Working Smarter, Not Harder

Planning, planning, planning

How do you do lesson plans? 

Erin Condren planner? Handwritten plans? Typed documents? School provided calendar planner? Full format District mandated plans? Planning binders? Online sites? 

Do you work with your team to plan or are you solo? 

This will be my 5th year teaching and I finally found a way that works for me, my team, and that also benefits my students.

I created my Long Range Plans a few years ago for myself and my team as a result of us trying to learn a then new math program, Engage NY or Eureka Math, and implement the Journeys Reading Program. We struggled to visual SEE how things played out just by using the provided curriculum guides and the district pacing maps. 

 <<< WORK SMARTER NOT HARDER!>>> 

We then got to work! Our district gives us credit for a Professional Development day to plan with our PLC, or professional learning community, which includes my 3 teammates. So each year we spend a day (or more) working together on these plans. We chose to focus on one subject at a time and used district and curriculum guides to plan out what was best instruction for our students. Below is the REAL guide we are planning to use and implement this coming year. You'll notice we still use Journeys for reading and Engage NY for math. We do jump around a bit in math because of our district assessments, BUT we also found that some concepts were better placed before/after others for our students needs. 

((Disclaimer: we were given permission to skip around and meet students needs))

Once we have the year at a glance mapped out we start planning out our weeks. We use the district and school calendars to align our days, note when events occur at school etc. My team and I have been working together for 4 years now and I truly believe we are the dream team! They are such amazing teachers and we all work so well together, making this process easier and easier each year.
Each subject is color coded throughout the year. For example, our 2nd grade Journeys books are orange, hence the plans for reading show up as orange. Little things like that make my teacher heart happy. :)
If you'd like to see more and try out these plans for yourself click here

Now, once the year is mapped out and all the weeks are filled in on the Long Range Plans we then use https://www.planbook.com to do weekly planning. This online plabbook is $12 for the whole year! We have each taken turns paying for the years subscription and all have access to it from our computers, phones, and iPads thanks to the easy to use app!
((no this is not a paid post for planbook, just sharing my love for it!))

Once you log in and create an account you are able to do SO MANY different things! Change colors of blocks, fonts, times, classes, it adds a Day counter at the top, so if you're like me you track days to celebrate the 100th day of school! (shown in photo below)

Some of my favorite features are that you can see different views, that being daily and just seeing todays lessons, weekly, monthly and more. I also love that you can "bump" or "extend" lessons and it will shift your plans for you. We all know there are days that you just don't get to do everything you have planned.. so we "bump" it and move on!  Also I LOVE that you can attach resources to the plans (shown below at the bottom). This is so helpful when we all have a document we need to share or show to students. Instead of emailing and all downloading, we just attach to the plans and can pull it up quickly! 

Another favorite feature is that you can add in Common Core Standards! This is so helpful when planning and pacing because we can easily see what standards we have taught already. This is also helpful when we share plans with administrators and within our PLC's to note whats working, what needs to be tweaked etc. You can change the view of the standards to say the entire worded version of each standard, or just the number and abbreviation like we chose to use below.

I also love to print out the weekly spread and attach to my clipboard that I carry daily to keep myself on track. I also have the planbook.com app on my phone and school iPad when needed. This feature also makes it very easy to plan and share information with student teachers as well! 

Because I have used planbook.com for almost 5 years (I was so lucky to stumble on it half way through my first year teaching) that MY FAVORITE FEATURE is how you can transfer plans from one year to the next! IT IS SUCH A TIME SAVER! Most of the past few years our first few days/first weeks in Second grade have stayed the same. So its easy enough to push a button and transfer all of our plans from 2013-14, 2015-16, 2016-17 or parts of each etc. to this years spread without having to retype anything, reattach documents, and more! 

It may seem redundant to have both the long range plans and planbook.com but we all utilize both documents and its what works for us! Together as a PLC we meet once a week to easily pull copies, talk about whats worked so far, and get ready for the following week- all without having to sit and write lesson plans for the upcoming week without knowing what comes next. If you'd like to read more about our day and how all this planning works in my room click here for a day in 2nd grade

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Dear Second Graders...

Out of the mouths of babes...

