Back to School in Middle School

• 2 pages (front and back) for the table of contents. This gives us 4 whole pages to write our contents. 
• 36 pages (front and back) for bell ringers. This gives us one page (front and back) for each week of bell ringers (more on bell ringers in a second). 
• Reading Response is the rest of the pages in the notebook. This is where they write all their responses to our reading units.

• 2 pages (front and back) for table of contents again
• 35 pages (front and back) for interactive reading lessons
• 16 pages (Front and back) for interactive vocabulary lessons
• 16 pages (front and back) for interactive writing lessons
• 35 pages (front and back) for interactive grammar lessons

Notebook 3: 6th Grade Books and Movies 
I will be teaching at a charter school this year and one of the 6th grade electives is “Books and Movies.” I’m basically FREAKING OUT (in a good way) about this.

I think 6th gave might be my favorite now and I love books that have been turned into movies. I plan to do Holes, The Hunger Games, and Harry Potter (obviously). I plan to use my reading units, so this is the breakdown for their notebooks.

• 2 pages (front and back) for the table of contents. This gives us 4 whole pages to write our contents. 
• 18 pages (front and back) for bell ringers. This gives us one page (front and back) for each week of bell ringers. I only have each 6th grade class for a semester. 
• 10 pages (front and back) for vocabulary. We will do some vocabulary during our units. 
• 15 pages (front and back) for Reading. We will use this for mini-lesson and maybe some interactive notebook lessons. 
• Reading Response is the rest of the pages in the notebook. This is where they write all their responses to our reading units.

I based all this on my pacing guide and how many pages I thought I would need for each section.

You can get the these tabs in my TPT store. There are a variety options, and also an editable PowerPoint to make your own. They are just black and white, but I print them on Astrobrights Cardstock for durability and color! :).

Pacing Guide 

As I mentioned in the Notebook section, I based our pages on my pacing guide. Now, I actually was given the previous teachers pacing guide. I honestly am not one for reinventing the wheel, but I have found that if I don’t do the pacing guide myself then I am just winging it all year and when I supplement with TPT resources and units I just don’t accomplish what I need to. 

You can download these 7th and 8th grade pacing guides for FREE in my TPT store (just click on the images) so you can see all of the resources I use and when I use them throughout the year.

I also created an editable version that you can use too! It has been updated for this school year.

In general though, I use all of Lovin’ Lit’s Interactive Notebooks (and I mean ALL- I think I have every single one), my seventh and 8th grade reading units (Freak the Mighty is posted- all others will be posted this year).

These are the units I have completed as of July 2017 and/or I am required to teach. I still haven’t completed To Kill a Mockingbird, The Crossover, or Booked (and I have a couple others I want to do now that I have a year under my belt) but the bundle is available and I add all my new units to it FO’ FREE).

 Freak the Mighty (my all time favorite book in the whole world- I even wrote a blog post about it here) is what I started the year with in both 7th and 8th. I have my 7th graders in 8th grade again, so we are going to read The Outsiders this year. 

This is also a break down of what my week looks like. I knew that I couldn’t teach reading lessons, writing lessons, and grammar lessons every day all day so I had to split it up more. This is what I have planned for my weeks so far.

Bell Ringers

Okay, so Bell Ringers are one of those things I had always heard about when I taught elementary, but never really needed at that time. We did morning work, we formed consistent routines, and they were ALL MINE all day long. One of the biggest adjustments for me (going form elementary to middle) has been the switching of classes…. and let me tell you, I had a heck of a year with this. 

To keep it brief, when I was hired for my 6th grade position, not only was I told I would be only teaching ELA, but I was also told there was an issue with my teaching partner situation. By December, I was on my 7th (YES 7TH) teaching partner. I was the only consistency my kids had, but I was struggling when they were coming into my room after whoever was their math and science teacher that day.

