The No Excuses List

By the time my friends reach 4th and 5th grade, there are some things that should be non-issues. There are some things I should not have to spend instructional time on.  Basics.  Thus was born the No Excuses list.

Each year, after the first couple of weeks of school, I do a quick intro to the No Excuses list. This is a chart of things that, by the time they get to 4th or 5th grade, a student can reasonably be expected to be responsible for doing.  Things like starting sentences with capital letters and putting endmarks on sentences.  It is not unreasonable to expect those things of my students.  However, I find so many of my friends do not have automaticity with them.  They should be no-brainers, but my friends have shown (year after year) to be very lax in doing them.

To intro the chart, I have the chart done with just the title.  I explain what a No Excuses list is. I tell them that this chart will have on it the things that we know every 4th and 5th grader has been taught in previous grades and can be expected to do when reading or writing.  These are things your teacher this year should not have to teach again because you learned, practiced, and did them in 1st, 2nd, and/or 3rd grade.  I then have the kids brainstorm a list of what they would put on the chart.  THEY KNOW!  They know what they should be doing!  Without fail, every year, they come up with the exact things we need to have on our list.

I usually start with the top two; capitalizing sentences and using endmarks/end marks. (I always write endmarks as a compound word. I've seen it both ways band have just always written it as a compound word. Spell check does not agree!) We add teach item to the chart and in the bullet, put the date we add them to the chart. On my chart, the 27th and 28th were actually both added on the same day, but I was talking and writing at the same time and wrote the 28th by mistake.  Except for those two items, I usually add items one at a time with at least a week or two between adding an item to the chart. This gives my friends time to work on each without being overwhelmed.

What makes the chart work is the rule.  Once it is on the chart, from that date forward, it is expected to be done on all work. No Excuses!  If a paper is turned in with any of these errors, the student will get the paper back to fix or redo. Or, if I notice it on the paper before they turn it in I will say that I can't accept that paper and they need to check the No Excuses chart.   I find that it is usually not that kids can't do these things.  It's more that we don't, at some point, draw that line in the sand and say, "Okay, this is now on you!  You have been taught and/or retaught these things year after year and now it is your responsibility to do them without being told. No excuses!"  I know this might sound harsh to some, but I promise you after just a couple of weeks you will see a dramatic drop in students forgetting to do these basic things.  I find the key for me is to stick with the expectations and be consistent in not accepting work that doesn't meet the standard.

Now, I also know there may be some students you need to make exceptions for.  But, in general, if something makes it on to your No Excuses list, everyone is usually expected to do it.  What you have on your list can be tailored to the grade level, students' abilities, and the expectations you set in your classroom. You know your students best, so you have to create a list that works for you. The list can be added to as the year goes on, but I generally focus on things that have been taught in previous year(s) and are reasonable expectations of my students.

Is this something you think would work in your classroom?  

What would be on your No Excuses list? 

Or, do you handle this issue in another way 

that might be good to share?

Interactive Small Group Anchor Charts

It may not be a very exciting title, but I am very excited with what I've created and even more excited to share with you!  In September, I will be working with small groups in other teachers' classrooms.  It got me thinking about how different each room will be.  Will they have up the anchor charts I might need?  What if I want to refer to a specific anchor chart that may not be up in the classroom, but is needed for my small group?  I needed some way to have anchor charts available to me at any time that were geared specifically to the needs of my basic skills students.  They needed to be portable as I am in different classes throughout the day, yet they needed to be large enough to display for my friends.  On top of all that, I wanted them to be interactive in some way.  Not asking much, huh?!

Here is where I came up with interactive small group anchor charts.  I created this with the idea that I would be taking them from class to class, but I think they are perfect to have for homeroom teachers to use with small groups as well.   So, here they are.  Not too exciting at first glance, but just wait.  The magic lies within!

You don't get more portable than a file, so that's were I began.  I started by making one of the anchor charts I use at the beginning of the year.  Open it up, and there it is!  This was totally inspired by The First Grade Parade blog.  She does a much better job with the pencil that I do!

 On the left side of each folder, I put a smaller version of the anchor chart I would normally use on large chart paper in class.  Normally, I like to create anchor charts with my students but I have limited time in each class this year.  So, I'm pre-making (is that even a word?) anchor charts for reading and writing that hit the key points I want to reinforce.

