Friday, June 22, 2012

Writer's Workshop

Writer's Workshop is one of my students' favorite times of day.  I do have a separate Writer's Workshop time outside of Daily 5.  During Daily 5 my students may choose work on writing, but I like to know there is a time each day (4 out of 5 days in the week) that I have a specific writing mini-lesson and then give the students a chance to try using it if they want.  During Daily 5 rotations I am meeting with students about reading.  My Writer's Workshop time is when I get to meet with students and talk about their writing.

This is a quick video of students sharing after they have had a chance to write.  If you notice my format - sharing writing is something every child does every day.  This would be impossible if I let them share one at a time.  I hope this video gives you an idea of how to allow your students to share with partners or small groups so that each child shares his / her work.  It does not get too loud because the students genuinely care about what they were writing and what their friends are writing.  The students also tend to write more because they know someone else will be seeing their work at the end of Writer's Workshop. 

If they aren't finished with a piece of writing I have them talk through with their partner what they plan on doing to finish it.  This is a great way to have them start planning for the next Writer's Workshop.


Writer's Workshop has a very predictable and purposeful set-up: 

Every day there is a short mini-lesson. I either focus on a mentor author or write myself in front of the students.

Then I have the students think silently (with their eyes closed for about 1 minute) about what they want to write about. Then they turn and talk to a buddy about what they want to write about. This eliminates any comments of "I don't know what I want to write about." The students know writing is just like talking so if they can talk about it, they can write about it.

We then go to our desks and write about the topic they choose. I do not tell them what to write. I might suggest that they use a strategy - like changing text for emphasis, but I let them choose what they want to write.


Then we have share time. I believe each child should share each day - this is important for accountability and so they can think of what they need to do next. The students find partners around the room and share their writing and what they are going to do next if they are not finished with a text. If time permits I have a few students share in the author's chair and point out what strategies they are using well. Author's chair is just for a few students each day so it does NOT count as sharing time. All students need to talk about their writing each day. Sorry - I've found myself on another soap box! :O)

Monday, June 18, 2012

Another Inferring Lesson

I've mentioned several times on this blog that I teach many mini-lessons over the same strategy. This seems to keep the students more interested and focused (most of the time) and gives them more chances to practice. I have already posted one inferring mini-lesson that I use to introduce. Here is another video of a lesson later in the unit. If you see my other inferring post you will notice I had a t-chart lesson with The Art Lesson by Tomie de Paola. This is another t-chart lesson but with a different text.




So Daily 5 is the framework of my literacy block. This is the content - the comprehension skill of inferring - that I teach in a mini-lesson. I teach at least one comprehension skill and one accuracy skill each day. If you haven't used Daily 5 yet then I hope this makes more sense of what your mini-lesson might look like later in the year when you aren't spending all your time going over I-charts and practicing behaviors between every rotation.



During this lesson we were using a t-chart to show the difference between what is in the text and what must be inferred. We had been studying inferring for a couple of weeks when this lesson was introduced. This is just another example of a short lesson that put together with many other short lessons help the students grasp and internalize a reading strategy.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Classroom Discipline

One of the most important parts of any classroom is discipline.  I have been sitting in on a lot (over 14) interviews lately and realized this is one area that not everyone has thought much about.  Thinking back to my first year...I realize why I failed in that area.  But I made up for it that second year!  Here are a few ideas you might consider and resources you might use with some slight tweaking to fit your style. 

This is the classroom discipline note contract I have in each student's binder.  I have changed it to where there is a section for the parent and student to sign at the bottom to show me they discussed it at home as well.  I just don't have that copy on this computer.


As you can see from my explanation - I see classroom discipline as two parts: rewarding good choices / behaviors, giving consequences to help deter bad choices / behaviors.  Many people just look at it as how you punish bad behaviors. 

In my class I try to reward individually and as a whole class.  So I have coin system and marble jar set up in the room.

