Happy Birthday & Fiction Friday - Chapter 2

Here is a fun fact for you -- Mr. AND Mrs. B have the same birthday! Yup, no kidding! We turned 32 today! Actually, the truth be known, the M-to-the-R-to-the-S doesn't turn 32 until late tonight where I turned 32 while I was sleeping.  We're both working today, but tonight we're headed to our favorite Japanese steakhouse to celebrate. I can't wait! I thought about doing a birthday giveaway, but I think I am going to hold out for 100 followers. I'm only 8 away! So if you're blogstalking - click the "Follow" button so you can have a chance for a fun giveaway soon! Anyhoo... on to Fiction Friday!!

The Teaching Thief just released Chapter 2 of her Fiction Friday linky party! I even found a book or two I need to add to my reading repertoire. Last week, I highlighted some historical fiction and a fantasy book, so this week I'd like to focus on a couple of my realistic fiction faves:

Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee was orphaned at age three following the tragic death of his parents. He's sent to live with his Aunt Dot and Uncle Dan who, unfortunately, do not care much for him. He runs away and later finds himself in the town of Two Mills, Pennsylvania where there is a boundary between the white West Enders and the black East Enders. Maniac meets a few new friends and encounters a few challenges along the way. Through these challenges, Maniac begins to learn more about identity and family.

There are some really heavy themes in this book: race/racism, homelessness, and individuality, just to name a few. I read this aloud to my fourth graders and sparks a lot of great conversations that lead to appreciating one another's differences and not to judging a person based on their circumstances.

Another book that's not-so-serious is...

Evan is a money-minded fourth grader and brainstorms a plan to make money over the summer by opening a lemonade stand. While he is people-smart, his sister, Jessie, is the math-brain of the family and decides to open up shop for herself. And so the lemonade war begins! This book is chock full of economic concepts and is the perfect supplement to your economics unit! Better yet, this book is a series (which I didn't know until today!). This book is the first, followed by The Lemonade Crime and The Bell Bandit. Check them out soon!

Allrighty, it's time I get off here and make a call to the lovely (note the sarcasm here) student loan people. I was denied loan forgiveness and I want to know why! Sigh... teachers should just get all their debt forgiven. Amen?!

Don't forget to link up your blog on my Bodacious Blogs page if you haven't already! All are welcome! Have a great day!

Notebook Know How: Chapter 1

Every year I pick an area of instruction that I want to strengthen and develop as a teacher. This happens to be the year for writing. I recently purchased Notebook Know-How by Aimee Buckner and started reading the first chapter tonight. After each chapter I am going to spend time reflecting on what I've learned and some of the "ah-ha" moments I encountered in my reading.

The first chapter focuses on why Aimee believes notebooks are crucial for budding writers. She begins the book by painting this picture of students bringing in their personal notebooks to store their words and thoughts, but simultaneously gets bombarded with questions about size of the notebooks, how much needs to be written, what exactly is an "entry," and a myriad of other notebook requirements. I so relate to this because my students gave me the same grief and I really couldn't adequately answer them. Aimee also goes on to attempt a remedy by providing the notebooks for her students, but comes to the conclusion that she does too much for her students. The writing does not belong to the students, it belongs to the teacher. Again, this was my classroom to a "T". 

Aimee goes on write about the true purpose of the writing notebook - "to practice living like a writer." Wow! The writer has become more than just a school subject, but it is now a way of life. It is something intentionally done on a daily basis. My questions now are... What does the life of a writer look like and sound like in the classroom? What if I don't have anything significant to write about? I struggled with this a little bit because there are times where I don't blog because I don't feel like I have anything "blog worthy," especially when there are so many talented authors out there in the blogosphere. Aimee addresses this directly in her book! We don't write because we always have something significant to share, but we find significance later as we revisit and reflect on our writing. We find significance and meaning in our writing when we make it a daily habit and we put that writing in our notebook. 

In summary, keeping a notebook is a process. There's no right or wrong way to keep a notebook, but remember the true purpose behind the notebook. It's to simply practice the act of writing. It's the act of writing that leads the author to significance. 

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I think I'm going to learn a lot and model a love of writing to inspire my students to live like a writer. 

Thanks for reading my ramblings! Come back soon to read about Chapter 2 - Launching the Notebook. 

Fiction Friday... on Tuesday?!

Howdy, friends!

Summer and life, in general, has been way crazy here lately. Can anyone else relate? Anyhoot... I am seizing the opportunity to blog during my lunch break here at work to update my blog. My new bloggy friend, Amanda, has a fun linky going right now called Fiction Friday. Yeah, I know it's Tuesday, but... who cares?!?! You can click her graphic below to link up!

Without further ado... here are a couple of my Fiction Friday picks!

