... if used correctly...!!

I haven't always loved teaching vocabulary. I wasn't sure how to do it effectively and hold the students accountable for not only defining them but actually using them in their writing and speaking. That all changed when I found an AMAZING vocabulary chart with cards at the Teacher Store and the ideas just started flowing (with the help of pinterest, of course)!!

You can also find this on www.reallygoodstuff.com

On Mondays there is a new word in our "Word of the Week" Chart. The comic and definition is not up yet. One part of their warm-up on Monday is to define the word of the week by looking it up in the dictionary and drawing their own comic using it correctly. After we check it and share I put up the definition and the comic. It stays there for the rest of the week for the kids to constantly see. 

On Tuesdays when they come in I give them a "colorful card" and they write the word of the week down, it's part of speech, the definition and use it in a sentence. They then add their card to their ring of "Colorful Words" that they keep in their writing portfolios. 

These cards stay in their writing portfolio so they can refer back to them while writing. If they use one of their colorful words, they can use a colorful pen (idea from pinterest!) to write it when they publish. I love how colorful their published papers look- it is easy for me to see and monitor their use of the words. Plus it is encourages them to use colorful words so they can write in pinks, greens and oranges! 

At the end of the week I put the word and it's definition up on our word wall, 

so they still continue to see it all year long. 

If I hear them using the word of the week correctly I always give them a "whammie" (a sticker to go towards earning coupons or other prizes) and praise to encourage other students to do the same. By the end of the year their "Colorful Words" ring is completely full and so it their vocabulary!! 

Happy Teaching Friends!!!

It isn't a Party without a Party Hat!

I love my end of the year awards! I have done this for the past 2 years and the kids love it (kinda surprisingly... especially for the boys...) but this year I had some kids from last year come by, see the hats, and tell me how they still have theirs from last year!!

About a month before the end of the year party I tell the kids that we are going to be voting on awards for our class party. I explain how they are going to write one persons name (including themselves) next to each award. I read all the awards out loud. I usually give them a day or so before we actually vote so they can have time to "campaign" during recess and lunch. If not, then the awards will be all over the place!! 

Here you can see the "ballot" I pass out to each student with the awards and a short description. 

I also pass out a class list with all the kids names on it to each student so they can cross out the names after they use them. After they all vote I tally up the votes and we usually have to have "tie breakers" to break the ties between really close ones. The kids love these! I usually do this through activote or you could just be the tie breaker!! :) Trust me, the kids won't know the difference! I don't tell them which award they win- I let them wait and guess until the party when they are crowned with a hat!! 

After I know which student is getting which award I go to our local party supply store, Wally's, and get some colorful cheap hats. I pick up some puffy paint pens and some stickers and get creative!

At the party I invite all the parents to see which award their kid will win. With each hat I tell the parents a bit about that award, call up the winner, crown them and give them a certificate! They always look adorable with their hats on and it makes for GREAT pictures!! 

Happy Teaching Friends!!

The World

I love doing project based learning with my third graders. I usually have to wait until about halfway through the year before doing "real PBL" because before then they aren't mature enough to work in groups effectively without needing constant intervention. From day 1 I begin teaching them how to work together and how to research. I usually begin with simple projects at the beginning of the year where each student is assigned a certain piece and then when they come all together to make one big project. ANYWAYS- this project I did was closer to the end of this pass year and the kids LOVED IT!! I thought it up after I did a unit on the rain forests and saw just how badly they needed a crash course on the continents! 

So after some initial lessons about continents, countries, states, regions... ect. I put my kids in 6 groups of 3-4 and gave them a blank piece of white poster board that only have the outline of their continent.  I did Antarctica as an example with the kids first so they had a gist of how to do the project. I did not want to assign Antarctica to a group because it doesn't have all the things they needed to research. After I gave each group their white poster I wrote down the items they had to RESEARCH and HAVE on their continents. 

Items needed on their continent:

1. The name of their continent somewhere BIG.

2.  The oceans labeled around their continent

3. The largest country on their continent (they could label them all)

4. Languages spoken in their continent

5. Food grown there

6. Animals and plants found there

7. Major Rivers or Lakes 

8. Famous landmarks or people found there

9. Weather/climate found there

10. Anything else they found interesting from their research.

The result was mind blowing! 

My kids seriously did fantastic. All I did was pull library books on their continents and a few of their countries and pulled up Google on 4 of my computers and Google translate on 2 others. The details they poured into their continents was more than I could ever have hoped for. Everyone was blown away at all the little details and facts. Here is a glimpse at some of them! 

We did a giant Titanic unit before this one and here the kids (North America group) drew out the sinking Titanic and the Carpathia coming to save it. They drew it right were it was suppose to be! Awesome!! 

The Africa group did a fantastic job drawing all the countries free handed! (Remember, all I gave them was the white poster board with just the continent outlined!) They also drew where the desert was in yellow. 

Here you can see where the kids had translated "Hello" in the languages their continent spoke. 

Here is a look at South America and their landmark. Amazing!! 

I was pleasantly surprised on how well they worked together. They automatically assigned themselves jobs as the researchers and drawers (with NO help from me) and got busy!! The only time we had an issue was when it came to coloring- when all the research was done and all was drawn out they then needed me to put out small arguments because "so and so wasn't coloring in the same direction or in the right color". I took that as them being fiercely proud of their work and just wanting it to be perfect.  

Happy Teaching Friends!!!

Teacher Love

Hi y'all!! I teach third grade at a public school in Texas. I love my job and I love my kiddos. I feel so blessed to teach such eager students and I feel even more blessed to learn from them. They inspire me do so much throughout the year, changing with each new set of kids I teach, that I decided to start a blog to share it or at the very least have one spot to keep all my memories!!  :)