Teacher Week - Monday - 5 Fun Facts

I'm linking up with the teachers over at Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week.  Be sure to link up with them!
 
 
 
Here are 5 Fun Things About Me...

#1 - I just got married in June and we've almost been married for 3 months! Married life has been wonderful so far!

 
 


#2 - I love, love, love going to concerts! I even got to go the Kenny Chesney concert twice in one week.  Both shows were in Vegas and we paid for tickets one night and got free ones through a friend the second night! He puts on an amazing show! Other favorite concerts include: Maroon 5, Jason Mraz, Gavin Degraw, Lady Antebellum, and more....


#3 - Sports are a huge part of my life. My husband, Andy coaches a high school prep basketball team and between his team and my own favorites - ASU, Phoenix Suns, we have quite the sports lifestyle.



#4 - I'm a little Netflix obsessed! I started the show Scandal and like finished it in a week.  Andy and I loved House of Cards.  I also watched Friday Night Lights. I love being able to see whole seasons on there!

#5 - I love Staycations. Since we live in Las Vegas we are in a great spot for staycations. You can stay anywhere on the Strip and it feels like you traveled to a far, off place. The people watching is fantastic and you don't even have to get on a plane (one of my least favorite things)!



Thanks for learning a little about me. Be sure to link up with the Blog Hoppin' teachers!


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Five for Friday - August 21

The first week of school is complete! It's been a great week, but I'm feeling exhausted and can't wait to sleep in tomorrow. I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to show you my week in Five for Friday. Link up with her here...
 
 

Today I finish my first week of our new school year - my 9th year teaching. Even though I've been doing this for nine years, I still forget how the first week goes - the routines, procedures, expectations. And, don't get me started on unpacking and pack up at the end of the day - I get anxiety just thinking about.  I love order and routines and I always forget how painful it can be to start over. I saw a few of my kids from last year in the hall and I pleaded - "please, come train my new kids." They have already improved with everything since Monday, but there is nothing like having your class trained in how you run you room...we'll be there soon...hopefully. 



Andy was so sweet and surprised me with flowers for the first day of school.  He even got sunflowers which are my favorite! He also took me out for Outback to celebrate the first week and I can't live without Diet Coke. Love the special little treat for the first day!


I will do a large, very large post on this later, but wanted to give a sneak peek. I'm so excited - we're working our very first project based learning project.  I took that class at the DI Conference in Vegas and with a friend's help from another school came up with this first project.  The kids are helping me create Johnson Elementary from the ground up - classes, maps, rules, procedures, etc.  I know this is vague, but I'll post more once it's complete.  This has been one of the best things I've done teaching. My kids are so excited and engaged and ask every day - "when are we doing PBL?"


It's the little things that excite teachers.  Last year I had two trapezoid tables that I configured to make it work for pulling small groups. My HR director was kind enough to purchase me a kidney table for this year and it arrived this week! It's so pretty lol.  It even has a white board top. It's funny how excited a teacher can get over a piece of furniture!



Oh how I've missed kids over the summer - I love this response above to "What do you want to learn in second grade?" One student responded - I want to learn more education. That makes me smart. Too cute!  I'm enjoying my new group of 2nd graders.
 
Hope everyone is having a great first week, first few weeks back, or last bit of summer!  Happy Friday, too!

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Morning Meeting - Part 5 - Morning Message


I'm back for Part 5 of my Morning Meeting series.  Click below if you missed any of my past blog posts in this series..
 

Morning Message is the last component of Morning Meeting.  Morning Message often is academic and provides all students a chance to respond to a written message.  Morning Message often is academic. At the beginning of the year, the messages are a little more community building and get to know you.  I use Morning Message as a way to review content already taught and also to preview new content and see what their background knowledge is.
 
We have rolling white boards and I choose to use that for the message.  Before the students come in each morning, I write the message for the day on the board. When school begins, once students have finished unpacking, they go over to the board and respond to the message. Often I have students respond by writing their answer with a white board marker.  I also have had students respond with a sticky note that I've left on their desk. I find the sticky note works better for longer answers and for solving longer math problems.  This way they have time to solve at their seat as opposed to solving on the board with a line of students behind them.
 
Once students have responded to the message and are sitting in the circle Morning Meeting begins. We go through the first three parts - greeting, share, activity - and discuss the message last.  I typically have a student read the message for the day and then call on students to share answers that either they wrote or that they see on the board.  Sometimes I will read through all the answers so everyone's is heard.  It depends on the time we have each day.  I do not have students write their name by the answer so if a student is wrong their is no finger pointing. If an answer is incorrect, we will talk about it and work together as a class to fix it.  I also will extend Morning Message and ask further questions about the message.
 
