Thanksgiving Post...it's not too late!(freebie)

Ok, we have been out of commission lately.

We are overwhelmed with all the late fall tasks.

Just hoping that it's not too late for a Thanksgiving day post!

I am planning to use this Thankful Book with my 5th graders tomorrow.
I am thinking they can add real photos or drawings what ever they want!

Click the pic above to get the freebie!

We are thankful to be part of this great blogging community.
To able to share with all of you, and to read your ideas has been a blessing to our professional careers.
We hope you enjoy your family and friends over the holiday!

EmilyK

Hocus Pocus... Let's Hope We Can Focus!

I actually love class parties.  (Yes we still get to have them.)

It gives me that bit of nostalgia.  Remember the costume parades, the excitement, and the candy. :)

Though I love parties, I still find it hard to contain the excitement throughout the day.

I am hoping I have found something to help.

I saw this blogpost last year. Mentioning witches brew.  Click here to see the post at What the Teacher Wants.
Have you checked out their blog.  It's one of my faves.

 



She has created a cute Halloween snack. 

I am going to give it to my class as our morning snack tomorrow. 

I went ahead and mixed it, though I kept some to use for demo!

So Hocus, Pocus... let's hope they can focus!

Also, we are going to read one of my fave Halloween books.

We are going to continue to work on our argument essays.

I shared this freebie the other day, and the link didn't work. :( 
So I think I fixed it!

What special things do you do for Halloween?
Do your kids get to dress up in costumes?
Happy Halloween! 

EmilyK

Updated Conference Form, Conferring Freebies and a Much Loved Quote

Updated Conference Form

Back in an earlier post, I had asked for feedback from our amazing followers on a conferring document I was putting together for my new buildings.  Click here to view that post.  Two presentations down and my schools will officially begin their journeys, today, into the world of conferring.  I am so excited to help them along this path.  I am also hoping all of you experts out there will help us.  See what I did there??  Recruiting all of you to help out! lol ;)  Hey that's what teaching is all about, right?

Thanks to the wonderful followers who posted a comment with feedback, I have an updated form.  It is a freebie for you.  Download it if you want and tweak it to fit your needs.

Click on the image below to download.

Included, as well, in this download, is a basic conferring form which would be good for beginners.  I also included a guide to using this form and information about each category under the teaching point.

Another document I created for my teachers is a cheat sheet for the metacognitive strategies.  In this form, I included a definition as well as discussion starters which could be used during conferring.  I'd like to claim I came up with all of the information on my own, but I am a firm believer in "Why recreate the wheel?".  So, Click here to go to the website where some of the verbiage came from.  Some of it IS actually mine. lol :)  The website is an amazing resource for reading and writing workshop.  It's a MUST CHECK OUT!!!

Click the image below to download the cheat sheet!

I remember when I first learned about conferring.  It was 14 years ago and I was a brand new teacher.  I had NO clue where to start or what to say.  I am trying to make this transition much smoother for the teachers I work with so I wanted to provided them with as many resources as possible.

I would LOVE to hear any feedback and/or tips about conferring.  How do you track your conferences?  How often do you confer with students in a week?  Any info would be appreciated. :)

I want to leave you all with a FAV quote of mine.  I had this exact poster hanging in my classroom for the last few years.  It is so true!!!

LOVE THIS!!!!!

B2S Survival Kits and Quotes for My Office

How are working with teachers and working with students different?

Really they're not.  This time of year, classroom teachers are planning lessons to build community and relationships in their classrooms.  I too am building relationships, but with the teachers in my new buildings.  Tomorrow (or today since it's after midnight here lol) I will be doing my first presentation on my district's new units of study for reading and writing workshop.  This style of teaching is very new to many of my teachers and therefore a considerable stress in their lives.  So I decided to make a Back to School Survival Kit.  I decided against Teacher's Survival Kit as not all of the people I work with are classroom teachers.

