Second Story Window

10 Ways to Revitalize Your Classroom in the New Year

My favorite part about the new year is that it feels like a second chance at a fresh start with your class! Here are some ideas and tips to inspire you to take this opportunity to revitalize your classroom!

1.     Sharpen your procedures!

Doesn't it sometimes feel like you come back from winter break and your kids have forgotten every procedure you worked so hard on at the beginning of the year? January is the perfect time to reteach all those important procedures. Taking a bit of time to do it now will benefit you and save time during the rest of the school year. If you used our Guided Discovery set at the beginning of the school year, now would be the perfect time to brush up on what you covered earlier in the year. The last pages of the teacher's guide has ideas for mid-year reminders. Do you feel like you didn't cover the procedures well enough at the beginning of the year? Take the time to stop and do it now. You still have many months of school left, so make the most of them by tightening up those procedures.

Quick tip: if refreshing all your procedures seems too overwhelming, choose the most important procedure that you feel needs work and focus on that only. Chances are that effort will pay off big time in your day to day classroom management. 

2.     Tweak seating arrangement

How is your current seating arrangement working? Chances are your class could do with a switch up. If the desk arrangement is working well enough, you could just move the students to freshen things up. But if you think it's time for a major change, try a completely new arrangement of your desks!

Quick tip: we highly recommend turning your students' desks around so that they don't store anything inside them! You will save so much time by not having to clean out desks or deal with lost items and distractions hidden in desks. We stored our students' workbooks, notebooks, etc. in stacking plastic drawers. This one small change will make a big difference!

Check out our Classroom Setup Pinterest board we have to help you find some new seating arrangement ideas.

Follow Emily Kate @ Second Story Window's board Teach: Classroom Setup on Pinterest.

3.     Plan ahead for test prep

You've still got a few months, but the end of the year is creeping closer!  Take a good look at the core and think about where your kids need to be before those big, hairy tests.  What can you do now to make sure they're ready in a few months?  Focus on persuasive writing? Really push those math facts? We have a fun set of around-the-room review games.  Consider setting it up for your students in the next few weeks so you can pin-point those holes in understanding. Our morning work and homework pages spiral review the most important areas of content. If you aren't using these yet, try using these pages at some point during your day or as homework. We think you'll be surprised how much students can learn from just a little bit of practice and review each day.

Quick tip: Work on building on-task stamina with your students and keep track of their progress on a class graph. This skill will help them to focus during testing time. 

4.     Mid-year assessments

Deciding how to structure the rest of your year will be easier when you have a good idea of how your students are progressing. So, do those mid-year assessments. If you do Words Their Way, you'll want to do another round of the Primary Spelling Inventory.  Take a good look at your students' mid-year fluency.  Are they meeting those benchmarks?  We've got loads of ideas to help your kids keep progressing with fluency. 

Quick tip: If you're doing an assessment like the WTW PSI that is given multiple times a year, try using a different colored pen for each quarter's assessment so that it's easy to see at each assessment's specific data at a glance. 

5.     Plan for inside recess

If you live somewhere that receives cold winter weather, you'll definitely want to plan ahead for inside recess.

Some of our favorite activities to have on hand are:

• board games (like Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, Go Fish, and we LOVE the cooperative games from Peaceable Kingdom) 
• puzzles
• educational movies like the fun Scholastic Storybook Treasures
• books and read along cds (the Scholastic book orders are a great place to stock up on these)
• blocks or any type of building material.  I bought a giant bag of SOLO plastic cups and the students LOVED spending recess building with them.
• websites like GoNoodle, Adventure to Fitness, and BrainPop

And of course, Brain Breaks are perfect for inside recess. Check out our post for tons of ideas and resources for no prep/no technology Brain Breaks and also take a look at our Brain Breaks Pinterest board!

Follow Emily Kate @ Second Story Window's board Teach: Brain Breaks on Pinterest.

Quick tip: summer themed brain breaks would be tons of fun to use with your class during the winter, or vice versa!

6.     Tackle the idea that seemed too daunting in September

Before school starts you have a million ideas for your classroom, right? And then you start getting ready and you realize that you can't possibly be ready to do all of them at the beginning of the year. When it comes to starting something new in your classroom, it can be especially overwhelming at the start of the year. But January is the perfect time to give those ideas a try. 

Here are some ideas of things you could try tackling in the new year:

• Words Their Way
• Daily 5
• Meaningful vocabulary instruction
• Differentiated fluency instruction

Quick tip: start with one idea and see what you have energy for!

