Wordplay Reflections

When we finished our writers' workshop study on wordplay, I asked the kids to reflect on the experience.  I always enjoy hearing about what they learned and enjoyed.  Here are a few of their comments...

Wordplay taught me that it can be fun to write.  It's not hard to do, but it's not easy, either.
-  Josh

You don't have to be afraid of writing.
-  KP

At first, I wasn't sure if the wordplay unit would be as fun as the others.  But at the end of the unit, I was sad it ended.
-  Annika

If you're writing something, it doesn't have to be great the first time because you can go back and change it.  My attitudes changed because now I'm not afraid of playing with words.  By afraid, I mean I'm not afraid to say or try what comes to my mind.
-  Hannah

I learned that I can make something, and my friend can build off that idea and make it better.
-  Ricky

Wordplay taught me that writing doesn't always have to be serious.  It can also be funny.
-  Millie Hallman

I enjoyed share time the most because you get to hear people's creations.  Then you can learn from other people, laugh, and make others laugh! 
-  CJ

Studycast - Light Energy

Before you listen, be warned.  This is a studycast I made for last year's class.  The material is all the same, but the questions on the study guide may be in slightly different order.  Click here if you'd like to listen.   If you have any questions, just leave a comment below or send me an email.  Good luck!

New Reading Partners

As we began our new unit of study focused on nonfiction reading, we decided to change up reading partners.  Some of our partnerships from the beginning of the year had been outgrown, and so it was time to interview each other again.  I am so impressed with the seriousness our kids bring to this exercise.  They know themselves well as readers, and they really want to find a friend who shares similar interests and books.  Here is a short clip of our kids in action...

Camp Thunderbird Memories

When we came back from Camp Thunderbird, I asked each child to tell me about his or her favorite memory from camp.  Don't worry - it's a short video.  Each child gives a 1-2 sentence summary about what they loved most.  I'm always fascinated about what our kids bring back from camp.  There are lots of fun memories! 

Camp Thunderbird

Once again, I want to apologize for not posting these videos sooner.  Here are some highlights from our trip to Camp Thunderbird.  I created 3 different videos - Zipline/Tower, Wacky Olympics, and Classes.  The Zipline and Tower are always two of my favorites - I love to see the kids face their fears and overcome obstacles.  You will laugh out loud when you see our kids dancing away at the Wacky Olympics.  There's one particular clip of Ricky that makes me smile every time - he dances with pure joy.  And I love to see our kids canoe.  Many of them have never been out on the water like this before, and I love to watch them experience this for the first time.  I hope these videos give all of our parents an idea of the incredible fun we had at camp. 

Narrative Writing Celebration

As you can see, I am WAY behind on my posting.  Here is some video from our narrative writing celebration that happened early in November.  Instead of having each child share his or her piece aloud, we had more of a "museum walk."  Parents and other students were able to roam around the room and hear different authors share their work.  Post-it notes were available on every table so we could respond to the author's writing.  Our parents were an incredible audience - each child felt celebrated. 

And please don't worry - that's not blood, cuts, or bruises that you see on our kids.  Since we are an arts magnet school, students participate in drama study once a week.  This week's lesson dealt with theater paint.  So everyone was able to paint their own "wounds" (which the kids loved!). 

Jokes and Hink Pinks

On another day of our wordplay study, we learned how to write jokes.  We actually came up with 6 different strategies for joke writing!  We simply studied a variety of jokes, and then we hypothesized how the writer would have gone about writing the joke.  We did some shared writing, and then I sent the kids off to write their own.  On yet another day of wordplay, we learned to write hink pinks.  Hink Pinks are riddles in which the answer contains 2 rhyming words (hink pinks have one syllable and hinky pinkies have two syllables).  I had a minute to capture some of their jokes and hink pinks at the end of the day.  Hope you enjoy!

Wordplay with Songs

We spent a week and a half playing with words during our writer's workshop.  Our goal was to have fun with words - to experiment and be creative.  One day we focused on writing songs.  Many kids took a familiar tune and then wrote their own words to the songs.  I was very impressed our kids' creativity - they were true risk takers! 

Studycast - Social Studies Chapter 5

Click here to listen to our studycast for our upcoming Chapter 5 Social Studies test.  You can download the studycast to your computer by right-clicking the link and choosing "Save As."  You can also find this studycast on iTunes - see the sidebar to the right for the link.  The study guide came home on Monday, November 15 and the test is this Friday, November 19.  If you have any questions about the material, leave a comment below this post or send me an email.  Good luck!

The Surprise of My Life

Last week I had the surprise of my life.  Our school was all geared up for a visit from our state superintendent, and our entire school gathered in the gym to hear him speak.  But Dr. Rex only spoke for a moment when he began introducing a man named Lowell Milken.  Mr. Milken took the stage and began speaking about the difference that teachers make in the lives of children.  After a few minutes or so, the entire Stone staff realized that this was not what we first imagined.  Mr. Milken was here to recognize and celebrate a teacher with a national Milken Educator Award.  

