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!

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!

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!

Self Assessing

In my classroom, we do a lot of formative checks for understanding.  Usually as part of the lesson's closure, I ask for their comfort level with the new content.

Sometimes it's as simple as thumbs up (I've got it), thumbs side ways (I'm confused) and thumbs down (I'm lost).

Sometimes they close their eyes so they can be completely honest with me...this usually happens when I get all thumbs up.  Not that I'm a bad teacher, but one fifteen minute mini-lesson doesn't lead to 100% complete understanding from 31 very different students.  So we try the quick response again, just with our eyes closed.  

We have a lot of conversations that learning is a process and it's okay to not have mastery over a concept.  We use the word yet a lot.  

We also do a 1, 2, 3 or 4 finger response.

1: I'm lost, I need help.  This corresponds with emerging on our proficiency scale.

2: I'm confused.  I'm starting to get the material, but I have questions.  This would be approaching on our proficiency scale.

3: I think I've got it.  This would be meeting.

4: I know I've got it and could explain it to my parents or neighbor.  This level of understanding has to be proven to me and would relate to exceeding.

I found this cute graphic on TpT:

And want it for my classroom!  Perhaps I could just recreate it with my students so there is more meaning.

We also do "clicks and clunks" as lesson closure.  They tell their neighbor what is "clicking" (making sense) and "clunking" (confusing).  I walk around listening so I know what I need to clarify the next day.

I also have them share their clicks on the way out the door with a fist bump.

It's great that they're familiar with assessing their own understanding and being reflective on their learning.  It's important for them to learn to self advocate and speak up with questions.  

A/E/I/O/U Strategy

It's always best to try to stay one step ahead of these lively students, so I'm continually looking for new strategies.

I adapted one of Discovery Education's strategies for my classroom.  I'm keeping their name of "A/E/I/O/U".  

While reading our science readers, they had this task:

Write about:

One A ha! moment (something new and exciting)

One emotion envoking moment (curiosity? confusion?)

One interesting fact

One oh? moment  where they learned something new

One uh? moment where some new piece of information was "clunking" with them (not making sense).

We did 2 different passages this week and they did a fairly good job at adapting to the new strategy!

Clicks and Clunks

This week, our school's power (vocabulary) word is strategy.

In honor of this, I'll share about one of my new favorite strategies: "clicks and clunks".

I'm aware this is in no way a new strategy and is taught in numerous teacher prep courses.  However, it's new to me :)

I read about it in my beloved CORE source book:

And it's really "clicking" with my students.

(By the way, I googled for an image of the CORE book and my own image from a prior blog post came up...weird moment.)

Basically, it's a formative assessment where students analyze thier own learning.  They share what's "clicking" in their heads and what is "clunking" (not making total sense).

We talk about the importance of being honest and talk about why things are clunking.

I have my students give me fist bumps on their way out the door and share their clicks/clunks with me.

Yesterday, one student told me that our weekly phonics skill (/s/, /sh/, /z/) was clunking with her because she was confused about the letters.  Using this clunk, I explained in a different way during our word study this morning and she got it :) 

 (Hopefully others did too but since she specifically told me that was a clunk, I wanted to help her with it)

Speaking of clicking and clunking, here are mine for the day:

Clicks:

Almost all of my students are making growth on RCBM for Aimsweb for their oral reading fluency and words per minute.  One that went down had a very honest conversation that he wanted to try reading without using his finger as a place holder to see if he really needed it.  Turns out, he does need to keep track of his place with his finger but more importantly, he realizes that it's a strategy he needs to use because it helps him. 

Some of my students have grown over forty words since their beginning of the year benchmark.  Yes, you read that correctly. 40 words. In a minute.  They're almost at their end of year ambitious goals.

Clearly our daily repeated reading, buddy coaching and fluency stations are working!

Clunks:

Voice levels still aren't where they need to be.

Our server was down today: no access to my documents, my premade lessons, my email or the internet.  We made the best of it but it was frustrating being without technology.

Happy Friday! (almost...)