Every once in a while, an idea pops into my head out of necessity for something better.  Years and years ago, I was actually teaching 3rd grade at the time, I became fed up with the lack of repetition in my math program.  There just wasn't enough review built in for the kids to grasp anything.  I would teach a concept once and move on.  Done and done.  The problem was, the kids just didn't get it. After scouring the internet, reading tons of books, and using my own bag of tricks, Calendar was born.  And, if you follow my blog, you know I LOVE Calendar.  But it just wasn't enough.  The kids needed more practice then even Calendar could provide.  Word problems, higher level computation.... So I decided that their homework was what needed to change.  I took a complete departure from everyone at my school and created a spiral homework.  It was 10 problems a day, not of what we just learned, but of EVERYTHING that we learned. The kids were constantly seeing the same style p...

I began my teaching career in 1998.  I was fresh out of college and ready to tackle the world.  I was hired in a year round school, which meant that I would have exactly one weekend to get my room together.  So I went in, got the bulletin boards up and beautiful looking (I still remember them...black paper with purple and white borders), made the nametags, had all of the lessons ready....I was SURE things would be perfect, and that I was a natural born teacher. I was wrong. The kids in my 4/5 split were just not listening to me!  I had these great lessons that they weren't hearing because they were so busy talking with each other.  The kids were a terror to me in the room and even worse out on the yard.  They got up whenever they wanted to, maybe did their homework, turned some stuff in.  I literally just didn't know what to do with them.  I was a mess....and I had HAD IT! After 5 weeks of this TORTURE, I marched myself into the coordinators office, sat at her desk an...

First off, let me begin this post by saying I am so sorry it took so long to write.  I have been promising and promising and I finally am here with it.  So please forgive me. Secondly, this idea is not originally mine.  I got it from another gifted teacher named Terri (who, to my knowledge does not have a blog....though if she ever gets one, you will be the first to know about it!)  She so kindly shared this idea two years ago and I ran with it in my classroom.  I have tweeked it to fit my needs, and I anticipate you will do the same for your own classroom. So without further ado....The Reading Olympics. The basic idea behind this is simple.   The students read 20 books at their independent reading level and complete 20 different projects for the books.  1 book = 1 response project  The students work at the reading/response projects at their own pace, completing as many as they can before the end of the year. To organize the projects (and keep with the Olympic theme) there ...

There are so many math standards that we need to teach each year, that at times, my head is spinning.  As you all know, I am a firm believer in the power of Calendar Math and I really try to get most of the power standards into it.  Every few years or so, I have a class in which graphing (both creating and reading them) is something that is really needed.  So, in keeping with the calendar theme, I usually have them use the weather for the day as the catalyst to create the graphs.  Now, when I did the graphs, I was in 3rd and 4th grade....so we focused mostly on Bar and Line graphs.  Now, in 5th, I would probably add on a pie graph somehow (though I would have to think about that for sure!)  I would ask the kids to look out the window and tell me what type of weather they were seeing.  Pretty straight forward.  We would then add that to the Bar Graph .  As days went on, we would discuss how this graph is informing us, what we could tell from it, and how we were constructing it. ...

Hi everyone! Do I have a treat for you today! Michelle from Making it as a Middle School Teacher has put together a great post for you....complete with a freebie. Be sure to leave some comments here for her to show her your love, and then hop over to her blog to read more great ideas! Do you ever think about how you could better engage your students during math time?  I've got some simple, quick, and inexpensive ideas for you to try. Hey guys!  It's Michelle from Making It As A Middle School Teacher and I am so excited to be here on Stephanie's blog today!  She is an awesome teacher and I love to read her ideas on Teaching in Room 6. What I have to share with you is not high-tech and it's not fancy.  However, these ideas have worked in my classroom on many occasions, so I hope they'll work for you as well! 1.  Allow students to use a highlighter {or a crayon or color pencil} to mark the important information in word problems.  I don't allow...

Each year, I think it is a good idea to have the students think about their goals while in my classroom.  Thinking about what they want to accomplish as a student and how they are going to do that seems to me to be a good way to begin the year.  I mean, I do the same thing before the start of a school year.  I set out my plans in my head, I set goals for the new things I want to accomplish, and reflect upon what I did before to make that better.  So, it would make sense that having the students do the same would help them to focus on the year ahead. But, asking the students to simply list their goals was...boring.  A few years ago, our first unit in Language Arts was Cooperation and Competition.  I took a sports twist to this theme, and I found the magic formula for the kids.  Add a few ball shapes into the mix, and you could get them to eagerly do anything! We started out with thinking about our goals for 5th grade.  How did we want the year to go?  What about our friendships?  O...

