It's OK to Need a Break

I made this original post in December 2019 before the world changed.

Dear moms (and dads)... we all need a break sometimes and it’s absolutely ok.

Last weekend we found out that our daycare provider had an emergency in the family and was going to need to take off Monday through Wednesday, which left us having to figure out what to do with the kids. Unfortunately we don’t have any family in the area and have never really found a backup babysitter for situations like this. Sometimes we can get one of our parents to come stay with us, but this time I asked if my mom wanted the kids to come to her house for a few days. She did (thanks mom!), so I packed the kids in the car and met her halfway.

She kept the kids for the entire week and it was a week that I didn’t realize I needed.  I went to work as usual each day. However, I didn’t allow myself to stay late as I would have done in the past. No kids means catching up at work, right?? Not this time.

So I left on time each day and came home. I also could have done a million and one things at home while the kids were gone, but I didn’t. I did a few small things like picked up the playroom and cleaned the kitchen. But that’s it.

I used this week to recharge mentally. I watched TV shows that weren’t on Nick, Jr. or Disney. I read an adult book. I enjoyed the quiet. I needed this time.

My husband and I also enjoyed this time together. We went to happy hour, we went out to dinner, we made dinner together. Just the two of us. We also needed this time.

To all the parents out there, it’s ok to need a break from your children. I’m not saying send them away for a week because this was definitely not planned. But take a night for yourself. Whether it’s a couple of hours for a date night out, an evening away, or even just a few hours out shopping, take the break.

This rule also applies to work. That will be another post, another day. But taking a mental break from things in life is a necessity at times. Take care of yourself.

The Daily Five

I was first introduced to The Daily Five book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser when I taught in Fairfax. I was a second year teacher in grade 3 at the time and was excited to try something new.

This blog post discusses what exactly The Daily Five is, how I set it up in my classroom, and the signs I used. I prefer to make the signs with my students each year, so you will notice they are nothing fancy.

So I decided to hit the ground running and jump right into the daily five the first week of school.  I explained to the students briefly all five parts of the daily five and then explained that we would be slowly learning about each one of the next 5 weeks.  I started off with teaching them about Read to Self. I followed the ideas in the book and had them read for only 3-5 minutes before stopping them to join me back on the carpet.  The first time I just released them to choose a spot wherever they wanted, but I discovered this didn't quite work out so well.  I had students under tables, behind doors, etc. So we then had to go over appropriate places to read in the room.  By the end of the week we made this chart:

Next we started Read to Someone.  The kids really enjoyed reading with each other.  The hard part about having them all do read to someone at the same time is that it was quite noisy in the room which bothered some kids, but I assured them that once we actually started the daily five there would only be a few pairs of students read aloud while the other students were working on other parts.  By the end of the second week we had made this chart:

Next we introduced Listen to Reading.  I only have 4 computers in my room that we can use as listening centers so I kept a list of the students and made sure that by the end of the week all 28 of them had gone on the computers to listen to books.  Our school has a subscription to MyON which is where we go to listen to books.  Before I introduced listen to reading I showed them the website and how to log on and choose books.  As the four students were listening to reading I allowed the other students to choose whether they wanted to practice read to self or read to someone.  I made sure that I was taking notes on the students behaviors, while monitoring the students on the computers to make sure they were not having any problems navigating the website.  I found this part of the daily five was the hardest to manage because it always seems that one of the computers has a hiccup and has to be rebooted.  Here is the chart we created by the end of the week:

Around the second or third week of school I introduced the students to a Writer's Notebook and Writer's Workshop (which I will talk about in a later post). I made sure to do this before introducing Work on Writing because I feel that it is important to teach the students how the writer's notebook works before giving them the choice to work in their notebook during work on writing.  During the fourth week of school I introduced work on writing by explaining to students that this was their time to work on a piece of writing that they have already started, begin a new piece of writing, edit a piece of writing, or publish a piece of writing.  We made this chart by the end of the week:

Lastly, we introduced Word Work.  I divide my word work into three choices. The students can work with the mystery word using the magnetic letters, they can do the word sort, or they can write the room.  I did a spelling inventory during this week so that I can help steer the students in the right direction when it comes to their word work choice.  I will explain my word work ideas in a later post.  Here is our chart:

All five of these charts are located on the wall in the back of the room so the students can see a visual to remind them of the five different parts of the daily five and what they should be doing during each part.

