Fun in First

A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard

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Distance Learning for Guided Reading and Small Groups

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As we’ve all settled into our “new” school year, that could look different in many classrooms across the country. One thing I wanted to focus my attention on was my struggling readers. I wanted to be able to provide high quality reading instruction to my small group students even if that was remotely. Here are some great tips that you can use if you are teaching virtually and want to still provide guided reading support to your small groups. 

What technology should I use? 

Depending on what your district is using to meet with students, I would suggest Zoom or Google Meet. When you use the “gallery view,” you can view all of your students just as you would at your small group table. 

Utilizing Google Classroom has been so helpful for me and my students. I have found that sticking with one or two core platforms for my students to access their reading materials has been the key. Students are able to get into the flow of lessons, where to find things, how to interact/engage, and the same can be said for the parents. 

Digital Activities

You’ll also want to have a good set of leveled texts that you can display for your students. You can use this 1st Grade Guided Reading Bundle and share your screen with the students. 

Involving parents in the guided reading process

Parents may not know what to do with the book you send. You will want to include some tips as students read, directions and some sample questions they can ask their reader. Parents can ask them to talk about the title and make some predictions about the story and take a picture walk before reading. 

You can ask the parents to help you with the assessment. Parents can upload or send a video of their child reading a leveled text or reviewing sight words. You can also ask them questions like: 

  • Was the book too easy, on level, or did it seem hard?
  • Could your child answer the questions after they read the book a few times? 
  • Was there anything else you noticed as your child read the book? 

 

Want more resources for your guided reading lessons? My 1st Grade Guided Reading Bundle will be a great addition to your classroom this year whether you are virtual, hybrid or in person. You can save so much time planning your small group reading lessons each week! Each Guided Reading packet includes 4 differentiated nonfiction passages, and 4 differentiated fiction passages. The passages include a lesson plan example, vocabulary cards, pre-reading activity, 3 levels of reading passages with vocabulary words and comprehension questions, a comprehension graphic organizer, and a writing response page. You can grab the passages here! 

The Importance of Morning Meeting

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Do you have a morning meeting routine in your classroom? When I started implementing morning meetings, I started off slow and added small pieces here and there. After many years of having a morning meeting in my first grade classroom, I’m sold! And so are my students! They look forward to our special time together in the mornings. 

What is a morning meeting?

Morning meetings are a great time to greet your students, have share time, and do some fun activities to start the day off on the right foot! While all meetings don’t have to look and feel exactly the same, the focus of a morning meeting is to help build classroom community and provide a safe environment for students to feel heard and supported. Morning meetings will quickly become the favorite part of your day and your students as well!

I think that it’s important to create consistency with your students. As teachers, we know that things come up and we might have to miss a day or two of your meeting. But in order for morning meetings to be most effective, they need to happen every day, first thing in the morning. Our meetings usually lasts 15-20 minutes and the framework of the morning meeting pretty much stays the same. Our format is mostly: Greeting, Question/Share, Activity, Phonics/Math Talk.

With anything new in the classroom, you will want to take a few days to introduce the idea of a meeting, what will happen and why this is a part of our day. I try to touch on each of these points so my students get in a groove for what to expect. We spend time practicing and reviewing the expectations, turn taking, and procedures. 

How to Have a Morning Meeting during Distance Learning

One of the struggles that a lot of teachers faced during distance learning was not being able to have that special meeting time with their students. And that might be the case again as we head back to school and some schools are remaining virtual. I knew that I needed to be able to create a resource that allowed teachers the opportunity to implement a virtual morning meeting. 

This Digital Morning Meeting resource is the perfect way to start the day whether you are in the classroom or doing distance learning. As we enter a new normal in our classrooms, trying to keep students 6 feet apart while on the carpet for a traditional meeting will be extremely difficult. This is especially hard for younger students. This Digital Morning Meeting allows you to project the meeting topics while students are safely in their designated spaces!

Even if your morning meeting routine needs to look a little different this year, I encourage you to still make it a part of your day. Incorporating this special time in the morning can truly have an impact on your classroom culture and your students will come together as a community of learners. 

Back to School for First Grade

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It’s that time again! Summer is winding down and your students are preparing to come back to see you. While that may be in person or virtual for your school, it is still important to make that first week special and memorable for your students. Check out these ideas for your classroom as you head into the first week. 

