Powerful Goal Setting in the Classroom with 5 Easy Steps

Student Goal Setting in the Classroom

Back to School is a popular time for setting goals and making resolutions. I always feel fresh and ready to take on the world at the start of the new school year!

Setting goals with elementary students can be particularly tricky though.  They need a lot of guidance, support and suggestions.  It is really important that teachers set students up for success by guiding students to set goals they can achieve but also helping students make a plan for what they will do to reach the goal.  

Setting a goal to work towards is one-way students can take ownership of their learning.

Here are 5 ways to help students set goals and work towards them.

#1- Keep goals simple, attainable and measurable.

When I set goals with my students, we start with everyone having the same type of goal. I usually start with reading level growth because it is huge in my state. (I want to be clear here! I felt very much like this was a necessary evil! I strongly disliked setting reading level goals!) I met with every child one on one and we talked about where they wanted to grow and how many levels they thought they could grow. Then we split it into blocks for the 9 year and set mini-goals for each nine weeks. For example, if a student thought they could grow 4 levels, we would set a goal for one level growth per 9 weeks.

#2- Create an action plan or specific steps students can take to work towards the goal.

After setting each student's goal, we worked together as a class to brainstorm a list of things students could do to help them meet their goal. In the above example, we would list the following steps- read for at least 30 minutes a day at home, complete my comprehension journal homework every week, pay attention and work hard in small groups, listen to my book buddy when they read to me, ask someone to read me a story, etc

#3- Look at, discuss or read the goal regularly- possibly daily.

Each students goal was written down in their data notebook. We looked at the anchor chart with the brainstormed list of steps students could take. Any time they were assessed (🙄) we would conference about where they were in terms of meeting their goal. Every week, I would ask students to pick ONE of the action steps to focus on. In the beginning, I did a lot of leading but after a few weeks, students were able to pick one step for themselves.

#4- Track progress towards the goal.

Students had a sheet in their data notebook where they tracked their progress. For reading levels, my students had a page that looked like a bookshelf. I wrote letters on each book to represent their reading levels. When students passed a level, they would color in the book on their shelf.

#5- Celebrate progress!

Since I really, strongly disliked that students even had to worry about reading levels, we celebrated ALL.THE.THINGS! My favorite ways to celebrate are with impromptu dance parties, reward tags given out during morning meeting and phone calls home to share the good news.

If you find that students are struggling with their confidence in meeting goals, try using positive affirmations to help.

Getting Started with Setting Goals

Are you looking for something to help you get started goal setting? Take a look at this Kindergarten Goal Setting resource in my store.

My favorite part of this resource is the reflection sheet. Since this sheet is designed to be done together, the teacher can write the goal and the student can draw a face to show how they feel about their progress.  Then the teacher and student can work together to set a new goal.  The new goal might be a continuation of the previous goal.  For example, if the goal was to learn 40/52 letters, the new goal could be to learn 45/52 letters.  The important thing is for the teacher to help set realistic goals.

   

The student goal setting page has several main goals listed, but includes a place to write your own goals. Included in the resource is a page of possible literacy goals and a page of possible math goals. These goals were taken from literacy and math standards.

There are two possible tracking sheets. One will allow the teacher to track a whole classes progress towards a certain goal. This can be helpful when tracking goals such as learning letters and sounds. Not everyone in the class will reach the goal at the same time, but everyone needs to reach it eventually!

The other tracking sheet can be used when conferencing with students. The teacher can record the goal, dates and any notes.

There are digital options available for the digitally-inclined! Student goal setting sheets are in Google Slides and a Google Form is available for the teacher to make a copy of and use to type all the data into. Editable PDFs are also available.

If this looks like something that could help you in your classroom, click here or on any of the pictures!

Since making a plan is a BIG part of goal setting, these resources might be useful for helping reach their goals.

  

  


  
 


You can also find other literacy and math activities in my TPT store!

