Growth Mindset

This feels like the perfect topic for my life right now. I definitely have been mumbling, "I don't want to do this anymore" and "This is good enough" as I set up my classroom. I also am guilty of thinking, "What if I'm not smart enough?" whenever I think about grad school.

Is it bad to have these thoughts? Not necessarily. Instead of thinking about it as bad or good, we can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that these kinds of thoughts are normal. But normal doesn't mean productive and normal is learned. So, can we change our brains to think positively?

I've been doing some research this summer and I've found some promising information and resources that say we can change our brains!

This year, I am teaching growth mindset in our classroom. My district has done some great things with social-emotional learning (SEL), where K-2 is on the same SEL plan and 3-5 is on the same SEL plan. While the plans are great, a pitfall I found was that when I taught 2nd grade, it felt like by the time the kiddos got to 2nd grade, the material was worn out. Now that I'm switching to 5th grade, I'm predicting that it may be the same problem. But before I dive into the what I'm doing, here is some of the research I've looked at.

Mindset Kit
https://www.mindsetkit.org/

This website was created by The Project for Education Research that Scales (PERTS), which is a research center through Stanford. It has lots of lesson plans to help you introduce mindset to your students, videos that make understanding mindset easier, and even specialized material so staff and parents.

As I walked through one of the lessons, I came across this video. It explains how the brain is malleable. The video explained this through two different studies, one with rats and another with taxi drivers. Give it a watch. It's only 2 minutes and it fascinating! If you've watched the video and are thinking, "This is great! But how to I present it to my kiddos?" Try this lesson plan, which is provided for free on Mindset Kit's website. I sound like an advertiser but I promise I'm not! :)

Carol Dweck
The Power of Believing You Can Impove

I love Ted Talks and Ted Ed. I find them to be so enriching to use in the classroom and my students love them! Don't underestimate your kid ya'll! They can totally handle Ted Talks and Ted Ed videos. But, let's refocus Kati. So. This Ted Talk is by Carol Dweck. Dweck is a motivtion researcher and psychologist. She's also kind of a badass. She's done some amazing studies and the statistics in this video are UNREAL. I've linked it above. It's about 10 minutes long and can sound a little dry but it's so full amazing stuff.

She speaks about the power of "yet". Imagine your student staring at they're math book or trying to read something hard. "I can't do it!" You can just add the word "yet". "I can't do it yet" holds a lot more power. I also love how she pushes us to praise the effort and the process rather than the talent.

"People in a growth mindset believe that anyone can be good at anything because they believe that your abilities are caused by actions. People in a fixed mindset believe that you aren't good at something based on your inherent nature. I can improve my growth mindset by believing in myself and trying my best." -Molly Gonzales (from the comments section of the Ted Talk. She sums is up so well!)

Once you've looked at those resources, you may have your own track you want to follow when introducing growth mindset to your class. Here is what I've done so far and what I'm working on now to get ready for the beginning of the year.

One resource that I love is this Change your words, Change your Mindset bulletin board. I put it up in my classroom and I love it! It's such an amazing visual!

Another resource that I'm adding to my toolkit when it comes to growth mindset is having students rate their work on a 0-4 scale. I found this scale here on TeachersPayTeachers. The purpose of having them rate their work is that they might be a 0 or a 1 now, but we're going to work it until we are a 3 or a 4. 

So this is where I'm at now. I don't want to necessarily overwhelm my kiddos so using the lesson from Mindset Kit and the resources I've shown above, I think that's a pretty good place to start!

What do you think? Are you interested in growth mindset? Do you believe that the brain can be changed and grow?

Kati

Math Resources, Projects, and Messes, OH MY!

Good morning!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! It's HOT here. So hot that I've left my window AC and two fans on for 2 days straight just to keep the apartment below 80 degrees. But I'm also enjoying the AC before I get my key today for my classroom, which has no AC.

