Catching Up

Holy Cow!  It's been a week since my last post!  Here's why. . .

Let me just say,

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING SICK AND TIRED!

That sinus infection just wouldn't go away and decided it wanted some bronchitis to keep it company.  I have been down and out the past week.  I ended up taking two sick days.  I probably should have stayed out the week, but one day was a professional development day in my district so I was able to just sit in a chair and veg.  Not a comment on the workshop, just that I didn't have to be the ring leader that day! 

On the other two days, I did drag myself to school. It's crunch time! We have two weeks before winter recess and in that time my friends need to finish a novel study, a unit in math, and a research report.  If I had taken the entire week off we wouldn't even be close to finishing.  Thankfully, my friends could see I wasn't anywhere near 100% and were extra cooperative.  Lots of brownie points were given!

On a personal note, not one Christmas gift has been purchased yet. 

I was too sick and tired to even shop online.  I'm pretty near a panic state at this point!

As for you my blog friends, I apologize for the absence but it was all I could do to get through the day these past two weeks.  However, I do have a fun post planned for Tuesday.  So, if you are feeling it, stop by!  And, thanks for sticking with me despite my post-less week. :-)

Picture Book Jackpot!

We do love books!  And so, this post shall be about books. . . in a minute.
I promised a post about picture books in math this weekend, and I am planning to deliver in a big, but slightly modified way!  Just keep reading. . .

Remember that migraine I was battling this week?  Well, on Saturday morning it turned in to this:

Yup, a little trip to the doctor brings two prescriptions and lots of tissues for a sinus infection.  Some days, I think my germy little friends are doing their best to take me out! Although, having had conferences this week there was a lot of mom and dad handshaking going on.  Oh well!  On the bright side, my sinus infection has also brought way too much lots of this:

Let me just say, if you haven't had the Holiday Tea from Barnes & Noble (Of course, I buy my tea at the books store! Don't you?) and Keebler Sandies Almond Crescent cookies, well you haven't lived!  It almost makes being sick and exhausted for the past week worth it.

The sick and exhausted part is where my slightly modified post about picture books in math comes in.  I was planning to do an extensive post on the books I like to use with links, pictures, and comments.  I just don't have the energy. 
Instead, I am giving you a link to a true picture book jackpot. 

At the end of the post is a link that will take  you to a seven page pdf titled "Utilizing Picture Books in the Intermediate Grades."  It is a bibliography compiled by Georgina J. Pipes.  I would link to her, but I couldn't really find anything about her on the web.  I found this list a couple of years ago and have used it many, many, many times.

Here's why I love this list:

• It is geared toward the intermediate grades.  If you teach above second grade, it is often very difficult to find quality information about picture books for older kids.
• The list is broken into subject areas:  Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science,
• The subject areas are further broken into more specific categories.  Math is broken down into fractions, estimation, geometry, graphing, math concepts, measurement, multiplication, percentages, probability, and tanagrams.  The language arts has books specifically for character analysis, conflict/resolution, parody, parts of speech, personification, point of view, and more.  The same is done for the other subjects.
• The list gives title and author making it easy to find the books.  Just print it out, and stick it in your bag.

Now, a con might be that, unless you know the book or have it in front of you, you can't really tell how well the book will apply to your lesson or the topic.  HOWEVER, I am so happy to have a list like this to refer to on occasion that you will get no criticism from me!  What I have done is taken the list to my local library with a nice cup of Starbucks.  I just settled in the children's section and looked at as many as I could, making notes on which ones I really liked and wanted to use.  Those are the ones I ended up purchasing.

So, without further ado, here is the link to the little gem I call a picture book jackpot!

Utilizing Picture Books in the Intermediate Grades

Let me know what you think of the list.  I am now shuffling back to bed with tea, tissues, and more cookies than I should be eating!

Understanding Six Million

Hi all.  I just wanted to stop in and explain my MIA status.  As I predicted, this week has been crazy with conferences.  I had some today and what feels like eight million to do tomorrow night.  To top it off, I had a lovely migraine on Monday which is still lingering.  I had planned to post some responses to some recent comments, but honestly I have just been falling into bed this week.  I know I won't be able to post tomorrow or Friday, but I am going to try to get back over the weekend. 

There was one comment about picture books in math that I want to talk about.  I love picture books in math!  In fact, one book we read is How Much is a Million? by David Schwartz.  I think everyone knows this book.  It's a classic. 

What was interesting about this book for me this year was the impact it had on a literacy lesson.  My friends are reading Number the Stars by Lois Lowry  as part of our Holocaust unit. 

