Building A Strong Classroom Community

In addition to building relationships with my students, I believe building a strong classroom community among students is equally important. The way we have built a family culture in our classroom this year is through Fri YAY  3-2-1! This simple activity has changed our classroom this year!  Students learn new things about one another, cultivate trust, and create a learning environment that encourages risk and collaboration through be open with one another.

On Fridays, students write down 3 things they learned during the week, 2 things that went great during the week, and 1 thing they want to share with me or are looking forward during the weekend. Then, we sit together in a circle on the rug and share our 3-2-1. (Sitting in a circle is important because it encourages a sense of belonging and sharing.) These 15-20 minutes spent together are life changing!

I start the sharing and let students see me as a life long learner, overcoming obstacles or mistakes, and highlight great things they have done. Students can share one thing on their list or all of them. Other students are allowed to ask questions or share comments as long as they are respectful and kind. 

We have great conversations for the different things students share. I love how they begin to open up and share meaningful things and what is on their heart! Teaching and FriYAY 3-2-1 is much than just learning the curriculum. It puts students first and shows them how much you care about them!

You can use a cute form as below or any kind of paper as seen above. :) 

(Click the photo to make a copy of the 3-2-1 form.)

This is also a great self-reflection for students. It helps them to see all they learned and to find the positives in the week. I do like to collect their 3-2-1 sheets to read all of their responses, especially if they want to share something just with me. I will often write notes on the sheets before I hand them back. We learn so much about each other during this time. The students and I look forward to FriYAY each week!

A Book Review- Every Child A Super Reader

I thought I would share my notes and thoughts on a Professional Development book I just read with my PLN. I read Every Child A Super Reader by Pam Allyn and Ernest Morrell. (Click on any of the following pictures to access the notes I took while reading.)

The book is focused around the 7 Strengths that promote Super Readers:

1. Belonging

2. Curiousity 

3. Friendship

4. Kindness

5. Confidence

6. Courage

7. Hope

(Allyn and Morrell briefly touch on best practices, but this book is not focused on the components of Reading Workshop.)

The thing I love most about this book is I feel that these 7 Strengths can and should be nutured in across all grade levels and disciplines to help build social emotional well being in our students. I will be adding the 7 Strenghts to my vocabulary wall and theme wall. I will also be finding quotes that tie to the 7 Strengths. The 10 Fundamental Principles are important for us as educators to reflect on and make changes to our practices and classroom libraries as needed. 

(Click to see all 10 Principles)

One of my favorite quotes from the book states, "Every child deserves to know she belongs to the world of reading and the world of writing. Whether white or black, Latino or Asian, boy or girl-everyone and anyone can, will, and should benefit from a library as diverse as the world we live in." pg. 31

We must help our students see themselves in books. We must be purposeful with our read aloud selection and library choices. We must have a diverse books in our schools!!!

Allyn and Morrell also give practical advice on ways to promote the 7 Strengths in your classroom. Each chapter shares ideas for classroom activities, read alouds, technology integration, and ways to involve familes. 

(Click to see a few ideas for each strength)

I love the emphasis Ally and Morrell place on involoving families and educating them on ways to help their children connect the 7 Strenghts to their home as well. I think it would be a great idea to share the 7 Strenghts with parents when the year starts and continue to share ideas throughout the year via email, videos, newsletters, etc. 

The book is full of amazing assessment tools, rubrics, student goal setting, planning guides, and book lists. These book confirms my beliefs of building a community and that reading is more than just reading! 

What are you doing to ensure your students have the opportunity to become Super Readers?

Student (End of Year) Reflections

My students reflect throughout the year on many different assignments and their goals. I love to spend time with them reflecting on the things we accomplished during the year and set goals for the summer. This year I am going to let reflect on their favorites from reading and writing in Google Slides. I will share it with students in Google Classroom. 

Cover page-

Students can insert a picture from this year, take a picture of themselves with the webcam, or use remove.bg. 

You can easily edit the slides to make them suit your grade level, personal to your class, and your subject area. 

Student can edit the background, fonts, pictures, etc to match their style. 

Click here to view the reflection in Google Slides.

I think this will be a fun project for them to reflect on their growth this year and share with one another the last week of school. 

Jumpstart Summer Reading

I absolutely love having extra time to read more books off my list during the summer, and I love helping students create their own Reading List to jumpstart their summer reading!

I just implemented First Chapter Friday, where I read only the blurb and the first chapter of the book. While I read students soak in the chapter, and then turn and talk with their partners about their thoughts, questions, and if they want to read the rest. I make sure to choose a variety of genres, styles of writing, and authors. This helps ensure each student will find one book they might want to read or open the door to different genres and authors for some readers.

(Click the above photo for a copy)

Students can then scan the QR code and leave their thoughts to share with each other on our class Padlet. I love reading their opinions and emotions after only hearing one chapter. They can also add the book and author to their Summer Reading List paper or on Google Keep if they want.  (This is a great time to help students set up Google Keep if you haven't already. :)

(Click the above photo for a copy)

I will also host one last Book Tasting the last Friday of the year and give my students the opportunity to read many first chapters and add to their Summer Reading List. These First Chapter Fridays really build the excitement around reading! I have already have students buy the books from their lists, and it's not even summer yet!!

Since I know students can't buy every book on their Summer Reading List, I encourage them to visit the library and share one of my favorite apps Libby with them and their parents. You simply add your library card, and you instantly have the library at your fingertips!!

What is on your Summer Reading List?