 

First Week of School Ideas

 

Morning Work 

I like to have something for my students to do at their desk, especially on the first day of school. This allows them to have something to keep them busy while I’m chatting with parents, collecting notes and supplies, or anything else that might arise on the first day of school. Some of my favorite morning work activities for the first week of school are in this back to school resource. 

 

Photo Op! 

That first day/week is crazy but I always try to remember to take pictures of my students from the first week of school. It’s a great way to snag a photo of them for future projects, but also to compare to the end of the year! You’ll be surprised at how much they change in ten months! 

 

Get to Know You Activities

“Get to know you” name games are so fun to play and it’s helpful for the teacher and the students! One of my favorite games to play is where students sit in a circle and each student has to say “Hi, my name is ____” and then they also have to repeat the students names that came before them. There will be lots of laughs and giggles, but students love trying to see if they can remember all the names in the circle!

 

Classroom Management

 

Classroom Meetings

Classroom meetings are SO important, especially that first week. It’s a great way to build classroom community. We use this time to talk about our classroom rules, check in with their emotions and reflect on different situations. My students absolutely love this time and look forward to it. 

 

Procedures

You can never spend too much time on procedures, right? Depending on what your school is doing for health procedures, a lot of your procedures will be different this year. It’s important to give plenty of opportunities for your students to practice new routines, transitions, etc. in your classroom. I like to pick a few to practice each day and then we review our procedures that we’ve learned previously at the next classroom meeting. 

 

The Perfect Back to School Resource 

 

This first grade back to school resource is the perfect way to start your school year! If you are a new 1st grade teacher or you just need some fresh and new ideas for the first week of 1st grade, this First Week of First Grade includes everything you need to have a successful first week of first grade. It has welcome letters, complete lesson plans, activities, morning work and more! You can check it out here! 

 

 

 

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Quick and Easy Phonemic Awareness Activities

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If there is one thing I know to be certain about teaching reading instruction, it’s that students need many opportunities to learn and practice their phonemic awareness skills. Phonemic awareness sets the foundation for efficient readers and writers. Because time is always limited, I wanted to give you some phonemic awareness activities that you can use with your students that are quick and easy to implement. 

Segmentation & Blending

Some of my favorite activities to practice segmenting and blending are materials that most teachers already have in their classroom. Give students a small ball of Play Doh.

Pro tip: allow students a small set amount of time to play with the Play Doh before your instruction begins. Then let them know that once that time is up, the Play Doh becomes a learning tool and we have to use it appropriately. 

Tell your students a word and have them pull out smaller balls to determine how many sounds are in the word. Then, your students can touch each part with their finger and then blend together. Super simple, but effective and easy! You can do these activities with chips, unifix cubes, sticky notes, etc. Students can push down on the objects, push forward, drag their finger underneath or just simply touch to show the segmenting/blending. 

Phoneme Deletion & Substitution 

You don’t need to have anything fancy for this! This is a great skill for students to practice through listening. The best way to work on deleting is to say a word and then ask your student to remove the beginning or ending sound. You can also use unifix cubes for visual learners and have students delete or substitute new sounds. 

Rhyming Words

A fun, interactive game to play with students is to use a beach ball and ask students to come up with a word that rhymes with your given word. You will pass to a student, and then they can continue to pass around the ball, each coming up with an additional rhyming word. 

Phoneme Isolation

A great way to practice phoneme isolation is to have your students identify which sound you are stating. For example, if you were practicing CVC words, you can have a 1, 2, 3 card for students to show you which sound you isolated.  

Putting It All Together

I have used this Phonemic Awareness at Your Fingertips pack for years! This assessment and activity packet is perfect for small group instruction. The packet includes assessments and editable checklists for each of the phonemic awareness skills, which makes tracking super easy. You will also find numerous engaging activities for practicing each of the phonemic awareness skills with your small groups including onset and rime, phoneme blending, phoneme segmentation, phoneme deletion, phoneme substitution. You can grab the pack here! 

I hope that you and your students find these phonemic awareness activities fun and engaging! When you can start incorporating practice on a daily basis, your students will be well on their way to building their phonemic awareness skills!

