Small Changes

by Hugh MacLeod at gapingvoid.com

She's spunky and funny and VERY creative, but her lack of attention during our 80 minute math period was making me crazy. I was constantly redirecting her: sit up, look at the board, pay attention, come sit right here by me, sit up, keep your head up, be a good group member...

I'm not the only one who sometimes has to spin down into the depths of negativity before I remember how powerful POSITIVE can be, am I?

Yesterday, I took her aside at the end of recess and reminded her how smart she is in math -- how well she had done on her algebra test even though she wasn't always paying her best attention in class. Told her how much better I hoped she would do with our new unit on fractions, decimals and percents, and how I wanted to help her pay attention more.

I broke the 80 minutes into four 20 minute sections. I told her that if I only had to remind her to pay attention once every twenty minutes, just four times in the whole math period, I would give her a piece of candy. She agreed enthusiastically. On a whim, as we walked into the classroom, I offered her a double reward if she could make it through math with NO redirection.

Best. Math period. Ever.

Yes, I know I will have to keep this reward a moving target so that it doesn't lose its effectiveness. And there will be times when she will have to work for a hug, or praise, or a positive email home. But for right now, I am thankful for a small change that can make a big difference.

What's a small change that has made a big difference for you recently? (Yes, Franki, wearing lipstick counts!)

Rethinking Intervention by Shari Frost

I was thrilled to receive a copy of Shari Frost's new professional book, Rethinking Intervention: Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers in Grades 3-6 Classrooms. This is the newest book published by Choice Literacy. I know Shari from our work on a few NCTE committees from our work with Choice Literacy. She is one of those amazing people who  I've always learned so much from. You don't have a conversation with Shari without rethinking something important!

Rethinking Intervention is so timely.  I can see that it is going to start amazing conversations in schools around the country.  Shari starts the book by helping readers rethink interventions for students in Grades 3-6. She  identifies real issues that keep students from moving forward as readers.  She knows that quality teachers are the key and believes in teachers as decision-makers.  Early in the book, Shari says, "Packaged intervention programs give schools false hope. With their explicit, scripted lessons, they propagate the big myth that anyone at all can successfully teach struggling students to read. Their cookbook, step-by-step approach seems so simple; if you follow the prescribed lessons as written, the students will improve."

She goes on to say, "However, the most important component of a successful intervention program is a knowledgeable and responsive teacher who can make informed decisions based on students' reading and writing behaviors.  A responsive teacher knows how to use the materials to best meet the needs of the students."

Shari understands and reminds readers that the classroom teacher is key to a child's success--especially the child getting intervention on top of classroom instruction.  I love this book because it doesn't only talk about the individual things a teacher or intervention specialist can do to support our struggling readers. Instead Shari supports a comprehensive approach that has a child in a solid literacy classroom. She shares ideas for the workshop that support struggling students in whole class, small group and individual groupings. She understands that every part of a child's day is key to their growth as readers and that is it possible to differentiate for these children within whole class and small group settings. If aligned, the combination of these practices in a solid literacy workshop are key to moving students forward.

The last section of the book focuses on the collaboration between the classroom teacher and the intervention specialists.  Shari is honest about the challenges for both parties in finding time to meet and collaborate about progress and teaching in both settings.  She shares ideas that have worked such as a folder that travels with the student. She also highlights the importance of student knowledge and ownership of goals.

Shari's book brings to the forefront some important things that are sometimes embedded in school cultures--not because teachers don't know better, but because schedules and other things stand in the way. She offers honest thoughts and realistic possibilities for change.  This is an exciting book in which  Shari offers solutions based on her work in schools and with teachers.

This book is short (119 pages) but it is packed with information and powerful thinking.  I can see this book as one that will start important conversations in schools.  Shari understands the challenges to quality intervention and also understands that no one is to blame--she understands and respects the challenges and frustrations of every individual involved in a child's education. And with that, she offers some good ideas for rethinking.

Rethinking Intervention is the perfect title for this book as that's what it will allow teachers to do. And she invites us to rethink it in a way that is both hopeful and energizing.

