Hello Mrs Sykes

This is a paid post sponsored by WeAreTeachers and  fit4Schools . All opinions are my own.  Not all students come to school ready to learn, so it becomes our job to help them get ready to learn. fit 4Schools is a free resource for teachers, caregivers, and parents to help kids learn about keeping fit ! What is fit 4Schools ? fit 4Schools is a collaborative project from Sanford Health and WebMD. Their mission is to empower children to do the simple things every day that make healthy lifestyle choices a habit.

If you're in the US, school is almost over, and gifting is on the brain. Here's a simple gift idea. Investment of time... fifteen minutes. Added bonus? You are about to clear off a shelf (or a box, a sterilite drawer, or whatever!) If you are like me, you collect childrens' books for classroom libraries, etc. Some books may be well loved, or ones that you ordered from your book club catalogs, but forgot to use, or they weren't books that were checked out from your classroom library very often. This makes your shelved cluttered. Today's tip: Let them go... to the students! Here's how it usually goes down for me: set out an old box of books. Say nothing about it, until a sweetheart asks about them. Then tell them to pick one book they are interested in, and see you for a label for their name, because they can keep the book. Forever and ever. Seriously, no Pinterest involved. Grab some old labels and hand-write a little note. These were mine last year! I ...

Today I want to share a trick for you to establish positive relationships with your students. Establish a positive connection with your students to help them engage and feel passionate about the importance of the subject matter.

Let me tell you a story about a student. For today, I will call her Quanisha. Trust me, that is not her real name . Quanisha looks like any other student, but everyone says she is mean. Before Quanisha begins in your class, you are warned by 3 teachers.  Watch out for that one. She always causes trouble, and is mean to the other kids.  You get introduced to her social worker, who fills you in on Quanisha's situation: the gaps in housing; the absent parents; the constant trouble in school; the rebellious older sister.

In chatting with teachers, I often get questions about how to support struggling readers in my upper elementary grades. Here are the top 6 ways I support struggling readers in grades 2-6. Thought I would pass them along.  If you find them helpful, I appreciate your sharing this post with your colleagues.  Thanks, y'all!! Find out their interests, then help them find tons of cool books on that topic.  If the books are way too difficult a text, but have rich, engaging pictures, let them keep them in their reading box.  If the majority of their books are at their reading level, let them keep a few that are interest-based, even if they are far too easy or difficult. Find out their needs, then help them find materials they can keep in their reading box.  If they can't tie their shoes, find a preschool book with the big, chunky laces , and let them quietly practice during reading time.  Yes, sometimes 4th graders don't know how to tie their shoes.  It ...

Great news!  I finally finished my "Back to School" stuff.  :)  I've been back at work for 4 weeks now...  I've finished most of my beginning of the year assessments, analyzed my data, and am ready to dig deep into learning to fill the gaps of my struggling readers.  (If you want to read about how I do this each year, check out my series: Supporting Struggling Readers in Grades 3-5 ) One of the most important things I needed to do was to make sure my classroom is inspiring, even though it is *not cute!*  I do have touches of cuteness, but it is always functionally cute, not just cute.  Here are a few examples of functionally cute from the Upper Elementary Literacy Room: Common Core Rules for Discussion from Jen Jones @ Hello Literacy .  These are a fantastic resource for my students, and are posted in a spot that we refer to as needed to remember to make eye contact, respectfully agree or disagree, etc. What's Your Graduation Year? Fr...

Sometimes, we just need a reminder of why we do what we do. Button Graphics  from my new favorite clipart artist, Tomato Dumplings . I went back and found these old pictures that I keep to remind me why I work with kids instead of adults.  They made me smile, and I thought you might enjoy them, too.  Enjoy!! A note on the board from 2 students to the rest of their class... A sticky note reminder - "I need to read" Reading your favorite silly books while wearing pajamas in public?  Yep. When given paper and markers, they made this - a bookmark with attitude. Even apples need some TLC.  Right, Casey ? Creating instruments to explore how sound works... Even 5th graders still love construction paper and markers.   Check out their ELA Notebooks here.  :) Thank you, and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

I have always been the teacher to share.  In fact, if you ask me for my opinion about something in education, you may never shut me up again.  As a Literacy Coach in my county, this was a wonderful trait, as you get the most "Bang for Your Buck" by providing meaningful in-house staff development.  I couldn't understand when teachers refused to share their fantastic strategies with other teachers.  I had been in their classrooms; the work they were doing with their classes was nothing short of phenomenal.  Sadly, now I see where that refusal to share was coming from. The collaborative climate, where teachers freely exchanged ideas and tips, is turning.  Some teachers are starting to figure out that they can shine (in the eyes of their administration) by NOT sharing.  At all.  Not strategies, best practices, how they would deal with a behavior issue, community resources to help a student in need, nada.  In many school systems, teachers are be...

