Learning To Be Writers and Readers: In The 21st Century: Reading Workshop: The Guided Reading Part

Learning To Be Writers and Readers: In The 21st Century: Reading Workshop: The Guided Reading Part

First World Problems

The other day, amid the fall's early morning darkness, I pressed the key-less entry fob for my car, and nothing happened.  Nothing.  So, I pushed it again, and again, and again...and still nothing moved or beeped or bopped in the pre-dawn darkness of the driveway.

"Um.....," I said to myself as I headed back into the house to figure out next steps but in reality my mind wandered down the path if calling in "car fob won't work" to school and figuring out if AAA does car fobs while wondering where I would find a Mazda dealer and thinking I had better get another fob....

I was only in the house for a minute or two when I found the key hidden deep inside the fob..

A regular looking, yet never before seen by me, key fob had been resting and waiting, inside my bag, for the moment when it would be needed to work-in-an-old-school-way and ultimately take me where I needed to go!

Getting into the car was easy as the "key" hole, a rather old fashioned yet familiar to those of us who long ago drove cars with keys, was visible as I shone the flashlight at the door handle.  Yet, when I got INTO the car, I had another pre-dawn-panic-moment in the darkness of the driveway!

The car also has a key-less ignition!  

"Um...." I said to myself as I reached for the turn-on button....which somehow, magically, or perhaps because the key was now exposed, started just like it was supposed to do!

As I headed down the road and turned onto the busy-traffic-filled-highway, I reflected on the small, first world problem that seemed destined to derail my day...and yet was just a blimp on the radar of my day.

Amid the devastation of hurricanes, the aftermath of train crashes, the sadness of life-changing illness, and thestress associated with elections and living in our busy, modern world, my small, first world kind of a problem really is not much of a problem.  

Yet, it was a reminder that we all need to put our stressors and problems in the proper perspective.

#sol16 Impulse Purchases

Recently, I've developed an affinity for those "big box" stores where refrigerators sit alongside stacks of plywood and piles of mums.  There I find light bulbs that will last 13 years (seriously?) and wheelbarrows that fit into mini cars.  I've also found myself drawn to smaller, more traditional hardware stores, such as a nearly ACE that has paint chips nestled among wine glasses!  This week's mission was "leaf bags," for falling leaves, and a microwave oven, for reheating. The leaf bags were easy.  Right up front.

However, I was lured into the "tool aisle" as I headed towards the back of the store and the "small appliance section."  I walked by cutters and connectors of all sizes, shapes, and powers.  It was in the middle of the aisle, that section designed to lure you in, where I found it. I picked up the demo that was nearly weightless and yet whirred in my hand.  It seemed comfortable and seemed to be calling me.  I remembered the feeling of finding something-too-good-to-pass-up at TJ Maxx or Talbots! Clearly this was impulse and not necessary, so I put it down and continued towards the small appliances.

Not finding a small microwave that met my needs, I headed to the check out area walking by "it" again.  This time, "IT" jumped into my cart where I found "IT" as I loaded the leaf bags onto the counter!  I smiled as Lila the Little Screwdriver was scanned and loaded into a bag.  And now, Lila and I are ready for small, powerful screw-driver-type-business! Our specialty, I suspect, will be those impulse jobs, like hanging a picture when I should be putting laundry away!

#sol15 Gyms: For People and Cars

Yes, from the mouths of a kindergarten student thinking outside the box this afternoon, come the invention we have all been waiting for!  A "gym" space were humans can run on treadmills, fast, and cars can go to learn to go on race tracks, fast!  That's how one little guy explained his block creation to me.  He then proceeded to demonstrate how that would work!  I smiled, as he eagerly explained his creation....while my mind raced to the possibilities of this creation! 

What if there were gyms where we could work out while our cars were cleaned?

What if there were gyms where we could work out AND get our laundry done at the same time?

What if there were gyms where people and their dogs could both work out at the same time?

What if there were gyms where someone would pay our bills while we worked out?

What if there were gyms where we could relax while the pounds and inches melted away?

Tangential thinking on my part; however, I am reminded of the potential to think outside of the box and shape their environment in creative ways every time I sit knee to knee with an eager young learner.  

If only we could "bottle" and save that imaginati

on. 

Teaching Grammar: A TWT Share

https://twowritingteachers.org/2016/09/21/five-grammar-lessons-with-sneaky-double-duty-goals/
From Anna Cockerille of Two (or more) Writing Teachers Fame. here are FIVE amazing mni-grammar-writing lessons.  These suggestions are TOO good to miss!

Ideas for teaching:

Paragraphing

Punctuating Dialogue

Conjunctions

Verb Tense

Sentence Fragments

Good Morning to You or Happy Birthday to You:You Choose

This week, I'm singing "Happy Birthday to You," again and again as we celebrate two very special first birthdays in my family.  The "little babies" who joined our family last year just as fall blew in are now, I guess, technically "toddlers." Yet, they will always be my "miracles" who brighten my heart when they smile and melt my heart when they share a slobbery, open mouth version of a kiss.  