The coin system is two-fold.  It helps give an immediate reward - the coin and a delayed reward - the prize.  I explain to the students that teaching is my job and learning is their job.  I get paid to come to school so I will pay them when they come to school.  Each student receives a morning coin: payment for coming to 'work.'  They also earn coins for good behavior.  If one table is working really quietly while the others are goofing off - each student at that whole table can earn a coin.  If I notice the students are taking a long time to clean up and transition - I pay the first few students at the carpet a coin.  These little incentives tend to point out the behaviors I want and induce the other students to follow suit.  Because I want there to be intrinsic motivation as well I do not always hand out coins for every good behavior.  I try to give extrinsic and intrinsic motivators.  But let's be honest - kids like to get things! 


The really good part of the coins (I switched from tokens because of this) is that on bank days the students get to exchange their coins for other coins.  They LOVE bank days even though all they are doing is exchanging what they already have in their wallets.  By the way - I got the wallets at Oriental Trading and they have lasted me 5 years.  If you invest in a BUNCH of pennies and nickels you will be fine.  I have a lot of dime and quarters as well, but not having too much keeps me accountable for having bank days and shopping days on a regular basis.

This is a chart we make early on in the year when we do our first bank day.  We then add on as the students earn more coins and learn different ways to exchange coins.  I also like bank days because they give me a rough estimate of how much money the students have.  I change up how much it costs for various items based on how much money they have.  If I know one student has been working really hard but only has 7 cents, I am going to try and makes sure he/she can get something to help motivate him/her.



On shopping days (they take about 45 minutes) I have one table at a time come up and purchase items.  I have a poster of that too - it helps me from having to re-write it each time.  The only thing I do is put different note cards up with different prices.  But these are my categories: stickers, pencils, book marks, rainbow carpet (a bunch of random stuff - large Weekly Reader issues, Highlights magazines, posters, etc.), prize drawer (again, a bunch of random stuff but the kids like these prizes more - silly bands, erasers, McDonald's Happy Meal toys, etc.), show and tell (they can do show and tell any time they have 25 cents - this is the only prize like that), and stuffed animals.

Although there are tears sometimes on shopping days, they usually are a happy time.  I always try to talk to the student(s) who is sad on shopping day because he/she doesn't have enough to buy a stuffed animal (or whatever) about what he/she can do next time to earn more money.  That talk usually comes after the shopping day when the emotions aren't so high and we can talk more calmly about it.  This proves fairly effective and gives me insight into what that particular student wants to work towards earning.

One last thing about my coin system - just like students can earn coins, they can lose them too.  When we discuss them getting paid to come to 'work' at school we also discuss what happens when people get pulled over for driving too fast.  We talk about fines for breaking laws and tie that to fines in class for breaking rules.  For example, if the students should be working and someone is off task that student may have to pay me a coin.  If a student is not following our morning routine and being disruptive, that student pays a fine.  And my favorite...if a student tattles one someone that student has to pay the person he/she tattled on a coin.  It only takes one or two times of having to pay another student a coin when you tattle on him/her before you learn!

The marble jar is a whole class reward system.  I talk about how teams have to work together and if a team is playing a sport and one person is not doing what he/she is supposed to do then it can cause the whole team to lose.  Also, if a team works really well together then that whole team can win.  So while we are around the school if someone compliments the class as a whole for standing in line quietly, being polite during an assembly, etc. then the whole class gets to put a marble in the jar.  Because each student puts one marble in for each compliment it looks like it fills up quickly.  But I have found they fill the jar up 4-6 times a year which is very manageable. 

I keep the marble jar close to the door so they see it as we are leaving - just a little reminder that how we represent our class around the school can help us fill that jar.



Because they worked as a team to fill up the jar, we choose as a team what the reward will be.  After they have filled it up we sit down and brainstorm possible rewards.  With about 5-8 choices on the board we then vote on which one they would like.  They know that I have to get approval for the reward first, then send a note home, and then they can get the reward.  But I think that is a valuable lesson - we follow chains of command in life.  Some of the choices they have decided on have been: PJ day, bonus recess, board game day (really just the end of the day), lunch in the classroom, water day, etc. 

This is a sample note I send home when we do get the approval for a reward.  I like the parents to know why they have earned this reward since it ties back to my overall discipline.


