Blooms - Oldie but a goodie

Hello friends,
When I first started teaching over a decade ago, one of the buzz words around at the time was Bloom's Taxonomy. I can't say I have heard it much lately but for this terms Daily 5 / Sustained Reading slot, my team decided to revisit it. We incorporated it into the Read to Self / Read to Buddy component of the reading block. First though, I'll recap on how last term went.
Our focus was as follows:

 Once we started of course, another goal came to light which was extending stamina (on-task focised reading) for a fixed period.
We monitored the Read to self (5min) as follows:

After listening to our buddies read, we discussed what it means to read fluently, and set this as the purpose for our Read to Buddy time:

Here are the anchor charts we used to give our buddy feedback (star) and feed-forward (wish or next step):

They worked a treat. Now in Term 2 we wished to extend into comprehension checkpoints, so our Bloom's Comprehension Fans were born.

First our stamina goals extended to 10 minutes Read to Self:

Next, the Read to Buddy time was split 3/2 minutes. Read to your buddy for 3min and discuss for 2minutes (up to 3 questions from the Bloom's Fans).

And the buddy still gave  feedback on fluency (out of 10) and on the ability of the reader to provide full answers.

As with last term, we will again reflect on the patterns that emerge after a fortnight of reading.

Finally:

FREE Daily 5 - Reading to self / Buddy Follow up.

used in Term 1  &

Bloom's Questions - Bookmarks or Fans

used in Term 2 are available here:
Teachers Pay Teachers - Reading at One Teachers Journey
Teachers Notebook
Help Me Learn (NZ)
And a BIG thank-you to...

Thank you for visiting. Would love to read about how you switch things up during sustained reading time in your classroom. Leave a link to your blog post below.

Body Systems #2 - Non-Fiction Text Features plus Freebies

Hello Friends,

As promised, this next post is about two awesome non-fiction resources that I used. They are:

Non-Fiction Text Features Posters

Created by Primary Punch. You can get it free on TPT
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Non-Fiction-Text-Features-Posters

Another is http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2011/03/my-march-top-ten-list-nonfiction-reading-resources#morehttp://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2011/03/my-march-top-ten-list-nonfiction-reading-resources#more

Both resources are free and were God sent for this unit.A huge thank you to the creators - it will save many teachers hours of prep time. We shared the cards around and students looked at them in pairs. They read and discussed the feature on their card and then had 30 sec to share their feature back to the class.

Next, I distributed the following sheet for their Inquiry books and we headed for the school library.

In pairs again, the kiddies selected non-fiction books from the shelves and delved in, hunting for the text features we had shared about earlier. Such a valuable lesson as many children today think that you find information in Google as your first port of call. I believe they looked at Non-fiction books through new eyes today! We will be referencing our learning from today quite often in the days to come,  I think.
You can grab your free copy of the Text Feature scavenger hunt (HERE).
That's all for tonight. Stay tuned for part 3 coming soon :)




Yours in teaching

Body Systems #1

Hello friends,

Recently we made a start on our second inquiry unit for the year: "Who We Are" - Body Systems. Our central idea is that our bodies are made up of complex systems that interconnect to meet our body's changing needs. As its my first time teaching this unit, I took the time to compile the knowledge I needed  and reflect on how best to release this to my 10-11 year olds.

My lovely team member, who is a Mimio guru, made the most amazing interactive mimio book on the topic for our kiddies but when it came time to use it, we quickly realised it wasn't going to work quite as we had hoped. Having both just traded Digital classrooms of 2012 for regular classroom in 2013, we were at a loss how to open the Mimio content to the students, without the equipment we had been used to, previously.

(Images: Philip Martin)


In the end, my beloved Wikispaces came to the rescue again. Many hours of work (in the wee hours of the morning) later, I had all the links transferred to our team wiki page so that our kiddies could access them from anywhere and any computer. Phew! Turns out there are quite a few out there.

This screenshot is just of the 'general' body system sites. There are around this many for each body system too! Well that should keep them exploring for sometime. There is vast range from videos, inter-actives and diagrams to games, 3D models and experiments. Something for everybody.

This is our first look at Non-fiction text in depth this year so one of the first things we did in reading is update our Reading Strategy Focus to "Finding Information". This cute poster is from my resource which you can grab (HERE on TPT) and (HERE on TN), internationally. If you are in New Zealand you can grab it (HERE at HML). It is up on our CRAFT reading wall and my kiddies also all have a copy in their Inquiry Journals.
I am feeling so excited about this new unit that I am giving away this Find Information poster (from the above resource) for FREE!!!. Grab it here!

 

And because its Manic Monday

 

 We had a really good discussion about what each line meant in order for them to make links to their prior learning, and they were already automatically signalling the verbs (e.g. identify, find, use) and key words in each (something we have been working on for comprehension all term). YAY!

In my next post,  I'll share about the cool free resources I found on line for teaching non-fiction text features and how we used them. So stay tuned :)

P.S. You can also follow me by email if you want to make  sure you catch all the posts in this series. Just click on the 'follow by email' window on the right, type in your email address and submit. Its totally anonymous.

