Sleepover!

It's a first grade tradition! Sleepover begins with a family homework project where each family creates a teddy bear from a pattern. The bears come in and take center stage at the beginning of Sleepover week. On Tuesday of that week parents come in at night for a Parent Night. Dinner is served and then parents visit their child's room and make a pillowcase to bring to the big event at the end of the week.

All through the week the teachers read books about sleepover, sing songs about bears and sleepovers, add sleepover to their morning message, read Sleepover poems for fluency, make bear glyphs in math, write narratives about sleepovers they have had, write "how to" make teddy bear instructions, and write "All About Sleepover" reports.

The big event on Friday begins with a parade through the darkened halls. The first graders, dressed in their pajamas and carrying a flashlight and their homemade teddy bear follow the Principal and Music Teacher (all dressed in pajamas!) as they all sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Then it's on to a pancake breakfast in the Dining Room (this year furnished by Denny's). As the children eat, pictures flash on the big screen of each child with his bear. After eating, the Principal calls all the teachers on stage and they perform (without rehearsing, of course) a little Hokey Pokey and Electric Slide. Then it's off to the centers for the morning, provided by the Resource Team

• In music the children learn a little "Bear Polka" where they actually get to R-O-A-R like a bear and then partner up for some "Square Dancing."


• The Art Room is full of book covers for the children to design, as professional illustrators.


• Outside the children separate into teams and each side "defends the bears," which are beanie bears on cones. The children on one side throw balls while the other side defends the bears. If you get tagged with a ball you are sent to the marshmallow field to get a marshmallow (white golf ball) to feed the bears before you can return. Even on this cool morning, the children work up a sweat.
  
• The centers are rounded out with a little "Sleepover Bingo" which features facts about books with bears as the main characters and facts about real bears that the children have learned this week. Bingo cards for this special edition of Sleepover Bingo can be found at the first grade wiki .

Each child brings a bag lunch and the class eats in their room while the Resource teachers are provided pizza as a thank you for the extra work of the day. The afternoon includes "KK's Sleepover Party" where the children go to the Media Center with their pillows (made at the Family Night) and their teddy bears. They get juice and popcorn while they watch a shadow puppet play of Ira Sleeps Over and a Winnie the Pooh movie. And then, they simply dance the day away. It's such a special memory for the first graders. Enjoy some of the memories below.

We Have Answers - Yes We Do!

January standard-based bulletin boards went up last week. There are many outstanding boards, but no board is deeper than the one that went up from Timmons-Daniels. Their board, "We Have Answers - Yes, We Do. We Have Answers - How About You?" represents the questioning strategies that they have been teaching in reading. The questioning strategies that are featured include bouncing back into the text (finding the answers to questions directly in the text), phoning a friend (asking a friend for help in understanding), a questioning web (putting the question in the middle of the web and then finding specific information to put around the web until you can figure out the answer to your question), using outside information (when you just can't figure out the answer to the question, looking at outside sources, such as googling it on the Internet), and activating your schema (thinking about your own background knowledge to help you figure out new information). Below is a slide show of the board including each of the strategies and a single commentary.

Teaching Test-taking Strategies

As the first grade teachers met and discussed the ways that they were going to introduce comprehension and test-taking strategies, Haley Alvarado described a technique that works well for her. She divides her class into groups of four. Each group has a captain, the child that is the least likely to speak up. Haley reads the children a book (Level F, right now). She also has the text typed for the children to hold so that they can follow along with her. After the children have read along, Haley begins to ask a question and gives the children three choices. They talk about the question and when they have agreed on an answer, one of the children in the quad stands. When one student from each quad is standing, she invites the children to name their answer and to tell why. The real discussion, of course, comes when the children disagree and have to defend their answers by going back into the text. The last question that she asks is open ended and is not right or wrong, giving the children even more reason for discussion.


As Haley described these discussion groups last week, one of the teachers suggested that she use the flip camera to film her next group (she does these groups once a week on Wednesdays). Today Haley did just that. The video below begins right after Haley has read the book to the students.


Teaching Comprehension Assessment from dayle timmons on Vimeo.

