Favorite Things Linky: Must-Have Picture Books + eBooks

Read Alouds...I. LOVE. THEM. and STUDENTS. LOVE. THEM. You do too, right?! Not only do I love the magic of sharing a book with my kids but I also love listening to others read too! One of my favorite moments of each week is on Friday mornings when my class goes to visit our librarian. We call them Book Talks. Our librarian selects some books and reads a few pages aloud to the class from each book. She does such an amazing job taking on the roles of the characters...using different voices, raising and lowering her voice, slowing and quickening the pace all depending on the context...the students (and myself!) are hooked and excited to explore and check out books that we may not have noticed otherwise. This story leads me to do a Book Talk of my own for you as part of Teaching Trio's Linky Party: A Few of My Favorite Things! Below are a few of my favorite books that I have recently read to my students.

In addition to having a love for picture books and read alouds, I am beginning to become a fan of eBooks as more familiar titles are made available. Check out Storyline Online and Epic! Storyline Online has well-known actors reading aloud popular children's books while Get Epic! has a range of recognizable fiction (think Scaredy Squirrel!) and nonfiction (that's kid friendly for young readers!) ebooks available to be read on the iPad or computer (another tip from our wonderful librarian!). Both are free! 

Happy Reading!

Visit Teaching Trio to link up and/or see more favorite things! 

Learning Across the Curriculum with Native Americans

Do you ever feel like there are just NOT enough hours in the day? All the time, right?! Well I’ve got a solution for you…integration! I’m talking about making connections across the curriculum, using content meaningfully and authentically, and engaging students in learning in multiple ways. Doesn't that sound great?! Take a look at how our unit on Native Americans was integrated with writing, reading, math, science, and within social studies. 

Writers’ Workshop

During the third quarter, we focus on informational writing...what better way to do that than to have students take on the role of a news reporter for the Powhatan, Lakota, and Pueblo?! Students researched each Native American group and then went through the writing process to write their news. Topics they wrote about ranged from announcements of  contents where a long house was the prize (as in the example above) and the arrival of the English settlers to warnings about tornados and buffalo stampedes. As long as they were informing the "public" about something related to the Native Americans, they could go wherever they liked with it. The final step was to bring their news to life with the free app, Telestory! 

Readers’ Workshop

We were focusing on some TOUGH skills in reading this quarter and using the Native American content was a great way to make inferences, asking questions, and locating information more accessible to all of my students since they all had background knowledge on this content from the work we had done in social studies.

First we started with poems...I wrote poems for each Native American group where the students had to infer what each line of the poem meant and then infer who the poem was about/what was happening in the poem. Students also used a Prezi I made with authentic Native American photos to make inferences about which Native American group was pictured. They had to use their connections about each tribe's home, transportation, environment, and occupations along with the clues in the pictures to make their inferences. They were making inferences just like a historian!

Pebble Books is an excellent resource for kid-friendly nonfiction books! My kids had been doing a great job generating questions before, during, and after reading but they were not always asking the most accurate questions that reflected what they had read. To help them with this skill, I copied and pasted text from Pebble Books into five paragraphs. Then I generated five different questions that were specific to each paragraph. My students' goal was to match each question to its related paragraph and then highlight key words in the paragraph to prove that the question did indeed relate to that paragraph. I did something similar to help them practice locating information. I again copied and pasted five paragraphs from Pebble Books but this time I generated five questions whose answers could be located in each of the paragraphs. Then students matched each question to the paragraph with that question's answer and highlighted the answer in the paragraph to prove their work. You could do this with any text to help students practice both of these challenging skills!

Math and Science

Google Maps in math?! Yes! Students "traveled" to destinations related to our three Native American groups, illustrated a picture of the environment (connection to habitats in science), and then added their miles as they traveled from place to place. Students got to "visit" long houses in Jamestown, buffalo at the Yellowstone National Park, and multi-story terrace buildings in Albuquerque. This was a great real-world context for the students to experience adding with regrouping as they progressed along their trip AND was so much fun (they especially liked the street view)!

Social Studies

Students mapped the houses, transportation, occupations, and environment of each tribe with specific mountain ranges, lakes, and rivers they are expected to be able to locate in 2nd grade.

