Spelling Without Teacher Help

Here is a short video that shows a mini-lesson after Writer's Workshop.  I teach the strategy of underline and move on early in the year for spelling.  This allows the students to be more independent during Writer's Workshop.  But I wanted to show how students could use resources from around the room - charts and poetry folders - to help them as well.  

This was just a quick review of a few skills using student work.  It always makes me smile when I do a mini-lesson like this and over the next few days all the students are so eager to use those same skills.  If you spiral lessons like this into your routine then your students will become more independent and resourceful with their spelling while they write.

A funny side note - I once had a spelling test turned in with a few words underlined.  When I asked the student about it, he said that he wasn't sure about those words so he just underlined them and moved on.  I love the transfer of strategies into other areas of learning!  ;o)

Inferring with Social Studies Text

Here is an example of using a social studies text to reinforce a reading strategy.  We were in our unit on long ago and today where we compare pilgrim children and children today.  I had read Sarah Morton's Day during our social studies time the day before.  That gave me the perfect opportunity to teach a short inferring mini-lesson using the same text.

There never seems to be enough time in the day to teach everything...but using social studies texts during reading allows me to double dip and reach TEKS (our state standards for you non-Texans) from both ELAR and social studies.  

Sight Word Review Games

Here are some more sight word resources that you might find useful.  These are most useful if you use Scholastic's Systematic Sight Word curriculum.  I love that curriculum and have a post about here: Sight Word Resources.  That post has a bunch of PowerPoints for each of the weeks so check it out if you need any of those.

If you follow the curriculum I have a cute game that I use on the review weeks.  It is called Mystery Sight Word Hunt.  I have the kids write down any word off the word wall.  I explain that they are trying to figure out my 'mystery word' using the clues.  After everyone has written down their first guess I give a clue.  They write their new guess or their original word again depending on if the word they wrote matched the clue.  I go through several clues until there is only one word left that fits all the rules.  They L-O-V-E this game.  The reason it works only if you are using the curriculum is because I made sure that it will only end with one particular word following all the clues.  If you use a different curriculum / order for your sight words then you would need to change that up to match your words.

Week 9 - Mystery Sight Word Hunt

Week 18 - Mystery Sight Word Hunt

Another sight word activity that I use during those review weeks is called a Sight Word Hunt.  For this one, the kids get an address label with a sight word put on their forehead.  Then they go around with a clipboard and sight word tracking sheet and write down the sight word on each of their classmates foreheads.  I was worried this would be a really loud activity, but it was golden.  I had to share since it went so well - even with my wildest of classes.  Oh, and it is hilarious to see them with sight words on their foreheads!

Sight Word Hunt Forehead Stickers

Sight Word Hunt Tracking Sheet

And last but not least, a nice review for sight words is shaving cream.  The kids get a little wilder with this one...you can see that in the pictures, but they do love it.  This one requires no set up except for shaving cream (2 cans is more than enough).  I just call out a random sight word and have them use their finger to practice writing it in the shaving cream.  I try to choose ones that I actually want them to spell really well by the end of the year.  Many of my review activities use the same words - I feel that they are the most important ones.

I hope you can use these resources or get some ideas from them.  Looking at those pictures just makes me smile - even the wild ones!  Happy teaching ~

Science Videos

One of my favorite things to do after completing a unit of study in science is to have the kiddos make a video explaining our learning.  This is a great way to review since many units are long.  I pop these up on my class website and show them to the class.  Then I send a quick e-mail to my class parents to announce the video.  This is a great way to get the kids and their parents talking about what they are learning in class.  

This video was from our unit on sound energy.

This video was from our force and motion unit.

I hope you enjoy these cuties as much as I do!

Questioning Lessons

Once a comprehension skill has been taught and modeled over and over and over until you are sick of it, then it is about time to move to the students trying the skill.  Remember with the gradual release of responsibility model - I do, we do, you do - it is a process.  This video shows the 'you do' part of that process.  The students were well acquainted with questioning and question words.  We had done several lessons where I stopped reading a text at various times and had them help me come up with questions (the we do part of GRR).  At this point I asked them to try the skill.  But I did not expect them to be experts.  Remember that this is a first try - be okay with approximations right now.  You will notice that not all of the questions were amazing.  But they all tried.