7.     Maximize Your Mornings

If you have a tight routine for your mornings, you'll be amazed at what you can get done in that time. Ideally, a good morning routine builds in time for you to do clerical tasks, time for students to wake up their brain with rigorous and meaningful morning work, and time to connect through morning meetings and morning messages. Take a look at our 2nd Grade Daily Schedule to get an idea of how we structure our mornings. If your mornings aren't what you want them to be, see where you can tighten up that routine!

Quick tip: if you use morning messages, do them in advance! If you are scrambling to come up with a message everyday, it's easy to fall out of the routine. That's why we planned out morning messages for the whole year in advance and reused them every year.

8.     Set Goals

It's so important for students to have the opportunity to reflect on their skills and set goals for the future. It would be a great time to show them some work they completed at the beginning of the year and compare it with recent work and see how far they come. Then they can reflect on what they would like to improve on before the end of the year. 

Quick tip: sign up for our newsletter and snag these free goal setting pages for grades K-6! The download includes a teacher's guide, specific pages for each grade, and also pages that leave the grade-level portion blank so you can pick and choose what you use and how you use it. You will receive a link to download the freebie in your signup confirmation email.

Subscribe to our mailing list for these free goal setting pages! 

9.    Clear Clutter

Completely overhauling your classroom organization can be daunting mid-year.  Save the big declutter for the summer, but pick one thing right now to tidy up.  Maybe clean out one cupboard or make a goal about emptying your box in the office every day.  For me, the trouble space was always up by my whiteboard.  Keeping that one little spot clutter free made a good resolution.

Quick tip: if you're holding on to odds and ends that you think you might maybe need someday (but you haven't yet found a use for) we give you permission to get rid of these things! Chances are you will never miss it and you will definitely appreciate the way a clutter-free environment will energize you and your classroom space!

10.  Find Something You’re Excited About

This time of year can be tough as a teacher!  One bit of advice I got was to have at least one thing you're excited to teach the next day.  It makes such a difference in my attitude and the feeling in my classroom if I'm looking forward to at least one part of the day!  Some days I was excited about a fun grammar lesson on contractions.  Some days it was getting my class excited about counting coins.  Some days it was feeling the kids' enthusiasm for our read aloud.  It didn't matter what as long as I had something fun that made it worthwhile to crawl out of my warm bed!  

Quick tip: Why not take a peek at your TPT wish list?  Treat yourself to something that would make a dark, cold day a little brighter!  Tell us in the comments what you bought for YOU!

Don't reinvent the wheel! We've done a lot of hard work on homework, morning work, vocabulary curriculum, fluency, and more so that YOU don't have to. Visit our TpT store and treat yourself! You deserve a break.

Back-to-School: Guided Discovery

Do you know The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete?  I love this book!  I got it early in my teaching career and it's one of the few books that I pulled out to reference EVERY YEAR! 

The main philosophy of this book is that taking time to shape the learning environment at the beginning of the year pays off for the rest of the year.  It has lots of ideas for activities, discussions, and procedures to help establish a warm and productive classroom.  One of the most beneficial ideas for me was the idea of guided discovery.

Guided discovery is a focused, purposeful, yet playful technique teachers use to introduce materials, areas, or activities to students.  A teacher might use a guided discovery to introduce a learning center, such as the library or computer area; a specific material, such as a box of crayons or compass; or a process, such as journal writing or quiet time.

A teacher may have any of the following objectives in mind when doing a guided discovery:

• To excite and motivate children by exploring possibilities
• To stretch individual students toward involvement in new areas of learning
• To guide or deepen the understanding of materials and activities
• To encourage the sharing of ideas among children for how a material or area might be used
• To establish a common language and vocabulary
• To generate rules and procedures for the care of materials and spaces
• To teach or reinforce guidelines for working cooperatively

(From The First Six Weeks of School by Paula Denton and Roxann Kriete)

Sounds awesome, right??  I sure think it is--it totally changed the way I approach the beginning of the school year.  I think teachers who've taught for a while do some version of this naturally when they're launching a new year, but having a systematic way of introducing materials or spaces in our room makes a difference in how efficiently our class operates all year long.

Here's an example of what I mean:

Before: One of the first-day-of-school activities usually involved coloring.  I told students where their crayons are stored, gave directions to complete the page, and they got to work.

Now: I pull out a box of crayons and lead a discussion about appropriate use and expectations.  I teach them what to do with a broken crayon, lost crayons, and crayon paper scraps.  I let them use their crayons and then we reflect on how well they followed directions.

