Welcome to G's Italiano!

This is the first of hopefully many classroom transformations!

I love when all the grades align with standards! In 3rd grade they learned about rounding and it was a review lesson in 4th and 5th grade and we worked on Place Value and adding decimals (money).

Classroom BINGO

This is something new I am trying this year, Classroom BINGO! This is really fun to incorporate. 

This is the third year that this class has been together, so day one of school they were not the timid kids that I usually experience on the first day. They loved loved loved to talk from the beginning. The past 2 weeks we have had to work on transitions without talking, cleaning up without talking and when Ms G's lips are moving, you. are. not. talking. 

I brainstormed ways to get them to stop talking! Good thing for inspiring teachers on Instagram!! I found this idea, and during the Nebraska vs Colorado game (second half) I made this BINGO card. I printed off 2 copies, one copy for the BINGO board to hang and the other copy I cut up to "draw" when the students earned a square.

This has been a game changer this week. I let the students choose what the prize was, and we all agreed on an extra 15 minute recess. I allow as many squares in a day as I feel so they can always "focus on their direction". It's funny that we have so many close calls and no BINGO yet. I guess we will see if they can earn one by the end of the week! 

-Sunshine

A Long Walk to Water

I LOVE my class so much. 

They have such kind hearts.

They listen - maybe not to instructions the first time, but to the important stuff. 

When I teach, I want to teach the whole student, teaching them about subjects, predicates and multiplication is so important, but I want to teach them how to be kind, empathetic and compassionate. When they leave my class, I want them to be courteous, thoughtful and respectful. 

I try to bring in different views from different walks of life and I am so pumped that my teachers assistant Megan feels the same way. This week we started the book A Long Walk to Water. It is 2 stories that take place in South Sudan when there was war in their villages in 2008 and 1985. It follows the story of Nya (2008) and Salva (1985). This has brought up so much conversation in my class about how others live around the world and how blessed we are in Omaha, Nebraska. 

There was a scene where Nya has to walk to get a bucket of water, and the bottom of her feet were covered in thorns. The kids stopped the reading and asked why she wasn't wearing any shoes. This was the perfect opportunity to tell the kids that shoes are something we take for granted; and that protect our feet in ways that we don't have to worry about. They were so curious and asked so many more questions. I told the kids that so many parasites and bacteria live in the soil and water in these 3rd world countries, and a simple cut on the foot would make these people very sick. This then led me to talk about TOMS shoes and their mission statement and impact on the world! The kids were all eyes on me and so engaged. I love their curiousity .

The next day.... I had 2 kids show up in TOMS shoes... 

I wonder if they knew the meaning before?

I wonder if they know the impact they had?

I wonder if they know what they are capable of doing?

I love that I am able to make a change one day at a time.

I love that I have a job where I can teach the whole child,

I love that I have supportive directors that encourage me.

I love that I get to be a teacher.

With love and inspiration,

-Sunshine

Oh the animals...

Teaching in the science house has been fun, but let me tell you....I am ready for my classroom to be built! 

These animals are so neat to look at, but half of them are trying to escape and you can hear them clawing at the side of their cage, Xena the snake is shedding, and Yoshi the Leopard Gheko is nocturnal, so when he comes out there becomes a ruckus in the classroom... the list goes on...

Each morning we say good morning to all the animals!

Good Morning Marge (Bearded Dragon)

Good Morning Althea and Arturo (Turtles)

Good Morning Emery, Zander, and Rocky (Green Anoles) 

Good Morning Xena (Corn Snake)

Good Morning Schmoe (Corn Snake)

Good Night Yoshi (Leopard Gecko)

and we get on with our day... I always hope...

  

Whenever it is time to rotate math or reading stations, they take a little bit longer when the kids have to walk past all the animals on the way to the locker room (the dining room off of the living room where we are). I always have to redirect, or give in and let the kids have "animal viewing" time. This is a really neat experience for the kids and I do truly enjoy that they love looking at the animals and ask so many questions.... but sometimes I just want to teach and have all their eyes on ME! The animals are pretty cool though...

 Xena is going to get so much brighter once she sheds her skin! 

This is a "before" photo of her!

Geckos clawing their way across the ceiling, never thought they could make so much noise!

-Sunshine

Podcasts and Coloring

I loved stories growing up and I have always wanted to incorporate story time in my classroom. I grew up with Focus on the Family's Adventures in Odyssey (any one else out there?) I am really fond of radio stories, and listen to them when I clean and walk the pups! 

Being a math teacher I have never been able to get it in my lessons.

This year, teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade I am able to have them be a part of my reading stations! I want them to have something to do with their hands, so the past 2 weeks I have printed off coloring sheets for the kids. This week I decided that I needed a picture in my clear phone case. I precut the cardstock to the size of my phone case and told the kids some of my likes and dislikes. 

While they were listening to the podcast they colored away, and as you can see, they took this activity very seriously!

It was hard to choose just one! I chose the mermaid, because it reminds me of every day on our honeymoon swimming in the Pacific! The sunflower was a close second!

