Photo snippets from Reading lessons

I have been a terrible blogger lately! But I've been a very regular Instagrammer, so I thought I'd share some of the photos from our Reading lessons that I've been putting on Instagram.

I bought these fantastic little lights on Amazon a couple of weeks ago. We've been enjoying using them as pointers during guided reading sessions.

Pop for Letters is one of my students' favourite games. Early in the year they just identify the letter name. Then they begin to identify the letter sound. After that they identify a word that begins with that sound, or end with that sound. Now they have to provide the name, the sound and a word!

These are some reading groups activities. Top left is making high frequency words using playdough. Top right was the guided reading group I was working with. Bottom left is an awesome game called Shark! (my kids love the shark attack cards). Bottom right is Pop for Letters.

In the last couple of weeks I've had to change reading groups to make five groups because the range of reading is expanding. Now we do two activities, as well as silent reading. The top two are the books that I read with my guided reading groups. Bottom left is Pop for Rhyming Words (love!). Bottom middle is playing Memory/Concentration with high frequency word cards. Bottom right is matching CVC words with the matching pictures.

When we were focussing on rhyming words I would write a nursery rhyme or tongue twister up on the board each morning. We'd read it, identify the rhyming words, and then brainstorm more words that rhymed.

We'd been focussing on these letter combinations for a while, so it was time to check what they could do. Each child had a card and had to look at the picture, say the word, and then identify the letter combination in the word. This was a whole group activity so there was lots of 'helpers' for those who needed it. I used cards from two different photo cards boxes: Learning Resources Alphabet Photo Cards and Learning Resources Kindergarten Vocabulary Photo Cards.

I'm a very visual person when it comes to reading/looking at blog posts, so I think this is a format I will try to stick with for a little while. Let's see if I can blog more than once every two months!

Teaching with Intention: Chapter 1

 

I signed up with Greg Smedley to do the Book Study, but being in Australia I'm not on holidays yet so I'm a bit behind. Time to play catch-up!!

I have owned the book Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller for about two years and had it sitting on my shelf, unread, the entire time. When I heard about the book study I jumped at the chance to join in knowing that it would encourage me to read this amazing book!

My ideal classroom is lived-in and well-loved. I want the students to feel proud of their room and to take ownership over it - it's their learning space. It would have bright colours, but not look too busy. It would have student work on display, and anchor charts to show learning. Students would have their own space to store their things so they are responsible for their learning tools. They would have some choice during the day to engage them with their learning. Students would know what was expected of them for both their behaviour and their academic outcomes. There would be chatter, but not loud noise, with music to signal transitions. There would be charts documenting their achievements. It would feel welcoming, open and caring.

The students are involved in their learning and engaged with it. There are conversations about what they are doing, as well as conversations about their interests and what they've been up to. The students take ownership over the things in the classroom so they have pride in packing up their room. Students are working together and working independently. The teacher roves to support students, or works with small groups, or works 1-on-1 at a conferencing table. Students know what is expected of them, and the teacher has high expectations of what they can achieve. The teacher records learning, but lets the students share their learning in their own words. The teacher facilitates while the students do the work.

My students know my expectations of them, but we are still working on some behaviours (like calling out). I have charts around the room to document their achievements, like the number of days at school and a score chart for specific behaviours.

When they follow the description below a character as a whole class I tick off a number, when they've shown that behaviour five times they get a whole class prize.

I have bright colours in my room using furniture and posters, and the laminated cellophane on some of my windows.

I display a lot of student work, give them lots of jobs to help me so they are involved with running the classroom, I use some music for transitions and I document reflections in subject-specific journals to show their learning.

 

My students have an assigned seat and a tub that is under their desk, so they have their space which they take ownership over and which they have to keep tidy and organised.

At my school every student Prep-Grade 6 (prep is the first year of school) has to have three individual learning goals - 1 for reading, 1 for writing and 1 for maths. My students have these. They also have to independently provide three pieces of evidence before they can achieve the goal and get a new one.

I need to work on transitions! I have a lot of wanderers, and other kids follow them. It drives me nuts, so it's definitely something to work on. I think my room can look cluttered, so I need to work on that, particularly with my 'office' area. I've got problems with lighting in my classroom because where I sit to teach is in front of a big window, which can cause problems for my students looking at me.I also need to brush up on my 1-to-1 conferencing. I get stuck roving or sitting with a group, and don't prioritise short, structured conferencing. I need to work on goal-setting. I set the goals for my students, rather than with my students, so they forget what their goal is and forget to show me evidence of it.

This was a great first chapter, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest!!

