Inside September

About a month ago, I introduced you to my storage solution for my classroom.  (You can see that post [here] if you missed it.)  The underbed storage bins.  Guys, they are great!  If you pack them just right, they hold everything!

Since then, I've added a few things to my August bin, but it's all Conscious Discipline stuff, and it's all going into a separate bin labeled "Safe Place" when I pack up my room at the end of the upcoming school year.  I'll post about that stuff later.  I need to actually figure out what I'm doing with it first.

Did you know that Scholastic Reading Club flyers have these nifty little boxed sets that focus on sight words and specific phonics skills?  Of course you did.  You're a teacher!  You look at the flyers before you even pass them out.  Silly me.  (In the off chance that you're a new teacher - or a seasoned teacher that has just never used it - and you want to use Scholastic Reading Club flyers with your students, hit me up for some bonus points!  I will have 1,000 bonus points to give away next month, but only if you're a first-timer at the whole book clubs idea.  Sorry, veterans.)

Anyway.  Scholastic.  Boxed sets.  Definitely worth it!  It makes the phonics and sight word practice more meaningful to the students than those silly blackline master decodable books that come with our reading series.  (Yes, I use those, too.)

As for the other things in my September bin...

Pardon my dog.  She likes to get in the way and does not like when she isn't the one getting the attention.

Three ways to read a book goes up on the wall once we talk about it.  I used to write an anchor chart, but a giant three is better... Well, it was last year.  I don't know how I feel about it now.  I'll decide later if I want to use it or something else. 

"What to do when I'm through" is for writing.  There are three things my students may do when they 'finish' their writing.  They may add details to the picture, add details to the words, or start a new piece.  I ordered No More "I'm Done!" by Jennifer Jacobson, and I should get it this week.  We'll see what she says about those tiny friends that say they are finished.

"I can write a sentence that" has always been something that goes up in pieces.  The first one says "uses spaces between the words."  Then it goes on to include capital letters, end marks, spelling, etc.  Each piece goes up as we talk about it.  This takes time to get everything up.

The pink cards are high-frequency words from my basal series.  I also have a different color for Fry's sight words and Dolch words.  Math words, student choice words (interesting words found in reading), science words, etc. all have different colors.  They will go on the word wall as we learn them.

The rest of it is games and books.  Classroom library books as well as read alouds.  (My brilliant idea of the summer:  Skip-Bo at the start of the school year as math buddy games!  They have to put the numbers in sequential order... That's number recognition and rote counting to 12.  Review = check!)

The theme for the books in September's bin is "Books about School."  There are other books in the library already when the kids walk in the door, but these are books that I put out specifically in September and take them back out of the library at the end of the month.  They include:

The Librarian from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler

Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie! by Judy Cox

Flat Stanley:  Show-and-Tell Flat Stanley! by Lori Haskins Houran

Miss Mingo and the Fire Drill by Jamie Harper

Picture Day Perfection by Deborah Diesen

There was an Old Lady who Swallowed Some Books! by Lucille Colandro

What I Saw in the Teacher's Lounge by Jerry Pallotta

My New Teacher and Me by Al Yankovic

Clifford:  Time for School by Gail Herman

Our Cool School by Judy Katschke

Biscuit Goes to School by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

Annabelle Swift, Kindergartener by Amy Schwartz

If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff

Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School by Herman Parish

Skippyjon Jones Class Action by Judy Schachner

Mittens at School Lola M. Schafer

David Goes to School. by David Shannon

Splat and the Cool School Trip by Rob Scotton


And because September begins moose season here in Alaska and we need to talk about moose safety...

Moose! by Robert Munsch

If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff


And because we are beginning to talk about nouns and verbs as critical parts of sentences...

A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink:  What is a Noun? by Brian P. Cleary

To Root, to Toot, to Parachute:  What is a Verb? by Brain P. Cleary (sorry, no link)

Slide and Slurp, Scratch and Burp:  More about Verbs by Brian P. Cleary


When I put these books out at the end of August, I try to talk them up.  Give some incomplete summaries of a few of the books; tell them which books are my favorite.  It helps with the book selection.  I'll even choose read alouds from this stack if I need a time-filler.

Well, that's my collection of random things that happen in September.  Part of me feels like there is a lot that I didn't pack up... like things are missing from this box...  It was probably the dogs! ;)

Always wanting to be in the middle of everything... ;)

I'm looking forward to hearing about your ideas for rolling out the new year!

The Writing Theif... revisited

So, I finished the book.  It was a quick read considering the amount of information contained in so few chapters!  (If you missed my initial opinions, you might want to click [here], as I fully intend to elaborate on some of that a little bit.)

