Fun Spiral Review Game for Spring

Spring..... a time when sunny days make your students itch to get outdoors!

Get them outside with this super quick-and-easy DIY activity that packs a punch!  You can hit your state standards in ELA or Math and TOTALLY put this in your lesson plans!  This might even pack a punch in your Test Prep, too!

0

Differentiating Reading Goals in the Classroom

As teachers, we all want to promote lifelong reading.  That's a given.  How we DO that as teachers, grade levels, and schools tends to vary.

3

Developing Point of View with Mentor Texts

One of my absolute FAVORITE reading strategies to teach is Point of View.  Students really begin to think deeper about literature!  Understanding character is the building block to so many other skills.

I love...just LOVE entering the 2nd grading period of the school year!  We start to really delve into books and have the BEST book talks!  I generally begin a standard using our basal reader then expose my children to as many mentor texts as I can.  I certainly have my favorites, but each year I happen upon a few new ones to share my my kids.

I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff is such a CUTE story!  This a a GREAT text to not only support characters with different point of views, but it lends itself nicely to Persuasive Writing!  In this story,  Alex wants to have his friend's pet iguana after he moves away.  The story unfolds as Alex & his mom exchange letters to each other.  

Creating anchor charts together is a great way to model graphic organizers--like simple T-charts.  Hmm--do you see some comparing and contrasting going on???

Doreen Cronin's "Diary of a _____" series are great fun, as well! If your school has access to Tumblebooks, any 1:1 classroom can have a class set of Diary of a Fly and Diary of a Spider.  Perfect for some quick Lit Circles or Guided Reading! 

Devin Scillian's Memoirs of a  Goldfish and Memoirs of a Hamster bring in the point of view of house pets!  There is a great video available on You tube, too!  Great resource to use for your D5 centers to Listen to Reading.

Another favorite in our classroom is Stellaluna.  Story Online also have a read aloud for your children whole group or Listen to  Reading.

Image and Link to Amazon.com

The absolute ULTIMATE point of view mentor test is Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg.  This selection is also in our basal reader.  Lucky us!  I like to read it aloud without showing them the pictures.  Only after I have read the page do I display the picture.  Pretty quickly they see that there is no forest, mountains, or brown lake.  They get so excited trying to predict what the ants are describing! There's a pretty neat free resource online that you might like to use with this.  You can find it HERE.  All of your CCSS are linked up for you, too!

Need a collection of graphic organizers?  Here's another great link for you!  

http://coachlottes.weebly.com/uploads/9/9/1/3/9913501/pov_organizers.pdf

Story and characters are labeled for you in a familiar organizer each time!  I plan to put these in a Reading Center, along with the books for my students to read during Read to Self.  I can't wait to see how they grasp the concept and OWN it over time!

You can find organizers for:

• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• Miss Nelson is Missing by James Marshall
• The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume (Boy! Did my kids have opinions about THAT one! Amazing point of views from a brother and sister.)
• The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill
• Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
• Rotten Ritchie and the Ultimate Dare by Patricia Polacco
• The Sneeches, The Cat and the Hat, Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Seuss

I hope this collection of mentor texts will get you MORE than inspire to dig into and love exploring Point of View in your classroom!

0

Mentor Texts for Compare & Contrast

As students mature, learning to compare and contrast different stories is an amazing way to demonstrate deep understanding of a story.  With second grade CCSS, students compared similar stories--like fractured fairy tales.  Third graders are expected to apply this skill with two different stories altogether!  Head over to I Teach Third to see how I used biographies by David Adler to teach compare & contrast!  I've also give a few other suggested books to make your planning super easy!

Hope you love these amazing stories!  I know you will love the rich vocabulary, and your kids will love learning about these amazing people!

0

Reading Workshop: Unit 6 Nonfiction Reading Clubs

Hello friends!  Today I’m joining in with a great book study of ...

A group of us have gotten together to take turns sharing our thoughts and reflections—each taking on a different chapter.  You will definitely want to head back to read the first post from Amber at Sunny Side of Second Grade.  At the end, there’s a link to the next chapter, then a link to the next, and so on. 

Unit 4 took on the task of teaching students about reading nonfiction books, while this chapter takes it to the next level: Nonfiction Reading Clubs

Reading Clubs versus Shared Reading Clubs

While you might assume that Reading Clubs & Shared Reading are the same—not so!  Within the context of this book, Nonfiction Reading Clubs are groups of students gathering together while reading similar books.  For those of you that have read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, I know your heart it singing!  It's all about the discussions! I love how the author refers to Kathy Collins book, Reading for Real.  Book clubs are compared to musicians who gather together for jam sessions.  Each person shares something they are working on, friends give feedback—perhaps helping perfect or improve.  It is a supportive network of people with like interests.  Reading clubs afford the opportunity for children with like interests—to read together, share their thoughts and questions, and help each other become experts on the topic.