Excited to do this activity again, everyone notices my super-cool phone case and always asks about it, and it opens the door for me to talk about my students!

-Sunshine

Reading the ads

Here is an example of something I implement into math stations. 

Reading the ads!

This provides SO MUCH real world math for them- and when I email their parents of things we are doing in the classroom I hope that when they see it and go shopping with their kids that they engage in conversation of prices! 

This was the first time exposing them to the ads, so I had them brainstorm planning a picnic and just writing down how much things cost. We had to talk about the difference between $1.25 and 79 cents. We had to have a conversation about where the decimal point goes when it is listed as cents.

I have a list of multiple different math stations, so they will see this one 1 week out of a month. I have so many meals  they will plan and different ways to manipulate the numbers. 

For the first week of planning a meal I will have them plan a picnic, write down all the prices and add them up. 
The next time they see this station I will have them plan lunches for the week with 3 different options. 
They will then practice rounding up to the nearest 10. Since they learn rounding in 3rd grade this may be a concept that we work on for a couple months. 
With my 5th graders I may tell them how much they can spend, and what cash they will get back! 





Some meals they will plan over the course of the year:
A BBQ
Taco Night
Grilled Burgers
Sunday morning Breakfast
3 different lunches for the week     
and these are just a few, I have so many more ideas! 

Shapes Up

I like including board games in my teaching. I have been teaching some games this week so they can be included in independent stations later on in the year. We have also been practicing how to rotate between stations and how to clean up and take care and be respectful of Ms G's things- all the necessary procedures to make stations work and they can learn my expectations.

Here are some of the reasons I use board games:

1. Learning the rules helps them put their thinking caps on to strategize, or figure out ways to score points.

2. Board games are about strategizing and planning ahead. Not only do they have to focus on their moves, but they also have to focus on their opponents and the moves they are making.

3. Some games require them to think and make decisions quickly.

4. Logic, reasoning, and problem solving are major components of the board games I include. This is helpful in academics and when they get older, in the work place.

5. Board games also help them work with others, be on teams, and make collective decisions.

Shapes Up is a great problem solving game, the rules are easy to learn and I was able to teach the kids pretty fast. I bought 2 sets of this game in case we have a game day- which is something they can earn through Class Bingo ( I will have a post on this in the future!) , I can have more groups playing. There can be 2-4 players which is nice for different size of groups during stations.

The game is about $20 on Amazon, and a great resource in the classroom!

-Sunshine

Some read aloud books

I think one of my favorite times of the day is reading to my kids! I love that I have all their attention, they sit around me, I love making voices while reading, and I love seeing the emotion on their faces! It has happened twice now, that when I show the book that I am going to read, some of the kids say, "this is one of my favorites" or "we read this one a lot at home". Warms my heart that they are still being read too in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade! Here are 2 of the books that were bought off my #clearthelist . Thank you so much for supporting my classroom! :)

This first book, We don't eat our Classmates was such a fun read! My kids got such a good laugh at it, and I also read it to my husband at home and we both had a good chuckle.

We read this one during library and it is about loving who you are and when you do, its the day you begin. The kids really liked this one!

I have a couple more books I would like to share with my class and with your help, we can make it happen! Check out my list on Amazon!! My students and I would be forever grateful! 

-Sunshine

The Day You Begin

This was a perfect story to talk about appreciating differences in all of us. Once you accept yourself and who you are, is the day you begin.

This was a fun story to read at the beginning of the school year. I love that all my students were engaged and gave input at the end- some were able to share stories of when they felt like they did not belong. Its nice to hear them be so vulnerable and open, and for the other kids to embrace the differences and hardships.

-Sunshine

Secret Tower STEM

This was a really neat activity! I am going to try and do a STEM team builder each Friday.

Here is how I set up this activity.

I built this tower in a place where the class could not see

I split the class into groups of 4 and each kid had a specific job

1. The toucher, they are the only student in the group who could build the structure

2. The see-er. This student is the only one who could look at the structure and come back to the group and gesture or point to what/how the structure works.

3. The talker to students. This student could only talk to other students

4. The talker to the teacher.

Seems easy enough right?

Here is the catch- not everyone got the right amount of materials. I gave some groups all paper and no cups, or I gave some groups more than enough cups but no paper. 

This is where the talker to the students comes in to play, but they had to take the "toucher" with them so they could get the cups!

The job my students had the most trouble with was the "see-er" They were able to see the tower but they could not come back and tell the group! They had to gesture and point and the talker had to translate it to the toucher.... this was so much fun to watch! 

They worked on patience and communication skills! 

All the groups got it! 

They asked to do it again- so I had my trusty teachers assistant set it up!

-Sunshine

#clearthelist

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

WOW!!!

I have taught middle school math and science for 10 years and wanted to try something new this year! I took a job at Legacy Primary teaching the Multi-Age Class which consists of 3rd-5th grades! I started to buy things for my new classroom, Amazon was at our house daily, but after a move from Kansas, planning a wedding, buying a house in Nebraska, and going on a honeymoon I was limited in some of the things I wanted to do. 

