Chartchums and Types of Anchor Charts

Do you use anchor charts in your classroom?
Do spend time on Pinterest looking for new chart ideas?
I know I do.

I have another resource for you all on anchor charts.
Chartchums...
Have you heard of this?
There is a website and a book.
Click the images below for more information on both.

I have only seen the Amazon glimpse into the book, but loved what I did see and read.
The book goes into why anchor charts are important to learning.
It goes into brain-based learning and visual literacy.
Section 1 goes into what to put on charts.
Section 2 goes into helping students use the charts independently.
Section 3 goes into assessing the success of charts.
I am thinking I am going to need to purchase this book!

The website has a slew of anchor charts.
Here are just a few examples:

There is also some great information to go along with the charts.  I have only looked at a couple so far but am looking forward to checking this site out more.

Did you know there are different types of anchor charts?
Here is what I learned from the Teachers College training:
Genre- purpose to define and give characteristics of genre currently being taught
Routine- purpose to teach and remind students of certain behaviors
Process- purpose is to break down a specific skill, idea, goal, etc into easy steps
Strategy- purpose is to provide students with a menu of options for a specific skill, idea, goal, etc
Exemplar (annotated text made by teacher, class, and/or student)- purpose is to show strategies in use

Do you use anchor charts in your classroom?

Antoinette :)

Pinterest Linky Party Time and Blog Shout Outs

Are you a Pinterest fanatic?  Do you want to increase traffic on your teacher blog?  Brandi at My Teacher Friend had a fabulous idea for a linky party. It is a great way to get more traffic on your blogs.  Now who doesn't want more traffic??  I know I do.  What??  Did those words leave MY mouth??  Never thought I'd be wanting more traffic (at least not in the driving world). lol

Those of you, like Emily and I, who love Pinterest know that a good amount of traffic comes from pinning.  So that is exactly what Brandi's linky party is about.  Pinning on peoples blogs so we can help each other out with increasing traffic. :) 

Here are the rules straight from Brandi's site!  It's super easy!

1. Link up any post that you have recently written (let's say within the last month) that you think is excellent for pinning. Try to link to a post that is picture heavy. Pinterest loves it some pictures!

2. Once you are all linked up and ready to go, visit the two links before yours and the one after. Rule of three. Easy peasy, huh?

3. While you are out blog-stalking, go ahead and pin to your heart's content. Try and write an enticing description of your pin. You might even comment to the blogger of what you pinned. I would love to know who pinned what, so I can say thank you. 

4. It would also help out if you would mention this linky in your lil ol' blog. The more teacher friends, the better! This one is more of an optional super nice thing to do, than a rule;) 

So that's it.  Told you it was easy! :)

We would love to hear what you pinned from our site, so please leave a message for Emily and I afterwards.  We would love to tell you thanks and check out your sites for pinnable wonders, also. :)

Blog Shout Out!!

Blog shout out is something I recently decided to do.  So many wonderful bloggers come up with ways to help all our blogging friends increase traffic and followers (e.g., Farley's Rule of Three and Brandi's Pinterest linky.)  So I decided I want to start helping other bloggers also (I'm gonna drag Emily into this with me.  She doesn't know it yet. Lol)  I want to start giving random shout outs to other bloggers who deserve some recognition.  My first few are ladies who have been frequent commenters throughout Emily and my blogging journey.  I have been learning a lot about blogger etiquette throughout and know that I haven't always taken the time to respond or say thank you.  So here's a Shout Out to you.

Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files

 Mrs. Corbit at Tadpole tidbits     

Mrs. Cockrell at Teach On

Mrs. Brown at Adventures in Third Grade

Thank you ladies for taking the time, so often, to check out our blog and leave kind comments.  We appreciate you and your amazing teaching ideas. :)

We look forward to Shouting Out to more bloggers who use their valuable time share amazing ideas with all of the teachers of the world. :)

What are some of your fabulous ideas that Pinterest is missing out on?  We would love to pin them. :)

Antoinette and EmilyK

We Give Books and Shared Reading

I am always on the lookout for great resources for teachers.  My latest frequent recommend is a fabulous site where you can get tons of free books to use in your classrooms.

You have got to check this site out!!!

Click on the picture above to go to the site.

They have a great selection of both fiction and nonfiction.  Check out a few below.

Now you do have to sign up for an account to access these books, but it is completely free.

One component of Balance Literacy is Shared Reading.  I was thinking this site is a perfect resource for this component because during Shared Reading, a teacher is using a text, that everyone can easily see, to model behaviors of proficient readers.