Do you set goals with your students? I would love to hear how it goes for you! Drop me a note in the comments below and let me know!

Scoot: Increase Fun and Engagement in the Classroom

Are your students sitting around with droopy eyes, barely holding their heads above their desks?  Are you tired of hearing yourself talk?  Are you looking for a way to work more movement into your lessons?

Scoot is the activity you are looking for!

Scoot is a great game to play in the classroom.  What is Scoot you ask?  Scoot is a game that can be played with any subject or standard.  The basic routine is simply to teach and you can use ANY content you want.  You set up the game by picking a subject or standard and making (or buying) task cards to use.

OMG, I was amazed at how much my kids loved it when we played earlier this year.  They were so engaged and so focused!  I'm guessing the movement part is really helping them focus.

I am going to use my Spring Short Vowel Word Sort to show you how to play Scoot.  I have played this game with multiple grade levels in various situations and each group has loved it!

Here is the set so SCOOT on over and get it!

To play Scoot, you place a card at each spot.  Each card has a problem to be solved, a word to write or a task to complete.  Students rotate around the places, recording their answers on the recording sheet. Students start at their seats and answer the question, solve the problem or follow the direction at their seats.  On your signal, students stand and move to the next seat.  They look at the card at that seat and answer the question, solve the problem or follow the direction.  I like to use the commands "Start (Followed by work time), Stop, Stand, SCOOT (students move to the right), Sit" and repeat. 

We all end up giggling with my one-word commands!

For my Kindergartners, we mostly play around their tables and sometimes they go to another table and rotate around that one! My Second Graders loved when I put the cards up on the wall around the classroom

For this Short Vowel Word Sort, I created real and nonsense CVC words and put them on eggs.  Students were given a sheet with 2 columns, one for real words and one for nonsense words.  Students rotated around their table.  They read each word on the egg, decided if it was a real word or a nonsense word, and wrote it in the correct column.

Each table has 5 or 6 seats.  Students rotated around 3 tables this day, so they all practiced reading 15-18 CVC words!  I had some kids who are still struggling readers, so my assistant and I stuck near them and helped them sound out the words.

When you first introduce the game, it is important to practice the movement from seat to seat.  First I showed one table how to move with my directions (sit... start... stop... stand... scoot) and then they practiced and modeled for the whole class.  Then the whole class practiced moving around their table.  It took a few rotations for all the kids to get it.  Typical mistakes from students were moving in the wrong direction and moving too many seats.  Students generally got it after a complete rotation around their table.

I also have a FREEBIE for you.  This Scoot: A How to Play Guide will help you get your kids moving in the right direction.  It includes directions and arrow cards to show your students which direction to move.



The game I used in these images is great for Kindergarten in the Spring.  These resources from my store will work just as well.

Are Nonsense Words more Than Just Nonsense?

I'm going to be honest here, I'm not 100% sure I have a definitive answer to that question.  This is one of those items that I truly see both sides to the argument.

On one hand, being able to decode words according to phonics rules and to recognize chunks inside of words are both important skills.  Sometimes it's hard to tell if a student is decoding correctly when they have a high vocabulary and have a lot of sight words.

I have recently learned another reason that teaching nonsense words is important.  The words that we think of as nonsense, often become syllables within multi-syllabic words.  With that added information, I lean a little more on the side of nonsense words being important, but not so important that they need to be skilled and drilled into every child.

On the other hand, reading is all about making meaning out of the text and there just isn't any meaning in the words dop, lum and vab.

However, with my new knowledge- dop is the first syllable of dopple and lum is the first syllable of lumber.

I've discovered that nonsense words is something that people tend to feel very passionate about.

For me, the argument is moot because assessing students on nonsense words is a state mandated assessment for me.  I may not like it, but I have to do it.

Since I have to do it, I need to prepare my students for it.  That means lots of phonics instruction and teaching how to decode words and chunk parts of words.

I choose to do this through word families.  When I teach and practice word families, I use real words and nonsense words. This gives students practice decoding, practice chunking AND practice with nonsense words.

