For the most part, my classroom runs smoothly. When working with students, I’m flexible, accommodating, and choose my battles carefully. But, there are some things that absolutely drive me up the wall.

This year I’m going to use these teacher pet peeves as part of my back to school procedural lessons. I’ll keep it light and silly, but I do want to put them out there to help students adapt to the culture of the classroom. (BTW-This chart is in my house, not my classroom).

My Top 10 Teacher Pet Peeves

In this post, I’ve shared my top ten teacher pet peeves. But, I don’t want to complain for the sake of complaining. I’ve also shared strategies I’ve used to reduce these issues.

1. Asking a question that has literally JUST been answered

This is my absolutely my top, and it’s the one that occurs most frequently. I totally and completely understand that some students struggle to pay attention. I know I do! But, I can give a direction five times, include written directions and examples on an assignment, and display directions on my classroom screen, and I can almost guarantee that someone will ask, “What do we do…”.

I want to clarify that this is not talking about students who are confused with content or even organizing thoughts. I can work with that all day. That’s completely different from having students expect to be individually told the directions.

I’m a strong advocate for teaching students how to be independent and self-reliant, so I teach students what to do when they are stuck, confused, or generally have no idea what to do. I don’t expect them to walk in the door with those skills, so I will make that part of my instruction.

You can see this blog post for how to teach students these skills.

2. Not Taking Responsibility

Children, and some adults, have a way of wanting to pass the blame. I want my students to learn to take responsibility for their actions.

If I catch a student doing something wrong, I do not want to hear, “But he did it first” or “But she told me to”. I teach students that’s not okay in my classroom. If you did it, own up to it.

I also don’t let my students place the blame on their parents. Far too often children try to make their parents responsible for things that are completely age-appropriate, “But my mom didn’t remind me to do my homework” or “My dad didn’t check my backpack”.

Of course, some things are outside students’ control, and I’m not talking about those things. I’ll be the first to admit that I have thrown away my own children’s homework, so I get that it happens. These are things that are within their control.

3. Not Giving Best Effort

There are few things more frustrating than seeing a student not reach their potential due to them choosing to not put much effort into their work. Apathetic students are typically not self-motivated and often cause disruptions to those that are trying to learn.

There can be various reasons why a student may not be putting in the effort they are capable of. Some of the most common reasons include:

• Some students don’t try because they feel as if they can’t succeed, so there is no point in trying.
• Some students don’t try because they are afraid of trying and failing. Many time perfectionist don’t want to put in effort if they feel like they can’t do something perfectly.
• Students may not see the value or relevance of the work they are being asked to do.
• Students may have personal issues or challenges outside of school, which commonly impact school performance and behavior.

I try to understand the reasons behind low effort and work with students to address any underlying issues. When I understand the bigger picture, I can provide more support for the student.

I do believe some students give minimal effort because they just want to be finished. Somehow they have developed a mindset of I can play as soon as I complete my work, so let me rush through it as fast as I can. It takes me months to undo this mindset.

4. Exclusiveness

We all know that being excluded hurts. It breaks my heart to hear, “You can’t join” or “Don’t sit here.” or “I’m saving this seat” or “I already have a partner”.  It also hurts to see children hurt listening to classmates talk about sleepovers and birthday parties they weren’t invited to.

I get it. Students are not always going to be friends with all of their classmates. Sometimes they can’t invite everyone to a party. It’s reality, but I can’t allow intentional exclusiveness in the classroom.

At the beginning of the year I try to closely observe the social dynamics of my new class. It’s easy to forget that these are young children who are still learning to navigate complex social structures. It’s why I always start the year with this resource that helps teach social skills. For most students, an awareness is all that it takes.

It’s also why I love these partner cards! I bought the cards last year, and my students LOVED them. My students were able to articulate how stressful it was when they needed to find a partner in class. This took the stress out of the equation.

5. Arguing and Back Talk

I do not argue with students or allow back talk. We are all going to have students who try to test their limits and push our buttons with arguing and back talk. When that happens, do not engage.

Some students are truly not aware of how argumentative they sound. You may need to teach appropriate responses for different situations. For example, if I tell Joey to close the game on his Chromebook, how should he respond?  You can even make a chart of responses.

When a student argues or back talks, don’t take the bait and argue back or show frustration. Stay calm and to the point. Then, move on. In the moment, it’s typically not a good time to have a conversation about the issue.

When the child’s emotions are regulated, we may have a conversation about the situation. That’s when we can begin to get to the root of the problem and alternative responses. You can teach a lot during these informal chats-tone, body language, timing, etc.

6. Whining and Baby Talk

Baby talk is like nails on a chalkboard. To be clear, I am not talking about speech issues. Apparently this is a trend that has extended as far as high school. I also don’t put up with a lot of whining. I’m not talking about isolated incidents. I’m talking about students who moan about having to do work-every single day. When this happens I usually give “the look” and have students try again.

We do have conversations about asking “why”. It’s often a valid question, but I do teach students when and how to appropriately ask why. I also explain that there could be emergency situations where I need directions followed immediately and don’t have time to explain why. These conversations are powerful, because it helps students to see things from a bigger picture or a different angle.

7. Attention Seekers

Have you ever taught a student who needed to be the absolute center of attention, at all times? It’s exhausting and unfair to the other students. I always read The Invisible Boy to illustrate how this makes others feel.

Some students need more attention that others, and I want to provide them with what they need. However, once again, students have to be taught how to appropriately seek attention and what behaviors to avoid. Many times a student so desperately seeks attention, it results in them pushing away their classmates, which exacerbates the problem.

8. Helplessness

Academic learned helplessness isn’t new. I wouldn’t even call it a teacher pet peeve. It’s more of a concern, because it impairs students academically. In fact, I wrote a blog post that focuses on learned helplessness, which you can find here. The post discusses the importance of productive struggle and how to help students learn to utilize the resources in place for the extra help they may need.

What I’m seeing now is learned helplessness with executive functioning. To be clear, this is different from students who can’t or aren’t equipped to perform these executive functioning actions (yet). This is more along the line of not getting a new pencil if your current pencil breaks, not picking up a jacket after recess after being reminded, not being able to log in to a website (that has the username and password stored), not attempting to clean up a mess, not turning in a field trip form, etc.

Learned helplessness develops when children perceive that they can’t do thing on their own. Eventually, they determine it’s easier if someone else just does it all for them, which decreases their independence. This is why it’s critical that children learn to complete tasks on their own. I recently read an article by Ryan Wexelblatt who stated:

Kids who are diagnosed with ADHD and related challenges need to be taught concrete strategies to help them develop their executive functioning and reach a level of age-expected independence. They need repetition, consistency and most importantly, they need the ability to learn from their mistakes.

Regardless of your good intentions, if you are acting as your child’s executive functioning and not placing any demands on your child aside from academic performance you are inhibiting his or her ability to develop their executive function skills. If you can provide your child with “kid-friendly” strategies to help them improve their executive functioning and move towards independence you are preparing them for future success. I use the term “kid-friendly” because I find many executive functioning strategies are not practical because they are not designed for this generation of visual learners.

My goal for this school year is to find or develop more kid friendly strategies that can be used in the classroom.

9. Interruptions

Why is it so hard to recover after an interruption? I can be right in the middle of a great lesson. The momentum is going, and everyone’s engaged, and the smallest interruption can derail everything. After over 20 years in the classroom, I realize it can’t be avoided. We’re in the real world, and it comes with the territory. However, there are things we can do to minimize interruptions.

