Calendar Thoughts

V.I.P. sets up calendar:

1. Puts date in calendar
2. Selects weather
3. Adds coin (a penny a day)
4. Fills in chart.... #of days: the number; the tally mark, the roman numeral, and the cents

Daily Schedule

M, Th, Fri
9:00 - 9:30 Morning Meeting and Calendar
9:30 - 10:00 Open Court Reading Lesson
10:00 - 10:30 - RtI... individual work; O.C. extension; small group instruction
10:30 - 10:45 Recess
10:45 - 11:00 Story
11:00 - 11:45 Math Lesson and work individually, groups, whole class
12:00 - 12:45 Lunch
12:45 - 1:00 Story
1:00 - 2:00 Workshop - Literacy Centers; pull small groups. Mini lesson at 1:00; and 1:30.
2:00 - 2:15 Recess - (Monday - schools out at 2:10)
2:15 - 2:30 Quiet Time
2:30 - 3:25 Library, Computer Lab, Art, Music, Social Studies, Science, Extra PE, Health Ed.

Tues, Wednesday
9:00 - 9:30 PE
9:30 - 10:00 Morning Meeting and Calendar
10:00 - 10:30 Rti
10:30 - 10:45 Recess
10:45 - 11:15 O. C Story and lesson
11:15 - 12:00 Math
12:00 - 12:45
12:45 - 1:00 Story
1:00 - 2:00 Workshop
2:00 - 2:15 Recess
2:15 - 2:30 Quiet Time
2:30 - 3:25 Library, Computer Lab, Art, Music, Social Studies, Science, Extra PE, Health Ed.

1st 6 Weeks Basics and Key Terms

Intentions During the First Six Weeks

1. Create a climate and tone of warmth and safety.
2. Teach the schedule and routines of the school day and our expectations for behavior in each of them.
3. Introduce students to the physical enviornment and materials of the classroom and the school, and teach students how to use and care for them.
4. Establish expectations about ways we will learn together in the year ahead.

Basics of the Responsive Classroom Approach

1. The social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum.
2. How childern learn is as important as what children learn (balance of teacher directed and child initiated experiences)
3. The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction.
4. Children need a set of social skills in order to be successful academically and socially. (acronym CARES - cooperation, assertion, responsibiliy, empathy, and self-control)
5. Knowing the children we teach is as important as know the content we teach.
6. Knowing the parents of the children we teach is as important as knowing the children.
7. Teachers and administrators must model the social and academic skills which they wish to teach their students.

Morning Meeting (more to come as I read the Morning Meeting book); Four components:

1. Greeting: Children greet each other by name - handshke, singing, clapping, etc.
2. Sharing
3. Group Activity
4. Morning Message

Guided Discovery --- deepen understanding of activities, encourage sharing, establish common language, generate rules and procedures, reinforce guidelines for working cooperatively. Format for Guided Discover: 1. Introduction - naming; 2. Generating ideas and modeling exploratory work; 3. Children Explore; 4. Children share their explorations and observations; 5. Cleanup and care for materials.

Academic Choice - children learn best when they are given choices about what they're learning and plenty of opportunities to explore, make decisions, to take risks, and to make mistakes.

Modeling - ex. how to carry chairs in classroom, how to show that you are listening, how to line up at the door, how to use the drinking fountain, how to give a friendly handshake. Steps..... 1. teacher names and presents the desired behavior. 2. Teacher demonstrates the desired behavior. 3. Teacher asks students to notice and name the elements of the behavior. 4. The teacher focuses on "tricky" parts. 5. Students practice "tricky" parts by demonstrating and noticing what works. 6. Students practice behaviors as a whole class. 7. Teacher reinforces observed positive behaviors. 8. Teacher continues to reinforce, remind and redirect as needed.

Logical Consequences - primary goal is to help children develop inner control by looking closely at their own behavior and learning from their mistakes. Three R's: Related; Respectful; and Reasonable.

