Summer Reading

This week I have been working on getting together something to give my students during the last week of school.  I also have been thinking about how hard we have all worked to ensure such amazing academic growth for all of them.  And I don't want them to regress this summer!  So I came up with an idea that will address both issues: SOAR!  SOAR = summer of achievement resource.   My little slogan I'll be promoting in my class these last few days is:

Stop the summer slide and soar!  

This weekend I made each of my students a summer reading bag that I'm hoping they take to the library on a regular basis over break.  Inside the bag I'm putting a SOAR folder that has a page explaining the summer slide and some resources for parents & students.  Here's what I have so far:

• Summer Writing Journal (with choice menu)
• Reading Incentive (The students that complete the reading choice menu get an ice cream treat from us in the fall)
• Math Fact Practice Sheets
• Our public library's summer reading program information
• Our addresses for students to write us letters over the summer
• Suggested Reading Lists (I'm hoping to preview some of the books/series on the lists this week to get students motivated)
• Our district's tutor list
• A laminated summer checklist for students to make sure they are reading, writing, and practicing math facts daily.

I'll post more pictures when the bags and folders are complete.  I'll have the SOAR cover page, summer slide information sheet, reading incentive page, and summer writing journal in my TPT store soon!  

Here is how I made the bags-very easy, just took a bit of time with the ironing, but totally worth it.

I ordered cotton totes/bags from Amazon Prime.  I think they were 12 bags for about $11.  I ordered iron on transfer paper for my printer.

I created what I wanted printed on the bags using Microsoft Word.  When I printed it on the transfer sheets, I just checked the "flip horizontally" option (click print and then choose layout).  

I placed the design side down and ironed it on.  I put the iron on the highest cotton setting and placed  a towel under the bag. I ironed for about a minute making sure the iron was moving constantly.  After doing this on my counter for a few bags, I had my husband grab a piece of wood to use instead because the counters were getting pretty hot.

I let the bag cool for a minute and then peeled the backing off.

And that's it!  Tomorrow, the students will paint their bags.  I'm keeping it super simple and using acrylic paint and q-tips.  

Here is my sample:)

I'll give them a day to dry and put their completed SOAR folders in the bags for them to take home!  I'm hoping this helps motivate them (and their families) to incorporate some reading into those carefree, relaxing summer days!

*UPDATE: Here are a few of the completed bags.  They LOVED doing this and were very motivated about summer reading!  I will definitely being doing these again next year!

How We Can Support Our Inattentive Students

No, not the Common Core.  No, not the long hours or lack of bathroom breaks.  No, not the state evaluation system or the endless meetings.  No, not the parents or the large class sizes. No, not the differentiated instruction or assessments. For me, knowing how to best help students with self-control/attention issues has probably always been one of the biggest challenges.

Because it impacts me on a daily basis, I'm curious about the causes of inattention.  Maturity? Nutrition? Overstimulation from a culture of TV and video games?  Lack of discipline and a shift in parenting styles?  Environment factors?   Lack of exercise?  Are children starting school at too young of an age?  Is our classroom structure and style not supporting these children enough?  What is causing so many students to struggle with inattention in the classroom?  And even more relevant to what I do, how can we help these students maximize their potential?

I recently saw this article about the impact of delaying entry to kindergarten and the effect that this has on inattention/hyperactivity.  The article reports about the recent research findings done by Thomas Dee of Stanford University and Hans Henrick Sieversten of The Danish National Centre for Social Research.  Very interesting!  The researches state that:

“We found that delaying kindergarten for one year reduced inattention and hyperactivity by 73 percent for an average child at age 11 and it virtually eliminated the probability that an average child at that age would have an ‘abnormal,’ or higher-than-normal rating for the inattentive-hyperactive behavioral measure.”

You can read The Washington Post article here or Stanford's Center for Education Policy Analysis paper entitled The Gift of Time? School Starting Age and Mental Health here.

Every child is different and blooms in their own time (the first theme I teach my first graders each year from Leo the Late Bloomer).  I think when discussing the benefit of delaying entry into kindergarten, the expectations must be considered (along with the individual strengths of the child).  There has been a shift and is seems that kindergarten is the "old first grade. " I've sensed disappointment from so many parents (not in my district, but through my reading) that kindergarten isn't about hands-on learning, playing, exploring, and socialization any more.  I hear complaints of worksheets and expectations of sitting and listening for time periods that may beyond what is developmentally appropriate.  The trend now is to delay starting kindergarten.  Wait until they are mature enough to sit and listen and do real academic learning-because that's what is expected now.

