I see you

Our fifth grade class is a really special group of kids. They were the first group who got full day kinder, their parents are super involved, and the kids are amazing. I became really close with them when they were third graders and I was collaborating with their teachers. The rest, they say, is history.

I do recess duty with them every day, so I get to watch the way they play together and interact, and again, super special. Every day they play football together - not just a handful of kids, but like 30 of them. Everyone who wants to play can play.

I love lots of kids in this class, but this week two of them, R & E, stand out to me. They are both very outgoing, very engaged, thoughtful, competitive kids.

Yesterday at recess, I had to have little conversation with E about playing for fun vs. playing to win, but then sent him back to keep playing. A few minutes later, I noticed that these two particular boys were playing pretty intensely - and kind of to the point where I thought they might get in a fight, so I blew my whistle to break it up.

Fast forward five minutes, and same thing, but then it was time to line up, so I blew the whistle again and the situation dissolved. Then, much to my surprise as I was walking towards these two to have another conversation, I see R put his hand up to high five E. Then he walked over to the kids in his line who were playing and did the same.

I was taken back.

I didn't expect that.

I know this kid R, and E, too, are great kids, but they are also boys on the verge of middle school, playing football and wanting to win. As I approached R, tears were welling up in my eyes (also: last day of school) and I walked up to him, put my hand on his shoulder and said, "You're such a good kid. I see you."

I had to walk away before the tears really started falling, but then, I watched as R went to the other fifth grade line to high five all his friends over there, including E again.

Fast forward to last night, about 11pm when I saw this video that Sarah from A Rocky Top Teacher posted, and it was right on with what happened. People want to hear that they matter. People want to be seen...I mean, don't we all? Don't we all want to know that we have made a difference?

I know it's hard sometimes, especially when kids are difficult and are seeking attention in any way possible. But, as the adults in such situations, it's our job to break that cycle... to stop the arguing with kids, to turn the corner and find something positive.

I promise you - even your hardest student - if you find something beautiful to see in them, it will change the relationship forever.

I know it's summer break for most of us (Day 1 for me!) so we might not be around students, but let's take time to notice those around us, our families, our friends, maybe even the people we might walk by on the street. Look up from your phone and see the world, including all the amazing people that cross our paths.

Who did you see today?

Leave a comment and share!

sentence of the week

Hi all! I've been busy this month working on grammar stuff. After seeing my cousin Mike at Easter (he's a High School English Teacher) and talking to him about the papers he was grading (we're always grading, aren't we?) we got to talking about Kelly Gallagher's Sentence of the Week, which may or may not be like the Mentor Sentences I've seen around the teaching blogosphere. Since then, I've been busy trying this out with our third graders, and it's been awesome!

Sentence of the Week is a strategy used for the purpose of having students construct knowledge about grammar and mechanics. The principle behind this is that we want to show students correct sentences (rather than incorrect sentences that you might find with Daily Oral Language (DOL) activities). Don't use those crazy, error-ridden sentences with your kiddos!

If you teach with a Writing Workshop model, you might be wondering how to make Grammar a more consistent part of your writing instruction - and this is perfect for that. Sentence of the Week is a 5-10 minute bit of instruction that happens daily, whether you are in the editing phase of the writing process or not.

Sentence of the week works on a five day cycle - you will stick to the same grammar pattern for five days. Following this, you can find a brief explanation of the first two days of the cycle...I'll be back later this week with the rest.

Day 1: Notice
Begin with three sentences that use the pattern you hope to teach. In this case, we were working on Possessive Nouns, so we wrote three pairs of sentences:

My mom has a dog.
My mom's dog is a Pug.

Miss Amenta has a pineapple hat.
Miss Amenta's pineapple hat makes her happy.

Damian has a fake mustache.
Damian's mustache looks real.

