Loved That Lesson: Introducing my Class Theme of the Year

I'm so excited for the first day of school, just so I can introduce the theme for our classroom this year:

"be the change"

It all started when I watched a music video by Alex Boye and then a viral video about some German students who stop to support a homeless man on the street.  It all just seemed meant to be, so I decided my theme for the year would focus on being the change based on this quote from Mahatma Gandhi:

So, on the first day of school, I'm going to introduce our classroom theme.  I"ve planned three lessons that introduce and explain the theme to students and lead us to the ultimate end of having students set goals on a regular basis throughout the year to make change in themselves, thus influence those around them.  Below, I've outlined the first lesson.  You can get the full three day outline along with the student goal sheets in my full mini-unit set linked at the end of this post as well as a link to get posters of each quote for free. 

Start by sharing the Mahatma Gandhi quote with students, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”.  Hang up the poster of the quote.  Ask students what they think this means and support students in a discussion without giving your opinion or steering students toward a “right” answer. 

Then, show this video about three German students who stop to help a homeless man.  Ask students to think about how the quote relates to this video.     

Then, have groups of students write their thoughts on some post-it notes. Have some chart paper or your whiteboard ready for students to stick their notes.  You can label sections with the reflection questions or just have a parking lot area ready for students to place their notes.

Some reflection or guiding questions might be: 

·        What were some correlations with the quote and video?

·        What strengths/skills did these people bring to the    situation? 

·        What was the outcome of the collaboration? 

·        What strengths can you offer to help make change? 

As students are writing notes and posting them, wander among the groups and take note of some of their ideas to ready yourself for a class discussion following the group brainstorm.

Bring the students back together and hi-light some of the recurring ideas or those that especially stand out as ideas to share and discuss.  Lead your discussion to the conclusion that we have the power within ourselves to make change that then affects others.  Hopefully, we use that power to effect positive change.  

I'm so excited for this to be my theme and to come back to it frequently throughout the year.  I'll also be relating it to my introduction of the 7 habits for effective students that I introduce the first week or so of school.  We're not a Leader in Me school, but we introduce and refer to the habits as a grade level team throughout the year.

If you'd like the posters of the quotes that I made you can get the set here. There's a quote and video for each lesson.  You can get the second two lesson plans and goal planning sheets for the entire school year in this set.  

Be sure to click below to see many other great lesson ideas and link up your own great lesson idea as well!

Small Group Reading: Genre Activities

My friend and colleague introduced me to this concept.  I believe she learned about it in a BER presentation.  I love this idea because I feel like it gives my students exposure to more texts than I would otherwise be able to.  For this activity, I set up 8 Genre stations. With 8 set up at one time, I only have to change the activities once every 8 weeks because students only do one per week.  Sorry, no pictures (I took everything down in my classroom before I thought to take pics.), but I'll be sure to do another post as soon as I get them up for the fall.  I put my activities in tote bags hung on command hooks around the room.  I number each bag.  Some of my teammates have a magazine organizer box on the counter for each activity and number the boxes.  The activities might include: 

• Read several articles from a magazine (like time for kids or NG kids or Highlights).  Choose one article and summarize it.  Or compare/contrast two articles, etc. 
• Read a wordless picture book and write a story to go along with it. 
• Read several poems or jokes.  Choose one to share with the class. 
• Read the different versions of Cinderella (or any tale) and compare/contrast them
• Read the book I'll Fix Anthony and then write about the relationship you have with your sibling(s)
• Read one of the fact books (I include several to give choice) and tell some of the most interesting things you learned about the topic. 
• Read about one of the 50 states in this state atlas and share what you learned. 

And many more, the possibilities are endless and you can tailor the activities to whatever your students need. I've created several response sheets to accompany texts you likely already have in your classroom.  Just pair the text with the response sheet and you have your genre activities ready to go.  

The set contains 16 response sheets, that's enough for two complete rounds if you choose to do 8 at a time like I do.  I usually can get through 3 rounds, or 24 activities during the year.  That gives you room to add task cards or other activities/ games, etc. that you already have on hand.  You can get the set here. As I add more response sheets, I'll update the set.  Right now, the set is on sale at an introductory price.  To help you get started, I've made one of the activities a freebie, which you can get here.  

