Syllables

After going through my students' beginning of the year forms, I noticed many of them said they struggled with reading multisyllablic words and spelling.

To confirm my suspicions that they lacked phonics instruction, I gave them a syllable sort.  You can read the whole story here, but basically they were completely stumped.

So I started instruction with closed syllables and progressed from there.

They had their quick check on Friday and most of them did quite well.  I know that some still need more instruction, but I'm excited to move from syllables to word chunking strategies during RTI time.

You can snag the syllable overview and syllable sort here.

Day Three, the frustration continues

My day of frustrating them didn't end with math.

Later in the day, we went over sorts.  They did "no way Jose and that's a fact, Jack!" first.  In this sort, they separated statements about fifth grade into true and false statements. 

They also learned the procedures for gallery walks, where they critique the reasoning of others without touching the other team's sort.  It's a great opportunity for them to also practice using the accountable talk stems that we brainstormed together.

I color coded the stems to help my visual learners.

They also did an editing and revising sort which I used as a formative assessment.  They're still a little fuzzy on the differences between the two, so that's a teachable moment for me in the next few weeks.  We didn't provide any instruction on their writing task this week because we wanted to use it as an informal benchmark.  This week they wrote a letter to their future selves, which they'll get back the last week of school.

They were pretty good with the first two sorts, but then I gave them a syllable sort.

They were completely stumped.  Some groups used their responding cups to ask for help, one group tried to bribe me (both with food and a dollar), some made piles of what they thought they knew and what was confusing, some started sounding out the syllables, and others were on the right track.  They asked for help, but I let them struggle.  Struggle is a good thing.  When we came back together, I had a lot of grumpy students.  I told them that this activity helped me to see where I need to start phonics instruction (with what is a syllable), and showed me that they knew to ask for help, were comfortable asking for help, and could work together.  No groups quit during their struggle time (which was five minutes, I'm not that mean).  

They wanted to know the answers.  I said no, they don't get to know that yet.  We'll start instruction next week, but I'm not just giving you the answers without the practice.  

This was very irritating to many of my students, especially the higher ones.  I told them they won't always get the answers right away.  They won't know everything right away.  Learning is a process and it takes time.  They aren't used to not getting the answers right away and I told them this will be an adjustment.  They'll have to work through things.  They'll struggle. In the end, it will make them stronger thinkers.

I think some of them get it, but it doesn't mean they like it.

Best part of day 3?  This happened:

Oh yes, it happens in real life. 

Bulletin Board Ideas for next year

I get to be creative again with my bulletin boards!

In high school, I was class vice president. (Vice for Vice, see how well that campaign worked out?)  At Arizona State, I was a RA/CA (community assistant) with Residential Life.  This month marks year six of teaching.

So I've spent a lot of time with bulletin boards over the past decade(s).  This is a good thing...because I love them.  I love making them cute and showing off student work.

I'm at a new school, which means I can recycle old bulletin board ideas for a new audience!  This minimizes my prep work and well, who doesn't love that?

(I've also included the Common Core State Standards that I'll be teaching/assessing with each bulletin board.  You can read more about the standards here)

September

I was thinking some sort of Harry Potter themed "word wizards" display with types of syllables.  I don't know how much phonics instruction has been given in the past, but I like to start phonics instruction with going over the six types of syllables.  By knowing how to break apart words, students will get to practice reading those larger multisyllabic words.  They'll also get practice looking for affixes and roots, which aids in their comprehension.  I'm thinking some sort of foldable where they break apart their own names and justify the syllable types underneath.  I'll add a written component about how this helps them as readers, so they have to justify their thinking.  I'll also have them find words from their own novels to break apart as well, thus giving them some ownership.

CCSS RF 5.3a, L54b

October

By this point, we should be editing and revising our written pieces with Being a Writer.  I will do a mini-lesson on dead (zombie) words.  For those not in the know, these awful words like to pop up in fifth grade writing samples.  These words belong in primary writing samples, but have no business in upper elementary!  Zombie words include transitions such as first, next, last.  Zombie words are dead words that just keep reappearing.  I'm sick of said.  I'm sick of reading "good" and "bad".  We need more alive words!

