Throwback Thursday: Even Teachers Need Their Space!

Around this time last year, I was teaching a multi-grade 3rd and 4th class (my first year-long experience of this!) and because of the increase in workload, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to become a more organised teacher. To be honest, my desk didn't remain quite this clean all year, but I did find some of the strategies I implemented quite useful. For this week's Throwback Thursday, I'm reposting some of these organisational tips and I will add in a few notes to let you know how each worked out for me throughout the year. Here we go:
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As I jump, head first, into a new school year, the one thing I have decided to be is... MORE ORGANISED! (Sound familiar??) As a result, I spent quite some time planning how I was going to organise my classroom this year, with the motto: "A place for everything and everything in its place" driving my quest for a less stressful, more organised environment for myself and the children. 
Not only have I labelled every cupboard and storage spot in the room, but I have spent a lot of time rethinking my filing systems and teacher 'things'.
Hopefully you will find the following ideas useful as you are in the midst of organising your own classroom and hey, if nothing else, I always enjoy getting a peak at people's rooms and desk space (probably the artist in me!) so maybe you are the same!

First on the list is my teacher's desk:

I love being able to see everything I have for easy access, as opposed to having to search through a drawer for a marker, pen etc. I know this may not be to everyone's taste, but it works for me! I still use my drawers for storing blue tack, my whistle, sweets, my stapler, mini post-its for the children and other things that cause a lot of clutter. (2014 UPDATE: I bought some drawer separators from IKEA during the year and they were very useful for sorting out the mess in my drawers. It also made changing rooms at the start of this year much easier as I could just move the boxes from one desk to another!)

As far as plans and records go, I only keep two notebooks on my table. I have an A5 one for my daily lesson notes, as I find I can bring it around in my handbag and bring it home easily in the evening. It also doesn't take up a lot of space on my desk, as sometimes my desk can turn into a dumping ground during a particularly busy day! (Often I have to make an effort to tidy up while the children are eating during lunch or I'd never be able to find anything!) I also have an A4 project book for keeping anecdotal records on the kids. I have the divider sections labelled with the children's names: A-C, D-H, etc. in it.

On the right of my desk, I have this new expanding file box:

Inside is labelled with the different subject areas and also has compartments for school notes, notes to parents, staff meeting notes and busy bee worksheet master copies. I like this a lot so far as it means I don't have to go searching through folders whenever I need to put something away, as more often than not, I will just throw the sheet in a drawer if I don't have an easier option. (2014 UPDATE: This is the BEST thing I used last year and I will use one forever more! I had no stray worksheets lying around all year and I now have easy access to them if I ever teach these class levels again. The only change I made to this this year was that I included an 'Absent' section to put in any work/notes that children missed when they were out, a 'Staff Meetings' section and a section for 'Tomorrow's Worksheets'.)

Beside this box, I have all my little buckets. I prefer buckets to those stationary storage containers you can get because, inevitably, I will run out of space for the many items which end up in there. I got the first in Ikea and use it to store all my spare pencils for the kids. (I have seen people paint these buckets if you want to get really creative, but who has the time??!) The rule is: if a pencil is facing nib up, it is pared, and if it is nib down, it is not. I have a child whose job it is before break times, to pare the blunt pencils.

I have another bucket I got as part of a chocolate gift package one Christmas which I use to store scissors, pens, highlighters, markers, tippex, etc, and a plastic cup with a handle for the children's whiteboard markers. (2014 UPDATE: I have changed the yellow cup and the metal bucket this year to these pen holders from IKEA:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/dokument-pencil-cup__0136471_PE293899_S4.JPG

as they coordinate better with the white bucket and my mandolin folder.)

I also have a box of elastic bands, a pencil sharpener, a box of paper clips, post-its and a cute pig timer I picked up in Dealz. (2014 UPDATE: I've gone through 3 of these in the past year...maybe not such good value after all.) I go through little sweet tubs in school so fast and they make really good storage containers for your desk. I use them to store thumbtacks, staples and the like.

