July goals revisited

Apparently July is ending soon, so I thought I'd revisit my July goals post.  The original post is in italics while my updated thoughts are in bold.

So let's set some goals for July:
1) I will keep my wedding prep talk to a minimum.  B's brother and fiance are getting married next month and we're both in the wedding party.  I don't want to steal their thunder.  

Yeah....I got a little carried away with the planning.  Sorry readers...I'll refrain from posting more for a bit.  I've tried to keep it to the blog and with my mom.  I did get my dress for their wedding and am helping with some craft project on Thursday morning. 

2) Finish The Blood of Olympus. I'm on chapter 14 and don't plan on doing much more the rest of the day.  Plus this will be my plane reading.

So my plane reading became napping.  I'm on chapter 32 (of 50?).  I plan to knock out a few more chapters tomorrow.  I'd be farther along if I didn't have my helper...

We've been doing lots of belly rubs!  Waffles has been amazingly helpful at blogging, reading, and crafting.  Her fur sisters have been equally helpful at aggressively smelling things and knocking sharpies to the ground for Waffles to play with.

My goal is to finish it before I go back to school...and before his next novel comes out!  The main character shares a last name with Annabeth and this is based on Norse gods.  My heart is happy.

 

3) Learn, a lot.  I'm off to DENSI 2015 tomorrow evening and super excited to reconnect with others.  I'm the only representative from my whole state...so no pressure there!

I learned so much! Now I just need to stop being a slacker and share what I learned.

4) Help a friend earn some great rewards with her online Jamberry party.  We are having lots of fun with our nail wraps and I love that I can have gorgeous nails without a trip to the salon for way cheaper! It's a win-win all around!  I previously posted, I'm currently rocking a Shark Week themed jamicure.
Favorite Jamicures:

Oh yeah, I did that glittery pink and silver ombre look at home in 20 minutes flat while watching television.  Bam!
 

Her party is finishing up on Wednesday.  We've had fun and I've learned a few things. I don't think the next online party will go as long because there isn't the sense of urgency when it's open for three weeks.  Now I know better. 
 
5) Finish watching season 2 of Arrow.  We've got just a few episodes left, but it's Shark Week and that obviously takes priority!

DONE!  We've got a new season of Ink Master to enjoy next.

6) Catch up with family and old friends.  We're seeing one of my oldest friends and his girlfriend tomorrow for dinner.  I get to spend next weekend in DC with my bestie.  I'll get to talk to my mom soon (she's gallivanting in Europe and having the time of her life!)

DONE!  I've had some recent painful moments where I've realized that the friendships I treasured just aren't the same because people change.  That's been a rough lesson to learn this month.  I feel like this is a lesson I keep learning over and over again because I have a hard time giving up on people.  But I've also had some great times with the wonderful people in my life, many of them my new friends  from my new school.  Thanks tribe for being awesome.

7) Finish up some minor craft projects that I've started.  I donated a bunch of old items to a friend for her church's garage sale, so it's nice to purge items that I no longer need.  I'm in the process of organizing the garage and cleaning out our guest room (since it will quickly be taken over by wedding prep craft projects).

Done...ish.  One paint project is currently drying.  Others are being finalized this evening (I am binge watching Netflix without shame) or tomorrow after my eye doctor check up.  Our guest room has three distinct piles: work, Jamberry, and wedding.  The school pile is the largest. 


August will be consumed with their wedding, math training, and returning to work to conquer year seven in the classroom.

I've got five or six small wedding projects (mostly for the engagement party) to work on next month.  I'm excited about my math training.  

I'm also excited for this free learning opportunity: 

It's an online PD on August 4th and I'll get teaching materials in the mail after completing the course.  I didn't have the opportunity to attend this at DENSI, so I'm pleased it's offered again.  To clarify, I'm not excited about the content.  I think the content is beyond important and I am excited to learn strategies for discussing this dark period in history with my students.  I plan to use Number the Stars as one of our grade level read alouds and want to do a better job front loading the novel with the historical context.

