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Jul092016


BUILDING CHARACTER: ENCOURAGING PROBLEM SOLVING


My focus this school year will be building character with my students. The
recent tragic events that have happened in our country have made me even more
certain that building character and working on problem solving skills in my
classroom are more important than ever. 






As I reflected on last year's students and class, I realize that I should have
been more explicit in teaching and modeling how to solve problems between
students. I have already been planning for next school year, and I will be
heavily focusing on building our classroom's community. One of my main focuses
at the beginning of the year will be teaching my students how to solve conflicts
between each other.





We will be doing a lot of modeling and role playing  how we can solve the
problems that might come up in the classroom. Some of the problems that came up
often in last year's class were:


*He's talking too loud!


*He's too close to me!


*He's cutting in line!


*He's not my friend!


And yes, I had a class of boys last year! This year will be discussing these
issues, and I will be giving my students specific strategies that they can use
to solve these problems themselves (and not coming to me for every little
thing!). 


In one of my teacher Facebook groups (collaborating and talking to other
teachers is my favorite) another teacher suggested a Solution Wheel. What a
brilliant idea! I made one for my classroom, because I loved the concept.





You can download one for your classroom by clicking the picture above.


We will spend time discussing the difference between small problems and big
problems. I also loved the suggestion from the other teacher that she encouraged
her students to try 3 solutions before coming to the teacher for help.


I absolutely love using mentor texts with my students. Mentor texts are so
useful for so many things, and I have spent my summer researching and collecting
high quality mentor texts for my classroom. Here are some of the mentor texts I
will be reading to my students as we discuss problem solving and handling
conflicts.





One by Kathryn Otoshi
The Boy Who Wouldn't Shareby Mike Reiss
When Sophia's Feelings Are Really, Really Hurt by Molly Bang
Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns We Can All Get Along by Howard Binkow
The Juice Box Bully by Bob Sornson and Maria Dismondy
The Selfish Crocodile by Faustin Charles and Michael Terry


If you are interested in more mentor texts, I have created a new Instagram page
where I will be focusing only on mentor texts. You can follow me
at @extraspecialbooks or use #extraspecialbooks if you have some great mentor
texts that you would like reposted.





If you're interested in joining the Facebook group I mentioned earlier, click
the picture below.





Do you have any great strategies for teaching problem solving in your classroom?












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Labels: Behavior Management, Character Building, Freebie


Jun192016


PINTEREST APPROVED RECIPE LINK-UP: JUNE EDITION


Hi everyone! It's that fun part of summer where we're busy having BBQs with all
of our friends. I don't know about you, but this is one of my favorite parts of
the summer. With July 4th coming up, I've already started thinking about what
kind of desserts I'll be making. 


I'm teaming up with my blogger friends, Courtney, Nicole, and Tonya to bring you
some meal ideas!





So here are some of my favorite dessert recipes that are a total hit with my own
kids and anyone else who has sampled this deliciousness!





Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce by The Pioneer Woman





Oh my! This is absolute deliciousness! If you've never tried a Pioneer Woman
recipe, you definitely should. Her recipes are easy to make, because she gives
you step-by-step photograph instructions. You seriously cannot mess up one of
her recipes. 

Eclair Cake by Paula Deen





If you're looking for an easy prep recipe that you can make the day before (or
even morning before), this Eclair Cake is the perfect dessert. Actually, this
dessert is so simple to make that my 10-year-old daughter has taken over as the
Eclair Cake maker in my house. Not only is this a chocolatey delight, it's also
an ideal dessert on a hot day since it's kept cold. 





Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs by Sugar Apron




A July 4th BBQ requires some kind of red, white, and blue dessert. These
Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs will definitely be a winner with your guests. I like
to add blueberries to mine to help keep with the theme. 


We'd love for you to link up with some of your favorite June meals and recipes
that you are making this summer!


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Labels: Recipes


Jun182016


A JOURNEY INTO FLEXIBLE SEATING


Hi everyone! I'm sure by now you have read many posts and seen many Instagram
photos about flexible seating. This past school year, I really started thinking
about how flexible seating would work in my classroom and if flexible seating
was really even possible.





I had been reading some of the great blog posts out there, such as this one from
Kayla at Top Dog Teaching {here} and even a blog post from Kayla's principal
{here}. Lucky Little Learners {here} has a great FAQ about how flexible seating
works in her classroom, and I used a very similar anchor chart when I first
introduced flexible seating with my students.


We started the year off with this set-up.





After all of my reading, I stayed late the last day before Christmas break and
completely rearranged my classroom. Who does that? I was determined to make it
work though and wanted a fresh start in January. My students walked into this
after their return from Christmas break.





Since I was teaching a resource room, my students were already used to sharing
community supplies. I kept their pencils, crayons, and scissors in blue baskets.
What I found so funny is that my students basically just sat in the same spot as
where their desk had been previously.








The standing desks were a huge hit and one of the most used spots this school
year. I had several students who were ADHD and extremely energetic. These were
fabulous for those students, and I noticed that they typically chose them on
their own as a working space.





Along the way, I wrote a Donors Choose project for 8 stability balls and was
fortunate enough to have it funded pretty quickly.


I also lowered a circle table and pulled out my crate seats. For testing, I just
told my students to find a good place for them to work and grab the dividers
(manila folders laminated together).












I used this front carpet for any whole group instruction that required modeling
with the document camera. My students were already used to using clipboards, so
this wasn't a new skill for them. However, I quickly realized that stepping over
students as I was going back and forth from my document camera to the board was
not a good choice.


Which lead me to buying another rug from Target, and I came up with this set-up.
My rule for students was that your body must be on one of the carpets. This way
I had an aisle as a walkway for me to go back and forth from the table to my
board.





One day, I happened to come across the highly sought after Scoop Rockers by pure
chance. I scooped up four of them, and my students were in love! Have you ever
seen anything as adorable as this Kindergartener reading?





This picture here is my proudest moment as a special education teacher. I have
always struggled to get my students to independently read. I'm not sure what I
did differently this year (other than the flexible seating), but I had students
reading independently. 





My students knew that a clipboard was always a choice they could pick for
seating.









 By the end of the year, I had come up with this configuration. I "think" I've
worked out all the kinks and will be starting off the year like this for next
year, with a few minor changes (such as that gray cabinet has been taken out).






 After looking back at this year, I feel like giving my students a choice in
their seating was absolutely a positive thing. There were only a few times that
I had to make a choice for someone and move them. Whenever that happened, I made
them come sit at my kidney table until they could show me that they had earned
back their right to choose.

How do you feel about flexible seating? Is this something that would work in
your classroom?



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