I was completely stunned when my name was called.  I am surrounded by incredible teachers who give their all to their students - day in and day out.  I am just one of many teachers in my school, district, and state who do what's right for children each day.  Thank you to my Stone Academy family and our wonderful school district for the support and leadership they provide.  Thank you to the Milken Foundation for celebrating teachers all across the nation.  It is an incredible honor to be part of the Milken family.  Here is a video clip and some photos from this special day.

Fraction Games

I love learning about fractions.  We play these wonderful games that give kids an excellent conceptual understanding of what fractions are and how they relate to each other.  By playing these games, our kids naturally learn how to compare fractions and how to find equivalency.  I remember at the end of last year, my students and I were discussing a problem related to fractions.  Several of my students told me that they instantly began visualizing our fraction kits and the games we played earlier in the year.  These fraction games stick with the kids (and they have blast playing them, too!). 

Fraction games

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What Can Light Shine Through?

We asked ourselves this question the other day.  We then spent some time shining our flashlights on lots of different objects, which led to some interesting conversations.  We found some objects that appeared to have translucent and transparent parts, leading us to think about objects in our home that may contain elements of both.  This investigation also led us to new questions.  Is colored glass translucent?  Or is it just colored transparency?  Does colored glass "block" light like other translucent objects?  Or does it just allow certain colors to go through?  Great questions!

Opaque, transparent, translucent

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Making Arrays

In order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division, we began studying arrays.  We looked at them in different ways and learned to see the multiplication and division facts they could represent.  In this activity, each team of students created an array with objects in the classroom.  Then they visited other teams' arrays and discussed the fact family they saw.  Students took along their white boards and wrote down the facts they discussed. 

Making arrays

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Finding Conductors

After doing several experiments with conductors and insulators, we we went on a conductor hunt.  Each team built a conductor tester and went exploring around the room.  We were surprised by what we found!  Some metals did not appear to conduct electricity - but we inferred that it was due to the object's shape or structure.  We found lots of metal objects in our classroom that did conduct electricity.  Here are some pictures of our scientists at work...

Finding conductors

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Peer Revision

Peer revision is a tricky thing.  Often times, kids will read a friend's writing and just say, "It's good."  And that's the end of it.  So I spent a day modeling how to give effective feedback to a fellow writer.  We learned how to be specific in our praise.  We learned to use "writerly language" to identify and celebrate the strategies and word choice we see our fellow authors use.  We also learned to be honest when we notice the writer's meaning breaking down.  As writers, we want our readers to see the same "movie" we see - we want our readers to be able to experience the moment fully.  If our meaning breaks down, we want to make it clearer.  We learned to give specific, critical feedback and help our fellow writers improve their writing. 

I was incredibly pleased with our kids.  They took their work very seriously, and their writing was greatly improved due to the feedback they received from their friends.  Here is a video of our students revising their personal narratives together...

Show Good Character - Say No to Drugs!

The above title was our class theme for Red Ribbon Week.  Our week ended with our annual parade (although this year we just marched around the recess field).  We enjoyed dressing up as our favorite book characters (notice Cat in the Hat, Clementine, Harry Potter, Annie from The Magic Tree House, and even Junie B. Jones), and we had a great time eating fun snacks in the classroom.  Here are some pictures of our recent Friday fun...

Building Electromagnets

After studying series and parallel circuits, I issued the kids a challenge.  Turn a steel rivet into a temporary magnet.  I gave teams of scientists a battery, switch, 150cm wire, small washers, and a steel rivet.  After 10 minutes or so, one team experimented with wrapping the wire around the rivet (with electricity flowing through the wire).  The other teams quickly revised their own approaches, and soon each team in the class had created their own electromagnet.  I was proud of the way our kids experimented with their thinking - trying out ideas, revising their ideas, listening and building off each other's thinking.  Unfortunately, some of the batteries provided by our district were weak, so some teams weren't able to pick up a lot of the washers.  But that was OK - it just led to another investigation exploring how to strengthen an electromagnet. 

My favorite part of the following video is the very end.  You can hear our principal begin making the afternoon announcements, and Will lets out a "Aaarrggh" in disappointment - our science time is over.  I wish everyday ended like that - sighs of disappointment that our class time is over for the day. 

Multiplying Large Numbers

We learned several different algorithms for multiplying multi-digit numbers - partial products, lattice, and the traditional approach.  But I want my students to go beyond learning the algorithm.  I want them to really understand what is happening when we multiply these large numbers.  When our study of multiplication began, we spent a lot of time exploring repeated addition and arrays.  So I built on this knowledge and asked our kids to build BIG arrays - like 23 x 34 - using base ten blocks.  We then were able to connect the array to the 4 partial products we made when using the partial products algorithm.  Our kids were actually able to see what happens when we multiply large numbers together. 