So I'll reuse this idea (mainly the drawings...those took a while!):

To make this bulletin board more rigorous, I'll display their final drafts with copies of their rough drafts underneath.  That way, viewers can see that writing (like learning) is a process.  They'll be able to see authentic student work that has been revised and edited with the purpose of eliminating dead (zombie) words.

CCSS W52d, W53c, W54, W510, L52e, L56

November

By this point, my students have hopefully finished several novels, making my theme work bulletin board an appropriate choice.  Given that November is full of three day weeks, this would be an easy writing/reading project that students could finish at home.

I'd have them compare two novels within the same genre, focusing on how the author reveals the theme through characters' actions.  This would be guided at first, but then students would write independently.  Since I don't think I'll be doing full novel read alouds, I'd probably model this with poetry and have them practice with novels.  I'm hoping to have students that have read the same books so they can bounce ideas off of one another.  I'm also fully aware they might not be ready for this yet and my November bulletin board will become March's instead.

RL 5.9, RL 5.2

December

I haven't made my long range plans yet, but I can safely assume that by December, we've covered figurative language.  Most likely several times.

Which means a bulletin board all about idioms!

Since I assume many of my students will be English Language Learners, explicitly teaching figurative language is crucial.  I can even have them find examples of figurative language in their text, thus allowing for an opportunity to not only practice quoting accurately but also justify their thinking with a written response.  (Or a typed response, we'll incorporate technology as well!)

RL 5.1, L5.5a, L5.5b

January

"What's Your Problem?"

Yes, time for a math bulletin board.  I will give them a solution and they have to come up with appropriate, reasonable questions that would yield my answer(s).  This ties in with the eight mathematical practices and would have students use a variety of models and strategies to defend their questions.  This would be easily differentiated and I could have those fast finishers come up with a second problem.  This could easily be a spiral review of concepts where I could strategically differentiate based on which domain students need the extra practice.

CCSS: most of the math ones :)

SMP: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
(Rigorous math activities should use most, if not all, of the 8 math practices...just an FYI!)

February

I'm torn.  I have two ideas for February, both holiday-related...ish.

The first: book crushes

Students would use a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two characters (their book crushes).  They would write a written response about both characters, using evidence from the text(s). 

RL 5.3, RL 5.1, W59a

The second idea: persuasive letters to George

(graphic organizer (by Ginger Snaps) and mentor text)

By now, I hope we've covered both persuasive writing and the American revolution.  I'd have students examine a historical view point and write a letter to either King George or General George Washington.  Students can choose to be loyalists or patriots and choose which leader they're writing to. I'd push the higher kids to pick a less popular perspective or to write from a neutral perspective.  This would incorporate informational texts, quoting accurately, persuasive writing, perspective of the narrator, and a bit of research.

CCSS RI 5.1, RI 5.3, RI 5.4, RI 5.6, RI 5.7, RI 5.8, RI 5.9, W51  (plus history & civics/government standards)

March

Mad Scientist March has a nice ring to it...

I know we are rolling out the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), so I'm not entirely sure what this will look like.  I know my new coaches mentioned going to lots of trainings and researching our school's science options before picking these green boxes.  I'm excited to learn more about NGSS and STEM :)

Perhaps this is where they could display their own inquiry projects and scientific proposals?

April and May...TBD. 

Maybe bookopoly again?

 I planned out eight months worth of bulletin boards...I think my brain can safely shut down for the evening.

What are your bulletin board ideas for next year?

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!

Syllables

We have been working on decoding multisyllabic words this week during our word study.

Well, day.  Monday was the only day we actually have word study since today was parent/teacher conference day, tomorrow is a field trip, Thursday is staff development day and Friday we are celebrating Nevada day and have no school.

I'm revising my small groups next week to start with blending through multi-syllabic words with a focus on specific affixes and roots.  We'll start with blending and word study, that way when students come in a minute or two late, they don't miss fluency and buddy coaching.

Our word attack strategy:

We also reviewed where to break apart syllables:

And hung this near our CLOVER chart:

Happy word work!

