Professional Development 101 - Reading & Vocabulary (Social Studies Connection) and Math

Today I went to Professional Development.  I automatically thought of that e card about Pinterest... I would have much rather stayed in my PJ's all day, but I decided (with my husband's help) that the $200 Buy Back money was a little too important to pass up.  

The day was divided into 2 sessions.  I got to choose the workshops. 

My morning was spent in SS Reading and Writing 3-5 Grade.

My afternoon was spent in Math Adoption K-5.

I figured that I would just share my notes of what I learned, just so you can see what they are teaching teachers in California.  :)  Oh, I can't forget to mention lunch - seeing that I had an ENTIRE HOUR for a lunch break.  Let me say that again... AN ENTIRE HOUR (usually I have 40 minutes, but that also includes grading, copying, entering grades, etc)!  I ended up heading downtown with some friends and having a delightful sandwich amid all the other teachers that also never get to go out for lunch. 

SS Reading and Writing Workshop

This presentation was absolutely worth sitting in a "made for highschoolers" desk.  She broke it up into 3 parts - Vocabulary Instruction, Reading Instruction, and Assessments/Projects.

Vocabulary Instruction - Some of the big ah-ha moments were classifying vocabulary into 3 tiers.  We discussed that Tier 1 is usually the words the kids already know from babyhood, Tier 2 are academic language that they need to know throughout all the subjects & will use in numerous situations, and Tier 3 are lesson/unit specific.  We were told that Tier 2 are the perfect Vocabulary words to focus on to go through the entire steps of define, examples, pictures, sentences, etc... but to NOT worry about Tier 3 words.  To share the definitions for those lesson specific words, and just move on with our time.  From there we realized that the majority of our content vocabulary words are Tier 3, and that by taking those out of the time-eating define vocabulary practice, we then have time to focus on that academic language.  

She shared so many great strategies that I can implement right away into my classroom - focusing on both nonfiction and fictions.  Things I haven't heard lately using the Frayer Model, etc...  Then she moved onto Reading Instruction (focusing on nonfiction/SS basis).

She mentioned the strategies of THIEVES, Write Arounds, Important Words Summary, Double Entry Journal, Say Something, etc.  She had us participate (not just view from a distance), but it wasn't in a boring way.

I got a lot out of it and see how I could use these on a weekly basis.  Some of them I feel like I already have been doing, but didn't know exactly when or how I started.... like did I start because I read it on a blog sometime, or because I just started doing it myself...

We went through Close Reading (which before today I guess I was getting mixed up with Cloze Reading).  :)  I've never been trained on it before, but it's really spectacular.  Those things that I did back in college that I have been trying to teach my own kids actually has a name!  Lightbulb moment.

For the assessment section, she spoke of exit tickets, ABC books, notebooks, 4 square writing, and Top 10 Lists.  It really struck a note that I am doing a lot of these same things and maybe I'll actually know what I'm doing when we fully transition.  

Math Adoption K-5

This afternoon I spent with the publisher rep. of our newly adopted Math curriculum.  It was interesting, and I did get a lot out of it.

We went through the Student text, the Teacher's Edition, and then the Technology Aspect of it.

 I didn't take pictures of the actual curriculum, but I here are all my notes that I took...

Of course we don't actually get our own TE for a while, but it was really nice to have time to wander through the online piece of it all.

My brain hurts right now!  I hope you had a great day!  

I'm Ready for Spring Break!

Sadly though, Spring Break is still 7 weeks away... and now with the beautiful 3 day weekends of February behind us, it's going to be a very long couple of months.

Anyway, here's a Peek at my Week!  Linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings to share.  :)

The kids don't have school tomorrow, but I do!  We actually have Professional Development planned.  The district decided to do half day options, so in the morning I'm going to one workshop that will work with Social Studies & English (turning units into CCSS topics), and the afternoon will be spent learning more about the new math curriculum.  

Tuesday will be spent attending a play in the morning - Beauty in the Beast to be exact.  A couple of my kiddos are in it this year, so that will be extra fun.  :)  

The rest of the time will be spent learning a tsunamis in our weekly story, The Big Wave.  We'll be watching the Brain Pop movie in addition to the normal weekly activities in order to build connections.   

