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Sunday, May 29, 2011

Blog Changes and Book Clubs!

So I've added these pages (above), a FaceBook Page, and more to the "What I Believe" section of this blog. Below is an add on that I wanted to share.
This is simply what I believe so PLEASE don't think I'm trying to preach to all you awesome teachers because I'm NOT. I just like having an outlet to share as I grow and learn. =)

Here is a little more about being a very organic teacher. My coach Candace and I have slowly started realizing how important it is for children to be able to mock the habits of real life readers and writers- because that is our goal- creating life-long readers and writers. Here are a few example and points to help clarify.  
*If we don't do it as readers, why ask the kids to? (do you write a report after a book? or have a great discussion?) Or, another example, I was stressed out because one of my students was SO busy trying to use expression and voice when I was doing her running record, that she couldn't even focus on the story. Uhhh, my fault. I had stressed and stressed how important it is to read with voice changes and such that it was all the poor girl could think about. I ran this problem by my coach and she basically said that there is a time and a place for reading with dramatic expression, and I should teach them that. If we are having a round of Reader's Theater or about to buddy up to do some performance reading with a KG class, then I should do mini lessons on how expression is important in performance reading. She asked me if I went home, snuggled up on the couch and started reading the book out loud with all these dramatic voice changes?....nope. I use all my comprehension strategies to understand- so that is what I feel I should teach. But if I know I'm going to do a read aloud for a class, I might practice that- knowing that someone else would hear.
*We DO believe in scaffolds to get kids thinking, but not to use for ever. A great example would be the fact that I created a Retelling Prompt Bookmark for my kids who were struggling at retelling. This is a scaffold, simply something to get them started. My coach was doing a book club in my room and gave my kids half sheets of paper that had some inferring prompts, and the explicitly said to the kids, "Now do you think Mrs. Tabb and I go to dinner to talk about a book we shared, and pull out or retelling prompt sheet? (Noooooo!) So then Readers, this is just something to get your brains ready to think!" It let my students know right off the bat that this is something they need now, but one day, they want to be able to read, think, and talk about books- Just like Mrs. Tabb and Ms. Ewing (Candace) do together all the time =) (They started forming their own book clubs at lunch because Candace and I always model how we read together- hilarious!!)

So...in my room, the majority of our literacy block is spent READING and WRITING. I am conferring (which is an art in itself) EVERY MOMENT I can. 

*This means- as I create and sell over the summer, you won't find me doing a whole lot of centers (not that I think anything is wrong with them at all- I use the ones I've purchased from TpT in my flexible small groups!) and such. You'll find me searching for good read alouds that lend themselves to accountable talking, and thinking, creating scaffolds and units of study, finding mentor texts that will support my life long readers and writers, creating thematic activities and most importantly, reading. Reading professional mentors that help me evolve my thinking. Everything in this post came because I read, applied it, and reflected on it (with the help of Candace, of course).
and now....Our Character Book Club Cycle! We read Kathy's Reading For Real, which is all about Book Clubs. If you haven't picked it up, I HIGHLY recommend it! Then you can see how the things I'm saying are basically being repeated! hahaha!  



So, Ms. Ewing came in and did a cycle of character book clubs. I had done a non-fiction cycle before, so they knew the drill when she came. She had a great layout of mini lessons and focused on inferring- because character studies lend themselves naturally to inferring.  She tucked in the comprehension strategies into these units of study- instead of teaching a whole unit on one strategy.

Here are some photos of the journey....

Mini Lesson Shots...
Choosing A Character To Study

 Talking about characters!
 Loves It.
 Ms. Ewing gettin' her conferring on =)
Teaching Share (last step of the workshop)

Every Unit of Study ends with a CELEBRATION!


 Cookies and Juice...and A Character Study Clue Game!
 Keep those balloons in your lap!
 And the class favorite character is....TACKY THE PENGUIN!
 Fine. You have 5 minutes before specials to get the urge to play with balloons OUT! =)

I was super scared to try book clubs on my own, so I was so grateful that Ms. Ewing came to model for me. After seeing the benefits and book talks...I can't WAIT to do them as soon as I teach my kiddos how to talk to each other!

Happy Sunday,

Saturday, May 28, 2011

My Lesson Plan Format and Last Week of School!

Well, I guess Blogger has decided that we don't need to follow each other for awhile...sad! I hope they fix this soon as I have stalked a few new blogs that I'd LOVE to follow!

Business: 
1. THANK you for heading over to my TpT to follow me. I'm not nearly as lonely. If you haven't gone yet, PLEASE DO! =) 

2. We know I'm all about workshop and balanced literacy. I've had a bunch of emails requesting my lesson plan/schedule so I'll post it below. You should know that it is CONSTANTLY evolving as I grow and learn more things. 

3. SUMMER SEND OFF!  I decided to host a summer send off to get my students really ready to attack the Summer Slump! I've included photos below! 


4. Summer Plans: This is my first summer without working in....ever. I'm SO excited. I plan to get certified in Zumba this Saturday and spend lots of time choreographing, go to LOTS of PD (the one I'm most excited for is Katie Wood Ray!) and create units to get us started in first grade. Be on the look out- it's gonna be a busy but AWESOME SUMMER!!

5. FACEBOOK PAGE DOWNLOAD - I was asked to add kindergarten to the facebook page so here it is! 
(Some real examples- SO cute!)


Here we GO!

Lesson Plan: I like to be able to take my plans with me on a clip board so I can fill them out where ever I can. I created this based off of a template my literacy coach Candace used in her room. It is almost like a check list, really. You won't find a space for standards because I do that separately. The majority of my assessment is done during conferring for reading and writing. Here it is: 
(click to download)
  SUMMER SEND OFF: Check out the photos! 

title 1 money gave us a great opportunity  for parent involvement!
 Just Right Books!


