Oh Technology

I love technology but sometimes it fails. Last summer I had a hard drive crash and lost a lot of teaching materials.  I tried every possible rescue option, but it simply was lost.  Many of the materials weren't backed up elsewhere (like dropbox) and I've painfully learned my lesson.

However, there is a silver lining.

I did find paper copies of nine different teacher guides while sorting through my teacher materials.  I'm retyping them and revising to ensure that they're up to my standards.  Teacher guides that I made a few years ago need some revision, plain and simple.  As I've learned more, I've taken this knowledge and poured it back into my products.

The upcoming teacher guides are:

The Bad Beginning (#1 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
The Reptile Room (#2 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
The Wide Window (#3 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
The Miserable Mill (#4 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
The Austere Academy (#5 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
The Vile Village (#7 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
The Hostile Hospital (#8 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
The Carnivorous Carnival (#9 in the Series of Unfortunate Events)
Brian's Winter (a sequel to Hatchet)
The River (a sequel to Hatchet) 
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (#1)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (#2)
 

All guides will be available within the coming weeks on TpT!  You can follow my store and get emails from TpT as soon as I upload products.

Happy reading!

New Novel Guide

Somehow in all the craziness of the end of the year, which is extra hectic this time, I managed to finish another novel.  My students are halfway through this book and will finish before the end of the school year, so I just wanted to make sure I did as well.

While reading and discussing the novel with my youngsters, I created a teacher guide to go along with Lemony Snicket's second prequel to The Series of Unfortunate Events.  In this novel, the narrator Lemony is challenged with another mysterious case of finding the missing brilliant chemist Cleo Knight.

In true Snicket fashion, the book left me frustrated with a whole new set of unanswered questions.  The third prequel, Shouldn't You Be In School? isn't scheduled for release until October of this year.  Oh Lemony, why do you do this to me?

The 20 page teacher guide is available here on TpT!

Dear Lemony Snicket...

Many of my small groups absolutely love The Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. 

 One group is reading the prequels but is quite upset only two of the four have been released. 

 

 I told them this is how I felt growing up waiting for Harry Potter sequels and to deal with it.  (Perhaps not the best teacher response but they need realize not everything in life is handed to them immediately.  Sometimes they have to wait for what they want.)

For one of our must do activities, they were instructed to write a letter to an author, sharing their feelings about the book.

Here are some of the responses to Lemony:

Quite the sassy remark!

I love their passion.

Happy reading!

Grading Fun

We had an assessment today on conjunctions and interjections.  I was pleased to see some awesome growth on their test but I was more pleased with their comments.

For my students who finish early, I have them write me a note on the back of their tests.  It could be about their clicks and clunks, it could be about the book they're reading, it could be about their spring break plans.  It's a simple way for them to communicate with me privately about their learning, share information and not disturb others who are still testing (a solid win-win).

While I was grading, I found these gems:

(Her task was to write a sentence with correlative conjunctions.  I'd say she nailed it!)

Yes, she wrote about shoes and shopping.  I think I'm proud?  Maybe I talk about my love of shoe shopping too often?

Second gem:

Yes, he gets it.  I understand that sometimes, you simply can't put a book down.  Our rule is not to spoil the reading for others.

Third:

Sometimes you can't pick a book to talk about...so you pick two.

Lastly:

I love that they love reading.  I love that their little notes to me are a glimpse for me to see what's going on inside their brains.  I love that reading is occupying most of their thoughts!

Reflections on Mockingjay (spoiler alert)

If you haven't read Suzanne Collin's Mockingjay, I'd advise you to stop reading this post and start reading that novel!  (That is, of course, if you've read Hunger Games and Catching Fire already. I'd never advise someone to pick up a book out of sequential order!)

My students just finished Mockingjay and were doing a quick write response.  I had them write a letter to a character and express their feelings.  I didn't realize they had such angry words to say to Gale:

At least they're passionate about their reading.

We had long conversations about the choices that were made in the book and how those aren't necessarily the choices we would make in real life.  We also talked about how sometimes book characters have to do things they don't want to do in order to survive.  Not to worry, we also talked about how killing book characters is not acceptable.

This group is now getting ready to tackle the Series of Unfortunate Events!

Happy reading :)

TpT Novel Guide: Who Could That Be at This Hour?

As I previously blogged about, crunch time with my small group novels arrived.  One of the three novels I read for the first time with a group was Lemony Snicket's Who Could That Be at This Hour?, a prequel to The Series of Unfortunate Events and the first of four in his new series All the Wrong Questions.

I enjoyed this book and its illustrations:

I found it to be less predictable than the Series of Unfortunate Events, which is written at a slightly lower DRA level.  This novel is a DRA 50, while his others are at a 44.

My teacher guide, complete with comprehension questions and suggested answers for each chapter, vocabulary ideas for each chapter, homework suggestions and more is available here on TpT!  This 18 page guide has everything you need to do this novel with a group.

