Remembrance Day Freebie

I think that Remembrance Day is one of the most important topics we have the opportunity to talk to our students about. 

So much of our life is possible because of the sacrifices of the past.

So much needs to be remembered so that the past will not be repeated.

Every year I dedicate a big chunk of time talking about the sacrifices made by the soldiers in our armed forces, the meaning of the poppy, reading picture books and watching videos. I want my students to understand how much they have to be thankful for because of those who dedicated their life to serving our country.

In the past my students have written letters to veterans thanking them for their service and have spent time talking with members of the armed forces to learn more about their careers.

To help with the reflections I want my students to participate in I have create a few worksheets/printables that can be used in any class for a variety of settings. 

Click on the image above to go to my TPT store and grab a copy. 

As we read through the publications sent to us by Veteran's Affairs my students took the time to create a thought page of all the words, ideas and questions that came to mind as they read. Each time we watched a video or read a picture book over the past few days they added more ideas to their thought page.

On Monday and Tuesday (Remembrance Day here in Canada) I will have my students complete a reflection that explains why they wear a poppy and a recipe for peace. I'm hoping that they are able to grasp the complex nature of this topic and understand the importance of giving thanks to our service men and women.

Looking to the future I am hoping that once again my class will be interested in writing letters to the veterans in order to fully express their thanks.

I'd love for you to head over to my TPT store and grab a copy if you think it would be useful in your class. 

100 Minutes- My Thoughts on Chapter 7 "The Foundation of Independence"

Another amazing post and fabulous chapter.

Thanks to Brenda from Primary Inspired for hosting Chapter 7. 

A great friend of mine in transitioning from many years in Grade 6 to Grade 3 next year (hello Sonia!!) and as I read through this chapter my first thoughts were, 

"Yes!! Sonia is going to love this and wow will it really help!"

And of course I texted that to her right away!

Love you, Sonia. 

It's funny. A fellow teacher asked me how I ended up picking this book for the book study and it's strange. I hadn't seen it anywhere else, or read a review of it. While I was browsing the Pembroke Publishers website it stuck out for me, I asked one of the reps about it and thought it sounded good...and here we are.

Aren't you glad I happened across this book by chance? 

I sure am!

So on to my thoughts about the book. Here are some things that really stood out for me...

Reading and Writing Cycle

Throughout my reading of the book I've been a little concerned (but keeping it to myself) about the idea that students would do 2 days of a reading cycle and then 2 days of a writing cycle.

Would this mean that they wouldn't have 

independent reading or writing 

EVERYDAY? 

But upon reading through this chapter I have decided to let go of my concerns and when September comes to go with the outline of the 100 Minutes framework. Everything makes so much sense and I am ridiculously in love with the idea of intentional sequencing that I MUST give the framework a fair chance before I attempt any kind of adaptation.

On page 107 Lisa talk about the "triangulation of student data" which is  HUGE thing in my board right now.

Using observations, conversations and products to assess and evaluate our students is so important. I have found in recent years that I am much more comfortable with this type of assessment and have learned so much more about my students as learners.

One of my goals for the coming year is to have my students track a personal goal for their own writing. It's something that I have read a lot about and have really wanted to try but just haven't done yet. Silly me.

Stamina

A lot of this chapter reminded me of The Daily 5 and the importance of building stamina and practicing routines in order to set the stage for a successful literacy block. If you haven't read the chapters in The Daily 5 where the Sisters discuss the first days/weeks of the year and setting up your routines and developing the students' stamina- I recommend getting your hands on a copy and checking it out. 

So worthwhile.

If you're like me and have read it...then re-read it.

There is nothing more important than the first days/weeks of your literacy block.

Using Book Boxes

Lisa talks about giving your students some time to browse and select up to 6 books for their book boxes prior to starting your independent reading routine (page 111). This is something I haven't really tried before, book boxes I mean, and it something I really want to do this coming school year.

Starting Independent Reading First...

Then Independent Writing

In my class and in my experience, it's better to start reading first and get a routine somewhat established before starting independent writing. 

You may disagree and that's ok!

One of the best things about teaching is that we all have the opportunity to try it our own way.

Somethings I'm going to consider over the summer:

Writer's Notebooks? 

Artifact Box? 

Writing Inspiration Board?

Family survey- "What did you write today?" (weekly homework?)

Reading logs?

