My 2nd Graders go to College!

Yep, you read the title correctly. My 2nd graders go to COLLEGE!!!
Some pretty prestigious colleges at that: Texas A&M (Gig'Em Aggies), Texas Tech (Guns up!)
University of Texas (Hook 'Em Horns!) and TCU (Fear the Frog!)---and our first year even Baylor (Go bears!).

That's how smart they are..
All because of their 2nd grade teachers!

Okay, let me explain. They don't really GO to college. That's what we call our focused groups
What? Need me to explain further? Okay.....

A few years ago, I was sittng in a workshop with other 2nd grade teachers and we were discussing HOW ON EARTH we were going to fit in all the things we were required to do with our new Language Arts adoption....Mc-Graw Hill Texas Treasures.

There simply WASN'T enough time in the day......everything was specialized......3 different spelling lists, 3 leveled books, 3 different stories a week. It was all TOO much! My class was all over the spectrum......low babies who barely knew the letters in their names to PACE kiddos who could read anything I stuck in front of them and everything in between! There was only ONE me and I had no idea how I was going to give them ALL my best when I am only one person!

Luckily I wasn't the only one in the district stressing about that. It lead to a very in-depth discussion and one lady told us what they did at their school and how it had served ALL the kids and improved their reading (and their scores)....but more importantly their learning!

So, I took the idea she gave me back to my (at the time different) principal and she basically told me if I believed it was going to work and help the kids to GO FOR IT! So, We came up with 'colleges'.
We each named our group after our Alma Mater.....luckily none of us went to the same college, and used testing data to divide the kids into 4(or 5 our first year) groups. That first year we had 2 'high' groups- they are the kids that can read fluently, they worked on expanding vocabulary, improving their writing and higher order thinking skills. We had an 'average' group- they worked on comprehension and some fluency as well as vocabulary. We had a "below average" group- they could decode, but needed extensive work on fluency and comprehenshion. And then we had my low baby group- we worked on decoding, accuracy and fluency.

Splitting the kids this way allowed us to tailor everything for them.....spelling lists, the pace we taught the stories and concepts, station work, EVERYTHING was targeted for just them. The kids loved it. The parents loved it. We loved it.

Last year, we got a new principal. I wasn't sure she'd love it....but she did. Our groups are very fluid...if a kid does alot of improving, he/she may 'transfer' to a different college. If they are struggling, they may do the same! We saw some really positive things come out of it. Noteably:

*The high kids were no longer the 'shining stars' in the classroom. There was an entire class of them, which prodded them to work harder, smarter and have higher quality work so they could stand out of the crowd.Many of them weren't used to this, and it greatly improved their effort ,they stretched themselves in learning. and some of them learned the hard lesson of "you can't win all the time."

\*The low babies began to participate in class. It was a safe environment. There was no Einstein to compete with...no one to outshine them....they were all in the same boat. They began to get comfortable and take chances. They supported each other. No one was 'stupid' for not knowing an answer. Their confidence increased greatly and they grew leaps and bounds.

*The average babies grew HUGELY. They were no longer falling between the cracks....low babies were not getting all the attention and the geniuses were out of their loop so they had no one to 'carry them' on their portion of the work.

It was a win/win situation for all of us.

The downsides were:
* The low baby teacher (me) had a LOT of documentation to do. However, it was easier to do the documentation because I found an easier system and could do it for everyone!
*You're letting go some of your babies......which means you have to have total trust, confidence and participation from all of your team members for this to work. It's hard letting go. It's hard not knowing what your babies are doing. But this lead us to in-depth discussions as a team about where each kiddo was. It also gave us the benefit of having more than one teacher able to give input about where we saw a kid being and what they were struggling (or excelling) in!

Thankfully, it went over so well, our principal is COUNTING on us doing it again! I'm excited because now in year 3 I think we are 'tweaking' what we can do with these kids and I expect the huge growth to continue!

So, our 2nd graders will be college bound again this year!!!

Word Work

Sorry I've been out of the picture for a while! Things have been CUH-RAY-ZEE lately! My son is getting ready to ship out to Camp Pendleton, California in 3 weeks (sniff, sniff).SO, mom is making sure she gets all the time she can with her future jarhead before he leaves! PLUS he is turning 18 this week! (WHERE did the time go?)
On top of that a NASTY stomach bug has been going around the house lately. I haven't gotten it full-blown, but I had enough of it to appreciate NOT getting it!

In the meantime, I made 'cards' for my first Unit's spelling words for the Word Work center of my Daily 5. Feel free to grab them up if you are doing McGraw Hill Texas Treasures.

I think the one thing I am going to do differently is this year, I am going to make the words cumulative each week. Meaning, I am not going to take last week's spelling pattern out of that center when new words are introduced because I want them to continue to work with them and KNOW them rather than just memorize them for a weekly spelling test.

