Sunday, August 31, 2014

Classroom Lens

Classroom lens posts will capture the weekly realities in my classroom.  Teaching is hard, messy, and beautiful.  Be prepared to see any of these each week and know each of these are worth experiencing.

Writing narratives is in motion.

Book boxes are filled with self selected reading materials.

I love the natural light when I walk in each morning.

I love being able to leave a project out over night.



Friday, August 29, 2014

B. {Poetry Friday}

I left a plain brown package under my daughter's pillow right before we walked away, a book.  At first, I thought maybe I could leave Goodnight Moon or Owl Babies because we read them almost nightly when she was little.  Then I realized I wanted something with a bit more substance for an 18 year old who is moving away physically but not from our hearts.  

B. by Sarah Kay and Illustrated Sophia Janowitz was first shared during a TED Conference where she performed her poem and then discussed her writing process.  The book is precious if you are a mother or a daughter.  The TED Talk, was titled If I Should Have a Daughter and is the entire book read aloud.  

I wanted to share a few snippets of the poem that fill my heart but really I hope you will have a few minutes to enjoy the entire piece via the TED Talk because the whole piece fills my heart.



"If I should have a daughter,
instead of Mom, she's going to call me Point B.

Because that way she knows that no matter what happens,
at least she can always find her way to me.

...


Okay, there's a few heartbreaks that chocolate can't fix. 
But that's what the rain boots are for.

Because rain will wash away everything, if you let it.

...

And no matter how many land mines erupt
in a minute, be sure your mind lands on
the beauty of this funny place called life."



Poetry Friday is hosted by Jone at Check It Out, thank you Jone.


Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Picture Book Partiality - Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun

Picture Book Partiality Post will highlight picture books I am using and/or discovering.  I am still very fond of picture books and consider them a favorite format to use in the classroom.  

Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun, Having the Courage to Be Who You Are by Maria Dismondy is new to me and perfect for establishing community and fostering new relationships.  It honors and celebrates differences.  Lucy is frequently teased by Ralph a classmate.  In the lunchroom, on the playground, and in the classroom.  The teasing starts to wear Lucy down but her Grandpa is always there to cheer her up.  The teasing was so frequent Lucy worried about it at night and had a hard time falling asleep.    I would hope none of my students would feel this way, as I'm sure all my readers would too.  Unfortunately, there are times when our students aren't with us when teasing can happen and even in the classroom right under our noses teasing can occur.  It always crushes my heart when I learn a child is struggling with relationships in my room.  I love how Lucy has a plan to tell Ralph how mean he is; only to discover she has the courage to help Ralph when he is scared.  This is a great example of courage in action and one our students can try to repeat in their own lives.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Math Monday - What manipulatives do you have?


Welcome and thanks for stopping by for Math Monday!

I had a different post in mind for today but thought everyone might benefit from a question Franki from A Year of Reading posted on last week's post, Where are your math manipulatives?  Franki asked, What are all the manipulatives that you have?  

Before we get to the list of ideas I want to share why the color tiles, unifix cubes and plastic bears are sorted by color.  When I attended a session by the lovely ladies who are the Developmental Math Group at an OCTM conference, I learned students can focus more on the math at hand if the color of the tool is the same color.  How many times have you tried to count, add, subtract, show equal groups and have a beautiful design or pattern emerge and trump the goal for your lesson?  I've had students who can do the task at hand but it takes more time because patterns and designs emerge.  I've been working with my tools this way for a couple of years now and our math work is far more focused.

Geoboards - 7 x 7 pin
Geoboards - 11 x 11 pin
3D geometry blocks - solid wood
1 inch wooden cubes
pentominoes
tangrams
1" ceramic tiles
geometry shape templates

base ten blocks - ones
base ten blocks - tens
base ten blocks - hundreds
unifix cubes, sorted by color
pattern blocks
attribute blocks

1" color tiles - red
1" color tiles - blue
1" color tiles - yellow
1" color tiles - green
plastic bears - red
plastic bears - blue
plastic bears - yellow
plastic bears - green

newsprint
half inch graph paper
one inch graph paper
calculators
dominoes
various dice
learning links

counting sticks - popsicle sticks
beans
various rulers
Everyday Math decks of cards
Normal playing cards
sorting circles
clocks
pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
dollar bills


Leave your link within a comment and 
don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are thinking mathematically!

To help build our community and support other bloggers, 
it would be nice for you comment on at least three other blogs before you. 
Also, if you tweet about your Math Monday post, don't forget to use #MathMon!







Saturday, August 23, 2014

Celebrate This Week - Possibilities

This week I am celebrating possibilities.