I invested in some paper trays this year also to store my 'corrected' and 'to be corrected' worksheets. Anything to encourage me to correct the work quickly is a good thing! (2014 UPDATE: This worked some of the time, however I often ended up with children's work sitting on them for weeks on end and random books ending up sitting on the top part...)

Never forget about the practical things in a classroom! I have tissues and  hand wipes (these come in more handy than you realise for after-art activities and general hand hygiene for me and the kids!).

Behind my desk I have a bench area and on it I keep this basket for resources. I put in the following day's teacher textbooks and resources in this basket for easy access the next day. It is so much easier to have everything you need in the one place!

My teacher bookshelf is quite far away from my desk which is annoying, but I have labelled the books by subject area so that I can find what I need as quickly as possible!

Now, some people may laugh at this idea, but I hide it under my desk for my own comfort! It's my Teacher's Bin! Again, this is a tub I bought Haribo sweet packets in and I like it as a mini bin because it is quite small but also pretty deep. I am lucky enough to have quite a large classroom, but my numbers are in the 30's and with all the tables, the children are pretty hemmed in! I store the bins at the back of the room because I don't want the children distracted by other children at the bin and to keep bin smells far away from me, but, as a result, it is not easy to get to! I find the teacher bin handy for used post-its, and the other small things that accumulate on the teacher's desk during the day, especially if you are using your desk for reading groups/tin whistle groups etc! 

The final things I have all around my desk are my precious checklists! I have the ones I use everyday stuck to the desk, hidden from view (words/sounds), and other ones like maths test results and P.E. observations stored in a proper assessment folder. I keep things like my class list, timetable, allergy information and a checklist for incomplete homework in this folder so far also.

Eventually, I will sort out some sort of a substitute pack in case I am ever out, but that may be on my to do list for a while yet! (2014 UPDATE: Yeah, this never happened...)

These are some sorting strategies that I find work for me, but everybody's different! Don't be afraid to share any good organisational ideas you may have in your room in the comments below, as I'm always looking for new ideas!

Until next time!

Assessment in Senior Classes

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I remember starting off my teaching career and feeling really overwhelmed when filling in that 'Assessment' box on my termly and fortnightly plans. I knew I had a folder full of great assessment ideas from college, but it seemed like a lot of these were quite impractical and required an awful lot of ongoing work throughout the year to undertake. Eventually after teaching for a couple of years, I managed to sort out some easy, low maintenance strategies which told me all I needed to know about how the children I taught were progressing. 

These are some of the main assessment methods I use in a senior class. I know most of you are probably using most of these things already (there's nothing very original/innovative here!!), but hopefully they might be useful for anyone starting out or even those of you new to the class level:

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1. Thumbs: When I have explained something or we are just about to begin a Maths exercise I will ask the children to put their heads on the table and give me a 'thumbs': Thumbs down if they don't understand, thumbs sideways if they are nearly there or thumbs up if they understand completely.

2. Ongoing Maths Observational Records: I keep this sheet handy so that I can write in the children who find a certain topic difficult so that when it comes to revision of a topic, I know who I need to keep a close eye on. I also broke children up into groups at the end of the year using this list and gave each group a mini lesson on the topic they struggled with during the year. It worked really well!

   

3. Art Scrapbook: When I have finished displaying the children's work, they stick it into their scrapbook so that at the end of the year they can have a collection of all the art they have created to look back on.

4. Creative Writing: Self assessment is a huge method of assessment here. I get them to create a first draft with a WILF list on the board which we have discussed. Once they have completed this (usually the next day), I get the whole class to check for the first item on the list (e.g. Did I use capital letters, exciting sentence starters, etc) by giving them 5 minutes to read over their work and make changes in red pen. We then move on to the next item on the list and so on. Occassionally we repeat the procedure again but having swapped copies with a neighbour. First drafts and final drafts are kept in a scrapbook during the year with samples of each genre of writing. 

http://emilytunstall9.wordpress.com/2014/01/11/walt-wilf/

5. Records of Friday Test Results: You can download my record sheets for childrens' test results from Dropbox here:

Spellings, litriú, tables, Geography, English vocabulary.     

