We're two days into our poetry unit, and I couldn't be more pumped! I love the poetry unit. Over the past few years, it's grown to become my favorite ELA unit of the school year. To be honest, I wasn't a huge fan of poetry when I was younger. But now, as a teacher, I've come to enjoy the creativity it elicits from the kids. Over the last few years, I've tried hard to integrate writing poetry into this unit, despite it technically designed to have a primarily reading focus (with the exception of writing about poetry). And oh my goodness, the poems that kids have been able to produce over the years have truly blown my mind. The nice thing about writing poetry is that the genre lacks rules. All of the capitalization, punctuation, sentence structure guidelines we are tethered to when writing in prose are, in a way, thrown out the window. Not only that, but it allows students to write about literally anything, from feelings to interests to their own personal experiences. To this day, I have sixth graders who still share their poetry with me on Google Docs, and I love that. Reading poetry also has so many benefits. Of course, the descriptive and abstract nature of poetry gets kids really thinking and making sense of what they read. Making inferences is an imperative skill, and poems require a ton of inferential thinking in that you often have to dig deep to find the meaning packed behind each line of a poem. So yup, I love our poetry unit, and I'm thrilled that its gotten underway.

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Aliyah and Chris. I was so impressed with these two this week, particularly when it came to our spelling posttest for the most recent Spellography unit. To say they improved from pretest to posttest would be an understatement. They both clearly studied their words, and that effort certainly paid off. I'm so proud of them! Aliyah also worked super hard on the reading STAR test we took this week, and lately Chris has impressed me so much with how awesome he's been doing with transitions. I'm looking forward to having lunch with both of them in the upcoming week!

I'm not going to lie, while last week felt short, this one felt long. So this three-day weekend was both welcomed and embraced. Perhaps the reason this week felt tougher than most was the fact that the kids had their nonfiction unit assessment on Monday and Tuesday. Testing is one part of my job I could do without. It's tough to sit there in a quiet room as the kids work independently, and though not being able to provide much support isn't fun, it's an unfortunate requisite when kids are taking a larger assessment like this one. I tried to provide as much assistance and make as many resources available as I could, and most students took advantage of this. They were given a review guide on Friday, which they were able to use for a general two-part question related to what we've focused on in regards to the nonfiction genre. They were also given a chart with what is expected when it comes to writing a text-based response. The chart included both the components of this type of writing (introduction, central idea, evidence, explanations) and sentence stems to help organize their ideas. On Wednesday, we revisited main idea and supporting details with an interactive game of Quizizz on their Chromebooks. That same day, students were even given the chance to return to the main idea questions on the test and make any changes they wanted to based on the activity and on our classroom discussion. On Thursday, we did a small group activity that had students revising sample text-based responses (see the photos below). Then on Friday, students spent the class period revising and reflecting on their own written responses, using an exemplar, checklist, and individualized feedback to help them. In the picture to the right, you'll notice some colored cards on the corner of the students' desks. We use these cards as a way for students to signal if they are stuck on something or confused by something I wrote in my feedback. Rather than keeping their hand in the air and waiting for me to come over, they signal "yellow" if they need assistance or clarification. They then can continue working on other things, rather than just sitting there waiting for me to come over. This is a really simply yet valuable system that allows kids to self assess their understanding, ask for help when needed, and stay on task with what they can do when I am assisting other students. The tests will be sent home this week, and the grade on those tests will include their revisions.

Our Bucket Fillers of the week were Mac and Jodenci. Mac is thoughtful and inquisitive. He continually shows an eagerness to learn and to understand his own learning. He genuinely thinks about what is being taught to him, and he makes use of the resources provided to him. Lately, the way he's been helping his classmates has really stood out to me. Our other Bucket Filler, Jodenci, is a close friend of Mac's, which makes sense. Like Mac, Jodenci is very likable amongst his peers, and he's quick to assist others in need. Jodenci worked super hard on his nonfiction test, and he's always a reliable participant during lessons and classroom discussions. Congrats boys, both of you deserve the prize!

  

This week went by surprisingly fast! Perhaps it had to do with Wednesday's half day, or the fact that my Thursday was full of meetings, but regardless, Friday seemed to come quicker than usual. And with Friday came the conclusion to our Landmark Magazine project! After weeks of hard work--from researching to planning to drafting to revising to editing--students were finally ready to copy/paste their written sections into Book Creator, where they had their cover and inside pages already set up with various text features. They honestly look amazing, and I'm hoping to laminate everyone's magazine so that they even further emulate the real deal.

