Meet the Teacher

I've linked up with Falling Into First for this awesome "Meet the Teacher" Linky! 

Welcome to The Fourth Grade Fizz! My name is Stephanie and  I'm a 22 year old "sort of" first year teacher in 4th grade. I began teaching at my school January 2014, so this will be my first year starting out fresh with a class! I'm so excited to make it cute this year - there just wasn't time last year during my mid-year transition!

I'm a newlywed as of July 5, 2014. 

This summer has been SO exciting! My husband's unconditional support of my teaching career is amazing - being raised as a teacher's son had some good influence!

We've known each other since 4th grade!

My husband and I have two furry babies, Audrey and Fifi. They are such sweethearts!

Yes, they sleep a lot!

This summer, when I wasn't getting married, honeymooning, or moving, I started a TPT store, a facebook page and this blog! I've had a lot of fun with this - I get to plug in my creative outlet and still be productive!

 THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...

Reading * Stylish Mugs * Blogging * Exercising * Target * Sewing * Baking * Patterns * Bunting

 IF YOU WEREN'T A TEACHER, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT TO BE?

If I wasn't a teacher, I think I'd want to be in the medical field, maybe nursing? I'd want to do something where I'd be effecting peoples' lives in some way.

THREE LITTLE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOU.

Determined * Creative * Responsible

 

FINISH THE SENTENCE, "________,  SAID NO TEACHER EVER!!"

"I love spending my own money on school supplies!"

 

Q: IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY AND YOU CAN INVITE ANYONE {DEAD OR ALIVE} TO THE PARTY. WHO ARE YOU INVITING?

Jesse Williams - with my husband's permission :)

Q: IF SOMEONE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR LIFE, WHAT WOULD BE THE TITLE?

 Perfect Perfectionism

 Q:YOU GET TO PICK ONE SUPERPOWER. WHAT IS IT?

Predicting the future!

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE OR SAYING?

"Be the change you want to see in the world"
 

Q: IF YOU HAD TO SING ONE SONG ON AMERICAN IDOL, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 

 All of Me by John Legend

 

 Q: ARE YOU A MORNING PERSON OR A NIGHT OWL?

Depends - this summer I've been quite the night owl, but during the school year I prefer to get up and into school early!

 

Q: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RESOURCE THAT YOU'VE CREATED IN YOUR TPT SHOP?

I love my Grades 3-5 Question Stems. I can't want to use them during our novel readings and informational text readings for quick reading response questions!

Join in!

Makeover!

I've made an upgrade and I LOVE IT! Do you?

In honor of this new makeover, I'm making my Classroom Rules set FREE until Monday! 

Please share and continue following me! 

Huge shoutout to Dream Like Magic for an adorable and affordable blog design!

Clothespin Makeover

Clothespins, oh clothespins,big, small, extra small, a teachers prized possession.

In my classroom clothespins are used for many things - but never clothing! I use them on behavior charts, writing process charts, hanging student work and organizing materials.

I've bought a lot of clothespins.

In my quick transition during the middle of the year last year, I simply wrote my student's names on the clothespin, good idea at the time. However, as I was preparing for this  school year, I realized I CAN'T USE THESE! Before running out and buying more, I let my creative mind do some work - and here's what I came up with:

So simple to do, all you need is:

- ribbion, skinny ribbon

-double sided tape

-student names or numbers

Put a strip of double sided tape on the clothespin, lay your ribbon down. Put a small piece of double sided tape on the laminated number and there you go!

I decided to avoid running into the same "I CAN'T USE THESE" problem next year, I am using numbers for my behavior chart - which also helps to keep it more anonymous. I'm also using these same numbers for the writing process chart  this year!

Happy crafting!

Until next time,

Starting Out

It has been quite awhile since I have posted. Over the past few weeks I have to admit, my frustration has been growing thinking about how to get more traffic on my blog, Facebook page and Teacher's Pay Teacher's store. Is it worth investing in a super creative blog design that will be adorable none the less, but will it improve my traffic?!

Anyone listening?? I need your advice!

Is it worth investing in a blog design?

How did you begin your blogging experience? Did it start slow and then grow?

What influenced the growth and success of your blog, page, or store?



In other news, I've been working hard creating resources and organizational items for my classroom that fit my new theme: bright and bunting. I absolutely love what I have created and cannot wait to see it function in my classroom.

One product I am extremely proud of and anxious to use is my Question Stems for Grades 3-5. These question stems literally provide standard based questions for literature and informational text right at your finger tips, making lesson planning and in the moment questioning more manageable!

Check them out here:

While you're there, check out some other new products:

Check in later this week for a post on exactly how I plan to use my behavior clip chart in my classroom daily and how it facilitates students being accountable for their behavior.

