Presidential Election 2040

When the election season was upon us this school year, I wanted to do something special with my students.  In the past, I have had students write speeches and read them to the class. They have voted for a Class President and the runner up was Vice President.  This year, I took it a step further.  My students first wrote speeches for presidential elections, sharing everything they wanted to do to make the country a better place.  And yes, they were all written in seven year old writing.  I let them feel free to express the changes that mattered to them.  The next step involved my students creating a Voki avatar character of themselves during the 2040 Presidential Election, which was the first election all of my students would be eligible to be president. Each of my students created their avatar and typed in their speech.  We discussed what clothing they might wear, what background they would have and other important ideas.  On election day, we watched each of the Voki characters after the students introduced themselves.  We then ran the election with a voting process, a voting booth, and a ballot.  Each child had the opportunity to vote for who they thought should be president, vice president, and had to share three reasons why they voted for this person.  They could not vote for themselves, and could not state a reason such as: "I liked it because they are my friend."  With these stipulations, my students really voted for people who wrote powerful speeches and would make a great president.  I took the top person voted as President, the 2nd as Vice President, the 3rd & 4th as Senators and the rest of the students were the House of Representatives.  This shared a little of our government and offices with the students, and they were all able to receive an award.  It was a very special occasion for my students, and it should help them remember the election processs for the years to come!  I then displayed the student's work in an interactive display outside of the classroom.

                                    Our Class Bulletin Board Display

 

Class President: Marlee

 

 

Class Vice President: Sierra

 

Read Aloud with Accountable Talk

I love doing read alouds!  I have always read aloud books during Reading, Writing, Science, Social Studies and even Math.  I really enjoy sitting down with students and sharing the written word.  I feel that there is a perfect picture book to go with just about every concept that can be taught.  But until this year, I didn't have a specific time in the day that was "Read Aloud" time, where I read a chapter book/picture book and discuss it for many different reasons.  I am not saying I never had a read aloud time of day, I just don't think I used it the best way I could have until now.  Now, I dedicate 15-20 minutes at the end of every day for Read Aloud time.  My students have their Read Aloud Response notebook that they bring with them.  This time of day does not tie in with one specific teaching point, rather I cover MANY different points with my students.  I started this at the beginning of the year, we got into a great routine.  My students now expect this time, look forward to it, and get really sad when we miss this time of day.  What I love the most is students get so wrapped into the books they do not want this time to end.  Each day I use strategies such as Turn-and-Talk, Stop and Jot, and Stop and Sketch.  I honestly think that my students LOVE Stop and Sketch so much, and they are really thinking as they are drawing their pictures to match the text.  There is not much time dedicated into the day for drawing, so a few days a week, when they have to sketch during read aloud, the students' inner artists come out.  During this time, I bring in strategies that good readers use, writing techniques that great writers use, and pull in other content area connections.  Chapter books we have read this year include: Magic Tree House series; Sarah, Plain and Tall; Skylark; The 13 Clocks; The Stories Julian Tells; My Name is Maria Isabel; and many, many more.  We fly through the pages of chapter books, and my students love to continue reading books in the series, after I start one.  One of my favorite moments occurred when I started The Criminals in the Caymans by Connie Lee Berry, and no sooner had we left the rug, then all the books in the series were borrowed with pleas to take the books home and read them that night.  How can I say no to students who can't wait to read?  Did I mention, I love the read aloud time a day in the classroom?  It's the best time of day to spend with my students, getting them excited to read, read, read!!

KidBlog in the Classroom

Hello!  I know it has been awhile since I have been blogging, but I am back and excited to share about the experiences in my classroom this year.  One of my absolute favorite websites that I have integrated into the classroom is www.kidblog.org.  It is an excellent kid-friendly website that allows classrooms to have a blog and share work.  This year my students have created Voki characters, Glogster posters, and Animoto videos.  It has been my hope that students would be able to share their work and comment to each other about their work.  Trying to find a website that was user-friendly and seven/eight year old friendly seemed to be a small challenge. Then I found KidBlog.  This website allows each of my students to see each others' work and make comments. I have taught my children how to do the "Ladder of Feedback" in a response.  At the start, students would make comments such as "This rocks." and "Wow, cool video" Since we have done lessons teaching children how to value the work, share a concern and make a suggestion, student's have been offering great advice to each other.  It is very second grade friendly and my students LOVE to go on KidBlog.  We often times use this website when students finish classwork, or when we are in the computer lab.  Children are given a whole new purpose and audience to share their work in an online format.  I have also shared the link with the parents in my classroom, so they too can go on and see all the work that is being created in the classroom.  The best part is that KidBlog is also private, and only people with the log in code (students, teachers, and parents) can access our site; so we don't have to worry about children's work being out on the world wide web for all to see.  As an incentive for students to go on at home, if they go on an make five comments on five different students within the week, they get to come to a Monday Lunch Bunch in the classroom.  Children LOVE spending lunch in the classroom and eating with me.  What an easy motivation tool for my students.  I was recently in Washington D.C. to speak with House of Representatives members of Congress about education programs.  While away from the classroom, I was able to write letters to my students and share pictures of my trip and they were able to comment to me and ask questions.  It was great having a connection to my students, even from afar!

