The book club basically uses everything that my teacher uses in our classroom so far. We have launched the Daily 5, C.A.F.E., and Making Meaning, although she has used the Daily 5 the most. There are mornings in the classroom that are solely focused on reading and writing. My teacher seems to use other resources to MEAP prep so we have also been looking at narratives, stories, and poetry. My teacher has been great with launching these programs at the same time without confusing the kids, but rather infusing them together to make them work.
We have reader’s workshop every day where the students have learned how to be good readers. We started by building up our reading stamina, then went into learning how to read with partners, and then reading out loud to partners in an appropriate voice that still has tone and inflection. We have also worked further on individual reading with the C.A.F.E. so the students have had to work on being good readers with comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary. My CT has given out “word detective” sheets, taught the kids how to pull out details to summarize a story, and reading out loud to foster fluency and accuracy. She might call on people who aren’t paying attention to tell her what she just said, or even have them speak out loud a summary. She has done an activity where she filled in a summary worksheet while the children are telling her what to write.
Writing is another thing that we do everyday in the classroom. We do writer’s workshop where we practice becoming better writers who can write for a long time. The students have a math journal, science journal, and idea notebook, which is where we practice the most writing. It’s a notebook that my teacher might give a prompt and have the students write as much as they can for 15 minutes. We also fill out summary worksheets that teach them how to write a summary that is not only in order, but filled with detail. Another form of writing we do is handwriting. We make sure that when the students are writing that they not only have quality sentences and details, but also quality penmanship. We have them write about their favorite books as well so that is writing into or through a text.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Chapters 1-5: Evidence in My Classroom
Through observing my CT’s literacy programs and in readings for this course I have come to fully realize just how many different ways there are to approach teaching literacy. Unfortunately, a lot of what I have seen so far is simply plans for how my CT wants to teach literacy. Up until last Friday all reading instruction was done through a MEAP review book with short reading selections and accompanying comprehension questions. This was a little tedious but it did serve two useful purposes. One was obviously to prepare the students for the test, and the second was to give us a very clear idea of each student’s literacy skills. Using this information my CT was able to divide the class into three reading groups based on abilities and make decisions about the skills each student needs to work on.
On Friday we finally began to implement the literacy program she plans to use all year. Literacy block every day is divided into three parts. In their separate literacy groups, students spend part of the block reading as a small group with the teacher and discussing their ideas about these readings. Throughout the year the class will read from basal readers and from novels. Another part of the literacy block is spent in centers. Each day my CT will assign individual students or pairs of students to specific center activities where they can work on phonics, vocabulary, and grammar skills that she feels they need to practice. The last part of literacy block is seatwork. This usually resembles the Lucy Calkins Writer’s Workshop model and the accompanying mini-lesson for each day is given before literacy block begins. The class is divided into three groups and each group rotates through all three parts of the literacy program every day. We have only implemented this for two days now and we are still training the students to manage their behavior while working independently at centers and seatwork without direct teacher supervision.
I can see possibilities for this literacy program to contain elements of the ideas in Book Club Plus!. The small reading group format would allow for community sharing and discussion along with reading. In these small groups, students have the opportunity to talk to each other and the teacher about their thoughts and ideas. Writing into, through, or out of a unit/text could be implemented into the seatwork portion of the literacy block at different times. Even though the class is in different groups, all groups are often reading the same texts. Different writing tasks could be given throughout a unit to accompany the reading. I haven’t seen all of these things in action yet, but I can imagine them happening later in the year.
Reading instruction also occurs through many of my CT’s science and social studies lessons. When reading from textbooks as a class my CT talks to the class about features of informational text and discussions are constantly held to make predictions, draw conclusions, and connect the textbook reading to students’ lives and the greater world. I see many examples in my class through literacy, science, and social studies for talk to be used as a way to surface knowledge, inquire into, and reflect on information in a given text as described in the reading. I hope to see more examples of these ideas as the year goes on and the literacy program develops more.
