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Mariely
Creative Teacher

A place to reflect, share achievements, and list creative ideas encountered in the day to day classroom. Custom graphics on this page by Rajiv www.rajivsgraphics.com

 
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New Blog
by: Mariely, 07-02-2010

I have finally set up my new blog and will no longer be making any more new posts in this one. You may visit my new blog at: http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/blog.php?u=6340

Thanks to everyone who kept up with this blog and apologies for leaving it all alone for a while. See you at the new blog!

PS - Some of the posts in this blog have been merged into the new blog to keep all of the resourceful information intact. However, this blog contains comments that are valuable as well. A link to this blog will also be found on the new one. Take care!

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Young Writer's Survival Kit (Part 2)
by: Mariely, 01-04-2010

If you haven't had a chance to stop by Melissa Forney's website to download this great writing resource please do so before November 1. Go to www.melissaforney.com and look for the Young Writer's Survival Kit link right on her home page. It's a PDF file so save it right into your computer.

She will be removing this resource from her site after November 1, 2009.

Also, if you've downloaded it before, download it again to replace your previous file since she made a correction to one of the pages.

I hope you enjoy this great resource!

4 Comments

Young Writer's Survival Kit
by: Mariely, 01-05-2010

As mentioned before on my blog from the Melissa Forney Writing Conference Summer '09 post, the Young Writer's Survival Guide is finally available for download!

If you are interested in downloading it, head on over to Melissa Forney's Website at www.melissaforney.com. She has a link for it right on her home page. Just look for the words NEW FREE HANDOUT FOR DOWNLOAD and click on the green words "Young Writer's Survival Kit". You can also find it in her Free Handouts section. It's in full color and I can't wait for you take this opportunity on a wonderful writing resource.

19 Comments

Reward Coupons
by: Mariely, 08-15-2009

About a year ago I decided to create my own reward coupons so that I could save on the cost of buying rewards for my students. I decided to update my original file and include it on my blog so that other teachers may be able to use them if they are interested.

There are eight coupons per page and a total of 27 pages (27 coupons) to use. I created them in black and white so they are easier to copy. I copy my coupons on various sheets of color paper. The color of the coupon matches a price category the coupon belongs to.

My students are able to use their "Fin" dollars (earned in our classroom economy) in order to purchase coupons they want. I also award free coupons to students who consistently demonstrate super behavior and consistently turn in their homework.

Since the file is too big to attach to this post, I am providing a direct link to the PDF file of the reward coupons. I hope other teachers may find these coupons useful in their classrooms. Enjoy!

17 Comments

The 12 Steps of the Writing Process
by: Mariely, 08-11-2009

I wanted to post some additional information I gathered from Melissa Forney's Writing Conference. Here's her 12 Steps of the Writing Process.
  1. Think It
  2. Talk It
  3. Do It
  4. Draw It
  5. Explain It
  6. Gather Vocabulary & Put Money in the Bank
  7. Watch Modeling
  8. Write It
  9. Revise It
  10. Read it Aloud
  11. Edit It
  12. Share It
To explain the process a bit further I'm going to combine my notes from this summer's writing conference and last summer's writing conference.

Step 1: Think It
Students need some time to think about what they are going to write, so we must give them time to think about the topic.

Step 2: Talk It
Thinking and talking go hand in hand. Kids need to talk with their peers, with older kids, with younger kids, and with adults. The more opportunities we give them to talk about what they are going to write the better prepared they'll be when they start writing. Talking gives them an opportunity to brainstorm.

Step 3: Do It
Whenever possible, teachers should add a "do it" element where kids get to do a hands-on activity related to their writing. Whether it's giving them Pop Rocks to help them understand, grasp, and use sizzling words, or allow them to make butter and write about it. In the beginning of the year students can make a name bracelet and write about the day they made a name bracelet. The hands on experience will allow students to add more vivid details to their writing.

Step 4: Draw It
Students can make a quick little sketch using stick figures to help them picture what they will write about. Iconic drawings and stick figures can be easily and quickly done before students start to write as part of their prewriting activities. There are three important reasons why this step should not be skipped:
1. This step forces kids to focus and provides an anchor for their writing.
2. It is stimulating to the brain.
3. Drawing links thought with words and emotions with words.

Step 5: Explain It
Explaining requires reasons, examples, descriptions, quotes, anecdotes, samples. When students explain their drawings or what they will write to others it allows them to defend what they are writing and persuade their readers. A neat activity to engage students in explaining their drawings is the following:
  • Give each student an envelope
  • Play the "Mission Impossible" theme song
  • The teacher puts on sunglasses and tells students that they have a mission. Their mission, if they choose to accept it, is to explain their picture to someone in the school (another teacher, a faculty member, an administrator). The teacher can set up appointments with these people ahead of time. Or just allow the student to explain it to someone else in their class.

Step 6: Gather Vocabulary & Put Money in the Bank
This is a very important step for students. Sometimes we expect for them to use mature and sizzling vocabulary but students just don't have "money in the bank" (words in their brain). So what we do as teachers is help them gather vocabulary so they can put money in their memory banks. Take a topic like "Ocean/Beach." You would first tell students to think about other words they can use instead of Ocean/Beach to talk about the ocean/beach. This is done so that when readers read their papers, they don't see a whole bunch of oceans throughout their papers. Students will work with a partner or group to come up with other words. Then students will share out so the teacher can create an even bigger word bank for other words for Ocean/Beach. Here's a list for other words to use instead of Ocean/Beach:
  • seashore
  • enchanted sandy seaside
  • surf
  • deep blue sea
  • fisherman's paradise
  • salty swimming hole
  • the sunny lagoon
  • the living sea
  • serene expanse of water
  • liquid topaz
  • nautical arena
  • kaleidoscope of blues
  • mermaid's heaven
  • salty reservoir
  • sliding blanket of blue green
  • sandy playground
  • seagull's domain
  • hypnotic waves of blue
The teacher simply gathers the vocabulary from the students before they write. The teacher can then type the list in the computer on small pieces of papers to hand to students so they can keep it in their writer's notebook and use it as a resource when writing about the topic.

Step 7: Watch Modeling
The teacher doesn't have to model an entire piece of writing. The teacher may choose to model one or two sentences or a section of the writing. Students then use what they learn from the modeling when they are ready to write their papers.

Step 8: Write It
Now the students are ready to write. As the students write, the teacher walks around the classroom to assist students as needed. The teacher may also choose to validate student's writing attempts by simply stamping their paper, hole-punching and placing a curling ribbon on the edge of their paper, placing a stick-on jewel on their paper, etc. The teacher should be up and about encouraging and offering help when needed.

Step 9: Revise It
We call revision making the BIG changes. Students are told to revise their papers by adding more, describing more, changing a boring word into a sizzling word, adding a writing skills on purpose, etc.

Step 10: Read it Aloud
Students are given the opportunity to read their writing aloud either to themselves or to buddy up with another teacher or student. This will also allow students to continue revising their papers.

Step 11: Edit It
We call editing making the small changes. The small changes include capitalization, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Step 12: Share It
Teachers can be creative with this step whether it's making a class book, posting the writing in a blog, making an audio tape of students reading their writing, etc.

