Ch-ch-changes....

Lots of changes coming over this summer. Ones that I am super excited about! I am getting a new blog look, starting several new features, and revamping some of my TPT and TN products.

Let's start with blogs and blog designs. I am working with the WONDERFUL team at Honey Bunches Blog designs . I am so excited and can not wait until it's finished. But the new blog got me to thinking about my classroom. It's been the same forever and honestly, I'm tired of it. When I started teaching umpteen years ago I had a cute bears and bees theme. EVERYTHING was bees or bears and red gingham. Cute! Then I changed over a few years ago to a zoo theme. I made a lot of my items using KPM Doodles clip art. Very cute! But now I'm tired of that! I kind of think I'm tired of looking so "baby-ish", not that we really looked baby. I think you get what I mean. The teachers I teach with are AWESOME! There are 4 of us and they all have super cute rooms!! My neighbor does an amazing Hollywood design! So awesome! And across the way we have a super cute zebra print and pink room. I worried that the boys wouldn't like it but either they didn't notice the pink or it wasn't a big deal. And her neighbor has a construction theme! Hard hats, caution tape, and tools everywhere!

Then there is me... a half hearted zoo. It's not cute. It's not complete. It's kind of well tired. So I've been looking and NOTHING is getting me excited! NOTHING! UGH! I know that I like bright colors and the rainbow chevron is something that I love, but a theme it does not make. I guess I'm worried that my kinders will feel slighted (or maybe its more the parents) if my room isn't themed. At least I've got time to figure that part out. ;)

Now about the blog features that I am working on. I love Elsie's blog called a beautiful mess. I was thinking about how she plans her blog... what she shares seems so effortless. I am betting it because she has a plan. Me, I've not had a plan. I've posted when and whatever was on my mind. I don't want to change that but I do want to have some regularity to my blog. So here is the general plan. Tuesdays are going to be math days. Right now the posts are mostly about the book study number sense but during the school year I want them to be more about what is happening mathematically in my room. Thursdays will be literacy days. I LOVE what my writing instruction has become because of the Little Rock Writing Project. I also am going to include new products and random thoughts but I think that having a plan will help me stay focused.

Now for a request. I am looking to add a few people who blog to be "product testers". The details are this.... while I am in production of a new product I would need to be able to send you a working copy for you to give me feedback on. This would have to stay private, that is no blogging about it...yet. That is the second part of the deal. Once the product goes up on TPT or TN I would need for you to blog about it and pin it to pintrest.  If you are interested please email me at keday56@gmail.com, I won't be pulling names from the comments below.

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Have I mentioned how much writing has changed for me???

I am so excited!! This is one happy writing teacher. It's very hard for me to think about how a year ago I dreaded writing workshop with my kids! I (gasp) hated it! So if you read this often enough you know about my summer at the LR Writing Project's summer institute. OMG... talk about rocking my world! And I am SOOO glad that it did. See I walked in to my new school with the attitude that we all were story composers! Not a word had to be on a page... hello one of my MOST FAVORITE books is Tuesday by David Wiesner. And there are only like 3 words and a few times!! So I love my budding authors! I wanted to share how I am running writing workshop now that I have a new found understanding and teaching method. And I honestly wish that I could say that on Monday we do this and Tuesday is this but I don't even plan that way for writing workshop. Here is what I do....

In a week we have a mini lesson journal where we practice our mini lesson. These are usually single page prompts... my homage to the districts required one page one prompt directive. The first nine weeks have been about details in our pictures and labels.  Why so long? Well I realized that so many of these kiddos needed nothing more than time to get their minds wrapped around the idea that they could do it on their own. There are usually 3-4 pages in our journal. We do interactive writing every morning and we revisit these too in the afternoon when we pick out parts that we want to look at (think editing lessons or counting words and sentences). We practice some days on white boards and other days we work on collaborative works that will become classbooks. But everyday we write our own books. That is everyday the children can work on a past work from their writers notebook or they can start a new one. I don't have a set order of things, although we usually do a mini lesson on Monday (unless there is an assembly). And usually later in the week we work on a collaborative book- although we did that today after our mini lesson on writing sentences using a sentence frame.

Today as I met with students about their writing, I was blown away with the group of kiddos who decided, quite on their own mind you, to give me not one but TWO sentences!! Of course I have kids who didn't get the sentence part down at all... or struggled with the whole idea of sentences. I have some who can stretch words and get sounds and others who... well are still in random letter stage but they are making an attempt!

Here are some pictures from last week where the children were working on their books. You will see all kinds of stages of writing here.

(you can't really see it but the top of this one says "I see a sub."

