Are you ready to start a new adventure this school year ?

August 9, 2022Leave a comment

Are you looking for a new kind of behavior plan that doesn’t sound like a plan? It didn’t start out to be a behavior plan, but a way to welcome back my new students after our school resumed face-to-face teaching with everyone wearing masks.

The word “ADVENTURE” become a part of my classroom that year. It began as a part of helping my students cope with the craziness of COVID-19 as my school made the decision to bring students back to the classroom. I wanted my students to see being back in school as an opportunity to do wonderful things, in other words, an adventure for the year. Let me tell you about it!

I explained to my students that they would be earning the letters that spelled ADVENTURE by their actions at school. Once a letter was earned, it could not be taken away. Letters could NOT be earned by only one or two students; it had to be a group effort. If students asked for a letter reward, the answer would be, “No.” I wanted their actions to happen naturally, not driven by rewards.

So what kinds of actions were students rewarded for? The first time our Science teacher shared with me, in front of the class, how the class had worked so diligently, using their time wisely, the letter A was earned. I watched as my class welcomed a new student and made her feel a part of the class, another letter was earned. I was late to class, coming from a meeting, and everyone was seated at their desk working on the math warm-up, a letter was earned.

So what happens when the class spells “ADVENTURE”? The reward was decided by the class. We had extra recess, no shoes in class for the day, a movie watched over the course of a week were just of the few the rewards that my students chose. I do reserve the right to veto an idea and the students know that right from the front.

It worked so well that year that I have continued to use “ADVENTURE” ever since! If you are struggling with what kind of behavior plan to use this year, why not give it a shot!! Let me know if it works for you!

Have a great year!

Sue Mescall

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Great lesson plans and activities coming your way with Dollar Days deals!

December 31, 2021Leave a comment

Are you looking for some new classroom and student activities but are a bit short in the budget for them? Boy, have I got a deal for you!!! Read on…

Starting December 31 and continuing through Jan 1, a group of Teacher pay Teacher authors (yours truly included!) will be offering great $1 deals in our stores!!! What’s the catch, you ask?

To find these great deals on www.teacherspayteachers.com, you must search using the phrase, #Cheers2022. You will find many $1 deals that will make going back to school and lesson planning in the New Year easier!!

Here are my two $1 Deals! Remember, use #Cheer2022 to find the great deals.

Happy shopping!

Susan Mescall

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Nonfiction-Text-Features-Game-BINGO-3249342

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adding-and-Subtracting-Fractions-With-Unlike-Denominators-1658409

Happy shopping and Happy New Year!

Thank you!

Susan Mescall

Here’s My Secret to Building Student Relationships!!

July 7, 2021July 7, 2021Leave a comment

As teachers, we are encouraged to build relationships with our students. Great idea, but how do you do that on a daily basis? How do you make sure you connect to all your students? Good questions AND I may have the answer for you!!

A few years ago, my schedule had an open 30 minute block between two specials. What to do? Not really enough time to start a new activity and I make sure students have plenty of time to work and practice during scheduled lessons.

Most of my students have busy schedules when they leave school each day; sports, piano lessons, dance lessons, to name only a few. There is rarely time for them to read outside of school. I decided to use the 30 minutes for independent reading!!

As the students began their first day of independent reading, I was left sitting at my desk. That’s when I hit on the ideas to meet with 4 or 5 students daily, one-on-one! I called my first student and with their chair they came to my desk. I simply asked, “What’s going on and it doesn’t have to be about school?” To my surprise and delight, my student began to tell me about the soccer tournament he was going to be playing in on Saturday! My next students told me about her hip-hop dance class and it just went from there!

Such information made it easy for me to talk to my students about “stuff” that had nothing to do with school. That was my one rule for talking to my students; no school talk. These conversations take place each day with different students and the conversations don’t take more than about 4-5 minutes, so I am able to talk to 5 or 6 students each day.

I have done this for the past two years and it has had a really positive affect with the each class. Some of my students were a bit shy at first, but soon were telling me about such things as their passion for dinosaurs, their remote control cars, their judo class. I also have had students send me picture of their successes: earning a black belt, riding their dirt bike for the first time, and even a dance rehearsal video. The students love sharing their experiences with the class too!