We began with the blue, pink, and red sentences. We wrote them about our kids and this particular class so they were more meaningful. First thing I did was read them to the students. Then, we asked students to turn and talk about what they notice. After, students shared out and we charted what they said:

I notice...
the pairs are alike - they are about the same topic
Should there be more commas?
apostrophe
It says what they have

As you can see, students were able to compare and contrast the sentences (one of Marzano's high yield strategies!) to construct meaning - they found the pattern (apostrophe and possession) and even though they could not name it academically, they were most certainly able to find it!

This little bit concluded day one.

Day 2: Imitate
We continued by sharing the academic vocabulary & meaning for what we were working on and three more examples:

You can find the teacher work in black ink. Then, the sentence in blue is the demonstration I did with our classroom teacher to model for the students how to imitate sentences, which is the next step they will complete. You can find teacher think aloud coded {like this.}

I said, "If I wanted to write a sentence with a Possessive Noun, I would first ask myself, 'Who is this sentence about?' Miss, Kriegl, who should we write a sentence about?"

She replied, "Mrs. Maldonado."

Then I asked her, "What does she own or have?"

She said, "A school."

I demonstrated, "Okay, then, Mrs. Maldonado {students, I'm starting my sentence with my person} 's {remember, I have to put the apostrophe s} So, Mrs. Maldonado's school {and then I just finish the sentence} is the best. Let's read it together."

All, "Mrs. Maldonado's school is the best."

Then I directed students, "With your partner, please imitate me, write a Possessive noun sentence. When you finish, hold your index card up, and I'll take it from you, and you can do another."

In pairs, students went on their way writing sentences. I collected them, and then added them to our list. You can find the student sentences in the picture above in pink. We continued to look for the pattern, and were also able to clarify a misconception, where a pair of kiddos wrote, "Ms. Kriegl owns Zach." (Side note: Zach is her fiancé!) We just reminded them of the pattern and then revised the sentence to make it correct.

All of that in just 15 minutes. Great conversation, great learning, awesome way to find trouble spots where students have misconceptions about the lesson at hand.

Because I don't want this post to get so long you don't read it, I'll be back later this week with another post to finish up the five day cycle of Sentence of the Week.

Has anyone used this as a grammar strategy? Please share your thoughts in the comments below! And be sure to check out the grammar presentation my colleagues Jennie, Amanda, and I put on last week in our district!

flow achieved {sol 3.20.16}

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On Friday at work, I didn't have time to eat lunch. Some of our staff was out, I had an extra lunch duty, and I was prepping (last minute, of course) for a demo I was doing in 5th grade.

I was to teach Author's Craft. In all my years in the classroom, this isn't something I had ever taught, so I had to read up on it to make sure I sold it well to the kiddos.

I read the session from Lucy Calkin's curriculum and checked out the resources on the Heinemann website. I was good to go. But hungry.

I went up to the room a little early, just to get all my stuff set up. My heart was racing a little. Teaching kids is my thing, but demoing for other teachers always adds and extra edge. I was set up in time to go to the bathroom, so did that, then came back and was just hanging out, smiling, happy.

"She gets so excited for this," one of the coteachers said, smiling in my direction.

It's true. I just love teaching.

The lesson began, and I was very cognizant of the time. As a coach, I wanted to keep this mini-lesson mini. I asked kids if they have ever listened to rap music... "Have you guys ever heard a Jay-Z song and thought how awesome he was playing with words to craft  the best lines ever?"

They smiled, nodding. "That is art. That is also known as Author's Craft."

The lesson was awesome. I forgot I was hungry. I was in a state of flow: feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

Teaching is my jam. I seriously love it.

failed a test {sol 3.9.16}

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There I was, under cloudy skies out on the blacktop at recess today when two fifth graders came running up to me. A converse shoe plopped down in front of me and Naylani asked, "Ms. Brezek, can you tie my shoe?"

