Reflecting on Instruction- How we Love to teach Reading

Hope everyone is having a super summer!!  We are definitely enjoying out time off :).

Pictured above are my Boys (1st 2 boys my kiddos and the 2nd 2 my nephews)

and Cristy and her cute fam!!!

We recently reflected on things like pencil sharpeners, behavior management, pouches vs boxes, and how to get the wiggles out, but this post will be on research based instruction. We will try to make it short! Maybe we will just write several posts on instructional likes and dislikes :).

We Love: Cafe, Daily 5 Reading, Multi Sensory Phonics, 6 Traits Writing

The majority of our kiddos really excelled at reading!!!  Why??

We loved using Orton Gillingham Multi sensory methods to teach phonics (letters, sounds, blending, segmenting)!! It was hands on and minds on! It met the needs of diverse learners. We followed the sequence of letters from the book Recipe for Reading.

For the absolute best training on using Orton Gillingham, you should attend the 30 hour training conducted by the Institute of Multi Sensory Education!  It was expensive, but well worth it!! Click the link below to check out their site.

Cafe Rocked! We taught the kiddos strategies so they could be independent readers. They didn't rely on anyone else to help them figure out words!!

We used Science and Social Studies non-fiction texts as well as a variety of fiction texts to teach mini lessons on the strategies. We modeled using the strategies then gave students opportunities to practice using Daily 5!

What's Daily 5???
Read to Self
Read to Someone
Work on Writing
Listen to Reading
Word Work

Daily 5 was an awesome way for the kiddos to practice the strategies we introduced!

Needs: More Training on 6+1  Traits
Our kiddos were pretty great writers, but they really could have been better!! We would love a little more training on 6 +1 Traits writing. Do any of you have any experience with this way to teach writing to kiddos??
Let us know what you use to teach writing.

More Reflections-The Great and The Sad!

So you read about our Good, Bad and Ugly! Check out the GREAT and the SAD!

The Great!

Epic Greatness: Class Dojo

We loved, loved using Class Dojo! This is an online FREE (for now) behavior management program!! I say FREE for NOW (not because I have insider info), but it just seems every time we find something GOOD that is free and online, eventually it is not free after the world sees how awesome it is! Anyway enjoy free as long as you can.

This online program allows you to assign an avatar to all of your kiddos then award them positive and negative behavior points! You can customize the behaviors and make them as specific as you want.  You can also give your kiddos their own code so they can create and customize their own avatar. We used that as an incentive for when they got to a certain number of points!! CLASS DOJO is awesome!! It made our classroom such a more positive place!! It was way better than that stinky old, negative Red Light! Click the image below to visit the Class Dojo site and learn more!!

The Sad!

EPIC SADNESS: Mr. Marc- Adventures to Fitness

Our kiddos loved getting their wiggles out to Mr. Marc during Adventures to Fitness! Mr. Marc has several  online episodes that you can tie to curriculum and the kids just love them!! But guess what happened to this awesome site halfway through our school year????  I bet you know!!! Yep, they started charging money for accessing the episodes! There are 5 free episodes but that is not even close to the number available that can really align withe the curriculum! Sad news for us and for our kiddos, because as teachers, we can't afford to purchase them and our school doesn't have funds either!!  Boohoo!!!

Thanks for reading!

BEST Pencil Sharpener E-VAH!

LOVE!  I am in LOVE!!!  It's a taboo relationship.  Because frankly...it's with my new pencil sharpener!

It's wrong to love a pencil sharpener this much, but I don't care!

We have had a ROTTEN year as far as pencil sharpening goes.

Here's the RECAP from our last post if you missed it!  

(Be sure and check the post out for more "reflections from the year")

Holy smokes...who would think that sharpening pencils could drive someone to drink???? Ok so maybe not drink, but pretty darn close! We started out the year with 2 cans labeled "SHARP" and "NEEDS SHARPENING". Great plan! Worked really well except the kiddos are big fans of their pencils. They have some sort of connection to those little wooden writing thing-a-ma-bobs. And when they returned to the "SHARP" can to pick up their pencils...well let's just say that didn't always go so well. As in---you're 5! Let's be honest, are you gonna always find YOUR pencil in the can or the sparkly star pencil or the one with the WHOLE eraser still in tact! People!! We had some serious issues with not getting the right pencil back. We thought about writing their names on their pencils with a sharpie, but that just sounded like too much work on our part!

So we had sweet George the maintenance guy come install a brand new kickin' it old school crank pencil sharpener so they could go back to sharpening their own pencils. Of course THIS would be a success because surely those pencil sharpeners have come a long way and are just sharpening like butta....right! Maybe we should have know there was trouble when sweet George installed the sharpener on backwards!!! When he left the first kid went to christen  the thing and HELLO!!!...crazy town! He did come back and install it correctly, but the story only goes down hill from there!  

So...here's the whole entire sad story.  The #1 pencil sharpening RULE!  You may ONLY sharpen pencils between the hours of 7:30 am and 8:00 am!  NO SHARPENING during the day because ALL that noise makes us want to pull our hair out!

Good rule.  Easy to follow, right?  Not so much!  At least not for 2 of our cutie pies...let's call them Spunky and Sassy (to protect the names of the innocent guilty!)  These 2 cuties managed to make their way to that darn sharpener nearly 100 10 times a day!  And always right when I was giving directions or the principal came in to talk to the kids or myself.  Rrrrrr!  Rrrrr!  Ckkkk! (Those are the horrendous sounds coming from the sharpener if you don't speak the language!)