Melissa Forney's 12 Steps of the Writing Process will help students arm themselves with the knowledge and information they need in order to produce wonderful pieces of writing.

7 Comments

Melissa Forney Writing Conference Summer '09
by: Mariely, 08-11-2009

Two weeks ago I had the great priviledge of attending my third Melissa Forney Writing Conference. She is a dear friend and an inspiration to me as well as other teachers. I learned a great deal from the conference and I would like to share some of that information on this blog.

Day 1: Writing a Beginning, Grabbers, Middle, Ending, and Zingers

WRITING A BEGINNING
Melissa had us practice writing a beginning to different topics she gave us. Each time we wrote a beginning to a topic, she asked us to share it, and then share out. She helped us differentiate between a grabber and a beginning and told us to only write a beginning for the sake of this activity. Afterwards, she asked us to write a new beginning to the same topic. She had us repeat this process about two to three times. It was a great revision activity and a great way to help students learn that there are different ways of saying the same thing.

Here's an example of a topic she gave us: Living in Florida

Here are the beginning sentences I came up with:


Try 1: Sunny beaches, a variety of people, Disney World...these are some qualities I love about living in Florida.
  • This was a pretty good first attempt except that I have a grabber in the beginning and we were only supposed to focus on writing a beginning only. Melissa just wanted to make sure we knew how to write a beginning that was short, to the point, and introduced the topic.
Try 2: Living in Florida has been the adventure of a lifetime.
  • This was also a great second attempt. Melissa then told us that when we write a beginning, we shouldn't have to pass judgment. This information helped us for our next try.
Try 3: Florida is the place I call home.
  • This beginning is short, to the point, it introduces the topic, and doesn't pass judgment.
Here are some of the tips we learned about writing beginnings:
  1. The beginning should be straight to the point.
  2. Don't over think your beginning and steal words from the prompt to use in it. You need to use words from the prompt. Some words may be substituted but it should have the same meaning as the original word.
  3. Write the topic sentence/begining first before writing the grabber.
  4. There are different ways of saying the same thing.
  5. The beginning should clearly introduce the topic.
  6. Topic sentence/beginning needs to be person and definite.
WRITING GRABBERS
Here's a list of the different types of grabbers we went over:
  • A humorous statement
  • A shocking statement
  • Dialogue
  • Onomatopoeia
  • A rhetorical question (an important question that makes you think)
  • Scenario
  • Opinion
  • Comparison
A grabber invites the reader to keep reading your paper. It may be general in contrast with the topic sentence/beginning which is specific.

Melissa then had us go back to our original topics we used when practicing how to write a beginning. We then had to create a grabber to go along with the beginnings we had written. Here's the grabber I wrote to the same topic from above using the beginning I wrote on my third try:

Picture this: Sunny beaches, warm wather, and Mickey Mouse as your neighbor. Florida is the place I call home.

Here is another great examples written by one of the participants using onomatopoeia and alliteration:

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle. Hot feet hopping across sand. I live in South Florida where the sun shines every day.


Some tips we learned about grabbers include:
  1. Don't replace the beginning/topic sentence
  2. Grabbers are the wrapping paper and the bow of your writing. The topic sentence/beginning is the nuggest inside.
  3. Grabbers get your attention without giving away the middle.
  4. Grabbers keep you in suspense.
WRITING THE MIDDLE
The middle is the biggest part of your writing. If it's a Narrative middle it needs to tell a story and must include sequencing and the passing of time, as well as lots of details the reader can picture.

An Expository middle needs to contain details, examples, samples, reasons, logic, facts, quotes, personal experience, opinion, and a testimony from an expert.

It is important that your middle contains writing other people can picture. This is done through descriptive words and details. Be sure to not go on and on and linger on information that is not needed. Go right into the story.

Melissa then had us write a middle to the topic of an embarrassing moment. After we wrote, she asked us to read our paper aloud (everyone at the same time) and as we read our paper we had to look for places in our writing that needed to be revised. If we found a spot for revision, we had to raise our hand so she can count how many people were revising each time using a counter (the one you hold on your hand and just click away). We read our papers about four times and at the end she showed us how many hands she counted going up for revisions. It was an amazing strategy and one I plan on using this school year.

WRITING AN ENDING
The ending needs to pass judgment and needs to tell the reader your most important thought about the topic.

Melissa gave us an opportunity to try writing an ending to our embarrassing moment paper. We then shared our ending with our partners and had some share outs before moving on to Zingers.

WRITING A ZINGER
A zinger is a statement that makes the reader think, smile, or feel. It comes after an ending.

We practiced writing a zinger to our ending and again, we shared with our partners, and then had a couple of share outs.

We didn't share our writing until the second day, but below you will find my embarrassing moment writing paper which shows a grabber in the beginning, the short and to the point topic sentence, the middle, my ending, and the zinger.

My Sample Writing Paper - Topic: An Embarrassing Moment

"Come on Ms. Sanchez. Limbo with us." Little did I know this was an invitation for disaster. What happened next was the most embarrassing moment my students will never forget.

The end of the school year was at hand and our fourth grade class decided to celebrate with a Luau themed party. Our classroom was the designated Limbo room. Students came dressed in their brigh tropical clothing all covered in flowery leis. The sounds of uplifting, island music filled the air and set the mood for Limbo. "How low can you go? How low can you go?" were the chants circulating around the room. It wasn't long before students were inviting me to join them. I thought, "Oh why not. Everyone's having fun. Let me give it a try." To my surprise I was able to successfully pass under the Limbo stick the first time and I was beaming with pride. "This isn't so bad," I said to myself. I decided to give it another shot and you won't believe what happened next! As I made my way under the stick once more, my flip flots slid on the carpet forcing both my legs to slide in opposite directions as if I was a cheerleader performing a clumsy split and then...KERPLUNK! I fell flat on my rear end in front of all my students. As they gasped and chuckled, I instantly tuned beet red. I was humiliated and wanted to hide under a rock. Instead, I decided to laugh along with the students. Nevermind that my body ached like a locomotive had smashed into me and that I had no clue as to how I was going to get up. As I laughed along with my students, I tried to turn my embarrassing moment into a humurous event fit for American's Most Funniest Videos.

Next time I decide to Limbo in front of a class of fourth graders, I'll make sure I try it barefoot instead. You better believe I don't want to repeat that beet red face moment ever again.

Towards the end of the first day, Melissa gave us the materials to create our manipulative titled "Young Writer's Survival Kit." We took it home and started to put it together.

Day 2: Young Writer's Survival Kit, Teddy Bodain's Adventure Quest, Reader's Theatre, Q&A

YOUNG WRITER'S SURVIVAL KIT
We began the second day by finishing up putting together the Young Writer's Survival Kit. In a couple of weeks, Melissa will have a PDF file of the survival kit on her website for free. Be sure to check out www.melissaforney.com to download a copy for yourself when it's available.


Here are some of the highlights featured in the Young Writer's Survival Kit:
  • Where ideas come from?
  • The 12 Steps of the Writing Process
    • Melissa went through each step and had us practice some of them during the conference.
  • Sentence Variety
    • Melissa asked us to please teach this and the activity we did the first day with changing our beginnings to the same topic two or three times was a good activity to teach sentence variety.
  • Emergecy Landing
    • These are emergency endings that students can memorize (two or three) to use when they only have 5 minutes left on their state writing test and need to end their writing.
  • Writing Skills
    • We should teach about 8 to 10 of these a year so students are able to use them in their writing. Fourth grade students should use 6-7 writing skills in their writing.
  • Writer's Checklist
There are many more pages that the Writing Kit includes. There are a total of 68 pages filled with grade writing information.

