SAVE YOUR MONEY! Enlist your students to help you make your classroom birthday board!

Can We Make a Promise?   

My dear teacher friends...Can we all make a promise? 

Can we please stop the insanity of spending so much money on our classrooms? 

I'm Going Broke

I completely get it. We all want a super cute space to work in, but I am going broke! I have two daughters in high school and I remember when I would complain about the cost of childcare not too many years ago! That was nothing, darling. 

I bet you have other things that money could probably go towards...I know I do. Plus, when we completely decorate our entire classrooms before the students arrive, we take away a HUGE amount of learning that could take place. 

Show off that creativity!

Check this out: 

My kindergartners and I made this birthday and month wall. We had to label each month (discussion of capital letters and lowercase), we sequenced the months, order the numbers, write so it was legible...SO.MUCH.LEARNING. that wouldn't have happened if I would have purchased or made my own teacher-made chart. 

Once they're engaged, their learning is unstoppable

It's not hard to do, it builds classroom community, and engages kids in the reading and writing process. 

Ohhhhhhh, yes AND it saves you money. 

Grab the resources here! No need to purchase ANYTHING 

Plus, I have a video for you and the template for the cupcakes! You can't say, "No."

So, will you please make me a promise? Try a birthday chart like this. I bet you won't do it any other way next time! 

You said, "Yes," right? Just one more thing...

Can we really afford NOT to do it this way? 

Build Classroom and School Community by Constructing a Staff Name Wall in Your Classroom

"But one of the things that we never discuss or we rarely discuss
is the value and importance of human connection...relationships."
Rita Pierson

“No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.”

James Comer

“A relationship can begin by simply knowing someone’s name.”

Jessica Pelka

In our classroom, we always make birthday cards at the writing center when it's someone's birthday, including staff members.  Last year, it was April, and at the writing center that day, we were going to be making Mrs. Seelow a birthday card. 

When I was giving instructions, a student asked, "Who's Mrs. Seelow?"  I couldn't believe my ears!!??  "Who is Mrs. Seelow," I repeated. I was met with blank stares. 

Mrs. Seelow is a para-professional in our building. She assists the kids in the lunchroom, is outside during recess, and is often times in our classroom and/or the hallway. She is everywhere!  How could the kids not know who Mrs. Seelow was? 

I brought her picture up on the smartboard and instantly everyone recognized her face. "Ohhhhhh, yeah. We know her." 

Ummmm....I hope so. It's April. 

Yes, I was extremely disheartened. Of course, I had introduced the kids to Mrs. Seelow (and all the staff members at our school) and they had seen her almost daily for eight months, but that was not enough. Relationships are VITAL for growing healthy, caring citizens. Yep. I sure hit this one out of the ballpark. Ughhhh....

I had to do more to help my kids get to know the adults in the building. So far, what I was doing wasn't working. 

That's when I decided that I had to do something completely different.  

I decided to create a class display of all the staff members in our building that my kids would come into contact with. Please note:  This wall started completely blank. We, as a class, took every step together as each picture was added. This was not a teacher project or a student project, this was a team project. 

I don't want to ruin the surprise, but want you to see what I'm explaining. Here's a look at our (almost) end product. 

Here's how I did it:  Before the kids arrived, I ran off 8.5x11 sized pictures of each staff member (from our school website) and taped it to a black piece of construction paper. Then I added a blank piece of paper under the picture for the person's name. This was the only piece of the project that happened without my students and it was definitely not fancy. 

I started with my name. Maybe it would help from being called "Teacher" for the first two weeks of school?  I also added our classroom support teacher. 

I started by showing my kindergarten students my picture and saying, "This is my picture. This is me. My name is Mrs. Pelka. I'm going to write my name on this piece of paper. Readers know that PICTURES and WORDS need to match."

I continued doing this, one new picture a day, for the whole first week. Very soon, the kids were repeating the rule "pictures and words need to match" with me each time. We then read the names together, using a crisp pointer, making sure that our eyes, voice, and finger all matched. We reread several times that day. I often times would see the kids coming up to our easel, imitating me, reading the names. 