First off, let me apologize for not posting since JANUARY, Yikes! 

A quick life update. Since January I have...

1- Submitted ALL components for my National Board Certified Teacher Certification! AH! 

2- celebrated my bachelorette party in beautiful Asheville, NC

3- gotten MARRIED!

4- traveled to St. Lucia on a fabulous honeymoon

Life hasn't changed too much since our May wedding, but I did promise to share my end of year writing project with everyone, so here it is! 

Have you heard of Studentreasures? 

A few years ago my teammate stumbled upon a company, Studentreasures that let you publish your students writing into a book for FREE! I initially thought it was too good to be true. So we decided to order the kits and see what we could make of it...while in the back of my mind I was preparing to have to shell out some money for this hardback beautiful book that my kids worked tirelessly on throughout the spring. 

[Also this is NOT a sponsored post, although I would love to work more with them:)]

Fast forward a few weeks our kit arrived. With my Second Graders I chose to use Option C, the Landscape Primary lined. This has worked out fabulously the last 3 years! 

Included for FREE in our kit is plenty of lined pages and corresponding blank pages for pictures. As well as cover, title, dedication, and author pages. ALSO a sample hard bound book for students to ooohhhh and ahhhh over and excite them about becoming real published authors themselves. A step-by-step guide, replacement pages and materials if needed, parent order forms, and other resources! 

I mean can you believe this is all for FREE?! Yes, I too was still skeptical and thought it was too good to be true... just wait until you see their writing :) 

The Writing Process

To make things simple I always create and copy a draft template for my students to guide their writing prior to them working on the pages from Studentreasures. I've used the same format for each year and students have loved it. The students pages are as follows: 

"Hello my name is ____________. I am almost done with second grade! Here is some advice for you so you can make it through second grade too. My advice for you is _____________________. For example, __________________________________________.

_____________________________________________________.

Good luck in second grade!"

This darling is working on copying his draft onto the final studentreasures paper. I choose to do this at my small group table and preferably 1:1 because the company requests that you use PEN! Now if you're anything like me, I don't like my students to use ink pens unsupervised on these projects because it almost always ends in tears when they mess up and can't erase. There are extra pages provided in the kit, BUT I like to use this a a learning experience in using pen and doing our best work. So we go very slow and take lots of time to complete the pages.

After each student has met with me and copied their writing onto the book paper, I let them use markers and color a picture to match their advice that they wrote. These pages will lay side by side in the book. 

After ALL my students have completed their final copies of writing with a pen and their picture. I box them all up, with my self-created cover and send materials back to Studentreasures. Once you submit materials, it a few weeks until you receive back the hard cover book you've created. 

BUT it is so worth it!!

Below are all the books we've created throughout the years! 

Oh, how I wish I knew about this my first year of teaching. I would have loved to have this book for that group of kids. Since then, I have completed this same concept yearly with each class. I always love reading this to my NEW classes each fall and the incoming students love it! 

You can choose to make this any type of book you'd like! The sample I received one year was all about animals, and each student researched a different animal. My teammate I mentioned earlier, did one about how to have integrity, and their favorite second grade memory. The possibilities are endless! 

Out of the mouths of babes... 

Here is a sample from years past! Some of the advice students come up with is horrifyingly honest. For example, "my advice for you is don't wiggle your paper. This drives Ms. B crazy!" or "my advice for you is don't play with your shoes on the carpet when Ms. B teaches. She will make you take your shoes off." [whoops.... in my justification velcro shoes are SO NOISY!!!!!!] But hey, those examples are some solid second grade survival tips!

Lastly, at the end of each book we make I write a love note to my students and draw a picture. They absolutely love the surprise when they find it. :)

So if you've read this far, you're probably still wondering what the catch is... and if I actually paid any money for these beautiful books. The answer is...

NO! 

I didn't pay a cent for them. No shipping. Nothing. 

You as the teacher receive ONE free copy of the students book for your classroom just for completing it. If students/parents would like to purchase a copy, it varies in price pending on regular or deluxe version but is roughly $20. Most of my students parents will splurge and purchase one but are certainly not required to! I will always have a copy in my classroom during the years for students to read and reread. These books are an absolute favorite for our Read to Self Center. 

