5 Tech-y things I'm loving right now

I am home with a yucky tummy bug.  Since I have now started feeling a little better, I decided to write a blog post.

Hmmm. . . what should I write about?  It's Friday so I would like to link up with Doodle Bug Teaching for Five for Friday.  But I like to have a theme to my posts.  I don't want to get out of bed to do anything so anything requiring creating/ decorating is out.  Maybe some computer things I like/ am using currently?  Okay, let's go with it!

Cricut Design Space Link

 This is a nice Overview Video.  I love this Youtube channel for easy to understand directions. 

Not including a link as if you don't use Reading Street it's useless.  :)

 No links for this-- just play around in Excel just like Word or PowerPoint!

iTunes link to Jumbled Sentences 1

Dropbox

Five Posts you may have missed

 School has started, things are hectic, and I've not been posting.  But you can still hang out here at my blog.  Here are five posts that are relevant to my life this week. 

I posted about my daughter moving to a toddler bed.  I was so excited by how well the transition was going.  I made the routine charts (see above) and she was following them so well-- especially the Night Night!

Well, then school started and she started going to daycare 5 days a week.  You would think she would be tired and sleep better but she just gets loopy and refuses to go to sleep-- we do the night chart and then she stays up for an hour or two MORE!  This makes the morning really difficult.  Any negativity in this post is probably a result of lack of sleep.  Any ideas to help? 

I posted Monday about some gifts that I have given lately.  I mentioned that I share an office with a ridiculous number of people.  Wow!  That's changed my work life.  I'm sure it will get better once we have a routine but I feel like I have no space to just be. 

I have 5 goals that I'm working on this month.  I have FOUR days until September.  I hope I make at least one goal!  

I have been busy getting to know the students in 4th grade.  I think I was more than optimistic when I wrote this post this summer.  It's been a lot of testing and very little getting to know the kids.  I do know the names of all the 4th grade students.

Although this post was about other issues, I think I need to constantly remind myself of the above verse.  I may feel like I can't carry on but I can.  I will forge on, looking forward to our city in heaven, which is yet to come. 

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. 

Differentiated Literacy Centers

I got this book from another teacher years and years ago.  Since then, I've had to REALLY streamline things.  In just a year I went from a big, overstuffed classroom to a bookshelf to half a bookshelf to just having a desk area.  This change has been dramatic! 

So, instead of keeping this book at school, I made some digital files of the ideas I liked.  I'm not as great as some at digital creations but I enjoy it and keep learning new things! 

I'm planning on using this as a digital file only.  I will present it to my students and as they work through a text, they will have to write what the character does, says, and thinks.  I'll probably have them use this evidence to go a little deeper in the text and think about character traits.

This is such a simple response sheet.  I am thinking about using it in a couple of ways.  Maybe they could use post-its or annotate directly on text with these symbols.  Or maybe they can write about text they read using one or more of these prompts.  Or maybe I will actually print this out, cut these out as cards and then use a Kagan structure to get them to discuss it.

This chart is pretty self-explanatory.  I've mentioned before that my district just adopted Reading Street.  It has an online option to have the story read aloud.  I thought I could put this to use with some fluency practice.  It will take double the time so I will maybe just have them do it with selected pages.  (I need to figure out the logistics of this option).  I think I will teach them to do this in small group and then work with the classroom teachers on whether it makes sense to do this during independent time. 

English Language Learners sometimes have trouble with these question words (see other ESL posts here).  Plus, reciprocal teaching is HUGE in raising achievement.  I may cut these out and use them for students to ask each other questions.  Or maybe I'll just project and they write their questions as they read.

 

This is designed as a tic-tac-toe board for retelling stories.  You can ask 2 students to play together, taking turns going back and forth.  Or you can ask each student to connect 3 in a row on the board.

Very simple chart.  I'll project this.  They will recreate it in their notebook.  It's a version of FQR (google Fact Question Response for more information).  We will do the response part orally.

I like the "I see" wording as it can be used to view pictures, not just text.  This is great for building background with my kiddos.

I hope these creations gave you some ideas for what you can do with your kids!