While trying to keep my eye on half of the fourth and fifth grade in my general area, while staying clear of the football that kept flying towards my head, and while waiting for another kiddo to come back and talk to me about an incident just before, I quickly make eye contact and said, "Nope, sorry. Ask a friend."

Lizzy interjected, "Ohhhhh, Ms. Brezek, you're the first failure."

All of a sudden, the football game couldn't seem further away and it was as if it were just the three of us there.

"What do you mean?" I protested.

"Well, this was a test of generosity, and you've failed. You were the first teacher to fail it!"

I interrupted, "Well, which teachers tied your shoe?"

"Mr. D, the sub, and a sixth grader in the middle school."

"Ok, well go ask Mrs. Jantz and see if she'll tie your shoe."

The girls ran off, across the playground, and even though I should have had my eyes on all the kids playing around me, all I could do was watch and see if Mrs. Jantz would bend down and tie the shoe.

Before that happened, though, Mrs. Jantz was laughing, and there was no shoe tying, and I was thankful that I wasn't the only person who wasn't generous that afternoon.

I'd like to say that one day I'd pass that test, but tying shoes is not something I do in elementary school. Well, maybe for a kinder who couldn't find a friend to help out... but definitely not for a fifth grader!

forget about it {sol 3.3.16}

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I'm the fifth grade recess duty person and I love being with all 60 of those kids, even if we are all in one room together when it's too cold to go outside. And even though it's mostly too loud - all the time.

Today, the volume was growing at a steady pace, and then the girls screeched over something, so I told them all to go to their silent spots. I began my diatribe:

"Don't talk in your loud voice. Don't talk in your appropriate voice. Don't talk in a quiet voice, or a whisper. Just don't talk." 

This was met with, "How about sign language?" and this friend of mine starts tapping his palm like he's dialing a phone, then he's got his hand up to his ear and is pointing at another friend to pick up the call, then they're laughing, and then I'm laughing, and then it was over.

Recess, that is.

This is why my heart will always be with the middle school kids. They are so clever and funny, and I love them so!

guided reading binder - take a peek!

I began teaching guided reading again, this time in first grade! It's been cool to get to know another of the five plans from Jan Richardson. Now that it's been a few weeks, my records have fleshed out and I wanted to share my binder with you!

Here it is in all it's glory --
I'd rather write a blog post about it than make a pretty cover :-)

On the inside...front and back pockets:

Inside back pocket
I know it's strange to start with the end, but there's not much to report there. Just saving some word study materials I haven't gotten to yet; more on word study a few paragraphs down...

Inside front pocket
I keep everything I need now in this pocket - this week's lesson plan, this week's anecdotal notes, word study activities I'm planning to do today or tomorrow, and standards based anecdotal notes.

Lesson Plans, from The Next Steps in Guided Reading:

Anecdotal Notes This form, created by my awesome colleague and friend, Christine. One side of notes covers one group of kids - their names are listed where that white paper is, and then a box for each day of the week.

Word Study Materials - this week we're doing some picture sorting by medial vowel:

Anecdotals by Standard are next. (They are the stack of index cards that are paper clipped together.) Right now we're working on questioning. I just recently learned about this from an awesome fourth grade teacher over at Irving. You keep a stack of cards per standard and then annotate when kids attempt to use that strategy. In this case, it's questioning, so I was able to record the questions (or statements) kids shared and then grade them against a Standards-Based Rubric (4: Exceeds Standard, 3: Meets, 2: Approaches, 1: Beginning). Throughout the week, I'll keep more records of this to get a bigger picture.

Child's name is what is under the pen.

In the Rings:
First, I have a few mini-anchor charts in plastic sleeves:

I made these to use to prompt the students about various skills we are working on, so when I am ready to do that work, I take these out for their reference. This little trick is another one that Christine taught me. She began doing this as she built her Tier 3 lesson plans using Jennifer Serravallo's new book: The Reading Strategies Book.