So what do you have to lose? This process really helps enforce the writing process with my students and showcases their abilities and hilarious advice each year. 

[this post is not sponsored in any way, just sharing the love because I can.]

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A Day in 2nd Grade!

Welcome to 2nd grade! We have a jam-packed day but we always find room for some fun. 

 8:55-9:10- Arrive + Morning Journals

At 8:30 students are allowed to go from carpool, buses etc. and grab breakfast. They then eat and wait until the first bell rings. Before entering our room all backpacks and jackets are put away and students know to come in quietly, drop off their homework folders in the turn in bin and get started working. I get to stay at the door and greet them all individually as they come in, this is one of my favorite parts of the day! It really can set the tone and mood for the littles. On the smart board I have a morning message and a prompt for each day. 

Below is an example of what would be on the board for students to read and write about. This particular week we were reading a story in out Journeys book about how to make a kite, so this tied into our learning! 

 

9:10-9:25- Morning Meeting

Once students start finishing, they are given the chance to either draw a picture to their writing or come to the carpet and practice sight word cards with a partner. They know that once they see me coming to the carpet that they need to clean up and find their spot. 

Yes, I display a morning message on the smart board, but I also do a WEEKLY morning message that we edit daily as a class. This is honestly one of my favorite things and incorporates so many skills! The kids love it, and by about Christmas time students can "be the teacher" and run this on their own. It's AMAZING! I started this my first year teaching (now I'm in year 4!), and it's just something I can't get rid of and refuse to switch to using technology. I originally found it from Fabulous in First, and modify it to fit the needs of my class. 

Source; Fabulous in First

Every Friday after school, I write a message on anchor chart paper in preparation for the coming week. I purposely spell things wrong, misuse punctuation, leave blanks, and incorporate spelling words and/or chunks for the following week. Using a weekly message saves SO MUCH TIME and it also gives students practice with editing and revising, as well as models the friendly letter template. {insert all the heart eyes here because I love it so much}

Here is the weekly breakdown:

Monday- fix all the mistakes (I use sticky notes or white tape to cover up and write overtop with a marker) 

Tuesday- circle/identify capital letters

Wednesday- circle/identify punctuation marks

Thursday- circle/identify weekly spelling words and/or chunks (to start out we do sight words) 

Friday- {THE BEST DAY} we circle the heading, greeting, body, and closing of the letter. Students take turns and its a BIG, I mean BIG deal who gets chosen to circle the body. 

9:25-10:10- Shared Reading

At our school we use the Journeys Reading program and we have copies of the text for each student. For this block of time we pass out a text to everyone and I work of the weekly skill with them as we read aloud, work with buddies, and learn all about the stories for the week. 

10:15-11:00- Special Area

Students rotate daily to 4 different special areas. Library, P.E. Arts/Humanities, and Computers. 

11:05-12:10- Reading Workshop/Centers 

{DISCLAIMER: I love, love, love teaching reading and guided reading. It is my happy place} 

I won't elaborate too much on how I run centers, if you'd like to learn more, 

check out my post here. 

12:15-12:40- Lunch

AKA the only time I get to {MAYBE} sit down and if I'm lucky I get to go to the bathroom!

12:45-1:00- Writing 

Journeys has a writing pacing guide and supplemental resources that are GREAT for writing! We do a lot of modeling, peer editing and sharing, as well as small group work on specific skills. 

1:00- 2:30- Math RTI + Workshop

I've grown to love this time of day! Mostly because I switched things up last year and did all small group Guided Math. You can read all about how it works here. 

Some friends are pulled out of the classroom for RTI with interventionists for 30 minutes daily. When they are finished they come back and jump right into their group work/center. 

Rotation board found here

2:35-2:55- Wellness 

FINALLY play time! 

3:00-3:30- Science/Social Studies Centers

These are something new I tried this year. The group I had learned best in small group, and honestly I think it was the best thing we could have done, they LOVED it! {do you see a trend? we love workshop/centers} 

I have a file with a timer that I put on the smart board that shows the day, and where each color group goes for their center for that particular day. Because our time is short, only 30 minutes, students spend 15 minutes at their assigned center and then two groups spend 15 minutes with me going over a skill or conducting an experiment in small groups. When the timer goes off we switch and I meet wth the last two groups. {BLOG POST ON ALL THIS COMING SOON} 

 We use FOSS resources for science as well as Lakeshore Learning centers for both Social Studies and Science. The reading/vocabulary center is always buddy reading from our library on specific content, and friends work to complete a response sheet together. 