Here are some whiteboard shots from earlier in September from a mini lesson:

( those are bats hanging from the top of the board!!! LOVE this kid!)

(look at my little over achievers!! LOL!! Lots of rebus sentences all patterned after one of our small group readers - The Toys)

I will take some pictures tomorrow of the pages we did today. I hope that you guys get excited about teaching writing too!!

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Sharing something that I wrote....

This is a little piece that I wrote thinking about teaching. It's not long, nor is it finished... but I wanted to share it in its rough state.

Teaching is a dream job. I dream alongside children as they begin a journey to become productive. I dream the “what if’s” and the “I want to’s”. I dream of a better tomorrow because small children are given the chance to grow and learn and not be held down because of race, religion, or gender. I am a dream weaver as I open new doors and share with children what tomorrow can hold. I nurture dreams that have taken sprout. I watch them grow. I have been given the gift of being able to love children where they are, not because of what they can do, or where they came from, but just because God placed them into my path. Some days are the stuff of dreams, fluffy, cheerful, and bright; and others are nightmares. But the dreams are big, and often we don’t quite reach them. I like to tell my dreamers that if you aim for the sun, even if you miss, you are among the stars. Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might guide a dreamer among the stars tonight.

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Have your heard...

This week I was introduced to a piece of, well a , um it's kind of a framework of sorts. Actually it's called a framework. It's a collaborative effort by the National Writing Project (NWP), Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA), and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). The document (I'm still not sure what to call this) is titled Framework for success in  post-secondary writing. I know what you are thinking... it's probably the EXACT same thing I thought when the first slide hit the screen.... I teach kinder so why am I thinking about this. Well the answer came very quickly as Sherry (the presenter) drilled down this document to the simplest of terms. In the post-secondary world students need to be able to write and not just transcribe ideas but write well. Since we know that writing development (not transcription development but more of what Katie Wood Ray calls compositional development) takes place over time with increased opportunities to write in classes across the curriculum, teachers of the very young need to understand and possibly embrace the ideas in this Framework for Success in writing. Yep I left out the post secondary part, mainly as I think that these are outcomes for that age but I think the frameworks themselves are vital to all students.

So I started to get really excited about this framework but more specifically the habits of mind that it lays out for us. First let me define what I mean by habit of mind... a habit of mind refers to ways of approaching learning that are both intellectual and practical and that will support student's success in a variety of fields and disciplines. Ok stop and think for a minute.... approaches to learning that are both intellectual and practical... um... isn't that what we are all doing? is it important for our (little kinders) to be successful in a variety of fields and disciplines? So if it is expected of our little people to be able to have these habits of mind when they are big college people, wouldn't it be important for us to know about them? us being the teachers in elementary and secondary???

So after I got over my moment of anger in knowing all about the CCSS(common core) but knowing nothing about this document, I started asking where this document came from... as in how old is it, not who wrote it (that part I already knew). Sherry calmly explained that this is new and only introduced this January and will be rolled out at different conferences throughout the year. With my anger gone, I dove into the habits of mind. Let me list them: curiosity, openness, engagement, creativity, persistence, responsibility, metacognition. I won't define each of these but instead give you a link to check them out: Habits of mind

Here is where I got excited... the habits of mind are something that can be used in my classroom. They foster things like critical thinking. How cool... right? I also started thinking about Katie Wood Ray and Matt Glover in the book Already Ready. They talk about composition being a habit of mind. And I think that this idea is supported through the Frameworks list of habits of mind. For a child to compose (create) they need/use curiosity, openess (to look at new ideas or ways of doing things), the engagement is very high when they are allowed to be creative, they learn to be persistence, take ownership and are responsible for their work. WOW folks!! Talk about college bound kinders!

I'm really getting excited about teaching writing this year. I get a little worried that I might over do it and forget about the other subjects ;)

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Ripping off bandaids... LRWP workshop

Today was an emotional day for me in writing camp (AC and Jax have started calling the Summer Institute that and I like it!) Our first workshop was presented around the idea of writing letters. The kick was that Caleb, the teacher presenter, was really interested in the idea of letter writing as a means to heal. And boy did I rip off a band-aid and let the healing start! I think I cried more this morning than I have in a long time about the subject that I wrote about. (sorry to personal to share here and it doesn't really speak to what I wanted to share about the workshop). We meet daily in writing groups and today ours was more a therapy group. Such a close bond is happening through writing. WOW... anyway this idea of writing letters got me really excited about using letters in my classroom. Now thinking about little people land and the lack of transcription skills at the beginning of the year, I am working to come up with a way to use pictures or illustrations to "write" to someone... or maybe starting as a group project that is used to create the what we want to know about section of a KWL chart. I see it working with my author and illustrator studies. It almost makes me want to teach older children, so that we could really explore this idea of writing letters.

