Who we are as Readers and Writers

Planning for this year back to school is definitely a little different than years past. First off it's 3rd grade and Secondly I only see the kiddos two mornings a week. We have to jump into our learning pretty quickly so as I was thinking about the first week of school and getting to know my kids, I decided to also use the lens of who they were as readers and writers. I have done interest inventories with kids and their parents in the past, but decided to make it a little more fun this year!

I love doing these too! It's a great way to reflect as a teacher reader and writer too! 

I will often give one or two of my answers as an example, but save a lot to share after the kids are done... Just to make sure I don't influence their answers. ;)

You can find it {here} at teachers pay teachers!

Start filling up your cart but wait to buy it until Monday when the back to school sale starts! My store will be 20% off and then enter the promo code BTS15 for even more savings! :) Be sure to check out some of my back to school freebies as well!

Five for Friday: Not Just Surviving...but Thriving!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday!

Oh. My. Word.

I love my class. 

They get along. They work hard. They listen to stories.

Things I do not take for granted. 

AT ALL!

1. The kids made the sweetest self portraits after we read The Colors of Us by Karen Katz.
You can find out more of my favorite back to school book here!

2. We started our math stations! We did some review stations to get into the routines of workshop. The kids did great and had fun playing the math games!

3. This week I did several team building activities to help the kids get used to working together. Today we did the marshmallow challenge. It was SO interesting to watch! See this post for more info on our teamwork activities!

4. This week I finished my reading strategies pack! There are lots of different options for posters, student cards, and bookmarks! Please check it out here.



5. I needed to get back on the meal planning track so I am not frantically trying to figure out what to do the night of! I decided that if I had the same type of food each day of the week it wold help me stay on track a bit better, but there is still a lot of flexibility. I veered off course tonight, but so far it is working well. My husband even started dinner one night because he looked at the plan!
*I realize that the paper totally clashed with the border. Poor planning on my part.
*I also realized I spelled spaghetti wrong. Go easy on me... its back to school time! ;)
 
You can get a copy here! There is a ink friendly version too!

Happy Long Weekend!!

Favorite back to school books

Back to school and I have a love-hate relationship. I love routine so its hard when we are not in our set schedule yet, but I love some of those books that help us get to know each other, celebrate who we are, and also teach us to get along! :)

The Color of Us by Karen Katz:

We have a really diverse school so I love this book because of the way she describes the different shades of people! :) I like to buy the multi-cultural faces and have the kids pick the color that they think fits them. Their pictures are always so precious! 

The Best Part of Me:

I read this book for the first time this year! It is such a neat book written by students who describe their best body part! :) It uses black and white photos of their favorite part as well as the words in their own handwriting. Precious! So this year my kiddos wrote about their favorite part. It was very informative to watch the kids sound out words or think of the reason why that is their favorite part!

How to Fill a Bucket:

I have used this book every year I have taught! It is a wonderful way to help kids understand how mean words and actions hurt and how important kindness is to others. This year we made a big bucket anchor chart with kind things to say to others. In the past, I have also had a little bucket that we work together to fill up by doing nice things to each other!

Chrysanthemum:

Another favorite book! While we read it we tear off a little piece of a paper doll each time we hear a put down. After we finish, we try to put the person back together... but they don't look the same because the put downs did hurt them inside. Then I glue it to a bigger piece of paper and we promise to say and do kind things to each other! :)

How to Lose All Your Friends:

I pull this one out after we have been together for a couple of days and we need to start talking about teamwork and problem solving. We always read the book and afterwards I tell them that it is a horrible book to keep in our room so we make our own book about how to keep our friends! They work with a partner on a page. It always turns out SO cute! :)

We will be reading lots of other books, but these are definitely my go-to books! :)

We have been doing a lot of community building this year. I decided to go slow with academics so we could focus on each other and being friends. We have been sharing our All About Me bags. It is fun to see what the kids are bringing in to describe themselves. Then they get to call on three kids who ask questions. At the beginning of the year we practice asking questions a lot. We start with the basic 5 and then try to move to more 'thick' questions. If we can get the kids to be inquirers about each other, it is easier for them later on to use the skills they learned now!

Two days left this week! 

All About Me!

I'm Linking Up with Blog Hoppin' Teacher Week!

When we start our IB unit Who We Are, we are going to focus first on ourselves and how we are each unique and special. Last year I did the all about me bags (I used this great freebie from Fun in First Grade with my kids and we really enjoyed it! I can't wait to do it again this year!

Here are the 5 things in my bag this year:

Dinosaurs are my life now! I have two boys at home-- Alex (age 3) and Liam (age 1)! They have definitely helped me understand how to teach boys better! We had a great summer and they keep life at home quite exciting!

My kids learn quickly that Mrs. Plunkett needs her coffee! My brain starts after I have had my first few sips. I love this cup too because it says coffee in so many different languages! Both my husband and I grew up overseas and would love to go back somewhere so it also represents my love for all things international! 

I grew up in Japan! My parents are missionaries there and have been serving there for 30 years! First grade was one of the years I spent in the states so it is kind of fun to be teaching that grade! I love having lots of Japanese things in my house and we eat Japanese food on a regular basis! My boys love seaweed and my kids get used to all the crazy foods I bring to school! Can you guess what this little thing is used for? 

Teachers carry whistles... But so do coaches! My husband has coached football, basketball, and soccer! I rush home after school so he can get off to practice! During the day he stays home with the boys. I love the quality time my boys get with him and how he sets such a godly example to them! This year he is not doing football because he is starting classes to get an Masters in middle grades education! I am thankful for that! Coaching takes up a lot of hours! 

My hobby this summer has been reading! Sometimes I do more crafty things, other years it's cooking, but I have really enjoyed reading a lot this summer! This is the stack of books I have NOT gotten to... Including the many books on my iPad that I want to read too! Unfortunately with school starting up, my reading stamina has dropped a bit, but hopefully I can be a good weekend reader! ;)  (You can find my list of books read at my personal blog plunkett365.blogspot.com)


Something that I really can't put in my bag, but wish I could is my Bible! My faith is definitely one of the most important things about me and the Lord has brought me through some really rough times teaching! Last week in my small group we were reading verses about work and this one really stuck with me so I made a little poster to remind myself that everything I am doing is for the Lord!

Its easy to get overwhelmed by all that we are asked to do as teachers, but I think I can keep the best attitude, work the hardest, and love those kids best if I keep my focus on the Lord! Feel free to download a copy of it too!

What would you put in your bag?

Who We Are

One of the great things of the IB program is that is requires a lot of collaboration among teachers. We are also constantly reflecting on what we taught previously and how we can change it to help the kids make better connections to what they are learning. We had a great time collaborating and hashing out the wording on our central ideas.
(Maybe that makes us total nerds, but it is fabulous!)
We wanted to make sure our planners were working for us this year, so we chose a central idea that would be practical for the beginning of the school year...

Self actualization guides personal interactions.

We are going to focus on our students' strengths, weaknesses, and needs to help them see how to best work in our classroom community. We want to teach kids how to respond to what they are feeling, how to take care of their bodies to help them be good learners, and start to internalize our Learner Profile and Attitudes. As they learn how to respond to the other first graders around them, we will be able to teach them classroom procedures and workshop routines and get our rooms running smoothly for a great year!

More to come on our unit later!