Give a Book! Take a Book! Let's Swap!

Give a Book!  

Take a Book!  

We had a Book Drive! 

I thought I would share a great program that runs each year in my school.  For the past eight years, our Environmental Club has been running a book swap for the kids.  It is a two day event that they run around the same time as Read Across America. This year, over 1,600 books were brought in to be swapped.  In the eight years the program has been running, a little over 18,500 books have been swapped between children.  The Environmental Club calculates they have saved over 6,188 trees!

Here's how it works.  Each homeroom is given a cardboard box.  Students bring in a children's book from home that they have already read and are willing to swap.  They fill out a little slip with their name and homeroom teacher.  They put the slip in the book and the books in the box. The collection runs for about a week.  The club advisers set up two pick-up days after school when the club will meet to pick up all the books and process them.  I've not been a part of the process, but it seems they pull the tickets which are kept sorted in big envelopes by homeroom and student and then sort the books by genre, series, etc.

On the day of the swap, the books are put out in the main hallway for display.

I should mention that these pictures are all from the second day of the book swap when most of the "good" books were already snatched up and the supply was dwindling.  I write "good" in quotes because I think you would agree there were lots of great books still available on day two!

The day of the book swap, the envelopes are delivered to each homeroom and the tickets given back to the children.  During lunch/recess periods, students can come to the table and pick one book for each ticket they have.  An even swap!  There is a check-out table manned by club members.  They count the tickets and books to make sure they match.  Then, they tear up the tickets, bag the books, and send the readers off with a new stack of books to read!

For some reason, every year there are books left over.  The club advisers allow teachers to come after school on the last day and pick through any leftovers.  Even after that, there are still books left.  This year, as I was leaving the building, the advisers had let all the students in our after care program come and take as many books as they wanted.  The kids were so excited!  It was like getting a surprise birthday present!

What I like about the book swap it that it build excitement for reading in the entire building.  Even those reluctant readers are excited about the book swap!  Invariably, there are those kids in your class that don't have books at home or don't have a book to swap.  I find a lot of teachers try to get a book in their hands to swap.  I have a pretty big class library, so if I have a student I know doesn't have a book to swap, I will give them one from my class library.  A loss for my library, but since I seem to have an addiction to buying children's books, not really!  Plus, the whole point is to get books in kids' hands.  This book swap does the job quite nicely!  I have even seen many kids selecting books not just for themselves, but also picking books they think a sibling or friend would like.

Finally, if this looks like a lot of work. . . IT IS!  No getting around it!  I would have to give a great big BRAVA!! to the advisers of the Environmental Club.  I hope they really know how appreciated and important this book swap is. And while I'm pretty sure they don't read my little blog, on behalf of all those kids reading "new" books out there because of you, I say THANK YOU!!

Helping a School in Need

On March 22nd, an elementary school just a few towns over from my school district suffered a devastating fire.  Thankfully, the fire started at night and no children or any adults were harmed. However, the school is a total loss.  Here is a news report of the fire if you would like to know more.

As it turns out, the fire was started by a custodian who was smoking in the building and threw away his cigarette which wasn't completely extinguished.  It was an older building and did not have sprinklers.  As I wrote, the building was a total loss.

But, we educators and children are a resilient lot!  The school has been moved to space in a local community college until a semi-permanent place is found until they can rebuild, and the community has kicked in to help.  So has my school and many of our surrounding schools.

Our student council has started a supply drive. When you walk into our main lobby, there is a donation table with a basket for pretty much everything!

Everyone has been amazing about bringing in supplies.  One of the other schools in our district has been collecting books to help with rebuilding their school library.  Overall, it is wonderful that we are able to provide some necessary school supplies, but I have noticed that the message to those children affected and those children giving is what is most significant.  They see that in times of trouble, people reach out and help each other.  That it is going to be okay.  It reminds me of this quote from Fred Rogers, which I just love:

                                    

picture source

This was a very comforting quote for me during 9-11 when our community was so profoundly devastated.  And now, in this time of need for those experiencing loss from this fire, I'm proud of our students who are learning to be those helpers, those caring people.