At the beginning of the year, I explicitly teach procedures on potential interruptions such as when to sharpen pencils or leaving for the restroom. We also discuss what types issues justify interrupting small group instruction. You need a sip of water-no. You are missing cards required for a sort-yes.

I never want to be a teacher who squelches a child’s spirit, so I’m careful with how I react to questions and comments not relevant to the lesson. How I respond typically depends of the child and the situation. Sometimes I may say something like, “Wow! That’s awesome! I can’t wait for you to tell me about it at recess.” Sometimes I may simply say, “Great, let’s save that for later so we an keep on track.”

Some interruptions are unavoidable. We’re required to keep our doors locked and closed, so I cannot count the number of knocks I hear in the day. It’s unreal.

10. Wastefulness

I pay for a lot of what we use in the classroom, and it really bothers me to see students wasting resources for no good reason. They may pull off the eraser on their pencils, break pencils, cut up erasers, stab erasers with their pencils (my son insists that this is fun), or pour glue on their hands. There can also be careless behaviors such as not putting lids back on glue sticks or the caps on markers that cause waste. Some students go through boxes of crayons like candy or lose their earbuds daily.

This is an issue that I am conflicted on how to best solve, because I see it from different perspectives. I know I can get these supplies donated, and I could just continuously distribute them as needed. But, I worry that I’m enabling wasteful behavior. On the other hand, I never want a student’s academics to suffer, so I don’t want to ever keep them from an activity because of a supply issue. Right now, I handle this on a case by case basis.

Student Pet Peeves

I’m all for fairness, so while teachers may have their teacher pet peeves, students have their own pet peeves! As a part of my open house activity, I’m going to have students one of their pet peeves.

I’m not certain what I’ll discover, but I anticipate a few things.  I’m anxious to see how accurate these predictions are.

• Homework
• When one student gets in trouble for something but another student does it and doesn’t get in trouble
• Being late to lunch or recess
• Whole class consequences
• People going through their things

Isolated none of the above would be too bad. It’s the sheer volume and frequency of all of the above on a daily basis. On top of actually teaching that makes them so frustrating. Hopefully, some of these tips will reduce your frustrations. I’ve also starting a blog series that takes a deep look at solutions to each of these issues. The first one is ready to go!

The post Teacher Pet Peeves appeared first on Ashleigh's Education Journey.

If yes, keep reading.

You’ll see that this article is full of contradictions. That’s appropriate, because teaching is full of contradictions. Differentiate for your students, but they will all be taking the same standardized test. Be sure to practice self-care, but don’t take any time off of work or try to leave early. Meet your students where they are, but stick to the curriculum map. You get the point. You’ll soon see that finding and maintaining a balance is your key to success.

I write this as a former first year teacher, a new(er) teacher who changed grade levels, and a veteran teacher who changed schools. Over the years, I’ve seen many new teachers, some who have flourished and some who have floundered. I’ve taken my own experiences and observations to share my best (and brutally honest) advice for new teachers.

Be Yourself but Be Open to Change

It is okay to be different. You don’t have to be like everyone else or do things like everyone else. After 14 years in one school, I transferred to a different school, and I felt like I did not fit into the existing mold. My personal style was just…different.

Guess what? It was okay. You don’t have to be just like everyone else. That’s what keeps life interesting. My coworkers became some of my most influential role models and biggest supporters.

That being said, don’t expect everyone to do things your way either. Just as students won’t all fit into the same mold, neither will teachers. And always remember, it doesn’t make one teacher better than the other.

While it’s okay to be different, keep an open mind and be willing to change and grow. The best teachers are always looking for ways to improve. You may be surprised to see how much you can learn from your coworkers.

Avoid Negativity but Be Able to Listen

Try to surround yourself with positive coworkers. Negativity will suck you in and drown your enthusiasm and optimism. If you find yourself in a complaint or gossip session, think of something “pressing” you need to do and remove yourself. Do not engage.

However, there’s a difference between toxic negativity and venting. At some point, you will likely vent to a coworker and a coworker will vent to you. Be ready to listen and to discern whether you need to simply listen, offer encouragement, or work together to find solutions. Always keep what was said in confidence.

Find a way to laugh-many times it’s either laugh or cry. Remember that some things are outside of your control. Try not to dwell on those things and focus on the things you can control.

School Procedures Before Classroom Procedures

Every organization has its own culture and way of doing things. I think of those as the unstated rules, procedures, or expectations, and it’s important to learn about these procedures before you plan your own. There are few things more annoying that having to completely redo your plans or recreate what you’ve made due to policies you weren’t aware of. For instance, you have your whole morning routine ready, but then on the first day of school you learn that students take their breakfast to the classroom to eat, which changes everything.

Ideally, every school will provide new teachers with this information, but that’s not always the case. You may need to reach out to your administration, coach, or a coworker for this. It may seem trivial right now, but this is the type of thing that will exhaust you! Here are things to consider:

• Arrival Procedures
• Dismissal Procedures
• Transportation Changes
• Attendance
• Lunch Count
• Staff Sign-In
• Lock Down Procedures
• Fire Drill Procedures
• Tornado Drill Procedures
• Accident Forms
• Office Referral
• Faculty Staff Dress Code
• Lesson Plan Expectations
• Lunchroom Procedures
• Playground Procedures
• Student Bathroom
• Receipt Procedures
• Teacher Absence
• Grading Expectations

Once you understand the school procedures, then begin working on your own classroom procedures. You can dig deeper into teaching classroom procedures here or find the resource here.

Advice For New Teaches – Organize

There’s no contradiction here. You’ve got to be organized from the start. It won’t be long until you are drowning in paperwork. Have a plan and be ready for it.

Remember, less is more. Your time is better spent purging than decorating. Many teachers who move into a new classroom inherit a lot of….stuff. You don’t have to keep it all. Before throwing anything away, determine whether the item(s) were purchased with district, school, or personal money, so you can know the correct procedure for removing items from the classroom. If there are items you’re unsure if you will use or not, find out if you have access to a storage closest or other storage area. This will allow you to declutter your classroom without losing access to resources you may later want.

Don’t get too caught up in decorating and making everything look perfect. Yes, it’s fun (for some), and you want a comfortable learning environment, but a Pintrest classroom is not a necessity. Don’t worry about going out and buying tons of things yet either. Just focus on some of the essentials. Here are some of my favorite resources.

I’ve also linked a great post with ideas for classroom organization. It can help you out when you’re getting started.

Be Structured and Be Flexible

Students thrive in a structured environment. Yes, our instruction should be novel and engaging, but there should also be a predictable pattern of the day. I know I’ve hit the mark when my class reaches a point where it could flow without my directions. When it comes to classroom management, consistency is key. Students should know exactly what is expected of them. If you tell your students you’re going to do something-do it.

Despite all your best efforts, you will be inundated changes outside of your control (typically last minute) that will almost always disrupt your schedule and routine. Be flexible and try not to let it ruin your day. Be ready to roll with the punches:  fire alarms, surprise assemblies, modified schedules for testing, picture day, an insect found in your classroom, extreme weather, surprise meetings, etc….

It’s also important to be flexible with your students. While consistency is key, you do have to keep in mind that students are dealing with their own issues and challenges. Don’t try to fit children into a one-size-fits-all mold. Sometimes you have to be flexible and not draw the line in the sand.

Advice For New Teachers – Begin With the End

Don’t wait until the year gets started to think about your plans. There are few things as exhausting as the start of the school year, and planning ahead will alleviate some of that stress. You can read about how I plan for the new school year here.

