About Squarehead Teachers

Well, I’m a travel loving, cookie eating, bright color obsessed teacher who just can’t get enough of blogging or Photoshop. I’ve taught various grades from Kindergarten to Undergraduate courses in both in the United States and in China, teaching everything from dance and PE to English and math. I come from a family of educators, and believe that all teachers (public, private, charter and home school) are grossly under appreciated and deserve a little extra help. I started my Squarehead Teachers blog in August 2012 with the hope that I can be that extra little help that makes teachers feel a little more loved!

Flower Paragraph Planner/Graphic Organizer

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Here’s a paragraph writing planner that will help your students understand the parts of a paragraph. After they fill in the flower side, have them write their rough draft paragraph using the provided lines. Often I find lots of cute graphic organizers for kids, but kids don’t quite understand how to go from the cute picture to a paragraph of sentences. So this one’s very simple: plan and then write downs the ideas on the flower (from the top to the bottom) and they’ll have a complete paragraph. Click here for the PDF: Flower Paragraph Planner Enjoy!

Rotating Literacy Centers

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

With an increase in class sizes, it’s getting harder and harder for teachers to have extra space for group work during centers. One teacher has the desks grouped in clusters of 4 and rotates the center each day. Each center is in a plastic shoe box and the kids take a different shoe box depending on the day of the week.

She places the the entire class set of copies, materials, etc. in the box at the beginning of the week (which saves lots of time). The directions for the center are on colored paper in a plastic page protector (this gives her the opportunity to switch out the activity as needed without the hassle of laminating). She also puts a sample of the worksheet/activity for her very lowest learners to copy if they need to. I agree with her that copying the spelling words a few times a week is much better than sitting doing nothing. The kids know which box to grab, because it’s posted on the wall. The TA (Teacher’s Assistant) is the student who is in charge of getting the box from the counter and returning it with all the materials in it at the end of centers time. Each day, she switches which person gets to be the TA.

Since there are only 5 centers, tables 4 and 5 share the box.

How to Have a Fun Vacation

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Whenever one of my kids gets back from a vacation, they always want to talk about it. The other day, I used this opportunity to write about what makes a fun vacation. This free writing project worked out well since it allowed everyone to be creative and share vacation stories through their writing. Some kids took this further and made entire essays about a specific vacation and dedicated a whole paragraph to each idea if what made the vacation fun.

The Only Class Rule You Need

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I recently visited a school who uses the Make Your Day program. The rule and expectation are stated very simply, but clearly, and the students repeat them after saying the Pledge of Allegiance every day. I like how the rule pretty much covers everything. Here’s the one rule in their classroom:

Student names blurred out for privacy protection.

The website describes the program by saying, “No one has the right to interfere with the learning or safety of others. Do what is expected and do it the best that you can. This rule and these expectations summarize the philosophy of the Make Your Day program. It is based on the premise that every person within the school environment has the right to complete his or her responsibilities without interference from others. From a student’s point of view, this means that they can expect a physically and emotionally safe school environment that is enhanced by a focus on learning. The students are able to communicate directly with those persons who are interfering with their learning in order to effect a change. Students are encouraged to help each other by communicating politely with the other person when an interfering behavior occurs. From the teacher’s perspective, all behavioral interventions are couched in terms of interfering with another student’s rights or with the teacher’s right to instruct.”

After observing the program, it seems to work well for most students. There are always special cases where additional management arrangements need to be made, bot overall it was fine. Everyone knew exactly what was expected and the consequences that would come with their choices. In addition, I was impressed with how the program teaches kids to communicate their concerns. It’s some extra work for teachers, but what management plan isn’t work?

Flipped Classrooms 101

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

Maybe you’ve heard about “flipped classrooms” on the news… maybe you haven’t. Either way, here’s what you need to know about flipped classrooms:

Infographic from Knewton.com

Keeping Track of Students’ Writing Progress

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

One of the most important parts of school is teaching kids to monitor their own progress. Here’s one way to help kids keep track of their own writing progress. We made a giant pencil with different sections (one for each step of the writing process) and laminated it. Then we added velcro strips down the side and to little tags that had each student’s classroom number on it. When kids finish one step of the process, they move their number tag down to the next step. This also helps kids know when they can get up from their seats… I’ve also seen charts where kids move a numbered popsicle stick from pocket to pocket to indicate progress through the writing steps. How have you helped your students keep track of their writing progress?

Spirit Week Chuckles

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

A fellow teacher sent me this, and it made me chuckle:

“This week was spirit week at school. Thursday was the stumper – dress up in what you want to be some day. One of my girls wore a princess dress and said she was going to be a role model. One of our teachers wore a Hawaii shirt and said she was going to be retired. I guess you’ve got to get creative!”

ABCs of Problem Solving

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Squarehead Teachers

I recently saw this in a classroom and I thought it was pretty clever. I’m calling it “the ABCs of problem solving” (because calling it “the ABCDEFs of problem solving” sounds lame).