Check it out!

It is that time of year once again. The mad dash to the school year finish line. In the midst of all the madness, I created a new Pinterest board titled Let's Teach Reading! Click here to check it out.

Have a happy Monday!

P.S. I got the above photo from the best free photo resource I have yet found online. 
It is called Morgue File.  

Opinion Piece Writing Starters

Delving into the Common Core writing standards is quite the eye opener. No more endless free writing journal time (not that we've had much of that in recent years anyway). Time to read Informational Texts with a relish and be able to argue an opinion with logic and persuasion. I admit. Initially looking at this writing strand left me feeling more frazzled than energized. However, thanks to the wonders of the blogosphere and Pinterest, I have been able to gather a smattering of graphic organizers and lesson ideas that have piqued my interest in teaching the topic. Hopefully, these resources will do the same for my students as well!  

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What kiddo wouldn't love to start using this versatile organizer with a tasty oreo to entice them into the world of artful persuasion? After luring them in with sugar, then we could brainstorm together as a class what other topics we would like to form opinions on through the use of this fun visual. 

{here free on TPT}

What I most particularly like about this highly versatile graphic organizer is that it has the connecting words because, and, and also in a bold box with a smiling bear on top so that students will remember to use one of those three magic little words opinion pieces so heavily depend upon. Brilliant!

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My last opinion writing jump starter hails from the wonderful Johanna over at First Grade Fanatic! blog. She has three lovely freebie packets on opinion writing posted for download. Just follow the link under the picture above to find opinion piece writing packets that use yummies like s'mores, Hershey kisses, and Oreos as a starting point for students to get excited about writing opinion pieces.

I don't know about you, but after sifting through these fabulous websites, I am super eager to start teaching my kiddos the value of their opinion!

Happy Tuesday!

Classroom Dojo

A co-worker recently introduced me to this free behavior tracking app and I love it! Classroom Dojo is a visual behavior tool that allows you to easily track positive as well as negative student behaviors through a point system. Sound like a lot of work? It really isn't. Once you type in all your students' names, Class Dojo assigns a colorful character button to each name. As students exhibit behaviors tap their name once to bring up a menu of behavior options. Tap the behavior they just exhibited and a point will be awarded or deducted from their daily total. Behaviors are tracked daily and can be archived for the entire school year. Parents, other teachers, and administrators can be emailed with a daily graph detailing the percentage of each type of behavior exhibited by a single student each day. Go to their online site to customize the type of behaviors you are specifically tracking. You will also find helpful tutorials to get  you and your students started on this journey together! (Just make sure your school tech administrator has unblocked the site from any filtering services your district may implement prior to classroom use). 

Happy Wednesday!

Common Core Quick Reference

The introduction of the Common Core has brought with it a whole host of new acronyms to mix in with our all ready full "alphabet soup" of educational lingo. Therefore, I was grateful to find this handy quick reference guide for free on Teachers Pay Teachers. It not only outlines the key acronyms, but also defines many commonly used terms such as text complexity and close reading. I found the list of several useful web links helpful as well.

Happy Friday!

Close Reading

Adopting the Common Core this year has led me to delve into the world of Close Reading to discover what it is, what it does, and what resources I can use in my classroom right now in a nutshell. 

What it is:

an in-depth rereading and analysis of a  book, poem, or article

What it does:

challenges the reader to study author's purpose and intent in writing the passage to the point of considering language, syntax, & layout to the tiniest nuance of text

Resources:

I got a kick out of this student made video which gives
a nice overview of the topic.

By far my favorite resource has come from the St. Joseph School District website which contains PDFs and Word documents with sample lesson plans, forms and other high-quality instructional material - all for free! I am looking forward to trying the Eric Carle lesson plan with my students. 

I additionally found the information in these articles helpful:

What is Close Reading?

Close Reading of a Literary Passage

Happy Wednesday!

Say hello to Thinkport

      Recently, I had the privilege of partaking in a peer-led professional discussion group. My district took a slightly different approach to professional development this school year by allotting some of our PD time to shared study and discussion centering around research-based teaching strategies. At the end of each nine-week grading period, students get a two-hour delay so that all teachers K-12 can have shared planning and discussion time. Before attending, all peers are given a reading assignment (this year we are focusing on the revised edition of Marzano's original study Classroom Instruction That Works). The discussion is facilitated by one peer who has exhibited an affinity for the particular strategy or topic of the quarter. The format is very casual allowing for plenty of open discussion and sharing of ideas, knowledge, and resources. 

It was during our last group time that I was introduced to the beyond fabulous Web resource of Thinkport.org. I was amazed by the wealth of free, quality lesson ideas, classroom tools, and professional development videos that I discovered. I have shared a few of my particular favorites down below.

Reading Strategies
This link connects to a menu (on the right-hand side of the page) of twelve powerful reading strategies. Clicking one of the strategies allows you to explore the strategy through a video, gives examples of when and how to implement the strategy, and offers helpful hotlinks with materials that can be used during group times in order to further support the strategy. If your curiosity was not satisfied enough, then there are also additional links at the bottom of the page for other articles highlighting the effectiveness of the strategy.  

Reading Across the Curriculum Video
The reading strategies featured in this module are the ones recommended by the National Reading Panel. I appreciated how this video series stressed the importance of being able to read informational text. Reading is truly the key to academic success. From my experience, if a student only has difficulty in math, then all other subject areas are usually on track. However, students who struggle in reading quite often struggle in all academic areas as critical thinking and reading skills are so pervasive in science, social studies, and even math now. 

Graphic Organizers Galore!
This link has pages and pages of graphic organizers for free and ready use in your classroom. Each one opens in a new window for easy printing capabilities. However, I usually prefer to project mine onto the whiteboard and use this larger-than-life version to get kids excited about interactive writing. There is just something about writing on a whiteboard that never ceases to engage my early learners. 

I hope these links are as big a blessing to your classroom and personal practice as they have been to mine.

Happy Wednesday!

Just found...

... a fabulous blog today. It is produced by The Whole Child organization and features discussions and topics about differentiation as well as (like its name suggests) understanding and addressing the needs of the whole child in order to maximize learning on an individual basis.

Note to self...

... I should really consider squeezing in time to participate in these online simulations  from Syracuse University. Read more about them here.

A Helpful Diagram... 

... to start you down the path to differentiation 

(courtesy of www.speedofcreativity.org).