Teaching Deep Thinking and Emotions

 How does the character feel in this story?  How do you know?

These are comprehension questions that we ask our very youngest readers.  Many times the answer to the first question is "good" or "bad."  And to the second question, students have a difficult time explaining how they know that a character is feeling that way.  Reading facial expressions, restating evidence in text, and (in more complex texts) inferring are skills that require prior experience, practice, and (for some) explicit teaching.

To help students think deeply about the characters in the books read, they need the vocabulary to do so.  Let's look at one way to do this.

Brain Research and Vocabulary

 Last week I shared that I would like to reflect each week about a failure (because we learn and grow through them).  Well...this week was filled with Aimsweb testing.  My teammate and I are in charge of completing all these benchmark assessments for our school.  If you have never given this assessment, let me share that it did not allow for much growth, on my part.  I ask the same 27 questions to every student.

But if we look...we can always find somewhere to grow.

This week I started to read "How the Brain Learns to Read" by David Sousa.

I just finished chapter 1...so I am not far along.  One section discussed the parts of the brain that process verbal and image based words.  As teachers, we know that it is important to be as concrete as possible.  So we use many methods to help our students understand vocabulary words: images, stories, context, motions, songs, etc.  David Sousa explains that different parts of our brain process verbal based information from image based information.

For example if I am talking to my students about a serpent.  I may explain that it is a large snake.  Students can visualize this and part of the brain lights up.  But if I have a discussion about the word grace.  Students will not a visual for this word because it is more abstract and verbal based; therefore, a completely different part of the brain lights up.

Students understand words better when they have a mental image of the word.  This is why, as teachers, we do anything we can to help them remember these words and their meanings.  Although, I teach in small groups all day and do not have a set list of vocabulary words, students are learning new concepts all the time through the texts we read.  I have always used a variety of methods to teach new words; however, when I read this information about the brain, it really helped me to have a deeper understanding of WHY I do it.  And WHY I need to do more of it.

So this year...as I am planning out my books for the week or day.  I want to ensure I am not glossing over words that could use more of a visual.  I want to ensure that even some "simple" sight words can have a picture attached, if it is going to help support a student's understanding.

 I can always work to do a little more.  A little better.

We Are Ninjas

This year...we are ninjas.

When our firsties hear that word, they think of kicking, hiya-ing, and masks.  But as teachers, we are working to change this.  We want them to embody the positive qualities of a ninja.  Are there any, you may ask?  Yep.  We think so.

This year we will be working on the following ninja qualities:

                                                                                                                    kg font

 We decided to focus on one word a day for this next 1 1/2 weeks. During this time, our team will also complete all of the beginning of the year assessments.  Once Labor Day weekend is over, assessments will be complete, ninja words will have been introduced, and we will be ready to go...or at least that is the plan :)

Wednesday marked our first day of school.  And what better way to start than with a Ninja Ceremony!

We had on our shirts:

 And our ninja bandanas:

Each student came up and got their own bandana while the entire grade level cheered for them!  It was a great way to start our year for these hard working firsties!

Click on the traits below to see each of the posts:
Bravery
Perseverance
Curiosity
Responsibility
Respect
Strategic Thinking
Trustworthy

 How is your year going so far?

Working Towards Vivacious Vocabuarly

 Vocabulary...that is going to be my focus this year.  It is not a strength.  I'm not sure there has been a point in my career where it was.  I've tried different strategies...some I liked and some I didn't.  But it cannot be said that it was ever a strength.

But my hope is that this time next year, my tune will be a bit different!

When we looked at our core curriculum as a building, we discovered that vocabulary was something we needed to work on as a whole building.  So the framework team started digging through resources to find out what would work well for our building.  Isabel Beck's Text Talks was a good fit.  Have you seen it?

Now we cannot add another program into our day, but Isabel Beck lays out a great routine that will actually work with the books that we are already teaching.  You can check out a FREE sample of her lesson that goes along with "Ruby the Copycat" by clicking on the image below.

What I really love is her repeated use of the words, kid friendly language, usage across contexts, and incorrect usage.  She also assesses the students on the words that they have been working on.  It is a great routine and her program uses high interest books!

This is what we are going to work towards in my building.  My partners Karen, Kathy, and I decided that we wanted to try it out in a manageable way this year through the nursery rhymes that we are already using in our daily guided reading groups.  Instead of only focusing on Phonological Awareness aspects of they rhyme, we will discuss some of the "vivacious" vocabulary that can be found in them.

So here is what we did this summer:

First up, we gathered all of our nursery rhyme books (fractured, silly, originals):

Then we looked at each of the rhymes and determined what vocabulary words would fit the needs of our students.  And we came up with a list for the year.  Here is an example of a few weeks in January.  These are the poems (they may be original or fractured versions) that we will use at the beginning of our guided reading groups and the words that we will hone in on:

These particular words will be used throughout the week in a variety of contexts but introduced in small groups.  They will also be assessed in small group orally

I am really excited to find out how this works for us this year.  As we become more comfortable, we will add this routine into other aspects of our day but we needed to start somewhere.

As I have been thinking about vocabulary this summer, the book "Storm Is Coming!" popped into my brain.  Have you read this one?

