And With A Light Touch Chapters 5-6-7

Well, I didn’t get as far as I hoped in reading my book this week.  There were five chapters in this section and I only made it through three.  I guess not bad considering I spend most of my time in my classroom these days. 

Chapter 5 was about Establishing and Managing a Writing Workshop.  I am sure every teacher has their own way about how the writing workshop should run however there are some things that all teachers need to do to make things go smoothly, and that is establish rules.  Carols rules are simple: 

1.  Stay in your seats.

2.  When I stop by your desk, I want you to tell me what you are writing about.

3.  Work Quietly

4.  Write in pencil and illustrate in crayons, markers or colored pencils. 

These rules sound simple enough, however what if you cannot see the word wall.  What if you want to look at a book for an idea.    You can avoid all the what ifs if the children find what they need before the writing begins.  My students have their own dictionaries as well.  Each week they add the weekly spelling words to their books.  We also add important names and other vocabulary words too. 

Carol also has some great rules for large group sharing:

1.  Look at the person who’s talking.

2.  Keep your hands still.

3.  Be very quiet.

4.  Listen carefully.

5.  Think of any questions you have.

I am going to make two charts for my class.  As we are writing I am going to have the writing rules on the bookstand and as we are sharing I will display the sharing rules.   This will be a gentle reminder of what the expectations are.  I already have a banner I found last year that is similar to this that I use in my classroom.  I just love it.  I refer to it all the time.  I found it a First Grade Fever and here is a bonus....it is free.  

First Grade Fever

Throughout Chapter 6, Mini-Lessons:  Helping Children Craft Their Writing, Carol give lots of examples of topics for mini-lessons.  She has an amazing list on P. 112, 113 and 114.  

The point she made that really stuck out in my mind was how she started with story time first and used that book as her lead into her mini lesson for writing.  This is a great idea because I always feel like I am short of time.    All literature will have some type of mini lesson embedded in them.   I am going to incorporate this into my daily schedule.  After lunch I always read my class a story, I am going to find stories that will help reinforce my writing mini lessons. 

Another great suggestion that Carol makes in this chapter is show not tell.  She demonstrates most of her lessons through her own writing.  She often writes something ahead of time and has the students give suggestions which generally lead to the point she was trying to make.   She models for her students good questions to ask and it pays off in her mini lessons when they ask her questions about her writing. 

Chapter 7, Listening and Responding, caught my attention the most.  I am guilty of having long conference lines and at times I don’t get to the kids for weeks at a time.   At one point last year I had a stack of stories and I was reading snowman stories at the end of Spring.    Carol tries to stop by each child’s desk daily.   After her mini lessons she walks from desk to desk and gets down at eye level with the child and they have a discussion about the piece the child is writing about.   Wow!  I need to more of that.  She carries a notebook with her and makes notes of who/what she conferences about.     I want to make a grid with each child’s name on it and make sure that I make some kind of notation about where they are in the writing process.   Carol has a system that works for her on P. 148.  I may start with her system and see how it goes.   Carol views her role as the teacher to first listen to what the children have to say and second respond in a gentle, caring way that will help lead the child to the next level of writing. 

The three chapters I read were a great reminder to let the children guide the mini lessons you teach.  You have to wait and see where they are and then guide them from there.  I do have some homework this week I have two charts to make for writing workshop and a grid to make for observations.  

Freebie Friday: Poem Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

I have one last poem to share with you.  It is about the seasons.  I did already teach the season in the middle of the school year in social studies and we did make a cute poem book.  The poem book was called Changes in the Year.  I did post about it here.  

However the seasons came back in our Science book during the weather unit.  So I found another poem for the poetry book.  

Now we did this poem towards the end of the year to there is more to read and more skills involved.  

Click Here if you would like a FREE copy of the poem and skills sheet.  

The children added the poem to their poetry notebooks.  The poetry notebooks were a hit at the end of the year when they realized they finally get to take them home. 

And With A Light Touch Chapters 3 & 4

This week I read the Chapters 3 & 4 in the book And with a Light Touch.  The focus of the chapters is Environment and Tone.  These are the perfect chapters for teachers to read and reread this time of year, as we are getting ready to set up our classroom and prepare of our new students. 

Chapter 3 was title Classroom Climate.  Carol writes about the importance of involving the children in the decision making process in the classroom from the very beginning.  She writes about the importance of creating routines in the classroom.  She writes about the importance of the teacher’s tone.  What kind of teacher are you?  The type that rules the kingdom and the subjects just do what they are told.  Are you the type of teacher who creates a million activities to keep the children busy?  Or are you the type of teacher who listens and observes the students and believes that you learning along with the children?  

