Writing during Social Studies - could be better

Today's Social Studies lesson was teaching "What are the five regions of VA?"
I made a notetaking organizer with the VA map at the top, 5 columns with the 5 regions listed as headers, and found 2 short videos that showed images of the land and products produced in all 5 regions. I was set....I planned to show the videos to the kids and they would take notes.

But I blew it...

When a handful were starting to get distracted, I should have stopped and modeled what their notes should look like right then. I forget that these guys are only 4th graders and need to be SHOWN. I was saying what to write and pausing the video which had the word on it but I didn't show them. I need to slow it down and ensure ALL get how to take notes.

Two things did go well:
1.  I showed 2 videos - 2 sources and emphasized that it is important to read or view more than one source as the second one can confirm the info in the first but also might give more information. And sure enough, we were able to add to our notes after watching the 2nd one!
2. I ended the lesson using a Kagan Strategy called Rally Robin - all paired up. Then one student said a feature or product of a region and the partner named the region being described by their partner. Then back and forth they went to talk aloud the info we took notes on.

I guess I shouldn't beat myself up too much. I just want each lesson to go well. But by daily reflecting, it will help make tomorrow better! And it is only 4:15pm so I still have some time to get tomorrow all planned.

9 Days Done...171 to Go!

The first 2 weeks are completed.
Back to School Night is completed.
Sitting with my 4th grade team through 8 meetings is completed (1 hour each, Tue-Fri).
Now I have Saturday to reflect and rest and make my plans for the next 5 days...

Reflection: What is going well? What do I need to do better?

Good Stuff:
* If you walk into my room, you can tell what we are learning thanks to the anchor charts hanging.
* You can tell reading is important because of the central library location and abundance of books.
* I assessed writing doing an on-demand
* I started them drafting yesterday so we can get a story published and then do one more unit like this to fine tune. I decided this after reading and seeing that they have the ability to write a paragraph essay of their big ideas but cannot naturally write a story about themselves. They need help with this!
* I created and gave a great reading comprehension assessment - lots of data to drive my instruction.
* I was able to meet with 3 groups and then 2 groups over 2 days to do a short character lesson on how to write a post-it about a character. (I need to make that lesson visible in the room - the character picture, the words, and then a posting! - I'll do that on Monday! And I want to move all the examples to the window in library so it stays visible.
*I met with Mimi to learn how to teach math
* I naturally use collaborative learning to do social studies and math. On the fly yesterday, we used the SS newspaper and then did a jigsaw of the 5 regions. It worked great!
* LOTS of parents came to BTSN and it went really well.
* I am understanding the feel of the schedule, sticking to the time, and no matter what, teaching reading and writing daily. For instance, on Friday we have FLES in afternoon so I made sure they read Tumblebooks in AM and recorded it on the log. Then I insured we had an hour after FLES for writing and then still independent reading time. I am trying not to waste any minutes!
* I love my physical school and I love being in a pretty school that has gardens and is a good stewart of the environment.
* I tweeted daily for the 9 school days and have a total of 51 tweets! I like adding a sentence out to our followers and I like posting some pictures. (I wonder what our readers think? I wonder if our followers are reading?)
* I think I know "stuff" about every student. I call them by name and I am beginning to understand how they
learn: strengths and weaknesses.
* I need to get these 27 kids focused. They are so chatty. Once I have their focus, they are attentive. But once I lose it, it is so frustrating.
* I try to wait. I need to be even more patient. I need to stay calm. (I'll admit, I yelled during quiet writing time and quickly realized it did NOTHING and I guess, on reflecting now, I was modeling what they WERE doing!!)
* I hate the idea of PBIS...why do we need to give a CHEER to get us to respond in the appropriate manner? (I wonder if this overall management style will become a deal breaker)
*I don't have set procedures for WHERE to be sitting in the room.