TEDDY BODAIN'S ADVENTURE QUEST
This was one of the free books Melissa gave us for attending the conference. It goes together with The Astonishing Journey of Teddy Bodain which is the free book we obtained during last year's conference. It is filled with fun Language Arts activities that can be used in the classroom while reading about Teddy's journey. In the book she highlighted on some Reader's Theatres scripts which we performed in the conference. She also gave us a glimpse on part two of the Teddy Bodain story which she is currently writing.

I had a wonderful time at the conference and I was able to take so much from it. I thank Melissa for allowing me to attend and for being such a great inspiration.

6 Comments

Reciprocal Teaching
by: Mariely, 08-14-2009

A couple of teachers have communicated with me through my website with regards to Reciprocal Teaching. As a result of their questions, I've decided to include the information I shared with them, in addition to other resources I recently found, on my blog as a resource for me and other teachers who may be interested.

I initally learned about the Reciprocal Teaching Strategy while completing one of my reading endorsement courses a few years ago. Reciprocal Teaching is a reading comprehension strategy meant to help students become more independent during reading. The strategy is first introduced by having the teacher model each step in the process and doing it along with the students until students are able to take ownership of the strategy and use it independently. The Reciprocal Teaching strategy has four parts which are: Predication, Clarify, Question, and Summarize. My school district added a fifth part to the process called Visualize or Make a Picture.

As a result of my reading endorsement class, I created a set of reciprocal teaching cards that are used by the students while implementing the strategy. Along with the cards, I created a reciprocal teaching worksheet which the students may use when using the strategy in a small group independently. This worksheet may also be used as an assessment tool.

You may find these documents here:

Reciprocal Teaching Cards
Reciprocal Teaching Worksheet


I used the reciprocal cards by printing about 5 or 6 sets on various color paper (enough so that each student could get one card). I laminated these so they would last a long time. During a reading lesson, whether it was a reading passage or a story from the basal, I would give each student one card. Before reading, I would call on a student with a prediction card to give a prediction. I would say, "Whoever has the yellow prediction card, make a prediction." That student will then use one of the sentence frames on the card to help them make a prediction or they could make a prediction without using the sentence frames. The sentence frames on the card are there to help the students if they need it. After the student makes the prediction, we would continue reading. It's up to the teacher how much students will read before stopping to continue with the process. Students could read a paragraph or two, or a page. Wherever the teacher chooses to stop, the process would continue with the following:
  1. The teacher would ask students to look through what they have read and find any words they don't know or are not sure what they mean. The teacher would then say, "Would the student who has the yellow clarify card, share with the class a word you don't know or are not sure of." The teacher would then help the student go through the steps on the card to try and figure out what the word means as used in the story/passage.
  2. Continue by asking the student with the yellow summarize card to give a short summary of what the class has just read.
  3. Then ask the student with the yellow make a picture card to share what they pictured in their mind as they read that portion of the text.
  4. Afterwards, the teacher would ask another student with a prediction card (for example you can call the student with the blue prediction card) to make a prediction about what will happen next in the story.
  5. The process would continue until all students have had a chance to participate.
Another way teachers could use the cards is in small groups of 6 students. One of the students could be the "Teacher" using the Teacher/Leader card to help guide the group in the reading discussion. This is the activity where the Reciprocal Teaching Worksheet would be used as an accountability tool for the students and as an assessment tool if the teachers desires to use it that way.

For the past two years, I've used reciprocal teaching in a different way. I hardly used the cards. I instead had students fold a piece of white paper in half (vertical - hot dog style) and then in thirds so that when they opened it they had 6 boxes. I then instructed them to label it the following way:

Top Row from Left to Right: Background Knowledge, Prediction, Clarify

Bottom Row from Left to Right: Visualize, Question, Summary

In the Background Knowledge box I had students write anything they knew about the topic we were going to read about. In the Prediction box they wrote down their predictions based on the cover of the story and/or title. I sometimes used the Prediction Card to help students with starting their predictions. In the Clarify box I sometimes had students write a few words they didn't know and then had them figure out what the words meant using the steps on the Clarify card. Other times, I would just give students 2 or 3 words I really wanted them to know and we would use the steps on the Clarify card to figure out the meaning of the words. I always left the Visualize box for the end because students spent too much time in drawing their pictures. I just had them go to the Question box and either let them write a teacher-like question that they needed to answer or I gave them a question to answer in that box. They would then go to the Summary box and write a one-sentence summary about what they read. Once they had all the other boxes completed, I would then let them complete the Visualize box by simply drawing a specific part of the story they pictured in their minds or I would guide them in what part of the story I wanted them to visualize.


Below I have listed some additional resources I found online about Reciprocal Teaching:

9 Comments

1 Attachment(s) Word Walls (Part 2)
by: Mariely, 07-10-2009

On to more information about word walls. Yes, being a fourth grade teacher I do have and use a word wall in my classroom. I organize my word wall using the parts of speech which help my students with their writing. There are various types of activities that can be done on a daily basis with a word wall. I'm attaching a document to this post which addresses how to use word walls in the classroom.

Please feel free to share other word wall activities you use in your classroom as well as how you use word walls. Thank you for stopping by!

Please click on "Comments" to view the attachment.

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1 Attachment(s) Word Walls (Part 1)
by: Mariely, 07-09-2009

I just read a post on Word Walls and I was reminded about some information I had posted on ProTeacher years ago regarding the topic. So I thought about posting the information here to share with others and to also keep it in my arsenal of references and resources.

The following is based on information about Word Walls that I acquired after attending an incredible Reading Institute for teachers at the University of Miami back in 2006.

Word Walls are an essential part of the literate classroom environment. Word Walls foster and support the development of written language. Word Walls should also be interactive by allowing students to complete Word Wall related activities on a daily basis.

Word Walls may be organized in various formats. A common organization for word walls is placing words in alphabetical order. In the upper grades, however, word walls may be organized based on parts of speech for example. Regardless of the organization of the word wall, teachers should include words that are meaningful to the learning content of the classroom. Some suggested word listings include:
  • High-frequency words (especially for lower grades and Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students)
  • Vivid Verbs
  • Conjunctions or Magic Words as I call them (e.g. when, unless, while, although, if, because)
  • Transitional Words/Phrases
  • Specific Vocabulary (e.g., other words for "said", "good", "pretty")
  • Examples of descriptive language (e.g., similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, sensory words)
  • Vocabulary related to lesson
  • Tier-2 vocabulary words (e.g., as mentioned in Bringing Words to Life by Beck & McKeown)
  • Important, irregular, confusing words
  • Words needed to develop automaticity
In my district, word walls are a non-negotiable part of instruction. All elementary teachers are required to have a word wall and have students use it on a daily basis, making it interactive. Teachers are also instructed to be very stingy with their word walls and to only add no more than 5 words a week. These five words need to be instroduced to the students every week and they need to be engaged in activities related to these five words and to other words on the word wall. As the year progresses, teachers may take down words that students have "mastered" in order to allow room for new words.

