Writing Into the Day: A Simple Practice That Builds Big Habits

You know those quiet, golden minutes at the start of the school day, before the whirlwind of lessons, transitions, and “Can I go to the nurse?” begins? We’ve started using those minutes for a practice we now can’t imagine going without: Writing Into the Day.

It’s simple. Students walk in, find their journals, read the daily prompt on the board or screen, and start writing. Just 5–7 minutes. No pressure. No overthinking. Just pencils moving.

And here’s the thing: we even tell them it’s okay to write “I don’t know what to write” over and over again if that’s what it takes to get started. It gets boring pretty fast. Usually within a minute or two, they end up veering into a real response to the prompt or telling a story or sketching out their thoughts in their own quirky way. That’s the magic. Momentum leads to meaning.

The prompts themselves can come from anywhere:

• A silly question like “What would your shoes say if they could talk?”
• A mysterious or funny photograph
• A work of art
• Even a short clip from a song

We’ve found that this daily routine does more than just warm up their brains. It also doubles as a morning meeting, giving students a calm and creative entry point into the day. After the writing time ends, we invite a few students to share out. Some read word-for-word, others summarize or just talk about what they were thinking. These moments have become one of the best ways we get to know our students. You’d be surprised what they choose to open up about.

One of the biggest surprises? Kids are actually into writing. Every once in a while, a student will ask if they can continue their writing from the morning during free time. That never used to happen. It’s like they’ve realized writing can be something they do for themselves, not just for a grade or an assignment.

To keep things low-lift for us but consistent for students, we started using this Daily Writing Prompts Journal. It’s a digital and printable resource with a full year of engaging prompts, organized by month. Each page gives just enough direction without being restrictive. We love having the flexibility to project a prompt for the class or hand them out in journal form for morning work.

You can check out the full resource here on our TPT store. It’s been a game changer for starting our day with purpose and calm. Plus, it gives students a chance to build writing stamina in a way that actually feels fun and meaningful.

Let us know if you’ve tried daily quick writes in your classroom or if there’s a prompt your students can’t stop talking about. We’re always collecting new ideas to keep the creativity flowing.

Science Olympiad Metric Mastery Kit from Ward’s Science

Teaching measurement conversions is one of those things that can easily become a bore. So often it’s a standard that gets pushed to the end of the year and we have to end up just quickly teaching the basics of “multiply to get the smaller unit and divide to get the larger one.” We don’t need anyone to tell us what we already know -- this is just not good teaching.

Don’t get us wrong, we don’t ALWAYS leave our students high and dry with this concept. We have spiced things up with engaging notes, games, and puzzles. The results speak for themselves. When we use these fun lessons instead of the boring drill-and-kill, our students comprehend the material so much better. Yet still, we miss the hands-on component that could lend itself so nicely to learning about different forms of measurement. We are lucky enough to have small tape measures provided by our school, and students also obviously have access to rulers, but beyond that, we are often lacking in the supply department to really get kids thinking about different measurements.

     

That’s where Ward’s Science Science Olympiad Kits come in. We were so blessed to be gifted the Metric Mastery Science Olympiad kit from this amazing educational company. The kit is a one-stop shop for everything you need to allow your students to explore metric units of measurement. Now not only are our students able to measure lengths (with the MUCH longer tape measures included), but they could also complete investigations of mass, temperature, and liquid volume. The kit includes beakers, a thermometer, a balance scale, and weights -- all things we never had to show these other forms of measurement.

Now, the kit also comes with lesson plans, and the intended use is to set up various stations with the different materials. Unfortunately, during the time of COVID and our state’s current guidelines, travelling small groups weren’t an option for us. But it didn’t matter! We kicked off our unit with a whole-group discussion about the various ways we measure things in our world. Once we focused the attention on metric units of measurement, we were able to get the students’ wheels turning about making some educated guesses about the length, mass, and volume of various objects.

Enter the Magic Cube! That’s the term Ward’s gives to the unit cubes included in the kit, and we love it! Each cube is a centimeter wide, weighs one gram, and has a volume of one milliliter. Using this cube, students were able to estimate many different estimates. You would not believe how much fun the kids had guessing the lengths, masses, and volumes of things! Even dropping food coloring into the water we were measuring was exciting to them. Who knew?!

As an example, students would use their knowledge and observations to predict the length of their desk. Then, using the tape measure, we found the actual measurement. With this new knowledge, students then estimated the length of the classroom. Seeing the critical thinking without the students even realizing it was happening was a blast! Never before did we think balancing a whiteboard eraser on a scale would get our kids so hyped to learn!