8 Random Thoughts

Long time, no blogging!  I seem to hit these hiccups where life gets in the way of blogging as evidenced this past month.  So, in a random segue, here are some random thoughts on random things.

1.  Convention Anyone? I've been toying with the idea of going to the International Reading Convention in New Orleans.  First of all, New Orleans?  Yes!  I've never been but have always wanted to visit.  Second, I've also always wanted to go to an IRA convention.  There are some amazing workshops that I would love to attend.  Even better, there is a long list of AMAZING speakers such as;  Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Debbie Diller, Richard Allington, Gail Bushey, Joan Moser, Jeff Kinney, Dav Pilky, and more.  I also want to be around professionals that know literacy.  I want to learn more and bring it all back to my classroom.

So, what's the hesitation?  Well, the expense makes for a definite pause.  I figure it will cost me about 3 grand in all to do this between registration, air fare, hotel, meals, and more.  It is a lot of money for a working vacation.  And, it certainly isn't something my district will pay for.  While I can afford to do it, there is a big part of me that is a cheapskate and hesitates.  The other thing that makes me hesitate is that I would be going alone.  I don't have any colleagues that would take this trip and I would feel bad dragging a friend or family member when I would be leaving them alone all day long. I don't mind traveling alone, but I'm not sure what I would do with myself each night when I don't know anyone there. I guess I have until April 14, when the early bird registration ends, to decide what to do.  What would you do?  Any advice?

2.  I have a CRAZY teaching schedule.  We have 8 period days making a 40 period week.  Five periods are lunch, six periods are prep, and the other twenty-nine are teaching period.  Here is the breakdown of my twenty-nine teaching periods:

• 6 periods are teaching Scholastic's Read 180 intervention reading program.  
• 2 periods of small group, pull out remedial literacy
• 17 periods of push-in basic skills guided reading groups in five different classrooms
• 4 periods of small group, pull out enrichment literacy

In all, I have to keep track of sixteen different groups of children.  And, my schedule is not consistent across the week.  Every day follows a different schedule, often with days between seeing the same group again. As you may imagine, planning is everything!  You should see the hard copy of my lesson plans.  There are notes all over it!  If I don't annotate what we completed each period I would be lost.  I'm used to it now, but it took a while.  I do like seeing so many different children at different grade levels.  Still, CRAZY teaching schedule! :-)

3.  I'm reading some great books with my friends!  Between some of my classes, we are currently reading Stone Fox, The Sign of the Beaver, No Talking, and  Heroes for All Times.  All really great books!  I was very happily surprised by Heroes for All Times.  My friends reading it are loving it.  What got them hooked is that the first chapter is all about Florence Nightingale and talks all about her work in hospitals during the Crimean War of 1854.  Some of them immediately connected it to what is currently happening in Crimea, and I heard from a couple of parents that they were impressed with how the book connected to current events.  Totally not planned!  The book was in the plans for a while, but I have not control over when and where countries invade! My friends were also blown away at the lack of knowledge at the time regarding germs, hospitals, and sanitary procedures.  Easy way to hook a nine year old into a nonfiction book?  Start out with something a bit gross!

4.  Loving Read 180!  I posted a while back that mid-year my district implemented this new intervention program.  Three months in the kids love it, and I am seeing some real progress!  I actually hope my district will expand the program and offer it to more kids next year.  

5.  Looking forward to the new blog design!  I am next on the list to be done by A Bird in the Hand Designs.  I'm excited to see what Megan comes up with.  I love what I see her doing with other blogs.  Part of getting the new blog design involved some homework.  I had to complete a survey of likes, wants, and more.  It was much harder than I thought it would be.  I had to really put some thought into what I wanted.  Overall, I'm looking for a more modern-ish design. I think I might throw up a picture of myself, too.  I know I always like when I can see the blogger that writes the blog I'm reading.  I'm sorry to report I was really late in turning in my homework to Megan.  Sorry, Megan!!! If you need to push me back a bit because of that, I totally understand! Honestly, here I am a teacher turning in homework late!  Sheesh!