Thats when I learned about a Texas teacher who started the movement #clearthelist to get help from others for their classroom. I thought I would give it a try, given that I am starting from scratch and I could only put so much towards my new classroom. I never thought I would get so much help! 

People are so generous and thoughtful and I love that I have a support group that helps support me! I am grateful and humbled at all the people who donated to my classroom!! 

Thank you to The Bingham family, The Campbell family, The Matland Family, Dawn Carlos, Karen Massie, Marla Alberts, Janice Campbell, and Tammi Westergard!!!

I am so excited to share ideas on this blog of things I tried in my classroom!

Sometimes the pups won't get out of the pictures! :) 

If you would like to donate to my classroom I would forever be grateful! I also plan on sharing all your wonderful gifts here on the blog with how I use them!

AMAZON LIST

-Sunshine

They listen...

They actually listen....

Sometimes being a teacher I feel like I say one direction multiple times, and it feels like herding cats... but kids listen when we least expect it.

I have a jar of cashews on my desk, its a pretty big jar- Cost-Co size, and I had a student ask me why I had such a big jar. I responded that I always forget to eat breakfast and I always get the reminder in the most inopportune time, so it really easy to grab a handful of cashews to fulfill my hunger. 

The next day, another student, not the one who asked me the question, brought me in a mixture of Fruity Pebbles and Cheerios. When I asked her why she brought me the unique concoction, she told me that she wanted me to have breakfast so we could have a good day of learning!

What a thoughtful gift

What an act of service

What an act of compassion

She overheard a conversation and thought of me the next morning when she was eating breakfast, and she thought, "hey, I should make Ms G some breakfast". 

I try to instill compassion, gratitude and kindness into my kids...

and I am also learning one day at a time! :) 

-Sunshine

Morning Routine

It is so important to start our mornings on the right foot. In my 10 years of teaching, this is my 11th, I have always had the kids start their day off with telling me things they are grateful for- verbally, or in a grateful notebook! This year I told my students to find a notebook that they love. It can be one that they decorate with things they love, or it can be a notebook with an inspirational quote, or an animal that they like! 

With my dyslexic students, I have my teachers assistant sit down and help they write 3 things they are grateful for and they can explain to her why, for my other students, this is a part of their handwriting time- 3rd grade is when they learn cursive! 

Each day we watched a Kid President video to get us amped up for the day! I was able to stumble across this book of his- 100 ways to be awesome! This is so perfect to learn how to be awesome 1 day at a time! We will do one a day and write them down in our grateful journal- in the back- the “How to be Awesome” Journal! It’s really fun to talk to the kids about the advice kid president gives, for example, the first and second way to be awesome is to...

1. Put your phone down and 

2. Take brain pictures

This is a conversation we had to have about times when we should use our phone and times when our phone should be put down!

After watching the Kid Presidents Video- Pep Talk- we brainstormed ways we could be awesome! This is another paper that we used post-its on because I would like to use this again! 

I never know what kind of morning that the kids had before they came to me. I am not sure if they woke up late and rushed all morning to get to school on time. I am not sure if their sibling ate the last bowl of their favorite cereal that they were so looking forward to eating, I am not sure if they had a rough night the night before or got in trouble or yelled at. I am not sure if anyone had a kind word for them that morning.

I want my classroom to be a place they can come too, a place where they can find comfort, a place that is safe. So, every morning, with every class I have had, Houston, Guatemala, Bennington, Goddard, and here, I will greet them with a hand shake, a smile, eye contact, and I will say their name  and that is it so wonderful to see them, because I may be the first person to do this. We will go over things we are grateful for and talk about ways we can be awesome, and I hope then, if I have brought a smile to their face, that I can turn their day around and start it on the right track, show them that I care that they are there.

 I want to teach the whole child. 

-Sunshine

First Day of School!

I love to bake! I made cake balls for the staff for the first day of staff meetings on August 19th, and I made my Grandmas amazing coffee cake! It was my first time using her recipie and I couldn’t help but be nostalgic while making it! Grandma would always have a coffee cake made every time we came up to the farm! I can’t wait to make it more often and practice and perfect it! Bringing this to school was so special to me to share with my new staff! 

The first day of school was a rainy overcast day! Love the welcoming sign they had to welcome the kids to the new school year!

It’s important to have the kids involved in their learning and be a citizen of the classroom! I made all of these posters for the kids to fill out, my plan was to do 1-2 per day as a break from our rules and routines.

The kids will shake my hand before entering my classroom, so today we practiced and talked about what a good handshake is!

This is another poster we did this year, and after about 2 weeks of being in my classroom and we know each other a bit better we may do this again! (Which is why we will use post-its!) 

The kids get dropped off in front of the school and have to walk up to the house on the land, I stand outside the house to greet them in the mornings! Even in rain! 

This letter board was on my #clearthelist and I am so happy someone bought it for my class! This first time it was used was to take photos for the first day of school!

My beautiful teachers assistant! 

First day is under our belts and we survived! Most these kids were in the multi-age group last year so they all knew each other, which meant the kids were not as timid as they usually are on the first day! Here goes the first 4 day week of the school year!

-Sunshine