I'm attaching a document on word walls to this post. I have another document on how to use a word wall that I'll attach in my next post.

As far as how to introduce word walls in the beginning of the year, you should start by including words related to "Back to School" that will be meaningful for the students to know. If you are teaching a Kindergarten or First grade class, you can also include the student's names on the word wall. One thing is for sure, you should NEVER start out the year with a Word Wall FULL of words. Words should be added progressively throughout the year. Again, a maximum of 5 words per week. It's ok if during the first week of school you decide to include your student's names and have more than 5 words on your word wall, but make sure that each week after that you only add a maximum of 5 essential words.

Word Wall words will come from the lessons you are teaching that week. They do not all have to be spelling words and you should not include all spelling words in your word wall. Only include those high-frequency, Tier-2, "important" words your students need to know in order to increase automaticity.

Please click on "Comments" to view the attachment.

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Ocean Theme
by: Mariely, 07-06-2009

I have decided to use the Ocean Theme in my classroom this year for a couple of reasons...
  1. My school's mascot is the dolphin.
  2. Our school has a Marine Science theme.
  3. I've done the theme before and I needed to think of something that wouldn't cost me a lot of money.
  4. It's a theme I can use for years to come.
  5. I love it!
Ok...so now on to what I have already brainstormed

BULLETIN BOARDS: Some titles I'm currently pondering...

Word Wall
An Ocean of Words
Our Sea of Words

Student Work Bulletin Board
"Sea" Our Great Work
Splashing Great Work
Look Who's Work Made "A" Splash!

Math Word Wall
Hooked on Math
A School of Math Words

Writing Bulletin Board (displaying students' writing)
Catching Great Writers
Writing Treasure Trove
Riding the Writing Wave
A Treasure Trove of Writers

Social Studies (showcasing our state: Florida)
The Sunshine State

Core Values (for core value student of the month)
Sailing Away with Core Values

If I come up with more ideas I will post them. I would also appreciate any suggestions or comments.


OTHER IDEAS:
  • D.O.L.P.H.I.N. Folders
    I used DOLPHIN Binders last year but they were too bulky and the students hardly used them. So this year I will use a folder instead which will contain some of the same resources I included in my DOLPHIN Binder. The only difference will be that students will no longer keep their subject area work in there since I collect it myself. Students will also have their clear zip-pouch in their folder to keep their "Fin" Dollars (our classroom currency for our classroom economy).
  • Take "Fin" Home
    I've been meaning to use this idea in previous years but I was not able to kick start it before. This school year I plan to use it from the beginning. I have a special bookbag which contains a stuffed bottlenose dolphin which I named "Fin". The bookbag also contains a composition notebook, crayons, color pencils, a glue stick, and scissors. Students will be chosen to take the bookbag home over the weekend. They are to then write about what they did with Fin while they had him. They write about it in the composition notebook. Every student will have a opportunity to take Fin home, write, and share their experience with the class. It's a great writing activity that I hope the students will enjoy.
  • "Fin" Dollars
    As mentioned before, I have a classroom economy and on our classroom currency I have a dolphin. We call the currency "Fin" Dollars.
  • Ocean Plush Animals
    I was at Target yesterday browsing the dollar section (don't you just love that section). While browsing I discovered six ocean plush animals for only a dollar each. I immediately thought about my theme and how great they would look in our classroom library area. I bought a sting ray, a shark, an orca whale, a pink dolphin, an octopus, and a lobster.
Well, that's all I have thought about so far. If I think of more ideas for this theme, I will post them here. Let me know what you think and if you have any other suggestions. Thanks for stopping by!

2 Comments

Where have I been?
by: Mariely, 07-06-2009

Wow! It's been nearly a year since I've written on my blog. I feel just terrible to have abandoned it so. Last year was a truly busy year, but it was a wonderful year. My students were wonderful and I wish them the best as they go on to 5th grade. Their writing scores were wonderful as well and I was able to implement some writing ideas, strategies, and activities that helped them get a grasp on writing skills. I hope to share those ideas in the weeks to come here on this blog.

Another big life event was that I recently became a first time homeowner. I feel blessed to finally have a home of my own. It's also taken a lot of time and work to fix it and take it to move in conditions. I'm using my summer to do just that and to catch up on my website and blog.

So...what's to come to my blog entries? Here's a preview of some topics I will be posting soon:
  • My New Ocean Classroom Theme
  • Writing Binders
  • Narrative Writing
  • Expository Writing
  • Writing Creativity Skills or Writing Tricks
  • Writer's Notebook
  • Math Instruction
  • State Project
  • Podcasts
  • Classroom Blog

Those are some topics I will be posting in the next few days mostly to reflect on some ideas I have in my head and also to get some opinions from everyone out there. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

0 Comments

Classroom Pictures 2008-2009 School Year
by: Mariely, 08-17-2008

So...it's about to begin...the new 2008-2009 school year. Students go back to school this Monday, August 18. I have been working in my classroom for a week. I don't know how ready I am to start school but I will be as ready as I'm going to be come Monday. I wanted to share some classroom pictures I took since last Friday, August 8. There are some before pictures and some after pictures which I took yesterday, August. 15. Here's the direct link to view the pictures: www.sanchezclass.com/photoalbum-2008-2009


I am doing a "frog" theme this year which you will find on the bulletin board titles. The only thing that is not completely done is my classroom library. I need to finish leveling the books and placing them in their proper spot. I also have to label my baskets. We'll see how I do and how long it will take me since I have lots of books.

Well, thanks for looking and have a wonderful day!

16 Comments

Behavior Documentation
by: Mariely, 07-09-2009

One day I was reading the boards when I stumbled upon a post where a teacher requested an easy form to document student behavior. The post left me thinking and I soon opened up my Word program and began to wave my creativity wand . I came up with three variations of the same form. I'm providing the link to each form below. I would really appreciate any feedback on these forms as well as suggestions to improve them. The links below are for the PDF format of the forms, if you would like to access the Word format of all three different forms, please visit my class site, www.sanchezclass.com, then go to Teacher's Corner and Download Cafe. You will find the Behavior Documentation Forms under Classroom Management. I look forward to reading your suggestions. Have a wonderful day!

Click on the following links to view each form:

3 Comments

1 Attachment(s) Long Time No Post...
by: Mariely, 07-10-2008

To all my readers...I am really sorry for not writing any posts to my blog up until now. This school year has been filled with a lot of offline activities that have taken up much of my time. It has also been a transitional year for me since I'm in a new school. Nevertheless, I'm back and I plan to post as much as I can.

Well, to start, I decided to implement the Classroom Economy in my classroom after all and it's going ok. After implementing it this year, I have decided to continue using it next year but with some modifications. Before I go into the types of modifications I would like to make, I want to explain how I have implemented it this year. Below you will find some information. When I have some more time, I will be opening up a page in my classroom site explaining the entire system, but for now here's a brief description.