Last year we read Esperanza Rising and building in the historical context about the Dust Bowl made a world of difference with my students.  

What are your goals?  Did you achieve them? If not, (no judgment) what's your revised plan for success?

What? You've Never Seen This?

Now that it's summer break, I have time to reflect upon yet another year in the classroom.  This year was my most challenging yet and for that, I am grateful. 

I have some definite face-palm moments in my classroom.

Sometimes I forget that things I assume are common knowledge just...aren't.

The first of many, many moments was when I had to clarify that kings and queens do actually exist.  We were reading informational text on the American Revolution, which naturally included a discussion on King George III.  This was our mentor text:

They really enjoyed reading and analyzing this passage, although the language and vocabulary did provide some stumbling blocks.  However, through discussion, I realized that many of them were confused.  They knew the passage we were reading was true and based on facts because it's informational text (hallelujah they've got that down), but were "clunking" on the king label.  They didn't realize that kings and queens were real.  So after a quick discussion that included yes, kings are real and no, dragons aren't, they seemed to be more okay with the topic.  

Apparently they then all went out to recess and informed the other fifth graders, thus ending their confusion as well.  Kings did (and do) exist.  Glad that's cleared up.

Second, some didn't realize World War Two actually occurred at all, much less (potentially) within their grandparents' lifetime.  We were reading Number the Stars and I set the necessary historical background.  We looked at some maps (okay Google Earth...it's much more interactive) and took a virtual field trip of Copenhagen.

Then some of my higher students, who have read Number the Stars earlier in the year made the connection that wait, this was based on true events.  Another made the connection to some video game, which sparked a class-wide discussion.  Next time, I think I'll start with the video game reference since that made a lot more sense to many of them.

Live, learn, and teach on!

Thank You's

One of my students brought me this:

The gesture is sweet but I think she's secretly trying to bribe me into letting her read Tuck Everlasting. Her group just started Number the Stars and she's convinced it's the best book, ever.  She's on chapter three but has already proclaimed this book as her favorite...ever.

These are my students.

Just doin' my job...

One of my parents came to me today with a very pressing issue.  

She had a doctor's appointment later that day and needed a book to read.  Naturally, I came to mind as someone to recommend a new book.

This makes my heart so incredibly happy that I'm immediately thought of as a credible person to recommend books.

I know she's read Number the Stars, Tuck Everlasting, the Bad Beginning, and Who Could That Be At This Hour? with her daughter this year.  So I recommended one of my new favorites:

I gave her a quick synopsis and she was sold!  If you haven't checked out this book, I highly recommend it!

These are my students...

My kiddos had some awesome opportunities this week.  We had a historical presentation from the Mount Vernon association, a Q & A session with a police officer and those that earned the reward got to learn about reptiles.  

So we talked about being grateful for these opportunities and wrote thank you cards.  I modeled one for them, we brainstormed sentence frames and I let them write.   They partner edited, I provided stationary and whatever part of their letter that was unfinished became homework.

Over ninety percent were returned today, which was pretty exciting to see.

I separated the letters into piles and flipped through them until I found this:

Yes, my lovely student decided it was totally appropriate to offer a book recommendation to a complete stranger at the end of her letter.  I think I'm proud?

These are the students I've raised.  There are no boundaries and we should just tell everyone about our books, whether or not we were asked.

At least they're loving reading!

Expository Writing, Part Two

As I previously blogged about, our grade level is working on expository writing.  We split Europe into four parts and each class took a different section.

The students researched using internet data bases such as culture grams and recorded their research in their writing notebooks.

I was excited to get Northern Europe not only because my heritage is from England and Ireland, but because many of my students have read Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, so they were thrilled to get to create brochures on Denmark and Sweden.

Our hallway:

My wall:

(I had some great student helpers!)