3:35-3:45- Pack up + Closing meeting

When it is time to go, students go out and get their things and record their Class Dojo Points on their daily calendar. They are responsible for packing their things, completing their classroom job, and getting to the carpet as soon as they can. Once everyone is ready, we discuss how our day went, what we did great and what we may need to work on tomorrow. I write these down on my art cart/board and we use them as reminders for the next day. If there is time left, we read a few pages from Magic Tree House. It is always a crowd favorite!! 

3:45- Dismissal 

We do dismissal a little different then other schools, or at least different then others that I have worked at and been to. But I like it this way! 

Walkers/bike riders are called first. I wait at the door and ALL of my friends are hugged and loved prior to leaving. Following that the car riders are dismissed and again,  I hug each one as they leave! Last the kids who are left are bus riders. They line up in order of bus "color". Our buses always {well almost always} pull into the lot in the same order so they are easy to find. I then walk all of my friends out to each of their buses, and you guessed it... Each of them gets a hug before they leave too! The extra little details I learn and personal connections I get to make as they leave are so special. The extra few minutes do take time, but they make a difference! 

WOW! You made it through our day! I hope you enjoyed second grade. Feel free to comment if you have questions or email if needed. I would love to hear how your day goes with your friends! 

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We LOVE Reflex Math!

Have you heard of Reflex Math? 

I know what some of you are thinking... "I don't need another program to try and implement in my classroom", or "I can't afford to sit my students in front of an iPad or computer every day". 

What if I told you that 15-18 minutes 3 days a week could increase your students math fact fluency. Would you try it?

I mean look at that growth!!!

My class does Reflex Math during our daily math workshop. You can read about it here. When I started using Reflex Math I had a few students try the FREE TRIAL that the company offers on their website. This then lead me to apply for the grant they give away, and it was as easy as that! Once I presented the data and growth to my principal after 3 months, we purchased it for our entire school and have seen AMAZING GAINS! The best part is that students LOVE playing. They can't wait for math time, and some students even get on at home before and after school so they get more time to play. 

Are you still skeptical about putting your kids in front of a computer or iPad when they could be working on enrichment or interventions with you...? I know, I know, I was there too. I felt that surely I can help my students more effectively then a computer. Why, yes you are an amazing teacher, but I know we all seek engaging activities for our kids, and this is a program that assesses, tracks, reports, and differentiates for students. Plus it is set up to look like a video game! I mean what kid doesn't like that?!

Incase you're not sold, check out some of my data and see for yourself! There are so many different ways to view reports and monitor student growth. 

Here is the "group status" of my class. You can see fluency gains, usage, and last login.
**The students who are not dark green just switched from addition and subtraction to multiplication and division! YAY!**

As you can see I have a few friends at 100% fluency! This makes me oh so happy. I have a rule where they have to maintain their 100% without "losing" a fact for AT LEAST 2-3 weeks before I will consider switching them to multiplication and division. But just think how much easier it will be for my little friends and for the 3rd grade teachers when next year students already know multiplication and division facts! 

Additionally from another group view, you can set what students are working on. All of my students started at addition and subtraction 0-10 back in September. I now have 8, yes EIGHT, kids who are working on multiplication and division 0-10, and one of those who just switched to multiplication and division 0-12. 

Just LOOK at that growth! This data is from late August to March.

Another group view is a pie chart that shows you usage for your students. Our "green light usage" is what I look at. This is the optimum 15-18 minute window that students are being taught the mini lesson, by Coach Penny the Bear, and their fact family assessment for the day. Once students get their green light, they are allowed to go to the store and buy things for their avatar! 

 Additionally, students can track their own progress and look at their fact family pyramid. They click on the button next to their avatar, and a similar pyramid comes up for student view. They get so, so, so excited when they get another fact "colored in". The dark green means they are fluent, light green is something they are still working on, and white are facts that they haven't seen yet. 