We also had Book Club this week. Most groups are cruising through their books, and I feel like I'm constantly scrambling to select new texts. For an ELA teacher like myself, what a fabulous problem to have! In addition, we did buddies with the first graders again, which is a valuable experience for both grade levels. This time, our focus was on the nonfiction genre and what we've learned about reading informational texts. Practicing strategies like previewing the text and paying attention to text features was a beneficial review for our upcoming nonfiction unit district assessment. And come to find out, first grade has their nonfiction test next week too!

Our Bucket Fillers this week were Juliet and Johnathan. Juliet is as animated and bubbly as they come. She always has a bounce in her step, a story to tell, and a compliment to give. She's been working really hard on writing smaller and neater recently, and I'm super proud of her for that. Her handwriting is already improving immensely! Johnathan has a huge heart. He's observant, reflective, very thoughtful of other people, and just an overall really likable kid. A perfect example is his decision to bring in flag football belts to share with his peers at recess. He didn't make a big deal about it or anything--his reasoning for bringing them in was quite simple: he was tired of people arguing about two-hand touch. He wanted everyone to just get along and have fun. Pretty darn sensible, huh?

 

Last week there were lots of photos, while this week, we have none! With just two days of school, it was a very short week. We also had a lot of folks absent, so our classroom felt pretty darn empty. We did do Bucket Filler this week though, and our Bucket Fillers were Eva and Laura. When I pulled Eva's name, she was super surprised, even mentioning that she didn't think "she'd picked up pencils off the floor" or anything recently. Clearly she needed some reminding of how wonderful she is! I often see her turning to help others in need, and she consistently puts a ton of effort into her school work. To put it simply, she's thoughtful--both as a student and as a person. Laura was just recently our Bucket Filler, and apparently she also got her name pulled in Mrs. O'Keefe's room this week. Am I surprised? Not even a little. Like Eva, she has a tendency to assist others, even without my prompting. She's one of the kids who consistently transitions from one activity to the next quickly and quietly, which makes me very grateful. She's just an all around gem, and very deserving of any and all recognition that she receives!

This week's post will be a whole lot of pictures! As the week before winter break, it was full of excitement. My homeroom also earned a reward for topping off their Community Jar, which is a whole class method of positive reinforcement. I put marbles into the jar for things like compliments in the hallway, quick and quiet transitions, and positive reports from specialist teachers. When those marbles reach the top of the jar, the class votes on a reward of some kind. The vote resulted in the majority of students opting for board game time. We ended up spending 40 minutes on Wednesday playing various board games together, both ones I've collected over the years and ones students brought in from home. I'm not going to lie, I love when this is the chosen reward. Why? Because I love board games, particularly Scrabble. A crew of us spent the time playing it, and overall, it was a fun mid-week break from schoolwork.

On Friday, we had our holiday party, and it was a blast. We did holiday/winter trivia, and the only stipulation for teams was that each team needed to include at least one adult. It was a lot of fun getting the families involved, so thanks to everyone who joined us! And thank you so much for all of the generous and thoughtful gifts given to me--I am one spoiled teacher.

With the craziness of the party on Friday, I didn't pull names for Bucket Filler. That being said, this week definitely goes out to Lila. Friday was actually her last day at the Kennedy. At her request, we didn't make a big deal about it at the party, but her family is moving to Charleston, South Carolina within the next week or so. (Sidenote: I'm obsessed with Charleston! Two of my close friends moved there a few years ago, and after visiting them a few times, I completely understand why...). Honestly, I can't say enough wonderful things about Lila. She is incredibly sweet and thoughtful, and she is the epitome of our classroom motto: "Kindness Matters". She has a heart of gold, and I feel lucky I got to be her teacher these past few months. Her new school in Charleston just gained a truly special girl. <3 We'll certainly miss her around her!

I hope everyone has a wonderful break and enjoys the holidays with their loved ones. See you in 2020!