Here are a few samples of student comments to each other on KidBlog:

Dear C, I really liked how you explained that the book was enchanting. Nice job using juicy language. I think you could add more facts that are from the book.  love, D

Sk- I think you did a good job on your bio poem because I think you you used good word choice. I think you need to work on different facks about describing Barack Obama. Like famous and attractive, serious, and smart. -W

Dear Ka, I really like when you used wow words!I wonder why you put he feels there should be peace? I suggest you should put more words describing his accomplishments. your friend, Ki

Dear Miss Lak,
I cann’t wait until you get back! Is your mom and sister Jen in that picture with one friend? Did you get to see the president? Mrs.Germain sent in the stories into the post office for the contest. I miss you! what other things did you see besides the Capital Building? Who took the picture? Did you get to go inside the Capital Building? Who was in the picture with you?  Love, S

 

 

 

Common Core and Advanced Learners

Hello!  This year is off to a great start.  I am really enjoying my class, and they seem to be all getting along and really focusing on being the best Bucket Fillers they can be.  They love to notice the great things that each other are doing, which really helps build our classroom community.  As we are starting to dig deeper into academics, I realize that having advanced learners means I need to make sure I keep them very busy to constantly have them engaged and learning.  What I don't want to do is bore my learners.  I want to make sure they are constantly challenged.  I am excited to teach them the inquiry process, and have been researching curriculum compacting.  One way that I am making sure to challenge them is integrating a lot of technology into the curriculum. For example, this week I am going to be introducing Voki Classroom to my students.  We have spent the last week focusing on characters and setting, and have started delving into character traits.  I am modeling this through my first read aloud, The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron.  My students cannot wait for the read aloud time in the day, where they have been actively listening, been involved in Turn-and-Talk and participating in Stop and Jots in their Reading Response Notebooks.  The latter new to me this year, but I am enjoying having students write their quick responses, and making sure to get their response to literature time in several times a day.  As we finish the book, we will take our recorded notes, and our teaching points to make a Voki Avatar of Julian, the main character in the book.  We will create this as a class, so that I can model my thinking and process.  The next step for each student will be to create a Voki Avatar of the main character in the book they have chosen to read.  This is a great activity that they can not only do at school, but at home too.  Several of my students have interest in doing extra work at home, and this is an assignment, once we have practiced in the classroom, can be transferred to other books at home for extra credit.   I hope to keep coming up with challenging work that relates to the Common Core Standards and provides additional learning opportunities for my advanced learners!

First Week of School and Open House Activities

I love the start of the school year.  I think its so amazing to bring a group of children together and form a strong bond throughout the school year.  Spending the first two weeks focusing on routines, rules, and getting to know you activities helps all students feel like they belong.  One of the first things I make sure to put in place is a Morning Meeting where we can meet as a group and play name game activities and getting to know you games.  We make sure to play some Name Bingo over the first two weeks, with game boards filled in with all students names.  This helps children remember each others names, which is an integral part to learning more about each other.  The first day is getting to know the teacher, the classroom, the school, and routines.  Taking a tour of the classroom, and pointing out important places helps students understand where things are.  Practicing activities such as fire drill and lock down procedures help students know what is expected at all times.  By day 2 and 3, a lot of time can be spent on friendship, similarities, and differences.  The sharing of "Me Bags" gives each child an opportunity to shine, sharing special things from their life.  Read alouds focus on what it means to be a good friend, with writing activities to follow.  Each of my students write "I can be a good friend by..." activity where they share ideas of what they can do.  I also have students decorate themselves on cut-outs, and create a classroom poster to hang outside the door, "Together as friends we make one great classroom community!"  This helps to make each child feel like they belong.  I added the students friendship writing all around to be our welcome into the classroom display.

 

 

Through several other activities, such as Similarities and Differences, where students work with a partner and create a Venn Diagram of ways they are alike, and ways they are different, students continue to celebrate each other.  For the rest of the first week, we celebrate each individual student and what makes them special.  We read aloud, I Like Myself, and create self portraits. 

We learn about Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and students learn the many different ways they are smart.  This helps each child realize that they ARE smart in different ways.  We color code pie charts which shows the top four ways each child is smart.  This makes all students feel as if they belong, and set them up for a successful year in second grade.