One of the grade level expectations in Missouri is to understand Missouri's role in the Civil War as well as an overview on what it was fought, slavery, African American contributions to Missouri's history, etc. This book does just that! The Story of Jonas is written by Maurine Dahlberg and is about a slave boy who accompanies his master's brutal son on a gold expedition in the Kansas Territory. Jonas meets many interesting characters and begins to learn he was way bigger dreams than being another man's slave. This would be a great read for grades 4-6, maybe even 3rd. 

My next pick is a classic... The Witches by Roald Dahl! I read this every year to my students and it's a class favorite. I don't think I've ever had a class that didn't like this book. After the death of his parents, a boy and his grandmother decide to go on holiday in England. During their vacation, they meet the most gruesome witches known to mankind and create a plan to foil their evil schemes. Read this to your kids and make sure you read this with your best witch voice. This was a big motivator and inspiration for students to work on inflection and fluency in reading - not to mention it shows them reading is fun!

Well, lunch is over and I guess I should go back to "work" (if you can even call it that!). Make sure you link up at The Teaching Thief's blog! I can't wait to read your Fiction Friday posts!

Josh

A Little "Light" Reading

One of my favorite blogs to stalk, the Clutter-Free Classroom, is hosting a linky party about our summer reading plans, plus there's a contest for a $15 gift certificate. Woot! I just gotta link up!

Click the pic to go directly to the Linky Party & Contest!

Here's what I'm reading currently:

I am a huge Rick Riordan fan and have read the other Kane Chronicle books, so I had to get this downloaded to my Kindle. This is a great read for upper elementary grades and is FULL of Egyptian history and myth!

I plan on re-reading these two books and begin to map out what Daily 5 is going to look like in my classroom. I'm very excited because I'm going to a district where everyone does D5! It's going to be a great learning experience!

Here are a few I plan on reading this summer:

I really want to beef up my writing instruction next year, and this is a book

I keep seeing in the "blogosphere". It's got to be good!

This is another one I've heard buzz about. I've heard excellent things about Debbie Diller, so I look
forward to learning more about doing small groups more effectively. 

Ok, now it's your turn to link up and share your summer reading plans! Have a faboo Friday!!

Summer Bucket List

There are a lot of things I want to accomplish over the summer and I noticed a Summer Bucket List linky going on, so I thought I'd jump in and participate!

Click the pic to go to Miss Kindergarten's Blog!

1. Revamp my class website - Since I am moving to a new district, I need to update some things and I want to make my classroom site a little more beachy to reflect the Beach Brains theme. 
2. Work on organizing my new classroom space - I won't be able to do this until July, but I have a feeling I will be reading a lot of the Clutter Free Classroom's blog for ideas!
3. Turn our office into a nursery - My wife and I are very excited about this! While we're waiting for our future son & daughter, we're going to have fun making preparations. I wanted to put a picture up of the office now, but I would be threatened within inches of my life if I did that. It's a little a real big a disaster area right now.
4. Some "light" reading - I am going to make time to read some books that I've wanting to read or re-read. There are several books I'd like to read, but here are a few I know I will get to this summer.

5. Add to my TpT Store - I am going to use TpT to raise money for our adoption! I am brainstorming some products and have one product in the store already. Click the badge below to visit!

What are some of your summer bucket list items? Leave a comment down below! I'd love to hear from you!

Brain Books - Follow Up

Update: Mrs. Poland has put her personal twist on Brain Books! Check out Brainy Matters to see how she plans on using them in her classroom.

Happy President's Day, everyone! I hope you are enjoying your day off! (or if you're like us and are in school for a snow make up day, I hope you're having a wonderful day with your students!)

I don't have anything to post for President's Day, but Misty from Think, Wonder, & Teach had some great questions concerning my previous post about Brain Books. I replied to her in the comments section, but thought I'd post for everyone else in case you had missed it.

1) Are parents actually reading these and signing them or do they treat them like reading calendars and planners where they may or may not actually be reading/signing?

I'd be naive to say that ALL parents are reading these ALL the time, but I can say with confidence MOST of the parents are reading the BBs. I encourage parents to write notes to me, notes to their kids, etc. so they do read it while they are writing in them.

2) How long did it take you to teach this concept to your students? 

Many students in my class have never done anything like a brain book before so it took a few weeks to get the students to get a handle on what I expected. Even today, I am repeating the verbage from our anchor chart, guiding the students in using the academic vocabulary from our lessons, and reminding them to produce quality writing. 

3) From my understanding the student is summarizing the knowledge gained/lesson. Do you ever allow for reflection in the BB? Meaning - can they state they do not understand something, need further clarification, found it boring as they already knew it, etc... ?
Yes and yes! One of the struggles I am having with the BBs is that students are not generating questions about what they don't understand even though that is a part of our anchor chart. It may come down to explicitly telling my students I want them to write 1 thing they gleaned from the lesson and 1 thing they still don't understand. Maybe questioning needs more explicit instruction?!

