Writing Process

Let's be real y'all. Teaching is tough and money is tight. If it's not at the Dollar Spot at Target or at the Dollar Tree, there is a good chance it won't be seen in my classroom. Needless to say, TeachersPayTeachers has tons of resources that I drool over all the time, but really can't afford everything that I want. Lately, I have been reading lots of articles about writing because that is something my district's curriculum just isn't strong in. I kind of had an idea in mind of what I wanted to hold students accountable for their work along with holding me accountable of providing the help needed for all my students to succeed. I searched all over TPT and saw lots of cute and awesome things, but they weren't quite what I wanted. So, I made my own!

I have never been a fan of the clip chart system for classroom management. (It works for some people, but just not for me.) BUT, I thought I would give a clip chart a chance academically. Students will move their clips up (or down) based on what step they on.

If a student is still brainstorming or working on a web, then he/she would have a clip here. For lower grades, this can also be used for the rough draft step as well where students do their first copy.

This is a choice upper grades could select. There are 11 choices you can select from and use however you wish. Grab it right now in MY STORE for FREE for 48 hours!!! If you have a different way you would like it worded, send me a Q&A at my store or comment to this post and I will help you out! Hopefully y'all will find this as a helpful resource in your classrooms!!!

Back to First

Hey everyone! I am super excited to be going back to First Grade! There have been a lot of grade changes with teachers at my school, so I know this upcoming school year is going to be fun with us all learning new things together. I loved Second Grade and seeing all my sweeties grow in different aspects. It really gave me the "end in sight" look at what First Graders will be doing the next year which I believe is going to make my 2nd go around in First even better. I am already familiar with the material and know what the expectations are for them next year. With that in mind, I am revamping my TPT store more and will be trying lots of new strategies to encourage my students to be problem solvers, thinkers, and leaders along with using student-friendly data collections and analysis. My goal this new school year is to have my students more involved with their data, whether it be tracking their tests to graphing how many sight words they have learned to interpreting what those crazy lines mean on their STAR tests. This past Spring, I was able to go with some teachers from my school to observe a school that implements The Leader in Me program and supports it with lots of data with students. It was so awesome, and I used some things I saw there at the end of the year to show my students exactly how they have improved. If they met their STAR goals in Reading and/or Math, I let them get a piece of candy and I put a sticker on them saying they had met their goal(s). If they grew in Reading and/or Math, I put a sticker on them saying how much they had grown. If they grew in both Reading and Math and met their goals in both, they also received a big bag of M&Ms (sorry parents!!). OH. EM. GEE. My kids were soooooo excited to get just their sticker and see how much they grew. They were so encouraging to each other, and best of all, other teachers and school workers complimented them when they were in the hallway and lunchroom. Seriously, this was the most excited I had seen them about themselves ALL YEAR! *Teacher happy!* So trust me, I will be doing it again this year each time we do a new STAR screening and will definitely post precious pictures of it. Along with going back to First Grade, I will be in charge of my school's extended day program. I am looking for ways to make it more fun, helpful for the students, and helpful for me as I will get to spend an extra 2.5-3 hours at school with about 10-20 students 4 days a week. I am open to any ideas to make it structured, educational, fun, and allows me to get a few things done since I will be at school anyways. Anyone that knows me, knows that I love a good schedule and love having a game plan. I am flexible, but I like having a mindset of what is going to happen. So pray for me that this year will be the best and that I do my best for my Firsties. I pray that this year will be your best and that you will learn just as much from your students as they will from you!