In the video below, you'll see kids solving problems using the partial products algorithm and "building" the array using base-ten blocks.  But the important step comes after creating the array.  You'll see kids making a connection between the numbers on their white boards and the actual base ten blocks. 

Studycast - Electricity and Magnets

Click here to listen to our studycast on Electricity and Magnets.  The test is Friday, October 22nd, and the study guide came home on Monday, August 18th.  If you have any questions about the material, please leave me a comment below this post or send me an email.  Good luck!

Studycast Correction

It was brought to my attention that I may have left out some information on the Social Studies Chapter 3-4 studycast.  The last two questions on your study guide ask about encomiendas.  You can read about this on page 148 in your textbook (and we covered it in class today).  An encomienda is a large piece of land owned by a peninsulare (a person born in Spain).  The peninsulare controlled all of the Native Americans living on his land.  The Native Americans were forced to work for the land owner and give him the crops they grew or goods they produced.  Often times the Native Americans were also forced to convert to the Catholic faith and give up their own customs and culture. 

Hope this information helps! 

Studycast - Social Studies Chapters 3&4

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming social studies test on chapters 3-4.  The focus of this test is the early explorers - from Marco Polo to DeSoto.  The study guide was sent out this past Wednesday, and the test will be on Wednesday, October 13th.  If you need an extra copy of the study guide, please visit the homework page on our classroom website.  If you have any questions, leave me a comment below or send me an email.  Hope this studycast helps - good luck!

Native American Tableaus

To review everything we learned about Native Americans, small groups of students created tableaus for each Native American cultural group.  Each group had to answer these questions with their tableaus:

• What is their environment like?
• What kinds of homes do they live in?
• What is their greatest resource?
• How do they get food?
• Explain something about their culture. 

As we shared these tableaus with the class, I was so impressed with how our students used their new learning to interpret each scene.  They did an amazing job. 

Switching On a Motor

After learning about circuits, we continued our investigation by figuring out how to make a motor run.  Our students quickly got their motors running, and then I extended the challenge - How could you use a switch to turn your motor on and off?  Once again, our students quickly discovered how to open and close a circuit.  Some of our students connected a switch to the idea of a drawbridge.  When the bridge is closed, the cars (or electricity) can flow.  If the bridge is opened, the cars (or electricity) cannot flow.  What brilliant thinkers!

Building Circuits

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How Do You Light a Bulb?

This was the question I posed the kids.  I gave them one battery, two wires, and one small light bulb.  Our students soon learned that electricity must flow in a complete circuit - from negative to positive.  The light bulb acts as a receiver, and the path of electricity must flow all the way from one side of the battery to the other.  This was a brand new concept to the majority of our kids, and they did an incredible job developing plans, trying out their theories, revising their thinking, and working with their partner.  I was proud of their persistence and critical thinking.  Here is a video of our scientists at work...

Retelling Stories

We want to be readers who are actively engaged with the text.  We don't want to be curmudgeon readers - readers who don't really care and read on auto-pilot.  We want to be readers who dive into our stories and really experience them.  One strategy that can help us do this is retelling.  If we're able to retell what we've read, we have to be able to think about the big events and important parts of the story.  Retelling actually helps us understand the story in new ways.  When we're retelling with a friend, new ideas about the plot have a chance to grow.  I showed the kids how to retell their stories by literally taking "big steps" as they told the big ideas.  The kids really got into it, and I was able to capture some video footage of the kids retelling their stories with their partners. 

Multiplication Baseball

One of our goals in 4th grade is to increase each student's "fact power."  I want students to have an instant recall of all the multiplication facts.  This ability will help them become faster and more efficient mathematicians.  Fractions, division, number stories, life - they all involve multiplication.  To increase our fact power, we've been playing lots of games in class.  One of the kids' favorites was Multiplication Baseball.  If you would like your own copy this game board, I'll be glad to send one home.  All you have to do is leave a comment below, and I'll send one home with you (or if you're a parent - your child).  Here are some pictures of our kids hitting the ball out of the park.

Multiplication Baseball

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Creating Static

To begin our unit of study on electricity, we first began with a study of static electricity.  We've all experienced static electricity - begin shocked when we get off the slide or bounce too long on a trampoline.  But none of us really knew why we got shocked.  We spent some time experimenting with balloons, and we eventually learned about negative and positive charges.  We learned that if an object has a build-up of negative charges, those negative charges want to "jump" to an object with a positive charge.  This discharge of negative charges is what produces that shock we all know.  Using static electricity, students were able to make salt and paper jump from the table - as well as make their hair stand up on end.  Unfortunately, static electricity had very little effect on my hair.  Hmmmmm.....