While I'm not arguing the point of delaying entry into kindergarten, I do think it's important for us as teachers-especially primary teachers-to reflect on the environment we are creating.  We have to find a way to make their learning experiences more than sitting, listening, watching, and doing worksheets.  It just isn't working.  At least not for every student.

I came across an article from the New York Times about the value of play in learning.  It also brings up several interesting points about early instruction.

The idea seems obvious: Starting sooner means learning more; the early bird catches the worm.

But a growing group of scientists, education researchers and educators say there is little evidence that this approach improves long-term achievement; in fact, it may have the opposite effect, potentially slowing emotional and cognitive development, causing unnecessary stress and perhaps even souring kids’ desire to learn.

And another interesting point:

Jay Giedd, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Diego, has spent his career studying how the human brain develops from birth through adolescence; he says most kids younger than 7 or 8 are better suited for active exploration than didactic explanation. “The trouble with over-structuring is that it discourages exploration,” he says.

Reading, in particular, can’t be rushed. It has been around for only about 6,000 years, so the ability to transform marks on paper into complex meaning is not pre-wired into the brain. It doesn’t develop “naturally,” as do other complex skills such as walking; it can be fostered, but not forced. 

You can read the entire article here.

While I don't think the school day should be filled with painting and playing (and not much more), I do think our classrooms should offer engaging, creative, and authentic learning experiences.  And I don't think it should end in kindergarten.  It might seem to the students that they are playing and having fun.  Painting, singing, and creativity can be integrated into academic lessons.  It doesn't have to be one or the other.  When we design these types of classrooms and these types of lessons, it benefits all of our students.  But it especially benefits those that struggle with attention and self-control.

I can't control when a parent decides to send their child to kindergarten and I can't control the government standards I am required to teach. But I do have control over so much and that's where I put my energy.  Maybe I'm naive or completely off base, but I believe that the biggest factor in a child's academic growth is the teacher.  And as a teacher, I need to believe that.  It is easy to get trapped and weighted down by the negativity, decisions we don't agree with, and sometimes less than ideal circumstances we are faced with.  But there are teachers that no matter what you throw at them- large class sizes, students from low-income families, gifted students, students with behavior issues,  inattentive students, they get their students to learn.  They find a way to make it work.  I strive to always be that teacher.

And although a student's diet is one of those factors I cannot control, I still find it valuable to be aware of potential causes/solutions, like diet.   I find it especially helpful when conferencing with parents who are looking for strategies to help their inattentive children.  (It does drive me a little crazy when I watch my most distracted students eat their school breakfast of Cocoa Puffs, maybe a Trix Cereal Bar, and chocolate milk.)  The article Better Academic Performance-Is Nutrition the Missing Link? can be found here.

It has great information about the links between our nutrional choices and academic performance.  It specifically looks at breakfast, sugar-based beverages, fruit & vegetable intake, and diet quality.  And although I just mentioned a child's diet is out of my control, the following piece from the article made me think through a little nutrition education and the policies I have for snacks and parties, I may be able to make a small impact.

Schools may see health promotion and nutrition education activities as being lower priorities than core curriculum subjects, particularly with a growing focus on standardized testing and the No Child Left Behind Act. However, it’s important for schools to realize that these are complimentary rather than conflicting priorities.

Allocating time for nutrition education, incorporating health promotion into school activities, and improving school breakfast and lunch offerings are ways to improve children’s health and academic performance.

Our inattentive students face a risk of not reaching their highest academic potential.  The task of determining what causes this may be complex, but there are many things we can do in our classrooms to support these students.