Genre challenge- when to start? how will my program fit in to the 100 Minutes framework

I'm going to end with my favourite quote from this chapter...

"When you invest time in establishing routines for independent reading and independent writing, students will understand that the work they do independently is just as important as the work they do when working directly with the teacher."

(Page 116)

What was your favourite part of this chapter?

Don't forget to link up with your post and

 thoughts on Chapter 7.

Emily from Emmy Mac's Class on June 21st.

Stay tuned for Chapter 8- Small Group Learning. 

Also...you really should head over to Learning with Mrs. Leeby and checkout the amazing giveaway she has going on.

I heard a little something about Tiffany earrings!!

Whoa!

100 Minutes- My Thoughts on Chapter 6- Exploring Different Purposes and Audiences

Thanks to Erin from A Piece of the Apple for hosting Chapter 6.

Well done!

Didn't you just LOVE this chapter?

I mean so much that it requires all capital letters?

I did...and I needed to make a new graphic just to express my love!

This whole chapter just spoke to me...as corny as that sounds, and it made me so excited to get back to school in September! 

(And yes, I know the year is wrapping up for a lot of you and you are looking forward to a well deserved break, but I've been on mat leave since September 16th and I am ready to work again!)

There were quite a few quotes that really stuck out for me and made me think as I read through this chapter.

On page 79 it says, "students need opportunities to become disciplined thinkers so that they can learn how to communicate their ideas effectively."

Isn't that so true and really the definition of a literate citizen? Especially nowadays with so much social media and methods of communicating with others. Students need to think about how they are communicating, what they are communicating, if they should be sharing the information they want to share and with who...the list could go on and on.

Using Writing Prompts

I love using prompts with my students because so many of them do struggle with getting started and often a prompt can jump start their thinking. The prompt cards provided by Lisa through out this chapter for "Recall and Reflect", "Entertaining Ideas", "Inform Me!"  and "HOT Topic" are amazing. I am looking forward to not only using them with my students but taking some time to brainstorm our own prompts as well. 

The Artifact Box (page 80-81)

First of all, this idea is genius and I am super sad that I have never thought of it before. I'd love to tell you all about it...but I'd rather you grabbed a copy of Lisa's book and read it through for yourself. 

Long story short...a box of tangible writing ideas!

Genius!

Writing to Reflect

This section was by far my favourite of the whole chapter. Writing retells and recounts can get very boring very quickly so I am glad to see that Lisa has provided a graphic organizer (p 89) to prompt students to delve deeper into their experiences when writing a recount.

I am very interested in thinking more about this as an ongoing project/assignment throughout the year...but more on that at the end of my post!

Sample Success Criteria

Throughout this chapter Lisa provides lists of possible success criteria for each of the purposes of writing and they are awesome. This is something I always struggle with as I want to have a list prepared before my students and I co-create the anchor chart so that I can help to guide them towards the criteria they need to know and understand. 

I also loved how Lisa words the success criteria as "I am learning how to write..." and then each criteria starts with "I will...". So positive and affirming for students.

Emily from Emmy Mac's Class shared a great example of how she has her students deconstruct a piece of writing using the success criteria in her post on Chapter 5 of 100 Minutes. If you have checked it out, it's awesome. 

If you click here you can grab a freebie I created last year for writing that contains the success criteria for a procedure that my class I brainstormed. 

Guiding Questions

Along with the lists of sample success criteria Lisa provides a list of guiding questions that teachers can use when teaching each of the purposes of writing or conferring with their students. 

Each list is designed to fit with the sample success criteria that when made into task cards (do I see a freebie coming?) they would be very helpful for both teachers and students during the independent writing and conferring time.

Media Integration

Lisa provides a lot of ideas to think about how media can be integrated into our writing lessons in order to provide authentic writing experiences for our students. I am really enjoying that as so often media is seen as an add-on when if it is integrated effectively it can be a powerful teaching tool.

WHEW!! I have been typing so fast...my love for this chapter has just been flowing out of me.

So what's next?

* I am very interested in developing a Writing to Reflect program that can last throughout the school year and be used across the subject areas. I want to go back and re-read that section of this chapter and start brainstorming ideas. There are a lot of expectations dealing with metacognition in the Ontario Curriculum and I think a consistent writing assignment such as this will keep my students thinking about their own learning as they grow over the course of the year.

