Sydney's School Stories

This is the second post of my "3 Schools in 3 Years" series. After you have (mentally / emotionally) processed that you are moving schools or classrooms it is time to get down to the process of packing. Here are my top 10 tips for packing up your room in preparation for moving. Share with your students that you are moving . I told my students that I was moving schools because I was feeling stressed and on edge- I knew I wasn't being the more "present" teacher I could be and wanted to share what was going on in my life to my 5th graders. I also want my students to know how they can contact me next school year and not be shocked when if they come to visit in the future and can't find me.  Start early. I began packing with 3 weeks left in the school year. I started by packing things that students couldn't see- such as curriculum I was done teaching or teacher books. If you start the process early you won't feel overwhelmed at the very end of the...

Weekly Math Rotations Grouping I put students into 5 homogenous groups. I group students by using a unit's pretest scores, exit tickets or quick quizzes throughout the course of a unit, STAR tests (these are tests that predict / track end of year SBA scores), and what I notice as a teacher.  There are about 5-6 students per group. I color code student's names with their group- this makes it easier for students to look at the smart-board and know what group they are in.  This year I have more boys than girls, but I do try to have both boys and girls in each group. I put students who are quiet with students who are chatty and try to make sure that kids have someone they like in their group.   Weekly Math Rotations

The medium sized colored bins from Target are amazing for organizing science materials (you can find them at Target for $3 and Dollar Tree also has great deals on all sized bins.  Put ALL of the materials a group will need in a bin for each group- I do this the night before or have student helpers come in at recess to help gather supplies Give directions BEFORE you pass out the bins and write them in a place that students can easily refer to during the lesson (after the bins are passed out- it is hard for kids to concentrate on teacher directions) Give kids a chance to touch/explore the materials- this gets the "newness" of working with materials out of the way  Have a basket that contains extra supplies that groups might need in the front of the room. If your class can handle getting out of their seat for more supplies, assign a "grabber" for each group - this will be the kid who gets more supplies as needed. If your class is too rowdy or distracted by getting...