Weekly Photos

I have been enjoying school, but this week was rough. I am not sure if it was the full moon, the winter grumps, or the need for a vacation, but boy oh boy were the kids tough this week!

I We have one week and then we have a week off. It will be nice just to take a week to read for pleasure and watch The Today Show.

Here are some photos from my lessons:

 If you have not tried Story Works by Scholastic - you are missing out on some great literature and nonfiction lessons.

The students have been working on finding the most important detail from a text. I write it and put it in a secret envelope and the kids have to guess. They love it when they match mine.

 I found this on TPT and used it with my word study group. 

The sort 

I began a unit on working on determining character traits in stories and poetry. I used the acronym FAST. I have used this strategy in the past.

 The boys are minimalists. LOL. 

 Applying it to a poem:

 The poem was from Super Teacher Worksheets. Another great website, I recommend. 

We then began writing the response to the prompt about the character traits from the story: 

 

We need to work on the rest of the essay next week. 

Earlier this week I went to a workshop about student engagement and  then the next morning this popped up on my twitter feed: 

Student engagement is hard to find for struggling readers. I often wonder how to motivate those students who have no interest, no motivations, no commitment. 

Here's to a great week!

Happy Reading! 

Weekly Photos

JANUARY 29, 2017

Weekly Photos

I am SO HAPPY it is the last weekend in January. I do not like the cold! I am ready for warmer months... BUT sadly I sill have a ways to go before it is spring!

I had a nice busy week. In grade 5,  I am teaching the students to find the most important details of a text. I make it like a game. The kiddos have 2 chances to see if they can match my detail.  My grade 6 students have been working on different reading skills depending on the class. My 7th graders are making PowerPoints about the career they researched. I am planning on having the kids read and grade each others this week.

Here are a few pictures from the week.:
The students partner read the text and took notes. On the back of the sheet, the students choose the fact they thought was most important from the book. It was interesting to see what the students chose.

 Here is an example: 

 Example #2: 

The second day we read a new text and I had individual kiddos write the most important detail.

The students had to match mine.

One kiddo was able to do ti!!  

 Group Two Same Lesson

I gave them an "I Can.." statement. 

 We defined "determine."

 I use Storyworks by Scholastic for lessons.

It's a great investment if you teach small groups. 

This kiddo guessed my most important detail. 

 

 A quick game of Outburst: 

 

Grade 5 - I took my supplies from my RACE unit and made a bulletin board. This strategy really helped the students respond to a text using evidence.

   

Happy Reading! 

Happy Sunday

I feel like I just posted my weekly photos. I had a busy week - one day we had an assembly and another day I sat in on CSE meetings. I finished teaching my RACE unit. Now I am going to have the kiddos respond to a nonfiction text using the RACE strategy.

I only had time to take three photos this past week. Here they are:

 This is the literacy term sort I made for all grade levels. These are the terms we worked on from September to December.

 Here are my grade 7 learning targets from last week. 

 

This was what the kiddos saw before they color coded my answer. 

I have a nice four day work week. I have AM committee meetings for two of the days. I am now in my 3rd year of teaching 5th grade reading and I feel like I am in a nice groove. I am still learning lessons for grade 7. Sometimes I enjoy those kids, and other days, I would much rather see my 5th graders all day every day. One thing is for sure, I am always learning! 

Have a fantastic week!

Happy Reading! 

Weekly Photos

JANUARY 8, 2017

Weekly Photos

I had a busy week back to school. It was nice to get back into the swing of things!

I taught the 5th grade classes I push into a great lesson about responding to a reading with text evidence. I did it to my small group class, so teaching it a second time was great. I was able to tweak the lesson. This time around I had the model ready for the kids. This week they will use the "RACE" template to evaluate an answer. Here is the pic from a previous post (I bought this from TPT): 

In my small group I gave students a literacy sort of all the terms they have learned so far this school year. Then as part of an exit ticket, the kiddos wrote an "I can.." statement on an index card. I had the kiddos put them on the white board. Then they had to switch and box the important words from a peer's statement. 

On another day with another group, we worked on sequence. I was working with the English Language Learners and my reading students. I partnered them up and gave them books I had cut apart and laminated. They had to read the text practice fluency, put the book in order, and then swap with another group to check their work.

Once again, I asked the kiddos to write an "I can" statement and then write it on the while board.

Weekly Photos

I had a busy week at school. We had a spirit week. We ended the week with "minute to win it" games which a lot of fun. I did a lot of readings about different holidays in countries around the world. I found some great no prep packets on TPT. 

I had the students highlight each side to compare/contrast. 

  

One day was "Kindness on a Post-it Note Day. I was sneaky and wrote notes on various lockers. Later in the day I found this stuffed in my teacher bin that I carry from class to class.

Here is another product I found on one of the teacher newsletters I get weekly. I had the students take turns writing the words on the white board during my small group class.

 I took my Mom to tea over break: 

 

 Seriously, I saw this in Target the DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS! WHY? 

I have not thought about work while on break. The week goes so fast, that I am trying to read some holiday books and just relax. It has been a nice break! I wish it was longer!

Happy Reading!