* More time needs to be spent looking at the guiding questions and sample success criteria to make sure that I have cemented my own knowledge of the purposes of writing. I want to create some checklists, task cards, reminder prompts...something that will help my students to really understand each of the purposes of writing as well as provide for myself a reminder of good questions to pose during conferences.

*What are some areas where I can effectively integrate my student's writing, media use and subject area learning?

*How do I plan to organize my student's writing? Portfolios? Writer's Notebooks?

*What will be the year long plan for writing in my class? Since I am moving to a new school in the fall I will need to look into the curriculum mapping done by my new Grade 3 colleagues.

Don't forget to link up with your post...I am super excited to see what everyone else thinks too.

The incredible Brenda from Primary Inspired!

She will be talking all about Chapter 7- The Foundation of Independence.

Hope you are having a relaxing time if you are already on summer break...and if not, hang in there! 

It'll be your turn soon.

In other news....I'll also be contributing to the Guided Math Conferences Book Study that starts soon.

Here is the schedule.

As you can see I'll be hosting Chapter 1 with....

 Brenda from Primary Inspired!!

Whooo hooo!

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100 Minutes- Chapter 6- Exploring Different Purposes and Audiences

The title of this chapter is very interesting...I can't wait to read all of your thoughts on it but first let's check out today's co-host's post!

Chapter 6 is being hosted by Erin from A Piece of the Apple.

Head on over there to check out what she's got to say and I'll see you back here tomorrow!

100 Minutes- My Thoughts on Chapter 5 - Writing Around the Literacy Block

Thanks to Melissa from Dilly Dabbles for hosting this chapter!

Great job!

The one thing that I am really enjoying about this book is Lisa's way of describing teaching the literacy block that makes me feel as though what I am already doing is is good and with just a little tweaking it can be even better.

It's very validating.

This chapter is dedicated to writing lessons, and specifically whole-class writing lessons and ideas. 

I really liked that Lisa addressed the importance that "teachers need to model thinking and composing strategies when teaching writing" (pg 73). I have seen first-hand how much my students grow as writers when they are able to see modelled writing and composing on a consistent basis. Further down the page Lisa states that  students need to have the "opportunity to witness the down-and-dirty craft of creating pieces of writing" (pg 73). 

I love this!!

As I read through this chapter I found myself nodding, highlighting and makes notes around the following key ideas that I would like to think more about in order to improve my overall teaching of writing. 

The importance of setting success criteria with my students. 

I started doing this my students in the last few years and have really enjoyed it. Not only am I able to observe my student's knowledge of the text forms we may be studying but they have an opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas about a variety of text forms with their classmates. 

Lisa discusses using mentor texts to teach writing to students in this chapter. This is something that I don't do enough of and would really like to try more in the upcoming school year. On page 76 Lisa provides a list of questions that teachers can pose to their students in order to focus the instruction using mentor texts and I think I will be turning these into task cards in the future. 

(Keep your eye out for a freebie in the future!)

Grade 3 in Ontario is a testing year...which sucks, but at the same time there are a TONNE of student exemplars available to us in both reading and writing. As Lisa states in Chapter 5 using student exemplars is a great way to help students "understand the difference between high and low levels of work" (pg 77).

Lastly, Lisa discusses teacher modelling as a way to help "students develop an understanding of not only the elements of writing, but also the craft of writing" (pg 78).

Now I know this is going to sound weird coming from someone who writes a blog but I am not all that comfortable writing in front of people. Obviously this is something I am going to have to get comfortable with so that my students can benefit from the experience. 

Goals for the upcoming school year:

- create a list of mentor texts that I can use when teaching writing

- develop a stronger comfort level with modelling writing in front of my students

- read through some of Lucy Calkins' work in order to gain some new insights into teaching writing

What about you?

What are your thoughts about this chapter and teaching writing?

Link up with us below.

Be sure to visit Erin from A Piece of the Apple on June 13th for Chapter 6- Exploring Different Purposes and Audiences

100 Minutes- Chapter 5- Writing Around the Literacy Block

Chapter 5's co-host is Melissa from Dilly Dabbles.

This is the first chapter dedicated solely to writing in the book and I am very excited to see what Lisa has to say about it...and of course all of you as well.

Don't forget to link up your posts about the 100 Minutes book study so we can all visit you and share in the learning. 

Can't wait to see you all back here tomorrow when I share my thoughts on Chapter 5. 

