Metacognition

Thinking about our thinking!

We will be attempting to discuss metacognition in reading next week.  I use the lessons from Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor.  They are awesome! I pretty much teach every single lesson that is in that book...so you will probably be reading about this book again this year. It's AMAZING!

If you don't have it...you need to get it!

 

 

I start with the "Reading Salad" lesson that is in the Comprehension Connections book. The lesson gives the students a visual  of how we should be reading....we should be doing A LOT of thinking.

 

 

 

 

As we practice thinking about our thinking together,we will be practicing and adding our metacognition song to our reader's notebooks.  Hopefully  this will be a great reminder for them to look at later.

 

Metacognition Song

 

We will create a metacognition anchor chart like this one (found on Pinterest):

 

 

The students will get their own small anchor chart like this to add to their reader's notebooks.

 

Metacognition Graphic Organizer

 

 

 

One of my favorite lessons for teaching metacognition is the thought bubble!  We have a great time with this!  The kids love to do this and it is great to add to a station for them to practice.

 

(Here's an example of the thought bubble in action.) 

 

 

The students will also help me create an anchor chart listing some thinking stems to help us start our thinking.  Here's a small example that we will add to our reader's notebooks.

 

Metacognition Thinking Stems

 

 

I can't wait to get started with these lessons using the great ideas from Tanny's book!  (Seriously...you need to get this book! :)

 

Monster Bookmarks!

I saw these super cute bookmarks on Pinterest this summer and wanted to make my own!  I had my 8 year old and 6 year old make a few as examples. It was easy! (even though I had to redirect my 6 year old a few times when he thought it looked like a  bird and his paper was flying through the air, or when it started to look like a monster and he made it jump around and growl.  Boys.)  Anyway...they loved it!  I can't wait to try this out in my class.  It would be great to add to their bookbags!

I made the bookmarks by just folding, but there is also a template you can use instead.  Here's how we folded:

We used a square piece of paper 6 inches x 6 inches.  You can use any size.

Fold it into a triangle.

Fold the points to the top.

Then you open it up again and fold down the top point.

Last, you fold up the points and tuck them in.

 

You are done!  You can decorate it any way you like!

So cute and fun!  Love these!

If you would rather use the template-here's the link!

Page Corner Monster Bookmark

Enjoy!

FORMTASTIC!

I like to make and use forms...there it is. I was recently called "formtastic."   Some of my teacher friends like to make fun of me and all my forms...right after they ask me for a copy of them. :)  I was reminded of this by a couple of my teacher friends recently, so that is the inspiration for this post.
I am just adding a few of the forms I use at the beginning of the year to TRY to stay organized.

Each student takes home a daily behavior chart that the parents have to initial. I just add it to their homework folder.  This is a new chart that I want to try out this year.  We'll see how it goes!

Behavior Chart

When there is a behavior problem, I like to use a quick FORM (I know that is suprising!) to send in their folder for a parent signature.  This is great documentation! I always keep a few copies in my room.

Discipline Note

Meet the teacher is always stressful.  You are still trying to prepare your room/lessons for the first day and you have a bunch of students and parents coming in to meet you and drop off  all their supplies!  I am usually too stressed to ask the important questions that I need to know.  On the first day of school, I just want to make sure the students all get home the right way, safely.  I leave this paper out for the parents to complete at meet the teacher.

Meet the Teacher Parent Note

I also like to keep a spreadsheet of all the important student information in one place.  I created this document to do that, but it's a lot of work to put all that information in there.  My husband, Paul (I like to call him super nerd) told me to just create a Google form and have the parents go to my classroom blog to get the link to fill it out. I don't know why I haven't done that in the past!  I'm so going to do that this year!  If you don't want to do the google form, here's the link for the old school spreadsheet. ;)

Student Information Chart

Sometimes at the beginning of the year, we have a lot of students who have a hard time remembering their lunch number. (especially the really little people!)  It really slows down the lunch line. I like to send this note home with their lunch number to practice with their parents.  It really helps!

Lunch Number Parent Note

This next form is one that I am asked to share a lot.  I have a classroom blog where I post pictures, activities and projects that we do in class.  The kids and parents LOVE it!  It is a great way to show parents what we are doing.  It also motivates the students to get more involved  in what we are doing in class.  Before I post anything on that blog, I always send home this note as a courtesy to parents. 

Picture/Video Parent Release Form

Here's a link to my classroom blog if you are interested in following what we are doing in class!