Next I have more anecdotal notes - using a calendar is another way to think about them:

I just began a 1:1 intervention with a student who needs to build her knowledge of letter names (this is also in Jan Richardson's Book!) Since I am only working 1:1, I wanted to use a calendar to take notes of observations across our time together, so I just grabbed this freebie online today to use.

Strategies and Skills by Level - this is another resource in the Richardson's book and just wanted a quick reference to keep handy. The front page you see are all the strategies and skills children need to master at level A, behind it I have a few more levels, too. This way, when I'm planning the word study component of guided reading, it's easy to figure out what I should do!

Archived Lesson Plans - After I'm done with a sheet of plans, I hang on to them here, newest on top as a record of the work we've done.

Next section is for sight words:

I have two groups, so I have two sets of these charts, but up top you list each child's name on top of the list, and then when you assess their sight words, you can make notes here of how they're doing. I put a check mark if they are able to spell it correctly, and a "P" if I had to prompt them for support to write the word. If I notice that more than one student needs prompting, then I go back and reteach the sight word in question.

The next section is for archived Anecdotal Notes:

I keep the current notes I'm working on in the front cover, but then, as I finish them, they get filed here. What I love about this system is that when I go to an RtI meeting or need to update a parent or teacher about a child, I have so much information to potentially share with them just by looking through my notes!

I'm getting better at taking anecdotals the longer I keep with them, but some days I don't write things, and other days I focus too much on one student. Sometimes I take notes on the group as a whole, other days not. These notes are waaaay better than I used to do as a novice last year, and I'm sure I'll keep on improving with them the longer I keep working on them.

Assessment Data is collected in the last part of my binder:

When I say Assessment Data, I just mean running records, which are all saved here. But, I keep an Assessment Summary on top so I can see trends at a glance. This form below is just for one student, and lists running record scores and notes for each week I test him.

You see that I include the date, guided reading level of the text, the genre (fiction or nonfiction), whether the running record was hot (meaning the child read the book already before) or cold (it was the first time with the text. Then I have scores for Words Per Minute (WPM) and number of errors (which I haven't been taking because I keep forgetting to bring the calculator), their accuracy percentage, comprehension score, and overall reading level (Independent, Instructional, or Frustration) notes. That circled letter on the end of the line is the level I want to test the child on the following week, that way I don't have to analyze the information again - just a way to make myself more efficient.

On the bottom of the form is a rubric for determining the level that is from Fountas and Pinnell's Benchmark Assessment System.

So, that's my binder! What's in yours?

Any ideas to enhance what I've already got going on?

Please leave your ideas in the comments!

getting cozy with Calkins

Good morning! Is anyone out there getting acquainted with the new Reading Units of Study from Lucy Calkins and her colleagues at The Teachers College? We are so lucky to use this curriculum in our school district, and so our teachers are beginning to orient themselves to the new units of study. In an effort to smooth things out, I've created a little cheat-cheat to figure it all out!

First, let's start with the books.

A Guide to the Reading Workshop: The Overview Book
This book does a really nice job acquainting the reader with the curriculum. In this book, you will learn more general information about Reading Workshop and the research and theory behind it. This book is also the source of this blog, as it directed me to what was most important to read as we begin instruction.

Reading Units of Study: The Lesson Plan Books

Each grade level's curriculum includes four spiral-bound units of study. Since I head fifth grade in my district, I'm going to share theirs:

1. Interpretation Book Clubs: Analyzing Themes
2. Tackling Complexity: Moving Up Levels of Nonfiction
3. Argument and Advocacy: Researching Debatable Issues
4. Fantasy Book Clubs: The Magic of Themes and Symbols

These four books are the meat and potatoes of the curriculum. Teachers will be reading these books day in and day out and using them for instruction.

Reading Pathways: The Assessment Book

This book is really a toolkit for reading assessment. In it teachers will find information about running records, bands of text complexity in both fiction and nonfiction, learning progressions of different standards across grade levels (think vertical alignment), performance assessments, and assessment tools.