I know a lot of people like to have their students write the class rules at the beginning of the year.  I may get a lot of people upset with me...but I'm not a fan of that.  I have the rules set because I am in charge.  However, we do spend a lot of time discussing why those rules and there - we act them out, talk about what would happen without them, take pictures of students following the rules, write a class book about the rules.  So the students have a lot of discussion and ownership...but I set the rules.

FYI - there are five of them: walk inside, listen when someone is talking, keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself, show respect, do your best.  I like the last two because they have a wide range of applications.  I love when a student misses a few words on a spelling test and I hear someone comfort him/her by saying, "Remember the rules - you don't have to be perfect, just do your best."  So precious!

One final note about discipline - writing a class mission statement (we use a lot of Continuous Improvement) has helped.  If a student is acting inappropriately I remind him/her of why we come to school and we discuss if that particular behavior is helping us achieve our goal. 

Friday, June 8, 2012

Bowling for 10 - Subtraction Game

I just realized most of my posts have been language arts centered...I do teach other things besides just language arts!  So I decided to post something math-y today.

Do you ever wander around in the dollar store finding cute things and wondering how you can use them in your classroom?  They are only a dollar so there has to be a way...but maybe that's just me.  Well, just in case - here is an easy way to use a little bowling game to practice subtraction from 10.

We use Investigations as our curriculum and supplement when needed.  During the time when the curriculum focuses on 10 - I add this little game into the rotation.  One way I try to 'beef up' the Investigations curriculum is (when possible) I have the students write down the corresponding equations on paper or in their learning journals. 



In this picture you see a sample of the number sentences a student was writing to correspond to his bowling.  I use the thought protectors we already have in class to help keep the bowling pins from going everywhere.

This is by far one of the students' favorite activities of the year.  If you are at the dollar store I highly recommend you pick up several bowling sets.  Target and Walmart have them too...they are just closer to $3 a set if you get them there. 

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Sight Word Resources

A few years ago I started using Scholastic's Systematic Sight Word Instruction.  My reasoning was this - we had been using something where you sent a list home and had the students practice.  Then they tested and got a new list.  But here was my problem: the students who needed the most help with sight words were the ones that did not get to practice at home and the ones who practiced at home pretty much already knew those sight words.

So I wanted a resource that would give me something to use in the classroom.  I wanted to level the playing fields.  Sure, those students who get extra practice at home still do great; but at least this way the ones who are not able to get help at home are getting something from me at school.



This is what my pocket chart looks like each morning when the students come to the carpet.  We practice reading the words and sentences, sorting the words, etc. during transition time when those last 2-3 kids are still cleaning up and the rest of us are already at the carpet.  Just having that has really helped with seeing the sight words and getting a bunch of extra practice (without really taking much time). 

Once we have finished focusing on the sight words for the week I put them on the word wall so (hopefully) during writer's workshop and work on writing the students will refer to them to help spell the sight words.

When I was training some fellow teachers on the sight word curriculum I shared the PowerPoints I had made to go along with it.  They seemed so happy that I would share these with them.  I just figured why not - there is no reason for someone to have to re-create what is already made.  So below are links to the PowerPoints I made that goes in the order of Scholastic's Systematic Sight Word curriculum. 










Another aspect of this curriculum that I really like is the review weeks - every 9th week is review and assessment.  On week 18 I reassess all the words, not just the works from week 10-18.  That is really important for me to see growth in my students and check for retention.










We track our sight word learning in data folders.  The students graph their growth by six weeks even though I 'assess' by 9 weeks when using the curriculum.  I place the assessments in the data folders so parents can see the progress.  If I have a struggling student then I also copy the assessment into his/her pass along folder.










Week 27 is the official end of assessment for my students.  I keep teaching the sight words in order using the curriculum; I just do not reassess.  The end of the year seems busy and crazy enough and we never get to the end of the curriculum due to lack of time. 

I also added a couple of PowerPoints with sight word phrases because I like the students to get practice reading sight words in phrases and sentences.