The Quirks--A Must Have Series

I finally had a chance to read The Quirks: Welcome to Normal over winter break.  Since I am new to 3rd grade, I am just getting to know books that are good for this age. I have always believed that series books are so important for this age so I am always on the lookout for new series books.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book and couldn't wait to share it with my kids. This is what I wrote in my "It's Monday! What Are You Reading?" post the week that I'd finished it:

I met author Erin Soderberg at #ncte13. Because I've been so far behind on my reading, her new book The Quirks: Welcome to Normal has been on my stack.  I ended up reading it as one of my #bookaday books and loved it. It is a fun new series about a family with unique "quirks".  They move to a very normal town and try to fit in. This book had everything in it that I loved about stories when I was younger.  That whole idea that something magical could be happening. The Littles, The Borrowers, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, I Dream of Jeanie, Escape to Witch Mountain and Bewitched were some of my favorite. I got that same feeling when I read this--loving the idea that someone I know may have magical powers! This is a new series and the 2nd is due out in February.  I think it is perfect for grades 3 and 4. I can't wait to share this one with my students!

Well, I brought the book to my classroom.   And I shared it with a student, who shared it with another student, who shared it with another student. The kids' eyes light up when they talk about it.  

Last week, I picked up a copy of the 2nd book in the Quirks series--The Quirks in Circus Quirkus . I took it to school and it too, is making its rounds.  (I can't seem to get my hands back on it to read it myself but I am hearing all about it as kids are abuzz about it!)  Last week, two students approached me asking when the 3rd Quirks was coming out.  We emailed the author and found out that the third book is due out in January. That is a LONG wait but everyone is still excited.

I have 12 kids in my class waiting to read this series.  I am trying to reserve a few at the library and add a few more to our classroom.  This is a book that is changing our classroom community. It is connecting kids who don't normally connect and it is stretching kids as readers.  It is a little longer and more complex than the things many kids have been reading so it is a perfect next step. And it is so fun!

There are not lots of 3rd grade-ish series books that I read and love as much as the kids. I sometimes like them because I see how they will appeal to 8 year olds. I sometimes like them but am reading them more as a teacher than a reader. But I love this series as both a teacher and a reader.  This is the PERFECT middle grade series. I am thinking it will make a good read aloud early in  3rd grade next year.  

If you teach 3rd or 4th grade, I would definitely recommend this fun new series!

Celebrate This Week!

It was a crazy week but I found myself noticing little things throughout the week that I wanted to make sure to remember to celebrate in this post.  Thanks, Ruth for a reason to live in a way that helps us pay attention to the little celebrations!

Visit Ruth Ayres Writes for a round-up of everyone's weekly celebration!

--Our 100th Day of school is next week.  We stayed after school to set up a morning of math fun for Monday morning when the kids arrive. I have 14 math activities set up around the room and kids can have fun thinking and collaborating around math wearing 100 Day glasses.  One extra celebration during our set up was this:

We revised some of the activities and the older version included weighing 100 Tootsie Rolls. My colleague Kami picked up this giant bag of 760 Tootsie Rolls for the fun. As we were setting up today, we realized we revised that activity and Tootsie Rolls were no longer needed.  I have to admit, we weren't disappointed that now we just have to eat them:-)

--I might be getting a little bit better at yoga.  We are so lucky to have so many great studios and so many great teachers in Central Ohio. I have found a few classes that I look forward to each week. And I am finishing up Week 3 of my 16 week Couch to 5K run program. At the 3rd week, it isn't so hard to get started each day and I actually feel good afterwards. I am so glad I am taking the running slow and adding more yoga to my life. I have been doing a bit of yoga for 2 years and finally feel like I have the basics down. I am ready to get a little better and am trying to get 3 days of yoga in a week (although 2 is more doable.).

--My #nerdlution of wearing lipstick daily has been more of a challenge than one would think but I am getting lots of gifts from friends to help make it easier.  Several friends have shared their fave lipstick/lip gloss with me. Even though there are many days where I have put lipstick on at 8 pm because it was the first time I remembered, I am making progress.  I am not ready to try Mood Lipstick yet, but how fun to know it is out there!

--Love the learning happening in our classroom this week. I always love January and February because the learning becomes so evident and kids are just buzzing along being amazing.

--I read and loved a new middle grade novel, Ophelia and the Marvelous Boy . It is a Snow Queen story and it is fabulous!  A great winter read that I highly recommend!

--I've discovered a new blog that is helping me think about digital tools. Katharine who writes at Teachitivity teaches 5th grade and integrates technology into her Reading and Writing Workshop. Thanks to Troy Hicks for introducing me to Katharine and her work:-) Katharine and I decided we needed to harness all of the great work going on in elementary schools around Digital Literacy so we created a hashtag and a Facebook page for anyone interested in talking about the ways in which digital tools can impact elementary Reading and Writing Workshops.  If you are interested, you can join our open Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/430858380380820) and use the Twitter hashtag #k6diglit if you have posts, etc. to share on the topic.