When I taught Kindergarten, I started working on word families around November or December, based on where my students were.  I created this CVC Fluency packet to use in small groups.  Every week, students would work on one word family.  We would practice blending the words and sorting them into Real Word or Nonsense Word categories.  Then we would play the board game to practice chunking the words.

As a Second Grade teacher, my needs have changed, but not completely.  I still have students who struggle with decoding CVC words.  Since they have learned, but not mastered, the concept of a closed syllable, I still use this activity.  Depending on the needs, sometimes I use multiple word families with the same middle vowel or sometimes I mix them up.  

The great news is that my Second Graders have as much fun as my Kindergarteners did!

You can find this activity at my TPT store by clicking here or on any of the pictures!

Want to save it for later?  Pin it here!

Do you have to work with nonsense words? Where do you fall on the argument? I would love to hear your thoughts!  Drop me a line and let me know!

Old Tracks, New Tricks: Introducing Trixie, Tracky and Tinker

Old Tracks, New Tricks is an amusing new book by Jessica Peterson, published by Innovation Press.  The book stars Trixie, Tracky and Tinker as a set of tracks who get purchased and taken home to join a train set.  The three friends are in for a shock when they realize their new life is not what they thought it would be.  In their new home, the trains are in charge and order the tracks around.  Trixie, Tracky and Tinker are used to having fun and doing tricks.

Will they be happy in their new home?  You will have to read it and see!

(Please note, these links are affiliate links which means I may receive some pocket change to help support this blog and fund teaching expenses when you make a purchase. As always, the opinions are my own and I promise to only share what I truly love- cross my teacher's heart!  Also, I received an ARC in exchange for writing a review of this book and creating a free resource to go along.)

Old Tracks, New Tricks

I truly enjoyed reading this book.  It is perfect for PK-2 and I'm excited to read it to my class.  The human character is quite a bit younger than 2nd graders, but I think they will enjoy the photograph images. 

Pre-K Teachers can use the book:

-as part of a train unit (especially the activities in the back)

-practice identifying characters

-encouraging creativity when building with tracks

Kindergarten Teachers can use the book:

-as part of a train unit

-recognizing and producing rhyming words

-counting items on each page

First and Second Grade Teachers can use the book:

-recognizing and producing rhyming words

-identify characters, setting, problem and solution

-sequence events in the story

This will be a great book to use when discussing the difference between fiction and nonfiction.  Having photographs is generally an indication of a nonfiction book, but this book uses photographs and is purely fiction.

It's also a great book for character lessons such as being kind, playing with others, taking responsible risks and being yourself.

My favorite part of the book is at the very end.  There are 2 special sections, the first is called How to Invent Your Own Track Tricks and is a great way to teach the engineering process.  The next section is called Track-tivities and has 20 activities you can do with a train set such as Painting Tracks, Train Bell Shaker and Track-tastrophe!  

You can also use these FREE word problems based on the antics of Trixie, Tracky and Tinker.  Click here to download them!

5 Fun Phonemic Awareness Songs Your Students Will Love

Phonemic awareness songs are one of the best ways to give students fun and engaging practice with phonemic awareness.Without a solid basis of phonemic awareness, students will struggle to master reading and spelling skills.  Here are 5 of my favorite phonemic awareness songs!

(Please note, these links are affiliate links which means I may receive some pocket change to help support this blog and fund teaching expenses when you make a purchase. As always, the opinions are my own and I promise to only share what I truly love- cross my teacher's heart!)


1- Party in the Jungle by Jack Hartmann.  This is a great song for Pre-K or Kindergarten students because it uses animal sounds and incorporates fun movements!



2- Apples & Bananas by The Learning Station.
I sang this with my Kindergarten and First grade students long before the age of showing a video on a large display board came about.  It's fun, it's catchy and it's educational!