Did I mention I get my key!? I emailed my boss yesterday because I'm so patient and he let me know that I could pick up my key this afternoon. Does 12:01pm count?

If you didn't know, my school is being rebuilt so we are in a temporary building and so I'll be walking into a room filled with boxes...and not just my boxes. Boxes from the previous teacher. And boxes from the storage room. ALL THE BOXES!

I have to apologize now if this post seems scattered. I'm definitely well into my second cup of coffee and I had the brilliant idea to freeze coffee in my ice tray so it wouldn't water down my coffee and I'm the most jittery.

Alright. Here's to refocusing. Being locked out of my classroom has been tough but I have found a way to be super productive with my time and I thought I would share some great resources with you all. I've had to switch my thinking up as I move from 2nd to 5th. One thing I really have tried to focus on is differentiated challenge. That means that no matter what level a student is performing at, they are being challenged at the right level. Usually, I'm know for creating my own resources but this year, I decided to explore what's out there so I could 1) save some time and 2) utilize some amazing resources that are already available. I purchased this "How Did You Solve It?" math card kit from Lakeshore Learning Store. Our curriculum is Common Core aligned so having this kit already be aligned to that will help me when deciding what cards to pull and how to be more intentional in my planning.

When you open up the box, you see that the cards are organized into 4 main clusters. Each tabbed divider tells you which cards addresses which standard. At the very back of the box, the manual gives the answer. Some answers will vary depending on how the student interprets the question, which is a great way for students to work on higher-level thinking skills. Other questions are looking for one specific answer, which is great for skills practice. I really love this set and plan on using it as a part of my math centers, which I will explain later in this post. I feel like it allows students to practice skills wherever they may be in their math journey.




The next picture shows an example of one of the cards. I love that it asks what you need to know to solve the problem before asking the students to solve the problem. It really gets them into the mindset and forces them to think about the concept!

A project I've been working on for math is math centers. If you follow Miss Fifth on Instagram or Facebook, you know she's an amazing teacher with crazy good ideas. One idea that I loved, and she explained really well in a video on her Facebook page, is how she runs math centers. This is something I loved doing in 2nd grade but sometimes it felt so unmanageable. Well, Miss Fifth does them once a week on Friday and it serves as a review of the content from that week. She has an amazing bulletin board for centers that I fell in love with. I've linked it here. If you are thinking about doing centers this year for math or ELA, you should check out her stuff. I definitely would have used it this year. Unfortunately with all the moving and changes coming in the next two years, I just couldn't pull the trigger on buying and making the supplies. Plus, my classroom has really limited wall space. That being said, I improvised and made a Smartboard that does the same thing. I won't be putting this up on TPT because that would feel like stealing her idea but here is a peek at it. It took several hours to make but I think it will be really worth it.

My next post will be about the Literacy resources I have found and will be using but I'm still playing around with my center ideas...see:

Well, I'm off to get my key. I think we all knew I wouldn't make it until noon.

Enjoy the sunshine my friends!
Kati

I'm Baaaaack

Hey there!

I'm back from Australia and finally enjoyed a full night of sleep last night so I think I'm recovered from my jet lag! If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know everything that happened on my trip. If you're curious, you should go check it out! It was such an amazing adventure and I'm so excited to teach my 5th grade kiddos all about some amazing stuff I saw and experienced!.

On that note, I did spend a lot of time thinking about my classroom and my
kiddos on the trip. Don't worry! It was all fun/relaxing thinking about work! I came up with a lot of ideas so there should be some great new and FREE stuff coming to my TPT in the coming weeks! I prefer to put things up for free and then if there is something that is successful, I like to charge later. Take advantage of that now! All I ask if for some feedback and reviews so I can improve the projects. I like to improve the projects with your classrooms and kids in mind. Also, are you a 5th grade teacher? Maybe you have an Instagram or TPT account? Let me know! I'd love to connect up and follow your accounts. It will be my first year teaching 5th grade so I would love to see all the amazing things you've already mastered.