So I checked out a variety of kits on Pinterest and various websites and decided on the items I wanted to include.  I wish I would have been more prepared and shopped for some of these items when school supplies were on sale or on the tax-free weekend, but overall was able to keep the price at a minimal.  Each kit ended up being a little over a dollar.

                                                       

Here are the supplies I used:

     - pencil

     - eraser

     - Starbursts

     - Hershey Kisses

     - Laffy Taffy

     - rubber band

     - penny

     - paper clip
     - puzzle piece

Here is the card I created to attach to each kit:

I also included a Teacher's Prayer I found on the internet.

The final product...

I posted pictures of my office and decorating ideas.  Well my office is still in complete shambles as there are tons of books in there which need to be organized and leveled and I have been SUPER busy in my two days back.  BUT...  I have created some signs which I want to frame.  Those of you who know me, know I love quotes.  Here are some great ones!!!  I created these myself (except quotes and fonts).

What are some things you all do to build relationships and community in your classrooms?

This is crucial to a successful school year, so sharing your ideas will be a great resource for fellow bloggers as well as my classroom teachers.

Don't forget we are hosting our first linky party!

We can't wait to hear about your favorite things!

Thanks,

Feedback, PLEASE!!! :)

So I realize this is a second post in one day, but I REALLY need you all's expertise!  As I have posted before, I have taken on a new job this year.  I am a Teaching and Learning Coach and will be working as an instructional resource to teachers grades K-5.  Starting this school year, my district is using a Balanced Literacy structure to teach reading and writing.  My schools are fairly new to this style of teaching so I want to provide them with as many resources as I can to help ease the process of this transition.

My district is providing all K-5 teachers with the units of study to teach throughout the year.  So their teaching points will be provided for them.  Suggested resources, instructional ideas, and student activities will be provided as well.

The piece of reading and writing workshop that appears to be the most difficult and/or intimidating is conferring.  So after talking with one of my principals, we decided that in the beginning it would be helpful to provide them with a conference form.  As they gain experience, they can tweak it to best fit their needs.

So I created a form at work today and want feedback from all of you.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help me out with this.  I am always open to suggestions.

Here is the form I created!  You will notice I included the TAG acronym from my earlier post.  Click here to read that post.  I thought if all else fails, they could at least remember that. :)  My principal wanted it short and sweet at first!  So here it goes...

Click here to access the document.

For some reason Google Docs separated the book title and focus lesson into 3 cells.  The original document looks like the image above. 

Thank you so much for your help with this!  :)

A Last Minute Vacay, My New IPad, and Freebie Borders

I am SO not a Cardinals Fan (sorry to those of you who are) but I love St. Louis, MO.  It is not only full of cool sites to see, but there is so much history to this city.  I live in Kansas City (GO ROYALS!!!), so it is a quick and fairly easy getaway.  My sister planned to go last minute and asked me if I wanted to join them.  Since my plans to go on a vacay this summer did not happen, I said yes.  BOY was it a relaxing getaway and perfect timing too because I am pretty much back into school mode next week.  (Crazy, I know, but my district has a Summer Academy where we have the opportunity to take and teach professional development classes.  I opted to do both because I feel strongly that as teachers we are lifelong learners.)

We stayed at the Ameristar Hotel in St. Charles, MO which is on the outskirts of St. Louis.  I am so not into losing money, so you won't catch me gambling.  The pool and sun are another story!  This place is absolutely amazing.  I am including some screen capture pics from the Ameristar website as well as some of my own.  Click here to view the website.

Exterior view of the hotel

Outside pool where I spent most of my time
swimming, getting a tan, and reading!

Indoor pool

Here are some of my own pics from the hotel!

Window view

Another window view

TV area where I got some reading time!

Spending so many years teaching Westward Expansion, I am fascinated by the Gateway to the West and the St. Louis Arch.  These pictures are taken from my new IPad which I am still very much getting use to.  I have to say I was quite impressed with how they turned out. :)  The architecture behind this is sheer genius to me.  I am always in awe when I look at this amazing building.