Since we were kicking off our measurement unit with this exploration activity, it was especially fun for students to see (and FEEL) the difference between a gram and a kilogram. It really helped to put things in perspective for the students. The same held true with the difference between the liter and milliliter. They couldn’t believe how small a milliliter was, but totally understood it once they realized it would take 1,000 of those tiny measurements to fill the large beaker.

We are so happy to have had the opportunity to use such a great kit to get our students to truly understand these metric measurements. If you want the convenience of having all these materials available to you, check out this link to the Metric Mastery Science Olympiad Kit from Ward’s Science and use the code TOPFLOOR12 to get 15% off a kit for your classroom! We would love to hear how you utilize these tools with your students, so let us know!

How to Encourage Active Listening in the Classroom

We all have standards to address in the classroom, and we admit that it can be overwhelming reaching all of these in 180 days (even less if you are in a testing grade!). That being said, it is nearly impossible to reach these standards without first focusing on some soft skills. One of the most important of these is active listening. Children are not inherently good at listening to each other. This is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced in order for students to truly master it.

When Joe was a teenager, he was a camp counselor. One of the lessons that sticks out the most from the transformative week of counselor training is the concept of SOLER for active listening. This is an acronym for a technique created by author and professional management consultant Gerald Egan. With all the teacher acronyms out there crowding our brains, this is one that is still easily accessed, perhaps due to its simplicity and practicality. Each letter conveys a component of appropriate body language of an active listener.

• S (Square) - An active listener sits squarely, facing the person speaking, showing an interest in what is being said.
• O (Open) - Keeping one's body open also shows the speaker that you are ready to receive any information being stated. This means arms and legs are not crossed.
• L (Lean In) - A slight lean toward the speaker shows that you are involved in the conversation.
• E (Eye Contact) - One of the most difficult parts of active listening for children AND adults is maintaining eye contact. This not only reassures the speaker that you are interested in what they are saying, but it also helps the listener truly hear and remember what was said.
• R (Relaxed) - Keeping a relaxed body posture as opposed to sitting or standing stiffly or fidgeting shows the speaker that you are focused.

During the first few weeks of school, we go over this acronym daily and remind our students what it means to be an active listener. The most important thing is to model, model, MODEL! We are constantly aware of our own body language when listening to students speak. We show examples of what active listening SHOULD look like. We ask students to role play active listening. One great way to do this is the "Fishbowl Strategy." In this activity, we have two students sit in chairs in the center of the room. The rest of the class forms a circle around them. The pair of students is given a topic to talk about. One student is the speaker, and the other is the active listener. While the students have their conversation, the rest of the class is silently observing the listener. After the conversation ends, we hold a class discussion noting what the listener did well, as well as any possible areas for improvement. The instant, honest feedback helps students quickly improve their listening skills.

As with anything in the classroom, maintaining the body language of an active listener takes work. However, using this simple acronym from Joe's teenage years has made a huge impact in our classroom. Feel free to download our completely FREE poster outlining the SOLER method to hang in your classroom. We would love to hear how you reinforce active listening with your students. We are always on the lookout for more strategies!

4 Things You Should Be Doing to Make Routines and Procedures Successful in the Classroom

The first days of school are a time of excitement and nervousness as both the teacher and students get to know one another.  In our opinion, the most important thing to do right away, besides building a classroom community, is to teach routines and procedures. We all have routines.  Think about what you have to do each morning when you wake up.  You probably have a certain way you do things.  You've been doing it so long, that if something changes it would probably throw you off.  The classroom can be like this too.  We must spend the necessary time teaching classroom routines and procedures so that our students start to do it naturally.  We have found that if you remember 4 important steps, you and your students will have a high success rate with making these routines successful in your classroom. 

The first step is REASONING.  Although this sounds like a no brainer, we often know how we want things done in the class so we just tell the kids this is how it's done.  Taking the extra step to explain it will really help students buy in to why they should do it a certain way.  For example, when talking about lining up tell students why you want them lined up a certain way.  Is it for safety reasons? Is it so you can be more efficient getting to one place to another without wasting any school minutes? The more we tell students WHY we want it done a certain way, they will do it without questioning you.  Allow students to also be part of the conversation why it should be done that way.  Don't just spend the first days lecturing students on what to do.  They will be thankful that they are part of the process. 

Next is SHOW THEM HOW.  Get students to demonstrate how you want it done and join in! It's always fun when they see their teacher modeling how to do it the correct and incorrect way.  They see that you can be silly too.  Students also like to model how to do it incorrectly.  Be sure to follow that up with many examples of the correct way so they have a good understanding of that routine or procedure. 