My fabulous team members' walls:

Close up of our brochures:

We printed maps from Crayola's website and of course I used polka dot ribbon to connect brochures with the countries!

As an added bonus, one of the fifth grade classes won first prize in the door decorating contest for Reading Week!  We hung the medal in the hallway to share, since we did a thematic unit together.

They had such a wonderful time creating these brochures.  It's nice to see them so excited about what they're learning :)

Just between you and me...

I'm often conflicted about what to do when students finish a test early.  Most want to stand up, return their test, dividers, highlighters and grab a book to read.

In theory, this is wonderful!

However, when some of my fast finishers do this, it quickly motivates other students to rush through as well.  In their rushing, they often skip questions or make careless mistakes.  

So instead I've started having them reflect on their learning on the back of their tests.

I merely ask them to tell me their "clicks and clunks" or to write me a letter.  I clarify that the information stays between me and them.  Sometimes I let them tell me about the story they're reading, what's happening at home, etc.

Here were some responses I got after their comma test:

She's good.

She loves reading!

While another went in depth about each and every subject she has in school.

At least they're taking ownership of their learning!

Some other responses that aren't pictured included confusion about where to place apostrophies to show ownership.  So we had a quick mini-lesson to clear up that confusion!

Small Groups

Small group reading is my favorite part of my day because I love watching my young scholars get so excited about their novels!

I really like researching about new strategies and trying them with my small groups.  This week we used the stop and jot strategy with post-its:

I had my Number the Stars group focus in on the Nazi soldiers' midnight visit.  They recorded their thinking while reading and then used their recordings to guide their own discussions.

Homework:

I wish I had time to meet with them daily but I simply have too many groups to make that possible.  So we meet every 3 days and they have independent reading and homework in between:

I give them four or five questions to respond to and use evidence from the text to support their answers.  I love when they do such a great job with details!

They also are taking more ownership and creating charts about their novels:

Which we store in a magnetic bin at the front of the room.

I used a regular plastic bin and hot glued on magnets to make it work for my classroom.

I like how my students are so open to new ideas and strategies as well!  It's wonderful to keep learning together :)

Fun Writes!

I'm pleased to announce my newest station is available on TpT! 

In this "fun writes", I pose a series of task cards for students to write about.  These task cards are novel specific and challenge students to make connections between texts! Students can also make self to text connections, like with this question:

 Plus it's a lot of fun for students and truly challenges their thinking :)  For an added challenge, have them justify their answers with evidence from the novels!  With over thirty different fun questions , this is great for extension activities, whole group or small groups!

Snag yours here!

character charts

As we're finishing up our novels, we're posting our character and setting charts on the wall:

 I think I'm running out of space! I think I'll take them down, put them on a book ring:

And create a flipchart.

Plus, that'd free up valuable wall space!  Based on one of my fabulous neighbor's suggestions, I'm going to make a "shout out" board where I can post good examples of their "must do's" and work.

I had a major problem last week with a very small percentage of my classes not doing the must do correctly and on time.

Part of it was my fault for not explicitly modeling, but part of it was due to their desires to rush to do centers. 

So, as always in teaching, I'll make adjustments for next time.

I think having the positive motivator of being on the display board will definitely help! Stay tuned :)

Number the Stars chronological order sort

#74 is up on TpT!

I've created a chronological order sort for Lois Lowry's Number the Stars. In this center, students put the 22 events back in order and can check themselves with the provided answer key.

A must have for small groups and literature stations!  Since this center contains spoilers for the end of the novel, I'd recommend having students complete the novel prior to doing this activity!  Grab yours here now!  Answer key is included.

Happy reading!

Theme Work

This week we reviewed theme in small groups.  I gave my students a paragraph stem (read previous post here) and they independently wrote their responses on post-its.

From there, they combined their responses to make a group response (above).

These became my new bulletin board:

A nifty fourth grade teacher helped me come up with the witty name:

I also added a picture of our anchor chart and put cut outs of our novels to provide others with the necessary back ground knowledge (you know, of what books we read!)