On the right side, I wanted something that would be interactive.  For this chart, I can have my small group brainstorm some ideas about writing topics on sticky notes and put them on the right side.

After making the "What do writer's write?" small group anchor chart, I began to make one for schema.

As I was working with my Crayolas and markers, I realized there was an easier way.  In my anchor chart binder, I had pictures of many of the anchor charts I used last year.  I just printed out the picture of the anchor chart on schema that was in the binder and glued it in the file folder.  HUGE time saver!

I still wanted the interactive aspect, so on the right side I printed out a page that I will use to brainstorm our schema on whatever topic we are working with.  My friends can put their sticky notes right on the page.  Since I'm printing out the pages and gluing them in, I would have preferred to use colored file folders.  I think it would look better, but I have a million manila folders to use up.

So, what if you don't have an anchor chart binder to fall back on?  I don't have anchor charts pictures saved for everything I need, but the web is a wonderful thing!  There are a million charts out there to use.  I found this anchor chart about visualizing on Pinterest and loved it.  It is from the blog Second Grade with Mrs. Wade.

Again, wanting the interactive aspect, I made the picture on the right.  For practice, I'm planning to read my friends a short passage and have them do a quick sketch on a sticky of what they visualized.

All the pictures show the file folders lying flat on the table, but in using them I will STAND THEM UP!  Standing up, it's large enough for everyone seated at a small group table to see and refer to.  It's like having a mini chart stand on the table.  At the end of the lesson, I can just close the folder, stick it back in my bag, and move on to the next class.

What I like about the file folder aspect is that I can still use it as a folder.  If I have any type of hand out or teaching materials I want to use with the lesson, they are easily paper clipped and stored in the folder.  Not only do I have an anchor chart at my fingertips, I have the papers I need as well.  Also, I'm planning to put a piece of card stock in a clear page protector and keep it in the folder.  It's possible I may need to use the same anchor chart with different groups on the same day.  When I am done working with one group, I can just take their sticky notes and put them on the plastic page protector. Then, it's ready to use for the second group. The next day, if I need to use it again, I can just quickly stick them back on.

UPDATE:  (8/8/11) - As I have been working on these, I've debated if I was going to laminate them or not.  Then, I realized it was a no-brainer.  Of course, laminate them!  Up until now, the interactive sections I created have been based on using sticky notes that I could remove.  If the charts are laminated, the interactive part can now be written on with dry or wet erase markers.  Now, the interactive part could have activities that have the kids draw a line from one thing to another, circle the word that . . . , or anything else you wanted to do.  The only drawback using them that way is that if you need to use the chart with another group on the same day, you will lose the work of the original group.  But, that would just be the day you use sticky notes instead.   And, thanks so much for all the positive feedback on this idea!  I love hearing from you!

I should note, that I don't think it is a problem to borrow anchor charts made by others as long as it is for  your classroom use.  I do note on the back of the folder the web site I borrowed the chart from in case I need to share it with another teacher.  I am a believer that we don't need to reinvent the wheel if it's not necessary.  I have no problem with people using the charts I post on my blog.  Feel free to take and tweak or not tweak!  If I do post the work of someone else, I am sure to give credit and link to the amazing authors.

So, what do you think?  

Could this idea work for you?

THE BEST Writing Book!

I was talking about this book with a colleague the other day.  More like singing its praises.  It was then that I thought I needed to share this resource with my blog friends.  If you teach intermediate grade writers, YOU WANT THIS BOOK!  The title of this gem is Razzle Dazzle Writing: Achieving Excellence Through 50 Target Skills by Melissa Forney.

I love this book!  It is so on-target with the skills it covers and so appropriate for intermediate grade writers.  This book is perfect for 3rd grade through middle school.  If I don't tell you another thing about it, you should just go buy the book because it is selling on Amazon.com for a very cheap $13.57!  Honestly, I would quickly pay at least twice that for this book without blinking.  Ms. Forney also has a sister book for the K-2 set called Primary Pizzazz Writing.  I haven't seen it in person, but it looks like a winner.