I've already started working on classroom stuff and I'm getting so excited to see it all come together. This year I bit the bullet and purchased fadeless bulletin board paper. I usually just use the butcher paper from the staff workroom but it's never wide or tall enough so this should make things easier. Also, it's patterned like faded and weathered wood planks so it fits with the shabby-chic burlap theme...so really that's why I bought it. It has nothing to do with ease...hahahaha! Hopefully it matches the vision or I think we all know that I'll scrap the idea regardless of the fact that I bought 3 rolls. I also have been working on my planner for this year. At first I thought I would just buy one because they can be pretty overwhelming to make but then I chalked the feeling of being overwhelmed to pure laziness. I finished up last night and I'm so glad I did it myself. It's my best one yet! The cover art is insanely beautiful! I'll snap a picture for Instagram in the next few days.

On the personal side of things, I just finished up my phone conferences with my grad school advisers. OMG you guys. It's happening. It's so weird but exciting. This upcoming quarter I am taking 6 credits, which is two classes and I already know one of them I'm going to destroy. It's collaborating and communicating with parents, colleagues, and the community. If you know me well enough, you know that education is my favorite thing to talk non-stop about so this should be a breeze! Hahaha!

That's just a brief update on things. I'll probably have a more thorough post when I have some pictures of my TPT products and classroom stuff.

Hope you're all having an amazing week so far!
Kati

Life Update!

Hey there!

The school year is over and summer is in full swing!

I was just looking back through my drafts on this blog (it's where I start posts and keep ideas) and pretty much all of them were time sensitive so I couldn't post any of them... :( Well, that's what I get!

However, I figured that it is time for a much needed update! A lot has changed! If you don't know it already, I'm headed to Australia next week! NEXT WEEK PEOPLE! I am by no means an adventurous person. Frankly, I am the most annoyingly predictable person, but I've decided to use this trip to conquer a lot of fears and just have fun! My mom and I will be zip-lining, bridge climbing, sand boarding, and caffeinating our way through three major cities. And don't worry. There will definitely be a post about the trip once I get back. Be sure to follow my Instagram for all the pictures of kangaroos, koalas, and me falling when sand boarding.

In other super exciting news, I'M A GRAD STUDENT!!! I was officially accepted into an Educational Leadership and Principal Certification program last week. I was so excited that I legitimately read the word "Congratulations" and then closed the envelop and called everyone. My roommate then read through the material for me while I ate ice cream later. She's a keeper. So, I start my program this fall and have a phone conference with the head honcho at my grad school to set up a plan. It's all so exciting, scary, and wonderful!

Another piece of news that I've kind of announced but not really, is that I'm changing grade levels. Second grade Kati is finally graduating to 5th grade! I even get some of my students from my first year teaching! The move to 5th grade was one that I requested. Going into administration and ultimately being an assistant principal/principal means working with teachers at every grade level. I really didn't want to be the principal that "knows everything" but only taught one grade level. Once I am done teaching 5th grade, I'll have worked in K, 1st, 2nd, 5th and will have a decent enough understanding of 3rd and 4th because of working in the grades above and below. I spent a lot of time working with a 3rd grade teacher this year to gain some understanding there, so next year is all about 5th and partnering up with 4th grade! I just can't stop learning!

Of course, with a grade change, that meant a classroom makeover! I'm keeping my polka dots. I just love them too much, but I am making it a bit more "grown up" for my mini adults. I posted a sneak peek of my bulletin board headers on my Instragram yesterday, but the theme is polka dots, chalkboard, and burlap. It's kind of cool and trendy without being overwhelming. I like my classroom to be calm and consistent, so that's my goal. Our school will be at a temporary site this year while our other school is rebuilt. Even though its just one year in our less than lovely location, I plan on setting up a full classroom with all the fixin's! I want those 5th graders to have a great final year of elementary school, especially since they don't get to enjoy the new beautiful school!