Static Electricity

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Finding a Reading Partner

During reading workshop, we've been asking ourselves a big question - "How can we author our own reading lives?"  Living a readerly life means we are people who talk about and discuss books.  We're people who know how to find good books, read good books, and then share these books with others.  We decided that each person in the class should find a reading partner - someone who reads similar kinds of books and has similar kinds of reading interests.  We spent this particular morning interviewing each other - going around the room sharing our stack of favorite books and learning about each other as readers.  I was able to catch some of the conversations on video, and I thought you'd like seeing our kids in action. 

Hidden Magnets

As a culminating activity for our study of magnets, we played a fun "hide and seek" game in class. Teams of students worked together to "hide" a magnet inside a small box (taping it to one of its sides).  The other members of the team used magnet detectors to try and find the magnets.  Students used iron filings, compasses, and objects from their mystery bags to try and find the hidden magnets.  The students were fascinated by the magnet's effect on a compass, and they loved watching the iron filings reaction when they were brought in the magnet's field.  Here are some pictures of our scientists at work...

Detecting Magnets

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Studycast - Native Americans

Click here to listen to a studycast for our upcoming test on Native Americans.  A studycast is basically a review of all the information we covered during that particular unit of study.  I go through the study guide (which came home on Thursday), and teach through all the major concepts that will appear on the test.  I know that it's sometimes difficult for parents to help their child study for a social studies or science test.  There's a lot of content involved, and it might have been a while since you've thought about these things!  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or send me an email.  The test will be on Monday, September 20th. 

Our New Reading Notebooks

On Friday, we spent time decorating our reading notebooks.  These notebooks will be a place where we record what we've read, what we want to read, and our responses to literature.  Each child designed their own unique cover, and I covered each one with clear contact paper (which I just finished doing this morning).  I thought they looked amazing.  I loved watching the kids create and share their ideas and resources with each other.

Breaking the Force

Last Thursday, I gave each team of students a scale, a bag of steel washers, and two doughnut magnets.  I asked - How would you test the force between two magnets?  Our kids quickly figured out a method to test the force.  By dropping in washers on one side of the scale, they could see how many washers it took to pull apart two magnets.  This lead to a discussion about reliable and accurate results.  We decided to keep as many factors the same as possible - how we set up the materials, how we put in the washers, and how we dropped them in.  We then extended our experiment by increasing the space between the magnets.  Would our results be different?  Would the force be stronger or weaker?  I love this experience - it teaches kids how to design an experiment, to collaborate with each other, and record and analyze data. 

Breaking the force

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Subtracting with Base Ten Blocks

In too many cases, subtraction with regrouping is learned as a step-by-step procedure.  It's true for me.  When I learned to subtract with regrouping, my elementary school teacher taught me the steps - not actually what was happening with the numbers. Because I just learned a process, I sometimes became confused with the steps and made mistakes.  Because I just learned a process, I struggled with number sense and estimation.  I didn't really understand how numbers worked together.  I didn't want this to happen to our kids.  So - to learn a conceptual understanding of regrouping, we used base ten blocks to demonstrate what was actually happening when we "cross out" a number and change it into another one.  We started by using this incredible website to actually see the base ten blocks in action, then we moved to using base ten blocks on our own.  Students had to use the base ten blocks to explain exactly what was happening in each step.  I was really proud of our kids for the understanding they gained this week.

Subtracting with base ten blocks

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Magnet Exploration

During science this week, we had a great time exploring with magnets.  When we first began exploring, we noticed that magnets do not stick to all metals (which surprised many of us).  We decided to test various materials, and we found out that magnets only stick to objects that contain iron.  We discussed ideas like attract, repel, and magfnetic poles.  Here are a few pictures of our young scientists at work...

Close Observations by Eileen

Today in writer's workshop, we learned how writers make close observations.  Almost like scientists, writers observe the world around them and write about it in detail.  To practice this concept, we went outside and spent some time observing the world around us.  I hoped that the kids would slow down and notice things they had never noticed before.  Here's part of what Eileen wrote in her notebook...

There are children playing their games.  Some swinging, some playing drums with an echo shooting across the world.  Then there are girls chasing boys, and some just waiting for fun.  You can find water falling out of sprinklers like every drop is a pool for a piece of grass.  You can find cars going by to see little children playing and writing.  When all is still, you can still see dogs walk by and swings slightly moving in the wind - as if their whole past just disappeared. 

Isn't that beautiful?  Our students were incredible writers today.  I hope they will continue to develop this skill of observing their world closely. 

Living Together Differently

During the first week of school, I asked the kids - What does it mean to "live together differently?"  Some kids thought it referred to the fact that we're all different, yet we all have to get along.  Others thought it referred to the idea that our classroom would be a different place - a place where we would learn and live together in different ways.  They're both right.  In order to explore this idea more fully, we read picture books each day that spoke to this idea of "living together differently."  After sharing each book, we held a discussion and came up with several big ideas we learned.  We came up with nearly a hundred ideas, but the following video shares our top 24 ideas we learned about how we live together differently in Room 241...

