Monday, July 27, 2015

Monday Made It! - July 27th


I'm joining Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It again this week. I've been on vacation this last week, so my creations are computer generated.


My first Monday Made It! is a morning check-in for my kiddos for their reading. I used to have a calendar for each student, and in the morning, I would call out each child's name and they would tell me the title of the book they were reading and what page they were on. I like checking in with everyone, but honestly, it takes some time.  This year, I'm changing it up just a little bit. I created this form that I will post on the whiteboard, located next to the attendance board. When students move their number for attendance each day, they will write their name, title of the book and page number. I'll keep these in my notebook, so I'll be able to do a quick check from day to day and keep an eye on their reading life to use in individual conferences. This will leave time in our first period for our read aloud and a mini lesson.



My second Monday Made It! is a handout for my kiddos to keep for the year and refer to regularly. I have a large one printed and posted on my classroom wall, too. I try very hard to teach my students about a Growth Mindset. I think it's really important for them to know that I want them to take risks in their learning. Yes, they may fall/fail, but it this is an important part of learning! I will be there to help them and move from "I can't do it" to "I can't do it, YET".


My third Monday Made It! are my team's welcome letters for our fourth and fifth graders. We're departmentalized beginning in fourth grade, and our team teaches both fourth and fifth grade. Our welcome letter for our fourth graders is a way to hopefully reduce their anxiety about moving up to fourth grade and having four different teachers for their core classes. For our fifth graders, our welcome letter is really a welcome back and we're excited to teach you again this year. We'll send these out the week before school starts.



My fourth Monday Made It! is something for the first week of school. Our first full day of school this year is on a Tuesday. Our parents' night is Thursday of that same week. I like to have some type of writing up for the parents to see. In order to do this in two days, it has to be a pretty quick activity, so I created a newsletter for the kids to write articles about themselves.


My fifth and final Monday Made It! for the week is cards that will have my students' log in information for different websites such as Google Drive, our school website, Typing Pal, etc. I'm just waiting on their log in info from our IT guy and then I'll finish them up and laminate them. I'll attach these to the first page in their agendas because they take their agendas to every class and home every night. I'm hoping this will alleviate the nightly emails of "Johnny can't log in to Google Drive for his homework".


That's all for this week! What did you make this week?








20 comments:

  1. Janie,
    Are you sure you actually had a vacation?!?! You were super productive! It's so smart to create a passwords "cheat sheet" for them to attach to their agendas. In fact, I should probably make one for me! :)
    Tonya
    Storybook Endings in Second

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I definitely need one for me, too. I always think I'm going to remember them all, but I don't! I'm just hoping I can get all the info from my IT guy before we have to go back:) Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. The Growth Mindset page is AWESOME. I love finding new ways for students to reflect on their work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The growth mindset is something I'm always working on with my kids. It's sometimes really hard to change their thinking about tackling new things! Thanks for stopping by!
      Janie

      Delete
  3. Love your growth mindset form. I need to read up more on this. I've seen more and more about that this summer. I love everything you've come up with this week. Organization is key!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm trying to get organized - I always have grand plans! Our first week back is all inservice and no time in the classroom, so I'm trying to get as much done ahead of school as possible. Thanks for stopping by! By the way your post this week was so inspiring! I've already made my own Pal:)
      Janie

      Delete
  4. Oh boy more growth mindset goodness!! I'm all about this being a big focus this year! Thanks for sharing it- how awesome!
    Kelli
    Tales of a Tenacious Teacher

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree - I think it really helps the kids approach things in a more positive way and enables them to really dig deep and keep trying. Thanks for stopping by.
      Janie

      Delete
  5. Janie,
    I love your idea for status of the class. We do AR and I never found a great system to use to keep track when checking in with students. I'll have to try your idea out.

    Thank you!
    Jordan
    Team J's Second Grade Fun

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Status of the class is a great way to keep track of where everyone is. This year instead of me doing it, the kids will...work smarter, not harder...right?? Thanks for stopping by!
      Janie

      Delete
  6. Goodness you were productive on vacation! It's neat seeing that you are departmentalized at 4th and 5th. This is something my district is considering for next school year. How do you like it?

    I love your Status of the Class page. Having the kids keep track is a great idea.

    Have a great year!
    -Tracy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really like being departmentalized. We've had three teachers for 4th and 5th in the past. One teacher teaches both math and science, but we just adopted PITSCO STEM curriculum, so now we have one teacher for each core subject. Our math teacher and science teacher teach math or science to both 4th and 5th, and then I teach LA to 4th and SS to 5th and another teacher teachers SS to 4th and LA to 5th. So I really like it because I get to teach 2 different subjects, not just one. It works for us. Honestly, the transition to departmentalized teaching is harder on the parents than the kids:) I'd be happy to answer any questions if you want to know anything in particular.
      Thanks so much for stopping by!
      Janie

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  7. You have been really busy too this week! I need about another month off to get caught up with all I have to do before school starts NEXT WEEK! I need to try Status of the Class this year. I don't have a very good system for checking in.Thank you for sharing your ideas! :)
    Marissa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Status of the Class is super easy to implement and keep tabs on who is reading and who needs a little follow up:) Thanks for stopping by!
      Janie

      Delete
  8. I love that you are having the kids take more initiative in status of the class-- less work for you = happy teacher! I also like the newsletter writing for parents. Great idea.

    My Bright Blue House

    ReplyDelete
  9. I really like the departmentalizations of upper grades. We have tried it with 3 teachers teaching core subject. What does your daily schedule with 4 teachers? Do you meet with all the students daily?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We do meet with all classes daily. We each have an hour. So I have both fourth grade classes for an hour each for Language Arts and both fifth grade classes for an hour each for US History. The math teacher has both fourth grade classes and both fifth grade classes every day for an hour and the same goes for science. Then the rest of the day if filled with 30 minutes of reading and specials. Thanks for stopping by!
      Janie

      Delete
  10. I love how you are holding the kids accountable in the status of the class! You are so organized and ahead of the game. You look like you are ready for the year!
    Cole
    Teach Glitter Grow

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm certainly trying but my to do list seems to keep growing! Thanks for stopping by.
      Janie

      Delete