• Design engaging lessons.  Make it meaningful for your students.  
• Use Brain Breaks.  There are all kinds of these out there.  You can go to brain-breaks.com, gonoodle.com, or just search for Brain Breaks or Just Dance Kids video on youtube.
• Be aware of how much time you are expecting the students to sit and listen.  The research says one minute for each year of their age.
• Consider implementing small group instruction.  Often students can better attend in a small group setting-especially when the content is differentiated.  Plus small groups usually means students are up and about at different centers.  This movement is helpful for inattentive students.
• When you have the opportunity, discuss healthy food choices.
• Use visual reminders.  This can be done class wide or some students may benefit from individual visual supports on their desk.
• Chunk their work.  
• Use timers.  Sand timers expensive and can be effective.  The Time Timers (disappearing red) are especially helpful with special needs students and students that struggle with attention.
• Use fidget objects, weighted balls and bumpy seats.
• Allow them to stand when working or if you are up for it, try a ball chair.
• Have a space in the room that is free of distractions and allow inattentive students to work there if they choose.
• Be compassionate.  These students can be frustrating for teachers because they often shout-out, interrupt lessons, don't follow directions, can't sit still, having trouble completing assignments, etc.  But they don't want to be doing those things.  Can you imagine how that feels?  When dealing with them during frustrating times, show compassion.  

Giving Time for Authentic Reading

The level of engagement of my students is one of the biggest factors in their success.  For some of my students, attending and focusing comes naturally.  They don't have to work extremely hard.  Typically, those students do well.  However, the students that have difficulty with self-control and focusing are more likely to struggle academically.  (And it seems every year, this problem becomes more prevalent).  These students-especially-require lessons that will engage them.  They do well when they are actively involved in constructing meaning through authentic learning opportunities.  And as their teacher, I know I am more motivated and effective when I'm leading them in this type of learning.  (You can read more about my plea to not standardize teaching here).  Reading is such an important skill to ensure that we are making it meaningful and authentic for our students.

All year long we have been working on Reciprocal Teaching's comprehension strategies in my class.  We directly teach the strategies.  We model them.  We provide opportunities to apply them.  The goal is for our students to use these strategies independently when they are reading.  We teach and model them explicitly so that eventually it (hopefully) becomes second nature to the students.

I think sometimes, it can be easy to neglect the need for these tasks to be authentic for the students.  I strive to provide these opportunities consistently to my students.  I don't think there ever could be enough.

As the school year is coming to a close, I wanted to choose a theme that would make us think of summer vacation.  Throughout the year, when I ask individual students what they enjoy reading about or what they would like to learn more about, so many answer with sharks.  I think Shark Week has done wonders with their fascination.  So, sharks it is!

I came prepared with a bag full of nonfiction books (to start) about sharks.  We began with the trusted KWL chart.  Yes, it's been around forever.  Yes, if used incorrectly, it might not do much to improve student comprehension.  But I still find it to be a powerful tool in my classroom.

We started by charting a list of things we THINK we know about sharks.  (Darn, I forgot to take a picture of that slide.)

And naturally through our discussion, students started to ask questions.  Then I reminded them that they are doing great things when they are asking questions.  Good readers ask questions before reading (and during and after as well).  Then they get all proud of themselves, and come up with LOTS of questions.  I jotted some of them down.  

Then we talked about what types of books will help us find the answer.  Fiction or Nonfiction.  We discussed the author's purpose for both.  We reviewed the nonfiction text features.

Then I pull out the pile of nonfiction books.  This is when I know it's working.  They begin to gradually creep over toward the edge of the carpet where the books are waiting for them.  I have to hold them off from grabbing the books.  They literally can't wait.  I explain their task of summarizing as they read and clarifying unknown words.  (They were provided with a graphic organizer to write at least 3 important facts and an index card to write unknown words).  Then they are off.  My easily distracted students are more focused than ever.  They are excited to read and learn about a topic that is important to them.  I walk around to observe and provide support where it is needed.  I love when I feel like I'm more of a facilitator of learning.  It just feels right when my students are the ones doing the "work" and most of the lesson doesn't involve ME talking, modeling, reading, etc.  If I want them to improve their reading skills and use of comprehension strategies, then it makes sense that a lot of time in the classroom should be given for them to do just that.

We came back together as a whole group to share some of the words that needed clarification.  Without me even prompting them, students started looking in their glossaries or finding the sentence in the book to help give us some context clues.  We discussed the importance of knowing when we don't understand something (metacognition).

We also shared some of the important facts they found when summarizing during their reading.

