The Way I Teach

It's that time of year again. I want the rest of the year to go well and I want my students to learn as much as they can. I will be changing what I do and adding a reflection corner. I know we are all gearing up and getting ready to teach all those wonderful units on winter but don't forget the BEHAVIOR PIECE.

As some of you may know, I switched to a new school in a new district and a new grade. Everyone in the grade has to have the same rules posted and follow the same format sort of speak so - I DID. I am all for consistency and uniformity but it is just not working for the kids. We had to have the whole clip chart going with Good Day, Warning, Time-Out, etc. It was so disheartening for me. I was the newbie so I could not break the RULES and step on toes plus I need to keep my JOB! Anyhow, I am bringing this out after break. Yep - I am. Why? Because I believe in it and the clip chart does not work for those kids who are always moving their clip - and guess what? The other teachers in my grade level are talking about poor behaviors, not listening, students don't care. etc. and plan on revisiting routine and procedures when they get back. I will tell you right now that my hardest 3 4 kids - the behavior chart does nothing to help or change their behaviors. Here is my rundown.

Kid 1: My 1 (cute as a button) but oh so difficult child when it comes to following rules constantly was disheartened when he did not get a happy face at the end of the day. He said to me one day,"I just can't be good." So - there, I was done. Good-buy Chart! Again.

Kid 2: My other little guy (cute as a button too), shut down every time he moved his clip and stopped working. At the end of the day, he would say, "I superstar?" He honestly had no clue why he was not a superstar. He proceeded to say, "My dad is so happy when I Superstar." Okay, so my job is to help him get there and moving a clip doesn't address his issues.

Kid 3: My 3rd little guy struggles with doing the right thing and wants to but "walks the line" most of the time. Moving a clip doesn't help him either. He really needs to identify what his strengths and weaknesses are so he can put himself in good situations. He does fairly well in the classroom now because he knows I care, Outside the classroom - he struggles.

Kid 4: I almost left this little guy off. I just love this kid and he wants to do well all the time. He is so smart and caring and he is diagnosed ADHD and not on any medication. He is getting some help through a counselor to help him manage his impulsiveness. He just can't help it. Sometimes he talks so much his voice is almost gone by the end of the day and exhausts himself (bless his little heart). He cannot possibly be on the same expectations and consequences as everyone else. NO WAY. It would break his spirit and his love for school.

Okay - so you probably get my point here. If your chart works for you and your kids that's great but if you are still struggling with the same classroom issues - what's working, what's not? Try something different. As a matter of fact I am going to my work today to work on just the behavior piece for when the kiddos come back. I will not be putting up the clip chart. That is a component in case you just cannot keep up with tracking during the day. At the end of the day you can look at the chart for specific behaviors and mark them on your tracking sheet.

I added 30 reflection sheets like the pictures above. One to go with each symbol and at 3 different levels. Those will be completed in class or at home when I send the slip home (I will be adding editable slips for you to edit if needed). I also need to have a plan for students who continue to disrupt after non-verbal cues and removal from the group as a "silent participant." A silent participant is removed from the group (not to far) but still has to listen. They may not talk. I have a hand signal for this so that way I don't have to verbally tell the student and lose the pace and flow of instruction. Children don't lose valuable instruction this way either. Part of my plan is the reflection area (see below).

Here is a reflection piece too that has 30 pages for different levels if needed. Each one matches the symbol (sort of a re-thinking letter). Can be done at school or at home.

There are also ones that are blank with just the symbols for students who are not writing yet.

I won't be adding the nameplates at this time of year. Instead I will be putting up the symbols and we will use them as part of our "responsive classroom" in our morning meeting and part of the journal prompt. Here is how.

1. Post all symbols - Tell what each symbol is for.

2. Pick 1 for the focus. Introduce it.

3. Morning Meeting. We sit in a circle and in this case I would give a sentence stem for children to answer orally. Example. Kind. Why is it important to be kind? When someone is kind to you how does it make you feel? When someone is mean to you how does it make you feel? How can we show kindness to our friends? When someone cares, they are showing kindness - how can you show you care when you are working at your table? How do you show you care about yourself?

4. Children respond in complete sentences.

5. Since children just spent the time orally saying and expressing their thoughts, I have them use what they say to write it and draw a picture of it. Children can expand on this by adding an example. One time . . .

6. We then complete a social story that goes along with the sentence stem and prompt. I have a book with every social story possible and it is very effective. They were given to me by a high functioning autistic kid who was in my class and just happened to be the superintendents kid. I will check the name of the book that has these after I go to school in case you want to get them.

7. Repeat each day for each symbol and rotate weekly.

Talk about soft skills and meeting the Common Core - Young children need this so they know what responsibility, respect, and safe is and it helps build good character.

If I absolutely have to have a child take a time-out they will be going to a reflection area.

