Five for Friday-Sunday Edition!

Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday. I had this post ready for Friday night/early Saturday morning and I never published it! Oops.  Here is what I was up to this past week!  

1. We had a great time during the Fourth of July weekend!  We found a new Metro Park to go hiking.  We managed to hike 9 miles!  You can say we were a little exhausted by the end of the adventure!  The next day, we went for two bike rides totally about 30 miles.  By Monday, the 4^th my entire body was done!  But, we had a great time outdoors. 

2. So, I recently joined a group of educators who are collaborating and learning together this summer.  This #CyberPD has been going on for a while, but this is my first year joining in for a book study on DIY Literacy.  So far, I am enjoying the book.  Take a look HERE to see my first post about it!

3. Chicago!  For the past few summers, I have gone to Chicago to see a friend and her family.  This trip, we planned a little outing downtown to go shopping!  We went to BHLDN to look at bridesmaid dresses, shoes, and jewelry.  Their store is amazing.  If you ever have the chance to go there, it is worth the trip! We also went to look at dresses at JCrew and managed to make a stop down at Nordstrom’s for a little lunch and more shopping. I also had a little surprise when I found out that my Aunt and cousin would be in town.  We ended up getting together for a bit to take him to Nike Town and grab some dinner! This is a picture of me with my little cousin. 

4. One of my favorite things to do while I am in Chicago is to run from my friend’s house down to the lake and then along the lakeshore.  It is always so pretty and there is so much energy in the city and along the lakeshore! 

5. Last, this week I took the plunge.  I had been reading so much about Angela Watson’s 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club.  I was on the fence about joining, in hopes to bring a little more balance into my home/school life.  I then watched a podcast about the “Big Five” Principles for Productivity at Home and School.  While watching this, I realized that there were so many things I was already doing and I am already very productive.  However, I also realized that there are many ways in which I can focus my time in a way that I am accomplishing more in a smaller amount of time, therefore allowing myself that time each night to relax and not devote all night, every night to school work.  I also know that I like the accountability.  While I am motivated, I also like to feel that I am accountable and this usually helps keep me on track with things.  So, I did it!  I signed up this past weekend and I am looking forward to being part of this group and seeing what it brings! (Photo from http://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/40hour) Click on the picture to learn more about this!

DIY Literacy Summer Collaboration- Let's Get Started!

      Thanks to an amazing teacher that I work with, I was connected to another group of amazing, motivated educators.  These teachers and I are participating in a summer #CyberPD, in which we are reading DIY Literacy by Kate Roberts and Maggie Beattie Roberts.  Each week we will look closely at a certain portion of the book and share our thinking.  Make sure to stop in each week to learn a little more about the book.  It may be the next book you need to add to your professional reading list! 

This week, we looked closely at Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and the Bonus Chapter.  Of course, I waited until the last minute to order the book. So when it arrived on Tuesday, I immediately took it to the pool (my happy place) and started reading!

Immediately, I knew that this would be an “easy” book for me to read.  The authors have written it in such a way that makes it flow and easy to keep reading through the material. 

Chapter 1 focused on the purpose behind what we do as teachers. Our purpose is to provide learning experiences in which new material is learned in a clear way and in which is stays with the student to be transferred at a later time. The authors suggest in Chapter 2, that we do this through four main teaching tools: Repertoire and Process Charts, Demonstration Notebooks, Micro-Progressions of Skills, and Bookmarks.   

As I read, I reflected on this information, I thought about how I was currently using these tools and how I could change my teaching in order to better use these tools to meet the needs of my students.

·      Repertoire and Process Charts- As suggested in the text, I have ALWAYS known that charts are best when they are made WITH and in front of the students.  HOWEVER, please tell me I’m not the only one, the TYPE A me, steps in and realizes that I can’t write neatly or design a chart that is as cute, when I am doing it on the spot.  So, what happens is that I either design a chart ahead of time, with spots to fill in with the students, I create it entirely by myself, or I make it with the students and then re-write it later!  I love that the authors said, “They help students get to work and keep working with greater independence”.  They do NOT say that the chart has to be Pinterest worthy or super cute.  It has to provide students with a resource to enhance their learning.  As I step back into the classroom this fall, I am going to work on removing my personal desires for the perfect charts, and remember that the purpose in creating those charts in the first place!