This is the point that stuck with me: 

We work together, we are a learning community.

I’ve heard this before, but it is a good reminder as I get ready to begin the year.  I love the word community.   It is a word that pops up in our Religion, Science and Social Studies books. 

How do you teach children what a community is and how to be part of one?  At the first grade level Carol suggests through literature and daily modeling. 

She begins her year with having the students create the class rules.  She of course guides them in positive phrasing however she lets them feel as though they are in charge of the rules.  All classrooms have the same basic rules:  We are kind to each other and we work hard together. 

My plan for the first day of school…………I am going to guide my students to help them create classroom rules as well.  We will write the rules on chart paper so we can remember them.  Then on the second day I will tell my students that I took all their ideas and created a poster of First Grade Rules….

I plan on combining two of my ideas from the past, faces and names.  The students will create their faces and we will put them around this poster I found at eighteen28 to show we are a community together.  

Then we will decorate our names and put them around our new rules to show we will do our best to follow them.  

Chapter 4 is all about Planning and Preparing 

Thinking about how you set up your classroom and how you manage your lesson plans and records. 

Carol’s main point is keep your room kid friendly.  Don’t spend a lot of time over decorating your classroom; just set up the basics and let the kids take part in the rest.   She said she can set up her classroom in one weekend!  Wow, that is something to aim for. 

Next Week's Reading is all about Writing in the Classroom.  Sounds Good!

An Amazing Resource

I found an amazing new blog today.  I have been reading book reviews and watching book trailers for the last hour.  The blog is well written and is extremely useful.  The blog is by Roxanne and is called Books that Heal Kids.   Roxanne searches for books that help children of all ages deal with different real life issues.  This is just a screen shot of the some of her topics.

As you can see she has a wonderful variety of topics that can be useful in the classroom.  I added this to my list of favorites.   For each book she writes a summary of the book and then in the next paragraph she writes why she likes the book or how she used it with the children where she works.

I already added three books to my cart at Amazon.

This blog is well worth your time to read.

My Teddy Bear Poetry on Freebie Friday

The last two weeks of school I have my students read the story Ira Sleeps Over.  It is a cute little story about a little boy who has to decide if he wants to take his Teddy Bear to a sleep over with his friend Reggie.  He seeks advice from his parents and his sister.  Needless to say, he is conflicted about what to do.  We had some great discussions in class. 

During this week I have the students read the poem:  My Teddy Bear  by Margaret Hillert.  I found it in a great poetry book: Read Aloud Poems  By:  Jack Prelutsky.  

This is one of the last poems we do in first grade so I use it as an assessment.  I have the students use their detective skills to find short and long vowel words.  I warn them ahead of time…..there may not be an answer for each box you have to think about it carefully. 

If you would like a copy of My Teddy Bear please click here.

Enjoy :)

New Book for Professional Reading

source

…..And with a Light Touch

Learning About Reading, Writing and Teaching with First Graders

By:  Carol Avery

This is my second book selection for this summer.  I picked this book because I vaguely remember reading back 16 years ago or so when I taught first grade the first time.  I remember I enjoyed the book, but to be honest I don’t remember why.  So when I came upon the second edition of the book I decided to read it again. 

 I am not going to report to you with summaries of the chapters.  I am going to write about key points and how I see them impacting my classroom.  I cannot do my usually two chapters at a time because that is not how Ms. Avery has the book set up. She has the book broken into seven parts, so I will try to stick to those same parts.

Beginning

This is what Ms. Avery calls the first two chapters of her book.  They focus on how Ms. Avery came about her philosophy of teaching and how the first days of school have changed over the years.

One quote that stood out to me was:  “I better understand now that reading aloud to children is teaching and that how I read and the talk surrounding that reading has a direct influence on children’s growth as readers and writers.”

This is TRUE!  This is the lesson that I know I cannot recreate for children who are absent.  I send home the books we read however I know that the parents do not spend the time with the books like I do.  Sometimes the talk I plan does not go as I plan, the children take it in a whole different and meaningful direction.  This is something you cannot recreate!  First Graders learn so much from GOOD literature and the discussion that takes place afterwards!  Reading is so important!

 

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“We worked to form a community……learner-centered classroom.”

I want to work these key phrases into my teaching philosophy because I feel that it is very important.  We are a learning community and it takes a lot of hard work to build a successful and beautiful community.  Ms. Avery points out many times that a true community is form when everyone has input in the decisions.  She has many class meetings to get the children to work together and learn to listen to the needs of everyone in the community. 

I especially like the term community, which is a word we read about a lot in literature, social studies, science and religion.  I feel if I can reinforce that vocabulary in the classroom community as well it would help the students build some understanding.    

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