The Birth of the Classroom Library

I have over 1500 books for my classroom library.  It is one of my most prized possessions!  I've been spending the last few weeks on Pinterest looking at pictures of so many beautifully organized classroom libraries, I am just itching to put all of my books into their baskets and onto their shelves.  But I am not going to.

A few years ago, I read Frank Serafini's Lessons in Comprehension, and he suggests "birthing" the classroom library with the students.  So during the first week of school, I will gradually introduce the students to the collection of books that I have as I "invite" them into the "World of Reading and Literature".  Each day, I will place a collection of about 30 books onto each group of desks.  Students will have five minutes to peruse the book collection at their group.  Then I will ring a bell, and they will rotate to the next collection of books.  That way, the children will see about 150 books a day.  Together as a class, we will then determine labels for the various genres that they noticed, and we will begin to sort the books into those categories.

Meanwhile, we will also create anchor charts for Reading by exploring why we read, how we take care of books, strategies for choosing an appropriate book, when to abandon a book, and what good readers do.  I like to read a page from my husband's electrical engineering textbook.  I read it fluently and expressively, demonstrating how well I can decode all of the words.  Afterwards, I explicitly state that I can decode all of the words, and that for the most part, I even know what each of the individual words mean, but as a whole, while I can read it beautifully, I have no understanding of what I just read.  I explain that in order to understand a text, I have to have some background knowledge on the subject matter.  If not, I have to read a much simpler text on the topic.  We talk about the fact that reading is about making meaning, it is about understanding, and that the goal for this year, is to understand deeply what we read.

For the first week of school, we continue to view the books in the library, but the library is not yet "open".  Once we've viewed most of the books, and we've categorized the books, the children are responsible for organizing the library.  I then announce that the library is "open"- by now they are usually thrilled because they've been salivating over the books all week and not allowed to read them (a little reverse psychology).  They each select a book, and then I tell them that they have a seven page book report due the next day.  (I love to see their chin drops!)  I then explain that they have to read the first seven pages of the book they have chosen, and write me a paragraph explaining why they chose the book and if they think they will like it. 

You might wonder where all of my books came from.  Many are free picks from Scholastic, many are books my own three children have outgrown, many are from garage sales, but most are from donations.  Parents are more than willing to donate books that their children are finished with, you just have to let them know that you welcome their donations.

Snowball Fight on the First Day of School?

Is it too early to start thinking about the First Day of School? 

I wanted to share one of my favourite activities that has gone well every time I have used it.  Every year, on the first day of school, I like to have a "snowball fight" with my students.

Here's how it works:

1. Give each student a blank sheet of paper.
2. Have each student share information about themselves on the sheet of paper; make sure they don't put their name on it. Write one up for yourself as well, e.g. I am female; I have one brother and one sister.  I love to read; one of my favourite authors is Chris Van Allsburg.  I have two dogs and a cat.  I love to swim and dance.  My favourite colour is purple.
3. Once all students have completed their sheet, ask them to crumple their sheet into a ball.  (I love the looks on their faces when I tell them that).  Then tell them that you are going to have a snowball fight.
4. The rules for the snowball fight:
• everyone stands up and pushes in their chair
• NO RUNNING
• NO YELLING
• when the whistle blows, freeze in place
• when the snowball fight starts, they throw their "ball" at someone else. They can then pick up a stray "ball" to throw again.  Continue throwing the "snowballs" around the room until the whistle blows.  Make sure that you participate.
• Tell the students that the game will continue until someone starts to yell or run.  I find 3 min. is about as long as they can last.
5. Once the whistle is blown, everyone picks up one "snowball" to take to their seat. 
6. Ask one student to open up their "snowball" and read what it says out loud.  They then have to guess who wrote it.  If they can't guess, open it up to the class, if no one can figure it out, ask the person to name themselves.  That person then opens up their "snowball", reads it aloud, and tries to guess who wrote it.  Continue until all of the papers have been read.

Math Camppp

Math Camppp was awesome, I am so glad we went.  We stayed at the Kempenfelt Conference Center in Innisfil.   The food was amazing, and it was entirely free to any teacher in Ontario, paid for by our Ministry!

The focus for the entire week was on fractions- teaching strategies for teaching fractions, how to represent them, how to assess student understanding and misconceptions, how to support students with learning disabilities to understand them, questioning strategies-; and the guest speakers were excellent - Marian Small, Cathy Bruce, Shelley Yearly...

Here are a few photos from the week.

Practising our "Descriptive Feedback".

Representing Fractions as an "Action"- Operator or Quotient

"Relationship" models for fractions:  Linear, part-to-whole both continuous and non-continuous,

part-to-part.

Why do we seem to always teach using only the part-to-whole representations of fractions????

Here is a link to the Math Camppp Wicki with all of the presentations and handouts.

http://gains-camppp.wikispaces.com/CAMPPP+2012+Julius

Lastly, here is a link to Trent University's Math Education Research Collaborative which is full of excellent tips for Math teachers.

http://tmerc.ca/

So Little Time and So Much To Do and Read!

Here are the PD events I'm attending over the summer to help me prepare for the classroom in September:

• Math Camp Math Camppp
• Pearson Literacy Conference 8th Annual Celebrating Literacy
• Blended Learning Summer Institute

My goal is to use Blended Learning in my teaching practice.  Blended Learning is combination of eLearning and Face to Face Learning.  I'm hoping that if I incorporate technology into the classroom it will help the students to become motivated self-directed learners.  This past year, I've tried to attend as many workshops as I can on digital citizenship.  Two books I found extremely helpful were:

Digital Tools for Teaching: 30 e-Tools for Collaborating, Creating, and Publishing Across the Curriculum by Steve Johnson



and

Keepin' it Real: Integrating New Literacies Into Classroom Practice by Lisa Donohue
https://twitter.com/#!/Lisa_Donohue

12 Weeks and Counting!

While most teachers are winding down for the summer, I am just gearing up.  In 12 short weeks I will be back in the classroom, my very own classroom, with 20 or so beautiful 11 year-old faces.  Only 12 weeks to prepare!  I think I will use almost every minute of those twelve weeks to get ready.

Currently, I'm not a classroom teacher.  I've been a Literacy/Numeracy "Coach" for the last two years and while I really enjoyed being a "coach", (I learned so much, the PD was awsesome, and I met many truly fabulous teachers in my travels), I really miss having my very own classroom, hence the excitement.

I think I've been a teacher most of my life.  I started teaching when I was in Kindergarten; I can remember "teaching" my peers their "ABCs" at the House Centre.  I taught when I babysat in my teens, and then I became the most important kind of teacher of all, I became a mother.  My children were like little sponges, we learned together all day long. 

To me, that is the key to being a teacher "extraordinaire".  An extra-ordinary teacher realizes that teaching isn't about disseminating information; it is about creating an environment conducive to learning together.  My children taught me far more than I ever taught them, (actually, they are still teaching me).

So I've decided to blog my journey back into the classroom.  I've taught Grade Six before, but this time around, I want to be "extra-ordinary".  The ordinary just doesn't cut it in the modern classroom anymore.  Learning has to be beyond ordinary, it has to be exciting and engaging.  It has to meet the children where they're at.  I hope I can entice some "followers" along this learning journey so that we can share ideas, celebrate successes, and commiserate over failures.