Math Exploration

I love the first week of school for so many reasons, but up near the top of the list has to be free exploration with the math materials. Each day, I fill tubs with a different tool, and the students get to go to town for the math period. After they've had a chance to 'play' with the pattern blocks, base ten blocks, square tiles, multilink cubes, even the yellow and red counters and the bin of play money, I'm ready to teach them about self selecting and transitioning. After the first week, they get a couple of days of bins filled with different math tools, and we practice transitioning between them and cleaning up as we go along.

The rules are simple: Don't chew, throw, or break any tools. Don't disassemble or touch somebody else's work. If you drop it, pick it up. Share.

It's so lovely and interesting to watch them make sense of the tools in ways I never could have imagined. You really find out so much about your students, and they learn so much about the attributes of the different tools.

 you find out who your sorters are

 who your artists are

 your pattern seekers

 your hard core playahs

 your spatial geniuses

 your mopers

 your future engineers

and your flat out super stars

It never fails to make me giggle...at first, they don't see much value in a box of flat, square chips...but within 30 seconds, they are fully engaged, completely creative, and dying to tell me how fascinating this is! {LOVE}

Introducing Reader's Workshop

Anchor Poster for "Reading is Thinking"

At the beginning of third grade, it's too bad that my students don't already carry this with them. But, because they are capable, they pick this up and use it competently and quickly. Good for them, I say. I start this lesson with a blank chart, only the two black lines that divide the paper into four sections is already drawn on.

The purpose of the lesson is to learn how to listen to our brains when we are reading. Metacognition (or thinking about our thinking) is one of the most helpful strategies I get to develop with my students. Even when we read for pleasure, our brains are thinking the whole time! And when we can push and flex on that thinking, a little or a lot, depending on our purpose for reading, then our comprehension, fluency, and pleasure in reading will all increase. 

It doesn't hurt that this lesson starts with a favorite title by a well-loved author!

Knuffle Bunny by Mo WIllems, from Amazon 

I tell students that I am going to stop reading every few page, and ask some people to share what their brain is doing/thinking. "So, readers, listen carefully to your brains while I'm reading!"

When I stop, I ask what their brains are thinking, and when they share, I write down what they say on post it notes. I know that I am going to add the following headings to the first three boxes: Making Connections, Making Predictions, and Asking Questions. So, as I finish writing on each post it, I sort it into one of the (currently) blank boxes on our soon-to-be anchor chart.

The following post-its went into the "make connections" box:  Our brothers and sisters have fits, I cry when I lose my toys, and We go to the luandromat to wash our clothes with quarters.

These went into the "make predictions" box:  They are going to wash their clothes, Knuffle Bunny might shrink in the dryer, The bunny will get switched and she might get a different bunny, and The bunny might get washed!

Finally, into the "ask questions" box:  What is she saying? Where are they running to?

At the end of the story, the post it notes are all sorted into the blank boxes, and I tell them, "Readers, you just did what all good readers do! Your brains were Making Connections [write it into the box], Predicting [write into the box] and Asking Questions [write it into the box]."

I go through each one, adding a few bullet points about them, and then they reread their post its and explain why it goes in that category. It leads to a nice mini-discussion because some could fit in either, and in fact, isn't it so true that we don't really separate our strategies, either? Don't we make connections in order to predict? And aren't our predictions so much clearer and more accurate when we infer about the characters in the story? It's a lovely, high level conversation, grounded in some very concrete examples. Lots of light bulbs are coming on during this lesson!

The bullet points that I used are listed below, but honestly, any points you want to make could go right here. There's nothing magical or special about the ones I use:

• Making Connections
• Think about our own experiences
• Think about other stories we've read
• What we know is called "schema"
• Predictions
• Consider what has already happened to make a guess about what else could happen next
• Use our "schema" to guess
• Keep reading to see if our prediction came true
• Adjust our guesses!
• Ask Questions
• Ask ourselves what is happening....do we understand?
• Keep reading to see if our questions are answered
• Go back and REread to see if it's clearer to us

In the final box, we summarize and add READING IS THINKING. This story has been perfect for several grade levels to launch the Reader's Workshop....we laugh the whole time, and if you really are inclined to ham it up in front of your own Little Darlings, I know your kids will laugh as hard as mine do when you read Trixie's call of alarm: "Fluggle whumpy!"

