Daily Five Literacy Rotation

      I introduced math rotations a few weeks ago and it has been going well, so I thought it was time to introduce the reading/writing version. The students handled it so well. They did not want to rotate out of some of the stations, and I might get to the point where we truly do the daily 5 where they can choose how long they spend in a centre but for now, 15-20 minutes is how long each rotation lasts. During the summer I won a management system from the awesome Ashlyn Ellsworth  and I use that to help my students know what station to go to.  There are 4 stations that the students rotate though, and the only one missing is "Listen to Reading". I may add that one in, as we have an awesome app for reading that I want to introduce. 

This is a picture of my rotation boards. Green and orange is math and yellow and teal is reading. You can buy a copy here

So in our rotations we go through: Read to Self, Work on Writing, Word Work, and Read to Someone. We use the acronym R.E.A.D. 

R is: Read to Self

In this station, students read to themselves and fill in a sticky note using a bookmark I adapted from Pinterest. They read and when they come to a part they want to respond to, they draw a symbol on their sticky note and leave it in their book, at the end of the session they put their sticky note into their reading response journal and write a sentence or two about what the sticky note is about. So for example if they draw a heart on their sticky, that means that they liked that part of the story. then in their journals, they write down what they liked. Some of them got it, but we will keep trying.

The E is: Exploring words

In this station students sort their words (we are using Words their Way this year for the first time) and then they do a word activity. In our first rotation we did rainbow words. 

A is for At Your Seat Writing: 

For this station the students were either working on finishing their fractured fairytales, or writing in their free-write journals. (I love how she was writing).

Finally, the D is for Duo Reading or partner reading: 

I have a few bins of books that I have put 2-3 copies of the same book in, and they can choose what books to read with a partner during this station. Eventually I will add in a response element but for now, reading together is our main goal.

I was so proud of how well they did, I can tell that last years teachers did some Daily 5 stuff, and the ones that didn't, those students caught on quickly. I am really enjoying how quickly most of them adapt and just get into the flow of the routines and expectations, and that I can trust that the majority of them are doing what they are supposed to do. It has been a great start to the year! 

Classroom Reveal

My Room, So Far....

Before Shots: 

From the door:

The front of the room:

All the furniture stacked up 

From the front of the room looking back

looking to the far side

My library area

Ok, now that you saw my "blank canvas" I am going to show you some of the things I have been working on. We don't start until September 8, so my room is not quite ready, therefore, I will do a follow up post to show you the after, when it is ready. For now, here are some new things I have done this year. 

Amy Lemons and her Key Word Kiddos!

My Super Improver Board

 Hope King's Math Centers!

Ashlyn Ellsworth's Reading and Math Centre rotation boards

 Inspired by Ashley Schroeder  ( and yes, I went barefoot at this point in the day! :))

 My B.R.A.G. Tags, will be from Angie Olson 

Edit: Here is the link to the follow up post showing my classroom "finished"

http://mygrade2adventure.blogspot.ca/2015/09/classroom-reveal-part-2.html

5 Ways To Engage and Motivate Student Writers

Have you ever been in the presence of teacher that you could spend all day listening to and wish he/she worked at your school and that you could be him/her when you grew up, all at the same time? Well, that is how I feel about Adrienne Gear. She is a teacher, author, speaker, new book smeller (her #reallife confession) and motivator. She has written 4 books, Reading Power, Reading Power for Non-Fiction, Writing Power and Writing Power for Non Fiction and she travels around and shares her reading and writing methods. She is AWESOME and so real and down to earth! Oh! and she fuels my obsession with children's literature and I buy so many books because of her!  I have been to many of her workshops and will continue to go for as long as I can. Every time I go I learn new things, and get inspired to teach reading and writing ALL DAY LONG!  I know, that's not possible but if it was I would be on board! 

Okay, enough gushing, here are some of the things I learned in her Writing Power workshop on Friday (and yes I know it's the middle of summer, but it doesn't matter, it was SO WORTH IT!). 

1. I re-learned that the process of writing is more important than the cute products we find on Pinterest. (although these have their place). For every 10 or so pieces of writing, only one should be taken to the publishing level. We want student's to practice how to be writers, and not everything a writer writes will be published. That's real life! 

2. I learned that to motivate students to write, they need to have a reason to write. That reason is their reader. They write so a reader will read their writing. They have a purpose when they write, to engage their reader. To entertain, to instruct, to tell a story, to inform or share knowledge, to connect, empower, impact, to persuade or share opinions, to describe an event. THIS IS KEY! Students need to know that what they write is important and that someone wants to read what they write. She uses the line with her kids, "You don't have to write, you GET to write!" 

3. I re-learned that students should have two goals as writers. Their goals should be to not bore their readers or confuse them. I love how simple these goals are and yet they encompass everything that students need to be taught in order to have effective writing. To engage readers writers should have: interesting details, interesting words, similes and other literary techniques, engage their readers five senses, and have a writer's voice. This will ensure that their writing is not boring. To make sure they aren't confusing their readers,writers watch out for spelling errors, they use proper punctuation, they use correct spacing, they organize their writing and they stay on topic. I have these goals in my room as an anchor chart and I refer to it A LOT! I love that it is broken down in a way that makes it easy for all students to understand. 