Then together, we started saying the words slowly and putting down the sounds of the name that we could hear. I would ask kids to come up to our alphabet chart to find the corresponding sound. 

It was only week one, day four of kindergarten and I was already modeling early reading and writing skills. I thought to myself..."Hey, there is more to this than just learning everyone's names." 

We were building classroom and school community, I was modeling the writing process, and students were engaged in the reading process.

Needless to say, this was a hit! Several teachers, of all grade levels, commented on wanting to do a wall like this in their classroom. A 5th grade teacher remarked, "I know my kids don't know all of the staff in our building and they've been here for 6 years." 

Academically, the growth my students made over the school year was incredible. I know it's because I began teaching the reading and writing process through my modeling beginning the first hour on the first day of school. We never stopped acting like readers and writers from that moment forward. We used this wall to study words and how words worked. Natural connections make unnatural learning very easy! 

Please know that I didn't have the smartest kids, the kids from the best families, or the best behaved students. I had behaviors coming out of my ears, but did almost every single one of my students make reading and writing benchmarks this year? 

Yes, but THIS ISN'T EVEN THE BEST PART.  Everyday while walking down the hallway, or entering a room, I would hear my students greeting the adults in our building, BY NAME. They knew the people around them and felt connected to them and our school. There isn't any better feeling in the world than this. 

Here's the supporting documents along with a video:  Make Every Moment Count! Together, we are going to change the world! Thanks for reading! 

Teaching color words and building your classroom community in a way that empowers your students!

Teaching color words and building your classroom community in a way that empowers your students!

We all have classroom color charts in our rooms? Right? Especially in the primary grades. Have you ever thought about including your students in making this resource for their classroom each year? Up until a few years ago, I always used a store-bought or teacher-made chart and didn't think too much of it. 

When I returned to the classroom a few years ago, my resources were...lacking. Let's just leave it at that. Out of necessity, I decided to have my students be part of the making of our classroom color chart and I will never do this any differently!  Here's the final project...

It's not fancy, but the learning that took place was priceless! 

Here's what I figured out along the way...

When I included my students in this activity it naturally:

•      Creates ownership of our classroom space
•      Builds a classroom community on the foundation of teamwork
•      Provides opportunities to share life experiences with others
•      BONUS! Creates independent thinkers that will know how to read and write color words beginning day 1!

Save your time and money!

Children will not have any connection to a store-bought or teacher-made color word anchor chart.  By giving students the opportunity to be part of creating a classroom color chart, we are building a natural connection and sense of ownership over the use of this chart. As children need to read or write color words, they will automatically know where to look for and use this resource because it is a part of them. They helped to create it and will not forget it is available as a tool to use in the classroom. You will not need to tell your students to use this reference tool because they will naturally use it. Students do not make these natural connections to purchased or teacher-made materials.

Here's how I made every minute count! 

Focus on one color per day. Through discussions and extension work, the entire project could take up to two weeks to complete, maybe more. The idea is to go slow now, so that later you can go fast. By starting slow, you will not need to reteach color words again and again over the course of the year. Children will continue to build their knowledge of color words on their own when using this chart throughout the year.

Begin with blank paper and write the color word in front of the students. They need to see this process from start to finish. Determine if you will briefly be touching on any word solving (reading or writing) skills. If appropriate, these skills can be modeled by the teacher at this time (only one or two, depending on student need/interest). We don’t want to create any angst in our students at this point, so be sure not to spend too much time on this as our focus is still building the color chart, sharing ideas about the focus color, and getting to know each other.

While building this chart, be sure to teach children the importance of quality of work. Say something like, “We all need to draw and color our best picture. Our whole class is counting on you. Think…do you want to have a messy color chart or a neat color chart that is easy to read?”

With support, most children will be able to write the color word next to the picture they draw. Hold up the blank piece of construction paper with the color word and encourage the children to use this chart to spell the color word. Assure your students they do not need to memorize how to spell the word (at this point) because the anchor chart is there to help them. Stress to your students the importance of using tools when help is needed (rather than asking teacher or trying to remember or recall information). This will begin to build independence in your students.