In my last post, about structure, I showed you how I keep groups organized and rotate them around the different assignments.  You can read that post here. 

For the Genre Activity assignment, I place a numbered strip to the left of the group list.  Students are to complete the Genre Activity that corresponds to the number next to their names.  I just change the numbered strip at the beginning of each new rotation, about once a week.  When all students have rotated through all the activities, I switch out the activities and start back with number 1 at the top. 

All of the other four rotations meet with me at some point at my reading table.  However, I don't meet at the table with this last group.  Instead, they share their responses with the class during a 10 minute "Genre Share" at the end of the reading time.  Each student takes a turn presenting.  This is the way I "meet" with them and it holds them accountable for getting it done.  It's super embarrassing for it to be a students' turn when they are not prepared.  

Just a note, I always start each week with my highest reading group at the genre activities.  That way, the rest of the students have the best examples to follow for doing the activities the rest of the week.  I've found my lower students do a much better job with this example set for them.  

Want to win a full set of the new Literature Response Activities pack?  Enter below for your chance to win.  Remember, the set is at a special price for a limited time.  If you purchase the set and are selected as a winner, I'll let you choose anything in my store for the same value for me to send you in place of the Literature Response pack. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Meet the Teacher

I'm very excited to participate in Teacher Week '13 brought to us by Blog Hoppin'.  A fun new post each day this week on various topics to celebrate back to school.

Today is all about "Meet the Teacher". I'm going to share some ideas for a Meet the Teacher or Back to School Night with your parents and students and then tell you a little about me.

My school has an open house the afternoon before the first day of school and then a back to school night after about one week of school.  During the open house, I usually have a way for students to become familiar with the classroom, a treat for greeting me, and any paperwork that parents need before school.  In first grade, I had a bit of a treasure hunt for students.  A note at the front door told them their class number and to find their desk, then on their desk was a clue or picture for them to find in the room and then another at that item and so on.  For fifth grade, I just wrote a letter to students and numbered their tasks of finding their number and desk, putting their name on all their materials, sharpening their pencils (with my new sharpener from classroom friendly supplies. See this post to grab a direction sheet for your students.)  And I did these fun little treats for them, an idea from my teammate.  The Pop Rocks were 3/$1 at my local dollar store. (This is also my Monday Made It.)

So, when students come on the morning of the first day, all of their supplies are ready and we can start the day right away.  Students are also familiar with the classroom and a few of the procedures as well.

For the parents, I give them homework this first night.  Yup, parents get the first homework of the school year.  The students think it's fun that parents have homework and enjoy that they don't.  Parents like the homework because it's all about setting up communication with me.  Here's a PDF version of the homework I give.  Feel free to re-write and adjust for your needs, this is just my example so you have an idea of what I ask of parents.  It works out so well and parents appreciate knowing that I value communication with them so much. With the homework, parents will receive a little treat too.  I'll post a picture when they're done, but they will be those apple caramel suckers with this little tag.  I'll explain why we went with suckers instead of apples when I have a picture and post about it.

I also give parents my disclosure document.  I loved the idea I saw a couple of years ago about doing it in the format of an ABC book.  If you know the origination of the idea, please share.  You can get the copy of what I did for my classroom here.  Again, feel free to re-work and do for yourself if you like the idea.

There's also a suggested supply list.  Utah provides all necessary supplies for students (no wonder we can't afford other things like salaries or smaller class sizes) so, I include a list of items that are useful to have around like tissues, lysol wipes and zip bags.  Here's my list if that's helpful to you.

Finally, I have parents fill out a quick information form and questionnaire.  I have access to their contact information in our district system, but I like having this on hand and I like the extra information it gives me. Again, here's my version, feel free to use it or do one similar that suites your needs.

P.S. If you find any typos in my documents, don't tell me, I already sent them off to the district printing, YIKES!  (If you do find one, I really would like to know before a parent points it out.)

