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Fun in First

A Teaching Blog by Jodi Southard

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Classroom Management

The Importance of Morning Meeting

August 16, 2020 by Aubree Malick Leave a Comment

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!

https://funinfirst.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Digital-Morning-Meeting.mp4

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. 

Filed Under: Back to School, Classroom Management Tagged With: Morning meeting

Building Teacher-Student Relationships – A 5 Day Challenge

January 10, 2020 by Jodi Leave a Comment

My main goal each year is to establish strong teacher-student relationships.  Building these relationships will make the entire school year go much more smoothly.  Even though most of your relationships are pretty established by mid-year, they can always continue to improve.  For this reason, I held a 5-Day Challenge on my Instagram.  These simple tasks were easy to implement each day.

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

Here are each of the five challenges in case you missed it, or you want to start implementing these now.

Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge #1

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

The first challenge is to greet EVERY single student as they come into your classroom every day.⁣
I know that many of you already do this, but it is always a good reminder.  The mornings can be especially busy, and it is easy to get distracted as more and more students come into your room.⁣
Make it a point today to greet every student using their name.
Make eye contact as you welcome each child into your classroom.⁣
You could give a high five, a hug, a handshake, or just a smile.  Whatever works best for you and your students.⁣

Challenge #2

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

The second challenge is to have a REAL conversation with every student. I know that I am guilty of going through a day and realizing that I never really had a conversation with each student, especially those quiet students that can easily fade into the background.
If you need to, make a list of all of your students and check off their name after you have had a true, meaningful, interaction with them. You may be surprised at how easily it is to let some of your students slip by and go all day without you actually talking to them as an individual.
Some easy ideas include; complimenting their shirt, asking them what they had for dinner last night, discussing a favorite book, etc.

Challenge #3

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

This goes well with the last challenge. You may have found some of your conversations with your students to be forced or all one sided with you doing all the talking. This is especially true for our shy students. I want you to ask every student a question related to their interests. Some examples are, “How is basketball going? Are you excited about your next game?” “How is your new puppy?” “How was recess today? What did you play? Who did you play with?”
Again, if it is easier for you, make a list of your students and check them off as you have these conversations.

Your students truly want to know that you care about them and that you listen to them.  Really get to know their interests and learn more about them.

Challenge #4

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

This is one that I have really been working on. Try to give each student specific positive feedback. I want to emphasize “specific.” Just telling a student, “Good job!” will not cut it. If a child does not know what it is that they are doing a good job at, the feedback will not serve its purpose. We need to be really specific if we want that behavior or motivation to continue.

“Wow, Mary. Your handwriting is beautiful today!”

“Jack, I love how found the answer to that questions by going back into your book.”

“Table 4 has done a fantastic job of getting their books opened quickly to page 12.”

Challenge #5

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

This one will be a little more time consuming, so  stretch it out over the next couple of days if needed. Make positive contact with each of your students’ families. I like to write a letter and mail it home, but you could also send a text, a message through Remind, or whatever app you use, or make a phone call.

Do NOT use this contact as a lead in to discuss a problem. Truly just make this a completely positive interaction. Let their families know something specific that their child has done that has been positive. (Increasing their reading level, something funny they said, a nice thing they did for a classmate, etc.)

Want to keep the conversations going?  You may want to check out these two products.

I’d love to hear how your 5-Day Challenge went.  Remember to pin this post as a good reminder for the beginning of each school year as well.

Building Teacher-Student Relationships is the most important component in having a successful school year. Join in this 5-Day Building Teacher-Student Relationships Challenge. 5 Easy to implement challenges to help improve your relationships with your students.

Filed Under: Classroom Management Tagged With: Classroom Community

My Daily Schedule

November 14, 2018 by Jodi 11 Comments

One question that I get asked more often than any other question is, “What is your daily schedule?”  Of course, every teacher’s schedule will look a little different depending on start and end times, recess and lunch schedules, and plan times, but I’m guessing that most of us have at least some things in common with our daily schedules.This is a great blog post of a typical first grade schedule.

