The Next Steps in Guided Reading…

Hello friends!  On Mondays, beginning on July 13th, I will be talking about Jan Robinson’s book The Next Steps In Guided Reading.  I will have a couple guest bloggers on to share their takes on different titles and some other link ups to other bloggers in the group.  I encourage you to follow our discussions by using #guidedreadinggals.  If you are looking for answers and/or some hints or tips for guided reading in your classrooms, grab your copy and read with us!

I can safely say that I am back…and with a freebie!!!

Well, mid teacher summer is here and I think I can safely make a dip back into the bloggy pool.  At least the shallow end anyway.  I taught second grade this year at a different school…It was an eye opening experience to say the least but I learned as much if not more than my students did.  The one thing I learned is that kids are so much more capable than we give them credit for, they just need the right motivation.  This was most evident when I was teaching writing and constructed response answers.  One goal I had this year was to get kids writing coherent answers to short answer questions.  I hated having fourth graders come in and not be able to effectively answer a question.  So I started basic and we worked on restating the question.  Simply lifting part of the question and placing it in your answer.  Second graders stepped up let me just tell ya.  They felt so grown up when I told them “guys, fourth graders don’t even do this as well as you!!!  My strategy for teaching this was the acronym RUN.  We read the task and placed a rectangle around the do word (i.e. describe or summarize).  Then we would underline the key words in the question to place as our restated portion of the response.  Then we would put any numbering or labels in our answer and get to writing.  Click on the pic for a free copy to use in your classroom.  With repeated practice and scaffolding, even my approaching students were able to write a constructed response answer. 

And students NEED TO BE KIDS.  I tapped into that as much as possible this school year.  We did a lot of GoNoodle Indoor Recess Mix…They begged for brain breaks and Popsico! 

My students would go gaga for these and the mega mixes allowed for the boys who don’t dance, you know the ones, to get up and get at it!  Go Noodle is a resource I will use no matter what grade I teach!  It was a great school year, a humbling learning experience and I am already turning this new school year over in my mind!!!  I hope these resources get your wheels turning as well. 

Happy Independence Day!!!

Facebook and the Old Fashioned Book Study…

I love Facebook…totally can be used for the power of good!  I am taking part in two book studies on Facebook right now!  I am in a Daily 5 group and a guided reading group.  (Yes little ones, teachers are in reading groups too!) Because of the nature of the nature of these books, I am going to post them separately and I will post my chapter reactions, thoughts, questions etc on Mondays and Wednesdays.  Can we say some sort of linky party may be developing…I don’t know, I digress…

Before I go any further with my Wednesday book (its my only book this week since I have to go pick my other book up) I wanted to link to the Facebook groups in case you might be interested in joining us. 

Daily 5 Book Study AND thank you to the fabulous Marie Lee of The Literacy Spot for putting together our club for The Next Steps in Guided Reading  by Jan Richardson. 

Onto the first two chapters of the the CAFE book.

Chapter 1 is basically an introduction to the book and how the system was born.  CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Extend vocabulary.  We learn in chapter 1 that the teacher does meet with each student, some students more than other dependent on how the needs show up during assessment.  Students become goal oriented in the design through individual conferences with the teacher, again each student, but some more than other others each week.  There are not a huge number of record keeping forms because the Sisters wanted this process to be in-depth, but user friendly.  Based on the conferences and what goals the students set, small fluid groups are formed.  The groups are goal based so students may or may not be reading the same book.  As I stated before, some students get more face time with the teacher than others.  Taking from Richard Allington’s research, exemplary teachers of reading knew that children with the greatest needs get the most instruction initially and then as the school year progresses the amount of time decreases as the needs decrease.  This doesn’t mean your advanced readers at any grade level get ignored, it just means the quality of the instruction when they are with you must be enriching!

One key standout of chapter 1 was a research point.  The Sisters refer to it as a touchstone of what they do…It was drawn from an article from Johnston, Allington, and Afflerbach in 1985 and titled “The Congruence of Classroom and Remedial Reading Instruction.”  In relation to Rita today, in order for students to become readers and develop strategies, coordination must take place between what these students are learning in the classroom and what is going on in tiered instruction.  Otherwise, students do not get the opportunities for application of the newly learned skill.  This is one plus for curriculum pacing guides in districts and food for thought when discussing student progress during the PLC!

Chapter 2…The Pensieve…

This is the organization station of those few forms.  I love the calendar and the keeping track form.  The strategy group sheet I can see helping me streamline my groups by organizing the information from the conferences and the data I get from my running records.  We are a guided reading classroom and school and that data is significant for RtI groups. I love the individual data I will be able to collect and how that will help me back better instructional decisions for these kids.   I am sure I am going to learn this as I read further but I don’t yet know what the touch points are. 

 

And those are my musings and a question over the first two chapters of The CAFE Book.  Check back next Wednesday for chapters 3 and 4. 

Have a great day and a blessed tomorrow!

Do what is right…even when no one is watching….