Economics beautifully integrates with Native Americans...the different resources, needs and wants, goods and services, bartering, scarcity...it's the perfect opportunity to integrate across social studies objectives. First I gave the students a list of economic academic vocabulary words and we discussed examples of each vocabulary word and how it related to the Native Americans. Students organized this information into a Tree Map (photo above, top left). After that, they used the Tree Map to create a Native American good or service...students made jewelry, buffalo skin, a feather game, bows and arrows, teepees, pottery, etc. The next day they bartered their goods and services in exchange for goods and services from each other. This simulation was a hit! Following the simulation, they completed a reflection on bartering and scarcity and a resource sort. The documents for our economics simulation are available in my TpT store. Enjoy!


Keep in mind that my students did other Native American activities and tasks that did not lend themselves to integration. When it was appropriate and connections were seamless, integration was a great way to supplement this content-based unit. What connections can you see across your curriculum? in other content areas? Give it a try!

Students As Authors: Writers' Workshop Part IV

It’s always a lifesaver to have extra writing activities on hand that are ready any time! Here are some fun ideas that I use for students who finish first:

Whole-Class Journals

Whole-class journals are community journals with open ended prompts. Click the link for my free whole-class journal labels! 

Story Starter Cubes and Scholastic Story Starter Machine

Scholastic's Story Starter Machine is SO FUN. Just click the link and you'll see! 

Blogging

In the past I've had my students use Kidblog but this year I created a blog group on Edmodo. Every year I always have a group of students who take off with blogging and even do it at home...they are the writers who don't usually compose much on paper but when you give them a keyboard, they go on and on! The students also like having an audience and being able to write to each other. 

Drop Everything and Write

Just like Drop Everything and Read, we do Drop Everything and Write! I got this idea from my mentor teacher during student teaching and use it every year. The students love to interview each other and have conversations through writing. 

Have I convinced you? Isn’t writing the best? ;) 

Students As Authors: Writers' Workshop Part III

What do writers write?! Each quarter we focus on a different type of writing (narrative, persuasive/opinion, informational, and back to narrative), and I pick a topic that is related to one of our current units of study in science or social studies for their writing pieces. Integration = Connections = DEEP LEARNING! Then when all is said and done, I offer the students activities that extend upon their writing, which often involves technology or art. 

My ultimate favorite writing unit we have done is Who Should be Mayor of Pickle City? for persuasive writing. During this writing unit, the students are simultaneously learning about the elected leaders and responsibilities of local government in social studies. To hook the students, I created two fictional mayoral candidates of the fictional Pickle City. 

Meet…Kate Ketchup and Pete Pizza! 

I presented each candidate’s platform to the students with Voki (a free tech tool used to make talking avatars). They loved it and thought it was hilarious. Then we summarized each candidate’s platform and discussed pros and cons for each point. Following this overview of the candidates, students decided who they wanted to side with. Who would make the best mayor for Pickle City? 

During the Planning stage, they used a flow map from Read, Write, Think (I printed the blank map) and brainstormed introductions and recorded the main points of their candidate’s platform. Then they caucused with their like-minded group through an inner/outer circle format to develop arguments for each of their points. This worked out so fabulously! They collaborated with many different people and gained great information from each other. 

After they had developed a strong argument for their candidate, they developed counterclaims. We started by having a VERY guided debate (debate inspiration from professional development by our county’s language arts supervisor). I asked the students, “Why do you think Kate Ketchup or Pete Pizza should be mayor?” A student would offer an opinion about Kate Ketchup’s platform and then another student would offer their thoughts about Pete Pizza. I continued switching between both sides recording their arguments on chart paper. 

Caucus with Like-Minded Group                                                                                                                  Guided Debate

THEN came the counterclaim. I explained that it’s important to see both sides. and that politely refuting another’s idea can make for a stronger argument. I proceeded by asking the students to look at the arguments documented on the chart paper for the opposition and think of a reason as to why it’s not a good idea and what your candidate could do that would be better. Following this direction, the students developed at least one counterclaim with the following sentence frame: 

"Some may argue that…however… "

What the students wrote was unbelievable! They had become expert persuaders! I wish I had a student example to share with you but from what I can remember, they wrote things like, "Some may argue that more cars equals more pollution however Pete Pizza will offer cars that run on electricity."