I have been playing around with creating my own borders, frames, and backgrounds.  I know there is so much out there, but I am enjoying exploring my creative side.  I want to share some of these with you and see what you think.  I am fairly new to attaching documents to a blog.  I used Google Docs, but there might be a better way to do it.  Feel free to use them for personal use.  Click on the frame to download my creations.  I hope you enjoy the freebie! :)

I hope you enjoyed my pics from St. Louis.  If you are ever in Missouri, make sure you check out this great city and the Arch.  Then take about a 4 hour drive west and visit Kansas City which is the home of the recent All-Star game.  I heard we got good reviews from tourists. :)  Have you ever been to Kansas City and/or St. Louis?  If so, what places did you check out?

Being new with the IPad, I would love any helpful tips from more experienced users.  What cool things are you doing with your IPad?

Last, are any of you into creating your own borders and backgrounds?  Do you have any helpful tips for us newbies? :)

Thanks :)
Antoinette

Get Excited... Our 100 FOLLOWER FREEBIE!!!

We are so excited to reach 100 followers.  As a thank you to all of you who have helped us get there, we have a special FREEBIE for you and any future followers.  We hope you enjoy it and are able to use these Daily Five resources.  Click on the image below to get your Daily Five Freebie.

Emily and I are fairly new to the world of blogging and are learning so much along the way.  An example would be I have never combined documents into a collection on Google Docs.  I struggled a bit at first, but thanks to the lovely internet, I quickly found my answers and have a Daily Five collection to share with all of you.

We would love any advice from you all as far as ways to attract more followers as well as keeping the interest of our current ones.  We are here to share ideas and hopefully make teachers' lives a little easier.  We feel blogging is an amazing way to accomplish that.  I always tell people that there are so many wonderful ideas out there, we just need find them.  No use reinventing the wheel right?

Antoinette and EmilyK

We got 99 followers, are you one? (belated Daily5)

We got 99 followers, are you one? (a JayZ reference, or a Hugo reference, if you are into alternative music.)
We will be posting the freebie any day now!

We hope you had a chance to check out the PowerPoint summary of chapter 3.  

We have been reading along with

We have gotten a little behind, so we are planning to get caught up

Chapter 4: The Daily Five in Action

In this chapter, the Daily Five structure takes life through the component of Read to Self.  As the Sisters stated, "Having children read to themselves is the first step in Daily Five and is the foundation for creating independent readers and writers."

Antoinette here-  According to my Kindle we are officially halfway through this book.  I have really enjoyed all of the knowledge I have gained from my reading so far.  I am still attempting to condense my ramblings, so here's my best shot:

The chapter begins with more focus towards the gradual release of responsibility and the importance of repetition.  I completely agree with this model and attempt to practice it in my teaching.  When introducing a reading strategy, I begin by modeling my expectations for the students.  I show them how to do it verbally as well as possible ways to record these learnings in their journals.  One of my closing lines before I send the students off to practice independently is, "Today and throughout the year...".  By saying throughout the year, I am letting the students know this behavior will happen consistently.   I love the quote where the Sisters said, "We have found that this repetition is the key to success in helping students develop good literacy habits and independence."

I like that in the launching of Read to Self, the students are not only learning good reading behaviors but the ways to read a book.  I also like that when they are teaching the ways to read a book, they are also modeling the metacognitive process of thinking aloud about their reading and comprehension prior to even teaching it.  So often we think we can't talk about something until it's officially taught.  Why not expose them to it from the beginning?  Another part I really liked is that all of the charts include not just what the students will be doing, but what the teacher is doing as well.  I think this is great because like the Sisters said, "It lets the students know that both parties have jobs to do during this time.

So the part that I really like and am planning to encourage the teachers I am working with to do is the check-in piece where the students reflect on their own behaviors.  I also liked how they share successes as well as things that might have to change to do better in the next session.

So I think I'm on the path to being less long-winded.  This reflection seems shorter, or maybe it's wishful thinking. lol  I'm going to pass things on to Emily now.