Reading Groups my way

I love Reading Groups - really, I do! I love the independence it teaches students. I love the freedom it gives me to work with different children in different ways. I love the fun activities we get to do in small groups. If I could run my entire curriculum in small groups I would. But, it's only Reading Groups for now.

This year I have created my best system yet for Reading Groups. Well, I think it's the best yet. Each year I come up with a slightly different version depending on the type of class I've got, the size of my class and what I've been reading on blogs. This year I changed the system again, but I think it's here to stay.

In a nutshell: we start off with a Big Book reading focus. Then we do silent reading. Then we do a small group activity. And finally we reflect/share.

To elaborate: I have a different whole group focus each week. It might be a reading strategy (like sounding out words, or looking at the picture for clues) or it might be about comprehension (literal or inferential) and early on it was concepts about print and full stops. It changes every 1-2 weeks, depending on how much time we need to spend on the skill. When we did sounding out I didn't use a big book, I wrote four words on the board each day and we worked together to decode them, looking at letter combinations (like sh, oo, ck).

I am still using the amazing Rainbow Tub System from last year.

 

But I don't use animal names for my groups anymore, they are just the colour of their tubs, ie. Blue Group, Green Group etc. In Tub 1 are a selection of books at their reading level that stay in that tub for about 2 weeks. Every day we complete 5-10min of Silent Reading. Which isn't entirely silent, but it is quiet-ish. During this time I either meet with a whole group (often my low group who need extra support) or I work one-on-one with students for specific skills or assessment. I have one student who is well above the expected reading level so I often read with that child. After the amount of time that suits both me (depending on what I'm doing during that time) and my students concentration span for that day, we swap to Tub 2.

I have been posting photos of my Tub 2 activities on Instagram. I love Tub 2 time!! I either do Guided Reading during that time, rove around to check on the small groups, or continue with assessment. Here are some photos of the activities we have been doing during Tub 2 time.

TL: Guided Reading. TR: Puzzles. BL: Playdough mats. BR: Beading.

TL: Making small paper balls (finger strength). TR: Letter matching. BL: Lining up MAB units on MAB 100s. BR: Guided reading.

TL: Pinning pictures. TR: Guided reading. BL: Sorting fiction and non-fiction books. BR: Pop for Letters.

TL: Roll, write, read sheets. TR: Sequencing cards. BL: Teacher group focussing on letters. BR: Playdough!

TL: Matching letters on an alphabet chart. TR: Pop for Letters. BL: sequencing cards. BR: Roll, write, read.

TL: Pinning pictures. TR: Tracing. BL: Threading pasta. BR: Cutting with fancy scissors.

TL: Pegging the initial sound. TR: Sequencing cards. BL: Matching CVC words and pictures. BR: Matching lower case letters.

I choose my activities based on each group's goals. For example, my top group is working on mainly CVC and sight words now, with an occasional fine motor skill or letter sound task to mix things up. My lower groups are working mainly on fine motor skills and letters, including letter identification. I love that Reading Groups allows me to differentiate the tasks to match student goals.

 

At the end we come together and swap between a few different versions of 'share time'. Sometimes I just ask who would like to share something about their Reading Groups task. Sometimes I will get my Guided Reading group to read their book to the class. I have some cards that I occasionally use that say "Today I enjoyed..." "Today I learned..." "Today something I found hard was..." "Today something I found easy was...". Depending on how much time we have and how the kids are coping with the morning I change the closure of the lesson.

 

All of this takes us about 35-40mins. Sometimes we go over that time if the kids are all working really well, other times I'll shorten the time we spend on each part if we are running late or have something that we have to ready for.

I'd love to hear how you run Reading Groups, or Reading Instruction if you don't have groups.

Classroom update and a SALE!

I worked in my classroom yesterday (Saturday) for a few hours because I needed to rearrange some furniture. Where I had my SmartBoard meant that it had sun glare on it for most of the day, and that's just not good enough when you're trying to watch GoNoodle!! Here are some photos of my newly rearranged room:

View from my teaching chair.

View from my door. My stuff is hidden behind the SmartBoard.

TL: My teaching table. TR: Rearranged the tables. BL: Looking toward the door. BL: Laminated cellophane to block the light.

New teaching space with new displays. I couldn't decide whether to display the numbers with 10 at the top or the bottom.

I also gave my SitSpots a wash. They are looking bright and shiny, and ready to be used again!

Washed them in warm soapy water. Gave them a good scrub with a scouring sponge. Then soaked the for a few minutes in some disinfectant. We had a little wee accident on the carpet, so I thought it best to give them all a clean.

Also, there is a TeachersPayTeachers Sale coming!

