Character Traits

I decided to begin the year focusing on teaching character traits. Not only is this concept necessary when analyzing character's in a story, but it is also one that students can use for self reflection. I chose to implement a little bit of inquiry and not discuss the focus with my students from the get go. Instead, I chose to read two read aloud books that focused on the character trait courage. The first one was a classic first day read, Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco. It is an autobiographical story and in it Patricia shares with her readers the struggle she had with reading. This a touching story that sheds light on a concept many students struggle with. This read aloud also provided an opportunity to touch base with my very own students to learn what they wanted in a teacher.

What awesome qualities the students chose. 

The second read aloud I chose was one that was illustrated by a fantastic author and illustrator, Henry Cole. It is called Clara Caterpillar. In it, the main character overcomes obstacles and ends up being courageous when an bully is in need of help.

The two read alouds shed light on the trait courage. I wanted my students to know that this is a character trait found in real people. Enter Amy Purdy's Ted Talk. What a courageous individual she is. The students really enjoyed listening to her talk and shed light on the obstacles she overcame.

"If your life were a book and you were the author, how would you want your story to go?"

What a great writing prompt! This was one of the two extension activities that followed. In the second one, I asked my courage to complete a chart that showed how the characters Tricia (Thank You, Mr. Falker), Amy Purdy (Ted Talk), Clara and Cornelius (Clara Caterpillar) were courageous and more specifically how they demonstrated the character trait courage by identifying specific text examples. Then they were to write what they thought courage was and how they could become more courageous. 

At this point, I felt like the students were ready to learn exactly what character traits are. These are the two anchor charts I made to teach this concept. The students then created their own in the mini-lessons tab in their own reader's notebook. 

For our first classroom novel, we are going to read Island of the Blue Dolphins,
by Scott O'dell. It is a great fifth grade novel that will allow the students to apply their
knowledge on character traits and analyze Karana, while finding evidence on how
she is courageous.

Here are some other picture books I used to focus on the character trait courage.

This story is so up-lifting. It allows readers to see how
important it is to encourage others and be courageous ourselves.
EXTENSION: Create an "ish" drawing

In this book, Bernard Waber puts a spotlight
on the fact that courage is different for everyone.
EXTENSION: I had each student write down what courage was to him/her,
then create an illustration that depicts their courage.
Classroom book, here we go!

This is by far one of my favorite books! It is one that I have used to
bring up bullying in the past with my students. However this year, I felt like I'd use it to
show that courage is needed to stand up for what is right. 

Getting to Know Each Other

The first week of school is always full of excitement. I can't wait to get to know my students and begin to discover their personalities. The first week we spend a great deal of time getting to know each other. Not only are they learning about their classmates, but also about me. Here are a few activities we did this week.

Three Things Snowball

I'll be honest, I do not know the technical name for this game, but the gist of it is that each student gets a piece of paper. On it, they write three facts they want their classmates to know about them. They crumple the paper up into a ball and toss it somewhere in the room (they love that part). Once everyone has tossed their paper, they go and pick up a different one-read it and try to guess who they are reading about. 

About Me Bag
I saw this me bag idea procrastinating on Pintrest one evening and decided to give it a whirl and added in a writing extension. After the students went around in a circle and shared their trinkets, I had them set them up on their desk and we took this time for a photo op. After printing each child's photo, they were to write a simple narrative introducing themselves to the other teachers and students, while explaining the meaning or importance of these special items. Here is a photo of the finished projects, with their Top 10 Things You Need To Know About Me.

Teacher Trivia Quiz
This was another idea I decided to extend on. The first day, the students had a teacher 10  question quiz on their desk. It was funny watching their facial expressions when they were filling theirs out. I think the grand winner got 8/10 correct. Not too shabby for the first day!

Teacher Match-Up Trivia Game
My extension was a trivia match up game. I got the idea from a teammate of mine and once again, thought I'd give it a whirl. I made a list of questions on some index cards and the answers on others. The object was for the students to mingle around the room and find the match to their card.  Here is how it turned out.

