Today I am linking up with my favorite author and his wonderful books!!! I love all of the books by Kevin Henkes...my students can relate to all of his characters and remember all of their details even on the last day of school. Their favorite characters? Wendell, Victor, Chrysanthemum, and of course, Lilly! These books are being discounted on Amazon right now!!! Go check them out! Be sure to look at the Kindle prices! They are AWESOME!! All of these titles are already linked to Amazon...just click to go look at the prices!
About an imaginary friend.
You have to love Lilly....there is a little bit of her in all of us!
A Caldecott Winner!!! It is all about Owen's baby blanket!! So sweet!
I have had some guests like Wendell before!!
This one comes with a CD for a listening center!! Excellente!
Here is a packet from my friend Winter Bowers did that I use every year when I use the book about Sheila Rae. It is phenomenal to use at the beginning of the year with 2nd graders. I apologize that these are so blurry, but I snatched them off of TpT's thumbnails because Winter is off on her summer vacation!!! There are several pages in the packet! Below are some thumbnails of just a few.
I also found stuffed animals that students can read to during buddy reading!!! How cute!
Look how cute Penny is! There is also an Owen and Lilly doll!
And, if you want to make life easy, just grab this teacher's helper! I have it and it is great!
Hi friends! We are now on week 3 so we will be going over Chapters 3 and 4!! Sorry that this post is going out so late, but I am part of some professional development this week that is taking EVERY brain cell in my brain!! I am TUCKERED OUT! Lucy Calkins, bless her, is challenging me this week as we do some backwards planning. Whew! Let's get going!
Feel Free to Pin This!
If you haven't purchased the book you can still find it at Amazon! Just click on the link below and you can go straight to the book to purchase it. This book has made on to my list of favorite professional reads!! And, it is pretty close to the number 1 spot and very well may be number 1 by the end of the summer!!
Just click here to purchase!
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
Here are some questions to think about and to respond to in the comments section later on. I SO appreciate those of you that left comments! It makes me feel validated <and I don't look so crazy since I DID change the name of the blog to Charts N Chit Chat!!>.
No one took me up on my mild, medium, and spicy anchor chart offer, so I'll be working on one of those soon to share!
Here are the questions from last week and some answers for them!
1. How would you define the "Zone of Proximal Development"?
Here is a video about the zone of proximal development. Basically, guided reading should be done within this 'zone'....it is the area in which you can get the most bang for your buck, or the most progress with your students WHILE you are helping them. When you see a child that is not working, often this child is in his/her frustration zone.
2. Have you ever given a running record? What is your experience with them?
I can tell you that my experience has been DEEP and WIDE <ever hear that song??> and I've presented professional developments on them several times. The hardest part <and the most often forgotten> is going back after you are done with the student to code the errors and make a list of issues that need to become mini-lessons for the little trooper that just read to you. I had a conversation about this just yesterday with a co-worker of mine <we are both attending some training on the new Lucy Calkins writing units>.
3. What is the difference between a self-correction and a miscue?
A miscue is an error while a self-correction means that the student made an error, self-monitored, and then fixed it. Self-corrections are GOOD! Miscues are BAD!!
4. Why are tiered questions and retellings so important?
We all know that retellings are good because they are a measure of comprehension. Tiered questions are very important because they allow you get so much more information from the student.
5. Using the table on page 34, what correlations do you see?
The table shows that the higher the word accuracy is, the higher the comprehension is. Teaching vocabulary, word chunking, sight words, and all those other things that we teach in phonics/phonemic awareness pays off in the end!
6. What is a QRI-5 and how can it be used as a group inventory?
A loyal reader and blog friend, Tasha from A Tender Teacher for Special Needs answered that question for us on her very own blog! Click here to go see what she has to say about this! <And then come right back!!!>
7. What is the difference in the type of texts that are used for choice reading, guided reading, and shared reading? Where might we put Independent reading?
Choice Reading--96% word accuracy and 90% comprehension
Guided Reading--76-90% comprehension; Other sources say 85%-90%
Shared Reading--76%-90% comprehension range. This is Jenn talking here: Typically shared reading can be used to teach many different skills at one time. In the elementary grades, shared reading can be used for seminars, phonics work, to dip in and out of other subjects and make connections, comprehension, etc. The uses are endless!!!
Independent Reading--HA! Tricked you! This is the same thing as Choice Reading!!
8. Read page 43. Here is that Mild, Medium, and Spicy thing again!!!
I just LOVE this! Can't you imagine relating this to independent reading? A medium spicy book would be about right. The mild book would be too easy, and that spicy book....well....it might be neat to 'read the pictures' but it would never make it during a 5 finger check!