Let me just say that this woman is sort of brilliant.  This whole book is brilliant.  I loved the way it was written.  It wasn't a "how-to" book at all, which is what I expected.  It was more of a  conversation, a dialogue if you will, with the author regarding why we should be using mentor texts to teach writing.  Sure, she gives examples and ideas for using mentor texts to teach writing, but she spends more time talking about why the texts are important.  Why we should be showing kids, not telling kids, what to do with their own work.  (Isn't that what we make the kids do for us?  Show rather than tell?  This is the perfect way to model that expectation!  Mentor texts!!)

Ruth Culham does an excellent job of providing evidence for a lot of her ideas.  She has grounded so much of her thinking in research into many authorities on the subject of writing.  Not on the subject of teaching writing, per say.  She quotes authors, not researchers, often.  She has the research element there, but the quotes from the people that actually write books are exceptionally relevant to everything that she has done within the text.

As for those pesky thoughts that I was having about how this book surely can't be for me because my little first graders could never choose several books and compare the leads and then decide how to revise their own writing to include a strong lead based on what they learned from the mentor texts... Yeah.  Those were still running through my head the entire time I was reading.  In fact, I didn't feel that many of her examples really fit my situation given that I teach first graders and they can't read - like, at all - when we begin the year.  But then I got to thinking.. They are first graders.  First graders. They have little to no experience with real writing anyway.  What better time than now to show them what real, good, authentic writing looks like?  I mean, they copy everything that I do anyway.  I might as well show them how I use texts that I love to form ideas for writing, organize my thoughts, choose my words, and all the other great things that mentor texts provide.

I can honestly say that I do not feel that this book was a complete waste of my time.  Should I have been reading The Literature Review:  Six Steps to Success instead?  Well, yeah.  But only because I have to write one and I have no clue where to begin.  (And I need to have the lit review finished by the end of the month so I can thoroughly enjoy my vacation in July, but I'm such a procrastinator sometimes. Haha!)

This book certainly helped me to see the value in merging my reading and writing instruction.  I mean, I've always used mentor texts to teach writing.  (Okay, confession... Not always, actually.  But I have since being trained several years ago in using a workshop model for reading and writing.)  However, I've only just realized how well close reading lends itself to writing and vice versa, thanks to Ruth Culham!

I have spent the last several years reading everything that I could get my hands on that talked about reading instruction.  This was the first time I've really focused on improving writing instruction.  It was a great place to start, and I'm looking forward to really delving into the topic!  I plan to read The Art of Teaching Reading (I'll actually finish it this time, honest!) and The Art of Teaching Writing, both by Lucy Calkins, at some point this summer.

 

I have tons of other books on my bookshelf that I plan to read, but one in particular seems worth noting.  It is also by Ruth Culham.  I have 6 + 1 Traits of Writing:  The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades.  I got it back in probably March or April, and I was able to pull some ideas for the end of the school year last year.  They were great!  I wish I would have picked up the book earlier!  I am definitely looking forward to using Ruth's suggestions starting at the beginning of the year this coming year!  (For all of you that teach older students, she also wrote 6 + 1 Traits of Writing:  The Complete Guide Grades 3 and Up.)

   

Check back tomorrow for the next installment of the Daily 5 book study blog linky.  [Check in here if you missed the first post.]  Also, don't forget to check in with the rest of the crew on that linky.  There will be plenty of tips, ideas, and freebies to go around!

BookSource Classroom Organizer

Have you been looking for a way to organize (and keep up with) all of your classroom library books?

Have you been losing sleep over finding a kid-friendly way to let your students check out library books? (Goodness, I hope not!)

Have you wished you could quickly and easily teach your students how to check out their own books?

Well, look no more!  This app is stinkin' amazing!  (Actually, I don't know about that check-out-their-own-books thing... I haven't tried to teach my first graders this yet.  We shall see... *fingers crossed*)

I found this app/website combo a few years ago. I intended to use it with my fourth graders, but I was so overwhelmed by my classroom library that I decided against using it. I'm a little ashamed of that decision now. 

BookSource Classroom Organizer is a website with an app component. (You must have an account with the website before you can use the app.) No worries, though. It's completely free!

When you go to the website and set up your account, you can download the app.  There's an app for both iPhone and Android.  You will use the same account login information that you used on the website.

Your classroom library book list will sync between the app and website instantaneously as you scan books with your phone or tablet and/or upload the books online.

The only downside that I found to setting up my library within the system was that it is fairly time-consuming.  It took me two hours to scan and upload 208 books.

Something to consider, though...

If I remember correctly, the system is designed to be growing and updated often.  If you scan a barcode for a book that other teachers have scanned, the information should come up and you only need to click "Add to Library."  If the book has not been previously uploaded, you will need to add the title at least (you may add the rest of the identifying information if you would like) before adding the title to your online library.

I have not played with all of the features of this website yet, but it looks like students and parents can view the titles that you have in the classroom using the student page.  How convenient!  It also seems that the students can see the availability of the books.  The more I look into this system, the more I like it!  I hope you find it just as useful!  If you have a website/app that you like for organizing the classroom library, I'd love to hear about it!