My Teacher Always Says Linky

Tammy at Forever in First is hosting a Linky party to share our classroom mantras.  I absolutely love what I've ready so far!  I'm borrowing/stealing some of the sayings for next year!

One that I CONSTANTLY use....

This one comes from Dr. Becky Bailey's Conscious Discipline.  Even 4th Graders need to stop and think about this quite often.  It helps them to differentiate between tattling and reporting an emergency.  We have a "Tattling Turtle" and "Cool-Down Spot" for any comments that don't need to be taken care of right that second.

This is another one from Dr. Bailey.  You can fill in the blank with "take you to specials" or "continue with the lesson," etc.  It reminds the student that they have the power of self-control and they should use it at that moment.

This one is for when the class is a bit too loud or I just need to bring their attention back to me.  I say it quietly and compliment those that follow my directions immediately.  I remind them that if their finger is on their lips and the other hand is a peace sign, they can't be talking.  It usually doesn't take long for the entire class to be sitting silently with peace signs proudly showing!

This one lightens the situation when a student is just kind of pouting or maybe being a bit too dramatic.  The first saying is from "The Pout-Pout Fish" book by Deborah Diesen and the second is from "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" by Dr. Seuss.  Kids usually will crack a smile when I say either one.

Do you have any mantras you use?  I'd love to hear them because I'd love to "borrow" them!  Head on over to Forever in First to link up and share!

Mentor Text Linky--Language Arts/Social Studies

I'm joining Amanda and Stacia at Collaboration Cuties for their Mentor Texts linky.

 Last week's focus was Language Arts mentor texts, but I'm not focusing on Reading or Writing.  One of my goals this year was to incorporate more mentor texts into my Science, Math, and Social Studies curriculum.

I've always felt that Social Studies requires quite a bit of reading comprehension strategies, and it just so happens that we're focusing on the skill of compare and contrast at the moment.  So, what better book to review our Founding Fathers AND apply comparing and contrasting than...

John, Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith.  This book lends itself well to compare the characters by making a chart and listing each Founding Father's character traits.  A triple-Venn Diagram also works well.

We also compare and contrast the settings for each character, such as  when and where they were born and where they lived when they were adults.

This book also helps to review the American Revolution and Documents of Freedom that were written before, during, and after the war.

How about you?  Do you have any great books that support reading comprehension AND bridge the gap between core curriculum subjects? 

Parent Communication Link Up

Lorraine at Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies is having a link up about parent communication.  Since I just posted about my classroom newsletter, I found it timely :)

Come on over and share your process for communicating with parents!

Care to Play a Game of Tag?

Courtney at Teaching in Paradise has tagged me!  I'm a gamer at heart, so this should be fun!

Here Are The rules:

* Post these rules

* Answer the 10 questions that the tagger posted for you

* Create 10 questions of your own to ask the people that you're about to tag

* Tag 10 people and link them with your post (and let them know they've been tagged!)

Here are Courtney's questions and my answers:

1. What is the one thing that you couldn't live without in your class?

The projector that hooks up to my laptop.  I use this ALL day for everything from showing movies to projecting written instructions.

2. If you could teach any grade, what would it be and why?

High School Honors English for two reasons:  My grandfather was a middle school English teacher and I got the chance to substitute teach one of these classes.  So much fun!

3. What is your absolute favorite food?

Pasta!  It could be covered in cheese, marinara, butter, or alfredo.  I love it all!

4. What does a typical morning breakfast look like for you?

2 eggs over easy, a piece of toast, and at least one cup of coffee.

5. Nicest thing that a parent has ever said to you?

Thank you for teaching my child the way he needs to be taught.  He's responded so well to you!

6. Most touching moment with/from a student

One of my grade level teachers taught her class how to sign my name and they signed/sang "Happy Birthday" to me.

7. Favorite website besides blogger and pinterest.

1000 Awesome Things.  It highlights one of the million reasons to be happy each day that I often forget.  It's the homepage on my laptop.

8. Best place you've ever traveled to and why?

That would be a tie between Deep Creek Lake in Maryland and The Outer Banks in North Carolina.  I love the sun and water.  Anytime I can mix the two is heaven to me.

9. What is your favorite thing to do on the weekends?

Sleep!

10. About how much time, on average, would you say that you spend doing things for school?

Oh, my.  At least 1-2 hours a day, and that would be a good day!

Here are the 10 bloggers I'm tagging because I'm excited to get the chance to pick their brain:

Andrea at One Teacher's Take

Tanya at A Class Act

Laura at Love to Teach

Ruth at Teacher Park

Tammy at Confessions of a Fourth Grade Teacher

Jen at Where Learning is FUN!

Nicole at Teaching With Style!

Barb at It's About Time Teachers

Katy at Stickers and Staples

Jan at Third Grade Etc.

Here are the questions inquiring minds (me) are dying to know about you:

1.  What tricks/techniques do you have to keep the things you bring home from school to a minimum?

2.  How do you "fake" happiness on the worst of days?

3.  Quick!  You wake up with 10 minutes left to get out the door.  What is your go-to piece of clothing that makes you look put-together?

4.  Flats or heels?

5.  How do you make peace with a difficult parent?

6.  What's your most expensive guilty pleasure?

7.  Pretend you have an entire weekend to yourself.  How do you spend it?

8.  Favorite t.v. show?

9.  What was the last book or movie that made you laugh and cry at the same time?

10.  What is one skill you possess that would surprise most people if they knew?

 

3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Bloggers Unite!

I love reading the blogs of the grades surrounding my own grade.  It gives me a sort of reality check.  "If 3rd graders can do this, then surely 4th graders can!"  "If 5th graders will be expected to do this, then I had better give my students a leg up!"

Lorraine at Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies is hosting a link up for all us 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade bloggers. 

Happy blogging, linking, and reading!

Homework: What's Your Policy?

Jenaya at the Lesson Plan Diva is having a linky party about homework policies.  You can check it out at http://www.lessonplandiva.com/2012/02/homework-linky-party-how-do-you-do-your.html.

We are allowed to assign up to 50 minutes of homework per night for our fourth graders. 

Reading:  My students read 20 minutes a night and fill out their "reading log" (see below).

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, students complete a "W.E.B. Log" in which they apply one of the reading comprehension strategies we practice in class to their nightly reading.  By the way, W.E.B. stands for "We Enjoy Books."  Right now, we're practicing what we call "Fix-Up Strategies," which is basically what you do when you come to a word or words you don't know (see below).

Students copy this into their W.E.B. Log notebooks and fill it out on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I conference with each student at least once a week to go over these and set reading goals for the next two days.

Math:  Monday through Thursday, I give 4-5 math problems from the workbook that goes with our math textbook.  I find that too many more questions than this is a waste of time because they make careless mistakes, and I need that extra time for either Virginia Studies or another review activity.

Virginia Studies:  For each new chapter in the book, my grade level created flash cards with the state standards' language on them.  Students have to draw a picture representation of what the card means and be able to explain why they chose to draw that particular picture.  I usually give 2-5 of these a night, depending on how much I taught and how much other homework I've given.

Below is an example from our current unit on the documents that helped to set up our government. 

All of this takes them pretty close to the 50 minutes, if not over for some of the more distractable students!

I try not to give any homework on Fridays, but it does happen from time to time.  If I must give homework, I try to make it minimal.