3a. I learned an new acronym for those students who constantly have their hand in the air during writing, waiting for you to spell a word for them ( I had one child who wanted every word spelled for her, ain't nobody got time for that!). You simply tell them to G.U.M it! Give it a try, Underline the word, and Move on! When I heard this, it was like a Hallelujah moment let me tell you! I will be making this into a anchor chart ASAP, believe me! 

4. I re-learned that having a writing routine is important so kids know what to expect (this is true of teaching in general, but I loved how she broke this down in an easy to follow way). 
           Day 1: Kids plan to write about a topic that they are given by the teacher who is using an anchor book as the model. Their plan can be a web, list,  or a drawing with labels.  
           Day 2: Write: kids share their plan with a partner, you teach a mini lesson referring back to the anchor book from day 1 and then kids use their plan to write. 
            Day 3: Conferencing and Editing. Kids share and edit with a peer, and the teacher takes 3-4 students and conferences about their writing. 
            Day 4: Have 2 or 3 students share their writing. (Author's Chair type idea)
Repeat!

5. I  learned some technique lessons that  I will share with my students during our mini lesson time. I will share more about them here as I do them with my class, but one that really was an "ah-ha moment" for me was her mini lesson on Robot Writing. Sounds fun right? Robot writing is not fun, they are sentences that go: I like my mom, I like pizza,  I like hockey and I like summer. "I like" over and over again (read them with a robot voice, it's fun and makes a point).  No details, no voice, no connections being formed.  Big ol' BORING! So we tell our students that they need to add in detail and we get, " I like summer because it's fun" ARGH! So what can we do???  I learned that using the word"and" or "because" to add detail to writing, will never produce an interesting sentence! Instead teaching students to use these 4 magic words will take that robot writing and turn it into effective writing. Are you ready for the words? they are.... when, sometimes, once, if.  Use those words and you get: I love my mom when she.... I like pizza, once I had.... I like hockey, sometimes I...  See? MAGIC! I think that introducing these words to students in a Hogwarts cloak and using a wand would be really cool! (But that's just me). Using those 4 words will set up your students for successful writing that will engage their reader and will banish the robotic sentences to Azkaban. 

So if you haven't checked out her books and are wondering how to set up and engage your students to become better and more effective writers, check out the link at the top of this post or here: http://www.readingpowergear.com and remember, this is not a program, it can be used with any literature, any program, and anywhere! She also has a blog, and it has lesson plans and great resources as well. https://readingpowergear.wordpress.com

Summer Time Projects

Since I am moving grades, my mind will not go into full summer mode and I have been busy doing fun school projects.
First I started with a new word to add to my collection. I was at Hobby Lobby and found these Chipboard letters on sale! So I covered them in patterned paper and VOILA!

Next I made a welcome banner, I had made one for my grade 2 room, but it was old and faded after 7 years, so I bought some wooden banners from Michaels, painted them up and stuck letter stickers on them to spell out "Welcome".

Next, since I was on a banner kick, I made another banner for my writing BB. I used Stampin' Up Banner Framelits and card stock for this version.

I also saw this online and fell in love, but could not justify spending $100 on a planner, so I'm making my own version!!

It's a work in progress but it makes me happy. These are the page dividers. I have 6 sections: Calendars/Schedules, Daily Plans, Class Lists, Records, Student Information, and Unit Overviews

The backs have a fun quote and I may have had too much fun with the embellishments...

The cover and the spine of the binder:

 The monthly dividers for each month's lesson plans and calendar

 A twin pocket folder to hold miscellaneous papers and memos

 A notebook to write down things to remember for next year and for all my brilliant ideas! BAHAHA!

 The last project was adding tags and ribbon to file boxes and wash tape to storage boxes!

I love school supplies, and adding personal touches to them makes me happy! So that was the first few weeks of summer, who knows what will happen next!

Movin' on up

So I found out on Thursday that I am changing grades next year! I am excited! I have been wanting to move back to grade 3 for years and haven't been able to, until now! I know that it will be a lot of work and teaching some of the same students won't be all roses, but I am so ready for a change.

 I am excited about the Themes I get to teach, and how the students will become even more independent. I always feel sad at the end of the year when they move on, and I have to start all over with a new class. It's a lot of work getting them through the first few months! Now I get to keep going with a few of them, which will be fun.

I am looking forward to being organized from the get go, because I now know my organizational style and can put my units together so they function better for me (no filing cabinet!) and I can go through all my current stuff and purge!!! That is also daunting to me as I have A LOT of stuff.

I am really going to miss my team, as we work well together and we get each other's quirks. It will be interesting to see how my new team functions, what my place will be and how we will work together to make a cohesive unit. I know that two of my future colleagues are great, but one is a mystery (though I have my suspicions). I get to work with a great friend as well so that will be awesome!

All in all, I am pumped, but also sad to leave what is known and comfortable. I know that God is at work in this, so I can trust Him and know that he will give me the wisdom I need in this new adventure.

I may have to start a new blog, as My Grade 2 Adventure is almost over!!!