The sight word phrases do not come from the curriculum - just a random list I got while at in-service one day.  But I find that if I begin the phrases towards the end of my lessons the students know the words very well.  And yes, I know that there are a couple of phrases repeated...I didn't want my last PowerPoint to be super short so I just repeated a few phrases that I thought wouldn't hurt the students to practice a little extra.

These PowerPoints are pretty short - the long review ones take 4 minutes max.  But they are a nice way to quickly review the words which is so important for those little struggling readers.

I highly recommend this sight word curriculum.  Like anything it's not perfect - I wish some words were introduced earlier and I don't understand why some words are in there.  But I figure that is with any curriculum.  So like any good teacher I add to it when I need to and find extra resources when needed. 

Also, the worksheets that go along with the curriculum...I really like them because I can level my sight word work based on student needs.  I don't give everyone the student practice page for day 1 on day and everyone the student practice page for day 2 on day, etc.  I look at the student practice pages for the week and level the work.  So for the sight word morning work some students will be unscrambling the sight words, some will be using sight words to fill in the blanks, and some will be writing sentences using some or all of the sight words, etc.  I hope that makes sense!  It just seems like at the training some teachers were overwhelmed and thought I was pushing a bunch of worksheets on them.  Exactly the opposite - I love the variety of worksheets so I can more accurately meet the needs of my various learners.

One last note - sometimes you can take the worksheets or group activities and put them on cardstock, laminate them, and boom - you have sight word work for Daily 5.  So like I said, it's a great resource that I recommend - it is not a perfect solution that will require no work...just a little tweaking to meet your style.  But that is the fun of a good resource ~

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Inferring Introduction Lesson

Inferring is one of my favorite comprehension strategies to teach.  Tanny McGregor makes it so understandable with her garbage bag introduction lesson in Comprehension Connections.  The kids (and I) LOVE it!  So here is a quick video of the introduction lesson.



And here are a few resources I use when teaching inferring.  Most were found / borrowed / stolen from other great teachers and just put together to help me with my unit on inferring.  The scenario cards and charades are from Into the Book - a random resource I found one day while on the internet.  So those definitely are not mine, but were a huge hit with the students.  The song was also found on the internet.  I make a poster of it and teach it to the students.  Then after they know it and we have discussed it (several days later), the students get a copy to go in their poetry folders.

If you have read my other posts about mini-lessons you know I teach many mini-lessons over a period of time in order to teach a new reading strategy.






I hope you find these helpful...and have as much fun teaching inferring as I do!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Some Handy Tips


Next year I will be having some new teachers on my team – yay!  I love a fresh start and new ideas.  But it has got me thinking about random tricks I have learned (okay, stolen) along the way.
If you have lockers in your room – did you know that you can put little dowel rods in them and create shelves?  It really helps me organize my supplies in the non-student lockers.

I’m sure you know this one…but just in case you don’t…place mats work as dry erase boards.  My mom got me these cute dog bone ones for super cheap.  My students LOVE them.  Also, socks work well as erasers.  I used to have white ones but the students liked to draw on them or joke around that they were from dirty feet.  Black socks from the dollar store helped solve that problem.

So my students have pencil boxes to keep them organized.  It only took me 4 years to think that I should get one for my teaching area as well.  I got a really big one because I put a lot of random things I might need in there.  And the best part is that I can close the lid and my teaching tools are conveniently hidden.

One teacher who is moving down from a higher grade next year asked me what I do with first graders when they finish early and the rest of the kids are still working.  I have changed over several years on what to do with these early finishers…but I love what I did last year because it was simple and it reinforced pervious skills.  I had a centers approach.  Since we do Daily 5 and math Investigations I don’t really use centers any more.  However, if my students finish morning work or any assignment and there is free time they have some choices.  They ALWAYS have to check their unfinished work folder first.  But if that is empty then they may choose a center.  I do not make centers as something extra – they are games we have previously played during a math Investigation or a science sort, etc.  When I am done cleaning up an activity I usually leave 2 of the sets out and put them in my centers tub.  The students may then choose them at any time to continue investigating.  For example – after the 100th day of school I left a couple of the hundred charts that had been cut into puzzle pieces and put them in the centers basket.  Another example is after we had sorted various rocks during a science unit I left 2 bags of the rocks with a magnifying glass and sorting mat in the center basket.  Although the students worked in partners during the original activities of 100 chart puzzles and rock sorting, during centers they work on them alone.   I have found my students really like having this extra chance to revisit some of their learning.  Of course they always have the choice of reading from around the room or working on one of their books from writer’s workshop, but centers has given the students more options to extend learning independently.