If you can find find a block of time each day, give each student 4-5 minutes of your complete attention and you’ll be surprised at how students will WANT to talk to you.

Let me know how you build relationships with your students! I love hearing from other teachers!!

Sue

Are You Looking for Engaging U.S. History Activities?

September 2, 2019September 3, 2019Leave a comment

Does the idea of trying to find time to teach Social Studies give you a pain as you are trying to plan your school schedule? With all the emphasis on the testing of math, science, and reading in my state, it was really hard to find activities that would help my students learn about our country’s history AND engage my students attention. Since social studies and history are not state tested subjects in elementary school in my state, too often I had to leave the subject as an afterthought…a subject to visit AFTER end of grade testing was finished.

Let me help you make U.S. History a part of your reading lessons with a great book AND a variety of engaging activities for both reading and social studies lessons. I found Blood on the River by Elise Carbone! A great novel about the founding of James Town as seen through the eyes of a young boy who is servant to Captain John Smith. My students love this book and I am able to slip social studies lessons into my reading lessons! WALLAH!

Blood on the River allowed me to introduce vocabulary of the times, explore primary sources, compare characters and discussion questions along with meeting historical figures such as John Smith and Pocahontas. All this and more is included in my TpT store product Blood on the River Activities Just clink on the link to check out my Blood on the River products!

If you aren’t able to choose your reading materials, don’t despair! I have a bundle of activities that you can use to add hands-on, rigorous, yet engaging activities to go along with your studies of America from the early explorers to the American Revolution. You can find this fabulous bundle in my TpT store American Social Studies Activities

Check out some really fun activities…my students really like the United States Branches activities. Make history come alive with the I Have, Who Has of the American Revolution!

I hope these activities will help your students develop an interest in the history of our country!!

A New Year With New Novels For Your Students

January 2, 2019Leave a comment

I count myself a lucky teacher when it comes to how I teach reading in my classroom. I am not tied to a basal, but instead, I get to use novels as the basis for my lessons. This can be a two edged sword… I love introducing my students to new books. However, after a few years of teaching a novel, I find myself wanting a new novel to use with my students and to also engage myself with new lessons. As a result, I am always on the lookout for engaging novels for my fifth graders.

Not long ago, I was reading a thread on Facebook with teachers offering their favorite books for their students. One book kept being mentioned…Because of Mr. Terupt. So many teachers were singing the praises of the book that I just had to investigate it. I was blown away by Rob Buyea’s novel!!!

Because of Mr. Terupt tells the story of a school year in the lives of 7 very different fifth grade students and the lessons they learn from their teacher, Mr. Terupt and each other. We, as teachers, have had all of these students in our classes…the brain, the new girl, the shy girl and the class clown to name just a few of the seven characters. This novel has my students engaged and excited about what the next chapter would bring! My students were so engaged, they decided to create a video, using Ipads, of the culminating event of the novel. Scripts were written and roles chosen. This was definitely a student led project. When it was finished, the students had a viewing for parents and invited the principal. Writing, technology, and reading all in one project!

It tells the story of a group of students’ fifth grade year with a first year teacher, Mr.Terupt. His fresh ideas and lessons engage and excite his students. He connects with these seven kids, especially. Mr. Terupt’s ways of teaching and discipling students leads to a terrible event that impacts the seven students and their very different perspectives on the even make the rest of the novel very engaging and made for some really good class discussions as students shared their perspectives of the novel. If you’d like to see some of the questions I used with my students just click Because of Mr. Terupt.

Another book I am really excited about is Fish In A Tree! It’s about a sixth grade girl, Ally, who has managed to hide the fact she can’t read very well! It’s written by Lynda Mullaly Hunt and it is another fabulous new novel. Ally would rather be thought of as a troublemaker than admit she has trouble reading. Her dad is deployed which will resonate with many students and the family has moved many times as part of his military career. Ally’s new teacher, Mr. Daniels, has seen beneath the troublemaker pose Ally presents. Ally has made two friends, almost in spite of herself, and together they discover their strengths.

