crazycatgirl's blog

Even though it's January, some of my third and fourth graders still frequently struggle with generating or brainstorming ideas on what to write about.  (We did do a "detour" from Lucy's plan and do expositiory writing for a while.  So, we're just getting back into the swing of narrative writing.)  I know part of the problem is that many of my students have so much to worry about every day that they see many stories in their life as being too old and therefore not relevant.  But I cannot do anything about that.

Well, as I continue with the Daily Five, I have been amazed how motivating the Listen to Read center has been for students.  Most curiously, the ten year olds seem to love it as much as the first graders.  Though of course, the ten-year olds require different listening materials for the most part. 

We were contacted about a school library grant opportunity by Acer and Inter.  With about a $10,000 dollar value, it sounds worthwhile to apply.  Included are 10 laptops that the school could use in a variety of ways.

The school library can be a rich learning environment for students, provided they have the most up-to-date tools and resources at their fingertips. Is there a school library in your community that could use a technology upgrade?

As students become increasingly digital-savvy, they rely on the latest technology resources to complement their educations. At the same time, funding for school technology continues to dwindle. That’s why Acer and Intel are offering K-12 schools across the country an opportunity to transform their libraries into 21st century learning labs. Nominations are now open Acer’s School Library Technology Makeover Contest, which will award 10 new Acer Aspire Timeline notebook computers, valued at nearly $10,000, and two all-in-one desktop computers to two deserving school libraries.

I recently had the opportunity to read Don't Swear with Your Mouth Full by Cary S. Chugh, Ph. D and child psychologist.  His book introduces behavior-limited discipline, which he explains below.  Before you even read his book, you should be able to walk away with the basic idea that children should not be given "punishments" which allow to continue anti-social behavior, though cool-off time may be needed.  But instead, they need to practice pro-social behaviors.  This discipline, like Chugh's book, is very accessible to both parents and teachers. He discusses "difficult" children as making up about 10% of children.  More importantly, he explains that these children often aren't "difficult" due to their parents poor parenting, but rather the child's temperament and desire for control.

 I'm planning on having a reading unit on responding to literature in the coming month or so.  Now, I'm trying to decide what unit to follow.  I've tried a few units now including a Teacher's College reading unit and parts from our Pegasus curriculum.  

For my beginning readers, around levels A and B, I try to start out with the following teaching points or content objectives in the first few sessions:

  point to all the words
  get your mouth ready
  use the pictures
  does it make sense?

Because I have struggling readers at this level in 1st and 2nd grade, I try to infuse shared reading into our guided reading sessions by making strategy chants or songs.

As a teacher of English Language Learners, I have found the use of chants or songs that use and define academic vocabulary to be the best means of teaching language and content.  Perhaps because so often, especially among K-3 students, the kids LOVE to sing the songs again and again. 

Last year, I had a favorite writing chant, which I used every day, and now thanks to my bilingual coach I have a great reading chant to share with you all!  (She gave me permission to post it.)  She even typed up a great series of lessons to teach the chant, vocabulary and content.  I'll post these soon too under lesson plans!

 Many of you in the Seattle area may be familiar with the Daily Five, written by the Kent sister teaching duo.  Since my school and much of my district is moving to Writers' Workshop, the Readers' Workshop model is also gaining in popularity.  Several of us are now implementing the Daily Five as our reading workshop.  I love the Daily Five because it involves really teaching kids the routines, and I have some challenges with bringing all my kids on board.   

My school became a Writer's Workshop school this year. We were trained by the staff developers at Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project.

Our students have made amazing progress this year. They have really bought into the idea of being writers. It doesn't hurt that we frequently tell them they are writers or that we have author's celebrations at the end of each month.

Part of what makes the curriculum so rich is the books we read and later re-read like writer's. (I wrote a lesson plan about how mentor text lessons tend to go: click here.)

Check it out --at the bottom of the page-- and add these books to your writing curriculum!

As a huge fan of the fantasy genre, including the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, I take these words very seriously, but I may have a new favorite book series...Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Over Spring Break, I started and finished both The Lightning Thief, Book One and The Sea of Monsters, Book Two.

This series is for middle schoolers, but is appropriate for most students that can read at a six grade reading level.  The protagonists, include a male and a female, both of whom are strong characters. Oh, and one of their parents is a Greek god.