Reading Inquiry

We are currently in Week 4 of a four week unit on Animal Habitats.  Because we have four different levels of books, we have four different habitats that our class is learning about.  Our reading curriculum, LEAD 21, has emphasized an Inquiry project for each unit throughout the year, but I have failed to complete one until now due to time constraints and feeling as though I never covered the skills well enough to take the time to complete such a project.


Being that animals are of high interest to several of my students, I thought this would be the perfect time to try.  I set up a tool for students to collect both facts and questions on note cards as they read through their own books and listened to the books of others.  Each Friday, we spent time transforming our room into the four different habitats, one in each corner.  It was amazing to see the amount of effort put forth by even my most unmotivated students.  They were also allowed to bring in books, stuffed animals, pictures, etc., from home that fit into each of the habitats.  I laid down different colored paper on the floor to set the boundaries for the habitats and also placed appropriate light coverings (blue for water, yellow for sun for the desert) to give it the full effect.  They have loved "hanging out" in the different habitats while doing Read to Self and Read to Someone.  Students have even asked to stay in from recess to READ!!!!


In our last week, we are working on gathering an equal number of facts for each habitat so that we can each write a book.  I have been amazed and thrilled with the teamwork I have seen in this project. Students are borrowing books to each other and openly sharing facts to help each other out.  My lowest readers have the same value and voice as my high readers, because they all need facts about each other's habitats.  


This unit has really taught me a lot.  I was very skeptical of how to run inquiry projects with my young students.  However, I have realized that my skepticism has really taken away from them a lot and I certainly did not give them enough credit.  With some effort on my part and guidance throughout the process, they have created some amazing things that they are SO proud of.  I will be sad when the week is over!

Mini Action Research.......Round 2!

·      Question: How can I increase retention of high frequency words?

Sub-questions

·        What types of activities benefit word retention the most?

o   (i.e. written, interactive, combination of both?)

·        What types of activities are enjoyed by students the most?

·        Will an alternation of practice between spelling words and high frequency words hinder the retention of spelling words previously seen in my classroom?

·        Is a variety of activities more advantageous rather than using a consistent form of practice?

Research Window: Between April 4^th to April 22^nd, during various reading instruction times for Unit 7 in the LEAD 21 series

Situation-At-Hand: Our reading series, LEAD 21 introduces anywhere from two to six high frequency words per week, with four weeks making up one unit.  Currently, I introduce the words on a weekly basis and play I-Spy throughout the week, as time permits, to help with learning the words.  I feel that increased and various practice could help the students retain the words more successfully for use in both reading and writing.  These high frequency words are then placed on our larger word wall.

My Plan: I will introduce various high-frequency word activities to students during the “Activity” component of Morning Meeting, rather than playing our other known games.  As students become comfortable with the activities (2-3 days, based on level of difficulty), I will add them to the Word Work center for Daily 5 time.  Currently, students practice spelling words at the Word Work center, with the exception of High Frequency memory.  I will separate word work activities into spelling activities and high frequency word activities and ask students to alternate back and forth between the two, with the use of a visual indicator that shows which cart students should choose from on any given day.  At the end of Unit 7, I will test word knowledge and compare it to Unit 6 word knowledge. 

High Frequency Word Activities (in order to be taught)

·        Magnet Words: Students will build words on magnetic easel and magnet letters. (We already do this with spelling words)

·        Rainbow Writing: Students write words in rainbow colors.  (We already do this with spelling words.)

·        Play-Doh Writing: Students flatten out a piece of play-doh and carve the words in with plastic tools.

·        Word Wall Roll: Students roll a dice and must write that word in a sentence.

·        Be The Teacher: Working with a partner, one student makes up a spelling test to give to the other.  At the end, partners will switch.

·        Be Creative: Students use as many high frequency words as they can to write a story.  Students who choose to do this activity during Daily 5 will get to sit in the “Creation Station” chair.

Method Description:

·        Student Samples: Surveys will be given about each new activity, asking students to rate their understanding of the activity, their interest level of the activity, and how well it helps them to learn the words, on a sad face, middle face, and happy face scale.

·        Journaling: I will journal weekly to reflect on my observations of students’ understanding of activities, independent use during Daily 5 time, and the amount I see students using the words outside of reading instruction times.

·        Documents: Comparison between Unit 5 word knowledge and retention and Unit 6 word knowledge and retention

Social Justice SMART Goal

Last week Monday, I got a new student in my class.  At this point in the year, I find it difficult to get new students...for the simple fact that it frustrates me that I will not have the same opportunity to get to know this child the way I did the other 18 in my class.  My new student has had an extremely rough life, and all the while, I keep questioning- What can I do to make this child's life great at school?  How can I make him feel loved, cared for, respected, and proud at school?

I am hopeful that my Social Justice SMART Goal will help me to find the answers to some of these questions.  Being that I give a weekly feelings survey, it gives me the opportunity to dig deeper into some areas that wouldn't have necessarily been shared in any normal setting.  When this student was taking this survey on Friday, after one full week at a new school, I was able to follow up right away with questions as to why he was feeling the way he was feeling.  One thing I really try to work hard on is sharing feelings beyond "happy" or "sad."  I want my students to be able to start to decipher deeper feelings than those because I really feel that them being able to recognize their true feelings will help them to diffuse situations more effectively.