  

   

  

    

  

 

 

We had our winter concert this past week. As fourth graders this year, students are given the opportunity to play an instrument, which makes school concerts slightly different from those of previous years. Those students who play an instrument are on stage twice: during the grade level performance, as well as the band or orchestra portion of the concert. That means there are many logistical directions that need to be followed for the concert t o run smoothly, and the concert itself is longer. Not only can it be nerve-wracking to get up on stage in front of a cafeteria packed with people, but students need to be quietly seated, attentive audience members for over an hour. I was really proud of our crew for doing a great job during all of these aspects of the concert. And I was especially proud of them for the giant compliment we got from Mr. Marshall while we waited in the hallway before our grade level performance. These guys were told that they did the best job patiently waiting in line than any other grade...in any other year! They just stood in two lines in absolute silence, showing respect and consideration for the middle school chorus who was performing on stage. Yup, we've officially set the bar high for positive concert behavior.

In ELA/SS this week, we continued our focus on landmarks. We added to our research, and we decided how we wanted to organize that research into three overarching sections for our magazine. We then looked at those three topics and decided on a central idea that not only weaves them together, but also conveys what makes our landmark important and special. Ari was our Bucket Filler this week, and this was largely due to his effort on this assignment. Upon deciding his three section topics, he realized that he could use some more information about Mount Rushmore before drafting his magazine. So he showed responsibility and independence by going home that day and just about tripling his research. He didn't need to be instructed to do so; instead he recognized the shortcoming and did something about it. Way to go, Ari! Laura was our Bucket Filler for my homeroom, and I was shocked to hear that this was actually her first time winning. In reality, she's one of those kids whose name could get pulled every week, because she's constantly filling my bucket! She's kind, enthusiastic, hardworking, and receptive to feedback. She participates, she helps others, and she's consistently following my directions. I love having Laura in class, and I'm certain that she'll be Bucket Filler many more times this school year.

 

 

I'm not going to lie, Tuesday's snow day was a welcomed day off. Though we'd just come back from a four-day weekend--and you'd think that those extra days would've allowed for time to get caught up and prepared for the week--I left school Monday afternoon craving a snow day and vowing to myself that if we got one, I'd make it a day of epic productivity. And that it was! I finally feel (almost) back on track in the correcting department, and students will be reviewing my feedback in their writing notebooks this upcoming week.

In our integrated nonfiction reading and social studies unit, we've been using various texts on our assigned landmarks to apply strategies for finding the main idea of a text. Sometimes the main idea of a nonfiction passage is clearly stated, or evident from the title or heading(s). But other times, we need to infer the main idea by thinking about what the information and details in the text have in common. It's in times like these, when the main idea is implied, that it can be especially challenging for students to identify and word the text's main idea. But one strategy I've found super helpful for kids is first recognizing the text's primary structure, which is how the information in the text is organized. There are five main nonfiction text structures: chronological sequence, compare and contrast, description, cause and effect, and problem and solution. Figuring out how the author chose to organize the information in a text gives the reader clues about how it's intended to be read and what is most important in the text--it can lead the reader to the main idea! And we have some helpful sentence frames for each text structure that can scaffold our wording of that main idea so that it is clear and concise. We'll continue applying this strategy as we progress through this unit.

Usually when kids take the time to participate in optional assignments, I don't think I could be any more excited and impressed. But I'm quickly proven wrong when kids take the time to put in that extra effort over a holiday weekend, and that's exactly what happened this past week. I'd given kids the option of earning extra credit stickers for a turkey-themed persuasive writing. Participating students had to take on the role of "Tom the Turkey" and write a letter or speech to "Farmer Don" convincing the farmer that he should spare him this year as Thanksgiving dinner's main dish. Several kids opted to take part, and their creative reasons and convincing letters cracked me up. I had a few students even turn in the letters inside envelopes addressed to Farmer Don! It was super cute, and I snapped photos of some of those hardworking students sharing their writings with the class, so be sure to check them out below.

One of the participating students was Annabelle, who happened to be one of our Bucket Fillers this week. Annabelle is as thoughtful as they come. She is constantly helping out around the classroom, and her little gestures of kindness and notes of gratitude are always highlights of my week. For Mrs. O'Keefe's homeroom, Tesla was our Bucket Filler. One characteristic I really appreciate about Tesla is that he gets right to work as soon as he gets into the classroom at the start of our ELA block. When we have a Quick Write, he's often the first to start his writing and the last to finish. That kind of effort should be celebrated, and I'm pumped that his name was pulled as our Bucket Filler this week. It's well-deserved!