Educational resources for elementary students. Helping teachers, parents, and students become active thinkers and future leaders. We encourage giggles, grins, hugs, & high fives!
This is the entry into a world where ALL students are flowers in the classroom garden. Each is unique, colorful, and needs it’s own nurturing to THRIVE! How to create a classroom environment where each student with different needs and abilities will blossom. When we create our classroom bouquet, we have grown a RAINBOW from the seeds we have planted.
How to KEEP Growing a Rainbow in YOUR classroom, from the seeds YOU have planted.
One time per week, I will post a TIP, a TRICK, and/or a HACK to help YOU, the teacher, nurture our students into thriving blossoms of learning! My hope is that through support, trials & tribulations, and time-saving tips, YOU may grow YOUR RAINBOW!
A rainbow of flowers. From: How to Keep Growing a Rainbow in YOUR classroom. Planting Seeds of Knowledge.
Today’s TOPIC:
Classroom Routines.
Do you have routines set up for each day? Each Transition? For the beginning & Ending of the day? Here is your HELP! Check out the FULL POST HERE!
Here are the first 10 minutes of my day. EVERY DAY!
ENTERING THE CLASSROOM ROUTINE:
I meet my kids on the playground.
Kids on the playground. Setting up classroom routines. 1stgradefireworks
Our “first” bell ( line up ) is at 8:20.
I go out to our line at 8:15 and remind ALL of my students to get out of their BACKPACKS their BLACK homework folder (provided by me at the beginning of the year..black because I don’t use black for any other folder in my room..and their READ AT HOME envelope with TAKE HOME BOOKS.
They have them “in their hands” before we walk to the door.
WHY?
NO ONE has to “dig through” their backpacks when we get in the door.
While we are at the door…I have a Home Depot shelving unit next to the door.
You can only be a HELPER if you are sitting in your seat when the bell rings! I am prompt!
( No tardies, wanderers, “chatting”).
If you are TARDY…you won’t be a helper on that day if it’s your turn. You will have to wait until tomorrow if you are on time.
An incentive for getting to school ON TIME!
I choose my helpers.
2 of my 10 helpers for the day are
TECH TEACHERS.
I ask the TECH TEACHERS to choose a “quiet partner” to help them pass out Chromebooks ( We are a 1:1 school ) and earbuds ( they have their own in numbered baggies.
(We number EVERYTHING!)
They get their Chromebooks, long into our district reading/phonics practice program, and GO TO WORK!
ALL of this takes 10 minutes.
8:20-8:30
NO MUSS…NO FUSS! Routines help manage the classroom!
And a FREE BALANCED LITERACY Resource to get you started!
2019 is the Year of BALANCED LITERACY!
Are YOU READY to update your literacy block?
Balanced Literacy: Here is your PLAN for the New Year!
Why? What? and How?
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
Before we write, we read, discuss, preview new vocabulary, and make connections about our thoughts and ideas.
Shared writing is an instructional approach to teach writing to students by writing with them. The idea is to teach writing through writing. The process of writing is demonstrated by the teacher through a ‘write aloud’ process. The teacher acts as a scribe while the students contribute ideas.
Effective literacy teachers present the demonstration, explanation, and models needed by naïve writers in order for them to understand how and why to incorporate genre and text structures (and such transcription skills as punctuation and spelling) into their own writing behavior. ReadWriteThink.org
During shared writing, the teacher transcribes the entire text while engaging students in a rich discussion about how the text should be composed.
Shared writing is taught to small groups or a whole class in briskly paced, 5- to 20-minute lessons.
Plan lessons for types of writing that present particular challenges to your students.
First, develop and extend children’s background and language knowledge on a topic or experience of interest.
Establish a purpose for the writing and an intellectually engaging opportunity for students to apply new learning. Students might write a letter to a local newspaper or write directions for a new game they have developed.
Write the entire text yourself in front of students (using chart paper or document viewer) while requesting input from students regarding aspects of the writing where they most need to expand their expertise. Consider, for example, whether your students need to focus attention on paragraph structure, word choice, or sentence expansion.
During the writing, model processes needed by your students. Have a small whiteboard available, for example, to demonstrate to students how to say a word slowly and write sounds heard into “sound boxes” (Clay, 2006) before writing a phonetically regular word into the text for them. For older students, begin with a root word and demonstrate how to add prefixes or suffixes to a new word.
Demonstrate in-the-moment revision during shared writing as necessary to construct a strong draft. Reread the text to students from time to time to discuss what needs to be written next or to monitor whether or not the text conveys information clearly. Add a word using a caret, for example, or delete unneeded text.