Best and Worst Reading Times

How do we author our own reading lives?  Who do we want to be as readers?  These are the questions we've been asking ourselves this week.  To understand these questions, we looked back into our past.  We thought about our best and worst reading times.   Here is a sample of responses from the kids. 

Worst Times:
-  Reading out loud and messing up in front of everybody.  It was embarrassing. 
-  Reading the book and having to answer the questions.
-  Book reports (boring!)
-  When I tried to read a chapter and I didn't understand one word.
-  When we had to answer the questions in our reading book after a story.
-  When you're not comfortable or you get distracted.
-  When you stumble over words.

Best Times:
-  When I did not want to put my book down.
-  When I'm in a comfortable spot.
-  Reading when you have a snack.
-  If time flies when you're reading.
-  When you can't be bothered.
-  Silent reading.
-  Book groups.
-  When I can picture what I read.
-  Buddy reading.
-  When the teacher reads aloud to us.
-  When I can find books that I love.

After sharing this information, we talked about what we want our classroom to be like.  We want to be a group of kids who have choice in our reading - we want to choose interesting, just-right books.  We want to be a classroom that talks about books and shares books with our friends.  We want to be in a classroom where we can be comfortable and free from distractions.  We want to be a class who reads a lot and understands what we read (although we're not really into answering lots of comprehension questions).  What are your best and worst times for reading?  We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Categorizing Our Rules

I posted earlier about our classroom hopes and dreams.  After discussing all our dreams, we brainstormed rules that would help us accomplish these dreams.  We brainstormed over a hundred rules, but we decided that would be too many.  We decided to narrow our rules down to our top four or five.  We began by categorizing our rules into four main groups:  How We Treat Ourselves, How We Treat Others, How We Treat Property, and How We Do Our Best.  It was a fun classifying activity, and each group looked at our set of rules a little bit differently.  It led to a lot of interesting conversation among our groups.  After even more discussion, each group chose their most important rule from each category.  I'm currently in the process of compiling these rules to our top four or five.  Here are some pictures of the small groups categorizing and discussing our classroom rules. 

Categorizing Our Rules

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Who Borrowed Mr. Bear?

We started off our year in science with a mystery - Who borrowed Mr. Bear?  This activity came complete with a crime scene, clues, suspects, and experiments.  The kids have had an incredible time piecing together the clues, while at the same time learning about observation, inference, and the scientific process.  I was able to snap just a few pictures today.  Here are some of our kids at work...

Who Borrowed Mr. Bear?

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Adding with Base Ten Blocks

After spending our first week of math workshop playing games and figuring out puzzles, I wanted to spend this week using base ten blocks.  Yesterday in class, we used base ten blocks to demonstrate our understanding of regrouping in addition.  Most kids know to start by adding the ones place, and sometimes you have to "carry the one."  But it's not really a "one," is it?  It's really a ten.  And when kids add the tens place, they often times have to "carry the one" over to the hundreds place.  But it's not really a "one" - it's really a hundred.  The base ten blocks gave us a concrete understanding of this concept.  I'm always pushing for kids to understand the WHY behind math.  I want us to go beyond the procedures and steps and really develop a conceptual understanding of how numbers work.  Below are some pictures of our kids at work. 

Adding with base ten blocks

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Our First Week

Our first week was filled with fun activities.  Here are our kids talking about their favorite parts of our first week together...

Hopes and Dreams

I used to start off the school year explaining my rules to the class.  But for the past two years, I've tried something different.  Instead of charging ahead with rules, I ask students to think about their hopes and dreams for the school year.  What do they want to accomplish this year?  It has to be a goal that is realistic, achievable, and school related.  Our kids brainstormed LOTS of dreams, and then each one selected one important goal.  We then studied these goals and asked ourselves, "What rules do we need to have in order to help us reach our dreams?"  This brought about a great discussion about the rules we want for our room - not rules for rules' sake - but rules that help us achieve our goals.  I think there's a big difference there.  Below you'll find each student's hope or dream.  We have big goals for this year!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Room 241 classroom blog!  It's the start of a new school year, and I'm excited to get our blog going again.  You'll find videos, photos, podcasts, and student work on our blog - it's a chance to get a "peek" inside our classroom.  Our kids LOVE hearing your comments to our posts.  If you don't know how to leave a comment, check out the short video tutorial I made - it's very easy.  Thanks for joining in the conversation - we look forward to sharing our learning with you this year!

Studycast - Weather

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming test on weather.  The study guide came home on Monday, May 12th and the test will be on Thursday, May 20th.  Please let me know if you have any questions! 

More of Science Fun Day

Here are some pictures from our Science Fun Day...

Camp Thunderbird - Wacky Olympics

This may be my favorite video from camp.  On Tuesday night, we had the Wacky Olympics - a bunch of wild and funny relay races.  It really didn't matter who won.  The kids were too busy laughing and dancing and singing.  It was pure joy.  Make sure you watch this one all the way to the end - you don't want to miss John Tyler and friends singing "Party in the USA" at the top of their lungs!