And one last trick for the road…those big paper clips can be used to hold up cardstock.  I use them periodically for when I need something at the table group but it is not a permanent sign. 

I’m also thinking of taking my curriculum word banks (my Texas one is shown) and putting them on cardstock.  You can’t laminate the cardstock or it will be too heavy.  Right now my word banks are on laminated paper for the students to use during writer’s workshop or work on writing. 

Monday, June 4, 2012

A Few Daily 5 Resources

So this is going to be a big Daily 5 resource dump.  I've found a bunch of this online or taken something from other teachers in the district.  I also have a few things with a slight variation because I needed to make it fit my classroom.

The check in chart is something I found online.  I have a modified one because I let the students choose any option that they have not been to yet.  So even though I know that we only do 2-3 rounds of Daily 5 each day, I know that all the students will get to Read to Self and Work on Writing every day with maybe a day break from one of them.  It seems simpler for me to track this way.  Also, with my chart I just go down the list and I can quickly see which option(s) a student has left in case they have forgotten.

Also, the original check in chart went by days at the top.  I use my chart until it is used up so if on Monday we only got to 2 rotations I begin with that first column to continue checking my students in on Tuesday.  Hopefully that makes sense...

I do Read to Someone separately because I like to be walking around listening in on conversations about text so I can pull from that when we re-group.  It is just a personal thing - I prefer the more quiet Daily 5 options when I am working one-on-one or with small groups and so Read to Someone is separate and we all do that option at the same time.  That has seemed to work best for my personality and class set up.


So I know the Sisters have the super cute check marks and I have seen lots of cute ideas.  But I need something that is easy to make (and re-make if it gets ruined) and something easy to store.  So I have these coaching cards that I just print front and back on cardstock, laminate, and pass out to students during our Read to Someone rotation.

The front has a few of the strategies we use for accuracy - I have a larger poster of it in the class that we go over way before I even begin teaching Read to Someone.  By the way - Read to Someone is the last Daily 5 I introduce.  The back of the coaching card has a quick visual - a check mark with who and what written on it.  That seems to be the simplest way I can have something for the students to hold to help them remember they need to re-tell what the other student just read.

These aren't the most creative cards of all time, but they seem to work best for me.

After a while I need the space on my walls and cannot afford to keep up those big I-Charts.  But I do still want them there for ready reference for when we need to revisit them.  So after a couple of months I do a small review lesson of why we created them and I present the small version of the I-Charts.  These conveniently fit on the front of my cabinets in one area of my room.  The students love the pictures of themselves that I put on the small charts and so they aren't too sad to see the large ones go.

And, of course, I would feel empty inside if I didn't add a few more pictures to make my post feel cozy.  Here are some pics of my cute (now) alumni during a Daily 5 rotation.  These are of students at Read to Self.  I have a bunch to show how the students get comfy wherever they happen to be in the room.


FYI - at the beginning of Daily 5 (and the school year in general) I always tell the students that I am going to take pictures of students doing it the right way.  We then use these pictures to write class books, make class posters, anchor charts, put them on the website, etc.  They LOVE the idea of being used as an example...



During one of our Literacy Leader trainings we got the chance to observe other teachers and how they are making Daily 5 work in their rooms.  I saw one teacher using this Word Work checklist for her students.  I liked it...but wanted to modify it (of course!) for my needs.  I have her original and my smaller version. 