That's it for now! I have a crazy, busy day. I hope all you teachers are enjoying your well deserved break and all you non-teachers are having a great Friday!

~Kati

Vo-bac-ulary!

Learning vocabulary can be boring and monotonous. Some weeks, it's the lesson I avoid until the last minute. Well, in the spirit of entertaining myself the kids, because we all know that we remember and learn more from fun things, we played "vo-bac-ulary" today! If you're a fan of "The Office" you may know where this is heading.




Vo-bac-ulary is really easy! First, I teach the kiddos our words. In my curriculum, we have a short story that uses the words in context. I ask the kiddos "If that word went missing, what's another word that would fit well there?" Synonyms are a great way to make connections. Once they are familiar with the words, I demonstrate how to play the game.

1) Each kiddo gets a card taped to their back that has a vocabulary word on it.
2) Kids will find a partner who will give them a definition or example of the word on their backs. 
3) The student will try to guess what the word is.
4) If it's right, they help their partner guess theirs. If it's not right, they keep trying!
5) When both partners have guessed correctly, they come back to me to get a new word taped to their backs. Then they find a new partner.
6) Go until you're out of words or the controlled chaos become just chaos. :)
7) For a competitive edge, the kiddo with the most cards at the end wins!

To make the cards, just quickly type them up on a word document and make copies. A quick slice with the paper cutter and you're good to go! This only took me 5 minutes to make and prep for the lesson and the impact is huge!

Teaching Kati Lesson: Have the tape ready. Once they start getting the definitions down, the game goes fast! :) Also, make sure to post the word list up somewhere so they can reference it throughout the game.

~Kati

Where have I been?!

I'm apparently really great at having both an attention issue and a memory issue. I both forgot I had this blog and whenever I remembered, I would write half of a post and then have a "SQUIRREL!" moment.

I'm going to change. I swear I can! :)

So what have I been up to this year? Here is the year so far in photos!

October:

Kiddos made their own compare story problems and then made them into a solve and check flip game! We posted them in the halls and passerby's could try and figure it out!

Throughout October, I also spent time reading this amazing book, "Freeing Your Child from Anxiety" by Tamar E. Chansky. I found some really powerful ideas and tips in this book. it was great to recommend to parents as well! Really puts things into perspective. 

November:

November brought lots of fun! One amazing reading strategy that we used was using highlighter tape! We used highlighter tape to pre-read our stories. Pink for words we couldn't pronounce and blue for words we didn't know the meanings of. It made the kiddos help each other out more than me stepping in. 

Later in the month, we became surgeons! I printed a bunch of words that could be turned into contractions. The kiddos wore surgery masks and had to cut out the words, make an "incision" where the apostrophe would go, and the use a band-aid as the apostrophe! They were so engaged and definitely know their contractions!

December:

December always feels short and fast with our winter break. One thing I did to prepare us for break was making these amazing take home science kits! The kids loved them and parents even emailed me to let me know how nice it was to have something to do on those boring days! You can find the directions for this project (made by the TPT-er Teach-A-Roo) here!

One amazing thing that we did get done before we headed off to break was our Children's Hospital drive! Every year the kiddos in 2nd grade that donate toys for our Children's Hospital Toy Drive blow me away. My car was packed! And all was paid with their allowance! Selfless, amazing kids.

January:

We got back from break and hit the ground running! First, we spent some time working on our New Year's resolution. We made this adorable foldable, added some glitter, and hung them up for all to see! You can find this FREE TPT find from Rachel Lamb here!

Later in the month, we spent some time working on MLK Jr. We had such an inspiring and beautiful week learning all about MLK Jr. I just love how the students embraced his words and were appalled at what was such a sad time in our history. I love even more that they will continue to carry on his legacy and treat every person with kindness, compassion, and love. "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." 