Happy reading! 

That time has come...

For the first six months of the school year, I ran my small groups with ease.

Okay, not ease per say, but with a relatively stress-free mindset compared to the rest of my day. 

 I knew where to go for my weekly fluency passages (reading A-Z), I had a list of must do's to choose from based on what standards we were working on in whole group and what grade level assessment data revealed.  I've changed up our "word work" a few times, but am now using this great resource:

Based on my notes from our daily fluency practice (and my RCBM progress monitoring), I select what focus skill we'll be using for the week.  So far we've done irregular past tense verbs, silent consonants and soft & hard c.  Next week we're looking at stressed and unstressed syllables.

Over the past several years, I've meticulously created teacher guides for my novels.  Through the amazing generosity of supporters on donorschoose, awesome sales on Scholastic, thorough searching at second hand bookstores, Amazon's fast shipping and shamelessly using my teacher discount at both Borders and Barnes and Noble, I have established a decent classroom library, filled with multiple copies of some great books.  I try to have at least six of each, so I can use these novels with a small group.

However, with twelve small groups, I've arrived at the day I've dreaded.

Some of my groups are ready to read novels I haven't had the time to meticulously prepare...which means I have extra homework!

Granted, reading is by no means a chore.  I love reading!

However, while I'm reading the novel my students are, I'm carefully taking down vocabulary words, writing comprehension questions (with answers so I don't forget), picking out specific parts for a close read, brainstorming homework questions and more.  It takes a long time for me to prep a teacher guide so that I feel confident doing the novel with a small group.  I'm not one of those teachers that can just sit down and read the book with them, I want to be ahead of them so I know if the answers they're giving are correct.

Last week not one, but three of my groups finished their novels and selected new ones that I haven't read yet.  So this weekend's homework is reading at least the first part of these books:

"Who Could That Be at This Hour?" (the first of 4 novels in Lemony Snicket's All the Wrong Questions series, a quasi-prequel to the Series of Unfortunate Events)

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordian.  Darn, more adventures at Camp Half-Blood!

They selected this book because they noticed the Newbery Award on the cover and concluded it must be a good novel.  How can you argue with that logic?

I figure I won't finish all of them by Monday, but I can at least get part way through and stay a few chapters ahead of them!

(On the bright side, novel guides for these three books will be available within the coming month on my TpT site!).

On that note, I say goodbye for the weekend and am off to read!

New Product: Teacher Guide for The Slippery Slope

Several of my groups are working on The Series of Unfortunate Events, so I decided to revise some of my teacher guides to post on TpT.  When I revise, not only do I increase the difficulty of questions but also clarify ones that my students struggled with during our small group literature circles.

All of my products are "field tested" with my own fifth graders and they love our small groups.

This teacher guide comes in at 13 pages with vocabulary suggestions, comprehension questions, homework ideas and more!  Snag yours here!

More guides to follow, happy reading!

New Bulletin Board

It was that time again.  The bulletin board change time.

Normally, I don't mind.  However, bulletin board changes coincided with DRA testing and progress reports, so it was a tad stressful trying to get everything accomplished.

Since we've been doing a lot of comparing and contrasting with mentor text like Seed Folks, Tiger Rising, Sarah, Plain and Tall as well as Sign of the Beaver, I decided to carry on the trend.  

I had my small groups pick one event from their small group novels and write about how two different characters reacted to this event, drawing on evidence from the passage.  

We have to post an introduction to our bulletin boards (or as they're called in our performance zone, "Academic Wall Displays").  The introduction should include the task, the learning targets and what standards students are working on.

Naturally a final draft is WAY more exciting if it's on colorful paper!  

I had my students brainstorm and write rough drafts in their notebooks, edit with a partner, then write their final drafts.  Space on the back was provided as well.

(Following example not pictured)

One student wrote about an incident with a bear from Brian's Winter.  In this passage, Brian Robeson (from Hatchet) befriends a skunk (whom he affectionately names Betty).  I was worried I would get a shallow response about how one is a boy and one is an animal.  Instead I was pleasantly surprised when she wrote about how both characters are dealing with loneliness, homelessness and find comfort in their routines with each other.

I'm so excited they're "thinking deeply" about what they're reading!

The Miserable Mill

I really liked the idea of students being in charge of their own small groups, so I gave them large pieces of butcher paper, set guide lines and let them run with it.

We've worked a lot on keeping track of characters, so that was their first focus:

Since some groups were in the middle of novels, they didn't want to change the way they took notes until their next book switch (makes sense to me!).  We've spent a lot of time developing the "left side" of our brains by making lots of charts, changing colors each time and being systematically analytical.

However, just because I'm type A doesn't mean all my students are.  So I embraced the creative idea as well and modeled a less structured way of keeping track of the way a character changes over time.

