Stacy's Five for Friday and FREEBIE Fun!

I don't know about you, but I am OVER the polar vortex!  It has been such a crazy winter in the Northeast!  The poor kids are crawling out of their skin because they haven't been outside for recess in weeks due to subzero temperatures.  If I run 2 minutes late in the morning, I can't park in the lot because of the gigantic snow/ice mounds that block all of the parking spaces.  It's crazy!  I am in desperate need of a little sunshine and Vitamin D.  It's pretty sad that we were super excited at lunch today because it's going to reach 40 degrees this weekend.  It's been a LOOONNNGGGG winter!

BUT, I knew I could cheer myself up a little bit by linking up with Doodlebug's weekly linky party!  It's always nice to quickly capture and reflect on what I was up to during the week.  

Right now, the teachers in my building are in the midst of report card season which means assessment, assessment, ASSESSMENT!  Last year we moved to a standards-based report card which was a huge improvement from our outdated report card from 1982.  The positive of this reporting form is that it completely aligns to the CCSS however we struggle as a school to complete the needed assessments without taking away from instruction.  We are very fortunate at the primary level that the district provides one-day substitutes every quarter to help teachers administer these tests however, it is a struggle to complete every child in a day.  I would love to hear how other districts and schools tackle the assessment dilemma when using standards-based report cards.  Have you found a system that works?

FREEBIE ALERT!  

Colleen and I have been incredibly fortunate to be part of the fabulous collaborative blog Adventures in Literacy Land.  If you haven't stumbled across this blog or facebook page, we encourage you to stop by!  We have teamed-up with some dynamic teacher-authors who are sharing best practices in the field of literacy every week.  In January, Colleen and I were able to share one of our favorite strategies to use with informational text called "Reading and Analyzing Nonfiction Text" or RAN for short.  RAN has proven to be an effective strategy to use with informational text as it encompasses both before, during, and after reading activities.  In addition, it requires students to use a variety of comprehension strategies including activating schema, confirming thinking, and asking questions.  This strategy can be done as a whole-class lesson, small group intervention, or independently using a graphic organizer.  To learn more about the RAN strategy, check out our blog post in Adventures in Literacy Land!  Grab a little freebie too!

FREEBIE ALERT! 

If you are looking for additional ways to support informational text comprehension, you may also want to check out our post on the 3-2-1 strategy.  This "after reading" strategy can be used in both primary and intermediate grades in whole-class, small group, or one-on-one settings.  This strategy can be especially successful with struggling readers as it helps them comprehend, summarize, and retain information they've read.  To learn more about the 3-2-1 strategy and grab the supporting FREEBIE, check out last month's blog post!

 FREEBIE ALERT! 

This month Colleen and I had a chance to describe why answering and generating improves memory, integration and identification of main ideas, and overall comprehension.  Generating questions, however, does not always come naturally to students.  Some students can generate simple who, what, where, when types of questions, but have difficulty generating the more complex "how and why" questions that require more critical thinking.  A Question Creation Chart or Q-chart is a perfect tool to help students recognize and self-generate a continuum of questions ranging from simple "remember" questions through "understanding" and "evaluative" questions.  This chart is especially useful as it can be used with both literature and informational text.  To read more about how to use a Question Creation chart with your students and to download our FREEBIE, take a look at our blog post on Adventures in Literacy Land! 

I started back at my coursework this month in pursuit of my CAGS in Literacy degree.  TWO MORE CLASSES TO GO!!! I will be so excited at the end of June when I am finally done!  Although the courses have been great and I feel like my knowledge has grown, juggling work, home, and my coursework has been a balancing act!  This course will focus on new assessment research, the impact of the Common Core Standards on assessment, and how RTI instruction and assessment should work together.  I am looking forward to sharing new ideas and best practices based on what I've learned.
 

Have a wonderful weekend, friends! 

Stacy's Five for Friday FUN!!

 
Happy Friday, friends!  I don't know about you, but I am sooooooo looking forward to the three-day weekend!  It's been a little bit of a crazy week.  I think the full moon is to blame :)
I can't complain too much because our February vacation week is right around the corner!   However, that means we are at the half-way point of the year!  My goodness time flies!  Today we are linking up with Doodle Bug's Five for Friday weekly linky party!

Poor Colleen can't catch a break!  After dragging herself through the week, she finally broke down, went to the doctor and was diagnosed with pneumonia.  UGH!  Not something a beginning teacher needs this time of year!  I know she would appreciate positive thoughts and 'get-wells' so please send some her way!

As for me, I am PSYCHED that we are almost done with the DIBELS January Benchmark!!  I would love feedback from folks about other assessments you use (i.e. AimsWeb, MAP) for benchmark testing because I am struggling with the notion that my struggling readers are missing out on valuable instruction in order for me to assess close to 200 students in my building.  Please don't get me wrong!  I believe periodic assessments are valuable however I am always apprehensive about lost instruction.  So, I'm curious...those of you who use different monitoring tools (other than DIBELS)...how long does it take you to administer a typical sized classroom?