Here are a few sites with some great information on Shared Reading:

Hope this information is useful to you.  Do you do Shared Reading?  If so, we'd love to hear your insight on this powerful reading tool.  Also, What online book sites do you use? 

Looking forward to hearing from all of you! :)

Antoinette

Common Core- Digging Deeper into each Standard

The BIG talk in the world of education is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  It is such a big thing that 48 out of 50 states have adopted these standards at some level.  At least that what was said at the last training I attended.

Why have we moved to CCSS?  What do these standards really mean?
Upon reading some information from the CCSS website I found some lines that I felt really spell out why we are moving in this direction.  Here they are:

"As a natural outgrowth of meeting the charge to define college and career readiness, the Standards also lay out a vision of what it means to be a literate person in the twenty-first century."
"As specified by CCSSO and NGA, the Standards are (1) research and evidence based, (2) aligned with college and work expectations, (3) rigorous, and (4) internationally benchmarked."

The rigorous piece is what I'd like to really speak about today.  How do we take these standards and teach them to the higher level in which they were created to be taught?  That's what I am hoping to find out through this journey that I would like to take with all of you.

So how to do this??  Fabulous question... My thought is to dive deeper and really look at what each standard is truly intended to teach.  I thought about starting with the first standard, but then right now I am working with a group of teachers on RL.6 so as crazy as it might seem, I'm starting there.

Hello RL.6!!!
The best way, I think, to begin tackling this standard is to understand where it starts and where it is going.  So Let's look at it vertically.

K-  With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.
1-  Identify who is telling the story at various points in a text.
2-  Acknowledge difference in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
3-  Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
4-  Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and third-person narratives.
5-  Describe how a narrator's or speaker's point of view influences how events are described.
6-  Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or speaker in a text.
7-  Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text.
8-  Analyze how difference in the points of view of the characters and the audience or reader (e.g., created through the use of dramatic irony) create such effects as suspense or humor.

This website gives a nice snapshot of the vertical alignment of the standards as well as a nifty (who uses that word... really? lol) highlighting feature for the difference amongst grade levels. http://rt3nc.org/objects/standards/cclitmap/ela.html

Here's a good video from YouTube which gives basic information about Perspective and Point of View:

I really liked this comment, but somehow lost the site I found it on.  Sorry site!!!  "In other words, how does where a writer or narrator is coming from (point of view) and going towards (purpose) affect what he/she writes (content and style)?"

So to me,

POV at K-2 is simply...

*  identifying that an author and/or illustrator tells a story

*  sometimes the person telling the story changes.

*  Dialogue also comes into play at this age level because that is   how we identify who is speaking.

POV at 3-5 goes into...

*  how POV of characters differ from each other as well as from the reader.

*  1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-person are introduced identified and elaborated on as to what role this plays in how the story unfolds.

Some thoughts I have been putting out there for teachers are...

*  How would the story have unfolded if told by another character's POV?

*  How would the story have been different if told in 1st person as opposed to 3rd?

*  Based on your POV, how would you have told the story differently?

*How did understanding the past experiences of the character help you understand his/her point of view in the story?

ABSOLUTELY LOVE this quote from ReadWriteThink.
"One of life's biggest challenges is accepting that there are numerous interpretations and that there is rarely oneright way to view the world. Literature can introduce characters who have learned to accept that different viewpoints exist, demonstrating how they persevere when faced with difficulties. Books can also change readers' perspectives about what they already know and extend their knowledge through new ways of seeing familiar things."
Doesn't that wrap RL.6 up in a nutshell??

Common Core website shout out time...  These sites have been VERY helpful to me with each standard.

Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System

Read Tennessee

What are your thoughts on Point of View and RL.6?  What are some things you are doing in your classrooms to teach this standard?  I would really appreciate hearing all of your teaching ideas as well as knowledge of this standard.  I really want these posts to be educational for everyone, including myself.
THANKS :)

Although this journey has been stressful and time-consuming thus far, I REALLY feel like we, as a nation, are moving in the right direction. 
Antoinette :)

Website & Book Recommendation

You know you're getting sick when, you are administering a student's reading assessment, and you are nearly falling asleep!

Yep that was me yesterday.

I'm sick.  Not the death warmed over sick, but the sinus trouble, coughing, soon loosing my voice sick.

So, I am home, trying to take one day to get back on my feet.

That is good for you though!

I finally have time to blog about a great website and a great book.

The website is 

It will take a YouTube video and remove everything from advertisements to comments.  

It's great!

Then I have a book recommendation for you.  Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea.

It has some very interesting characters.  They each write from their point of view.  Alexia was my favorite to model for the kids.

Hope you have a great Wednesday! I am off to get some meds, so I can return to work tomorrow.  :)

EmilyK