A Little Note about Writing...

 Hello, all!!  It has been soooo long since I put up a new post on my blog!  I've been so engrossed in learning about my new position, and trying to do it well, that I have neglected the usual things that give me joy!  Updating this blog is one of them!

I am really growing into my new position as a Campus Instructional Specialist.  It's been challenging...I now deal with grades 3-5, instead of just fourth, so I have had to become familiar and comfortable with the different curricula.  The bonus side:  I no longer have grades or papers to grade!  My weekends are a lot less stressful because of it!!  I get to see the ways different teachers do their thing and I've seen a lot of great lessons and ideas!  The negative side:  I miss working with students, every day and on a regular basis.  That being said, I have had the chance to model lessons for a couple of teachers.  The student interaction has been wonderful!

Well...enough about me!! On to my reason for posting!!

Writing is one of my favorite subjects! (Go figure!) It's always come easy to me...the grammar, the vocabulary, the structure... I love putting ideas on paper.  I've always dreamed of being a writer...I even began a book, adding things over the last couple of years. (It's a work-in-progress, though.  It will probably never see the light of day!)  But it's fun and it's mine! Haha!  Anyway, I also love teaching writing.

Our district curriculum focuses on using Units of Study by Lucy Calkins .(This link will take you to Amazon.) Lucy is the be-all, end-all writing guru.  While I find her units difficult to follow, the ideas and methods used are solid. It's based on great ideas, if you can manage the fluff. But, that's just my lowly opinion.

I believe writing can be taught as a method.  There are steps to writing, especially with beginning writers.  When writing is taught methodically, students begin to pick up a pattern for composing a piece, whether it be a narrative, expository, how-to, etc.  We all learned to do this, in some form or fashion, when we were in school!  (Remember outlines?????)

I've had the chance to model narrative compositions for third graders (based on Lucy's units).  The group I am working with began their planning page with a "storyboard".  I love using the term; I told students how storyboards are used by the creators of their favorite movies!!!  Despicable Me, Finding Nemo...all of those movies began with a storyboard!!

Students drew pictures in student-made boxes for a story that they wanted to tell.  Then, out to the side of the box, they wrote about what the boxes were trying to show.  The next day, students used a green pencil to add to the picture...then to the sentences.  (See the pattern?? Picture..sentence...picture...sentence...)  The green pencil idea came from the teacher I am working with...she had students use green to show that they are "growing" their composition!!! Neat, huh?

Since I don't have my own classroom this year, I made an "example" so you can get an idea of the pattern...

Tomorrow, we plan to put our "storyboard" onto paper without the pictures. We will edit/revise from that copy (sloppy copy, rough draft, ...).  We will then make a final copy.

We are doing one step each day, so that students can work without pressure.  My hope is that when they revisit narratives, this process will be part of their routine.

I promise (to myself) to get back on the blogging track!  Oh...and back on the blog-hopping track, as well!!

What is written without effort is in generally read without pleasure.
–Samuel Johnson

Always,

Moving On...

Well...the STAAR has burned out.

Burned out my students, burned me out, burned out my friends.

Burned, burned, burned.

However, I will fix that with a new haircut, some new clothes, lunch (and maybe dinner), and a few couple of glasses of Moscato with a friend I haven't talked to in 10 years or seen in 14!!! I'm driving to meet her on Saturday.  She was one of my closest, dearest friends for many, many years.  She was in my wedding  22 years ago.  But life took her one way and me the other.  The best part...and I know this sounds cruel...but she is NOT a teacher.  So I will not talk about school, curriculum, testing, students, etc. for one whole day!!! (My husband is thinking, "What the feathers???? I have to listen to it all the time and I'm not a teacher!"  Too bad, kemo sabe!)

Sometimes I am a "immediate gratification" chick.  I admit it.  I love my Kindle for that reason.  But the waiting for the test scores is craaaazzzyyyy.  We may not find out until next school year.  "What?!", you may ask.  I thought the same thing!! How do I fix what I "broke" this year if the new school year is already upon me when I find out my scores???!!! ::: rant, rant, rant::

My quarters worked hard...and as usual, I'm second guessing every single decision I made when it comes to teaching.  I know, I know...I can't change a thing.  But, ya know, I can't let things go sometimes...just ask my husband!!!

It is time to move on...

My quarters are soooo ready for some fun.  And, of course, they will get it.  Our campus has so many activities going on this time of year.  We have our field trip, a party day...need I say more?  But today, we just relaxed, read, and wrote.  They actually did really well "out of the routine."  They talked A LOT.  But, what should I expect?  They are kids for crying out loud!  (I did have to take two Motrin, though.)  One of my major talkers sweet boys didn't wear his glasses today.  I asked where they were and he told me they were in his locker.   I asked him why and he said, "The STAAR test is over and I don't need them anymore."  He had the evil grin sweetest, biggest smile.  In my best teacher's voice I said, " Go. Get. Them. NOW."  I can only imagine the next few weeks.