WHAT TO DO BETTER NEXT WEEK:
*I want to give out positives constantly!
* I want to not let Matt, Abian, Amr, and Henry to drive my actions. I need to keep all safe but maybe I try to calm them down by standing close to them and by also picking new seats
* I want to add 2 rugs (Home Depot this weekend!) and need to add a table.
* I want to assign spots - should it be for reading and writing. I think so now. It is too confusing otherwise. But who will partner with these 4 boys mentioned?? I definitely have the room space so I need to make it happen!! I brought home an anchor chart to make for room seats so I'll get that made and it can be for the rest of this month...then the 1st wk of Oct, I'll let them tell me where they want to be and who they want to be with.
*Complete the word study assessment; start TC assessments; work on revising writing.

Trying to do TOO much

I tried to have kids record on a timeline when reading was the best and when it was the pits. But I also wanted them to have a bag of books and to book shop. And I also wanted them to read, stop and jot. And we needed to get the I AM poems finished and hung up for BTSN. And I wanted to model a read-aloud....

I see Annie's picture hanging in my room (a staff developer at TCRWP) and hear her saying, "Don't be the tennis coach who throws all the balls in the hopper at one time. Send 1 ball at a time." Annie's so right!

So now, upon reflecting, I realize that I need to just teach ONE 10 minute mini-lesson a day...I can tell other things during a conference or a mid-workshop interruption. BUT I NEED TO STAY FOCUSED and NOT do too much at one time!!

Tomorrow I will be more focused!!
Sally

Using Twitter

After 4 days of school, we have 20 followers!

To encourage students to tell their family members to follow us, I am sending home a "feather" thank you for following us gift! I hope it will get more to join!

I also made a How-To set up a twitter acct! This way parents and teachers can follow the steps to join our account! Many who said "I don't have a twitter acct" now are following us!!

I was annoyed by the image of Justin Bever asking me to follow him. So today I chose to follow Mo Willem's Pigeon and Eric Carle. Now other book authors and characters are suggesting we follow them, instead of Justin Bever! Much better!! I think I'll let the class write (or tweet) who they think we should follow before picking anymore to follow.

I was able to post at least 1 tweet at the end of each day. So far, 47 tweets sent!

Now I want to research how other teachers use twitter.

Here's a video I found:
http://www.good.is/posts/twitter-in-the-classroom-watch-this-teacher-engage-shy-students-in-learning-history

I like how he says that twitter is "a paperless way to share your thoughts".

This link: http://fluency21.com/blog/2013/06/18/60-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom-by-category/ lists 60 ways to use twitter in the classroom:

1. Silencing blurters: For students who have trouble with disruptive blurting, allow them to instantly tweet their blurts silently instead of out loud. (maybe this would be something to try for students like Matt!!)
2. Parent communication: Parents can sign up to receive tweets from teachers, learning about activities, tests, projects, and more. (Doing this!!)
3. Twitter recaps: At the end of the day, teachers can summarize what has been learned in the classroom, encouraging reflection and discussion between students. (Doing this but want to eventually have this be student-created and written)
4. Classroom connections: Classrooms around the world can collaborate using Twitter as a communication tool. (Not sure about "around the world" but would like to connect with Nick's room and maybe friends at Westgate or Stenwood!)
5. Collating classroom views: Students can share their opinions on issues or any open questions, and they can be organized using Twitter. (would like to do this related to books we are reading, stories we are writing and our math thinking.)
6. Following historical figures: There are many Twitter accounts set up that share the lives and personalities of historical figures, and students can follow them for fun and learning. (I wonder if their are any that relate to VA History??)
7. School trip tracking: Whether it’s a field trip or a long journey, students can log and track their progress on a school trip using Twitter. (I will have to do this when we go to Jamestown and our other trips!)
8. Reading assignment summaries: Students can build 140-character summaries based on reading assignments, forcing a focus on quality. (Maybe I can assign this after they read the online SS textbook??)