Do not deliberately make errors during shared writing. Model the immediate construction of a high-quality draft.
Read the completed text to students. Take a few minutes to have students orally summarize what has been learned about writing during this session.
Post the text in an accessible spot in the classroom, and provide opportunities for students to read or use the text multiple times over the next several days or weeks.
I use large paper that looks just like the paper the children use during writing workshop. I write on chart paper or perhaps a SmartBoard so the whole group can easily read it.
The children are engaged and involved in telling the story (or essay, song, poem, or other kinds of text).
I restate/scaffold children’s language by modeling rich language and coach them when they are the storyteller.
Over time, children see each step of the writing process modeled:
Coming up with ideas
Planning across the pages, rehearsing how the text will go
Drafting words and sentences
Revising
Editing
Publishing
Over time, children see qualities of good writing modeled:
It’s a VALENTINE GIVEAWAY! Who wants to win a $150 TPT Gift Card?
*** VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY ***
To help with the purchasing of Valentine’s Day and Spring resources for your classroom, a team of amazing teachers and I have grouped together to gift ONE awesome, lucky teacher with a TPT gift card!
Giveaway PRIZES INCLUDE 1 x $150 TPT Gift card #3 ENTER the Giveaway HERE:
And a FREE BALANCED LITERACY Resource to get you started!
2019 is the Year of BALANCED LITERACY!
Are YOU READY to update your literacy block?
Balanced Literacy: Here is your PLAN for the New Year!
The Why? The What? and The How?
This Week: Shared / Interactive Writing
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
This week we jump into Shared & Interactive Writing!
You can’t THINK of Writing without thinking …
LUCY CALKINS!
Shared Writing
During shared writing, the teacher transcribes the entire text while engaging students in a rich discussion about how the text should be composed.
Shared writing is taught to small groups or a whole class in briskly paced, 5- to 20-minute lessons.
Plan lessons for types of writing that present particular challenges to your students.
First, develop and extend children’s background and language knowledge on a topic or experience of interest.
Establish a purpose for the writing and an intellectually engaging opportunity for students to apply new learning. Students might write a letter to a local newspaper or write directions for a new game they have developed.
Write the entire text yourself in front of students (using chart paper or document viewer) while requesting input from students regarding aspects of the writing where they most need to expand their expertise. Consider, for example, whether your students need to focus attention on paragraph structure, word choice, or sentence expansion.
During the writing, model processes needed by your students. Have a small whiteboard available, for example, to demonstrate to students how to say a word slowly and write sounds heard into “sound boxes” (Clay, 2006) before writing a phonetically regular word into the text for them. For older students, begin with a root word and demonstrate how to add prefixes or suffixes to a new word.
Demonstrate in-the-moment revision during shared writing as necessary to construct a strong draft. Reread the text to students from time to time to discuss what needs to be written next or to monitor whether or not the text conveys information clearly. Add a word using a caret, for example, or delete unneeded text.
Do not deliberately make errors during shared writing. Model the immediate construction of a high-quality draft.
Read the completed text to students. Take a few minutes to have students orally summarize what has been learned about writing during this session.
Post the text in an accessible spot in the classroom, and provide opportunities for students to read or use the text multiple times over the next several days or weeks.
Shared writing is a process teachers use to help children to understand how to write a particular kind of text and to provide them with a model piece of writing to emulate. It involves a teacher producing some text on the board with input from the class. The students ” discuss and collaborate” while the teacher is the scribe.
The main difference between shared and interactive writing is who is holding the pen. In shared writing, the teacher holds then pen and serves as the scribe. The teacher also serves the roles of… summarizer of ideas, questioner, and prompting for quick decisions on spelling and print concepts.
Interactive Writing
Interactive writing is a cooperative event in which teacher and children jointly compose and write text. Not only do they share the decision about what they are going to write, they also share the duties of scribe. The teacher uses the interactive writing session to model reading and writing strategies as he or she engages children in creating text.
Through questioning and direct instruction, the teacher focuses the children’s attention on the conventions of print such as spaces between words, left-to-right and top-to-bottom directionality, capital letters, and punctuation. Clay (1979)
Real or Nonsense Words? How to help your students with phonics fluency. Great for EL’s and EO’s.Real or Nonsense Words? How to help your students with phonics fluency. Fluency Practice and Sorting .Real or Nonsense Words? How to help your students with phonics fluency. Fluency Practice and Sorting .Real or NONSENSE? Helping your readers with BOTH!
Finally…helping Readers is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE DO!
So, I will add READING REAL & NONSENSE WORDS to my literacy repertoire!