3- Beginning Sounds by Jack Hartmann
When I go looking for high-quality, education songs, Jack Hartmann is one of the first artists I look for.  This song has students practicing beginning sounds in a 'repeat after me' format.



4- Make a Rhyme, Make a Move by Jack Hartmann.
Another great Jack Hartmann song.  This one has great urban dance beat and has students practice identifying rhyming words.



5- Alphabet Animals Song Video by Have Fun Teaching
When I teach alliteration to my Second Graders, we read Some Smug Slug and sing this song.  Students write their own alliterative sentence using the first sound of their first name!  It's lots of fun and makes a great hallway display.



I would love to know what other songs you use for phonemic awareness instruction and practice.  Drop me a comment down below!

Stop the Boredom! 3 secrets to engaging students in centers!

I 💓 centers!  They promote independence in my students.  Give me time to work with small groups or individuals.  AND-- they are FUN!  (Did I say fun?  Shhhh!  Don't tell anyone!)

Seriously, sometimes I feel like all the fun is being sucked out of learning, school and being a kid!  We HAVE to do this...they HAVE to master that...

Really?  What about wonder?  Engagement? Fun?

For years, I have searched for the perfect way to keep centers consistent so students can complete them on their own, but engaging so students don't get bored.

 

You know what does it?

Novelty!

Novelty is defined as being new, original or unusual, I find that it also means it's fun.  Kids having fun are engaged.  Engaged kids are learning kids!

Here are my top three secrets to using novelty in centers.

(Please note, some links are affiliate links which means I may receive some pocket change to help support this blog and fund teaching expenses when you make a purchase. As always, the opinions are my own and I promise to only share what I truly love- cross my teacher's heart!)

#1- Think cheap.  

Novelty wears off if you keep it around too long so do NOT sink much money into it.  One of my students favorite bits of novelty is tiny centers.  I print center activity resources 2 to a page so that they are about half the size.  Set some magnifying glasses out with the center and its a whole new ballgame.  Guess how much that cost?  Yep, NOTHING! (If you already have the magnifying glasses.  If you need magnifying glasses, it is a small investment!)

#2- Make it seasonal.  

This allows you to keep the same structure to an activity so students can continue to work independently, but make it different enough that students are engaged.  In January, put it on snowflakes and snowmen.  In February, break out the hearts!

#3- Change the writing utensils.  

For writing instruction and assignments, I prefer students to use pencil.  However, when they are making a list of short a words or writing in a collaborative journal, I relax that rule.  Every few weeks, I put different writing tools out for students to use.  A pack of metallic crayons cost me a few dollars, but brought tons of multi-paragraph writing!

I am always looking for new ways to add novelty so I would love to hear what you do!  Leave me a note and watch for a shout out!

A Teacher's Trick for Modeling Think Alouds

Raise your hand if you use thinking aloud as a strategy with your students!

I do!

All. The. Time.  

(Please note, some links are affiliate links which means I may receive some pocket change to help support this blog and fund teaching expenses when you make a purchase. As always, the opinions are my own and I promise to only share what I truly love- cross my teacher's heart!)

I think aloud during reading, math, science, social studies... solving behavior problems.  I often worry that my students are missing the point.  I wanted to create a cue that would remind students of when I was sharing what was in my head, and when I was really talking.

I like to use a lot of visual cues with my students so I decided to create a 'thought bubble' to hold above my head when I'm modeling my think aloud.

To create my 'thought bubble', I purchased a gold paint pen, blackposter board and some wooden dowels.  I also found a super cool gold marker that had a blade already inserted in the tip that was awesome but proved difficult to use for this project.

To begin, I hand drew a thought bubble and a speech bubble on the black poster board.  I cut it out and used the gold paint pen to outline the bubbles in a thick line to make it stand out. I ended up going over it several times to get the gold nice and thick so it would stand out!

While I try to have neat handwriting, there is no way I could write words on the bubbles neatly.  Using a font from Teach123, I printed out the words "I think..." and "I say...". Using the fancy trick of penciling the back and rubbing it on the black poster board, I was able to transfer the words to the poster board. 