Chapter 2--Teaching Students to Understand What They Read
9. Pg. 52: Who is James Lee and what did he figure out?
I think I have the wrong page number for ole Jimmy, so I will try to get back to you on this! Oops!
10. What is strategic reading and why is it important? How does it work? What does it look like?
Strategic reading is reading while using strategies. For example, chunking words in a strategy that students use to clarify words they come across. When a student uses a strategy when reading independently, you can say that this student is using strategic reading. The strategy helps the student gain for fluency and accuracy and in the end, reading comprehension and reading levels will improve!
Go to vimeo.com and sign up! Use the password readingwithoutlimits to access videos that coincide with the book. Take a look at this video!
11. What does a dependent reader look like/sound like/work like? <In the comment section tell us about a dependent reader you had and what you did to help him/her>
A dependent reader may stop every few words and look at you with puppy dog eyes and plea for you to tell him/her what the word is that he or she is stuck on. This summer, my dependent reader is my son. It isn't that he CAN'T read it....he just doesn't want to take the time to figure it out on his own.
12. What is paraphrasing? How does it work?
Paraphrasing is telling yourself what is happening in your head. In order to do that, you must be thinking ahead of the action in the story.
13. Page 57: What is the gradual release of responsibility? What would it look like in your classroom?
I love this theory of education! I wrote a whole thesis on this! It looks like this: modeling <you show how a skill is used>--sharing <you act as a coach and get the students to use the skill with you>----look for the skill in a guided group---look for the skill to be used independently
14. What does it mean to 'check for understanding'?
Stop every so often and see if students understand what is being taught...are students 'digesting' what was modeled.
15. What are some strategies that can be used to move passive learners into becoming direct learners?
Any of the strategies presented in the chapter are fine!
17. What is a good think aloud made of? How do you choose a think aloud?
pg 55 "I share one think-aloud, then in a read-aloud/think-aloud continue doing the same process three times. The purpose of this think-aloud is to model paraphrasing and figure it out by asking questions." Continue reading on to pg 56!!
18. Highlight, tag, dog-ear, paper clip <or sumpin'> pages 68-78. How can you go wrong with these pages??? These are the BEST PAGES EVER!!!
And now....we are ready for Chapters 3 and 4!!
1. What makes an expert reader an expert?
2. What does stamina look like?
3. What is a break book?
4. Why is choice so important in independent reading?
5. What does it mean to read in a state of flow?
6. What are book series that you recommend for the classroom and what grade level?
7. If you were going to create a 'play list', what books would be in it?
8. Why does Maddie suggest that you have a partner book library? How is it organized?
9. How would you use/organize a read-a-thon in your classroom?
10. What is a book talk? How can a book talk be used in a classroom?
11. What would a recommendation basket do in your classroom? How would you set one up?
12. Explain this: I do. We do. You do.
13. What are 'double entry journals' and what are their purpose?
14. What can you learn from the table on pg 105?
Chapter 4
15. How often/how long should shared reading be scheduled in the classroom? What does it look like/sound like/include?
16. What is 'accountible talk'?
17. What is assigned reading? Why should we assign reading? At what grade should assigned reading begin?
18. Steps to Say Something pg 139--paraphrase this!
Challenge:
A. Create a Goal Sheet for the amount of books read. If you would like to create one to share, I'll be glad to post it. Just email it to me!
B. Create a book calendar. <refer to pg. 86> If you would like to create one to share, I'll be glad to post it. Just email it to me!
Resources:
Our friend Tasha also created a form for us to use which will help us communicate with parents! I am SOOO excited about this!! Click here to go pick it up!
The following books <just click on the pics and go to Amazon to read more> were mentioned and recommended by Maddie:
Here is a button for you to use on your blog if you would like to incorporate your thoughts into a post:
Remember we have thisWONDERFUL BLOG that we can explore. You can get lost in it and best of all.....it goes with the book! Also, here is the website for the book and the Facebook page that goes with it, too!
Today I redid my Vocabulary Center Graphic Organizer and took the old one down. The new file is soooo much better than my old one. Now everything is in color and just beautiful. This is what they look like.
I made 32 graphic organizers this morning at 5 A.M.!! Sixteen of them are in color and 16 of them are black lined for copying. I plan to use the colored versions on my Promethean Board and annotate over them.
The thing I like most about graphic organizers like this is that they almost teach for you. Once your students learn what to do the first time, they can pretty much roll with it.
I recommend creating a Vocabulary booklet to document the vocabulary learned throughout whatever book you are teaching. Plus, it is a really nifty study guide when it comes time for a vocabulary test!! Just click on a thumb nail to go to TpT to grab it.
Hi, everyone! Thanks for stopping by to participate in this GREAT book study again today! I want to again point out the schedule we are going to be following.