Syllables

This week in phonics, we're reviewing r-controlled vowels.  This aligns with CLOVER as one of the six types of syllables.  To help my students, we did our syllable sort in IE block and small groups:

Students collaboratively work together to sort syllables into the 6 CLOVER categories:

C: closed syllables
L: consonant -le
O: open syllables
V: vowel teams
E: silent e
R: r-controlled

By studying syllables and strategies for breaking apart multisyllabic words, students have multiple opportunites to practice this crucial reading skill.

Students also referred to our ever-growing phonics wall:

I got the ideas from another awesome co-worker. I love that I work with such amazing educators, I feel like I learn something new each day :)

Happy reading!

Snap shots

So in our performance zone in our district, we have a facebook page (which you can follow here).  Our school is clearly overachievers when it comes to anchor charts since we've got over a hundred pictures in our album.  Of those, about eight are mine which gives me some warm and fuzzy feelings.  

Here are two snap shots that haven't been previously mentioned on my blog:

Our QR code:

I was a little hesitant at first but this was actually super easy to create.  I turned my welcome letter and info packet into a PDF, which I then uploaded into dropbox.  From dropbox, I did "share link" and emailed the link to myself.  Then, I copied the link and went to one of the numerous free QR code creators and pasted in the url.  After triple checking from various devices, I printed on pink cardstock and stapled it outside my door.

I'm not sure how many parents have downloaded the welcome letter but it's a good strategy for those with smart devices!

Phonics instruction:

We were doing a power point presentation on the 6 types of syllables (CLOVER) at the beginning of the year.  My students were still working on getting the main idea into their notebooks, so I was modeling what to write down by using the smart board markers with the power point:

Just an easy way to give explicit instruction on exactly what you want your students to put in their notebooks :)

Our small groups

I love my small group discussions about novels.

It's a little tricky to manage 12 groups and they're still a little loud at centers, but it's a work in progress.

Here is our daily schedule for small groups:

Yes, making sure I set the timer is the first task! I need my small kitchen timer to hold me accountable to time :)

Here are some of our updated "keeping track of character charts":

I love how well they're doing with pulling out crucial details to see how characters develop over the course of the novels.

We also got our copies of Tuck Everlasting! Thank you donors :) I can't wait to use them with my young readers!

Our updated reading board, now that we've established what we are working on in class:

I also created folders for each novel:

Inside are various novel-specific thinking maps for them to glue into their small group reading notebooks to organize their thinking, make predictions, look for figurative language, etc.

To help with many of our word work and phonics centers, I created a smaller version of CLOVER to help students remember how to identify syllable types:

Happy reading!

Classroom Updates

Our classroom is a work in progress.

Our word wall, for example, frequently gets new academic vocabulary words.

The words are color-coded by content area.  I also moved our interesting words anchor chart to the word wall.

Here is our affixes anchor chart:

We are currently working on syllables and short vowels which is why our chart isn't very detailed.

I will be making a Greek and Latin roots one this week since we keep referencing geo in science.

Here is a snapshot of our classroom behavior expectations:

Here is the list of classroom jobs, which I borrowed from my awesome neighbor.

She is so cute with her creative names!  I'm lucky to work with such amazing women (aka my sister wives).

Here are some of our attention getting signals:

I saw what is in black and they respond with the magenta response.  I like the options :)  It keeps me (and them) from being bored!

I also utilized the magnetic bookshelves:

To hold fluency scripts, reader's theater and timers :)

Here is a super cute gift from another coworker:

She knows my love of football and even though she's a Cowboys fan, she supports my devotion to the Arizona Cardinals.  That's teamwork for you :)

Here is one of our mapping sorts:

 I printed the center in 5 different colors for each of my table teams and laminated it for durability.  The large ziplock bag contains all of the smaller ziplock bags and centers.  I find this double bag system works best for my classroom management.

Here is another example, but of our syllable sort:

Here are our new dry erase markers:

Each student has his/her name printed on an address label.  The address label is then wrapped in clear packing tape for durability.

I upcycled an old tackle box

to hold our classroom supplies!  Sticky address labels have so many uses!

I also posted our classroom norms:

Again, wordle is a great resource!

We talked about landforms today in science

then created them!

I discovered this note on my board at the end of the day:

It's the little things that mean the most.