I noticed something that needed to be taught once I heard several of the questions student were asking.  So I took the time to teach a follow-up lesson that same day.  I made sure they had all been commended for trying the new skill.  Matt Glover (one of my teaching heroes) says that you look at students and find out where to nudge them next.  I love that idea - nudging, not shoving.  So my next step was to nudge them to questions that actually matter.  This video is my version of a small nudge.  Some kids will need small group lessons over and over, but some will only need this small nudge and they will be on the right track.  Just because the students are in the 'you do' part of the gradual release of responsibility model, it does not mean I do nothing.  As they begin the 'you do' part they often need guidance and 'nudges' along the way.

Remember to always be watching and listening to your students for what your next mini-lesson needs to be.  This last one was not in my lesson plans, but it needed to happen. 

Phonics Skill Using Mentor Text

I have mentioned using the same mentor text for a variety of lessons.  Here is another example of using Sleepy Bears by Mem Fox.  This time I used it to reinforce the phonics skill we were focusing on that week: r blends.

Just FYI - the early finishers for finding r blends on the activity were then given a yellow marker to hunt for sight words on the same page.  Always have something to do next for those who finish before the whole class has!

Happy teaching ~

Small Group Resource - Making and Writing Words

One of the activities I do with my small groups and/or tutorials is making and writing words.  A few years ago my district bought each first grade teacher an official Making and Writing Words kit.  However, the kit had many typos and mistakes.  So I used it as a guide to help me create my own documents for each phonics skill.

Making and Writing Words

I used to have this activity be the whole time for my small group - one day we focused on the phonics skill and the other days we did guided reading.  Next year I will try to do a phonics skill, guided reading, and another skill in each small group.  In order to do that I will have to make these much shorter.  My plan is to have the kids do this activity as the phonics warm up for 3 days - half the words on one day, the next half on the second day, and the sorting / rhyming activity on the third day. We'll see how that goes...

I have the letter cards already bagged for each student.  Back when I first began teaching we used the Four Block model which is where these letter cards came from.  For that you had to have a set of letter cards for each student - yikes!  

It specifies which letters you need at the top of each page I created.  I would recommend bagging them each week the first year and loving yourself for having it ready for the rest of your life after that.  I think I bought 3 sets of the letter cards from Teacher's Tools.  The letter cards are made by Carson Dellosa so you should be able to find them in lots of stores/online.

Reading Like Writers Mini Lesson

This is a Writer's Workshop mini lesson using the mentor text Sleepy Bears by Mem Fox.  We are in the middle of our How to Read Like Writers unit from About the Authors by Katie Wood Ray.  During this lesson I am trying to get the students to notice what writers do (craft) as they are reading.  This helps tie what we are learning in Writer's Workshop to what we are learning in reading and how they can use during our Daily 5 rounds.

You may be getting tired of the same text for all these lessons...but I am trying to prove a point.  One amazing text can be used for so many different focus skills.

One of my references in this video is to an anchor chart that I have hung up from a previous reading lesson on Good Readers are Good Thinkers.  I also mention moving our writing from a 2 or 3.  This refers to the writing continuum our district has adopted.  Both of these comes from Norma Jackson.  She is another amazing resource for writing.  If you haven't looked into her work, take the time to do that soon.  I have been blessed to not only attend her workshops, but also meet with her for guidance.  My district has been so wonderful to fund that collaboration.  This has helped me as both a writing teacher and a reading teacher because so much of what she has works for both.  Seriously, check out Norma Jackson and About the Authors by Katie Wood Ray if you haven't yet.

Inferring Follow Up Lesson

After you have taught an introduction lesson to inferring (I use the garbage bag lesson) you want to make sure that you do several follow up lessons to clear up any misconceptions about the strategy.  One of the common mistakes I notice first graders make when they infer is just saying anything and calling it an inference.  A few years ago I went to a conference and Margaret Kilgo said that you can't let kids think that their 'schema' trumps evidence.  Later on when they get to those high stakes test they think that any schema they have will also match the character and it can be devastating to the thinking and answering.  That makes sense...as I noticed my students that year trying to use inferring I realized what a problem that could be.  The best solution to this is to teach from the beginning that there has to be text evidence to support an inference.