Wagner's Wildcats

I hope that you find some of these forms useful this year.  I'm sure I will have more "formtastic"  forms to post throughout the year!

If you would like to view or use any other forms, I made A WHOLE PAGE dedicated to forms!!  So exciting....for me anyway!  Click the Formtastic Forms page above to view more forms.

Writer's Notebooks

This year I plan to do a better job with my writer's notebooks.  I am really motivated right now because I just went to a great training on expository writing and writer's notebooks!  I can't wait to get this going in my class! 

Here is how I am setting it up this year:

In the front of the writer's notebook will be a table of contents.  This is where we will add our strategies and mini-lessons so the students will be able to find them in their notebooks easily.  In the back of their notebooks we will add a table of contents just for the mini-lessons on revising and editing.  We will add our strategies and examples for editing and revising beginning in the back of the notebook.  Here are the table of contents I plan to use.

Writer's Notebook Table of Contents

Click here to get the editing/revising table of contents: Writer's Notebook Table of Contents 2

I am also going to add a few things to the beginning of my notebooks that worked well for me last year.  My students that really struggled with writing, frequently used the "I can write about..." page.  (Also great for my ESL students!)  I saw them turn to this page A LOT during writing workshop!

I can write about...

For the students that have trouble with sight words, we used this page.  Every week we added our new word wall words to the chart for them to refer to.

Word Wall Chart

I also have a color word chart that can be added.  The students colored in the square next to the color word. This may be best for K-1 students, but my ESL students also referred to this chart often.

Color Words

Getting the students to come up with ideas for their small moments stories can be a struggle, so I made some idea boxes for them to cut out and add to their notebooks.  They can refer back to it when they are ready to start a new piece and check off the ideas they have already used.

Idea Boxes

  We often talk about text to self connections during other lessons throughout the day and that leads to ideas that we could write a small moment about.  I created this page so the students could write their ideas down before they forget about them!

Idea Page

As I teach the mini-lessons, I always make an anchor chart and continue to add to it.  I wanted the students to be able to always refer back to the anchor chart.  I know I'm supposed to keep them all up...but I sometimes run out of wall space!  I started making little notes that have some of the information from the achor charts so the students could add them to their notebooks.  Here are a few that I have done:

Writing Workshop Notes

I have one more thing to share....this doesn't go in the writer's notebook, but is a good tool to use during writing workshop!  I made this last year and it worked well for me.  When I conference with the students I take notes on the skills they have mastered and what they still need to work on.  Then, I go back and look at my notes to see what we ALL need to work on and what only a few students need to work on.  I can then plan another mini-lesson on the topic that everyone is struggling with, or plan a small group lesson for the few students that need help. 

Writing Workshop Conferencing Notes 

I hope to post more about my writer's notebooks throughout the year...so check back!

I hope you found something useful here!

Daily 5

I am new to The Daily 5, but very excited to get started with it. I read the book and did a lot of research online about it.  So many teachers that use it have shared their ideas and resources online.

Here are a few great sites that helped me get ready for the Daily 5:

The Sisters

Daily 5 for Beginners

Tales From A K-1 Classroom

Mrs. Shannon's Class

(lots of great downloads on this site!)

I did create a few things that I am hoping will help as I start the Daily 5.  I created a teacher checklist that could be used to keep track of where each student is going during the Daily 5.  This seems really tedious, but I only plan to use it at the beginning of the year while we are still working on stamina.  On the chart I can mark off what station they have completed and see right away where they need to go.  Hopefully they will progess to doing this on their own and be accountable for going to all the stations.

Teacher Check-In Page

As the students build stamina and are able to choose and move on to their next station on their own, I want them to be able to keep track of this.  I created this little slip of paper to take with them.  They can highlight the station they have completed and decide where they plan to go next. 

Student Check-In Page

Along with the check-in page, students will have to view the classroom Daily 5 poster and  move their clip to the station they would like to go to.  Only a certain number of clips are allowed at each station.  Hopefully this will stop students from all running and hording at the same station! (Maybe.)  I ran literacy stations this same way in my classroom for a long time and it always worked for me.

I created these signs for the Daily 5 stations(a picture of only one is shown, you can see all of them when you download it).  Students will be allowed to put their clip on a dot.  When the dots are full, the station is full.

Daily 5 Poster

I have a Promethean board in my classroom and I often use it as a station for word work...but just in case I don't use it for a station this year, I created a flipchart where the students can keep track of the station they are going to and what they have left to complete.  This may be helpful right away at the beginning of the year while building stamina. 