Some teachers choose to write more of a letter to their students. I have especially seen this in the younger grades. I prefer a quick question that way everyone can respond and be heard.

 
Here are some ideas for Morning Message...
 
Beginning of the Year: 
 
  • What do you want to learn in 2nd grade?
  • What is your favorite _____? (anything works here as a get to know you)
  • What was your favorite part of the first day?
  • What is bucketfilling?
  • What are kind words we can use in the classroom?
  •  
 Reading:
  • Who is your favorite book character?
  • Write a cause and effect.
  • I use a lot of questions that refer to our story for the week and the skill we are focusing on.
  • Which character would you be friends with?
 
Phonics:
  • Write a short vowel word.
  • Write a long vowel word.
  • Write a word with the /oa/ sound (or whatever sound you're focusing on).
 
Math:
 
  • Pose an addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division problem.
  • Provide enough numbers for your whole class to have one to respond to and have them
    • Answer if it is less or greater than
    • Round the numbers
  • Write a 3 digit number.
  • Write a fraction.
  • Pose a story problem and have them solve it.
 Writing/Grammar:
  • Write a noun, verb, and adjective.
  • Fix the errors in a sentence.
  • Write a sentence that is a statement, question, or exclamation.
  • What is a small moment?
  • Why do we edit papers?

These are just a few ideas.  If you use Morning Meeting, share some of your messages or questions in the comments... 
 


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Birthdays in the Classroom

I've been at 3 different schools and they all handled birthdays a little differently. The school I'm currently at celebrates them the most that I have seen.  On a child's birthday or half birthday, they are able to bring a treat to share with the class at the end of the day. We have a little party for them. 
 
At some point in the day, we do Koo Koo Kangaroo - Birthday Song on GoNoodle. This is quite a cute song and a fun way to celebrate in addition to the traditional "Happy Birthday" song we sing before we hand out treats.  I also let students during their little "party" pick out their favorite GoNoodle video for the whole class to do.
 
Image result for koo koo kangaroo birthday boogie
 
 
I also give out the homework passes as a bday gift. I shared this on a Monday Made-It a few weeks ago.


 
And, my newest thing is this little bday sign. I bought these frames at Michael's last year and haven't quite been able to figure out what to do with them. I decided to use one as a bday sign for the student's desk.  It provides recognition of their special day and makes them stand out in a positive way. I tried it out yesterday and the student loved having it.
 
 
How does your school handle birthdays?? Do you celebrate in a big or small way?

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More Love for Back to School Sale...

TPT is having their back to school bonus day sale - More Love for the Back to School Sale. Be sure to check out my store to save 28% on all items!  Enter the code MORE15 to receive the 28% off savings at check-out! 
I know I'll be stocking up on a few more goodies during this great sale!

 
 
Hope everyone is having a great start to school or still enjoying a little more summer...

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Survived the First Day


Oh boy, that first day is a doozy. We had a great first day and I have a great group, but I'm exhausted! 
 
The biggest challenge today was getting used to my new name. I'm so used to Miss Veenstra or Miss V and hearing Mrs. Johnson all day was a little weird. Not to mention former students called me by my maiden name and I even referred to myself by it to my new students.  I'd catch myself saying "When Miss Veenstra says this..." and my new students are all looking at me like who is that. I'm a little worried they think I'm confused lol. 
 
Anyways, besides that the first day went smoothly!  I guess by the time it's your 9th year you start to get the first day down to a routine.
 
Here are a few things we did today...
 

Our first Morning Meeting Activity, I found on the blog Who's Who and Who's Knew by Michael.  It's called Finish the Picture. What I liked about this activity and Michael mentions this on his blog is that all students can do it.  It doesn't require much direction and it gets them busy those first few minutes of school or the activity. I took this time to go around and talk with the kids and get to know them a little better right from the start. The other neat thing about is that they share their pictures with their table when time is up. I loved hearing their little conversations starting and seeing them work as a team a half hour into class.  I highly recommend you go to his blog and grab his freebie!


Here was our Morning Meeting Message today. I always love to see what the kids want to work on in 2nd grade. I quickly found out today that many of my kids are advanced and some already are working on their multiplication and division. I'll definitely have some differentiation plans in my future!


Can't have a school day without GoNoodle. Today we picked our first champ and did Pop Se Ko and Push All the Buttons. I love GoNoodle and the kids enjoyed the brain breaks too!