Even though I have been in full-swing DIBELS mode, I was able to squeeze in "Game Day Friday" with my second grade group today.  I pulled out Freezing Syllables from our Winter Literacy Center bundle to practice multisyllabic words.  They absolutely loved it!  It was interesting to watch them struggle a bit working through the syllables but eventually they got it!  Writing the words on their recording sheet also helped!

My second grade groups were also working hard at a new comprehension skills this week.  We focused on asking and answering questions using informational text.  I love using A Year of Many Firsts' What Makes a Good Reader? strategy posters to begin my comprehension lessons.  The posters create almost an anchor chart that I can refer back to as I am teaching or reinforcing strategies.  I also am in LOVE with her Common Core Aligned graphic organizers.  Using the organizer for questioning, my struggling readers did an awesome job working together to create questions about the text.  

Finally, I wanted to share another favorite product that both Colleen and I have been using in our classrooms.  I have been using Text Detectives-Find the Text Evidence from Luckeyfrog's Lilypad with my third grade intervention groups and it has made a WORLD of difference helping them find text evidence to support their answers.  I have one little guy that really struggled with this skill at the beginning of the year, but after presenting this activity to him, he has become much more comfortable proving and supporting his responses.  My kiddos also LOVE the coloring!  Hee Hee!  They don't realize that they're learning too!

Colleen (from her bed) and I wish all of you a wonderful weekend!  Rejuvenate, relax, and do something fun!!

Gratitude and special announcement

When I was in Kenya, it was family tradition to sit down each night for family meeting. We would gather up, snuggle up and spend time together each night discussing and celebrating the day. We would also share gratitude.

Gratitude was a time where the kids, volunteers, and matrons could go around and say what they were thankful for.... kinda like going around the Thanksgiving table here in the states, but we would do this everyday.

So, while Thanksgiving is over, we wanted to remain in an attitude of gratefulness and share our gratitude today. We're linking up with Reading and Writing Redhead for her Time To Be Thankful Linky party! Here are the top 10 things I'm thankful for today. 

 

“Gratitude for the seemingly insignificant—a seed—this plants the giant miracle.” Ann Voskamp

We also are excited to share with you that we are having a Black Friday SUPER SALE on everything in our TpT store today! 20% off everything! Come grab some Melonheadz filled bundles that contain student-led games are perfect for an ELA student center, small group RTI intervention, or whole-class activities. There are also reinforcing activities that can be used to assess your student’s ability!.

Check out some of our favorites below: 

We hope your Thanksgiving was filled with love and gratitude. 

We're SO thankful for YOU, friends.

FLASH FREEBIE & Stacy's Five for Friday Fun!

Happy Friday Everyone!  I don't know about you, but I am EXHAUSTED after this busy week.  After easing into the new school year, this was our first full week back.  Wow!  I'm pooped!  It didn't help that we had Curriculum Night on Tuesday and a few days of unseasonably 90 degree days up here in New England.  Unfortunately, schools are not air conditioned so the poor students and teachers at my school were rag dolls by the end of the day.  However, things are looking good for the weekend with cooler temps to enjoy some fun family time (i.e. running my boys to football games and soccer practice).

Today we are linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly Five for Friday linky party.  I'm so excited to show you some projects that I've been working on in the Reading Room this week!

 I was thrilled to add this adorable welcome sign from JD's Rockin' Readers to my door.  It perfectly coordinates with my jungle themed room and it's a FREEBIE on TpT!  I love the way it complements the bunting banner that Colleen made for me last year.



The Reading Tutors and I have been knee-deep in DIBELS testing this week.  As a school, I am responsible for administering this assessment to all students Grades K-2 and select students in Grades 3-5 three times per year.  In addition to the DIBELS, all students are given the Fountas and Pinnell in the fall so my school is in a beginning of the year assessment frenzy!  At our monthly grade-level data meetings that begin in a couple of weeks, we take into account all of this data as well as MCAS results (state testing) to determine which students will continue or start working with me.  It's a big responsibility but I enjoy being the school's "Data Keeper". 

Despite being busy, I was able to find some time to clean, purge, and reorganize my room.  One of my projects was setting up a new bulletin board using our Which Tools Will You Use fix-up strategies bundle.  One thing that I struggle with in my room is the small amount of wall space we have for displaying instructional materials.  This bulletin board is thankfully next to my guided reading table but I have two other tables that the Reading Tutors use for groups that do not have space nearby.  To solve that problem, I also put the decoding strategies on small task cards so my tutors can refer to them during small group instruction.   

Last weekend was Massachusetts Resident Day at one of my all-time favorite places to visit this time of year...the Southwick Zoo!  It is a privately run zoo that has the most amazing variety of animals I've ever seen.  If you ever are visiting in Massachusetts, I'd definitely recommend a trip to see their animals!  Here are a few pictures of our trip!!





A very important tip when visiting any zoo!



Mom! What is that awful smell??



 My little buddy feeding the deer at the Deer Forest. So cool!!

 

 Colleen and I were jumping with excitement when we reached over 100 followers on our Facebook page this week!!  To commemorate this milestone and thank everyone on the TpT forum who helped us reach our goal, we will be having a FLASH FREEBIE until midnight EST tonight!  Sweet Tooth Crush has been our top seller since we started our TpT store two months ago.  Grab it while you can for FREE!

Have an awesome weekend, friends!!  TGIF!!