 

This is a lesson I presented this year to my student to try and help.  Please forgive the poodle skirt...it was the 50th day of school. 

 

 

 

Please note that I did not read the text in this lesson.  We were using Sleepy Bears by Mem Fox which is one of our writing mentor texts.  I had read it several times during the week and we had looked at various text features.  One of the best things I have EVER learned as a teacher is to use good mentor texts.  Then you can squeeze tons of learning out of one text without having to read a book for every strategy you use.  I love to read new books, but we are working with short attention spans.  If you look at trying to get in and get out with a focus lesson then you can't take the time to read a new book with every single lesson.

Comprehension Strategy Pictures

I was looking through some old pictures and noticed something I used to do as a teacher and then quit.  You always think of yourself as getting better...but sometimes as you look back you notice you have let some things slip.  This is something I used to do but stopped in order to 'keep up' - ha!  Like that ever happens!  So I'm bringing it back.  

Kids love pictures of themselves.  LOVE.  So one of the ways I use that to my advantage is to take pictures of kids doing something the right way.  You would be amazed how quickly everyone in your class is picture perfect when they notice the camera around.  I also use the love of pictures to help reinforce reading strategies that we have learned.  

If you haven't read Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor then go buy it now!  Seriously. Amazing!  I use a lot of her ideas for introduction lessons and anchor charts.  As the years have gone on I have tweaked the lessons for myself.  But she is the basis of how I teach reading comprehension.  

I strongly believe in the gradual release of responsibility model in all my teaching.  If you aren't familiar with it then I would look it up.  But basically it reminds me that I can't expect the kids to just know how to do something after one lesson.  Sounds like common sense but I used to get so frustrated when kids didn't get 'it' after one or two lessons.  The GRR model basically says the teacher models while students watch and learn.  The next step is the teacher models but gets student help and input.  Then the teacher begins to let the students do more work while she monitors that they are doing it accurately.  The goal is then for the students to use the strategy independently.  For some things the GRR model takes a few lessons, sometimes a few days, and sometimes weeks.  But it reminds me that I have to have done a good job teaching it / modeling it / training it before I ever expect my students to do it.  And then to be okay with guiding them as they first try it.  It's not going to be perfect all the time.  I have to be okay with their approximations as they learn it.  Okay...off my GRR rant.

GRR = I do, we do, you do

So when I have finished the teaching / modeling part of the GRR model and want the students to start trying it, then I choose a few kids to 'model' the mini lessons.  You will recognize the anchor charts and focus lesson components from Comprehension Connections if you have read it.  I post these pictures on the class website and around the room.  You would be amazed at how many kids go home and tell their parents about these strategies when they know they or their friends are in the picture. 

Metacognition - this one has the 'real' reading salad with text and thinking cards

Officially this goes with metacognition.  It's the thought bubble for modeling thinking while you read...always a class favorite!

Schema - lint roller example and a book about an apple orchard (we went on a field trip to one that year so we had schema for it)

Inferring - mystery neighbor garbage bag lesson

 

Questioning

Visualization - no anchor chart for some reason but they have the suntan lotion and their mental images drawn

So my goal next year is to take pictures after we have learned a strategy.  I want to use the love of pictures of themselves to help make my teaching stick.  Btw - these kids are going to be 6th graders next year...gah!  I'm getting old...

It's about relationships!

This past year was EXTREMELY difficult and I find myself trying to piece together what I should learn from it. One of the main things I notice as I look back at this year is that when all else was failing – the students and I were still succeeding and enjoying school. A lot of things about the school were different and not always in a good way. But I found myself remembering that I am here because of the sweet (and wild and crazy) little kids in my room. I teach because of the students!