I think they did a great job at picking out themes from their various novels.  Our next challenge will be finding the quotes that support their answers and adding more details!

new stations

New stations are posted on TpT!

The first one is a survival sort. 

I created this one to go along with multiple novels that have survival as a theme.  I created this to go along with Lois Lowry's The Giver and Number the Stars; Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay novels as well as Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, Brian's Winter, Brian's Return, The River and Brian's Return. Students work together to sort descriptions into various categories: emotions, shelter, dangers, etc.  My students love playing this center and as an extension, coming up with new cards to add to our sort.  I love when they are invested in our activities.

The second one is responses to literature for Lois Lowry's Gossamer.

In this station, students draw from over 20 different response to literature cards based on the novel.  Students will respond to the literature, then discuss their answers with their partner or small group.

This supports the CCSS RL 5.1 (quoting accurately) and W 5.9a (response to literature) standards.

Centers one and two are available NOW!

I'm currently working on the next two, which should be available by Sunday.

The third station is based on the Harry Potter novels.  

Students will have to sort descriptions into the characters that are being described.  The center includes descriptions for all the novels and has an "I don't know this yet" section so students can use this sort for any of the seven novels.

This epic sort comes in at thirty five pages and is quite the steal!

The fourth station is also based on Harry Potter, but has students sort descriptions for the houses of Hogwarts.  

Enjoy!

All of these stations are available on my TpT store.  Again, the first two are up now and the second two will be available by Sunday night :)

 If you purchase the products, thank you!  Please consider rating them as well :)

Surprise project!

My students are nearing the completion of their first novels in small groups and I love how much they're loving the books.   Between my 12 small groups, they're reading Hatchet, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the Bad Beginning, The Giver, Number the Stars, Gossamer, and Hunger Games.  

One of my students decided to make a foldable today for her novel Number the Stars:

Inside, she worked on describing the main characters:

I love that she took the initiative to make her own foldable and wanted to share it with me :)

TpT

As I'm sure you're well aware, I have a store on TpT.  (Teachers pay teachers)  I have been in the classroom for five years now and am proud of the rigorous novel studies and centers I've made.  Nothing in my store was made for the sake of posting it on TpT, but rather created for my own classroom and shared with others.  I know that I work hard and more importantly, my students make great academic gains.

Here is a short list of what is available on TpT

novel units (questions, answers, vocab, extension activities, homework questions)
Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief (1)
Percy Jackson & the Sea of Monsters (2)
Percy Jackson & the Titan's Curse (3)
Percy Jackson & the Battle of the Labyrinth (4) 
Percy Jackson & the Last Olympian (5) 
Steal Away Home
Loser
Gossamer
Holes
Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Number the Stars
Tiger Rising
The Giver
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

literacy centers/stations
Percy Jackson "Who am I?" center with answer key (based on books 1 & 2)
Hunger Games & Catching Fire "who am I?" center with answer key
Harry Potter "Who am I?" center with answer key
Series of Unfortunate Events "Who am I?" center with answer key
literacy stations bundle
Percy Jackson quote sort for the Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson quote sort for the Sea of Monsters
Percy Jackson quote sort for the Titan's Curse
Percy Jackson quote sort for the Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy Jackson quote sort for the Titan's Curse
editing & revising sort (writing)
Tuck Everlasting quote sort
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone chronological order sort (freebie)
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets chronological order sort
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban chronological order sort
Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire chronological order sort 
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix chronological order sort
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince chronological order sort
Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows chronological order sort 
Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets quote sort
Hunger Games chronological order sort 
Catching Fire chronological order sort
Prefix concentration, CCSS aligned
Roots concentration, CCSS aligned
Suffix concentration, CCSS aligned
Catching Fire quote sort

math centers
math taboo (vocabulary activity)
math centers bundle

science centers
mixtures & solutions sort 
types of maps sort (geography)
"I have, Who has?" landforms review
5 themes of geography ppt (freebie)

misc
table of contents organizer for notebooks (multiple academic areas)
back to school activities bundle
teacher forms guide bundle
Teacher name plate


