Non-Fiction Book Clubs

I know, I know. It's been months since my last post and I feel absolutely bad about that (insert many sad faces here)!  This school year has been super busy and I've dropped the ball big time on my blogging.  My new goal is to post at least once a month with something great that is going on in the classroom.  So let's get right to it!

One thing I've been super excited about is launching our non-fiction book series unit.  The kids have enjoyed it so much and I've been able to use the month of March to set up book clubs in the classroom. We've gone over everything from rules to jobs and have even recorded kiddos having discussions. I then have the class watch themselves and point out stars (great things they are doing) and wishes (what they need to improve on.)  That's been super helpful because students are able to catch the little things like sitting against the wall instead of sitting in a circle. I highly recommend you recording your students and having them watch it for feedback on book clubs (or any other subject!)

Book clubs are by far one of my favorite units to teach.  Last year we started with fiction book clubs so this year was a bit challenging to kick off the book club units with non-fiction.  For that reason, I decided to modify some of the jobs for the non-fiction book clubs.  Check out my new non-fiction book club packet at TPT for more info.

Non-Fiction Literature Circles

My goal after Spring Break is to finish teaching all the non-fiction jobs so that students can begin assigning different roles to each other.  I can't wait to get to that point! Every year I'm surprised with all the great discussion in the classroom and I am sure this year I will again.

That's it for now friends!  Hope you are all enjoying your Spring Break :) See you next month!

TPT Sale + Award!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break.   There is so much to be thankful for and like many of you, I reflected on how lucky I am to have my health, family & friends, and a profession I truly love.  

The stretch between Halloween to Winter Break becomes such a big blur to me each year.  It seems that only a few weeks ago I was thinking of what to dress up for at work and now, I'm thinking of what song my students will preform in 3 weeks.  Yikes! Better get going on that!!!  

Our school was off for 5 days.  These last five days have been filled with so much love and family time.  As you've noticed, I've disconnected from my blog.  With work, my master's program, family, and friends, my time is very limited and so I've had to let go of blogging and my TPT store these last months.  I'm hopeful things will eventually slow down, but that may not happen anytime soon.  

In my last post, I blogged about a pd session I was going to lead on CFUs.  It went great!  After getting feedback from a few teachers, I modified my presentation and what a success!  I have now been asked to lead another pd in February on behavior management which I'm super excited about.  If you have any thoughts or strategies on this, please let me know.  In my last pd I shared resources I found on blogs so feel free to share!

Like you've heard, TPT will be having a Cyber Monday + Bonus Tuesday sale.  You can get up to  28% off Monday-Tuesday (enter promo code CMT12) and 15% off Wednesday- Friday to celebrate the end of November.  Head on over when you get a chance. Don't forget to follow my TPT Store!  

Finally, I'm also very happy because Kayla over at Meet Miss Parker nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award!  Yay! Since I'm not blogging as much, it's very difficult for my blog to get followers so I'm really thankful for this award.  Thanks Kayla!  Check out her awesome blog and follow her as well. 

A Liebster Award is given to bloggers that have less than 200 followers. It is to show bloggers that they are appreciated and helps spread the word about their blogs. The rules are simple:
1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions your nominator set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the the 11 blogs you nominate.  These must have less than 200 followers. 
4. Be sure to link those blogs in your post, as well. No tag backs! 

(Nominees: Please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you!)

So.... here are 11 things random things about me....

1.  My favorite chocolate bar is Twix
2.  My current guilty pleasure is ABC's Once Upon a Time
3.  I just bought Urban Decay's Naked as an early Xmas present :) 
4.  During my Spring Break of '11 I watched "Gone with the Wind" for the first time and since then I've been glued to classic films on Netflix. 
5.  I love to cook and just learned how to make sushi. It was delicious!
6.  I have been married for 4 years.  We have no kids, but do have dogs. 
7.  Lana Del Rey is one of my current favorite artists. 
8.  Shopping for clothes stresses me out.  I do love shopping for shoes, make-up, and accessories. 
9.  I love, love, LOVE burgers with fries.  
10.  Currently prefer beer over wine/mixed drinks. 
11.  If I could have any super power, I would want to know the answers to all my questions.  

Here are the answers to the 11 questions Kayla asked: 

1. When did you realize you wanted to become a teacher? When I was 5 or 6.  My mom was a teacher and I wanted to be one too after hearing all about her teaching stories. 
2. What is your favorite movie? I have a few.... but I have to go with A Knight's Tale.  The soundtrack is also pretty good. 

1. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do? Fix our house!  The front/back yard need to be done asap. 
2. What do love most about your job? The silliness of the kids.  I am never bored and I laugh each day. 
3. Describe your ideal vacation.  My husband and I relaxing without having to worry about following a schedule for the day.  Any place in the world would be okay with me. 
4. What is the nastiest thing you ever ate?  I eat everything, except corndogs.  I had a bad experience in the 5th grade and since then, I cannot eat corndogs. Love hot dogs though. 
5. What is your biggest fear? Being chased by....zombies!  Have no idea why, but I am....
6. What is your favorite holiday? Why? Halloween because I have great memories of my mom making us homemade costumes and us helping out.  My sister and I always won 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.  
7. Tell me 3 things on your bucket list. Travel to Europe, start my own business,  and write a children's book. 
8. Name something that makes your town interesting. I live in L.A. so there are many interesting things here.  The most is how diverse our communities are. I can go 5 miles in either direction from home and hear different languages, taste new foods, and hear a variety of world music.  That's one thing I love about the city of angels. 
9. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? I see myself being a mom.  I need to get started on that soon. ;) 

Here are the blogs I nominate.  Congrats to you all!

-Miss Williams

-Holly and Gretchen

-Always Sunny in First

-A Basket Full of Apples

-Two Tacky Teachers

-Secrets of the Second Grade Sisters

-Bilingual Teacher Clubhouse

-Leading and Reading

-Little Miss Primary

-Second Grade Discoveries

-Mindful Rambles

Here are your 11 questions :

1.  If you could be any superhero, who would you be and why?

2.  Who is your favorite music artist?

3.  Name your most memorable student.  Why is he/she memorable. 

4. If you could go back in time, which era would you want to live in?

5.  Pepsi or Coke?

6.  What has been your biggest challenge so far?

7.  What is something you would like to learn to do?

8.  Name your guilty pleasure.

9.  Dogs or cats?

10.  What can't you live without?

11.  What is your favorite children's book?

* Don't forget to leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post. Can't wait for your responses!

Continue to spread the life, love, and laughter in your classrooms!

Guided Reading

Wowzers!  Was it hot today or what?!! Reached over 100 degrees here in L.A. and we're in for another hot one tomorrow.  Better keep hydrated.  :)

Today, Ashley over at Primary Teacherhood, became my 58th follower!  Thanks Ashley!  You gotta head over to her blog whenever you get a chance.  She has some great literacy ideas :)

And speaking of literacy ideas, it's time for....drumroll please....a linky!!! I haven't joined in a while so I'm super excited to see a Guided Reading Linky!!! Thanks Teacher's Cauldron for starting this great convo!

Link UP!

I started teaching GR about 4 years ago.  At first, I was very overwhelmed and did not know what to do.  With time, I've developed my own systems and now L-O-V-E it!  It's actually one of my favorite times of the day!

The first thing I had to do was to get organized.  I needed lesson plans for the books I was using and needed a place to put them.  I also needed a place to put all the resources for those lessons.  Sometimes it was worksheets and other times the vocabulary words.  So, I created a binder.... my "Guided Reading Binder".  In it, I find everything I need.  I have tabs for each reading level, making it easy for me to find the lessons and resources I need.

The next thing I had to do was figure out what groups I would pull and when.  This took a while and was stressful at first.  I started off by having a grid labeled Monday through Thursday, but that didn't work for me because sometimes a book would take longer than one day or something would come up.  SO, about two years ago I created a new grid that allowed me to get familiar with the books and also my GR classroom structure.

{Click Here}

By the end of last year, I didn't need such a detailed lesson plan for GR, so I modified it meet my needs.  Basically, I just needed a document that would tell me what kids were in what group, what book they would read, and what would be the focus.  That works for me now only because I've been doing it for a while.  There's no way I would have been able to use the grid I use now two years ago.

{Click Here}

This year I'm revamping my lessons using the information I received at Teacher's College this summer. I attended the Reader's Workshop for Beginners and learned so much.  One of my biggest take aways was that you can have a strategy lesson with a group of kids (kids do not need to be in the same reading level....they are in different levels and need a mini lesson on a specific strategy) OR you can have a guided reading group where the kids are leveled an the teacher provides a book for the group. These are my notes on strategy lessons vs. guided reading from Teacher's College:

Strategy Lesson	Guided Reading
·                 Based on need not level ·                 Bring your own book (BYOB) ·                 Teaching point is at the beginning	·      Leveled group ·      Teacher provides book

*Main difference between GR and strategy lesson is that the GR teaching point goes AFTER the GR practice.  (Strategy lesson, teaching point is determined prior to pulling them out. GR, based on the groups needs)

At TC I also got this cool GR planning sheet. According to the facilitators,  a GR lesson should take somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.  I'm still working on that.  My lessons go way over that time, especially because we begin to dig deeper into the texts.  I'm using this format though to guide lessons I haven't created.  

