People Magazine (Mom of the Year)

         I just couldn't resist sharing my students' adorable Mother's Day Projects with you...but first I have to brag on my mom and grandma for just a minute.  I am so blessed to have been able to share Mother's Day with my mom at my little brother's college graduation.  I am so very grateful for her love, support, and encouragement always.  She is a nurse practitioner who serves very sick inmates every day.

       I also was thinking about my gram, who I miss and love so very much.  One of my fondest memories is how she would always genuinely light up when I walked in the house to visit her and be so excited to hear what was going on with me.  She taught me so much about how to take care of family, cook, and just enjoy life.

Wasn't she so stylish? :)

    Alright, I could go on for awhile but let's move on to my students.  Last year I found this great idea on (none other than) Pinterest.  It is from The Polka Dotted Teacher.  Even though the project was done with fourth graders, it fit in perfectly with my second grade unit on persuasive writing so I decided to give it a try.  Last year they turned out so cute that I did the same project this year.  I love projects that fit into academics and don't just feel like something "extra" you have to fit in. 

    To begin, I showed my students a copy of a People magazine (a school and age appropriate one of course) and we talked about how people that do important things get to be on the cover of People.  Then I told them they were going to write a magazine article for their mom about why she deserves to be on the cover, decorate a cover with her on it, and they were hooked.

    We went through the entire writing process and since it was at the end of our persuasive unit, most of my students already felt very comfortable writing a persuasive piece with a few paragraphs.  I created a checklist for them to use to help with revising.  It's nothing fancy but definitely helped them.  Click on the picture below to download it from google docs.  

       Finally, students edited and were ready to publish their final copies.  Check out how a few of them turned out.  They are so sweet!

"That is all I asked for was a great mom." :)

Carson was really trying to use character traits to describe his mom like

I modeled.

I love his closing.

       It amazes me how much many of their drawings really do look just like their moms.  Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you who are moms.

Election Fun

      Last week my kids could not have been more excited about the presidential election.  To capitalize on it, we did a writing project where they got to imagine being president.  First, we read My Teacher for President.  Click on the picture below to check it out and get a copy for your classroom.

      We made a chart about all of the things that presidents do as we read the book.  This was great to give kids some background knowledge that they could use when writing.  Second graders don't come in with many concrete examples of different responsibilities that presidents have or things they do regularly.

     Then, we brainstormed what they would do if they got to be president.  Some students used ideas from the chart we made and others thought of their own ideas.  Check out a few examples of their writing below.  I adapted a great freebie from Primary Practice to accomodate my students.  They needed more room to write.

She is thinking about all the people affected by Hurricane Sandy.

If I were president, I would abandon cigarettes and plant apple trees and take care of the world.  And, take care of people and take people places they can't get to.  I will play with people that don't get played with. (How sweet is this?)

This one makes me laugh...because I want more people!

     I displayed these in the hall above their lockers with a sign that says, "If I were president..."  They love seeing their work on display.  I usually tell them when a project is going to be put in the hall or hung in the classroom because it gives those few kids that need a little push a reason to work hard and makes everyone pay a little closer attention to their writing.  :)

    One more thing...after the actual election happened and Obama won, we wrote congratulations letters to him so we could get mail back from the White House.  We had a nice discussion about what it means to be a good sport so even those people that voted for Romney can still say congratulations to the winner because that's being a good sport.  Regardless of our actual adult political opinions, this is a good lesson for kids to learn.

    This picture is just a rough draft but I wanted to share it with you.  It was so funny.  He asked the president, "Are you rich?" :)

    Let me know what you think and feel free to follow me.

Beginning of the Year Writer's Workshop

      One day this week about mid-way through our writer's workshop as I sat and watched a table of kids work between writing conferences, it hit me.  Quiet.  Focused.  Everyone was writing.  All I could hear was our quiet work music (classical for kids).  It was blissful.  Finally, the first four weeks of work building routines, stamina, and identities as writers had paid off.

     So I thought now would be a good time to talk about launching a writer's workshop and building a community of writers in your classroom.  Beginning on day one of school, we discuss that every single day we will have a special time in our class called writer's workshop where all of us get to be authors.  I teach them that every day we will start together on the carpet and learn (mini-lesson).  Then they'll go off and be authors on their own.  Finally, we'll come back and share about what we learned as writers.

    Beginning the year with some kind of project instead of jumping right into the first unit of Lucy Calkin's writing curriculum has worked really well for me.  I do this for a couple of reasons.  First, it is a fun and non-threatening way for even the most reluctant writers to jump into writing time.  Second, it gives us something cute to display right off the bat! :)

   This year, I used Steppin into a New Year from The Bubbly Blonde to launch our writer's workshop.  You can see more details about my first week plans for workshop at this post.  However, I set up the activity by reading letters from last year's second graders to my students to give them an idea of what second grade will be like.

