Building Fluency

Reading has so many components and so many factors.  After 20 years of teaching kids how to read, they continually surprise me, and they also follow some predictable patterns, which comfort me. Each child seems to attack reading differently, whether they favor whole word reading, phonetic reading, or a mixture of the two.  My own two kids at home, were perfect examples of different reading styles.  Both my kids loved to listen to stories and we would spend hours curled up reading in the mornings, naptimes, and evenings.  My daughter, memorized books very early on and focused keenly on words as I read them to her in story books.  My son, contrastingly, focused on details in pictures and imagery in his own mind.  We all were great at thinking aloud, as I modeled this from day one (perk of taking all those education classes and the 7 years of shared reading I did with students before I was blessed with my own loves).  We wondered about characters, imagined them in different situations, and read all the books by our favorite authors to compare the writing, the characters, illustrations, and messages.  This, to me, was stage one in their reading development.  My excitement spilled over to them.  I viewed it as fun, so in turn, they did too.  To me, this is an important part fluency building and an essential part of teaching. 

Once they started reading on their own I figured out that they had different attack skills that they favored.  My daughter, a whole word reader, saw a word once and photographically knew it.  But, when faced, with an unknown word, needed help to decode it.  That's when I started breaking down the phonics rules for her. She didn't love how it slowed her down a bit, but once she had enough practice with them, it was all automatic and she could read anything.  My son, on the other hand, attacked things in part, phonetically.  He needed a lot of work memorizing sight words (as a whole).  We wrote sight words with shaving cream, created elaborate matchbox car roads that had sight words at each turn that he had to read before his car could pass, and played a variety of games to cement the sight words for him.  He needed a lot of repetition and he needed the phonics to crack the reading code.  Once you figure out a student's unique pathway then you can help them access reading. That is the beauty of teaching.

What all kids need, though, is practice.  Some devour books and practice is natural because it is something they love to do. Some need it to be more game based and center like.  Most need a combination.  What has worked best for me in teaching reading is a balanced, blended program.  Essential is reading aloud, thinking aloud, students talking verbalizing and synthesizing their comprehension (partner reading, literature circles, discussion roundtables, etc...), strong, explicit phonics instruction through the context of reading, sight word automaticity, and fluency practice.  One of the best tools that have worked for ALL my students (even those with the most challenges) is phrasing.  Even 6 years olds don't want to be held back on what they read.  They often grab books that are too hard for them, but don't let go at library time or free choice reading of that one special book because they love it.  Phrasing is a way of letting all kids have access to core material like articles and close reading passages because it offers practice in small chunks, scaffolding the core for all.  I usually use phrasing for my "lovable" readers as a preteaching tool in small group the week before we start a new close read so that they have a leg up and can access the reading.  This gives them confidence, and the bonus is most of the words are sight words so they are gaining valuable practice with automaticity. 

I decided to take it a step further and make this phrasing activity a center after I work with the kids in small group, and it has worked out great.  I'm in the process of "beautifying" these units to put on TPT and I have just finished my first one.  It focuses on informational text and is centered around arctic animals.  Below is a link if you are interested.  I'll be coming out with a lot more soon.  Also linked below is a sight word center using ladder writing which is great for those kids who need to connect the reading memorization of the word with writing.

Warmly,
Valerie
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fluency-Center-Arctic-Animals-1620448

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Writing-Center-1597770

Gratitude

I am so thankful for my class and the wonderful school where I teach!

Growth Mindset in First Grade--writing goals

This year I'm fortunate to be at  a school that has high academic expectations, but also looks at positive habits of mind to grow and develop as a person.  I'm also blessed to have an amazing class that is open, willing, and has learned this year to be okay with productive struggle and not being perfect.  It's been a hard road for a couple of them, who resisted at first (crying on the floor and the like ;).  Luckily, I make my fair share of mistakes in front of them!  I've been open and honest about mistakes and let them know that mistakes can help us grow.  Moreover we all make mistakes!

On Pinterest last year I saw a ton of awesome writing goal displays and I tried a few with my last year's class.  It never really took hold because the goals changed faster than I could create a new chart.  This year I came up with the display in the picture.  I'm sure there's other ways that are just as good, but this is working for us now.  I just change the post-it notes as we change goals.  I think little clips would work too, but I eventually want to have the kids write their own goals so I may stick with post its.  The only downside is falling post its (maybe I'll try the kind that restick?"  I wrote them the first round, but I already have some kids wanting to change their goals a week into it (the ones that had quicker fixes like printing size).  I'm having them show me the evidence though with writing samples in their WOW journals (Work on Writing). I can't decide on how many samples I'm going to require them to switch the goal up...any thoughts?

