Saturday Sayings!

Happy Saturday!  Welcome to Saturday Sayings!

I have joined Tammy at Forever in First, Julie at Lighting a Fire in Third Grade, and Lori at Conversations in Literacy, during the month of April to share our favorite quotes and reflections. This is the final post for our April series.  It has been a great experience.  Thank you ladies for such a great exchange of ideas!  

Please visit all of our blogs and join the discussion.  We would love to hear from you!

My quote today is from Ralph Fletcher...

"I am not a big believer in story starters.  I believe that the best ideas are living inside you.  Your challenge is to dig them out."

I really like Ralph Fletcher's approach to the question, "What should I write about?"  Rather than giving students a topic to write about, he gives ideas to jump-start imaginations.  You can find the ideas HERE.  

We can use his ideas to have conversations with our students that will lead to authentic writing.  Every writer gets stuck and needs a little help to get those creative juices flowing again!

I want to share a video clip that I found this week.  It is a great example of how Writing Workshop can work in a primary classroom.  I hope you enjoy it!

Sandi

Welcome The Go To Teacher! Guest Blogger!

Today is my birthday and I thought it would be nice to have a friend over!  So, welcome Jen, The Go To Teacher!  She is my first blogger buddy to come for a visit, so welcome her with lots of comments and bloggy love!  

Hello Literacy Minute followers!

My name is Jennifer Willis from The Go to Teacher blog.  I was so excited when Sandi emailed me to guest blog.  It is my first time doing so and I think it is her first guest blogger!  An added bonus is that I love this blog!

I knew immediately what I wanted to blog about because it has been on my mind way too often these past couple weeks…the end of the school year!  I always get panicked when I think of only weeks left.  There is always something more to teach!  This year I have decided to take a different approach, it’s called confidently believing in my students {genius, huh?}!

 We have gathered as a class on the carpet close to 140 days to discuss favorite books, learn new ways to think, giggle at the funny things characters do, share our schema on a topic,   make connections, listen to our friends’ thoughts and so much more.  I want to give the opportunity to each student to show what they learned and take pride in the fact that it is SO MUCH! I created the freebie below in the hopes that their knowledge of reading will impress them as much as it has me. 

There are 30 reading questions for the last 30 days of school.  Just print them out and stick them in a dog bowl.  There are journal pages as well. 

It's Been a Dog-Gone Terrrrrrific Year!

My hope is that your students will impress you but even more that they will impress themselves! 

Persuasive Writing Freebie

This past week I heard Katherine Bomer as part of our local consortium.  She offered ideas for teaching persuasive writing.  I took my notes and turned it into a PowerPoint that I hope you can use. Just print out the pages where the student writes a response.  I would love to hear from you if you use it with your students!

Download here!

Sandi

Follow me for more freebies and fun!

Saturday Sayings

Happy Saturday!  Welcome to Saturday Sayings!

I am happy to join Tammy at Forever in First, Julie at Lighting a Fire in Third Grade, and Lori at Conversations in Literacy, as we share our favorite quotes and reflections! Tammy has allowed us to link with her during the month of April!  Please visit all of our blogs and join the discussion!  We would love to hear from you!

"You don't get true, fire-in-the-belly energy for writing because you fear getting a bad grade but because you have something to say and your own way of saying it." 

Katherine Bomer

taken from Hidden Gems, Naming and Teaching from the Brilliance in Every Student's Writing

I had the opportunity to hear Katherine Bomer for the first time this week. She was a breath of fresh air.  She reminded me to think about why writers write. This also made me think about why they might not want to write! 

I thought about our kiddos and the opportunities that they have to "just write" and express themselves.  Are we focused on their expressions or just the final product?  Do we look at their writing in a deficit-only approach?  What lens do we use when reading their writing?  Do we find the beauty on the page, or do we just see the words?  

Are you familiar with Katherine's work?  If not, you can read an excerpt from her book, Hidden Gems, found here.  If it makes you think about student writing in a different light, please share your thoughts!  I know that you will be changed in some way. 

I was.

Check back next week and I will share what Katherine told us about persuasive writing!