Feel Free to Pin This! If you haven't purchased the book you can find it at Amazon! Just click on the link below and you can go straight to the book to purchase it.
Just click here to purchase!
Last week, OUR FIRST QUESTION was
WHAT WILL I GAIN FROM TAKING PART IN THIS BOOK STUDY?
Personally, I hope to gain some new techniques to use and possibly refine some of my old techniques so that I can be more effective!
Remember we have thisWONDERFUL BLOG that we can explore. You can get lost in it and best of all.....it goes with the book! Also, here is the website for the book and the Facebook page that goes with it, too!
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
Here are some questions to think about and to respond to in the comments section later on:
Now to get started looking at
Chapter 1--Finding Students Reading Levels
You can see that there are 4 focus points for chapter 1 <they are found on pg 25 of the book>: Figure out the best levels for students by using running records, do group inventories to save time, match students with their correct reading level, and increase peer support.
Page 27 and 28 refers to Vygostsky, and I have to tell you that all I could remember about him before opening this book was that he was an atheist. I had never connected him to the Zone of Proximal Development or differentiation in the classroom. I have to admit to a tiny bit of an increase in admiration for him now!
1. How would you define the "Zone of Proximal Development"?
2. Have you ever given a running record? What is your experience with them?
3. What is the difference between a self-correction and a miscue?
4. Why are tiered questions and retellings so important?
5. Using the table on page 34, what correlations do you see?
6. What is a QRI-5 and how can it be used as a group inventory?
7. What is the difference in the type of texts that are used for choice reading, guided reading, and shared reading? Where might we put Independent reading? <CHALLENGE: The first person that emails me a graphic of a table explaining this visually so that I can post it next week can go to my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store and choose an item that will be emailed to him or her as a thank you!>
8. Read page 43. Here is that Mild, Medium, and Spicy thing again!!! <Create an example of an Anchor Chart that could be used in the classroom in graphic form or take a picture of it and email it in for us to look at next week. The first person to email an example in will also get to choose an item from my store!>
Chapter 2--Teaching Students to Understand What They Read
You can see that there are 4 focus points for chapter 1 <they are found on pg 25 of the book>: the importance of read alouds and think alouds, checking for understanding, avoiding pitfalls, choosing a 'just right' text for a think aloud, strategies like 'figuring it out' and paraphrasing, teaching strategies that cultivate lifelong readers.
9. Pg. 52: Who is James Lee and what did he figure out?
10. What is strategic reading and why is it important? How does it work? What does it look like? <Hint: Look for a video to leave in the comment section that shows what strategic reading looks like>
11. What does a dependent reader look like/sound like/work like? <In the comment section tell us about a dependent reader you had and what you did to help him/her>
12. What is paraphrasing? How does it work?
13. Page 57: What is the gradual release of responsibility? What would it look like in your classroom?
14. What does it mean to 'check for understanding'?
15. What are some strategies that can be used to move passive learners into becoming direct learners? <Hint: Choose 2 strategies and describe them in the comment section....you never know if I might choose someone to win something. =)>
16. Just for fun--what is a rotten tomato???
17. What is a good think aloud made of? How do you choose a think aloud?
18. Highlight, tag, dog-ear, paper clip <or sumpin'> pages 68-78. How can you go wrong with these pages??? These are the BEST PAGES EVER!!!
Resources:
An example of a Five Finger Test Poster by my friend Lyndsey Kuster...she has some of the cutest stuff!!!
NOTE: THE LINK FOR THE GIVEAWAY DID NOT WORK THE FIRST GO AROUND SO I AM RESENDING IT OUT NOW THAT I HAVE FIXED IT. SO SORRY!
It's time for another giveaway! Take a look at this book by Daniel Goeman, Lisa Bennett, an Zenobia Barlow.
Click to see this book at Amazon!
Educators today face a tough audience...one of the biggest challenges is to balance emotional, social, and ecological ideas of life. The book gives educators an idea of how to do this and how to nurture our students so that they have empathy for every living thing on our planet. Want your students to be global learners? Then this is the book for you! And guess what??? You get to win it! No, I'm not kidding! Just click on some things in the Rafflecopter box and enter!
Hi! I'm Jayne and you could say I'm a bit of a "drama queen." When my friend Jennifer asked me to be a guest blogger, I knew right away what I wanted to share with all the fun teachers out there in blogging land—Arts Integration! When I got my master's degree in arts integration I was teaching second grade and busy, busy learning about comprehension strategies. So I decided to put two things I love together...the arts and reading. Here's a little explanation...
