New Grade, New Theme

Fourth Grade, here I come! After 5 years teaching 3rd grade, I was ready for a change. So, when I was asked to move up I said yes! I'm really excited about this year. I will be looping with some of the same kids I had last year.

I also decided that I wanted a new classroom theme. I decided to go with a color scheme instead of a theme. I'm using the colors yellow, teal, and gray. I've been making a lot of things for my classroom, and I'm looking forward to putting it all together. 

This is a wreath I made for my door. It turned out so much cuter than I imagined! 

This is the area rug and curtain fabric I chose. The top pic is an inspiration picture. 

I made these painted and distressed Mason jars for my desk. I will put all my pens, pencils, scissors, etc in them. 

I created a huge set of printables in my color scheme. They are available on my TPT store. 

I'm looking forward to a great year! 

Reading Ẅorkshop" Part 3

This is the final post for my reading workshop series.  Today I am going to tell you how I use workshop to differentiate, while still using my Reading Series.

My district decided to continue using our Storytown series.  This meant a lot of meetings during the summer and on Mondays (we don't have school on Mondays) to align it to CCSS. There are a lot of gaps that we have to fill in, so I use my workshop time to do it.

While students are completing activities at other centers, I am working with small groups of 4-6 students.  I used their DIBELS, STAR, and Triumph data to group them.

When I first started using workshop, I tried to teach the skills while also teaching the reading story for the week.  It took us two days of reading and answering questions to get through the story and we didn't have much time for anything else.  So, in order to save a little time, I revamped the center activities.  Students either listen to or read the weekly story and answer questions before they come to the teacher led center.

Sometimes we have workshop at the rug, using the Promethean board.

Other times we have workshop at the teacher table.

This is a sample of some of the things we use during workshop time.

When they come to me, we do a few different activities, depending on the skill for the week.  One thing we do every day is review vocabulary.  Then, we review the questions from the story that they answered in the reading center.  After that, we read a small part of a leveled reader or passage from readworks.org or Triumph Learning.  I use this passage to teach their weekly skills.  I have found it easier because students are doing this activity on their level.  They feel more confident in their ability to answer and ASK questions, and they are more engaged in learning.  I am able to focus more on my students' individual needs, and therefore am reaching more students.

I hope this series helped you understand more about my workshop model for teaching.  I don't use the traditiional model, but feel it is very important for you to do what is best for YOUR kids!

Check out my TPT store for my Reading Workshop lesson planner freebie.

Reading Workshop Sample Lesson Plans

Snow Day

It is a RARE occurrence when we get a snow day in Louisiana. I was pregnant with my 3 year old for the last one and don't remember one before that! We did get a little snow last week, but the roads didn't get bad so we had school. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with my boys, but it was a little too cold for this Louisiana girl. 

We are on day 2 of our snow days. I am hoping and praying we don't get any bad weather days for the rest of the year because we only have two days this year in the schedule for weather. I don't want to make up any days! 

I saw this on Pinterest & it is so true! 

I am also so thankful that my family in Birmingham was kept safe! My grandmother had an eye procedure in downtown yesterday morning. When my aunt left to take her home they could only get about 3 blocks. They came across a Marriott and stopped. The wonderful people there found them a room. Many people stayed in the lobby last night, too. My cousin was stranded at her high school. A good friend of my aunt got her four wheel drive out, got my cousin, and brought her home. I have been praying all morning for the people who weren't as fortunate as my family. 

Just a little laugh for Monday

Tuesdays are my Mondays- four day school week, but since I know most of you go to work on Monday, here's a little laugh for you!

(These guys must have had a teacher in their family!)

Said no teacher ever... (from FBC Loganville)

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Reading "Workshop" Part 2

Part 2 of my Reading Workshop "series" is going to be about what the students do while I am teaching a small group. I have 5 centers that the students complete differentiated work at, one of which is the teacher led center. At each center is a crate that has 4 colored folders. Students get the work from their folder and complete it either independently or as a group. 

The first center is the proofreading and writing center. Students have a proofreading activity and a text-based writing activity to complete. Right now, the proofreading activities are formatted like our upcoming standardized test to get them used to it. I also have used a Daily Proofreading workbook for this. 

The next center is the Spelling and Vocabulary center. I make differentiated Spelling choice boards each week for students to practice their spelling words. I also have an activity for them to complete with their vocabulary words. These vary from using the words in sentences to making a foldable with the words. 

The next independent center is the Reading & Responding Center. At this center students read with a partner or listen to the reading story (depending on their reading ability). Then they answer some text based questions. Students leave this center and come straight to the teacher led center. 

The last center is the Skills center. When students are in the teacher led center we practice fluency and skills using stories that are on the groups' levels. Most of the ones I use come from Triumph Learning or Readworks.org. Then they either have questions or an activity to complete using this passage (sometimes both).

I will finish the Reading Workshop series in my next post by discussing what happens in my teacher led center. 

Reading "Workshop"

This year I have a wide range of ability levels in my class. I racked my brain for 3 months trying to find a way to reach all of my students ON THEIR LEVEL.

I have done Reading centers for the past 6 years. My school was an ELFA (Ensuring Literacy for All) school for a few years and it was mandatory. Although I loved being able to teach my students for  15 minutes on their level each day, I didn't see the results I wanted to see with this group. 

When discussing this with my literacy/math coach she suggested that I do centers all day with my homeroom because of the vast ability levels. I researched Reading workshops and adapted it to meet my needs and the needs of my students. 

I decided to use it for my afternoon class, too, because it is a very strong group. I knew this would help them grow even more, because I am able to challenge them more. 

I had my formal observation last week, and was absolutely AMAZED with the questions that the students asked. When my principal asked how I thought it went, my response was that I thought it couldn't have gone much better! The students did everything they always do and we got an awesome score! 

It takes a lot of planning and getting used to, but I am so excited to see the results of my students and share what goes on in my classroom each day! I will be posting an overall view of my day and details about each center later in the week. Until then....