The Best Part of Me

I finally did a project I've been thinking about for a couple of years. I had my 4th graders do their own version of The Best Part of Me by Wendy Ewald. It all started when the fourth grade team was discussing their latest Lucy Calkins writing frame back in November. I decided it was a frame I could use to give the students some extra practice and complete the desired project.

First, I shared the wonderful book with the kids. Then, after they shared possible favorite parts and reasons why, they got started making an organizer with their ideas. They could use paper and pencil, the note app on their iPad or the Popplet App. The next step was to begin our writing using the writing frame. We did one paragraph a day. Once they were finished they shared their writing with a partner and made any corrections they thought necessary. The final copy was typed in the Book Creator App. When it was complete they decided on how they wanted their picture taken and we did that together. They learned how to convert the picture to black and white and then added it to their book. I did a little editing with the students and was their final editor as well. The final step for the students was save their pages as a PDF and then Flick their pages to my iPad. I put all the pages into one book, saved it as a PDF and uploaded it to Bookemon. I posted the book on my school webpage and asked parents if they'd like to buy a copy. Eight parents took me up on the offer as well as a couple of the teachers. I was able to make it affordable by asking our wonderful PTA for my yearly $100 grant to help offset the cost for the parents.

Here's our final project:

Fourteenth Goldfish

During a Twitter Chat called #Titletalk in Dec I learned about so many great books published in 2014. Some of the books can be seen in my post about my Book a Day for Christmas break. My favorite book from that chat was The Fourteenth Goldfish. I love the strong female character, the connection to science and all its opportunities to introduce and teach The Notice and Note signposts. One of our fourth grade teachers is finding ways to introduce these signposts to her students and she's trying to get the other teachers on board so it seemed fitting to use this book with my fourth graders.

I have to admit I'm not a big fan of doing a read aloud with my students. I only see them 30-40 minutes every other day so it takes a long time to finish a book. However, I felt strongly about this book and teaching the strategies so I decided to give it a try.

I bought a copy of the book for myself. I read it again and again and marked it up with the signposts. Next, I bought a digital copy on Amazon and put the book on six of my iPads. Although I'm doing the reading I'm having the students follow along. I want them to hear fluent reading and keep focused by following along. They are also learning how to use the Kindle app to highlight words as well as find out definitions and pronunciations. I made a Smartboard file with the signposts. I used this bookmark as my guide. As soon as I pause and the kids realize I'm going to talk about a signpost they are looking at the board and trying to figure it out. I explain what signpost I think it is, I read the explanation to them and we all read the question we need to be asking ourselves. Next, I show a sticky note, that coordinates to the color of the signpost, and read my answer to the question. Once I have discussed a signpost three times I will be adding it to our CAFE board as a comprehension strategy and to a signpost bulletin board as well. This week I'll be passing out the above bookmarks for my students to keep in their book bags. I'll be encouraging them to begin to notice these signposts as they read their fiction books.

Here is a link to the signposts I am using, it's nothing fancy. Is it a complete list? I'm sure I've missed some. Is it accurate? Probably not, this is my first attempt at using the signposts.

I'm only on chapter ten but so far so good.

Midwinter Break Book a Day

A few days before break I had all my students think about and write down their midwinter break reading goals on a sticky note. The notes were stuck to a bulletin board in the hall. (I'll update with a picture tomorrow.) Upon returning to school tomorrow the students will grab their note, read it to the group and let us know how their plans went. I did not read a book a day as I had planned and did not read as much as I had hoped. I guess this time I will be a role model for showing that reading plans don't always go as well as we hope. I'll also start to talk about my reading plans for spring break, a mere five weeks away.

A Book a Day for the Winter Break

Here's my TBR (to be read) pile of books at the beginning of vacation. I was sure I would make a good dent in this pile. Somehow, that didn't go as well as I planned. However, I did accomplish a book a day. I am looking forward to sharing my photo with my students and sharing what did and didn't get read. Even more than that I'm looking forward to hearing what they read over the break and if they got new books for Christmas.









Here's the bulletin board outside my classroom. It was open for anyone to share what books were on their holiday book wish. I put up two stars. One for Sky Crystals by Don Komarechka and one for Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography. I received the first, because I ordered it for my husband to give to me, and not the second. I decided one expensive book was enough for now, especially looking at the TBR pile. I'll be sharing my new book next Monday and I hope to hear some excitement from my students on their new books.