6.  I just completed my second observation.  We get three twenty minute observations each year, two unannounced and one announced.  This second one was my announced.  It went well, but I have to say this new observation model we use (the Danielson Framework) is soooo involved!  There is a ton of pre-observation questioning and uploading of documents to be done and then more of the same after the observation.  Not sure I agree with all components of the evaluation as in some areas it seem to be impossible to achieve their highest rating when you work with particular populations.  However, my observation went well so no complaints! But seriously, if you don't know anything about the Danielson Framework, click on the link and take a look.  You will see just how involved it is, for better or worse.

7.  Common Core Gaps?  I have noticed lately that in doing my lesson plans, I see some gaps in the common core standards.  There are things I need to teach that are not addressed in the CCS for the particular grade level.  I then look across grade levels but don't see it anywhere else.  It then becomes a stretch to say, "Well, this could fit this standard. . . "  Nothing terrible, just wondering if anyone else has noticed some gaps in the CCS as you have been teaching.

8. Enough with Winter!  Spring starts tomorrow!  I could happy dance all over the place!!  I am so tired of winter.  We used five snow days this year, had a few delayed openings, and one early dismissal.  Thankfully, we had four snow days built into our schedule, so there was only one day to make up.  They took back the Monday after Easter.  I'm good with that as Easter is an early day holiday in my family.  Plenty of time to regroup and get ready for the work week.  I saw that some schools are having their staff come in on Saturdays to make up the missed days.  I would so not be happy with that!  At this point, I'm just really looking forward to Spring Break. We will have the whole week before Easter off.  Yipeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Were these thoughts random enough for you? :-)

Any thoughts or suggestions on the convention?  

Should I stay or should I go? 

Because, this indecision bugging me!

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Sorry, this is just a test post.  I am claiming my blog on Bloglovin and working on updates to the blog.  I know it has been a bit since I last posted, but more is coming soon! 

A Snowy State of the Blog Address

Before getting into the blog stuff, let's talk snow.  I don't know where you are, but where I am it has been snow, snow, snow, and how about a nice freezing hail-rain combo to top it all off. We had four snow days built in to our school calendar.  We have used those four snow days.  If we take anymore, they will start to make-up the days by taking back other days off, like Spring Break.  Not looking forward to that.  In addition to the snow days, we've had a few delayed openings and an early dismissal all due to weather. Thankfully, those days still count as a full school day so we don't have to make them up.  Here are some snowy, icy scenes from the past week or so:

my ride to school

ice encrusted cars

snow covered playgrounds



which mean indoor recess. . .

 

Is there anything more chaotic and loud than indoor recess?  I feel for the kids because they really do need to let out that pent up kid energy.  In our school, indoor recess happens in the gym and in our classrooms.  The kids alternate locations because the PE teachers also still need to use the gym.  Thankfully, teachers don't have to monitor indoor recess as it during our duty-free lunch period.  Instead, the lunch aides come to supervise the kids.  But, with all the snow and freezing temperatures we've had lately I'm beginning to think these poor kids will never get outside! Let's all think summer!



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So, onto the blog. I am a month in to my blog goals.  Some are going well, others not so much.
Let's check in with a little State of the Blog Address!

1.  Finish Blog Redesign - This one is going well!  I finally booked a blog designer to help me out.  I decided to go with A Bird in Hand Designs by Megan. She's pretty busy, so I couldn't get a start date with her until March 31st.  Not a problem because it seems I have some blog homework to do.  I feel like I'm building a house and have to decide on floors, counter tops, paint colors and such. :-) All fun, but still work.  But, I am excited to see what comes! I can happily promise that come April things will look a lot different around here.