Emily here!
I love Read to Self. 
My class this past year was AMAZING at Read to Self. 
I think the I charts are an essential piece to continuing the process through the school year. 
It is important that they know their job and mine, during that time.
I practice a little differently than the Sisters.
With older kids I say we will practice up to 5 minutes.
I use a timer to track our progress.  I know on the initial practices sometimes my students can't do 3 minutes.  Since the Sisters teach younger kids they just tell their students it was 3 minutes.  That doesn't work with older kids.  I think it's ok to inform them that we only made it 2 minutes.  I think it leads to better reflection.  Then I have the example/ non example demonstrations. 
My final thought is this quote from pg 57:
As Cris Tovani notes," Whenever an activity fails, it is because I haven't done enough modeling.  Modeling gives students words and ecamples to frame their thinking."

We hope you found our reflections beneficial.  We would love to hear from you all.  What are your thoughts on Read to Self?  Do you use this in your classroom?  If so, what does Read to Self look like in your classroom and what are some helpful tips you have for other readers?  Last, What does your room look like during Read to Self?  Do you let them choose where they want to sit?

Did we mention we are 1 follower away from a freebie?

Antoinette and EmilyK

100 Follower Freebie Sneak Preview!!

We are so excited to be only 6 followers away from 100.  As promised in an earlier post, we have a special 100 Follower Freebie.  We decided to give you all a sneak peak.  SO... get excited because here it is. :)

Daily Five: Read to Self

Our freebie will include many other Daily Five signs similar to this.  Thank you to all of our followers and continue to check back because this freebie will be coming soon! :)

Antoinette and EmilyK

Daily Five, a Power Point (freebie!), New Job

This week has been super busy for me, but wow has it flown by.  We are hoping to have our reflections posted for chapter 4, but aren't quite there yet!  They will be soon... PROMISE!


I stated in my reflections on chapter 3 that I was working on a PowerPoint in hopes to not be so long-winded on my blog. lol  Yes, I know, I still wrote a lot.  I just can't help it; I'm a talker. :)


Anyway...  I am finally posting the PowerPoint of chapter 3.  I hope you all like it and are able to use it.  Click the linked words above.  (This is Emily, interrupting a great post to say: I LOVE Google docs, and this really is a useful freebie!)

Today is a big day for me...  I have orientation for my Teaching and Learning Coach position.  I am excited and nervous, but I know it will all be just fine.  At least that's what Emily keeps telling me. lol :)

So I'm off to get ready!  Be looking for our reflections on Chapter 4 soon. :)

Antoinette

Daily Five, a Pinterest Find, and a Future Freebie!!!

Daily Five Summer Book study with...

WOW was chapter 3 packed with FABULOUS information!  We are loving this book as well as sharing the information and reflecting with other teachers.  We can't wait to hear other bloggers' ideas and suggestions.

Antoinette here... I've been joking with Emily about how long winded I can be and with all the information in this chapter, I fear the worse. lol  I decided to come up with a more concise way of sharing the information from this chapter with you; a power point.  Well, I've gotten as far as signals and I'm already at 19 slides. I'm outta control... I know. :)

So since a powerpoint will be coming soon, I'm going to shorten my ramblings to two strengths, one area for growth (although there are many more lol), and one LOVE.

Strength number one is my gathering area.  This is something I've had every single year I've taught.  It is an absolute must; even with the older kids.  I completely agree with The Sisters in that it limits the distractions, gives you close proximity to check in on the kiddos, and a wonderful place to share learnings.  My gathering area is always up front near the board.  It has never been anything fancy, but I love how a fellow teacher and friend had a rocking chair and organized little area for all of her supplies.  We had a routine where I would let the students know if I was reading to them, using the SmartBoard, or sharing.  Since I didn't have much space, the way they sat depended on which activity I was doing with them.  After much practice, this went pretty smoothly.

