Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith

Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith was a hit with my students last year, so I decided to use the book again this year. I have been using the Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention (2nd grade blue system) and have now reached the end of the kit with my 3rd grade reading intervention group. They have made incredible strides, but unfortunately, my school doesn't have the next kit (3rd grade red system) so I had to find something else to use to ensure they continue to get closer to reading on-level.

There is a high percentage of ELL students at my school so I have to spend a lot of time launching any new unit to allow students adequate time to build background knowledge, connect to previous learning and focus on learning new vocabulary. Chocolate Fever was the perfect selection because the students were immediately interested in the story and were immediately engaged.

To introduce the new vocabulary words, I had the students cut out the first page of six vocabulary flashcards. Next, with a partner the students "turned and talked" to discuss what they think each word means from what they already know or from the picture clue on each card. Then, the students used a dictionary to write the definition on the back of each card. It was great listening in on the students and hearing them say, "I was right!" or "I've never heard of that word." Last, to wrap up the lesson, we played vocabulary charades. The next set of vocabulary words don't appear until after chapter 4 so the students began reading the first few chapters before I repeated the same process for the next set of words.

After launching the book, I did a read aloud for the just the first chapter. Afterwards, I explained to the students that they would be responsible for reading the rest of the chapters independently. I use a short comprehension worksheet to check if they read each of the assigned chapters. If they read the chapter carefully, they should be able to get majority of the questions correct. I then took a few minutes to model how to complete the first comprehension worksheet. When students come back the next day after reading the assigned chapter, they work on their comprehension worksheet. Here is an example of a comprehension worksheet:

Since students work at different paces, the "fast and right" students use the extra time to work on the vocabulary word find and the vocabulary crossword puzzle.

I also gave them a fun activity to work on after I read the first chapter. They had to draw pictures of items they might find in Henry's pantry. Most of the students didn't finish with the time I gave them in class, so this was another great "fast and right" activity in addition to the word find and the crossword puzzle.

In addition to reading the chapter as an assignment, I gave the students one other task to complete as they are reading at home. It's very important for students to read the vocabulary words in the context of the story so I gave each student Post-it Flags and instructed them to "highlight" each vocabulary word as they read.

The students were assigned to read chapter 5 and 6 over the weekend. I'm anticipating a very lively discussion on Monday!

Thanks to the Literacy Maven for hosting the linky!

Gone are the days by the pool, And here we are back to school!

I swear, I didn't mean to rhyme :) I'm linking up a little late with Doodle Bugs Teaching with my Five for Friday (on Saturday).

1. I work with some of the most talented and creative people. I was gone for three days at the Minnesota Reading Corps Summer Institute (more on that below) and when I came back on Friday, this is what I saw:

We were thrilled to meet the kiddos and their families at our school's open house earlier this week. The children were excited and and seemed eager to return to school. I have a feeling this school year will be one of the best!

2. While we have been putting 12+ hours each day decorating and organizing our classrooms, we have also been spending a lot of time digging into our new reading curriculum, National Geographic Reach, which so far seems to be the best curriculum out there for targeting the high percentage of our ELL students. There is also the standard version too for schools with a lower percentage of ELL students, National Geographic Reach for Reading. 

I really like what I see so far. The curriculum is completely aligned with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. The carefully aligned standards are taught through content with a huge emphasis in science and social studies. The textbook is filled with all of those exciting and beautiful pictures we have seen all of our lives in the National Geographic magazines. Also, we have access to several exclusive National Geographic videos that are tied to the content we are teaching in the classroom.

And here's my favorite part: this curriculum encourages teachers to, well, shut up! Admit it! We teachers talk way too much! The teaching guides give the teachers specific academic language frames during each activity to increase peer-to-peer interaction. Language proficiency will only happen if we give our students ample opportunities to interact with each other. Less teacher talk = more student interaction = increased language proficiency!

What experience have you had with the National Geographic Reach curriculum? Please share with me!

3. At the end of the last school year, I gave the first grade and second grade classroom teachers a summer packet that I created to give to their students on the last day of school. The classroom teachers gave the students an incentive to complete and return the packets during the first week of school. Several of the students came to our open house rushing to their previous teachers to return the completed packets. We were stunned and might I add, proud! The parents and families of our students were very appreciative of the modest amount of work we gave them. I hope the summer review has helped them retain what they learned last year. I guess we'll see!

Anyway, after seeing the summer packets I created, a few of the teachers asked if I had plans to make morning work following the same format. My original answer was no because it's so much work, but over the last couple of weeks, I was able to put together 1st grade morning work for September. I'm committed to the project now, so stay tuned for the rest of the months...

 

4. I am now the internal coach for our school's Reading Corps Tutor. We are so lucky to have recruited a full-time tutor that will be working with Tier 2 children, 1:1, on a daily basis.

While I'm thrilled we are receiving the extra support at our school, I was a little bummed that I had to miss three days of professional development to attend the training for internal coaches. I was happy to be back at school on Friday. Being gone for three days felt like being gone for three months!

I don't know too much about Reading Corps and its potential impact on students and the school as a whole, so I will share what I learn along the way!

