Sunday, August 31, 2014

I believe in the power of a safe writing community.


Another successful (and tiring) week is in the books!  I think it’s safe to say that the “extra activities” this week impeded a lot of my teaching time, but that’s what the first few weeks are all about, right?  Some of these “extras” included a fire drill on Monday, a wing meeting on Tuesday, and our first library visit on Wednesday, which was followed by an impromptu fire alarm.  The surprise fire alarm resulted in spending twenty minutes of class time outside with kids on the verge of tears, and working the rest of the afternoon to get my kids “back” into learning! (No worries – It was just a broken smoke detector in the end!) Oh, and I certainly can’t forget to mention the hours spent leveling each of my 53 students with a Fountas and Pinnell reading level.  Even with all of these “extras” (and the craziness), it was a great week to finally delve into academics. 

The kids are coming out of their shells and it’s been a lot of fun getting to know each of their personalities as they begin to feel comfortable in my classroom.  Poetry is the first reading and writing unit that I’m teaching this year, and I have to say that I LOVE beginning our year this unit!

I began the unit by reading a book that I learned about in the OWP 4-week.  The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown (author of Goodnight Moon) is rather simple; it explains why inanimate objects are important.  The featured items are ones that you probably take for granted in your everyday life: a spoon, a daisy, rain, etc.  Below is an example of an “important poem” from the book.


Right off the bat, I asked students what they noticed about the compilation of poems, and what each of them had in common.  The kids quickly agreed that the first line was always stating the important thing about the object, followed by a few lines of description.  The poems always ended with a restatement of the “important thing.” 

After analyzing the book of poems, I asked students to write an “Important Poem” about themselves.  As students were sharing their poems, I enjoyed hearing “important things” about each of my students that I wouldn’t have normally gotten to see through my traditional introduction activities. This “getting to know you activity” definitely felt like an authentic way of getting a glimpse of my students’ personal interests, AND it was an excellent way to pre-assess their writing skills.



Students glued a template into their writer’s notebooks for future reference.  These poems won’t be going away in my room!!  Stay tuned… next week I’ll explain how I’m using “Important Poems” to summarize reading passages.  

This week, we also began reading Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, and I think that my students are quickly coming to the realization that poetry doesn’t have to be scary; it can even be fun!  My highlight of the week was on Friday, when students listened to a NPR “This I Believe” essay written by a six year-old, Tarak Mclain.  (See my blog post for details! "This I Believe")  The kids then wrote their own “This I Believe” statements, and then chose one line to read out loud to the class.  As we stood in a circle around my classroom and read our statements aloud, I got chills, and there was no hiding my excitement in my students’ writing.  From looking at the smiles on their faces and feeling the energy in my room, it think it's safe to say that the kids were just as impressed with themselves as I was with them.  I believe that we need to teach our students that kids CAN be writers; they ARE writers.  Kids need a safe writing community to experiment with their abilities in writing.  I think we’re heading in the right direction.  It was one of those “teacher moments” that we’re all seeking every once in a while. 

I hope you're all enjoying your long weekend!  Don't longs weekends just always come at the perfect time?  Even if we're just two weeks into school!  ;)

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Launching the (REVAMPED) notebooks

My students and I made it through our first full week of school together.  It was a fun and eventful week, and I've really enjoyed getting to know all of my new kiddos.

I think every teacher will agree with me when I say that the first week of school is exhausting, both physically and emotionally.  And it seems like every year I forget how much my students need to learn about being a fifth grader, and my classroom/teaching style.  With that said, I also forget how fantastic the kids really are... they are excited to learn the classroom procedures, and they're even willing to try to understand some of my crazy pet peeves.  Needless to say, it's been a great first week!

At the beginning of the year, I always spend the first few weeks setting up our organizational systems, classroom expectations, and (my favorite) the reader's and writer's notebooks.  I mentioned pet peeves... and disorganization is certainly one of my BIGGEST pet peeves.  This year, I've made it one of my top goals to revamp our reader's and writer's notebooks.  I want my kids to LOVE these notebooks, see value in them, and truly cherish them.  In the past (I blame it on my own, personal clarity of my expectations) my kids haven't really taken these notebooks seriously.  When I'd ask them to open to the next page in their notebook, they'd randomly flip to the first blank page and write compliantly.  When students would then need to find these specific pages at a later date, it was an organizational nightmare.  The notebooks were a mess, and because of that, they had no meaning to my students.  I quickly came to the realization that the disorganization within these notebooks was hindering my students' learning.

After seeing this result for the past four years, I did some research (Pinterest of course -- and a little perusing through Mechanically Inclined: Building Grammar, Usage, and Style into Writer's Workshop) and collaborated with some of my planning buddies.  I think we've come up with a plan for these new notebook beauties.  I'm beyond excited to see my students' writing and reading skills bloom!  I have a feeling it's going to be a GREAT year for reading and writing.

Below is an outline and some pictures of what we've done so far with our notebooks:

  • Students have two composition notebooks; one is for a reader's workshop and the other is for writer's workshop.  
  • The kids were invited to decorate their notebooks, but weren't required to do so.  
The Writer's Notebook:
  • We tabbed the notebook into four sections using Washi Tape.  The sections included:
    1. My Journal
    2. Grammar Guru
    3. Author's Craft
    4. Revising and Editing
(Thanks to my ever-so-crafty teaching partner for making these ADORABLE dividers!!  You can purchase them on TpT. Writer's Notebooks Section Dividers)




  • We created a class writing contract with expectations that all students agreed to follow.  This chart was glued in the front of their notebook and an anchor chart hangs on the wall with all of the students' signatures.   


  • Students also glued in a table of contents where they will keep track of their entries.  

  • A new rule that I put in place this year is that students are to keep the notebooks inside the classroom, unless given permission to take them home.  I'm hoping that this will help with the upkeep of the notebooks, and that fewer notebooks will go "missing"!  I searched for ways to keep over 100 notebooks organized in my classroom... So far, I am LOVING our new crate shelves.  They are really helping to keep our desks clean and organized. 

I hope your school year is off to a great start!  I'd love to hear some of your favorite organizational tips for either the reader's or writer's notebooks.