Google Classroom Book Talk

     My students are becoming more familiar with Google Classroom. This week for book talk Friday, we conducted a live Google Classroom chat. Students posted a short snapshot of the book they were reading and their opinion of it. Then they read each other's posts and added comments. I modeled what I expected by being the first to post about my current book. I loved how easy it was to provide immediate response and feedback to my students! The kids loved it as well and asked if we can do it again soon. Gonna think about ways to incorporate this with more types of learning.

End of Year Review and Rolling in the New Year!

Whew! The end of 2018 was fast and furious. Can't believe it's been so long since I blogged. My students have been loving the hands on station activities we have been doing as part of our fiction unit. Some examples are below and include point of view glasses made of play dough, sequencing chains using notecards and pipe cleaners and construction of plot mountain using the same cards, pipe cleaners and adorable emoji stickers (from Wal-mart) that were used to show change in character emotion throughout the story. We have also upped our technology game by incorporating the new portfolio feature from Class Dojo. Students can capture their work with a pic and upload to their portfolio with a personalized note or video. They love this! 

The New Year

   As we enter the new year and the school year heads down hill, my goal is not to get caught up in test preparation, but keep a balance with meaningful engaging literature and fun relevant activities. 

When we start back in age days, I want to start the year off with the one word challenge. Students choose a word that expresses a goal for the year and write in on a note card, explaining why they chose it on the back. These will be displayed for all to see and as a daily positive reminder.

A Tribute to Famous Texans

     This week to culminate our study of biographies and autobiographies, students chose a famous Texan to research, design a visual aid and  share a short presentation with the class. Students were able to combine reading, writing, research, listening and speaking skills together  in a meaningful way. We all learned so much from each other about some amazing Texans.

  

Flipgrid Friday

 This was the first time that students experienced Fipgrid. It's always so exciting and so much fun to watch them discover how awesome it is. So basically Flipgrid allows students to record videos that go directly to a password protected "grid". Each grid has  different topic or assignment given by the teacher. Students record their video in selfie mode (or have a buddy film them), then take a selfie as their cover. Then, other students can not only view their fab video, but all the other videos and make reactions and comments. This is  great for those students that may not always be willing to share in front of the class in a traditional setting. Sometimes time just doesn't allow for everyone to be heard. Flipgrid makes that possible. As a teacher, I can watch the responses and respond on my time as well as have a valuable portfolio asset to keep. *Flipgrid basic is free to educators! Woohoo!

     For our first Flipgrid experience, the students told me about the books they were currently reading and if they would recommend them to others. We did this during our Friday afternoon DEAR time.
They LOVED it!!

#flipgridfriday

Books for Books' Sake

   This week was the end of the first 6-weeks grading period. So, amongst the reviewing and final testing I found time to start book groups with my students. I chose shorter chapter books, so that we would be able to complete during school time. So, what did I do differently that's enriching my teaching and student learning? The simplicity of books.
    Supplies needed:

         Books (I chose A Taste of Blackberries), a pencil, and a response journal

I wrote a 2x2x2 response starter on the board and just sat back and allowed my students to navigate their way through the book (I only jumped in to model thinking,  aid the discussion,  or to clarify)
                                       2 Questions
                                            2 NEW Words
                                                 2 inferences
*These are 3 skills that we learned about this 6-weeks. They were also to complete a Character-Setting-Problem-Solution chart as they navigated their way through the book.


Why? Because I want to challenge my students and empower them to take charge of their reading lives. They were to read for 20 minutes while jotting down their responses. Afterward, I gave them 10 minute to discuss each others' questions, new words (which they had to guess the meaning using context clues and look up in dictionary if necessary) and inferences complete with text evidence. The students had great thinking and excellent conversations. They were really INTO the story and I loved how they bounced ideas of of each other and argued different points of view.

Sometimes, less is more. No fancy novel packet, worksheets or projects needed!!

