Reading Spotlight

One day, my assistant principal did a walk through and left a note of praise and asked a question about independent reading. Her question made me do some reflective thinking and sparked in me our Reader's Spotlight. I wanted a way for students to share what they were reading, thinking, and writing about during independent reading in a quick and fun way. A couple of times each week, we come together for Reader's Spotlight. (Grab a copy of my template)

Students gather together in the front of the room with their book. I ask for volunteers who would like to come forward in to the Reader's Spotlight. They simply share the title of the book and 1 or 2 things off the slide. I brainstormed a list of a few things students could share about and have a question with each to help generate some ideass. You could definitely change this up. And of course, students can always share other thoughts as well. After the student shares, other students can ask any questions they have for the reader. 

Reader's Spotlight benefits include:

1. Communication- students must be able to articulate and clearly share their thoughts with their classmates and respond to questions that are asked

2. Synthesizing & Comprehension- students must combine all the information they are reading, share what is important, 

3. Excitement for Reading- all students hear about mulitple books, authors, genres and get excited about the books their peers are sharing

My students have absolutely loved Reader's Spotlight! I believe this is worth the 5-10 minutes we spend sharing at the end of reading workshop to help build our reading community.

How else do you highlight the books your students are reading during their independent reading time?

 

The Coffee Bean for Kids

 

I finally read Jon Gordon's The Coffee Bean over Spring Break and LOVED the simple yet profound message. I knew I HAD to share it with my students! I ordered it off of Amazon and shared it with them this week. I believe we have the power to choose to make each day great and love the analogy of the carrot, egg, and the coffee bean that Jon uses to describe the power to transform our situation.  One of my student's wrote a poem/song to help us remember The Coffee Bean Rules. Listen here! It's so cute!

After we read the book, students did a quick write. I loved their realizations and their honesty. 

I am going to be passing out Shout Outs to students who are being The Coffee Bean, and students can pass them out too! I already heard conversations in our classroom like, "Are you being the Coffee Bean?" and "What would the Coffee Bean do?"

I am going to print the shout outs 4 to a page. 

Grab a copy of this shout out and my slide deck here.

Have you read it? I highly recommend adding this book to your classroom library to help build and create POSITIVE change!

March Madness Book Battle

March Madness is right around the corner, and who doesn't like to fill out a bracket and root for the underdog. Let's take the fun of the Final Four and bring it to our classrooms!

 Well, it's also no secret that I'm always looking for fun ways to engage my readers and expose them to new books and authors. So last year when I saw different teachers/librarians creating bulletin boards with a book bracket, I knew I had to find a way to do it too. This could be easily adapted for any grade level and used with Connect/Virtual Learners!

I didn't have the wall space to create a bulletin board, so I create a Google Slide with our Book Battle Brackets. Click here to make a copy and put in your own books. 

You could set up your bracket in many ways, but I'll share what has worked for me:

ONE- I set up the bracket before and, starting with the Sweet 16.

8 books we have read before and loved and 8 books are new to us.

TWO- I read the "new" book from one bracket each day for 8 days. After I read it book, students vote on their favorite and the one that will move forward. This always leads to great discussions and some great quick writes. Mentimeter is a great to use for voting and allows your virtual learners to participate as well.

THREE- Once our Elite Eight our chosen, I'll reread the book we had previously read. Then, we will vote again and the winner will move forward.

FOUR- Repeat until your winner is chosen and tweet the authors of the books that are winning. Students love being able to connect with authors. 

FIVE- Pump it up, wear your favorite college team, enjoy new books, and have FUN!

The best part? We are all winners with this March Madness Book Battle!

JOY in the Classroom (starts with ME)

 

It's been a while since I have shared anything on my blog. I have personally been through a lot with my husband having open heart surgery in early December. I have also struggled this year in feeling like I have anything good to share and that I am not living up to my expectations for myself. It has been hard teaching both in-person and online students at the same time. 

However, one thing I have not stopped doing is bringing JOY to my classroom each and everyday. So, I'm here to remind you that JOY in the classroom starts with YOU!!

I read this tweet this morning and it resonates big with me.

I have not lost sight of academics and TEKS, but this year I am sharing and looking for the JOY in each and every day that the Lord has given me. 

Some ways I am bringing JOY into my classroom:

1. Sharing fun facts and riddles on my daily slide deck with my students to start each day. Thanks Kelsey French for this idea. These always get laughs, students' sharing memories and stories, and get the day started on a positive note!

2. FriYAY 3-2-1
We all look forward to this one! We spend some time on Fridays just reflecting and sharing with one another. It builds our classroom culture. Grab a copy here!

3. Dress Up Days, Celebrations, and Escape Rooms- 

I'm an elementary teacher so I love a good theme! I find any excuse to dress up, celebrate my students, and give them activities to look forward to. JOY is contagious. The more excited I am the more excited they are!

4. Smile and Decide to Choose Joy- 

Joy is a feeling, and I decide to choose it each day even on the tough days. My students deserve it! We talk about it often and I remind them to choose joy as well. I told my students my middle name was joy this week, and the best compliment was when they all agreed it was the perfect name for me.

I know you are doing hard things each and every day in your classroom, but you are also doing amazing things! Remember above all Choose JOY because you and your students deserve it! I promise you, you'll leave school feeling better too!