It is important to keep in mind that your students should continue with their regular independent reading--whatever genre.  They may be REALLY into a series of fiction, and they should not abandon those interests!!  Unlike shared reading clubs where readers may take on tasks and pace together, this reading club encourages reading within the topic and sharing.

Getting Started:

You will likely already have some baskets in your classroom library clustered by some kind of topic.  In prepping for this unit, you will want to look carefully at the books you have.  You may want to add more topics--perhaps even subtopics of existing topics.  Most importantly, I appreciated that the authors suggest varying the levels.  If the topic is new to the reader, they may want to begin at a lower level to build back ground and read at a level that isn't frustrating.  They can build up throughout the unit.  Meanwhile, you club members who have background in the area will want to read more challenging texts.  Having a variety will meet the needs of all of your readers throughout the unit as the progress and become more skillful.  

Implementing this unit will comprise of three parts.

The focus this month will ask the students to switch their mindset to nonfiction & monitor for meaning and learn from the author.  Teachers will likely pull out/create anchor charts reviewing comprehension skills: such as, finding main idea, using text features, locating facts efficiently,, and determine meaning of key terms.  

The best part of this transition is the support students will receive from their clubs.  In the club environment, students will talk about new learning.  Since monitoring for meaning is a component of this focus, the club is the perfect environment to talk about concepts or ideas they are having trouble with.  Students might refer to a page they can reread together to clarify meaning in a supportive way.

Later in the month, it will be important for students to turn the main ideas and vocabulary they have collected into creating new thoughts and questions about the topic.  The teacher might model from a nonfiction book how the process of inferring comes about.  Students will be encouraged to react to what they have read.  Once they have mulled over and reacted, ideas can form to create new ideas based on what they have read.  
It is also important for students to become flexible in their thinking.  Students often begin a topic with a clear understanding of what they know,  but they need encouragement to be open to new ideas and revise their thinking.  In book talks, students would be encouraged to share using statements such as, "I used to think____, but now I know that___".  

As the month begins to wane, students have likely read several books on their topics.  They are equipped at this point to make comparisons of what they have read and move on to contrasting the information.  Once more, the teacher can read a nonfiction book and model the Think Aloud.  Clubs will likely create t-charts to track the two facts the correlate or differentiate.  Tracking this information creates an environment of accountable talking in the group.  
The opportunity arises at this point for students to pursue answering a question based on their reading.  Students will likely reread sections in order to answer the question.  Working together, they might create a table or chart to present to another group.  This collaborative effort is an ideal way to further demonstrate the speaking and listening standards & becoming the expert they hoped to become!

I love how this book is moving along!  It subtly supports the Common Core State Standards in a spiral way--not in isolation.  Students learn to apply the tools in a meaningful way.  Nonfiction can be tough for kids!  I can't wait to implement book clubs in nonfiction in this manner!  No "class sets" needed.  Just kids reading and time to share! 

Next Monday on July 13th, you'll want to head over to Mrs. Burke's Special Kids to read Unit 7!!  I know Sebrina will have some GREAT insights!

0

DIY Mason Jar Desktop Storage

Hello friends!

Cannot BELIEVE that this is my first edition of Monday Made It over at 4th Grade Frolics this summer!  I’ve been a busy bee…just haven’t BLOGGED about it!  So…here ya go!

Notice anything NEW as you look around?? Yep!  My blog has gotten a makeover!  I think it turned out AMAZING!  It has all the colors I love, has a cute frog…but not “too” froggy, and it just makes me smile.  Kristen at Chalk & Apples was my designer!  I chose her because I liked that all of the blogs she designed were different.  There are some beautifully designed blogs out there that I also love, but the style is one I recognize pretty quickly.  I think Kristen puts a touch of herself in the design but also reflects the personality of the blogger.  And guess what???  Within days of completion, I actually got to MEET her at the Nashville Teacher Bash!

Isn’t she a cutie??  If you’re a blogger, I highly recommend working with her!  Affordable yet AMAZING!  If you do...please tell her I sent you!  I'm certain I was a pain in the rear at times!  I really want her to know how awesome she was to work with!