Don't think it makes a difference to introduce crayons? 

Imagine it's October and the students are supposed to be coloring.  Isaac finds a stray brown crayon on the floor.  He comes to find you to ask what to do.  Jessie is supposed to be coloring a pumpkin, but can't find an orange crayon.  She spends time wandering before finding you to ask for help.  At the end of the day, you find a pile of green wrapper shreds on the floor.  You pick them up so the custodian doesn't give you grief and make a note to talk to Alex about what to do with crayon peelings.

You've now taught 3 students how to manage crayons.  And as you address issues during the next few months, you will be given opportunities to teach the other 25 students.

This is not good use of your time!  It is not good use of your students' time!  Although it feels frustratingly slow when you're itching to get that first math unit underway, it actually saves time in the long run to introduce classroom materials formally.  Teach it right from the beginning, or you'll be teaching it all year long! 

When I'm launching students into an exploration of a material, I follow 6 steps.  They aren't the official Guided Discovery Lesson steps, but they're the steps that best meet my goals for doing this activity.  The steps are:

1. Introducing
2. Establishing use
3. Generating standards
4. Exploring and observing
5. Reflecting and sharing
6. Caring for materials 

Below is an example of how these steps may look in action.  The teacher is setting up guidelines for using scissors.

1. Introducing

(This can be as simple or elaborate as you'd like.  In this scenario, the teacher is using a more elaborate introduction.)

The teacher has a pair of dull tipped, closed scissors in an open top shoebox.  I have something in this box that we will be using in our class.  You can feel it, but don't guess what is.  Instead, just tell one word that describes what you feel.

The teacher walks from student to student holding the box above the students' eye level so they can't see inside.  She moves quickly so students don't lose focus.  After everyone has felt it she reviews some of the words the students suggested: cold, metal, smooth, holey, etc.  Have you figured out what's in the box, yet?  On the count of three, everyone tell me what they think it is.  Ready?  1,2,3...   

2. Establishing Use

The teacher gathers the students back at the rug.  Raise your hand if you can tell me one way we use scissors?  The students share their ideas.  Because she wants to be able to refer back to this discussion at a later date, the teacher notes the students' contributions on a chart.

If a student suggests a use that's already on the chart, the teacher acknowledges the contribution.  She points to the line where the suggestion and says: You're right. We can use scissors to cut out snowflakes.

3. Generating Standards

How can we use the scissors responsibly?  Again the teacher notes the students' suggestions on a chart.  The students begin a round of, "We don't cut ____."  (We don't cut hair, we don't cut books, we don't cut shoelaces...students will get very creative about this).  Rather than listing 500 things not to cut, the teacher acknowledges the suggestion and redirects it.  You're right, we don't cut erasers.  What should we cut?  Yes, we only cut paper.  She adds only cut paper to the chart.  When the next student suggests, "We don't cut shirts," she does the same thing.  You're right, we don't cut shirts.  What should we cut?  Yes, we only cut paper. She points to the line on the chart where it's already written.

Phrasing rules in the positive keeps the focus on what students CAN do instead of punishing what they shouldn't.  Also, a positively stated rule (only cut paper) covers more behaviors than 50 negative rules (don't cut___, don't cut___).  If you had to list all the "do nots," you'd be there until January.

At this point, the teacher makes sure to include the steps to her specific classroom procedures.  She models for students and has one or two students model for the class while she gives feedback.  Then she adds to the chart, "Only get the scissors when the teacher says" and "Carry scissors with the tips down."

4. Exploring and Observing

The teacher could open this time up for a general exploration of scissors.  She could give them paper and let them cut all they want.  In this case, she has a specific task in mind.  She wants them to practice cutting different lines: zigzags, swirls, etc.  She explains the task and sends a few students at a time to pick up scissors and take them back to their desks.  She provides feedback as the students follow her directions.  Did you see how Sasha walked right over to the scissor basked?  Notice how Jamal is carrying his safely by carrying them pointing down.  Older students may not appreciate this public praise for following directions.  Instead, try having students rate their behavior.  Give me a thumbs up if you walked with the blades pointing down.

Once everyone has scissors, she distributes the paper and lets the students start working.  She wanders the room giving feedback.  I can tell you're trying really had to stay on the line.  She corrects any misuse now to prevent it becoming habit.  Keep your thumb on top of the scissors.

5. Reflection and sharing

Once everyone is finished, she has them return the scissors to the basket and bring their papers to the rug.  She has them sit in a circle this time so they can see each other.  Also, this means there's room for students to rest their papers on the floor rather than playing with them.

