Cartoneras -- Every Student an Author

This past week we celebrated every student as an author with our Cartonera Celebration.  It is one of my favorite weeks at school.

What is a cartonera?

It is, quite literally, a cardboard book.

To make their cartonera, each student went into their writing "treasure chest" (folder) and decided upon one of their favorite pieces of writing from this year.

We rewrote them on lined paper and illustrated them.

Our amazing art teacher worked with the students to create their covers.  Last year, we used actual cardboard.  This year, we used cardboard card stock because we were short on manpower to cut 800 pieces of cardboard. (Next year, our plan is to go back to cardboard, but to start cutting it much earlier in the year.)

We put the writing together with the covers, hole punched them, and tied them with yarn.

Each day, a different grade level had their books on display in the hallway during the PTO Book Fair and Special Person Lunch for families and the community to read.  

At the very back of each book was a "Raves from Readers" page.  Classes would visit the cartoneras each day, read them, and leave kind comments.

The students were all so proud of their cartonera books and were excited to read the raves that other students had left.  (One student came up and hugged me during recess to thank me for reading her cartonera and leaving a comment.)

As a school, I celebrate seeing us all unite to celebrate writing. We have been working hard to build our level of writing and celebrating is an important part of that. Sharing our writing with others gives us an authentic audience and builds a sense of pride in our writing. 

As a teacher, I celebrate being to read the work of students in other grade levels. It gave me a good feeling for what students were able to do at each grade level. 

For my students, it was good for them to read what other students wrote.  Many of them commented to me that they had learned something from another student's cartonera (many students' writing was non-fiction) or they saw how important good spelling (or neat handwriting) was in delivering your written message. Many students were impressed with the level of writing from students who were much younger than them. As they read, I would often hear giggles as they encountered something funny or see them recommend a just-read cartonera for another student to read.

Writing was alive and breathing at my school this week!

Celebrating every student as an author -- what could be better than that?

Believe You Can Succeed

This year, a new word has become a major part of our vocabulary in my 4th grade classroom.

It's a simple word, really, but it hold so much power.

The word?

One tiny, three letter word has made all the difference.

"I don't get it" becomes "I don't get it...yet."

"I'm not finished...yet."

"I can't figure it out...yet."

"I can't do it...yet."

Adding the word "yet" to the end of these sentences establishes a growth mindset for my young learners.  "Yet" tells the student that with hard work and perseverance, they can succeed. It puts them in control. It encourages them to keep going, that learning something new is within reach, that hard work can pay off.

Before, students would say "I don't get it" (my favorite), giving themselves permission to avoid hard work.  When I began introducing the word "yet", students would need a few reminders to add it on.  Now, it is a natural part of our classroom conversation.

A funny story...Last week, I was helping a student with a long division problem.  I had been working with this student almost every day to help him learn how to divide, but he just wasn't catching on.  He was having much difficulty and was trying to explain to me where he was having trouble.  He explained his thinking as he pointed to the digits in the division problem, but I was becoming more and more confused at what he was trying to do.  I said, "I'm sorry...but I don't understand you."  He responded, "Mrs. Laffin, you don't understand me...yet."  Ahhh...giving me a taste of my own medicine.  :)

Try introducing the word "yet" in your classroom and see what happens.  I'd love to hear how it goes!

Saturday Celebration!

I love to spend my early Saturday mornings hunkered down in my comfy chair, a cup of coffee at my side, and my iPad in hand as I catch up on my blog stalking.  Some of my greatest A-HA moments have come from tips, tricks, and tidbits I have learned from my fellow bloggers.  When I share an idea at school with one of my fellow teachers, it usually begins with "I found this great idea on a blog."

Can you relate?

One of the newer blogs I have been following is ruth ayres writes.  Ruth is a teacher, author, and writing coach from northern Indiana who always has something interesting on her blog.  If you are interested in becoming a better writing teacher, or becoming a writer yourself, Ruth's blog is a must-read.

Today, Ruth is launching a new linky party called Celebrate This Week.  She is inviting fellow bloggers to share a celebration or two from their past week.  I really love this idea so I decided to join her linky party.

If you have been following my blog, you may know that I am becoming more and more obsessed with writing instruction.  I am now teaching writing to all three of the fourth grade classes at my school and quite simply, I love it!  To be able to interact with young writers and help them cultivate a habit and confidence in writing is such a gift.

This past summer when I participated in the UW-Milwaukee Writing Project, I did my inquiry project on the importance of revising writing.  This year, I have been making solid efforts to teach my students that revising is one of the most important parts of writing and I feel that I am starting to make some headway!  (Celebrate!!)

This week, my 4th graders have been working on the first revision of their Mystery Narrative.  As they conferred together, it was so amazing to hear the advice they offered each other.  They took their job as a peer editor extremely seriously.  They shared questions that came to mind as they read, made solid suggestions, and complimented specific things they had seen each other do.  I couldn't have been happier!

My proudest moment was probably when I heard one of my students, who has struggled with writing, talk with his partner about ways he could add onomatopoeia to his story!

What celebrations can you share about your week?  I hope you will head over to Ruth's blog to share and read some others.

I hope you will come back tomorrow to share your ideas for your upcoming week with my Peek at My Week linky party.  (You can kind of think of it as planning for tomorrow's celebrations today!  :)

Have a great Saturday!