Valentine Themed. Place Value Cards ( 54 Cards in ALL) for sorting. Includes: Sorting Header cards Place value cards ( Expanded notation, base ten, ten frames, number words, numeral, ten & ones)
And a FREE BALANCED LITERACY Resource to get you started!
2019 is the Year of BALANCED LITERACY!
Are YOU READY to update your literacy block?
Balanced Literacy: Here is your PLAN for the New Year!
The Why? The What? and The How?
Balanced literacy has been defined as “an approach designed to help individual students learn how to process a variety of increasingly challenging texts with understanding and fluency.” (Fountas & Pinnell, 2001)
It is an approach to teaching. NOT a curriculum. It is HOW we teach our students to be independent readers and writers. It is NOT what books we use to teach them.
Balanced Literacy has been defined in “components” or “pieces” of literacy instruction.
This 8-week series will focus on the components of a complete BALANCED LITERACY program. We will focus on clear and concise definitions. Definitions that educators can discuss in collaborations. A “common language” where we can learn from each other and with each other.
The 8 components we will focus on are:
Read Alouds
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading
Modeled / Interactive Writing
Shared Writing
Guided Writing / Writer’s Workshop
Word Work
Each week we will focus on one area of Balanced Literacy and share experiences, teacher tips, and resources to support and expand our Balanced Literacy repertoire.
DEAR, SSR, Silent Reading, RAH, etc.. Whatever you call it…we call it
INDEPENDENT READING!
Independent reading is a time when students read text with little or no help from the teacher. They are usually at their seats or in comfortable places around the classroom.
In my classroom they may be at their desk, on a stool, in a rocker, or even…under a table or desk. Only one rule… You MUST be reading!
Independent reading is children’s reading of text — such as books, magazines, and newspapers — on their own, with minimal to no assistance from adults. It can consist of reading done in or out of school, including purely voluntary reading for enjoyment or assigned reading for homework. There are strong associations between independent reading and reading achievement, and many researchers believe that independent reading plays a key role in the development of reading fluency (speed and ease of reading), vocabulary, background knowledge, and even spelling. Not surprisingly, motivation also is associated with independent reading; children who are interested in and motivated to read tend to do more independent reading. Unfortunately, children with learning disabilities in reading often do not read independently, because they tend to find reading effortful, may have trouble obtaining books at their reading level, or may have generally negative attitudes toward reading as a consequence of repeated failure.
IR involves the full participation of the teacher. This means the teacher is instructing, scaffolding, and conferring with students (Reutzel, Fawson, & Smith, 2008) during IR time. For example, the teacher educates students in how to select appropriate books, scaffolds student understanding of specific text types, and confers with students to assess their understanding of what they have read.
If you’re really looking for independent reading to be successful with your students, you’ve got to commit class time to it. Students always see what we value by how we approach it during class. And if we want to be certain students get something done, we have to do it during class.
How you make this time is up to you. Elementary classes that tend to have students all day long can have a special fixed time each day allocated to independent reading. Middle and high school classes can allot a small portion – perhaps 10 or 15 minutes – of a class period towards independent reading each day before putting the book away and focusing on the day’s lesson. Others might prefer to wait until Friday and spend the whole class period reading that day.
Tips to Bring Independent Reading Into The Classroom
So, how do you realize the benefits of independent reading in your own classroom? Here are a few ideas:
Build independent reading time into each student’s day whether in school or at home. Class time is especially effective since it provides students a distraction-free time in their day to read.
Offer a selection of books at each student’s reading level and from different genres and help them find books they might enjoy.
Let each student make a reading list of five books they want to read and set reading goals.
Find creative ways for students to share books with one another, including things like book clubs, video projects, blogs or discussion time.
If you’re like most people, after reading a really good book you want to tell someone about it; you want to share. Let students share their excitement over books!
Here are 8 activities that will engage students in sharing what they read.
Illustrate an important character or event in the story.
Create an advertisement to promote the book.
Have students pick out words they are unfamiliar with and make a word wall.
Make a bookmark that represents the theme or main idea of the book.
Write a question to the author or a character in the book.
Have them illustrate their favorite part of the story.
They can write a letter to a character.
Have them make a connection to a life experience.
In summary…
Allow students CHOICE..choice of books & choice of reading area.
Build in time for independent reading EVERY day..model reading, too!
Debrief their independent reading time. DISCUSS it!
Tools that may be helpful:
Book Boxes for Independent Reading
Gallon Zip-Lock Bags for Independent Reading books.
HOW TO GET BOOKS for Independent Reading?
Use SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUBS, Donor’s Choose, and/or garage sales to add to YOUR classroom library for independent reading books.
