Homework Craziness {End the Madness with Choice Boards!}

Y'all, I really don't like homework. Parents stress about it, kids refuse to do it, teachers dread checking it - it's just a fight. 

Two years ago, I decided I wasn't going to participate in that cycle anymore. I sat down and decided to pare away some of the "fluff" from my homework - I needed to focus on the purpose of homework, not my ideals about what "should" happen at home.  I decided I wanted homework to achieve three goals: 

At the same time, I thought it was equally important to decide what homework was NOT about: 

With that being said, I asked myself what homework would look like if it achieved all my goals, while being simpler for me, for my kids, and for parents. With input from my team and our curriculum coach - I settled on a choice board ---- and I. LOVE. IT. {And so do parents and kids!} 

Every three weeks I send home a choice board. Here's what weekly homework looks like -- each week, students must complete three tasks: 

• Reading {for 20 minutes each day} --- The research says that reading MORE is the best way to become a better reader. This is simple and EASY. Just read! 
• Math {five boxes from the choice board} --- The choice board I give my students includes math work from all strands of the Common Core, and it's set up to run from simple to complex. Student have to complete five problems a week. They choose the problems. They write the answers. 
• Other {one choice of "reading response," "writing," "research and current events" or "other fun stuff"} ---- These are fun, real-life activities that help kids explore the topics we're learning about in class, in ways that make it seem less like work. Setting up a lemonade stand. Reading about current events. Writing a diary entry. Bringing in a book they love from home. FUN STUFF! 

Here's a close-up of the choice boards that I use: 

That's it! Read, do a math problem, and do something fun. Students bring in their work on Fridays and share the work from their "other" section with each other. I look through it and give feedback immediately. All in all the process takes around thirty minutes, and the benefits are SOOOOOO great: 

For Students: 

•  LOVE the choice! They love to pick. They LOVE that their homework is "fun." 
• They learn valuable lessons about how to manage their time. We always start the year with a conversation about how they get the work three weeks in advance, so they can decide when the best time is to do their homework. Maybe they have swimming on Tuesday! They'll need to do more work on Monday so they have time for swimming. Or maybe they know that one week is going to be super busy, so they plan to do homework on the weekends so they have no work. 
• They get to share their work with others! Kids LOVE this - it's immediate feedback, and they want to impress their friends. There's no better investment tool. Seriously. 

For teachers and parents: 

• Parents LOVE that they get the work in advance. 
• There are always conversations about how much parental involvement is best, but the vast majority of parents let their kids do the work. 
• The amount of choice for kids means that there are MANY fewer disagreements at home. 
• I love that I print out homework once every three weeks, and that I can give feedback immediately. Other than that, I spend very little time on homework. 
• I LOVE Fridays, when the kids share their work. It's such a great community-building time, and it's SO interesting to see the different ways that kids approach their assignments. I went from dreading homework turn-in day to waiting for it with bated breath! 
• I love seeing how my kids independence grows. It's magical. 

If you want to use the {EDITABLE!!} files I use {for the whole year -- 33 weeks!}, as well as information about how I set up homework folders AND my feedback forms, check out my product listing at TpT here.

The preview for that product includes the first three weeks of homework free {!!!!}. If you have questions, leave them in the comments! 

Disney Princesses

Well, it's been exactly two weeks since I last posted and ohhhhhmygosh life has been crazy! Crazy and good with visits to see family and friends as well as regular old end-of-year stuff, but busybusybusy and it's kept me away from blogging. 

One thing that brought me back here was this Merida controversy. You know ... Disney/Pixar tarted up the heroine Merida from Brave and people are up in arms. One of my favorite bloggers {The Bloggess} wrote about her perspective, and it closely mirrored my own reaction to the Disney Princesses, so I had to share. 

My reaction was that yes, yes yes yes I believe it's wrong to present a princess {with too much make up and measurements that are scientifically impossible} as the only image of femininity ... but that images from the media shouldn't be the only contact our girls {and boys} have with strong female role models. We {teachers, parents, friends and loved ones} can and should be examples that our kids can look up to, and it's our job to help them distinguish between fact and reality.

Fellow teachers ... what do you think?  

Currently AND Five for Friday!

Ohhhhh y'all. I'm tired. It's FRIDAY! We finished up our MAP testing this week, and my kiddos worked so so so so so hard. I'm immensely proud, but my little heart can't take the stress! Testing, boo.