I've read this books so many times over the years.  It just happens that this year, we had read How Much is a Million? a week or so before starting the book.  One of the facts my friends learn is that about six million Jews were killed during the Holocaust.  This is one of the few years that I could see my friends really grasp how many six million is.  It was one of the first years they truly understood the magnitude of what it means that six million Jews were killed.  It wasn't just a number they couldn't really imagine.  Thanks to How Much is a Million?, they had a very real idea of just how horrible it was.  I will definitely make it a point to read both books in conjunction from now on.

But, back to picture books in math.  I do have a bunch that I like to use when I can, and am happy to share my list.  Hopefully, I can get to it this weekend after the craziness and, hopefully, the headache have passed.  For now, I am off to bed.  Good night!

Individualized Spelling and Stuff!

Stuff First!
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  It was so nice to have a four day weekend and spend time with family.  The good food was also a plus.  My thighs, belly, and I are very thankful pecan pie only comes around once a year or else my belly would soon be looking like I was having a Pecan Pie Baby!

( I know nothing about this book, but it has to be good because it's got Pecan Pie in the title!)

There were some really nice comments posted over the long weekend that I will respond to tomorrow.  It is always nice to know people stop by.  I was hoping to have time to respond over the weekend, but didn't happen.  After Thanksgiving, I spent a couple of days decluttering and cleaning so that we could put up the Christmas decorations.  I love, love, love Christmas and all that comes with it!  I know this is a teaching blog, but I am so happy with my Christmas decorations I just may do a post on them.  Would that be a turn-off to you?

Then, it was back to work today.  We have parent-teacher conferences this week, so it's going to be crazy.  I'm not sure how much I will be able to post this week, so I thought I would leave you today with my take on. . .

Individualized Spelling!
I haven't used packaged spelling lists/program for a long time.  I find the kids memorize the words for that week, and then they are gone.  There's also a core of kids that are great spellers, so there's no challenge for them.  This brings me to individualized spelling.  It's a bit of work, but not as hard as it sounds. I only do about two spelling quizzes a month.  I don't feel the need to do one each week, and instead prefer to give my friends a little longer to work with their words.  So, here's how I do it.

At the start of the year, I make a spelling board.  You could use this for notes on anything, not just spelling.  I use an acrylic clipboard and two different colored stickies.  Use an acrylic clipboard so you can pull the Post-It notes on and off easily.  Just alternate the colored Post-It notes in two columns.  Then, write  your friends names at the bottom of the sticky.  That's what is under those colored blocks in my picture.

I keep this around when I am grading papers, writing assignments, conferencing, etc.  If I see my friend has misspelled a word, I write it on their sticky.  What's nice about this is that as the sticky notes fill, you can lift out their sticky and replace it with a new one.  This is where I get most of the words for my friends' individual spelling lists. Vocabulary from the content areas is also fair game. I will also sometimes take a note or two on something I notice about their writing.



When it's time to make a spelling list, I refer to these lists and write the words on a separate sheet.  I can get two on a page, so I cut it in half and each friend gets their own list.  They then get five homework assignments for the week, or however long I give.  Usually, I give the quiz about seven days after I give out the spelling lists and assignments.  The first homework assignment for the first night, is to write a sentence for each word that must show they understand the meaning of the word.

The next four assignments are student choice, to a degree.  Many years ago, I made a spelling menu.  I had seen a few on the web and thought it would be a good idea.  This menu was inspired by the ones I saw.  It is two sided and has four columns that divide the spelling activities in to four categories:  language activities, practice activities, meaning activities, and seeing/touching (kinesthetic) activities.

Now, before you ask I will tell you that no, I do not have a copy of this.  As I said, I made it many, many years ago and sadly have no idea where or if I saved it.  Thankfully, I had a bunch of paper copies in my files.  My friends had to select one assignment from each column to be completed and turned in on the quiz day.  They cross off each activity they have done.  This allows us to reuse the menu until all thirty-one spelling activities have been completed.

I have since revised the spelling menu to make it a tic-tac-toe board.  I pick nine different activities from the different columns and fit them in a tic-tac-toe board.  My friends then have to complete three activities for the week following a tic-tac-toe pattern.  They still cross them out which allows us to reuse the board a couple of times.

