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!

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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.  

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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.

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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!

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Kindness Week Book Reflection

Have you ever read The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig? It is a heartwarming picture book about the power of kindness. Brian is a kid who feels invisible at school. Always being left out and looked over has taken its toll on the little guy. When a new kid moves to school and starts paying attention to Brian and his talents, Brian’s world becomes a bit more colorful. Reading a quick blurb online made us quickly realize this was a must-have read aloud for our classes.

Our school is participating in a two-week Kindness Challenge, during which students are inspired to partake in various acts of kindness. On top of this, our school has had a particular focus on kindness throughout the year in hopes to create a positive school culture of mutual respect for one another. This book just seemed to lend itself so perfectly to our discussions of empathy and kindness, so we had to try it out and see how our kiddos responded to its message.

We invited our 2nd Grade Buddies over to our classroom for the read aloud. The discussions we were able to have during and after the reading were awesome. So many of the students, 5th and 2nd graders alike, could relate to the feelings Brian had throughout the book. And it was so clear to the students that all it took was one person’s kindness to turn his world around.

We wanted to take this discussion a step further so that the students could really visualize how others’ kind words and actions can positively impact our lives. To do this, we gave each child a black and white image of a child and had them write down when they felt invisible themselves. Examples ranged from not being invited to a birthday party, to friends not waiting for them at recess, to parents giving more attention to a brother or sister. Not only was this a good reflection for the students to get in touch with their own feelings, but it gave us as teachers an insight into what is going on in our students’ worlds emotionally. But the truly powerful part of this activity is what came next.

   

Each child then took their paper and read it to someone else. In response, the other student would use their colored pencil to write a word of encouragement or a kind deed to help the student feel more visible. Then using the same colored pencil, they would color in a piece of their picture. Students walked around from peer to peer, gaining words of encouragement and quickly getting their pictures completely colored in. The final product was a colorful page full of kind words all directed to each individual student. What a great personal keepsake for the kids to look back on whenever they start to feel invisible in the future. We can’t wait to do this activity again next school year!

   

If you’d like to try it out, here is a free sample of our Invisible Boy Worksheet. To download the entire pack with a variety of kids to meet the needs of the students in your class, visit our TPT store here or visit bit.ly/invisibleboyreflection.

Let us know how else you have incorporated this book into your classroom. We would love to hear about it!

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Super Bowl Activities for the Classroom!

Each year, when the NFL season starts up, we both get very excited for a variety of reasons.  We have been San Diego Charger fans since we’ve been born (although their move to Los Angeles may have broken our hearts).  We also enjoy playing fantasy football with friends, so when it comes time for the Super Bowl we look forward to the culmination of one of our favorite sports.  

We wanted to bring the excitement into the class and share some fun activities with our students.  We came up with some activities that could be used with real stats for the Super Bowl and it was a hit with our students.  We love that we can use it each year since it isn’t year specific.  

This was a particularly high interest activity for some of our kids that normally may be harder to motivate.  It was exciting to see them thrive and dive into the activities.  For the kids that aren't football fans, they gained a lot of knowledge too.  We wanted to show the kids that what we are doing in the classroom can translate to anywhere in the real world!  If you are interested in checking out a sample of these activities, click the link below to download a free copy.

FREE SAMPLE ACTIVITIES!

The full product is available in our Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Activities in the full packet include:

Research activities for pregame, during the game, and post game
Graphing
Roman Numerals
Math Word Problems
Word Search
Performance Task (adding, subtracting, multiplying)
Writing with football themed paper
Fantasy Football Activity
Helpful Keys

We hope you can bring the joy of football into your classroom with these engaging activities! Click the image below to go to the product!

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Reach for the Stars!

Do you incorporate growth mindset discussions in your classroom? We have made a concerted effort to keep students motivated by talking about how our mindset determines our ability to achieve success. And we have seen results! Our students are continuously putting forth effort and showing great determination. The sighs and choruses of "I can't" slowly but surely faded into 'a-has' and chants of "I'll keep trying!" One way to ensure that this becomes a central part of our classrooms is to make it a focus from Day 1.

Enter our Growth Mindset Collaborative Craftivity! The first days of school are typically filled with many get-to-know-you activities and teambuilding exercises. This activity is all that and includes a growth mindset twist! Students work independently to think about how they can work on their growth mindset throughout the year, and then work together to build a dodecahedron with their classmates. Each student has a point that is only a portion of what will become a star. This provides the visual that when we have a positive mindset AND work together, we can reach the stars!