If... Then... Curriculum: The Differentiation Book

This book has letters to teachers at each of the three intermediate grade levels. It offers a very broad overview of the year. Then, it gives alternate units of study that teachers and use if they need to modify the grade level given units of study.

Getting Started

Now that you know about the books, here are Calkins' recommendations for getting started in the Intermediate Grades. (Primary grade teachers, slightly different.) If you're like our teachers, you don't have time to read the whole first book of lesson plans, and in fact, Lucy doesn't even recommend that. Here's how you should begin:

1. Grab the first book of lesson plans that you are going to teach. At the beginning of each of these is An Orientation to the Unit. You can find this right after the acknowledgements. Read that first, and then read the first session of lesson plans.
2. Next grab Reading Pathways. Look up the Learning Progressions in the table of contents. Go to that section, pick one strand, and read the progression of work children do across the grade levels. This will help you see what students were expected to do before coming to your class, and also see the depth that you will take your teaching on each standard (for example, on Time, Plot, and Setting).
3. Now you're ready for the If... Then... Curriculum. In the very front of this book are letters: A Letter to Teachers of Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5. You'll want to read your letter to get a sense of the units you will be teaching this year.
4. If you're new to Reading Workshop, it would definitely help to skim through A Guide to the Reading Workshop.
5. Also, check out the online resources at Heinemann's website! You can find your access code in A Guide to the Reading Workshop book.

It seems like a lot to do, but it's just a little bit of reading here and a little bit of reading there. Hopefully this post clarifies the purpose of the books and where to begin!

Who else uses Reading Workshop? Any other tips to offer? Please leave a note in the comments if so!

there's no app for that

I was surfing my blog feed today and ran across a post, Motivate your kids to write with this app! Yesterday I saw a post about math Pinterest Fails - you know, those quick acronyms and tricks math teachers use to get kids to remember order of operations or division steps?

If you're a teacher and you're really interested in getting your kids to love to write and to deeply understand math concepts, you have to come to terms with the fact that there are no quick fixes.

I'm a writer, so let's go there...

If I want my kids to love to write, I have to be an authentic model of what that looks like. I have to make my writing life visible to kids. They need to see my writer's notebook:

They need to see inside, too, and see that it's messy and not perfect. I need to tell them about my writing process and my writing preferences - how I like to keep my notebook with me and in the instance I don't have it, I make lists on my phone of things I want to write about. They need to know about my obsession with writing utensils, including these new Ticonderoga pencils that are now in colors, colors people!

I need to "go there" in my own writing - you know, that scary place where we investigate tragedies and conflicts? Then, I need to let them see what that's like. I need to take the time to research mentor texts and show kids how I study writers so I can mimic what they do, so I can help myself find my own way as a writer. I have to let them in on my own writing insecurities (I'm not as eloquent as I'd like to be) and work to make my classroom a place where they feel safe enough to share theirs. I need to keep up with PD in writing to bring fresh strategies to my students so both they, and I, can write in newer and livelier ways. I need to take time to plan Marathon Writing days so we can marvel in and be inspired by our surroundings and facilitate their planning of Author's Chairs so they can share their best work to a real-life audience. 

Friends, there's no app for this.

While I totally appreciate all that technology does for us: lets us share, allows us to respond to others we normally wouldn't have the opportunity to, and publish our work in new and creative ways, I also understand that it takes more than that to put thoughtful, insightful, beautiful works out into the world.

It takes a writer.

written conversations

I'm at the Illinois Writing Project, friends! It's a 2 and a half week course all about Writing with a focus on teacher leadership the second week. Every day, we get this blissful Writing Workshop time to compose anything we want! Today, I'm sharing Written Conversations with you, a strategy we used earlier this morning!

What are Written Conversations?
They are just that - a silent activity where two participants each write a note (in our case, in response to a story we read). Then, when both finish, they pass their note to the other, then respond to their partner's thoughts.