The pages of Razzle Dazzle Writing are meant to be copied for your friends and used as a teaching and reference tool.  Here is a checklist from the book that notes the 50 skills covered:

As you can see, the topic lend themselves to your everyday teaching throughout the year. However, this book is also great for test prep.  Ugghhhh!  I hate to even utter those words, but they are a fact of life for us these days. Let me be clear though that Ms. Forney is very clear in the book that it's not all about the writing prompt.  She does state that our friends need to know the difference between prompted writing and free writing.  I also believe this.  As much as we would like our friends to embrace writing and freely write as they are inspired, the reality is when the state test comes they are going to be directed via a prompt to do a very specific type of writing.   I used the mini lessons in this book to create an anchor chart on understanding the different types of prompts:

 And, here is another chart I created using one of Melissa Forney's lessons on using a "writing glove" to help your friends properly address narrative prompts.

Sigh!  Just noticed that I spelled dilemma incorrectly on the chart.  Will be fixing that in class ASAP.  Sorry about that!

Ms. Forney has great ideas for this mini lesson.  The book even includes reproducible gloves for your friends to cut out and put on a stick.  The creation of these two anchor charts is directly inspired, if not copied, right from Razzle Dazzle Writing.  I tweaked a bit for my friends, but the book is so well put together you can essentially photocopy what you need and do your lesson with minimal prep.

Razzle Dazzle Writing includes tons of pages you can copy for your friends to keep as reference, there are also poems and reader's theater scripts that are included to reinforce many of the lessons.  The poems are fun and easily understandable for your friends.  The reader's theater scripts get right to the point in a fun way , yet they are short enough to be done as part of a mini lesson.  I have yet to find anything in this book that isn't a perfect fit for my friends.

Melissa Forney has an incredible web site where you can learn more about her books and philosophy.  Click HERE to be taken to Forney Educational, Inc.   There are also free downloads available on the site.  THIS PDF DOWNLOAD is for a booklet titled Young Writer's Survival Guide.  It is an excellent resource for your friends.  Many of the topics in this guide are topics covered in more depth as different mini lessons in Razzle Dazzle Writing.  That PDF alone should convince you to buy the book!

So, have I gushed enough?  I hope so!  This is not a paid endorsement.  This is a post on a book that I find myself going back to again and again and think you will, too.  If you know this book, please share your thoughts.  If you end up getting this book, let us know how you like it.

On a totally different topic, every time I think of the name of this book, it makes me think of this scene from the movie Stripes with Bill Murray.  I know, totally dating myself yet again!

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a copy of Testing Miss Malarkey and assorted other goodies!  

My Room and a Mish-Mosh of Stuff!

Well, I'm finally posting some pictures of some of the changes I made in my room.  Here is how I set up my library.  It's actually been in this configuration before.  When I found out I was getting a new leveled library, I had to make room.  It turns out that going back to this set-up worked best.

That arrow and caption point out where I'm planning to put the new books.  I typed it in the picture, but it came out really tiny for some reason.  My library is arranged by theme, but I'm excited to add a leveled library.

The yellow shelf runs across the front of my room.  On the other side of my Pro Board is my math area.

I like my math area because it is organized and the vocabulary is posted up front and center.  My friends tend to incorporate the vocab in our math discussions more when they are visible.  That big blue cart is one of the two new shelving units I got.  It holds more math manipulative, but I turned it around because it is sort of messy looking.  Plus, I thought I could put a poster or two on the back blue side.  They were originally going to be bookshelves, but they turned out to be too deep for books.

Below is my new meeting table, otherwise called Big Bird by my friends.  Yeah, even they noticed it is really yellow!

I do love it, but I find it shows every pencil mark and grubby hand print.  I probably should have gone with a darker color.  The area behind the meeting table is a work in progress.  I'm still working on organizing my literacy materials in this area.

Finally, I'm showing you this area for one reason only.  Notice the arrow and bubbles I drew in.

See the bubbles on my whiteboard?  I had my VOICES board there before, but I moved it.  When I took the board down all the tape residue stayed behind.  It was fine for a while.  I knew it was there, but you really couldn't see it.  I also don't use the board for writing, so it wasn't a problem.  Then, I was out for a workshop.  A substitute wrote on the board and then erased.  Of course, it stuck to all the tape residue.  I've been trying to figure out a way to remove it without ruining the board.  The arrow points to a bottle of PAM nonstick cooking spray.  Someone told me that it will take off the tape residue without ruining the board.  I'll let you know if it works.  However, if you have any tips on how to clean this mess please share!!

So, here's an overview of the front of my room from the door. The meeting table is in the back.