• Making reparations: You break it, you fix it. - if a child spills, cleans it up. If child accidently rips another students drawing, helps tape it back together.
• Mishandling responsibility - more limits set
• Time- out. ie. if disturbing group - time away from group (not miss rcess)

Quiet Time - 15 to 30 minutes after lunch for a breach from the rigors of academics and demands of social interaction --- allows them to be more porductive and engaged in the afternoon. The rule is that the children must work completely alone in their own space and the room must be silent. Children might be drawing, writing, working on the computer, resting, or doing an assignment. It is a reflective and restorative time for students and teachers.

teacher/student created charts for the classroom

From the book: photos of 201 teacher-created charts

1. Class sign in - p.12 Numbers with lines. Laminate. STudents write name with white board marker each day.
2. Class rules... "We agree that..." we will not hurt anyone's feelings. We will not hurt anyone's body. We will not hurt the school.
3. How can we make this a great classroom? We will be nice to each other, share, listen, work together. Sign at the bottom
4. Qualities of a friend - list them... Then add students names at the bottom. draw picture of themselves, or something like that
5. Meet our classmates. "Meet Amanda" Have each sstudent answer questions on their own paper (how old are you. do you have brothers/sisters? what kinda of pets? What is your favorite food/toy?) then copy them onto chart paper and display around the room.
6. What do we like to read about? Chart each students name and what they like to read about the most.
7. Decoding Tools, see page 37 - "guess and go on" use the sounds of the first letters, ask a friend. use the words around it, skip the word and keep going, think of a word that makes sense, put another word in its place. look it up in the dictionary.
8. hula hoop venn diagram for comparing/contrasting
9. Making connecttions - "when i read the part about..." words and pictures; "it reminded me of..." words and pictures.
10. Overused words - "so, really, very, good nice" OR! "whats another word for..." very (incredibly, extremley, terribly, overly, extraordinarily); great (fantastic, fabulous, awesome), nice (kind, sweet, helpful, friendly, pleasant); fun (exciting, enjoyable, cool, awesome)
11. In the place of "said", see page 59 - say, cried, demanded, confessed, barked, suggested, called, repeated, begged, whispered, agreed, screamed anounced, stated
12. "When writers illustrate they..." stretch, outline, color, add detail ---- with examples, see pg. 66
13. words that tell us to add: in all, all together, sum, how many are there?, total
14. Computer Words - file, exit, space par, esc(escape), enter, delete, monitor, backspace, shutdown, program, mouse, keyboard, printer
15. Kind words --- please, thank you, excuse me, sorry, its okay, i love you, you're welcome, goodbye, hello, share, care, kind, cooperation, nice fair, honest, helping, polite, excellent, compassion, responsibiilty, courage
16. Scrapbook wall - of pictures, poems, stories, etc.

Workshop Centers

From the book: Literacy Centers in Photographs.

1. Labels with words and pictures - glue, crayons, etc.
2. Center boards - pocket chart, magnets on whiteboard, felt board, presentation board
3. Noice Level Stoplight - red "No talking" yellow "wisper work voices" green "talking voices
4. Bathroom pass - just show you... and yes or no in sign language
5. Calling reading groups - sign, laminated, then white board marker names (to be flexible). Ring bell, students look, and then that group comes. No yelling, calling, talking
6.Rain stick - reminder to "sssshhhh"
7. Center lights - turn one set off... to create soothing atmosphere
8. Reading rules - WRITE TOGETHER. pick a book, pick a spot, read book, put book back.
9. Accoutability - Reading Record Sheet - date, title, author, level. Each child has a reading folder in that library. See page 86; add AR level on it.
10. Independent Reading Chart. In clear plastic photo frame, each students name and the level they should read at.... OR NOT displayed. In their reading folder, put a sticker with the colors they may choose from. Ie. if reading at a level three, put the 1 sticker, 2 sticker, and 3 sticker on their folder.
11. Listening Center Response sheet (see back of book). Post rules.
12. Writing Center. Organizer paper in trays -- horizontally lines, vertically lines, writing stationary. Write rules together. Outdated calendars, use photos as story starters.
13. Center folders - finished work; unfinished work
14. Sharing student work - "Star Work" from each of the centers. Certificate that lets the parent know that their work was posted in the classroom.
15. Home-School connection - letter that lets the parents see this week's work.
15. Introducing centers - see book. Week 1 --- Reading Center; Week 2 --- Listening Center; Week 3 --- Writing Center; Week 4 --- Math Center; Week 5 --- ABC Center?? Science Center or Social Studies Center.