The beginning of the year is filled with lots of get to know you activities.  But this year I wanted to make it a bit more academic, getting right into the nitty gritty of academic language from the get go.  So I turned one of those traditional "get to know you" activities into a lesson in Inferring! First, I had the students create a "Me Box" in class.  I used these instructions here , but the basic gist is that they filled the box with items that were special to the individual student.  The student chose what items to include, all with the idea that these items told the story of who they were.   While we made the box together in class, the students brought the items from home. Once all of the boxes were complete, the other students in the class walked around the room looking at the items contained within each box.  Using a sticky note, the kids tried to make an inference about the personality or likes of the classmates.  They had to think about ......

My overall theme this year in fifth grade is that we "Think, Create, and Do".  I want to instill a growth mindset into the students and challenge them to be innovators and creators.  So I went with a lightbulb motif throughout the class.  You can see a bit of that lightbulb theming here. One of the first projects we did was think about how we would "think", "create", and "do" over the course of this year.  I asked the students to brainstorm on divided circle map the different things that they could "think" of this year.  This could include subjects we would learn, projects they would make up, problems they would solve (which then lead into our opening discussion on Genius Hour).   For "Create", I asked them to write down all the objects or ideas they would create.  Projects, inventions, friendships, etc...  This one was probably the hardest because I asked them to be a bit abstract in their thinking.  Finally, fo......

As more and more research comes out about the power of Growth Mindset and more and more people are leaning towards this line of thinking (heck, even my District is getting on board...they talked about it at a training I went to over the summer!), I figured that this would be as good a time as any to teach my students about their own brains and mindset.  So I began my first week of school with a few lessons that really set a great tone for my students. To begin, I wanted something tangible and hands-on for my students to experience.  So I searched online and found this lesson here .  In a nutshell, I folded some paper in a crazy figure (that didn't actually look all crazy...until I tried to make it...go to the blog for exact instructions) and told the students they needed to recreate it.  I had them get into groups of 7-8 students, put the figure in the middle and gave them each the exact same piece of paper I used.  There were only two rules:  They could......

Respect.  It is such an important and integral part of a functioning classroom.  The beginning of the year is the perfect time to introduce lessons that reinforce for students what it means to be respectful of each other, of the classroom, of adults on campus, and of themselves.  So this week, I began my first in a series of lessons on respect with my students. I knew my objectives (that the students would speak respectfully to each other and to adults) but I wasn't exactly sure where to start.  So I turned to my trusty friend Pinterest and I found these AMAZING posters from Digital Divide and Conquer .  They are free in his shop and so perfectly matched my thoughts on what I wanted to teach the kids that I just had to print them out.   For each letter of the word Respect, there is one correlating aspect.  I chose to center my first lesson around the letter R, "Recognize that everyone is different." Inspired by this pin from the First Grade ......

For the past few weeks, I have been venturing into my classroom off and on to set up for the first day of school.  For me, that meant taking out my library books from the shed, emptying my closets out to access the folders and other supplies I would need to distribute to the kids, putting up my new word wall made from Target One Spot stuff (if you follow me on Instagram you know that I bought out the notebook paper stuff from 4 different Targets ;)), and putting up the tissue paper borders for my boards (which still had the felt up from last year....because that stuff is expensive so it is up for a while ;)) I was feeling pretty good about the status of my room.  The boards looked neat.  It was empty and plain, but functional. Then I went on Pinterest and Facebook and Instagram. I kept seeing pictures of BEAUTIFUL classrooms.  Fabulous libraries.  Gorgeous quotes filling the walls.  Comfortable nooks with amazing carpets, chairs you could sink into......

Let me preface this by saying that this is a LONG post.  But bear with me.  There is a lot of information and a lot of useful stuff for you...plus a surprise at the end.  It is worth it.  I promise :) For me, one of my biggest summer stressers is getting my first day of school planned out.  I always want to make sure that I have enough activity to keep the kids engaged and occupied, but I also want to set up my rules and set the tone for our year long classroom culture.   It is tough balancing classroom management, rigorous academic pursuits, and fun.  (I mean, I do want the kids to WANT to come back :) )  So over the years, I have tried my hardest to refine what I do on the first day of school so that we are productive and exciting, all rolled into one. What I thought I would do here in this post is lay out my schedule for you.  I will go hour by hour, heck, minute by minute and show you exactly what I do on that all important f......

My first few weeks have been filled with a lot of activities designed to get to know my students both as people AND as learners.  I have done some really simple things, like have the students fill out a quick survey for me to give me some insight into who they are as kids, but most of what I have done is rooted in the standards in some way.  You see, just because we are in the "honeymoon phase" doesn't mean the standards take a back seat in our learning.  So I wanted to share a few of the standards-based activities that we have been doing in our room that have helped the students to learn a bit more about each other, but also get a kick start on the huge amount of standards we need to learn this year. If you read my blog at all, you know how much I love The Important Book .   I use is all.the.time.  It is just a great, great book that can be applied to so many different things.  So we started off the year reading this fast read and discussed what make......

School has been in session for a bit now, and I am getting to know my kids more and more each day.  I have to say, they are a really fun bunch!  They are interested in so many of the things that I am that I thought they would really love to do a fun "Social Media" Get to Know you activity. So I created these fun little "iPad" looking templates, with four social media interfaces in them. There is the Instagram page, where I asked the kids to draw a picture of something they did over the summer that really told me about who they were.  This was to be something that wasn't mundane, like watching TV, but something that really got to the heart of their personality....like they went camping because that is how they bond with their family. The Pinterest page is all about the subjects they like and connect with at school.  The students were to draw a picture of four things they enjoy AT SCHOOL and then a brief description of that activity and why it is specia......