One of the things I am going to do next year is tone down all the color.  I think it is all a little busy.  Have you ever noticed the difference between the classrooms of male and female teachers?  There are two male teachers down the hall from me and their rooms make mine look like I'm preparing for a carnival.  They have very spare rooms.  Not a lot of color, not a lot of fancy borders or posters.  Is this true in your school?  Next year, I'm going to find a happy medium between what I have going on and what they don't have going on!

Now, here comes the mish-mosh of stuff.

See these beautiful roses?  One of my students brought them in for me for the Chinese New Year!  Aren't they gorgeous?  I'm really not big on cut flowers, but these made me smile all week.  I hadn't really planned to do anything about the New Year, but I knew I had to. We watched a quick documentary on Discovery Education's United Streaming about the Chinese New Year.

I went to Staples Office Supply today and bought these.

Do you remember Paper Mate's Flair Markers?  I have love these since I was a kid.  It rivals my love of Mr. Sketch Scented Markers!  I'm hoping these will motivate me to attack the pile of papers I have to grade this weekend.  It's good to have hope, right?! ;-)

I also bought four of these Swingline Staplers.  They come in different colors, so I got red, purple, blue, and green.  Added bonus is that they were on sale for only $5 each and I had a 15% off coupon.

For some reason, my friends have destroyed every stapler I had this year.  And, I'm talking heavy duty staplers.  Why do they feel it necessary to make a fist and pound the stapler with all their might?  We are going to have yet another lesson on how to staple correctly when I break these out on Monday.

Finally, I found this anchor chart on Pinterest and had to share.

It is from the blog The Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher.  It totally reminds me that I have been slacking on teaching Latin roots.  I love the chart and may just have to borrow it.  The blog is by a first year language arts teacher named Miss Klohn.  Judging from her blog, she is doing a phenomenal job for a first year.  I even noticed she is using the thinking stems I use.  :-)

I have another post on some professional reading for tomorrow or Monday.  Depends on how the rest of the weekend goes.  If you do guided reading groups, check back.  However, the book I'm going to share is great for anyone who teachers reading, guided or not.

Enjoy your day!

Nonfiction Text Structures

Recently, my friends and I studied the different text structures of nonfiction.  Having limited resources available to me in school, I went to my old friend "The Web."  You might know my friend.  No matter what I need, he always delivers.  Okay, enough of the corny stuff.  What I really found on my search for more information on nonfiction text structure was this amazing site:

Literacy Leader

Have you been to this site?  The link above will take you to the page on text structure, but if you browse around there is a lot of other really good stuff there.  Their home page link is here.

This link will take you to their PDF packet on nonfiction text structure.  I used it to make some quick posters in my room to compliment the lessons I did.  If I had more time, they would be a bit fancier, but we are nearing the end of the marking period and I'm swamped with work.  Here is what the posters look like.  If you look at the PDF file, you will see that I enlarged some of the pages to make the posters.

The PDF packet has some fantastic resources in it.  One of the things I liked was the inclusion of signal words to help my friends identify text structure.  I added those to each chart.  Here are some other great things about this resource:

• In addition to signal words, it provides signal questions to help identify which text structure is used.
• It shows the different graphic organizers that are used for each type of text structure.
• There is a fantastic summarizing handout that pulls it together for your friends, sort of like a quick reference guide.
• The last few pages of the packet are five paragraphs on a common theme (crocodiles!) that you can use to have your friends identify the type of text structure. 

Since I taught a different structure each day as a mini lesson, I typed the paragraphs and projected the appropriate one on my ProBoard.  Then, my friends highlighted the signal words within the paragraph.  You could also just print the paragraphs and use them to assess your friends by having them identify the type of text structure and signal words.  I should also point out that my friends loved the content of the paragraphs, and we all learned more about crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gavials.  I know my schema is larger because I had no idea what a gavial was before these lessons!

It can be hard to find real-life examples of the different text structures in books when you don't have the time to look around.  The PDF does have a list of books you can use, but if you have a social studies textbook you have a fantastic resource in your hands.  I find our textbook uses all five structures over and over again.  It was quite easy for my friends to work in partner groups to identify sections throughout the book that use the five different structures.  As we continue to work in social studies, I will throw out the question, "What text structure is being used here?"  I'm happy to say they usually know.

So, when I find a great resource, you know I like to share.  If you have no interest in nonfiction text structure, still take a look around the Literacy Leader web site.  It's a keeper!  I promise you will find something you like.