When it comes to planning, my best advice is to begin with the end in mind. Don’t start with your first units and go from there. I can almost guarantee that you’ll find yourself with far too much left to teach at the end of the school year. Instead, determine what your students need to be able to know and do by the end of the year. Definitely check out the post I linked. It’s so helpful!

Be Confident but Not Arrogant

I started my first year teaching when I was only 21. I graduated in December and took over a classroom that had run-off their teacher. I was truly thrown into the fire. A veteran teacher gave me advice for a new teacher that I took to heart, and it helped me survive the year.

She told me that when I was in my classroom, I needed to exude confidence in myself as a teacher. When I gave a direction, it’s not a request, suggestion, or a question. Make sure your tone and facial expressions convey that you mean business and that not following directions wasn’t an option.

She wasn’t telling me to be overly strict or against joking around and having a laid-back classroom. She just let me know I couldn’t appear meek, hesitant, or timid in front of my students. Many students will take advantage of perceived weakness.

Now, was I actually confident? No way! But, as far as those 4th graders know, I was in complete control over the classroom.

It’s okay to be confident outside of the classroom with your coworkers. Even though you’re new, you are bringing new ideas and energy to the school, and that’s valuable. While confidence is great, you don’t want to be arrogant. Yes, there are arrogant veteran teachers, but let’s hope those are the outliers.

The line from confident to arrogant is crossed when you begin judging or feel superior to others. Be willing to admit you don’t know something. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Recognize that “old school” isn’t necessarily bad. Veteran teachers are often willing to let you learn from their early mistakes. Listen and save yourself from making those same mistakes.

Utilize a Mentor Teacher

You may be assigned a mentor teacher or may need to develop a relationship with someone who can take on that role. Either way, don’t try to navigate your first year on your own. Ideally, you will work with someone in the same grade or subject areas. This needs to be a relationship with someone you respect and trust. You will need to have a consistent time and place to meet. Ideally, your mentee will be able to spend some time in your classroom, which of course is a challenge is s/he has his/her own classroom.

One role of a mentor is to concentrate on instructional improvement. That doesn’t mean your instruction is bad or weak! Every great teacher wants to concentrate on instructional improvement. A good mentee will also learn from you!

Some schools may utilize an academic coach for this mentorship. The advantage of this is that the coach has a more flexible schedule and can more easily spend time in your classroom. The challenge is that it’s important to work with an experienced teacher in your content area or grade level, which isn’t always feasible with a coach. You want to work with someone who has been in your shoes and has an in-depth understanding of the curriculum, standards, and challenges of that age and subject areas.

Hopefully, this advice for new teachers has given you a good starting place! You can aways reach out if you have any questions!

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You need an organized approach to setting up your classroom. Social media can provide inspiration and ideas. It can also cause overwhelm and anxiety, especial when it comes to setting up your classroom. There can be pressure to keep up with new trends, buy unnecessary materials, and to focus on the least essential parts of setting up your classroom.

This is not a slam on classroom decorations. I like them. It’s fun. But, that’s the last thing we should think about when setting up our classrooms. Instead, we should first focus on organization and management when setting up your classroom. It’s not glamorous, but I guarantee that it will make your life easier!

Step 1-Organize Your Furniture

Before I organize furniture, I like to have a plan. This saves me from repeatedly rearranging furniture. (Does everyone have to do this on their own?) Classroom arrangements will be different for each teacher, which is what makes our classrooms unique to us. If you’re moving to a new classroom, it’s often helpful to create a paper layout of your room arrangement BEFORE setting up your classroom.

When you walk in your classroom for the first time, and it looks like this, it can be complete overwhelm. Don’t panic. Take it step-by-step.

When setting up your classroom, it’s important to note your current classroom inventory, because we often have to make do with what we have. As you plan your layout for organizing your classroom, some things to consider are:

• Do you have a digital projector? How will its placement effect your setup. I use mine all of the time, so I wanted to be sure that students would sit in a position to be able to easily see the projector.
• Are there any fire codes you should be aware of? I know I have to keep the area in front of my window clear from tables, chairs, etc.
• Do you have anything that will cause distractions for students?
• How frequently will you use your dry erase board? If it’s frequent, make sure all students can see it.
• Where will your small group instruction take place? Make sure you can see all students when you’re working with a small group.

Student Seating

I center my entire classroom around where my students will be seated for the bulk of their day. I have desks, so that’s what I work with.

Flexible seating has become fairly popular. While I see its benefits and have nothing against it, my personality and teaching style doesn’t let me jump all the way in. I like a hybrid approach. My students still have a “home spot”, but there is flexibility with seating arrangements built in throughout the day. As with anything related to organizing your classroom, you have to find what works for you.

Until Covid I had never even considered arranging my desks in rows. It wasn’t for me. However, the two years after Covid we were required to arrange our desks in rows. Shockingly, I like it. Even more shockingly, my students loved it. I surveyed every fourth grader in my school both years, and only one said they preferred sitting in clusters. They said that they liked having their own personal space. I’m not trying to encourage rows, but I do encourage you to be willing to listen to your students. Sometimes what we think they prefer isn’t accurate at all.

When my class size increases, I can’t make rows work. I’ve found that clusters give me more space. It’s important to make sure there is plenty of room between tables (clusters), so students to be able to move freely between tables.

Small Group Area

I then set up my small group meeting area. In this area, I like to have a table and chairs to work with my students in a small group. Since I’m frequently work on math in a small group, a dry erase board is essential for me.

I spend far more time here than I do at my desk, so I keep a lot of resources accessible.

Teacher Desk

Once my student desks and small group area are set-up. I arrange my teacher desk, and I use that term lightly. One of the best investments I made was to order a small desk. I personally didn’t need (or have space for) the huge desk that came with my classroom.

My desk serves multiple purposes. It’s where I have to plug in my laptop and document camera to my projector. (I’m still not wireless.) It’s where I sit to model tasks using the projector, so I do need to be able to see all students from that area.

Since I meet with students in small groups during centers, students frequently work with partners at my desk. Of course, they love it!

Classroom Library

The arrangement of my classroom library changes almost yearly. It really depends on how much space you have in your classroom. I want one of those adorable classroom libraries that looks like a little nook in the classroom-the perfect place for getting cozy and reading a good book.

But, if you have a large class and have to fit students into your classroom, sometimes you have to improvise. I’m able to fit my books underneath my dry erase board. This makes it doesn’t take up any floor space. It may not be perfect (or cute), but it works!

 I organize my books by author, genre, and series. I like storing my books in baskets, rather than with spines facing out, because I find that students are more likely to read a book when the cover is facing out. I purchased colored baskets a few years ago, but when I changed the overall look of my classroom, the baskets didn’t work anymore. From here on, I use clear baskets and make my labels match my room. That way I don’t have to pay for any more baskets.

I know I’m in the minority on this, but I do think there is such a thing as too many books. I used to have a HUGE student library, but I found that it was overwhelming. I now focus on quality over quantity. I sent the books no one read in multiple years to a used book store, and I used those credits for books for my literature circles.

Step 2-Organize All The Things

Don’t Be Afraid To Purge

The first (probably most important) thing to do when organizing your classroom is to eliminate clutter. Less is more. Almost all teachers inherit a classroom that is full of ….stuff. When we purchase materials with our own money, it’s hard to let those resources go. But, when we have too much it prevents us from finding what we need and from having space to be organized.

