Hello Mrs Sykes

It's a bit of an epidemic, but low staff morale is spreading across many schools and districts.  When I was asked who I wanted to send a card to, I immediately thought of the teachers I work with!  I went back and forth for a bit, and I had a revelation - let's use the art from their kiddos!  As anyone who has worked with kids before knows, the things we treasure from our students are creative and come from their heart.  I used the online service www.Treat.com  to create these cards... I let the kiddos in on my plan - we were each going to decorate a small slip of construction paper, and I would piece them together to share in a card with their teachers.  Look how amazing their art turned out! Next step - scan the pics.  (OK - really, I was in a hurry.  I took the pics with my phone and uploaded the pics to Treat.com ... Then I started browsing.  {{swoon}}  This was tricky, since I had a *ton* of cards on my "favorites" list....

The range of strengths and weaknesses in a typical classroom can be quite difficult.  If you aren't careful, your students will generate so much paper (to grade and file!) that you won't be able to manage it.  Here's my suggestion:  Have an ELA Notebook for each child.  Nothing fancy - I'm currently using "fast-teacher-made-special" notebooks, consisting of a long piece of bright construction paper folded in half and stapled as the cover for 20-ish pieces of notebook paper.  When I taught 2nd grade, we used handwriting paper for the first quarter as a support/transition from 1st grade, and this was a fast way to help keep track of the loose papers for each subject. Credits: Mr. Magician , KG Fonts , Hello Fonts I know... it's really not going to hold a lot, so I encourage the kiddos to draw a line, date the entry, and then do their work, which can run over (neatly) to the page after that.  Typically, these journals last everyone for a month or so, and...

Wowza!  I'm exhausted.  Since we had so many snow days recently, we have make up days... on Saturdays!  (I know - it sounds really strange, but I'm a teacher in a year round school.  For more info on this odd schedule, check out this post .)  Since I wasn't sure what kind of attendance we would have at our first Saturday make up day, I needed to plan an engaging lesson that worked on a core concept.  I chose Vocabulary Development, since this is crucial to future scholastic success for my ELLs and struggling readers alike. I've always been vocal about the use of games for word work.  They promote critical thinking skills, an understanding of group dynamics, and vocabulary development.  Games can also promote competition, but I try to downplay that aspect.  I. Don't. Keep. Score.  When my goal is vocabulary development, fluency, comprehension, or an understanding of how words work, I think that the competitive aspect undermines my inten...

Today, I’d like to share how I use Pinterest for transition time… We all know that teachers are consistently short on time, so this hop is perfect for the busy teacher - chock full of effective, short, and focused Bright Ideas! In my classrooms, I tend to "hold tight" to each moment, squeezing in as much content as I can throughout the day.  When I was in a classroom with an LCD Projector, I used interesting pins from my Pinterest boards to help us refocus on our task.  My students always have a writing notebook, and it is a handy way to have students do a "quick write" to transition back from recess/lunch/random fire drill/etc.  I project the picture, they get 30 seconds to (quietly) discuss the picture with a partner, then they have a quick write, which takes about 2-4 minutes.  Grammar and spelling are not a priority during a quick write, and each quick write does not need to be shared.  It just helps ease the transition back into the classroom. ...

In my experiences as a literacy coach, classroom teacher, and literacy specialist, I noticed that my upper elementary kiddos who struggle with reading usually have some similarities.  They are typically not fluent readers, and they rely on prior knowledge instead of the information they read.  Not all struggling readers have these issues, naturally.  :) When I say fluency, I know the picture that pops into the head of many teachers...  anxious students, stopwatches, and lists of nonsense words while you tell the kiddos to read as fast as they can!  That's not what I mean.  I'm not talking about their oral reading fluency - I'm concerned that these kiddos who struggle with reading aren't fluent readers when they read to themselves .  Since the best way to become a better reader is to read, and they struggle reading, then reading isn't usually something they are clamoring to do. For months, I have been inspired to create "Practicing Fluency and Compr...

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...

Happy 2014!  As I write this, I am so amazingly excited to be typing on my new computer.  ((Swoon))  Ok, so it's a cheap laptop, but it's my  cheap laptop.  :)  I'm working on a blog series about the learning curve I've encountered in the switch... In the meantime, I've added a super cute Happy New Years freebie for word work ., you know, since you just might need something productive and cute for morning work on your first day back.  Enjoy! Click Here for free download from TpT Currently... with Farley !  Our memory/tradition for Christmas in the Casa de Sykes is the Family Activity Advent Calendar.  I created this several years ago, and we enjoy seeing what our activity is each day as we count down to Christmas!  My personal favorite always is the activity for Christmas Eve - "Remember you have a family that loves you, and that's the most important gift of all." Happy New Year!

I treasure the Christmas gifts I get from my own kiddos each year, and I know that many of my students have no resources to give their parents a gift on their own.  I make sure that my students always get the opportunity to make a gift for someone special. Graphics:  Miss Russell's Room , Creative Clips , and Print Candee Here's a quick round-up of fabulous easy-peasy gifts for your students to make this year: The Christmas Calendar - I did this for 3 years in a row and had the biggest response from parents.  Love, love, love this!!  It's free, too.  Go to Christina Bainbridge's free files page, and look under "C" for Christmas Gifts for families.  It's all kinds of awesome.  (Print, copy, then bind or staple.  Kiddos decorate for several stretches of time during the week we need a project to work on - the week before Christmas!!)  Parents love it, and it's worth my copy quota to know that my kiddos have something they are proud to g...