I began Fish in a Tree as a read aloud, on the recommendation of one of my students who read it as part of Battle of the Books. It quickly captured my students’ attention and the discussions made me realize that my class and I needed to give this book much more attention. I took the book home and read it over the weekend. It is awesome!!! So many students will identify with Ally and her struggles, both with reading and dealing with other students in her classroom as the new girl once again.

Fish in a Tree is going to be my next class novel after we finish Because of Mr. Terupt. Both of these books were new to both myself and my students. Their reactions to both books were very positive and kept my students wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Check out both books…I hope you enjoy them! Let me know what you think!

Fraction Lessons Have You Tearing Out Your Hair?

November 10, 2018November 13, 2018Leave a comment

Trying to make teaching fraction more interesting? Tearing out your hair? It was that frustration that had me looking for a way to give my students information they could understand and more opportunities to practice those skills. The math book just didn’t seem to meet the needs of my students. I was reminded by my mentor that textbooks should be a supplemental tool and not the curriculum.

Let me help you by showing you what I did to make multiplying and dividing fractions less frustrating!

I decided to take the textbook information and put it into kid-friendly words.

I had the kids glue the notes into their journals so the information would be at their fingertips!

And because the dreaded “End of Grade” test looms all year…I decided to create word problems to go along with the note students put into their journals. That would give my students more practice than what was in our math textbook.

I also used the word problems as a review game. I put one word problem on each student’s desk, in no particular order. Students stand behind their chairs and the game begins as each student solves the problem on their desk. As they finish, students put their hands on their shoulders. When everyone has solved the problem on their desk, students move to the next desk. When all the students have moved around the room and are back at their own desk, we go over the answers and students share how they solved the problems.

The word problems can be used in a lot of different ways in your classroom, beyond just a review game! The word problems can be used as bell ringers to get students thinking. You could put the word problems in your math center for independent work.

If you want to check out my word problems, just click on my picture.

Want a terrific teaching solution to your early finisher problems?

September 29, 2018Leave a comment

This happened in my early teaching career just about this time of year. School had been in session for a few weeks and my students had mastered stations/center behavior…almost. I had several students who quickly completed their station work and despite being warned, always came to my small group to tell me, “I’m done, so what can I do now?” I would have to stop and quickly find another activity to engage my early finishers. In the meantime, I have lost the attention of my small guided group. Picture me tearing out my hair!!!

Too often, the follow-up activities were just more paperwork. In desperation one weekend, I created a group of task cards that encompassed many different activities. I put them up on one of my bulletin boards with the heading CHALLENGE BOARD! Each student was given a Challenge Folder with their name on it. I showed the board to the class and explained that IF each of them finished the station they were supposed to do early, they could come and choose ANY task card activity. They could work on their chosen activity until time to come back to whole group.

I also explained the Challenge Board could also be their morning work activity choice as they came into class each morning. That way ALL my students could be working on a challenge activity, regardless of early finishing of stations.

This was a life saver for me! Everyone was busy AND my students had choices for their work!!! Besides my October Enrichment Challenges (just click the pics!) I also have enrichment challenges for Halloween Activities for Early Finishers and Holiday Enrichment and Challenges for Early Finishers. Just click the link to find more challenges and enrichment activities!!

How To Help Your Students Become Awesome Summarizers!

September 14, 2018October 5, 2018Leave a comment

With the start of new school year and having students share their chapter summaries, I decided I needed to explicitly teach my fifth graders how to summarize using the chapters in our novel, “Blood on the River”. It’s an historical fiction novel about the founding of Jamestown. Just an FYI, it’s a great way to incorporate our Social Studies as we study early America.

In the past, won’t lie, I have sort of “guessed and by golly”‘d my way through summarizing. It is not one of my stronger skills as a teacher. Partly, I think, because it always seemed so subjective to me. Well, last week I took the bull by the horns and began to teach summarizing directly.

My students had summarized chapter 6 of the book as part of their homework. It became very apparent quickly, that summarizing was needed to be taught explicitly.