And the biggest celebration has to be this sign I saw shopping last weekend. If winter wear is on sale, that must be a sign that there is an end in sight to this snow and -20 degree weather!

Poetry Friday -- Ode to a Classroom Goldfish

Flickr Creative Commons photo by James Demetrie

Ode to a Classroom Goldfish

The smaller of the two
in the bowl by the sink,
white and thin, you
made the marbles clink

when you nosed for food.
It's not likely,
but I wonder if it was music
for you and your lively,

larger, solid orange friend.
I think he misses you.
What would it be like to spend
your life swimming to

and fro, alone, in a small
glass prison? Perhaps it's
a home, not a prison at all.
Whatever the case, you'll be missed.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

Renee has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at No Water River.

Catching up on TED Talks

My goal of a TED talk a week with illustrated notes got sideswiped. I decided to give an hour or so of my snow day yesterday to get caught up.

One thing I'm playing around with in my notes is what kind of pencils/pens I use. I love my Crayola Twistable colored pencils, but they slow me down. I can't press very hard with them.

So I took some notes with just pencil, but they weren't pretty and fun.

I switched over to Flair pens, but the only colors I have at home are pink, purple, fuschia and black. I think I'm going to have to spring for a complete set of Flair pens. The bold colors really brought my thinking to life.

It's all about the writing tool sometimes, isn't it?

My first few videos were from TED-Ed. I'm still waiting to hear if my application to start a TED-Ed club has been accepted.

I began with my brain:
What Percentage of Your Brain Do You Use?





We are studying the rotation and revolution of the earth, so I thought this one was fascinating...and a little bit mind-blowing: How Fast Are You Moving Right Now?




Our fifth graders are just finishing up writing persuasive essays. I need to show my class Want to be an Activist?




Mandy asked me in a tweet how I choose which TED talks to watch. I told her that I don't really choose them, they come to me. The TED-Ed videos above came in an email newsletter. Here are a few more I watched today and where they came from:

Doodlers, Unite came to me from Lisa at steps & staircases. I have a student who will be very happy that I will no longer nag her to stop doodling all over her papers!

Joe Smith: How to Use a Paper Towel came to me from Charla Rae at school. Sadly, we can't encourage children to shake their hands 12 times in order to only take one paper towel, but if all the adults in the world would do this, we could save 571,230,000 POUNDS of paper every year. What do you think...can you try to reduce your paper towel usage by even one per wash? Let's be part of the solution...starting with paper towels.

And then I came full circle back to the mind with Andy Puddicombe: All it Takes is 10 Mindful Moments, which came to me from Franki. Yes, Franki, it does go with my OLW: BREATHE. What I'm wondering is -- does it have to be 10 continuous minutes? Can I get the same effect if I spread my meditation out over the course of a day, spending one minute at a time BREATHING and truly focusing on the moment at hand without rushing on to the next thing or the next thought? I'm going to try it!

If you don't get it, a kid might...

I wasn't quite sure what to make of the picture books I received from McSweeny's McMullens recently. Not trusting my adult sensibilities, I took them to school and had some kid-readers give me their opinions.

Recipe
by Angela Petrella & Michaelanne Petrella
illustrated by Mike Bertino & Erin Alther
McSweeney's McMullens, 2013

The first thing my readers did was to take the jacket off the book for ease of reading and discover that it opened into a huge two-sided poster. As they studied both sides of the jacket-poster and the end papers, they speculated and made predictions.

My adult self was not willing to believe the story of a mother who lets her daughter cook whatever she wants (boiling water+bag of marshmallows+hotdogs+tofu+burnt fries in a pile on a tarp), but the kids were delighted by the ridiculous fun of it. And they wanted to try the recipe on the last page for a dessert treat you heat up by running it (wrapped in foil) through the dryer to heat.

Hang Glider and Mud Mask
by Brian McMullen & Jason Jagel
McSweeney's McMullens, 2012

I have a whole collection of books whose stories dovetail in the middle, so I was predisposed to love this one, which "is uniquely constructed with two front covers, two spines, and a Z-shaped binding that links the two sides of the story." --Amazon Description

But hang glider? Mud mask? Intriguing, but not enough in the 20 pages of sparsely-worded text on each side of the book to populate my inferencer.