Camp Thunderbird - Zipline

One of the highlights from camp - the zipline.  The video says it all.

Camp Thunderbird - Scenes

Here are some different scenes from Camp Thunderbird - playing basketball during free time, canoeing, and experiencing the wildlife ecology course.

Camp Thunderbird - Living History

One of the first activities we did at Camp Thunderbird was Living History.  We went around to several different "characters" and found out what life was like the earlier pioneers.  Each team was a family - complete with mom, dad, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and children.  Everyone had a part.  I think my favorite character has to be the school teacher - it really gives the kids an appreciation for how truly nice I am!

Science Fun Day - Solar System Dances

Mrs. Waddell lead one of our classes on Science Fun Day.  Each team of students was given a card that explained a solar system concept, and they had to create a dance that explained that concept .  After each team performed, the rest of the class tried to guess what the concept was.  I love how they used the shape shifters, balls, and foam pieces.  It was really fun to watch.  Can you infer the solar system concept each team is showing?

Rules - The Dance

Here's a dance project one of our book clubs created.  They read Rules by Cynthia Lord - an incredible book about how we treat others who are different from us.

Camp Thunderbird - Part 2

Here's the second set of pictures from camp...

Camp Thunderbird - Part 1

I've finally gotten around to put some of the photos together from Camp Thunderbird.  As you're watching this slide show, make sure your child is explaining each event.  There are lots of funny moments! 

Organisms - Studycast

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming test on Organisms.  This is a studycast I made for last year's class, but it covers all the same material.  If you have any questions, just leave me a comment or send me an email.  Thanks!

Notebook Connections by Aimee Buckner

Notebook Connections

Aimee Buckner
Stenhouse Publishers

The thing I like about Aimee is that she doesn't hold back.  She's completely honest about herself and her teaching - her struggles and successes.  When you read one of Aimee's books, you feel like you're having a thoughtful conversation with a colleague down the hallway.  But that's the great thing about Stenhouse authors  - they're teachers.  These authors/teachers are using current theory and tying them to authentic classroom practices.  

Notebook Connections shows us how Aimee has incorporated notebooks into her reading workshops.  In chapter 2, Aimee shows us how easily notebooks can be used to better know your students are readers.  Throughout the year, you can have students respond in their notebooks using guided questions or prompts.  These entries help us get inside our students' heads - to understand how they view themselves as readers and thinkers.  Chapter 3 is full of strategy lessons that help connect comprehension strategies to notebook writing.  Aimee does a great job of getting her students to think about their thinking.  The strategies she uses with her students push them towards deeper and more responsive thinking.  Chapter 5 focuses on finding the "hidden layers" of a text.  One of my favorite lessons she shares deals with character connections.  By studying the connections between characters, readers are invited to infer deeper about their relationships - and ultimately about the theme of the story.  Aimee closes her book with a chapter on assessment.  She understands that teachers must find a balance between their personal lives and school lives.  She provides realistic guidelines for assessment that give valuable feedback to students and parents, while at the same time prevents teachers from spending their entire Saturday reading notebooks. 

I'm ready to try out some of these notebook strategies in my classroom.  My students keep reading notebooks - they've become extremely valuable places to record our thinking, reflections, and book lists. But Aimee has pushed me to use notebooks in more thoughtful ways.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens!  

Igniting A Passion for Reading

Igniting A Passion for Reading
Steven L. Layne
Stenhouse Publishers

One of the things I love about Spring Break is that it provides me an opportunity to catch up on some professional reading.  Igniting A Passion for Reading has been sitting on my shelf for a few months, and it's the first book I put into my "Spring Break Book Stack" last Friday.  Steven Layne begins the book by introducing us to the idea that teaching reading should go beyond just teaching reading skills.  A complete reader is someone who has mastery of fluency, phonetics, comprehension, semantics, syntax, AND shows evidence of interest, motivation, and engagement.  He argues that our curriculum should go beyond the skills mandated by our states curriculum.  We should be teaching the affective domain of reading as well.  He provides a startling statistic - over half of Americans ages 18 to 24 reported reading no books for pleasure in 2002.  We are producing kids who can read, but choose not to.  The rate of aliteracy (being able to read but choosing not to) is growing at a faster rate than illiteracy!  If we want to create real readers, we must begin addressing this problem.

Each of Steven's chapters provide extremely practical ways to develop engaged readers in your classroom.  One of my favorite chapters was about knowing your students.  In the beginning of the year, I always use interest inventories and meet with my students individually to get to know them better as readers.  But what do I do with this information?  Steven says the most important words we can say to readers is, "I thought of you."  When I read a children's book, do I think of the student who it would be just right for?  For my struggling readers, am I actively looking for books that will match their interests?  He challenged me to know my students better, and to use that knowledge more effectively.  He also provides some extremely practical advice in regards to goal setting.  We must make our goals public (post them in a place everyone can see), return to them often, and set new goals each quarter.  Has my goal setting become another "teacher thing" that we forget about after a few weeks, or is it something that matters to my kids?

