Thanksgiving Inference activities

This year has been such an exciting year! I love teaching 2nd grade and my kiddos are adorable! They are so wonderful to teach. Since this is my first year teaching 2nd, it is like my first year teaching all over. In my school district, we are still using Open Court. However, they want us to start implementing the new CCSS. So, I've been doing a lot of work trying to connect the CCSS to Open Court. By the end of the week--I am pooped!!

One way I have been implementing CCSS is by using various metacognition reading strategies with my little kiddos. One that we have been working on a lot are making inferences when reading. Since it is Thanksgiving, we looked at different recipe cards and tried to make an inference about what the recipe is. The did this in three steps:

• what background knowledge they have on the recipe
• what the recipe text says
• what they think the recipe is

My kiddos had so much fun with it! I got this resource from Lyndsey at A Year of Many Firsts. This was such a great resource and I think my students really are starting to understand inferences in a fun and engaging way!

I projected the the recipes onto the screen and we worked together to make inferences about the recipe.

Then they worked on using their background knowledge and the recipe instructions to make an inference. Some were even drawing illustrations to help them with their inference!

My kiddos did such an amazing job with these inferences! I was so proud of everything they worked on.

The next day, they worked on writing an inference story about Busy Betsy! I projected an story on the screen of Busy Betsy cleaning and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Then, all of a sudden she smelt something and say black spots on her pie! After my students saw that short story about Busy Betsy, they had to finish the story and infer how Betsy felt and what would have happened next. I wish I had more time to do this because my kiddos were so creative with their responses! They had so much fun and loved sharing their inference stories. 

With CCSS right on my door step, there are days when I ask myself, "Can I do this?" My district doesn't have any CCSS "curriculum"yet and we are receiving extensive training and collaboration on how to unpack the standards. We also discuss how it implement CCSS into our classroom. Some days, it can be a lot to understand and handle. But other days, like last week, I felt like and told myself, "Yes! I can do this!" because my kiddos did such an amazing job on this inference activity. In addition to these Thanksgiving recipe inferences, we learned about the pilgrims and the May Flower. The made a map of the May Flower Voyage.

We had so much fun last week learning about the first Thanksgiving and inferences with Thanksgiving recipes. Last week just went so smoothly and I feel my students had fun learning about different ways we celebrate Thanksgiving and why. I just kicked some serious CCSS butt!! 

In addition to these various units I'm working on, I've also been working on reading journals for Open Court. I got the idea from Amanda Nickerson at One Extra Degree. It's worked pretty good so far. I'll do a post about it next week. I'm headed off to go see the new Hunger Games! I've been so excited to see this. Before I go, I wanted to share this picture I took yesterday of one of my students during read-to-self. I just couldn't resist :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! From my classroom...to yours.

Classroom Organization

I am so excited to link up with Michelle from Fabulous in First do my first Sunday Smorgasborb!

I have been living with my parents for the last week and a half because the lease in my old house was up on July 1st and my new condo isn't ready until July 19th. So, that means back to the parents for two weeks! Anyway, this week I started my back-to-school shopping and started to get organized for next year. Since I am going to be in second grade next year, I want to change how I organize my classroom materials. Last year my kiddos had binders; however, I know that will NOT work for my little second graders.

Instead, I will have baskets with their work folders in them. I am so excited because I found them at the Dollar Store and they had many different colors to choose from!

For my kiddos next year, they will have baskets for Daily 5, Writer's Workshop, and possibly Math. I'm still trying to decide what other subjects I may need their baskets for. In those baskets, will go their work folders. I really wish I did this last year, especially for Daily 5 because many times my students did not finish their work and had the papers all over their desk! So, for next year, they will have a Daily 5 folder and a section for unfinished work, and another section for their response sheets.

Stephanie from Third Grade Thoughts has amazing accountability worksheets that I used last year. It really helped my kiddos stay focused during Daily 5.

I will also be using my baskets for students Writer's Workshop notebooks. I have been doing a lot of research this summer on Writer's Workshop. I've been reading Amanda Nickerson's Launching Writer's Workshop pack for some more ideas for craft lessons and organization. One of my goals this year is to improve my Writer's Workshop block.

Once I get into my new condo, I will be doing more posts of how I organize my materials and some creative ideas that I will be working on to get me ready for the new school year. We don't start until August 19th, so I still have a lot of time to get ready!