{Click Here}

So what do I want to know about GR?

Link UP!

How long should level L-O lessons take and most importantly, what do you focus on since these will most likely be chapter books?

That's all for now friends.... spread the life, love, and laughter in your classrooms!

TPT End of September Sale!

Hi  all!

Made through another work week!!! Kids are really feeling it now.  It's been a month since we started school and this week was brutal.  We survived!

We learned all about subtract with/without regrouping this week.  I used the "More on top" chant/poem I found on Pinterest on day 2. On day 1, I told my kids my Halloween story.  I'm working on publishing that story and will post it soon once I'm done.  I've taught addition/subtraction with regrouping for 8 years now and it wasn't until last year that I actually figured out how to teach it.  I remember dreading this unit and now it's one of my favorites.

So, despite the fact that I've been running around like a chicken without a head, at the end of it all, it was a good week.  The kids were introduced to subtraction and I didn't go home wanting to pull my hair out.  On Wednesday though, I did find out that 3 kids did not know how to subtract period.... sad face, sad face.

I'm so excited to start the work week.  On Monday, we will start a mini unit on The BFG by Roald Dahl.  We are creating this from scratch, which I'm really excited about.  The unit should last about one month.  I will be creating things as I go throughout the way (yay! my first novel unit for my TPT).  The kids are super excited, especially because it's so close to Halloween!!!

Finally, I'm having a TPT sale to celebrate the end of the first month of school.  Head on over to take a look.  The sale started yesterday and ends tomorrow.  

{VISIT MY TPT STORE!}

That's it for now friends.  Hope you all all enjoying your weekend and recharging.  

 

Fall Into Literacy! What a Success!!!

Happy Tuesday all!  So far, I've had a great two days despite the fact that I woke up sick yesterday morning.

Earlier in the month I was stressing over starting ELA workshop, especially because my kids from last year were so independent by the end of 2nd grade.  Before school started, I went over my beginning of the year centers and decided that they were no good, so I  created new ones to keep my kids engaged and focused all while practicing the skills they needed.

For the last two weeks we have been working hard learning all about compound words, nouns, and capitalization.  Wow!  What a difference!  My workshops have been running so smoothly, thanks to my new engaging centers.  I've been consistent about reviewing expectations and procedures and the kids seem to really understand what to do now.  Can you believe that I have been able to pull out small groups!  I'm so happy :)  We took our first test on Friday and only 2 kids got below proficient. Check out my TPT store for Fall Into Literacy!  I included over 45+ pages of centers/activities including anchor charts, posters, and student sample work.

Fall Into Literacy Centers!

I wanted to share the great news because workshop times always stress me out in the beginning of the school year. This might just be the year of the workshops! Took me long enough...7 years!!!

More news...I will be leading a pd in a few weeks on how to use data to differentiate instruction for whole group and small groups.  I'm really looking forward to leading my first pd, but I'm very nervous.  If you have any pointers for me, that would be great.

Okay friends.... spread the life, love, and laughter in your classrooms!

-->Check out the FREEBIES tab! I've added freebies from my TPT store as well as freebies from Buzzing with Ms. B.'s store.  More to come!

New School Year

Wow!  It's been such a long time since my last post that I actually forgot what email I used to log on!!! Since my last post, I have received awards.  I was so happy to receive the "One Lovely Blog Award" from Sweet Life of Second Grade  and To the 2nd Power as well as "The Versatile Blogger" from Calling Plays in 2nd Grade.  Check them out whenever you get a chance.  They're great blogs to follow.  I will be looking looking out for blogs to give the awards to in the weeks to come, so keep a look out for that.

The 2011-2012 school year ended with a bang.   After our state test, I focused on closing out the year with my class by having community builders and making school as fun as possible.  The last day of school was super emotional.  I thought that by the end of year 6 I would not cry, but I was proven wrong.  At least this time I didn't cry in front of the entire class, just the last 6.