Where were YOU?

Where were you as the 44th President of the United States took the Oath of Office? I was sharing the moment with my first grade class. As this historic day began the children's daily Morning Message consisted of sentences about the President for the children to correct. At 11:30 the teachers turned on the television so that the children could watch the minutes leading up to the Inauguration. The teachers pointed out all of the important officials - the former Presidents and Vice President, the stylish First Lady and, of course, Sasha and Malia. The children found Barack Obama's name on the screen and held up their hands when they first spotted him. Of course, even with all the conversation at school and at home, one child wanted to know where John McCain was! Rick Warren got up for the prayer but... it was time for our class to go to lunch. The teachers tried to remain respectful and bowed their heads, but as the minutes passed and the five minute window between classes in the lunch line began to close, they quietly lined the children up for lunch. School must go on even as history is being made. Three televisions were on in the Dining Room but very few of the students paid attention. At that time of day the Dining Room is full of kindergartners and first graders who went about their normal business of eating lunch and socializing with friends. Our custodian stayed close to the television hanging on every word and the para professionals manning the Dining Room and teachers as they came and went, would glance at the television to check what was happening. As the Vice President took the oath, one of the paraprofessionals quieted the children and then led in a round of applause as he finished. As the President stepped up to take the oath, the Dining Room was quieted again, but as Barack Obama began to speak the children went back to their business of eating and chatting while most of the adults hung close to the television to catch each word of this historic speech. I sat back down to eat, knowing that I would be able to catch the high points on the news for the rest of the day. As I sat there, the historical implications of the events unfolding in front of my eyes were profound and I wondered if these little ones would one day stand as parents with a questioning first grader of their own who would ask, "Where were you when the first African American President was sworn into office?" Will they remember that they sat in Mrs. Daniels and Mrs. Timmons' first grade classroom or that the Dining Room was quieted as the oaths were taken? Maybe they will remember. Maybe they won't... but I shall never forget.

Friday Share

We recently met as a grade level to talk about how our year is going - what we are proud of so far (and there certainly is a lot to be proud of!), what we hope to accomplish for the rest of the year, and changes we might like to make. Jim Collins tells us that we cannot move from good to great unless we are brutally honest about where we are today. With that in mind, I really tried to listen to what teacher want the rest of our year to look like. One of the things that teachers felt like they needed was more time to share. We have 15 teachers on our grade level and it is difficult for everyone to have a voice and to get their questions answered in our once-a-week meeting time. It is always a difficult balance to meet the needs of such a diverse group of teachers.

In order to provide more time to share, we are going to try 8 Friday morning sharing times in addition to our weekly Teacher Meetings. Teachers volunteer to host and they get to name the topic. Other teachers on the grade level have the option to come or not, but each teacher is asked to bring something to share. This past Friday, Maria Mallon and Cheryl Dillard offered to host our first share and served breakfast. Each teacher was asked to bring at least one thing to share about "Sleepover" which is a full day first grade tradition, January 30. Another struggle for us has been to address things before they happen so that teachers have a little more time to prepare. As usual most teachers brought something to share, but not all, and the ideas were creative, fun, and really got teachers thinking about the event. Questions were asked and answered. Some teachers were relaxed and social while others were on a tight schedule and really worked to keep the conversation on topic and on time. It is always interesting to see the variety of personalities that make a grade level successful!

Make sure to check out the first grade wiki under "Sleepover" for all of the parent communication, hints about the day of Sleepover, the Parent Night pillowcase-making, and curriculum suggestions that go with this traditional event. As our teachers find new activities, they will be encouraged to post and share them on this collaborative wiki. The picture above is what Maria Mallon brought to share. She keeps all of her unit packed in a suitcase, ready to sleep over!

F.A.I.R.

I had my first day in a four day training about F.A.I.R. (Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading) which will take the place of DIBELS beginning next year! (and do I dare hope it also takes the place of the Kindergarten FLKRS?) I was dreading the training because, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sick of assessment. I'm beginning to wonder if we will ever have enough time for teaching or are we just going to test our children to death?! However, I was in for a surprise.


