Literary Terms: A Plan for the Year

I have busy working over here, only not in my room...

Don't worry...I'll get to it!  There are three entire weeks left until kids start back.  Plenty of time!!

So what have I been working on?  As you may know, I've started a TpT store and I 've been going back through some of my lesson plans and vamping them up.  Making little corrections, putting pretty background on them, and writing them into more detailed instructions--with lots of suggestions for alternatives.

Over the weekend I posted my first unit.  It's called Bloom's Level of Questioning and it's a starter unit for the year, with the intention that you'll continue to go back to those ideas throughout.  It's laying the foundation for a classroom filled with students' questions.  Students who learn to create questions, will be better readers and thinkers.

We start with the basics of understanding what each of those levels means, then move onto the blooms verbs.  Students learn which of these verbs will match up the levels.  We focus on the HOT levels more as the school year progresses, but throughout the year we will go back.

There will also be a board and I'm looking forward to creating that with student work and then referring back to it as we get further into the year!

Check out the preview!

My Teachers Pay Teachers Store

I just started my TpT store.  There are only a few products available currently, but I'm planning on putting a few more up within the next week or so.  Check it out!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lovin-Literature

Bulletin Boards

I spent some time working on my bulletin boards today.  I feel like I'm starting to get things going and my room will begin to come together eventually.

Goals Board

This isn't technically a bulletin board.  It's a built-in cabinet, but I started covering it like it was one last year since it's just plain grey and I wanted it to pop a bit more. 

On the left side are my classroom goals.  The first is really our rules, but I think those can be looked at as very reachable goals.  Then under it I have two goals that I really want to permeate my class: Read 30 Books, and Read Different Genres.  I give students 15 minutes each day (even though sometimes it just eats away at my teaching time) to read their own books.  We spend time talking about their books, writing about their books, and presenting their books.  

On the right side will be our Unit Goals.  This is where I'll display the standards for the unit that we're working on.  Currently I don't have any up, but I did just purchase some cute, already made ones from TPT. Here is the link for the product.

My Desk

Again, not a board, but I'm going to use this as my own reading log.  I require the students to keep a reading log that I can check, so I figure it's only fair that they be able to see mine.  I'll print out pictures of the books I'm reading and post them up.  **Please pay no attention to the top of my desk... it'll be a mess until a few days before school, and then be back to the same mess again within a week.  I'm coming to terms with it.

The Bane of My Existence...Or The Recommendation Board

I hate this board.  It's tall and I hate changing it more than anything.  I never know what to do with it, even when I know what I want to use it for, I never know how to get it to work the way I want it to.  So here is what it is for now.

My Book Recommendation Board.  I bought these on VistaPrint.

If students want to share a book with their students they can fill one of these out, turn it in, and after I check it for appropriateness I'll put it up.  Right now the board has "Best Book Project" posters from last years sixth grade on it.  I'm hoping that after the first couple of weeks I can take those down and start replacing with these post cards.

If I like it and it works out well, I'll purchase some cloth that's long enough to cover this board and then I'll never have to recover it again!!

Homework Board/Tickets

Nothing too exciting here, except for my new ticket pockets!  I've used tickets in the past for good behavrio, rewards, etc.  Then they could buy things from me.  That was too much of a hassle for 120 kids...  So I'm changing it up.  I'll still give out tickets (probably not so many) and at the end of each class period they can put their name on it and at the end of the period deposit their ticket in the pocket.  Randomly I'll pull a name out for a prize of some sort.  In addition I'll allow them to purchase a few things: get rid of a yellow card (behavior card), get rid of a tardy, a Royal Pass, or a Please Leave Me Alone Pass.  They each cost different amounts so they might have to save up for awhile if they really want one.

Jobs/Attendance/Specials Rotation

Still in need of a lot, but I'm unable to do much until I get class lists...which will be the week before school, if I'm lucky! 

So much more left to do, but I'm feeling good about what I've done so far!

Updated Guidelines

Not too much different from a week ago, but I added some information and some clip art to help fill in the pages a little bit.  I'm hoping this will be better than my plain old boring guidelines!

Reading Recommendation Board

I have this tall and very annoying bulletin board in the back of my room.  It's annoying because I'm never sure what to do with it. It's goes all the way to the ceiling so that whatever is up there stays up (I refuse to get myself up on a ladder more than once to change anything).  Each year it bothers me and I end up leaving random things up on the top and then changing the bottom portion of it.  It's been different all five years that I've taught in this room.

Ignore the notes.  I took the pictures of a few spots in my room that I want to revamp this school year.  I thought having the visual would help.  Then when I came up with my idea, I figured I'd just annotate the picture!

