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Sunday, August 26, 2018

Close Reading


Close reading isn’t a skill that comes naturally to students. When our students get a new reading assignment, often their first instinct is to race to the finish line rather than engage deeply with a text.

Getting students to slow down, engage with the text in different ways, and reflect as they read are challenges for every teacher, and are the goals of close reading. There’s no magic way to turn your class into top-notch readers overnight, but there are specific close reading skills you can teach that will help your students now and in the future.

I created an assignment that requires students to reread and engage with their book each day.  Each day students need to reread the book or a part of the text, and complete a different assignment.  Each assignment is worth 25 points, and since there are 4 assignments, it is worth up to 100 in the grade book.  Friday all 4 assignments are due, so I give students about 20 minutes to edit (or finish for those who need a little extra time) their assignments before handing it in.  

Close Reading Assignments

At the beginning of the year, I have students solely use this assignment with the story of the week.  (I have one assignment sheet for fiction and another for nonfiction.)  This way I can monitor and allow students to work together.  One of my favorite ways to model is to complete the assignment as students are working on theirs.  Then we come together and compare and discuss how to make everyone’s response better (mine too!).  I do this for about one or two months depending on the group of students I have.  Teaching and modeling close reading is SUPER IMPORTANT, and it’s not something to rush.

Once your students have a good handle on what you expect for each assignment, you can start sending them home to be completed as close reading homework.  As homework, each assignment is worth 20 points because the additional 20 points comes from their parent or guardian’s signature.  Sometimes the assignments come from the weekly reading story, other times the assignments are based on their leveled reader, and other times, I allow students to choose fiction or nonfiction texts from the library and complete a close reading assignment from their preferred text.  No matter what, students are practicing and are actively engaged in their books.

Parent’s tell me in conferences year after year how much they love this homework assignment because it is meaningful.  They are talking to their child about what they are reading, and their children are not only becoming better readers, but they are also getting positive attention from their parents. 

If you love it, please leave feedback.  I truly do love reading how my resources help others.  "Teamwork makes the Dream Work," & we are all in it together!

If you have any other ideas for close reading strategies, please leave a comment below.  Stay tuned for another post about close reading in math!

Enjoy those books!


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Sunday, August 19, 2018

Differentiating Centers


Differentiating in your classroom can seem like an overwhelming impossibility. How are you supposed to differentiate each center, each week, for each student? 

It can be done, by grouping your students by ability.
I group my students according to their levels on the end of year tests from the previous school year, my beginning of year tests, weekly vocabulary quizzes, reading quizzes and tests, and math chapter quizzes & tests. Your students should not stay in the same group for the entire school year. If one of my student’s scores really low in algebraic thinking, but really high in measurement, he or she would be put in different groups depending on what is being taught. 

Also, I have found that sometimes a student will work better with a certain group of students versus another group-even if one is higher than the other.  It’s okay to put a student in that higher group, but you need to make sure you give them support/enrichment.
Once you have figured out your grouping, you can start to think about your centers. Centers are a powerful way to get students engaged in hands-on activities on their level. 

I taught first grade for 5 years and third grade for 8 years.  In both grades, students had actual center time.  A rotation was posted on the board and routines were followed.  Now that I teach 5th grade, I still have my students in centers, but it works a little different.  I give my students’ “Educational Learning Choices” after they have finished their “Must Do’s” each day.
 
In my class students must use the online I.Ready Reading and Math program (40 minutes per subject) each week.  To manage this, it is listed under their “Must Do’s” for the day.  With “Must Do’s” and “May Do’s” students learn time management and work for center time.
Samples for Daily Must Do’s:
1)20 minutes of I.Ready (MW is Reading, TTh is Math, and then I look at the data and let students know what they are doing on Friday.  Friday is also a time they can make up time if they were absent.)
2)Read Works: An Article a Day.  I highly recommend you look into this.  It is free, and you can assign your students different articles depending on their ability level (online program)

I then have Must Do’s that aren’t required to be worked on each day, but are due each Friday.  So students might opt to work on it a little each day, or a huge chunk of it one day and not the rest, but it is up to them as long as it is completed by Friday.  What if students don’t complete these assignments?  The way I handle it is this, 3 strikes and you’re out.  If students miss 3 deadlines, then that student and I sit down and work out a daily schedule for the daily amount of time they need to work on each task.  

Some of the Must Do’s that are due on Friday are 
★ Accelerated Reader (AR) tests (due every 2 weeks)
★ Reading Comprehension Centers
★ Math Reteach/Enrichment pages depending on the week.