What I read over my winter break:

1. Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson-with a son named Otto how could I resist this one? When he and my daughter in law start a family they will be receiving this cute story.
2. Eye to Eye How Animals see the World By Steve Jenkins-our 4th graders are learning about animals in science right now. I'll be sharing this book with them.
3. Blizzard by John Rocco-I kept thinking how this would have been an excellent book for the primary teachers out in the Buffalo NY area after their Thanksgiving blizzard this year.
4. My Teacher is a Monster by Peter Brown-a cute book on misperceptions.
5. Little Red Writing by Joan Holub-this is a book I've been meaning to read for a couple of years. I thought it started out well but by the end it was too long and complicated of a story. I'm glad I never got around to purchasing it.
6. The Boy who Loved Math The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman- this one I loved. I know just the student that I'll be sharing this book with next week. A student that doesn't care for reading but loves and excels in math.
7. Malal Yousafzai Warrior with Words-I read I am Malala earlier this year and really enjoyed it. I wanted a book about Malala that I could share with my younger students. This one will work.
8. A Boy and a Jaguar by Alan Rabinowitz a wonderful autobiography about a boy that stutters and dedicates his life to protecting wild cats.
9. The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins-a lovely biography of Kate Sessions the mother of Balboa Park in San Diego.
10. The Watcher by Jeanette Winter-another great biography, this one is about Jane Goodall. 
11. Macro Photography an ebook by Michael Erlewine Macro is my favorite type of photography. There were some helpful tips here.
12. Bokeh an ebook by Christopher O'Donnell- I looking forward to trying some new techniques to improve my photography.
13. The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm-loved it! I'm looking forward to sharing this with teachers at school.
14. Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett

Reading but didn't finish:
Ice Crystals by Don Komarechka

Notice and Note by Kyleen Beers and Robert Probst

Google Form for a Reading Interest Survey

After reading The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller this summer I decided to begin my year with a reading survey. Since I wasn't sure what my roster number was going to be, last year at one point it was over 60, and I'm not a good paper organizer, I decided to enter the questions into a Google form and embed the form on my school website. Next step; I opened that site on my five iPads and saved it as an icon for quick and easy access for my students. The very first day with my students was spent in the hall filling out the survey. Yes, the wireless hub is positioned right outside my classroom door but wireless does not work once I step into my room! I put in a work order to have it fixed but it was classified as a future project. So, in the hall we went. For most groups it took our whole class time for everyone to finish the survey. If they finished early they used Grammar Wonderland to work on grammar skills.

I use a Daily 5 approach in my reading room. But after my summer reading I decided to do some tweaking. My first tweak was instead of letting my students roam my whole class library to select 5-6 books I gave each student a pile of 8-10 books to look through and asked them to select two books for their book bag. Having the information from the survey plus the data from Star and IRIs I think I did a decent job of selecting those books. My confirmation came from a third grader who asked, with a huge grin, "Mrs. Isenberg, how did you know I lovvvve horses?!" I sorted the survey data by grade level, hid some rows and printed the answers that would help me with books selections.

While, I was playing around with the information I discovered Google does a summary of the data. How did I not know that? Here's a few interesting facts:

Picking up library card applications is something I've thought about each spring. This shows it would be worth my time.

Here's my favorite answer to this question:

If I could meet any literary character (for example, Jack or Annie from the Magic Tree House series), I would want to meet:
Annie because she seems more adventurous then Jack. In one book she wants to go find the tree house after Morgan had left with it on an adventure and Jack wuss telling Annie to calm down and not to worry about it but I love how Annie kinda has a wild side and just goes into the Frog Creek Woods and sees if the tree house is there and follows the clues like in GhostTown at Sundown the rabbit into the woods and there it is the magic tree house. 

Some of the students have a good ideas for what needs work.

As a reader I need to work on:

Fluinsy

Slowing down when I'm reading.
New words that are complicated
Being confiding
Thinking

Some are a little general:

My reding

Some are confident:

I don't need to work on anything

I don't have trobl

I'll be using their responses as I confer with students and we begin to set our reading goals.

Classroom Crib

As a reading teacher I see most of my students every other day for 30 minutes. I try to make sure that half of their time with me is spent reading books of their choice. This year I want to add time in for writing as well. So, my room  is set up with lots of books and cozy spots to read and write. There's not much on the walls yet, charts will be added as we make them throughout the year.
Take a look at the Thinglinks for more details.





What do you think? What can I do to improve the room? I welcome your feedback.

New Room

Well, this is my fifth year as a reading teacher and I just finished settling into my 3rd room. It was a hard switch since I loved my cozy little room that I've had the past two years. My new room is large but I'm sharing it with another reading teacher. The best perk so far is that we have a full size refrigerator and extra cupboard space so I won't have to make lunches this year. I can just keep my lunch supplies right at school. We have a divider up between our two sections so I feel like it's my own room but I'm still concerned about the noise. I'll just have to wait and see how it goes....

Anyway, I thought I'd show a few pictures of the new set up.

Time for a color change-I went all black.

Science Books-animals, weather, plants....

Once students begin these will be filled with baggies containing books and a book log.

The book rack holds books that go with the modules being used in the classroom.

A few cozy reading spots. 

Teacher Area

A perk-having enough room to set out supplies!

Work table-I gave up my kidney table for this one.

View from corner 1

View from corner 2

View from corner 3

View from corner 4

Special markers will be used to add favorite quotes from books to my desk. 

A favorite reading spot last year

A close up view of a book basket-students designed them a year ago.

I have a CAFE board for each reading group

Got myself organized last June-how long will it last??

Personal photos by my desk helps keep me grounded

Happy New Year!