After our debate, students completed their planning by adding a conclusion. They wrote things like, "Obviously Kate Ketchup is the best choice for mayor," and, "In my opinion you should vote for Pete Pizza." Then they proceeded through the stages of the writing process. When they reached the Publishing stage, they composed their final draft as a letter to the citizens of Pickle City. And when all was said and done, our classroom was covered with campaign posters, voting booths, and ticket ballots. 

Students as Authors: Writers' Workshop Part II

Most of our writers’ workshop is spent writing, of course! Planning > First Draft > Edit/Revise > Publishing. These are the stages my students follow for each writing piece. They keep their work in a writing folder and move it from magazine box to magazine box based on each stage of the writing process (idea source from The Superlative Six). Nearly all of my Writing Process Labels have become detached from our boxes but if you're interested in seeing the labels, they are available for FREE in my TpT store. The students usually do two to three pieces each quarter. We spend A LOT of time on each piece to really make it quality. I am a big fan of Thinking Maps and have the students use them for the Planning stage. Sometimes I create my own Thinking Maps templates and sometimes I find JUST what I'm looking for from Lisa Lizak and Beth Wright or Read, Write, Think (click links for free Thinking Maps!). 

During the First Draft stage, students use their Thinking Map to compose their writing on special draft paper. If students need me, they sign up for a writing reservation (made with Google Forms) on the computer. I will also pull small groups based on what I see. 

Writing reservations also come in handy for the Edit/Revise stage. I love the writing reservations because it gives me a record of what students need and who I’ve met with but the best part is, the students do all the work! They love going to the computer and completing the writing reservation form. It makes them feel so fancy! I keep my iPad at my fingertips and have the results of the writing reservation form up on the screen and it updates in real time as the students submit a reservation. 

Student View of Writing Reservation                          Student in Action                      Teacher View of Writing Reservations

One of the most overwhelming parts of writing for me used to be editing student work so I then I got smarter and started having the students do most of it. It's a win-win for both the students and I because they become master editors with all the practice (I also like to think that maybe they put more effort into their first drafts so then they don’t have to correct as much, wishful thinking?) and I don’t have to spend hours after school editing every single error. 

During the Edit/Revise stage, I’ll pull a small group based on the reservations. They bring a marker, clipboard, and their first draft to the carpet. I keep a dry-erase board with me to do brief lessons based on their errors. I will instruct the students to check every sentence for a capital letter, punctuation, etc. and they use editing marks to make the corrections. As the year progresses, I add additional steps during the Edit/Revise stage, such as pick a word to find a jazzy synonym for, check for contractions, etc. During the final part of this stage, I pair the students up and they read their writing aloud to one another while I rotate around and listen in. The purpose of the partner read aloud is for them to give each other compliments and suggestions. Two brains are better than one, right?! They also catch a lot of errors once they hear how their writing sounds out loud.

Finally, the students move to their final draft! They write their story on loose-leaf notebook paper (it takes them forever to remember what side the holes go on! Does anyone have any tricks for that?) and sometimes they make it into a book! Every other month I organize an event called Quill and Scroll with my colleagues where five students from each class are invited to share a "published" piece of writing one evening after school. Families are invited, the kids dress up...it's real special! Every student in the school gets invited to at least one Quill and Scroll during the year. Stay tuned for a more detailed post on how to organize your own Quill and Scroll!  

Students As Authors: Writers' Workshop Part I

What’s your favorite subject? I would absolutely say writing. Mostly because I LOVE what my students come up with…their adorable writers’ voice and creative ideas. I also like it because it’s the one subject I have to plan the least for…once we get started on a writing piece, the students do most of the work! I also have become super comfortable with managing writer’s workshop. Not comfortable in the I’m-in-a-rut kind of way but instead comfortable in the sense that everything is just as it should be, smooth and peaceful. Who doesn’t love that? The funny thing is our routine for writers’ workshop stays the same all year yet my students nor I have ever gotten antsy with our routine compared to readers’ workshop that I have to revise at certain times of the year. Want to know what I’m talking about? Here’s an overview of writers’ workshop in my classroom that will be shared over a series of posts:

Characteristics of My Writers’ Workshop

My three favorite things about Writers’ Workshop: read alouds, sharing, and music. Some days we start our workshop with a read aloud to focus on a type of writing, text structure, topic sentences, etc. There are so many fabulous mentor texts available! Other days we start with a student or two sharing their writing. The students continue to have opportunities to share during and at the end of our workshop. Throughout the year they learn how to compliment each other and offer suggestions. Many a time a student will write something that is unbelievably amazing, something better than I could have ever planned…these moments are significant for igniting the fire in others. Lightbulbs go off in students and I hear words like “Oh I could include that in my story by…!” and “Look! I just added…just like Ashley did!” 

Isn’t that the best? Meanwhile The Piano Guys are playing on Pandora in the background and I think that nothing could be better than this. If you haven't listened to The Piano Guys Station on Pandora, you must go there right now. You'll be glad you did. ;)

Visit Hippo Hooray for Second Grade for more on Pandora in the classroom. 

Technology Integration First Year Recap

Love me some technology!! Here are a few highlights of how I integrate technology to engage students and enrich their learning. Enjoy!

1. Unit Reviews with Jeopardy

Who doesn't love a good ol' round of Jeopardy? This isn't your typical PowerPoint Jeopardy...have you heard of JeopardyLabs? It's free and looks so authentic! I started creating these as test reviews but then thought, silly me, I should have the students make these! So they did. :) But they only did it once because it was rather time consuming for them to create their own. However they got so into Jeopardy that they were making them at home with the categories as different members of their family!  Two other students created a Jeopardy about Greek Gods and Goddesses for fun too. Here are the links to a few we used in class: Ancient Egypt and China, Fractions, Estimation, Tables, and Calendar, Matter, Measurement, and Probability.

2. Research, Writing, and Egypt with Puppet Pals

Click Photo to View Movie

This may be my favorite project from this past year because it was FUN and integrated reading, writing, and social studies. When I discovered the Puppet Pals app I couldn't wait to use it in the classroom. The students created videos where they acted like a tour guide in ancient Egypt. Here's a description of the app from iTunes:

"Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later."

First I had the students research ancient Egypt. This opportunity gave the students practice locating information in a nonfiction text (our social studies textbook), which is a comprehension skill they struggled with. I created a research guide using the essential questions from our state's curriculum. The students recorded their research in a tree map.

Then the students used their research to write a five paragraph script as a tour guide. The students got really creative and into their role as a tour guide! I recall some of them writing in their introduction things like "I hope you had a safe plane ride!" and "I hope you brought lots of water because it's going to be hot in the desert!"

After they finished writing their script, they were ready to begin using Puppet Pals. First they selected their backdrops from Google Images (photos of pyramids, the Nile River, the desert, etc.). Then I took their photo so they could upload themselves into Puppet Pals. I also permitted them to use two to three other characters as people on their tour. In the video above, the student chose Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Sarah Palin as participants in her tour. Too funny! Finally, they would record their script! As a result of this project, EVERY STUDENT became an expert on ancient Egypt! I look forward to doing this project again next year!

3. Word Study Tests with Spelling City

I absolutely love using Spelling City to give word study assessments! Spelling City makes administering different word study tests for differentiated groups SO EASY. Once you create your own lists, they'll be available for future use, which equals working smarter, not harder! I included Spelling City as a center during our rotations on Fridays.

4. Economics Vocabulary with Motivational Posters

You know those Motivational Posters? Well there's an app to create your own! Our awesome ITRT shared this app with us at one of our monthly staff technology trainings! The students used our classroom costumes and props to illustrate/demonstrate an academic vocabulary word. I love their angry faces in this poster! I'm always on the lookout for other exciting ways to incorporate academic vocabulary...any ideas?!

Stay tuned for my next post on gifts for students and parents!

Managing the Literacy Block (Part 1)

I recently discovered this amazing blog:

It's a collaborative blog on best practices for differentiating instruction (based off Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson's work). The four teachers behind this effort just created this blog in July, and I can already tell great info and ideas are going to come from them!