4) Are these kept confidential or do you have a student help you check them like with planners?
This is a really good question I hadn't thought of, until now. There's nothing in the BBs that needs to remain confidential, but if a student has a concern or if a parent has written in it, the kids are pretty good about showing me. I will have students help me check signatures and completeness of Brain Books as well. 

I'd love to answer any other questions you guys have about Brain Books, so feel free to leave me a comment. Misty is also going to post about Brain Books with her special spin on it. I can't wait to read it and learn something new. I will link up to it when it goes live.

Planners?! Who Needs'em?

Ok, let's have a show of hands... how many teachers out there make their students use daily planners to record assignments, notes to parents, etc.? Wow! That many?! You're probably thinking, "Now, Josh, don't you start bad-mouthing my planners!" Well, have no fear! I think planners are great tools to help students develop responsibility and to develop time management skills; HOWEVER, I would love to share with you an idea I stole ...err... borrowed (thanks, Mrs. Golmen!) that made me kick planners to the curb and has revolutionized the way we communicate our learning to ourselves, our parents, and teachers.

(with your best singing voice, please) Da, da, da, da!! I give you the Brain Book! Here's a quick run down of how Brain Books work:

What is it?

Brain Books are spiral bound notebooks students use to record their reflections for each content area. After a learning opportunity, students write for 1-2 minutes about what they've learned. Here's an anchor chart I used with my students to teach them how to reflect and think about their learning. 
Students will also write in homework assignments if needed. Students record outside reading (our grade level assigns 20 minutes each night as homework) and will write a short reading response each night in their BB. Parents must sign their child's Brain Book each night as well.

Why use Brain Books?
There are several reasons why I chose Brain Books over planners. Here are a few reasons to consider:

• It's a great formative assessment for you to see what students understand. After reading student entries, you can go back for a reteach or extend the lesson based on the needs of your students.
• It forces students to think at much higher levels (metacognition) than planners do (depending on how you use them).
• Students begin to appreciate and take ownership of their own learning. It takes the emphasis off the activities we do in class and helps students focus on the actual learning taking place.
• It's a great opportunity to reinforce quality writing. I will often times do a quick reteach of a 6 Trait lesson while students are writing in their Brain Books.

How do you use and assess Brain Books?

Students follow a given format for their Brain Books. They copy into their books each morning when they come to class. At first, I take it as a weekly writing/language grade using a scoring guide. This helps me see if students are consistently capitalizing & punctuating, but the real emphasis is on reading their reflections. As students become more accustomed to writing in their BBs independently, I will spot check them every 3-4 weeks for an additional language grade.
I have linked a couple documents from my Scribd account so you can download and modify as you see the need. Those are located at the bottom of this post, so you don't want to wade through the large embeddings to see the rest of my ramblings.
What do parents think of Brain Books?
In my experience, parents LOVE Brain Books. They really appreciate seeing the "proof" of their child's learning. A few parents have taken the opportunity to help me reteach a concept or even extend their thinking with some sort of activity at home. Isn't that amazing? My administration & staff has also taken an interest in our Brain Books. It's not a building-wide practice, but a few teachers have told me they are trying this in their own classes next year.

There really is a lot of power in teaching students to reflect on their own thinking and learning. Students begin to use reflection in problem solving and as they set, accomplish, and create new goals for themselves.

Allrightythen... I feel like I've written a novel. I am going to stop here. If you have any questions about Brain Books, feel free to post a comment. The Brain Book example and Parent Letter/Scoring Guide are embedded below. Go forth and reflect! :)
Brain Book Example

Brain Book Expectations

Using Old Book Orders to Teach Author's Purpose

I'm so excited to share my first "lesson" post with you guys! Have you ever had old book orders you don't know what to do with? If you're like me, you're a pack rat and would feel bad if you throw it away. Here's a great way to use old magazines, newspapers, and book orders to teach author's purpose!

If the truth be known, I did not come up with this idea myself. It's a knock-off idea from a lesson I observed while in another school district a month or so ago. The teacher cut out pictures and descriptions of books from old Scholastic book orders (yeah, go ahead, click on the Scholastic link. You know you want to!) to teach author's purpose. Students then had to decide if it was to persuade, inform, or entertain.

Instead of me providing them the examples, I decided to have my students go on a scavenger hunt to find them themselves. Here's how it went down:

 1. I divided the students into 4 groups. 

2. Each group was given butcher paper and they created a 3-column chart.

3. Students were given instructions to find & classify examples of persuasion, information, or entertainment in the book orders or old magazines. 

4. They went to town cutting and pasting these great examples to create an author's purpose poster.

 The cooperative learning aspect of this activity was great. I really enjoyed listening to the kids teaching and helping each other out with this lesson.

How do you teach author's purpose? Do you have a tried and true lesson you want to share? Leave me a comment and I'd love to hear your ideas!

Happy Friday & enjoy the weekend!