"Read it again, Mrs. B!!!" Are there no sweeter words in the English language? {LOVE}

by Julia Cook at Amazon

I read this to my class during carpet time at the end of the second day of school. It was time! LOL It's the story of a little boy who just cannot stop his words from exploding out of his mouth, like a volcano! So cute! He learns his lesson of course, and now we have a nice anchor for when my Little Darlings erupt when somebody else is trying to speak....."hold your words in your mouth....breath those words out your nose...they'll come back when it's your turn".

Writer's Workshop

I teach third grade right now {LOVE} but this exact launch has worked with grades 2nd through 5th. Possibly even first, but you won't hear me talking about things I am not sure of. I can think of some modifications I'd do, for pre- or emergent writers at the first grade level, so I'm pretty sure I could work it. I have pre- and emergent writers (especially of English) in my third grade classroom, so I know it works, but 6 year olds have very different motor and cognitive skills than 8 year olds, so blah blah blah...anyway I think it works. HA!

Even though our district was very lucky several years ago to have trainers from The Teacher College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University come do summer institutes with us for training on how to use Lucy Calkin's Writer's Workshop (see sidebar for some of my fave resources!), I am not entirely sure on the depth of implementation in our district. I think some teachers are nailing it, some (me included) are working hard at it, some are dabbling with it, and some are not interested at all. There's definitely a mindset issue....is writing a formula that is taught, or a craft that is developed? I suspect there are many teachers that have a foot on either side of that line. Or maybe it's a blurry, underdeveloped line in the first place. I know that I'm most comfortable using a combination of modeled, interactive/shared, and workshop writing with my students. I think each element has a place in a Writer's Workshop classroom; for me, it's more about process than curriculum. Whose story is it? If the kids can answer that question with "MINE!", I'm not too picky about where that story came from on the spectrum of a writing curriculum.

I know this: the more they write, the more I have to work with for making my lessons count.

My students have both a composition book and a two-pocket folder for Writer's Workshop. But, our district also has a policy of "15 days to settle classes". Which means, for example, that I have started a school year as a 3rd/4th combo with 41 students, and on the 15th day I've been reconfigured into a 2nd/3rd combo with 33 students. My school is particularly chaotic, but it's clearly a problem with the culture of the district. On this, we can't possibly disagree. ;)

So, my school started last Thursday, with 38 third and fourth graders on my list. "Only" 36 of them have showed up, so far, and I only have 3 fourth graders. So, anyone can see the logical choice is to keep my 33 third graders (surely, a full class by any standard) and move the three fourth graders to a proper fourth grade class. But, remember, they have 15 days to make that decision, and I promise, they won't make it an hour earlier.

So, I've had to make adjustments to the way I do my beginning of the year activities in every area, not just writing. For example, they won't get their writing composition books or two-pocket folders until I know for sure that they will be on my permanent class list.  (Look, I'm sorry, but I buy them with my own money, and when I have to buy 40 of them, for multiple subjects, it adds up. So, no, you don't get to take it to a new classroom.) We do our early lessons on generating story ideas and process, then we have a BIG DEAL celebration on the 16th day, in which we have our very first publishing AND we get to "move in" to our materials. Everything we do that first few weeks is done on half pages, which we get to glue into the first pages of our notebook. Then we're really cooking with oil!

From Amazon

Our very first lesson (second day of school), I read The Best Story by Eileen Spinelli. It's about a little girl who enters the story contest at her local library. On the advice of family members, she tries writing crazy, funny, adventurous, romantic, stories...all of which leave her feeling that there is something missing. Finally, her mama (bless the mamas) encourages her to write a story from her heart. So she writes the story about things she knows...her family, her friends, her favorite foods, the time she watched fireworks, or the time she built a snowman. The kids adore the story, and they (finally) really "get" what it means to tell a "heart" story. Getting them to write a "Small Moment", instead of a Pokemon battle scene, suddenly became much easier.