Literacy Ideas for the Titanic

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. I don''t know about you, but this event in history casts its spell over me.  I find the glory of the ship compared to the enormous tragedy of loss so compelling.  From my experience, students feel the same way.  To encourage engagement, add some books about the Titanic to your classroom library.  Here are a few ideas for teaching about this moment in history.

Thinkquest-You'll discover all kinds of things you never knew about the Titanic.

Tonight on the Titanic, by Mary Pope Osborne,  resources

Titanic Lesson Page-many ideas in one place!

The Teacher'sGuide- A wonderful collection of ideas!

Kids Discover Titanic.

National Geographic has a great website with videos!

Books 

Are you a 5 star blogger?  Check out Charity Preston's new award! Take the challenge!

Sandi

Earth Day Writing Paper and Bookmark

Here is a little writing paper for your Earth Day activities!

Download Here

Large Bookmark!

Download Here!

I like to use these books for Earth Day:

Download 2013 Writing Paper

What are your favorites?

Sandi

Saturday Sayings!

Happy Saturday!  Welcome to the second installment of Saturday Sayings!  I am excited to join Tammy at Forever in First, Julie at Lighting a Fire in Third Grade, and Lori at Conversations in Literacy, as we share our favorite quotes and reflections! Tammy has allowed us to link with her during the month of April! Please visit all of our blogs and join the discussion!  We would love to hear from you!

My quote is taken from Reading Today, the April/May 2012 edition of the IRA publication.

Sally Grimes writes about school-based models for struggling readers.

"The Literacy Team should be led by a strong, knowledgeable principal, and pass the "ACID" test which addresses: Assessment, Curriculum, Infrastructure, and Development (of Professionals).  The members of the team plan grade level and data meetings that focus on intervention plans for struggling students that assure appropriate programs, adequate communication between those involved with the child, proper group composition, and time."

As the RTI coordinator for my district and a literacy coach, I agree with Sally!  Administrators, teachers, and volunteers can increase their knowledge of literacy/interventions and work together to meet the needs of struggling students!  Classroom teachers cannot do this alone.  They need the support of a knowledgeable team to help them meet the needs of struggling students.  

What do you think?  I would love to hear from you!

Sandi

Like Me On FB!

Napping House Video

Here is a great video to go with the book The Napping House by Audrey Wood.  This video has the words at the bottom of each picture so that it makes a great shared reading or listening center video!  My last post contained other links and a freebie that you might enjoy, too!

The Napping House and Freebie

The Napping House by Audrey and Don Wood is a wonderful book.  The repetitive phrases make it great for beginning/struggling readers.  The remarkable illustrations bring the story to life.  

Kizclub has story patterns that can be printed on cardstock and laminated.  Attach a magnet on the back so that students can use the pieces to retell the story.  

Audrey Wood's website has coloring pages.
Carol Hurst has great ideas for using the book.
Here is a 10 page idea booklet for using the book by Itty Bitty Bookworm.

I like using the book to teach synonyms.  The author uses them and it makes the story fun!  Here is an activity sheet for students to make their own synonyms.

Download Here

Saturday Sayings!

I am tickled pink to join Tammy at Forever in First, Julie at Lighting a Fire in Third Grade, and Lori at Conversations in Literacy, as we share our favorite quotes and reflections! Tammy has allowed us to link with her during the month of April!  Please visit all of our blogs and join the discussion!  We would love to hear from you!

My quote this Saturday is from Richard Allington:  

"If children are to read a lot throughout the school day, they will need a rich supply of books they can actually read. This seems a simple statement of fact. But there also exists a large and potent research base supporting supplying children with books of appropriate complexity.  Simply put, students need enormous quantities of successful reading to become independent, proficient readers."  (Allington, 2001).

We have put this quote into practice this year with great success!  Here's a few of the things we have learned:

• It takes A LOT of books in every classroom to makes this work!
• It takes constant conferring with every student to find books that interest them and are on their independent reading level.
• You have to teach students what real reading is-Engaged Reading!
• You have to monitor student engagement.  We focused on at least 30 minutes or more of sustained reading daily.  

The results are impressive!  The classrooms where teachers focused on engaged, independent reading saw increased scores throughout the year.  But most of all, they saw students fall in love with books!

I would love to hear how you have focused on independent reading!

Sandi