      After hearing the letters, we made a list of things that second graders can do.  

        Finally, students wrote about what they wanted to do as they were "Steppin into Second Grade."

"I want to lern about bees.  I want to solve equations in math.  I want to tell time.  I want to plant flowers.
I want to lern about cutture (culture).  I wnat to make patterns.  I want to writ poems."

      I was careful to be sure the craft to go along with the activity was done at a separate time of day so students began to understand that at writer's workshop we write the whole time.

     After students all got to feel successful with a writing activity that I intentionally scaffolded quite a bit ahead of time, they were ready to jump into writer's workshop.  Again, before officially launching the units of writing for the year I spent a day thinking about what writer's workshop looks like/sounds like.  

     Nothing fancy...just functional.  The visual is a great way to help kids know exactly what's expected of them at writer's workshop and is great to revisit each day until it becomes automatic for them.

    Finally, I would just like to share a few quick tips that I have learned about making writer's workshop as successful as possible:

• Play quiet, instrumental music -  Students love having that one special time during the day when they get to relax and concentrate on their own writing.  I have a few different c.ds that we rotate- classical music for kids, a concentration music c.d. from Target, etc.
• Celebrate! - The first month of workshop in the primary grades is all about celebrating your students as writers.  Make a huge deal out of kids who get pictures and words on their paper and who write the whole time.  Emphasize the hard work...not the correct conventions.
• Quiet teacher voice = quiet student voices 
• Don't hover! - Students learn how to be independent when they are given the chance.  Walking around as students are working just to re-direct or correct makes it harder for students to practice being independent writers.  Resist the urge!  Pull up a chair to a table/group of desks and observe from there for a few minutes before beginning conferring.
• Let students write on their papers, not you! -  Resist the urge to correct things on students' papers with your pen/pencil.  Carry a white board slate with you for modeling/student practice instead!
• Watch for positive student behaviors-  By emphasizing the things you see students doing the right way, you will encourage others to join.

    Writer's workshop can truly be a magical time during your school day.  If you haven't started yet or have never tried, it's not too late in the year to start!  Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

    Please leave a comment with how you successfully launch a writer's workshop!

Writer's Workshop First Week Plans

     Today I was able to get into my classroom for a longer chunk of time and get started.  I had to move rooms for this year so I'm pretty much starting from scratch with all of my things in bins and boxes.  Most of it is still in those bins and boxes, but my furniture is all moved around where I think I want it which is a huge accomplishment!

     When I haven't been able to get in my room, I've been starting to plan out my first week.  We have a four day week the first week starting the day after Labor Day.  I thought I'd share my plans with you because I know I always like to see what others are doing in their classrooms to get ideas.  You can click on the pictures below to open up the Google doc of my plans.

    At the end of my plans I included a few examples of student letters to incoming second graders.  If you didn't do this activity at the end of the year but would like to use them to help your students generate ideas for the "What Second Graders Can Do" anchor chart, feel free.  You could also just read them aloud verbally and change the greeting to (i.e. "Dear first grader") to suit your class.

   Here are a couple of pictures of the letters.

     Some details about starting writer's workshop that aren't listed in the plans....

• On Day 1 I introduce the procedure for getting pencils.  I use 2 pencil cups- sharp and dull/broken.  When a student needs a new pencil, they trade it in for a sharp one.  No students sharpening pencils during learning time!
• Starting on Day 1 we discuss stamina and work on building our stamina as writers.
• We keep track of our stamina minutes on a graph.  This is super motivating for the kids!
• We will use the "What Second Graders Can Do" anchor chart to help us write what we want to do in second grade and to create our class promise during word work time.  I frame the writing of our promise by referring to the chart and asking, "If these are all the things we want to be able to do, how are we going to promise to act in our classroom to help us get there?"
• I play "quiet work music"during writer's workshop to help kids focus.  Again, they love it!  I use classical music for kids and some of the nature c.d.'s that you can find at Target, Amazon, etc.  

    Let me know what you think about my plans.  How do you launch writer's workshop?

Click on the picture to check out the c.d.

    On a side note, I found these two great files during the TPT Back to School Sale!  Check them out and link up with what you bought!

I am going to do this activity the first day.  I will use one of the "Steppin' into 2nd Grade" writing sheets during writer's workshop.  During our intervention block, I will have the kids complete the craft part.

After introducing this song to my students orally, I'll show them this book.
We will put it in our class library (I have a song books bin) for them to choose from when picking
books for independent reading time.

  I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' and The School Supply Addict!