A Shining Classroom

My Shining Stars have been busy! During the first two weeks of school students worked collaborativley on classroom rules. The picture below, which was inspired from a post on Pinterest showcases our Classroom Promise comprised of our class rules.

Above you will see our CAFE board. I conferred with students during the first few weeks of school,assessed their fluency, and discussed their interests and goals. We then agreed on a goal for the current nine weeks.

I have been making tons of Anchor Chart to address skills, but this is anchor chart is my favorite. A co-teacher of mine went to a workshop through our Special Education department two years ago and shared this Test Taking Strategy. I wish I knew who the originator was to give credit too. My students love this strategy and I love teaching it. I call it the UNERD strategy and student write this at the top of their test. They are to Underline the title, Number the paragraphs, Evaluate the questions, and Determine the answers. This test taking strategy really activates students schema before diving into the test. Love it!