My Classroom

Classroom Library My students love reading in the library! This center is open every day during their choice time. I always make sure to have recent read aloud books for students to retell and reread. This space is also occasionally used for small groups.	Literacy Bulletin Board This wall is used to display anchor charts for reading and writing. Standards for each unit as well as objectives are posted here. This wall changes frequently as students are introduced to new strategies and standards. Above this wall is where I track students' progress towards mastering sight words. They get to move their metro train every time they learn new words.	Small Group Carpet I share my classroom with a co-teacher. We often teach in two groups. Sometimes we split the class on two carpets or sometimes we pull a few students to this carpet for a differentiated lesson. This is also where students use iPads.
Classroom Organization I love to have an organized classroom and a neat, clean space for my students. One way to stay organized is the system of boxes on the shelf in the back of my classroom. I have boxes that are organized by content and unit and this makes saving and finding materials much more efficient.	Incentive Charts I have two incentive systems in my classroom. First, students work to earn table points. Tables earn points for cleaning up, sitting quietly, working hard, and at the end of the week, the table with the most points gets to grab something out of our treasure box. I also have a whole class incentive system. The class works to earn bars and they earn a bar whenever the whole class is going above and beyond. Once they have earned all of their bars, we have a celebration, like a popcorn party.	Classroom Set Up I have two carpets in my classroom and four tables, with six students sitting at each table. I have set up my room by keeping in mind clear pathways between the carpets and the tables and by making sure there is enough space for students to move around the classroom safely.
Reading Tracker This is where each student tracks their reading growth. Students have a bug with their name on it and when they move up in their reading level, they move their bug to the next flower. Students are so excited when they see their bug move and this tracker is a motivation for many students. Parents also love coming in and looking at the tracker and celebrating their child's growth.	Whole Group Carpet This is the area where we lead whole group lessons. This is also where we do our calendar routine each morning. We go over the date, add a number to the calendar, counting how many days we have been in school, and practice the sight words of the week. This is also where the rules and consequences are posted.	Morning Meeting Wall I use the charts on this wall every day during our morning meeting time. I have a number of the day routine, which introduces one number a week. Each Friday, we go over a new number and then complete this chart as a group. We also use the 100s chart every day to count the days in school. Students also play "Guess My Number" and hunt for patterns with this chart. Each week, a new word family is introduced and practiced all week. The word family is posted on this wall all week as a resource.
Math Bulletin Board This board displays math anchor charts as well as the standards that are being taught in the unit. This board changes often to reflect the most current lessons. This is also where I display the math workshop chart. This chart changes daily and shows each math group what center they are working on during their workshop time.	Habits of Discussion With a large population of second language learners, I have made oral language development a priority in my classroom. I introduce many strategies to promote oral language and students have sentence stems available to support them when they are talking with peers. On top of the shelf is where each table keep their pencils and table materials. On the floor below, books and headphones are reading for when students use the listening center during their literacy center rotations.	Word Wall The word wall is centrally located in the middle of the classroom. The names of each student are on the word wall, as well as all of the sight words that have been taught so far. Each week, we add three new words of the week to the word wall. Once students have mastered words, we take them down. Students use this wall as a resource when they are reading and writing independently.
Leveled Library Students have bags that they take back and forth between home and school each day. In their bags are 3-5 books on their independent reading level so that they can practice reading with their family. Students 'shop' for books on their level every Friday in our leveled library. They love choosing new books to take home and share!	Accomplishment Pockets Each student has a pocket where they collect their accomplishments. In math, reading, and writing, students earn strategies on post it notes that they use in their writing folder, math journals, or book bags. After a student has shown mastery of a strategy, they move their strategy to their pocket and it becomes an accomplishment. This system has been very motivating for students, as they work hard to earn accomplishments. At the end of the year, they can see all of their accomplishments!	Table Resources Students often work independently during math workshop and literacy center rotations. To support their independence, I have created many resources and table charts, some of which can be seen at the independent reading table above. These tools remind students of the expectations and steps to follow at each activity. I have found that when I give students tools to support their independence that they stay engaged and on-task at each differentiated activity.

Welcome to my classroom! I teach Kindergarten English at DC Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, DC. I share my classroom with my co-teacher and together, we have two classes. Our morning class has 22 students and our afternoon class has 23 students. We also have two Spanish co-teachers. Our classes switch in the middle of the day to go to the other language class. I have a very diverse student population. A majority of my students are second language learners and 80% of my students receive free or reduced lunch.

Partner Reading Throughout the year, we have taught many lessons about partner reading. We launched partner reading at the beginning of the year and students learned routines. As the year has progressed, they have had lessons about how they can check each other's reading, ask each other questions, share parts of the book, and introduce books to each other. These lessons have strengthened student's reading skills and oral language.	Building Numeracy To prepare for the 100th Day of School, students had lessons about the 100s chart. They worked to create the rows of a 100s chart by taking turns to write numbers 1-100. During these lessons, we also discussed patterns that are visible on the chart.	Social Studies Exploration In the fall, we studied community helpers. Students had lessons about three different helpers and visited places in our community to learn more. They also used artifacts to learn more about helper's uniforms and tools. In this lesson, student's were learning the names of tools that doctors use and practiced using this vocabulary as they dressed up like doctors.
Shared Reading In this lesson, students participated in a shared reading lesson. They read a poem many times, hunted for words they knew in the poem, and then they received their own copy of the poem. After reading it independently, students worked to read their poems with a partner. This lesson worked on building students' reading fluency. They worked to read the poem smoothly and with expression.	Math Workshop Every week, students have a lesson where they learn how to use a new math workshop center. First the center is model by the teacher and then students practice using the center on the carpet in small groups. These lessons prepare students to use the centers independently throughout the week. Most math workshop centers are partner activities that are focused on a specific skill. These students are working on changing numbers by playing a game called Shrink or Grow.	Map Investigation To launch the social studies unit about maps, students spent time exploring and studying real maps. Students discussed what they noticed with peers at their tables and then worked on drawing and writing what they saw on the map. Then students had the chance to share their observations and talk about what they learned and about what they already know about maps. This helped build and activate background knowledge before diving into new content.
Classroom Technology Students use iPads daily in both math and reading. Each student had a lesson on how to use each app for each content area. In math, students visit the iPad center once a week. In literacy, students read text on their reading level on an app called Raz-Kids. Students use this app twice a week during literacy rotation centers.	100th Day of School To celebrate the 100th day of school, we did a class project where students made a snack mix, using 10 pieces of 10 different snacks, like goldfish and Cheerios. For each snack, they counted 10 pieces onto a ten frame. This project helped students count by tens to 100. After each snack, students throughout about how many total pieces where in their bag.	Writer's Workshop Launch To launch our "How To" writing unit, we worked as a class to make lemonade. As we made the lemonade, we discussed each step, acted it out, and introduced vocabulary like 'cut' and 'squeeze'. This activity was very purposeful because it gave the chance for students to have a shared experience. When it came time to write their own how to books, students had the option to write about making lemonade. They also had the vocabulary to apply in their own books.
Poetry Unit In this lesson, students read a poem for shared reading in a small group. After reading it a few times, they read it independently and circled 'beautiful words'. They recorded these words and then kept this list of words in their writing folder. During the poetry writing unit, students used these lists to think of words to include in their own poems.