I will say these charts all came from a probably 30 page section of the (200+ page) book.  There are lots of independent literacy center ideas in this book.  It's all about students being on task and accountable even when you are with your small group.  If you are looking for ideas, I would recommend it.  Even in 4th grade, many ideas can be used with modifications.  If you are a primary grades teacher, there are lots of making words/ sight words/ easy book ideas.   The reason I'm not keeping it at school is because it's really more for the classroom teacher.  It stayed though several elimination rounds though. 

Of course I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics!

ESL Teacher Hints: Parent Communication

If you follow my blog, you will know that I have been doing a weekly link-up about being an ESL Teacher.

Topics: 

                                July 16 - Kickoff Week - Setting Up Classrooms (my post)

                                July 23 - Procedures and Policies (my post)

                                July 30 - Getting to Know You Strategies (my post)

                               August 6 - Communicating with Parents
I've been dreading this post the entire time. . . Communicating with Parents.  It's not that I don't want to communicate with parents.  It's just there are many barriers to this communication-- language, work schedules, cultural viewpoints of schools, and so on.  I also think there are so many teachers at my school that parent communication is sometimes thought of as a classroom teacher or parent liaison's job.  I was not pleased with how little communication I had with parents last year.  I've already taken some steps to be more active this year.

Our school holds 3 parent teacher conferences a year.  Two of them are around the time report cards go home-- that is usually the focus.   The first, however, is the first weeks of school.  The purpose is not for teachers to give a report about their student; it is for parents to give information about their child.

Last year, my schedule had not been set so I was not included in any of these conferences.  The other ESL teachers expect us to not do these (to be fair, we aren't paid for them while the classroom teacher is).  However, I have already asked my team to be a part of students that I will probably work with.  I may not be able to make it to all of these and I won't have my schedule or direct service list yet.  I think it will make a powerful statement to these parents that I am a teacher and my job is to help their student.

Last year, my school made the controversial move of doing away with Halloween and Valentine's Day.  We instead had Cultural Celebrations.  These celebrations were designed to learn more about different cultures.  We had parents come in to talk about their festivals-- Day of the Dead, Chinese New Year, etc.  Some parents were not comfortable coming in but they brought cultural food.  It was a great learning opportunity and showed parents that school is a two way street-- their children learn from us but we also learn from them.

Usually we have several evening events each year-- reading night, math night, music night, PTO fundraisers, etc.  Several were cancelled last year due to construction.  While I went to several last year, I am sure this year will bring more.  I called a couple of parents prior to a couple of school events to personally invite them and make sure they had rides.  Some families still didn't come but I think this helps build that bridge to school.

While some parents don't feel comfortable attending school events, they are more willing to speak to you outside of school.  I live close to many of my students.  I see students at the park, grocery store, or the fair.  In addition, I attend Fiesta Mexicana and the Indian Taco sale.  These simple visits show students and parents that I am like them and they can trust me. 

Finally, I want to try sending some notes home.  I had a couple of kids that I met with one-on-one.  We set academic goals and I checked if they met their goals either every day or every week.  I would write 1-2 sentences about this for them to share with their parents.  Sometimes I would get it translated but since it can take a week for documents to get translated, I usually just relied on pictures to get the picture across.

I still feel uncertain about this area but I am hopeful that this year will be better than last year.  If I can say that every year, it's a good thing!

I also liked the ideas on this post from Everyone deServes to Learn.   I would love if you shared your ideas for me! 

 

Reading Street Projects

Source

Why does education always have to go from one extreme to another?  When I started in my district,  we were able to teach (almost) anything for Language Arts (both a good and bad thing) but were severely lacking in district provided resources.  Now, we are adopting (with fidelity) Reading Street for reading and Units of Study for Writing.  We probably have too many resource and not enough flexibility. 

Since a big part of my job is to support the 4th grade classroom teachers, I've been trying to figure out how to make the vocabulary and language more organized and visual. 

I first looked at the vocabulary lists.  There are two lists:  Amazing Words and Selection Vocabulary.  

The way I understand it, Amazing Words (also called Oral Vocabulary) are the more difficult set of words, just above grade level.  These are Tier II words, words that will appear in other academic contexts.  Don't quote me on this though and please leave a comment if you know! 

For these words, I tried to create a slide with the word, several pictures, and a definition.  Mary Ellen Vogt talked at ILA about the importance of including both the visual and the definition.   Pictures are worth 1,000 words but they can also mislead you.