I truly miss teaching reading, but wanted to share my resources with you all!

Here are a few resources:

• Daily 5 Posters
• Daily 5 Posters with Descriptions

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Repost - Reflecting on the Past Decade

Since I started a new blog, I wanted to bring this post over to this one because I always enjoy looking back at where I've started and where I'm heading.

This is something we need to keep in mind with our kids and students. Everyone is on their own path and everyone has a different starting point. So what looks like growth for one person or child may look completely different for another person or child. Celebrate the small journeys along the path and keep it moving forward.

Little did I know that 2020 was going to be one heck of a year, but it is still fun to go back and read what all has happened.

Jan Brett Author Study

November is one of my favorite months to teach because of Election Day, Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving. However, after Thanksgiving comes one of my favorite units to teach.  I absolutely love Jan Brett.  She is an amazing author and illustrator.  Each year I have taught I have done an author study using some of her books as a whole class project.

I take about two weeks to compete the author study and try to read one book each day.  After we have read five of the books I have my students write a summary for one of the books with their table group.  There is a graphic organizer in their packet to help organize their thoughts and then I give them chart paper and a marker to write their group's final draft.

After the summaries, I have the students do a character analysis.  They choose one character from one of the books and draw a picture of him/her in the middle.  They then write different things about the character around the outside of the picture.

The next big thing that I do is read The Mitten by Jan Brett and then read The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt and the students compare and contrast the two stories.  Once we have read both stories I allow the students to write their own mitten stories.  I cut out large mittens from construction paper and have the students decorate them as the cover to their stories.

The last thing we do is make a graph of our favorite Jan Brett books as a class.  I choose five of the books and have the students pick their favorite.

The mitten stories, summaries, and graph all go into the hallway as a display for the month of December. (I seem to have never taken a picture of this display so I will try to do that and update this post in the next few weeks.)

I have made a packet that goes with the author study that can be found by clicking here!

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

What's Next??

I have mentioned before that I am ready to take the leap and leave the classroom. I just feel that I am ready to do bigger and better things. But my issue is always, what't next?? What is it that I want to do next in my educational journey.

A couple of years ago I decided to get my Admin 1 certification. I thought maybe getting into administration is what I would like to do next. While I have had many people tell me that I would be good in administration, I am just not sure if deep down I want that to be the next step. 

After I finished my certification, I taught for another year in the classroom and then decided to apply for assistant principal. I made it into the second phase and then was told I wouldn't be getting to the next round where I would interview for a position. Deep down I was kind of happy because again I just wasn't sure this is what I wanted.

In the fall I was invited to attend an aspiring leader's program. This program is focusing on the role of assistant principal and has taught me a lot about not just administration, but how to be a good leader in general. It is also helping me realize that I am just not sure it is the next step for me.

One thing that I really enjoy when it comes to teaching is helping other teachers. I enjoy being able to share resources/thoughts, support ideas, and answer questions. I really struggle internally when I see a teacher who needs this extra support and I am not able to fully help or support them because I am still in the classroom. This is especially hard when it comes to new teachers. I was so fortunate that during my first few years of teaching I had a very supportive math resource teacher, reading resource teacher, and instructional coach to help get me through those years when we are just trying to stay afloat.

I know a lot of people say this, but we HAVE to find a way to support our teachers. Teaching is tough. I am in year 11 and I still feel like I am trying to figure things out. Now, we are throwing in this pandemic teaching. Some are 100% virtual, some are hybrid, and some are in the classroom trying to figure out how to teach with social distancing.