Our schedules are made for us by our schools, so we do not have a say in when we teach particular subjects.  I actually don’t mind our schedule though, and it’s pretty much how I would make it if I had the opportunity.  The only thing I would change if I could, would be to have a later lunch, only because once lunch and recess is over, it is much harder to keep 1st graders focused.

What does my schedule look like?

This is a great blog post of a typical first grade schedule.

What do we do during the day?

8:00 – 8:30 – Morning Work/Tubs – Our students can start coming into the room at 8:00, but the tardy bell does not ring until 8:15.  After they get their things put away for the day, they complete their quick Morning Work review, then they head to their Morning Tub.  (Read more about Morning Tubs here.)  I ring the bell at 8:30 to clean up.  We go over our Morning Work together.  Then, my students head over to the carpet for Morning Meeting and Calendar.

8:30 – 9:00 – Morning Meeting/Calendar – We start by singing our welcome song.  Then, I have the students share a very quick tidbit about their night if they have anything they want to tell us.  Afterwards, our calendar person of the week changes everything on the calendar.  We say the date, count our days with money, count using the number grid, come up with number sentences, etc.  I write a Morning Message on our easel with mistakes that my students need to correct.  Afterwards, I read our Discussion Question of the Day.  I give each of the students an opportunity to share their ideas.  Finally, I read a picture book to the class.  This picture book read aloud is for pure enjoyment.

9:00 – 9:30 – I/E – This is our Intervention and Enrichment time for reading.  Being in a non-Title school, we do not have very many extra hands.  We really only have one other teacher that takes a small group of kids (2 kids from each of our five 1st grade classrooms), so our I/E groups are basically a normal class size 🙁  I work on fluency and comprehension with my kids during this time.

9:30 – 11:10 – Reading Block – We try to squeeze in a restroom break prior to our reading block.  I start off with whole group reading instruction.  We do use a basal reading series.  I know, I know…many people are very anti-basal.  But, it is what it is, so I make the most of it.  I actually don’t mind it at all as a guide for instruction.  I follow along with the scope and sequence for phonics, grammar, and comprehension skills.  However, I definitely supplement and add my own flair to it.  After our whole group instruction, we move onto writing.

I do not use the writing instruction from our basal series.  I just have never liked it.  I teach writing using mini-lessons.  (Read more about my writing mini-lessons here.)  This way the instruction is explicit and short.  Then, my students have a longer time period to actually spend writing.

Next, we do small group reading instruction.  I would LOVE nothing more than to meet with more small groups during this time, but I just haven’t found a way to make it happen.  Trying to squeeze phonics, grammar, whole group reading, small group reading, and writing all in this time period makes it very difficult.

11:10-11:50 – Lunch/Recess – I know that I said above that if I could adjust our schedule, the only thing that I would change would be to push back our lunch.  Actually, another thing I would change would be for our students to have a longer lunch and recess.  I just feel like they are so rushed during this time.  We have a duty free lunch, but we have recess duty during this time once a week.

11:50-12:05 – Journal Writing – This is kind of an odd period of time before we go to our special area classes.  I used to do a read aloud, but it always got cut short.  Last year, I started having them free write in their journals during this time, and I like it much better.

12:10-12:50 – Art, Music, PE, Computer Lab, or Library – This is our plan time 4 days a week.  We take our students to the computer lab and stay with them on whichever day that is scheduled.

12:50-1:05 – Chapter Book Read Aloud – I always read a chapter or two from our chapter book.

1:05-2:00 – Math – We use Everyday Math.  If you’re familiar with this curriculum, you may love it or hate it.  I definitely have mixed feelings about it.  There are some great things about it, but there are definitely some things that I would love to change.  We supplement a lot when working on math facts and trying to get our students to truly master some of the 1st grade math skills.

2:00-2:30 – Integrated Studies – I LOVE ending the day with science and/or social studies.  The students love it, and I love teaching it.  It’s a nice way to end our school day.