 

Students have the opportunity to write about their Wish for Second Grade and we post that in the classroom as well, as the first writing activity.  These are all hanging up as classroom displays that make the classroom very inviting for both the students, and parents as they come in for Open House. 

 

 

Another activity I tried for the first time this year, was having each child create a Wordle on www.wordle.net, a Word Cloud of words that describe themselves. They start by creating this list in their Writing Journal, and then typing it into Microsoft Word.  I made sure that each child typed his/her name 4 times so that it would come up as the biggest word in the Wordle.  My students wrote between 10 and 30 words.  One at a time I called my students up to my computer, and we worked together to copy and paste in the words, then choose the font, direction, and colors.  When each child was satisfied with the Wordle, I printed them out for their writing binder, and put a copy into Microsoft PowerPoint, which will run on a loop during open house and feature each child on a screen with Meet _______(students name), picture, and Wordle.
Here is the example of my Wordle I showed to help my students:

 I am looking forward to the second week of school where we continue to build a classroom community, and build up each childs' self-esteem.  I plan on reading The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown tomorrow, and having each child use the familiar pattern in the book to write a poem for their parents to have on the desk during Open House.  For example, "The important thing about my mom is she loves me...." where the whole poem reflects a page in the book.  The parents love to see what their child wrote about them on Open House night, and I even leave a blank copy of the poem for the parents to fill in about their child, so the children have a surprise to come back to the next morning.   As a final little present for the parents, I created a Star Magnet that can be hung on the refrigerator to display their children's work during the school year.  It's an added little gift that parents appreciate, and students love. 

Remember the key to a great school year is helping each child feel comfortable in the classroom, aware of routines, a lot of time to practice, and build a positive rapport between you, the students, and the parents.  A successful year comes from a blending of a positive classroom community, highly engaging academic activities, and an understanding of each child for the unique person that they are, in order to differentiate instruction appropriately throughout the school year!

First Day of School!

I cannot believe tomorrow starts another school year.  I am looking forward to what this year has in store for me and my new group of students.  I was fortunate to have spent the morning at school yesterday during Campus Visitation and had the opportunity to meet almost all of my students and their families.  What is it they say about the first day of school?  Get students here, get them fed, and get them home safely.  Those are the 3 key things for the first day of school.  I hope to begin to build a positive classroom culture and community.  I hope for all my new students to feel welcomed, happy, and looking forward to the next 179 days together.  I hope to know all of my students names and faces by the end of the day.  I cannot wait to start read alouds again and find out interesting facts about each child.  We will work on routines and creation of classroom rules together.  As this year is ready start, I know I need to get a good night sleep tonight, as I am hoping that each of my children gets as well, and I ask myself the pressing question, what am I going to wear tomorrow?  For everyone else that is about to start school too, have a wonderful start of a new school year!

Wordle for the Classroom

As I was preparing a training last night working on a Mission Statement for my Writing Project group, I came across a wonderful website called Wordle (www.wordle.net).  It let's you create a Word Cloud from text that you provide.  The clouds give greater prominence to the words that appear more frequently in a text.  You can even change your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.  I tried the website with this blog to see what it would look like.  Here is my Wordle I created:

I was very interested in how this came out, and started thinking how I could use this program in the classroom.  I think it would be a great project at the beginning of the year with my students.  While we work on creating Classroom Rules, creating a Mission Statement, going over Your Job/My Job activities, why not take all our words that are important to the class and create a Wordle to display in the classroom.  This can remind us of things that are important to us.  Possibly, later in the year students can take some of their work and create individual Wordles, sharing words that are important to them.  This would work well in addition to their autobiography and Remember When poems.  Has anyone used Wordle for projects in your classroom?

Summer of Travel

Wow, first I have to say that I was fortunate enough to have another INCREDIBLE summer of travel!  I have been on the road for a month, which is why I haven't been posting. But, I am excited to be home and getting back to the world of teaching.  And boy am I thrown in quickly...I finally got home on Sunday and I headed into school on Monday.  This weekend I am excited to head to the Leadership Retreat for the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project, an organization I truly believe has transformed me as a teacher of Writing.  I will be spending my last two weeks of summer vacation in trainings.  Next week I am on the District Committee for the new Reading Adoption.  The week after I will be providing training to all new 2nd grade teachers in the county in the area of Reading and Writing.  So I'm currently in planning mode and working on ideas for the first two weeks of school.  Anyone have amazing ideas to share with new teachers?  I plan on sharing the many activities I complete with my students.  Well, while I get back into school mode, I thought I would share a few pictures from my summer of travel around Europe and out west.  Since travel is classroom theme, the more I see of the world, the more I have to share with my students!