2. Make at Least 6 Literacy Based Resources/Projects - Well, this can go either way.  I grabbed a bunch of Dr. Seuss books with the intent of creating a couple of upper elementary level activities in honor of Read Across America.  Then, I realized how quickly it would soon be here. March 2nd is right around the corner.  I am going to give it a shot, but no promises!  By the way, that link for Read Across America will take you to the NEA's page that has some printable resources for the day.

If the Seuss projects don't pan out, I think I will still be working on this goal anyway because of some upcoming school projects.  I'm still working on the hero unit for my enrichment class.  One of the books I plan to read with them is the 2014 Newbery Medal winner Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo.  There doesn't seem to be a ton of resources out there, so I am going to have to make some myself.  However, the book title link will take you to a page with some teacher resources if you are interested.  The site also has "book resources" that are teacher friendly.

3. Blog at least Twice a Week - Ummmm, this one might not be going so well.  I think it boils down to a comment I saw on another blog.  I wish I could remember whose blog it was.  The blogger said their goal was not to post x number of posts a week, but to post more quality content.  I think that is a much better goal than my twice a week goal.  It just makes more sense.  Not saying every post will be a gem at all, but I like the idea of posting when I really feel I have something to say or want to share instead of because I have to meet a goal of two posts a week.

4. Step Up the Social Media Portion of the Blog - I think with the new blog design in progress this will kind of take care of itself.  At least for the first steps.  As part of the blog design I am going to be adding social media buttons and updating/creating certain social media sites.  After that, I just have to remember to post on the sites.  I don't see this really happening until after the blog design is done.

5.  Organize the Labels on Previous Posts - Yeah, they are still a hot mess.  I just need to sit in Starbucks one afternoon on a weekend and plow through them.  I have been looking at other blogs to see how they organize their posts, and it seems like everyone is all over the place.  Some bloggers have tons of different labels while others have just a few broad, generic labels.  I think I need to fall somewhere in the middle.  I do know I would like to have this done by March. 

6.  Connect with Other Bloggers - I'm still slacking on commenting at other blogs, but I have been trying to read more.  It all comes down to time.  It seems like there is always just so much to do.  But, I feel this is important so I need to make it more of a priority.

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In my last post, I mentioned not being thrilled about having to use a specific computer program for lesson plans.  Something my district is requiring next year.  It was one little thing I mentioned in a post of many topics.  In light of that, I thought it was interesting that all the post comments focused on lesson plans.  They are just so personal to each teacher! I wonder if admins ever realize how individual every teacher's lesson plans are.  They are definitely not a one size fits all document! Oh well, somehow I will have to make it work.  Isn't that what we teachers always do, though?  We make it work!

February Currently

I'm joining the Currently bandwagon this month! 

 

Listening: The Bridge School is a non-profit organization in California
 for children with severe speech and physical impairments.  One of their main fundraisers is a benefit concert put on every October that draws huge name musicians.  The songs are all acoustic and amazing.  I have yet to find one that I don't love.  They have the benefits recorded and available on iTunes. I think I pretty much have them all! The good news is that if you buy them from iTunes, the school gets the revenue.  Nice to know that.

Loving:  The day it was announced this week that the Newbery Medal winner for 2014 was Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo I picked up a copy.  You can't go wrong with a Kate DiCamillo book!  To be honest, I don't keep up with current kid's lit as much as I should (spoiler for 2 truths and a fib!) and didn't even know this book was out.  I still have a bit to go, but so far it is very good.  I can see how it would engage young readers right from the start.  When I finish, I will post a review.

Thinking:  In the next few months, my district will ask to fill out forms to request a change in or keep our teaching positions.  There's no guarantee it will be honored, but it is a chance to ask for a change.  I really, really miss having a homeroom.  I miss having one set of kids to work with all day long.  I feel like I have more control over their instruction and achievement than I do as a push-in teacher visiting different classes each period.  However, there are definite perks to my current position that I enjoy very much.  There are so many other factors I choose not to discuss on my blog that go into this decision.  Suffice to say, at this point, I'm not sure what I want to do.  Half of me wants to go back to being a homeroom teacher, half of me is willing to continue on as is.  What to do? What to do?