 So, I use TONS of anchor charts and refer to them often while teaching. I thought it would be a good idea to take photos of the charts and let them make a book out of it!


 smile for the camera!




 Whew! This was quite a long post. 

Love,

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Facebook Page and Laptop DOWNLOADS!

Hey, my wonderful 513 closest blog friends. WOW. Can't believe I've made it to 500. Thank you.
Anyway!
I've had two major requests through email this week:

1. Can I please download the laptop pattern
2. Can you create the firstgradebook.com page to secondgradebook, thirdgradebook, etc...

SO- of course the answer is YES- but...you have to download (STILL FREE) somewhere else because...

I'm ready to enter TpT world. I've had help from my Fairy Blog Mother, Erica Bohrer, and now I'm slowly getting it running.
I thought this would be a great way to start gaining followers on TpT, AND give a lot of you what you've asked for!
You should know that I will ALWAYS give things away for free, but Mama's gotta get this store goin'! =)
Ok so...you'll find the facebook multi grade download at my TpT store for FREE and the Part II of my Fairy Tale Unit (which includes the laptop and activities found in my 2nd Fairy Post) as the first item I'll post for selling. 

SO PLEASE HELP ME!
*Download the Facebook activity for FREE
*Rate/Leave feedback (hopefully my past work will speak for myself as you rate =)
*And FOLLOW my TpT (I'm lonely over there!)

 The Fairy Tale Unit (in its entirety) will be the first thing I post on TpT. Since I've already offered 1/2 of it to you for free, I am going to less than what I would for a whole unit- so you're not paying for what you already have =)
You all have been SO encouraging, and sweet. I hope I've given you quality units so far, and I really hope I'll have your continued support on TpT.

I'm including a FEW of the things that will be available on the Fairy Tale II unit! =) 

  
( TONS more!)


Yours,

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

FACEBOOK (firstgradebook) Last Day of School Memory Book Printable!

So...here is a quicky post for our memory book that we'll do on Thursday. I'm completely obsessed with FB. My students surprisingly knew what it was, so I thought, hmmmm.... =)

(click to download)
I'll pass out little photos, and have them fill out their "profile information."

Then, I'll let them walk around and "post" on each others Facebook walls.
(you already KNOW these are going stapled on their laptops)

My students saw me working on mine today, and were SO excited!!!

If you want to use this, and don't teach First, then I included a second page that just says FACEBOOK.

If you'd like to download, just:

1. Follow if you don't already
2. And share my blog post with anyone who you think would enjoy it!!

Yours,

Monday, May 23, 2011

Fairy Tale Unit Part TWO (PHOTO POST)

Ok, there is a good chance I'll be posting photos for the next three nights because some of these activities came out

SO. STINKIN'. CUTE. =)

Today was Goldilocks Day....ALL DAY! We did...

Shared Writing: Goldilocks is WANTED! ;)


Blow these up and read them, I swear these kids crack me up!




So....we made Fairy Tale Laptops today...we wrote and EMAIL to a Goldilocks Character!

Look for:
1. The email addresses they created- SO cute
2. The messages/questions they ask their characters
3. The little pumpkin I caught pretending he was really sending an email! hehehe =)









And something non-teaching related...


We visited our future home site!! That's totally OUR grass!!! hahaha =)




Have a great evening,

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Fairy Tale Unit Part ONE

I was going to wait until I'd created the whole unit, but I have gotten tons of emails asking for it {thank you!} and so I will break it up into two parts: royal and folk.


Here are some other snap shots from the royal week!
Point of View: We read Cinderella's Rat and I used this worksheet a few times this week to help my students think about the feelings of other characters!

They are so FUNNY!!!


Most of the week was spent on Cinderella but I did throw in some Rupunzel and Rumpelstiltskin!

We made a list of thing we'd do if we were locked in a tower like Rupunzel!


So, here is the first part of my fairytale unit! Enjoy!

(revised thanks to some great blog friends!!!)

If you download, all I ask is that you:
1. Please FOLLOW if you don't already! =)
2. Leave a comment with any constructive criticism so that I can continue to get better.
3. Share, share, share! I love networking with you all and appreciate when you pass my blog along!

* It may have a few typos, my friend Cindy has been swamped with work so forgive me!!! =)
Warmly,

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Fairy Tale Photo Post...


We've launched the most ADORABLE 
Balanced-Literacy Fairy Tale Unit! 
I couldn't help myself...I had to post some photos from the first few days of our unit. 
I am splitting fairy tales up into two weeks (which will make for one LARGE unit) 

1. Princesses/Royalty (Cinderella, Rupunzel, etc...)
2. Folk Stories (3 Little Pigs, Goldilocks, Etc..)

Here are some PRINCESS/ROYALTY Sneak Peaks! 

Here is how we are keeping track of our fairy tale features. Each time we read a story we check it off here and in our fairy tale folders.








A follow up for shared writing: 
Writing Invitations for the Royal Ball 


Look at bottom left: She included a menu. LOL


After reading Cinderella and Sidney Rella, we made glass slippers and sneakers. Then, we decided  that we needed to have a "chat" with Ms. Cinderella. =) 








Shared Writing: We practiced writing summaries and identifying the most important parts. We negotiated these parts together and I was the scribe. 




Mapping the Royal Kingdom! 




Point of View: We ALWAYS think about the main characters...lets take some time to think about the other characters' points of view! 


 The Cinder-Stories we'll study. 



Rumpelstiltskin Math Activity! 
We graphed our names and compared them to the length of Rumpelstiltskin! 




I have had SO much fun creating these so far, and I'm only three days in! The unit will have much more balanced literacy packed in. 

Until then,