I then pass out a heart graphic, on a half sheet of paper, and we populate the sections with People, Places, Things/Objects, and Pets. Each of these has the potential to become a story from our heart! I pretty much make myself responsible for these until they get glued into their notebooks, so I start my own folder where they live so we can use them for other lessons until the 15 Days of Doom have passed.

{click to share}

Favorites

 Ever noticed how hard it is to take a picture of a window? No joke! This is one of my favorite things in my classroom this year, though. A complete makeover of the windows that line the entire wall, opposite the door of my classroom.  The little flag banners are 12x12 inch squares of scrapbook paper. Two swags (one from each end of the windows to the middle) were made by cutting the squares of paper in half, horizontally and vertically; then cutting each of those in half, horizontally and vertically; then cutting each of those in half, diagonally. Each piece of paper made 16 isosceles triangles. The middle swag cuts across both of the other pennants, and has larger triangles. Just cut in half diagonally sooner, and each paper makes 8 larger isosceles triangles.  I punched a hole in each end of the (hypotenuse) diagonal cut, strung it through with twine, and used a tiny piece of scotch tape to keep it from flipping on itself. Probably not necessary, but the whole process took less than an hour for all three banners, so the extra step wasn't a deal breaker for me.

The other straight line hanging there is a thin wire I've had for a few years with clothespins attached to hang posters/student work. I work in an urban school, so the glimpse of blue sky and tree is by no means taken for granted. {LOVE}

 I made the curtains from sheets. I took three twin sheets (two are white with green and blue circles stamped on, one is plain blue) and cut them half.  Each half already had three hemmed sides (the sides of the sheet come hemmed, as do the top and bottom of the sheet) so all I had to do was fold over the edge of side where I had made the cut, and sew a straight line. They are held in place with tension rods, which I already had from the old curtains I had made when I first moved into this classroom three years ago.

I added huge, fluffy, tissue paper pom poms. There was no magic to the colors, just used what I had and ended up with three lime greens, two pinks, and one tangerine.  You can buy Martha Stewart kits to make these, but really, there's no need. I just accordion folded 8 to 10 layers of tissue paper, then trimmed the edges, either rounding them or making them a point. Tie the folded tissue paper in the middle using a pipe cleaner, in my case, and carefully separate and fluff the layers. I hung these by attaching twine to the pipe cleaners and using a staple gun to attach each one to the acoustic ceiling tiles. (shhhh, don't tell our custodians!)

 The math workshop and bulletin board area. The polka dot border is actually duct tape. I used the brown kraft paper as the background to every bulletin board in my room. I made the window pennants too long, so these extra tails worked out as decorations here. The pocket charts are from the dollar spot at Target. The longer purple one is the actual size, the other four are cut in half.  I'll show how I use this area soon, as I haven't started it with my students yet (we had two half days last week, and next week is our first full week!) but the math bins and journals/notebooks you see there on the bottom are talked about in the last "I'm painting" post. ;)

I have two long shelves under the window. These are baskets of books for the classroom library. I'm in the middle (beginnings? lol) of trying to cull out old books, and update the library, as well as sort them into some usable format. Probably by some combination of genre/series/authors. I used to have them by reading level, but I have since decided that it's more important to teach them how to pick their own interesting book, and give them strategies for determining if it's the right level for them, then to direct them to pre-leveled books. I can't think of anywhere else in life where that decision will be made for them, so this seems like the more lasting skill path to take. A path full of missteps and issues, to be sure, but worth walking I do believe.

Under those two shelves are the textbooks for science, social studies, and math. So far, I'm not letting them use desks. We'll see how long it lasts!

