Believe...Achieve!!!

The last couple of years, my principal has encouraged all of us to choose a word that will be our theme and focus for the year. This year's theme and focus will not be just one word.  Instead, it will be a phrase.  It will be a phrase that I will not only focus on myself, but I am also going to use in my castle themed classroom with my students. 



 

 

Believe = Achieve!

 

 

The inspiration came from a Sword in the Stone prop that I am planning to use to kick off the year. I was trying to come up with a caption for the display below.  It had been a long time since I read the story, so I went home to search my bookshelves.  When I came up empty handed, I googled it.  When I saw the gif above, the display and theme for our year became clear! 

 

If you look at the boy's face, you see hesitation and doubt turn into determination and urgency when he focuses on the sword!  THAT is how I want my students' faces to evolve every time there is a new challenge to tackle this year!  Whether it is academic or life centered, I want my students to BELIEVE -- believe in themselves, their classmates, their teacher, their family, and their community.  If they BELIEVE, there is absolutely no doubt...they will ACHIEVE! 

 

 





Rules and Forts...

Prompt: A rule we have at our house is...

 A rule we have at our house is saying no curse words because we are fully Christians. Also, never swear. First of all, the Bible says not to use God's name in any other way but praise. Second of all, swear words are not good to teach children. That's our rule.
--McKinzie

 A rule we have at our house is NO running because we have an old lady under us and every time she hears a thump she calls the office at our apartments so we can barely even walk there. At least she uses a broom before she calls though!
 --Aliya


 Prompt: If I could build a fort...

 If I could build a fort, I would build it with rocks, chairs, blankets, and some pillows. It would be fun because it would be a haunted house! --Dillon

 If I could build a fort, I would build it out of meteorites! It would cover the the sun so it would not get any sunlight, not even a crack of light! If anyone touched it, it would burn their hands!
 --Kagen

 If I built a fort, I would make it out of steel! It would be bullet proof and no one could break in which means, NO GIRLS ALLOWED! I really mean it!
 --Dominick

What I Saw in the Teacher's Lounge...

Last spring we were blessed with a visit from Jerry Pallotta; a well known author of children's books. The following prompt is based off his book, What I Saw in The Teacher's Lounge... .

 Prompt: When I peeked in the teacher's lounge, I saw...  

 When I peeked in the teacher's lounge, I saw Mrs. Coffin along with two other teachers having a disco party! Others were having a surfboarding party. Mrs. Lingenfelter, my second grade teacher, was hang gliding over everybody. Mr. Long was playing tennis with a banana! It must be fun being a teacher! 

--Tanesha

 When I peeked in the teacher's lounge, I saw a teacher mountain climbing and another in the North Pole with penguins and Santa Claus. I saw another in a submarine with a lot of fish! All of a sudden, I heard a voice say, "Wake up Oz!" and then I woke up and realized that it was all a dream. Guess what? At school today, it all came true! 

--Oz 

  When I peeked in the teacher's lounge, I saw the third grade teachers swimming with whales and the fourth grade teachers in Hawaii. The second grade teachers were shopping in Paris and the first grade teachers were in Texas riding horses. The Kindergarten teachers were having a disco party and the student teachers were getting famous!

  --Ana

When I peeked in the teacher's lounge, I saw Mrs. Coffin fighting a prehistoric dragon! Mrs. Mather was fighting a mountain dragon! It was crazy! Then I saw a Megladon slam the door open and say, "No peeking in the teacher's lounge!" Then he slammed the door! I didn't listen though! The next day, I peeked again and saw Ms. Roberts fighting a forest dragon in the forest. I couldn't resist. I went in! I had lots of fun but I got a red slip. I kept looking in the teacher's lounge. Now I want to be a teacher when I grow up!
--Owen

Fall Is In The Air...

Prompt: The first day of Fall was yesterday. I like Fall because... 

 The first day of Fall was yesterday. I like Fall because I like jumping in the leaves! I love to hide in a pile and scare my mom! I also like to to make jack-o-lanterns and cookies! I love Fall! 

 --Judith 

 The first day of Fall was yesterday. I like fall because Fall has a lot of colorful leaves -- brown, red, green, and yellow. Fall is beautiful!

 --Jonathan 

 The first day of Fall was yesterday. I like fall because of the cooler days AND it is closer to my birthday which is October 24th! It is also closer to Halloween and I want to be Scream so I can scare my sister! Now you know what I like about Fall!

 --Evan

Our Days...Our Writings

We have been journaling up a storm in 3rd grade! We are taking our prompts from "My Days...My Writings". These third graders have so much to say and share about themselves! They have many adventures that they are dying to tell us about! What better venue to do that than a blog? Enjoy!

 Prompt: When I grow up... 