I'll post about my back to school night in a week or so when I have that figured out myself. ;)



If you've been following me for a while, you probably know some about me and hopefully you'll learn some new things.  I'm a wife to a very supportive hubby.  We celebrated 13 years of marriage at the end of July. He has taken care of our children and home while I've worked for hours in my classroom.  He also helps me make the counting frames I sell.  He also does all the laundry and helps around the house in every other way too.  He's also a teacher.  He teaches students in Jr. High keyboarding and business skills.  He doesn't spend near the time I do prepping a room and planning curriculum. ;) We have three children who I think are just the most darling kids, both in looks and personalities.

It would be appreciated if you didn't pin or share this picture.

When I started blogging, I taught first grade.  Last year I was an instructional coach focused on K-3 literacy.  I'm coming back to the classroom this fall and will be teaching 5th grade.  I really am excited to go back to where I started.  I taught 5th grade my first year of teaching and from there went to 3rd grade then to 1st. Getting back into the classroom has also been inspirational for my blog, and I have loved sharing my classroom with you as I've been working on it. I'm more excited to begin sharing my lessons and learning from you as well.

One of my hobbies is sewing and crafting.  I sell fabric, and the items I make at Dilly Dabbles Designs and during the summer and one Saturday a month I work at a fabric shop. 

What do you have students or parents do on "Meet the Teacher" night? Let us know in the comments.

Best Pencil Sharpener Ever and a Freebie

I took a little break last week as I taught some professional development for the new teachers to our district.  I get to do it again this coming week.  I really love the mentoring aspect of teaching.  Helping new teachers is so exciting and I love all the new things I learn from them as well!

I polished up my back to school forms and information packets last week.  One of the things I got ready is an instruction page for the open house my school is having the day before school starts.  I wanted students to look around the room and have the items in their desk ready for the first day.  (A post sharing these forms is coming later in the week.)

One of the things I decided to have them do is to sharpen their own pencils so they are all ready for the first day.  I could have spent quite a bit of time sharpening all the pencils, but 5th graders are fully capable of such a thing, especially now that I have the AMAZING pencil sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies.  It really is the best sharpener I have ever used!  It's so easy that I'm sure my fifth graders can use it without breaking it.  My two year old can do it for heavens sake!  If students have a chance to use it the day before school, the novelty of it will have worn off a bit and they'll each know how to use it appropriately using it with their parents so I don't have to take class time teaching that procedure. Read to the end of the post for a free instruction page.

So, here is the sharpener all set up on the counter in my classroom.  The sink is just to the left there.

It grips nicely to the edge there and has quite a range of adjustability to fit just about any counter thickness. 

Just pull the front plate out then grasp the two knobs at the top and squeeze together.  It's so easy I did it one-handed so I could take a picture!

Then turn the handle until you no longer feel any resistance. 

Then you have the sharpest pencil ever with no waste or pencil eating like an electric sharpener might do. 

As you probably saw in the first pictures, I do have an electric sharpener provided by the school.  They break easily, the kids like to stick their pencils in and see how small they can get them and for some reason they also like to stick crayons, erasers and pencils in backwards!  So pencil sharpening had become a teacher only job in my classroom.  Thus, the reason for the two baskets you also saw.  

Here's a comparison of the un-sharpened pencil, electric sharpened pencil and the manual sharpened pencil:

Incredible difference!!

I'm planning to get another sharpener soon so I have two in my room.  I'm thinking that my procedures for pencil sharpening will be that students can sharpen their own pencils anytime during work time.  If they're in the middle of something, they can put them in the dull basket and a class job will be "pencil sharpener" and sharpen when they are available and place in the sharp basket to be picked up.  Each student is starting with 3 pencils, so they should have an extra or two on hand in an emergency. I also labeled each pencil with the students' class numbers to they can keep track of them and be responsible for their pencils.  They can also grab them from the sharpened box and keep their own.  I just used a brand new sharpie marker so it had a nice tip on it to write the numbers small on the pencils. 

Get with some of your colleagues and order a set of sharpeners together for the best price.  Be sure to head over to Classroom Friendly Supplies to see all the color selections.  You can also buy replacement parts if you need them and not have to purchase a completely new sharpener, especially if the blade gets dull or gummed up with a crayon. 

