An Easy Choice

My principal is an amazing woman.  She is thoughtful and compassionate, and she took a chance on me.  I appreciate that. 

See those canvases in this picture?  The ones surrounding the clock?  Here's what they say.  "Some kids are smarter than you.  Some kids have cooler clothes than you.  Some kids are better at sports than you.  It doesn't matter.  You have your thing too.  Be the kid that can get along.  Be the kid that is happy for other people.  Be the generous kid. Be the kid who does the right thing. BE THE NICE KID.

Well, believe it or not, there is a parent that disagrees with this sentiment.  They are under the impression that the students in our class will get stuck on the first line,  "Some kids are smarter than you." , and that will make the students feel bad.  At least that's what I understand from speaking with this parent and from what my principal told me. 

I've been "warned" about this parent by many fellow educators, but I have been trying to reserve judgement based on my own experiences.  So far, the parents have had reasonable requests and concerns that I have been happy to accommodate. I find this latest request unreasonable and overreaching.  After all, I try to teach my own children, and live my own life like this sentiment.  I would really rather my own children be kind above all other qualities.  I would rather be kind than smart or fashionable or athletic.

However, I plan to remove the first three sentences because my principal asked me to remove it. I know my principal has more important things to do than to spend her afternoons having the same conversation with these parents over and over again.  I would rather her focus on doing good at our school.  That's how I plan to spend my time too.


So I will be the kid that can get along.  I will be the kid that is generous.  I will be the nice kid. 

Room Reveal 2018

 I am so excited for the opportunity to teach 5th grade this year.  I'm at a new school too, and a little nervous, but ready for the challenge.  So much to learn!  Here's a peek at my room.  It's pretty similar to my last room, with a few changes.  My far wall, by the small group area, is for outstanding work.

 I am so fortunate to have round tables again.  They are so helpful for collaboration.  The back wall is for our academic reference.  I plan to change out the posters based on whichever standard we're addressing.

 The AVID wall is here again.  This year I printed color photos of the kids in their graduation caps.  I can't wait to hang those up!

 It's kind of hard to see but each canvas is part of a larger quote.  Love this idea!  My wonderful helper, Jacky did this for me!  : )

Some kids are smarter than you.  Some kids have cooler clothes than you.  Some kids are better at sports than you.  It doesn't matter.  You have your thing too.  Be the kid who can get along.  Be the kid who is generous.  Be the kid who is happy for other people. Be the kid who does the right thing.  Be the nice kid!

Who's In Your Circle

I got this great "getting to know you" activity from Michael Friermood on TPT. It was a great way for the kids to find out who in the class shares their interests.  The students also got a much needed opportunity to move around.  Finally, it was a chance for us to practice rotating from group to group. 

This product offers a couple of pages of pre-labeled favorites and a blank page of circles.  Next time I will have the students use only the blank page.  I will let them label their own "favorite category" so that they can find others that share the things that are important to them.  For example, one of the pre-labeled circles is "favorite ice cream flavor".  I don't think that knowing that someone else loves vanilla ice cream is very useful. Fun, but not useful.  If a sports loving student could label their own circle "favorite sport" then that might be more helpful in finding friends with common interests. 

Overall this was a great activity, and I will definitely use it again!

Word Clouds

It's getting toward the end of the school year now, and my students are not always as kind to each other as they were at the start of the year.  The honeymoon is over! Way over!  I thought it might be a good idea for the students to think about all of their classmates' positive qualities.  So, I had the kids make Character Trait Word Clouds for each other.

Step 1:  Create a Google Form with a separate "question" for each student in your class.  For example, #1 Amy, #2 Bill, #3 Carl, etc...  The answer choices for each student are the same.  List about ten positive character traits.  I used the "check box" choice so that students could pick three character traits for each classmate.  I've tried having them type in responses and that just took way too long, and some of the spelling was way off!

Step 2:  Give the kids some time to use the Google Form you created.

Step 3:  Go to the Google Form and look at your responses.  Use the "Create a New Spreadsheet" function.

Step 4:  Copy and paste the spread sheet contents for each student, one at a time into a Word Cloud generator.  I tired a few and I really like the one offered by abcya.com.  I was very fortunate to have a helper in my room who took on this task for me.  As she created each Word Cloud, she printed them and slid them in a plastic sleeve for safe keeping.

That's it.  I had them out on Open House night (bonus points!!!) for the kids to take home.  It was fun to see them hunt around the room for their very own Word Cloud and then read the responses.

 It's very hard to tell, but you can see them all spread out on our round tables for Open House night.


 What the Teacher Learned...Verbalizing positives is a step toward harmony!