100 Minutes....How do you balance your literacy block? ~ Book Study and Giveaway

<a href="http://thinkingofteaching.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Thinking of Teaching" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3SJ1AwljVyTUUDaNRRqzNn1nnSk4I7SwrrCCbJ8007CKmPjhmRomfJi8hD1n3pivnG4W2OFqhT-Zv5fkGUtuBXvID0cQ9ceqqy3_UgDz67fRxN4oLDAOF3TNjbEkVAINXsldVQn0hhzEC/s1600/100+Minutes+Button2.jpg" /></a>

For the past few summers I have been hosting and co-hosting a variety of book studies here at Thinking of Teaching and have found that it is a super rewarding experience. I love hearing the thoughts of other teacher bloggers about the reading and the response that come in about my own reflections.

For this summer I have picked 100 Minutes: Making Every Minute Count in the Literacy Block by Lisa Donohue

Here are some options to purchase the book:

Pembroke Publishers (Canada)

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Stenhouse (USA)

Why did I pick this book?

Well, I've read The Daily 5, The Cafe, checked out the sister's website, heard them speak live and visited countless blogs and pins about The Daily 5...yet I just can't get it to work in my class. It doesn't seem to fit my teaching style.

That isn't to say that I'm throwing it all away! There is a lot of about The Daily 5 that I love...the mini-lessons, building stamina, the CAFE board, etc but...I want to mesh it with something else. 

In Part One of her book, Lisa Donahue talks about all the things she has tried and done in the past during her literacy block and I swear it's like reading my own teaching story. How do we fit everything? What do the other students do when it's guided reading time? Where does modelled reading fit? How often do they have to work through the entire writing process?

The introduction to Part One alone has gotten me hooked!

I can't wait to dive in, start reading and even better....start talking to you all about it. 

But first, who's in?

I'm looking for co-hosts for the duration of the book study. Being a co-host is simple....you sign up to host a chapter (or 2), post your thoughts, provide a linky so others can link up with their thoughts, and if you want to have a giveaway or a freebie that coincides with your chapter. 
(A freebie or a giveaway is not necessary!)

If you are interested in being a co-host 
for the 100 Minutes Book Study
 please click here to fill out the form. 

The co-host schedule is now full. 

************

But wait....maybe you aren't sure you want to co-host but you definitely want to read the book and join in on the discussion. Well, that's great too!

The book study will start on May 23rd...so you've got lots of time to grab a copy and get reading. We will discuss one chapter every 4-5 days. I will be posting on most of the chapters along with the co-hosts and we will provide a linky so that you can join in on the discussion as well. 

To help celebrate this great book study, the amazing people at Pembroke Publishers have provided me with a copy to giveaway! They also gave me a copy of Word Nerds by Brenda Overturf as a prize....whoooo hoo! 
(I missed out on the Word Nerds Book Study last summer
...but I hear there's another one in the works for this summer.) 
Finally, for fun I'm going to throw in your choice of any product from my TPT store as a prize as well. 

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter to win a copy of 100 Minutes, Word Nerds, or a product from my store. 
The giveaway ends May 2nd. 

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One more freebie...

I know that the Halloween Blog Hop over at A Class*y Collaboration is still going on and I hope that you have been able to pick up a bunch of great freebies!

Even though it's not my day for a freebie on the blog hop, I still have something for you. It could be used for a Halloween activity or just a procedural writing lesson. It would go well with my first freebie for the blog hop- click here to see the post if you missed it. 

Your students will need to draw a simple monster and then write a procedure to explain how to draw their monster. Once this has been completed it's very fun to switch the procedures with a classmate and follow the steps to re-create the monster drawing!

Students love checking to see if their monsters match up and it makes for a very fun bulletin board as well. 

Included in this freebie is a graphic organizer and a success criteria check list. 

Enjoy!

Trick or Freebie- Day 1

I am so excited to be a part of a great Halloween Blog Hop that is happening over at A Class*y Collaboration. If you are visiting for the first time, welcome. I hope you find lots to your liking!

Now, on to the FREEBIE!

I have a super spooky (ok, not spooky but fun) writing pack for you to start off the blog hop. 

Click on any of the images below to grab your freebie. 

Procedural writing is one of my favourite ways to start the school year in Grade 3 because students have a lot of experience with it and it's a great way to introduce all those routines you want to have in place in your classroom. By the time Halloween rolls around your students will most likely be "experts" and able to handle this activity independently...which means the Halloween fun can also turn into assessment!