Yours in teaching

Class Novel - Each Little Bird That Sings plus a Free Reading Activity

With the new term about to start, I have been scouring the public libraries and teacher blogs in search of mentor texts in the form of cool picture books and novels to share-read with my year 6 students this year. I came across a mention for Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles and I am in love !!!

This story reminds that life is full of twists and turns. And the biggest one of all is learning what it takes to handle them.
Please read about this gem of a novel HERE & HERE:

As I read it, I quickly saw how well it lent itself to a novel study, and when you read about how the author came about writing this book, well, there was a genuine Author's Purpose, right there.

It will also underline the message to your students that good writing comes from the heart - your own life experiences - because these are the things that you can breathe life into so that your audience relates to your message.

This novel also lends itself to a great Novel Study.

Here is a link to the 18 page Reader Response Journal that I made for my students. It includes:

3x ‘pre-reading’ activities - prediction, vocabulary, author bio
6x ‘reading response' activities - author craft, main character, support characters, text-to-self comparison,  setting analysis,
8x ‘reading application & synthesis' activities - flat/round character, family tree, writing draft & publish for text-to-world, Venn diagram, title hymn.

You will notice that the activities are NOT boring comprehension question-answer worksheets. Instead they are reader RESPONSE style that promotes higher order thinking skills like, analysis, application and synthesis.  

Of course, you can manipulate the order of the activities by moving the pages in the PDF document or even select specific activities as you need them. However if you would like to make them up into booklets, the following assembly instructions have been included. 

Journal Assembly instructions:
Print pgs. 1-18 (on 2 per page setting),
Separate out the first printed sheet (front and back covers), Fold each page in half, printed side facing out, and stack in numbered order,
Slip into cover and staple all the pages together, down the left-hand side, creating a spine
Optional - tape the spine to cover the staples, or slip a coloured paper cover over the spine before stapling, for students to decorate.

My Novel Study for Each Little Birds That Sings is available from my TPT store - One Teacher's Journey - HERE

Now for the Reading FREEBIE 

I have also made this 'Retell the Main Ideas' activity. It can be as long as there are chapters in your book so best to use as a stand-alone activity that you can use for any novel that you are reading with your class. It also works brilliantly for students read-to-self novels as an independent follow up (great for developing those summarising skills for both picture and word smart kiddies). You can get this one absolutely FREE from my TPT store - One Teacher's Journey - HERE

Thank you for stopping by. I would love some comments on what you think of this novel and any other class novels that you would recommend for 9-12 year olds.

The Learner Profiles for Back to School

Hi everyone,

With the start of the new year approaching, I have been thinking about and compiling 'Start of the Year' activities that formulate how the classroom will work cohesively.

At the start of each year we revisit all ten Learner Profiles (I teach at an International School that follows the curriculum framework laid out by the IBO). These are then incorporated into all our units, as well as our classroom behaviour contract.

This time I created a Mix & Match activity around the Profiles for a group activity. Download FREE from my TpT store - One Teacher's Journey - HERE.

Print and cut. Students then attempt to match the pairs in teams. This really forces them to read the definition of each profile and this can lead to good discussions.

I printed 6 sets for my class (1 per group) and paper-clipped each set together.

I also came across some cute posters created by Andrea Knight for juniors, that inspired this 'Parts of a Learner' poster. This poster is aimed at classrooms from Y4 - Y6. I integrated the essence of the Learner Profiles so that students could see how these related to their daily lives. It can be found in the same product mentioned above.

I would love for you to leave a comment below about these resources :)
Enjoy!

Organise Table Groups, Toolkits and a Labels Freebie for Back to School

As summer break draws to an end, teachers start migrating back to their classrooms to make a start on the new year down here in the Southern Hemisphere. One of my first jobs this week has been to create a stationery toolkit for each table. Here is a picture of what it looks like.

 

Each table has its own file holder to hold the students learning journal folders (homework) which will travel to school daily, and a bucket that contains the stationery required. Each item has been marked by a piece of coloured tape to match the table group, for easy identification. Each week's table leader will be responsible for checking the table bucket before each break (recess) and at the end of the day, during pack-up time. 

I made rectangular labels for the file holders and buckets. Then I laminated these and taped them on. The disc labels have also been laminated. One is blue-tacked to the centre of the table for the bucket to sit on, and the other, to the white board for point scoring. The stationery is only intended to be used to reduce unnecessary movement or to help in a pinch when a student runs out of their own supply. These 6 colours were selected to match the coloured tape that I sourced from my local $2 store.

You can grab your FREE set of the labels from my TPT store - One Teacher's Journey -HERE

or on my website - HelpMeLearn - HERE

This resource is part of a larger Bundle for BACK to SCHOOL, that you might also like to preview HERE

Enjoy!

Audio Conferencing for Writing

Recently I began to use an app on my iPhone called Voice Memos.