While transferring my year’s pictures into my backup storage I found these pictures. They just made me smile. I love that at the bottom of a spelling test a student spontaneously decides to write a note. This happened a lot during the year. But for some reason I took pictures of a couple of them to remind myself about Dr. James Comer’s quote: “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship.” 

 

 

 

 

I love the ‘thank you for teaching us today’ note. Each day we end with the students lined up to go home. I say, “Thank you for learning today.” They respond with, “Thank you for teaching us today.” That came because my husband who teaches middle school makes his students thank him when he passes out quizzes and such. He does it more as a joke…typical middle school teacher! But I thought it would be a nice way to end each day so I stole the idea. When I read this note at the bottom of the spelling test I thought that maybe it is actually sinking in for some kids…maybe…



One morning one of my students was going wild (and I mean WILD) and nothing was working. I think he even ended up with a folder sign by 8:30 a.m. He did not like folder signs because he actually got consequences at home when that happened. I could see on his face that this would be a rough day…and it was only 8:30!!!! So while the class was in the library I wrote him a quick note. I didn’t know if it would help or not, but I wanted to try. He wrote me the yellow note in response during Writer’s Workshop. (They can write books, notes, cards, lists, letters, etc. during that time.) Then at the end of the day he told me he wanted to me to find his 2 secret notes he had hidden around the room. The 2 sticky notes with pictures were what I found. He had one of his best days after 9:00 a.m. and I think it was because he knew that even though he had made a mistake, I still loved him.

 

 

I am so grateful for the students reminding me why I teach!

 

Wrap Your Tables

This is just a short post of advice...make your life easier!  Sometimes we make things so difficult as teachers.  Especially when it comes to class parties / fun days.

 

My best idea (that I stole from another teacher) is to wrap tables for certain days.  This is a must with the Christmas and Valentine's parties where we eat and decorate things in the room (supes messy).  Look at the pics below. 

 

All that mess - it just gets rolled up and thrown away at the end of the day.  Not only do I feel better, but my custodians appreciate it.

 

 

 

One more time to wrap tables - when you have a day like field day, field trip, end of year party, etc. and you don't have specific 'morning work' to do that day.  Wrap the tables with white butcher paper and let them color their little hearts out.  This one was the last day of school so I wrote their names...but you could just leave it blank.  But that would just have been a lame picture...

 

 

Fun and easy.  Don't make life harder on yourself...it's hard enough on those crazy days.

 

Happy teaching~

End of Year Scrapbooks

Wow!  It has been a loooooong time since I've been on here.  It was just one of those years.  I felt beat down and defeated most days.  But it's over now and as I look back at the year I am better at only remembering the good parts.  That is what I love about pictures.  They help me remember that even when I feel like the year was a failure, there were good times. 

 

As a child both of my parents worked and couldn't come to many of my school events.  The families at my school are very much the same as what my family was like growing up.  So I understand that a lot of things are missed - mom and dad can't always come to the awards assemblies, class parties, etc.  So every year I give a gift to each student and hope their family loves it as well.  It takes me pretty much the entire last month of school to work on these.  But they help remind me (even on those really tough days because the kids were W-I-L-D) of all the fun and learning that we have had during the year. 

 

These little scrapbooks have gotten a lot better as the years have gone on.  I realized the more pictures, the better.  They pretty much speak for themselves so I'll post the pictures of one of the scrapbooks from this year.  I didn't put her name on this one for my blog...but the name goes on the front where the blank spot is.

 

These are actually really easy to make.  Just take two paper lunch bags still closed and flat.  Cut where the bottom rectangle is showing.  Then fold the two bags in half and staple.  Hot glue the openings on the outside bag to create the cover.  The inside bag has 4 'slots' to slide in the cardstock.  I can get 5 little pages out of one piece of cardstock.  Hot glue cute ribbon to the front of the book and ribbon tabs to each of the pull out pages.  Then add a million pictures and stickers.  These are pretty much my favorite thing about the end of the year.  They help give me closure and warm fuzzies at the same time.  And they give each student a year's worth of memories to keep forever. 

 

I have alumni come back and tell me that they still have their scrapbooks.  To me that means that for some kids, this is important.  I'll make these each year if it even makes one child feel special!