Wow!  Have y'all been enjoying the transition to fall weather as much as I have?  For reals, I've been getting out my sweaters, leggings, and boots!  Love it!!  :)  I was in the  Target Dollar Spot  today, and found these amazing resources for my intervention classroom!! (Here's a freebie  to use with the fun erasers!!) ((Psst... for a  free Phonemic Awareness printable  to use with the seasonal eraser manipulatives, click the free tab on my  Facebook page !!))  Check them out! Cute erasers for Phonemic Awareness manipulatives - for the Kindergartners! Pencil bucket Fall themed pencils - because my kiddos dig office supplies! This little owl - perfect as a cheerful fall decoration - I smile when I look at him!!  :)  What do you think?  What is your favorite Dollar Spot find?

I just started a new job, since I was able to secure a perfect position at a school near my house that lets me: 1) do what I love - geek out about Literacy all. day. long.  :) 2) work around my children's schedule 3) work four days per week Love it!  :)  Here's the "before" pictures: A front view of the classroom - note all the clutter! Ick!! View from the other corner - still terribly cluttered!   After only 2 days (which was mostly spent doing paperwork!)  Here it is: Front work station, with Discussion Rules from Jennifer Jones !  Mystery Word of the Week Freebie   and Graduation Year Posters {free} Prompts for our Book Conferences Many of my Working on Words activities, including the games I've blogged about here . Now I'm going to hang out with the people who live in my house, and have an early night!  :)

My green beans have really been making me laugh lately... Kiddo (with an apprehensive look): "What is Gooey Dance?" Me: "I don't know.  What is Gooey Dance?" Kiddo: "Mrs. Sykes, it says on the schedule we have Gooey Dance tomorrow.  I don't know how to Gooey Dance." Me: "We are having a Guidance lesson tomorrow.  No worries!"  :) Kiddo #1: "Do you know who you're going to vote for?" Kiddo #2: "My dad said I should vote for Omaha {{Obama}}, but I don't know yet." Kiddo #1: "You need to vote for Omaha if your dad says to.  He's probably right." Kiddo #2: "I know, but the other guy is named Mitten.  That would be pretty cool." Hope all's well with all of y'all, and the folks impacted from Hurricane Sandy can begin returning to a bit of normalcy soon - know that you're in our nation's thoughts.

Omigoodness, y'all!  I have been so busy lately.  With all the upcoming stress coming next month (round 2 of report cards, our first standardized test - yikes!, and the mid-year AIMSweb testing - now including math - with no extra training!)  I figured we could use a bit of fun!  One of my students' uncles donated white shirts for our class.  I decided we needed to tie-dye them!  Exhausting, but worth it...  No pictures, naturally, since it looked really cool, especially when we had them all lined up on the fence to dry in the sun. Over the weekend, I went to the State Fair with the family... Lovin' the giant Adirondack Chair!  I moustache you a question... Later, going through Wal-Mart, what should I come across... Yep!  Mustache decals and an owl banner.  50 cents each.  {Happy Dance}  The large mustache might make it onto my new (to me) car.  All those Camrys look the same - I need some character fo...

I know... you're wondering why the title of this post mentions cabbage, right?  It's not really a common topic on teaching blogs, so I understand your curiosity.  When I arrived home yesterday after a l-o-o-o-n-g day, I found 8 heads of cabbage on my kitchen counter.  Really! It turns out that we have big plans this weekend, and I had completely flaked on remembering!  My hubby has the cabbages to make oodles of coleslaw for a *huge* annual pig pickin' (it's a southern thing, y'all!)  Anywho, I'm really excited, as it means I'll be seeing a couple hundred family members and friends this weekend!!  What I nice way to celebrate the end of our school year.  Which leads me to... (sniff) the Last Day Blues!  I said goodbye to my class today.  It was hard, since they are really a phenomenal bunch.  We invited their families to an end-of-year picnic, which was in the classroom due to the rain.  It was amazing to see students with t...

Well, we are hanging in there.  2 days of craziness   insanity  orderly learning left.  Here's a quick peek at what we've been up to... No More Boring Words!!  Last week we used Tonya's Overused Words packet, and created an interactive thesaurus on our staple wall using envelopes.  My kiddos have been referring to it like crazy.  Be sure to visit Tonya's Treats for Teachers - it's super cute!! Minute to Win It!!   Have seen  Regan's  Minute to Win it?   We had so much fun!!!  :) Freebie Time!!  My blog reached a new milestone.  In appreciation of all of you, I have 4 new sight word games for y'all .  They will be free for the rest of this week, so be sure to download !  While you're there, become a follower and leave feedback.  :)  Have a wonderful rest of the week!!!