Class Dojo's "Big Ideas" with Mojo!

Hello again friends!
I'm back today to share an exciting new video series from my favorite classroom management tool - Class Dojo!

So, what's happening? Class Dojo is launching a new video series and accompanying discussion guides that can help each and every classroom learn about growth mindset and how to start developing one.  The series will be five episodes in length that follow Mojo (your favorite green monster) and his friend Katie as they explore different aspects of growth mindset.  The video series can be used in any K-12 classroom!
The first video is live NOW!  The next four episodes will be released on the following Sundays so that classroom and school communities can all talk about the core principle in each video about growth mindset.
Let's learn a little more about this program...

“Growth mindset is a phenomenally important idea that’s been proven to benefit children well into the future,” said Liam Don, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at ClassDojo. “In developing our ‘Big Ideas’ series we wanted to make these transformative ideas easy for teachers to incorporate into their classroom, and delightful for students. Our partnership with Stanford PERTS is a good example of how technology can help make big ideas accessible and exciting for students in every classroom. We’re thrilled to share this ‘Big Idea’ with our community of teachers -- the first of more to come!”

The “Big Ideas: Growth Mindset ” series follows Mojo, ClassDojo’s much-loved monster mascot, as he and his friend Katie explore the importance of a growth mindset and how to develop one. Each of the five growth mindset videos will be paired with a lesson guide so teachers can reinforce growth mindset thinking with their students through activity-based learning.

New episodes will be found HERE each week.  Discussion guides will also be available as new episodes are released.
I've linked the first video for you here, but make sure to follow the link above to get more information and discussion guide(s).

So In Love With Books Giveaway!

Welcome blog hoppers! I'm Allyson from Going Strong in 2nd Grade and I teach at a public charter school in North Carolina.  I've been teaching 2nd grade for 5 years and blogging for a couple years now.  I'm excited to be teaming up with 11 other AMAZING bloggers to share some of our favorite Valentines  books in a fun So In Love With Books Giveaway! Along with FREEBIES for each book, we are also giving away a copy of each book. Make sure you read all the way to the end of this post to find out how to WIN!

This year I introduced my kiddos to Amelia Bedelia (the original) during a week-long study of Amelia and literal/figurative language.  They thought she was so silly and were quick to stop me and explain what was really said and how Amelia "messed it up".  This Amelia Bedelia is a younger version of the original Amelia Bedelia and is written my Herman Parrish, the nephew of Peggy Parrish, the author of the original Amelia Bedelia series.

In Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine, it is Valentine's Day in Amelia's classroom and she is so excited for what the day will hold - but, getting her first Valentine card might be the most exciting part!  But, come time for the party, Amelia realizes that all of the cards she had spent time making for her friends, were left on the school bus, under her seat, where she tucked them that morning.  Luckily, young Amelia is quite resourceful and finds a way to solve her problem.  Even better, after school she finds a great way to use the valentines that she left on the bus that morning to make someone's day a little brighter.

So, I've got a little freebie to share with you that goes along with Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine.  This sampler pack includes 2 printable activities - parts of speech search and idioms.

Want more Amelia Bedelia activities to accompany this sweet book - I've got you covered!

This set includes 7 printable activities (the 2 from the freebie, plus 5 more), 2 center activities, and printable valentine cards.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Before you hop onto see my sweet friend, Shelly at Smiling and Shining in 2nd Grade, don't forget to grab my number! Each blogger will have a number at the end of his/her post. Collect all the numbers along the way, and when you're done, add them all up and enter the total number in the Rafflecopter below!

Click on the image above to hop over to Shelly's blog!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Organization 101: Avoid the Sunday Planning Blues!

It's January 1st, which means everyone is setting New Years Resolutions for how to make their lives better in 2016.  Have you thought about what yours will be?  Many teachers I know are unorganized and scrambling to get things done in time - for whatever reason.  For me, I am naturally organized, and so is my classroom - so I have teachers in my building coming to me to help them get organized.

So, if teachers in my building are wanting organization tips - that must mean my sweet readers would too,  right?!?!?  I would love to start a series of organization tips that can help you get more organized - at school at least!

First up, how to avoid those dreaded Sunday afternoon planning blues.  Oh, you know them, and I used to too!  You settle down with your lesson plan book, school resources, and probably your laptop to get planned for the week.  You find some awesome activities that you have to make copies for - and you need them Monday morning - which means you are racing off to the copier Monday morning and probably have to wait in a line.  Don't start your week off stressed!