I have been taking a bit of time to work on things that I am going to be using in my classroom come August, and I thought I would share them with you.  All of this is stuff you have seen before, but I thought putting all of the links in one post might be helpful.  So here we go. I have been working mostly on getting things ready for the "decorating days" in my room...you know the days when you go in before the kids come in and you get everything ready? Since I am moving rooms (I know...no more room 6...I will let you in on a little secret...I wasn't in room 6 last year either.  That was just my very first room ;) ) I took down all of my signs and things, so I figure I need new ones. I have made myself a new word wall for my Root words.  It is SUPER simple to make.  Just a set of letters, printed onto paper, then backed in black and laminated.  Done and done. Next, I made the schedule card signs.  I backed them with some "made" paper.  Basically, I took...

The other day, while I was hanging out, watching some TV (and doing some professional reading of course) my door bell rang.  When I opened it, I saw a box with this neat little bag inside. Upon opening it, I realized what a treat I had sitting in front of me.   ETA Hand2Mind had sent me their  Home Team Advantage Kit for Grade 5 to check out and I immediately dug right in!  I was so so excited because going through college Cuisenaire Rods were THE thing...and this is the same company that makes them.  My expectations for this kit were high, and it truly did not disappoint. Inside this kit are some really great materials. The first thing I pulled out was a summer schedule.  Each day of the week, from Monday to Thursday, was on this schedule.  It is designed to keep the kids on track and learning throughout the summer, without bogging them down.  The organizer in me LOVED this feature :)  I do like to fly by the seat of my pants at times, but having a set roadmap is always nic...

Like many of you, I spend the first days of school talking about procedures, rituals, and routines in the classroom.  Within that spectrum, lies the rules of my room. I go into my year knowing the rules I want ahead of time.  I know there are some schools of thought that say you should come up with a class set that the students brainstorm.  Now, while I think that is a fabulous thing to do, it does not fit my control freak teaching style, so I don't actually do that.  What I do do is go through the brainstorming process with my students on the first day of school and guide them to my predetermined rules. Basically, it works like this.  We all get together on the rug and I ask the students what they think the rules of the room should be.  They tell me everything under the sun.  As they are doing that, if there are any lulls, I interject with a "suggestion" and add it to the Circle Map.  As time goes on, I discuss with them how we need "umbrella" rules that wi...

<center><a href="http://teachinginroom6.blogspot.com/2012/07/little-magic.html" target="_blank"><img alt="A Little Magic" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_cqY3LtScH-TAnZabgjPRKkj0IXlzTovPI6Ub0wxorR2OpHhYXuJ7GPgWYhwh9TEdpDc98ymKbeB-nu1UvKJgjgZ2FrMXoxuSGhtP1kQgiwyXg4cXmE28SvWWEBs7vJZ20EBB_y-KJw/s1600/65-Slide6.JPG"/></a></center> Classroom management is one of those topics that we as teachers can talk about until we are blue in the face. There is just SO much to it. From the moment those kids walk into our doors until the last little one leaves for the day, we have to make sure that the students we are teaching not only are learning in our rooms, but are also safe and sound in a warm, caring, comfortable environment where they know they will be respected and protected for the day. Quite a daunting task for us all.  A task that does truly require "a little magic". ...

OK...so I showed you my room for Open House, but I thought I would take you on a proper tour now.  These pictures are a mixture from the entire year.  My intention is to focus on the set up of it all, not necessarily the content of what is being learned (if that makes sense).  I will show you how my room is organized so that it works for my students and myself.  In each section, I have linked to the post that explains in more detail what is going on in that area of my room.  Feel free to click, as most of the forms and stuff I talk about are on those posts for free.  So without further ado, Room 6. Here is the view from the front door.  This was for Open House (and you have already seen this picture), but I wanted to set it up for you so you sort of know where we are. You can see my storage cabinets, my desk in the back corner, and my back door.  I also have my little round table with the black ottomans I bought (instead of making crate seats...I just didn't want to spend the tim...