Strength number two is anchor charts.  I have also used anchor charts every year I've taught; some years more than others.  I have a love/hate relationship with them though.  I love using them to teach concepts and create a document to refer back to.  They are a powerful tool when created, displayed, and used properly.  The number of anchor charts that accumulate and hang throughout the year absolutely can drive me insane.  Lots, and lots, and lots of anchor charts hanging up throughout the room is not necessarily a good thing; at least that's what I think. lol  SO...  me and my Pinterest addiction that I have, has stumbled upon a fabulous idea. Take a picture of your anchor charts and put them into a binder.  If you click on the pic, it will take you to my pin and that will take you to a link that explains the binder in more detail.  ABSOLUTELY love it!

One area for growth would be the short intervals.  The thought is just too much for me.  3- 5 minutes depending on students behavior?  Seems somewhat insane to me, but after reading the section on it, it is making more sense.  It is something that I would definitely be willing to attempt in the future.  Along with that, is the quiet tone.  I am not much of a yeller, but boy can I give that evil teacher stare.  I know... I deserve a slap on the hand.  It is always an area that I try to work on.  As The Sisters said, we are works in progress. lol

My LOVE... I PICK.  I have always done some for choosing Just-Right books, but having a chart with an acronym like I PICK is a great idea.  I love that it includes purpose and interest... that's a duh moment for me.  I've always been an advocate for kids reading books they enjoy.  The only way they will ever enjoy reading is if they can choose books that interest them.  I just never thought to include it on a Just-Right chart. lol  

So... about trying to avoid being long winded... utter failure lol :)  Time to give the floor to Emily!

So Antoinette has been a busy beaver with this book club.  I have enjoyed reading her thoughts before typing my own.

I have done Daily 5 (in some form) for the past 2 years.  A fellow teacher in my grade level convinced me to try it with her, and this chapter always reminds me of her. 
I have not mastered it, though I have started to make it my own.
I LOVE Chapter 3.  Mainly because I LOVE routines.  They make life so much easier!

The gathering place is essential.  My first classroom was stuffed with kids and high school style desks, so I had no gathering space.  It was not ideal!  I am so glad now to have the option to get rid of any furniture (within reason) to make this possible.

The Shoe Lesson- (If you read the chapter this is related to good fit books.)
This is the point where I started to make Daily 5 my own, because the Shoe Lesson GROSSES ME OUT!  Can you say foot fungus?  (Yes I go bowling and wear the rented shoes, because they spray those down.)  I never have been a fan of exchanging clothes with friends, let alone that random kid sitting next to me!  
So I made it my own by finding an idea to use types of gloves! 
There are so many types: gardening, work, mittens, non-latex (nurse style), yellow cleaning, heat resistant gloves, golf...
It is a little reminiscent of the OJ trial, but they don't remember that!

Practice, Practice, Practice!
Having done this for 2 years, I chuckled a little at Antoinette's reaction to short periods of time. (I chuckled because she has always taught older kids, so we often talk about the difference a year or two makes.)  To be honest, for that ADHD kid in your classroom 3-5 minutes may be too long to start out. 
I like to start the kids out already with their book boxes, and I set a timer, so we can measure our stamina.  I prefer to stand along the side of the room or the back, so the kids can't tell I am watching as intently as I am.

The Signal
I prefer "1,2,3 Eyes on Me" or using a sound effect on my SMARTboard.
(To be honest, the chimes kind of drive me crazy after awhile.  This is probably sacrilegious to some of you!)

What are your strengths and areas for growth from Chapter 3 of the Daily Five?  We would love to hear your amazing ideas and any suggestions for areas of growth. :)

There are tons of signs on Pinterest for Daily Five and I PICK.  BUT... We'll let you in on a little secret...  We are working on a FREEBIE!!!  That's right...  we are approaching 100 followers and will be posting some super-cute signs to go with the Daily Five.

Antoinette and EmilyK

Are you triscadecaphobic? (plus a freebie)

Ok, I may be in the minority, but I like Friday the 13th. 
It may have something to do with the fact that my classroom
number is 13. 

I have planned a Friday (half day in my district, YEAH!) full of
activities using 13.  I have attached one of the activities.

13 people

Also, I am presenting for the first time at staff development tomorrow.
Wish me luck!!

EmilyK