On a side note, I'm not sure if there are any Giants fans out there, but Tim Lincecum pitched a NO HITTER last night at their game with the Padres! I was with some friends at an Irish Pub for a girls night out, and while I was there,I was watching the game. Toward the end, the pub was going CRAZY for Lincecum's no hitter game! Let's go GIANTS!!

Word Work and an Award!

This summer, I've been working really hard to revamp my Daily 5 block. With regards to Word Work, my students did an excellent job learning the phonetic spelling patterns and sounds. At my school district, we use Excursions Storytown and the phonics are more focused on sounds then patterns. I noticed that while many of my students were understanding the patterns, they were still struggling with correctly spelling the words. So, I have been doing a lot of research on various Daily 5 Word Work activities for my little third graders next year.

Here are some of my ideas:

1. Stamps- The students will stamp the word, write it, and then use it in a sentence.

2. Scrabble- The students will use scrabble tiles to spell the words, then write the value of each word.

3. Stephanie from 3rd Grade Thoughts has a Word Work Trio Pack that includes scrabble tiles, how much is your money worth, and place value words.

4. Personal Dictionary- Students will have a personal dictionary and include words that they have trouble spelling. Not all students will need a personal dictionary. Just students who have trouble with spelling.

5. White boards- I recommend the white boards that have the handwriting lines. I had students that needed extra practice with handwriting and spelling. One strategy that I want to try is for the students to write it, check it, re-write it. When the students check their spelling on their own, they can understand why they misspelled the word.

6. Rainbow letters- Students can write their words using rainbow letters.

7. Word Pyramid- Students write their spelling word to look like a pyramid.
For example:
c
ca
can

7. Magnet Letters- Students will spell the words on a cookie sheet using magnet letters. I will have the students use the magnet letters on the cookie sheet; and then have a recording sheet to write the word and use it in a sentence.

These are just some ideas I have for now. I will be doing more posts on the organization of it once I get into my classroom. I really like how Tara from 4th Grade Frolics by including a folder, instructions, and recording sheet for each word work activity. I that is my next project to tackle!

Another important point to consider is that word work activities is only for students who are struggling with spelling. It does not need to be used for all students. You can learn more about Word Work and other Daily 5 activities by going to the 2 Sisters website The Daily Cafe.


Now, for the fun stuff :) Elizabeth from Mrs. Hodge and Her Kindergarten Kids nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award! I am so excited to have been nominated for this award.

Here are the rules
1. Follow the person who gave me the award.
2. Link back to the person that gave me the award.
3. Pass to 5 new bloggers and then let them know they have received the award.

The 5 new bloggers I nominate are:
1. Mrs. Wood's Class
2. Teaching Third
3. Grade 3 is the Place for Me
4. Teaching Little Apples
5. 3rd Grade Sprinkles

Read-to-Self Accountability and Reader's Response Notebooks

Last year was my first year using Daily 5 and boy, did I learn a lot. I think that my biggest struggle was making sure that my kids were understanding what they were reading, and not just look at the word and pictures the whole time. Especially in third grade when comprehension is such a HUGE part. So, this year I was doing some research and looking for different ways to ensure my students are accountable for the reading during read-to-self. This is especially important because I am starting CAFE next year and while some students are doing Read-to-Self, I will be doing guided reading groups and doing assessments.

I have decided to give my students a Reader's Response Notebook to help them stay accountable during Read-to-Self. 2nd Grade Shenanigan did a post about reader response and think clouds. I really like what she did here because she had different prompts with comprehension questions that focus on different skills such as author's purpose, visualize, making a connection, and summarize. I also liked how she also included a rubric so the students know what they are expected to do! Also, Amanda Nickerson's Cultivating Strategic Readers has amazing questions that are called "Chat and Go" questions. I used them last year with my reading intervention students. This year, I'm going to have my students respond to them in their Reader's Response Notebooks.

Reader's Response Notebooks:

The rubric so students know their expectations of the Reader's Response Notebooks:

Here are the think clouds for readers response:

My goal is to give the students a comprehension question that is connected to the skill that they are learning that week. Another lesson that I learned from last year is that I did not have enough emphasis in reading comprehension. We practiced a lot in reading fluency. But, not enough of reading comprehension and strategic thinking.

I'm hoping that by using a Reader's Response Notebook, think clouds, and chat and go questions; my students will benefit in understanding what they are reading more. It also keeps them more accountable for what they are reading during Read-to-Self while I am meeting with other students for conferences.