Crafting Power Sentences

This post is about a chart I created with my friends over a three day period. It was really review for us, so the lessons were sort of quick hits.  We did a section of the chart, they practiced in their writer's notebook with a quick share.  My goal was just to review some areas in writing and grammar that I've seen they need a little reminding about.  This is what the chart looked like at the end of day three:

 As you can see, it's a busy chart.  That's why I really suggest doing it as a quick lesson over a few days.  I will explain how I did it and give you some changes you might make so that it's a better fit for your friends.

Day 1
Learning Goal:  Using more descriptive verbs that relate mood

This was the chart at the start of the lesson.   We started with a simple sentence: The boy went up the stairs.  I then focused my friends on the first column, the different moods I might want to create as a writer.  We discussed how our simple sentence just doesn't do it.  As a class, we brainstormed some different verb choices that better suited the moods.  I charted these, and then we read the sentence again, substituting the new verb choices each time. 

To practice, my friends then worked with a partner for a minute or two to brainstorm their own verb choice for the same sentence and write it in their writer's notebook.  We did a quick share of some and then off they went for independent writing. 

Modifications:  This could be the extent of your entire chart.  You don't have to go on and do the other sections.  For younger friends, working on verb choice alone may be enough.  You could also focus this lesson on synonyms for verb choice.  How many verbs can you think of that would show someone going up the stairs in a happy mood?  Bounced up? Jumped up? Pranced up? Skipped up? Danced up?

Day 2
Learning Goal:  Using adjectives or more descriptive phrases to relate mood and stronger visual images

For Day 2, we briefly reviewed the previous day's lesson and then discussed how we could add adjectives or descriptive phrases to help relate mood and create a more powerful mental picture for the reader.  We brainstormed together to fill in the last column.  Notice that for our happy and carefree mood, we didn't really change anything.  It was important for them to see that sometimes you just may not be able to think of a way to change the sentence. I come back to this at the end of day three, so I'll explain then.

For independent practice, my friends followed the same procedure at Day 1 using the same sentence in their writer's notebook.

Modifications:  To simplify it, you could focus on just adding one adjective in front of the word stairs in the original sentence.

Note:  I'm a little embarrassed!  It wasn't until I was looking at the chart after school on day 3 that I realized I wrote "creeped" when "crept" is grammatically correct.  I did go back and correct it with my friends, but it's not in these pictures.  Oh well, it's probably good for them to see that even teachers (this teacher anyway) need to proofread! 

Moving on. . .

Day 3
Learning Goal:  Correctly using and punctuating dependent clauses and creating vivid, descriptive mental images

Dependent Clauses have been a stickler for some of my friends, especially using commas correctly with them.  For this section, we worked on adding dependent clauses that related mood.  As you can see, we also threw in some adjectives for the boy.  I also highlighted the use of the comma. 

For independent practice, my friends went on to add a dependent clause to the sentence they had been working on in their writer's notebook.  We did a quick share, and then I had them write their "Power Sentence" on a sentence strip.  We hung them up in the room, and of course I forgot to take a picture of them!  But, I think you get the idea.

Modifications:  Dependent clause is definitely an upper elementary focus, so you might want to simplify this section.  In all, this would be a great chart for a simple adjective lesson.  Your friends could focus on simply adding adjectives for the boy.  You could also remove the "mood" section altogether if you wanted to just focus on adjectives, but I do think the mood really guides this lesson no matter how you modify it.

So, as you can see from the chart, we went from the simple sentence, "The boy went up the stairs" to:

• With a gleam in his eye, the boy race up to the top of the staircase.
• Head bowed, the boy sighed and dragged himself up the long staircase.
• With a nervous glance up, the timid boy crept up the dark and shadowed stairs.
• While humming a silly tune, the boy bounced up the stairs.
• With a scowl on his face, the boy stomped up each step of the staircase.

As I noted, these were quick lessons each day.  They were meant to be a quick, meaningful review, not take up our whole writing period. The new sentences are complex sentences that create mood and vivid mental pictures.  This is a skill my friends can always use practice with.

On day 2, we never changed "the stairs" section of the sentence.  One of the reasons I let this go was to point out to my friends that every part of a sentence doesn't need to be bedazzled.  We sometimes use that term in class.  I will tell my friends that their writing needs some bedazzling!  It's a silly way for them to see that they have fallen back into the habit of using only "simple" writing. 