Another chapter talks about "book chats."  I read a lot of children's books, and I keep a reading notebook with all my ratings and impressions of the books I've read.  But Steven's book made me realize how I keep all these "chats" to myself.  I need to be sharing my notebook with my students on a more consistent basis.  I need to display the books I love - talk about them in front of my students.  I have a lot of individual "chats" with students, but I need to create a classroom culture that is continually talking up books.  Steven's "golden shelf" idea is brilliant (chapter 8).

I think this is an extremely important book for our times.  In today's educational climate of testing, testing, testing - we can't forget our ultimate goals.  I teach because I want to see children grow into readers, writers, scientists, and thinkers.  Igniting A Passion for Reading reminds us of what is truly important about teaching and learning.

Picture of Hollis Woods - The Dance

After reading Pictures of Hollis Woods, the Dark Eclipse (a book club comprised of Sam, Christopher, Caitlin, Kaitlyn, and Sarah) decided to create a dance to show what they learned from the story.  They chose the song "Lean on Me" because it fit so well with the theme of the story.    After the kids shared their dance with the class, they took questions and comments from the audience.  I was amazed at how each movement and motion was carefully selected to convey a very specific meaning.  These students put a ton of effort and thought into this project.  I used an HD video camera to capture their dance, and I'm also trying out a new video server in hopes of a clearer picture.  I love School Tube (which I've been using all year), but their video quality is not great.  I'm hoping this video will turn out well.  We'd love to hear your comments.  The kids loving hearing what others think.

Flips, Turns, and Slides

We began this study by using pentominoes.  We flipped them, turned then, and slid them around.  We explored different methods of translation, and we recorded our observations on graph paper.  On the next day, we began using reflection mirrors to better understand the "flip."  We played games of billiards and darts (ask your child about it) to better understand this concept of reflection.  We noticed that points on the pre-image and image are always an equal distance away from the point of reflection.  Our final exploration was with pattern blocks (I saw Mrs. Stucky doing this with her students, and I thought it was a great idea).  Students created an image using pattern blocks, and then created the reflection.  Students used their reflection mirrors to check their work.  Here are a few pictures of the reflections they created.

Reflections (Flips)

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Building Geometric Solids

To better understand 3-D shapes, pairs of students spent time building geometric solids with straws and twist-ties.  This activity gave us a better understanding of faces, bases, edges, and vertices.  We were able to describe solids and compare them more accurately.  Here are a few pictures of our mathematicians at work...

Building 3 D Shapes

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Social Studies Chapter 10 Studycast

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming test on Chapter 10.  The test will be on Wednesday, March 24th.  If you have any questions, just leave a comment below or send me an email.  Have a great day!

Building Polygons

In math workshop, our new unit of study is on geometry.  Yesterday's lesson explored polygons.  We began by exploring what a polygon actually is.  By studying examples and non-examples, we found out that polygons have straight sides, at least three vertices, one interior, and is a closed shape.  We then set out to build as many different polygons as we could.  After each team was given straws and twist-ties, they quickly began building.  After 10 minutes of creating shapes, we decided to classify our polygons by their number of sides.  We built everything from triangles to decagons!  Here are a few pictures of our students building their shapes. 

Building Polygons

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Book Clubs in Action

What happens when kids meet in a book club?  What does that really look like?  I captured some video clips of the kids in their discussion groups.  The audio is not great, but you can see how each group is thoughtfully discussing and exploring their books.  These books are all independently run - no teacher involved.  We've learned how to stay on topic, focus, make room for everyone's voice, disagree politely, ask "thick" questions, keep the conversation going, and explore ideas deeply.  I just sit back and make observations (but the kids will tell you that I sometimes jump into the conversation...it's hard to resist a good discussion).  I hope this gives you a better idea of what's going on in our readers' workshop right now. 

George's Marvelous Medicine - The Dance

When a book club finishes reading a book, they have an opportunity to create a project to show what they learned.  Students are encouraged to share what happened in the book, as well as what they learned about themselves and about life.  This group of students decided to create a dance to show the major events of the story - this was incredibly creative!  They selected a song to dance to and came up with all the motions themselves.  As they were creating, they gave focus to their bodies, energy, space, and time (the elements of dance).  I'm always amazed at what the students of Room 241 will do. 

I See The Good In You

Our class loved Maniac Magee.  It moved to us to laughter and tears.  Jeffery (Maniac Magee) is an incredibly unique character.  Even in the face of difficult circumstances, he's able to see the good in other people.  It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from - Jeffery can find the good in you.  We decided to write a song based on this idea.  Hopefully we'll have it recorded soon so we can share it with you.  This video will share the song lyrics, as well as the responses we had from the book.