Wanting: Time! Time! Time!  I'm still working on the heroes literacy unit and could seriously use more time to finish it up. 

Needing: Magic Tree House just published in January a great biography collection on heroes.  It is perfect for the heroes unit and I'm just waiting for them to arrive.  I ordered one for myself to preview and loved it.  Now it's just a matter of wanting that time to create all the literacy work to go along with it.

2 Truths and a Fib:  Well, by now you know the fib is that I keep up with all the current children's lit that comes out.  I try, but there are these pesky things like planning, teaching, family, and having a life that get in the way! :-) However, in an effort to be better about that, I'm reading Flora and Ulysses.  I also picked up a copy of the 2014 Caldecott winner Locomotive.  A lovely picture book that is definitely for the older crowd.  Not so much a young kid picture book if you know what I mean. 

When it come to the truths, I do LOVE snow days and I do miss my plan book.  Snow days are like getting an unexpected gift.  Having said that, we have four built in to our school calendar.  If we use more than the four they start to take back other vacation days.  So far, we've used three and there's more snow in the forecast.  I'll take one more, but then that's it! 

And as for my plan book, our district is in the process of switching all plans to digital.  We have this year to do either paper or digital, but next year we will all be required to use a special computer program for our lesson plans.  No more paper books.  I've actually been doing mine on the computer for a few years now, but this program they want us to use has an entirely different format. Also, instead of turning in plan books for review, we have to post our plans in a designated file each week for review.  Oh, technology! Sometimes I just can't decide if you make my life easier or harder!

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I found these pictures on my phone last week and meant to put them on the blog. 

I had to get my car inspected and laughed when I saw my new inspection sticker. 

This is a picture of my old inspection sticker from the inside of my car.

It has looked the same for years. 

 

 This year, someone decided to change things up a bit. 

Here's the back of my new inspection sticker.

Proof from the state of New Jersey that you are never too old for picture books!

Hero vs Celebrity and Some Picture Books

I am currently working on putting together a new unit for my 4th grade literacy class.  I've basically been given free reign to do what I want as long as I can align it with common core.  It is almost a hindrance to have such free reign because I have been having so much difficulty coming up with a theme that would work with the materials I have available. 

Then, while on hall duty last week, I listened to two fifth graders have a conversation about Justin Beiber.  The girl has a huge picture of him in her locker.  The two were talking about his recent misdeeds.  The conversation was a full-on recap of the drunk driving, resisting arrest, the foul language he used, his use of marijuana, and now being out on bail. It was a conversation I would hope two ten year olds would never have to have.  The part of the conversation that was most disturbing to me was towards the end when one of the students said she didn't care what he did.  He was still cute and will always be her hero.  Hero.  Yes, she said hero.  Now, I know this is ten year old thinking, but it is still disturbing to know that this is her thinking and probably the thinking of many preteens. 

It was then and there that I decided my literacy unit was going to center on the theme of heroes.  And, an important part of the unit was going to be a lesson on the difference between a hero and a celebrity.  In looking for some resources, I came across this quote:

"A sign of a celebrity is that his name

is often worth more than his services."

by Daniel Boorstin, Historian

 

 

Such a true statement.  If you think about it, the deeds of a hero are greater and longer lasting than their name while the name of a celebrity is usually greater than their deeds.  A hero's deeds will usually transcend time and spark a change in thinking, innovation, or behavior for the greater good of many in society. 

 

This is not to diminish the contributions of a celebrity, but I believe there needs to be a distinction between what makes someone hero as opposed to being a celebrity.  Another quote I came across that I feel explains that distinction well says, "A hero creates himself.  A celebrity is created by the media."  Hmmm, tell me that doesn't make you think of the Kardashians!

I would like anther part the unit to focus on the idea of children that are heroes.  I've ordered the book The Barefoot Book of Heroic Children by Rebecca Hazell.  I don't know much about the book, but it looks promising.  Here's the blurb on it from Scholastic:  "This collection of stories focuses on the heroic lives of twelve exceptional young people throughout the course of history. Each story has a positive outlook, even when the situations are negative, and shows how even a child can change the world." 

