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?

Do We See EVERY Student?

This morning I was reading through my email and came across a message from one of my favorite bloggers, Permile Ripp.

Pernille's blog posts are always thought provoking.  She often says exactly what I am thinking, but am unable to put into words.

Today's post is about those students in our class whom we don't necessarily "see."  You know the ones.  The students who are probably self-motivated, well-behaved, and/or high achieving.  They don't cause trouble, get their work done, and don't demand much of your time.  They raise their hands, participate often, and could possible teach themselves if you would let them.

So I started thinking...Who are these students in my class?  What are their stories? What do they need from me that they are not getting?  Do they know I care about them?

Pernille has challenged her readers to see EVERY student in our classroom this week.  I am taking that challenge because I need to, because my students need me to -- every one of them.

I don't ever want there to be a day when any of my students look back at their time with me and felt like they were invisible.

Because every student matters.

Growth Mindset: How the Packers' Loss Turned into Our Win

I sat and watched in disbelief as the game ended...

My beloved Green Bay Packers had just blown a 12 point lead to lose the final playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks.  Whereas I had already started planning the green and gold appetizers I would serve at my Super Bowl party, I was now it total...utter...shock.

How did this happen?

According to NBC Sports, the statistics were definitely in the Packers' favor to win when they were ahead.  The Seahawks only stood a 1.8% chance of coming back from the 12 point deficit with 10 minutes left in the game to beat the Packers and earn their trip to the Super Bowl.

1.8%.

That's IT.

Returning to school the next day, my good friend Bridget and I were talking about the game and she asked, "How can we turn this loss into a learning moment for our students?"  Surely, our young southeastern Wisconsin students would be majorly bummed that the Packers blew it.

This got me thinking.

This past year, I have been learning a lot about growth mindset and implementing it in my classroom. I have written about how a growth mindset has helped us in math and how the word "YET" is now a part of our daily classroom vocabulary.  The Packers' loss -- or rather, the Seahawks victory -- was a perfect way to talk about growth mindset.

When my 4th graders arrived and we we had our "Thirty Second Share" about our weekends, I took the time to address the football game.

I asked my students how many of them thought the Packers were going to win.  Almost every hand went up.

Then I shared the statistic with them.  I explained (in very 4th grade words) what probability was and that some experts had predicted that the Seahawks only stood a l.8% chance of coming back and winning the game.  To make it even more concrete, I explained that that was like less than two pennies out of a dollar.

"Ohhhh...."

"But they did it," I said.  "The Seahawks worked hard and put forth a great effort and won the game.  They didn't care if they only stood a 1.8% chance of winning.  They just did what they had to do and the rest took care of itself."

Then I asked students to think about someone in the room who they felt was an awesome reader.  You know the ones -- they always have a book in their hands,  talk about books, seek out new books, actually read during silent reading time. How do we think they became that way?

It wasn't by sitting back and doing nothing.

Sure, maybe they were born with some talent, but if they didn't nurture it with effort, nothing would come of it. What about someone in our classroom who is good at math?  Did math just come easy to them?  Nope, they put in a lot of hard work and effort to get to where they are today.

I then asked my students to think of something in school that is giving them some trouble and to consider the amount of effort they were making in that area.  Were they able to see that maybe, just maybe, they were having trouble because they weren't putting in their best effort? That a little extra effort could be the difference between success and staying the same? Between being that awesome reader and one who just gets by? Between understanding fractions and failing at them?

So the word "EFFORT" has now joined the word "YET" as a regular part of our classroom vocabulary.  It's right there, on the front board, as a constant reminder of what's important to help us learn.

Making Our Goals Public

I love Fridays, and not just for the obvious reasons.

In our classroom, we spend some time every Friday afternoon thinking about our week and setting a goal for the next week.  This year, I'm trying something new with those goals which is bringing about awesome results.  I'm linking up today with Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her Spark Student Motivation linky party.

We all know that when we set a goal for ourselves, our chances for success become greater if we share our goal with others.  It holds us accountable.

I used to have my students write their goal for the week on a Post-it and stick it on their desk.  However, some students "forget" to do this, the Post-its fall off the desk and get recycled by the janitor, or a student's goal Post-it magically disappears throughout the week.

So this year, we are making our weekly goals a bit more public.  On the closet door at the front of our room, my students post their goals for all to see.