I will use a variety of materials in my Word Work center:

Including....using letter tiles

 marbles, rocks, and beans.....

Rainbow spelling with markers (including SMELLY markers)

Using craft sticks, pipe cleaners and any other materials I can get my hands on for word work manipulatives!

I'm also hoarding gathering up more materials to stick in my Word Work center.

What kinds of things do you use for Word Work??

Word Walls

This is a subject that I have spent WAAAAAY too much time thinking about. I've tried different things. I've tried different locations......I have even tried NOT having one (that lasted a week).
It has uses (if you SHOW the kids how to use it.....and hold them to it!)
I'm talking about word walls.
I have a bulletin board I COULD use for it.
That is, if I didn't mind climbing over 7 computers to post words on it.
( I do, by the way, mind that!)
My acrobatic skills are not what they used to be.....and principals tend to go into spasms when they walk in my room and I am perched and climbing like a howler monkey!

THEN,
I saw THIS.....

On pinterest, which took me to a blog called Kindergarten Smiles.

I liked the way she categorized the words. I could do that! I liked the way the folders were accessible to students when they needed them, but not taking up precious wall space. I could do that too!

I am considering making a 2nd grade version of this. I am also debating making a word wall to use with my interactive "not as smart as yours" board.

See?

I told you I was spending WAY too much time on this!

So, how do you use word walls in your classroom??? How often do you change them? Add to them?

How do you categorize them?!?

This thinking is giving me a headache. I think I am gonna go grab a Diet Coke and a few Oreos (the diet coke will cancel out the oreo calories, right!?!) and take a brain break!!!

Daily 5 chapter 3

Okay.....I admit it!
I've gotten pretty behind on my Daily 5 book study!
So, today I am catching up with everyone else and putting my two cents in on Chapter 3, "What's the Difference? Key materials, concepts and routines for launching the Daily 5".
I TOTALLY plan to implement this system from day ONE!!
The sisters talk about......
* A gathering place- I have ALWAYS had a gathering place in my classroom. At first, I called it 'the carpet' as in " Class, come to the carpet please." and out of habit, I did that after the renovation,to which one of my little darlings pointed out, " Ms. Skipper, the carpet is EVERYWHERE".....so I had to rename it (and even harder, had to RETRAIN myself to call it something different)....so now it's our "Meeting Spot". No matter how many times I rearrange my room, I always make sure that spot is in the same place...accessible to everything I  will need .

*Good fit books- I previously posted my poster (made to fit my theme) and plan on doing the 'shoe lesson' (complete with cowboy boots).... just like the sisters talked about! They are GENIUS for coming up with this concept because I always had those little darlings that walk around with Harry Potter while they can't even decode See Spot Run simply because they want to 'save face' in front of their friends. This lesson lets everyone know that just like shoes, we all have our own needs/preferences/styles of books and its NOT okay to comment negatively on someone else's choice!

'*Anchor charts- While just a  few of these will be pre-made, most of these will be created with students and then (due to lack of wallspace) will be 'shrunk' into a regular page size (and cutesied up) and put in my anchor chart holder (aka a towel holder) which I got the idea off of Pinterest....(sorry, but the pinterest link to the original source doesn't work, but here is the picture)

*Practice and using the correct/ incorrect models- I can only IMAGINE how many incorrect example givers I will have to choose from!!!

*Calm signals and check in- I have been on the lookout for cheap chimes.....and found this....

for $11!!!! That's cheaper than what I found at Wal-Mart and Target.......if you want the link, click
here.

Happy shopping!

Daily 5 and Cafe- Good fit books and Stamina

I am so impressed with the creativity teachers have!!! I've been searching on Pinterest and teacher blogs for the perfect set of Daily 5 posters to match my western theme. I've found several inspirations,but it just didn't match the mental picture of what I wanted them to turn out like.But WOW...are some people going ALL OUT on things to go with the Daily 5...which makes me that much more excited about implementing it!

When I do a theme, I like to go all out.
My principal walked in the other day when I was putting up my bulletin board material and was admiring my theme! (It fits her perfectly too since she is a former barrel racer from what I hear!)
Anyway, I joked with her about the possibility of me getting a class pet, to which she said, " Sure, what are you thinking of getting?"
"A steer!" .....the look on her face was priceless!
She didn't miss a beat and said, " Sure, it'll teach the kids responsibility !"
Love her!
ANYWHO, I decided there were a few anchor posters I was going to have to create on my own!
I found a CUTE poster about good fit books (using the acronym COW....how clever is that?) on pinterest, and when I clicked on the link it took me to Amanda over at One Extra Degree-- LOVE her blog! She had been inspired by Christina Bainbridge at Bunting, Books and Bainbridge!!! I added my own fonts and borders, changed a few things around and inserted my own clipart to customize it to fit my classroom! So now, I have my Stamina and Good Fit Book posters!!!
Feeling like I'm making a bit of progress here...things are slowly coming off my checklist!!!