 

I think seeing how children can be considered heroes will be of great interest to my 4th graders.  Once I get the book, I will do a full review for you.  For now, I'm still pulling it all together.

 

Speaking of picture books, here's a true contrast in what is out there.  I was in Barnes and Noble the other day and was stopped in my tracks by this book:

 



 

I honestly couldn't believe they made a book based on the YouTube viral video.  I thought, no.  There must be more to the book.  Nope.  It's just the song lyrics.  The illustrations are okay, but I really couldn't find anything that would make me buy this book.  It might have to do with the fact that I'm not a huge fan of the song! But, if you have a child that loves the song or are looking for just a silly book, this is it!

 

So, let's flip the coin.  

 

What would be the exact opposite of a silly, fun picture book? 

How about Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting. 

 

 

Can I tell you that I cry every single time I read this book.  It is about a boy, around 4 years old as best I can tell, and his father who are homeless and live in an airport.  It tells the story about how they live day to day.  The father is working, but simply can't make enough money to afford an apartment.  The title comes from a bird that is trapped in airport and catches the attention of the boy.  The bird is trapped for days and eventually finds his way out, a symbol of hope for the boy and his father.  Honestly, I'm teary just typing this.  For some reason, this book just gets me every time.  Published in 1991, it isn't a new book.   However, if you aren't familiar with it, I've linked below to a reading of it from YouTube.

 

   

 

Your reaction will probably not be as emotional as mine always is, but you can't help but feel something when reading this book.  Fly Away Home is a great book to introduce important topics such as homelessness and types of families.  It's not What Does the Fox Say? but you  might want to read that after this for a smile!

Prefixes! Roots! Suffixes! Oh My!

Guess what we've been studying? 

Pretty much what it seems everyone else has been studying! 



 

As I finished my Greek Mythology unit with my 4th grade enrichment friends, we closed by studying Greek word parts. The picture above shows the standards we met and a quick view of the big letters.  Take a look at the finished display below, and I'll explain just what we did.  Ignore my pocketbook and mess on the table!

After finishing reading various myths and completing projects related to them, we went on to finish the unit with a study of Greek roots.  I found a great resource for this on Teacher Pay Teachers.  It is a unit of Greek roots that comes with illustrated examples.  Below are just some of the cards that come with the unit.  My friends got the biggest thrill when they connected the fact that in the myth The 12 Labors of Heracles the water serpent he killed was named Hydra which related to the root hydr/hydra and means water.  It all sort of clicked like magic for them.  There's a lot that comes with this resource including the making of a tiny box which holds a tiny version of all the cards.  Each of my friends had their own box of cards and we wrote additional words we could brainstorm on the back of each card.

Once we had studied most of the cards included in the unit, we went on to look at more common prefixes, roots, and suffixes that fourth graders will run into that may or may not be of Greek etymology.  I created a packet which listed some of each, their meaning, a couple of examples, and a column for my friends to work with a partner to brainstorm more words they knew which fit.

 

I had drawn some of them freehand (which is why some of them look a little wonky!) on white oak tag and spread them out on the floor.  After we had reviewed and discussed our packets, the kids were given a Sharpie and a highlighter.  They wrote their words on the corresponding poster, underlining the prefix/root/suffix.  We then hung them in the room.

I got the inspiration for the big letters from a Pinterest picture posted by the blogger of Smitten with First.  She was doing a lesson on suffixes and made some big letters of the most common ones. 
When I saw her picture, I knew it would work perfectly with my friends.  Some lessons just span the grade levels!

This lesson turned out to be a lot of fun for us all.  Having the display in my room has encouraged all the kids to constantly try and think of new words that could be added.  I told them we would create a chart to add the words to.  There is not way I am climbing on top of those shelves again!  :-)  While I did the is lesson with enrichment students, it is very much a great way to teach word parts to children of all grades and ability levels. 