The First Grade F.A.I.R. includes a level of testing for ALL students and then additional testing for struggling students (I like that!) All students will start with a Word Reading (a list of words) that will identify a level for comprehension assessment and fluency. Although the comprehension passages are not currently leveled, we were told that we would receive the Fountas-Pinnell levels. If this happens, it does seem that this much quicker assessment could replace the DRA2 administration three times a year as a way to monitor progress. Teachers would still need to do running records and fluency checks, especially on their struggling students, but the additional time required to do a DRA2 on every child would seem redundant to me. I also LOVE that there is a Vocabulary assessment, which is something we have searched for a long time. We have really wanted to document our children's growth in vocabulary. It's an area we've really worked on at Chets Creek and would like to show how far the children come every year. That's it! More extensive testing in Phonics and Phonemic Awareness is only required if the student is not comprehending.


We have three more days of professional development that will help us learn to use the PMRN (the computer system) and use the assessment instructionally. How can you not love that? -a quick screening that will predict school success and then additional testing for students that struggle with suggestions for how to remediate those areas. This assessment from FCRR has Joe Torgenson written all over it!


I do think this new assessment will take the place of the Chets Creek First Grade Reading Assessment!! I also think this assessment fits well with the FCAT-style comprehension teaching and testing that we have developed in first grade beginning in January (which can be found at the first grade wiki under Reading Assessment).


Although the focus of this blog is first grade, this was a K-2 training. In Kindergarten the Broad Screening emphasizes Phonics and Phonemic Awareness, as well it should. There is also a Vocabulary section (Hooray!) and a LISTENING Comprehension section. Just like the first grade assessment, there is an additional level of testing for students that are struggling who are identified as "yellow" or "red", just like in the DIBELS. "Green" is still "good to go!" The additional assessment that we do at Chets Creek with Sulzby seems to fit seamlessly into the new emphasis on Oral Reading as a sixth "Big Idea" (in addition to the "FAB 5" - Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Comprehension and Fluency) so it would be assessment that we would keep early in Kindergarten to supplement F.A.I.R. However, we would no longer need to complete our Chets Creek Kindergarten Reading Assessment in its entirety.


Second Grade also includes the Word Reading as a placement, much like first grade and then the comprehension and fluency passages. Once again, it seems, if FP levels are provided, that this could replace the DRA2. Vocabulary is once again added (Yeah!) and second grade adds a spelling assessment. Now I hope this will be the type of spelling inventory that we are already doing and will give the teacher specific skills that are mastered or that need to be reinforced, but that is still to be discovered with more training. It will also be interesting to see if those skills correlate with the new Houghton-Mifflin Core Reading Series. My biggest concern in the second grade assessment is that the comprehension questions, while divided into explicit and implicit, are asked orally. Our experience in providing a foundation for FCAT in third grade has shown us that the ability to answer questions orally does not always transfer to the ability to answer the multiple choice type questions that are required on the FCAT so, at this first glance, it seems to me that the Second Grade F.A.I.R will NOT replace the Second Grade Chets Creek Reading Diagnostic but will be in addition to that assessment, providing a much needed screening, especially for struggling students.


All in all, this was an interesting day. I look forward to the additional days of training.

Test-taking Strategies

For years I fought the idea of first graders taking high-stakes type comprehension assessments. I hated the idea of us becoming so focused with high stakes testing that we let it dictate our curriculum. I argued every year that if our first grade children loved reading, if they had good strategies for decoding words and discerning vocabulary, and if they could retell a story with details that they were doing everything in comprehension that they needed to do to prepare them for any type of high stakes test they would be taking in third grade. However, every year I would hear teachers and parents talk about the "gap" between first and second grade and how, even though first grade teachers would promote children through the levels by using a running record and an oral retelling to check comprehension, those same children could not pass comprehension tests on those same levels in second grade.

As I reviewed the second grade expectation and poured over the data, I soon realized that it wasn't that the children didn't understand the stories. The problem was that they didn't understand the format in which they were being asked. In order to show what they knew, they needed some work in test-taking strategies. They needed to know how to bubble in the entire circle so there was no mistaking which answer they marked. They needed to know that they should read all the answers before marking one, because the BEST answer might be the last choice. They needed to know how the test writer might try to "trick" them by giving them answers that were "almost" right and so on.