 

 

Tips for New Teachers

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Being a new teacher is hard.  When, I think back to my first couple years of teaching, I know that it was a huge mix of emotions.  I LOVED being a teacher, but I was also very overwhelmed, and this was WAY BEFORE Pinterest and Instagram.  The pressure of trying to “keep up” and “do everything” is real, even as a veteran teacher.  I asked teachers on my Instagram page to give their best tip for new teachers, and I HAD to share them with you, because they are SO good!

A list of wonderful tips for new teachers.

My tip for new teachers is: You cannot do it all!  You are not going to be Pinterest perfect (because NO ONE is.)  Social media is the highlight reel.  Don’t get overwhelmed with how your classroom looks.  The most important thing is to put your focus on building relationships with your students.

“You won’t be able to do it all, and that’s okay!” -Kelsey

“Be yourself and enjoy your first year of teaching!!!” -Trish

“Classroom management, routines and building relationships with students are very important.  Your plate will always be full so learn to prioritize well.  Make sure to take time for you.  Teacher self-care is important.  You can’t pour from an empty cup.  So make sure that you fill yours up often.” -Cayla

“Don’t check school email after 5:00 pm.” -Laurie

“Classroom management is the top priority in having everything else run smoothly.” -Mrs. Mohan

“Ask for help and guidance if/when needed.  We’ve all been the new teacher and will help!  Do not consume yourself with work!  You need to take time for yourself!  Trust me, you can spend hours upon hours in your classroom and still find things to do.  It will be there tomorrow!!” -Elyse

“Don’t take feedback personally.” -Ashley

“Ask for help, join a tribe that is kind and doesn’t gossip but builds each other up!  Teacher friends are necessary!  Have fun!!” -Robin

“Find a mentor!  Someone to ask all the things!!!  Not someone who will just agree with you, but someone who will help you grow!!” -Sarah

“Parents want to help, so let them!” -Angela

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help!  I meet so many teachers who are scared to ask someone else for help.” -Nikki

“Be real with your students.  I’m a sarcastic and goofy person and I use that when necessary because that’s who I am and my students know that.  Also, don’t feel like you need to take work home with you!  Take a break.  The list will be there tomorrow!” -Heather

“Give yourself grace.  You won’t be perfect and you aren’t expected to be.” -Melody

“POSITIVE classroom management.  Look for students doing what you want first and praise them.  That usually ends the unwanted behavior.” -Sandy

“Classroom management is vital!” -Mel

“Don’t compare yourself/your pace with your colleagues.  You need strong management and solid procedures.  Make sure that is in place and everything else will come.  Never be afraid to ask for help!” -Jen

“Take your time to teach routines and expectations.  This will help during the rest of the year.” -Sophie

“Don’t compare yourself, your room decor, your organization, etc to others, especially veteran teachers.  Focus on 1-2 areas of growth a year.” -Shelley

“Learn constantly.  My first year (and even now), I was always watching other teachers.  How they addressed problems, words they used, body language, what they ignored, what they addressed asap.  Always be learning!” -Nichole

“Trust yourself and know that it is ok to ASK. FOR. HELP. WHEN. YOU. NEED. IT.” -Laura

“Be good to yourself and remember you are new and learning, it’s a process and be a sponge.  Trial and error.  Don’t compare yourself to others and find what you like and don’t like.  You are the only one that knows what will work for you as a teacher.  No one else.” -Ann

“Shadow another teacher!  Above you, below you, same grade.  Ask for coverage and see how they do it!  You don’t have to copy them, but watch.” -Chrissy

“Always put the people first.  Things can wait.” -Izzy

“Find a good friend/mentor and don’t compare.” -Nicole

“Call parents if you are having a problem/issue with their child!  They want to know and help and it’s worse if they’re blindsided with a call from admin or the next year’s teacher!  It’s scary but gets easier!” -Shannon

“Being the last person at school doesn’t make you the best teacher.  Watch and observe other teachers as much as possible.  I learned soooo much doing this when I started.” -Lorena

“Try to remember that the “difficult” student is your opportunity to succeed as a teacher.  Be the difference in a child’s life!” -Samantha

“Develop strong expectations and hold students accountable.” -Lyndsey

“Establish a way to track communication with parents and find a mentor teacher that you connect with…all good things take time.” -Katie

“Focus on one thing and get good at it.  Then add from there.  No one expects anyone to have it all together.” -Vanessa

“Find a good teacher mentor and soak it all in.” -Hilary

“Ask alllll the questions-to other teachers, admin, support staff!  Everyone is so knowledgeable and helpful!” -Suzanna

“Relationships first.” -Caity

“They do not give awards for the last person to leave school.  Don’t burn yourself out.  The papers on your desk will still be there in the morning and it’s totally ok!  You can’t fill from an empty cup.  Take care of your mental health.” -Meg

“Do not focus on the content on the internet-focus on the content that your students NEED.” -Jessica

“Take time for yourself.  It is your job, not your life.” -Melissa

“You don’t have to buy all the things right away!  You’ll go broke doing that.” -Ms. Hahn

What would be your tip for a new teacher?