Have I convinced you yet? I have a few more report views and exciting celebration news to share with you. Its just amazing!  

This is an individual student milestone tracker. This is available for each student from the teachers account. I can see what days this student achieved new fact fluency, the gains overall, gains per week, usage, and starting fluency. This friend started with knowing 7 facts... SEVEN, YIKES! They are now currently 92% fluent in their addition and subtraction math facts. 

This data has been amazing for tracking progress, data monitoring, intervention data, grades, and more!

 Another view you can see is each students "usage detail". I can see what days the student has logged on, the amount of time, and green lights earned. At the bottom I can see the total and weekly usage, minutes per day, and total facts solved. Have I mentioned how great this data is?? 

Okay, last graph... really.. Here is another view of the same students fluency gain for this school year. 

 Who doesn't love to celebrate success? 

Every Friday we have a few minutes at the end of the day to celebrate "Fluency Friday". I pass out the certificates for each students achievement for the week. It doesn't matter if its 1 new fact or 1,000 new facts, we celebrate them all! Students also get to have their name written on each of the math fact posters once they achieve new fluency goals. These posters are in my TPT store. We have these on our wall so students can write their names!

This is our class certificate for this week for our total facts solved! SO PROUD OF MY LITTLE ONES!  

Check out Reflex Math and see for yourself! I would love to hear what your students think about it and what gains you have seen.

**I was not given compensation to promote this resource. I just absolutely love the results I have had and want to share with you all!**

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Math Workshop with Engage NY!

Do you teach whole group math? Feel like you're not reaching all of your students? Can't find a way to make your schools math program fit with students needs? 

*HERE IS YOUR SIGN* 

Try small group math workshop! I promise it will change your life as a teacher, your students learning, and your sanity. Last year, I was drowning in a new program, Engage NY (Eureka Math) that we are required to use trying to fit in everything (really who isn't), meeting my students needs, and effectively delivering and teaching the material. I was struggling BIG TIME. 

This is the view from my small group table.

After Spring Break last year, I was determined to find something that would work for us. I searched and searched and finally decided to go for it. So I ditched the whole group math. Yep, I got rid of it and changed everything. I pre-assessed my kids and grouped them based on the current strategy/standard based on their needs and followed and tweaked the set up from The Clutter Free Classroom to meet the needs for my students and our program. 

Immediately I went saw the benefits. I was seeing my kids daily, giving them the small group instruction they needed, and authentically DIFFERENTIATING for my students. After seeing engagement increase, kids love for math come to life, and scores increase, I knew I was hooked. This year, my entire team is using this and it has been so great that other teams are now trying it out! SO EXCITING! 

Here is how things work in my room. 

We have an hour and a half for math and always start our time together with a Word Problem of the Day. 

On the SMARTboard I have a file of all of the "Application" problems that I created form Engage NY. 

If you are interested in this file please contact me :) 

 I read the problem aloud, we circle important numbers together, underline the question that we are being asked, and then my littles get to work!  

Each student has their own sock and dry erase marker, and this automatically makes word problems FUN! If you haven't seen the eyes of a 7 year old light up when you tell them the CAN write on tables, you're missing out. Its pure joy. 

After students get the chance to solve the problem on their own and I have walked around to quickly assess, we go over it together and students can edit their answers if needed. Then I give one student a clorox wipe and we are good to go! 

TIPS:

1. Invest in lots TONS of clorox wipes. 

2. Label dry erase markers with students number (or name). I just quickly made plain white Avery labels with there numbers. That way if they're lost or fall out of their seat pocket or sock, they can find their home. 

After our Word Problem of the Day, students go to their first center. Below is what the rotation looks like (link above to rotation board) Students are divided in to four color groups based on their pre-assessment unit data. There are four centers within our rotation. 

M = Math Facts

A = At Your Seat

T = Teacher's Choice/Table

H = Hands on Activities

Below each color group, I have mini dry erase boards that I got at Walgreens. These have students names on them who are in each color group. Now if you notice really, really, small, I have a letter in the top right corner on the boards. This is so I know the level of their groups. 

Example: Middle High (pink), High (orange), Middle Low (purple), and Low (black). 