My kiddies were in full blown inquiry mode and beavering away over their paragraphs for an information report. Each paragraph was drafted on a separate inquiry sheet and handed in for conferencing. They needed to follow this writing cycle;

1. research and take notes on the sub-topic
2. draft your  paragraph
3. discuss your paragraph with your research buddy and edit
4. conference with T
5. type into class Google docs account then drag into T folder for typo check
6a. research next paragraph, or
6b. retrieve T checked paragraph from Google Docs for publishing into presentation mode.

Then...in the middle of all this frenzy....I got sick. Oh no!
My trusty iPhone to the rescue.

I took their stack of draft work home and read them into voice memos. I gave oral feedback as I went and saved each one by name and subheading under the 'custom' option. I then shared each one by email to my work email account.

Mine would have been called e.g. Matt P2 causes. At first it comes up with the time of the recording and you need to re-name under custom .

 

Once they arrived into my in-box, I could save each attachment into a folder on my desktop as they were already correctly labeled. They come through in m4a format.

I uploaded this folder to the school server where the kiddies could access their feedback and went home to crawl back into bed, under a pile of tissues.

Under my wonderful relief teacher's supervision, they took their paragraphs, red pens and headphones to the computers to listen to their feedback and make edits.

The joy was being at home in bed and seeing their work begin to appear in the Google Docs account in real time, as they began typing up their edited paragraphs. I could then correct their typos for them from home, as soon as they were done, so that they could move onto their next step.

Now some of you reading this will be quite skeptical, I'm sure. From my point of view, here are the benefits for the students, as I see them:

1. students receive their conference privately through their headphones
2. they can pause, rewind, re-listen to the feedback while editing and even come back and listen again if  they were asked to go away and add more detail, to ensure they were on the right track.
3. the conferences can be recorded after classes are finished and multiple students can work through their feedback at the same time, the next day (depending on the number of devices you have in your room).
4. this also avoids students leaving you after a conference and immediately forgetting what they had to edit, despite the notations you made on their work :)
5. students make their own corrections, not you, that way they own it and there is a higher chance of it crossing over into their typing / publishing.
6. they listen to an informative feedback model and will hopefully develop the skills to provide feedback in a similar way, when buddy editing.
7. the inherent stress of being with the person while they critique your work, is also removed
8. it slots easily into Daily 5 with an authentic 'listening to reading' model

Would love to hear what you think so please leave a comment. Have you used anything like this in your class? How has it worked for you? Please comment below :)

Super Speed Maths

Today I want to post about a cool way to practice Basic Facts in your classroom that doesn't involve paper and pen and encourages mental arithmetic. Chris Biffle from Whole Brain Teaching shared this resource a few years back and it just sat on my hard drive till this term. Such a shame, now that I see how much the kiddies are enjoying it.

This is my old copy. I believe it has been updated now to include Fractions too.

I have a few reluctant/slow writers that know their facts but just don't achieve on timed written quizzes, so I wanted to give something different a go.

We started with each student gluing the first level of facts and the matching answer sheet into their books (1 per page and side by side). There are multiple levels in the resource.

They work with a buddy. Person A gets 60 sec to read out and answer as many facts as they can. Person B monitors on the answer sheet. If a wrong answer is given, person B says "Beep! its x, go back 2 spaces". Person A then resumes 2 spaces before the incorrect answer.

Sorry if pics are a bit blurry. I cut them from the video.

When the timer buzzer rings, person A records a small 1 beside the last fact answered.

Person A now immediately gets a second go, with the aim of beating their first go. If they do so, the reward is to highlight off a row of facts at the top of the page. Tomorrow they start on the row directly below the highlighted one.

Repeat with person B.

I also gave out the STAR sheet that they record the  coordinate of the last answer given each day (the box where they write a small 2), to monitor their progress.

I have loaded up a short video (quicktime) of it in action today, on my classroom wiki page for this term. Feel free to visit and leave feedback here.

You can also watch a Chris Biffle webinar about it here here on You Tube but be warned, it is long (almost an hour). The resourse is available FREE* for download on their WBT website.

* resources are usually free with the pro visor that you share about WBT to your teaching community.

Tracking That Daily Independent Reading

At the moment I am introducing the Read to Self & Read to a Buddy. We all do this together as a whole class, all at the same time. But eventually I'd like to move it to the independent realm. With this in mind, I developed the following tracking sheet. Its good for 2 weeks if you read 5 days a week. Ignore the last two rows in each table if, like me, you read 4 days a week. (my 5th day is specialist day - Music, PE, Spanish etc).

The Read to Self has a Stamina column where the student can reflect on whether they 'got lost' in their book for the full 5min (tick all 5 boxes)
For Read to Buddy, I have found my students have continued with their own chapter book for this session so, instead of recording the book title again, I want them to reflect instead on the feedback that their 'coach' gave them (remember 2 stars and a wish?)
At the end of 2 weeks, students can write a reflection about how they went over the fortnight. Honesty in the recording needs to be emphasised for this data to be meaningful /useful to them at reflection time. Here is the Fortnightly reflection sheet.

If you would like to use these in your classroom, you can download these here at my TpT store.
Please let me know how you get on by leaving me  a comment below.