It's also important to point out that every sentence shouldn't be so involved.  We have done lessons on varying sentences for structure and length, so my friends know not to "over bedazzle" their writing. Does that make sense to anyone but me?!!

So, that's my chart that I call the chart that just keeps on giving. :-D  I like charts that you can go back to over time.  I find that my friends tend to get those lessons better when we are able to go back to the same chart a couple of days in a row.  It just seems to imprint on their brains a bit more than the anchor charts you hit for one day only and then hang up.

Hopefully there is something in this chart you can use.  Have a happy weekend! See you tomorrow!

Theme and My Friend Molly Lou Melon

Today, I did a lesson on theme.  It was so much fun!  My friends and I had a great time with it.  Last week, I posted a few anchor charts that inspired me.  Here is how my theme anchor chart came out:

We began by discussing what theme is in a book and how we can figure it out.

I had the themes prewritten but covered with chart paper.  My friends then worked with a partner to discuss common themes they have run across in their reading.  I charted them on another piece of chart paper, a sloppy copy of sorts.  We then uncovered the prewritten chart to see how many they were able to come up with.  They were tickled, as was I, that they came up with almost every theme I had already posted.  Now, my theme chart was inspired by the one I posted.here.

This is when the fun really started.  I grabbed a handful of picture books that we had already read, and we determined the themes of each.  It was great for them to see how a book can have multiple themes.  It was even better to see my friends engage in lively discussion as to what themes were more significant to each book.  I love when you can almost touch the learning!

We started with one of my favorite picture books, Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell.  If you don't know this book, just trust me and go buy it right now.  It's a must have.

I selected this book to use first because the theme is very easily identified.  Molly Lou Melon is a teeny, tiny first grader with some, well let's say interesting physical traits!  Here's a picture:

I know!  A bit scary.  But, don't be fooled.  She is simply adorable.  Here's a picture of her getting on the bus for her first day in her new school.

Do you see her?  She really is adorable.  And more importantly, no matter how much a bully makes fun of her, she remains proud of who she is.  The illustrations in this book are amazing.  My fifth graders love this book, and its theme is one all kids need to hear. You need this book! And so, this was the first one we started with.

My friends then went on to identify the themes for Mr. George Baker,  The Great Kapok Tree,  Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters,  and The Lotus Seed.  After that, I sent my friends off for independent reading.  When we came back to share, they discussed what they thought the theme of their books might be.  Now, key to this lesson is to extend identifying the theme by having them link the theme to their lives.  How does this theme relate to my life?  It really helps them understand theme and lets them see why books can be uplifting, teach lessons, and help us learn about ourselves when we apply some thinking.  Because time was short today, and because we got carried away discussing the themes of our picture books, I'm planning to do that part of the lesson tomorrow.

So, that's about it.  I just wanted to share how I teach theme and introduce you to Molly Lou Melon.  I love that girl!

*****Came back to edit post!!  I found a reading of Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon on Youtube.  You know I have to show you!

Literacy Anchor Charts Via Pinterest

I think, if you are a regular reader, you know my love of PINTEREST by now.  It's the best site to lose yourself in.  While you can search for pins in a variety of categories, I often look for school ideas.  In fact, I have a board full of anchor charts others have found on the web that I liked.  I thought today I would share with you some of the literacy anchor charts I have pinned along with the link to the original post if possible.  So, in no particular order, here we go!

Heart Map for Writing
The picture is a little fuzzy and this is one I actually couldn't find a permanent link for, but I think you get the idea. I actually do this writing lesson.  It's on writing about the things you love.  You draw a big heart and then fill it with all those things. The teacher does one to model, and then your friends create their own.  It is writing topic inspiration for your friends.  I've always just drawn a heart and filled it in with words, but I love this idea.  I am planning to prepare one and laminate it.  Then, I'm going to give my friends a heart to do for themselves.  Wouldn't this make a great bulletin board?

**Edit:  Holly from Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade found out who made the heart.  It's the brainchild of Cara Carroll from The First Grade Parade.  Please stop by her blog, and tell her how much we love her heart!  By the way, if you are looking for some turkey flakes, check out Holly's blog.  Too cute!**

Deep Versus Flat Connections

This comes from Ms. Bonger's blog Life in 4B.  I can't begin to tell you how amazing this teacher is.  You will find many wonderful things in her blog.  I am working my way through all her older posts and loving almost everything I read!  This anchor chart really hits home for me because a few of my friends are still having a tough time with this at the moment.  You have to love her sense of humor, too.  Love the "Whoop dee doo. . . "

What is a Prediction?