Ms. Sanchez' Class - Classroom Economy

At the beginning of the year, I introduced the system to my students and explained how they will get paid through the system. I also took some time to teach them how they would record their earnings/debits. I created a document called the "Credit & Debit Log." It was a simple Word file which I made multiple double-sided copies of so that it could be made into a book. These logs last about 9 weeks before students need a new log. Students record their earnings/debits using tally marks which they then total at the end of the week. The only category students do not place a tally mark themselves, is the Home Learning category (which I take care of). I have attached an example of the log document (PDF file) to this post (please click on comments in order to view the attachment). This document is also available in my website (www.sanchezclass.com) in the Teacher's Corner - Download Cafe.
Students use these Credit/Debit Logs on a daily basis to record the following earnings:
  • Attendance = $1.00/day
    If students are absent, they don't get paid for that day.
  • Behavior = $1.00/day (If card was not changed)

    Home Learning = $1.00/day
  • Cleanliness & Organization = $1.00/day
  • Bonus/Fines = As determined by teacher
  • Classroom Job = salary depends on the job student applied and is hired for.
As far as Classroom Jobs go, all students must fill out a classroom job application which needs to be signed by both the student and the parent before the student is considered for the job. The following is a list of my classroom jobs and the corresponding daily salary:
  • Star Student of the Week = $25/day (Chosen by the Teacher)
  • Team Captains (6 Students) = $20/day
  • Librarian = $20/day
  • Line Leader = $15/day
  • Door Holder = $10/day
I used to have more jobs than these but I thought it was too many jobs, hence the cut in personnel.

Anyway....that's pretty much a brief summary of my current classroom economy. Now...after much thought and reflection about the entire process, I have stumbled upon some issues that I need to resolve or modify. Here are my still pending current issues:
  1. I was only able to host one Classroom Store for my students to use their money in so far this school year. This was mainly because I hosted the first store with my own money and frankly, it was too expensive. I would like to do another Classroom Store, but I just don't have the funds right now and I don't know how the parents will respond if I ask them for help (although I am thinking about asking them).
  2. Paying my students at the end of every week has been difficult for me. I hardly find time for it. I am, however, going to start using a system where I will have the students place their Credit/Debit logs in a labeled basket on Friday mornings so that I can little by little pay them during breaks in the day so they can have their cash by the end of the day.
  3. I really wanted to implement coupons that my students may purchase at any time. For example such coupons like: Homework Pass, Lunch with the Teacher, Sit with a Friend for a Day, etc... This is a great idea since the only thing I'm spending on is paper. Well, I haven't had time to create the coupons and I just need to do them so that my students may take advantage of this. I also think that my students will enjoy the coupons more then spending money in the Classroom Store. Just a thought.
Well, those are pretty much the issues I'm having with the system. I think for next year, I might not do a Classroom Store. Instead, I might just have students use their money to buy the special coupons and to also purchase a spot for a special class event like a class party, movie day, or a special subject/theme day. I don't know...again...just random thoughts that are coming through my mind. The more I think about it, the more posts I will make regarding this idea. Hey...at least it helps me clear my thought and reflect. Well, until my next post. Have a great day!

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5 Attachment(s) Writing Workshop
by: Mariely, 07-24-2009

A few weeks ago I read the book Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi. I would like to say that this was a GREAT resource for learning how to implement a writing workshop into your classroom. Here are some of the things that I learned from the book:
  1. Kids need a regular and predictable time to write.
  2. Writing Workshop should be scheduled at least 3 times a week (preferrably 5 times) for a period of 50 minutes or more.
  3. Setup a place for writers to access writing tools like paper, pencils, notebooks, computers, folders, scissors, tape, stapler, dictionaries, thesauri, word lists, checklists, colored pens, etc.
  4. Create a comfortable place for writing.
  5. Create both short and long term goals for the writing workshop.
  6. Use a writer's notebook
  7. Write with your students
  8. Teachers should also keep a writer's notebook that they write in on a daily basis.
  9. Use read alouds to encourage writing and to set a basis for mini-lessons.
  10. Have procedures in place for when students finish their writing pieces.
  11. Start the workshop with a mini-lesson, proceed to writing time while conferencing with students, and then have a sharing time at the end of the workshop.
  12. Use conferences to determine future mini-lessons.
  13. When conferencing with students remember to: LISTEN, READ, UNDERSTAND, BUILD ON STRENGHTS, and TEACH ONE THING.
  14. Remember to keep conferences short. Try to confer with a total of seven to eight writers.
  15. The Writing Process is non-linear.
  16. Read alouds are extremely important. Make a list of 20 picture books you will read aloud.
  17. Encourage daily independent reading.
  18. Create an editing checklist that students will use to edit their work independently.
  19. Determine how you will assign grades for writing produced in the writer's workshop.
  20. Kids should be involded in self-assessing their writing.
This has truly been a resourceful book and one that I highly recommend if you are interested in implementing a Writer's Workshop in grades K-8. The book addresses all of these grades throughout.

I was inspired by the book to begin creating my own handouts to use in my writer's workshop. I have attached five of these forms that I created. Please feel free to view them and let me know what you think. Any other feedback or additional information is highly appreciated, so please post your comments. I really can't wait to start implementing my Writer's Workshop when the school year begins.

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5 Attachment(s) My New Classroom
by: Mariely, 06-14-2008

Today I had the opportunity to visit my new classroom and brainstorm on how I can organize it. I also wanted to see how much available space I had and what types of resources I had at hand. I was very pleased with what I found.

For one, I have a SMART Board! I'm very excited about this since I've used one in my previous school and really loved all it's teaching capabilities. So this is definitely a plus. Another thing I really liked is that I have my own bathroom within the classroom. It's not a bathroom that's shared with another classroom but a bathroom just for my students, which I really like. There's also a sink inside the bathroom and I also have a sink outside the bathroom inside the classroom. Another plus is that I have some storage cabinets by the window which I will definitely need. There are also a total of 5 computers in the class, four of these are off to the side and one is connected to the SMART Board. I also have a metal closet, a bookcase, a rectangular table that I can use for meeting with my groups, and two dry erase boards (in my previous school I only had chalkboards).

Some of the things that I'm going to have to work with and see how I can handle it to the best of my capabilities is the fact that the classroom seems small, I only have 4 bulletin board spaces and one rectangular bulletin board space above one of the boards, and I don't know where I will place my word wall. Hmmm...I guess I'm going to have to do some brainstorming, especially with trying to organize 25 desks in the best possible way I can. I also wanted to have a class meeting area, other than their desks, but I don't have space to do that in the new room. I'm attaching some pictures I took today of the new classroom. It would be nice to see what someone else thinks and/or suggests. Thank you!

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Hooray!!!
by: Mariely, 07-17-2007

I am excited beyond belief! I have to take a moment to calm down and just reflect on the wonderful things that have happened to me this past week.

First of all, I had posted on my very first post that I was finishing my Masters program at Barry University. I completed my last class about two weeks ago. When I began this last class, I also had to take my Comprehensive Exams for my Masters program (you know, the exams you have to pass in order to get your degree). Well, I really didn't feel too confident about taking them since I had just injured my left ankle really badly and hardly had any time to really study for the exams. Nevertheless, I got the courage to just go on and take them no matter what the outcome would be. After 3 hours and 15 pages of hand-written work (ouch! did my hand hurt after all that writing), I completed my Comps. I didn't feel too confident (but this is me most of the time...not confident enough on myself) but I hoped that I really passed 'cause I didn't want to go through all that again.