I didn't want the students to write their words on a list because they may choose any word family or sight words.  She used her spelling list for the week.  That would not work for me since we do not tell our students what their spelling words are; we just tell them the spelling rule we are focusing on for the week.  Also, I laminate mine and they can use a dry erase marker to keep track of which ones they have done.  This way I only make them once and they are completely reusable.  But I know her original version would work best for some of you so I wanted to put that out there as well.


I hope you find some of these resources / ideas useful as you work your way through Daily 5 ~

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Schema Mini-Lesson Video


So here is a quick mini-lesson on schema.  I do a 5-10 minute mini-lesson, send them off for a Daily 5 rotation, bring them back to share learning, then repeat.  It has really changed how I look at teaching a concept - teaching many mini-lessons and letting them practice instead of a couple of long drawn out lessons where they lose interest and zone out.

By the way - it was red ribbon week...my students do not usually wear sunglasses or have their hair sprayed in crazy colors...you've got to love the randomness of elementary school!  :O)

My comprehension lesson ideas (mostly) come from Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor.  That is where the thinking stems poster came from.  I use those to help guide my teaching and post them under the Comprehension section of my CAFE chart.  I chose this book for the students to practice this skill because I know our kindergarten classes go to the pumpkin patch every year so I knew most of my students would have some connection to the text.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Daily 5 in My Classroom

Can you tell it's summer time?  I keep posting because I actually have time to think and share.  It's nice for me because I start thinking about my set-up and what I can do to improve it as I blog away.




So my CAFE wall is by the rocking chair and rainbow carpet.  I keep all the reading strategies listed along with some items from the Comprehension Connections lessons for those strategies...hence the trash bag and lint roller tape.  I also put the word collector on large paper and laminated it.  For my class it works better to have it whole group rather than one for each student.  It's so cute to have them point wildly to the poster when I'm doing a read aloud and they hear an interesting word they want put on the chart.



I use the Daily 5 structure for my literacy.  These are my listen to reading bags.   I used the old containers from some basil samples we received when our district was adopting new textbooks.  It is just nice to have 2 areas for the student to disperse to when they choose their listen to reading materials.  I have collected portable CD and tape players for a few years.  I can now have about half my class at listen to reading because I have so many. 

Walmart has portable CD players online for about $10 - the store only carries more expensive ones.  But online you can find cheap ones and they have lasted me a couple of years.  Also, invest in rechargeable batteries and a charger.  It hurts when you first pay, but it is WELL worth it throughout the year. 

The students never change a tape or CD.  I have a gallon bag with the book and player in it.  When a tape needs to be re-wound it goes in a special container.  The CD players can just be replaced in the containers you see above.  This has kept my tapes and CDs from being ruined and I highly recommend it.  I keep tape players because a lot of times when you go to library sales they have books on tape and not CD.  I have gotten really good social studies connections because my listen to reading books correlate to the historical figure we are learning about.  The CDs come mostly for the Scholastic book orders - I got a bunch of the 4 books and 4 CDs for $20 when I was first building my collection.  I can be more picky now that I have a good start.  I change the books out about every 4 weeks.  That gives the students enough chances to have gone to listen to reading and get to all of the books a couple of times and it gives me enough time to where I am not always changing out books.  I usually charge my batteries during the change out day as well.




Sometimes I have a lot of books that coordinated with what I am teaching in science or social studies.  These are nice to reinforce those concepts in the literacy time for a few weeks after we have covered a topic in another subject area.  Here you can see I have several USA and weather type books.



My word work supply area is in another box from our textbook adoption time. I have some word family flip books and short vowel dry erase boards from Lakeshore that I use almost all year. But I do change out the bags of word cards / sorts based on what we are learning in science and social studies. This is a nice way to reinforce those concepts during word work.







Here are some close up shots of the word work bags – these are for the Pledge of Allegiance and Weather Words. I label the bag and the pieces so when I find one on the floor I know which bag it goes into.


I really enjoy the Daily 5 framework for my literacy time. Of course I modify it to meet the needs of my classroom, but I use a lot of the genius that the Sisters have come up with in order to help guide me. I love stealing ideas from people much smarter and more creative than me to help me become a better teacher.