I got kind of excited about the idea of researching a person and then writing letters to them. For example, writing to Rosa Parks about her not giving up her seat on the bus but in bigger terms how she found the courage to stand up against the norm. Or writing to the president to ask about policy and how it effects the future of the students. Of course the idea is not to mail the letter but to have students learn enough about a person to ask questions that would then drive them to find the answers. (see how cool this could be???)

I am working to complete the readings that I want to be finished with by the end of next week- when writing camp ends...sad. I have so much that I want to read and not enough time to complete it, or at least it seems that way! LOL... If you have not looked in the National Writing Project (NWP) and your local chapter then you simply MUST!! NWP was created for teachers to lead teachers into best practices in writing... and to create a community of writers. I never saw myself as a writer... not sure if I still do but I know that I am loving exploring the writer side of me. I know as a blogger I should feel like a writer but I had never thought of myself that way. As I work through what is my new position on writing in my classroom, I'll post snip it's here and see if you guys have ideas or thoughts on what I want to bring back to my classroom.

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The Second week at Summer Institute...

I can not believe that we are half way finished!! This is the most amazing process and I have grown so much. I was asked recently what it is that is making this Summer Institute so wonderful and honestly it's the learning and the friendships that are forming. Each morning we come into classroom on the UALR campus and grab coffee (water for me) and we visit. We visit about our lives, we visit about what we have read... it's a wonderful way to start the day. Then we reflect on a quote or two, we are all taking turns pulling ideas from what we are reading each night. The best part is that we then discuss our responses! It is wonderful to talk through our thoughts and ideas on our new learning. This classroom full of educators all working together to construct best practice and solidify new learning. After our discussion we have 2 teacher workshops. Each teacher is asked to present a workshop showing how they might get kids to the business of writing. Mine was last week and centered around Pete the Cat by Mr. Eric and illustrated by James Dean. We meet in writing groups after a lunch break and discuss what we are writing. Before this institute I didn't write much but I am growing to LOVE writing. I love the writing groups SO much!! This is were I am forming such close friendships! We wrap up together by sharing a "poem in my pocket". This is just us finding poems to share.

I am looking forward to this next week because we are going to be looking at writer's notebooks and portfolios. I haven't used writers notebooks in my room but after listening to Pam (one of our writing project teacher consultants) talk about using them in her room, I'm really EXCITED about using them in my room. So my teacher friends... Do you use writers or writing notebooks in your room?? Please tell me about how you use them. Do you have any tips for me as I get ready to start using them?

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In Pictures and in Words CH 2

Chapter 2 is about building stamina for writing. Earlier this year I mentioned to some teachers in my building that our children lack stamina for things academic. Everything is instant gratification. To my surprise the teachers were more upset with my word choice... stamina. Rather than thinking that the word could apply to reading and writing, they stressed that stamina was a word that you use for running or physical activity. I love this word actually and it is something that my kids get excited about too. We are able set timers and see our growth! And how do I love to grow and celebrate growth!!

I love this quote from page 22: So composing with illustrations is the only logical entry point for them to begin developing stamina or creative work.

Think about it... all children can make pictures. Even the most unskilled child can make pictures. Here is my case in point, the child who drew the picture below was one of my lowest students. You can see that she is filling the page, but with random marks. However in the middle of the page are people... can't you see them?

Now lets look at her work from the end of the year. After lots of talking about illustrations and how we use the picture as much as the words to tell our story.

I really love her drawing here. You can clearly see the pet( it's an alligator) and the people in her family. Her mom is is on the left and she drew her with a red face because she didn't want an alligator for a pet. Now I didn't get this information from her words written on a page. I got that through a student interview. She could tell me volumes about this picture.

So much of this chapter was looking at the story of the young writers. Now one thing that I didn't do this year was to create student books, but I am really rethinking my whole writing block. I plan to use two new tools this year. 1) creating books and 2) the idea that something is NOT finished in one sitting.

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In Pictures and In Words study ch 1

I hope that it is ok that I take creative license with how I will be participating with this books study. It fits SO nicely into what I am doing through the NWP( National Writing Project) and the summer institute(SI). BUT I want to take it a bit slower than the schedule. I want to share what I am collecting in my SI learning log and my reflections on the important theory and how other writers have tapped into these same ideas. So this post will just be on Chapter one: Illustration Study as a Foundation for Strong Writing.