Trip #1:  Zurich, Switzerland; Vaduz, Lichtenstein; Munich, Germany; Salzburg and Vienna, Austria; Prague, Czech Republic; and Amsterdam, Netherlands

Heidiland, Switzerland at the Heidi House

with a copy of the Heidi book for my classroom!

"I Have Confidence" the road Maria sings

 and dances in the Sound of Music

Bus Trip from Salzburg, Austria

Mozart Dinner Theater

My favorite city of the trip: Salzburg

Eagle's Nest

Vienna Opera House

Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic

Trip #2: Exploring the West: Sedona, the Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas

Verde Canyon Railroad

Out of Africa Wildlife Park

Bell Rock in Sedona

Yoga on the Rock

Chapel on the Hill

The Grand Canyon

 After such an amazing summer of travel, I cannot wait to get back in the classroom and start working with a new group of second graders!

It's Center Time

I have heard a lot of different feelings about "center time" and what that means in the classroom.  Some people will argue there should not be centers, and others feel confident that it should be a part of everyday in the classroom.  I have adapted my ideas of centers and have found them to be extremely useful when done appropriately.  At the beginning of the year, each student is assigned to one of the five centers in my classroom each day of the week. 

For Example, Student A's Schedule:
Monday: Book Shopping and Word Work Center
Tuesday: Science/Social Studies Center
Wednesday: Math Center
Thursday: Writing Center
Friday: Computer Center Time

Each child has a similar schedule and 3-4 students have the same schedule in the classroom. This way, no center is too busy.  The great thing about centers in my room is that students are able to go to their center when finished with their work during designated time during the day.  This provides each of my students motivation to complete their work. They are able to go to their center when finished with morning work, math or social studies/science work.  They do not get the opportunity during reading because they are Independently Reading, which every child is responsible to do.  At each center there are activities they can complete, which are changed every few weeks throughout the year.  For example, on Monday Student A finishes his/her morning work and gets to Book Shop for five new books for the week.  He/she may choose 3 on-level books and 2 "desert" books which might be above or below level.  Once book shopping is completed, this student can choose to read quietly or go to the Word Work Center and complete an activity such as a Synonym/Antonym Find.  On Tuesday Student A can visit the table with Science and Social Studies activities, which match the units we complete in daily lessons.  They may be playing a map game or sorting rocks into different characteristics.  On Wednesday, this student would work individually or with a partner to play math games on the red rug, enhancing the math lessons we are focusing on like money, flash cards, or clock practice.  On Thursday students have several options at the Writing Center to complete different activities with language, letter writing, or choose a specialty paper and gel pen to complete a final draft of a previously written story.  On Friday this student has the opportunity to complete an activity on the computer in previously chosen programs such as Destination Reading/Math, Reading Counts Quizzes, Voki Classroom, Starfall, or type a story in Microsoft Word.  Once I ring a bell, students know they have to clean up whichever activity they are doing and go to the next activity.  It works very well, as I can modify the amount of time spent at centers.  If a child would rather read a book independently at their seat rather than go to their center, that is always an option.  I believe my students motivation to complete work has increased drastically as I implemented Center Time in my classroom.

                                      Social Studies/Science Center Table

Writing Center with Activities

Word Work Center in Reading Area

Grant Writing and Student Rubrics

This week I have been working diligently on a Teach for Excellence Grant offered by the Pinellas Education Foundation in my district.  As I go through the process, I find myself very dependent on the rubric they provided to help me write the best proposal I can.  As I sit and look at the rubric for tidbits of inspiration, I think to my classroom and my students use of rubrics.  This year, I created rubrics for most writing assignments the students did.  They really appreciated the rubrics, and would look for them as we started new projects.  As my students were coming up to the end of the year Writing Common Assessment, I explained to them how they would not have a rubric to use, but felt confident that they knew the strategies to include.  I was proven correct as all of my general ed students passed the assessment and produced high-quality writing.  But I also sit here and wonder, why shouldn't students have a rubric as they complete their story?  I am so dependent on my grant rubric and feel that I can produce a lot higher quality piece of writing with this support, and I am sure that my students feel the same way.  And the second question I wonder is, why can students only have 45 minutes to complete their best piece of writing?  That is too much pressure.  As I am completing my "grown-up" writing, I need frequent breaks, a lot of time, and a relaxed environment.  Since I cannot offer my students the true gift of time, or a rubric with expectations, at least I know that I can provide a calm environment with peaceful and inspiring music to help motivate them during assessments.  I also can spend the whole year teaching them to "think like writers," help them gain their personal voice, and confidence to know that their writing matters and is important to share with the world!