In the afternoon we will start working on our Gold Rush Mining Journal.  I updated it yesterday with the new clip art I bought during the sale.  The download still has the old version too (in case someone liked that better).  If you have bought either this or my big CA bundle make sure to go redownload!  

On Wednesday we are celebrating Dr. Seuss' Birthday at school at NIGHT.  I'm one of those people that always sign up to help out that night - and I have my red & white hat all ready to help serve birthday cake.  Usually I celebrate in class on his actual birthday, but with the weekend, I bumped it to be today too.  

In class I always have a PJ Read In.  Usually I also turn it into a Technology Fundraiser, but this year I really can't ask my families for anything else... so it's just going to be a Read In.  Pillows, blankets, books, and PJs.  We will read in the morning, we will read in the afternoon.  We will use our favorite Dr. Seuss books to identify figurative language examples (which we put on a copy of his striped hat). It will be all about Reading!  

This week in math we are focusing on decimals.  I wasn't worried about fractions since we had been working on them for months - but I am soooo (can't emphasize that enough) nervous about decimals. I'm probably worried for nothing though, I tend to do that.

This week I'm introducing these fun activities to help them with the initial concept:

Decimal Scoot Game by Joanne Miller (Head Over Heels for Teaching)

Jivey's Diving for Decimals

Nicholas Reitz' Addition and Subtraction of Decimals

Ever feel like all you do on Fridays are tests?  Between the story test (with vocabulary separate), the spelling test, grammar, and some type of math quiz - it's all I can do to just breathe when looking at the mountain of grading. 

One little tip that works best for me is to have our Reading Buddies scheduled on Fridays (after testing is completed and I have that 30 minute block of time that I can get a couple of the stacks completed) before lunch.  My reading buddy partner is a first grade teacher - and she came up with the idea of splitting our kids - so we weren't trying to fit 64 kids quietly reading in one room.  Half my class goes to her, and half her class comes to me.  She has time to prep in her room, and I can tackle a bit of the grading in between wandering around the room too.  

For buddies we don't have them just read to each other anymore.  My 4th graders help her kiddos with their math facts, writing, graphing, etc.  There is always a library book that we read to them, and they in turn read their decodable to their buddy.  When we had buddies on Thursday afternoons, my kiddos would also help them with a spelling practice test.  I LOVE buddy time! 

Do you have Reading Buddies too?  

Have a wonderful week!  

5 Random Things (including a Single Red Rose)

It's a double link up today!

The sale was magnificent.  I grabbed some out of this world products, and I felt so much support from you.  Thank you so much!  My sale is continuing on throughout the weekend for those shoppers that couldn't make it on the weekdays.  Bundles are also included!  

This week my class learned about the Gold Rush and we made paper dioramas depicting a Gold Rush scene.  Next week the kids will be writing their own narrative.  

My painted letters are up in the classroom.  Ribbon didn't work out the way I had hoped, so right now they are just leaning on my window sill where students (and myself) get a gentle reminder of our room's motto.

On Monday I was greeted with a single red rose from a student.  The kid happened to be one that I had to have quite a talk with a couple of weeks ago.  It was one of those head outside onto our porch to get to the crux of the matter types of talks.  I had to be extra tough...  Then I watched him try so hard the following week to do his best every single moment of the school day, so by that Friday before I gave him one of my  (Vistaprint) encouragement notes.  

Then he surprised me with the rose... 

This week with all the writing we have been tackling, we also were creating adventure stories (to focus on adding descriptions, details, and examples).  On Friday morning I put the kids into groups and they had to read their writing out loud.  My students are a shy bunch this year, so that alone was difficult for them (even though we have been with each other for 7 months).  After reading it out loud, they then received compliments from the other kids.  When everyone in the group was done, they headed back to their desks with their rough drafts to mark up their papers with a pencil, underlining all the details.  They absolutely loved this activity!  I loved being able to walk around and listen to them read their stories with pride.  

Linking up with Doodlebugs (5 Random Moments) and Head Over Heels for Teaching (Spark Student Motivation)!  

Have a great day!