Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week is a National celebration sponsored by the NCEA (National Catholic Education Association) that runs the last week of January every year.  This week Catholic schools across the United States take time to consider the gift of Catholic education.  We spend time being grateful for our families and parish, who support and believe in Catholic education.  Our church leaders who have devoted their lives to the Church.  Our community for constantly serving others.  Our staff, teachers, and volunteers who have answered the call to Catholic education and work tirelessly for its sake.  Last, but not least....our students.  The students who are learning how to listen to God, follow Jesus, and grow into compassionate and competent adults.

Each year we follow the NCEA's theme, which for 2018/2019 was LEARN-SERVE-LEAD-SUCCEED.  We also hold our new student open house at the beginning of Catholic Schools Week so it is a great time to show off our school.  This year our school-wide hallway display were rockets with the phrase "Catholic Schools Make Every Mission Possible."  Each student in the entire school made one to hang and then added his/her self portrait.  The students love looking for their project among the huge group!

We asked for each FAMILY to provide a 4x6 family picture to create a one of a kind family appreciation bulletin board.  I could barely get the pictures up and kids were already enthralled by this!!

                   
A small token of appreciation the students do for our parishioners is thank you notes/letters on the CSW logo.  We print two per page and make enough in our homerooms for our 1,000 bulletins!



Throughout the week we complete various writing projects.  We include thank you letters to our families and staff, as well as some that focus on our school and all the things that make it amazing!  Click either one of these pictures for a FREE set of Catholic Schools Week activities!

 Also, check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store to access these FREE Catholic Schools Week writing templates!  It includes a variety of sheets that can be folded into cards, given to parents, handed out to staff members, or even kept as keepsakes!

Our entire school participated in a service project to say thank-you to the unsung heroes in our community.  These treat bags (over 250!!) were given to various civic organizations that work endlessly for the less fortunate and those who are struggling emotionally, financially, and physically. 

Our volunteers received these adorable key chains and pens!  Both of these items were purchased off of Oriental Trading.  Teachers were also celebrated this week and enjoyed a morning drink stop from Sonic that was anonymously donated.  The PTO also sponsored a special meal for the teachers too!  Even our PSR program leader jumped in to help us celebrate teachers with a yummy drink and treat for each of us!

The students had a fun week spending time interacting with each other, their families, and doing fun activities focused on Catholic education.  The students participated in Orange You Glad to be at a Catholic School? by wearing their orange gear! The students also got a day to dress as their future careers after hearing from school alumni and their current careers!

One of the favorite ways to really make this week special is an invite to the families to attend a "Family Picnic" with their child!  We assigned two grade levels each day at their regular lunch time.  We made sure the grade levels had some time between their lunches to allow for an easy flow of family members in and out of the building.  This requires basically no prep from teachers except sending home an invitation to families!

Pencils, Pencils, Pencils for EVERYONE?!

I have to admit that I haven't actually had any issues with pencils, but I was curious to see how far I could push my students!  Here is how I adapted the pencil challenge to my classroom.  I gave each student five pencils at the beginning of the school year.  I made sure that each one was securely labeled with his/her initials. I told them that we were doing a "game" to see how long they could take care of the pencils and use them wisely.  As of today I have about 4 out of 18 students that are "out" of the pencil challenge and I have given out about 5 additional pencils since the beginning of the school year!

One thing I have learned is the erasers get used faster than the lead and having some extra small cap erasers is very helpful to helping the students savor their pencils.  Once the pencils get too small to fit inside our electric pencils sharpener then they are tossed.  I actually haven't planned what to do for the student or students actually make 5 pencils last for the entire 3rd grade, but I actually think it will happen!  Now, you might be wondering....how do you actually MOTIVATE the students to take care of the pencils?!  In our class we use sticker charts and class coupons.  It is so simple!  Each student gets a sticker chart with 50 blanks and earns stickers for various favorable behaviors.  Once the sticker chart is full, then he/she earns a class coupon. In our class we have treat jar, no shoes, show and tell, and teacher's chair.  It is that simple!!

$1 Gifts, $1 Gifts, $1 Gifts Everywhere!

All teachers have been there!  Searching, scouring the web for new and improved ideas for student gifts.  First off, teachers struggle enough trying to provide for their own families Christmas that the idea of adding on 18, 20, even 30 more recipients to the list is daunting.  Look no further! Here are some great ideas to help IF you are wanting to get gifts for your kids. Remember, we give so much of ourselves each and every day that we should not be obligating ourselves into more!

                                          

Many teachers participate in Scholastic Book Clubs!  They usually have $1 and $2 books or even a lot of books for discounted prices too!  I also loved the idea of upping the motivation by playing bingo and winners choose the book they wish or even playing the left right left game!

If you haven't been to Oriental Trading you need to go run and check it out right now! This is seriously a rabbit hole for trinkets, candy, crafts, activity books and so much more.  Usually they are bulk priced and you get a dozen for the price, which makes them perfect for a classroom.  It is best to order when they are offering free shipping, but ask around and see if you can gather up enough sales in your school to reach the minimum for free shipping any day!  This year I am getting my kids these adorable plush animal bookmarks!

As educators we are innovative and constantly trying to find the next best thing.  Keep it mind that it is SO EASY and CHEAP to please.  A simple tube of chap-stick, pack of gum, any food, or a candy with a witty little pun attached will make them grin!

The other idea is to buy a classroom gift that the students can enjoy for the remainder of the year and future students too.  This is a great way to build up activities for fun Fridays, indoor recess, genius hour, or stem time!