The first step is to declutter all of closets and/or cabinets. If you’re in a new classroom, this may be a HUGE project. I always ask my administration what they would like me to do with the materials I don’t need. Typically, the answer is to set it in the hallway. Empty every single thing from the cabinets and start from scratch. When doing this, I recommend having a large area to place things, since it’s surprising to see just how much can be in a cabinet.

If there are materials that I know I won’t use but aren’t mine to throw way, I find a different place to store those supplies, rather than my classroom. For example, I may box up the textbooks or school purchased manipulatives and place them in the storage closet. This gives me valuable extra space.

There’s a lot more flexibility with our personal supplies. Here are some of my guidelines when I decide what to eliminate:

• Have I used it in the past two years? If I don’t use something in two years, it’s gone. The odds are that I won’t use it again.
• Does it work? If something is broken or missing parts, I let it go.
• Do I know what it is? I have inherited so many things that I had NO CLUE what it was. I parted ways with those things too.
• Can I store it digitally? I do not have ANY filing cabinets. I store everything digitally.

Whenever I begin this process, I start in ONE area of my classroom and stay in that area. It gets SO tempting to move from place to place, but that’s distracting. I stay focused on that one spot until it’s finished. I may only be able to tackle one area in a day, but that’s okay. I keep all of my art supplies together, task cards together, books together, etc. I like to place as much as I can in clear, stackable containers to make the most of my space.

I try to keep everything in my classroom accessible to students, so the things that are in my cabinets are resources for ME, not my students. For example, I keep my reading mentor texts in a cabinet, so I can easily find the books I need for each lesson.

I also keep the task cards, games, and escape activities that are not currently in rotation in my cabinets. I store each set in a baggie, and I group the baggies together by topic or season. For storing these, I prefer clear, stackable boxes for my organizational purposes.

After all this you’d think it was time to start decorating, right? But, there’s still more to consider.

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You’re teaching math. You teach conceptually and consistently incorporate concrete, pictorial, and abstract representations. Your lessons are engaging and relevant. You give students the opportunity to practice and provide feedback. You provide opportunities for discussion and collaborative learning. Yet, some students don’t get it.

You work with those students who didn’t get it. You slow down. You meet with students in small groups. You provide scaffolding and extra resources. You reteach. You complete all the appropriate RTI/SST/MTSS processes. Yet, some of those students still don’t get it.

These are the students who kept me awake at night. These are the ones who made me question my effectiveness as a teacher. I knew I was missing something, but I couldn’t pinpoint what I was missing.

It took a lot of time and research for me to fully recognize what we all already know. All students are different, and some students learn differently.

In a recent blog post about the foundations of high quality core curriculum, I shared that our curriculum should allow at least 80 percent of students to achieve proficiency in math. With additional instruction and RTI/SST/MTSS that percentage should increase. However, the effects of Covid has skewed these numbers. Teachers are seeing a higher percentage of students not responding to core instruction.

In my next few posts I’ll share the most effective strategies in supporting students who are at risk in math. These strategies have been proven to work with students with and without identified learning disabilities. The strategies can be used for students with an IEP who are served in the general education classroom or students who have reached Tier 3 in RTI/SST/MTSS.

Understanding The Why

Before we can get started, we have to talk about the why. Many of these students have difficulties with perceptual or cognitive processing. These difficulties may affect memory, general strategy use, attention, communication, and the ability to integrate abstract ideas. (Van de Walle, 2010).

We also know that many students with learning difficulties have a very limited working memory and are unable to keep abstract information in their minds for the purpose of solving problems. Students who struggle in math also seem to have problems with basic number sense which impacts all areas of math.

Understanding the Difference

Students in this category respond best to explicit teacher-led instruction. As a teacher who teaches math through inquiry and problem solving in a student-centered classroom, this has been challenging. I experienced internal conflict because I’m passionate about equitable instruction. It took considerable reflection to reach the conclusion that I was doing a disservice to my students who needed a different style of instruction.

I had to recognize that “best practices” didn’t mean best practices for all-it was best practices for most. “Equity does not mean that every student should receive identical instruction; instead, it demands that reasonable and appropriate accommodations be made as needed to promote access and attainment for all students.” (NCTM, 200)

I will absolutely continue to teach math through those best practices. However, I now have the knowledge, resources, and tools I need to modify and adapt my instruction for students who need something different. As a disclaimer, this is not for students who have plenty of ability but just don’t care. That’s a whole other situation.

Understanding the Strategy

With this strategy teachers follow a demonstration-prompt-practice sequence. Instruction is given in a step-by-step format and involves direct teacher-led explanations of concepts. As students solve problems they are given explicit strategy instruction to guide them through each part of the problem. This approach helps uncover thinking strategies for problem solving.

Instruction should also include multiple models, examples and non examples, and practice with immediate error correction. As students progress, the teacher gradually scaffolds away supports and prompts to move students toward independence.

There Has to Be More

Over the next few weeks, I will go much further into detail on this strategies. Eventually there will be a new post and resources for each strategy.

• Foundations of Math Instruction
• Systematic Instruction
• Mathematical Language
• Representations
• Word Problems
• Math Facts

I can’t wait to share these with you!

The post When Students Don’t Get It appeared first on Ashleigh's Education Journey.

In this post you’ll find FUN research project ideas for upper elementary students! I certainly remember completing my fair share of boring research projects in elementary school. We go to the library to find an encyclopedia to take notes on our topic. Then, we would write a traditional five paragraph essay. Fun stuff! Maybe I’m dating myself, but the only thing exciting about the research project was getting out of class!

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way…not even close! With the research project ideas and presentation resources now available to students, the possibilities are almost endless. Students still need our guidance and structure within their projects. Otherwise they tend to become overwhelmed and lack a clear direction.

With these research project ideas, I’ve found that it helps to have a broad theme for research projects-such as animals, biographies, ecosystems, etc. Students can then pick their topic from your class’s theme. One of my favorite ideas is center the project around geography and to have students research a state or country. Most students have a very limited background knowledge and become really interested in whichever location they choose to study.

I love using this resource, because it has a twist full of research project ideas! It’s a perfect addition to your informational writing unit or reference skill lessons. This research project gives students choice and flexibility when researching states and/or countries. To present their findings, students complete various activities until they earn up to 100 total points. There are 10, 25-, 50-, and 75-point activities, where the more challenging activities are worth the most points. Students may choose to complete several smaller activities, a couple of larger activities, or any combination.

Research Project Ideas – Task Cards

There is a wide variety of activities to address many different learning styles and student interest. I’ve also created thorough direction cards for each of the activities. I’ll print and laminate a few copies of each card, so that I can use them year after year.

I’ve included any printables that students may need for the project. There is both a state version and a country version of the printables, because in any research project students need the guides to be as specific as possible.

Research Project Ideas – Example Activities

There are too many activities in this research project that students can choose from to share in one blog post, but here are some of my favorites!

In the Pack Your Stuitcase activity, students create a booklet where they describe the items they would need to bring with them if they were going to that state/country. I included a color and black and white version of a suitcase, as well as lined and unlined paper. Students can cut out the pages and staple to create the booklet. To save time, I have a few of these prepared in advance.

The Daily Journal newspaper article looks deceptively easy. However, writing a concise paragraph with all necessary information can be quite a challenge! It’s also a great way to tie in main idea into your instruction!

The travel journal requires just a little preparation. Print out a book cover and a journal entry page for each day of the week. Then, cut them out and staple the pages together. Once again, I like to have a few booklets made in advance.