So as I prepare to sing Happy Birthday to You to them, I started wondering about the roots of the song.  I know, the CCS get to me again and I start wondering about the information behind customs and traditions! Here is what I found here: 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/news/Happy-Birthday-song-and-its-strange-past/

In 1893, Mildred and Patty Hill, teachers, wrote Good Morning to All to sing to their pupils.  "Good morning to you........."  In 1922, "birthday snuck into versions of the song!  In 1931, the song made it into the musical, The Band Wagon and it was copyrighted in 1934.  it was not until 2015 that the song was "copyright free!"  Phew...'cause we;re singing it more than once at this point in time....and we may just add the "Good Morning to You"  origins to our singing routine just to break things up a bit!  

#sol201 We All Need Somebody to Lean On

"Do you know your way back?" I asked her after we read together, "or would you like me to walk back with you," I asked her at the end of my fall screening.

"Can you come with me?" she asked.

"I'd love to," I responded seriously.  She grabbed my hand and we headed back to her class.  It was not much of a walk, but as she grabbed for my hand, I was sure she was grateful for my guidance on her journey through a not-yet-familiar hallway.

I thought of that moment many hours later when I exited the unfamiliar highway and thinking I knew where I was going, turned right rather than left.  I spent 15 minutes or so, even though it felt longer, trying to find my way home, with several stops to access my GPS along the way. If not for GPS, I might be wandering through deer-and-bear-infested hills even now!

There are times in our lives when we all need someone to take our hand when we are lost on our journey through life.  That person can be our parent, teacher, partner, sibling, friend, pastor, GPS, or even a paid counselor.   

As the song says, "We all need someone to lean on."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL4ei-RE3Nc

Celebrating: When it is really hot!

It's been hot  and humid this week in these parts, and my school, like so many others, is not air conditioned. Most of us have abandoned our fall clothes in favor of our old linen shifts and long, loose skirts.  Most of us have splurged on an extra large iced tea or perhaps a diet coke to cool from the inside when we cannot control the outside.
It was certainly "hot" in the hallway as I walked one of my "customers" back to class and a colleague commented, "It is so hot in hear, we could fry an egg in this hallway."
I suspect I nodded, understanding the reference and agreeing it was hot; however, after we were down the hallway a bit, my reflective young reader offered her own perspective on the heat - or perhaps the lack of it.
"It's not really hot," she noted, "until your hair is sweating."  
I smiled as her comment did not require a response.  She was right, indeed.  Really hot is when you have been really working out at the gym, or running around the yard, or running a marathon!  You are working so hard, your hair becomes drippy from sweat.   Clearly, we were uncomfortable today, but we were not working THAT hard!
Perspective: an important part of reflection.

School Days

Back to school, 

Whether your first,

Your last first,

You're starting Kindergarten,

Middle School, High School,

College, Grad School,

Is a totally exhausting, 

Exciting wonderful,

Experience.

There are lots of new notebooks,

Backpacks, lunch boxes,

Pencils, pens, and crayons 

Representing the excitement and

Potential of the new year.

Even for this lawn-art-statue,

I see each morning, 

Who is ready for school,

Complete with a lunch box,

Backpack, skateboard,

 and an ear-to-ear smile.

Even though the future holds

Late nights of lesson plans.

Homework and that dreaded alarm,

Back to school is pretty special.

Celebrating : Readers

"There is so much to do in our Balanced Literacy Block," she sighed, "what is most important for all my students"? How can I help the ones who are below grade level readers?"  

During "back to school" season, there are lots of teachers who find themselves with shortened/split/overprogrammed/RTI filled/writing intense/reader response filled/busy ELA blocks.  So much to do...so little time.  There are also many teachers working outside their comfort zone. Sometimes it is a new grade level or sometimes it is a particularly challenging group, academically or behaviorally.  Most of us have been there at some point. I suspect Heinemann was thinking of that often asked question when they write this post.
https://medium.com/@heinemann/these-18-practices-are-proven-effective-for-teaching-reading-5ea6c9424fa0#.nofx5dz77  The suggestions are certainly based on research based teaching practices.  No matter where readers are on the journey, we need to focus on MEANING.  Without meaning, there really isn't any real reading!  We need to value "read alouds" which serve as reading models and motivators, especially when they allow readers to "stretch"where they cannot yet go independently. Encourage, motivate, and value the reading experiences of your students.  Talk about books and encourage readers to talk about what they are reading.  Embrace whatever they will read! Remember, phonics is the key to understanding the code of print; however, it is not focused on reading as a meaning making process.  Writing, however, is the inverse meaning making process and activates the same centers of the brain, the meaning making. Check out the Heinemann page for the full article.