Google Docs

I first read about Google Docs on 3rdGradeThoughts.com. Ever since then, it's been life changing in my classroom! I love using Google Docs! You can do pretty much anything you ever wanted to do!

Just a few ways I use them in my classroom:

• homework checking
• reading conferences
• writing conferences
• parent teacher conferences
• getting to know the kids before they come to school (they fill out before the first day of school)

Like I said, pretty much AMAZING! It's so simple to create and share docs, it's unbelievable! So go ahead try it today, you know you want to! :) 

Here is my form for homework checking, which could be used for pretty much anything you need to check off that students have completed:

Here is my form for the beginning of the school year. I used this as a very basic assessment too for how well my new kiddos could put together sentences, spell, etc, and I learned a lot before they came on the first day!

Getting to Know You

 Happy Teaching!

Retelling...with Highlighters!

Do your students tell too much when retelling?

During assessments last week, I noticed my kiddos are telling way too many details in their retellings. I wondered.... what can I do to show how to retell correctly and for them to visualize retelling?

So.. voila!

 

Here's how:

~ Each student paired up and each person had the same passage, this class used Should Dogs Work from ReadWorks, the most *AMAZING* site ever for passages to use in your classroom.

~ The passage we used was broken up into three sections:

 Section 1: teacher model

Section 2: Partner 1 retelling

Section 3: Partner 2 retelling

(you could use any passage but I liked this one because each partner could retell their own section, and they didn't repeat from each other on the same passage)

~ While partner 1 retells their section, partner 2 highlights words or phrases their partner uses from the passage. Then it's partner 2's turn.

This was so helpful! The kids were able to see exactly what their retelling told! 

Happy Teaching!

Finding Main Idea- Cute Video!

Main idea is one of those tricky concepts for lots of kids.

The teacher down the hall discovered this awesome video for main idea; she says the kids are in *love* because it's to the tune of Justin Beiber's song, "The Beauty and the Beat"




I will certainly use this myself! 

Here is the anchor chart I use to teach how to find the main idea:

 

Happy Teaching!

 

Text Mapping

Recently, in my grad class, I learned about text mapping, have you? If you haven't, it's pretty much like having a conversation with the text, either "talking" about something in particular or just anything. The teacher who modeled it for our class told us that we could write thoughts, connections, questions, basically whatever! Then my professor continued by saying we could use text mapping for a particular skill also. Well, I decided to give it a go in my own classroom, to see how third graders do it...

We have been reading about how pictures and illustrations help us as readers, so I thought I would connect how having a conversation with the text would do the same. My students were in groups of 6, which I later found out was WAY too many! The next time I did this activity, I made groups of 3, worked beautifully!

To prepare for text mapping, you need to photocopy part of a book or print whatever text you want the students to talk with. Then, glue the text on a larger sheet of paper, I just used butcher paper that we use for bulletin boards. When you teach your students how to text map, model first! I used our document camera to show first how to mark what I want to say, then what I want to say.

Send your kids off, each with a different color, to have their own conversation! I walked around and wrote questions about their comments, or gave an answer to one of their questions, or made a connection.

 

Go give text mapping a try, you'll be glad you did!

Happy Teaching!

~Beth

Reader's Workshop

I love reader's workshop!! Like I said in an earlier post, I've tried the Daily 5 for a few years and in a few grade levels, but just plain ol' reader's workshop is for this girl! Like any workshop model, we begin our day with a mini lesson on the rug. We have two rules: (1) I teach them something new and (2) the kids learn. I know, kinda cheesy, but when I ask, "What's your job today?", they all respond with "to learn!". Music to my ears : )

So then comes the fun part... I posted earlier about how I do individual conferences, so I thought I would let you all know what the rest of the kids do. Each kiddo has a reading binder that keeps everything in it, literally. We have tabs set up and everything. That's a whole other post in itself! Two of the sections are Reading logs and Reading Response. When they start a new book, they write it down on their reading log and graph it on the Genre graph. Both of these I stole borrowed from Beth Newingham; she's so awesome! In the Reading Response section, readers can write down their thoughts on stickies and keep them using the sticky note keeper, or on a response page.

The rest of the time is devoted to...you guessed it, reading! That's why I love this so much; how can we expect our students to grow as readers if we don't give them enough time to read?  I have carpet squares and rugs that my students can take to where they want to read. But, some still just choose to stay at their desks to read.

What do you do for reader's workshop? How do you have your kiddos pick where they sit? Leave a comment below!

Happy teaching! : )

Reader's Workshop: One-on-One Conferences

For the past few years, I have become very familiar with the reading workshop model used by many classrooms, the Daily Five, but still only used guided reading groups. I used all the stations, the check-in sheets, and all that good stuff. After reading a post on Beth Newingham's Scholastic blog, I decided to make a change. I already used most of the components Beth already used, but I added individual conferences. I must say, BEST DECISION EVER! If you haven't already tried individual conferences, do it!  :)  I read Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop and it truly helped to get these conferences up and moving. The book breaks it down so easily!

So for the past few weeks, I have been seeing kiddos one-on-one and learning so much about them as readers. Each conference starts pretty much the same: I sit down next to them, that's right, even if they're on the floor :) and ask how their reading is going.

We talk about what we discussed the last time we met and decide if he/she needs to keep the same goal or move on to another. Then, I take a minute or so reading with them, and maybe taking some time to teach a skill or reinforce the skill they are already working toward. You may be wondering, how does a student choose a skill? Simply put, I ask them, "What do you want to work on as a reader?" Sometimes I get a "UMMMM, I don't know..." then other times, "I want to work on main idea and details because I'm not sure how to find details." I know the latter is quite amazing to hear! :) I keep track of everything we talk about in my data binder on a sheet I created.

 

Each box on the page has the child's book title, page # (to see how they're coming along in the same books), date, notes, and next time. I made the notes section very general because every student has a different skill they want to work on. I use the "next time" section to jot down something I need to remember to discuss with that student between conferences at the next conference. 

I love these individual conferences because it holds the students accountable for their own learning and I love seeing them be so excited about how they are getting better at their goals.

Happy teaching!