Could all of this have been done with a selection from our language arts series or a Scholastic News article?  Absolutely.  There is nothing wrong with either of those.  However, I do think the fact that they were reading on a topic of their choice in a book of their choice makes it much more of an authentic learning experience for them.  And in  my experience authentic=engaging=learning.

I'm working on plans to carry this over into our last week of school.  Maybe a beach theme on the last day?  I already checked out some fiction books that have a shark as a main character.  We will see what the Dollar Store and Amazon Prime can offer-hoping for some deals on an inflatable pool, beach towels & maybe some rafts for cozy reading spots.  Stay tuned!

A Plea Against Standardizing Our Art of Teaching

Teaching is demanding.  There is no debate about that.  The hours we are required to work during the school day are filled obviously with teaching students.  Contractual time not spent with students is often filled with meetings, lunch duty, returning parent emails, and on a good day, some planning time.  But that is only a fraction of the job.  Any teacher knows, that in order for all of those hours we spend with students to be effective, there are hours and hours of planning.  This might sound like a complaint, but actually it's not.

The hours of planning is what I love.  You see, one of the reasons I love my job the most is the creativity that I get to pour into my lesson design.  I truly believe that one of the most influential factors of my students' success, is their level of engagement.  That level of engagement doesn't just happen.  It is crafted.  I have to use my knowledge of individual students' strengths, needs, and learning styles.  I rely on data from assessments.  I consider which teaching strategies would be most effective and which curriculum resources to utilize. I spend hours of my time on Pinterest and reading other teachers' blogs for inspiration.  I read articles and occasionally books to learn more about effective practices and the latest research.  I love coming up with something completely different than I did the year before.  I love designing and creating materials (or searching on TPT when I'm pressed for time) that will engage my students.  Putting all of this together takes a lot of thought and planning.  This is the art of teaching.  The art of teaching is what I love.

I get nervous that with all the standardizing, that this will slowly trickle down to teaching being overly standardized.  Every teacher doing the same lesson on the same day using the same materials.  I sometimes laugh when I'm showing the interactive math tutorial on the smartboard because I feel like I'm slowly being replaced.  The little cartoon bird is doing it all for me.  Any person could walk into the class and pick up my manual and teach. (Or so it seems).

But, I don't open to page 37 in the teacher's guide and become a robot.  I don't think I could teach any more if I had to become a robot.  It might be easier, but it's not what's best for my students.  The latest research based math or language art series wasn't designed specifically for my students.  The extremely knowledgable and capable group of people that wrote these curriculums often have all the boxes checked for what seems like ideal lessons and units: diagnostic assessments, clear objectives, technology integration, differentiated centers and worksheets, formative assessments, summative assessments, and the list goes on.  But any teacher knows that it is much more complex than that.  You can be a robot, but you won't reach all of your students.

It is up to me to make the curriculum work for my individual students.  The curriculum is a resource to me-some more valuable than others.  But I don't let it rob me of the joy and the art of teaching.  I don't let it rob my students of engaging and meaningful learning.

I am so fortunate to work in a district that "gets it."  I have worked under several principals in my building and every single one of them supported, encouraged, and trusted their teachers to be the "experts."  Yes, we are required to use district adopted curriculum, but we are still given the freedom to make it our own for the benefit of our individual students.  

But I know not everyone is as fortunate.  I know there are other teachers who are under much stricter guidelines.  And I imagine those teachers are not feeling very energized and motivated.  And worse, I imagine that their students feel the same way.

My energy and excitement comes across to my students.  They can sense my passion for teaching and learning.  They love when I'm animated.  They love when we actually make applesauce to anchor our informative how to writing.  They love when I check out 30 nonfiction books on sharks from the library for us to apply our comprehension strategy of asking questions before, during and after reading because they can't wait to dive into those books and find the answers.  They love when I bring in a french fry (or more) for them to eat if they promise to remember the phonics rule for y at the end of one syllable words like fry.  They love when I give them differentiated task cards that I created just for them in small group math.  They love when I bring in beach balls to practice reading ea words.  They love when they are doing multiplication and division problems, but it's not anywhere in our math books.  They love when I make an effort to make their learning meaningful to them.

Yes, we do some of the workbook problems.  We follow the sequence.  We use the common assessments.  But we do so much more.  And we learn so much more.  Don't make me be a robot.  I know more than that cute, little cartoon bird. (Well, at least on some days:)