She lets students share their work with a partner and may choose 2 or 3 to share with the group.  For young children (or small groups), it may be more beneficial to let everyone take a turn sharing what they did to use the scissors responsibly.

After they've shared, she asks What did you notice about using the scissors?  She adds the students suggestions to her chart.

She'll save the chart her class has created so that a few months down the road, when someone misuses the scissors, she can pull out the chart and have the student refer to it.

6. Caring for Materials

If students haven't cleaned up yet, she would have them do it now, but the scissors are all back where they belong, so she goes on.  She focuses her students' attention on their plans going forward.  What will you do next time we get out the scissors?

Yes, it took some time to do this lesson.  And it will take time to introduce the rest of your classroom tools: glue, markers, pencils,...!  But now her students know her expectations.  They have a clear understanding of how things run in their new classroom.  They will rise to the occasion and there will be fewer behavior issues.

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If you're reading this thinking This is great information, but where was it a month ago?  We've been back in school 3 weeks! Don't worry--it's not too late!  Pick the top 5 tools that your students use the most.  Carve out 20 minutes a day for the next week.  Introduce one a day and by the end of the week, your class will be operating at a whole new level!  And don't forget that you can use this process any time during the year.  If you come back from winter break and find your students are using their reading sticky notes for paper airplanes, use one of these lessons to refocus their behavior.  Problem solved!

You don't need anything special to introduce your classroom tools using this guided discovery format.  There were plenty of years when I made do with what was handy.  I had a pirate themed classroom for awhile, so I found a random pirate coloring page to introduce crayons.  Before that I used a shape coloring page for several years.  But the more I've been thinking about this, the more I thought it would be nice to have a way for students to explore that supports the teaching of procedures.

That thinking lead me to create the School Tools Guided Discovery pack.  It contains student pages to support the introduction of 20 common school tools and classroom areas.  The top half of the page has room for students to record expectations and their plans for being responsible.  The bottom half of the page is for the student exploration.  There's also room for students to rate how well they followed directions from 1-5 stars.

This pack is bursting with resources.  Besides the student pages there are:

• EDITABLE lesson plans for 20 school tools + 1 blank page (in color and black and white)
• 3 sample lesson plans that outline how to use this process in the classroom
• list of suggested activities adaptable for any introduction
• charts for noting student suggestions about using 20 school tools (in color and black and white)
• pieces for assembling large anchor charts
• binder cover (for storing completed charts)
• student work packet cover (if you choose to assemble the pages into a packet)
• 8 simplified student pages for differentiation or use later in the year
• 30-pages of teacher tips and suggestions

If this set of materials would help get your school year off right, you can find the pack here.

Daily 5--Work on Writing

I'm so excited that I've finally got my writing center up! This week we finally started doing the Work on Writing component of the Daily 5 independently. I realize that it's clear into the 2nd week in October, but I didn't decide to try the Daily 5 until the middle of August, so I was doing all sorts of overhauling/creating on top of getting ready for school to start. Consequently I'm a bit slow. A few weeks ago, my to-do list for this project seemed insurmountable. I contemplated tossing the whole thing out the window. Now it's all pulled together AND the kids are loving it. Every time I look at that part of my classroom I smile. :)


Here's what the finished product looks like:


I used some writing centers I'd seen on Pinterest as inspiration. This one is from Jessica Meacham.
And this one from Katie at Persnickety Pickles:

Here's a look at the choices I give the kids. The first thing is to work on a piece from Writer's Workshop (I do a more focused writing time in the morning).


They can also write in the class story journals (another Pinterest idea from Delightful Daily 5 Cafe). There's so much emphasis on nonfiction and persuasion in the new core, that I was sad to see a lot of the personal narrative time lost. Hopefully this will be like a sort of personal narrative patch.

I put out some "Take it to Your Seat Writing Centers" from Evan-Moore that I'd inherited from Em.


Students have the choice of writing in their journals about any topic they choose or they can pick one of my suggestions. I started with some general prompts (What's your favorite holiday? What do you think about frogs?) that I printed on stickers and put on Popsicle Sticks (Pinterest idea from First Grade Fresh).

Since I don't have a Jehovah's Witness student this year, I'm going all out for the holidays!! For October, I got some little notebooks in the Target Dollar Spot. I cut out all the papers and wrote a prompt on the inside cover. The bowl is also from Target. The rule is they have to write about whichever prompt they pick UNLESS they've already done it.