I also keep dividers in my assessment folder, labelled with each child's name to file tests under when they have been signed and returned to me. I put some writing samples for each child in here also throughout the year. 

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6. Anecdotal Records: I have a project book (A4 with dividers in it) where I keep observational notes about children's behaviour or other notes which aren't recorded elsewhere, under each child's name.

7. P.E. Checklist: I used this for some lessons last year, but I'm hoping to use it more this year! I have listed skills required for each activity (games, gymnastics, dance, athletics) and simply tick the box when the child has acquired the skill. It is difficult to do every week, but doing it once and a while gives me a good idea of who is struggling in P.E. lessons and who needs to be more challenged.

8. KWL Charts and Brainstorms: I get the children to write what they know about a topic on strips of paper before we cover it, write questions they want to find out the answers to on another strip of paper and finally, at the end of a topic they each make a little fact book/write a few bullet points about what they have learned and we create a class KWL chart. Brainstorms are also handy to gain prior knowledge and find out what they have learned at the end of a lesson. 

 I hope I didn't forget anything here, but if I did I will add it at a later date!

Throwback Thursday: First Day Jitters in Infants!

For this first Throwback Thursday post, I'm reposting from 2013, a post I wrote to help all those who were planning for their first day of teaching infants. It is full of ideas which would be very useful to NQTs or anyone who is coming back to infants after a while in the senior classes. Best of luck in your return to school everyone!
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Often teachers, especially NQT's and teachers who have not taught in a particular class level before, can be slightly apprehensive about the first day back at school after the summer holidays. Here are a few practical ideas for planning out your first day back in Senior Infants (some ideas can be used with Junior Infants too!):

1. Toys: 
The first thing that any infant teacher should plan for their first day is to have adequate toys/jig saws/lego available for the children to play with as soon as they come in. Having toys ready means the children are occupied if any parents want to have a word with you and it also gives you the opportunity to make observations of the children and how they interact while also giving you a chance to interact with them one on one before formal class begins. It is up to the teacher whether they want to leave toys on the tables before the children come in, or whether they prefer to leave them on a set of shelves and get children to choose their own from the shelf to bring back to their seat.
(The later may be easier to introduce later in the week (especially with Junior Infants) as you can take the opportunity to train them as to the correct procedures for doing this: pushing in your chair, going back to your seat straight away, bringing back your work when it is finished, etc.) Personally, I like using a play rota system once the first week has passed, where I name each group and put a picture of a toy beside their group on a chart, changing it daily, ensuring every child gets a chance at every play station. (I will post an entry on structured play rotas soon!)

2. Getting To Know You is VITAL!
Teaching infants is slightly different to other class levels in that they can be anxious on their first day with a new teacher, so the first day is a careful balance between setting rules, establishing discipline and then putting them at ease with a new environment and teacher. This is where getting to know you games come into play. You can find so many games online to suit the class level you are teaching. There are some great ideas on http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/ice-breaker-games for younger children.

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Often however, keeping it simple can often be just as effective. When I was teaching as a Substitute I used one game frequently as a less time consuming, simpler option which led to very few discipline problems with older and younger children alike. It involved giving the children 30 seconds to tell a partner their name, a favourite film, band and food (you can make this simpler for Infants!) and then asking random children to see if they remember what their partner told them. I may ask four children to tell me what they found out and after I have asked them, I would ask random children to see if they could remember a specific child's favourite thing. Repeat the game as often as concentration lasts. This gives a good opportunity to build up some group points at the start of the day (Another reward system I like for building team work!) and get the children's brains working. It keeps the children's attention and children love the competitive element. It also gives the teacher the opportunity to 'see can I remember all the names', which can be a good crowd pleaser (especially if you stall/mix up names!)
If anyone would like some examples of some other subbing ideas/games leave a comment below and I will post some!