Most of my quarters finished their free verse poems today!! They were so gooooood!!!  Over the last couple of weeks, they wrote poems about many things.  They chose what they wanted to write about.  One day, we had a "classroom tools" write.  We played "I Spy" and wrote a poem about that.  They wrote about family, friends, food, feelings...you name it.  Today, I let them choose their favorite piece and take it to final copy.  Here are a few samples:

A lot of them liked their "stuff at school" one the best...I don't know why.  But, for having two classes of 21 with 13 ELLs in each class, I'm liking what they've got going on. (Well, there's the STAAR...back on topic, back on topic....)

I found this great quote...I only wish the people who concocted these crazy tests for kids "got it"!!

"But the person who scored well on an SAT will not necessarily be the best doctor or the best lawyer or the best businessman. These tests do not measure character, leadership, creativity, perseverance."--William Julius Wilson

Preaching to the choir!!! 

I KNOW, I KNOW!!!!  Letting....go....now.....

Always,

The Day Before...

Well...today is the day before STAAR!  My quarters have had a lot of fun the last week getting ready for the test.  Yes...you read correctly...they have had FUN!  And so have I!!

I really enjoyed making surprises for them each day.  "The Writing Games" were awesome!  I know that, typically, we teachers tend to review and reteach the week before our state tests because...well..that's what we think we should do.  But, the truth is, if we've taught them to the best of our ability and done everything we can to meet their needs and have them grow, then we have done what we should do.  When we know better, we do better.  I realized that they can still review using games and fun ideas.  I have spent two months teaching how to take the test (bubble in, plan, final copy...).  If they don't know it by now...cramming them full of things on the day before the test is futile.

With that in mind, I had my quarters just write today.  No urgency, no pressure, no "if you don't do this, I will not be happy."  They practiced narrative and expository writing at their own speed.  I was available to conference with them throughout the day.  My team teacher was AWESOME.  She kept her class all day and allowed them to write as well.  I talked to them and gave them their assignments and she did the rest.  It was great!!  Don't misunderstand...I had a few who did very little to nothing...but most of them tried.

However, my kiddos were a little wild at the freedom of writing without pressure!  They were very loud in the hallway after lunch, so I turned them around to walk down the stairs and back up again. (Our building is two-stories!)  Anyway, as we were going down...I FELL!!!  My. greatest. fear.  As I was walking, I turned to make sure the rest of the class was following quietly and I skipped the bottom step.  Another teacher was standing there and I fell on my butt!!! I also twisted my ankle badly! I had to do everything I could not to cry in front of my quarters!! They had to get the nurse and everything!!!  It also seemed like every teacher in the building walked by, getting full view of my idiocy!!!!  A couple even mentioned how unfortunate it was that they didn't have their camera phones!  My kids were in shock, though!  I'm alive, in a little pain, but I will be there for the STAAR!

Now, I was super excited to give my quarters their final surprise to help them be confident during STAAR.  Since most of my students are ELLs, they sometimes lack confidence with what they can do with the English language.  But everyone received a "STAAR Survival Kit".  Here are some pics!!

 

Inside each kit, was a special note explaining what is in the kit.

Here is your STAAR Survival Kit!

1.  A pencil

to help you record your answers.

2.  A pencil top eraser

to help you correct your mistakes.

3.  A rubbing rock

to help you relieve some stress.

4.  Peppermints

to keep you awake and alert.

5.  A tracking card

to remind you to ask for one if you need it!

If this is of interest to you, you can download it from my "Free Printables" page.

I believe in my kids and their ability to succeed.  They will be fine!  So I leave you with a Potter quote that reminds me of what I want my students to believe...

“Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure.” --JK Rowling, (Ravenclaw motto)

Indeed...

Always,

Most. Fun. Ever.

My title sums up my day! I had a FANTASTIC day with my quarters!!! We had "The Writing Games"!!!!!!  I would love to know your thoughts about our day!

(Disclaimer:  Please ignore the brown butcher paper hanging on my walls.  We have our state tests in writing next Tuesday and Wednesday, so I had to take my anchor charts down and cover up things on the walls. Hahahaha! I still have more to do on Monday!)

I cannot begin to explain how wonderful my quarters did and how much they loved it!  I did, too!  So, I've decided to tell you about it...in pictures!

The quarters were greeted by this poster letting them know today was the day!!  We started off discussing the book.  I gave them a "back of the book" summary and told them that I HOPE they read the book first, before they see the movie.  (A teacher can dream, can't she???)  Next year, I will DEFINITELY introduce the book before STAAR Writing!  We then watched the trailer on IMDB.