My summer was great but short.  I did a few weeks of traveling and had a wonderful time with friends and family.  My original goal was to blog and create resources for my TPT page, but I felt a need to disconnect and recharge.  Plus, I really didn't know what to blog about.  I really want my blogs to be purposeful and helpful, so if that means blogging once in a while, then I'm okay with that.

With that said, I have something to blog about... the start of a new school year!  A few things that have worked great for me so far.  One is a parent survey I sent home on the first week of school.  Slowly they have been trickling in and I have learned so much about my students and their families.  It is available on my TPT store, so head on over if you are interested. The survey is translated in Spanish for those of you that have spanish speaking parents. :)

English-Parent Survey

Spanish-Parent Survey

Another has been a Beginning of the School Year-Getting to Know You activity.  It took us a couple of days to complete, but now they are up on my writing board and ready for Back to School Night (this is also on my TTP store).


Finally, one of my favs... Have You Filled A Bucket Today? Check out my Amazon widget for that book.  It is available on both hardcover and paperback.  It is by far one of the most important books you need to have and read to your kids.  I borrowed a copy from a friend last school year and needed to read it again by March.  This year, I just bought it.  Whenever you feel that your kids need a reminder to become bucket fillers and not dippers, just read it.  I created our classroom buckets using envelopes.  I'll take a picture this week and post it so that you can see what we are doing to fill buckets.

That's it for now...here's to a great start to a new school year!

Notes From Ms. H. -Lessons to Help Teachers

Hi friends!

Tomorrow will officially mark the last day of our ELA CST tests.  One more week to go.....here we come Math!  These last seven weeks have been so physically, emotionally, and mentally stressful.  This is my 5th year going through the 2nd grade California State test and have learned a few things along the way.  Here are some lessons I think might help someone out there:

Lesson #1:  Do things that make you happy
During testing week, pamper yourself.  It's all about you.  What makes you happy?  A pedi/mani?  Happy hour with your coworkers or girlfriends?  Taking naps?  Exercise? Do whatever it takes to make you happy.  What makes me happy during testing is stopping by Starbucks every morning to treat myself to a caramel frap. I love coffee, but try to be healthy by going to Starbucks once a week (I brew coffee at home.) During testing weeks, I make sure I have my caramel fraps.  This makes me really happy as I drive into work and look forward to a new day.

Lesson #2:  Have a support group in place
No one will best understand you than the teachers you work with.  I'm very fortunate to have a team of teachers I can talk to during lunch.  In previous years, I wasn't as fortunate but still had a least one teacher to talk to.  You simply need to vent to someone (other than your significant other) that will understand you completely.  Vent your frustrations and concerns.  Make jokes out of it. Do talk about work related subjects that will make you feel better but don't talk about the big test if you're not supposed to.  We are not supposed to so we talk about ways to motivate our students and/or what to do with our classes for the 3 hours after the test.

Lesson #3:  Live and Learn
Friends, what can you do as you walk around and see that your students are making silly mistakes? Absolutely nothing at all.  So live and learn.  Plan to teach your students strategies the weeks leading up to your big test the following year.  Last year I noticed that many of my students had a hard time making a transition from crossing out the wrong answers with a pencil to crossing out the wrong answers in their head.  So this year, we came up with the "Eye Doctor Strategy".  Students cover up all the answers and slide their hand down to show one answer choice at a time.  My second year I noticed that some of my kids simply needed breathing strategies to calm down and that others needed to be taught how to get the wiggles out within their space, so the next year I was sure to teach strategies for those types of students throughout the year.

Lesson #4:  Ease off on the direct instruction after testing
Could you continue to review for the test after taking a test?  NO!!! Make the time after the test fun.  What do your kids like to do?  Multiplication bingo?  Workshop time?  I've been doing this for the last two days and it's been working wonderfully.  I was even able to pull out a small group!  I also played a movie for the last 15 minutes of the day and the kids loved it.  So my advise, make them happy too.  They're working hard too.

Hopefully a lesson or two can help you out.  On a side note, I caught up on my Live, Love, Laugh in 2nd Grade emails this evening.  It was a bittersweet feeling reading one email in particular.  I was nominated for the Fascination Award a few weeks ago for my post "Awards, Plurals, and Party...Oh My!" but because I didn't read these emails until tonight, I was not part of the contest :(  The email made me so happy though, and for now, that is good enough for me.  After 2 days of testing, the email definitely made my week.

Okay bloggers, don't forget to spread the life, love, and laughter in your classrooms...even during testing time ;)