This link has a cool Bloom's chart showing ways to use twitter to match Bloom's Taxonomy! http://www.edudemic.com/2013/06/22-effective-ways-to-use-twitter-in-the-classroom-2/

I think twitter will be a useful addition to my teaching resources!!

Week 1 Reflection

I would say I am off to a fair start! We ended Friday spending the last hour and a half making paper people to hold our I AM Poem to be on display for Back to School Night this coming Tuesday. This messy, loud activity was fun, gave the kids a chance to be creative, and got published writing up.

But now as I start to plan for week 2, I wonder why I did not have time for a Morning Meeting?
T - did an icebreaker game and then had FLES
W - wasted the morning trying to get kids logged into their computer and set up their password
Th - Did the reading assessment
F - did the math assessment
This coming week will be better as the assessments will be over. I do think after announcements, we can have a 15 minute MM and then go into SS/S. I do want to teach according to the schedule and I want each day to have RW and WW! It will happen...

I spent time practicing names. I think I have first names...
Avery, Henry, Salma, Daniel, Maria Grazia, Selina, Will H, Katherine, Ryan and Ivy
Jonathan, Hugh, Lotta, Quint, Will B, Mia, Travis
Matt, Noella, Mohamed, Abby, Amr, Richard, Lela, Samuel, Abian, Yuan Ju

I got all 27!!

Now I have to look at the assessments and USE THE INFO TO INFORM INSTRUCTION:
On-demand writing - read, score, and use to plan my personal narrative teaching points.
Reading Jots using Train to Somewhere - read and decide on progressions
Spelling Inventory - score and think about word study??

I also want to go to library to get some books. They have LOVED reading Mo Willems!!
I want to get some chapter books and high interest picture books and plan to book talk them.
I got to get reading logs and book volume going!!

Day 3

It feels like I have been teaching this group of 27 kids for many more days than just 3!
And in 3 days, it has been a series of many ups and downs.

Down....wasting an hour yesterday trying to have all the kids change their passwords so they can start using their laptop computer and then still not all were set after the hour and an unplanned firedrill so I spent another 2 hours after school to remedy the situation. I hate spending time, valueable time, doing stupid tasks...

Up...doing the on-demand writing and now having the raw data to decide what to teach during the small moment personal narrative unit. Lots of strengths seen but still things I get to teach!!

Down...only bringing in 26 out of 27 from recess but bought a whistle after school today (love Arlington's Westover Ayer's Variety Store!) and told all the kids that they need to pick a buddy and make sure that buddy is in line. You would think I could count to 27!!

Up...created and administered a read-aloud comprehension assessment using Train to Somewhere by Eve Bunting. Now I have seven stop and jots based on different comprehension strategies to analyze this weekend. Again, the raw data to guide my teacing points andh small group instruction.

Down...haven't done one Morning Meeting or feel that I really know each child by name. 27 is lots but that needs to be my goal for tomorrow. I need to be able to call them all by name without hesitation.

Labor Day! Kids come to school tomorrow!

I've enjoyed the long weekend with 2 days at the beach; took time to read 4 kid books, and plan a reading assessment using stop and jots for my team. I'm excited about tomorrow. I just hope there is time to do all that I want to do.

On Friday, we met as a team and listed, day by day, stuff to do...on-demand writing, ice-breakers, organize supplies, set grade-level rules, watch county videos related to the rules, spelling inventory, reading assessment, read-alouds...

I left the meeting feeling like this was all just stuff to do...assignments. I want to teach using the structure of Reading Workshop and Wiritng Workshop. I went back to my room to make Tuesday's daily schedule and USED the cards labeled Writing Workshop and Reading Workshop and vowed that EVERY day this will be what I do. I am not babysitting and providing stuff to do. I am allowing readers and writers to work, and in turn, get better at being readers and writers.

So much will become clear once I have the kids in front of me all day long!
I better rest up today!!