Well...last Friday, I received an official letter from Barry University and the first thing I read was "Congratulations!". I was sooo happy I started crying. I PASSED my exams! This is a great achievement for me! It took me two years to finish the program and I did it while I was working and while being a single-mom of my beautiful five-year-old boy. I feel so proud to have gotten this far and accomplished this wonderful goal. Now I just await the date for my graduation which will be in October. I am definitely super happy!

My second "Hooray!" news is that today I received my official welcome call from my new principal. I am officially now part of the David Lawrence Jr. family and I'm absolutely thrilled to begin the new school year at a new school. I will be teaching fourth grade and I have already started making plans for my future class. My principal was very happy to welcome me aboard and told me that my room was ready for me to start working in it. AWESOME! I really want to see my new room and start brainstorming on what I would like to do with it. So, I will be stopping by my new school today to look at my room and to also register my son for kindergarten. Yes, I also have the blessing that my son will be in the same school as me and this will be his first year in school since he didn't go to pre-k. So I'm happy that I will at least be there for him if he should need me. Well, I'm off to celebrate these wonderful news. They have truly made my day and I thank God for all these blessings!

4 Comments

1 Attachment(s) Classroom Library Organization
by: Mariely, 07-22-2008

I have finally started my classroom library organization! I'm really excited about this because this was one of my major projects to accomplish this summer.

I began on Monday by going on a hunt for colorful baskets for my library books. It turned out to be extremely exhausting since I had to go to several stores to get a good amount of baskets. I ended up going to 5 Family Dollars, 3 Dollar Trees, 2 Big Lots, one 99 Cents Stuff, and 1 Dollar General store. It took me about 5 hours to find all my baskets. These are the baskets I was able to find, all $1.00 each:
  • Family Dollar baskets (5 3/4" x 10 1/8" x 14 3/4"):
    • Blue - 12 baskets
    • White - 3
  • Dollar Tree baskets (11" x 8"):
    • Yellow - 12
    • Green - 12
    • Aqua - 14
    • Orange - 16
  • Big Lots baskets (5 3/4" x 10 1/8" x 14 3/4" same style as the baskets from Family Dollar):
    • Silver - 10
    • Black - 17
  • Dollar General baskets:
    • Blue - 2 (5 3/4" x 10 1/8" x 14 3/4")
    • White - 7 (5 3/4" x 10 1/8" x 14 3/4")
    • Small Blue 2 PK - 10 packs, total 20 baskets (5 3/4" W x 9" L x 4 1/4" D)
  • 99 cents Stuff - I couldn't find any rectangular baskets here
Once I gathered my baskets, my mind started brainstorming how I would use the various colors to organize my books by genre. I then came up with this idea to start with:
  • White Baskets = Math Books
  • Silver Baskets = Favorite Authors
  • Black Baskets = Fiction - Picture Books
  • Orange Baskets = Fiction - Chapter Books in Series
  • Yellow Baskets = Fiction - Chapter Books not in Series
  • Aqua Baskets = Non-Fiction
  • Green Baskets = Poetry
Again, this is just preliminary while I begin to organize my books. At least this is a start. I'm also going to level each book with a colored dot. I'm going to use the color labeling system that Beth Newingham uses in her class because it makes sense to me. So, I went to my storage and picked up one box of library books to take home and begin labeling (I'm going to work one box at a time).

I began by using a modified version of the Excel spreadsheet Mrs. Newingham uses in her class. I just downloaded her spreadsheet, cleared off the information, made a few tweaks, and began cataloguing my books. I have attached the spreadsheet so you can see what I'm talking about. This is just the start of my cataloguing. I have already finished that one box I brought from storage which turned out to have about 130 books!

I'm also cataloguing my books online using Library Thing which is an online tool you can use. Library Thing allows you to catalogue up to 200 books free. But if you are like me and have more than 200 books to catalog, you may want to upgrade with just $25 one-time fee for lifetime access. Check out my library catalog on Library Thing: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/sanchezclass

You can choose to view the books by Cover or by List. If you choose the "List View" you will see that I have added comments to each book which include the Genre, GRL, Lexile, Reading Level, AR Level, and Class Level. I'm really happy with how this is turning out.

My next step is to go to Office Depot and buy the colored dots (red, yellow, blue, and green) and address labels to write the genre of the book and where to find it in the library. Then I will label the books I have in my first box before returning it to storage and getting the next box of books to work with.

By the way, here is the list of websites I have been using to level my books:

Scholastic Reading Counts! e-Catalog
Renaissance Learning - AR Quiz Store
The Lexile Framework for Reading

I do, of course, get the occasional book that doesn't show up in these sites, so what I do is I look into the contents of the book and determine the approximate level based on the text. If I can at least come up with a general grade level, I can then come up with the corresponding GRL, Lexile, and AR Level using the chart found on this website:

Leveling Books for Guided Reading

I'm very excited to have finally started this project and I hope that once I get into my classroom, I can start setting everything up and take pictures to post here and on my website.

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4 Attachment(s) Back to School Activities
by: Mariely, 08-16-2007

Here are some ideas that I am planning on using for Back to School. I really like these and have had success in using them in previous years.

Descriptive Name Tags
Before the first day of school, I prepared a series of cut-out block letters, a black construction paper strip to mount the letters on, glue sticks, and thesauruses. I made sure I had enough letters so that each student in my class would be able to spell out their first name. Students glued their letters onto the black construction paper strip and then used the thesaurus to come up with adjectives that described them starting with each letter in their first name. They wrote their adjectives inside each letter and then presented their descriptive name tags to the rest of the class. This turned out to be a great get to know you activity. At the end of the activity, I collected all their name tags and posted them around the room.

Name Alliterations
This is another great get to know you activity for the beginning of the school year. I distributed sentence strips (one per student) and gave the class a brief introduction to alliterations. I used well-known tongue twisters like “Peter Piper” or “Sally Sells Seashells.” I then asked the students to write an alliteration sentence using their first names. The alliterations didn’t have to be real, but they had to be creative and they had to make sense. Here’s an example of my alliteration: “Mariely makes magical moments.” I had the students present their alliterations to the class and we ended up having a great time. The alliterations where then posted around the classroom.

Autobiographical Poems
I introduce the basic format for an autobiographical poem to my students and ask them to complete an autobiographical poem about themselves. Once students finish their poems they are allowed to share it with the class. I have attached a copy of the Autobio Poem Handout for your use.

Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
Another great activity to do the first week of school is to share this book with your class. If you've never read it, check it out and see why this is a great story. The first time I read it I cried. When I shared it with my students last year and was chocking up at the end. It's a wonderful story to share with your students as they begin a new school year. This is how I used the book:
  1. I created a Learning Log for the students to complete as I read the story. I have attached a copy of the Learning Log below. I passed this Log out first and had the students write their names on it.
  2. I then instruct students to turn to page 1 and do a Quick Write on everything they know or think they know about the word "Journey."
  3. I then pass out one graham cookie on a plate for each student. I tell them not to do anything to it until I tell them what to do. I also have a bottle of honey ready. See, the story starts out with the little girl's grandfather taking a book and drizzling the book's cover with honey. He then asks the little girl to taste it. She says its sweet and the grandfather responds, "Yes, and so it's knowledge. But just like you have to chase a bee for the honey, you have to chase knowledge through the pages of a book." This is the introductory page of the story. As I'm reading it, I am acting out grandfather's actions. When he drizzles the honey on the book, I drizzle it on their cookies. When he asks the little girl how it tastes, I have my students mimic the little girl's actions by having them taste it and tell me how it tastes. I really love this activity and the students have fun doing it.
  4. Students are then told to go to page 2 in their Learning Logs are write about their reaction to the first page (the one we just read about the book and the honey).
  5. Then students write down their prediction for the rest of the story in Page 3 of their Learning Log.
  6. Then I proceed to read the story, a little bit each day of the week. I make sure I stop at different intervals to have students write down their reactions on page 4. You can choose various events from the story that might trigger various reactions from your students. These events can be your stopping points so students can share their reactions. I only chose three places to stop in the story.
  7. When we finish reading the story, I have students complete the "Somebody, Wanted, But, So" graphic organizer on page 5.
  8. Then I have students go back and look at their original prediction and then readjust their prediction on Page 6.
  9. We complete our Learning Logs with a Visualize activity on page 7.
I have included attachements related to two of the above activities.

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5 Attachment(s) Learning Centers
by: Mariely, 07-02-2007

During the past few weeks, I have posted information about centers on a couple of boards. I wanted to include this information on my blog for my own personal reflection as the school year progresses and for others who wish to learn more. So, here's some information about centers.

I'm actually going to try my best to explain how we do centers in our district. Being that I was the Intermediate Reading Coach last year, I can offer a bit of what we have shared with our teachers.

For one, centers should be a part of your differentiated instruction time within your reading block. We have a total of 90 minutes of reading instruction in our district. Of those 90 minutes, 50 minutes are for direct instruction or whole group instruction and the remaining 40 minutes are for your centers or differentiated instruction time.

You start planning for your centers by first placing your students into groups according to their reading needs. We sometimes tell teachers to have 3 or 4 groups depending on the amount of students in the classroom. Each group should have no more than 7 students, 5-6 students preferably.

After you have your student groups, you can start planning out what type of center activities to provide for the students. Now, the centers should not be places the students go to just to go to them. You actually have to give students accountability for going to each center by providing:
  1. Rules and Expectations for attending the center
  2. An activity for the students to complete that is meaningful and differentiated according to their abilities
  3. An organized system where students know where to get the activities and where to turn them in
The key to implementing centers is ORGANIZATION. You really need to think about every little detail. In addition, because these learning centers are occuring during Reading time, all centers should be geared towards reading instruction and should reflect one of the Big 5 components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension). You can also have centers during other subjects such as math, but be sure that the learning centers focus around the subject that you are teaching at that time.

Some ideas for centers during Reading instruction include:
  • Computer/Technology Center: If you have enough computers in your classroom and a differentiated reading program like Reading Plus!, Achieve 3000, or other, you can assign students to attend this center. Since the program is already differentiated, you don't need to do anything else other than assign the student groups to the center.
  • Classroom Library Center: In order for this center to truly work you need to have your classroom library leveled and labeled. You need to inform the students which books they should read while they visit the center. You should also display a chart that informs the students how the books are leveled (whether it's by colored dots and what each dot represents). This center should work like this: (1) students come to the center and choose a book on their independent level, (2) students read the book for 10 minutes (for example), (3) students complete an activity for the remaining 10 minutes related to what they read in the story that day, (4) students turn in their activity to their learning center folder or to another area chosen by the teacher so the teacher may review how students are working in the centers.
  • Listening Center: Pretty much works the same as the classroom library with the exception that the students are listening to books on cassette, CD's, or through Leap Pads.
  • Skills Center: The teacher may choose to have students work on a particular reading skill for the week. The teacher will first teach the activity to the class as a whole, have them practice the activity, and then place it in the skills center for each student group to practice.
  • Teacher-Led Center: This is the center where the teacher works with each individual group while the other students work independently at the other centers. When students visit the teacher-led center, the teacher works with students by helping them with good reader strategies, fluency, as well as various reading skills.
These are just a few center ideas. The most important thing to do before having students use centers is to introduce one center at a time to students. You can start this in the beginning of school. The first week you introduce one center, go over the rules and expectations, the activities to be completed, model the center to the students, and then have them practice using the center. The next week you introduce another center, and so on. It's important to note that you should not place a new center or a new activity at a center before introducing it and teaching it to the entire class first.

So, once you do all this, how do centers work? You create a schedule which informs the students and visitors when each group is visiting which center. You should see your lowest group every day. Your medium group should be seen three times a week and your highest group is seen twice a week. So, you could have your teacher-led center see two groups a day (if you are doing 20 minute sessions) or three groups a day (if you are doing 12-13 minute session, which in my opinion is not a lot of time).

While the teacher is working with an individual group, the other groups are working independently in the other centers. Again, in order for this to run smoothly students should be taught each center separately and told what to do if they have a question. For example, students may be told to "Ask 3, Before Me" where students will ask three members of their group the question before they ask the teacher. The teacher-led center should also be placed in a part of the room that allows the teacher to view all students working independently while she is working with the individual groups in the teacher-led center.

Where do you ge the center activities from? Is there a resource book I can use? Or do I need to create them from scratch?

Well, let me start by saying that all centers don't need to be created from scratch. If you have a classroom library center, there's not much you need to create here other than the rules, what students are expected to accomplish while they are visiting this center, making sure all the books are leveled and labeled, and an organizational method for collecting the work. The activity you have your students complete can be a simple handout, log, or activity that you provide for them. It could be something simple like a reading response log, drawing your favorite part and writing about it, making predictions, answering some general comprehension questions, etc. Two other centers you don't have to create yourself are the Listening Center and the Computer Center. In the listening center you will need to make sure you supply students with books on tape or CD that are again, leveled and labeled. If using a Leap Pad make sure the books are also leveled and labeled. In the computer center, you just have to make sure students are using a meaningful software program usually provided by your school.

How about other centers? Well, don't forget that the Teacher-Led Center is also a center. When you meet with your students you will choose skills your students are lacking and then choose activities that will help your students practice those skills. Whether it's making words, working with vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, etc. Some of these activities you can come up with yourself. Some you can search for on the Internet or by looking through your own teacher resource books. This is the same for the Skills Center. You decide which activity to use with your students so they may practice a particular skill. A place I go to find some more ideas and activities for Student Activity Centers is the Florida Center for Reading Research. Their site has two sections one for K-1 and one for 2-3. Even though they don't include 4th grade, you can search through their activities and modify them to suit your students. The activities are also divided among the Big 5 components of reading. Here are the links to both of these pages:

http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/stude...Activities.htm

http://www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/stude...tivities23.htm

Make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the different sections of these student activities. Don't forget to also check out the Teacher Resource Guide at the bottom which is filled with ideas on how you can start centers, organize them, and ideas for setting them up.

Another resource I use for centers to help my students with phonics and vocabulary are the books by Patricia Cunningham which include: Making Words, Making More Words, and Making More Big Words. If I remember any other resource I will let you know. I know that Evan Moor has a variety of Take to Your Seat Centers. I purchased some of their books but I haven't used them yet.

How do you manage and keep track of who goes where and when?