How can you use them?

• Get to know someone! Introduce yourself ask a question to your partner, then respond.
• Build background knowledge: Share a topic, kids write what they know and then respond to one another.
• Response to Literature: Students write letters about their Just Right books, short stories, brief articles and teacher or a partnered peer responds
• Exit Slip (?): Maybe kids could write about something they learned at the end of a unit, then have a written conversation, and then teachers could collect?
• Staff Development: Share a teaching strategy by way of a short article and then have paired teachers engage in written response to one another about the article

What other ideas do you have for implementation?

After participating in this activity, we spent a good 30 minutes debriefing. (Think Share Time!) There was so much to learn! The ideas here represent the ideas of the participants of my group - so thank you to all my colleagues who shared! 

Side note: It was during this time that I thought I should get everyone's twitter handle so I could give credit where it's due! Unfortunately, for this activity, I wasn't tracking who said what! But appreciations to my class for sharing their ideas that are now shared here!

Benefits of Written Conversation

1. Honors 2 Voices: Many times, when we have a Turn and Talk, the conversation will go off on one person's response to the article. In this case, both partners started their response, so two conversations of different content were going simultaneously!
2. Focused Listening: In verbal conversation, we tend to listen long enough to then start figuring out our response. In Written Conversation, you can really hear what your partner has to say and then begin composing your response.
3. Less Daunting: When students are paired, everyone participates more often and the teacher doesn't have to respond to everyone. As a teacher who used to do this about Just Right books with ever kid in my class, I can tell you that this was a big undertaking. I would spend an hour - 1:15 minutes PER DAY responding to my kids letters about books. While it paved the way for exceptional, deep thinking, it was time consuming to say the least!
4. Awareness of Audience: Getting kids to think about audience for their writing is so abstract. When kids write for one another, they can really begin to understand what that means. I for example, was making jokes in some of my letters, while another participant might be more serious. If kids changed partners for this activity, they would definitely begin to see how audience plays a role in writing.
5. Special Record: You walk away with a record of your conversation, so make sure they're in a special notebook!

Teacher Tips for Implementation

1. Remind students to respond to what their partner says, not carry on the conversation they originally started in their own notebook. Asking students to include a question at the end (like us bloggers do) can help guide this!
2. If needed, remind kids that the conversation is about the content, not the grammar. No need to worry about conventions, just as long as your message is clear.
3. Teacher should float during this time to look onto conversations and perhaps, make some notes for debrief.
4. Want to do a shortened version? Have kids write on post-it's and then pass them!
5. Tech version? Could we use Twitter here somehow?

How have you used Written Conversation?

Do you have a great idea to Rev Up Writing? Share it with The Reading Crew!

best / favorite lessons

Hi all! Today we're blogging about our favorite and/or best lessons! I can't wait to read about all of yours! Be sure to link them up below (and if you want to write about something else, do that, too!)

One of my favorite lessons I used to do was an introductory lesson to the Writing Process. In this lesson, each child uses Play-Doh as I walk them through the process of creating a pencil holder, which serves as a metaphor for teaching writing. The kids end up creating all kinds of little sculptures, like these:

During the lesson, they "Rehearse" their piece in the beginning and we talk about not letting the critic's voice come into play - to just go ahead and create without fear of it not being good enough/pretty enough, etc. After a few minutes of working, I tell them to smash it up and start again, so the creator within them can continue to put ideas forward. They continue working, ignoring the critic, on something new. We spend a fair amount of time rehearsing - creating and then beginning again.

As they carry on, I prompt them to think about their purpose - something that looks good and serves the purpose of holding the pencil. We remind them to think about their audience, and so they ask for feedback from a friend about their creation thus far. They ask their partner, "Do you know where the pencil will go?" If so, the piece has unity and a strong message. 

Next, we encourage students to "see their piece again," as writers do in revision. They are asked to look at it from all points of view - from up high, down low, from across the way. Students make adjustments as needed.

