The (Before) Back to School List

It's that hectic time of year again; the before back to school blues feeling overwhelmed with everything you need to get done. I have broke done a simple list to help prepare you for that first week back.

First, breathe. It will all get done, I promise! During this hectic time remember to take a moment for yourself. Do not overwork yourself otherwise you will become unproductive. So remember, breathe!

This is usually the first thing I do before the school starts. Having your bulletin boards, borders, and color scheme done shows progress. It also makes a comfortable place for you to do the rest of your before school year work. Having your bulletin boards up also sets the mood for the rest of your classroom and allows you to work in a comfortable space.

After creating this comfortable reading space I felt a load off my shoulders. Now all I had to worry about was the rest of my to do list. ;)

If you are returning to your old classroom and you like the way things are, skip this. If you are a new teacher, in a new classroom, or need a change, play around with classroom layout. Where are your main areas like read alouds, calendar, and your whiteboard going to be? How would you like student desks arranged? Check out tips on seating arrangements here! Play around with different ideas to see what you like best. And remember, you can always change it during the school year if you particular layout isn't working for your group of kiddos.

Reading, writing, and math are always my main priorities. Science and Social studies I have to be more creative with where I put this space. You can find these FREE Scientific Process Posters by clicking here or on the picture!

Once you have you have your general layout done, start thinking about smaller spaces.

• Were will mailboxes and/or backpacks be located? (Think about your packing up procedures!) 
• Where will you store extra supplies and student supplies? 
• How is your library going to be organized and how will students know how to find books? 
• How are reading, writing, and math centers going to be laid out? Where will you keep supplies for these centers and how will students be able to access them? 
• Calendar and/or morning message? Find a comfortable open area where students will focus on learning. 

Find these library labels by clicking here or on the picture!

Find these School Supply Labels here or by clicking on the picture!

Small decisions made before school starts will affect the rest of your year.  Read about how I organize some mom my centers supplies here! Be organized! You will thank yourself later.

Think about what procedures and routines your students will need to know for a successful classroom.  Place items students need for these routines in strategic places in your classroom.

• Bathroom log? Put it near the exit of the classroom so students don't need to interrupt the class. 
• Sharp pencils? Will this be a classroom job or will students sharpen pencil themselves? If students are sharpening during class, you may want to place the pencil sharpener in a location away from where students are working because it can be noisy! 
• Paper bins, supplies, an turn-in bins? Put this in an area easily accessible to students where they won't interrupt other working students. 
• Clip chart for management or attendance? A good location for this would be towards the back of the classroom so it can be discrete. 
• Classroom jobs? Put this in an area that students can find quickly but isn't the main focus. 

Find these FREE Classroom Jobs by clicking here or on the picture! 

These are just a handful of things you need to think about. Every teacher uses different routines and procedures. Having a strategic and well thought out layout will help your classroom management later on.

I always like to have a bulletin board or area dedicated to writing, reading, math, science/social studies, and learning objectives. Before school starts, I plan where each of these areas will be and label that area. It is important not to put up every anchor chart and referral poster you will be using during the school year. Students need to help create the classroom community and build these ideas together. However, there are some basics that need to be ready for students on the first day. Think about the layout and the smaller spaces in your classroom to place appropriate referral charts.

• Alphabets and Numbers - Put these at the from of the classroom so students can refer to theme easily. 
• Subject Walls (Reading, Writing, Math) - These can be on secondary walls in your classroom. Students can turn or walk to them when they need to access that specific information. 
• Information about grammar and/or word walls can be in your writing area or on a writing wall. Keep in mind, with a word wall or grammar wall, you want students to help build. 
• Leaning Objectives -  Put these at the from of the classroom so students can always access them. 

Find these FREE Grammar Charts by clicking here or on the picture.

Find this Alphabet in my store by clicking here or on the picture.

Find these FREE Number Representation Posters by clicking here or on the picture.

Plan this out carefully. The first week of school is the most important because you are setting the stage for the rest of the year! This week (along with the first month to two months,) should be management practice and building a strong learning community in your classroom. Introduce students to daily routines such as morning message and calendar to help with classroom management.

Carefully plan activities that get students familiar with their surroundings (classroom and school.)

• Scavenger hunt around the school. This is a great reminder for returning students and helps new students feel at ease in their new community
• Scavenger hunt in the classroom to help students know where supplies are, where their back pack goes, etc.
• Practice following directions with Simon Says.
• Lot and Lots of read alouds! 
• Craftivities are great for teaching procedures about using glue, scissors, and crayons.  
• Introduce subject areas one at a time and use a review activity to practice procedures during that time.
• Games to teach procedures during centers.

You can find this Back to School Bingo by clicking here or on the picture.

Now that your classroom is ready for students, take a moment to get some things ready for yourself.

• curriculum maps
• weekly planner
• reading binder, math binder, writing binder
• student information sheets, health forms, and parent contact information sheets
• teacher desk area (pictures of family, vases, personal touches, etc.)

I like to take this time to organize things I will need for the first few weeks. Getting together my reading binder, assessments, math games, etc is important for me to feel calm during those first few weeks. 

Find this Reading Binder by clicking here or on the picture.

Ah! You are ready! Great job! As the first few weeks go on feel free to change things in your classroom. We all know things don't always go as panned so differentiate your classroom to your group of kiddos. Enjoy the first weeks of school!