When writing the color label, help the kids to see that it is easier for the reader to read when the letters of the word are formed correctly and do not touch or run into the picture. Again, remind your students this chart will be used to read and write our color words. It is easier to read when we write our best.

As children glue their drawing onto the anchor chart, ensure they are not gluing it over the top of the large color word (written on the construction paper). Again, help the kids to see the rationale behind this by saying, “If we cover up the color word with our drawings, we won’t be able to read and write the color word correctly.” When kids understand the reason behind a request, they are more likely to follow through with the request. Providing the rationale behind such things help children to understand that adults do not make random rules about the world. We naturally follow requests and rules that we understand.

Here's the key:

We are focusing on teaching children HOW to think (use a resource to help if help is needed) rather than WHAT to think (memorization of reading and writing color words). 

Extend the lessons through literature...

Provide opportunities for individual expression...

Be sure to grab your FREE copies of these books by clicking HERE!

I think we can all agree that the beginning of the school year can be a whirlwind of emotions...for the students and the adults! The pressure of this time of year can be lifted by creating a classroom together, an entire classroom of readers and writers, built beginning on day 1, with the understanding that everyone contributes and is a part of our team. It can be as simple as creating these anchor charts and classroom resources in your classroom, with your students. 

I encourage you to give this a try. You will be amazed at how a small shift such as this can create a momentum for learning in your classroom that cannot be stopped! :)

For more ideas on teaching color words in the classroom, click here and follow this pinterest board - everything you want at your fingertips for teaching color words!

Don't just recycle those markers!

Crayola markers. Love them. Love the smell, love the crispness of the first thick line drawn on bright white paper, love the perfect little "click" of the cap being replaced every time a student uses a marker. 

WAIT. What!? The cover is lost? Oh, try to find another one you could borrow for now so the marker doesn't dry up. It's already dried up? Ok. That's cool. 

Yes, it's true. I have a love/hate relationship with markers. Whether or not kids are putting the caps back on markers or they are truly dried up from use, markers will fill our landfills and must be recycled. I'm sure you've seen the cool things people do to make the most of every marker ever made... Like this or this or even this!  I will never do this. I'm not pinterest-worthy, BUUUUUUUT, I will do this every time I need to weed out my markers.  I will recycle our classroom markers, but I will also make each of these minutes count by including the students in on the chore AND practicing writing our sight words! 

Here was my issue: It was the end of the semester and we needed to switch out the markers from our table spots and centers. Many were dried up and had caps missing. This would take me an eternity to complete on my own, but can I waste teaching time to have the students help me complete this task? These are 5 and 6 year-old kids. Can they handle it or should I just do it? 

I thought, "Why not? I've wasted time in our classroom doing worse things." As it turns out, this was an awesome activity! Halfway through I decided to video what we were doing to show you here. I will never do this chore on my own again! 

Here's what we did: 

First, the kids labeled their paper on one side with the word 'yes' and on the other side with the word 'no.'  I used construction paper for this because it's big and we don't use this size of paper as often as letter-size paper. This small change already makes this activity a little more engaging. Plus, construction paper is not smooth like copy paper. This very slight roughness creates a resistance when writing and forces the child to strengthen his/her pencil grip. 

Next, I asked the kids to find a certain color of marker, for example, "Get out your fat orange marker." Each child had to locate this marker within their marker cup. For those that didn't have that specific color, they checked the centers around the room for one. 

Then, I called out a sight word. If the child knew how to write the sight word I called out, he/she would record it on the 'yes' side of his paper. If it was an unknown word, the child would copy it from the document camera onto the 'no' side of the paper. While doing this, the child was also asked to check if the marker he/she was using was still full of ink or was beginning to dry up and needed to be recycled. After writing and reading the word, the child then put the marker into our 'keep' box or recycle tub. 

Watch a short clip of this activity here:  How to recycle markers AND make every minute count!