Commas, Commas, Commas

Earlier this week, we did a mini-inquiry into how commas are used.  On the first day, we found lots of sentences that used commas, and we theorized why and how those commas were used.  We developed many theories - "The Option Theory," "The See-Saw Theory,"  The Little More Information Theory."  It was fascinating.  On the second day, I gave the kids a list of sentences.  They worked with their partner to place all the sentences in five categories.  Our kids had to develop theories and revise those theories as they tried to classify these sentences.  After we placed them into categories, we did a "museum walk" around the room to find out how others had grouped their sentences.  We found that we had a lot of categories in common.  They may have been called different things, but they followed the same idea.  We also found that we disagreed about some of the classifications.  And that was good, too!  Here are a few pictures of our kids at work...

Brownbuck's Bistro

Coffee...jazz music...fingers snapping...poetry...lamps...comfortable food.  For those of you who weren't able to come, Room 241 was transformed into a coffeehouse last week (Brownbuck's Bistro).  The coffee was excellent and the poetry was powerful.  Each student shared his or her three favorite poems for the audience.  People laughed, cried, and thought a little bit deeper about life.  I love the fact that our kids' words can have such power.  Being all caught up in the event, I only took a few pictures.  I wish I had taken more!

Studycast - Social Studies Chapter 9

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming Chapter 9 test.  You can download the audio file to your computer by right-clicking on the link and choosing "Save As."  If you have iTunes, you can subscribe to this podcast in iTunes.  The podcast will be automatically downloaded to your iTunes library and will sync to your iPod.  I have a link on the right hand side of this website - it's that easy! 

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.  I think you'll enjoy this studycast!

Scenes from the American Revolution

To better understand the major events of the American Revolution, teams of students created a series of scenes that showcase the big ideas of each event.  Watching this video would be a great way to review for our upcoming test!

Author Circles

Writing is all about taking risks. This definitely comes into play when writers conference with each other to make improvements on their work. You make yourself vulnerable when you solicit feedback - it may not always be easy to hear another writer's perspective. But in Room 241, we've created a culture where feedback is a natural part of the writing process. In the video below, you'll see kids conferencing with each other about their poetry. You'll hear them talk about the things they love about each other's work, but you'll also hear them share suggestions that will make the writing stronger. Our students are extremely serious about their craft, and I couldn't be prouder.

Writer's Workshop

My blogging was sub-par during the month of January. I really do apologize. I'm going to try and get back in the habit of sitting down and blogging at least once a week. So if you've tuned out during the last month, try to tune back in! During January, we finished up our poetry unit. Here are a few pictures of the kids having conferences with each other.

The Fight of Poetry

Richard is a poet. He really came into his own as a writer during this study. You could see his confidence increase as each day he took deeper risks with his writing. I am so proud of him. I loved this poem he wrote on the last day of our study...

The Fight of Poetry

Mr. Brown works so hard
he works and works
We have so many good poems
in my heart
Sometimes people ask me about him
Sometimes he is funning
and sometimes he is not playing
I had a good year
with Mr. Brown
My poems cannot end
We can't stop
I need more time
They are not gone
They are still in my heart
I feel poems with me
When we stop,
poems will still be with me

Pencils

After sharing Madison's poem about her writer's notebook, I couldn't help but publish this one from Kaitlyn...

Pencils

Pencils
always
have a friend
on their back
When it hits paper
the pencil dances to the rhythm
in your head
Their favorite subject
is writing
of course
Pencils aren't perfect
some aren't even neat
But
always
always
know what to do

Madison's Poem

t's 8:15 on a Thursday evening. In preparation for our upcoming poetry celebration, I'm scanning in all the poems that our students will be sharing. It's tedious work, but I enjoy reading over each child's poems as I feed them into the scanner and save them to the computer. I ran across this poem by Madison that I really liked.

My Writing Notebook

I fill you up with
good ideas.
Each on so
different
in
so
so
many ways.
Unique words
fil each line,
as my pencil
glides
across the
paper.
Revise,
Edit,
Publish,
Finish!

It wasn't one she chose to share at our celebration, but I think it's one of my favorites. I love how Madison sees her writer's notebook - it's a place to look at the world and capture her ideas. But it's never really finished, is it? Our writing keeps leading us to new ideas and new thoughts. Madison's inspired me to be more diligent with my own notebook. I hope she has inspired you, too.

Studycast - Astronomy Test

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming Astronomy test. You can download the studycast to your computer by right-clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As..." The study guide for the test came home on Monday, February 8th and the test will be on Friday, February 12th. If you have any questions, just leave a comment below or send me an email.

Social Studies Chapter 8 Studycast

Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming test on Chapter 8 - The Road to the Revolution. You can download the audio file to your computer by right-clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target (or Link) As..." The study guide for the test came home on Monday, January 25th, and the test is this Friday, January 29th. If you have any questions or thoughts, click on the "comment" link below this post and leave us a message. Good luck on the test!