Cooking with Kids and the Garden

Today, my summer school class (all seven of us) got to participate in a cooking demonstration at school.  About four years ago, we started the Happy Harvesters School Garden at school.  All summer long, families and school staff meet at school to weed, water, and harvest the bounties of the garden.  (During the school year, Happy Harvesters is an after school activity.)

Angie Warren, our Happy Harvesters teacher coordinator, arranged to have a visitor from the Walworth County Extension Food & Nutrition Program come out to talk with the Happy Harvesters kids about cooking with fresh food.  Little did we know what a fun and tasty morning it would be!

Angie and her Happy Harvesters harvested these from our school garden:

The kids were divided into five groups (with about two parent/teachers per group) and each group was given a healthy recipe.

Ratatouille

Cucumber Salad

Guacamole with Tomatillos

Butternut Squash with Green Beans and Maple Syrup

Spaghetti Squash with Peanut Sauce

Dilly Roasted Potatoes

Students had to gather their ingredients, read the recipe directions, cut up all of their veggies and bake, marinate, sauté and roast as directed.  (I can tell you...it is NOT easy to cut a cucumber with a plastic knife!  :v)

 

After all the cooking was done, the kids got to enjoy a taste!  It was really cool to see the kids try something they had never had before...and actually like it!  (Ratatouille was very well received, which kind of surprised me.)  My favorite was the Butternut Squash with Green Beans and Maple Syrup (yum!) and I am excited to try Spaghetti Squash for the very first time.

The kids got to take home a copy of the recipes when we were done.

Afterwards, we talked about all of the new things we learned (baby dill has more flavor than older dill, tomatillos are kind of sweet and not really like a tomato, lemon cucumbers only look like a lemon but taste like a cucumber, etc.) and the ways we saw MATH being used (measuring, time, geometry, adding, etc.)

It was a great morning of fun learning!  It was so incredibly engaging for the students and taught great teamwork skills. 

As I watched the students, I was thinking that I need to incorporate more cooking into my classroom.  Food is very motivating!  How do you use food to engage your students?  I'd love to have you share in a comment below!

I'm off to the store to buy some spaghetti squash for dinner...


Weird Writing Tips

As I was cruising around Amazon the other day, I came across this book...

The My Weird School series is always a popular one with my 4th graders so I jumped at the chance to see what author Dan Gutman had to say about writing.  I mean, I can use all the help I can get to get my kiddos to write, so why not enlist the help of one of their favorite authors, right?

 

Needless to say,  My Weird Writing Tips does not disappoint!  It is written in the same humorous and engaging manner as the series.  My students are sure to connect with this author's message.  (You know how it goes...you can talk for days on end about why we need to write using paragraphs, but the instant somebody famous says it, all of a sudden the students are all ears...)

 

From reading this book, students will learn...

 

* How to keep a writer's notebook.  Ideas are everywhere!

* Tips for writing a story (with my favorite lesson...the title should come LAST, not first!)

* Why revising is the most important part of writing.

* Why you need to break up your writing with paragraphs and periods.  (Amen!!)

* Grammar tips from parts of speech to homophones to when to use can vs. may

 

I also love all of the little cartoons with writing inspirations that are included.  (Although I'm sure these are mostly for the teachers, not the students.)

 

I am considering making this book one of my early read alouds, as I am introducing Writer's Workshop.  (And know that I did not receive any compensation for this review...I just love this book and wanted to share this resource with you!!  :v)

 

What other mentor texts about teaching writing have you found?  I'd love to hear from you!

Reving Up Reading with Accelerated Reader

Many schools use Accelerated Reader (AR) by Renaissance Learning to monitor and encourage independent reading.  If you are lucky, you have a close partnership with an AR specialist at your school who trains the staff on how to use AR and helps monitor student progress.  However, many teachers who use the program do not have this support and go it alone. 

I am one of the lucky ones!  We have a wonderful librarian at our school who makes sure our staff is trained in AR and helps provide that consistency with students in regards to AR expectations.

  

I'd like to share some of the tools I use and my school uses to help get the most out of our AR experience.

Goal Setting:

* Based on a student's STAR Reader test (associated with AR), students are given a "points goal" each quarter.  You can visit this link to learn more about setting point goals.

Almost every book printed is assigned a ZPD text complexity level and a points value.  You can visit AR Bookfinder to find out the ZPD level and point value for any book that is in the AR system.

* Develop a fun system for tracking students' progress toward their goals.  I use an AR Racetrack in my room, with the pace flags representing the percent students are at in terms of their points goal.

 

 



 On the first day of school, I take everyone's picture for their AR Racecar.  Their face is put in the drivers seat of these fun racecars.

 

After students take a quiz and their TOPS report prints, they move their car up the track until they meet their goal.

 

* You can also use these fun AR Goal Tracker Bookmarks. 