This first set of quotes hit to the heart of what I think writing needs to be, and something I feel that I fight with everyone over. That is writing for children must be developmentally appropriate. I feel that so many teachers in my district rush to get to an end product. Children must all look like "this" at the end of the year. Let's toss to the way side where these children started or how they come to writing. Lucy Calkins in her book Pathways to the Common Core discusses this very thing, while the Common Core State Standards are the end result, some things might not be attainable for some students. Writing in Kinder is one of the areas she focuses on, and I believe that she would support this idea that illustrations ARE writing! Another support piece to developmentally appropriate writing comes on page 10 in the way of the NAEYC's position statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practice, published in 2009. This piece is crystal clear that the spirit of play, which at 5 years old is developmentally appropriate, matters because through play children develop self regulations as well as language and social competence.

Ok take a second and think about this... a child plays, that is what they do, it's how they are wired as 5 year olds and if we can tap into this play as educators we have hit the gold mine. Katie Wood Ray wrote another book called Already Ready with Matt Glover talking about how children come to school already ready... because they see writing as play. It's just one way to tell about something. Just one way to share their thoughts and feelings. Matt Glover went on to write Engaging Young Writers. He also speaks volumes to the idea of writing as play and adds to it that children need entry points into writing. I believe that sharing good quality illustration study would be one of those entry points.

To sum up this chapter is for me is about tapping into children's natural love of play. I also believe that it's about children using illustration as an entry point into writing and valuing what that child is bringing to the table.

To see what others think of this chapter (actually the first 6- remember I am stretching mine out ;) ) goto Mrs. Wills Kindergarten blog: In Pictures and In Words book study

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Writing Project Summer Institute

There are so many things that I want to say about the National Writing Project and the summer institute. I can not believe that the week has flown by. Each day we have workshops presented by those who have come through the institute. The are all teachers and serve as teacher consultants for the Little Rock Writing Project. Then each of us in the institute this summer will also present a workshop. Mine was today. After lunch we meet with our writing groups or inquiry groups to talk about writing or best practices in writing. It is SOOO wonderful. I have grown so much as a writer and the theory that we discuss backs up what I want to be as a teacher of writing. I thought I would share with my blog buddies some of the books that we are reading, in case you want to read more about best practices in writing instruction.

We have four common reading books. We will not read all of them, but the parts we have read so far have been wonderful. Two of our books are by the National Writing Project:

  Because Writing Matters really lays the foundation for why we do what we do! It's wonderful

Because Digital Writing Matters is a more recent publication but it focuses on adding the digital element to writing. I must be honest this book is a dry when it comes to reading. But the information is really good.

A Writer's Book of Days is a wonderful book. It's an easy read and I have had some real connections to this book. It's secret feature is that it is divided by months and with in each chapter there are as many writing starts as there are days. I'm not sure I want to call them writing prompts anymore... that feels so high stakes testing. I kind of like writing starts. We'll see...

This last books is my favorite of the common readings. I have laughed and cried and gotten really upset while reading this book. I am beginning to thing that it is a must read for ALL teachers, especially in light of the common core.

We each have a personal inquiry that we are working on. Mine is teaching writing with the very young. I keep adding books that I want to read during my inquiry reading. I am reading a LOT of Katie Wood Ray and Matt Glover. Here is the list minus one that I don't have a picture of- Already Ready by Katie Wood Ray and Matt Glover.

Here are my teacher choice or inquiry books:

This is the book that started as my focus book, but as I am reading I am pulling in others, or Glover makes references to others that I, of course, feel that I need to read too.

I love this book!! There is a blog study that is starting on June 22 for this one. I can't wait to see what other teachers think about this book.

I haven't started this book yet but I am really excited to see how it ties into the ideas that are already forming in my head about talking and drawing and writing. I am getting SOOO excited about teaching writing. I think that some of my posts this summer will be from my SI (summer institute) learning log. I think it might be cool to get my blog buddies thoughts on the quote.

I need to get back to my reading... I still have quite a bit and I want to get caught up on my learning log. I want to spend more time with Katie Wood Ray and Matt Glover.

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Writing Project summer institude update 1

I must start this by saying if you do not know what the national writing project is you MUST go check it out! And then you MUST find your local writing project and do WHATEVER it takes to be part of a summer institute. We are in day 2 of our 4 week institute and I am blown away with all that I am learning. This whole process is demystifying teaching writing. I am so excited about teaching writing now!! I promise to update as I can and share what I am learning.

SO here is my first share we have four books that we are using to build a common knowledge. The four books are:
Because Writing Matters by National Writing Project and Carl Nagin
Because Digital Writing Matters by National Writing Project et all
The 9 Rights of Every Writer by Vicki Spandel
A Writers Book of Days by Judy Reeves

We have not started the Spandel book yet but it looks wonderful! I'll be back soon with more about the institute

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