My First Thumbs Up Thursday

While searching the web the other day, I came upon the BEST site. I know not everyone (Texas and VA) has adopted the Common Core State Standards, but the majority of the country has! This post is for the rest of you.  I happened upon The Curriculum Corner. This website needs to be added to your list of favorites. 

I am just in awe of the resources they are providing teachers! They describe the site,
"The development of www.thecurriculumcorner.com stems from our dream to create a site where busy teachers can go to find current, relevant, meaningful and ready to go lessons and activities that fit their classroom structure and meet these common core standards." 

Be sure to check out the "I Cans" of the Common Core for each grade level.  Thank you  to Jill and Kathy for making a site like this! THUMBS UP from Leach's Literacy Training! 

FREE Spelling Menu

Have you ever used a menu in your classroom for center work or to differentiate learning for students? I first learned about them on this site...Dare to Differentiate. This site alone is worthy of a BLOG post.  Be sure to check it out.

So how does a teacher use a menu in the classroom? They can be used for a lot of subjects/centers. They help teachers get to happy hour on Friday nights rather than having to stay at work making new centers! Every teacher loves that right? Menus (just like in a restaurant) don't change often, but there is enough variety that students have plenty of choices for how to do their work. The choices/menu items can be differentiated by difficulty (or calorie count- ha).

The example I am sharing with you is of a Spelling Menu. The words change each week, but the ways for students to practice them can be set up menu style- and therefore last a month! Happy Hour anyone?

You can get this free in my NEW Teachers Pay Teachers store. Yes, I finally did it! I want someday to make really cute stuff that is worth a buck or two, but until then, I will be giving things away for FREE! Under one condition- you have to "follow" my store if you get the download? Deal? What are you waiting for... go to my TpT store!

FREE Math Center

If any of you have ever been to a training with me that was more than one day in length, we may have played Penny Yahtzee- and we had SO much fun doing it, right? It is one of my favorite things to watch teachers do! Rolling and dropping and getting so excited! I just giggle. 

Recently a teacher emailed me asking for me to send her the directions. I didn't know what to do because I didn't have them written down. She said she was having a math night at her school and wanted to let kids and families play it. 

Well that got me thinking. This could easily be a math center for students. So, I opened up a Word Document and started creating. I can just see kids playing it and loving it and practicing math skills without even knowing it.  Directions are attached! Playing cards are attached! This can easily be manipulated with different math operations. It can be simplified, it can be extended. A teacher can have all kinds of fun changing up the cards and challenging kids to work on math that is at their grade level.  

I went ahead and started a Teachers Pay Teachers store. It is just easier to upload things there. Keep in mind however, this is FREE! If you download it, will you please FOLLOW my TpT store?  I plan to have lots of free goodies in the future too.

What do you think?

Writing Partners

Writer's Workshop consists of a Mini-Lesson, time for kids to WRITE (the best part of it all) and a chance for writers to come back together and share.  I'll be honest, sharing was the hardest part for me to fit in!  (see last post about the Writing Brag Board) I'd look at the clock, realize we were late, and tell everyone to hurry up and get cleaned up and lined up for lunch! I also realized that there was only one of me to go around and kids were valuable resources for other kids. It hit me one day when while having a conference with a student I heard another group of kids having their own conference with one another. I decided to capitalize on that! 

And voila-  the idea for WRITING PARTNERS!

Writing partners begins as a very simple concept and over the course of the year, grows to be so much more! This picture below is of course pre-pinterest, when things did not have to be cute and covered in scrapbook paper. It is simply chart paper- although I did use two different colored markers- and I have partnered up LIKE ABILITY writers.  That is now their writing partner and probably will be for the duration of the year unless abilities shift around dramatically. 

So what do these partners do together? In the beginning, they meet during Writer's Workshop to share their writing with each other. You know the kids that finish early every day? Now they have something else productive (and focused on writing) to do. They walk with their writing partner to a spot in the room and sit next to each other to show off their work/writing. It's as simple as that... to start. Teach the procedures of where you can sit. How loud you can be when you share with each other and any other management items you'll feel necessary, and let the partnerships begin. 

What I found is that the more I teach writing (which is every day in a mini-lesson) the more my students internalize the teaching and begin to use the words/lessons with each other in meetings with their Writing Partners. Some students begin to have peer conferences naturally with each other, but once working with partners has been established, I teach them how to do deeper work with one another. 

Possible Mini-Lessons:

Writing Partners can check each other's work with Word Wall Words

Writing Partners can help their partner add details to the pictures.

Writing Partners can think of questions to ask after hearing their partners story.

Writing Partners can help the writer think of more things to draw/write. 