On Friday we finally began to implement the literacy program she plans to use all year. Literacy block every day is divided into three parts. In their separate literacy groups, students spend part of the block reading as a small group with the teacher and discussing their ideas about these readings. Throughout the year the class will read from basal readers and from novels. Another part of the literacy block is spent in centers. Each day my CT will assign individual students or pairs of students to specific center activities where they can work on phonics, vocabulary, and grammar skills that she feels they need to practice. The last part of literacy block is seatwork. This usually resembles the Lucy Calkins Writer’s Workshop model and the accompanying mini-lesson for each day is given before literacy block begins. The class is divided into three groups and each group rotates through all three parts of the literacy program every day. We have only implemented this for two days now and we are still training the students to manage their behavior while working independently at centers and seatwork without direct teacher supervision.
I can see possibilities for this literacy program to contain elements of the ideas in Book Club Plus!. The small reading group format would allow for community sharing and discussion along with reading. In these small groups, students have the opportunity to talk to each other and the teacher about their thoughts and ideas. Writing into, through, or out of a unit/text could be implemented into the seatwork portion of the literacy block at different times. Even though the class is in different groups, all groups are often reading the same texts. Different writing tasks could be given throughout a unit to accompany the reading. I haven’t seen all of these things in action yet, but I can imagine them happening later in the year.
Reading instruction also occurs through many of my CT’s science and social studies lessons. When reading from textbooks as a class my CT talks to the class about features of informational text and discussions are constantly held to make predictions, draw conclusions, and connect the textbook reading to students’ lives and the greater world. I see many examples in my class through literacy, science, and social studies for talk to be used as a way to surface knowledge, inquire into, and reflect on information in a given text as described in the reading. I hope to see more examples of these ideas as the year goes on and the literacy program develops more.
Literacy in the Classroom
I did not realize how much literacy is present daily in my classroom until I read the readings for the week. On a daily basis we have Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop, a read aloud, and during block recess the first half hour rotates weekly between math games and literacy games. Each day I am still learning a lot about how each of these components works to fit the needs of students in my classroom, it has been extremely difficult with the DRA testing and MEAP preparations.
My teacher uses the “making meaning” curriculum but does not really follow all the scripted parts. As I slowly begin to take over the read aloud lessons, I will follow this closely because I do not have nearly as much experience as he does. This has required me to take home the curriculum and read about it, in order to familiarize myself with it. Until this year I had never heard of it and it seems that most of the school districts in the area, at least those in our section, use this. My CT has been teaching 4th /5th grade in the District for about 17 years and does really well making sure students are following and making connections to the story without following the scripted parts word for word.
Throughout the school year teachers are constantly giving instruction and assessing students formally and informally. I have not been in a classroom yet where I have seen MEAP testing and/ or the steps taken for preparation. I feel the amount of pressure put on teachers to try and get students prepared and I'm not even really responsible, just from sitting in on meetings with the principal and team meetings with the other 4th grade teachers. I did get to sit and practice issuing DRA tests with my CT while he was filling one out as well and I was shocked to see how low some students were reading. When looking at their scores at the end of 3rd grade some dropped a few levels and it shows how important it is for students to read throughout the summer. The DRA’s are issued during Reader’s Workshop, and actually were finally completed this morning. While this is taking place, the students are given time to read independently when not with a teacher.
During Writers Workshop, students sit for about a 15 minute mini-lesson that is co-taught with my CT and another 4th grade teacher. Then they revisit previous work or move on to start something new depending what the topic is. Writer’s workshop right now is focused on the MEAP, and things that may appear like “a comparative piece” or “small moments”. Students have plenty of time to create and write down ideas and then are given time to talk and share what they wrote with a partner. Some are even shared with the class and displayed on the “elmo” sometimes showing examples of what their work should look like written down on paper, teaching the students to be neat and legible.
My teacher uses the “making meaning” curriculum but does not really follow all the scripted parts. As I slowly begin to take over the read aloud lessons, I will follow this closely because I do not have nearly as much experience as he does. This has required me to take home the curriculum and read about it, in order to familiarize myself with it. Until this year I had never heard of it and it seems that most of the school districts in the area, at least those in our section, use this. My CT has been teaching 4th /5th grade in the District for about 17 years and does really well making sure students are following and making connections to the story without following the scripted parts word for word.
