What your Literacy Block is MISSING!

   A listening center is crucial for any reading block.  Starting out teaching I felt this would be an impossibility for my classroom and had so many unanswered questions - how much? how do I get stories? Where does it go? How do I fit it in? 

Here's my solution to get a listening center into every classroom!  All you need is an internet connection and 1 ....yes 1 computer/iPad

A listening center is possible for every single classroom even small rural ones like mine.  We only have 2 iPads and make this possible on a daily basis. If you have an internet connection you can make this work!  That's what makes this so great.  Keep reading to see the many options available!

 I use to think I had to purchase books on tape/CD but that is not the case anymore with technology! You can read books in many ways online!  I love using QR codes and the listening centers available - here but there are also other ways.  I use them because of the rigorous skill focus associated with each set of stories!                      Another great way to get book is to use EPIC! It is FREE to educators and there is such a wide story selection and each student can have a profile! Not all stories are read but it is a great option and way to expand your library.  There are also great options on TPT of listening centers you can use QR codes for and there are for different themes and times of year.  

We use our listening center as part of our reading rotations! My students have to listen to 1 story a week at least and take the test that accompanies their story and score 3/5 or better.  They can work with partners because these types of questions are good for discussion and they will work independently for an assessment.  This also helps keep them honest.  If they do worse they come to me and we work on a story together at a separate time.

  Listening Centers can be done at any part of the day you find time.  They are short and students need to hear reading in order to become better readers.  This works great as part of daily 5.  We don't use headphones because they weren't required and we have a certain level the iPads must be turned to for reading.  Since it is a quiet working time and at most I only have 2 stories being read it does not get too loud.  If they abused the privilege they would have to do this as part of computer time.

  Listening centers in any format are a great way to differentiate for readers in your classroom.  Some students need smaller books and some like to read more complicated material.  Nonfiction can be great read aloud because of the complexity.  The listening centers we use have AR levels printed on the bottom and students can choose one from their level for that skill.  It's a win-win as a teacher.  They get fun books (even though they are short!) and still practice a much needed skill for the week!  I love having that opportunity!

I love integrating technology into my class!  This is one easy way to do it! Using EPIC or QR codes to listen provides great way for students to be more oriented with technology! The listening Centers we use are self-checking so they can get immediate feedback from what they read and learned to apply the skill.  So easy for a teacher to keep track of and for a student to use. 

Listening to stories can also be a great whole group activity!  Sometimes listening to reading just like read alouds we do in class provide different opportunities and conjure different visualizations depending on the student.

If you are interested in learning more about skill specific QR Listening Centers click any of the pictures or this link!

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Upper Elementary Literacy Block Schedule

My literacy block is a piece of work...not in a bad way ....just a work in progress.  I've been inspired by numerous other experience bloggers and teachers and since I'm the only 4th grade teacher at my school, I'd love some input and will try to clarify what I'm doing this year for your sake (and so I can wrap my head around it as well)

Here's what my typical schedule:  (Yes it will slightly change depending on pull outs and last minute changes but roughly)

I'm pretty lucky to get uninterrupted 2 hours in the morning which I love!  We use this time for our literacy block.  As you can see, I have a separate time for writing, and I do my read aloud right before grammar so it's even a little shorter.  My students do get SSR/DEAR/silent uninterrupted reading while another teacher pulls out Title 1 kids and I can't do any content they would miss.  I usually am using that time to confer with any left in my room that need help in math since it is tested

Below you can find a schedule that I plan to use this year and WILL FOLLOW!  I've tried to combine many other blog ideas I've seen and Book Talks/Shares that are popping up everywhere from teachers that have gone to a Reading Summit (I'm so jealous!)

The Creative Apple

Life in 5th Grade

Literacy for Big Kids 

...are just some of my favs!!

 

you can click to download - you'll have to change fonts and all but if you want a sample!

Homework

I give homework pack once a week because I expect my kids to be reading.  I purchased them from TPT and they are fantastic!  They contain a short story and comprehension questions along with a skill sheet and require other practice as well.  These work so well and are easy for me to copy and keep up with.  I kept them in order so I know exactly what I'm pulling out each week. 

I do occasionally assign other work during the week in small groups or big reading projects that would be in part completed at home depending on timing.

I want them to just be READING - they know from the beginning that is my focus for them!

