Whole Class Journals

Have you tried using whole class journal prompts?

It's really a lot of fun, and a great way to get kids reading AND writing!

In my classroom, I use plain old cheap composition books. To save laminating time, I printed the whole class journal prompts, and then just used packing tape to "laminate" them to the journal covers. It has literally lasted like 5 years. Yes, I keep the same journals and continue to use them.

When I am teaching small groups during ELA, kids have lots of literacy options. One is to work on writing. This might be to continue a writing project we started in Writing, or free write, or use these whole class journals. They choose the journal they are interested in responding in based on the prompt. Now this is where it gets fun. Some kids flip right to a blank page and start writing. They can choose to put their name/date or not. (I mean, I know everyone's handwriting, so it's fine!) BUT more often than not, I notice kids becoming absorbed in reading some of their classmates' responses that came before them. What a fun way to get to know each other better and launch some meaningful conversations later on!

Another fun surprise? Have family members, principals, and other teachers write entries in your class journals!

Click here to download a FREE whole class journal prompts resource!

Black Out Poetry

Have you tried Black Out Poetry?

My favorite way to use Black Out Poetry is as a culminating activity after reading a novel with a class. You can copy pages of the book (I like copying the beginnings of chapters because then the chapter title can serve as the poem's title) and give kids the option of which pages they use for their poetry. The choosing part is really fun because it reminds them what the book was about! They start talking, reminiscing, and it all comes back to them!

Start with pencil.

Very important!

Kids use a pencil to circle the words they want to use in their poem, understanding that this might be a different kind of poetry than they are used to!

Once the poem is done in pencil, kids are each given a marker (I like Sharpie because it is nice and dark). They circle those words that are in their poem and then add designs to "BLACK OUT" the rest of the poem. My examples below show that you do not need to color the entire page, just enough so that the words you chose stand out.

So, there you have it!

Black out poetry.

Easy, free, fast, engaging!

Mentor Text Alert: Field Trip to the Moon

WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS ARE MY JAM!

Yes, I said it. I love them. No matter the grade level I was teaching, I relied heavily on wordless picture books for teaching many comprehension strategies. Most notedly, questioning and retelling. Also inferencing. Really, anything!

I love John Hare. His other wordless picture book that I am obsessed with is Field Trip to the Ocean Deep. These books are gorgeous. Beautiful pictures, intriguing stories, and they really get kids thinking. My 2-year old is completely engaged and rereads them over and over. Teachers at school are using them for questioning strategies during virtual learning. Check them out! 

Below is a sample from Field Trip to the Moon. I ordered this through First Book marketplace. I teach in a title 1 school, so I am able to sign up for a membership through First Book and order wonderful texts and supplies at a steep discount. If you have not visited this website, it is dangerous but amazing. I routinely order giant boxes of books for a fraction of the price!

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!

How can we improve our Writer's Workshop?

Here are some tips for improving my FAVORITE time of the day!

1. Boost their CONFIDENCE!

Kids need to feel like they are capable and that their teacher believes in them. This will give them the ability to take risks and drive to write throughout the independent writing component of Writer's Workshop. BUT...this also applies to the teacher! Teachers need confidence in themselves, and as an instructional coach, I find that many teachers struggle with Writer's Workshop. They want a boxed program because they don't feel confident enough in their lesson plans, in their ability to lead a conference on the fly and help students choose appropriate goals. But we're trained professionals. We should not want a scripted program, and honestly, Writer's Workshop can never be completely scripted. Teachers need to connect their their kiddos in those conferences and make some decisions. So, everyone, build that confidence!

2. Be explicit!

Kids don't know your expectations! Even something as simple as a writing prompt, even at an intermediate grade level, model - model - model. Model everything. Anchor chart it up! Be so explicit that the kids have no choice but to understand your expectations and then exceed them.

3. Be the EXCITEMENT in your classroom!

Get kids motivated by being motivating! Get kids excited for this sacred time of your day - Writer's Workshop. Engage them through mentor texts, minilessons, anchor charts, your own writing, and more. If you're not excited, they won't be, like in teaching anything. Kids pick up on how you're feeling. When I walk into a teacher's classroom and their energy level in low, I oftentimes notice that the kids are moving slow and not really into it. You can get kids excited about anything, but only if you're excited, too. Don't say, "We just need to get through this lesson." Say, "I'm thrilled about what we're about to do and you should be too!"

4. Plan Plan Plan!

As an instructional coach, I plan for meetings and observations and demo lessons. As a teacher, I planned my face off for every single lesson. Sometimes I wrote them out, sometimes I wrote out Post Its with phrases and ideas that I wanted to be sure not to forget, but I planned. A lot. And you should too. Writer's Workshop can be very mellow and relaxing, but your minilesson is explicit, the choices for mentor texts you make is purposeful, and the writing you choose to share with kids is important. Don't wing it. 