I also was super intrigued when I found personalized pencils for super cheap!  Kids love different writing utensils and this would be a great way for them to take some ownership over their supplies.



This idea is too cute and seems way too easy to be true!  Holiday sock exchange! You can use bingo or the left right left game to distribute.  This would also be a great idea for the kids to gift to one another. I can just see the last day before break and everyone hanging out in their Christmas socks, drinking hot cocoa, and watching a good holiday film!







Completely free and again so easy would be a no homework pass or if you don't or rarely give homework then you could adjust it to adding 5 points to any assignment (excluding tests).





Do you have a full proof, affordable, and easy Christmas gift that you give to your students?  Share it with me below!

Wonders Reading and oh oh SO many resources....

And the conversation goes...."We just got Wonders and there are sooo many resources!"  I have heard this from many teachers who have just adopted the Wonders Reading program.  I agree that there is far more than one week's worth of material available.  Each teacher really doesn't have a choice, but to choose the aspects that are most crucial and beneficial to the students.  It is best to examine all the resources and choose the ones you think best fit your students' needs, but having some backbone to start with is also nice.  Here I am to share with you how we use the resources from Wonders, how I pull in other activities, and how we find time to also assess.

Like many classrooms there just isn't enough hours in the day to perfectly devote enough time to each subject.  I teach at a religious school, so we also teach religion.  When we first adopted Wonders I taught with a 10 day plan. This gave me the opportunity to really see what resources I found most useful.

Spelling Morning Work: Students write their words in cursive and in print on index cards. I use the pretest page and write the words in cursive on the lines.  Then I make enough copies for each child to use as a reference while writing. The cards go home and are used as practice for the Friday test. This is the only spelling homework kids have. 

Vocabulary: We begin our weekly vocabulary routine with a cloze activity. These are so fun and allow for some deep conversations about context clues.  All my vocabulary activities can be found in my TPT store! Click the pictures below to take you there!

Reading: Our reading routine begins with the Reading/Writing workshop book.  The students and I work through the shared read for the week using the accompanying skills sheet from Math Tech Connections.  I LOVE LOVE these sheets because they introduce all the skills for the week in a quick, kid-friendly way.

     

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete the word sort page from the Wonders sequence. 

Vocabulary: The second day we complete student led definitions.  The students and I have an in depth discussion on what they think appropriate definitions would be.  The vocabulary chart and cloze sentences from Monday are front to back so it helps to reference back to the way the word was used in context of a sentence. If we do not agree on something, then we always reference the dictionaries. Here is an example of a completed chart at the end of the week. 

Reading: Tuesday we continue working with through the shared read as a class and completing the skills sheet. 

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete the word meaning page from the Wonders sequence.

Vocabulary: The third day we work to complete the synonyms/examples and/or antonyms/non-examples. 

Reading: Wednesday we begin working in what we call our "BIG" book.  This is the main selection for the week that comes from the Anthology Reading Wonders book.  It usually takes us two days to get completely through the story.  Wednesday we also fill out the graphic organizer as we read.  Every single week in the series there is a graphic organizer for the main selection. 

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete the word proofreading and paragraph page from the Wonders sequence.

Vocabulary: The fourth day we continue to complete the synonyms/examples and/or antonyms/non-examples. 

Reading: Thursday's reading plan includes finishing up a bit of the graphic organizer if it wasn't complete from Wednesday as well as the entire anthology story.  As a class, we then complete my text dependent questions.  You can access these by clicking the image below.  It will take you to my TPT store for purchase. For the first semester or so we do this together.  I model complete sentences and using the questions in the answers.  Usually in the spring students are independent enough to complete it independently and/or with a partner. We also have designated chromebook time in the afternoons on Thursdays where the students take the Accelerated Reading test over the main selection anthology story and then work on the Connect Ed website and play Wonders Reading games. 

Spelling Morning Work: Students complete a word search from The Teacher's Guide.  We also assess on Fridays.  We use plain sheets of loose lief paper.  The kids write their name, date, and the unit/week as the heading.  I taught them to fold the paper in half vertically (hotdog style) and trace the line, creating two columns.  They number 1 to 10 in the left column and 11 to 20 in the second column.   The students receive one point for each of the 20 spelling words on the front.  We then complete 5 blind dictation sentences on the back.  Each word is a point that is at least 2 letters long for first semester and then 4 letters long for second semester.  By adding the words correct from the front and the back gives the total score for spelling.  Capitals and punctuation is also given credit as a grammar score from the dictation sentences. 

 Of course before completing the spelling test we play SPARKLE.  Kids LOVE this game!  It is so simple and gives them one last chance to hear the word right before the test.  The kids stand in a large circle facing inward.  One student is given a word, he/she must say the first letter, next student says the second letter, and so on until the word has been spelled.  The NEXT student says sparkle and therefore the NEXT student is out.  This child who is out sits down and play continues around the circle.  This is a fast-paced game that allows all children a chance to win, not just the good spellers. 

Vocabulary: The final day of the week we do one last vocabulary practice with a crossword and then complete the weekly assessment that is included in the Wonders series.

Reading: Friday is traditionally assessment day, so we also complete the Weekly Assessment Test from the Wonders series.  These tests are made up of two cold reads with 10 questions each.  With some of my class being below grade level, as in all classrooms, we can not get through two reads.  I just copy one of the cold reads with the 10 questions and then just adjust the written response from the back to only include information from that one story.