Now that you've made it through my ramblings about this great classroom tool, you can grab the instruction sheet I am posting on the wall next to the sharpener for FREE!  Just click here to grab it.  

What classroom procedures do you have in place for pencils?

Homework Pass Free Download

I've started working on a few things to get ready to start my new adventure in fifth grade next fall.  I'll be sharing what I work on throughout the summer along with a few posts about some professional development books I'm reading for some summer book studies.  Last night I started thinking about what to do for student birthday's.  I decided to go simple and little cliche with the straw balloons.  A few fellow bloggers add a "no homework" pass to the balloon.  I thought that was a great addition too and whipped up these little cuties.

You can grab a PDF copy for yourself here.  I'm doing my classroom in a patriotic theme, so I used these great patriotic themed pencils from Krista Wallden you can find in her TpT store here.  I'll post pictures of the final birthday gifts when I finish them. 

Zippin Down the Freebie Trail

Welcome to Dilly Dabbles! I am so excited to be part of this great Spring/Easter Freebie Trail.  If you missed the first post on this trail, be sure to click the orange bunny picture at the top of the page to be taken to the beginning, then follow the trail to all of the "next stops" to get all the freebies along this trail.  

I have two freebies for you.  The first is this spring kite from the Dilly Dabbles Doodles collection.  You can get the full Spring Time Fun set of graphics here.

Download the file for the free kite image here.  It is a zipped file that will need to be extracted.  The image is a clear background png file. 

The second freebie I have for you is this spring poem set.  It correlates with our Poetry Task Cards, but it can also be used alone.  The activities in the pack include: 

~tracing the poem

~ choosing synonyms and antonyms to words in the poem

~create your own version of the poem

~focus on word features -oo- and -ou-

Be sure to continue on the bunny trail by clicking the purple picture below.  There will be three to four new stops each day, so be sure to check back every day through March 30, 2013

St. Patrick's Day Freebies!

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner!  Here are some freebies that you might find helpful during March.  The first is a set of riddle bookmarks with graphics from the3amteacher.



The next is a board game focusing on words with -oo- with graphics from Scrappin Doodles.

Just click on the activity titles to download yours from Google Drive.

How does your class celebrate St. Patrick's Day?  Does the leprechaun wreck havoc in your room?  Do you have a party?  Or is it business as usual?  We'd love to hear.  Leave a comment below or on our Facebook Page.

BBQ Digital Clip Art (Bar-B-Que)

Brand new art just added to our Doodles collection, just in time for your summer festivities.  This clip art is perfect for those who may teach year round school or for your end of year activities.  Use it on school creations or for your personal summer memories.  These would also be great for back to school as you do some activities with summer memories.  To get you started, enjoy this hot dog freebie.  There's three total versions of the hot dog along with the outlines of each available in the pack.  You can view all the details and view the full contents of the clip art pack here.

Right click and choose "save as" to save the hot dog.  Be sure to view our Terms of Use before using this image.

Back to School Poem Pack

As the school year ends, many of us begin to look forward to the beginning of next school year.  As I posted a few end of year poems in the last few weeks, I thought it was time to start back at the beginning of the year to get you set for next school year.  Here's the latest in the free poem pack series, Back To School.  Remember that there's one a week and they all correlate right along with my Poetry Task Cards which are also free.  While you're downloading these from my store, be sure to look at some of my other items perfect for back to school including:

 the All About Me Posters, (several themes available)

the Birthday Pack,

Daily 5 Reading Homework Pack,

and the Number Boards Pack.

Also be sure to get your set of the the Common Core Standard posters in "I" and "We" language. 

Journaling and Open Writing Amidst Common Core

Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyle has been gracious to let me be her guest today on her blog.  I shared a post about some of the tips I've learned about journaling in the classroom.  Along with my ideas, I shared a freebie to get you started.  Head over to Kindergarten Lifestyle to get some ideas brewing for next school year.  You can grab your freebie journal cover / divider pages here.  Over the next few weeks, look for more posts about fitting writing in your teaching day and teaching to meet the Common Core in Writing.  Check back on Thursday for the next poetry pack freebie here on Dilly Dabbles.