Throughout the school year teachers are constantly giving instruction and assessing students formally and informally. I have not been in a classroom yet where I have seen MEAP testing and/ or the steps taken for preparation. I feel the amount of pressure put on teachers to try and get students prepared and I'm not even really responsible, just from sitting in on meetings with the principal and team meetings with the other 4th grade teachers. I did get to sit and practice issuing DRA tests with my CT while he was filling one out as well and I was shocked to see how low some students were reading. When looking at their scores at the end of 3rd grade some dropped a few levels and it shows how important it is for students to read throughout the summer. The DRA’s are issued during Reader’s Workshop, and actually were finally completed this morning. While this is taking place, the students are given time to read independently when not with a teacher.
During Writers Workshop, students sit for about a 15 minute mini-lesson that is co-taught with my CT and another 4th grade teacher. Then they revisit previous work or move on to start something new depending what the topic is. Writer’s workshop right now is focused on the MEAP, and things that may appear like “a comparative piece” or “small moments”. Students have plenty of time to create and write down ideas and then are given time to talk and share what they wrote with a partner. Some are even shared with the class and displayed on the “elmo” sometimes showing examples of what their work should look like written down on paper, teaching the students to be neat and legible.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Book Club Plus Ch. 1-5
After reading through the first five chapters of this book, I was shocked to see how much of it I could relate back to my internship classroom. Literacy is interwoven throughout our entire day rather it be during our writing block, our morning work, or throughout our science lessons. We use guided reading, writer's workshop, teacher read-aloud, book clubs, independent reading, and literacy centers (in our way). This was shocking to me that in my daily routine all of these aspects we already include. One thing that I think is a little bit different is that our book clubs do not have students of varying reading levels. Our guided reading occurs within our book clubs. Also, because we have three teachers, we have more than three groups for ours. Having three teachers allows for us to divide the students up into more groups and still be able to meet and check in with each group throughout the week. These are two differences that I have noticed thus far.
The students are constantly reading and writing throughout the day. Reading is incorporated throughout every subject. There is a teacher read aloud everyday for 10 minutes after lunch. There is a 50 minute block devoted to writing specifically which is our writer's workshop where each student uses their writer's notebook. The curriculum is a mixture of Lucy Calkins and Writer's Workshop. The last 50 minutes of the day is devoted to Making Meaning and book clubs. Making Meaning lessons usually take about 15-20 minutes and then the rest of the time the students are reading/writing in their book clubs. There are plenty of opportunities for the students to practice speaking, rather it be answering questions throughout the day, sharing answers with a partner, talking with a group, etc. Listening opportunities are also nonstop throughout the day. The students have to listen to directions, to questions, to their peers, etc. Viewing is also something that the students are constantly encountering. Most of our lessons are done using the Smart board and the elmo which the students view. There are bulletin boards, posters, student work, etc. all over the classroom and the school which are more examples of viewing.
One example of writing into/through/and out of a unit that I have seen so far is actually through the science curriculum. The students first wrote about all the things they thought they knew about the earth, sun, and moon. As the they work through each lesson and the unit progresses, they write in their science journals correcting misconceptions and writing concepts that they learned. The unit hasn't ended yet but we have already started planning a final writing activity for the students to complete at the end of the unit where they will reflect on what they have learned about the earth, moon, and sun. I think that writing into/through/and out of a unit is a great way to incorporate writing into subjects that are not usually as writing intensive.
The students are constantly reading and writing throughout the day. Reading is incorporated throughout every subject. There is a teacher read aloud everyday for 10 minutes after lunch. There is a 50 minute block devoted to writing specifically which is our writer's workshop where each student uses their writer's notebook. The curriculum is a mixture of Lucy Calkins and Writer's Workshop. The last 50 minutes of the day is devoted to Making Meaning and book clubs. Making Meaning lessons usually take about 15-20 minutes and then the rest of the time the students are reading/writing in their book clubs. There are plenty of opportunities for the students to practice speaking, rather it be answering questions throughout the day, sharing answers with a partner, talking with a group, etc. Listening opportunities are also nonstop throughout the day. The students have to listen to directions, to questions, to their peers, etc. Viewing is also something that the students are constantly encountering. Most of our lessons are done using the Smart board and the elmo which the students view. There are bulletin boards, posters, student work, etc. all over the classroom and the school which are more examples of viewing.