The third step is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.  Students will not be perfect the first day, week, or maybe even month! Give them lots of opportunities to practice and show you how to do a certain procedure.  We have to remember that some kids (the older ones) have been through many classrooms with different routines.  They've trained with that teacher all year and now they have to relearn new routines.  If you feel a routine needs more time, give it more time.  Let your class guide you in how much time you need to practice.

The last step is REFRESH.  This step often gets forgotten.  It isn't forgotten because the teacher doesn't care about it anymore.  It is forgotten because it may happen later in the year when we assume students know what is expected.  You might start noticing the same student forgets the same procedure each week.  Take that as a sign that you need to go back and refresh the procedure for everyone.  Try not to call out that student and make them feel embarrassed. Go back to reasoning and repeat the steps.  It might sound redundant, but some students just need to be retaught how to do a certain procedure.  In addition to refreshing students' memories, make sure you stay patient.  It's easy to lose our cool because we've been sounding like a broken record, but a quick refresh can help make the year run smoothly.

In our classrooms, we always start the year by playing a little game with procedures.  We call it, "Going on a Picnic".  Essentially, each student has a card faced down on their desk.  On each of these cards, we have listed a different procedure.  We tell the students not to look at their card.  We tell them they are going on an imaginary picnic.  In order to attend they must bring a very specific item.  It's a secret as to what item is correct for them to bring, but they need to choose an item with the same letter as their first name.  For example, Sally can bring sandwiches or any "s" letter item.  As volunteers start choosing the right item, you tell them to flip their card over.  The card may say "bathroom".  This is when you will start talking about your restroom procedures.  After you teach this, another student can volunteer to join the "picnic".  Eventually, students start to figure it out.  Some might not, but encourage a growth mindset before giving them some very helpful hints so they can get it as well.  It's an easy game, but the kids always love it!

Here's a list of some of the ongoing routines and procedures in our class!

You can easily write them on index cards and save them all year or if you want a cute template with picnic backgrounds, we have already made them! You can check it out in our TeachersPayTeachers store.  We include a reflection and some editable templates to save you time!

We want to hear from you! How long do you spend teaching routines and procedures? No matter what year of teaching you are in, we are all in the same boat during those first few days.  

ABC's of College Degrees Summer Countdown

We all feel it. Summer is approaching, state testing is looming, and everyone in the class has a case of spring fever. Rather than trying to fight against the excitement that ensues with the end of the year, we have fully embraced it. We have found a way to take the end of year craziness and focus it on some fun, enriching activities that continue the rigorous work we have been completing throughout the year. The best part is that it is all disguised as fluffy year-end fun so the kids have total buy-in.

We realize we aren’t the only people to use a summer countdown in our classrooms. However, rather than simply counting down the last week or ten days, we extend our countdown to the final 26 days of the school year. We know, we know. It sounds a bit crazy to start counting down to the end of the year with five weeks left, but our countdown is thematic so the kids remain focused and excited for each new day throughout the entire countdown. We celebrate the end of the year by celebrating the ABCs of College Degrees. This truly becomes a fun unit in and of itself, simultaneously providing engaging daily activities and giving students a glimpse at the educational opportunities available in college.

The countdown kicks off with the students each receiving their acceptance letter to Endoyear University. We hold a big acceptance party where we celebrate everyone’s acceptance into this “prestigious” program. From the letter they learn that they will be earning a different college degree each day through the last day of school. Already the students begin to look forward to seeing what their first degree will be. Each day we unveil the subject of the day, beginning with A for Advertising and working our way through the alphabet. By Day 3 we have students betting against one another over what degree will be earned for the letter F or L or Z. The best part is that the class isn’t able to earn the degree until the activity is successfully completed. This keeps end-of-year silliness in check and keeps the students focused on completing work. Click on the link below to check out some of the ideas we came up with!

This activity can easily be done in any classroom at any grade level. Simply think of a college subject and come up with an activity that corresponds to it. To make life easier on you, we have put together a bundle of certificates that cover a variety of subjects. Many letters have multiple certificates to fit whichever activity works for you in your classroom. Even better, we have provided a link to a Google Drive resource that is completely editable in case there is a specific subject area you would like your kids to study that is not included in our bundle! We have also gone ahead and created an activity for each day, so implementing this in your own classroom is as simple as hitting print!

If you are interested in checking out this resource, you can click HERE to find it our TpT store! Let us know below what activities you do to countdown to summer!