There is something about a triarama that is just cool. I’m not sure what it is, but students love it! I do too! They look far more complicated to build than they actually are, and they’re a great way to incorporate art and creativity into students’ research projects.

There are more traditional activities included in the collection of research project ideas, such as an informational essay. I included a detailed graphic organizer to give students plenty of support for independent writing.

Some other research project ideas include activities such as a time line, post cards, and the brochure do not require any printables. Students may use common classroom supplies such as index cards and copy paper for these activities.

Research Tips

Before implementing these research project ideas, students have to be taught HOW to research. A project like the state/country research project should not be implemented until students have experience with research.

1. Evaluate Sources – Students must learn to evaluate the information found in their sources. Discuss how to evaluate a website: Is the information up to date?, Does the site ask for too much personal information or prompt virus warnings? Does the information come from a trusted expert?

2. Ask Good Questions – I imagine we’ve all conducted unsuccessful Google searches! Students need to learn to develop search queries to get better research results. Too often, students will enter a broad search term such as “George Washington,” and browse through pages of results that aren’t related to their research. For practice, give small groups three search terms each, ranging from the general to the specific (e.g., “presidents,” “George Washington,” and “George Washington’s birthday”). Ask the groups to record how many results are returned for each term. Encourage groups to come up with three alternate search terms for the most specific item on their lists. Students can compare the results and discuss how changing a few words can generate different information.

3. Respect Ownership – Students also need to learn to respect the intellectual property rights of creators. Have students to write about what it would feel like to have a book published. Have students share how they would feel about their accomplishment. Then, introduce the idea of piracy and have students share how they would feel if someone downloaded their book without paying for it. You can use this discussion to lead into a conversation about plagiarism.

Hopefully, you’ve found some new research project ideas that your students will love! I like to teach these tips during my Informational Writing Unit and let this research project follow those lessons.

The post Research Project Ideas appeared first on Ashleigh's Education Journey.

It’s not a big revelation that this year is an incredibly challenging school year. What has been surprising is that academics aren’t most teachers’ biggest concern. Yes, there is an academic impact from the past two years, but the behavioral effects appears to be even more significant. Due to the conditions of the past two years, many students have developed bad, or not conducive to the classroom, work habits.

There were dozens of “solutions” to teaching during the pandemic-virtual, hybrid, face-to-face, alternating schedules, and more. There was also a range of expectations from students-from all work is optional to expecting students to maintain the same pace as pre-pandemic instruction.

This means we’re all seeing different behavioral effects. Some teachers are trying to change the mindset that work is optional. Others are working with students who have been conditioned to stay on task only when an adult sat and worked with them one-on-one. Teachers are seeing students who lack independence and stamina.

These behaviors cannot be corrected with a magic fix – trust me, I’ve looked! Instead, it will take time, consistency, and support.

In this post:

• Academic Independence
• Desktop Helpers
• Math Notes
• Behavior Independence

Academic Independence

To support students in becoming independent, I’ve found that it’s essential for me to provide students with scaffolding. I find that students will eventually quit using these resources when they feel confident in themselves. I don’t view this scaffolding as a “crutch,” because students are using tools to assist in learning, not to replace learning.

Writing

I always have a few students who need a little extra support with spelling, so I’ve created a personal word wall for these students. The word wall contains high frequency words (mostly Dolch sight words), number words, color words, synonyms, proper nouns, social studies words, and science words.

The proper noun section was requested by my students. There are many names and places that students frequently use in their writing, and they thought it would be helpful to have a visual reference for those words.  I included an editable file for social studies, science, and proper nouns, because those words will be specific to your grade level, standards, and students.  You can check it out in my TpT store here.

Math

After seeing the usefulness of the personal word wall for spelling, I created a similar resource for math. I’ve included a fraction table, which is especially helpful teaching equivalent fractions and comparing fractions. There is a measurement conversion table and a types of lines chart. There is a big multiplication table, which is easy for students to read and a place value chart. You can find the folders here.

Desktop Helpers

Another resource that I love is my Desktop Helpers: math and language arts. We move around the classroom all of the time, so while students do have a desk, they don’t sit at it all day. These cards are interchangeable, because I do not use the same set of cards all year. I originally placed self-adhesive pockets on students’ desks, and I can easily swap out one card for another. The vinyl pocket is something I found on Amazon. The pockets lasted a year, but by the end of the year the didn’t look good. I now attach magnets to the back of the cards and attach them to the side of students’ desks. I found this is a little neater and more out of the way.

Math Notes

I love using Scribble Notes during my mini lessons. They are fun and student friendly, and they provide a reference and examples that students can easily refer to during math. These notes can be used for modeling during your mini lesson and are a great help in guiding instruction.

Anchor Charts

Anchor charts are another great way to encourage independence. I have a huge bulletin board that I can use as a focus wall. That’s where I display our standards, essential questions, and vocabulary. I also use this space to display our anchor charts. Since I teach math to multiple groups, I don’t make a fancy anchor chart for each group. As I teach I create what I think of as my rough draft. Then, I display a polished version of what we made together. I have many different options of anchor charts, and you can find those here.

Behavior Independence

I’ve found that changing this mindset is far more challenging than academic independence. As student needs vary from student-to-student so will our responses to those needs. There is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Productive Struggle

This year more than ever students have to learn how to work their way through a problem-academic and non academic. Allowing children to struggle with something goes against our instincts. When I see a child having difficulty, every pore in my body wants to take over and fix the problem. However, that is exactly what I should not do. Struggle time is an essential part of the learning process.

I’ve found that defining the struggle makes it much less intimidating and overwhelming for my students. In my classroom we call it “Struggle Time”. After introducing the idea of struggle time, I work with the class to create an anchor chart that defines and explains what to do if they are “stuck”. I want students to know that they will all struggle with something during the year. This is the time when real learning occurs.

We also discuss what not to do. I added run away to the chart, because I often see students avoiding challenging work by going to the restroom, asking to to get water or refill water bottles, asking to go to the nurse, etc. I see that frequently, and I think students are surprised that I notice. The final and most important thing for students to not do is to just sit there. I explain that I would MUCH rather see them try and fail that not try at all.

Prove It

As a teacher, I don’t want students to say, “I don’t get it” or “I don’t know what to do” after making no attempt. We set a classroom expectation that they student must show me a strategy they tried before asking for help. Students must show an effort to get started and to overcome their challenges. Waiting to be rescued doesn’t help the learner. When we rescue students, we’re communicating that we don’t believe the student can solve the problem. Once I see the effort, I ask guided questions that help the student get started.

If I see that a student is completely confused and not making any forward progress, I will work with that student individually or in a small group if there are other students in the same situation.

Stamina

Raise your hand if you’ve seen a decrease in student stamina this year. Yeah, me too.

We have to retrain our students, and more than likely we’ve had to take several steps back in order for our students to be successful. Once again, it’s helpful to give the word a definition and set set the expectation of stamina in the classroom.

During this lesson I love to share a personal story and to explain why stamina is so important. You can even have students share their own stories. That would be a fun tie-in to personal narratives! Role playing is a great way to model what stamina is and isn’t. You can even have your students develop their own situations where stamina would be needed in the classroom.

It’s important to have realistic expectations. After teaching about stamina and setting your expectations, you still won’t see a huge jump. It takes time and consistency, so expect to take baby steps. You may want to set goals for different parts of the day such as independent reading time or math work time (whatever is a struggle for your students). During those parts of the time, project a timer to monitor how long students can meet the class stamina goals.