Small Group Rotations

I plan to use these sheets for my students to be held accountable during Daily 5 time.  Yes I do keep it semi-structured and for me as a teacher this is what has worked so far.  They work their way down and know what they have to do each week.  I plan to have in sheet protectors and they can use dry erase to mark off so I don't have to make weekly copies. 

click the picture for a copy

1.  All work from me must be completed first! Either assignment from small group, part of our weekly story, etc...

2.  During the week at some point they must complete 2 spelling and 1 grammar/english activity. These they just cross off.  For spelling we use the Monthly Spelling Menus which work fantastic!  My grammar center is just FREE activities on TPT that I searched for our concepts or DOL if we don't have any.  It is always review for a concept we have already covered so it can be completed without assistance.  I feel that my grammar is sometimes cut short and this can help reinforce those skills especially closer to testing time.

3.  Read by themselves - we do AR at our school so they can buddy read if they both have completed their quarter goals otherwise they read by themselves around the room.

4.  On the bottom is their "Status of the Class" where they write what they are reading and what page each day -that is what I look at when I conference with them along with their Reading Response.

Book Shares

I've seen so many post about these and I knew I wanted to incorporate them to make my class better readers after hearing recommendations and modeling them myself.  I put in my plans an easy format for them that I read about a little while ago on social media (and cannot remember who!!! so help me out if you know so I can give credit)  We'll start with title/author, 1 word about the book and why they chose it, then either 1 connection they had or an award they would give that book and why. 

I know these probably  aren't suppose to be scripted but my incoming 4th graders are horrible at a SHORT summary (not every character and every event! especially not the ending) so I'm starting the year with this and we'll move into more candid discussion and recommendations for other books hopefully toward winter - at least that's the goal.

My Shoestring life also mentioned that book shares are perfect for Speaking and Listening Standards!! How perfect - I'm planning to get to each student once a month (fingers crossed) and maybe assessed on this a couple times a year just with a checklist of some sort - anybody got any good ones?

 Whole Group

This will contain mini lesson on our focus skill and I'll use our basal series for stories along with picture books to model.  I don't have access to a whole lot of books so I'm semi limited. 

 Standards

I always have standards on board but need to work on referring to them more often :)

Exit Slips

Life in Fifth grade uses her essential questions as an exit slip and she had the genius idea to do them on Post-its then glancing over them stick the ones on your desk that are wrong or you need to meet with them!  Brilliant and super easy!

I put those on for every day but I'm hoping to get 1-2 in a week focusing on the skill we are working on. 

My one goal would be to incorporate more vocab work especially after all the Word Nerds book studies I've seen happening but this is what I'm going to commit to this year.

I'm sharing because I know how helpful it was when I saw blog posts of others and how they set up their reading block, I'd love to hear any questions/comments you have or anything you do that works great in your room- I'm always open to new ideas!!

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What to do with the Alphabet....K Style

Starting Kindergarten has been an amazing experience and I have learned a lot in such a few short months! I'm here to let you in on some amazing secrets I've learned in such a short time!  Here are some fantastic learning ideas you can rock with just one alphabet set (either one you have, or a FREE one from TPT!)

What to do with the alphabet!  I never wanted to know so many things...until kindergarten but there definitely is a TON and we need that letter recognition and sounds especially at the beginning of the year!  They help us with letter recognition which is HUGE and many can be differentiated to help with sounds as well...even sight words toward the end of the year!

I have the FREE cards from the Inspired Apple and they work great for my room! I laminated them and use them frequently for activities and guided reading.

1. Put the cards in order (A,B,C...) great beginning practice or great as a center.

2. Match uppercase to lowercase letters - it is important to know both so matching even if you just use a few as an intervention is a great idea!

3. Alphabet races (upper or lower case, or sounds!) - say the letter (or sound for higher students) as the teacher lays down the card quickly.

4.  Whole class can work on ABC order or matching if everyone is given a card!

5. Go Fish- we played "Go Fish" during groups until we got guided reading started. I was surprised how many did not know how to play this game! It works great to match upper and lower case letters or to work on sounds!

We lay out cards first since some do not have experience with the game it helps, then as we progress we can keep them in our hands.  I like how it can be differentiated for different groups but still the same fun concept.


6.  Letter recognition - basically flashcards.  We use the alphabet everyday altogether and say the sounds that go along with it! After midterm testing this has definitely helped us with letter sounds!
Here's what we use that even has other great actions to match to help with muscle memory.

7.  Write the room -especially for beginning kindergarten putting cards around the room and having student write them properly while knowing the letter and moving is a fun activity!