 
So, how do we quiz?  Well, remember the spelling sentences I collected the first night?  We use those.  I have already checked them over to make sure they make sense.  I then pair up my friends who sit across from each other.  They exchange sentence papers and take turns quizzing each other.  They read the word, then the sentence, then repeat the word again.  If they have trouble reading the word, or the quiz taker doesn't understand what they said,they just raise their hand and I come over and read the word and sentence.  It sounds kind of crazy to have them all quizzing at the same time, but it really does work.  The key is to model it first so they see how it is done. Isn't modeling always the key? I will say the first couple of quizzes will be a bit hairy, but I promise you they will quickly get the hang of it.

So, that's how I do individualized spelling.  I prefer it because my friends get ten words that are relevant to them, at their level, and are words I know they are misspelling.  It's much better than a standardized list of twenty words they either already know or memorize for just a week.  Since I am taking most of the words from their own writing, I can also hit words that they may have previously tested on but are still getting wrong.  We get back to the word, it's not just a one week quiz of a list never to be seen again.  The expectation is that once we have had a quiz on it, it should be spelled correctly from then on out.  I know, I live in a dream world! 

Do you do individualized spelling or follow a spelling program?  If you do individualized spelling, I would love to hear how you do it.  I'm always looking to tweak what I do!  By the way, if you find any misspellings in my post about spelling I apologize in avance adbanc advance!   ;-D

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States!

May you all have a wonderful day

and have much to be thankful for.

I'm a Teacher, Just Not an Art Teacher!

My friends are studying Sir Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion.  We've done some activities and experiments with balloon rockets, and it's been a lot of fun.  To summarize the laws, my friends made a flip chart.  They had to write each law in one of the three sections, and then create an illustration that demonstrates the law.  I think they came out very well.

Here are some of the illustrations they did to show their understanding of the laws of motion.

My friends' work came out great!  Their teacher's work is a whole other story. 

Take a look at the sign I made.  Yeah, that guy is supposed to be Sir Isaac Newton.

 Let's take a look at a more professional image of our friend Isaac and mine side-by-side.

Can we all agree that while I am a teacher, I have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am in no way an art teacher?  I think things went wrong around the eyebrows.  My Isaac looks like he's definitely up to something weird!  Then, there is the nose.  Apparently, the real Sir Isaac had a ummm. . .  let's just say proud nose.  My Isaac ended up with a bit of a piggie nose.  But, the hair is pretty close, sort of.

  The good thing about teaching 5th graders is that they are not art critics!

They're Back. . .

Next week, I have my first round of parent-teacher conferences.  I thought I would share some of what I do to prepare for conferences and how I mange to stay on time with a very tight schedule.

We have very good parent attendance for conferences in my school.  This is great, however it means we have to schedule each parent for ten minutes or we would be there for days. Ten minutes is not a lot of time.  My district offers two days for conferences.  One day are afternoon appointments, the other is for evening appointments.  To say that most of my parents request evening appointments would be an understatement.  In fact, this year I have ten minute conferences scheduled back-to-back from 5:50 PM to 8:50 PM with one ten minute break.

Needless to say, it can be tough to stay on time as the night goes on.  Over the years, I have found a way to manage it.  It is very rare that I run late.  I am usually able to keep my conferences moving acording to schedule while havng quality, informative conversations in a short amount of time.  Here are some of the reasons I think it has worked out for me:

I make a point at back to school night to let parents know I am always accessible and happy to talk to them at any time, not just at conferences.  I give out a magnet that has my name,  the school phone number, and my email address that they can stick on the fridge.  I find that if parents feel the door is always open, that they can always talk to me if they have a question, they are less panicked about getting it all in at conferences.  Most of my parents will email me if they have a question, and I make it a point to get back to them within a day. 

I'm fully prepared for the conference.  Each of my friends has a portfolio.  In it are examples of work, their most recent report card, and any papers or assessments that I want to address with a parent.  I also take the time to sit after school a couple of days before and fill out a sheet wtih the positives and negatives I need to address.  I make sure I have some student work in their portfolio that backs up any academic issues I am going to bring up.  It's hard for a parent to make an excuse for my friend when the proof is right in front of them.

Finally, I start all my conferences the same way.  I greet the parents at my door, welcome them in, and we sit.  I take out my friend's folder and pull out their most recent report card.  In my district, report cards always go home the week before conferences. I pull out my copy of the report card and place it in front of the parents.  I then say, "I know you've had a chance to look over Susie's report card. (Insert sentence here about something positive on report card.) She's done really well in science this marking period."  Then, here comes the magic sentence. . .   "Before we begin, are there any questions or concerns you have that you would like to talk about?" 