From May 5-6 my TpT store will be have a 20% off sale, and then you'll get extra off when you use the Coupon Code. Go and fill up your Wishlist now so you can grab some awesome sales!!

Sentence conventions

After being totally inspired by Elizabeth from Kickin' it in Kindergarten's sentence chant, I started using hers, with some changes. These are our 'lyrics':

A sentence has a capital, a capital and punctuation.

Full stop, question mark, exclamation mark.

Finger spaces, finger spaces. Don't forget your finger spaces!

While we chant the first line we make our hands make a 'big' action (a bit like the capitals hand cue in this video) for 'capital', then we point with our fingers in the air three times for 'punc-tu-ation'. For the next line we make the three types of punctuation in the air with our fingers. Then for the last line we put two fingers together (just like we would when we are writing) and push our hands forward, alternating left/right/left/right. I hope that all makes sense! I'm not really confident enough to film myself, but maybe one day!

Before we start writing each day we go through our chant and I have drawn some reminders on the SmartBoard to help us remember. The kids are GREAT at it now! I have seen a big change in their writing particularly with their finger spaces and their use of punctuation - they experiment with more than just full stops. They have even started to suggest their own lines, like 'a sentence has words' or 'a word has letters together'.

Swap Share Give - A linky for all seasons

I am very lucky to have made some Aussie blogger friends over the past couple of years. Last year these friends held a Swap Share Give link-up that I was part of (my first link-up like that) and we are doing it again! We have been paired with another teacher by the lovely Tania. The pair has swapped a product, used that product and will write a review about it. We each also have a freebie to share, and there will be a giveaway of all the products that were reviewed! Pretty cool.

I'm very lucky to be paired up with Alison from Teaching Maths with Meaning.

 She has amazing products, and I own pretty much all of them! For this link-up I am reviewing her Number Detectives product.

I printed it, laminated it, and chopped it up ready to use. I decided to use it as our maths focus wall, and I have one number up each week. As part of our Monday maths lesson (or sometimes Tuesday) we take down last week's number and put up the new number. I love it, and the kids love it! You get heaps of different elements to display which you can see in this picture:

I have had some excellent opportunities for incidental teaching with the clock face, the tens frame and the odd/even word cards. I have also touched on reading skills when we try to find the number word. During the week we look for things that show our Number Detectives Number, and either discuss it or add it to the wall.

As well as using it as a focus wall, you could also collect some of the bits and do a sort. For example, the focus number might be 2, so you would find all the representations of two in the bundle, and put them together. It could be a maths groups activity or a warm up activity.

I love the clear graphics, and the easy to cut out shapes! My students love the birthday candles, and regularly walk past the display to blow out the candles.

The product I have as a freebie is a play dough mats set all about teen numbers. It has a spring theme, and it is bright and cheerful. Each of the bloggers who linked up has a seasons-related freebie, some are Spring-based (currently in the Northern Hemisphere) and some Autumn-based (which is the current season in Australia).

You get 10 play dough mats with the numbers 11-20. The mats are bright and clear, and students are asked to make the number out of play dough and make the number on a tens frame with play dough. But you could use counters instead of play dough, or you could use whiteboard markers on them once they have been laminated. The mats are really focused on the concept that the teen numbers are 10 plus some more.

          

Alison is reviewing my product ABC Foldable Readers (available in Victorian Modern Cursive and print font) on her blog. Go there now to check it out!!

Now for a giveaway! Enter below to win each of the products that were reviewed.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Peek at my week - Week 1, Term 2, 2015

I love sharing what I'm up to in my classroom, which is why I love to join in with Peek at my Week (not that I've done it much lately...).

 

 

We have just been on two weeks of Easter Holidays, and now we are back for term 2. This is what my week looks like:

 

 

In reading this week we are focussing on sounding out words. In writing we are practising to sound out the words we want to write, and will be writing about things we like or dislike. In maths we are learning about time, and grouping events by when they happen (eg. day and night). In inquiry we are revising our five senses. In You Can Do It we are thinking about how we can get along with other people.

Harmony Day is a very special day at my school - we all love it. We don't celebrate it on the Official Harmony Day, but we celebrate it when it suits our schedule. For the first four hours of class time on Harmony Day students rotate through 8x 30min activities in their grade levels - I'm running a kite making activity. Then for the last hour of the day we have our Cultural Expo - students and their families are invited to set up a 'stall' to share music, clothes, photos, objects and food from their culture. Last year we had 20 'stalls' about different countries for the students to experience! It is an amazing event!!