I also included a little visual for the week.  I put it on everything for that week.  My hope is that it will help students mentally organize each week's concepts.  For example, when they think about route, they can visualize the pioneer girl and remember when they read On the Banks of Plum Creek. (This week features the pioneer girl clipart from MelonHeadz.  It's a freebie!)  

I created one additional slide for each of these words.  Mostly it is a phonics question copied from the Teacher's Guide but occasionally I made up my own question. 

Selection Words are also Tier II words but are chosen because they play an important part in the reading selection of the week.  We have these vocabulary cards called Envision It! that has a great color photograph that illustrates the vocabulary word.  This is a perfect example of how just a picture can mislead you though.  If you just see the picture, you may guess that the word is "cat" or "arched" back.  By adding the context, you can relate the picture to the meaning. 

I developed these words more than the Amazing Words.  I created slides where students discuss and write about their Selection Words.  Each word has 5-6 slides.  I don't think that the classroom teachers will do every slide every week but I think it will be useful to review these words in small group.  My idea is that they will fill out an organizer like this for each word. 

My final project is a digital "focus wall" for my ESL students each week.  It is very simple, but I hope it helps them understand what they really need to focus on that week. 

Since this program is so new to me, I just made Unit 1 materials.  I need to figure out which set of words is more useful to explicitly teach.  Hopefully, I will tell you how this goes and any changes I made to this system.  Again, if you teach Reading Street (ESPECIALLY 4th grade) please leave comments and feedback about these projects. 

Since this last week was such a mess, I didn't manage to make too much.  However, I was determined to link up with 4th Grade Frolics again for Monday Made It.  It got me working! 

ILA recap: Final Day

By now you have read about three of the four days of the ILA conference.  If not, read here and here and here.  If the Friday pre-conference institute was like a warm up, Saturday and Sunday were running at full strength, and Monday was the cool down.

ESL Teacher hints: Getting to know the students

As an ESL teacher, I don't start the year with a known caseload.  Rather, I have a caseload of 30-40 kids but I don't work directly with all these kids.  So part of my job the first weeks of school is to determine who needs to be seen directly.

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The first thing to do is to learn everyone's name.  A co-worker makes really handy photo class lists for all the 4th grade classes.  She just pulls the picture off our data system and puts their name next to their photo.  It is incredibly helpful.  I write pronunciation hints under the picture.  Nametags (whether on the student or on the desk) are also great!

Source

I try to spend time in each classroom through the first week.  I take note who follows directions well and who has trouble.  I notice who works quickly and who needs more time.  I check any written work to see what grammar and comprehension difficulties students may have.  I chat with students at recess to see who has friends and who has trouble getting along with others.  I just get to know the kids.

Source

I carry stacks of our schoolwide behavior tickets.  I am constantly looking for students to praise.  When the teacher is busy with other tasks, I am still looking.  I also just let students know I am there to be their cheerleader.

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I am also there to help the classroom teacher help the students.  I let them know if a student was struggling or succeeding.  Last year, I heard a classroom teacher telling his class hand signals to use.  I made up some hand signals.  These are not mine but they are free and cute.  Win, Win!

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Of course, some students can't wait to get services.  Last year, we were lucky enough to have a full-time newcomer teacher.  I still helped the first few days though by introducing google translate in the classroom setting.  I also have stepped in to scribe for a student before their IEP schedule gets fully operational.

Source

These first few days are a lot of fun.  All too soon, my "fun" is limited to giving standardized testing.  I try to make even this a chance to get to know kids.  When giving reading tests, I ask about their reading attitude.  When giving math tests, I watch to see strategies students already know and ones they may try but confuse.

Those are my (unscientific) get to know you hints.  I'm linking up with Notes from the Portable and Snazzy in Second for this Back 2 School Link-up.  I can't wait to see your ideas!  

Topics: 

                                July 16 - Kickoff Week - Setting Up Classrooms (see my post)

                                July 23 - Procedures and Policies (my post)

                                July 30 - Getting to Know You Strategies and Games (this post)

                               August 6 - Communicating with Parents

ILA Recap: Mary Ellen Vogt, Stephanie Harvey, and Jennifer Serravallo

My first day at ILA was really the pre-conference institute.  While I learned some new terms and came away with some ideas, I was excited for the conference to REALLY get started.  I got to hear some real famous (to teachers) speakers!