Until next time,

Mrs. R

The First Days of School

This year will be my first year starting off in the fall with a group of students - all girls in my case. Last school year I began teaching in January, midway through the year when procedures and routines were already ingrained in student's brains, materials were already purchased. I found myself really teaching in survival mode for a long time, but a month or so into I found myself getting more comfortable and most importantly, seeing student growth after a transition from one teacher to another. While I grew during these first six months, I know I have a LONG way to go to become the professional educator that I strive to be.

So, I am SUPER excited to start the year off with a blank slate this year, but also a little anxious knowing how important the first few week are. To ease this process, a teacher coach of mine suggested that I read How to be an Effective Teacher: The First Days of School. While the book is a little outdated in some aspects, it has SO MUCH great advice for beginning the year on the right foot. I finally finished the book and have started the expanding list of back to school projects and procedures for my successful classroom.

While I hope many of you choose to read this book - even if you're not a newbie like me, I decided to zoom in on what I thought was a few of the most important and most applicable details.

So first,

Begin with positive expectations, know your management strategy and make sure it's a good one and know how to design lessons that are aimed at student mastery.

The book is broken up into these three sections, so from this point on I will break up my ideas in these sections as well.

Positive Expectations
SMILE! Greet your students, authentically! Expect great things from them - all students can achieve something great, but every student's achievement might be a little different.

Management
Manage your classroom, not discipline your classroom.
When you manage your classroom well you foster engagement and cooperative and establish a productive environment.

How do you know when your classroom is managed well?
Your students are involved. 
Your students know you expectations.
Your students waste little time.
Your classroom climate is work oriented, relaxed and patient.
Your classroom is predictable and task oriented.

One of the biggest focuses of this chapter was making sure that students get to work immediately, even on the first day of school. Have the first assignment posted, give efficient directions and be consistent with this routine. They also differentiate that this assignment on the first day of school should not address academic points just yet - routines, procedures and getting comfortable in a new space in the focus of the first week or two of school. So keep it light.

This sections goes into great detail about how to teach procedures, rules and other essentials parts of the day.

Teaching for Mastery

Always begin by asking "What should students accomplish and achieve?" - This question should be asked during lesson planning, not the start of the lesson. Effective teachers NEVER ask "what am I going to cover today?" NO NO NO!

Wong & Wong point out an important phrase that my principal often encourages his teachers with "Teach with the end in mind!"

WORK TOWARDS ACHIEVEMENT.

All of the the above really helps you create strong objectives - that your students should be told!

This sections goes on to explain the purpose of tests, how to create tests. The most important insight from this section: Test should match the objectives from your lessons. Use those objectives from your lesson planning when creating assessments.

One of the my favorite topics in this section was Cooperative Learning which the Common Core really pushes towards. I used cooperative learning a lot during the previous year of teaching and this section addressed a few of the issues I often had.

What about students who won't work? Give each student a job! And only have the amount of students in a group as the amount of job. An idea that I came up with while reading this section was to give each student a job description in the form of a necklace made with yarn or a wrist band.

Another important point that Wong & Wong make is to find a way to hold individuals and groups accountable for consistently strong cooperative work. The way you do that is up you, my first thought is some sort of reflective exit ticket for individual and a group discussion with ticket for group reflection.

BEING A PROFESSIONAL EDUCATOR

What stands between a GREAT YEAR and an AWFUL YEAR?? A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E, stay positive and choose mentors who will help build you up, not tear you down.

Wong & Wong describe the profession educator as someone who is...
...always learning and growing
...works cooperatively and learns from others
...invests in their profession


As you think about the upcoming school year keep a few things in mind.
1. Take some risks - educated risks.
2. You know that Teacher of the Year at your school - learn from them! They received that honorable award for a reason.
3. Try a few new things.

Stay positive & work with the end in mind.


To grab your copy of The First Days of School head on over to Amazon.

Until next time,
Mrs. R

Multiplicative Comparison Guru

I've been filling in my post-wedding/honeymoon/moving time quite nicely and have TWO new math products posted on my store! Both products are CCSS aligned to 4.OA.A.1 tackling multiplicative comparison. I have a mini-unit posted that really scaffolds students from 4.OA.A.1 TO 4.OA.A.2 where students should be finding the unknown in word problems. Then, I created task cards to use in a center while teaching the mini unit. This standard is one of the first in my Pacing Guide, so I'm excited to see how it goes the first few weeks of school!

Take a second and check it out - leave some feedback :)

Until next time,

Mrs. R

Married!

We tied the knot! My husband and I had a beautiful wedding July 5th. With lots of pre-wedding crafting and help from family, everything was beautiful. Here's a sneak peak of some wedding photos - I can hardly contain myself waiting for the rest!

We spent a few days in Charleston, SC enjoying delicious Southern cooking and kayaking with dolphins. And of course, because teachers are the best people on the planet, our kayak guide ended up being a high school teacher. I'd say kayak guiding would be a pretty cool summer job! 

This week...

I plan to start making some math task card resources to use in my centers - look for them later this week! 

Give my TPT store a follow!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Fourth-Grade-Fizz

Until next time, 

Mrs. R