Freebie Friday!!!!!!!

If you are looking for awesome Freebies make sure you hop over the Teacher Blog Addict  and pick up all the freebies that are available.  I have my Math Key Word Posters available at my TPT store
If you have a freebie, make sure you link it up on Teacher Blog Addict !

Questions about Questioning

If you read my blog, you know that I have recently given up our reading anthology for instruction that is more inline with the common core.  As I am out on break over the holidays I am working (or supposed to be) on our shared reading plans.  I have planned for us to study questioning when we return.  I have always taught the comprehension strategies in the past as part of my reading workshop minilesson, but now I am rethinking how to teach it.  When I first started doing Reading Workshop about 5 years ago I found Beth Newingham's site and have been stalking her ever since!  I love the lesson she has about questioning and plan on using it.

These are courtesy of Beth Newingham's Website 

What do you do when teaching this strategy?  I need fresh new ideas to engage my students like never before!

Math Key Words Posters

While looking around on Pinterest one day I came across Ms.Durbin's blog http://3rdgradesahoot.blogspot.com/ (Check her out, she's full of great ideas!)  One of her ideas was these awesome math key word posters.  I loved the design and simplicity of them.  I am currently very lucky that I have a "poster queen" at my school who is always willing to take things I find and blow them up into posters.  I began playing around with ideas and came up with these.  

Check out my TPT store to pick these posters up!

Happy Holidays, Victorian Style!

This week has been a little crazy and I will admit that I was a little jealous of those that didn't have to go these 2 little days, but today was an awesome day in my class. We have been studying Christmas Around the World the past week and have visited many different countries. My students made crafts from each country and even learned how to say "Merry Christmas" in various languages. We made cute little suitcases complete with stickers from each country we visited. My students decided they wanted to live in Italy because children there get gifts from 3 different people.

When we began planning field trips at the beginning of the year, my team decided to plan them for weeks that are basically considered "wasted" anyway (I know we're not supposed to "waste" instructional time but you know what I mean!). Today we went on our field trip to a local museum that used to be a historic hotel. The did a program about the holidays during the Victorian era which tied perfectly with our study of Christmas Around the World. It gave my students a look into how Christmas was celebrated back in the 19th century. They looked at toys, decorations, and foods. Each student also got to make an ornament that a child would have made during that time. We finished our visit with a treat of animal crackers and apple juice. I had no idea that animal crackers had been around for so long! Our study of the different countries Christmas customs paid off as well. My students were able to answer where the Christmas tree originated from (Germany) and asked several questions based on what we had been learning in class. Our group was also paid a very high complement. The staff told us that we were the best behaved group they had all holiday season! They were nervous about having a group so close to Christmas break, but told us we were great!

My Third Graders

Making their Victorian Ornament

Finished Ornament

When we got back to school I had more ornaments planned for my students to make. It went along with the Victorian era when children would make their Christmas gifts, rather than buy them. Each student made a little nut bear, a Santa spoon, and the classic Rudolph candy cane. They had the best time working on them. I actually made the nut bear when I was in 2nd grade and mine still hangs on my mom's tree to this day. I have made it with my students each year I have been teaching. I am hoping that my students will look back at their ornaments when they are older and remember their crazy third grade teacher!

Santa Spoons

Candy Cane Rudolphs

Little Nut Bears

It was a busy, but perfect day! I can't wait to see what 2012 holds with these students.

When Teachers Collaborate Magic Happens!

I am always amazed at the things that come out of teacher collaboration. By now I should be used to magical things happening when groups of teachers share their new ideas or "oldies but goodies". I was asked to share what my third grade team is doing with the Reading and Writing Workshop and Shared Reading at another school in our district. I recieved a very warm welcome and could immediatly tell that this staff, was ready for change! They flipped through examples of my student work that I brought along and asked very thoughtful questions throughout the presentation. Their principal then broke them into different break-out sessions to allow teachers to learn from their own peers about things that were going on in their classrooms to be able to take those back as well. Teachers came over and asked me questions about how I started, how I got grades and a variety of other things having to do with giving up control as the teacher and allowing students to take that on.

After the session as I was packing up to leave, several grade level teams stayed in the school library and immediatly began planning what they wanted to change first! It was awesome to see teachers so commited to their students that they didn't mind changing what was comfortable to them in order for student achievement to be higher. I am so glad that students in our district have teachers who are so commited to their learning!

Anchor Reading and Writing with Awesome Charts

I have been using anchor charts for a few years now, but this year I am really into them. I have some awesome new sharpie poster markers that really help the posters pop! (thanks to my awesome teammate, Erica!) To help my students really understand a skill I am teaching, I find that if I draw pictures that go with the text, they seem to grasp the concept better. The only problem is...I am a HORRIBLE artist! My kids know that I am not very confident, but continue to tell me that I'm doing a good job. (its so sweet of them to lie!) I am using these anchor charts in both reading and writing workshop. After we finish using them in our weekly lessons, I move them to an open wall in our classroom to allow students to access them all year long.

This is my first year doing the writing workshop, and it is a brand new learning experience for me! I am constantly learning new things about myself as a writing instructor. I am a great writer, but find that it is one of the most difficult things to teach. The workshop model has been a great help with that. The anchor charts are there to help students remember the key points of the lesson taught that day. This helps me and my students recall what was taught on any specific day.
If you haven't use anchor charts in your classroom before, I encourage you to do so in the near future. Let me know if you have questions, or need resources, I am always happy to share!

No More Anthology=1 Happy Teacher and a Roomful of Engaged Students!

This was my first week of teaching without our county adopted reading anthology + workbook = instruction model, and.I.loved.it!!!! When my students came into our classroom on Monday they noticed that there reading book had been removed from their desks. I didn't say a thing about where they went. I called my students over to the carpet for our mini-lesson for reading workshop and that's when I laid it on them that there was going to be no more reading boring stories out of our yellow reading book. Their faces were priceless! Not surprising, the boys in my class were the most excited.

My first task was to get my students to understand that they needed to be reading for longer periods of time. I am using A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop as my basis for my instruction and they begin with lessons to build reading stamina. My students bought into the idea of being able to read their book for a longer period of time. While we have only been at this one week, it became more and more difficult to get my students to put their books away, even after reading for 40 straight minutes!

After they finished their reading, students were eager to buzz about what they had read and learned that day. They busied themselves during their reading time writing sticky notes, and completing Independent Directed Reading tasks (IDR). The amount of times I had to redirect my students talking and off task behavior was greatly minimized. This approach to teaching reading is just what I've been looking for!

Several teacher friends of mine in my district have been asking about how to begin the Reading Workshop. I recommend getting the book The Book Whisperer, by Donalyn Miller

This text is a wonderful starting place if you want to learn more about using the workshop model to teach reading. I am currently working on creating yearlong curriculum maps for both the reading and writing workshops. If you are interested in any of my reading workshop materials, let me know!