·      Demonstration Notebooks- These are something totally new to me.  I have used readers, writers, and math notebooks for years.  However, I have never used a demonstration notebook and I loved reading about these.  This is “ a notebook full of the lessons and strategies that you know your students need.  Each page identifies a need you’ve seen in your students, offers a clear solution or strategy, an creates space to demonstrate and work with the strategy in real time with kids”.  WOW!  What an amazing tool this would be to have in guided reading.  Think about how often you have one reading group working on a certain skill only to have another group need the exact lesson a few weeks or months later.  This is definitely on my BTS to do list for this year.  If anyone in the group already does these, I would LOVE to hear more from you!!

·      Micro-Progression of Skills- This is a demonstration or modeling of how students can achieve higher level of skills.  I have used some of this with our writing this year and looking at the If/Then resources from Lucy Calkins.  My team created one last year for reading responses.  We noticed that students wrote quality response only when prompted.  We were trying to get students to realize that they needed to put more effort into these.  We implemented it at the end of the year and I am hoping to spend more time on them this school year. 

·      Bookmarks-The authors suggest that students create bookmarks to create “grocery lists” or resources or strategies that they know will help them in their learning.  I struggle with this tool.  Often times, I will create bookmarks for students with strategies that I know I want them to have at their fingertips.  I do this to ensure everyone has access to the same resources and that they are accurately written down, etc.  I LOVE the idea though, that students are identifying what they need to become better readers and writers and then moving forward to help themselves.  I would love to move toward this, as I know it will help to lead my students to becoming more independent. 

What I loved most about all that I read, was the reference to The Wizard of Oz!  “You’ve always had the power, my dear.  You had to learn it for yourself”.  While, we as educators need to realize how much we are doing and can do for our students and empower ourselves, we also need to see that they too, will have to learn it for themselves. The more we empower our students to be self-starters and engaged in their own learning, the closer we will have gotten to accomplishing our goals, as well.

Monday Made It-- July 4th

     Today I am linking up with Fourth Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!  It is my first time linking up this summer.  I have been busy working on things, but really haven't created a ton from start to finish! This past week, I made my back to school to do list and I realized I need to get crafting.  In the meantime, I have been working a little more so on some of my TpT products that I thought I would share!

      I don't know about you, but my students are LOVING the I Survived series.  I really didn't know a whole lot about the books until this year.  My kids get so engrossed in these books and are actually engaged in their independent reading.  So, I figured it was time to start reading them myself!  So far this summer, I've read I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005 and I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic and I could instantly see why my kids were pulled in. The characters are easily relatable for elementary students and the plots are constantly changing, keeping the readers on their toes.  I recently finished my novel study for I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005.  You can grab a copy at my TpT store!  I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic will be coming soon!  This product has an answer key and is set up to be used as a novel study, guided reading group book, or as a read aloud!

      This product is one that I am SO excited to share.  I am being honest when I say that this product is NOT fancy and doesn't have any frills.  In fact, it is just a simple set of questions for each text.  However, what makes this product so great is that it was developed in my classroom as a result of a need I saw.  We had recently switched from DRA's to Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessments. I immediately noticed that our students were not used to the style of prompting or questioning.  Initially, I created these products to use so that my students became familiar with the style of questioning.  I then realized that these short assessments would be GREAT to use after a guided reading book discussion.  I ended up using these a TON in this way.  We would slowly read and analyze a text, having many discussions about it.  Then, when we would finish completely, I would ask the students to write their answers as a form of assessment/ way to monitor their progress with the text.  I used their responses when going to RTI meetings, etc.   I have also used these in the place of a running record, as a form of a formative assessment.  I would have the student read the text independently and respond to the questions.  This product has 11 different short assessments, but I am in the works of getting each file uploaded separately as well.  The bundle though, is the best deal.  It will be a GROWING bundle.  As I design new assessments, they will be added and you can re-download it for free!  So check it out here!

      I have been working on this slowly, line by line, for a few weeks, but I finally finished it! I found a bunch of inspiration on Pinterst that helped me.  This will be at the park for my wedding next summer!  I bought a piece of Oak and stained it.  Then I used a paint marker for the writing.  It does need one coat of clear polyurethane, but that's it! :) 

Happy Monday and happy Fourth of July!