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

Giving classroom instruction a remodel

    Everywhere I look, twitter, Facebook, books, and my favorite blogs, the message is the same: our education system is floundering. We have to change the way we are teaching to meet the needs of today's learners. Our job, as teachers, is to prepare kids for jobs that don't exist yet. Don't get me started on the need for technology integration. It's sooooo much!! So overwhelming!! Sometimes I just want to put my head in the sand and continue on the same path hoping that it will continue to work. But, I know that is not fair to my students. I want to be the best teacher I can be, sooo this school year I am going to document my journey of making changes one day at a time. Yes, I would like to share my ideas with others and hopefully gather some feedback and encouragement along the way, but I primarily want to keep myself accountable to this "renovation" of sorts. I know those HGTV house flipping shows that I am addicted to make it look so easy, but behind those incredible transformations is a ton of blood, sweat and tears. On a DAILY basis. So, I am committed to one activity at a time, one lesson at a time, one day at a time. Why? Because I didn't get into this profession for the money (lol) or summers off.

 Because my students are worth it.