February: 

Ah, the month of love. Always fun with the itty bittys. The 100th day of school landed the same week as Valentines. It was BUSY. The kiddos came into our room through this super fun door, we made crowns, and they each got a gift from me to celebrate them being "o'fish'ally" 100 days smarter! :)

When Valentine's Day rolled around that week, the kiddos got this fun little Valentine from me. I love puns, glitter, and light up things. 

March:

In March, we started learning about geographical features. I wanted something that could later correlate with our rock/earth science unit. This foldable did a nice job of just touching on rocks ad formations, while keeping with our social studies work.

St. Patricks Day rolled around and I found myself both sick (really sick) but motivated to celebrate like the true Irish person I am! (Or at least I tell myself I'm Irtish in March each year...) The crayon paper is a note to kiddos that I slip into their report cards. The report cards are hard to read so this is something just for them. The next picture is Lucky Charms graphing! So much fun incorporating St. Patrick's Day fun into our math unit! Bottom left is Lucky Charms Treats! I couldn't taste then but I heard they were great! Finally, that's wasabi. It's one of the many things I tried to use to heal myself that week from what I was told was a cold and ended up being a killer sinus infection.

One major learning project I took on in March was a study on Navajo rugs, Our literacy story was all about goat hair being turned into a Navajo rug. First, we brainstormed what we already know about rugs and then we compared our literacy story to a YouTube clip about Navajo rug making. Next, we talked about symmetry in the designs, designed our own rugs, and read an article about the Navajo Indians. Finally, we took a yuca root and mashed it up to make the soap that the Navajo Indians use to wash the wool! It was a lot of messy fun. 

As a finale to the rug week, we learned that crushed up bugs can make dye (upper left), we wrapped wool around a spindle (upper right), then carded and stretched wool (lower left), and finally felt what straight, carded wool feels like! It was a super fun, hands-on experience that the kids loved! 

PHEW! And now, it's April! My goal is to be a bit more consistent with blogging and to FINALLY get my TPT set up for selling. Right now, everything is FREE...so you should go get at it now.

I also have to laugh for a second because at the end of my last blog entry, I said this: "Teaching Kati Lesson: I'm not setting blogging deadlines for myself anymore. Totally pointless. I would rather devote my time to my kiddos and only blog when I have something really great to share. Trying to come up with things to blog about it too much of a full-time job when I already have a full-time job!" Good to know I stuck to it! hahaha

Teaching Kati Lesson: You should all just look at my more consistently used Instagram. CLICK HERE FOR IT!

~Kati

Classroom Tour

I'm late to the game...

I promised a tour via instagram 2 weeks ago and then things got hectic. My nephew was born 8 weeks early (he and mommy are doing great!) and then school started and man was it crazy!

So here is a picture tour of ourclassroom!

Welcome to Room 10!!

We take attendance using popsicle sticks and then one of the class jobs is to check and make sure everyone has checked in and let me know who is absent and who is buying lunch.

The class job chart! Most jobs have two workers on them now...I forgot how important buddies were in 2nd grade. Summer brain.

Back counter where I keep supplies.

Our word wall!

Computers and "Wonderful Work" Bulletin Board.

Classroom birthdays and calendar wall.

Polka dot caddies!

Horizontal and vertical examples.

Early Bird board for those speedy kiddos!

Ready for the first day!

How i organize my small group reading area.

Classroom Library! So much better this year!

Mailboxes that I jazzed up with washi tape.

The emptiest my desk will ever look...

My bookshelf to hold all my curriculum and stuff.

Rotation charts for Literacy and Math.

Star of the Week area. The poster hangs in the middle.

Writing center! I clip great examples from students up with the clothespins.

And there is my photo dump! It's super late...but it's done! 

Now, off to watch football and plan for another crazy week in 2nd!

Teaching Kati Lesson: I'm not setting blogging deadlines for myself anymore. Totally pointless. I would rather devote my time to my kiddos and only blog when I have something really great to share. Trying to come up with things to blog about it too much of a full-time job when I already have a full-time job!

Kati