2:40 – Dismissal

So, that’s it.  I always get asked how I fit everything in.  The simple answer is, “I don’t.”  I create so many different resources, but that doesn’t mean that I use them all every day or even every year.  Some years, I find that my students need a lot more comprehension practice, so I will use more of my comprehension resources.  Other years, we may need to put more focus on phonics skills.  I’m also one that needs to change things up a little each year.  I definitely keep many things the same because I know they work, and they are good instructional practices.  However, I am also a big fan of trying new things.

So, what does your schedule look like?  Any similarities?  Any major differences?  Any other questions you still have?

Remember to pin the image below for later or to share with a colleague.

This is a great blog post of a typical first grade schedule.

 

 

Filed Under: Classroom Management

Discussion Questions

October 29, 2018 by Jodi Leave a Comment

One of my favorite parts of the day is our morning meeting time.  We take some time to chat with each other before starting our day.  One thing that I have used for the past couple of years, that I have no plans of giving up anytime soon, are Daily Discussion Questions.  The students always look forward to them and never let me miss a day.

These question cards will allow your students to work on higher order thinking skills as they use critical thinking and problem solving skills to discuss their answers. This packet includes 200 different questions that are perfect for classroom discussions. I use these every day during our Morning Meeting, but they are also perfect to place on a metal ring and use when we find ourselves with a couple of extra minutes. These higher order thinking questions will help your students to develop their oral language skills.

Having discussions with your students and teaching them how to communicate others is such an important skill.  It allows you to stimulate critical thinking, while also working on listening skills.  You can demonstrate to each student that you appreciate their contributions made to the classroom discussion.  Over time, this helps them to build confidence and become more articulate while speaking.

These question cards allow your students to work on higher order thinking skills as they use critical thinking and problem solving skills to discuss their answers. This packet includes 200 different questions that are perfect for classroom discussions. I use these every day during our Morning Meeting, but they are also perfect to place on a metal ring and use during those extra minutes during a day or in a writing center. These higher order thinking questions also help your students develop their oral language skills.

These question cards will allow your students to work on higher order thinking skills as they use critical thinking and problem solving skills to discuss their answers. This packet includes 200 different questions that are perfect for classroom discussions. I use these every day during our Morning Meeting, but they are also perfect to place on a metal ring and use when we find ourselves with a couple of extra minutes. These higher order thinking questions will help your students to develop their oral language skills.

These questions range from simple “Would you rather” type questions to more in depth questions that lead to wonderful discussions.  Plus, some mornings, they are just downright funny!  The one above definitely led to some hilarious answers, but it definitely gives you an insight into how children think about the world around them.

I have two sets of 100 Discussion cards, but I also have a bundle that includes all 200 Discussion Question Cards.  You can find the bundle by clicking HERE to head on over to my store.

Remember to pin the image below to save this idea for later or to share with a colleague.

Filed Under: Classroom Management

5 Ways to Keep Your Students Engaged During the Holiday Season

November 25, 2017 by Jodi Leave a Comment

5 Ways to Keep Your Students Engaged During the Holiday Season

Keeping your students engaged in your classroom during the busy holiday season can be tough.  I put together a list of 5 Ways to Keep Your Students Engaged During the Holiday Season that I hope will help relieve some of the “craziness” that can occur in even the best students during the month of December.