I was in the midst of figuring out how to structure my literacy block with the CAFE and Writers' Workshop when I started feeling SUPER OVERWHELMED...reading conferences, writing conferences, small group (or strategy groups) instruction, whole group instruction, assessments, mini-lessons... my brain was overloaded. So I took a break and stumbled upon a post on flexible groupings from The Differentiation Destination. This post really spoke to me. After reading it, I got the inspiration I needed to put the pieces of the puzzle together. And now I'm ready (and a little afraid) to share it with you. :)

First of all, two of my biggest questions this summer have been:
1. How am I going to manage reading and writing (and math but I'm still working on that one)?
2. How am I going to meet the needs of 27 second graders?

I know many of you have been reading the Two Sisters' CAFE and Daily 5. Both books are such a great resource! I am also a fan of the books below too.

 


During student teaching I had a binder, like the Two Sisters suggest, and I used elaborate charts and graphs from The Next Step in Guided Reading (I should have read The CAFE Book more carefully because they warned about elaborate charts). I found that I had trouble managing a binder (it just got too crowded) so I have taken the bare necessities and parts from each of these resources to create a system of individual, small, and whole group instruction that will hopefully work for me and my students. As for centers, I'm not going to do the exact model of Daily 5 but I'll post more about that at a later time (you can view my center board here though). It might be too much or not enough but I won't know for sure until I actually meet my students and get in the classroom! Nonetheless, I like to be prepared and would like to share my plans with you anyway. :)



Here is my tentative weekly literacy schedule:

note: to the right of any slashes is what I'm doing with selected students and to the left of any slashes is what the rest of the students are doing

The Meek Moose was recently talking about baby steps and that's what I need to take when introducing all the components of the literacy block to my students.The CAFE Book and Launching the Writers' Workshop give great suggestions on how to get started...the Two Sisters recommend not even starting strategy groups (groups based on need not ability/level) until mid-October. A lot depends on my students too, who I am anxious to meet!




Here is how I will stay organized:

I am going to use magazine boxes (Ikea) and file folders (Target). The pictures above are my reading files and the boxes they are kept in (I have my writing documents set-up the same way). Like I mentioned earlier, the binder didn't work for me but if it works for you, you can easily adapt these files into sections of a binder.

Box 1, Individual Instruction: will house the conference schedule file with (1) reading conference appointments and (2) keeping track form. Each students' reading conference file will also be in this box. I'd also like to put some kind of helpful conferencing resource on the left side (the side that is currently blank) of the student conference form.

Box 2, Strategy Group Instruction: will house file with (1) reading strategy group appointments and (2) reading strategy group lessons. Materials for strategy group lessons will also be placed in this box.

Box 3, Whole Group Instruction: will house file with (1) weekly overview of whole group reading mini-lessons and (2) plans for mini-lessons.  Materials needed for whole group lessons will also be placed in the box.

You can download all the labels and documents (both reading and writing) in my TpT store for free.


If you are interested in learning more about each of these documents, stay tuned for Managing the Literacy Block (Part 2) where I will go into more detail about how I am going to use them, etc. If you have any questions, leave me a comment, and I will try to answer it in my post. :)

Monday Made It Linky Party

Made It Monday, hosted by Tara at 4th Grade Frolics, makes Mondays so much more fun! Click Tara's button to check out all the great projects!

 

 I have three projects to share with you:

1. Absent Student Folder: When students are absent, I will place any assignments that they missed in this folder and have it waiting for them on their desk when they return. I always want students to feel a sense of belonging in our classroom so when they are gone, I definitely want them to know they were missed. The reason I will have them return their completed work on Friday is because that is when grades are due. At my school, we must turn in two grades per subject every Friday. The file folders are from Target, and I created the label with clipart from Maree Trulove and fonts from Kimberly Geswein. I did a little play on words with Pete the Cat. :) You can download my absent student label in Google Docs.

2. Whole Class Journals: I've seen this concept of whole class journals on Pinterest and on many other blogs and loved the idea. I created labels with eight different open-ended writing prompts. These journals will be an option for Early Birds. I hope these journals will not only give students authentic writing opportunities but will also help with creating a sense of community. You can download my journal labels in Google Docs.

