Talking, Drawing, Writing Book Study {Chpt 1}

Better late than never.  Right???

I am reading the book "Talking, Drawing, Writing" by Martha Horn & Mary Ellen Giacobbe.  I am a second grade teacher and this book is clearly written for a kindergarten/first grade classroom.  However, I am wanting to improve my writing instruction and this seems like a good place to start. 

Jennifer with Teaching With Grace is hosting a book study with this book and I am fortunate enough to get to participate.  The challenge for me is how to adapt this for my classroom.



Chapter 1:  Storytelling

This one seems so easy.  All children love to tell stories.  They come in telling you of things that has happened in their life, things they have seen.  Children even love to make up stories, and tell tales.  Children have an imagination, it is time we let them use it more.  The authors gives the following suggestions:

Tell Oral Stories First:  Students must be able to tell a story before they even begin to write. Students can tell a partner their story and the partner can listen to see if the story makes sense.  At the beginning of the year guidelines would need to be established so that students would be an active listener. 

Share Your Stories:  Teachers are also storytellers!   Share your stories with the students.  Use this time to model how to tell a story.  Next year I may even have a fellow teacher come in and model with our class on telling stories with a partner.   

Time for Storytelling:  Give students time for storytelling.  Give students opportunities for practice.

Follow along with the book study that Jennifer is hosting.  I will be posting my thoughts on each chapter.  I will be catching up with the book study over the next few days!

Summer Reading

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

With school being out for summer we all have numerous projects we want to complete in and around our homes.  However, I also want to carve out some time to do some professional reading.  There are a couple of book studies that have caught by attention.  

 

Jennifer from Teaching with Grace is hosting a book study with the book Talking, Drawing and Writing by Martha Horn and Mary Ellen Giacobbe.  I have decided to participate in this book study because writing is going to be a focus for my entire school.  I am aware that this book is target for early elementary, however, I am hoping after reading the book I am able to adapt many of the ideas for my second grade class. 

 

 

For more information about this book study please visit Jennefer's blog.  She has listed the dates each chapter will be discussed. 

 

Best Practice 4 Teaching or Charts & Chit Chat will be hosting a book study on Reading Without Limits by Maddie Witter.  Be sure to check out her blog becuase she will be posting updates about the book study this week.  I am interested in reading this book in hopes of improving my reading instruction.

 

 

 

I was thinking of trying to read three book this summer.  I have found one about writing and one focusing on reading.  Does anyone know of a math book study?

Next School Year...

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Now that summer is finally here, maybe I can get back into the swing of blogging.  This linky party hosted by Finding Joy in 6th Grade is a great way to get started. 

I have an idea on how to want to run my literacy centers next year and I think it will work well for me.  I hope to share with you my plans later on in June when I have everything all worked out.  This is something that I am most excited about, however, it will take the most work.

 This is also an area in which our entire school will be focusing on.  As a school we are going to improve our science instruction all the way around.

I have a classroom blog that I need to be more consistent with and encourage my parents to use it as a resource.

Check out what others want to do next year by visiting Finding Joy in 6th Grade.

Happy February and Summarizing

Happy February!!

It is the start of a new month which brings new beginnings.  We are going to pretend like I haven't blogged for months--right???  So if you will remember, I am a second grade teacher and my year has been going along nicely.  Our school is revisiting the Comprehension Toolkit as part of our professional development.  I have incorporated several lessons into my core reading program.  Today my lesson was observed by my instructional coach, principal and fellow second grade teachers.

My focus was on summarizing.  Thanks to my fellow teachers, I have pictures!!!

I began by redefining what a summary is. We have worked on writing directions using the terms First, Next, Then and Last.  So, I had the students to think in those terms.  I gave each child a clipboard with four sticky notes.  Each child was able to write what they thought would be a great first sentence.

 

I only let three children share their sentence for first, another three for next and so on.  This was my attempt at keeping the lesson moving.  We would still be sitting there if everyone got to share each time.    I then placed everyone's sticky note on the board.

We then started weeding out unimportant details and combining the main ideas into a sentences.  This went better then I expected.

We finally came up with a summary that I  was happy with. I was very proud of my students for staying active for 45 minutes.  If I had to do things differently, I would have used chart paper.  I can't wait to continue this lesson on Monday.

ETA:  I wrote most of this post yesterday, however, I didn't post until Saturday.  Enjoy your weekend!

8 States Neeeded, Currently, Where are we cards

Happy Sunday.  Are you ready to start a new week?  Might as well be, it is here!

I am hoping that we have a complete postcard exchange.  We only need 8 states.  If you live in Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Rhode Island, or Vermont.please consider being a part of our exchange.  All you have to do is email me your school name and address and  mail about 50 postcards before your Thanksgiving Break.  I look forward to hearing from you.


Now this month's Currently.  I am linking up with the famous Farley from Oh' Boy, Fourth Grade.

My B2s must haves are very basic.  I wanted to share why I included Teaching Buddies on the list.  I think it is important that we have friends that are teachers.  Sometimes, they are the only ones that can understand what is happening with you and they can offer support and help.  It is very helpful if you all can work as a team.
  If you will remember, Amy from The Resource(ful) Room and I collaborated on the Schedule Cards based on some themes she has created.  You can find these here.  I used the black and red theme and created some cards I can hang outside my door to show where the class is.  I will try to post a picture of the finish product tomorrow. Here is the red and black set.  If you are interested in any of the other color combinations to match the schedule cards let me know.   Where Are We Cards (Red Black)   Be sure to check out Amy's blog for additional resources.  

Schedule Cards...Freebie

Did you use the Daily 5 and Cafe Headers from Amy at The Resource(ful) Room?  I did and I wanted my schedule cards to match the headers.  Amy and I worked collaboratively to created these schedule cards to match.

Blue Green Schedule Cards

Jungle Schedule Cards

Red Black Sign Schedule Cards

Yellow Black Schedule Cards

I hope you enjoy these!  Please leave a comment on which schedule cards you can use.  Please check out my new facebook page.  Don't forget to follow me here on my blog too!

Remember you can find matching Daily 5/Cafe Posters over at The Resource(ful) Room.

I am linking this post up with:

 

101-200 Number Chart

This year I wanted a number chart that went to 200.  I looked everywhere and I couldn't find one.  So I had to make my own. 

I had two 100 pocket charts.  I hung them together and made number cards from 101-200.  I even made multiple colors like the chart orginally had.  This is the result.

 

101-200 Numbers for Pocket Chart

I am slowly getting everything ready for the start of school.  Teachers return on August 13 and students return on August 20.  It will be here before we know it.