Week 5

Precept Postcards

   This week, we continued reading the fabulous book, Wonder by R.J. Polacio about a boy, Auggie who has a disfigured face. He is starting school (middle school) for the first time ever. It chronicles his journey of finding his place and the opposition he encounters. His English teacher, Mr. Browne writes a precept (rules about really important things) on the board each month for students to ponder and write about. Each chapter in the book, which is told by multiple characters' points of view begins with a unique quote or precept. This tells a lot about the characters and their lives. in the book, Mr. Browne asks the students to send him postcards with a precept of their choosing.

     I had the students research favorite precepts/mottos that were special to them. (Or it could be a quote from someone special in their life.) The students wrote on their postcards what the precept was, what it meant and how it applied to their lives. This provided great insight to the student's lives and personalities. Also, they drew their own "Wonder" face, an abstract drawing similar to the one that graces the cover.

   

Week 4



     This week was filled with mandatory beginning of year testing. The major highlight of the week was meeting our first grade reading buddies. We will be meeting with them once a month throughout the school year. Each time the students will work on a literacy activity together.

     The first meeting included coloring a get to know you buddy sheet that the firsties got to keep, and they read a fun poem titled Jelly Beans by Valerie Danoff. My fourth graders loved it!! Can't wait for next month with our buddies!!

Visualizing and Inferring

Week 3


    This week we learned two important reading strategies: visualizing and inferring.
For visualizing, I read aloud Come on Rain by Karen Hesse. It has AmAzInG descriptive language making it perfect for visualizing practice. We first used an organizer to record what students were "seeing" in their mind stopping after certain excerpts. Afterwards, students drew/painted (we used Cray Pas  to give a wet effect) raindrop outlines.

     To teach intro to inferring, I used an activity I call "Trash Detectives". I brought actual trash (non messy) from my house for the students to use as evidence to make inferences about me. I told them they were all detectives and that they could learn some super secret facts about me. Students recorded their observation of the evidence and based on the evidence made at least 3 inferences. It was a lot of fun and they got to know me better!

Week 2 :
Death of AR and The Challenge of Hesitant Readers

     RIP Accelerated Reader. This year our school has discontinued the AR program. At first, I was a bit sad because this has been a constant for 16 years as a teacher. How was I going to know student reading levels? How was I going o "give" them a goal? What was going to happen.

    Well, first of all NO ONE was sad to see the point based program go, including the parents. The kids were breathing audible sighs of relief. It's gonna be ok. I just had to come up with ways to assess, challenges and keep track of student reading. 
1.) We have a reading calendar where students list how many minutes they read per day to build stamina.
2.) The students set specific yearly and weekly goals. 
3.) I have set up a schedule for individual reading conferences so I can have an authentic dialogue with each student.
4.) Students will respond in reading journal, on Whooo'sreading.com, or (when we get it set up) have the opportunity to share on Google Classroom.

Students are starting to think as readers about their likes, dislikes, and goals are. We are on an adventure together to capture the joy of reading for all.


     

The First Week

     We had a great first week back in 4th grade! Instead of the normal going around the room and letting each student speak we did an engaging 4 corner game that helped us all get to know each other better.

     We used Plickers to survey the class on reading interests. I taught students the C4b4Me (See four before me) which reminds students to ask 4 other students before going to the teacher with a non emergency problem. Students were introduced to team jobs. We are off to a great collaborative start!Next week, we will set up data folders and set reading goals!!
                                 

Rethinking Reading Conferences

So, as I sat at my desk this past week with 3 very large binders, packs of dividers with labels and my new class lists for the upcoming year I gave an exasperating sigh as I dread to put together  these binder for reading conferencing purposes because it literally takes me a couple of hours. They are cumbersome and not easy to take around the room with me and not optimal for looking at class data in a group format. I had watched an online google training a few days prior and the instructor had shoed how to use google forms for surveys and assessments and then it hit me!! Google Forms for reading conferences. So, of course I googled it and other teachers were already doing it. I watched some instructional videos on you tube of other teachers doing similar things and created my own.
Below is a sample. It allows me to enter data for each student and the cool thing is it will compile class data into a pie chart and graph as well as displaying it on an excel spreadsheet. I'm so exited to try this for my reading conferences with my 3 fourth grade classes this year!!


Conference Form