One thing I find interesting about teaching younger students is their perceptions of what is "normal."  Some of these young kids have been through more in their six years of life than I could ever imagine.  However, they know no different, and they find it to be no different than any other student they are around at school!  It makes them totally open about what goes on in their lives.

Our Buses are Moving!

We have a lot of fun keeping our buses moving in our room.  At the end of each day, we take time to share 3 positive things from the day.  Right now, they are pretty light statements, but I am hopeful that as the year goes on, we will be able to get a little deeper with our thoughts.  To choose the students who will share, I pull sticks from the can.  I really encourage each name that I pull to think of something positive.  I do not want the same 5 kids to be sharing positives, while the rest aren't forced to put some thought into their school day.  Of course, I offer help if they are struggling, but I try to scaffold it as little as possible.  I have seen positive results!  

I can see that the students really enjoy this time.  I also have really enjoyed it!  No matter how difficult the day was, the end of the day is left to leave energy vampires behind and to start fresh the next day!   

19 New Energy Buses

Today, my class and I created 19 new energy buses.  I gave each student a yellow card with a bus on it, wrote "Bus Driver (Name)"  on the top, and on the bottom I wrote "My goal is_____."  I began by explaining to the students that they only had one half of First Grade left and that it was important to revisit our Hopes and Dreams. We talked about how our "magic buses" were going to represent our new hope, and that these buses would be fueled by positive energy.  The students immediately referred to the Magic School Bus, which I thought was kind of a fun connection.  


I sent them back to their desks with the card and said they could decorate their bus however they wanted to.  In the meantime, I called each of them over to revisit our current Hopes and Dreams, and to see whether or not they had reached it and if they wanted to work toward a new goal.  I was very impressed with what they created!


I will admit that I was a little skeptical about trying this at first.  With it being such a metaphorical expression, I wasn't sure they could make the connection.  They had so much fun with it, though, and were so excited about their creations!!!!!!


My next step....to create a long bus with me as the driver, and all of them as passengers....and ask for their trust on the journey.

Energy Bus!!!

I read some more of The Energy Bus tonight and got one more idea for my classroom!  George's coworkers told him that he had never really done anything for them, so why should they choose to ride his bus?  All of a sudden, he turned from a continuously negative person, to one who wanted everyone to be positive with him.  When the book started to talk about how building positivity takes a lot of energy, every single day, similar to building muscle, I got an idea!


I thought that was a very intriguing point.  If you start exercising, but then stop for a week, when you come back the next week, it is never as easy to pick up!  Similarly, if you lose your positive energy, it makes it more difficult to pick back up.  It is easy to get the "poor me" attitude and hope that things will turn up, but you are the driver of your own bus!  


I think this can hold true in the classroom.  If you think your class has had a bad week, your students may go home feeling negative and not being excited to come back the next day.  While not everything can always turn out the way you had hoped, looking at it in a constructive manner can help it to improve for the next time.


My idea for the classroom is to end each day with three positive things that happened that day.  I will use a class list to make sure that everyone gets a turn each round to share a "positive."  I am hopeful that this will also help us to realize that we are all riding the same bus!  

The Energy Bus

Getting back into the "swing of things" after our Holiday Break seemed to be very difficult for me this year!  I love my job, and I love my class, but for some reason, the first week back seemed long and drawn out, and things that don't normally bother me were really getting to me!  I needed a pick-me-up.  I am so glad that I started reading The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon.


The first thing that really struck me was the simple gesture that one person seemed to impact George's day.  The first day he met the bus driver, she did not leave his mind until he had seen her again.  While his attitude toward her was portrayed in a negative manner at first, it is obvious that she impacted him enough to wonder when he would see her again. 


This made me think- what kind of impact do I want to have on people?  Do I want people to remember me as the negative or positive person?  Of course, the answer to that is simple. The actions behind it are the difficult part.


I read on to discover Rule #1: Be the driver of your own bus.  Everyone has crisis situations.  Everyone also has the chance to react to them in two ways- negatively or positively.  How you choose to react will drastically affect the outcome.  


This makes me think about the summer I spent all of my free time applying for teaching jobs.  Everyone had told us it was a tough business, and the chances were good that we wouldn't succeed.  I decided to be the driver of my own bus.  Of course I was bummed each time I received a rejection letter, but support from my family and friends helped me by encouraging me that there was a reason for those rejections.  When I finally got my dream job as a First Grade Teacher, I felt like I had accomplished so much!


It is not always easy to react positively.  I get easily stressed when I feel unorganized.  I am hopeful that as I continue reading this book, I will learn more strategies of coping with this!


Rule #2: Focus your energy.  I loved how the book said that without focused energy, all it is is unorganized energy.  This fits perfectly with my lifestyle.  If you have energy, but aren't sure where it is going, it can be pointless energy!  It's better to take your bus and steer it in a direction, even if it doesn't always turn out as expected, than to be driving around aimlessly with no direction!


I have found this book to be a great read so far.  In my classroom, we have been talking about revisiting our hopes and dreams.  This fits in perfectly.  I am going to explain to students that, now that we know each other better, it may be easier to set goals.  I want them to trust me as their bus driver, but I also want them to each be their own bus drivers.  My plan (taken from an idea that Janet mentioned- thanks, Janet!) is to tape a bus on each of their desks as a reminder of our conversations.  On that bus, I am going to have them write one goal for the remainder of the school year.  I am excited to use this analogy.  I think it will be one they can easily relate to!