Let me help you do a little planning each day so that your weekends are last-minute-stress-planning-free and you can feel more organized!

My grade level plans together on Tuesdays while our kiddos are at specials.  As a grade level, we plan our phonics lessons/unit (Letterland) as well as our math lessons together.  For Language Arts, we try to cover the same topics and/or books each week, but that can fluctuate based on each classroom.

So, that means on Monday, I pull out my pacing guide and see what is on tap for Language Arts for next week.  I then grab my quarterly ELA binder with resources of TPT products I have purchased to use throughout the year and begin to make a plan for ELA for the next week.

Having a hard copy of my TPT resources in a binder (in sheet protectors), helps make it so much easier for me to see what I have and then I lay it out across my table by what day I'm going to use what.

Because some things, like our Letterland lessons are such a routine each week, I don't always fill in the boxes when I'm doing my initial planning - I just have to the change the unit number when I type my lesson plans.  D5 is Daily 5.  Our schedule is different each day because of our Recess/PE schedule, so I've got to make sure I get to the right place on time!

I pencil (or pen in) my ELA plans in my Erin Condren lesson planner and put my papers to copy in my "To Be Copied" basket for my next trip to the copy room.

Tuesday during my 2nd planning period, when my kiddos are at specials, I meet with my grade level to plan our phonics and math plans for the next week.

Once again, I am just penciling in my plans into my plan book, because later, I'm going to type them up and make them pretty!

Tuesday after school, I usually try to hit the copy room to get my copies prepped for the next week.  I am also the designated person on my team to do grade level copies, so I get those done then as well.  Now, let me say this - I am blessed that we are able to work it out on our team to have "carpool planning days" twice a week and I have a carpool parent help with my carpool duties in our school gym (we are a charter school - so we only have carpool!).  This is when I usually hit up the copy room - since most of the rest of the teachers are in the gym, I usually don't have many interruptions.

Either Tuesday night, or sometimes Wednesday during my planning, I get my lesson plans typed up into my Erin Condren Lesson Planner Template.  

So, my lesson plans go from looking like this...

When my typed lesson plans are done - they get trimmed and taped inside my plan book.

To this...

Now, I have pretty and organized lesson plans, plus I have a digital copy should I have to email my lesson plans in case of an emergency or for planning purposes next year.  Plus, ever since college - I've typed my lesson plans - so it's just my thing.

Here's a closer look at each page:

Wednesday is kind of my catch-up day, if needed.

I use Wednesday to finish up ELA plans if I didn't finish them on Monday, finish any copies I need to make, and check student papers (I'll blog about how to help you with that soon!).

Thursday is also a catch-up day.  Occasionally, if I'm feeling really caught up, like, I have nothing much to do (this doesn't happen very often!), I'll work on pulling and copying monthly resources (keep reading for more info on this).

Thursdays I also begin working on my weekly newsletter with HW for the week, need to know news, important dates, etc.

Friday - ahhh, I made it to the end of the week.  Friday afternoon, I have carpool planning again, so I get extra time in my room from 3-3:25, to get prepped for next week. 

A few years ago, I got a set of these book bins in the Target Dollar Section ($3 each then) and I use these to sort my papers for the week - by day.  During the week, when I may copies, I put them in the Next Week Box, which has a file folder for each day.  Copy, file in daily folders, and they are ready for me on Friday to move them to the correct box.

I then go to my awesome box in my closet where I keep my copies that I made "in bulk" (see below) and put them in the correct boxes, some around the room, prepped for things like Daily 5 for next week.

Once I get all of this sorted, I'm ready for next week, and it's not even leaving time yet on Friday afternoon.  We get out of school at 3PM, but are supposed to stay on campus until 4PM.

In recent weeks, I have been able to get my weekly newsletter finished and emailed out to parents on Friday afternoon before I leave for the weekend as well.  All these things I used to do on Sunday afternoons are no more!

Now, once in a while, I will stay late and have a date with the copy machine.

Since a lot of the teachers in my building are leaving around 4PM, I try to wait until then to head to the copy room for my massive copy session.

What kind of things do I copy "long-range"?