The more I think about it, I think my first step out of the classroom needs to be some type of teacher support role. Whether it is resource teacher, coach, mentor, whatever, I need to help my teachers. Because ultimately when you are helping the teachers, you are helping the kids and that is where my heart is.

My goal in 2021 is to make things happen. Somewhere out there my job is waiting for me, I just have to find it.

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Write Around the Room

I've seen many versions of these type of write the room activities, but I wanted one that I could customize to fit my kindergartners needs.

My version has 20 different sets, 10 months worth of words with clipart to match the different months. Each set has 12 word cards and a sheet with primary writing lines for your child/student to practice writing.

Here is a list of what my version includes:

• school vocabulary
• rhyming words
• number words
• opposites
• compound words
• color words
• feeling words
• position words
• zoo animals
• articles of clothing
• and 10 sets of sight words

The best part of this document is that you can make a copy and change all of the words to anything that you want!

Click here to get a copy of the presentation!

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Into the Unknown

As we enter 2021, we have made it almost halfway through the craziness of virtual kindergarten. In June I wrote a blog post about how I wasn't sure what kindergarten would look like for my then 5 year old.

We found out in August that she would be starting off 100% virtual. The school started kindergarten off with a gradual entry. The parents met with the teacher one day. Our daughter met with the teacher one day. Then they had a couple of days where they just had morning meetings. During the third week of school, they followed a full schedule.

The school created a schedule that they felt would work the best for these kinder babies. They have a morning meeting, phonics in one of three small groups (the other time is supposed to be independent time), math, a 2 hour break for lunch/recess, then small groups in the afternoon for science/social studies/health/reading. Lastly they have specials at the end of the day.

At first I loved this schedule. I thought it would be good for the kids to have extended breaks from the computer. However, as we have progressed through this year, I have discovered that these long breaks are HARD. Unfortunately, she has a break from 10:55am to 1:50pm because she is in the last group in the afternoon. I have two, hour-long classes that I teach during this break so it is hard for me to help her with independent work and she won't do it on their own.

Even with the struggle around the working independently, it has been AMAZING to watch this kid navigate this virtual learning like a pro. She absolutely loves being on the computer with her teacher. She loves to tell her "friends" on the Google Meet that they are her best friends, even though they haven't met. She has learned sight words, letter sounds, how to add/subtract, understand greater than and less than. She is starting to read. All of this has been accomplished while learning on a computer.

The things that these kids are accomplishing right now is nothing short of amazing. They are learning to navigate technology, programs, online assignments, etc. during a pandemic. All while dealing with who knows what at home. 

We continue to venture into the unknown as we begin 2021. Many counties are continuing virtual learning with no idea when or if we will return to the school building. Keeping positive thoughts. This may not always be easy, but these kids are resilient. 

Fractions of the Week

Fractions come and go throughout our pacing guide in our 5th grade curriculum, so I created this simple Google Slides presentation that I use every couple of weeks to keep fractions fresh in my students' brains.

You could choose to have students pick 2 fractions or you could pick the 2 fractions for them.

Each day of the week the students have a different task to complete with the 2 fractions. There are so many different ways you could use this. For example, you could assign it Monday and say that it is due Friday and the students could complete it on their own time. You could use it as a warm-up every day of the week.

This could also be changed to focus on whatever it is you are focusing on with fractions. For example, if you haven't taught adding and subtracting fractions yet, you could just customize it to fit what your students have learned.

The way that I have set mine up is the following:

Monday - model the 2 fractions

Tuesday - compare the 2 fractions

Wednesday - find 3 equivalent fractions for each one

Thursday - add the 2 fractions

Friday - subtract the 2 fractions

I have included some basic fraction strips that could be used, but if students pick their own fractions and use a different denominator they won't be able to use that virtual tool.

Click here to get your copy of the presentation!

https://sites.google.com/view/amberpotter/home 

Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730