This chart comes from Jennifer Jones' blog Hello Literacy.  Jennifer's profile says she is an Instructional Teacher Leader.  I believe it!  Her blog is another that is full of great ideas and resources.  This chart about prediction caught my eye because of the way it relates it to so many other things our friends know about such as estimation in math and forecasts in weather.

Common Themes in Literature

Another one I couldn't find a permanent link to.  The link above takes you to a slide show, but I couldn't find any links to a blog or person.  I like this chart simply because I can never remember all the themes!  I'm always forgetting something.  This should be a handy reminder.

So that's just four of the anchor charts I really liked and two great blogs I found via Pinterest. I will probably post some more at a later date.  Besides anchor charts, Pinterest has tons of tips on other things.  For instance, I found via this link at the blog Learning Pavillion that

Had no idea! :-) 

UPDATE 10/21/12:   Thanks to Sheri at Learning Pavillion, a great blog with tons of great ideas! This idea and the pictures are from her blog.  I should note that the link I originally posted did not link back to Sheri's blog, but I have corrected that.  Sorry about that Sheri.  Thanks for being so gracious about my error!

By the way, thanks to all of you that commented on my post regarding Planning the Impossible.  I'm still thinking about your comments.  At this point, I might just email my principal, literacy coach, and director asking them to help me make it work.  I'm thinking if I go in seemingly befuddled as to how to make it work,they will have to come up with something other than expecting us to just make it happen.  If you haven't had a chance to read the post, please take a minute to read and comment if you can.  I would really appreciate any thoughts you may have.



Self-Monitoring

So, I think I've mentioned that I've been in one school district, one school, for the past fifteen years.  For the fifteen years I have been there, we have used an anthology (ahhh, can you say basal?) reading program.  I never liked it.  In fact, I've always hated it.  It never seemed rigorous enough.  Luckily, I had a great principal that allowed me to toss the anthology and teach with novels. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Insert Snoopy Happy Dance Here!!!!!!

Well, in the past couple of years I've morphed into using the reading workshop model with my friends reading books of their choosing.  I love it, but I work in a district that still uses an anthology.*  With no specific curriculum to follow, other than the district's and state's standards that must be met, I've had to build my own.  This is where the web has been invaluable.  By putting what I find out there together with what I know, I can say it's been going well. 

Last week, I did a lesson on self-monitoring.  It is a blend of a lesson I found online and the self-monitoring I've been teaching for years.   Now, I have to say that this is not the original anchor chart.  The original chart was made with my friends and was super messy not so neatly done.  I found that this is a chart we refer to often.  It was a chart I knew would hang in my room for a while, so after school one day I remade the chart to be way less sloppy a bit neater.  

I think self-monitoring is an important lesson. The first thing I do is ask if anyone has ever been reading a book and suddenly realized that they had no idea what was going on.  Everyone can raise their hand on that one, teacher included.  We then discuss how readers self-monitor to keep  meaning.  I find my most able readers do most of these unconsciously, while my getting there readers have no idea they should even be doing these things.  For my getting there readers, this is an anchor chart that often comes up during individual conferencing.  It takes a while for them to internalize these behaviors, so we briefly touch on one or two of them during most conferences.

To explicitly explain what these self-monitoring techniques are and how they help us as readers isn't enough though.  This is where the constant modeling comes in.  With any read aloud or shared reading we do, I'm sure to ask one, two, a few of these questions as I read.  It may not be the focus of the mini-lesson, but I want them to see that good readers constantly self-monitor.  It's also a great time to model how self-monitoring helps you make deeper connections to the text. 

Since this chart is going to be up for a while, I decided to hang it up on the wall.  Do you see it?

No?  Okay, look a little closer.

Yeah, I was up on a six-foot ladder after school last week hanging that chart.  You can bet that's one chart that won't be coming down for a while! 



*I should note that my district has been making some major changes in it's literacy program and is slowly implementing the reading workshop model over the course of this school year.  It's not been easy to take a school so firmly entrenched in an anthology to a workshop model, but I can tell you my coworkers are true superstars.  They are working so hard and doing great things!

Really? THAT'S What You Think I Would Do??!!!!!