#2getherwearebetter Link Up - Schedules

I have not been a great blogger so far this year, but I'm excited to join in with the April 2nd link-up run by Ashley from Schroeder Shenanigans and Angie from Lucky Little Learners. Link ups are probably my favourite type of blog posts to write, so this is awesome! 

 

 

They are doing a link up on the 2nd of each month about a particular topic, and this month is SCHEDULES!

I love reading about other teacher's schedules. It amazes me how many different versions there are, and the different types of specialist subjects, extra support, withdrawal programs, etc, that run all over the world.

My schedule is slightly different on each day of the week. I make up a visual schedule for my students at the beginning of each term so that they can look over it at home before the school day, or look over it when they talk about their day with their families. I find that it helps y 5-6 years olds share things that happened during their day. They get a schedule that looks like this:

But I will type it out so it's a bit easier to read.

I'll explain a bit about it.

Carpet time: Every morning we begin the day with a phonics song, take attendance, go through our visual schedule and do Brain Gym. It is a great routine to get started with our day.

Reading groups: We begin with a big book and a mini-lesson about our reading focus for the week. Students then go into their reading groups for silent reading and then a literacy activity. During the silent reading time I work with my low group to support their independent reading, and during our activity time I do guided reading with a different group each day.

Writing: During term 1 this hour was all about phonics, now we will squeeze more into the time to still cover our phonics focus, but also do some structured writing.

Maths: We don't follow a program, but have a school-developed scope and sequence with has lots of room to construct the right program for the group of kids in the class.

Inquiry: The rest of my school are doing a more integrated version of inquiry, where it is part of literacy and numeracy, but we are still teaching so many foundational skills in prep (first year of school) that we have allocated time for focussed Inquiry.

Sport, Music, PE, Art: These are our specialist classes, when I don't teach.

PMP: We are starting this in term 2, and it will be a Perceptual Motor Program to work on gross motor skills and coordination. This will be run with both of the prep class (42 kids all together), with 8-10 stations to rotate between.

RE: Religious Education is an 'opt-in' program at my school, so not all of the preps are doing it. This means one of the prep teachers will sit in the RE class while the other prep teacher takes the extra students for a non-curriculum-related activity.

Read aloud: We are doing a chapter book, and started George's Marvelous Medicine last term. We have two chapters left, then we will start Tashi.

Fun Friday: Every Friday we have a theme day, mostly based around our Inquiry work. They are not always big events, but there is always a theme running through the activities. For example, during term 1 we had Camping Day (we learnt about the things we need to survive), Cupcake Day (which was related to a maths assessment task using patty pans) and Water Day (learning about our water needs). Next term we are going to have Alphabet Day (once we've learnt all of the letters of the alphabet) and Silly Sock Day (which is all about sorting). These fun days give us the opportunity to be wild and creative, but still incorporate literacy and numeracy. It's great for applying skills in a new way, and for learning through experiences.

Facet: is a fancy way of saying the we do two alternating subjects in that hour with the two prep classes together. We have our wellbeing program called You Can Do It and our cybersafety program called eSmart.

Prep chat: At the end of Fun Friday we get together for a catch-up and reflection about the week.

Wow, we fit lots in! I can't wait to go back and look through all the bloggers who have linked up. I'm thinking about swapping my maths and Inquiry to the morning block, and putting reading and writing into the middle block because we always seem to have more time in the middle block. I'd love to find out if other people put maths in the morning, rather than literacy!

Peek at my week - week beginning 16 February

I love reading what other teachers are doing in their classrooms, and I love sharing what I'm doing. Here is a peek at my week!

Here is a recap of week four of term 1:

When my students come in each morning they unpack their satchels. Their satchels are blue, velcro-closure pockets that they carry notes, take home books and their diary in. They also transport money in them. Each morning they put their money pouch in the white box, their diary in the green box and their satchel in the blue bucket - we only started this routine last week and it is taking some time!!

We made these in maths. I love combining fine motor skills with other subject areas and number formation is an area we focus on. You can get the mosaic squares from Zart Art.

These were our four Reading Groups last week. We had guided reading with me, puzzles, playdough and beading. My students are still learning how to work in groups, and fine motor tasks are really useful for practicing group work. All students understand the tasks and can do them independently while I work with my small group. This week our phonological awareness focus was rhyme.

This is the board behind where I sit for Guided Reading. I write up our focus, and go through the black words (which are high frequency words from the book we are reading) before we read.

We started Maths Groups last week too. I will be doing an hour per week of Maths Groups, where the students will work in groups of 3-4 students and will complete 5 different activities. All activities will be focussed on number/place value. It is a great opportunity to do some quick assessment and see how different students are coping with the content.