Home Away From Home

I've been keeping very busy the last few weeks. I was overtaken by the urge to completely overhaul my classroom. Several contributing factors led me to go through every file, box, closet, cupboard, and drawer. I have been purging, recycling, donating, gifting, and tossing like....well, frankly, like it isn't my own stuff. Do you know that feeling? I love when I feel completely detached from STUFF and I like to take advantage of those periods of time. Teachers (elementary school teachers, in particular) are notorious hoarders. But I had three big steel file cabinets in my room....representing 15 cumulative years of teaching 5 different grade levels AND five years of being a math coach....and 90% of what was in those filing cabinets.....went straight into the recycling or the "free to good home box". I pushed those empty cabinets into the hallway and I feel about 2000% better already.

But more than just cleaning, and organizing, I've taken a big leap and I'm actually....well, I guess the word I'm looking for is "decorating". There are teachers who LOVE to make bulletin boards and pick a "theme" each year....The Beach, then The Rainforest, then Western, and on and on. Then there is me. I do not. I gladly leave up the backings for three years (and they were kindly left up by the person who had the room before me! lol) and have students staple up work when the mood strikes.

But I don't know.....it hit me this summer that I would nest into my classroom, the same way I nest into my home. And I'm never going to be what I am not, but I was suddenly inspired to be a much better "what I am".

So here are some befores and some durings, as I am not done.

 Here's something funny. I typically think of my closets as pretty organized. It's not unusual for me to even have some empty shelves in my closets, so this before picture of the first two kinda shocks even me. But, at the end of the year, things that are usually out and about in the classroom need to be stowed away in favor of a deep cleaning (our custodians work their butts off all summer! love them!) so that accounts for some of the haphazard look. But not all of it, no sir.

 

Here is the first closet. Bottom three shelves (blue, then white, then repurposed green worm bin haha!) are all base ten math materials. units, tens, hundreds, and thousands. Need them.

Next shelf is a box with my unit on rocks (a box of rocks! only a teacher!), a box of multiplication array cards, and on top, a box AND two tubs of dice - dice!!!! - and three big jars of assorted beans. If you're wondering about my mental health, so am I. SO MANY DICE. I actually labeled the box of dice with a small sign that says "OMG Dice" haha. For some reason, everything I touched had some number of small paperclips and dice. I cannot explain, but if you need either, give me a call.

 Nothing fancy here, and I've already emptied those shelves and am separating those books into "staying" and "giving away", but $7.50 for a shower curtain, rings, and a tension rod never looked so good in my opinion. And a coat of black paint makes EVERYTHING better, including two cement garden blocks and a shelf I found that, it seems, was once part of that very bookshelf.

 Speaking of black paint, I'm looking at you writing cupboard. This is a during and after, technically, since in the photo on the left I've already painted the top and sides with the black paint. Picture the "oak" veneer on the sides and straight up board on top, since the oak veneer panel had popped off long before I moved into the classroom. Contact paper left over from pantry (surprisingly easy to apply...I had certainly anticipated much cursing, but it was a pleasant 6 minutes) and it's no longer being used for writing.

 These are the extra math materials (a lot of these will come out and go into individual bags the students keep at their desks) and the shelves where their Problem Solving Journals are kept. The kids can use all of these at will.

 Black paint for all (love you black paint!) and some Dollar Store scrapbook paper....and the afters are so much nicer! In the after picture, I have the cubby facing the "wrong" direction because on top is a stacking 'inbox' system I use to keep their math folders. It only fits on the cubby in this direction, so for now, this makes the most sense to me. We'll see if the orientation is a problem once The Squirrels move in. Oh, why can't they keep these in their desks? Because they aren't allowed to. Things in their desks get ripped, lost, spilled on, stuck to.....and, whatever else. No desks for you!

 Before: 24 cubbies. These were when K-3 had 20 students. Each student was assigned a cubby for....I don't know? Homework? Book storage? Mail? I have no idea, but the tell-tale stickers of student names (students I've never even met who are, I'm assuming, driving by now) and generally grungy appearance has been hidden for three years under.....uh, MORE math bins. haha What can I say? I'm a hammer, so everything I see is a nail.

 During: Meet my new writing center. Black paint on the sides and run across the fronts, more Dollar Store scrapbook paper and this showstopper is going places. 24 cubbies for a writing center, you ask? Oh, it's full.