Finding Your Seat Idea

You will begin to see a little shift in my blog since I will no longer be teaching Science. My principal moved me to Math for this upcoming school year and I'm really excited. I'm sad to leave Science but excited for the new opportunities of teaching a different subject.
So for my first Math post, I thought I'd share a freebie that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers.  It is a fun math activity that helps students find their seat. Just click on the link below to access it.

Enjoy and I hope everyone has a great school year!!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Seat-Match-Math-818070

Positive Affirmations for Students

This year, my teammates and I decided to start each class period with positive affirmations for the students. We want to encourage our students and build them up so they have an "I can" attitude rather than "I can't."

Each of us picked a few affirmations that we liked best. I have mine displayed on the front wall so the students can always see them.

I will choose one per day and start each class with it. There is power in the spoken word and we want our students to feel empowered, motivated, and full of self-worth!!

My affirmations

Using Finger Signs in the Classroom

I think these words will be the story of my life this school year....

            "This year I'm trying something new!"

Being that last year was my first year teaching middle school (and my first year back after a long teaching hiatus) I did A LOT of trial and error with classroom procedures. Some things worked, but most things didn't. So this year I'm implementing a lot of new ideas to see if I can have a smoother year.

One new idea that I stole borrowed from lots of other teachers is the use of finger signs. Last year, I constantly had lots of students getting out of their seats and wandering around with the excuse of "My pencil broke" or "I need a tissue."

Not this year! I'm going to try using finger signs for using the bathroom, getting a new pencil, and getting a tissue.

On top of that, I'm not letting them out of their seat for a pencil or tissue (of course if they need to go to the bathroom, they can). If they hold up two fingers, I'll take them a new pencil and they give me their broken one. If they need a tissue, I'll take it to their seat. Hopefully, this method will help keep the kids in their seats and more importantly, keep the class on task. We'll see how they work!

Here are the signs I'm using. Borrow away!!

Classroom Finger Signs  

Behavior Reflections Sheet

I found this awesome Behavior Reflections sheet on Pinterest and I wanted to share it here.

Behavior Reflections (.pdf)

I found last year that when I would send my kids for a time out to another room, they wouldn't really care. I don't think they took as seriously as I hoped they would. I guess the times, they are a changin'. When I was a kid, if a teacher sent me out of the room I would have cried and begged to stay, all the while promising that I would change my behavior if only they didn't call my parents.

Anyways, I think that this behavior reflection sheet is a great way for kids to reflect on why they chose to act a certain way. It is also something that we can go over together later in the day and reflect together on how their behavior can improve in the future.

It's from Laura Candler, who has a great website with LOTS of free stuff! And what teacher doesn't like free stuff?? Definitely check out her website for more great stuff.

Scientific Method Posters

Here are a set of Scientific Method posters that I designed for my classroom.

Enjoy!

Scientific Method Posters (.pdf)

KWL Chart

A KWL chart was not something I used a lot last year and when I did use one, it was a really quick, crappy drawing on the board.

For this school year, I wanted to create a nice looking chart that could be used over and over again. I'll print it on giant paper at Staples and then laminate it so it can be enjoyed again and again.

I'm also going to make smaller copies (with no polka dots) for the students to jot down their ideas before the lesson.

As always, I'm happy to share!

Classroom polka dot chart (.pdf)

Kids kwl chart (.pdf)

Parent Contact Log and Exit Slip Sheets

If you're any thing like me, keeping up with parent contacts can be one of the most tedious aspects of teaching. Part of my problem is major lack of organization. But it's also really hard when you teach 100 kids.  Hopefully, this sheet will help tremendously in the upcoming school year.

Parent Contact

I also created this exit slip to help me assess my students on a regular basis. It's so easy to just end a lesson with no closure. So one goal I have for this year is to do a better job of assessing how well (or not so well) my students understood the lesson. We'll see how it goes.

Exit Slip