It was all worth it to see the two students who were offering opinions sit opposite each other, each reading her side simultaneously with the other, then flipping the book to read the other side. Then exclaiming in surprise as the two stories came together in the middle. Then filling in all the gaps (for me) with imaginative and probable explanations. Clearly, I didn't work hard enough on my reading. The two girls "knew" it was their job as reader to make sense of the story. I, lazily, waited for the book to do all the work.

Crabtree
by Jon and Tucker Nichols
McSweeney's McMullens, 2013

At least for this one I wasn't too far off my students' evaluation: they thought it was a fun book to look at inside ("This guy has a LOT of junk!!") and out (it is another with the signature McSweeny's McMullens dust jacket fold-out two-sided ginormous poster).

They totally missed the story of Mr. Crabtree looking all over his house for his lost dentures and going for a cruise in the end when he finds them! They were too involved in looking at the pictures!

This might be fun book for a picture reader who likes to pore over every detail of every picture, or who likes to sort and categorize his/her toys.

Jump Into Science Series

The day after our two snow days, one of my students brought in lots of books about a new interest--rocks and minerals. He had gone to the public library on our days off to find a few new ones. The one that the kids seemed most interested in was one from the Jump Into Science series from National Geographic Kids. It was Jump into Science: Rocks and Minerals   I looked at it and decided we needed it for the classroom. Then I noticed it was part of a series.

I am all about series books that readers who are pretty new to nonfiction can read cover-to-cover. I have seen so much skimming and scanning and so many misconceptions created when students don't build that nonfiction stamina and just see nonfiction as something to skim, scan and picture walk.

This series is perfect for young readers.  There seem to be 8-10 titles and they seem to be mostly connected to Earth Science, although there are a few others.  The pages include basic, yet accessible text and the books contain each share a great deal of information in a readable way.  Nonfiction text features such as headings, maps and diagrams are used.  These are books that can be read by young children and they seem perfect for 3rd graders.  I purchased 3 and will keep an eye out for how popular they become for independent reading.  I am realizing the power in nonfiction picture books so I am happy to have found another good series!

New Books in February

February looks to be another great month for books!  Here are some of the books I am looking forward to being released this month!

My kids have become HUGE fans of The Quirks since I brought it into the classroom. And they ask me daily if I have the new one yet!  They are going to be thrilled when The Quirks in Circus Quirkus makes it to the classroom. The Quirks is one of my favorite new series for 3rd graders.  The perfect kind of story for this age.  I am anxiously awaiting lots more!

There is also a new Stink book coming out. My kids will be thrilled to see Stink and the Shark Sleepover (Book #9)

And I am very excited about Lord and Lady Bunny--Almost Royalty!  I so love Polly Horvath and I loved Mr. and Mrs. Bunny-Detectives Extraordinare! It was so quirky and fun.  I'm excited to see a new one!

And who could not be excited about a new version of Goldilocks called Goldi Rocks & the Three Bears?

Another series I'm anxious to take a look at is the upcoming one by Henry Winkler.  This is Hank from Hank Zipzer series but a younger version.  Bookmarks Are People Too! #1 (Here's Hank) looks similar to the text that my 3rd graders enjoy and it looks to be funny which is a huge plus for many of my readers. I'm anxious to check this new series out.

I'm not sure how I heard about Extraordinary Warren: A Super Chicken but it looks like great fun!

I recently read Winger and it was fabulous.  I definitely want to read more by this author. His book Grasshopper Jungle comes out in February. Not sure how fast I'll get to it but it is definitely on my TBR list!

Baseball Is . . . is one I have been waiting for for a long time. Louise Borden is amazing and I love the whole idea behind this book. I can't wait to get a copy (or copies).  It will be great for all ages, I think.

A Snicker of Magic and Half a Chance are two middle grade novels I have been looking forward to for a while. Both sound amazing and I am a huge Cynthia Lord fan!

Feathers: Not Just for Flying is a nonfiction book that looks fabulous.  We have been reading a lot about birds and this book looks like a great addition to our basket of bird nonfiction.

We are huge Arnie the Doughnut fans here so we are all very excited about the newest...Invasion of the Ufonuts (Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut)!

January Mosaics

I thought it would be fun to take a look at five Januaries, instead of just one.

January seems to be a time for food and snow. I was amused to see the dragonfly yard art make a snow-covered appearance in both 2010 and 2014.

January 2010 Mosaic

January 2011 Mosaic

January 2012 Mosaic

January 2013 Mosaic

January 2014 Mosaic