* Instead of an AR Point Goal or in addition to one, consider having students set themselves a Word Count Goal.  (I feel it is important for students to set this goal for themselves so there is buy-in.)   I usually begin this in second quarter, because I want to see what is realistic for all of my students.  The average chapter book is about 25,000 words.  Some of my higher readers challenge themselves by setting a Word Count Goal that is 500,000 words and they reach it!  (One year, I had one student who read over a million words in a quarter!  WOW!!!)

 

Make it Fun:

 

* Form a "100 Point Club" for students who earn 100 AR Points in a year.  Take their picture and put it on a poster in the hallway.  Underneath their picture, put a banner that says "100 Point Club."  As students earn more points, you can add more banners (200 Point Club, 300 Point Club, etc.)

 

* Challenge another class or grade to an AR Reading Contest.  See which class can earn the most points averaged per student and then celebrate everyone's efforts with a joint party.  (Bragging rights go to the class with the highest point average, but every student who participates and contributes to the class goal should be acknowledged.)  Last year, my 4th grade class challenged a 5th grade class to this contest.  While we didn't win (last year!), my students were incredibly motivated to read and wanted to read ALL DAY LONG to try to beat the 5th graders!

 

* Set a classroom Word Count Goal.  Update your progress weekly.  Our goal was never less than to read a million words in a quarter.  One quarter, we read almost 3,000,000 words!  (This was probably because my husband said he would bake chocolate chip cookies if we did it!)

 

* Set a school goal of reading over a MILLION WORDS in one day.  Plan a fun celebration (popsicles, extra recess, etc.) for when the goal is met.

 

Don't Forget:

 

* Keep in mind that AR recommends that students score 85% or higher on their quizzes.  This helps assure that students understand what they read, not just speed read to earn points.  If students are scoring below 85%, it is very important to meet with them and monitor their reading to develop strategies to improve comprehension.  For higher students, set their goal to 90% correct for an extra challenge.

 

* Make sure students are reading in their ZPD range.  Reading books below their ZPD level will not challenge students and reading books too high may frustrate them.  Students typically have a range of 1.5 points (3.5 - 5.0) based on their STAR Reader test.

 

With all of this talk about points and goal setting, it is important to not lose sight of the fact that the real purpose of AR is to get kids reading more so they become better readers, not just to earn points. 



There is a great resource on the Renaissance Learning website that is full of information about AR.  You can read it (all 150+ pages!) here.

I hope I have given you some things to think about in terms of increasing student reading using AR.  If you use AR in your class, I'd love to hear some of your thoughts.  Why not leave a comment below to share with everyone?

BTS Sale -- Get Your Credit Card Ready!!

I don't know about you, but I am so glad to see that the TpT Back to School Sale has finally arrived!

 This Sunday and Monday, my entire TpT Store will be on sale for 20% off.  If you enter the code BTS13 at checkout, you will get another 10% off, which adds up for a total 28% discount!

One of my biggest sellers is my Word Parts We Know Program.  If you are looking for a complete program to teach Greek and Latin Word Parts, this Common Core aligned product is for you!

 I have two levels, each consisting of 12 weeks of word parts (60 word parts total per level), or you can buy the bundle (Levels 1 & 2) and SAVE BIG!! 

 

I have been using this program in my room for three years now and my students' MAP scores and ability to decode complex words have greatly improved!

Another big seller of mine is my Number of the Day Program.  This program makes a great math warm up or morning work.  It improves mental math and number sense capabilities and doesn't take a long time out of your busy schedule.

I hope you've got your credit card ready, because I know I do!  My cart is full and waiting for Sunday.  I really appreciate a service like Teachers Pay Teachers because I feel that no one knows what is needed in the classroom more than teachers who work in one every day.  That's why I like to support my fellow teachers and receive a helpful product at the same time!

Happy Shopping!  :)

The Two Biggies -- Organization and Management, Oh My!

Well, dear blog friends, we are on the down side to another week.  I began teaching summer school today and I am exhausted!  (It was only a half day, what's my problem???)  I need to retrain both my bladder and appetite that they run on "teacher time" now!  :)

I'm doing a little catch up here on Teacher Week '13...today I'd like to share how I organize for instruction and handle classroom management.  Two days rolled into one!

First, Organizing for Instruction.

I'll admit it...organization is definitely NOT my strong point.  (But I'm trying to be better, so I get points for that, right?)  My organization system basically consists of neat piles -- and I DO know where everything is, it just doesn't look pretty.  :(

I like to conference with my students as much as I can and last year, I discovered the Confer app for my iPad.  This app has been a godsend for helping me stay organized with my conferencing!

I love that I can put notes in for multiple subjects.

I create a class list (which I will not show because it contains student names even though I tried to cover them up :) and can add comments and goals for future conferences.  It also is a great way to sort my students into intervention groups and to make sure that I am conferencing with each student on a regular basis.  I can even export the data to a Google doc to share it with administrators, our reading specialists, or future teachers.