Coming Soon!
math strategies sorts
prefixes, roots & suffixes sorts
Harry Potter novel guides (1-6)
Harry Potter Quote sorts
Mockingjay chronological order sort
Teacher guides for the Series of Unfortunate Events
Teacher guides for Hatchet

and more!  I just need a time travel device :)

Small Literature Groups

While typing up notes for a novel unit on TpT, I realized I needed to revise my SG notes.  What worked for me my first and second year of teaching doesn't work for me now.

When reflecting on my teaching, I often come back to one of my favorite quotes by Maya Angelou: 

"When you know better, you do better"

Well, I'm going to do better.  I revised my units to add  in answers and increased the complexity of the questions by making them more open-ended.  I also included suggested homework questions for students.  These revised units are available on TpT.

I always have my students divide their notebooks into four sections:

I give them four questions to answer based on the chapter(s) for homework and we discuss those in depth.

For my small groups, I have them keep track of characters, analyze shifts in setting and make note of interesting vocabulary words in their small group notebooks.

We spend most of our time in our group meetings digging deep into the text.  I check their notebooks, set them up for the next discussion (usually allowing them to decide how much they want to read because I set the minimum) and then dive into the text.

Since I have six groups and only an hour each period, I can't meet each group every day. 

Here's our run-down:

First 8 minutes: fluency.

Students work with a partner to "buddy coach".  I set the timer for one minute and half the class reads in a whisper to their coach.  The coach keeps track of errors and at the timer, gives feedback on rate, expression, accuracy and phrasing.  After one minute of coaching, the students track their progress on this chart (from the CORE sourcebook).  Then they switch roles and repeat.

My beloved:

(yes, I'm a little type-A with my tabs)

I get my leveled fluency passages from reading A-Z but I know there are lots of websites and teacher's guides available.  I print them double sided so the students keep the passages for two weeks because that's better for our planet.

They chart on their fluency tracker:

After that, we spend a few minutes going over the week's phonics: Greek & Latin roots.

We look at the roots, add them to our anchor chart and then decompose multisyllabic words to decode the word's meaning.

From there,  I divide the remaining time in two and start pulling my groups.  I leave 2 minutes at the end for clean up and transition time.

To make sure all my groups get equal time at stations, I make this chart for my lesson plans:

That way I can make sure all my groups get the same centers.

This week, our stations are:

1. Fluency binder (like buddy coaching except they select the passage and can work in groups).  I've printed poems, songs, speeches and passages for students to read and buddy coach with.  I used FCRR printables to have students guide their discussions.

2. fluency quiz-quiz trade cards: they rate each other on their expression and accuracy, using these guides which are glued in their notebooks:

3. character jenga (I upcycled a jenga game and put open ended discussion questions for students to quiz each other).  This one gets a little loud but I love the discussions students have with one another about the book so it's worth it.

4. Kidblog.  This great, free resource allows students to respond to each other and to my blog questions on a safe, secure site:

If you view our page, that's all you see.  Students need a log in (their id numbers) and I get full approval of their posts.

5. "build-a-word": They take syllables and create multisyllabic words, recording their answers in their notebooks.  

6. "word-o-matic" (an FCRR center) where they create words.  I printed vowels on one color and consonants on another to make for easy clean up :)

Most of my centers are in manilla envelopes with instructions on sticky labels.  It helps keep students accountable for their behavior.

7.  Writing thank you letters for donor's choose :)  We got our new materials and love them! Thank you again donors!

8. Idiom cards: one of our new donorschoose centers to help with figurative langugage, which we've been working on during whole group reading!

I also posted our group norms:

I got this sweet card from a student today:

Happy reading!
-Ms. Vice