3. News: 

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A good first day back oral language activity is talking about and writing about their news. It may seem obvious, but sometimes it's good to stick with tried and trusted activities when it is the children's first day back and you want to make the day go as smoothly as possible! It can also be the case that many of the children may not have all of their books yet so is important to think of activities that you can do with them if this scenario arises. (Colouring/drawing are other simple activities for this purpose!) When writing the children's news with them, write up the generic: 'Today is Monday. It is raining' and then add a sentence from one of the children's news. Get them to draw a picture to match the news also. I like to encourage them to try writing a sentence of their own at the end of their news and while at the beginning of Senior Infants, children may not be competent enough to do this very successfully, it is important that they make an attempt, even if it is just a word/few letters.

4. Writing time:

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I love to use a door hanger sign on my door when the children are engaged in writing activities. The sign I use has a picture of a child writing and says 'Sh, quiet time'. When we are about to start writing or any other individual work, I go over to the door, pick up the sign and slowly bring it to the handle, while counting down from 5, getting quieter each time until 1 is only a whisper. We have agreed that once it is on the door, no one, not even me can speak above a whisper. It really works wonders!


5. Big Books:
Read them a big book! Question them, get them to make predictions and any other activities you can think of! Maybe discuss what happened at the start, middle and end of the story. Get them to draw three pictures of the start, middle and end events in the story.

6. Maths:
Begin the lesson with a Counting Chorus, where you get the children to count as far as ten/twenty, getting different groups to call out different numbers in the sequence when you point to them. For example: the blue group call out one, the red group call out two, etc.
You can easily organise some kind of counting activity where they have to put the correct number of cubes or counters in the correct template/container (1-10). I have some good counting activities in my Maths Centers' post which you could use for this purpose! This is a good opportunity to see what children remember from last year and observe the children who struggle with counting.

7. Songs:

Have some easy to learn action songs ready for the children to sing on the first day. I personally am a big fan of:
Dr. Knicker Bocker:

Open and Shut Them:

And of course Nursery Rhymes, Jolly Phonics revision, etc.

8. Sight Word Games:
Using a word wall of words from their Junior Infant readers (or Dolch words or even Senior Infant words if you want!), you can use a teacher pointer to play some word games. Tic Tac Toe is a game where you keep pointing to different words while chanting with the class:
'Tic, tac, toe, here we go, where we land, no one knows.'
The card that you land on is the card you want them to read for you. You can start out by getting the class to read out the word you land on and then you can pick confident children to read words by themselves. You can vary the game by speeding up/slowing down the rhyme and starting in different places each time.

9. Have a Reward System in Place:
I like to have all the children's names on a separate board/laminated chart and at the end of each day, I give them a smiley face for good behaviour. I explain to them why they may not be getting one if I decide not to give them one and tell them what they need to do to get one the following day. If they get twenty faces they get to take a prize out of the 'Lucky Dip' bosca draoíochta. If a child is behaving in a way that is particularly impressive, I will give them a smiley face during the day or if they do something that is particularly unacceptable, I will take one away.

10. Rules of the Classroom: 
This is something which can be done later on in the day as an SPHE lesson before the children go home. Get them to suggest some rules for the classroom and talk about why each is important. I usually guide them to suggest these four rules:

I also tell them that I will be giving a sticker to four children at the end of the week who are the best at keeping each rule, reminding them constantly during the week of the rules and praising the behaviours when I see them. This carries on every Friday until each child gets rewarded.

