Term 4 No Chore!

Hello teacher friends!

Here in Australia we have just started our final term of school for the year. This means there is only 10 weeks until our summer break starts. This term is filled with lots of exciting activities for our students to finish their year of learning. 

It can be very busy. We have assessments and end of year reports, preparing for new grades, finalising work to be sent home, planning for the following year - the list goes on as you well know! I've teamed up with some online Australian blogging friends to bring you some tried and tested teacher tips that you can implement now, or begin to plan for to make this term easy to manage.

After you have read my tip, please visit the other blogs in the link up below to find more ways to cruise through Term 4.

Tip - Assessment Checklist

At the end of the year there are lots of assessments to complete in preparation for reports. I create a checklist for the assessments I need to complete. I record the students names down the left side of a table, then write in the assessment tasks across the top. When I've completed an assessment on a student I tick it off, that way I can see what data I've collected about each child and what I'm missing.

I hope this tips has been useful. Make sure you check out the other great tips shared on the blogs below:

An InLinkz Link-up

 

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