As teachers, we constantly hear from parents who aren't sure how to find "Just Right Books" for their child. Scholastic's Bookwizard is a great place to send them! They have improved this site tremendously in the past few years. Not only is it a great site for finding the levels of books, but now you can search by level and it will give you hundreds of books at that level. If you like something and want to see more like it, you can compare books! It's a great free resource and we should share it with our parents.
I've made a quick handout to share with parents when they ask for more information on book levels. Feel free to share this with anyone you'd like. Let me know if something looks incorrect or too confusing. I am happy to make changes.
How to find book levels and books- a handout for parents
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Conferring Form
Conferring has always been one of those areas in the workshop that intimidates me. The logistics of balancing management and instruction can be baffling at the beginning of the process (or even years into for that matter!). I've tried many different systems over the years...stickers with kids' names and the conferring form printed on them...clipboards with sheets for each kid...notebooks....composition books...the list might just be endless. However, I can usually get a management system down and stick to it for a while and it works for the time being. That doesn't seem to be the hardest part for me. The most difficult part is knowing exactly what to teach the student that is appropriate for their level and their current zone of proximal development. Coming from a reading background, I usually can find something to work on with each child. But as I work with higher readers, I often find myself saying, "Wow! They read that pretty well. Hmmm...Now what?" I can use Fountas and Pinnell's continuum to help me, but I feel like I would be better prepared if I had it right in front of me and could use it if needed.
After seeing another Literacy Coach from our district present her google doc for conferring, I thought that this might be the perfect way to put together these two areas of concern for me when it comes to conferring. I tweaked what she had done in order to make it a little less duplicated in the process and a little less scrolling. Thus, my conferring form(s) were born!
The form starts out with a drop down menu of student names, a place to enter the book title they are working on, and their current level. Each of these options will help with being able to sort the information later.
Next, each level has its own section. It starts with a quick list of behaviors to notice for that level. I found this document from the Warsaw Public Schools website. This list does have a lot of repetition as you move from one level to the next, but it also has the appropriate changes as you move along the continuum. The next section is a box to write in your compliment. You could use the behaviors to notice list above to come up with an appropriate compliment if needed. Below that are two sections that look exactly the same. The teaching point and future teaching point (not shown in the picture below) gives you a list of options of possible teaching points to use. You may have something in mind specific to your current unit of study that you want to use, in which case, you can select other and write in your teaching point. You will only select ONE option here because we know that good conferring only addresses one point at a time. The future teaching point section gives you the chance to select a few (or add your own) teaching points that you know you need to address in the near future.
The best part about this form is the spreadsheet that it gives you once you are done. In the example below, I was able to sort the spreadsheet by level and see all of my students reading at an M at the same time. When I looked at the results of my conference, I am able to see that both Duane and David need to work on their fluency and that they will be able to do this better if they have just right books. I can easily do this as a small group or if I find that many of my students need this, I know that I can do this as a mini-lesson or as a teaching share at the end of the workshop if needed.
If you'd like this, please email me and I will share the document with you. It will be a view only document. You will need to open it and then "save a copy" for yourself under the file tab. Then you can customize it to fit your class and your needs.
Please give me any feedback that you have--positive or negative. I have tried this in many classrooms and made adjustments as I see fit. I am hoping to create something similar for writing conferences too based on the TC levels. I'll let you know when that is ready.
Happy Conferring!!
After seeing another Literacy Coach from our district present her google doc for conferring, I thought that this might be the perfect way to put together these two areas of concern for me when it comes to conferring. I tweaked what she had done in order to make it a little less duplicated in the process and a little less scrolling. Thus, my conferring form(s) were born!
The form starts out with a drop down menu of student names, a place to enter the book title they are working on, and their current level. Each of these options will help with being able to sort the information later.
Next, each level has its own section. It starts with a quick list of behaviors to notice for that level. I found this document from the Warsaw Public Schools website. This list does have a lot of repetition as you move from one level to the next, but it also has the appropriate changes as you move along the continuum. The next section is a box to write in your compliment. You could use the behaviors to notice list above to come up with an appropriate compliment if needed. Below that are two sections that look exactly the same. The teaching point and future teaching point (not shown in the picture below) gives you a list of options of possible teaching points to use. You may have something in mind specific to your current unit of study that you want to use, in which case, you can select other and write in your teaching point. You will only select ONE option here because we know that good conferring only addresses one point at a time. The future teaching point section gives you the chance to select a few (or add your own) teaching points that you know you need to address in the near future.
The best part about this form is the spreadsheet that it gives you once you are done. In the example below, I was able to sort the spreadsheet by level and see all of my students reading at an M at the same time. When I looked at the results of my conference, I am able to see that both Duane and David need to work on their fluency and that they will be able to do this better if they have just right books. I can easily do this as a small group or if I find that many of my students need this, I know that I can do this as a mini-lesson or as a teaching share at the end of the workshop if needed.
If you'd like this, please email me and I will share the document with you. It will be a view only document. You will need to open it and then "save a copy" for yourself under the file tab. Then you can customize it to fit your class and your needs.
Please give me any feedback that you have--positive or negative. I have tried this in many classrooms and made adjustments as I see fit. I am hoping to create something similar for writing conferences too based on the TC levels. I'll let you know when that is ready.
Happy Conferring!!
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Classroom Booksource--a free resource
I've found another good freebie! This one will not only be helpful for the classroom library, but I think we need to start brainstorming on how we can use this in our guided reading library as well. It's called Classroom Booksource and it's a free, online library cataloging system.
