Blog Hoppin Teacher Week - Who, Where, Why, When, What! FINALLY

Happy Friday! My Five for Friday is me catching up with Teacher Week 2014! Enjoy!!

I am determine to write this blog and link up with Blog Hoppin'! Monday was my first day of school and by the time I got home from working our After School Care program (that is open until 6), I was way too tired to think. Tuesday I was up bright eyed and bushy tailed for a morning of playing bloggy catch up and my teacher computer iPhoto was out of date and I had to wait for the county to push out the update! Wednesday I get to school and because of the horrible thunderstorms and lightening our network was down and I could not get online and getting home close to 7:00 every night there was no way this blog would make any since! Then yesterday was our Kindergarten Parent Orientation and after getting Finally, I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for their Teacher Week blog link up! I cannot wait to meet so many new bloggers and touch base with old friends!

Who (or as we say in Kindergarten - All About Me!)

My name is Melissa Spriggs, this is my 10th year teaching! I taught a year of Pre-K and 9 years of Kindergarten. This is also my 7th year as the site manager of our After School Childcare program.

I have been married for the past 3 years to the most wonderful husband EVER - Avery! He is so kind and understand of my crazy teacher brain. One of the latest examples of how amazing he is happened just the other week. I flew to Washington DC for a bachelorette party for one of my dearest friends. Only one week before school starts and I gave up a precious weekend - totally worth it but still I was freaking out. I flew in to Fort Walton, Fl (2 hours from home) at 10:00 Sunday night and spent the night in Pensacola at my BFF's house (1 hour away). Monday morning I got up around 4:00, went home to grab my school bag and came straight to work for our First Day Back meeting as teachers. Needless to say I was exhausted! Avery had placed my bag in the garage as not to disturb our three fur babies. To my surprise, he had cleaned out the ENTIRE garage - something that had been on my list all summer. When I got to school, he had sanded, painted and delivered 3 bookshelves to my room, and when I got home, the entire house was clean! So yeah, I have the best husband EVER!!!!

Avery and I celebrating our 3rd year anniversary first with dinner at our my FAVORITE restaurant - Felix's and then in New Orleans! It was his first time eating at Cafe du Monde and wasn't quite sure how to eat the beignet and not be covered in powdered sugar! (In case you were wondering... 

Beignet 1 - Avery 0!)

I aslo have the cutest nieces in the world! 

(Just in case you missed my obnoxious many posts about them this summer!)

And I have the sweetest fur babies! Bear (15 yo Chihuahua) Lucy (12 yo Rat Terrier - we think) and Newman (7 yo Chihuahua).

My friends are my rock! I love them like sisters. In fact, Amanda and I (top right pic, on the right side with the precious baby) have been friends since we were 9 and are parents treat us like sisters!

My non teacher friends that love me and my crazy teacher brain!

My teacher friends that share my crazy teacher brain!

I love going to the beach! I love taking theses sweet girls even more!!

 I love Darius Rucker!!! My sweet hubs got me tickets for my birthday last year!!!

I love frogs! I like these cute ones as well as real ones!

Where I teach:

Welcome to my home away from home!

 Our school wide theme is "DES is going Global". Each grade level picked a continent as its theme and Kindergarten is Africa. Myself and the other three teachers close to me decided to make a jungle mural!

 Here is my wall with (what else) TREE FROGS!

View from my door. I have two bulletin boards that are empty and waiting for reading and writing anchor charts.

I have 5 tables, 4 to a table.

 We use community supplies. This is my first year with the name plate/pencil holders and so far so good!

 Student paper trays for organizing finish work and notes home. Their folders go here in the morning after I check them. In the afternoon the students put anything in their tray in the folder to take home.

 Calendar and STEM wall. Along with empty boards to fill with anchor charts!

I love this book shelf. My AMAZING hubby and I sanded and painted it last year. This holds my CDs and working with words center.

My Mess!
This is by far the messiest place in my room. I like to call it organized chaos!

Why I teach Kindergarten:

To be honest, I NEVER wanted to teach Kindergarten. I thought they were babies and I did not want to spend my time wiping noses and tying shoes. God put me here just for that reason and 10 years later I love it! I have learned a lot about patience and tolerance. I still don't wipe noses or tie shoes but I do actually enjoy teaching them how and seeing their confidence soar with each new skill they learn! I love seeing the progress they make during the year. I love when parents say, "How did you get them to do that?". I have learned that these "babies" can be as independent as you let them and teach them. They can learn to do absolutely ANYTHING I teach them. I love proving other educators, who have not experience Kindergarten, wrong they say "kindergarteners can't __"!!!!
YES THEY CAN!

When I am teaching - My Scope and Sequence!

So i have seen some amazing and extremely cute scope and sequences and now I am obsessed with making mine cuter in the future but for now, this is my no frills  tentative scope and sequence. Our system did not adopt a new reading series this year and is moving toward Project Based Learning. With that we are starting collaborative planning and will be unpacking and mapping the common core ELA standards. 

(Click Frog for File)

What I Like to Teach:

This one was hard for me! It is also the reason I went into elementary education. I have a hard time picking just one. I love teaching reading, I love literature, I really love math (especially now that it is all hands on)! But if I had to pick just one, I would pick Science!!! Since becoming AMSTI (Alabama Math Science Technology Initiative) I have fallen in love all over again with science. It was my favorite subject in elementary school and it is my now my favorite to teach. With the science kits we get, everything is so hands on. In fact, next week we begin our weather kit and I cannot wait. Here are just a few pictures from last year of us being scientist!

Now HOP on over to Blog Hoppin' and check out all the amazing teachers and Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

Catching up with Teacher Week '13 Teacher Tips!