I LOVE this book!  Basically, the animals are so scared because they do not know what the word "storm"even though they seem to understand rain, thunder, and lightening.  What a great way for us to introduce the importance of language and vocabulary!  

I hope you can help me along this "vivacious vocabulary" journey this year!

Five for Friday, Giveaway Galore, and Father Freebie

It is Friday!  Time to link up!

My number 1: GIVEAWAYS!
I have a giveaway still going.  Click on the photo below.

 Also...I added up to Bloglovin'.  I am new to this.  So I am still learning about it.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

My number 2: 2 GIVEAWAYS!
I am also in TWO giveaways that start today and tomorrow.  I have never been in a giveaway before.  How exciting!!
Reading Toward the Stars has hit 600 followers.  Her giveaway starts today!  There are 23 giveaways!

Hippo Hooray for Second Grade has hit 300 followers and tomorrow her giveaway starts.  I get to be in this one too!!  Yea!!

My number 3: Great Deal
I went to Half Price this week with my little ones.  (We love that place.)  A teacher must have just dropped off a bunch of books because there were some great books in the clearance section.  I found these Easy Reader Biographies.  50 cents each!!  There is some great vocabulary in these books.

Number 4: Father's Day
Last year I made this Father's Day sheet.  My girls filled it out last year and we did the same this year.  It was fun to compare their answers.  We will do the same next year.  Here is a copy if you would like it.

Thanks to Miss Tiina's fonts.

My number 5: Swimming
We went swimming for the first time this week.  I was amazed at how much more my two little ones could do this year.  They grow so fast!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Virtual Book Club Link Up!

Last week I was catching up on some blog reading and found out about the "Virtual Book Club for Kids."  One of my favorite blogs "Growing Book by Book" was linking up to the book party and this month Amy Krouse Rosenthal  is being featured.  

The first book I ever bought by Amy Krouse Rosenthal was "Cookies Bite-Size Life Lessons."  And the second book I bought was "Christmas Cookies Bite-Size Holiday Lessons."

As you can see, they are both hardback versions.  And if you know anything about me at all, I must have really liked these books to buy hardback because (for lack of a better word) I am extremely...thrifty.  

I had to join the linky party.

One reason I enjoy these two books some much is 1. they are about cookies.  Oh, how I love Love LOVE cookies and sweets.  I love to make cookies but sadly I will eat ALL of them (and I wish I was kidding). 2. The author does explain her lessons in very kid-friendly terms.  3. These books are filled with absolutely amazing vocabulary!  I have read these books over and over again with my two little girls and we have discussed the words over and over.

BUT as we know, it is one thing to read/discuss and it is another to read/discuss and do.  Well, I will never back down from an opportunity to make some cookies.  So that is what we did this weekend.  My little family decided to make some of my favorite no-bake cookies.  

Peanut Butter Balls

I can take absolutely no credit for this recipe.  I follow the recipe for these delicious, mouth watering snacks at Simply Healthful Recipes. I do use gluten-free oats and peanut butter....oh yum!!

As we made these cookies (or any other foods), my girls and I talked about the words in the book.  Some examples from the book are "cooperate" and "proud."  We took some of our cookies to a friend as a house warming gift yesterday, which focused on word "generous."

I think this would be a great lesson to do in the classroom, as well.  Any recipe could be followed but the focus could be on all the great words in the text.  There are so many great classroom recipes out there! Actually acting out the words will be more powerful than just reading and discussing the words.  Thinking about how to implement this in the classroom led to a creation of a vocabulary sheet.

Click HERE to download the vocab document.

After reading the text and making a snack, the students can illustrate one of the featured vocab words from the Amy Krouse Rosenthal book.  They can illustrate the word.  Finally, they can explain their illustration in regards to the featured word.  My hope is that they will have a better understanding of the vocabulary word because they have read about it, acted it out, illustrated it, and explained it.

Of course my brain did not seem to stop there. I started thinking about how I could link this activity to math since I am teaching both reading and math this year.  This week we are starting combinations of 9.  Perfect!  Another great way for me to sneak in some cookie making.

Students can make different combinations of 9 by adding some white and dark chocolate chips to their cookies.  Sadly, they are not real cookies for me to devour.  But they still look fun to make!

This linky party is hosted by Mommy and Me Book Club.  There are a lot of great ideas to extend Amy Krouse Rosenthal's books!  Hope you can join in the club!

Hope I peaked your curiosity about Amy Krouse Rosenthal!

Em

Something old...Something new

As I was messing around on the internet for much too long today (becoming increasingly frustrated with images that just would not download or crop to my liking), I caught up on some posts from a friend's blog over at Mrs. Beers' 6th Grade Language Arts.  Her blog today talked about trying something new.  That got me thinking, of course.  What have I learned this summer?  I've tried some new recipes, rode some new water rides, and tried out some Pinterest crafts.  But...what have I actually learned to do that I didn't know before.  Then I remembered one simple (not so simple) word...Prezi!

I have been wanting to learn how to make a Prezi but just have not taken the time to actually do it.  But I finally did at the beginning of the summer (and need to get back to creating more).  The ones I have created so far link to the vocabulary words for our Scott Foresman Reading Street stories.  I look forward to creating more on a variety of topics.  Let me know if you can think of some good topics!

Check out some of my prezis below!

Honey Bees
Animal Park



Em