It's very similar to what I have purchased from Intelliscanner. But this you can use it with your smartphone (it's a free ap--just search for booksource) as well to scan in books, however it isn't necessary. The smartphone will just save you a little bit of time so that you don't have to hand enter all of the ISBN's. (Just a side note that I learned from intelliscanner...if you are going to scan in a barcode, you want to find one that starts with a 9. You may have to look in the front cover as well. An ISBN can start with any number, but you won't be able to use your smart phone to scan that in.) I've only just begun to dig into the potential with this site, but from what I can tell, you enter all of your books into the system along with your students, and they can check books out allowing you to keep track of what they have read in your library. It will export any of its reports to excel so you can look at student reports as well as have a print out of all the books in your library. One of the great features is that for some of the books, it will also put the guided reading level and you can also enter what location the book should be returned to! If you want to learn more about all of its features, click here. This is a link to the instructions (which took me a long time to dig up while I was looking around the site.)
I hope this is helpful for you. As you learn more about it, feel free to comment below so that we can all learn about it together.
It's very similar to what I have purchased from Intelliscanner. But this you can use it with your smartphone (it's a free ap--just search for booksource) as well to scan in books, however it isn't necessary. The smartphone will just save you a little bit of time so that you don't have to hand enter all of the ISBN's. (Just a side note that I learned from intelliscanner...if you are going to scan in a barcode, you want to find one that starts with a 9. You may have to look in the front cover as well. An ISBN can start with any number, but you won't be able to use your smart phone to scan that in.) I've only just begun to dig into the potential with this site, but from what I can tell, you enter all of your books into the system along with your students, and they can check books out allowing you to keep track of what they have read in your library. It will export any of its reports to excel so you can look at student reports as well as have a print out of all the books in your library. One of the great features is that for some of the books, it will also put the guided reading level and you can also enter what location the book should be returned to! If you want to learn more about all of its features, click here. This is a link to the instructions (which took me a long time to dig up while I was looking around the site.)
I hope this is helpful for you. As you learn more about it, feel free to comment below so that we can all learn about it together.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Get this freebie quickly!
I found this freebie the other day. You should grab it too before they change their mind and want to sell it! It's a power point with 50 different thinking maps that you can use in reading {get it here}. But the best part it that it's free! You can read more about it on Lisa and Beth's blog {here}. Thinking maps are great to use to help kids get into a routine of noticing their thinking and being able to comprehend. They are best to use with kids who are accurate and fluent readers, but all readers will benefit from them if they need help with comprehension strategies. Enjoy!
Friday, February 3, 2012
Fluency Routine
I hear a lot of people talking about fluency and how many of their readers can read accurately and talk about the book, but it just isn't fluent. They are anxious to move their students up in levels even if they aren't exactly fluent. When in reality, it will be easier to teach them fluency at the level where they are having difficulties in stead of trying to teach them new words, new comprehension skills and fluency at a higher level.
Thanks to pinterest, I found this great video from a fifth grade teacher sharing her fluency routine. I love that the students are engaged in a physical way and the reminders she gives them will stick in their heads for a long time. Can't you just imagine yourself leaving her classroom and still saying this to yourself in a sing-songy way?
I also liked the sign that she made that I'm sure she had hanging in a prominent place in the classroom. However, it wasn't really my style and didn't match the bright colors in my classroom. I created my own that you are more than welcome to have it. I can send it to you as a PDF or a publisher file if you want to tweak it for yourself.
Thanks to pinterest, I found this great video from a fifth grade teacher sharing her fluency routine. I love that the students are engaged in a physical way and the reminders she gives them will stick in their heads for a long time. Can't you just imagine yourself leaving her classroom and still saying this to yourself in a sing-songy way?
I also liked the sign that she made that I'm sure she had hanging in a prominent place in the classroom. However, it wasn't really my style and didn't match the bright colors in my classroom. I created my own that you are more than welcome to have it. I can send it to you as a PDF or a publisher file if you want to tweak it for yourself.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Nonfiction Resources
So, I'm a little late on this. However, I just found this great article by Beth Newingham about her top ten non-fiction resources and thought I would pass it along. She always shares great ideas for literacy (and other content areas if you look throughout her website) on Scholastic. This article is no different. Because she teaches third grade, I immediately thought about the third grade curriculum and how this would fit in so well with what you do in the first non-fiction unit. But give it a look and see what you think. I love the free printables and graphic organizers that she shares. These would be great for all learners, but especially your lower readers. And I am certain that the technology component would be a big hit with some of you as well! I'd love to hear your thoughts and how it might improve the non-fiction units that you have done.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Clutter Free
I'm going clutter free!! Well, that's my hope at least. This post isn't going to have anything to do with literacy, but I am convinced that students learn better in a clean and clutter free environment (even in the Lit Lab). So, with the help of Jodi on Clutter Free Classroom, I'm going to give it a go. Maybe some of this will even transfer to my home life as well...again, I can hope!
Jodi is doing a series on how to get a clutter free classroom. She has some wonderful ideas to make the process manageable and also has made available some freebies to help. Some of her materials and ideas are available in her TpT store. But I'm going to link up with her and see how this goes. This first blog is a description of what she hopes to do to help us all get a clutter free and organized classroom. She has a great weekly plan designed to help us tackle it step-by-step.
Anyone interested in joining me??
Jodi is doing a series on how to get a clutter free classroom. She has some wonderful ideas to make the process manageable and also has made available some freebies to help. Some of her materials and ideas are available in her TpT store. But I'm going to link up with her and see how this goes. This first blog is a description of what she hopes to do to help us all get a clutter free and organized classroom. She has a great weekly plan designed to help us tackle it step-by-step.
Anyone interested in joining me??
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