I talked to them about key terms used in the series.  We used these terms during our games, too!  Then...we had our REAPING!!!  Each quarter wrote their name on the back of a ticket.  I drew one name at a time, announced them (extravagantly), and assigned them a district.  Our desks were already set up in groups of 4, so I named 5 districts.

I then told them what the saying/quote (below) from the books meant for us and what it meant to the Tributes in the book.

Some of my girls were so into this!! They held hands while I called out the Tributes!!! So awesome!!!

 Then, (dun dun dundun) the game began!!!!!  This is District 2 playing "Kaboom Writing"!

District 5, also playing "Kaboom Writing"!

 Quarters were allowed to write on the desks with dry erase markers!  Tissues helped them erase!!! District 1...

District 3 and 4 played "Go Fish--Parts of Speech"!

I llloooooovvvvveeeeedddd it when quarters or answer monitors went to the Word Wall to check answers!!!!!  The monitors took their jobs seriously!!!

After several rotations, the winners of each round had a "Spin Off" to the death (figuratively, of course!).  They used the spinners that they made and decorated at the beginning of the week!

We ended the games with two teams competing in a game of  "ZAP!" MiMi from 5th Grade Rocks, 5th Grade Rules! listed this game on her blog a couple of days ago and I stole borrowed it.  The kids LOVE it!!

The team with the win challenged members of the losing team to spin-offs!  The winners in each class (AM/PM) were the quarters with the most spinners collected!  I also gave a small prize to one girl Tribute and one boy Tribute!

While we were playing "The Writing Games", our 5th graders (by TOTAL coincidence) were finishing up their Olympics in the library.  They had a parade throughout the hallways to celebrate.  So our 4th graders lined the hallway to cheer them on!  It added to our theme because I correlated their parade to the parade of Tributes in The Hunger Games! I could not have asked for a better day!!!!

They had such a good time and so did I.  And it was such a great way to review!  I can rest tonight, knowing that I've done all that I can!  I love teaching!

As a special treat, my Megan came to visit my classroom during the games!  She met my students and had a chance to see what some of 4th grade is about.  Of course, my kids loved her.

I close with a quote from one of my favorite authors.  It's not a Hunger Games quote, because I couldn't find anything on my quote list that fit how I felt about today.  But my students realize every day how much I love books, and if I hadn't read The Hunger Games series, then our games today would never have happened.

“I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.”
― JK Rowling

I agree, Jo, one hundred percent...

A Day Like Any Other...

 You know, today was a good day.  Nothing special happened.  My quarters didn't do poorly on our STAAR prep activities. (They didn't exactly do well, either.)  But it was a drama-less day and that's saying something...

Yesterday, we reviewed "CUPS" for the editing part of writing.  Today, we reviewed "ARMS"--add, remove, move, or substitute-- for the revising portion of writing.  Here is our anchor chart:

 
Not very "decorative", I know...but I'm way past cute at this point.  I only have  2 more school days to remind my students of all of the things they have learned (but, in some cases, forgot).  All of a sudden, I feel like I haven't done enough to prepare them!! I hate the "testing feeling".

Oh...yeah...our state assessment for writing is next Tuesday, which is technically 3 school days away,  bbuuuutttttt...

I lose one day of review because my ESL quarters from both classes, (26 of them, to be exact) have to take the TELPAS Online Reading tomorrow for four hours.  Geez, Texas...test much???????

...I need to stop the rant before I get started...

As  I've blogged before, I am using some new game ideas to help my quarters review for STAAR writing.  One of the games I taught them is called "Kaboom!"  It is a game created by MiMi at 5th Grade Rocks, 5th Grade Rules .  I downloaded it for free from her TPT store.  I actually downloaded "Kaboom--Oceanography".  I don't teach Science but I thought the game was fantabulous!  So, I changed the questions and changed it to "Kaboom--Writing".  With MiMi's encouragement, I have downloaded my writing version of her "Kaboom" on to my Free Printables page if you are interested!

On Friday, we are going to have "The Writing Games".  I've called them that, in honor of The Hunger Games. Don't worry, they aren't writing to the death.  But I will incorporate things, such as "May the odds be ever in your favor!"  I have not read the book to my quarters, but plan to at the end of the year.  However, I have no doubt that many of them will see the movie this weekend.  I love the book and I wish I had time to read it to them before the movie,  but alas...  I hope to have more info and pics this weekend.

In the spirit of the games, I will stray from Potter...

“Scores only matter if they’re very good, no one pays much attention to the bad or mediocre ones.”
-Portia, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Well, that's not entirely true...


 
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