Mission and Vision

Are you officially "back to school" with students yet? We are! My brain is whirling after the first three days of school. My students this year are sweet, adorable, eager to learn and eager to please. The excitement for the upcoming year on their part (and mine) is so evident already. Like y'all, we spend tons of time during the first days, especially, in community building to set the tone for the year. Last year I was inspired to introduce and create mission and vision statements with my class to add additional "connective tissue" between our classroom rules / expectations and our learning. WOW! So powerful!!!

I began our Morning Meeting by introducing the concept of "mission" to my fourth graders. "Do you know a mission is?" (blank stares...) "Have you ever heard the phrase, I'm on a mission?" 

[Faces instantly light up..."Oh yeah! Like we want to do something!"]

"Yes! Well, we are on a mission this year. To do what?" 

[Super excited students..."To learn!"] 

"You got it! So how should we put that into a statement that we can use all year?"

[Serious thinking faces on...one peanut raises her hand and tentatively yet eagerly says, "Everyone learns?"]

"Absolutely! Now...how often?"

[Another kiddo..."Every month?"]

LOL! "You mean you only want to learn every month?"

[Giggles...a third student..."Every week?"]

LOL again! "You mean you only want to learn every week?"

[Almost everyone..."Every day!!!"]

"NOW you're talking! How about...Everyone learns everyday?"

["Yeah!!!!!]

"Great! Now our vision statement. A vision is something that inspires us to achieve our goal. So I want you to close your eyes and picture how you see everyone working together this year to make everyone learn. What do you see? What kind of qualities do we have that allow us to learn and work together so that everyone is comfortable?"

And I'll end our dialogue there. I'm sure you can already hear them suggesting different traits and qualities, and of course a picture of their completed statements was at the top of the post. The only contribution I made to that list was the word "critical." I was careful to explain that I didn't mean we would focus on the negative connotation of that word, or look for faults in one another. I explained that critical thinkers are students who think through their answers, opinions, or comments carefully, and who can state their opinion and back it up with evidence. I explained that this might mean that we need to learn to disagree respectfully during class discussions. You all know that Common Core is rich in evidence-based learning, critical thinking, and supporting students to explain their thinking both orally and through writing. Introducing this mission and vision last year and including that word CRITICAL allowed me to begin the year with the immediate expectation that my students needed to always know the "why" behind their thinking. 

0

Student Checklists

Every year for as long as I can remember I have created some type of student checklist that I can grab to quickly check in anything I'm collecting, pass to specialists or an event coordinator, keep with my id badge for quick access during a fire drill, etc. You get the idea...a basic check sheet with everyone's name that you can use for anything and everything under the sun. These things are a total must have in every classroom!!!

Over the years I've created several variations of the same basic table, but this year I feel I've totally nailed it on the head. Ahhhhhhh.....perfection. Here it is...

So what makes this one that much better than before? Well...one day as I was perusing my way around Pinterest I came across this teacher's blog showing something very similar, only after cutting her lists apart she had affixed them into a narrow spiral bound book. LOVE the binding idea, but totally not going to cut them apart by hand and glue individually into a book. #1...I don't have time, and #2...writing on paper that has been glued down drives me crazy...paper needs to be crisp, not wrinkled. (Yes, I'm picky!)

So I changed my table to include 4 per page and aligned them perfectly for back to back printing. I also used grey text and lines in the interior to reduce the shadow of the ink from the backside appearing too much on the other side detracting from the writing space. I just ran a test copy and absolutely love how simple and clean they look. 

So how will I bind? Well, after I use my paper cutter (no scissors for this lady!) to cut the lists apart (just make one cut halfway between each list...no need to cut on every side), I plan to grab one of my brightly colored pieces of cardstock, cut front and back covers of the same dimensions as the checklists, and bind everything together on our book binder at school. No more random piles of checklists to keep track of!!!

Oh, and the best part? I made a blank one for you and put it as a freebie in my TPT store. Enjoy!!!

Update...here's my process for turning these into a bound book. Cut, stack, bind, DONE!

0

True Confessions from the First Day of Back to School

So today was my first day back for the second time at my "new" school, and I find myself so unbelievably excited, humbled, grateful, and blessed to be part of such an amazing school family. Last night for the first time in I don't know how many years I felt absolutely no desire to prolong summer and delay the start of school. Maybe that makes me a crazy person instead of a normal teacher, but I am totally amazed at how at peace I am about heading into another school year (maybe even more unbelievable considering that not only am I going back to work, but my one and only baby is beginning kindergarten this year).

Now you're probably thinking...big deal, so she's ready so go back, so what? Well, if you don't know me personally, then you don't know that a year ago I resigned from a district, school, and team that I loved and accepted a new position in the district that I lived in to work closer to home. Was making the change easy? No. Was it the right decision? Absolutely! There were many times last year when I felt like a brand new teacher and questioned my decision to move, but the bottom line was that I needed a change. WOW, did I need a change, and I can see that so clearly now. Moving grade levels and districts forced me to reevaluate all the trainings and resources I've had, the decisions I make as a teacher on a daily basis, and the techniques I choose to manage my classroom and instruction. I've relearned to trust my professional judgement and have awakened an energy and creativity in myself that I haven't felt in years.

So this morning heading back to my "new" school I thought back to a year ago when I first joined this staff, to a year spent feeling slightly displaced, and ahead to the upcoming year. Then during our initial staff meeting I found myself looking around at all the faces of colleagues who I now call friends, who I can't wait to continue to get to know better both personally and professionally, and who I admire as an amazing group of individuals who want to do what's best for our kids, bottom line. And what amazes me most is that I feel so assured that this is without a doubt where I am intended to be right now.

0

Back to school time!

Well...I haven't quit, I haven't taken a two month vacation overseas, and I haven't died, but I have been a teacher on summer break who needed to clean out her entire house after 10 months of living and breathing fourth grade. My summer to-do list is far from complete, but I am SO excited to be prepping my classroom for another fantastic year and to welcome a new batch of kiddos. I've been in and out of my classroom since mid-July rearranging furniture and cleaning out filing cabinets (yikes! that is a seemingly endless job...), painting a fabulous rocking chair I nabbed at a garage sale robin's egg teal, and sewing curtains for my windows. Can you say classroom makeover? Have I remembered to take pictures of any of those things? Nope! (I promise I'll try to remember to take a few this week...)

But I do have a new goodie to share with you from over at my TPT store! My hubby and son are off fishing, and I'm enjoying a few quiet minutes to myself to recreate the student info form I always ask parents to complete at our fall Back to School Night. My goal? Condense two different forms into one to minimize the number of forms parents need to complete, and create a form that can be copied on cardstock and cut to a half-sheet. No more messy stack of forms! These little guys will be three-hole punched and stored neatly in my sweet little (half-sheet sized) binder!

Grab your FREE copy just until school begins! 

0