They really liked this strategy so I think I'll keep allowing them the choice of how they want to organize their notes.  After all, my ultimate goals are to make them life-long avid readers and empower them to take ownership over their learning.  It truly doesn't matter how they take notes and respond to the literature, I just care that they're able to comprehend what they read, discuss the big ideas and be critical thinkers.

New Strategy: Mega Chart

My students have done a great job at keeping track of characters for our novels:

So I decided to try a different strategy:

 I gave them markers and a large piece of paper to keep track of characters.  They were so excited!  Their nerdy reaction to their new task warms my heart :)

I can tell who is contributing to the poster because each student is keeping track of one or two characters instead of all of them.  They will use a different color each time and I can always tell by their handwriting.  They just don't know they're being held accountable for their chart.

Instead of talking with me about how the characters are developing (I know, I already read the books), they'll meet as a group without me to discuss.  Since each person is responsible for a smaller portion, they can go more in depth about those characters and how they're changing throughout the novel.  

I told all my groups that we're preparing for middle school and that means they get more responsibility.  11/12 groups are really excited for the new challenge!  (As for the other...we're working on it.  The first task is making sure they do their homework and show up prepared!)

Happy reading!

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 :)

paper slide

During the last week before winter break, we made paper slide videos for our must-do.  I set the expectations:

But didn't pass out a rubric due to time.  (We had Discovery tests to finish, a writing task and a grade level reading test so time was limited.)  Next time, I'll do a rubric so they can self-assess.

Each time they're getting better, which is awesome to see their growth. 

They worked collaboratively:

And we watched their final projects on the last day before winter break!  Since they used their names, I won't post the link here but it is available on our kidblog sites (for my student & family readers).

Upcoming Products

I'm in the process of reformatting some centers based on my students' feedback and they should be available on TpT by the end of the year!

Chronological Order Sorts:
The Miserable Mill (#4 in the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket)
Gossamer by Lois Lowry (posted 12/08)
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordian (posted 12/10)
The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordian (posted 12/10)
Steal Away Home by Lois Ruby

Novel Units:
Harry Potter novels (1-6)

Quote Sorts:
Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games trilogy

Other various stations:
Tuck Everlasting character analysis 

Be sure to follow me on TpT to see the latest products and check out sales!

chronological order sorts! (products # 75, 76, 77, 78!)

I've been re-reading The Series of Unfortunate Events because three of my twelve groups are on those novels.  Two groups have read the Bad Beginning, the Reptile Room and are currently half way through The Wide Window while another group stopped after the Bad Beginning. 

I'm pleased to announce that I've posted the chronological order sorts for these three novels on TpT! The first 2 have 22 events each and the Wide Window has 26!

My students had a great time with them and yours can too :)

You can purchase them separately for $4 each (16-18 pgs) or as a bundle (50 pgs) for $10!

Each includes an answer key and twenty two or more events for students to put into chronological order.  

If you purchase the 50 page bundle, I recommend printing each on a separate color to make for easy clean up!

Happy reading :)

notes

Sometimes my students leave me notes on the bottom of their assessments. 

If they're done early, I have them reflect on their learning by telling me their clicks and clunks.

Instead of having them get up, turn their privacy screens and tests in, which causes other students to rush and be done too, I have them sit at their seats and just reflect on their learning.

I got this note today on the bottom of a student's test:

Her group is reading another novel instead of the Reptile Room next (Series of Unfortunate Events) but I told her we might come back to the Reptile Room and she can always check it out from the library.

I'm glad she's enjoying reading more.  It reminds me of why my job matters.

Paper slide

This afternoon, only one of my small groups came prepared to discuss our novel :(

So instead of wasting time, I complimented the student who was prepared, had the others write apology notes for wasting learning time and gave extra time to my other small group.  

We went over our interesting words, character changes, etc before I presented them with today's fun technology challenge.

Last night, I attended a Discovery Education Ambassador meeting (I'm a DENStar and ambassador for my school district, plus a DENSI alum so naturally I was there).  We talked about lots of strategies and I decided to use one of them today.

They had 15 minutes to design and create a paper slide. 

Working together, they did a mighty fine job!

Their finished product can be viewed here!

The video was filmed in the hallway without microphones on my iPad.  Obviously I'll make tweaks for next time!

My brain is teaming with ideas of how to use this strategy again!

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!

Book suggestions

So I just sort of realized that running two different reading blocks means I need more novel suggestions to read with students.  Since I send my kiddos home with the books as part of their homework and written responses to literature, it's not like two groups can share the same book at the same time.  I mean, I will pace out the groups as best I can so one group is always ahead of another with book series (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc).

However, I need some other book suggestions so I can work on teacher grants or visit the library.

I am currently reading Jerry Spinelli's Loser and loving it.

I am part way through Rick Riordan's The Lost Hero and have the two sequels on my coffee table: 

 

I have these books ready to read with small groups:

 

 

So what else should I read? I'm looking for book suggestions for DRA levels 40-60 or grade level equivalents 4.0 and up.  

Please recommend novels and why my munchkins should read them :)