ILA Recap: Empowering ESL Students

I mentioned in my Five for Friday post that I went to the ILA conference in St. Louis.  There were lots of people who wanted more information.  Before I get started, I feel like I need to give some acronyms:

I started working on my ESL endorsement my first year of teaching-- back in 2004.  I feel like even though I have a decade of ESL education and practice, I still have a lot to learn.  One of my big goals in going to the International Literacy Association (ILA) conference was to learn more about how to reach all students.  I even signed up for the pre-conference "institute" related to "Empowering ELLs". I'm devoting this post to what I learned during this day.  I'll talk about other sessions later this week and next week.

I have to say this was the "worst" day of the conference for me.  I found it less engaging and inspiring than the other days.  So, if you feel the same after reading this blog post, don't give up on this series yet!

Procedures for an ESL Teacher

I mentioned last week that last year was my first as an ESL teacher.  I really had to rethink my usual procedures to make sure I squeezed every second out of my language groups.  Here are 4 procedures that I implemented to keep things moving.

The first procedure isn't rocket science-- but is so important.  I had to move from class to class.  This meant that if the classroom teacher ended a minute early, I was instantly a minute late.  If a kid broke his nose on the playground and I had to take them to the clinic, I was late.  I always made it very clear to the kids what they should work on as soon as group started.

I then gave them chances to practice without me there.  For example, I would "need" to ask another student in class something or "need" to talk to the classroom teacher.  I would only be gone 1-2 minutes.  This would get them used to starting group without me there to remind them.  If they remembered during this practice, I praised them and gave out our behavior tickets.  If they forgot, I reminded them and then gave them another chance later in the week.

Fry Word Cards- Free from TPT

Some ideas for this activity-- timed and graphed 1 minute word phrases in partners, rereading of last week's reading, workbook pages that relate to skills we have already practiced, or spelling practice with a partner.

Just a quick story to show this procedure's power-- last year I was called to be a substitute in another teacher's room.  I was absent the entire group but my group worked independently and had a lot to show for it!  In fact, the classroom teacher (who was in the middle of a guided reading group) didn't even realize that I wasn't there.   

Just like bellwork, the second procedure is one that I adapted from my work as a classroom teacher.  I used a timer for EVERYTHING as a classroom teacher and I still use it now.  I just did Kagan training this year and it's turned me into an even bigger believer.

If we are learning a new vocabulary word, I ask a question related to it and give kids 30 seconds to answer the question.  This time means my kids may have to add another sentence or thought to their original answer.  Way to stretch their thinking!   Conversely, if they have a quick project to research something, I will set a 5 minute time limit to make sure it doesn't take over our entire group!

My Amazon Link

I am somewhat obsessed with my timer!  If you are a teacher, you NEED this timer.  It can count up or count down.  You can enter in whatever time you need.  It has a magnet, a clip, AND a stand on the back.  It's lasted me for 6 years now (with everyday during the school year use) and is still working.  I lose things a lot but I haven't lost this timer-- that says a lot! 

Essential for English Language Learners but good for all learners are stated language and content objectives.  I know there are about a million ways to do objectives but the important thing is to do them.  Tell your students at the beginning of group what you expect them to do.  This gives their brain clues to look for throughout your lesson.

 

This is a very simple sample of my objectives for 1 day.  The content objective is the "What" I want my kids to do/learn.  This day they were working on summarizing.  I try to write as little as possible so the kids are really clear on what they are learning.  The pictures are for the 4 domains of language-- listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  These are the "How" they will learn.  Again, very simple. 

 This final procedure is one that I DIDN'T do last year, at least not intentionally.  I have heard so much about interactive notebooks the last couple of years.  I need to learn more about them and decide how they can work for me.  If you have any resources, I would love it!

I will say that we kept any written work we did in a spiral notebook and all of my groups surprised me by looking back and referring to this old work constantly.  I need to learn how to be more intentional and organized about this.

There you have my top procedures as a ESL teacher.  I'm linking up with Notes from the Portable and Snazzy in Second for this Back 2 School Link-up.  I can't wait to see your ideas!  

Topics: 

                                July 16 - Kickoff Week - Setting Up Classrooms (see my post)

                                July 23 - Procedures and Policies (this post)

                                July 30 - Getting to Know You Strategies and Games 

                               August 6 - Communicating with Parents