 When I grow up, I want to work at the Henry Doorly Zoo. I want to feed penguins, sharks, and giraffes! Once in awhile, I even want to clean the shark tank. I would probably like to work in the butterfly den too, but I would want to be where you check to see if people have butterflies that landed on them when they went in the butterfly zone. 

by, Phoebe 

 When I grow up I want a Dodge Challenger with wide tires and DUB rims and hydraulics! 

by, Adrian

When I grow up, I want to be an NBA player because I am good! I want to be like Micheal Jordan!
--Christopher

When I grow up, I want to be a cop. I want to be a cop because I get a car, a taser, and a gun!
--Raul

When I grow up, I want to be a paleontologist! I would get to drive and dig up bones!
--Jimmy

When I grow up, I want to work at the hospital. I think I would be good at it because on my Kindle Fire, I bought this game where I am a nurse and if I am really good at being a nurse then I get to be a doctor! One of the patients had knee surgery! I want to work at a hospital!
--Tresha

When I grow up, I want to be a lion tamer in the circus! I would be good at that job because I know a lot about lions. I would train it and practice once a week! It would be fun in my opinion.
--Nina

These are just the beginning!  Keep checking  back for more great journal entries!

Playground Procedures With GO!ANIMATE!

We are required to go over playground procedures with students several times during the school year. It might be goofy, but I'm hoping students will REALLY HEAR these playground procedures! Give GO!ANIMATE a try! Super easy and fun too! Playground Rules loricoffin GoAnimate

Fired Up About Third Grade

I LOVE third grade!  My castle themed classroom might look medieval, but our technology implementation is certainly not!  In addition to the good ol' computer, we use clickers, mobis, iPads, aaaaannnnnnnnd TWITTER! 

Two years ago, I was frustrated with the communication gap between home and school.  All students were/are provided with planners.  I would ensure that the planners would get filled out, into the backpacks, and out the door (most of the time).  Unforfortunately, too many were NOT getting into the hands of the parents.  I tried incentives, and yes, I even tried consequences, but the same families were still struggling to CONNECT. Then one glorious, revolutionary day, I stepped out a couple of minutes early in preparation for after school duty.  There were the parents, standing by the doors or sitting in their cars, waiting for their kiddos to blast through those school doors at the 3:15 bell.  However, hardly anyone even noticed me as I came out with a smile on my face, ready for a few seconds of adult conversation!  Do you know why???  They were all on their phones!!  Their thumbs were moving faster than the speed of light!  THAT is when it hit me!!  If I want to CONNECT with families, I must MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE AT!!!!  ...And where are they?  Families of the 21st century are consumed with social media and technology!!!  That was the day my classroom kingdom entered the "twitterverse"!




My classroom uses Twitter for announcements, special shout outs, activity highlights, and classroom action shots (Be sure to adhere to your districts online picture policy).  It has also become an unexpected behavior management tool!  Students who are "plugged in" and engaged are the ones who are the first to tweet (Although, I must admit, I am constantly scanning the room to catch one of those sluggish learners on task in order to hand them an iPad. It is amazing how they rise to the occassion when they are responsible for our classroom tweet of the hour).

Are you asking if it has made a difference?  The answer is a resounding YES!  Families LOVE receiving LIVE updates during their day seeing and reading what their children are up to!  I have had several parents tell me that reading our tweets really livens up the dinner time conversation!  No more saying, "nothing" when asked what they did at school that day!! Parents also like getting announcements and reminders on "their time" instead of having their student bring their planner to them when they are cooking dinner, driving down the road, or helping a sibling with homework. 

This year, we even had a parent keep us updated on the condition of her daughter after surgery.  It was a great way to communicate with the parent and send some special shout outs to our recuperating student whom we missed very much (Ask me more about how we did that because we do not follow anyone.  I will be glad to share why that is too if you're curious).

Twitter has revolutionized the way I communicate and collaborate with families. However, we still have our work cut out for us.  We still have many families who do not have internet access.  Therefore, planners are still being used.  We also battle the time crunch along with every other classroom.  Therefore, missed opportunities to tweet have occurred too many times.  That's okay though, because the use of Twitter in my classroom continues to evolve.  This year, I want more curriculum content and examples to be tweeted by students.  I have brainstormed that the daily classroom helper could be our "Tweety" of the day.  The brainstorming continues and I am thrilled that I do not have to do all myself.  There are some great articles, blog posts, and yes, tweets on this very subject.  Here are a couple great ones to get ya goin'!

"20 Ways to Use Twitter With Your Students"

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/03/great-graphic-on-20-ways-to-use-twitter.html

"Teachers Roadmap to the Use of Twitter in Education"

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/10/teachers-roadmap-to-use-of-twitter-in.html

 

 

If you are considering Twitter for your classroom, I encourage you to go for it!  However, be sure to research, plan, and organize for success.  Make your policy, norms, and expectations clear to students.  Be sure to monitor all tweets.  Promote, advertise, remind, and advertise some more so parents get signed up and follow you.  Decide if, how, and who your class will follow.  Lastly, and most importantly, FOLLOW US @MrsCoffinsClass https://twitter.com/MrsCoffinsClass!

 

I would love to help, brainstorm, and problem solve with you as you get started!  Leave me a comment or question!