A few mini-lessons to explain the process and steps of working together in beneficial ways is all it takes.  I have shared this with teachers across the country, and I am hopeful it is happening in many classrooms.  Here however, is a note from a teacher "In the Trenches". She started her writing partners this week!  This email from her is what urged me to put Writing Partners on my list of things to blog about. 

"I decided this week to introduce writing partners. They LOVED it and so did I! They talked about writing, wrote, talked some more, wrote, and shared ideas! They really enjoyed themselves. Although I'm pretty sure one student felt uncomfortable to whisper to someone during writing time. He kept looking over his shoulder nervously at me like he was about to get in trouble. Thanks for the idea."

So what are you waiting for, get your markers, make your chart, and get Writing Partners started in your classroom too! 

Writing Brag Board

Managing a Writer's Workshop is NOT an easy task! So many writers! So many ability levels! And only one teacher! Writer's Workshop begins with a mini-lesson, followed by time for students to write, and finally a sharing time. I found that sharing time was often hardest to fit in. Before I knew it we would all be busy writing and already be late for lunch! Uh oh! No sharing today. Time to line up.  I also found that I needed to give kids a lot of feedback in the beginning of the year in order to establish a strong Writer's Workshop. 

So I started a Writer's Brag Board. It is NOT fancy! It is also not cute (Thanks Pinterest for upping the "CUTE" factor for us all). The Brag Board allows me to "share" good things I saw happening while kids are cleaning up from Writer's Workshop. As kids are shuffling around the room and putting away folders etc. Over the noise and movement you can hear my voice, "Boys and girls, today during writing time, I saw Jessica add details to her pictures." Jessica comes up to write her name on the board. "Boys and girls, today while you were writing I saw Cole write and check the word wall to spell the word can!" Cole comes up and adds his name etc. 

I can also use this to praise behaviors I want repeated for a successful workshop. "Ethan! Ethan is going to put his name on the Brag Board today! Ethan stayed in his seat the entire time we were writing today!"  or "Boys and girls, it was so quiet in our room today! I saw Hope whispering as she reread her writing! Hope come add your name."  If kids are doing it right- tell them! Too often we are always focused on what needs fixing. The Brag Board keeps us looking for the positives! What if you Brag on the same student more than once? They get to put a star by their name. 

Here's a Writing Brag Board from the "teaching trenches".   I taught it to a teacher and then saw it in her classroom when I went for a visit. Keep it going! Will this be in your "teaching trenches" next?  Let me know!

  

Invented Spelling

FAQ: "Is it OK for student's to use invented/phonetic spelling? What if we hang it in the hallway or send it home to parents? They can't read it!"

Invented spelling, temporary spelling, and developmental spelling are terms typically used to describe young children's spelling efforts before their spelling becomes conventional.  However, letting students spell "wrong" has bothered many people- not usually teachers however!

The fact of the matter is, invented spelling is based on knowledge of phonics.  Common sense tells us that five, six, and seven year-olds should not be expected to accurately spell all words on their first attempt. And research tells us that once students have learned more phonics and done more reading that it will of course have an impact on their spelling.  Think back- didn't your mom keep things from your childhood that had invented spelling? Wasn't it cute? Wasn't it developmentally appropriate? And guess what? You can spell now! You wrote that way then, but you can spell now.  In response to parents being able to read things that are sent home, I ask this question: "Who are you teaching? Students or parents? Who do you most want to be able to reread their writing?" My answer is students. I teach and will always be teaching students.

We have to take into account also how it feels for a student when a teacher (who is only trying to help) marks on their paper with conventional spelling. "If you write on my paper, it is no longer my paper". Children do not learn to spell by having you pour your spelling knowledge onto their work. They learn to spell by developing and extending their knowledge about letters and sounds.  They use what they know and take risks to learn more.  The place for kids to have this daily risk taking while still feeling safe to do so is Writer's Workshop.  When we write over or under student approximations at spelling, we run the risk that students will stop writing what they want to and stick to writing what they can spell.

Donald Graves (a teacher of writing teachers) stresses that children need to be able to write freely without interruption to their thoughts. Allowing children to attempt spelling enables them to use the vocabulary of their oral language in their written language. Spelling is functional- it enables the writer to express meaning. It is, therefore, a tool for writing, not a barrier to the process.  There are lots of mini-lessons for teaching "spelling" during a Writer's Workshop... those will be coming soon in another BLOG post.

"We Already Read That"

** This post is in honor of Thanksgiving... and all the recipes we are all reading today as we cook. Happy Thanksgiving from my recipes to yours!**

So one reason (there are many) that we use Shared Reading in our classrooms (K-12) is to do to a deeper level of reading. Amie Buckner in her book Notebook Connections, speaks of first draft, second draft, third draft writing. We know all about that, it's not knew. But Amie stretches us to apply that concept to first draft, second draft, third draft READING.  Each reading giving kids more time and opportunity with the text.  So in Shared Reading, we will read the same text (passages, paragraphs of text) multiple times. Naturally, you'll have a child that says, "We already read that!" Refrain from saying anything sarcastic, and be ready ahead of time with this lesson! 

