Conferences

What is your role in conferences? 

What information do you share?

We have conferences coming up next week. As a Literacy Intervention teacher, I struggle to know my role at conferences. I love to attend the conferences of the kiddos I see but unfortunately, I can't make all of them. Also, teachers only have 15 minutes with each family, I don't want to be a nuisance and take away from their time.

Here is what I am thinking for this year...

* Guided Reading Leveled Charts for each student.
I like this because it helps to visually display growth to both students and parents. The one thing I like about these charts I made is that it not only shows their progress, but it also shows where they should be in each grade level. It can be hard for some parents to see, but I also think it can be the push they need to get their children reading at least 20 minutes every night! I like to use that to set realistic goals for the student for the end of the year. Get them here.

* Student's Oral Fluency Chart
My principal has asked that the interventionists work on repeated reading with our students to increase fluency. I was a little hesitant at first, as I felt it was monotonous and boring for the kids. Surprisingly, my students look forward to our "Speed Reads" as I call them. I do them 3 times a week with my kids, just 1 minute at a time. I have them complete their own graphs so that they can see their growth. Just recently I started recording my students and having them assess themselves on accuracy, prosody, etc.

* Students' Reading Goals
I made reading goals with my students right after the New Year. I think next year I will do them right at the beginning of the school year. For most of my 3rd graders, they chose goals to finish reading a book series or read a certain number of chapter books. I think it is important for them to come up with their own goal, something that they are motivated to do.

* Resources to support students reach their reading goals.
If I am going to identify areas where my students need to improve, I feel it my responsibility to provide the resources necessary. I have RAZ kids accounts for my 2nd and 3rd graders, I have repeated reading passages available. I have comprehension questions that parents can use when reading with their children. Really, I try to focus on what the student need is and then come up with an easy way for parents to work with them at home.

Book Review Tuesday - My Name Is Yoon

Kid Quotes

Kids Quotes that truly made me Laugh Out Loud

Me: Alright, so that is the end of our sentence so we need to put a...
Kid: Pyramid!
*period... but close!*

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(Every day my school serves a fresh fruit or vegetable for snack time)
Kid 1: Hey, what's for snack today?
Kid 2: Leaves! Leaves for snack
* It was spinach*

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Me: Does anyone know a tongue twister?
Kid: Yeah I think I've heard one about a Wood Chuck
Me: Oh yeah? About how much wood a woodchuck could chuck?
Kid: Yeah! How much wood, would a a woodchuck f*** if a woodchuck could f*** wood.
Me: That is NOT appropriate!!
Kid: What isn't? The wood chuck? How much wood would a woodchuck f***.....
*Kid has NO CLUE he is saying a bad word*

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Me: Hi kid, I haven't seen you for a few days, what have you been up to?
Kid: Oh, you know, reading... writing... synthesizing..
* A teachers dream :) *

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Kid: Ms. K I can't find my ear muffins!

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Book Review Tuesday - Salt in His Shoes

Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan with Roslyn M. Jordan

Grade Levels 1-5

This book is a story is written by Deloris Jordan, the mother of basketball legend Michael Jordan. This is inspiring tale tells of Michael Jordan and his determination to be a great player. The book is a great example of the importance of hard work and perseverance. This book is a story is written by Deloris Jordan, the mother of basketball legend Michael Jordan.

Synopsis:

As a child, Michael wanted to play basketball with his brother and their friends but they said that he was too little. He wasn't as tall as the other boys he was playing with and worried that he would never be tall enough to be a good basketball player. Michael's mom told him that salt in his shoes and a prayer before bed would help him grow taller! He was determined to be a great basketball player and practiced every day.  Michael continued praying and putting salt in his shoes but he still hadn't grown as tall as he wanted. Michael's dad reassured him that being taller may help a little bit but not as much as practice, determination and giving your best will!"

How to use this book:

1) Teaching character traits: determination, perseverance, patience and hard work
2) Comparing texts - a non-fiction biography of Michael Jordan and this story
3) Mid-year check-in for Hopes and Dreams

Mid-year Check-in for Hopes and Dreams

I have used this book for a midyear check-in with my students about their Hopes and Dreams. In the beginning of the school year, I take students through the process of setting their hope and dream for the school year. After we come back from winter break, I like to check-in on our goals. I read this story aloud and we talk about how Michael Jordan reached his goal at the end of the book. We identify the steps that Michael took to reach his goal - that he practiced every day, that he was patient and worked hard, etc.