M&M Activity

Since the first week of school is always a new experience, I decided to end the week with a morning meeting activity challenge. Awhile ago I pinned a morning meeting pin from Sunny Days in Second Grade, that contained some really fun activities. The object was using only a straw, make a smiley face out of m&m's. During this contest, I was surprised when I saw the pure concentration my students had. It was a great activity to practice expectation #5: Congratulate a classmate when they do a good job or win a game. Motivate and encourage classmates by cheering them on and complimenting each other. They fulfilled expectation #5 with this activity. I heard multiple "Good Jobs!" and even some chanting for some students to keep going.  They demonstrated pure determination with this activity.  

Welcome to Room 23

Late summer rolls around and all I can think about is getting into my classroom and setting up my space. I am the type that enjoys finding new ideas for a classroom environment. Whether it is via Pintrest or checking out other teacher blogs, I get countless ideas and plans in my head and want to start asap.   When the day finally arrives where I  get  word that my classroom has been cleaned...I jump for joy. Finally, I can start setting up for the upcoming year. Forget about the curriculum for the moment, I need to get my space set up.  Granted after a few hours in and I'm in bulletin board land or on a mission rearranging furniture I wonder why I was so excited in the first place.

Last year I started a new job. Same grade, but a different building and classroom. It's safe to say that after I saw my new rectangular space I just started setting things up.  That is setting them up how I did the years before, in an entirely different space.  However as last year progressed I noticed my room wasn't functioning quite the way I wanted it to, but I didn't have any solutions yet. I took the summer to think about and re-evaluate my classroom situation. Let's just say from desks, to tables, to book cases if it wasn't fixed to the ground it got moved. Welcome to Room 23!!

The front of the classroom, classroom library, writing center and guided reading area. Here is a free download for the reading strategy posters I use. 

Grand Central Station, as I call it. The back of the room contains the students assignments, learning targets, essential questions, lunch menu, daily schedule and many more things that are the hub of each day. One of the many ideas I am trying this year are Pick-Me Up's. I am sure many of you have heard about filling a bucket. This is my version of it. I chose the name Pick-Me Ups because for fifth graders I thought it may be a bit more age appropriate and a great transition into Middle School. Plus I put extra focus on being awesome classmates and cheering each other up if need be. Over the course of the first week I am planning many activities around the importance of picking each other up. Stay tuned for those. For the difficult space above the white board, I found these expectation posters on Molly Maloy's Blog Lessons With Laughter. I plan on introducing an expectation a day for the first ten days.

My "teacher" area. Organization is key if I want to function on a daily basis. I found a mock up classroom rules poster on Pintrest, made by Stephanie Harpole over at The Creative Classroom. I sent her a quick email and received my proof in a few days. Then, I had it printed at Walgreens and picked it up an hour later.  I also love anchor charts and find them extremely useful. Last year, my students couldn't figure out why I would make one ahead of time or even spend time compiling one in class with them. Whether it was the mass quantities of them or the hassle of figuring out what to do with them, it's safe to say they weren't huge fans. However, when the time came that they needed a little guidance or help they began to understand the importance of these amazing charts. This year I decided to find a dedicated area for them. 

Literary Genre Bulletin Board set (Lakeshore Learning), Free Text Evidence Posters made by Leslie Ann (Teachers Pay Teachers- Follow her awesome blog Life in Fifth Grade...absolutely amazing teacher blog) and my state standard curriculum math vocabulary and test specs posters. They give me helpful reminders of the most important concepts in each unit and I know I need to focus extra attention on these. 

Last, but not least, a view from the front.

Here is a link to a great blog regarding 21st century classroom design reflections. In this post he reflects on designing a space to support pedagogy.  There are many helpful pictures and explanations. Plus he helps us understand his questions and ideas on supporting student learning and collaboration.