First, I turned the paper over so I could see the blank side.  Next, I took a pencil and heavily shaded an outline of the letters.  It helps if you place it against a window so the sunlight shines through and you can see.  For the best results, be plentiful with the pencil to make the transfer easier to see.  Then, I turned the paper over and placed it on top of the poster board, with the pencil side down.  Last, I used a wood stick to rub the text and transfer the pencil to the poster board. 

 Using the gold paint pen, I traced the letters a few times until they were nice and thick.

I hot glued dowel rods to the back so I could hold them in one hand while I'm teaching.

In hindsight, I wish the speech bubble was a little smaller.  I had to do some complicated dowel gluing on the back to make it support itself.  The thought bubble turned out perfectly!

How do you use think aloud as a strategy?  I would love to hear about it!

Read Across America The Foot Book

Read Across America Day is coming!  This is one of my favorite days because Dr. Seuss has been so influential in the lives of students and educators alike!

Today I'm going to share 1 Math activity and 2 literacy activities that you can use in conjunction with The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss!

Feet Measurement!

Have students trace their foot on construction paper and cut it out.  Use the class collection to measure students and record how many "feet" tall they are on an anchor chart!

Writing- A great way to integrate writing with The Foot Book is to write about where you would travel.  Download this freebie by clicking here or on the picture!

Phonics- Since the oo digraph can make a long sound (as in book) and a short sound (as in foot).  Practice the sounds with a sort and sentences to be read for fluency.  Click here or on the picture to download it from my TpT store!

Check out my other Read Across America post here!

3 Traditional recess Games that Integrate Learning

Last week, I found myself with some seriously unfocused students during a downpour.  We are in the middle of our testing window for reading AND we had to finish our math benchmark.  When we closed the last testing book-- they went crazy!  We had about an hour left in the day, but I knew anything I had them do would be a battle.  And this wasn't a battle to pick.  Since it was cold and rainy, we headed to the gym.  PE classes had been canceled so we had it all to ourselves.  Here are the games we played!

1.  Book Tag!

Anyone remember TV Tag?  When you were tagged, you sat down.  You had to say the name of a TV show before you could enter the game again.  Book Tag has the same principal.  When students are tagged, they have to sit.  I went around and asked them the title of a book they had recently read!

2.  Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Sounds on Over

Ahhhhh, Red Rover.  Such a popular game when I was young.  Somehow, we all survived with our heads intact!

The updated version plays by the same procedures.  Students stand in 2 straight lines, holding hands and facing the opposite line.  One line calls out "Red Rover, Red Rover, Send _______ on over!"  The person who's name was called, leaves their line and runs to the other side.  If they are stopped by the line, they join the new line.  If they break through the line, they take their team mates that were previously captured and go back to their original line.

By assigning students a letter or phonics pattern, such as -at or Ff you open an opportunity for learning and review.  My school uses LetterLand, so I would assign students a Letterlander and give them each a sign to wear.  As students became more advanced and you moved into phonics patterns, students could advance to calling out words to come over.  For example, if the line called out "Red Rover, Red Rover, Send MAT on over!"  The students with M, A and T would run over.  Or the students with M and AT could run over.  There are so many variations to this!

You can even do it with numbers!

3 Four Square (Math)

To play Four Square (Math) you will need a traditional Four Square court, but inside each square you need to write a number.  I like to use 10 and 100 to practice mental math strategies of 10 more and 100 more.  The teacher, or leader, calls out a starting number and play begins.  As students bounce the ball, they complete the mental math of the square they are in.  For example, if the starting number is 10 and the ball bounces to the person in the '10' square, they would mentally add 10 to the starting number of 10 and say '20'.  Play continues until someone is out and players shift boxes.  The teacher, or leader, says a new number and play begins.

Do you have any fun ways to combine play and learning?