List of Lists

The students have been working so hard in their writer's notebook.  I hope you are getting a chance to see what they have inside.  Today the classes worked on list of lists.  I had created a large group of post-it notes that students could come and grab off our board.  The post-it notes were filled with ideas for lists.  Some of the ideas included:  things that make you proud, favorite books, favorite movies, favorite things you do on a rainy day, and so on and so on.  Students would create a list and then go to the board to fetch another list that they could make in their writer's notebook.

Now I am a huge list maker.  I have a grocery list sitting next to me right now waiting to be finished for my weekly trip to Kroger's.  I always keep a list of books and a list of cd's and a list of movies.  I love lists for some reason. 

I know what you are thinking...list writing is not really writing.  I think I used to think that as well, but lately I have been seeing list writing everywhere.  Some of our students are reading poems in small groups and both poems are essentially just lists.  Also in every magazine I pick up or blog that I read there is always some sort of list.  The list of the five best summer movies to see and then a little blurb about each movie.  I know for certain that I will read a huge amount of list writing this weekend as I prepare for my fantasy drafts.  It seems like every fantasy article is a list (the top five running backs, the top five busts in your draft, and of course the top five sleepers).  

I think students could turn their lists into this type of list writing.  Also if nothing else they serve as a great way to gather ideas and build writing fluency.

Speaking of lists I still have a few things to cross off my school list, so I am going to get going.  I cannot believe that tomorrow is Friday.  The time has been flying!!  

Fix-Up Strategies

Today we talked about how "good readers" do not always read perfectly.  I told the class that I did not think this when I was a student.  I always thought that good readers just read perfectly and reading came naturally to them.  When I was a student, I was never told that good readers lose track of their thinking or cannot figure out words.  This caused me to try and act like I was never confused by text or act like I knew every word.  It never occurred to me that the "good readers" in my class were fixing their thinking as they read.

We are going to spend the next few days teaching fix-up strategies that "good readers" use when they do not know a word or they lose track of their thinking.  I tried to show the students some of my favorite strategies today as we read the article "The Buzz on Bees" (you can find this article in the reading folder).  As I read we created a T-Chart that on one side showed where the text was causing my thinking to be disrupted and then on the other side I shared how I fixed my thinking.

Students are going to be practicing these strategies on the worksheet, Fantastic Fix-Ups (also in the reading folder).  I will also put a copy of some of the fix-up strategies that we will be using in the reading folder.

Today in the One and Only Ivan we were introduced to the characters Bob and Stella.  Bob is a stray dog, and Stella an elderly elephant.  I hope the students are telling you about this book because I think it is amazing.  If you want, feel free to ask the students about the book.  Here are some questions that you might ask:

Do you think Bob trusts humans?  Why or Why Not?
Do you think the hole in Ivan's domain is important?
Do you think Mack is a good character or a bad character?

Here is hoping the Reds can hold the lead tonight!

Honoring Approximations

A few summers ago I got the privilege of listening to Matt Glover speak.  Mr. Glover is the author of the books Projecting Possibilities for Writers and Engaging Young Writers.  When Mr. Glover spoke he shared the picture book Ish.

Today I shared this same book with my class.  I have not had a chance to share it with Mrs. Sanford's class but I will get to do that tomorrow.  The reason I love to share this book is because of the message. In the book a young man gives up drawing because his older brother laughs at his work.  His younger sister, though, inspires him to get back to work.  She inspires him to work by telling him that his work is "ish".

I love this idea.  I think too often that students are afraid to take risks in the classroom.  They are afraid that they might make a mistake.  I want the students in our room to be willing to take risks with their work, especially their writing.  These risks sometimes lead to amazing work.  

In our classroom I hope to honor our students approximations.  It is the same way that I look at Emerson's (my daughter) artwork.  I do not expect perfection from her art...I praise it and praise it and praise it some more.  At the same time I find a way to nudge her to make it even better.  This is my plan with our writing...praise it and then praise it some more and then find a place where we can nudge the student to improve their work.

Hope you are all having a great week.  Remember no early release tomorrow.

Time to get Meta

Today I got to teach one of my favorite lessons, reading cereal.  The idea comes from the amazing book Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor.

We were able to study this book as a staff last year and the ideas are amazing.  Reading cereal is one of the lessons from the book that I loved.  The idea is to show the students that reading is thinking.  I read aloud the book My Great Aunt Arizona.

As I read the book I showed the students the thinking that was going on inside my head.  I would show the students how the text (the cereal) would cause my thinking (the milk).  We talked about how this interaction between the text and my thinking is REAL READING. 

We are going to continue to talk about this type of thinking that we will be calling metacognition for the rest of the week.  Hopefully you will hear students saying the word metacognition and using some of the thinking stems like: "I am thinking..." "I am wondering..." "I am noticing...".  The students started to use some of this language today as they discussed our read aloud book The One and Only Ivan.  Here is a picture of the poster we made about metacognition.

We also got to start a 3-in-3 about summer.  This 3-in-3, where students make as many three word phrases as they can in three minutes, can be found in their writer's notebook.  Tomorrow we will finish this up by making a classroom poem about summer.  I love these 3-in-3's because they are great way to gather your ideas about a topic and it does not take too long. 

Reds need two runs in the ninth and I have to get ready for the reading cereal activity we get to do as a class tomorrow.  Hope you are having a great start to your week.

The Short Week

I do not know if that counts as a week, but it sure felt like a whole week.

Today was great we continued to read The One and Only Ivan.  Both classes are having great discussions about the book.  In the students read aloud notebooks students are showing their thinking in all kinds of ways.  One way that we talked about was keeping a character web.  The students have been keeping track of what they have learned about Ivan on this web.

We also did a bit more in our writer's notebook.  Students started to make a list that we called, "things I like to talk about."  The class started to tell me and write down places, people and things that they loved to share with others.  The list got longer and longer for many of the students.  We heard about pets and vacation spots and family members and a whole list of other amazing ideas.

Then I had the students cross out the word talk and replace it with the word WRITE.  And that is exactly what we did...we spent time writing.  It was amazing to see all the authors get to work.  When we were finished we met at the rocking chair and students shared their writing.  As usual that writing blew me away.

I cannot wait to see all the different types of writing that students put in their writer's notebook this year.    Remember students can always bring home their writer's notebooks to share their work and hopefully to write a bit more.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

The Blink of an Eye

Wow that was quick!

Today when the students started the day they had to write down one word on a notecard that explained how they felt about coming to school.  Then on the back of the card the students had to explain why they picked that word.

On my card I wrote the word excited.  I was and still am excited about the year that is in front of us.  It was great to hear all the different words that students picked.  We had excited, nervous, joyful, happy, and so many more.  Then we put the notecard into our writer's notebook.

We also started our first read aloud.  We are reading the amazing book The One and Only Ivan.

I cannot explain how much I love the book.  I have an autographed copy that I got last year.  The book was the winner of the Newbery Medal, so I am not alone in singing its praises.  The students started keeping track of their thinking in their reader's notebook and I was so impressed.  I hope you can find time to talk with them about this new book (but to be honest we just read a few pages).  

Tomorrow is already Friday, that cannot be correct.

The First Day

Wow!  The first day is finally going to be here.  I hope that you are all as excited as I am about the coming year.  We are going to get to do so much this year.  I just wanted to keep it short tonight because tomorrow there is going to be so much to tell you.

For anyone that is nervous about the first day, I hope you can relax in knowing that your teacher gets just as nervous (even after 13 years).  I usually toss and turn all night trying to imagine our first day.  So no being nervous about your first day just let your teacher have all the nerves.

Tomorrow is going to be AWESOME.