It is my goal this summer to do something about separating my work time from my personal time.  So, I want to create a better workspace in our OTHER living room to call my own.  I love working on my laptop in the living room while we watch tv and stuff, but I’m starting to feel like my family only sees my profile!  Need to get my work time more separate from my personal.  Might keep me off of social media while I’m working, too! Maybe…..

This “Made It” has my sweet daughter ALL in it!  She helped me pick out this cute organizer.  Right now it holds my future EC Teacher Planner, my EC Life Planner, and a few other odds and ends. 

I needed something to hold my pens and such.  I really loved these cute mason jar holders that she puts her make-up brushes in.  Turns out, she helped make tons of these for recruitment last year!  So, I’ve chronicled how SHE made them for ME. 

I bought these jars in the craft section at Walmart.  No need to buy a DOZEN of them!  Although, I guess you could for a party or something.  She insisted that I buy the cheapest white spray paint. 98¢ …DONE!

Step 1: Stick hand in the jar and randomly spray all around lightly.  Yes…she stuck her hand in there!  I’m running around saying…let me get you a glove!  Love that she didn’t care and just did it.  She put absolutely no precision into the spraying and remarked that when her buddy sprayed hers…..she made weird streaks by trying to make it even.  Yes, that would be me! 

Step 2:  Let dry for a bit.  

While they were drying, she DID wash her hands to get the paint off.  I gave her a Magic Eraser to help the process and it ALL came off!  Gloves would have worked, too, but whatever.  I'm just a Mom.  LOL!

Step 3:  While it is still a bit tacky (about 20 minutes later), she took some sandpaper and lightly sanded over the bumpy areas and some random spots along the edges. Loved watching as she eyed where she thought it needed the look of being worn.  That’s why she’s the artist, and I’m not!  Anyone else belong to Over-Thinkers Anonymous?

Step 4: After I let it dry for a while longer, I wrapped some jute that we bought in the Dollar Spot at Target around the top.  Tied a knot.  Done!

I think it turned out so CUTE!  I think I might go back and get one more that's shorter and swap one out.  That way I can see all of my Frixion Erasable pens easier and grab the one I want!

So, my desktop is a bit better now.  I need a better chair.  Need to get artwork for the wall.  Maybe this week I’ll head to Home Goods or TJ!  I'm sure my girl will take the lead in this part, too. 

I really wanted to create something for my classroom that builds Vocabulary in Writing.  I looked through the standards for 2^nd & 3^rd grade for something that seems to be missing in our curriculum.  Something that seems to be skimmed over.  Then I saw the standard for Collective Nouns.  Hmmmm…what the heck is that?  Who else has that thought with some of the standards?  So, I googled it.  Pondered it.  This is isn’t a standard that you can teach in a week.  It is one of those things that you know some…and some you don’t.  Since a crash course isn’t going to benefit the student, I thought it might be interesting to have a small area dedicated in my room that would be ongoing. 

My idea:  Create a flip-type chart that I can either change weekly or daily that is ready to go.  Spend perhaps 2-3 minutes…tops.  Flip through the old pages and introduce a new one.

Enter:  Daily Collective Nouns Display. 

I really want to use one of my Dollar spot pocket charts for this, but….Alas….they are all at school.  For the purposes of taking pictures, I placed the pieces on a chart tablet I have at home.

I'll create a skinny area.  At the top will be the Title and definition.  Then I will put in my pocket chart. Slip in the "A Group of" title.  Then I'll leave space for the weekly noun.

I created a few different choices of bright colors for my Group strips so I can switch them out as I see fit.  

Under the pocket chart, I'll add two hooks into my bulletin board.  I've put together a set of rings and pocket protectors to hang each of the collective noun posters that I've created.

In my mind, when the week or day is over, simply slip the noun card inside the pocket protector and flip the page.

Now....I'm ready to just pull out and place the next noun card and display the matching collective noun.

So that my students can be involved, and I can assess their understanding of the collective nouns, I created some Exit Slips for a daily/weekly formative assessment.  If I can get them to write it--I'm hoping they will use it in their speaking and writing, too!  Linking the connection between the singular, plural and collective noun will open doors to any misconceptions there, also.  

If you think this might work for you, I've put it in my store.  Right now I am up to 22 collective nouns.  As I add clipart or other collective nouns I want to use, I will add them.  

Click HERE to see it in  my store for half the price until Tuesday @ 6pm CST!

So, that's it for me this week!  I think this girl needs to sit back and drink her coffee before I start on my next project!

12