I originally started with 12, but since this is such a popular choice I ended up using all 18 little notebooks. Some prompts I found, some I made up.

• If a witch lost her cat, what could she use for a pet?
• What would happen if you were in a graveyard at night?
• Imagine you run a restaurant for monsters. What sorts of things would you serve?
• What if you were trick-or-treating and your bag broke? What would you do?
• I think my teacher should be ____ for Halloween because _____
• Have you ever been really scared? What happened?
• I wish I weren't afraid of ...
• How would you make a robot costume?
• What do you think about spiders?
• What do you think about mummies?
• How would you catch a vampire or a ghost?
• The mad scientist was creating a new monster that could...
• How do you carve a pumpkin? Write all the steps.
• What if you had a pet werewolf?
• Imagine you're walking your dog and he runs into a creepy, old house. You follow him. What happens?
• Tell all about your favorite thing about Halloween?
• What were you for Halloween last year? What did your costume look like?
• Pretend you have a magic broomstick. What does it look like? What does it do?

I have a bunch of notepads from the dollar store and Target Dollar Spot. The rule is one "fancy" paper per day. I wish you could find stationery sets like they used to sell at the dollar store, but I guess no one writes letters anymore.


Writing letters is the favorite choice right now.


The idea of a classroom post office has always scared me, but this is running really smoothly. Our mailbox is a plastic container from the dollar store. Unfortunately, I waited to cut the slit until AFTER I'd painted so it got pretty thrashed from the scissors. :( And, of course, I'm now out of blue spray paint. The battered box drives me nuts, but the kids don't seem to notice.


I read all the letters after school. In the morning, I have one of the early birds hand them out. So far it's running well and I've only had to weed out a couple mean spirited notes and one love letter.

I love the list choice, but so far no one has been interested in it. You can get the list steps here.

I found some printable Halloween labels and added Octobery themed prompts. You can download the file here. I don't know who created the clipart and I've tried doing a Google search. If anyone knows, please tell me so I can credit the designer.


The right side of the bulletin board is our stamina graph (from F is for First Grade.) The kids get so excited to beat their time everyday!


Once we're done needing the daily stamina booster, I want to add poetry and research in as writing choices. However, I don't have a clue how to set those up! Any suggestions??

Words Their Way--Resource List

There is a newer Words Their Way post with more information. Click to see it now.

I thought it would be nice to have all the Words Their Way resources in one post. I'm also including a link to the sort sequences that I use to organize my binder.

Letter Name Alphabetic sorts
Within Word Pattern sorts
Syllables and Affixes sorts


At the bottom of each "unit" (?) I listed the games I use to reinforce those concepts. Some of the games are in our Etsy shop.
For the Letter/Name Alphabetic stage, we have:

• The R-Express (r blends)
• Welcome to the Neighborhood (short e,o,a word families)
• Cops & Robbers (short vowels)
• Terrific Teeth (ch, th, sh, wh)
• Reindeer Feed (short/long vowel sounds)

For the Within Word Pattern stage there's:

• Double Sound Dominoes (sounds of oo, y, and ow)
• Magic Lamp (sounds of c and g)

Syllables and Affixes:

• Ghosts in the Cemetery (sounds of c and g)
• Bonkers -- FREE DOWNLOAD --(review of vowel patterns in 1 syllable words)
• Smack Down -- FREE DOWNLAOD -- (vcv and vccv patterns)

I give this form for students to take the assessment.

And this form to record their scores.


I keep track of my groups in this book.


There's also a cover here.

Please see the NEWER POST about WTW that has all this information + much, much more!

Let me know if there's something you'd like to know more about or a part of Words Their Way you're struggling with. I'm by no means an expert, but I've been doing this long enough that maybe I have a tip or two.

Happy spelling!!

Words Their Way--Record Book

I finally got around to making a new record book for my Words Their Way groups. My last one lasted me several years, but it was finally full. So here's the newbie. I got the cute clipart from Lettering Delights.


I like to keep track of which group is one which level, so I made some easy check-off-the-box type forms. Then I took it all to Staples to get it coil bound.


After I started using this, I realized I was still having to label each group early, middle, or late. So I updated the file to include an e m l under each stage. That way you can just circle which level they're on.

I only have 5 groups (well, 5 groups and 1 little guy who is so low that he's his own group :( ), but I made a page that has 6 groups in case you have a really wide range of abilities in your class.

You can get the pieces here:
Please see the NEWER POST about WTW that has all this information + much, much more!

Happy spelling!