So, what's the activity and how does it work? It is simple, ready to print, and includes little prep on the part of the teacher. Score! First, you will need to download the template from our store. The file includes a blank editable version of the template as well as our growth mindset version, so it is really a steal! Once you have it downloaded, print out a page for each student. The finished project looks great on either colored or white paper. Either way, this works best when printed on sturdy paper like cardstock.

This activity is particularly great because it is really open to interpretation. The spaces provided allow the teacher and/or student to choose how they would like it filled in.  For example, the "This is me" section can be a spot for the student to write their name or draw a self-portrait. Similarly, the "Growth Mindset Vision" panel can be a spot for the student to draw a picture of how they will be using a growth mindset, something they hope to accomplish through using a growth mindset, or what a growth mindset looks like to them. The possibilities are truly endless. Let the students run wild as they think about how their own mindset will set them up for future successes.

Once the sheet is filled out, students will cut on the solid lines. It is VERY IMPORTANT to remind students not to cut on the dotted lines. Those will be for folding in the next step!

Now we are ready for those dotted lines. Students need to fold on each of the dotted lines. This will separate the panels from the tabs that will be used for gluing.

Start by folding over one panel at a time.

Fold the tabs down and away from the triangle panels.

To turn each sheet of panels into a point, glue the long tab behind the triangle panel on the opposite end (the 'This is me' panel).

Here you can see the 'This is me' panel and 'Reach for the stars' panel are now side by side.

Now that each of the students has created a star point, the collaborative portion of the project is ready to begin. Students now begin to connect the star points to one another. A total of 12 points will create one star. Begin by placing two star points next to each other. Glue one tab from point A to one tab from point B.

Point A on the left is now glued to Point B on the right.

Students will continue gluing in this fashion until there are 12 points. The 12th point is the most difficult to attach, as it will have five points to connect to. This is when a little helping hand from the teacher or another adult might come in handy. When all 12 points are glued together, you will have a star full of positive thoughts ready to be hung in the classroom!

We hope your students enjoy this fun activity for the beginning of the school year and that they continue to see its value to their education. Let us know in the comments how else you plan to use the star template in your classroom!

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First Day of School Balloon Activity

The story behind this first day of school activity is actually when we both discovered we were teaching in the same district! When we both got hired, our district offered a literacy training for all new teachers.  We were super surprised to see each other because it had been some time since high school.  Our instructor started the training with a really fun get to know you activity that we have both incorporated into our classrooms for the last decade! It's great for building classroom community and you can make variations to make it the best fit for your class. 

Here's how it works!

First, each student receives a balloon and a small piece of paper on their desk. We just cut up scratch paper, you don't have to be fancy! :) 

Then, they write down 3 interesting true facts.  In order for this activity to be successful, ask students to write down facts that are not too common.  Give them some examples as we have shown above. They need to keep these facts private and not share them with their classmates.

Finally, have the students fold up their paper, place in the balloon, and blow it up.  DISCLAIMER: When we did this in 4th grade, about half the students knew how to tie a balloon and the other half asked us.  That led to tying some spitty balloons (gross, we know).  Ask ahead of time if anyone needs help for you to blow it up.

Once the balloons are done, place them in a corner of the class.  Now, the fun begins! Explain to the kids that this activity is going to show them interesting things about their classmates and they are going to see how much they have in common with each other.  Ask all students to stand up.  Take a balloon and pop it (another disclaimer, some kids want a heads up because the sound might startle them).  As you read each fact aloud, tell the kids that if they agree with that statement they remain standing.  For example, if the first fact says, "I like the color blue" then they remain standing if they also like blue.  If they don't agree with that particular fact, they sit down.  Now, once they sit down they can't stand back up.  So, if the next fact is, "I went to Disneyland this summer" and they are sitting down, they can't stand up.  We hope that makes sense? Eventually, after all 3 facts are read, the student who wrote those facts should be the only one remaining standing.  BUT! The great thing is sometimes more than one student is standing because those three students might share the same interesting facts.  If that is the case, ask the person to reveal themselves and everyone else to sit down.  Then, we ask the student to tell us more about one of those facts.  If they wrote that they had a dog, we ask about the name and type.  If they write about a vacation spot, we ask them to share more about it. 

We do this throughout the day so it's not 30 something balloons popping at once.  It keeps the kids excited to learn about each other and the little "pop" wakes everyone up :).  Don't forget to include yourself.  The kids love it when everyone sits down and they realize the facts were about the teacher.  Also, you don't have to read the facts in order.  Try to pick facts that are more common at first.  We always learn so much about the kids through this simple activity.