As a teacher of 24 years, I am still tickled when my brain pulls out an idea that wasn’t part of my lesson!!! After all the summaries were read, I went to the board and wrote:

Chapter 6 High Points

Then, as a class, I asked my students to review the chapter with a partner and come up with only six events or ideas that seemed to be very important. I purposely avoided the words “main idea”. That term always seemed to make students think there’s only one right answer. Noooooo….not always!

As partners reported their “high points“, many were simply supporting details, so as the students shared their ideas, I took their ideas and jotted them on the board. Together, I helped them “see” the bigger picture of all their ideas. We worked together to put similar ideas into a more general sentence.

For example, in Ch. 6, there is a battle between a whale, thresher shark, and a swordfish that is observed by Captain Smith and Samuel, the main character. All the students mentioned the battle as an important event, which it was, but the comment from Capt. Smith to Samuel was that no matter how big and powerful you think you are, the less powerful can work together and bring you down! That comment helped my kids see that high points in a chapter can be more than just an event.

After the kids and I wrote the six high points together, I had them use those points to create another summary in their reading journals. I had them compare their first summary with the summary they had just written. The summaries were sooooo much more on point and the kids even remarked at the differences they saw.

It wasn’t me telling the kids what the high points or main ideas were, but all of us working together. I did the same lesson two chapters later and the summaries showed more depth of thought and relied less on actual events of the chapter.

Give it a try and let me know if your students’ summaries have show growth as you work together!

If you’d like to check out this fabulous novel and the vocabulary activities and discussion questions I use with my students, just click Blood on the River

How To Begin The Year Positive

September 8, 2018Leave a comment

Every teacher enters the classroom on the first day of school with high hopes and expectations. I sure do! Well, this year, instead of hoping the year stays positive, I decided take direct steps to keep my students on the positive path and off the side paths of negativity. So what am I doing? I’m so glad you asked!!!

*THE WRINKLED HEART activity : A few years ago I saw this on Pinterest and “grabbed” this activity with both hands!!! I wish I could find the person who first posted this idea because I’d hug them!! This activity is a winner!

Give each student a sheet of red construction paper. Have your students fold their paper and then cut out a heart. Size doesn’t matter. After their heart is cut out, ask your students to wad up their heart and WHISPER insults to the heart….just a short time! Don’t want the students to get carried away. After a minute or two of whispers, I ask the students to smooth out their heart and tell it , “I was just playing” or “I was just kidding”. Have them continue to smooth out their heart. Then ask the students if the marks on the heart disappeared after telling the heart they were “just kidding” or “just playing”. Of course the marks are still there. I remind the students that their hearts are just like the hearts they insulted. While the words may be gone, the heart still shows the scars…just like our hearts can be scarred by careless or negative words. It really got to my students…as I had hoped. Words have power to scar and we resolved to make sure our words didn’t leave scars on anyone’s heart this year.

Let me know how you build community in your own classroom.

Thanks!

Make Earth Day Fun and Meaningful

April 16, 2018April 18, 2018Leave a comment

Two for the Price of One!

With Earth Day right around the corner, those pesky end of the year tests are also beginning to show on the horizon, too. As a public school teacher, I was ALWAYS looking for thematic activities that would also help my students sharpen their tested skills. Sort of a twofer! I think my Earth Day Activities will do both for you!

earth day 1970

Earth Day itself began in 1970 and was the brainchild of U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson. He was very concerned that the Earth’s environment did not seem to be an important political issue and his first Earth Day drew millions of people to his cause. Later that year President Nixon and Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency as a result along with legislation concerning both water and Endangered Species Act.

Earth day today!

In the 48 years since that first Earth Day, there has been a lot more awareness of our need to recycle, reuse, and reduce. I decided to combine facts about cleaning our environment with my students need to practice their math skills. As a result, I created 24 word problems that will help my students learn how recycling can help improve our environment AND work on their problem solving skills at the same time! I love being able to combine two school subjects; in this case, science and math within a single lesson!!

I also added a fun activity using Earth Day vocabulary. My kids love, love word searches and so my Earth Day Activities also include a word search AND a writing activity! I also included answer keys for both the 24 math problems and the word search. Take a look and let me make your Earth Day lesson a snap!