I had always loved Harry Wong’s First Days of School, but again, my classroom management had been “manageable” until this last year. He talks about kids needing to have something to do right when they get into class. My instinct was always morning work, but hello middle school (no time!). So, I made my  ELA Bell Ringers, and swear I’m not product pushing, they changed my life. 

My kids got to work right, away, they were different each day of the week, but the same every week (in format), I gave them a stamp, graded every Friday, and I had kids coming straight into class (without wrestling, touching, being all around insane- that’s a win in middle school), and they were learning! I also had like zero copies at this school so I needed a way to do Bell Ringers that required no printing or copying!

Here is the general layout each week:

This was the layout for fifth and 6th grade each week. 

I learned quickly that I had to be diligent about grading or they wouldn’t do it. Eventually, I didn’t even have to check. I started letting the first 3-4 students who did quality bell ringers work, grade their classmates. They would just stamp for me. It even made some of my super reluctant workers get theirs done, because even 6th graders want to grade! 

Eventually I just bought some stamper markers (instead of initialing because you have no idea how much time that wastes) and then it was really fast! 

This is the layout for 7th and 8th.  I (and my 6th graders) loved Picture of the Week, but I am teaching at a new school that uses the Core Knowledge and I needed a way to get our 7th and 8th Grade Foreign Phrases in, and that was the best option. I might switch some pictures for other activities when we need to mix it up.

You can purchase any of the Bell Ringers by clicking on their image below :). These seriously might be one of my favorite resources ever. All of these resource include 2-3 FREE WEEKS of Bell Ringers so you can try them out before purchasing. 

Classroom Economy in Middle School 

I recently posted a picture of my “Middle School Money” classroom economy. A lot of people have asked how I manage this in middle school. Truth is I have never technically done it. Buuuuuut… I did go from self-contained 5th grade to 6th grade where I had each class for about 90 minutes. This meant I went from having 10-15 minutes every day for classroom jobs (which included banker jobs who did all the economy stuff for me) to “how can I do this in 30 seconds?”

Why am I doing this in middle school when I will have 125 students?! 

1. Because I love it!
2. I honestly feel like middle schoolers are kind of the forgotten kids, and they don’t get stuff like this. I mean how many middle schoolers will love to be able to purchase gatorade, candy, chips, and other snacks?
3. I used to be a bank teller, in high school and college, and I can not tell you how important it is that I think students know how to write a check, balance money, and take care of money. 

• When I
  taught self-contained elementary, I had a banker job, but this quickly became
  inefficient and my middle schoolers were
  just plain sneakier :). 

• In middle
  school, I give them the money, they add it to their balance, and give me the
  money back almost immediately. I honestly didn’t initial when they added the
  money, and they were honest (i.e. no one was just adding money as they
  pleased). 

• In
  general, I can keep of track of who is getting money and who isn’t. However,
  sometimes, in the early stages, I do initial each time they add (or have a
  trustworthy student help) so they “know” I am checking.  

• My
  students can fill out checks and balance sheets whenever they want (as long as
  it doesn’t interfere with instructional time). Most of mine do it once they’re
  finished with their Bell Ringers. 

• I am VERY
  particular with what I will accept. Essentially, they can’t waste my time when
  they want to purchase something: 

1. Students
   must have the check filled out completely and must TRY to sign their name in
   cursive.
2. They must
   write the amount correctly in word form. 
3. They must
   make the check payable to me. 
4. The memo
   must say EXACTLY what they want to purchase (i.e. blue Gatorade, large Snickers
   bar, tropical Skittles)
5. They must
   have all this recorded, subtracted, and balanced on their balance sheet. 

• If all of
  the above is done, I simply initial their balance sheet, rip up the check
  (unless they are purchasing something like a book from Scholastic, in which I
  save the check until I remember to order the book), and then tell them to grab
  their purchase. 

• They know
  to  grab their purchase quickly and go
  back to their seat. 
• If they
  have done this correctly, it take maybe 5 seconds of my time and my middle schoolers are
  ecstatic they can buy food.