Our school has adopted the Lucy Calkins Units of Study writing program for the upcoming school year. I have already been to one training on it and have heard so much positive feedback that I can't wait to get started with my kiddos this fall. One of the biggest traits that I have noticed while researching the program is the use of writing centers and writing areas. To be completely honest, I have always asked students to work on their writing at their seats. My students and I have had great success with writing workshop and writing conferences, but I feel like taking writing to this next level will allow my students to be more creative and more well rounded in the development of their writing craft. The plan is to provide students with a "home base" where they can find writing references, tools, and supplies. I don't expect them to stay at the writing center. In fact, I am going to encourage them to select what they want from the center and take it back with them to their own ...
writing
Build a Paragraph-Freebie
The school year is almost over for me. We only have a dozen or so days left until state testing, but I refuse to focus on that. YES we are doing some test prep things, but otherwise we are still moving right along with our normal classroom routines. One of those routines has been our Writer's Workshop. I have redone the whole process over 50 times this year, but I think we have finally got it down pat. And...just in time for the end of the year. :) I became obsessed about getting my students to be amazing writers after being impressed with how well another teammate of mine taught and incorporated writing into her curriculum. So, after watching my teammate(who is an AMAZING teacher) continuously guide her students towards being extremely successful writers- I knew I had to step up my game because I wanted my kiddos to be successful writers, too. There is a lot of research out there that shows the strong bond between reading and writing. After taking a complete 180 ...
Penguins and QR Codes
I cannot believe that I haven't taught a penguin unit before now! My kiddos love researching, and it was so much fun pulling together resources and lessons that are CCSS aligned, rigorous, and engaging. I have been DYING to blog about our penguin unit. With snow days and cold delays, the last few weeks have been a little hectic, but we managed to fit in our penguin thematic unit, and I wanted to share with you how it went! Monday & Tuesday On Monday and Tuesday, we conducted our research about penguins. First, we modeled how to record information. Then, I explained their centers and set them loose! They had four centers they could rotate through in two days(nonfiction books from our library, PDF book from Hollie Griffith, fact cards from Amanda Tervoort, and a penguin ThingLink that I made). I did not tell them to record specific information. Their goal was to record 20 facts each day, and they were encouraged to record information ...