~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~8~

On a different note, Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! 

It is a day to remember a great man and the courage and grace he showed in the face of intolerance and discrimination.  Last year, my friends and I had school on this day in order to make up days lost to Hurricane Sandy.  It prompted me to write a post on some of the activities I was planning to do in remembrance.  This year, like many of you, we are off today.  I know it is a little late, but if you are looking for something to do tomorrow, you can click HERE to see the post I wrote.  It includes several links to videos, activities, and lessons.

Reading Tables: Horseshoe or Kidney?

Perhaps, you might remember a while back my excitement about getting a new guided reading table.  I wrote about it here and here.  I was delighted to get my new guided reading table.  It was bight yellow and kidney shaped.  It was close to perfect!  The only thing I wasn't loving was the color.  I started out loving the bright yellow, but as it turns out it shows every little pencil mark, finger print, and even ink from paper. But all in all, I did love it.

                       

Then, I taught summer school.

While teaching summer school, I had the opportunity to work at a horseshoe table.  It seems my love for the kidney table was sorely misplaced!  As it turns out, my true love is the horseshoe table! So much so, that I set out on a quest to get myself one.

Okay, obviously I'm being a little silly about it all with you, but I really did decide that the horseshoe table was a much better option for me. I approached my admin about getting a new table totally expecting to be told to forget it.  After all, it wasn't that long ago that I received the yellow, kidney table.  Instead, I was told if I could find another teacher in need of a guided reading table, I could order the horseshoe and pass on my kidney table when it came.  I was all over that offer! Thankfully, I found a teacher in need, and we were able to swap.  Here's my new table.

Notice it isn't yellow!  I learned that lesson.  Instead, I chose a bright blue that would hide marks.  

So, why the switch?  It wasn't for the color, but for the shape.  I found the horseshoe to be much more conducive to my guided reading groups than the kidney shape.  Here's a picture of the two tables from above.

Using both, here's what I found, the good and the bad of each:

• The kidney table is very wide at the center.  I found that the child sitting across from me was just too far away.  Now, I should mention that I'm short and that just made the span seem even larger.  I often had difficulty seeing what the child was writing without actually standing up and looming over.  In the horseshoe, every child was close to me.  I could unobtrusively monitor and/or assess all the students' work with no problem. 
• The width of the kidney table definitely makes it better for demonstrating something or showing a book.  There is room to lay it out in front of the teacher while still giving the students room for their materials.  With the horseshoe, I find that I hold demo things up if I want everyone to see them.  There is enough room to have a book or papers in front of you, it's not that small.  But, it definitely doesn't give the teacher as much room as the kidney table does.  
• In line with the last bullet point, I do still have plenty of room for materials at the horseshoe table.  Generally, I can fit more kids at the horseshoe than the kidney table.  I usually meet with five friends at the table.  At the kidney, that was the whole table.  With the horseshoe, we still have room.  In fact, the last seat to my right is never used.  That allows me to organize materials I need on that portion of the table. I used to have my table in an area where I had shelves behind me for materials, but when I had to reorganize my room in November for the new reading program, my guided reading table is now sort of free floating.  So, having that extra space at the end of the table works for me.
• If I have student working on completely different things, it works better at the horseshoe.  I can have a student complete missed work or finish an assignment in the seat over to my far left while I work with three other friends on the other side of the table.  At the kidney table, there wasn't enough space for that kind of separation.
• A minor con of the horseshoe is that the U shape where the teacher sits is deep and can put you in the way.  If I am working with a full table of students and want them to have a real conversation about something we are working on, I have to be sure to pull my chair back so that the child seated at the ends can see each other.

There are actually so many different shaped tables you can choose from.

A lot depends on the age of the children.  I know our lower elementary teachers generally have horseshoe tables and some flower tables, while our upper elementary teachers generally use kidney shaped tables. You also need to take into account how it works for the teacher.  For me, the kidney table just wasn't a favorite.  All of our classrooms also have an extra rectangular or trapezoid table in them. When I push-in to other classrooms for guided reading, those are the tables I generally use. However, when I am working in my classroom, I am happy to have my horseshoe table to work at!