Throughout the week, we will read over the goals and get an update from each student on how things are going.  This is a great way to see who is working on their goal and who is not.  (We are trying to learn that goals just don't happen because we say we want them to happen.)  This also helps me see who is setting realistic, SMART goals and who is not.

Ever since we've made this change, I have noticed a lot more students are reaching their goals each week.  This is very motivating for the students, and for me!

How do you help your students reach their goals in your classroom?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Thank you, Joanne, for hosting this weekly linky party!

Tried it Tuesday -- Dry Erase Dots

How often does this happen to you...

You gather your students at the table for small group work.  You are in the middle of a great discussion and it comes time for the students to answer independently on their whiteboards.  So the entire table gets up, searches for their whiteboard, searches for a marker, searches for an eraser, come back to the table....only to have their great thinking escape in all of the searching they just did.

It happened to me all the time.....Until I found these babies!

They are called Wall Pops and I think they are pretty cool!  (And no, I am not receiving any compensation for saying this.  I know how much easier they have made my life and know they can help you too!  :)

The are peel and stick right to my guided reading table, are repositionable, and dry erase easily.  The kids LOVE using them.  I love the pop of color they give to my drab table and how much TIME we save because our dry erase board is right in front of us all the time.

I bought mine through Amazon, but I have heard they are also available at Michaels.  I get lots of compliments on them when someone visits my room.

So since I love this "Tried It,"  I'm linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday.  Now I'm off to find other goodies to help make my life easier!  :)

Five for Friday {August 30, 2013}

Happy Friday!  I have survived my first week back to school.  (I know...many of you have already been back for weeks.  You will get your revenge in May when you get out of school and I go until the middle of June. :)

I'm looking back at five random things from my week with Doodle Bugs Teaching and Five for Friday.

 

 

The hubby and I had a date night last Saturday.  We went up to Devon's in Milwaukee for some fantastic seafood and "just us" time.  It was a great night and too long in the making!

Tuesday meant Back to Work Day!  Of course, like most of you, I have "worked" throughout the summer.  (I think I should say "volunteered".)  I was busy working on lots of things for this school year throughout the summer, but I finally got to see it start to come together this week.

 

I finished up my room and have a few pictures to share.

Our Reading Rug

Gather for read alouds and class meetings here

Student Mailboxes and Homework Bins (One color for each main subject -- saves time sorting!)

Classroom library book bin

I'm using a Google Form for a check out system this year.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

Awesome inspirational posters outside my door!

Compliments of:

www.venspired.com

www.technologyrocksseriously.com

Displayed my college degrees and teaching license.

It's important for my students to see me as a lifelong learner!

My teacher binder

Our library area

Books are sorted by AR level so students can pick out a "Just Right" book.

Our AR Racetrack and 40 Book Challenge chart

I believe in making our progress visible!  :)

A Welcome Table

I put this out for Open House on Wednesday night.  In my former life (before I started teaching), I was a very avid quilter.  Now, other hobbies (blogging!) have replaced it, but I still like to display my quilts however I can.

Going along with my classroom décor, I want to share a picture of the back of my door.  I got this idea from Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B from one of her Monday Made It post.

 

I got a Cricut this summer and decided to try it out by cutting a bazillion leaves in different colored scrapbook paper then glued them up to the back of my door to make our Tree of Knowledge.

I know...you probably think I'm crazy to spend my time decorating the back of my door.

But here's the deal....

It brightens up my room.

It is a great conversation topic.

And it makes me happy.

I love it!! 

Football season is almost here!  My friend and co-worker Bridget went up to watch one of the Packer's pre-season practices and brought back two of my favorite Packers to keep me company at school. 

Love these guys!!!

It will make my day so much sweeter to look over and see Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson smiling back at me! 

 

This poster pretty much sums up my week.  I began on Tuesday with a list at least a mile long of things I wanted to do before school starts next Tuesday.  Did everything get done?  NO...but it's good enough for now. 

The kids will be there.  I will be there.  That's all I need.  The rest that wasn't finished will finish in time (or I will decide that I don't need it.)

Whew...that was a long post!  Thank you so much for reading!!

I hope you will stop back on Sunday for my new linky party, A Peek at My Week.  Link up and share what you have coming up for the next week.  I gathered lots of new ideas (which probably made my To-Do list as long as it was) from everyone who linked up.  I hope to see you Sunday!