There is a rhyme and reason to why each group is labeled that way. 

For example my HIGH/ORANGE group starts At Your Seat first. This is because they do not need as much support from me to complete assignments. My LOW group misses majority of Hands on Activities daily because they are pulled for interventions. Then, they come to my table where we become mathematicians together! Following every group (minus orange) every student sees the concept and strategy at my table followed by then practicing on their own at their seat. 

With our schedule each center is roughly 20 minutes before rotating. 

Now since we use Engage NY, our principal had these workbooks made for us. They're super simple. Pink cover, with spiral bound copies of the "Problem Sets", "homework" and "exit tickets" pulled from the Engage NY modules. In second grade we have 8 modules with the program, so students have 8 different books. Though, they only have one book at a time! I send home old ones once we finish for extra practice! 

These books have saved us SO MUCH from drowning in paper daily! 

For your entertainment, we will be following the Purple groups schedule

At my table, I go over the lesson "Problem set pages" from Engage NY. We quickly review what we worked on the day before, and then get to work diving into the new information. Some days we use our green dry erase dots to warm up with quick math facts, or we do the "sprints" from the program, which are also in their "Pink books". Then we usually work the first problem set page together, and I guide them, if needed, through the second problem set page while they are at my table. 

If you use Engage NY, you'll notice that the problem sets and the homework and exit tickets are very similar. So it ensiles confidence in me and my kids by completing these pages together and then sending them to their seat to try on their own. For planning purposes, my team and I pre-plan what "lesson number" to teach daily. For example, this week we are on Module 7 lessons 1-5. 

Most days I dry on my table too, to review concepts and strategies we need to succeed! 

After 20 minutes, my timer goes off and students know to clean up and freeze where they are. They then move to their next center. Most students memorize where they go next so there is not much commotion in our transitions. but TRUST me… this took lots, and lots of practice and patience. 

Next this purple group, moves to their seats. Although, in my room they are allowed to sit wherever is best for them to learn, whether that be at their seat, someone else's seat, the floor, a pillow etc. I don't care, as long as they are working and doing their best. 

"At Your Seat" students are working on the "homework" and "exit ticket" pages within the daily lesson. This little one chose to sit at her seat so she could use her marker/sock on her table to help! This made my teacher heart happy. 

Following, another 20 minutes the students travel to "Math Facts". Our school has purchased Reflex Math. If you haven't used this it is AMAZING, and I mean AMAZING! The gains I have seen from my students is absolutely astounding. The best part is that students LOVE playing. They're basically playing video games with math facts. Trust me, look it up if you don't know what it is. I could talk about this program for daysssssssssssss! 

I only have four computers, but Relfex also has an app that 2 students within the groups get on to play also. 

Now if you don't have Reflex Math or a program of the sort THATS OKAY! I started out using simple flash cards that they could do with a partner. This is also a good time you could incorporate an hour glass timer and have students work on the "sprints" from Engage NY. 

Now on to my last center! Students get to go to an overall favorite, "Hands on Activities". This is always a game that students can play on their own or with a partner. I differentiate and give lots of choice here. On my carpet I have about 5-6 choices varying in level that kids can chose from. They differ from current skill to skills that we have already mastered. 

Personally, I LOVE the Lakeshore Math Folder Games. The directions are easy to follow, games are engaging, and each clean up and storage. The folders are also standards based so I can easily pull what 

I need. 

We also love the fun review of place value from The Brown Bag Teachers Math Centers, and math fact fun stacking cups that I made from tiny dixie cups. 

Once students have seen every center, time is up! At this point, I have seen every group, completed the "problem set" pages with them, assessed who is getting it, who needs reteaching, and what to work on for tomorrow. My students names can move frequently from one group to another, hence why they're on dry erase boards - best thing ever! Flexible grouping has been the best at individually meeting students needs. 

As a tried and true literacy loving teacher, math was hard, and I mean unbearably hard for me to get excited about.. BUT with math workshop and centers, I genuinely feel like I love math almost as much as reading now.. and trust me that's a lot of love I have for literacy time. 

Thank you for reading! Feel free to contact me with any questions or successes. I would love to see and hear how you implement a math program into your day.

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