Here's a math activity that we did today. We had CGI training last week and I had been trained in a prior school.  One of the big focuses of CGI is being able to compose and decompose numbers.  So, I thought I'd see where the kids were at. I'm so glad I did this activity because it told me a lot about the kids.  We did a few examples together with the number 20. I then let them pick their number to work with - 30, 40, 50, or 100. It was interesting to see what number they chose.  Some chose well for their ability and some probably took the easy way out. It was also interesting to see what operations they were using to create their specific number. 





This is another first day favorite. I made these frames last year and we again took first day pictures today. I love to give these to the parents at back to school night and also have students put them in their portfolio so we can see how they grow throughout the year.

That's it for me today! I'm off to bed.  Gotta get ready for Day #2 tomorrow!


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Classroom Reveal 2015-16

I'm so excited to share my classroom for the 2015-16 school year. This is my 9th year teaching and my 2nd year at this school.  It is so much easier decorating your room when it was the room you had last year.  We have summer camp at our school so we do have to pack up everything in May, but it was so much easier setting up this year since I had been in that room all last year.
 
Let's take a look.,..
This bulletin is out in the hallway right next to my classroom. I had seen many different variations of Instagram boards on Pinterest and used those for inspiration. My goal is to take many pictures throughout each month and post them up for everyone to see. We will also create hashtags as a class like we do on Instagram. I think this will be a neat way for us to capture a timeline of our year.


This bulletin is also outside my classroom. For back to school, it has all of the names of the students in my class.  Throughout the year, I will be posting student work on this bulletin. The clothespins make it easy to switch out work.


Here is a view of the front of my classroom. I like students to work in groups and have 19 so I have 3 groups of 5 and one group of 4.


This area is my math and work area.  The blank space on the bulletin will house the anchor charts that students and I create together.  The empty bins in the first cubby storage that have numbers on them, will be used for Math Stations.  The bins in the other cubbies will hold all the math materials that we use.  On top, I have a turn in bin as well as pencils, etc.  This will be a much-used area.


I shared these frames last year in a Monday Made-It. I use these for posting the essential questions we are working on in the different subject areas. The nice thing about them is I can move them and hang them on the white board to make them more visible.


This is the writing area. It will be used for writing station and also houses the folders for Writing Workshop. The folders go in bins that have the different writing processes labeled. This way I know what stage the students are in.  For writing station, students will use the I Can list and the items in the two white storage units on the desk. (I'll post more on Writing Station later).


I still use the Clip Chart. I know there are a variety of thoughts on the Clip Chart, but I find it works for my students and many of the other grades use it at our school so it helps for consistency. These bins hold all of my teacher books that I use when modeling and doing read alouds. The bins up top need to be labeled, but they hold games and activities for different subject areas.


I love having a storage closet in my classroom. It is quite full, so no picture of that! On the door, I have my I'm Done activities listed.   I also have moved my Bucket Filling area to this wall.


Here is my classroom library. I don't think I've done a post on how I organize it, but plan to do one soon. I'm very OCD about my library and have found a system that works for students to quickly find books, but to also keep them organized.

Student cubbies and my classroom jobs chart


Here is our meeting space. I use the rug for students during Morning Meeting, but also throughout the day. We have short throw projectors so I like to have the students up close when I'm projecting things but also like proximity when teaching to help keep students on task. I use the three pocket charts for vocabulary. One for reading, math, and social studies.  I like having it accessible so students can see it and use it throughout the day.


Here is my area. Now, I have been free from a teacher desk for awhile, but these were brand new and we have to have one in each classroom so I decided to use it as a desk and actually like it.  The table by the window actually fits on the end of the desk and can be used for many things. 


I use the board as our homework board. Each student has a planner divided into the same subjects on the board. I write the homework up here for each day and students can then copy it in their planner.  I love washi tape!


Here's a view of the back of the classroom.


Here's a view of the side of the classroom.


And, one last view of the front!


I'm loving my new bulletin labels. I use three boards in the classroom - reading, math, and writing. I got the idea for the pennants from Sarah a teacher I taught with back in AZ. I saw she used them on her bulletins and loved the idea! She found them Target in the party aisle. They have them in many different colors. I then used big stickers from Michael's. I'm pretty excited with how they turned out. Now, I need some class made anchor charts to put on the board!


We are big on growth mindset at my school. I saw this board on Pinterest and it was made by Sarah from Math Equals Love. I loved it and my teammate and I made a replica on one of our hallway boards for all parents to see. 
 
Thank you for stopping by to take a peek in my room.  Excited for our first day of school tomorrow!

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