This freebie pack contains 3 different procedural writing topics- How to Carve a Pumpkin, How to Trick or Treat Safely, a choose your own topic option. Each choice has a graphic organizer to help students brainstorm and plan our their writing as well as a set of good copy paper.

I've also included a success criteria poster to help your students do their very best work. I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to check back at A Class*y Collaboration everyday from now till the 31st to pick up more great freebies. 

Classmate Interview- Writing FREEBIE

I started to embrace having to teach writing a lot more in the past few years. I've always loved teaching reading, sharing books with my students and discussing what we read...but writing was a different beast.

Every year I re-vamp my writing program and I still haven't found one that I love, but I figure as long as I keep working at it- I'll get there. Since I am going to be off work for the duration of this school year I have been using some of time to scour the blogs I love, Pinterest and over sites for ideas that I can take back with me next fall. 

Here are a few of my finds:

#1

CorbettHarrison.com

Photo via: CorbettHarrison.com

This site has a ton of great writing notebook ideas and lesson plans. Set aside some time for this one...you'll there for awhile.

#2

Madden's Monstrous Masterminds

This site has a great explanation of how writer's workshop is set up and a great selection of writing units! This one is a must see. 

#3

Ashley from Flying High in First Grade has this great resource available in her TPT store. This resource includes 18 lesson ideas to get your writer's workshop up and running...and it has been added to my wish list for next fall!

If you are interested in checking out my Pinterest board of Writing Resources- click the image below.

Now time, for my freebie!

I created this freebie to use as a diagnostic tool with my students. It gives students an opportunity to learn a little more about their classmates, I can introduce the writing process and see what the students already know about this all important part of Writer's Workshop. 

Included in this freebie:

1. Interview questionnaire (pre-writing)
2. First draft paper
3. Editing Checklist
4. Good Copy paper
5. Title page

Click on the image above to download this freebie. 

Click on the image above to download this freebie. 

I hope you find this useful and I would LOVE to hear about any posts you have, TPT/TN products...etc so I can continue my search and start next fall ready to hit the ground the running. 

First week done! Pictures and more pictures.

We returned to school year in Ontario on Tuesday and had a nice 4 day week to ease us back into the routines to school. This year is a little very odd for me because I am only returning for the first 2 weeks of the year!

I decided to focus on curriculum rather than routines because I have no idea how the teacher coming in will want the class to be set up...at least curriculum is constant and by completing some expectations they will be able to focus on the typical beginning of the year community building. 

Here is the makeshift calendar that I created (only using chalk...blah). The first math expectations I have been covering with the class are place value to 1000 and skip counting...nothing too complicated.

I have been reading picture books that focus on the theme of inclusivity. First we read Odd Velvet by Mary Whitcomb and worked through the structure I followed last year after reading The Power of Retelling.  I love following this structure because it keeps all of the comprehension strategies fresh in the student's minds. 

The first writing unit in Grade 3 is procedural writing so we did 2 different shared writing procedures to provide some examples for the students. These are the only real "classroom routines" I have tried to implement for the new teacher coming in. I hope they are okay with it. 

I was pleasantly surprised when I asked the class to make a mind map of everything they could think about math...and they came up with so many good ideas!

Here is a chart I made to illustrate the math goals we have been covering during our calendar time and during different class discussions. 

On Friday, we made this class bar graph about our birthdays. The other curriculum expectations that are covered in the beginning of the year is graphing and sorting so I thought that by making a bulletin board bar graph the students would have a HUGE anchor chart for how a bar graph should look...and it created a small sense of community when we could see when all our birthdays fell during the year. 

My biggest goal of these two weeks was to create a portfolio of diagnostic work to help the new teacher have a sense of where the students are academically and not feel as though they are coming in super late...it's what I would want someone to do for me. So in addition to the diagnostic tasks we have been working on creating a portfolio cover. I blogged about this art assignment a few years ago when I taught my own art (oh how I miss that!)

Lastly, we brainstormed all the things a good classmate is/ does/ says and is not...a great idea I found on Pinterest(!!) but is originally from Using My Teacher Voice. Hopefully, the new teacher coming can use this to create the classroom rules they want to have posted in their room. 

Well, there's my first week in a nutshell...and tomorrow I start my last week! What a weird feeling.