-Weekly comprehension passages for Daily 5

-Monthly mClass math practice booklets

-Monthly BAT (brains always thinking) booklets - my version of "I'm done, now what?" booklets - activities from Sunny Days in Second Grade

-Monthly Math Centers

Now, when I get back to my classroom from my massive copy session, I file all my copies in this big box with weekly file folders (by quarter) so I have the papers on the weeks I need/want them.  Where'd I get this awesome box you ask - it's actually an ornament storage box(they call it a light box now) from Target.  It has a hinged lid and is perfect for file folders!  I have a few of these boxes all around my classroom - great for storing student files and my mClass reading assessments!

1.7 = Quarter 1, Week 7, followed by the dates.  I update these sticky note tabs towards the end of each quarter as I begin to prep for the next month/quarter and need a place to put my copies.

Here's to an organized new year!

Making resolutions with your kiddos when you return next week - I've got you covered!

Grinch Week Recap

Hello friends - I don't know about you but I've officially made it to Christmas break!  We had an early release today and about 12:20 my principal came over the intercom and told us that all the K-4 kiddos had left so we could too.  It was a mass exit to the parking lot!  We have a nice, long 3-week track-out and return to campus January 11th.  But, before we could make it to track-out we had a week full of activities all about your favorite Mr. Grinch!  

My kids arrived Monday morning to the beginning of our Grinch/Elf shenanigans

Each morning we did some sort of comprehension activity to go along with the book - comprehension questions, moral of the story, retell - and then Grinch themed centers.  My kiddos are used to 3 rounds (total of 45 minutes) for Daily 5 centers each day, and we did 4 rotations this week, so I was pleasantly surprised with how well they worked on their centers - mostly focused and relatively quiet!  

Centers were a review of skills including Common/Proper Noun sort, ABC order, cause/effect, syllable sort, and more.  We even added in a center Tuesday and Wednesday of making and wrapping our presents for parents - handprinted wooden ornaments - turned out great, forgot to take pictures!

When I came up with the idea originally of having Grinch Day a couple years ago, I had wanted to also incorporate Random Acts of Kindness for adults in our school who don't always get thanked for what they do, let alone get Christmas gifts from kiddos like teachers do.  Last year, it just didn't happen and looking back, I wish I had done it because it turned out to be a great lesson. Tuesday and Wednesday this week during our intervention block, which is right after lunch, we made Christmas cards for a total of 8 individuals or groups of adults in our school.  We attached their cards to a box of Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cakes and then delivered them. 

The looks on my kiddos faces when we returned from delivering the treats was priceless - they felt so happy to have done something for someone else - what Christmas is about!

Who did we thank?  Our... school secretary nurse maintenance guys (3) custodian TA who organizes hot lunch and carpool 2nd grade interventionist technology guys (2) security officer Thursday finally rolled around which was Grinch Day.  Our kiddos wore green shirts, jeans and Santa hats - they usually wear uniforms so this was a treat!

After going at it all week, they finally became friends and sat down to read a book - the Grinch's favorite :)

The day seemed to fly by... We watched the movie Ate our Whobiliation Snack

"Roast Beast" sandwiches - Kings Hawaiian Rolls, ham, and cheese

"Who Hash" - Bo Rounds, or big tater tots, from Bojangles - should have gotten more of these, they were the crowd favorite!

Cucumbers and Green Grapes

Green Kool-Aid Jammers

No sugar crash happening for this teacher - less sugar makes for a happy teacher.  After lunch and eating cupcakes was a different story though!

Made Grinch Dust (1/4 cup sugar, 2 drops of yellow and 2 drops of blue food coloring)

We also added some green glitter that I found in my closet after everyone's sugar had turned green.

Watched some more of the movie Worked on a directed drawing of the Grinch Went to PE, Art, had lunch and watched some more of the movie Did our quarterly and Class Dojo awards Had our holiday book exchange Finished our Grinch directed drawings

Finished up the movie while they colored their Grinch! The kids had a blast and I was exhausted when I got home!

Throughout the day my kiddos (and I) added all kinds of Christmas and Grinch goodies to their personalized Grinch bags.  I set these up around my room and they make it so much easier for them to keep track of things like their Grinch Dust, gifts for parents, and more!  I added leftover candy, Christmas pencils, a Christmas Break Reading Challenge from Swimming Into Second, and few other goodies throughout the day. What a wonderful Grinchy week we had! Does your school do Grinch Day?