5 Ways to Keep Your Students Engaged During the Holiday Season

5 Ways to Keep Your Students Engaged During the Holiday Season

  1. Stick to your normal schedule as much as possible.  I know, I know…December is CRAZY!  Parties, programs, presents, etc.  However, when you can, follow the same format that you would during a normal week of school.  Children like routine.  They know what to expect, and what is expected of them when they are following your normal schedule.  However, you can definitely change it up a little to include some holiday themed activities.  Throw in some holiday reading passages during reading time, holiday fact practice during math, and holiday themed science and social studies activities.  Check out some of my favorite educational holiday themed activities for each subject area here:
    • Reading
      • Christmas Comprehension and December Guided Reading
    • Math
      • Christmas Color by Code
    • Science/Social Studies
      • Interactive Fact Folders, December Nonfiction, and Print & Teach Winter Holidays
  2. Pick a few things to try, but DO NOT try to do it all.  It is not humanly possible to do every single holiday themed activity that you find on Pinterest.  I pin WAY TOO MANY ideas, get overwhelmed, and don’t do ANY of them.  It’s a vicious cycle 😉  Pick out 2-3 new things that you want to incorporate into your classroom this holiday season, and then stop looking.  If you get overwhelmed, your students will get overwhelmed.
  3. Reward Positive Behavior.  This is important anytime of the year, but especially when you know that students will have an even more challenging time staying focused.  Here are some ideas for rewarding positive behavior:
    • Earning Snowballs – Students can earn a snowball (cotton ball) for positive behavior.  I like to use this as a “whole class” reward system.  When the students are doing what they should be doing, they earn a snowball into a jar.  Once the jar is full, they earn some type of reward.  (A hot chocolate party would be perfect!)
    • Christmas Book Raffle – Order some extra Christmas books from your Scholastic Book Order.  Place the books out with a bucket in front of each one.  Students earn tickets for positive behavior.  Once they earn a ticket, they write their name on the back and place it in the bucket in front of the book that they would like a chance to win.  You can draw a name at the end of the week or right before Winter Break.
    • Positive Notes and Phone Calls -Positive notes and phone calls are great anytime of the year, but during the busy holiday season, they become even more beneficial.
    • Classroom Management Christmas Ornaments – I love this idea from Maria at Kindercraze.  Her kindergarteners earned jewels to decorate their ornaments for good behavior.
  4. Get Your Students Moving.  We know that students need to get up move.  We really cannot expect primary students to sit still all day.  I love using GoNoodle for brain breaks.  I also like to incorporate movement into our learning.  My students like using these Christmas Reading on the Move Passages.  I also make sure to get them moving around the classroom more often.  We do more partner work, small group work, and flexible seating if my students can handle it.  A good game of Santa Says (Simon Says) is always a great brain break as well.
  5. Play Games.  Who doesn’t love a good game?  My students are obsessed with games.  If I can teach or review a skill with a game, I’ll do it.  Some of my favorites include:
    • Pick a Spot – I do this throughout the year with a variety of skills.  One that we have been doing a lot lately is short vowel sounds.  I write each vowel on a Post-It note and hang them in different places around my classroom.  Every student picks a vowel to stand next to.  Then, I pull a short vowel word out of a cup.  Anyone standing by the vowel that is in that word has to go and sit down.  The students left get to choose a new vowel or stay where they are.  This continues until only one student is left standing.
    • Holiday Word Scramble – Write letters to spell out holiday words on index cards.  Put each scrambled word in a bag.  Pass out the bags to groups of students and have them race to unscramble their words.  You could even give groups a couple of words.  Ideas for words include: Christmas, Hanukkah, candy cane, snowman, ornament, stocking, gingerbread, etc.
    • No Prep Printable Games – My Games Galore packs are a monthly must have in my classroom.  I like to print these games to have on hand when we need to review a skill or we just need a change of pace.
    • Spin and Color – This simple no prep game is perfect for students to do individually or with a partner.

This FREE Santa Spin and Color is perfect for reviewing phonics skills in December.

What are some of your favorite ways to keep students engaged during the holiday season?

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Winter Tagged With: Christmas

Behavior Management Strategies

September 17, 2017 by Jodi Leave a Comment

Over the course of my teaching career, I have collected and tried many different behavior management strategies.  Some were successful, and some were not.  What I have learned is that I need to always be collecting new behavior management strategies, because what works for one class, may not work the following year.  Same goes for students.  You may find something that is a miracle worker for one particular student, but does not work at all for another.  I’m teaming up with Astrobrights® Papers to share a couple of strategies with you that have worked for some particular behaviors in my classroom over the past couple of years.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

This is a sponsored post. Fun in First has received payment, trade and/or products from Astrobrights in exchange for promoting, however all opinions stated are my own. This post also contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my links, which helps to support the blog.