Let the teaching begin...

"Boys and girls, I want to show you how readers read things more than once. The other night, I was on a website (Pinterest of course) looking for something that I could cook for dinner at my house. I found a recipe for soup that looked really yummy! I read through it and it seemed easy enough to make and the ingredients sounded good together, so I printed it. SO NOW I'VE READ IT ONCE.

"A few nights later I remembered that recipe and I went to get it from the printer. I was going to the grocery store after work and I wanted to make sure I had all the ingredients. I read it and wrote down things I would need to buy at the store."

SO NOW I'VE READ IT TWICE.

"Then it was the night I wanted to make the soup. I had read it twice already, but I couldn't remember how to make it exactly. Were you supposed to mix the meat with the sauce? How much flour was it again? When I'm making the recipe I have to read it a few times. First I read it and got all my ingredients out of the fridge and the pantry. Then I read it again and measured things out."

NOW I'VE READ IT THREE TIMES. And I may read it FOUR or FIVE times even before the making of this recipe is over. 

"Reader's may read things more than once like when cooking. However, each time I read that recipe, I had a different purpose. We will read things again and again like that in Shared Reading, because that's what good readers do, and every time we will have a different purpose in mind." 

Monday's Currently

Tiny Tidbits

So today I'm thinking of some Tidy Tidbits to share with y'all.

Let's start with Writer's Workshop.
With the requirements of the Common Core and in Texas the new STAAR assessment, stop referring to student writing as stories. We need to get kids writing in many genres, therefore a simple switch from story, to writing can be one tiny way to start. So now instead of, "What is your story about?" or "Read me your story." Let's start to say, "What did you write today?" or "Read me your writing."  And if we want to get really fancy, call it what it really is. "Read me your personal narrative."

We continue this trend in Shared Reading and Independent Reading as well by referring to the text whenever possible. Another small but mighty tip for you in Shared Reading comes from the work of Reading Recovery (at least a Reading Recovery Teacher shared it with me).   When pointing to words in your big book or when pointing to words at any time for students, point to the first letter. Many of us tend to point at the middle of the word, and then that is where students place their eyes. Kids who know better, are reading with you, and therefore looking at the first letter, the kids who can't yet, are looking where your finger is pointing. Let's think about those kids that can't yet when we are pointing and always point to the first letter in a word.

Finally, at the Guided Reading Table, I want to share an idea for keeping up with the madness. What do I mean? Well, students are all reading at the same time (that's right- it's NOT round robin nor is it choral reading) it is the teacher teaching, then handing the book to students and saying "Start reading." I like to teach my students to use those red and yellow math counters. They start with the yellow side showing and when they get to a hard part (I have lessons teaching that readers DON'T know all the words first or they will never flip them over) they flip it to red. That is a tiny thing that has helped me keep up with who needs me and when.  But, here is the key, kids determine that their reading became challenging, and they may have a minute or so to be sitting there waiting for me to get to them and help, and the first thing I say to them is, "You found a hard part? What's the hard part? and What have you tried?"  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Next week in honor off all the cooking we will have done, I'll be sharing how I teach a reading mini-lesson using a recipe.

Catch on Fire

A teacher from Texas reminded me this week of one of my favorite quotes.

"Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn." 

I've been working my new (very new) job in DC for a week. I don't know anyone and while they seem to be friendly people- no one is as friendly as people from Texas! I don't know anything about DCPS aside from what they have on their website and I don't know their district culture. I think what I am struggling most with right now, is that I don't know any teachers. Teachers are my work! Teaching the teachers is what I do.  I am a teacher to my very soul and right now I am a teacher without any students. 

I had a chance to make my first introductions to a group of MICs (Managers of Instructional Coaches) that are on the campuses of DCPS. I was so nervous! But I remembered who I am (thanks to my teacher friend). I am an individual who is on fire with enthusiasm. Not everyone embraces that. To be honest, some shy away from the heat, but nevertheless, that's me. I am passionate and enthusiastic about best practice instruction- becuase that is what every child in this country deserves.  

So even though I am new in this job, I have to stay true to my core. My job in DCPS is to get excited about Common Core State Standards, excited about new instructional units, excited about training teachers! I need to be so excited that teachers will come for miles. They might not become as enthusiastic, they might not even change what they are doing or try any new ideas I propose, but they wil come and watch. Right now, I am trying with all my heart to get the word out that there is a fire burning! 

Are you on fire with enthusiasm in your classroom? That's your job in every lesson you teach, isn't it?  Make your students come for miles to watch you burn! You never know... they too may join in the flames.