In their defense, those darn cheap pencils from the warehouse were a pain to sharpen.  The lead kept constantly falling out every time it was sharpened!  The pencil sharpener kept chewing those pencils up like a beaver would a log!  The pencils were like 2 inches short by the time the sharpener worked and the lead stayed in!

Needless to say...I was SAD!  So...so...sad!

But NO MORE my friends...no more!

Insert heavenly angel music, rainbows, puppies, kittens, and any other happy image here!
Because THIS is what we are going to do to make it 

ALL BETTER!

Troy, over at Classroom Friendly Supplies, is a teacher and owner of this great product!   I think I have a crush!  I let Troy know of our pencil sharpening woes and he sent us a sharpener to try out!  And oh my goodness...I am in LOVE!  

So here's our official review!

It was shipped to my house so I haven't clamped it down like I will in my classroom.  I used it just holding it with my hand which worked just fine, but the clamp will help my littles be able to control it much better.  

PROS:

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Look at these babies!  They are beautiful!  These things sharpened like buttah!  EVERY single pencil I stuck in this thing came out EXACTLY like these!  Perfect points every time.  I swear my littles will be gah-gah over this!

Also, it was really very easy to use.  I'll admit I watched a quick little video from his website to save me time figuring out how to work it!  So simple to use!

The price is TOTALLY worth it and he gives BIG discounts if you order in bulk.  Our PTA is planning on purchasing one for EVERY classroom.  (Did I mention we LOVE our PTA????)

It was pretty darn quiet too!  I think I wouldn't even mind if the kiddos sharpened pencils between the hours of 7:30 am AND 2:30 pm with this baby installed!

CONS:

It's not ABSOLUTELY quiet.  Like... there is some noise coming out of this thing, but who cares when you get points like that...the FIRST time you sharpen!  Which means even if there is some noise...it only lasts a brief few seconds and the kiddo is DONE!  Not like before...sharpen, lead breaks, teacher cries...REPEAT 4,000 times!  WAHHH!!

FINAL WORDS

So if you don't have one of these babies, we HIGHLY recommend getting one to save your sanity!  We even think this beats our electric sharpener on quietness, sharpness, and... people...did I mention that my sharpener is PINK!  LOVE!

Reflections on the Year

Oh my goodness! We have been out of school 2 weeks and we haven't blogged one single time! For shame! Please forgive us for our "summer is here and we are misbehaving" lapse!

So we finished up school May 30th. I've been reflecting on the year...things that worked, things that stunk up the place, and things that worked ok but could certainly be improved upon.

So hopefully these reflections might help you out too!

The Good!

EPIC SUCCESS #1:  Daily 5 and CAFE

We are so in love with this and feel like it made such a tremendous difference in building independent and successful readers! We had a ton of kiddos reading on 2nd and even 3rd grade level by the end of the year! It was just amazing to be a part of that. Check out our friend MARY over at Sharing Kindergarten. She and some other bloggers have an excellent book study going on about Daily 5!  Check it out to find out how this works in the classroom!

EPIC SUCCESS #2:  Journals

We read Deanna Jump's super simple but super smart tip about using 1 journal and adding tabs for each content area. We created 3 tabs...writing, math, and SS/science. Simple and genius. It was SO much easier for the kiddos to keep track of ONE journal! And it was honestly easier to remember to WORK in journals when you pulled it out for one content area, it helped us think "hey, I need to plan more math journal activities" while I'm at it.

The Bad! (Ok...so not really bad... more like "Meh!" OK, but could be better.)

EPIC "Meh!" #1:  Pencil Boxes

We used to have a shared basket on the table with pencils, crayons, glue... that the table kiddos shared. It was ok but some kiddos didn't like the whole sharing supplies thing...especially if they were a wee bit stressed when someone tore the paper off a crayon or maybe chewed on a pencil. I get it! I'm a bit OCD myself!  So we switched to individual pencil boxes a few years back. Much better...but they have still given us a little grief! We house them all on a bookcase and when they go to retrieve them, they like to do a little shake-ah shake-ah with them on their way back to their seat! LOUD!!! So we are making another simple but helpful change. We are getting pencil pouches this next year. Still individual, still on the bookcase so as not to clutter the desks, but now in QUIET little fabric pencil pouches that don't sound like the school is crashing in!

     
The Ugly!

Epic Fail #1: Pencil Sharpening!

Holy smokes...who would think that sharpening pencils could drive someone to drink???? Ok so maybe not drink, but pretty darn close! We started out the year with 2 cans labeled "SHARP" and "NEEDS SHARPENING". Great plan! Worked really well except the kiddos are big fans of their pencils. They have some sort of connection to those little wooden writing thing-a-ma-bobs. And when they returned to the "SHARP" can to pick up their pencils...well let's just say that didn't always go so well. As in---you're 5! Let's be honest, are you gonna always find YOUR pencil in the can or the sparkly star pencil or the one with the WHOLE eraser still in tact! People!! We had some serious issues with not getting the right pencil back. We thought about writing their names on their pencils with a sharpie, but that just sounded like too much work on our part!

So we had sweet George the maintenance guy come install a brand new kickin' it old school crank pencil sharpener so they could go back to sharpening their own pencils. Of course THIS would be a success because surely those pencil sharpeners have come a long way and are just sharpening like butta....right! Maybe we should have know there was trouble when sweet George installed the sharpener on backwards!!! When he left the first kid went to christen  the thing and HELLO!!!...crazy town! He did come back and install it correctly, but the story only goes down hill from there! We DO think we have a better solution and we'll blog about it later this week!  So be sure and check back!

So there's lots more, but I'm kinda tired of typing which means I KNOW you are probably tired of reading! Please share your own GOOD, BAD, and UGLY with us so we can pick up some new tips of our own!