 I post this anchor chart not because it is a fine example of an anchor chart.  It's okay. It's kind of sloppy.   I'm sure you could think of many ways to make it better. It's not even new.  It's from earlier in the school year.  I post this anchor chart because of the conversation that came with it. 

I asked, "What do you think independent reading should look like?  sound like?"
My friends did well.  They knew what independent reading should look like.  When it came to what it shouldn't look like, well they got a bit carried away.  No shopping is about book shopping.  There's no searching for books during independent reading.  We have book shopping for ten minutes each morning, so everyone has a basket full of books ready to go.  We also keep one book in our desk at all times.  It's usually the one they are currently reading.  It's our "Go To" book.  But, no sleeping?  Okay, I put it up but I have yet to have anyone fall asleep.  Thank goodness.

The funny part came when I told them that now we were going to talk about what the teacher does do and shouldn't do during independent reading.  Here's what they came up with that didn't make it on the chart.
As the teacher, they said I should not be. . .

• on Facebook
• texting my friends
• cleaning out my pocketbook
• talking on the phone to my friends
• cracking my knuckles
• eating sandwiches
• watching You Tube videos at my desk
• putting on make-up
• napping at my desk
• painting my fingernails (and one said I also shouldn't paint my toenails either. . .just in case I didn't get it!)

Here's the kicker.  THEY WERE DEAD SERIOUS!  Who are these kids???  What has their experiences with past teachers been?  Seriously, I have never done any of these things in class with my friends.   Really?  THAT'S what you think I would do?  We managed to put it all under the umbrella that the teacher should not do anything that would distract the reader.  I have to say, every time I look at this chart, I get the giggles. I tease them now that I'm going to go back to my desk and paint my nails if they don't listen.  It may just be that the thing I love most about my job is that there isn't a day that goes by that my friends don't make me smile.

Borrowed Charts

Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a four day weekend!!!!!!! 

Our district gave us Thursday and Friday off for Rosh Hashanah.  So, Happy New Year to those of you that celebrate!!!  For me, it's just a lovely four day weekend.  I'm determined to have two of those four days be NO SCHOOL WORK days.  I do need to rework my planbook, make my lesson plans/prep for next week, and grade some papers.  Hoping to get that all done today and tomorrow leaving Saturday and Sunday free.  We are supposed to have some lovely fall weather this weekend here in NJ, and I'm planning to enjoy it!  I see a trip to the orchards and some pumpkins and apple cider in my future.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the great feedback on the anchor chart binder idea I posted.  When I finish this post, I'm going to go back and add a little P.S. to answer a couple of requests and questions that I got about it.

On to today's post. . .

I am taking no credit for the two anchor charts I am posting today.  The first is almost exactly copied from another anchor chart I saw online.  The other is an exact copy of an anchor chart I saw online.  Here's the problem.  I found them online over a year ago and now have no idea where.  If they are your charts, please let me know.  I'm happy to give credit where credit is due.

Making Text Connections

Making connections is something we all probably teach and have a chart about.  I think I did tweak this chart a bit from the original I saw.   I am planning to tweak again to add more to text-to-text connections.  In my class, we define text-to-text connections as connecting to not just a book, but connecting your book to another book, magazine, movie, or television show.  Basically, connecting the text to another type of media.  In fact, my techy little friends have made text connections to podcasts, blogs, and I even had a friend make a completely appropriate connection to a reading app he has on his Ipod.  So, I'm thinking I really need to revise this soon to reflect 21st century learning.  These kids can make me feel so old sometimes!

Stop, Think, Jot!

Now this chart, I remember for a fact copying it exactly as I saw it.  I loved it that much!  It has been a great chart for introducing the use of sticky notes during their reading.  I wish I could remember where I saw it originally, because I would love to credit and thank the author.  It's pretty self-explanatory, which is great because my friends get it. And, we all love the smiley faces.  I'm planning to do another post soon about how we use the sticky notes in our reading.  I've found a great way to use them to monitor the level of thinking my friends are doing and as a way to generate a grade.  Our report card still requires A through F letter grades, so I always need quantitative grades.   10/2/11 UPDATE!  I found the link for this anchor chart/poster.  It is from a Scholastic blog post by Danielle Mahoney.  Visit her blog by clicking HERE!  She also has a link for bookmarks that go with this idea.  Her blog is well worth reading.  Thanks so much Danielle!

Those are the two charts I thought I would share today.  As I said, these charts are not my idea, but nuggets of goodness I found on the web. :-)