I will be using a unit by another teacher- Nikki Sabiston over at Teaching in Progress (posted below). I will be putting this together today too when I go in. I took a masters level professional development class in managing difficult behaviors and this is exactly what it talked about. PERFECT! SCORE! It's already made and I don't have to make it. YEA! She has great pictures of her set-up on her blog and as soon as I get mine set up I will take pictures and post them.

I think the biggest thing with any behavior system is to be organized, have a plan, and be consistent so children know what to expect.

Click on the Picture to take you to the Unit on TPT. Preview the download to see clearer images of those posted above.

You may want to follow my Behavior Management Pinterest Board too. It's a collection of things from various teachers - not just mine. Click the picture below and click follow.

Warm Regards & Happy 2015!

Is This You?

If you are anything like most teachers, you don't have hours to scour the internet to find supplemental diphthong ou and ow activities for your kids. You want resources that will help meet the needs of all your students and need to expose the same skill to ALL your students regardless of their academic ability. Plus, you want it to be engaging and fun to help your kids retain the skills you are teaching. I hear you! Your searching for supplemental material stops here.

Phonics-Instruction-for-Diphtongs-OU-and-OW

I have a diphthong OU and OW resource that will help you teach and your kids learn the skill that you can get HERE or at the bottom of this post. The FREE Word Search is at the bottom of this post (in case you're looking for it).

ou and ow Morning Work/Independent Sheets/Homework

Sorts/Search/Games

ou and ow Games for Homework/Class/ or Guided Reading Groups

ou and ow Focus Words with Images (EL support)

ou and ow Word Work (Phonemic Awareness/Sound Spelling/Decoding/Encoding Practice)

ou and ow Word Families (Fun List to Take Home)

. . . and I learned from 13 years of teaching phonics instruction I needed variations with the activities so all students could complete the activities confidently and independently. So almost all the independent practice sheets have 2 options. The resource isn't meant for ALL. THE. KIDS. to do ALL. THE. THINGS. So don't fall into the trap that just because it's there you're suppose to use it.

Differentiating Diphthong OU and OW

The independent sheet above I made especially for a little guy who was ambitextrous, although he had difficulty with penmanship regardless of the hand he wrote with. I use to draw lines on his paper as one of the strategies for him to sound out the word and write the letters for the sounds he heard. His letters were HUMonGouS and all over the place. This sheet helped me reinforce tall letters and small letters as well as beginning and ending sounds and sound spellings. This sheet helped give him the support he needed (plus his desk along with several other flanked mine). At any given time I could differentiate which independent sheets I gave to who yet they were all practicing the same skill.

Extension: I always had the more advanced kids add endings like er,ed,ing,ful,ly to the basewords.

Teaching Diphthong ou and ow as a Pattern

I'm curious, do you teach diphthong ou and ow as a pattern or attach a story to it? Most teachers will attach the band-aid and "ouch" story with it. I found connections always helped and pointing out that ou was usually in the middle of a word and ow at the end helped them with spelling which helps them with writing and in turn . . .writing helped them with reading. What a lovely circle that is!

On-Sets and Rime

For those students having difficulty with the sound spelling, you may want to work more with the word families especially for your ESL learners.

Word-Work

I always let the students choose to work together or independently but they were in groups when they did the sorts and games. They are practicing, so it's okay if they help each other. That's the point. They learn from each other and talk during this time. I used the sorts and games for word work but they're great in guided groups too.

1 game helps with sound spelling
1 game helps with word-meaning and decoding
ALL games help with phonemic awareness

If you would prefer the games in color, leave a comment below. I go back and forth between saving ink for teachers and "eye-catching" for kids. What do you think?

OU and OW Sound Spelling Assesment

I've even used these circle maps as a way to assess my kids awareness of the sound spelling. They seem easy at first glance but to get it right they need to know their stuff. To differentiate, have kids refer to the colored focus words included in the resource. To make it more challenging, have kids label the pictures.

Reading ou and ow Words in Context

There are activities included where students read the words in sentences but nothing takes the place of read alouds and pointing out the sound spellings in context. Most importantly, kids really need to practice the words in their reading. I always used our school resources or Raz-kids for students to practice reading the words in context in guided reading groups but this resource includes a student reader. Home reading and book boxes were student choices.

OU and OW Diphthong Word Search FREEBIE

If there is anything you want to know about how I use this resource or teach dipthongs ou and ow leave me a comment below and I'll get back to you. In the mean time, here is a fun ou and ow word search for your kids. Just click on the button, subscribe, and it will go to your inbox.

I was thinking, if you are here, you are looking for resources to help you teach and you probably don't want to buy or store a zillion resources. I think I might have something that will make your life easier and streamline things for you when teaching phonics. If you aren't about all the fluff and want something that works, you should really check out this post HERE. When I made that particular resource, I had one thing in mind. Helping teachers teach and save money. Let me know what you think!

Don't forget your FREE OU OW word search or you can purchase the entire unit below. You'll be sent a download link immediatly after purchase.