One example of writing into/through/and out of a unit that I have seen so far is actually through the science curriculum. The students first wrote about all the things they thought they knew about the earth, sun, and moon. As the they work through each lesson and the unit progresses, they write in their science journals correcting misconceptions and writing concepts that they learned. The unit hasn't ended yet but we have already started planning a final writing activity for the students to complete at the end of the unit where they will reflect on what they have learned about the earth, moon, and sun. I think that writing into/through/and out of a unit is a great way to incorporate writing into subjects that are not usually as writing intensive.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The School Community :)
This past week I started to take on more responsibilities in the classroom, one of which was dismissal. At WLE, they have a drive-thru where parents arrive and have a yellow sheet in their window with the student(s) name they are picking up. My CT happens to be the faculty member that is always outside making sure things go smoothly and that the students are getting into the correct vehicles. I took advantage of this alone time in the classroom with the students and began asking questions about their school community. I had never really been to Walled Lake before and barely knew more than 3 or 4 roads. The students were completely engaged in this end of the day routine that went on during the 2nd week of school. They were really excited to share about places that they were going, or the restaurants they ate at, or just where they lived.
I took notes and wrote down some of the places they mentioned, then went and visited a few of them later that week. I did not realize that right around the corner, less than a ½ mile away, is the actual lake, Walled Lake. It is huge! I was not surprised to see how gorgeous all the homes were around it. Some of the students had mentioned living on the lake or lived walking distance from “Mercer Beach”. While driving around the lake looking at all the homes I did pass by the beach. I definitely plan on revisiting these places because it was pouring rain when I drove around and feel like I missed so many details and opportunities for both math and literacy. Other places I plan on visiting is the community center and the library both of which are minutes away from the school.
Driving around really gave me an idea of how large Walled Lake’s school district is, many of us in class are in Walled Lake Schools and I found this surprising before having no background knowledge of the community. It surprised me how different each of our school communities seems to be just from talking in class. My school is not very diverse, and just minutes down the road another schools’ community is extremely diverse. I expected to see more people out and about in the “downtown” part of the area but again the weather probably played a major factor in this, so when I travel around Walled Lake later this week I expect to see more children and adults walking around shopping, eating, and interacting.
I took notes and wrote down some of the places they mentioned, then went and visited a few of them later that week. I did not realize that right around the corner, less than a ½ mile away, is the actual lake, Walled Lake. It is huge! I was not surprised to see how gorgeous all the homes were around it. Some of the students had mentioned living on the lake or lived walking distance from “Mercer Beach”. While driving around the lake looking at all the homes I did pass by the beach. I definitely plan on revisiting these places because it was pouring rain when I drove around and feel like I missed so many details and opportunities for both math and literacy. Other places I plan on visiting is the community center and the library both of which are minutes away from the school.
Driving around really gave me an idea of how large Walled Lake’s school district is, many of us in class are in Walled Lake Schools and I found this surprising before having no background knowledge of the community. It surprised me how different each of our school communities seems to be just from talking in class. My school is not very diverse, and just minutes down the road another schools’ community is extremely diverse. I expected to see more people out and about in the “downtown” part of the area but again the weather probably played a major factor in this, so when I travel around Walled Lake later this week I expect to see more children and adults walking around shopping, eating, and interacting.
School Community
I visited a number of places in the community. I visited a lot of food places really close to the area including Quizno's, Subway, and a pizza place. I also drove through a few neighborhoods, all of which were completely different. Some had trailer parks and some had huge mansions on a lake. I chose to go there because I did ask my teacher where in the community children live and go, so she directed me towards a few food places as well as a shopping corner that one of the students' parents owned.
I expected to see people from the community eating, shopping, talking, and living their lives as they would in their neighborhood. Everything was mostly on track for what I would expect. There were teenagers working in the fast food places I went to and children even eating and shopping in the places. I saw children playing and riding their bikes with their friends. In shops and food places, children are going to need to be able to read things such as numbers and percentages because they might need to know if an item is more expensive than another, or if a "buy 1 get 1 free" deal is cheaper than getting a larger size of something.