This is what I have tried to instill in my kids from the day they came into the world.  Most of the time, it is a naturally occurring phenomenon.  Especially with kids.  They want to know what the rules and expectations are from the first day they meet you.  They want to know what is the right thing to do because you are their teacher now and for some kids, you are the only adult who ever existed in the world and no one else knows anything except you because you are the teacher.  If you ask my 6 year old, her teachers are the world experts on everything and since I am not a kindergarten teacher there is no possible way I could be right.  I used to get a giggle out of statements like this in parent conferences.  “he says you don’t do it this way so it is not right!”  or “She won’t let me help her because I do it differently and its not the way you do it!”  My favorite of all time is, “could you call Mrs. Sadler to read my bedtime story Mommy?  You just aren’t reading with expression.  Mrs. Sadler always talks like the characters!”  I thought all this was said for my benefit and amusement for so many years but when my daughter started school I realized that in the eyes of the student, I rarely do wrong.  But, I do.  I do lots of things wrong.  I don’t always have all my copies made.  I don’t always have my lesson plans on my desk ready for admin to come in.  I don’t always have my data ready for meetings.  I am a human and I don’t always have it all together.  I do what I can do in a day and then I go home to my own kids to do my second full time job of wife and mom.  But the most important thing I can do everyday is be honest, have integrity and do what is right, even when no one is watching.  I admit to my students when I don’t have it all together, I own up when the plans aren’t out on my desk or the data report is not ready for the meeting and then I make it right.  It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, honesty is the best policy.  Which brings me to my point.  When working with people, whether it be little people or big people…do what is right, not that which is easy or popular.  I read a motivational poster when I was in high school.  You know the ones they hang in the hallways trying to keep highschoolers on the straight and narrow path, I will never forget it either because I thought it was a cool play on words.  “Doing what is easy isn’t always right and doing what is right isn’t always easy.”  It has stayed with me for a long time.  So most of the time, I have my stuff together.  I believe in team work and having a zero G (gossip) policy.  I stay in my room and get my stuff done so I can go home at the end of the day.  Doing what is right is just that.  Teachers work for one common goal, the growth of the student. But when we, the big people in the building, stray from that goal and begin doing things that are not right and we know it, nothing good comes from it.  So, my friends, as you read this commentary on the teacher’s life, just remember to do what is right by all the people you work with…your students, your teams, your teachers.  Taking the easy or more popular road will more often than not prove disastrous trip.  Treat others as you would expect them to treat you and you will get it back ten fold.  And that can go either way because Karma is fickle friend!

Have a great day and talk to ya next time!

Getting a blog face lift people!!!

Well folks!  I am doing it!  I am getting  custom blog from an actual blog designer!  I am about get serious up in here!  I want this to be an all inclusive blog…I am a teacher and it is a major part of my life.  So the title of the blog will be changing but in such a way that no matter where I go, what grade or position where I might teach won’t affect the title or content of the blog.  So, if you have suggestions for the name of my blog, drop ‘em to me in the comments. 

The designer I chose is a teacher I follow on instagram.  Her name is Lindsey Paull.  Click her button here and check her out! 

She is one of us!  A full time teacher, with a new husband and a life!  She is one busy girl but her blogs are awesome and she is really affordable!  I will let you know when the blog goes down for installation but that wouldn’t be until around labor day.  Until then, keep checking back weekly to see what I have going on this summer! 

 

Right now, I am plowing through 131 active engagement strategies, a new reading series and the incorporation of Lucy Caulkins units of studies AND the integration of the NGSS science standards.  Yes that’s right.  CCPS is going live with the NGSS this school year and based on the work the Clark County second grade team of Stacey, Lyngle, Cindy and myself, it is gonna be good! 

Jumping back in…head first!

Well been MIA for almost a year and I miss my blog like I miss my best friend!  My blog is not my best friend, but you are picking up what I am putting down :) 

I have so many things going on right now, my kids trying to mangle each other is one of them at the moment.  The other is getting my back to school items in order and figuring out what to do with my classroom.  I found a great blogpost not too long ago that I would like to mention here.  I really want to do something like this with my classroom this year to foster student choice and personal choices this year.  This post is from Two Nutty Teachers Teaching From The Same Tree….They were featured on Rachel Lynette’s Minds In Bloom

I arranged my classroom in a very similar way during the last nine weeks of the school year and I have to say, I was able to get a lot from my second graders.  I still have some fine tuning to do and several materials to purchase to get this going in a major way for my students this up coming school year.  It definitely gives me something to look forward to ya know!

I will be setting up and sticking to a weekly blog schedule.  You might see one more post from me this week but then I will be a once to twice a week blogger!  Have a great day friends and I look forward to writing for you again real soon!

 Heeeellllloooooo, I gotta knock some cobwebs outta here in order to type this post!  I was looking back at a post I wrote at the end of last year and wham, I realized I hadn't posted ANYTHING this school year.  Well for good reason.  I haven't had the time to do ANYTHING EXTRA...even though I love this little blog, it has gone neglected for a long time.  I hope I can get back on this baby after this school year is put in the record books and I don't have to learn my job again.  Thanks for still hanging on with me!  Love and hugs to you all, stay warm out there!