The post Increasing Student Stamina and Independence appeared first on Ashleigh's Education Journey.

In this post I am breaking one of my most important rules as a blogger and TpT author. Never share something I haven’t personally used in my classroom.

I’ve always felt like that’s one of the things that makes my resources unique. They’re effective because I keep fine tuning them from my personal observations until it’s exactly what students and teachers need.

But, that won’t work for this resource. 2-22-22 (or a similar date) doesn’t fall on the calendar very often! That’s why I wanted to create something fun for upper elementary students.

I created a set of task cards all centered around twos. I separated the cards into somewhat color-coded groups. The first set of cards are based on math concepts.

I intentionally did not number the cards, because I have a feeling that teachers will not want to use all of the cards in the set. That will give you the option to only number the cards you want to use.

The next set of cards center around language arts concepts. There are fewer language arts cards, but they are also more time consuming than the math cards. The cards that say “made” now say “make”.

The last set of cards are more generic and not quite content specific. I may try to incorporate the game Classroom Quest into this set of cards. If I can make it work, I’ll share it with you! I will have to test that first, because that’s something that will need to be set-up just right for it to NOT turn into chaos!

You can get these task cards on TpT here, and best of all they’re free!

The post Twos Day Activities for 2-22-22 appeared first on Ashleigh's Education Journey.

When it comes to shopping for your classroom, never forget you do not need all the things! As a new teacher, I felt an immense amount of pressure to purchase things that I later realized I absolutely did not need. My advice is to focus on the essentials and the resources that will have a direct impact on your students. In this post I’ve shared a brief description of my top 10 favorite back to school resources. Even if you don’t use these specific resources, I hope to at least give you an idea of potentially useful tools.

Jump to a resource:

1. Focus Wall
2. Math Bulletin Board
3. Words of the Week
4. Anchor Charts
5. Desktop Helpers
6. Open House
7. Introducing Paragraphs
8. Back to School Escape
9. First Days of Math Workshop
10. Nonfiction Text Structures

1. Focus Wall

Of course, I can’t put together a list of my favorite back to school resources and not include focus walls. Focus walls are nothing new, and there isn’t a set-up of focus walls I haven’t tried! One option I’ve used for a focus wall is to keep all my standards, essential questions, and vocabulary together. I added a heading for each subject and posted an illustrated “I Can” statement underneath the heading. Below the standard I added essential questions and vocabulary for the standard.

Another option for a classroom focus wall is to keep all of your standards together. The large charts are from my math anchor charts, and there’s more on that soon!

You can find the focus walls at the following links: Third Grade, Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade

2. Math Bulletin Board

I have one bulletin board dedicated to math strategies. On the bulletin board, I included problem solving steps and accountable talk sentence starters. I also added four levels of understanding which is great for standards based grading. You can find the math bulletin board here.

3. Words of the Week

I also love my words of the week bulletin board, and consider it one of my essential back to school resources. It’s overwhelming and unrealistic for students to grasp a huge number of prefixes and suffixes in a short period of time, so I introduce one prefix or suffix a week to my students. For just a minute or two each day, we discuss the affix and practice using it in a sentence. I use those words to create a Word of the Week bulletin board. You can combine this bulletin board with my Homophone of the Week which is is the same format at the Prefix of the Week.

4. Anchor Charts

I certainly agree that anchor charts are best created together with students to give students’ ownership over their learning. However, I teach multiple groups, and there’s no way I could take the time to make an attractive set of posters for each group. It would take me hours, and that’s not the best use of my time! (P.S. If you’re one of the lucky ones who can whip one up—I envy you!)

Instead, I made an anchor chart with each group that is sort of a rough draft. After the lesson, I would hang my nice looking anchor chart. Over the course of several years, I’ve created several sets of anchor charts. The thing that I LOVE about these charts is that they are BIG! The information on the charts should be readable for all students, so I created 18″x24″ charts.

Since some teachers would rather have a regular 8.5″ x 11″ poster, so I created those as well. You can see below the difference in size of the two posters.

Here are the links to my anchor charts: third grade math, fourth grade math, reading, social studies, and science.

5. Desktop Helpers

These desktop helpers or name plates are different from typical ones, because I don’t add student names. We constantly move around the classroom, so while students do have a desk, they don’t sit in it all day. Instead, I prefer using that extra space on the desktop helper for different topics.

I find that adding a huge range of content is overwhelming to students, so I like to focus on one unit at a time. I place self-adhesive pockets on students’ desks, and can easily swap out one card for another. The vinyl pocket you can see below, I found on Amazon. The pockets lasted a year, but by the end of the year they didn’t look good.

I have a language arts version that includes a range of reading comprehension strategies, writing graphic organizers, writing checklists, and parts of speech.

The math version of desktop helpers also includes several different options for representing multiplication and division to working with fractions. The measurement conversion help is a huge help for my fourth graders when we’re in our measurement unit.

6. Open House

Open house is often when we make our first impression with our new students and their families, so it’s critical that we present our best face and at least appear ready to go. I like to place activities that are easily completed, yet purposeful for students. I also like activities that get people up and moving around the classroom. One of my favorite open house activities is an open house scavenger hunt that I have my students and parents complete on our Meet the Teacher Night. This frees me up to float around the room and introduce myself, and it answers many of their questions.

Some of the activities require students or families to fill out forms such as contact information or transportation forms. Other activities don’t require students to write anything but to observe things such as the classroom library or to find their desk. You can find the link to the open house activities here.

7. Introducing Paragraphs

I always struggle at the beginning of the year with determining how long to spend teaching rules, procedures, and various classroom management lessons. I absolutely believe that these management lessons are essential for a smooth school year. However, I also feel pressured to dive into my curriculum as quickly as possible, because extra time is luxury I don’t have. That’s why I love combining back to school resources/activities with academic content. In this resource, I use some of my favorite back to school picture books for writing mentor texts that explicitly teaches students how to write a well developed paragraph.

There is at least one printable for each lesson plan. All of the graphic organizers follow the same format, so students can become familiar with one graphic organizer. The graphic organizer starts small and gradually expands as students learn how to write different parts of a paragraph. You can check it out here if you’re interested!

8. Back to School Escape

One of my favorite back to school resources are escape lessons. I absolutely LOVE using escape lessons or breakout activities to make my instruction fun and engaging for my students. I know that my students aren’t ready for an academic breakout lesson early in the school year, so this Back to School Breakout isn’t directed toward a specific grade level or standard. Instead, this focuses on critical thinking and puzzle type activities that are suitable for multiple grade levels.

I love the challenge and fun this will provide my students during this busy time of year! You can see the activity here!

9. First Days of Math Workshop

The first few days of school are crucial for developing the procedures that will guide the class for the rest of the school year. Students respond best when procedures are taught in small chunks of time, rather than trying to teach every procedure in one lesson. I’ve found that the most efficient way to do this is to teach a brief lesson on a math workshop procedure prior to teaching my math lesson.

In my First Days of Math Workshop resource, you’ll find detailed lessons on teaching 10 essential procedural lessons that are important for face-to-face instruction and distance learning.

10. Nonfiction Text Structures

I love introducing this challenging concept at the beginning of the year. This gives students the time they need to process and and apply nonfiction structures in all content areas throughout the year. You can find these lessons here.