They are then told that we also look at the fine details, which writers do as they edit, and so the kids ask their neighbors to exchange pieces of Play Doh to add the finishing touches to the piece with new colors.

Finally, students display their piece of art on an index cards that has a title and their name. Students gallery walk all pieces so all creations can be seen.

This lesson is super engaging for kids and a fantastic metaphor for the work they will do with the writing process all year! Plus, their pencil holders turn out so so cute!

This was just a little overview, but you can find a more detailed lesson plan here. Additionally, I'm discounting my Writing Process Posters - something that you might like to add to your own Writing Workshop! Check those out here. In addition to the process posters, this doc includes ideas to use for teaching the writing process at each of the six stages!

Get the details for this challenge here!

An InLinkz Link-up

summer blog party: word study tips

Good morning! I have kinda fallen off the map because my niece is visiting me in Chicago for the week, but she's still sleeping so I am taking a few moments to write up a post about Words Their Way for our focus today: Phonics and Phonemic Awareness. Seemed appropriate since my most popular post is about the five day plan for word study - check that one out here!

Today I'm going to share some tips and tricks for a flawless Word Study implementation. So off we go!

Assessment and Grouping: First things first, you'll need to figure out how to group your kiddos. You'll need to give the spelling test in the back of the Words Their Way book, and use the feature guide to determine the level each child will start at. Word study is great because it's not a right or wrong situation. The feature guide will help you see which phonics principles the children have mastered and not. My friend Carla has a great You Tube video on her blog that will touch on this assessment. See what it looks like by clicking here. 

As far as grouping - I recommend no more than three different groups within your classroom. As their teacher, you'll need to provide each group with instruction and materials to enhance their knowledge of phonetic principles, so if you create more than three groups, it's going to make your life really complicated. Keep it simple: Three groups or less!

Forget days of the week: Because you're going to be guiding three groups of kids through the word sorts, you're going to have to stagger the days that you meet with them so you're able to introduce the words to the kids when they begin their new sorts. (This, and many weeks have holidays which will throw everything off!) Perhaps the following chart might be what your plans would look like:

Remember, kids sort their words first thing every day (to build automaticity) and then go on to their other task. So if you notice June 22nd - the teacher is responsible for giving group 1 and introduction to their new words and possibly giving an assessment to group 2. Teacher would begin with group one and then meet with group 2.

Also: It would be a good idea to post some kind of chart with each day and the description of activities. Then, groups numbers can be on a clothespin (or something similar) and kids have a visual of what they will do for the day. I've been looking online for a picture and just can't seem to find one!

Teach routines: Kids have to be taught the routines and procedures for each of the days. So, give your whole class the same sort for a few cycles and focus on teaching kids what the routines look like. Teach them what each day in the cycle is all about - how you meet with the teacher on day 1, how to do the vocabulary activities on day 2 and the word hunting in their Just Right books on day 3. Once you do the routines two or three times, then you'll be ready to complicate things further (for the teacher!) with three different word sorts going on!

Don't assume: As the sorts and the rules become more difficult, your students will most certainly need instruction to understand the phonetic principles, highest group included. You want to make sure all kids in the group can say each word correctly for sorting purposes. It's imperative that the teacher meets with each group on Day 1 - in addition to word pronunciation, you also need to talk about word meanings. This doesn't have to be any big deal - the kids can attempt to sort first if you need to see another group first, and then when you meet with them, they can tell you what they have trouble with. But please, see each group when they are on Day 1 of the cycle!

Connect to your guided reading: It's pretty likely that your word study groups will be different than your guided reading groups, but that doesn't mean that you can't do a little word study investigation within your guided reading. If you know anything about Jan Richardson's plans, part of it includes about 4 minutes of word study. This is a great time to dictate words or sentences (using words from their word sort lists) to do a little assessment of what kids are mastering (or not!). This will give you information about how you can better support the kiddos during your word study time when you meet with groups, too!