Exactly which test taking strategies did children need to know in first grade and how were we going to teach them? As we discussed all of this over time in first grade and in second grade and with the grade levels combined, we began to shape a policy that made sense for both grade levels. Finally, with the help of second and third grade teachers, we developed a list of strategies for first graders, an order in which they would be taught and some suggestions on how best to teach the strategies each week before they were tested on Friday. You can find this list on the first grade wiki under Reading Assessment, "First Grade Test Preparation Guiding Principles."

One of the most interesting conversations among first grade teachers was how to include children that were not reading on grade level. We wanted to assess using leveled text, the level we expect a student to be reading this time of year, and we knew our goal was to teach HOW to take a test, so we knew if the child couldn't read the passage, he wasn't going to have much luck practicing and learning the strategies. To relieve this problem teachers decided to send the test passage home ahead of time. They even send a letter to the parents at the beginning of each month that gives the parent sample questions that they can ask the child about the passage and about the book-in-a-bag that comes home every night. These questions parallel the ones that are being discussed in class all week and that will be used in the assessment on Friday. On Mondays each child gets the passage with instructions that it is to be read with an adult each day. The adult initials that he has worked with the child on the passage each day and then sends the passage back on Friday. On Friday the student reads the same passage that he has been practicing and answers 10 written questions about the passage. The weekly passages and tests can be found on the first grade wiki.

In January the tests are written at the "F" level. The test questions are actually read to the students during the Friday assessment during the first month. Students are taught how to fill in the bubble, how to read all of the answer choices, how to underline proof in the passage for questions that are marked with a star and how to identify the type of question that is asked. Questions include story elements, genre questions and main idea questions. Each month the assessments increase in difficulty until May when the reading levels and genres are mixed. The length of the articles increase substantially each month. Besides the text that goes home, a second piece of text is added on the Friday assessment in April that the child is not allowed to practice beforehand. Questions by the end of the year must be read by the student. Through the months sequence questions, vocabulary questions, cause and effect and author's purpose questions along with questions that require inferring have been added and practiced. The final first grade assessment resembles the assessment that the children will be asked to take in the beginning of second grade. Because of the extensive work done by first grade teachers, the second grade teachers now know exactly what skills children should come to them with and where to begin their own teaching.

We are very pleased with the work we have done with assessment over the past few years. Let us know what you think!

Readers' Workshop

This featured video is part of first grade teacher Randi Timmons' Readers' Workshop.

Mini-lesson
The 17 minute mini-lesson focuses on teaching students to use their schema (their background knowledge) to figure out unknown words in the Houghton Mifflin big book, Caribbean Dreams. Randi connects by telling the children how this lesson fits with what they have been learning. She teaches the students by using personal photographs that demonstrate her connection and own background knowledge with individual words. She provides active involvement by inviting the students to turn and talk, practicing the new skill she has just demonstrated, and then links this lesson to what she expects students to be doing in the work session.

Guided Reading
The video then moves into Randi's work with a Level F guided reading group. She begins by helping the children predict what the book will be about from the cover. She then introduces "tricky" words. Next the students read individually while she takes a turn listening to each child read. Finally she wraps up the lesson by going back to a skill that the children need to practice - Go back and reread - and encourages them to use the strategy when they read individually.

Back in the Swing of Things

There's no time to waste! There is an urgency about our teaching so the first day back from the holiday break is no exception. The Pacing Guide says that children should be learning the skills of adding -s and -es to words, so teachers have developed skill centers to practice these skills after they have been introduced. The rule of course, is that you add -s to make a plural unless the word ends with -sh, -ch, -tch, -x, - s, -ss, -zz. In that case, you add -es. Above are some of the centers that practice these skills: unscrambling words (many that are plural) to make a sentence, writing plurals as they are dictated by an adult, playing Concentration with plurals, and unscrambling letters to make a word. Happy New Year!