There are six reading comprehension strategies, right? Making connections, visualizing, inferring, asking questions, determining importance, and synthesizing. There are also six arts modalities. They are visual art, music, creative movement, poetry, storytelling, drama. Why put the two together? The arts enhance the process of learning. The arts develop creative and critical thinking skills. The arts involve the multiple intelligences—linguistic, spatial, kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. The arts help you reach children with special needs. The arts are FUN! Want to learn more? Here are some great sites and blogs that I recommend. Just click to explore.
I also hope you'll stop by my blog. You'll find ideas for using
children's books to teach the comprehension strategies.
Each idea gives the focus reading strategy and the
integrated art modality.
Hope you enjoyed chatting with Jayne....leave some comments below and feel free to engage in some chit chat!!!
Hi ya'll! I have lots of new followers <which I hope actually read blogs and don't just scan them for the freebies> and so I decided to share something VERY Important! A few months ago I had my DNA tested because I have some very strange autoimmune health problems. Did you know that 80% of teachers in America have some sort of autoimmune health problems? Autoimmune health problems come about because they are hidden in our genes and aren't supposed to be a problem....but stress <i.e. teaching> can wake them up and WALLAH...you have a horrible health problem that you can never get rid of. An added benefit was that some cousins and I are trying to solve an old family story about an adoption and a 'lost' last name which means the one we use isn't the one we are supposed to be using! Since genealogy is my hobby, I was eager to through my genes into the 'bag'! When I got my reports back, I learned a lot of information that has turned out to be very important. I only have a 1% chance of having Parkinson's or Altzeimers, I have a 40% chance of having Macular Degeneration, and I should be careful if I am ever put on a blood thinner because I have a huge chance of my blood becoming too thin. Well...this past week my mom was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration and we found out that she has lost all of her 'right before your eyes' vision but still has some of her peripheral vision. So...the chances of me having the same problems are only 40%, but are OH SO Real after realizing that there are no glasses or surgeries that will help my mom see again. I now have a plan in place...special vitamins that are created just for the eyes...and the hope that I won't go blind as early as my 71 year old mother. I encourage you to have your DNA tested so you know what might be lurking in the future. To me, this DNA test is better than any insurance plan I could ever purchase. The best test on the market can be found at 23andme and they are $99, but the benefits are well worth it. Think about it. Now on to the torture I am putting my children through this summer....actually my son and godchildren think it is torture and my daughter loves it. I got each of them workbooks from Summer Bridge so that they don't lose any of the learning from this past year. I have a set time for 'playing school' each day and then check their work afterwards. I HIGHLY recommend these for kids that you have at home or even to have on for skill work during the year. All you have to do is click on a pic to fly through the Internet to Amazon and order!
Since several of you may be new to reading my blog, I am figuring you may be new to my freebies, also. So, be sure to visit my store at Teacher's Pay Teachers to download my freebies! Be sure to follow, also, so you can find out when I add something. Just between you and me, I have a HUGE word sort packet that is about to be added to the store and I will be updating it A BUNCH. So, be on the lookout for it and grab it early because as I add things the price will likely have to go up because of the amount of time this packet is taking. Now, be sure to come back this week to pick up some of the freebies that will be shared. And, you can even join in with our book study!! Can you tell I do all my shopping through Amazon??!! Until the next time...
Congratulations toStacy B. She won The Transparent Teacher Giveaway! If you aren't Stacy, but you still want the book, just click below and go to Amazon and put your order in!
Also, I wanted to let you know that I got my Easy-to-Fix-and-Get-Ready Summer Sanity packet finished. So, if you are still in school or you have kids at home that you need to entertain, this is a great packet for you. Just print it off and give it to your kids to fix if you are at home <only if you like living on the edge!>. My group here at home are patiently <for now> waiting on me to get some more color ink to print off the flip flop antonym matching game. You'd think that they haven't seen flip flops before!!!
Here is what the cover looks like:
You can check it out on Teachers Pay Teachers and have your kids review antonyms, dictionary drills, sentence work, and ABC order. Or.....you can go and enter this summer giveaway and get this same pack <because everyone wins!!>. I vote for the cheap route so you just have to enter the giveaway and follow all of the blogs that are listed.
Another remind: This Wednesday I will have a blog up for Chapter 1 of Reading Without Limits
and will be including some freebies, so you won't want to miss that. I'm pretty excited about it because the author of the book has already been by to offer support, so if we have any questions, we will defer to her! It isn't often that we get an offer like that!!! So....grab a book and study along with us. It is pretty easy...all you have to do is answer a question or two <or chit chat--that's why we are converting over to the website www.chartsnchitchat.com....I'm all about the chit chat these days!!> in the comment section of the blog. If you haven't left a comment yet, PLEASE LEAVE ONE!!! Have a great weekend! I'll be looking for you to come by!