What experience have you had with Reading Corps?

5. I love my new home! Each morning I step onto my deck and this is the view I have of downtown Minneapolis.

Click the image below to join the Five for Friday linky! Thanks Doodle Bugs Teaching

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and happy new school year!

Mai

It's time to start thinking about BACK TO SCHOOL!

Thanks Ellie from Ms. Woodward's Class for spending the last three and a half hours with me over coffee and lunch! We came armed with our laptops ready to tackle the ever-growing list of things to do to be ready for back-to-school. Catching up with Ms. Woodward gave me some much-needed motivation for thinking about back to school. It's hard to believe that we're already nearing the end of July.

This summer has proven to be the busiest summer I've ever had. For starters, I also just completed the second week of summer school with the new, incoming kindergartners. Because I teach reading in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade, summer is the only opportunity I ever get to teach kindergarteners. 

We focused on counting, identifying and writing the numbers 1-5. I used a lot of finger plays like "Five Little Ducks" and "Five Little Monkeys" to engage the children. First, I read the books to the children encouraging them to join in with the predictable pattern while counting backwards with their fingers. 

Next, I printed duck and monkey masks and glued them onto craft sticks for the children to act out each story. Click on the images below to be redirected to Classroom Jr. Teaching Resources to print your own masks.

I purchased a set of 12 bingo daubers from the Dollar Tree and a ton of stickers. The students practiced number formations using the daubers and stickers before attempting to write the numbers with a pencil.

To help the children practice writing, identifying and counting numbers 1-5, I created several practice worksheets and activities.

Our theme for summer school is "Under the Sea." After reading and learning about sea animals, the students made their own fish.

I am also currently taking an intensive, 3-credit course in Foundations of Reading. It's the first of six courses I am taking to get obtain my additional license in reading instruction. While this course has been a lot of work, I love having the opportunity to communicate and share with other teachers from all over the Twin Cities. The two books below are required reading for the course. I highly recommend them for any K-12 teacher, regardless of the grade and content area you teach. Reading and discussing the books has reignited a dormant part of my brain. I can't wait to apply the reading instructional strategies I have learned in my classroom in the fall.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Mai

Five for Friday-5/2/14

1. My New Nephew

Grumpy Teacher has a new nephew! My sister Linh welcomed her second child, William, earlier this week on Wednesday. While I've had my fair share of experiences with newborns, I still have to admit, newborns terrify me. They're like aliens. I called my niece "E.T." for the first few months of her life and this little newbie to the world is no exception. But for an alien, he's still pretty darn cute.


2. Testing, Testing and More Testing

We just completed our second week of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, our state's standardized tests. Testing is so taxing on the children, but I'm continually amazed by the students' motivation and enthusiasm. They worked hard all year long and really shined over the last two weeks. My wonderful colleague in 4th grade left a treat each morning for her students--the treats and notes really got the children excited!


3. Fun with Idioms

A few weeks ago, I spent several days creating an Amelia Bedelia Book Unit. I love this book by Peggy Parish and couldn't wait to launch this book unit with a lesson on idioms. The kiddos had so much fun with idioms. I used "Hit the Hay" to introduce idioms. I created posters to display in the classroom to remind the students the meaning of the words literal and implied.

I Do:

We Do:

You Do:

Since majority of my students are ELL students, I wanted to make sure they had a firm understanding of key vocabulary words from the book before actually reading it. After teaching each of the 12 vocabulary words, I had the students cut out the vocabulary cards to review the definition of each vocabulary word. After reviewing for about 5 minutes, we played "Pictionary" using the the vocabulary words. The students and I had a ball! For each remaining day of the week, they spent about 5 minutes to complete a vocabulary worksheet for further practice. The kiddos are anxious to read the book next week.

4. The Countdown to Summer Vacation

The week of rain definitely made us even more anxious for summer vacation. It's hard to believe we just have a month left of school. While we teachers all look forward to the much needed break, we also all dread the "summer slide" and worry about what the students will retain once they come back in the fall. Back when I used to teach first grade, I would send home a summer packet to review the concepts we covered throughout the year in math and reading. The daily review summer packet would take on average 10-15 minutes each day for the students complete so it provided just enough daily practice for 8 weeks without cutting too much into their "summer fun" time. The first grade teachers at my school were thrilled to receive a copy to send home with their kiddos. Get the first week of the Summer Packet: Going into 2nd Grade-FREEBIE!

5. My New Watch

It was so incredibly difficult saying goodbye to such a wonderful family. I spent the last four years tutoring three amazing sisters every Saturday morning. However, as I venture further and further into my career as a teacher, I'm finding spare time is difficult to come by to spend with my family and friends. I also hate saying this out loud, but now that I'm well into my 30s...I just get worn out so much quicker than I did in my 20s. While I love the challenge of additional responsibilities at my school, it was a tough decision to resign from my private tutoring position with this family. They surprised me on my last day with the most beautiful Baume & Mercier Hampton watch, thanking me for the time I spent with their family. I was so touched!

Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for the linky! Have a great weekend everyone!