This year, I've decided to make it into a board where students can easily recommend books they've read and others can go look for a good book suggestion.  I'm not sure what I'll call it, yet, or how it will be decorated exactly, but I think I'm going to make these through vista print.

I guess I've already made them, but I'm not sure about ordering them.  It seems like a waste of money if I can just make something on word...except that also seems like a lot of time to get everything lined up correctly and formatted.  Plus they wouldn't be in color and this might be more fun for the kids. Whatever I decide to use, it will be something similar to this.  I'm hoping it works.

Summer Improvements on Classroom Management

Guidelines

I've begun working on my guidelines and welcome letter for parents.  The content of my parent letter has only changed a little, as I try my best not to promise a reading of _____ novel because what if I change my mind?  It's mostly devoted to policies and classroom management guidelines that parents should know.

This year, though I did make a big change in how I presented it!  In the past, I just typed it all up with bullet points and one graphic to show the important of reading every single night for homework and then slapped it on purple paper and called it a day. (Actually I've spent a lot of time on my guidelines over the past few years to get it to where I am this year--not wanting to change too much.)  This year, though, it LOOKS spectacular--or soon will.  It still needs some tweaks.  I used the newsletter wizard for word and created my guidelines to look more like a newsletter than just lots of writing.  Mostly the same content with a few tweaks here and there.  I'm pretty pleased with how they're turning out.

Like I said, still needs some tweaking and some proof-reading!  I also want to add some graphics in here as well.  I think that will help it stand out.  To me, it's important that my letter be easy to read and easy to spot.  I teach sixth grade and this is the first year that students begin to switch classes.  They jump from having one teacher all day, and therefore one set of class guidelines, to having six different teachers and six different sets of guidelines, plus P.E. and specials.  

I also send home weekly emails just to keep parents up to date.  They're very brief, but contain some small reminders and homework.  I've made a template that is one page for those weekly messages.  I'm not sure about this, though, because it makes it feel a bit elementary when I start sending home weekly letters like this.

Royal Passes

I have also decided to implement something new in my class.  A few other teachers on our team use Freebie Passes (all have a different name depending on what they teach or their name) where students get a new one each grading period (we have 6 grading periods).  If they don't use them, they can turn them in for extra credit points.  I've creating "Mrs. King's Royal Passes."  Check it out:

They'll be printed on colored paper depending on the grading period.  They can use for RR, tardy pass, or forgotten homework (or an extra day if it's a long term project).  They can also earn more Royal Passes throughout the year, but everyone gets one at the beginning of each 6 week period--no matter what.  (A note on RR.  I'm pretty lenient on this.  If they get to my class before the bell rings and ask to use the restroom, I let them go and they aren't marked tardy, unless it gets out of hand and they're late every day.  Also, if they have their agenda, they may use the restroom during any work time.)

Please Leave Me Alone Pass

So I stole this idea, but I'm not sure from whom I stole it.  I saw it sometime recently on a blog, but can't find it again to give credit.  If I stole this from you, well I'm sorry!  Please let me know and I'll credit you.

Students will get a Please Leave Me Alone Pass at the beginning of each semester (more can be earned, but they're pretty hard to earn).  If they come in and are having a bad day and just don't want to be bothered, they can turn this in to me.  I won't call on them, I won't make them work with a group/partner, they can put their head down.  The only stipulations are that they cannot disturb other students--if they do they have to leave and go to our in school room--and they are still responsible for homework.

I'm not sure how this will work with my sixth graders, but they only get one.  If they still have it at the end of the grading period, then they can turn it in for 10 points extra credit.  (I also plan on keeping a chart to mark off when students use these so I can keep an eye out for students who are sharing.  The Royal Passes can be traded if they want, but these are not a share-able item.  

I'll let you know how these work out.

Here's what they look like as of now:

That's what I've got this week.  I'm hoping to get in to my room later on this week for an hour or two in the afternoon to get some organizing completed.  I feel like I just took all my posters and everything down--and I did. Just a month ago.  Soon I'll be putting things back up.

Projects!

I'm busy working on some classroom projects. Right now I'm busy recovering, and testifying,  my crate seats. They're overdue. I only have six of them and a month and a half left still, so there is plenty of time! 

I did finish making "white boards" for my students. We'll see how long they last. I used plastic presentation covers (1.97 for a set of 6) and some fun tape (.98 per roll at Wal-mart). I left one edge open so that we can take out the white computer paper and put in other paper if needed. 

Next step is to visit the dollar store and get some cloths for erasers.