This activity took about 15 minutes. In the end, the kids each had a current list of known and unknown sight words to take home and I had markers ready for recycling or additional classroom use.  The kids thought it was great and were very proud of how many words they could write without any help. For some kids, the words that ended up on the 'no' side of the paper became their challenge list...not a challenge I gave them, but one they put upon themselves. 
Another benefit that occurred during this activity is that I had one young man say to me, "Mrs. Pelka, I need to keep better track of my markers. I had to go over to the center table a million times to get the color you wanted." Another student remarked on how she needed to do a better job ensuring her marker clicked, meaning it was closed. She said, "All of my markers were dried up because I don't close them right." We have had these discussions many times in our classroom, but up until this point, I'm not sure the students actually took it to heart until they saw the effects of the way they take care of their markers. 

Teaching our students well requires us to find extra minutes in the day where there aren't any.  With the lack of time and resources, we as teachers must use both in the smartest ways we can.  Including students in the management of the classroom can be seen as wasting time by some, but if we include the students in these responsibilities, provide academic skill practice, AND make it engaging how can anyone argue with that? 

Making Every Minute Count!

Do you ever just sit back and wonder why we do what we do? Why do we teach? Why do we invest so much of our heart into our profession, when it can feel like there are more lows at times than highs? Why, why, why do we do what we do and then keep coming back for more? I'm know there's a hugely profound answer for this for each of us and for me, it changes all the time. The fact of the matter is, I still keep coming back. I love what I do and want to get better and better at it. My classroom, my kids, and my profession are never far from my thoughts. If you're reading this now, it's July. Why are we thinking about school in July!?!?! Because that's who we are and what we do. I have no other explanation for it. Welcome to my crazy. 

I’ve studied the theory at Ohio State University and Lesley University and have immersed myself in the work of the experts in education. I’ve trained and coached countless teachers and have provided professional development to numerous groups. I’m a teacher, reading specialist, literacy coach, and author.

The most difficult part of the profession that I love is understanding the theory AND making it practical in the classroom. Teachers work hard and create small miracles in children’s lives on a daily basis, but many are at a breaking point. Too many initiatives, too many new programs, and too many unrealistic expectations are placed on teachers everyday, every year.

As a literacy leader, trying to weed out the bad from the good, my head was spinning! I would hear the same question over and over again.  This sounds great, but…

“What does this really look like in a classroom with real kids?” 

“Students are not developmentally ready for the rigor and expectations

that 21st century learning calls for.”

“I’ll wait until this goes away. Until then, I’ll do what I want.”

After several years of hearing comments such as these, I felt I needed to gain a better understanding of how drastically the landscape of teaching and learning had changed. I needed to do my own action research, right where the rubber meets the road.  I needed to clear my head and get back to the business of kids. I needed to return to the classroom. Currently, I am teaching kindergarten…and yes, I have learned a lot! Hey, if kindergartners can do it, then imagine the possibilities for 1st grade, 2nd grade, and beyond! 

What was my biggest epiphany upon returning to the classroom? Kids are still amazing and once a fire for learning has been lit, it cannot be extinguished. When they feel good about what they are doing at school, children behave better. Given the opportunity and support for learning, most students will meet, if not surpass, grade level expectations. When I returned to the classroom with theory-backed, evidence-based instruction, the expectations that I set for myself and my students were quickly met, raised, and met again.

I have been very lucky to have been given the opportunity to learn, train, and be coached by the best of the best and this is where I feel I can now make a difference. I understand best practices in teaching and learning. I embed these practices in research-based theory and design instruction that works in REAL classrooms with REAL students.

I feel it is my duty to share my learning with you. I do think I have figured out a way to make teaching fun again. Of course, it's not all about fun, but I want to feel good about what I'm doing. When I feel good about what I'm doing, then professionally, I'm having fun. If I'm having fun, then I know my kids are going to be engaged, enthusiastic, and in love with learning.  This makes us unstoppable. 

I’m a regular teacher, just like you and if I can do it, so can you. I truly believe that “Teaching children will change their lives; inspiring children will change the world.” Please join me as we change the world one classroom at a time.  Click here to view my free video series and together, let’s make every minute count!