One VERY common behavior issue that we see in classrooms every year is having students that do not complete their work due to talking too much or other distractions.  Many times these students need some type of visual chart to help them work towards a goal of completing their assignments.  I created these simple charts that can be placed on or in student’s desks.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

I just print these simple charts on Lift-Off Lemon™ Astrobrights paper.  I love using colored paper for these because they make them much more appealing to my students.  You can use stickers on the charts, or laminate them and use permanent marker to draw a star or smiley face.  *Quick tip: Did you know if you trace over permanent marker with a dry erase marker, you will be able to erase both the dry erase and permanent marker off of the surface?

These charts can also be used as a behavior chart where students can earn a sticker or smiley face if they make positive behavior choices for a given amount of time.  After a student completes his or her chart, they can earn a small reward.  This can be a tangible object or some type of activity reward.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

I like to use these “I’ve earned a break” cards.  I can hand one of these to a student after he or she has completed a goal.  Then, they can use them to earn a break reward in the classroom.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

The students can pick the short break that they would like to use after earning their reward.  I print these Break cards onto Galaxy Gold™, Lunar Blue™, Gamma Green™, and Gravity Grape™ Astrobrights paper, but again, you can use any colored paper you choose.  You can also use the different colors to differentiate the types of activities you would like for your students to choose from.  If you have a child that is constantly picking the same types of activities, you can guide them by saying that they need to choose a “blue” activity.

Another idea for using these cards is to help control outbursts from emotional students.  My original use when I created these a couple of years ago was as a way to help a former student control his behavioral outbursts.  He usually knew when he was about to completely lose control of his temper and self control, but he could not express it with words.  I would hang five of these “I Need a Break” cards on his desk every morning that he could use throughout the school day.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

When he felt that he needed a break, he could take off one of his cards and hand it to me.  He did not even have to express with words what he was feeling.  It was our signal to know that it was time for him to take a break.  Then, he could chose an activity that he thought would help him calm back down.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

These cards are great to laminate and keep on a metal ring to allow students easy viewing of the activities.  I have included a variety of activities to choose from, but you could easily make your own just by typing or writing some ideas onto Astrobrights paper.  You can download this FREEBIE by clicking HERE.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

Another item that I have used many times over the past two years, has been these Liquid Timers.  I purchased these off of Amazon, and I love them.

These behavior management strategies are great ideas to keep on hand for common behavior problems in the classroom.

They are great to use as a “calm down” tool or as a timer for students to beat as they finish their work.

What are some of your favorite behavior management strategies that you have found to be successful in your classroom?

 

Filed Under: Classroom Management, Freebies Tagged With: behavior management

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Definitely not my favorite of his costumes, but he Definitely not my favorite of his costumes, but he loves it, so that’s all that matters 🦴🎃
We will be completing our Halloween Challenge on F We will be completing our Halloween Challenge on Friday. It’s such a great way to make learning fun while working cooperatively.🎃
Check it out by following the link in my profile.
Thank you, Halloween!!🎃👻 Thank you, Halloween!!🎃👻
🌟Easy small group activity🌟 Give each studen 🌟Easy small group activity🌟
Give each student the vowels using foam or magnetic letters. Say a CVC word.  The students hold up the vowel to show the middle sound that they hear.
Super easy and effective💙
I could not be happier that Halloween falls on a S I could not be happier that Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, but that definitely does not mean that the kids will be calm this coming week🤪
If you can’t beat them, join them, right? We will be working on reading fluency using my Halloween Reading on the Move.
Check it out by following the link in my profile.🎃
I’ve definitely need some coffee to get through I’ve definitely need some coffee to get through this past week that I swear was actually 15 days long 😂 But, I’m officially done with my parent-teacher conferences✔️👏👏
We normally do a student pumpkin decorating contes We normally do a student pumpkin decorating contest at school, and the pumpkins are always AMAZING. Due to Covid, we had to cancel it this year, but each classroom created a pumpkin.
We finished ours today, and I actually think it turned out pretty cute🦁
At this point in the year, I am definitely feeling At this point in the year, I am definitely feeling like my soup of the day should be coffee.
I’m *almost* done with Parent-Teacher Conferences. Only 2 more left👏👏
How are you holding up? Do you need some coffee soup along with me?
 

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