Do you know what's really fun?

BLACK LIGHTS!

Set up a few black lights in your classroom or home for the kiddos. I did a little mini word work station. I had letters written on paper that I colored with highlighter. Kids had to see how many words they could make out of the letters provided.

Did you know that those kiddos made more words than ever before...probably because the letters were glowing? True story. So easy, and such an impact on student motivation.

By the way, I got the black lights on sale after Halloween at Party City. It might be a good time to go check that out!

Have you tried Versatiles in your classroom?

I know - an oldie, but a goodie!

I first used Versatiles probably 12 years ago in my first fourth grade classroom. (You heard that right, my first fourth grade classroom. I have had 3 fourth grade classrooms over the years and literally moved my classroom more times than I can count.)

Versatiles are numbered plastic tiles that fit into plastic cases that lock. They come with workbooks or question cards. In the photo below, my daughter is using them for beginning reader practice. She places the plastic case on top of the questions (top of the page) and answers (bottom of the page). We line up the tiles in number order on the carpet (Also good practice for 1:1 correspondence, counting, and identifying numbers, for our littlest ones). As she answers each question and finds the correct answer, she puts the corresponding tile on the correct answer. When she finishes the page, she locks the plastic case, flips it over, and checks the answer key on the bottom of the page. If she's right, there is a pretty design on the reverse side. If she's wrong, she will notice that he picture does not match the answer key and need to fix something.

I love that Versatiles are self-checking, easy to use, and easy to implement at any age. In my third and fourth grade classrooms, I had a station with Versatiles and question cards relating to whatever we were currently working on. Nowadays, living the instructional coach life, I am using them with my two-year old and loving it. :)

Mentor Text Alert: Dear Deer

Teaching homophones can be tricky. Teaching a lot of things can be tricky. I always find that finding the perfect mentor text, an engaging and fascinating read aloud picture book that can hold the interest of a class of kiddos, is the perfect way to introduce a new concept.

Enter, Dear Deer! A captivating way to teaching homophones!

Center for the Collaborative Classroom: Our New ELA Program

Let me first start by saying that I am not a program person. I have always used a balanced literacy approach to teaching reading and writing - and my students have always been very successful. The problem was that I was an island. What kids were doing in my class, they were guaranteed to continue in their next class. Our school was all over the place and there was no consistency. There may have been pockets of great teaching happening, but there was no cohesion, and so our students could not sustain any great learning that was taking place from year to year. We basically had a patchwork quilt of teaching going on.

Enter Collaborative Classroom. This year, we adopted this program k-6. When I say that our elementary school teachers are obsessed, I mean it. Finally, we are all on the same page! And our teaching is connected - reading, word work, writing, interventions, small group reading, spelling, grammar, SEL, EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE!

By the way, I am definitely not cool enough to be paid to say any of this. I am just sharing my thoughts on a "program" that is sooooo not a basal, but is structured enough that any teacher should be able to follow it and find success.

PS the program is only 30 weeks. So there is plenty of time to integrate other types of learning into your year, take a break for a Social Studies/Science unit, or do some test prep.

Here are the big programs:

- Caring Classrooms - We don't use this component because we follow Responsive Classroom, but SAME THING. It is basically morning meetings and basic SEL practices that make sense. FYI, the entire program integrates these practices throughout and builds a strong foundation of SEL for kids starting from day one.

- Making Meaning - Our reading comprehension program. It is based on the BEST read alouds ever. I seriously love every single one. It is rooted in discussion, partner talks, sharing, quick writes, etc. So, of course some testing grade levels freaked a little. They love the program but the big bad test is always looming, so we chose one read aloud text for each unit to buy class sets of, and I created test prep questions for that text. Now, the teachers feel better!

- Being a Writer - Again, based on mentor texts and a Writer's Workshop mentality. LOVE IT. Our teachers always struggled with teaching writing. Everybody did it differently. Some people didn't do it at all. Yes, that is real. 

- Being a Reader - This is mostly K-2, based on teaching kids to be independent during small group work. It also comes with "sets" of books for small group reading. Now, these text levels go through third grade, so our k-3 teachers use them for small group reading. Our fourth grade teachers use them for their lower readers, in addition to continuing to use Literacy Footprints, which we love. *Also, second grade has a word work component here and there is a letter learning piece to K-1.