Teacher Tips!

I cannot believe I have caught up with the Teacher Week posts AND school starts tomorrow. It feels like summer just started and now we are back to work. Here are a few tips that have helped me over the past 10 years.

1. SMILE! It's hard to get too upset if you have a smile on your face. The more you smile, the more the people around you smile.

2. Fake it ~ well sort of! If something doesn't go the way you planned, keep going. No one will know but you!

3. Make notes! What works & what doesn't. Did something work really well? Write down in as much detail as possible what you told the kids. I like to make notes on my lessons plan page. That way I can add or take away from my plans the next year.

4. Be a life long learner! Learn new things for you and your kids. This year I am starting this blog and trying Remind 101. I also complete AMSTI training and will be teaching Math and Science in a new way.

5. Embrace change! We cannot teach our children the way we were taught. The job choices of the future are not the same as the job choices we had. In our school system we are implementing Digital Renaissance ~ computers and devices for all students. The city of Daphne is partnering up with the five Daphne School and SEEDS (Supporting Education Enrichment in Daphne Schools) to create a plan for Growing SEEDS: A New Vision for Every Daphne Graduate -- Learn more! http://conta.cc/114IeZn.

I hope we all have a great year! Share some of your tips for a great year in the comments section!!

Catching up with Teacher Week '13 Taming The Wild!

 Taming the Wild! Classroom Management

(I just figured out how to make a collage!!)

Left - Super Improvers Chart, Top Right - Five WBT Rules, Bottom Right - Froggy Power Chart 

I am so excited about my classroom management this year! (kind of weird I know!) This year I am using Whole Brain Teaching (WBT) techniques. I began implementing some of the methods last year and saw unbelievable results! This year I am trying to really implement the techniques fully. With Whole Brain Teaching there are five classroom rules 1. Follow Directions Quickly 2. Raise Your hand for Permission to Speak 3. Raise Your Hand for Permission to Leave Your Seat 4. Make Smart Choices 5. Keep Your Dear Teacher Happy. As simple as these rules are, they are also effective. WBT also encompasses the way lessons are taught. There is a lot of movement and talking. We take "Brain Breaks" where we all get up and dance. I had very little behavior problems last year when I used these strategies.  There is also a super improvers chart that I will be using this year. Any time a child shows any type of improvement they earn a sticker on their 10 frame chart. Once they fill the chart, they move up a level on the super improvers wall. I also use the WBT scoreboard. Please check out the WBT website and YouTube channel for more information.

I also have a "Power Chart". Each day every student starts on green/full power. They can move their pins up to super power and maximum froggy power for making good choices. They move their pins down to low power and no power for making bad choices. Pins can move up and down all day long.

Here is some of the information I give to my parents...
Our Classroom Rules

Follow Directions Quickly Follow all directions quickly, the first time they are given. We want to utilize all our time learning. Raise Your Hand to Speak Raise your hand to speak so that everyone has a chance to speak and listen to each other. Raise Your Hand to Leave Your Seat Raise you hand to leave your seat while we are learning. There will be plenty of “planned” and “free” times to move.

Make Smart Choices Do your Best. “It’s ok to not know, it’s not ok to not try.” Be respectful and kind. Be in charge of yourself! Keep Your Dear Teacher Happy The only thing that makes me happy is for every student to learn. If you are hindering learning, I am not happy.

“Power-Up” with Good Behavior Classroom expectations are handled with a “Power-Up” behavior scale. On the first day of school I will have a discussion with our class about how we all make our own choices about behavior.  Some of our choices are good and give us power and some of our choices are poor and can decrease our power. Here is how the system is set up: Each day your child will start on “Full Power” (green).  If your child is making good choices he/she will move up the power scale to “Super Power” (gold). If he/she continues to make good choices he/she will move up to “Maximum Froggy Power” (purple). However, if your child makes poor choices, he/she will move down the scale from “Full Power” to “Low Power” (yellow) and if the poor choices continue he/she will be moved to “No Power” (red). Your child may move up or down the scale depending on the choices he/she makes all day. The goal for your child should be to end at “Full Power” or above each day.

Rewards/Consequences: Maximum FROGGY Power (purple) – EXCELLENT BEHAVIOR! The student will retrieve a treat from the treat bucket. Super Power (gold) – SUPER BEHAVIOR! Full Power (green) – Good Behavior! Low Power (yellow): WARNING! WARNING! – Rule Broken (recharge): The student will loose 5 minutes of recess and conduct sheet will be marked. No Power (red): Empty – Rule Broken (x2) (reflect/recharge): The student will loose all of recess time. This time will be spent reflecting on the poor choice that was made and what the good choice would have been and conduct sheet will be marked. I will track their behavior daily, and then record it on a behavior chart. This chart will be in the FROG folder. Please initial the box for that day so that I know you have seen your child’s chart.

WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING!!!

As the year progresses, you may notice that our classroom doesn’t run like other classrooms. We will be learning through Whole Brain Teaching, a research based system that utilizes all areas of the brain, keeps children engaged throughout their lessons, and helps them retain much more information than the standard lecture-discussion model.

Whole Brain Teaching is a highly interactive form of instruction that delivers information to students in short “chunks.” Kids then teach what they have just learned to their partners, using hand-gestures to help remember specific vocabulary.  While students teach each other, the teacher walks around the room to discover who understands the lesson and who needs more instruction.

Research shows that children retain more information when they have an opportunity to put it into their own words and use gestures to emphasize key instructional units …plus, it’s amazingly fun! For more information about Whole Brain Teaching please contact me, schedule a classroom visit and/or go to www.WholeBrainTeaching.com.

What are some of your methods for Taming the Wild?