We then reflect on our hopes and dreams from the beginning of the school year and think about what steps we need to take to reach our own goals. I have them create a bookmark with two realistic steps that they can take to accomplish their goals. You can download the bookmarks here.

Assessment of Reading

Standardized Testing or Laughter Exhaled?

"This I believe: If young people develop a love of reading, they will have better lives.  That objective is not listed in our state curriculum standards.  Our assessment of reading may being with standardized test scores, but in the end we must measure a child's reading ability by the amount of laughter exhaled and tears shed as written word is devoured."

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This quote by Rafe Esquith is one of my favorite. This is truly how I see my role as a reading teacher. Yes, I must teach the fundamentals of reading and writing.  I must teach word patterns, latin roots and how to use comprehension strategies. But more than anything, I must teach students that literature is a means of entertainment, of peering deep into the soul of another. Literature has the power to make you feel deep joy, sadness, compassion, love... its powers are limitless.

As our state standardized tests are coming up, I have been having an internal crisis as to what to teach. Do I continue to teach my students the strategies to be a great reader? Or do I change my instruction to help them find the correct answers on the standardized test? I want to believe that I could continue teaching the great reading strategies and that would ensure that they would rock their standardized test, but alas, I do not find that to be true...

Book Review Tuesday - When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry

When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry... By Molly Bang

Grade Level K-2

When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry is a brilliant book that demonstrates the deep emotions that our students have. The illustrations in this book are fantastic. The use of color allows even non-readers to feel the emotion deep in their hearts. Sophie is a very relatable character, even as an adult I can relate to the anger she feels. 

Synopsis: 

Sophie is busy playing when her sister cuts in and tries to take her stuffed animal. "My turn" her sister says, "NO! "she shouts! When her sister grabs the toy, she falls down and feels very angry. She starts to throw a tantrum with kicking and screaming. She feels like a volcano ready to explode. Then she runs to a calm place outside in the trees overlooking water. She starts to notice things around her outside. She is calmed by the "wide world" and returns home to her mom and sister. She is calm and everything is okay. 

How to use this book:

- Validate feelings, allow students to connect to the deep emotions in the story

- Use it to talk about how to calm yourself down

- Teach empathy, how is Sophie feeling in this book?

Or my favorite.., introducing "Take a Break."

You can download my full lesson plan here.

Intro to "Take a Break"

I ask students to brainstorm a place where they feel calm. I use the example that it helps me to calm down when I sit under a blanket on my couch. We think of a lot of ideas together, maybe even making a chart with all of the ideas. I have seen students say their bed, outside on the playground, reading a book in a comfy chair, etc. 

After we have an exhaustive list of ideas. I give students time to draw a picture of that place. I invite them to draw as many details as they can about that place.  Once they have completed their drawings, I explain that we can't always go to those places to help us calm down, but we can think of the pictures in our mind.  I take the pictures that they have drawn and make a class book. I call the book "Our Calm Place" and put it next to the Take a Break spot.  I let students use it as a tool to help them calm down, they can find their own or look at other classmates calm spaces. 

I always put this picture of Sophie, looking so calm in her Beech tree, on the front cover. It is a useful visual reminder of finding a calm place in their mind.

The Book Butterfly

Why The Book Butterfly?

My name is Vanessa, which is a genus of butterfly in the greek language. My parents did not know this when they named me, but I have connected to the animal. A butterfly is a symbol of transformation, of metamorphosis. I wish I could say that I embraced change as gracefully as a butterfly, however change brings me as much stress as the next person. Change is necessary in life, especially as a lover of learning. The more I learn, the more I evolve my ways. In order to grow, we must go through transformation and change.

My story

I have worked as a Kindergarten, 1st and K - 5 reading intervention teacher in Minnesota. My passion lies in literature; reading it, writing it, teaching students how to love it! My high school English teacher coined the phrase "LOL." No, not the overused text term Laugh Out Loud, instead he talked about the Love of Learning. Though I think I loved learning before his class, this expression explained me. I loved to learn, more specifically, I loved to read, and still do. This was a powerful realization that fueled my fire to become an educator and inspire others to love to learn and read.