Well, at the beginning of the year the school usually tests students using DIBELS. That usually gives you an idea of how students are doing based on their Oral Reading Fluency (ORF). But since DIBELS only tests ORF in fourth grade, I'm going to do something a little different next school year. I am going to test students using an Informal Reading Inventory to see how they are overall. Since I will also be implementing centers during my math time, I will also give my students a Math Inventory to see where they are. Once I know where my students are academically, I place them in different learning groups. I give each group a name, whether it's a color, a letter, or another name, and then I create a rotation chart. I usually make about 3 or 4 groups based on the number of students. I try to have more learning centers available than I have groups just in case a particular group finishes early and they need to go to another center. Along with my center rotation chart I also develop a weekly schedule which shows which groups are going to what centers on each day of the week as well as what skills they will work on when they attend the Teacher-Led Center. One thing to think about is that your student groups are not going to remain the same throughout the year. As students move up in their learning abilities (which you do want them to move up) you will need to rearrange them in various groups.

As far as what type of system I set up, last year I used a wheel rotation with velcro spots for my groups. After each 20 minute interval, I rang a bell, rotated the wheel, and the students moved to their next center. I also posted my weekly schedule so students knew in advance which centers they would visit daily. I have posted some pictures showing ways teachers have set up their center rotations.

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Classroom Economy - Revisited
by: Mariely, 07-17-2007

Ok...after much thought and consideration I have decided to not try to implement the classroom economy idea next school year.

I think that I'm probably going to feel overwhelmed since I will be starting out in a new school and preparing students for the state writing exam. I'm also trying to get acquainted with the fourth grade curriculum since I haven't taught math, science, or social studies in 5 years. I taught all subjects in third grade during my first year teaching in 2001. I then proceeded to become a Teacher of the Gifted for grades K-6 only teaching Language Arts/Reading. I did this for four years. Last year, I became the Reading Coach at my previous school. I learned a lot of things from being a Reading Coach, but my heart was to be in my own classroom with my own students. That is why I decided to go back to the classroom, where my true passion lies. So as you can see, I will have quite a few things on my plate as I start the new school year.

Maybe I could implement this idea in the future during another school year, but for now I choose not to implement it. Thank you so much to those who offered ideas and tips to help me. I really appreciate it! Well...until next time.

2 Comments

1 Attachment(s) Classroom Economy
by: Mariely, 07-15-2008

Ok...so I really want to implement a classroom economy next school year because I think it's a wonderful idea to let my students experience earning and using money. I thank Mrs. Newingham for sharing this wonderful idea on her website. The only thing I'm encountering is a couple of management issues that I'm trying to figure out.

I don't think I can implement a classroom economy as extensive as Mrs. Newingham has done. I don't know if I will have the time to do that since I will be teaching fourth grade and most of our spare time will be used to get the students ready for the state writing exam. I do however want to incorporate the following ideas for my classroom economy:
  • Daily salary for students (if they are absent they wont receive a salary for the day they are absent)
  • Classroom Jobs with additional salaries
  • Fines for negative behavior, late homework, missing assignments.
  • Bonuses for no missing assignments and excellent weekly behavior
  • Classroom Store where students may purchase items with their earned money
I have already created my own class money, which I have attached a sample picture of the one dollar bill to this blog. I also have created five, ten, and twenty dollar bills. I really want to implement these ideas, but I'm faced with some questions:

How would I "pay" my students the money they've earned?

I thought of paying them in the morning as I take attendance. I've also thought about paying them at the end of the week or every two weeks, which brings me to the next question.

How will I manage figuring out earned totals and distributing these amounts to the students?

Mrs. Newingham uses a Classroom Economist but I don't think I can implement that in my classroom next year. The dilemma I'm currently experiencing is that I'm already going to have a lot of things to manage and I'm afraid that if I manage this as well, I will feel overwhelmed.

How will I implement the Class Store? How much time should I give students to use it?

I was thinking of opening the Class Store either every two weeks or once a month. My only concern is, how much time should I give students to use the store. Sometimes, they don't even know what to buy and take forever to decide. Maybe I can give them a "Store Flyer" which shows the items available in the store along with prices. I can give students this flyer in the morning on the day they will use the store. Students can select or write down what they want to buy and maybe this will cut down on the time spent at the store. But I still need to figure out when I will open my store and how much time will the students have to use it.

How will I handle collecting money for "fines"?

I'm obviously not going to collect "fines" as soon as the incident occurs because that will take time away from instruction. I was thinking of developing a form on a clipboard where I can write down the student's name, the reason for the fine, and the fine amount. Then at the end of the day when we are getting ready for dismissal, I can ask the student to pay up.

How can I incorporate the use of checks and a checkbook into the classroom economy?

I really want to expose students to the use of checks and balancing a checkbook but when and how much time will I give for my students to balance their checkbooks? I was even thinking of not paying them in cash directly but waiting every two weeks to give them a check. This poses another concern for me because I will need to total up their earnings and make the checks myself for distribution.


There has to be a simple solution to all of my questions and concerns. I really want to use some type of monetary system in my classroom which will also be part of the behavior management plan. I'm going to have to brainstorm this idea further and see how I would implement it in my classroom. Well, I guess it's back to the drawing board.

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19 Comments

Melissa Forney
by: Mariely, 06-22-2007

About a couple of weeks ago, one of my friends informed me about Melissa Forney and how talented she was with helping teachers teach writing. She told me that because of Mrs. Forney, her fourth grade students were able to achieve high scores on the FCAT Florida Writes assessment. I was very excited to learn more so I found Mrs. Forney's website at www.melissaforney.com and I began exploring.

In my search through her website I learned that she is going to have a two-day conference in Orlando on August 9 & 10. I so wish to go but the cost for registration is $325 and that's money I don't have at this time. So instead I decided to purchase two of her books: Razzle Dazzle Writing and Dynamite Writing Ideas.

I finally received my books yesterday and I was very excited. I quickly started flipping and reading through each one and I was really impressed with the contents. I would definitely recommend them to anyone interested in finding new ways to teach writing.

In Dynamite Writing Ideas she helps teachers with getting setup for writing instruction from prior to beginning the year to the end of the school year. She touches upon preparing your classroom for writing, organizing a self-contained writer's notebook, what teachers teach and focus on the first month of school, what to do the next six weeks, and how to implement a daily writing workshop.

In Razzle Dazzle Writing Melissa introduces specific writing target skills students need in order to "dress up" their writing. She provides checklists, lessons, activities, and printables to help teachers introduce these skills through mini-lessons.

As you can see these two books are packed with awesome ideas for writing instruction. I'm really excited about them but I still wish I could go to that two-day conference and see Melissa Forney live teaching all her wonderful strategies to teachers. Well, at least I can dream...for now.

1 Comments

Welcome!
by: Mariely, 06-16-2007

Welcome to my reflection corner! I hope to post here various ideas, thoughts, and encounters I have as an elementary school teacher. Right now I am trying to enjoy my summer even though I really hurt my ankle this past weekend. I am currently finishing my Masters in Educational Technology and I'm excited to start teaching fourth grade in the fall. I also have my very own classroom website at www.sanchezclass.com. Feel free to stop by and visit. Well, off I go for today but I will be back soon!

4 Comments

  

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