3. Centers during Guided Reading: While this is not done yet, I wanted to show you what I have started (sorry the photo is a little blurry). I implemented the Daily 5 during student teaching (and loved it!!) so I'm taking what I love about the Daily 5, the technology resources my school has to offer, and suggestions from my mentors to create effective centers. The green numbers on the left are the number of rotations. The yellow transportation circles at the top are my six groups. My plan is for the six centers to stay the same but to give two to three options (that will change either every week or every other week) at each center. I want to do something similar to the Clutter-Free Classroom's math workshop board (pictured below) but with a twist that I'll have to wait to share until I can get in my classroom to see if my vision will work. :)

 

I will have 27 students so by offering six centers that will leave 3 to 4 students at each center depending on who is being pulled for Guided Reading throughout the hour. I used transportation clip art because our grade level theme is the Time Travelers...the theme is integrated into our curriculum. Here are some closer-up photos:

You can download my center labels in Google Docs.

Clip art:

Have a super week!! :)

App Happy Linky Party

I'm so excited that Hope King at 2nd Grade Shenanigans is having an App Happy Linky Party (love the Book Retriever app she posted about!) because over this past weekend I was searching for apps to use with my iPad in the classroom. Click Hope's button to check out other apps that make teachers happy!

Here are a few apps I want to try out in the classroom and thoughts on how to use them:

1. Evernote (free): You can create files of digital notebooks for anything and everything. I want to create a digital notebook for each student and have the notebook serve as an e-portfolio. You can upload pictures of student work, use the audio feature to record a student reading, etc. Wouldn't this be great to show parents at conferences? Soaring Through Second Grade wrote a great post on using Evernote too.

2. Penultimate ($0.99): An amazing handwriting app (the best on the market I've heard)! You can use your finger or stylus to write notes or draw pictures. Penultimate is owned by the Evernote people so for example, if you write anecdotal notes about a student, you can easily send it to that student's notebook in Evernote. I also want to use this app in place of an easel during small group work. If I didn't have this app, I would only be able to type any kind of notes, and I'd rather be able to write them.

3. Show Me (free): An interactive whiteboard app. You can create (and watch) tutorials on anything! The app has a record-voice over feature too so for example, you could (or even the students could!) make a tutorial on how to do double digit addition with step-by-step visuals while also giving an explanation. This could be used as a student assessment. Or you could post your Show Me on your class website for students to review material at home.

4. Puppet Pals (free): A super fun animated movie app (it's won an award too)! I learned about this app at a conference in June from a third grade teacher. In his classroom, he had the students take stories they had written and turn them into short animated movies. He said his students' writing improved dramatically...their stories became more interesting because when creating the movies they needed to have included dialogue and more details in their writing. This app also helped with fluency because students were reading aloud and using expression to, again, be more interesting. You can upgrade to Puppet Pals Director's Pass ($2.99) for a lot more characters and features. I can't wait to experiment with Puppet Pals with my second graders!

I'd love to hear any other ideas you have with using these apps! :)

First Graders as Researchers!

I'm so excited to share with you about the research the students did this week! I divided them into groups, and each group was assigned an animal. I would have let them choose their own animal but our options were limited to the books that were available in the library and those that the students would be able to read independently. In the library, I found the perfect books made my Scholastic that were non-fiction leveled readers.

On the first day of their research, they were given one of the Scholastic non-fiction leveled readers and read about their assigned animal. Before they started reading, I modeled how to work cooperatively. I also showed them a poster I had made about ladybugs and modeled the process of researching and designing the poster.

 On the next day, they were each given responsibility for finding a particular piece of information about their animal. I created research notes for them to record their information. Some of the groups had an odd number of students so in those cases two students worked together to record the information.

On the third day, the students designed posters about their animal. Finally, on the fourth day, students presented their poster and reported about their animal to their peers! Here are the posters they created:

Angelfish

Bear Cubs

Bunnies

Seal Pups

The students got really into their posters and were so excited to share! They also impressed me with how they worked together in cooperative groups. Only one of the groups was having trouble getting along so I had to do some extra modeling for them, and their poster turned out great!

What other research projects have your students done?