Do you have a type of table you prefer?

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By the way, I am well aware that I posted on January 1st about posting more regularly and them promptly disappeared for 19 days.  I actually have posts ready to go but totally forgot to schedule their posting.  Blogging fail!  Sorry about that. The good news is that there are posts already written and ready to be published. 

2014 Blog Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

And, we all know a new year brings new goals!

I haven't been too happy with my blog lately and have even contemplated more than once on giving the whole thing up.  A big part of my unhappiness with the blog comes from having some trouble coming up with content. For many periods of the week, I am required to teach a scripted program. Also, traveling in and out of other teacher's classrooms all day long doesn't allow me to do as much as I would if I had my own homeroom.  In all, it really puts a damper on creativity.  I look around at other teacher blogs and am awed by all the creative and fun projects they come up with.

However, I like blogging!  I really enjoy posting and sharing ideas. I like the support and encouragement found in the blogging community.  I also like looking back to see what I've done in the past.  It's like having a digital scrapbook.  And, I do have lots of ideas that I would love to share even if I am not able to implement them all in my own classroom at this time.  So, I am going to keep blogging.  

Having made that decision, I have come up with some goals for 2014 to spark things up around here. 

1.  Finally finish the blog redesign I've been promising.  Yeah, kind of let go of that one as I was seriously considering closing down the blog.  However, being recommitted, I am on it! Before I gave up on the idea I found three blog designers I really liked.  I'm going to do a little more research and hope to have the new design up and running by the end of March.  Hopefully sooner!

2.  Make at least 6 literacy based printable resources/projects.  I've done a few printables for the blog in the past:  

• Math Workshop Stations Board
• Adding Dialog Sheets
• Simple Book Review Bookmarks
• Name It! Game
• Reading Response Form Letters for Upper Elementary
• Carpet Manners Sign

However, there are so many things I make for my own use that I don't blog about.  Deciding to do at least six this year is a very modest goal.  I wanted to focus on the quality rather than number.  It may be my first step in starting my own Teacher Pay Teachers store, but I'm not committing to that just yet! Baby steps!  For now anyway, anything I make will be posted on my blog for free download. 

3.  Blog at least twice a week.  For me, that seems about right, about what I can reasonably keep up with.  I tip my hat to those of you out there blogging daily.  I don't know how you get it done!

4.  Step up on the social media aspect of my blog.  This is part of the blog design.  I want to add all those buttons that allow you to connect to my blog through social media.  I also have to figure out how to separate my personal social media from the blogging social media.  For example, I have a Pinterest account for the blog, but I also have one for myself.  I find it a pain to have to log out of my account and then log into my blog account every time I want to pin something, so I usually don't.  I have to figure out a way to make it all a bit simpler.  I also don't want to do the Facebook page until the blog design is done so that I can keep it all similar in looks.

5.  Organize all previous post with better labels and possibly content specific pages.  My labels are all over the place!  I mean, I have reading workshop and reader's workshop as two different labels.  I really need to sit and clean up all the labels in a way that makes it easier to find what you are looking for.

6.  Connect with other bloggers.  There are some blogs I read all the time and I'm terrible about commenting.  And, we know bloggers love comments! :-)  In fact, for me seeing that commenting dropped off on my blog was tangible proof that I was slacking!  I am going to try and comment more on the blogs I read and support other bloggers.  There is so much great stuff out there deserving of a good comment!  Another idea I've been tossing around is organizing a blogger meet-up over the summer.  Maybe!  I live in the tri-state area (NY, NJ, Conn.) with PA not far away.  I know there are lots of teacher bloggers in the area and thought it might be fun to actually meet up in person this summer.  Just an idea at this point, but one I'm seriously thinking about!

So, those are the blog goals for this year. 

What do you think?  Any advice?

What are your school and/or blogging goals for 2014?