Celebrating Students

 There is no doubt the 2020 is different in so many ways, but one thing that hasn't changed for me is CELEBRATING students!! 

I believe in celebrating the big, the small, and everything in between! 

Our words mean so much to our students and can build them up or tear them down. 

I love celebrating students with words but also certificates. They are tangible words that they can take with them. I'll share a few I use to celebrate behavior, effort, and growth. All can be used with F2F by printing them off or Connect students by emailing to them.

1. LEADer of the Day- 

I highlight one student each day that is exemplifying our PBIS matrix of LEAD. It is a quick, simple way to reinforce our LEAD behavior throughout the day and highlight positive behavior. Students get their picture taken in front of our LEAD background with their certificate.  You can easily edit it to your campus' acronym or a GRIT award. Click here to grab a copy.

2. Golden H Awards- 

It may not be the Caldecott Award, but it's even better!  

This is specifically for writing! Now I celebrate student writing all the time in many different ways (another post for another day:), but this is a way to highlight outstanding effort in writing. Students receive a Golden H award, sign the golden H sign, and share their writing with the class!! Grab a copy here you can edit for your class!

3. Strategy King and Queen- 

I love to shout out students who are showing strategies on check points and DPMs. You can use this for any subject and personalize your note to them. I love to staple it to their assessment for them to see when we go over them! Click here to grab a copy.

4. Keep the Quote-

Each week our class focuses on one quote. We discuss what it means and how we can apply it to our lives. At the end of the week, students vote on who gets to "Keep the Quote" based on who is a great example of the meaning. I love how it helps build positive character traits in the students and gives them ideas for their essays. :) 

Click here to make a copy.

4. Positive Notes-

I love using these Bitmoji notes to celebrate any piece of good news. Click here to grab a copy.

Even though it is something rather small, I believe these acts of celebrating on my part help increase student effort, motivation, and self worth. Which all have pretty high effect size on Hattie's list! 

I also hear all the time from past students and parents that students keep these celebratory notes on their dressers, cork boards, scrapbooks, etc! It means a lot to a kid to be celebrated by their teacher!

What are you doing to celebrate your students?

Digital Stickers

 I saw some cute digital stickers floating around on the internet, and I love the idea of putting them on student work that is submitted digitally. But, I wanted my Bitmoji on them so I decided to make some of my own!

I created my stickers in Google Drawing first. Then, I saved each one as a .PNG file on my computer. 

 Last, I uploaded the pictures into my Google Drive.

The possibilites are endless. I created some reading and writing award ones, along with some encouragement ones. 

Click here to view them all and make a copy. Don't forget to click file make a copy, then delete my Bitmoji for yours!

I can't wait to digitally stick these to my students' work to encourage them!

Guided Reading/Small Groups: Distance Learning Style

I know teachers are busy trying to figure out the best way to do all the things for our Distance Learning and Face2Face students. One thing I have been thinking about is Guided Reading and Small Groups for my remote learners and what might that look like. 

Thanks to Ann Melancon, principal in my district, I was able to think through and change some ideas. Books were my number one concern. How will I get books to my students and what resources will help support their learning?

I began brainstorming and here is the beginning of my list. 

Click here to grab a copy of my list, it has hyperlinks to each resource.

Digital texts that you could share:

*HMH digital books-

If you are in CyFair ISD, we have an amazing resource in our HMH online materials. We have a variety of Rigby guided readers, and you can assign guided reading books based on reading levels to our students. You can also create groups based on your schedule and assign different books to each group. 

Click here for a quick video highlighting how to search and assign books in HMH.

*Storyworks- 

Scholastic Storyworks has great digital resources from articles, stories, poems, infographics and activities to support comprehension. My students always love Storyworks. They also have digital only subscriptions available for this year. I recommend Storyworks for grades 3-5.

*Newsela-

Newsela is FREE and takes current events and create articles for students. You can search any topic and choose the Lexile you want for the article. You can link articles easily to Google Classroom or download and add to your Learning Management system. They also include activities for each article. If you haven't checked out Newsela go search their site now.

*Reading A-Z-

Reading A-Z could be another option for you. They have a variety of fiction and nonfiction books on all levels. You can download and link to your school's platform. Parents could also print the book for their child at home.

I also linked a few digital guided reading or small group resources you may want to use. Digital letter tiles or a virtual white board for your word work or comprehension activites and some visuals to cue students in Zoom throughout your lesson.

Scheduling Groups

I don't plan on starting guided reading or small groups for the first few weeks. I need to get to know students, build relationships, set up our class procedures both for Face2Face or virtually. 

Here is a possible sample Guided Reading/Small group schedule if you are teaching students both remotely and Face2Face. When talking with Mrs. Melancon, it made more sense to pull your digital group first because they were just with you for the live lesson. First, you can meet with a virtual group that stays on Zoom, while the others go off screen and work on their independent reading and activities for the day. 

Do you have any tips for Guided Reading: Distance Learning Style?

What other thoughts and/or questions do you have regarding guided reading or small groups? I may have different thoughts and resources once I jump in and actually try it out.

Give yourself grace, but don't skip your guided reading and small groups!!