If interested in the goal chart I'm offering it as a FREEBIE on my TPT store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Writing-Goals-1551007

Please consider following me on TPT to get first notice of any flash freebies, new products, and sales:)

Warmly,
Valerie

Using an Interactive Writing Notebook

I couldn't believe I caught this as I was filming to try to capture good examples of Daily 5 time so we could review and discuss.  Student talk was getting a little loud (I'm sure you can clearly hear the background ;)  Students were working on Daily 5 and this little angel was doing working on writing using her Interactive notebook.  As I walked by I heard her discussing her need for a narrative transition for a story she was composing.  Since the notebook is color coded she went right to the section she needed and thumbed through the pages until she found a mini-chart on transitions.  She even thanked her notebook.  I couldn't have wished for a better reason to use this interactive notebook than my sweet little student showing her appreciation for it;)

I loved the idea when I saw them in a second grade classroom so I created one using my writing program.  We've learned a lot using them.  Here are some tips that I've learned:

1. First and foremost:  USE WHITE GLUE (not a glue stick).  Unfortunately I learned the hard way and we've had to back track and reinforce a lot.  
2.  Also if possible color code each text type.  I copied each resource page in the color of the text type (for example any opinion page I copied in blue paper).  I tabbed spiral notebooks with each color code too, which was super easy for my kids.  One of my teammates uses a binder and loves it though.
3. Don't underestimate the power of the cut and paste pieces.  These have been so valuable for my kids, especially when they collaborate.  A lot of rich dialogue has gone into debating whether something is an opinion statement or an introduction.
4. Model how to use the notebook.  

I just started individual writing goals for my students and I'll be adding them to the notebook as well.  If interested in the notebook see the link below:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Interactive-Writing-Notebook-K-3-Common-Core-1308044
I am constantly adding to the notebook (I've already added 55 pages and I'm going to add goals too) so if you buy it I'll send updates for free as I add them.  I'm teaching using it this year for the first time so I am finding new things all the time to create.

Warmly,
Valerie

Effective Feedback

 Awhile back our staff was introduced to this great video clip explaining the importance of giving feedback to students that is effective, honest, useful, and productive. 

http://vimeo.com/38247060

Since then I have I have used this to guide my class in giving each other effective and specific feedback.  While still a work in progress, we are coming along.  In math students are noting when students are using number bonds in math problems or when they are making a ten. In writing, students are noting creative transitions and ways to hook the reader in.  The video clip is a great starting point.  Maybe it will spark something fun and creative to do in your own classroom:)

American Symbols -Connecting Reading Literature and Informational Text

Reading informational text wall

 The kids have really gotten used to identifying texts as informational or narrative.  I really think that teaching these blocks explicitly has helped the kids not only in comprehension, but also in writing.  They are beginning to connect the structure of each of the types of texts and that is helping them when they read and write.  We just finished American symbols.  When I looked for good literature books at first grade reading level that connected with the unit on American Symbols I had a tough time.  So I decided to write a shared reading text and a companion (much easier level) student book.  I was worried that the kids would miss the color version in their student book, but they loved it (partially because I think they loved the cute character -thanks Melonheadz illustration:).  With the reading literature component we retold the story, worked on characterization, setting, and vocabulary.  We worked daily a little bit in our fiction block on the reading literature activities.  Even still, during Daily 5 the kids reached for their Bob and Kaya book :)  For informational text time we worked on close reading of articles on American Symbols, took notes, answered questions, and then wrote informational pieces on each symbol.  If interested in the unit see below: 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/American-Symbols-Common-Core-Close-Reading-Narrative-and-Informative-Text-Unit-1438704

Sample student papers from the unit.

Shared reading pictures with modeled note taking and vocabulary cards on reading literature board.

Students taking notes while exploring multimedia on American Symbols.

Connecting Literature to Social Studies

Students putting together an opinion piece as a pre-writing activity.

In conjunction with our Rules, Rights, and Responsibilities unit we did the literature unit Bud's Day Out from the first grade Houghton Mifflin anthology.  We connected the concepts of rules and responsibilities to the story by discussing how the dog Bud didn't follow the rules.  We covered character traits, setting, retelling, and we connected the whole unit with opinion writing.  The kids had so much fun deciding whether Bud was naughty or just being a dog. Their writing was priceless and they brought up so many points that I hadn't thought of in their opinion pieces.  I created a unit for these activities, and if you're interested it can be accessed below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Buds-Day-Out-Common-Core-Reading-Literature-and-Writing-Unit-1463259