Anyway, every week I see people with their linky parties going on, so I decided to hit all of them in one fell swoop. First, it's MAY! So ... linking up with Farley for a "Currently ..." 

AND  with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday! If you follow me on Instagram {my new obsession} you might have seen many of these ... 

Currently reading Zen Shorts by John J. Muth (close reading!), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume (read aloud!), The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein (another close reading text!) and Grumbles from the Forest: Fairy-Tale Voices with a Twist by Jane Yolen (AWESOME for our poetry writing!) {all wonderful, beautiful fabulous books, and you KNOW I love a beautiful book} ...

These two - Mr. BBZ and our pup Cecelia - are my favorite.

We set off rockets this week as part of our forces and motion unit. The kids LOVED it {duh, so did I!}.

A happy Friday outfit that matches my classroom! Aerosole shoes ... #comfy. ;)

Got a haircut yesterday ... it was time. I don't include too many pictures of my face around here, so I figured this one was a great one to start with. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!@#)($&&$#!!! {I'm tired} #crackingmyselfup

And a BONUS .... another teacher clothes outfit! My favorite rodeo princess boots and Spring-y scarf, with a jersey pencil skirt that is, quite possibly, the closest thing I'll ever get to a real pencil skirt in an elementary classroom.

That's it for me - I'm off to bed. ;)  Don't forget to enter the MEGA giveaway of AWESOME TpT supplies!! 

Hello TpT Friends!

Hello TpT friends! If you're stopping by to learn more about my peace window, welcome!

The peace window post is located here.

Also, feel free to check out my posts on several other character education and problem solving techniques I use, here with my Motivation Madness blog post and TpT item, and my "Choose Your 'Tude" post and Maya Was Grumpy Read-Aloud craftivity. There's also a fun little activity I spotlighted that uses "The Crayon Box That Talked."

Poke around, leave a comment and "follow" me here (using the Google Friend Connect widget in the sidebar) or on TpT (by clicking the red star) if you'd like - I'm glad to have you!

Ms. BBZ

Choose Your 'Tude: Neutral or Happy

As I've shared when I introduced my "hook" for motivating boys with "Motivation Madness," character education is on my mind as we roll into the end-of-year festivities.

I wanted to share two things I use that work pretty well for me. First, "neutral or happy." This is a fairly simple concept, but it really cuts down on something that all second graders need help overcoming: the pout. You know ... the bottom lip pokes out, the nose wrinkles, eyebrows lower ... feet stomp, shoulders slump ... etc. I help my kids understand this with a simple phrase - "neutral or happy." 

I explain at the beginning of the year that it's totally okay if we don't feel happy all the time. In fact, *I* don't feel happy all the time! {Especially when I don't get my cup of tea in the morning ... not nearly as cool as coffee, but it's my jam, man.}

Rather than pout, I keep a neutral or happy face and voice. If I am upset and need a moment, it's okay for me to close my eyes and count to three, but then ... neutral or happy. If I'm upset with a friend, first I get to a neutral or happy place and then I can use the peace window. 

Here's a little {FREEBIE!} poster I made up for the classroom - grab it from my TpT store if you like it, and leave some feedback for me! :) 

The second thing I wanted to share - morning meeting read-aloud. Every day in morning meeting we have a different topic (math, grammar, character ed., etc.). Wednesdays are the read-aloud days, and I try to make them books with a strong theme - if I'm really on top of things, a theme we're struggling with in class. Common Core Standard RL.2? BAM. {Ha. Too much?}

This week we'll be reading Maya Was Grumpy by Courtney Pippen Mathur to discuss ... grumpiness. We all get up on the wrong side of the bed sometimes. {Especially when it's light for so long and our bodies don't let us get enough sleep. ahemMs.BBZahem} This is the story of a little girl named Maya who just wants to be grumpy ... until her grandma comes up with a funny way to get her out of her funk.

The illustrations are BEAUTIFUL, and there are quite a few examples of alliteration and personification {what.do.you.know.that's.what.we're.studying.right.now} ... #integration. 