Using Picture Books for Narrative Writing

We love to use picture books in our classroom. We are firm believers that you are never too old to learn a good lesson from a picture book. Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee is no exception. While the concept and text of the book may be simple for 5th graders (it is about a girl's first thrilling ride on a roller coaster), we are able to get a couple week's worth of writing instruction out of it!

We have to admit, this idea was inspired from a training we attended about integrating visual arts into literacy instruction. One great way to get students talking about art is to have them study illustrations in picture books. Marla Frazee is an amazing illustrator, and the facial expressions and subtle nuances of her pictures make for great art pieces to look at closely. To begin this lesson, we don't even have the students read the text in the book. Instead, we choose one set of thrill seekers to follow page by page. For example, there is an elderly couple that is riding the roller coaster together. We have the students focus just on the facial expressions of this couple as the story progresses. Students then choose another duo to study from beginning to end on their own.

After getting familiar with the different characters in the book, we then lead a class discussion on character traits. The students have a fun time thinking of traits for each set of characters, especially because looks can be deceiving with this set of riders! Several character pairs go through a character shift over the course of the book which also helps with understanding sequencing. We like to record this class discussion as an anchor chart for students to refer back to in future lessons.

The next lesson we do focuses solely on dialogue. Students are encouraged to imagine the conversations the character pairs have with each other before, during, and after the ride. They use the illustrations, as well as the character traits listed in the previous lesson, to come up with realistic dialogue for their characters. Again we like to model with one duo, giving us the opportunity to explicitly teach grammar rules related to dialogue. Students then move on to independent work using a character set of their choice.

Finally it is time to take what they have created thus far and turn it into a complete narrative writing piece. After modeling the components of a narrative that are expected at their grade level, students are given the opportunity to write their own stories from the perspectives of their chosen characters. As we all know, and as Marla Frazee makes perfectly clear with her wonderful illustrations, we all have different experiences on roller coasters, and the stories that come from this activity certainly reflect that.

Of course, after all of their hard work, we do end up reading the text to the class. We then like to compare the story the author wrote to the ones they came up with to look for similarities and differences. This book also does a great job of showing how authors and illustrators use font size, color, and shape to help tell a story. We were amazed at how in-depth our conversations with our students became as a response to this book. Do you know of other picture books that would lend themselves well to this kind of activity? Let us know!

If you want to use this book in your classroom, here is our affiliate link! By purchasing from this link, we earn a small commission.

The Homework Debate

Why is homework synonymous with a feeling of dread? We have both had our share of parent concerns over the past decade regarding stress with homework.  We have noticed that across the nation, teachers are starting to become more aware of this fact and cutting down or eliminating homework.  For us, we agree that our students work extremely hard during the day and homework can be seen as a chore. How can we make homework seem more fun and meaningful? How can we get parents involved without the fighting and crying?  We decided to create a monthly choice chart that would include math, research, and enrichment opportunities. For our 5th graders, we still wanted to teach responsibility and accountability without the monotonous review worksheets.  We created a reflection form that would be used for each month where the students would write a little about what they took away from each activity.  

The feedback from our students and families were overwhelmingly positive! Below is one of the comments a parent shared with us when she posted about her son baking a pie for homework!  

It felt as if a lightbulb had gone off when our kids were begging us to do more than the minimum we asked.  They were doing engaging and meaningful activities at home related to math, reading, and writing.  As an added bonus, we received a lot of pie samples for the September Choice Chart! We have created an entire year’s worth of monthly choice charts and each one is centered around what happens in that month.  

Since our school still gives an effort grade on homework for report cards, we also gave students feedback forms which easily gave them some feedback from us.  We usually had a huge share out at the end of each month and let the students talk about what they learned (great for listening and speaking skills!).  

We’d love to share our September Choice Chart with you! It’s a great Back to School “homework” for the new year.  Our personal favorite for this month is the one where they interview a grandparent.  They ask about what life was like for them as a child and so many parents and kids loved this one. One of our students created a Google Slideshow about his grandparents and learned so much.   

Click the link below for a free copy of our September Choice Chart.  If you enjoyed this and would like a whole year’s worth of fun homework, please check out our product where we include the self reflection form, teacher feedback form, and all the months including an editable file in case you need to make changes to suit your class.  We’ve taken the “work” out of homework and made it fun! Please comment below and let us know what you are doing for homework in your classrooms!

CLICK HERE FOR YOUR COPY OF SEPTEMBER'S CHOICE MENU

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE PRODUCT COMPLETE WITH EDITABLE FILES!