I hope this was helpful! If you have ideas how I can enhance something here, I'd love to hear them! Also, feel free to leave a question if something is confusing. Just because it makes sense in my head doesn't mean it does in everyone else's!

I'm also discounting my Word Study Implementation Guide by 50%! Check that out here!

Do you have some great tips and tricks for phonemic awareness or phonics? Be sure to link up with us and share them!

a five for friday book review!

Hello everyone! Linking up with Kasey at Doodle Bugs for a #SummerShelfies edition of Five for Friday! I just finished a great book and wanted to share with you!

brown girl dreaming is the coming-of-age story of author, Jacqueline Woodson. She grows up between the South and the North during the civil rights movement. Her memories, written in free verse, tell the stories of her family, of the culture of the time, of her friends, but what I loved most is how she realized she was going to be a writer at a very young age, and chronicles that journey through this book. Here are some excerpts of my favorite parts.

on paper, page 156

The first time I write my full name

Jacqueline Amanda Woodson

without anybody's help
on a clean white page in my composition notebook,
     I know

if I wanted to

I could write anything.

Letters becoming words, words gathering meaning,
     becoming
thoughts outside my head

becoming sentences

written by

Jacquline Amanda Woodson

writing #1, page 217

It's easier to make up stories
than it is to write them down. When I speak,
the words come pouring out of me. The story
wakes up and walks all over the room. Sits in a chair,
crosses one leg over the other, says
Let me introduce myself. Then just starts going on and on.
But as I bend over my composition notebook,
only my name
comes quickly. Each letter, neatly printed
between the pale blue lines. Then white
space and air and me wondering, How do I
spell introduce? Trying again and again
until there is nothing but pink
bits of eraser and a hole now
where a story should be.

when i tell my family, page 229

When I tell my family
I want to be a writer, they smile and say,
We see you in the backyard with your writing.
They say,
We hear you making up all those stories.
And,
We used to write poems.
And,
It's a good hobby, we see how quiet it keeps you.
They say,
But maybe you should be a teacher,
a lawyer,
do hair...

I'll think about it, I say

And maybe all of us know

this is just another one of my
stories.

from the selfish giant, page 247

But I just shrug, not knowing what to say.
How can I explain to anyone that stories
are like air to me,
I breathe them in and let them out
over and over again.

how to listen #10, page 310

Write down what I think
I know. The knowing will come.

Just keep listening...

and even though that's already five, I have to leave you with one more, a poem from the end of the book.

every wish, one dream, page 313-314

Every dandelion blown
each Star light, star bring
The first star I see tonight.

My wish is always the same.

Every fallen eyelash
and first firefly of summer...

The dream remains.

What did you wish for?
To be a writer.

Every heads-up penny found
and daydream and night dream
and even when people say it's a pope dream....!

I want to be a writer.

Every sunrise and sunset and song
against a cold windowpane.

Passing the mountains.

Passing the sea.


Every story read
every poem remembered:

I loved my friend
and
When I see birches bend to left and right
and
"Nay," answered the child: "but these are the wounds of Love."

Every memory....

Froggie went a-courting, and he did ride
Uh hmm.

brings me closer
and closer to the dream.

Beautiful or what? I love how over the course of the book, you can see how she wants to be a writer, but she's unsure. She can't get the stories in her head on paper. She tells her family, but they think maybe she should do something else. But all along, Jacqueline knows that stories are part of her - she breathes them, remembers them like it's nothing. She listens hard to what's going on around her. She wishes to be a writer, always has the same dream.

Authors are so creative. I read a little of Mem Fox's Radical Reflections where she says she has like 4 original ideas a year and that's how I feel. I love to write, but I'm not super creative.... This book just gives me hope that if I stick with it - with the wide reading and the writing - someday, something will come.

Have you read brown girl dreaming? What do you think?