I've been back in school for a week and half with students and I've already had Curriulum Night.  I've conducting All About Me  and Reading Interviews.  Then I had the students write answers for me to surveys about math, writing, and word study.  I had these out for parents to view when we gathered to learn more about second grade and the hopes the students and I have for the year.  This information has given me a lot of insight to my group of new friends, possibilities are ahead for us.

I also did something a bit different this year, I stepped back and didn't have volunteer sign ups or a donation list ready.  I was honest my home life has been busy and we would be online with those things in a week.  I appreciated their patience and no one seemed bothered they weren't ready to go.  The possibility of putting something on pause is okay.

I am also celebrating for the first time the possibilities of higher education for one of our daughters.  She went a couple of days early to assist with move in day and we couldn't be more excited to how she embraces opportunities and possibilities.  She's off to a great start!

Thank you Ruth, for supporting us in finding the positive in our busy lives.



Monday, August 18, 2014

Math Monday - Where are your math manipulatives?

Welcome and thanks for stopping by for Math Monday!

We spend hours organizing our classrooms in hopes of creating a warm, inviting, and functional space for students to learn, grow, and live in.  We make hundreds of decisions about where to place furniture, books, technology, resources, and what to display on the walls.  However, how much time do you spend making decisions about your math manipulatives?  Do your math manipulatives have equal weight with your classroom library?  I want math manipulatives to look like my classroom library!  You might be asking, how does one achieve that?

- Math manipulatives are stored together in one general area.

- Math manipulatives are carefully selected to match the curriculum.

- Each math manipulative has it's own clear tub container, for easy viewing.

- The lid is off the tub for students to see what is inside, making it an invitation to use the math manipulative. 

- Tubs are clearly labeled with a picture and label.

- Sometimes the shelves are labeled with a matching tub so they can go back to the same spot.

- Manipulatives are organized by math content sometimes.  For example, geometry manipulatives would all be on the same shelf or two.

I have found organizing my math manipulatives in a similar fashion as my classroom library creates an invitation asking students to come work with them and provides choices for problem solving.   This also fosters independence for selecting and using the different math manipulatives in our classroom.  You do have to get creative with finding the space.  Lucky for me, I have built in shelves below our windows and my "resources/textbooks" all fit in a small closet.  I want my students to think of math as a bright and cheery, hands on experience, and I have found this organization to work quite well.


                                 


Leave your link within a comment and 
don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are reading!

To help build our community and support other bloggers, 
it would be nice for you comment on at least three other blogs before you. 
Also, if you tweet about your Math Monday post, don't forget to use #MathMon!

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Celebrate This Week - Second Grade!

Today I am celebrating second grade!

I have 20 new friends.  7 friends are new to me.  13 friends and I spent kindergarten together and seeing them now two years later is really fun.  Second graders are independent.  Second graders know how to "do" school.  Second graders can work quietly.  Second graders can verbalize higher level thinking.  Second graders can read independently and write lots of sentences.  Second graders are eager to learn multiplication and read books.  I'm eager to spend the year with them.

On a side note, I am less tired mentally and physically with just one class of students who come every day all day long.  Every day is new and different and continues from the day before.  Life is good, after just one week.  I might just keep singing, "celebrate good times, come on!"

Thanks Ruth for reminding me to stop and capture the positive from the week with your Celebrate This Week community.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Familiar Authors, Different Story - Mostly Monty

I've been excited to find authors I know from a series and discover they have other titles and stories to share with readers.  Mostly Monty is by Johanna Hurwitz.  I picked this book up thinking about needing more boy/guy characters in my classroom.  I fell in love with Monty right from the start.  I love how Johanna introduces Monty in the first chapter.  Within the first two pages the reader learns about Montgomery; his nickname, his birthdate, asthma, inhaler, and a few things he doesn't have.  Monty is an only child at home and sometimes in the classroom.  Monty does get recognized for being a good lost and found friend at school.  Monty appreciates helping others and receiving praise.  When his good fortune for finding things dries up, he turns in his own lunch box which creates twists in his daily plans.  Monty is a thinker.  He writes a pet report on a dinosaur because he can't have any.  He is satisfied with a pet caterpillar.  He doesn't have a hobby so he studies kangaroos and creates a kangaroo club.  This book would be a great first grade first read aloud and could also work in second grade.

Here are three lines I love from this story and hope you find, if you pick this book up.

"Reading was one thing he could do without worrying about his breathing."

"If hair gives me an asthma attack, how come I'm not allergic to you or Dad?" asked Monty.

"He could go days without anyone noticing him.  It wasn't often that someone at school praised him."


Monday, August 11, 2014

Math Monday - Math Library

Welcome and thanks for stopping by for our first Math Monday!