Next, Classroom Management.

Source:  David Sipress/www.classroommanagementonline.com

I was lucky...when I went back to school to add my teaching certificate, I had a FANTASTIC classroom management class and an awesome professor, Dr. Corey Thompson!  I learned so much in his class about the importance of building community and relationships in our classroom. 

One of my favorite sayings from Corey (which I still quote often) is:

They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care!

 



Isn't that awesome???  In other words, "if you can't reach 'em, you can't teach 'em."

Building community and relationships are something that I try REALLY hard to do every year, and I feel my efforts consistently pay off in better management.

However, there are a couple other tricks that I have found work for me to help keep everything under control.  The first is the use of Behavior Chips and something called the PROPER Chart.

Students receive five Behavior Chips every Monday.  Their goal is to keep at least three of them by Friday.  If they do, they get to participate in Fun Friday.

Students keep their chips unless they get a checkmark for breaking one of the PROPER rules.   If they break a PROPER rule, they get a checkmark on a chart and have to give me a chip.  (The chips serve as a tangible reminder for students of how they are doing.)

PROPER is an acronym and stands for...

Punctual:  Comes back to class on time, doesn't dilly-dally in the hallway
Respectful:  Towards everyone and everything at school
On Task:  Work when given work time
Participation:  Works to advance the learning and goals in our classroom
Effort:  Always tries their best and takes pride in the work they produce
Responsible:  Homework is done and returned on time; has materials for class

Last year, the 4th grade adopted the PROPER system because it was done throughout 5th grade and since we share the same hallway, we wanted consistent expectations.  There is also a PROPER chart on a clipboard for each class that will travel to specials so the students remember that good behavior is expected everywhere.  (The chart is also a good thing to share with parents at conferences, especially if a student is having a problem in a certain area.)

So what is Fun Friday?

It is a reward for students who have kept at least three chips.  It could be a kickball game, open gym, board games, extra recess, etc. for about the last 30 minutes on Friday afternoons.  Let's face it, by Fridays at 2:45, everyone is pretty exhausted from all of the hard work we did for the week.  Why not end with a little fun, right?

How do you handle organization and management in your classroom?  I'd love to hear from you!

My Home Away from Home & Finally Tried It!!

I'm sure by now, many of you are back to school.  We still have two more weeks (our kids can't start until after September 1st -- state law), but I start teaching summer school on Thursday.

Today is Day #2 of Teacher Week '13...

As you can see, I'm supposed to give a grand tour of my classroom today.  I'd like to show off the parts of my room that are ready...There is still MUCH work to be done.  Just like many of you, I spend a lot of time in my room before school starts getting it just the way I like it.  I figure that I spend so much time there that it needs to be exactly like I want it...my home away from home.  :)

The Classroom Library

The AR Racetrack

(The flags represent the percent of goal points each student is at.)

The Writing Board

This is new for me this year. Those black labels are the Six Traits and I will be putting our mini-lessons under the traits as I teach them.  (Kind of like CAFE!)

Writing Pennant

Made the WRITE pennant and around it are my Types of Writing Mini-Posters from my TpT Store.

Reading Rug

Also new for me this year.  I got rid of a table so we could have a place to meet together and read.  This space definitely still needs some help!  (Don't you love those ugly black cords that are running along the wall from my SMART Board to my desk?  Gonna have to fix that....)

Citing Evidence Posters

I'm so excited to have found these posters from Joanne Miller at Head Over Heels for Teaching.  They are on the wall by our Reading Rug so we can get used to using this language when we discuss our reading.  You can find them in her TpT Store if you'd like a set of your own.

That's it for the grand tour today.  The other side of the room (where I didn't take any pictures) is full of boxes and supplies that are waiting for a home.  I'll post more pictures after they disappear.  :)

Since it's Tuesday, I'd also like to link up with Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday.

This week's Try-It fits in perfectly with my room tour, because it is something I tried to make for my room.

I have to thank Holly for introducing me to the joys of Mod Podge!  (I am on my second bottle already...)  Holly shared many crafts this summer on Monday Made It that she made using Mod Podge.  I made this READ sign to hang in our library. So glad I 'tried' it!!

Before I go, I want to give a quick shout out to Diane at Fifth in the Middle.

Diane designed that cute new button that's at the top of my sidebar.  (Did you see it???)  She has started the Helpful Blogger Network on her blog.  Any blogger who signs up with Diane, agrees to:

1. You agree to do your best to answer questions posed to you on your blog in a reasonable amount of time.
2. If you cannot answer the question, you will still reply to the person asking the question.
3. Add the button to your blog's sidebar.
4. If you have another area of expertise on which you would be willing to field questions, state that in the Name field, ie. technology, TpT, behavior management, etc.

I signed up and offered to be a resource for those of you with questions about writing instruction and/or professional reading suggestions.  So if you have any questions, ask away!  :)

 

Thanks for stopping by!!