Saturday Sayings: Are Spelling Resources Evil?

My writers have personal word books (a.k.a. dictionaries first grade style), but they don't know it.  I also have about 8 hardbound dictionaries in my room.  They don't know about those either.  These resources are a mystery to them for the very reasons Regie explained in the quote above.

1.  "Their free flow of thinking and writing is interrupted."  From day one my writers have to learn that spelling is not what dictates content.  If they only write what they can spell or can easily find in a word book, their writing will not live up to its potential.  It will sound stilted and lack any kind of detail.

2.  "Over concern about correctness while composing slows writers down."  I keep the word books a secret for as long as I possibly can, but once they come out of hiding, writers want to use them for every other word and the quantity of writing considerably decreases.  

3.  "Another reason to put aside resources, at first, is to encourage students to figure out spellings and choice of words on their own."  The writers in my room have no choice but to be risk takers.  They know what I'll say if they ask me how to spell a word.  "If you can say it, you can write it."  They must develop the phonemic awareness skill of hearing sounds in words.  The skill won't develop if they have a word book in their lap on day one or even day fifty.

I don't mean to imply that spelling resources are evil.  There's a word wall in my room that we use daily, and my writers have personal word walls in their writing folders that they refer to.  I just believe that word books and dictionaries need to be used wisely.  If not, they can get in the way of the writer and their writing.  

A Perfect Report Card?

Conferences are this week, so that's about all my brain can think about.  (Well, that and getting myself to bed by 8:00.  I love my sleep.)  Unfortunately, I don't love our report card.  I don't believe it's all that comprehensive.  On the other hand, is there such a thing as a perfect report card?  I've got my doubts.  To help give parents a better view of what their child knows, what I want them to know, and how to get there, which I believe parents really appreciate, I always provide an additional sheet.  Here's a look.  Click on the picture if you'd like to print your own copy.

I understand that using and editing this particular form isn't all that feasible on your computer, but maybe it will inspire the making of your own.

Saturday Sayings: What do I Value?

As a first grade teacher, I value turning kindergarteners into second grade readers, writers, mathematicians, and thinkers.  That's understandably essential to the futures of these little people who will one day be the very ones who influence the success of this planet.  I'm torn though, especially because of one little person.  It's difficult to admit, but I will not be able to transform him into the academic student he needs to be for second grade and beyond.  I'll do what I can, but I already know it won't be enough.  My lack of hope for his academic future of course bothers me, but here's where I'm torn.  It doesn't bother me nearly as much as my concern for his future as a caring citizen of society.  I can deal with the fact that he still doesn't know his letters and numbers.  I can't deal with the fact that on a daily basis he doesn't know how to treat others and shows no effort to learn how.  I'm left asking myself, "What do I value?"  As his teacher I will not give up on him academically, but if at the end of the year he walks away with character only, I will consider myself successful.  

(Agree?  Disagree?  I welcome your thoughts.)

G Journals

April from The Idea Backpack got me thinking a few days ago about doing gratitude journals with my kids.  (Click on her blog to be inspired as well.)  I threw some journals together and the very next day my kids wrote their first entry while the lights were turned down low and peaceful piano music played throughout the room.  

(After only a few days of journaling, I had a hard time narrowing down which thoughts to share.  There's a freebie at the end for anyone who can make it that far.)

I am grateful for my family because they love me.

 I am grateful for my bike because I like to ride it.

 I am grateful for my room because it has things that I like.

I am grateful for friends because they are fun to play with.

 I am grateful for Matthew because he is my very best friend.

 I am grateful for filling buckets at home because it is fun.

I am grateful for my dogs Alice and Piper because they love me and I love them.

 I am grateful for God because I love God.

I am grateful for our President because he is special to us.

 I am grateful for my teacher because I like being in her class.

 I am grateful for my heart because it makes me beautiful.

I am grateful for my heart because it beeps when I need blood.

In addition to my normal daily writing workshop time, my plan is to make G Journals a daily ritual throughout November, with lights down low and piano music playing.  I hope it brings new meaning to being thankful.

(Click on the picture for your own copy.  G = gratitude)
Graphics from: http://frompond.blogspot.com

Handwriting Meets Classroom Book

I shared a while back about a strategy I use for teaching proper letter formation.  (If you'd like to read about that, go here.)  This post is about what I did with all the purple and green letters I made - 26 to be exact.  They were transformed into a book of course.  

Just this week I saw one little reader choose the book during Daily 5.  She sat there and traced every single letter from beginning to end.  I thought it was pretty cool to watch.

When in doubt, turn things that might otherwise find a place on a dusty shelf into a book.

Saturday Sayings: The Best in Us

What's on my mind these days?

I shall make a list.

(Warning:  It's ever so slightly opinionated.)

• I'd like to thank the Common Core for letting me decide how to teach the standards.  (Regie would approve.)
• Becoming familiar with the Common Core takes time and is a bit messy, but it's a given that I should know and understand what's expected of my learners.
• I'm grateful for an administration that believes in my ability to design a Common Core curriculum that best fits the needs of my students, and I'm thankful they give me extra time to make that happen.
• I can't count on a program, a series, or a teacher's manual to fill the gaps.
• Developing curriculum is a lot of work, but it's better than being handed a product that I had no say in making and might not even believe in.  
• Developing curriculum improves my understanding of the standards.
• Developing curriculum requires me to know my students better. 
• Developing curriculum gives me ownership of the teaching and learning in my classroom.
• Developing curriculum makes me more reflective.
• Developing curriculum makes me a better teacher. 

Making the Common Core my very own is not easy.  In fact, it's far from it and sometimes stretches me to my limits, but the process is worthy of my time.  When all is said and done, I believe it should bring out the best in us, not the worst.

Bang for Your Buck!

Over the years, I've learned a thing or two from Patricia Cunningham.  This post is about one of my favorites.  I love the way this activity teaches young readers how to use strategies when they read.  Follow along and see what I mean.

1.  I put this sentence on the board and ask the kids to read it with me, inserting the word "blank" at the end.  

2.  I tell them that their goal is to figure out the mystery word, but it has to make sense and sound right.  Volunteers give me suggestions, but I make sure they read the sentence and insert their word so we can all hear if it makes sense and sounds right.  If it does, I write their word on the board.  For lack of time, I only take four suggestions.

3.  Of course, I then tell them that readers are never guessers.  (Actually, I say, "Readers are never..." and they finish my sentence.  That's how often they've heard me say this.)  They have to get their mouth ready, so I uncover the first letter of the mystery word.  One at a time, I ask them if we could keep each word that has been suggested.  "Does it look right?"  I erase any that don't look right.

4.  Now I ask for new suggestions, but it has to make sense, sound right, and look right.  Again for lack of time, I stop at four suggestions.

5.  Before uncovering the rest of the mystery word I say, "Lots of words begin the same..." and they say, "...but they don't end the same" in order to reinforce how similar words can be.  In order to figure out the mystery word they have to get their mouths ready and slide to the end.  As I uncover one letter at a time, they make the sounds and then read the mystery word.  In this particular instance they didn't guess the mystery word, but they used some great strategies to figure it out!

I pretty much do one of these a day until every name in my class has been used.  I use various sentence starters.

Dejia is...

Dejia can...

Dejia likes...

Dejia was...

etc.

After several days, I also use mystery words that start with blends and digraphs.  

Twenty-three times over they hear the same strategies repeated in a meaningful context.  (What's more meaningful than their names?)  I've made a list of the many strategies that they hear over and over through this one activity.  Talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck!

Does it make sense?

Does is sound right?

Does is look right? 

Get your mouth ready.

Slide to the end.

Look at the whole word.