I find that by asking this question at the beginning of the conference, I have done a few things.  How many times have you gone through a conference only to have a parent drop some big issue on you just as you thought things were wrapping up?  Or, have you had a parent wait you out?  They have an issue, but they want to see if you bring it up first.  This eliminates all that.  It also lets the parent see that I am truly interested to know if they have any concerns and am willing to put them first. 

I find that most of the time the issue the parent wants to talk about is usually the very issue I need to discuss with them.  This allows me to get right to the heart of the conference.  Plus, I now know that parent is well aware of this concern, and I'm not in new territory.   There have been a couple of times where I've been completely surprised by what the parent brings up, but it's usually something I can easily answer.

For the parents that don't have anything they want to talk about, I can get right into what I need to say.  Either way, we save a lot of time.  There's no hemming and hawing around any issues.  They are on the table from the start. 

Beginning my conferences with this question has been a huge time saver over the years.  I also always end my conferences with the same phrase and a big smile, "You know our door is always open.  We don't have to wait until the next round of conferences to talk. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns."  Despite what you might think, I don't get inundated with emails and calls.  I think they just like knowing that I'm open to anything they may have to say. 

Then, I go home and collapse from talking to so many parents so late after teaching all day! 

My Desk is a Hot Mess!

Hi. I'm Nancy, and my desk is a hot mess!

Let's take a closer look.

• See that coffee cup?  Has been on my desk since 7:30 this morning.  I took this picture at 5:00 PM.  And, yeah it's still half full.
• The CDs?  Science videos I've been trying to show for three days, but my computer won't cooperate. 
• Under the CDs?  Well, two picture books I'm working into my plans and a stack of quarterly reading assessments I have yet to grade.
• The stack of yellow papers under my glasses by the computer?  Conference request appointment slips I need to coordinate and then send out new slips with conference appointments.
• The brown bag?  The other half of my sandwich that I didn't get to eat because I spent half my lunch period tutoring two of my friends on how to divide decimals.  Who could imagine that one darn dot could cause so much confusion!
• The blue flowered binder on the corner?  That's my plan book. Only it's not a book, but a binder which I have already outgrown.  Need to head to Staples this weekend for a bigger binder.    I feel like I totally understand that scene in Jaws when they say, "We're going to need a bigger boat."  To teach my friends this year, I am definitely going to need a bigger binder.
• The metal mesh cup with big popsicle sticks?  Each holds the name of one of my friends.  Keeps things fair and square in so many ways when I can just pick sticks.  Of course, there are two sticks missing, but my friends don't know that.  I suspect they are buried under one of those other piles.
• The bag on the chair?  All the many papers I brought home tonight to grade.  Well, I hope to grade.  Too many days I just take my school bag on a little field trip to my home and then back to school again.  Some days it doesn't even make it out of the car.
• Everything else?  All the stuff of a daily teaching life.

Now, if you know me, you know that this drives me nuts. And if I were being totally honest, this is not even too terrible on the messy scale.  It's been worse. I like my desk to be organized, but it just so got away from me this week.  I haven't had a minute of down time this week to catch up with anything.  Then when I get home, I feel like this:

I was going to stay later tonight and clean off my desk, but then I remembered that my friends earned a reward for the marking period.  Remember the brownie points they earned?  Well, tomorrow is movie day, so I will have some downtime during my normal reading period.  No, I'm not slacking!  They are actually watching a movie that relates to our curriculum.  But, it will give me a chance to clean up that desk.

It's not all bad though.  There is one thing on my messy desk that makes me happy.  Can you find it?

It's my apple cozy! 

I know, totally silly and unnecessary but I love it!  It's actually pretty useful.  I love apples (See! Destined to be a teacher!) and with the cozy, I can throw them in my pocketbook and they never get poked or smooshed.  Here's mine up close.

If you are interested, I got it on Etsy.com at this store, Ollie's Boutique.  If you don't know Etsy, it's a site where people create online stores to sell handmade goods.  It's a great place to browse for all kinds of ridiculous fun stuff like an apple cozy!

So, that's my messy desk.  How's your desk looking?

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!

Just One More!

I should be grading papers, but of course I'm lost in Pinterest again.  Anyway, just saw this and had to quickly share.  LOVE the idea of adding a word-choice cloud to my traditional editing marks.  It's something they can use, or I can just go in and "cloud" a word or two for them to work on. My friends use the delete symbol when they change a word, but that doesn't easily identify word-choice actions.  This makes it easy to see on a draft where (if!) they have edited for better word choice.

This is from The Panicked Teacher's Blog.  She has a lot of templates and downloads on various subjects that are either free or available for purchase.  Take a look!