I've been drowning, buried, and swamped with creating a second grade classroom library.  As I unpacked boxes of books from my basement I discovered so many great picture book math titles and got a bit giddy for how and where I would put these in my classroom.  As I worked through my classroom design, I wanted them right near my math manipulatives.  I had run out of shelving space and learned from some smart colleagues for extra shelving in the classroom I could remove closet doors.  Isn't that brilliant?!  To create a math library I began by looking at my math standards and sorting my picture books into categories.  I discovered I had a few books that were math puzzles or just overall math thinking which became a tub titled Math is Fun!  What an important message for our students to learn.  My other tubs are Fractions, Geometry, Measurement, Numbers, More than 100, Patterns and Sorting, Time and Money.  

I hope your classroom library expands to your math manipulative area or finds a space within your classroom.  To help make this project a bit easier for you, here are my Math Literature Labels.






Leave your link within a comment and don't forget to check out other blogs to see what they are reading!
To help build our community and support other bloggers, 
it would be nice for you comment on at least three other blogs before you. 
Also, if you tweet about your Math Monday post, don't forget to use #MathMon!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Happy Picture Book 10 for 10 Day!

I feel like it's New Year's Eve and the excitement is building for new beginnings but in the world of teaching the excitement is building for discovering new books from friends, colleagues, and strangers.  Cathy from Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community and I know three things about your list today without even looking at it.  One, it's hard to only share ten books.  Two, the books you are sharing today make your teaching life better.  And three, you love fostering readers!

Today is our 5th annual picture book event:  #pb10for10.  You can join by linking your blog post here or at  Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community.  Cathy and I will then add your post to our 2014 picture book jog.


It is often a little challenging to link all of the posts to the Jog from both of our blogs without duplicating information.  For this reason, we have a few requests if you're joining the event to make it easier for us to collect picture book lists:

  • If you'd like to have your blog linked to the conversation, just comment with the link (cut and paste your post address in the comments) for your picture book list here OR at Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community.  
  • You are welcome to comment on both blogs (comments are always appreciated), but to simplify our work in creating this year's jog as a resource, please ONLY LEAVE YOUR LINK ON ONE OF OUR BLOGS.  This will help us to keep from duplicating posts in the jog. 
  • You can also mention us in a link on Twitter using the event hashtag #pb10for10.  However, we cannot guarantee that tweeted links will be added to the jog.  (It gets a little crazy out there!) 
  • If you don't have a blog, but would like to join, there are lots of ways to participate
  • If this is your 5th year, please mention this when you leave your link.

Today I am sharing a list of 10 books I've put together about schools with a focus on global literature.  I took a class this past spring and it expanded my thinking about picture books and showing our students the world is more than what they see and live day to day.  Authors Barbara A. Lehman, Evelyn B. Freeman and Patricia L. Scharer define global literature in Reading Globally K-8, “In sum, our definition of global literature focuses on books that are international either by topic or origin of publication or author.”  The authors honor and recognize it is closely related to multicultural literature, where the literature is comparing cultural groups within the United States.





This book highlights the various ways students get to school in different countries.  It really makes readers process the idea of everyone doesn’t ride a yellow school bus.






Salma and Lilly are best friends at school until one day they are honest with each other and admit they think their sandwiches are weird and gross.  They solve their differences by trying each others food and plan a special lunch event for the whole school.






Sarie doesn’t mind the hot sun in the South Africa but worries about being at school and learning how to read.  The reader follows Sarie’s journey and how she does learn to read.







This book takes readers to schools around the world celebrating similarities and differences.








A photo essay about bread found all over the world.  A great companion book to go with The Sandwich Swap.







A collection of stories about unusual schools all around the world that focus on schools set in an unusual environmental setting, traveling schools, and resourceful ways to make a school.  Touching stories to cause empathy and perspective thinking.




Based on a true story, a immigrant farm worker shares the journey his family takes to farm for money and how he learned to read by spending time with the library lady.  In return, he taught her about Spanish and gained the gift of becoming a reader.







Libraries are not always in a room lined with bookshelves.  This book is a collection of stories about libraries all over the world.  They are in traveling trucks, libraries deliver books through the mail, and some libraries are on boats.




A collection of stories told with beautiful photography to show readers schools are different.  Sometimes students go to school on a boat, in a tree house built in a forest, or via a webcam from another country.





This story is based on true events from Basra, Iraq when their city was invaded during the war.  Alia Muhammad Baker was the head librarian and had the foresight to remove books from the library before it was eventually burned.  She moved the library to her house to keep them safe.




We are so glad you have stopped by and joined our conversation and sharing today.  Please try to comment on several blogs today to grow and foster our community.  There are a couple of quick ways to discover blogs sharing picture books today;  google picture book 10 for 10 or use the hashtag #pb10for10.  By sharing the link to your post today here or with Cathy, it will be added to our Jog the Web summary for Picture Book 10 for 10 Day, 2014!