8.  Make CVC words - although limited to no repeating letters you can say the word and students listening for sounds can make it with the letters in front!  Great for higher groups or later in the kindergarten year!

9. Trace the letters on the card correctly! great for beginning writers!  I also have the tracing book from Kindergarten Smorgasboard that we use for my writing center.

10.  Slap Jack

• slap the letters in your name
• slap the letters your teacher calls
• slap the lowercase/uppercase letters
• slap the vowels/consonants

11.  Sort letters by different categories (vowels, in my name, upper and lower case)

12. What letter is missing? Lay out cards in ABC order and have students guess which one is missing? Try to get quicker.

13.  What letter comes next? Lay out 2,3 letters and ask which letter comes next, before, or in between 2 letters. 

14. Sing the ABCs..it is important especially to focus on L,M, N, O, P....

• students can hold up the card(s) that they have
• students can stand up when they hear the letter their name starts with.

15. Musical Chairs - read the letter you land on.  Could also play like cake walk if you cards are durable.  Playing it to the Alphabet song (or a different letter song) would be a great idea.  Students who are out could still sing along!

16. 4 Corners using Letters - students choose a letter at the 4 corners to stand by.  The "picker" picks a card (1 of the 4) without looking and the students at the corner are out!  Could also be played with sounds to get more advanced.  

17.  Snap - place lowercase cards and uppercase cards on 2 different piles upside down. Flip one card on each over at the same time, say snap if they end up on the same letter.  Say the letter or sound.

18.  Use cards as exit slips! Have student say the letter - uppercase, lowercase, sound before you leave the room or move on to next activity. What a great transition.

19. Use letters as the "table" or "group" names and call them to line up or transition by their letter - change them frequently so students have to recognize the letter to know when to move.

20.  Row reading - put a row of letters out (1 case or mix cases) and have students read quickly.  This not only helps  practice if you do AIMSweb testing but also gets students to quickly notice the letters...eventually this should become easily.  This also lets you know if there are some tricky letters for a student, or ones they have trouble with that you can focus on.

21. Pile Pickup - dump cards on the floor and pick up cards that match a category...vowels...in your first name...make the /c/ sound....adding lower and uppercase provides more options!

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FREEBIE Thanksgiving/Fall Word Sort

Hey Everyone!  Happy Friday!!!

I haven't done a Freebie in forever- so you are in luck!  I spent some time working on this review for our class! 

Here is a Thanksgiving/Fall word sort for short and long vowel sounds- it would be a great review to help student with sounding out words. 

This could be done with the whole class, as a center, or in table groups.  It is fun and colorful and perfect for the season!

ENJOY

Click the picture below to grab your free copy.

What have you got to lose?! Go check it out!

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Look what we did today!

Story Elements!

We started out with this super fun HIP HOP video!  Yes hip hop - what better way to get the attention of 21 second graders first thing in the morning!

Source: flocabulary.com via Melanie on Pinterest

The chorus was not only stuck in my head, but also every group I met with!!!!  It went over so well!!!

So gearing up for our weekly quiz we created this anchor chart:

Look at our Mad Exciting Poster!!!

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Close ups: 

We did so awesome with coming up with different story elements while we worked on Daily 5!  I loved giving them something specific to focus on while they were still doing their respective jobs! I really want to incorporate this Post-It tactic into other areas as well-

how easy is it to check for grades and to make sure every student is understanding?!

Now go watch the video!!!


I also worked on a scientific method/inquiry lesson for next week!  Take a peek and click the pic to head to my TpT store!

The students are sure to love this!!

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Guided Reading group

Still recovering from yesterday's SUGAR COMA, (see previous post)....but in the meantime....

... I was observing and got to complete my first guided reading group today all by myself.  All the other teachers, are probably like whoop-de-do but I was ecstatic!  I got to fill out the notes on every student in the group and fill out the lesson before and listen to each student read!  I don't care how old you are or experienced you are as a teacher,  I do not think this will ever get old.

Guided Reading can be A LOT of paperwork and planning.  How do you keep up with it as a teacher?  Got any tricks because I'm telling ya, I'm all ears.

In other news....The gals at Primary Princesses are having a GIVEAWAY so go follow their blog and enter.  (especially if you are a crazy blog watcher like me)!




Off to Zumba!!! (I've haven't been in forever....gotta work off all the stupid sugar I decided would be good to eat yesterday ;)

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