In the compare and contrast activity, students find similarities and the differences between their current grade level and their previous grade level. You can use cause and effect relationships to help students understand the reasoning and importance of your classroom rules and expectations. The sequential order activity allows you to review arrival and dismissal routines. One option for the descriptive writing activity is to have students describe what math workshop or what reading workshop looks like and doesn’t look like. Problem and solution text structure gives students the opportunity to practice finding solutions to common problems.

You can find all of the lessons above in my Nonfiction Text Structures With Back To School Activities resource.

Hopefully, these back to school resources and ideas will give you a little back to school inspiration!

The post Favorite Back to School Resources appeared first on Ashleigh's Education Journey.

Do you ever wonder what 4th graders should know or be able to do? Changing grade levels is difficult. I still remember crying my eyes out the first time I had to change grade levels. It was devastating! It’s hard to sort through years worth of blog posts, resources, and articles to find just what you need to get started. I know how much of a challenge it can be when you’re new to teaching 4th grade, so I’ve written this post to help get you started. Even if you’ve been a fourth grade teacher for awhile, you’ll probably find something useful!

If you’re looking for a similar post for third grade teacher look here!

Classroom Set Up

If you’re a new(er) teacher, you can feel pressured to go out and create a designer classroom. That’s not necessary. At all.

The priority should be organizing, not decorating, your classroom. Of course, I’m not saying that having a cute or decorated classroom is a bad thing. I spend more awake time in my classroom than anywhere else, so I want an environment that makes me comfortable and happy.

But, you don’t need to go out and spend lots of money creating a Pinterest classroom.  Make sure your room is clean, not too busy or distracting, and organized.

You can see my classroom here! You can read more about organizing your classroom here.

What 4th Graders Should Know – Pacing Guides

It’s important to begin the year with a plan. Of course it’s necessary to keep in mind that it’s just a guide, not rules that are set in stone. Below are my reading and math pacing guides for teachers new to teaching 4th grade. You can download example fourth grade pacing guides here. If you want to map out the year on your own, you may enjoy this blog post on Planning For The Year. Either way, it’s a great format to what 4th graders should know.

COVID and distance learning has changed so many things for teachers. It’s incredibly hard to know how to get started when you don’t know what you’re planning for. It’s next to impossible to determine what 4th graders should know if their time in the younger graders was limited. To provide even more support, I’ve shared a First 30 Days for reading and math. What makes this plan special is that it can be used for in-class instruction, distance learning, or a combination of both. You can find that post here.

Fourth Grade Morning Work

A good morning work routine is one of the most important parts of the day. It’s also a great way to continuously review what 4th graders should know. It sets your pace and allows students to feel organized and prepared. This post shares some of my favorite ideas for morning work. It also mentions how to incorporate a soft start to your day. This morning work activity reviews all major content that 4th graders should know by the end of the school year.

What 4th Graders Should Know – Reading

After years of blogging, there is simply no way to narrow down all of my reading and writing blog posts to just one! However, I was able to whittle it down to just a few. Keep in mind, all of these lessons are available as a print and digital resource.

Reading Workshop-In this post you can get a good overview of what should happen during reading workshop. The post also discuss the differences between reading workshop, guided reading, and literature circles.

Integrating Science and Social Studies-This post shares several ideas on ways to integrate your science and social studies standards with reading. Time is always a problem, so this is a big help.

Making Sense of Reading Assessments-Depending on where you’re coming from, reading assessments may look different. They may also be quite overwhelming! This post breaks down the how and why of various reading assessments.

Upper Elementary Guided Reading Groups – Reading groups in the upper elementary classroom are complex to say the least. This post is a great place to start.

Introducing Reading Workshop – This post shares procedural lessons to allow your students get started on the right foot.

What 4th Graders Should Know – Writing

Introducing Paragraphs – This is one of my all time favorite ways to begin teaching writing! If you’re new to teaching 4th grade, I highly recommend starting the year by teaching students how to write paragraphs through these back to school books!

If you want ideas on how to teach writing, this Guide To Teaching Writing is just for you! Remember, even if you recognize what 4th graders should know coming to you, it doesn’t mean they will know it.

Personal Narratives-Here is a blog post that shares how to teach students to write personal narratives. I do have blog posts for other writing genres, but this seems to be teachers’ favorite genre to start the year with.

What 4th Graders Should Know – Math

When thinking about what 4th graders should know, don’t forget about math! Math Workshop/Guided Math-This post describes how math workshop can be used in a fourth grade classroom.

Upper Elementary Math Centers-You don’t have to incorporate math centers in fourth grade. If you do utilize centers, you don’t have to use them everyday. There is so much flexibility! This is a great post to show how to use math centers in an upper elementary classroom.

First Days of Math Workshop-I highly recommend this post! It’s SO important in order to have success during the year. There are step-by-step lessons to teach math workshop with routines and procedures.

Math Manipulatives-Math manipulatives aren’t just for the little ones. Big kids need them too! However, you don’t need to spend a fortune, and there are important things to remember when using manipulatives.

Multiplication Facts-There are few topics in math that cause more anxiety (for students and teachers) than math facts. This post helps take that away. There are TONS of fun ideas and freebies to make learning multiplication facts fun AND meaningful!

What 4th Graders Should Know – Social Studies & Science

Far too often social studies and science are neglected in third, fourth, and fifth grades. When you teach content heavy grade levels, it’s incredibly hard to find the time to squeeze it all into the day. This is one of the primary reasons I love integrating as often as possible. In this post I share a few ideas on how to integrate social studies and science into language arts and math.

Testing

Yes, fourth graders have to participate in state testing. I can say with 100% certainty that the best test prep is high quality instruction all year. It’s important to be extremely careful to approach testing with the right attitude with students. I don’t use it as a fear mechanism for motivation or over emphasize the importance of test scores.

While I can’t take away all of the stress relating to testing, you can make the year easier by integrating review into your instruction all year. You can see some of my favorite ideas here.

It’s definitely not possible to share all of my resources with you, but I would love to give you some ideas. The items below are my top 10 favorite resources for teachers who are new to teaching 4th Grade.

What 4th Graders Should Know

Top Ten Resources for Teachers New to Teaching 4th Grade

This Reading Workshop Bundle is probably my favorite product! It’s one of those that really does have everything! There are 180 reading comprehension lesson plans and printables to go with each lesson plan. I’ve also included fluency practice, vocabulary, and reading homework.

My Fourth Grade Math Units is a compilation of YEARS of work! This bundle includes 10 math units with hands-on lessons, skills practice, and task cards!

I honestly don’t know what I’d do without my Weekly Word Problems. I now use the updated version with the constructed response practice for my morning work. It’s one of my favorites!

Once again, I’d be lost without my Fluency Passages! I use these for weekly fluency and comprehension homework. The best part is that the entire pack is integrated with science and social studies!

My Language Arts Morning Work is an excellent spiral review. This will help keep tricky grammar and reading skills fresh all year. (I know the cover of this one says third, but I’ve linked the 4th grade version. My fourth grade cover is in the middle of being updated 🙂

Writing can certainly be tricky, which is why I love having the Writing Bundle ready to go! This contains three writing units  aligned to the Common Core Standards: informational, opinion, and narrative!

I love these Multiplication Facts Booklets! Teaching multiplication facts is a year long process, so I incorporate these booklets all year long. The are a great way to teach conceptual understanding and memorization of multiplication facts.

I use the Prefix of the Week packet along with my Homophone of the Week for weekly vocabulary and word work. This makes a cute bulletin board and comes with different booklets!