5. Differentiate!

You know how critical personalized learning is. It is the craze that swept our world. But it's really just differentiation wrapped up in a fancy bow. Every child, every learner, is different. We all work at our own pace, learn in our own ways, so address that through your lessons. Also, utilize your individual and small group conferences to address these needs with different learner types. This ultimately means that you need to KNOW YOUR STUDENTS. Know them on a deeper level that helps you to understand what they need from you, so you can support them without being the one to do the work. Nobody wants to be that teachers who "edits" and "revises" for their students and then rereads the story to realize that it is no longer the student's story, but the teacher's. 

And there you have it! A few tips and tricks for making Writer's Workshop a success!

LEGO STEAM/STEM Building Blocks Challenges for Every Child!

Hi everyone!

I'm here to talk LEGO! Now, if you are anything like my husband, you literally have TUBS AND TUBS of Legos from your youth. Just taking up space in the basement. Waiting for your children to be interested or old enough to enjoy them. (Our kids are 2 and newborn - we're not quite ready for the little Legos.)

I have used Legos with my students more and more over the years. For EVERYTHING! It started as a STEAM/STEM challenge. I did it with summer school students because I didn't know if I could fit Lego STEAM challenges into my regular school day during the year. The kids were completely engaged and into it. We used to have a Lego club at school, focusing on MindStorms, but that went away with budgetary reasons. So, now the kids finally had something similar back in their lives. Now, I structured it. Each day we engaged in a different Lego building blocks challenge or activity, such as building a marble maze or a rubber band powered car. Every child had a plastic tub with Legos plus extra materials they might need for a challenge, plus their Lego design book, which laid out all challenges, space for ideas/blueprints, and reflection. It became my go to summer enrichment activity in summer school.

Flash forward. I started to realize that I could integrate Legos all over. Busy bins. Recess tubs. teaching science and social studies! Literature units. You name it, I figured out a way to use Legos to teach it. Some of my favorites included morning tubs for kids when they came in. Each child got their own tub and a challenge. I also taught landforms using Legos to create them as we learned each. I also had kids setting up settings of texts with Lego scenes, practicing following directions and writing How To pieces with Lego creations, and learning all about fractions. We've done plenty of science experiments: density, water displacement, hurricane tables, and more!

Click here to check out the full array of Lego activities I've integrated into grades 2-5 classrooms over the years!

State Testing - Try this short response resource!

Good morning!

We're in it. And by it I mean testing season. As an instructional coach, I'm helping kids AND teachers prepare for upcoming state assessments in New York. I made testing survival kits for my teachers - motivational coloring pages, secret parent notes for encouragement, testing treats, letters to the students for support, and these short response checklists!

I love using pens with my kids to color code their Restate, Answer, and two pieces of Text-based evidence. When they become automatic at it, they will write with one color and use different colored highlighters to check their response. It's difficult to get full credit on the written response without a strategy like this!

While kids can't use them on the test, they can use this leading up to the test and we can hope it sticks! I have several strategies - RATT, RATTS, RAPP, and RAPPS - depending on the strategy different teachers use in my school. What strategy do YOU use successfully for short response questions?

Click here for this resource!

Five for Friday

The day after our NYS ELA state assessment ended we set up a crime scene in the classroom! Kids really had a blast finding clues, recording evidence, and deciding what the evidence most likely meant. It was totally engaging and fun!

The crime scene materials came from The Engaging Station's TpT product. It had suggestions for how to set up your classroom and handouts for students to record their notes.

And here is some of the writing my students did the day after the NYS ELA assessment! On the third day of the test and the 9th written response question, I had some of my most talented writers telling me that they were tired of writing. Well, that all changed when they walked into our transformed classroom and determined that their lovely teacher was a suspect in a terrible crime! They really did jump right in and got excited about writing again!

Lucy has been a MUSH with all of the rainy weather we have had here in New York lately. She doesn't mind playing in mud puddles after the rain, but she really does NOT like walking in the rain. So...she sleeps. :)

With the NYS ELA assessments over, we have about a month until the NYS Math assessments, which my kids are sure will be a total blast because they love math. Definitely less anxiety there! We can do it!

Five for Friday

One of my sweet students had his dad make this for me! There is a light in the wooden stand and a remote control so I can change the color of the light! It is so cool.

I sent these secret missions home for parents this week!

Parents will write a note of support and encouragement for kids. I'll put one note on their desk on day one of the ELA state test and one note on their desk for the first day of the math state test. Inside the envelope parents have a letter explaining the assessments and what they need to do, two envelopes, and two notecards for writing their child letters.

Secret Mission Parent Encouragement Notes

We had a secret agents day!

Since it was a half day, with an assembly, and lunch, AND a special...I wound up with only one hour of teaching time!! Soon, I decided to have some fun with it. We have a state test in ELA next week, so their secret mission was a reading passage and an extended response. After they finished writing it, they had a four point rubric to grade themselves and make changes to their final writing piece. They also got to do this rubric with invisible ink! It was a blast!

The "lasers" were made with white string and a black light shining on them.

I had our READ sign lit up for secret agents day and it looked even cooler in the dark!

The letters were from Michaels.

When I was going through my closet and gathering things to send to Goodwill, Arthur climbed inside the bag and snuggled up with my clothes! The funny thing is that he is afraid of plastic grocery bags!