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11. Rules in the Line:
I like using the High 5 method of preparing the children to leave the classroom. When they are all in the line and paying attention, I call out High 5 while putting up my hand. We chant while pointing to the relevant body parts: 'Looking eyes, listening ears, hands to yourself, walking feet and finger on your lip.' These are the behaviours I am looking for in the line and if I see a child who is carrying out these behaviours, I praise them in a whisper (It is always important to keep the noise level down as they will mimic your noise level!).

I hope you find some of these tips and lesson ideas useful! Above all else, remember: don't think too big for the first day back! Keep activities easy and short and try to make it as fun as possible! Don't forget how much children love nature walks/Art/P.E. and simple games like Simon Says (or Deir Ó Grádaigh) and I Spy, so don't forget to include some of these things in your first day back!

Best of luck!

Computer Checklist for Early Finishers

I discussed in a previous post how I use a checklist with my children in order to keep track of who has had a go on the class computer/laptop each day. This is so that more children can have a go on the computer, rather than just the first person finished their work (which is usually the same child!), and so the speedy workers will engage in different types of early finisher activities during the day.

I have just completed my own checklist for the '14/'15 year ahead and thought it might save some of you some valuable time if I posted it here as a free template. You can download the Word document here (through Dropbox) or have a look at the format of it in the pictures below.

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Note: There are 10 checklists in the file, one for each month. There is a space down the left hand side for the children's names, the name of the month is at the top of each checklist, the numbers at the top of each stand for the dates (the 1st, 2nd, etc) and the black lines stand for 'weekend' (therefore there are no dates on each list for Saturday and Sunday). My plan is to print them all out and put them on a clipboard for use during the year.

Hope you find these useful!

I'm Done, Now What???

"I'm done!" Don't you just love that grammatically questionable sentence? It always tends to erupt from the silence at the most inconvenient times - while I've just opened my first copy to correct, while I'm trying to explain to a child the intricacies of a three step word problem through diagram while they stare at me like I've developed three heads overnight...you get my drift. Last year, I had the brilliant but challenging experience of teaching two classes in one room (3rd and 4th) and I knew from day one that I needed to enforce a system for early finishers that would be as stress free as possible. Now, I'm not claiming that I never heard "Teacher, I'm finished!" (there's always one!), but pointing to the wall on which I had these activities mounted almost became second nature in response to "Teach..." and it was much easier than having to list out possible activities when I was snowed under.

The early finisher activities I used included:

1. Imir Cluiche Biongó: I have two of these in my classroom one based on "Bia" and one based on "Eadaí", you can find them here or I'm sure you could make them yourself and laminate the boards and flashcards. They love playing these in small groups at the back of the classroom.

discoveryschool.com

2. Write a poem/story on a template.

3. Read a library book.

4. Take a worksheet from the box.

5. Take a tricky Maths card.

6. Play a game on the computer: There was a list of names stuck on to the computer. Each child could only have one go per day and tick themselves off the list. I had only a few games open on the browser each day such as BBC Bitesize Ks2 and Cool Maths Games (Note: on Google Chrome you can save pages to open every time you open your browser *this link shows you how to do it*). Anseo Net allows you to download cluichí as Gaeilge to put on your desktop. You could also focus on games linked to topics being taught by having them all use a particular website/software for a certain amount of time and then change it more frequently. 

7. Play a Silly Word Game: These are oral language games which involve working as a group on timed oral language challenges. 

8. Make some tricky Maths problems for others to solve and put into the Maths box.

9. Sort lollipop sticks with verbs, adjectives and nouns written on them into the correct tubs. 

I found as the year progressed, children were less enthusiastic about some activities so I offered group points as rewards for completing particularly challenging early finisher activities. I also offered prizes every so often for the person who had completed the most worksheets/maths cards/whichever activity I wanted them to focus on in particular that month. It also is worth noting that I had a big basket for them to put their completed worksheets/poems/etc into so that they were all in one place for me to correct. 

I hope these ideas were helpful and let me know if you have any other exciting early finisher activities for Senior Classes!