DONE!!!!

The Sisters' Top 10 List

Like many other districts, mine has become a card-carrying, life-long member of The Sisters' fan club. While many teachers are trying out their classroom set-up (some with enthusiasm, some with apprehension - i.e. where do guided reading groups fit into this model?), The Sisters' philosophies are grounded in ideals we all hold dear. I found their recent "Top 10 List" interesting and strongly agree with number one!  

1.  The number one thing we need to do to achieve proficiency? Have an excellent, highly trained teacher! (Opitz and Ford)

2.  Guess what happens when you put 2500 books in your classroom, kids read them! A swimmer needs water. (Gallagher)

3.  Effort and persistence have to be taught, we are not born with them. (Routman)

4.  Comprehension is thinking about the relevance of the text to you and the world. (Fountas and Pinell)

5.  If students are not making strong progress they need no less than 50 minutes of reading each day at school and more at home. We must also check for engagement during reading time. (Serravello)

6.  The class students are placed in influences their success more than the skills with which students arrive. (Ford)

7.  The most powerful key to acceleration is coaching children while they are working with text. (Opitz and Ford)

8.  What Works Clearinghouse is currently working on the document: Teaching Elementary School Students to be Effective Writers. The practice guide will be out in the fall (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/). Check out Dr. Steve Graham's Writing to Read Report from What Works Clearninghouse:http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingToRead.pdf 

9.  Kids need to have 60 minutes of writing each day. It doesn't have to be all at one time but integrated into all content areas throughout the day. (What Works Clearinghouse)

10.  Simply assigning hard books will not ensure that students learn at higher levels. (Fisher and Frey)

IRA, Chicago: April 29-May 2, 2012

A tribute to Mr. Sendak

Link

This is soooo me!

This is so me right now! I've been juggling quite a bit and, as you can see, I can become a little obsessed and forget about my little blog.
Who else can relate?

Ever have this feeling?

I do! With spring upon us, the thought of overloading my plate with amazing activities for the kids is sooooo tempting! I've decided to make a list of just a few things and really take the learning to a deeper level. It sounds so obvious, but there is SO MUCH out there to explore with the kids...I really have to make sure I don't fall into the trap of skimming the surface of a million things.

Here are a few of our adventures:

Hatching chicken eggs (life cycles)

Looking more into research

Fairy tales

Poetry

I can't wait!

Technology Show and Tell - again!

O.K., how many of you have so many books that you can't remember if you still own a specific title or you know you own a certain book, but you can't find it because you have no idea which teacher you so generously loaned it out to last spring?

Put your frustration aside because I have the perfect book organizer app for you!

Classroom Organizer

Create a free on-line account, then download their free app on your smart phone. Use your phone to scan the bar codes of your books. You can view your entire collection on your phone, sort different ways AND use your phone to scan/check out books to students and colleagues. It is great!

(Warning: If you have old books that do not have bar codes, you will need to enter the titles yourself.)

It's still fabulous! Check it out!!

Technology Show and Tell

It's been a busy week - hopefully I can share more about it with you in the future!

Until then, I thought we could wrap up the last part of the week with a little bit of Techno Show and Tell. Here's an app that I've been loving lately: Confer

I've been rock'n this great app in my class over the last few weeks and it has been a great way to keep my small group instruction on track. Check out the tutorial video!