 

 

Back to School Teacher Must-Haves

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This coming school year is full of unknowns right now.  Will we start on time?  Will we have full class sizes?  Will we move to distance learning again?  Will students and teachers have to wear mask? etc.  As of right now, our students have a virtual option, or they will return as normal to the in-school setting.  We know that there will be certain guidelines in place, such as no sharing of supplies and desks 6 feet apart, but we don’t know too many details yet.

I did want to go ahead and put together a list of items that I will be purchasing for this coming school year.  Some of these things are items that I purchase normally, while some of the other items are more specific to this year.

This post contains affiliate links.  I receive a small commission when items are purchased from these links, which helps to support my little area of cyber space and keep the blog up and running.

All of the items are numbered and linked below, or you can click on the picture and use the direct links from the PDF file for easy access.

These Must-Have Back to School items will be helpful as we return to school in the fall.

1.  Wireless Doorbell – I love this wireless doorbell from SadoTech.  I use it as an attention grabber for my students and it works like a charm.  You can change the tune to keep it fresh as well.  All you have to do is plug it into an outlet.  Then, you can carry around the actual doorbell button with you.

2.  UV Light Sanitizer Bag – Genius!  How perfect will this be for the coming school year?  You can use it to sanitize your phone, pencils, markers, math manipulatives, etc.

3. Play-Doh – I use Play-Doh every year, especially at the beginning of the year.  My only change this year will be to label each tub with a child’s name.  They will have to have their own instead of using all of them.

4. Birthday Crowns – This is another item that I purchase every year to have on hand.  Whatever you decide to use for birthday celebrations (pencils, treat bags, crowns, stickers,…), have them ready to go at the beginning of the year.

5. Dry Erase Erasers – I purchase these every couple of years.  They are pretty cheaply made and only last about 2-3 years max.  However, they are fairly inexpensive and I like that they are small.  I have also heard of a lot of people having success using socks or the microfiber makeup remover pads from Dollar Tree.  I usually throw all of my erasers in a tub, however this year, I will have them in individual supply kits for each student.

6. Xacto Pencil Sharpener – I am very particular about my pencil sharpener.  I even have it labeled “Teacher Use Only.”  However, this year, I may have to let go of my control over my sharpener 😉  To keep me from touching everyone’s pencils, which you know have been in mouths, up noses, and even down pants, I may let my students sharpen their own pencils.  This sharpener is hands-down my favorite!  I love that it has a blue light that comes on when the pencil is sharpened, so it really is easy for kids.  We have one at home as well, and my 5 year old sharpens his pencils with no problems at all.

7. Inkjoy Pens – I know that teachers are serious about their pens.  Inkjoy pens are my absolute favorite.  I would pick them over flair pens any day.

8. Carpet Spot Markers – These will be so useful this coming school year in keeping students 6 feet apart.  I plan on putting them on my carpet for when we line up to go in the hall.  I will also use them to mark places for my students to sit.  These will only work if you have carpet.  If you have tile, you may want to check out these EZ Stick Spot Markers.

9. Stackable Supply Boxes – My students will have their own pencil boxes in their desks, but I am purchasing these for other individual materials that my students will need.  (Dice, dry erase markers and erasers, math manipulatives, etc.)  I love that they are stackable, so they will be easy to store.

10.  Clipboards – I frequently use clipboards in my classroom, but I know that they will be used even more next year.  The thought of having 6 year olds in desks ALL DAY LONG, is not okay with me.  Students can use a clipboard to complete their work while sitting 6 feet apart on the floor.  We can also take work outside, weather permitting.  We may have to get creative, but we will definitely not be facing forward in desks all day long.

What are some items that you could see working in your classroom next year? What will you have to adjust and change?

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These must-have items for teachers are perfect for this coming school year.