Happy Teaching!

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11 Tips to Start Conferring during your Reading Block

When I first heard about the conferring approach to teach reading I was intrigued... Would I successfully be able to teach 25 students to read when I am meeting with them all INDIVIDUALLY? This was a new model to me and I was at a new school, in a new state, so the pressure was on. So I dove in. Head first.

Get students EXCITED about reading! Start the year off with lots of interactive read alouds, talk about your own reading habits, show your excitement for reading, and make reading fun. When students see your excitement they get excited too.

Use a leveling system that is consistent in your school. The consistency helps when students move from one grade to the next. I also have books that are organized by genre, authors, and/or interests.

Michael from the Thinker Builder has some great tips to organize your library that you can check out by clicking here.

Here are some more tips for library organization from Martha at Primary Paradise. You can check them out by clicking here.

A well organized classroom library is going to help your readers and you in the next step. Make sure students know the layout of the library, how the library or organized, and what procedures they need to follow for library routines (I will talk more about procedures and routines later on.) You can use these handy labels to help get your library started. You can find these labels by clicking here or on the the picture.

This is the most crucial part of a child learning to read: independent reading. During this time students will need to have "Just Right" Books to grow as readers. Students have a range of 5-7 "Just Right" Books in their book box. As important as "Just Right" Books are it is also important for students to have Interest Books. These are books that students are interested in, whether its a book all about sharks or a Cinderella story. It is ok if these books are above or below a student's reading level. These books are in the book box to hep students ENJOY reading. A combination of "Just Right" Books and Interest Books will help your growing readers.

Students will be spending a lot time without you, which means they will need to have purposeful activities that promote their specific literacy goals. I use a modified version of the Daily 5 from The 2 Sisters during this time.

Here is an example of how I organize my Daily Rotations.

During Read to Self/Read to Someone students use their book boxes to choose "Just Right" Books to read.  The prep from you is done while organizing your library and teaching students to pick appropriate books. Students are grouped together by reading level so they have a choice who they want to read with.

Work on Writing is done in their monthly journals. This daily independent writing opportunity allows students to practice all previously learned writing skills. Students are able to use word walls for spelling, stretch their sounds out, and use their punctuation and capitalization rules. To hold students accountable I have two students (a boy and a girl) read their journals to the class after out Daily rotations. You can imagine who excited they get to share!

For me, Word Work, is the trickiest part of purposeful independent activities. I generally have a word work assignment students need to complete that practices a specific phonics pattern. Once student have completed that there are a variety of games and activities students can choose from. Here is an example of some long vowel team word work my class has done in the past. You check out them out by clicking here or on the pictures. Rainbow writing, magnetic letters, and sight word games are great examples of purposeful independent activities.

In order for your conferencing to work, practical procedures NEED to be in place!

How and when do students choose new books from the library?
What do students do if they finish their word work early?
Where can students find materials?

All of procedures need to be well planned out and taught to students. Be sure to think about this before you begin implementing your new conferencing reading block. And remember, it is okay to change procedures if it isn't working for your classroom.

I have routines and procedure posted around the classroom and reference the frequently. I also use "Mystery Workers" to hold students accountable for their behavior following procedures.

The procedures that I just discussed above, PRACTICE THEM! Children need to know what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to successfully go through their new reading block. Spend a couple weeks teaching and practicing a procedure, adding a new procedure each day. Spending a lot time in the beginning of the year teaching the procedures will benefit the whole classroom for the rest of the year.

You need to be organized if you want to successfully implement conferencing into your reading block. Keeping a Reading Binder has helped me stay organized. This binder keeps track of all my students with different templates for different levels of students. I love being able to carry my binder around to students and having everything I need easily accessible.

Along with conferring I have also used strategy groups and guided reading groups to focus on certain strategies through out the year. This bider has helped me organize lesson plans for those groups. You can find the reading binder by clicking here or on the pictures.

Whether it is weekly or monthly, having a schedule or a calendar helps you keep track of which students you need to see and who you have already seen. It also allows you to schedule to ensure every student is being met. You can find these calendars by clicking here or the pictures.

Allow students to READ. If you busy students with too many other tasks they may never get to the actual reading. Let students fall into a book and read Whether in the beginning of the year it is going rom book to book or just reading the pictures, students will begin feel what it is like to be a reader and continue to read one book. Let students read above all else.

When you are conferencing with students, let them READ! Listening to students read and the strategies they re using will give you a wealth of information.

If one of your procedures isn't working, don't stress. Change it. Every classroom is different and conferencing will look different in each unique place. Allow the reading block to be relaxed and casual (but still structured.)

Students will get familiar with the flow of the reading block and being to take initiative to do their work on their own. Trust them. They are practicing becoming readers and making mistakes is ok.

Keeping data does not have to be as difficult or time consuming as you think! Using a binder to help organize your data will make all the difference. I have a tab for each student and all their previous conference data is in there. I can see what strengths the reader has, which things are still being worked on, and what their learning goal was. I like to track their progress using these conference pages. Plus they are great for parent teacher conferences! To find these student reading logs click here or on the pictures.

I hope these tips help you start reading conferences in your classroom! If you have any questions or other ideas I would love to hear fro you in the comments below!

Happy Conferencing!

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