- SIPPS - The interventions! OMG, the interventions align with the tier 1 instruction, can you believe it? I love it. As a classroom teacher, I hated not knowing what my kids were doing when they received a reading intervention. I am very controlling. But now, the program is fairly scripted, research-based, and I know exactly what every kids is doing - and it aligns with the Being a Reader program. In fact, kids getting a reading intervention are also receiving small group instruction in their classroom and literally see the overlap of the program. They say, "Hey, I learned this word with my reading teacher!" Yes, yes, you did. Not a fluke.

- Guided Spelling - Only for 3-6, but awesome. We were kind of using Words Their Way for a while. I love Words Their Way, but some teachers taught it really thoroughly and others...didn't. So this program is better. It is setting up a strong foundation of understanding patterns within words. There is some differentiation, but definitely not like Words Their Way. So some of our teachers ARE still using Words Their Way for their lowest spellers during their Academic Intervention Support time, but those are only the very motivated and dedicated teachers who previously used Words Their Way and understand it at its core.

And that is Collaborative Classroom! In the nuttiest nutshell ever. If you have more specific questions about it, ask! I love talking about Collaborative Classroom. Also, go make a free login in their Learning Portal or Hub. They are nonprofit, so all of their resources are right there for you to check out and try - I'm talking teacher manuals, student workbooks, printables, professional development videos/blogs/articles - you name it. I literally taught SIPPS for a year before we bought the program. It is way easier now that we have all of the materials and I'm not making everything from scratch, but I was definitely able to do it! And you can too!

Spark Student Motivation Saturday

I really enjoy linking up with Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student Motivation Saturdays.

I've always struggled with teaching writing. No matter what grade level I was teaching. Writing is hard for kids, so they're not always motivated to do their best. So often, I find that students rush through writing assignments just to get them done. So, this year I decided to go back to a classic Writer's Workshop. Students have journals, folders, writer's offices, these great prompts from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations, and we have quiet writing time. I can conference with individuals, pull small groups for skills work (Like my Making and Changing word lists), and kids can begin to love writing, while building stamina and improving!

I still have writing tasks and assignments, but not all the time. And when kids finish those tasks early, they know how to write for themselves, for fun!

I think giving kids choice is always motivating! And it build independence. That's a BIG plus! :)

Sunday Scoop

Hi everyone! I'm here to link up with The Teaching Trio for The Sunday Scoop!

It's my last day of vacation!

I've been semi-productive this break, but now I feel like I need to tidy up the house, organize my school things before tomorrow, and lounge in my pajamas for a bit! So, nothing pressing to do, just odds and ends!

I have started the TPT updates, a great synonym and antonym review product and a Making and Changing words activity! I am on a word work roll! So, if I get nothing else done today, at least I did something! :)

Spark Student Motivation Saturdays

I'm here to link up with Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching for Spark Student Motivation Saturdays!

I was a fourth grade teacher for five years, and last year I switched to second grade. It has been a GREAT transition. One area I've always struggled with, though, was word work. I could create spelling activities, but coming up with the making and changing words activities on the fly was a big challenge for me. I felt like I was always making my word work too easy for my second graders.

Then, I thought about my close reading and my read aloud time. In the beginning of my career I thought I could come up with text-based questions in the spur of the moment. When I started to re-evaluate my close reading and read aloud time, I realized that my questions weren't always text-dependent. I started jotting down some questions ahead of time on a Post It and saw great results. So, I applied that same strategy to my word work!

I spent my February vacation generating 267 Making and Changing words lists, organized by text level, to implement during my Daily 5 time as a partner activity with whiteboards AND for my own use during small skills groups. I am super duper excited about this addition to my classroom and I think it will be SO motivating for the kiddos!! I mean, come on, kids love whiteboard time! (And if they do a nice job following directions during Making and Changing words activities, I usually give them 30 seconds of doodle time. They LIVE for that!)

Check it out here! :)

Currently

Oh me oh my! I really am late to the February party. I'm here to link up with Farley at Oh Boy It's Farley for Currently! I guess, better late than never, right? I'm on vacation right now, so I'm catching up on my pinky parties!

I've been on vacation for one week!

It's been GLORIOUS!!!

But now that it's Saturday and I'm going back on Monday, it's just a regular weekend.

Sooooo, here I am, trying to finish up a TPT product.

I am creating Making and Changing words lists. Personally, I have a tricky time, since transitioning from teaching fourth grade to teaching second grade, coming up with whiteboard word work on the fly during our Skills block. So, I'm creating the lists myself to print and laminate and pull out whenever I need them! I think I'm going to put them out for the kids during Daily 5 too, that way partners can use their personal whiteboards to practice word work in a structured way. Kids love whiteboards, so I think this will be a winner!

Also, my cute little puppy is curled up next to me, being all adorable.