The past few years, we have made variations with this activity and given them an index card to write down the three facts.  We then shuffle them up and just pull them out of a box.  Not as fun without the pop, but if you forgot to buy balloons or don't want to deal with them, it still works and the kids still have fun.  

We'd love to hear if you try this out in your class!

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Main Character iPad Template

We are always looking for fun and meaningful extensions after our novel studies.  The idea to use an iPad came from the fact that we have seen the power of technology grow over the past few years.  When we both first started teaching, many students didn't have their own device but now it seems like every single student has at least one device in their house and if they don't, they sure know how to use one! This activity is a fun one that can be used with any novel.  The best part was not really giving detailed instructions because it allowed the students to be creative! We read My Brother Sam is Dead in class (which the students absolutely loved!) and asked them to think of this question: "If Tim had an iPad, what types of made up apps do you think he would have on there?" It's important to emphasize that most should be made up.  Of course, they can choose an app today if they can make connections to the book but we highly doubt a young boy during the Revolutionary War would be interested in Angry Birds! The pictures below show what one student came up with.  We were blown away with their creativity!

Students cut and glue iPad down in notebook or piece of paper.

On a separate piece of page, students redraw the apps and add a short description about the app.

This template isn't on our TpT page but it is free here to you! If you are interested in using the book, My Brother Sam is Dead, please check out our Interactive Notebook Unit Study at our store.  Enjoy the template by clicking the link below and leave us some comments of how you used it in your classrooms! 

Main Character iPad Template File

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Accountable Talk

Happy Summer! We promise we are enjoying our summer but as you know a teacher's mind is constantly spinning...One of the things we have liked incorporating in our class has been accountable talk.  We were first introduced to this concept when the implementation of CCSS started taking place in our district and we used used them during our Math Talks.  As time has gone by, we have found it's just a great way for students to speak respectfully to each other and have great collaborative conversations.

We put our sentence starters up in the class but decided to make something in order for our students to have easier access.  The first is a trifold that can be placed in the center of a group.  The sentence starters are in view for all the students as they have discussions.  The second are bookmarks that can be laminated and easily pulled out when needed.

 

We're excited to use both these items when school resumes in August.  We thought it might also be fun to have a introduction activity when introducing accountable talk with our students.  We made a simple graphic organizer that allows students to brainstorm what accountable talk looks and sounds like.  

We'd love to share these items with you at our store on Teachers Pay Teachers.  Please visit our this LINK to download this item.  We hope you enjoy using it within your classroom!

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No Prep Circle Books

Open House is just around the corner, and we were looking for some eye-catching ways to display the learning going on in our classrooms.  One of our fifth grade colleagues came to us with a great way for students to show what they know when it comes to the important battles of the American Revolution.  We always appreciate an activity that is high quality in BOTH process and product!  Best of all, these circle books take very little prep on the part of the teacher.

As we read about the various battles of the Revolutionary War, students took notes to help them with a written summary.  What a perfect way to incorporate informational writing in our social studies block!  This is one example of a graphic organizer that was helpful for some students to keep track of important information.  Students chose four battles to focus on to do their writing.

Once students gathered notes, the graphic organizer we used allowed space to write a rough draft.  Students peer edited with one another before revising and creating their final product.  Students were then given four sheets of paper with the circle template.  Click here to grab your FREE copy of the template we used!  There is both a lined and an unlined version available.  The unlined version can allow for more flexibility in the placement of the writing.

Perhaps the favorite part of the project for students is adding a little art.  The blank space on the circle can be used to illustrate the students' writing.  Check out how great these turned out!  (Yes, she can draw and write more beautifully than either of us can.)

Once the students have completed their writing and artwork, it is time to put the books together.  First, cut out the four circles and fold each circle in half.  Then, glue one half of a circle to a half of a different circle.  Continue until all four circles are glued together.  These look great strung from one end of the classroom to the other.  Simply stick a paperclip through a punched hole at the top and watch these circlebooks spin freely.  Everyone who walks into the classroom is immediately drawn to these projects.

We chose to grade our writing using a simple rubric focusing on content, organization, and mechanics.  You can easily make your own rubric using RubiStar, a free website for teachers!

The great thing about this project is that it is so easily adaptable to whatever content you are teaching!  Leave us some comments below if you do this activity and what content you used.  We are always excited to see others' ideas!

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