Relating each of those to literacy is something that I can more easily do with the neighborhoods the children live in- it gave me a glimpse inside the place that the children do have their literacy learning while they are outside of school setting - their homes. I didn't expect the students to live in such economically diverse areas in the same school district.
I expected to see people from the community eating, shopping, talking, and living their lives as they would in their neighborhood. Everything was mostly on track for what I would expect. There were teenagers working in the fast food places I went to and children even eating and shopping in the places. I saw children playing and riding their bikes with their friends. In shops and food places, children are going to need to be able to read things such as numbers and percentages because they might need to know if an item is more expensive than another, or if a "buy 1 get 1 free" deal is cheaper than getting a larger size of something.
Relating each of those to literacy is something that I can more easily do with the neighborhoods the children live in- it gave me a glimpse inside the place that the children do have their literacy learning while they are outside of school setting - their homes. I didn't expect the students to live in such economically diverse areas in the same school district.
Considering the Community
One place that I visited briefly is the Novi Public Library. I was very interested to see what it was like after hearing so many good things. I didn't have the time to look around and explore like I wanted to, so I plan on going back later this week. A few of my students told me they frequent the library often. After Curriculum Night, one parent told me that she takes her kids there daily after school. I found this to be very interesting. When I revisit the library, I am expecting to see students there (not necessarily mine). I am excited to see what all the hype is about the library. I hoping there will be a pamphlet of information I can have to take home with me also so that I can read more about it. I want to take the time to explore the library so that I can participate in conversations with students. I also want to be familiar with what resources the library provides for my own use as well as being informative for the students.
After looking around the classroom during snack time and during lunch, it was obvious that there are a wide range of taste buds throughout the school. Students were eating Chinese food, pizza, sushi, fruit, etc. This made me curious as to what restaurants and grocery stores are located around the Novi community. Just from driving around on Grand River and Novi Rd, I have spotted all sorts of different ethnic restaurants. One restaurant I saw from afar had it's name in English and another language. I am curious to see how many other restaurants have this. I am planning on looking further into this as I travel around Novi later this week.
After looking around the classroom during snack time and during lunch, it was obvious that there are a wide range of taste buds throughout the school. Students were eating Chinese food, pizza, sushi, fruit, etc. This made me curious as to what restaurants and grocery stores are located around the Novi community. Just from driving around on Grand River and Novi Rd, I have spotted all sorts of different ethnic restaurants. One restaurant I saw from afar had it's name in English and another language. I am curious to see how many other restaurants have this. I am planning on looking further into this as I travel around Novi later this week.
Expectations for Community Visit
I plan to make my visits sometime later this week, so here are my expectations ahead of time. One place in my school’s community that I would like to visit is the public library in Southfield. I want to find out what kinds of literacy resources this library has available for children in the community. Regardless of whether students in my class visit the library regularly with their families or not I want to know more about what they might find so I can talk about it in class and make connections and suggestions. Libraries also often have fliers and pamphlets available about events in the community which might give me more ideas about places I could visit to learn more about Southfield.
There is also a city park not far from my school that I would also like to visit. I believe that parks are good places to learn about a community because here I would be able to see families interacting and possibly sports or other games being played. This could be a valuable resource in learning about things students in my school like to do in their spare time. These could be possible experiences that I could draw upon when teaching reading comprehension or writing to help students understand a certain context or develop ideas for writing. I know that many students in my class play sports like football, basketball, or soccer so it would be a good idea for me to know where they often play games (maybe at this park I found or another one). The context of sports is something I could use as a connection or analogy to help them understand skills, strategies, or concepts in literacy.
There is also a city park not far from my school that I would also like to visit. I believe that parks are good places to learn about a community because here I would be able to see families interacting and possibly sports or other games being played. This could be a valuable resource in learning about things students in my school like to do in their spare time. These could be possible experiences that I could draw upon when teaching reading comprehension or writing to help students understand a certain context or develop ideas for writing. I know that many students in my class play sports like football, basketball, or soccer so it would be a good idea for me to know where they often play games (maybe at this park I found or another one). The context of sports is something I could use as a connection or analogy to help them understand skills, strategies, or concepts in literacy.
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