Check-In Flipchart

I also LOVE this idea that can be created on the Promethean board.  I may create this flipchart instead...during all my free time. :)

( Found at: Tales From a K-1 Classroom)

I hope these ideas and resources help you out if you are planning to use the Daily 5 this year!  We'll see how it goes! :)

Guided Reading Binder

I was working on a guided reading binder this week with a good teacher friend.  We were going over what should be in the binders.  She told me I needed to do a blog post about it....so here it is!
I use my binder in guided reading EVERY DAY!  I am lost without it!  I keep everything in there and keep it organized so I can find student data when needed.  Here is how I do it...

First, you need a HUGE binder.  By the end of the year it will be FULL of running records and data.  Also, if I have to look at that binder and use it every day...it might as well be cute. So... I made this binder cover page and some dividers.

Binder Cover

Get the other dividers here:

Guided Reading Schedule Divider

Lesson Plans Divider

Running Records Divider

Take Home Books Check-Out Divider

In the front of my binder I always have my guided reading schedule...so I know what groups I need to meet with that day as well as my lesson plans for my groups.  These are the forms I use:

Reading Groups Schedule

Guided Reading Lesson Plans

We also send home books to read in a book bag.  I keep track of the books they take home as well as the date they take it home and return it.  If I am ever short a book, I can look at this chart and know exactly who still has it.  This is the checkout form I use:

Book Bag Checkout

Next, I have a separate tabbed divider for each student in my class.  This is where I put all of their running records.  An easy way to keep track of their progress and the stories/levels they have completed is with the running record summary sheet.  I have one of these for each student.  I add it to the front of their section of running records so I can find it easily.

Running Records Summary Sheet

Some other information you might want to add to your binder is a yearly data sheet that shows their reading level progress.  I often refer to this in planning meetings as well as parent conferences to discuss student progress. 

Reading Level Progress Chart

I also like to have this graph for each student. It is a great visual for students and parents about where they are reading and where they need to be reading each nine weeks.  I like to keep it in a separate folder to show parents at conference time.

Reading Progress Graph

If you are new to guided reading, these cheat sheets might be helpful to keep in your binder as well.  They have a quick breakdown of guided reading expectations. 

Guided Reading Cheat Sheet #1

Guided Reading Cheat Sheet #2

I hope you find some of this useful!

Reader's Notebook

This year I am planning on using a reader's notebook. I found a lot of GREAT ideas from other teachers.  I made a few things of my own to add to the notebook and I also plan to add some things that I have used in the past.  I think it will be great for them to have all of their learning in one place to refer to.  I have added an example of how I am going to start the year with my reader's notebooks.  I hope to write more posts about the notebooks as we add to them throughout the year! 


I plan to have the students decorate and personalize their journals first.  Here is an example of mine!  I used this awesome website: www.festisite.com to create a word shape.  So fun!

I plan to have the students write-  I read because... and then add their words to one of the sites below to create their word bubble for the cover of their journals.
These sites are great:
www.festisite.com
www.wordle.com
www.tagxedo.com


I am also going to have the students glue a little introduction and goals page at the beginning of the journal.  I plan to meet with them during groups to add some things to their goals page. Here's what it looks like...click the title to get the download.

Reader's Notebook Goals

 

One of our first lessons for the year will be how to pick a just right book.  I am going to have them add this hand to their journals as a reminder.  I found it on Pinterest....here's the link! 

This would  be the perfect time to teach the Daily 5 lesson about Good-Fit books. I would have the students add their notes on this page about IPICK. If we don't have the time (or patience) to take notes, we might just add this little cheat sheet to their notebooks!

I Pick Good-Fit Books

During the first weeks, we will be adding this little flip book to the notebook.  They can list what genre's/author's/topics they are interested in reading. (this would be good to add to writer's workshop  for writing ideas...I have to remember that!)

Reading Interests Flip Book

I am adding a genre breakdown page for them to refer to....we will get to discuss that frequently throughout the year!
(This resource was found here: http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/  MANY great resources on this site...check it out!)

Genre Categories

I created this genre graph/bingo page for them to keep track of the genre's they are reading. I used this last year.  The class really liked it!

Genre Graph

I hope some of this helps you out and gives you some ideas to get started!

Here are a few other sites I found that have great suggestions for reader's notebooks.  Enjoy!

Thinking of Teaching

Miss Klohns Classroom

Scholastic

Teaching My Friends

Beth Newingham