Add in a little watercolor technique and a craftivity? #doubleintegration

                  

Annyyyyway - the whole lesson plan set, art cards, templates and response sheets are up in my TpT store, so if you're so inclined - grab it! Either way, I highly recommend the book to chase away those grumpy days! :) 

The Crayon Box That Talked

On my visit to my former school, I walked through the halls and admired some of the leftover decorations from the International Festival they hold each year. Every classroom picks a country and studies it for a week (or more, depending on the teacher). On the last day, there's a big festival with food, celebrations and people from the community. Classrooms rotate around the "booths," learning about a different country every year. Among other things, last year we ate Eritrean cake, learned about steel drums from Jamaica and tried on wooden shoes in Holland.

I *love* some of the fun character and and multicultural education lessons they do as a lead-up to the festival. One great lesson is the integrated literature / character education / art lesson from the {wonderful} art teacher. First she reads The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane Derolf - it's the *cutest* poem about diversity, with the crayons all learning that they work together to create a bigger picture, and ask, "What would happen if there were only one color in the crayon box?"



Then she teaches them the basics of a self-portrait, and they draw themselves on a crayon that they add to a big crayon box she's made for the wall. The result is beautiful!

The {wonderful} art teacher also makes other beautiful displays. Check out her Pinterest account if you want to see more of her inspiration ...  Here are a few of my other favorites from around the school ...

Spark Student Motivation Saturdays Linky!

Woo hoo! I'm on Spring Break, and Mr. BBZ just finished a TRIATHLON {what, how did he do it?!}, but I saw that Joanne over at Head Over Heels had a student motivation link-up, so I just HAD to link up to my post about "Motivation Madness."

As y'all know, motivating kids {and teachers!} in this last stretch is something I've been thinking about a lot ... and I cannot WAIT to see some of the great ideas going on over there. So hop on over and see what other teachers are doing to keep learning fun! :)

SPRING FEVER ... An Antidote.

This is the time of year when we need a bit more motivation.

... to be nice to each other.
... to work as hard as we can.
... to not give up.
... to persist when the going gets tough.

My friend Stacey over at The Learning Lab posted her favorite quote  that she has posted in her classroom.

This reminded me of one I share with my students at the beginning of the year - from Michael Jordan's "Become Legendary" campaign.

We always watch this video (below), talk about the enormous struggle Michael Jordan went through to get where he is today, and we tie it back to our own life. 

Then we watch this video, and answer some questions and discuss...

Re-watching these videos and thinking about that quote inspired me to create a game to hook my boys and inspire my class to look out for the GOOD things about our day, rather than the bad ones. {I love our Peace Window, but I've found myself saying, "Take it to the Peace Window...." one too many times.}

Introducing .... MOTIVATIONAL MADNESS! 

Basically, it's a game that centers around kids noticing other kids using seven core values - responsibility, respect, persistence, compassion, teamwork, creativity and sustainability. There's a de-brief about the MJ videos and a chance to assess their choices (and "trash" the negative choices).

The meat of the game is that earn points which move them either a) along a bracket to a final match-up or b) earn points for their team once they're out of the bracket. How do they earn points? By noticing others use their core values, of course! It's a new twist on "bucket filling."

If you're interested in using this in your own class - head on over to my TpT store. There's a FREEBIE for de-briefing the MJ videos - just download the preview and it's right at the end. Enjoy! 

Peace Window

How do you help your kids learn to manage their own conflict? I've heard of several options - the tattle jar, comment bucket, read-alouds, etc. I like those, but I've found that they sometimes enhance the problem, if that makes sense - they allow the child to "tattle" and expect that the adult will handle it without having to think through the situation on their own.

We use something called a peace window - based on the Montessori idea of a peace table.  Ours has a different name because I ran out of room to put an actual peace table ... so I grabbed some window markers and off we went!

The concept is simple; there are only a few rules:

• You have to go to the peace window if you're invited, but you can't invite someone in the middle of a lesson - only during group or individual work time (or play time). 
• The person who did the inviting starts, and you can't interrupt. 
• You  start by saying, "When you ______, I felt _______." 
• The other person can explain their side.
• Then you have to use the sentence started, "I'd like ______," and tell the other person what will resolve the situation from your perspective. The other person is free to accept or try to compromise. 

It has made a HUGE difference in my kids. It took a lot of modeling and practicing our conversations, but now they leave me out of most situations, and I only get called in if a compromise isn't able to be reached, or if things are getting heated. I'd say 90% of the class uses it judiciously and 10% still needs me there for most conversations. That's a big improvement over the beginning of the year when I heard, "Ms. BBZ, he/she _____" ... all. day. long!