May Do’s (aka Educational Learning Choices): These are student choices.  Every single one is academic!  By allowing students to choose their learning activities (ie centers), they feel empowered and are ready and open-minded to learn more.  Some examples of May Do’s:
★ Prodigy: Online math game
★ Versatiles
★ Reading Silently or Buddy Read
★ Hot Dots (I have these for Reading, Math, and Science.)
★ Task Cards (I have over 40 sets of engaging and differentiated task cards for reading, math, and science in my store.  If you are interested, you can see them here.)
★ Flash cards

Of course, students meet with me in their reading and math groups as well.  I generally teach each group for 20 minutes and the rest of the time is theirs to work on their assignments - while I meet with the other groups.  

A few things to remember:
1) Routines and procedures are crucial. 
2) Centers should run themselves. 
3) You can differentiate for your students in centers. 
4) During center time, you can pull back students who needed more one-on-one attention. This is also a great time to join in with a group of students during center time to observe, assess, and/or have fun.  I try to join in with one group each week, and rotate the groups that I visit.
5) Every student can feel successful during center time. 

The best piece of advice I can give to you, is make it work for you. Change things as you go and change it up until it fits your style and your vision. 

I hope this is helpful for you!  If you have any questions or suggestions for others please leave them in the comments below.

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Sunday, August 12, 2018

Do You Play Math Games?


I hear it all the time from my colleagues… Why are your students playing games?  I am here to tell you that having math games as part of your math centers, or if you don’t do centers, a part of your daily routine is a vital component to your students’ learning.

Games allow students the opportunity to deepen their mathematical understanding and reasoning. Students will begin to notice patterns, relationships, and strategies.
1) By playing games students find different strategies for solving problems and deepen their understanding of numbers.
2) When played repeatedly, games support students’ development of computational fluency.
3) Games allow opportunities for practice, without the need for teachers to provide the problems. You can then observe and work with individuals or small groups of students.

Engage Your Students!
An engaging way to introduce a game to the class is for the you to play the game against the class. Or if the game doesn’t allow for whole class participation, make the time to play with a group a students while the rest is watching.  After 10 minutes, have each student who was playing select a student who was watching to take their place. 
Remember to always vary or modify the game to meet the needs of your learners.

Hold Your Students Accountable 
After playing a game, have students reflect by having them write about in a mathematics notebook or journal.  I typically post one of the following questions each week by the game center, and in order to be allowed to continue playing the following week, they need to answer the question in COMPLETE SENTENCES.
1) What skill did you review and practice?
2) Which strategies did you use while playing the game?
3) If you were to play the game a second time, what different strategies would you use to be more successful?
4) How could you change the game to make it more challenging?

What do you think?  Do you allow your students to play math games in the classroom?  What suggestions do you have to help fellow teachers?  Please leave your ideas in the comment section below.  I look forward to reading your ideas.

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Sunday, August 5, 2018

Feeling Overwhelmed?


As you get ready to head back to the classroom, it's easy to get overwhelmed with all of the back to school insanity. If you are anything like me, you have been to several teacher stores, browsed Pinterest and TPT, and now the time is here.  How many days until you officially report back to school?  I go back this week!
Here are some tips to help you organize and plan your time before school starts.

1) Get Ideas 
You can learn from your peers by observing the way they organize, plan & decorate their classrooms.  Go in with an open mind and heart.  Don’t feel that you should copy what they are doing, but be sure to look and listen. Let the teacher you are visiting do most of the talking. You may walk away with a new or different idea that may end up saving time and energy.  I have been teaching for over 20 years now (eek!), and I learn daily from my co-workers.

2) Map Out a Classroom Layout
Draw a map of your classroom. Think about how the layout can help simplify your daily routine. Is the calendar, rug, library, visuals in the most convenient locations?  Will you teach reading and math in different locations?  Will you have a reading word wall?  What about a math word wall?  Think about how many bulletin boards are located in your classroom.Think about how your students’ desks are placed. Would you prefer to have the desks facing you or would you like to have the desks in small groups? Moving classroom furniture around is hard work, so recruit help if needed… if you don’t have any friends or family who can help, then offer to help a colleague move their furniture in exchange for helping you with yours.  The saying, “Teamwork makes the Dreamwork” is true!

3)  Student Jobs
Think about the jobs you want the students to have and post the jobs on your classroom job board before the first day of school. Be sure to assign the jobs on the first day, so the classroom stays organized and clean. About 30 minutes before dismissal, be sure the students complete the jobs and then meet to discuss and make adjustments, if needed.

4) Prepare for Emergencies: Substitute Teacher Plans
It’s very important to keep a folder on your desk filled with emergency substitute teacher plans. Keep the folder in a visible location, so if an emergency occurs you can rest knowing you were prepared ahead of time. Make sure you let your colleagues and your students know where this folder is located too.  I also keep a bin of worksheets (Scholastic News, Reteach math- skills covered and not covered yet, Enrichment worksheets of previously taught skills) behind my desk in case a substitute doesn’t show up.  This way, if my class needs to be split up, they have meaningful and engaging work to do.  

I hope these ideas help you.  Have a wonderful school year,

PS What are your organization tips for back to school? Share in the comments section!

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