I use this Math Constructed Response packet at least once a week. This is one of those concepts that requires practice all year long, rather than taught as an isolated test prep skill.

I’m cheating a little here! I actually have a few 4th grade assessment packs, and I love them all! I especially like the language arts assessments, because it’s often difficult to find reading assessments that include the passage and assess one standard at a time.

You are going to love fourth grade! One of the best things about fourth grade is that students are young enough to still love school and have a desire to please their teacher. Yet, they are independent enough to participate in really fun activities. Plus, the older students are awesome at catching my corny jokes! Like all students, they need love, consistency, and strong procedures for optimal success. Don’t sweat the test! Your preparation starts from Day 1 and with good instruction your students will be ready!

Don’t hesitate to ask any questions! I’m always happy to help.

The post What 4th Graders Should Know appeared first on Ashleigh's Education Journey.

I happen to to think that I went to one of the best teacher preparation colleges in the world. And, my supervising teachers were THE best in the world. However, despite that great foundation, there were so many things that can only be learned through experience. Below are 10 things I wish I had known about teaching. Maybe some of these thoughts will save you from a little stress.

Comparison Is The Thief of Joy

I have to remind myself of this daily. I’m in the age bracket where social media wasn’t a big deal my first few years teaching. It existed-I’m not that old! But, there were no teacher Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, or Pinterest boards. While those accounts are awesome for getting ideas, don’t forget that everything you see is a carefully curated post or image that someone wants you to see.

Don’t limit this philosophy to just social media. When you start comparing yourself or your students to other classes in your school or district, you absolutely begin to lose your joy and to gain unnecessary stress.

Choose Your Battles

There will be a lot of battles you can fight. Almost every day there will be something that will upset or frustrate you. There may be policies that make you mad, decisions you don’t like, and mandates that don’t make sense. These potential battles can be with parents, students, coworkers, or administration. It will come from all directions.

Before you get upset, think about the anxiety that choosing to fight the battle adds and the emotional energy it takes from you. Is it worth your time, energy, and peace of mind?  You have to be willing to let things go. Don’t let little things turn into big deals.

Of course, there will be some battles that we must fight. I tend to reserve that for things that are really big deals and situations where I have to advocate for my students.

You Will Never Be Caught Up

It won’t happen. It’s a pipe dream. Be willing to leave it at school. You could stay until 7:00 each evening and arrive by 6:00 each morning, and you will still find things that need to be done. Prioritize the essentials and try not to become lost in the details.

As a side piece of advice on this topic, don’t spend hours upon hours grading. There’s no need for that. You definitely don’t need to record a grade for everything your students do.

Have Fun

You can make teaching as hard and as joyless as you want. We all know that teaching isn’t an easy job, so you have to choose to find the positive. No matter where you teach, you will always be able to find things that aren’t right in education. If you let those problems consume you, you’ll quickly lose your passion for teaching.

Think about who you surround yourself with and avoid toxic negativity. Obviously you will be in some situations where you won’t have that option. In those cases, have your eyes wide open and look for opportunities for positivity.

Your students need to have fun too. If you’re bored and your students are bored, maybe it’s time to stop what you’re doing and go completely off-script. It’s okay to veer away content for just a bit. I’ve found that 30 minutes of off topic fun may end up saving me time later on. Make an effort to create fun lessons that you and your students enjoy. It doesn’t have to be a full-fledge dog and pony show, but give yourself something to look forward to.

Relationships

In your classroom, there is nothing more important than the relationships that you build with your students. Obviously, best practices are important, but I’ve seen time after time the importance of relationship with students. They have to know you care. They need to trust you. Things are going to happen in your students’ lives and  you’re going to have to be there for them, in serious ways. They may need that relationship to get through some difficult periods in their life.

Classroom management is so much easier when you have a positive relationship with students. I’ve also found that discipline isn’t efficient when you don’t have an existing relationship. I’ve found that the best ways to build relationships include:

• Be slow to anger
• Be careful with sarcasm-I have to be really careful with this. I still use it-the kids love it, but I’m extremely careful to never, ever use it in a hurtful or shameful way.
• Avoid public humiliation and never back students into a corner (metaphorical)
• Smile-It seems so obvious, but it’s too important to skip. Who do you want to be around? Someone who smiles and looks happy to be where they are or someone who looks as if they would rather be anywhere else?
• Laugh-Every single day I want my students to leave my classroom having laughed. I don’t care if it’s at my expense. A classroom should be full of laughter.
• Stories-Students LOVE to hear stories about your life. Having my own children opened a whole new world of stories. They love listening to me tell a funny story about something one of my kids or pets did.

Things Change

In education, nothing will remain the same. You will be presented new curriculum, cutting edge resources, and innovative strategies by “experts” who have never taught or haven’t taught in years. You’ll be told that {insert their platform here} is the best thing for students, that it isn’t going anywhere, that it’s a non negotiable.

Then, you’ll implement it two or three years, and it will be replaced with something new. Things come and go so be ready for the ride and to adapt. The real trick is how you go with it. Don’t let these changes cause excess stress and don’t stop doing what works just for the sake of change.

I typically don’t buy into the hype. Just because someone sells it, doesn’t mean it’s good. You have to be able to discern the quality for yourself. Through a lot of experience I’ve learned that you can make “the research” say just about anything you want it to say.

Sometimes you may not have a choice. During those times I smile and nod and shut the door. Remember, this too shall pass.

You Don’t Need All The Things

I wasted so much money when I first started teaching. Don’t feel like you have to buy all the books to have a huge classroom library or every type of math manipulative. You may inherit a classroom full of things, and until you’re teaching you don’t really know what you will need. Over the years, I’ve found that less is more. Plus, you have too many things, it’s so much harder to stay organized, and that is way more important that a huge collection of things.

Put It In Writing

If it’s not in writing, it didn’t happen. If you have anything important, put it in an email so there is an electronic trail. For confidentiality purposes, you may not want to includes names, but you can still make sure the email trail is there. For instance, if you turn in important paperwork follow up with an email that says “I just wanted to make sure you go the paperwork I turned in to your mailbox during my planning”. If you have a challenging conference or phone call you may want to send an email that summarizes the meeting and the goals from the meeting. This removes any question of whether or not you did something.

You May Have to Fake It

Teaching is wonderful, but it’s not always rainbows and sunshine. You may have to pretend to be excited to see a particular parent come into your classroom one afternoon when you’re ready to go home.

You may have to act like you love a particular lesson or even subject. Your students can easily see your enthusiasm for any topic, and they often end up sharing that same enthusiasm or lack thereof.

As a new teacher, you may even have to face the confidence that you know what you’re doing. Your students don’t need to know that you’re terrified! Now, I don’t even pretend to fake having the answers to everything. You want to be willing to share your mistakes and show how you learned from those mistakes.

Grace

Give yourself grace. You will do things that your regret, say things you wish you hadn’t, and miss golden opportunities. You will have lessons that are a complete disaster, and you will lose your patience. It’s going to happen. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You absolutely cannot expect perfection and have to free yourself from that expectation.

Students also need grade (not excuses or no accountability). You are not working with mini adults. These are children. You can’t expect them to behave like miniature adults or to take on adult responsibility. Things happen, and it’s important to look at the whole child when determining how to handle different situations.

Despite being in the classroom for over 16 years, I’m still learning. I think it’s somewhat funny that none of the most challenging things to learn have anything to do with actual curriculum and instruction. It’s all the extras that are so hard!

Yes, teaching is hard, but it’s so worth it.

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