What if?

As I am standing by the window of  my classroom so that I can get a signal for my iphone. so that I can download a blog I have just written on my phone (my phone is the most sophisticated technology in my room, although I'm not really suppose to use it because it's not county owned), my mind wonders to the "what ifs?"

I do have six outdated computers in my classroom that often work well enough for the students to get on the computer program that the county endorses.  I also have a laptop that works at a basic level but really cannot be used for much instructional because so much is blocked.  I do not have wireless in my classroom but can connect to the land... but because the county is always chasing a lack of bandwidth, you can never depend on anything on the Internet working - you might have a little better than a 50/50 chance that you can use what you've planned.  I can plan the most engaging lesson, full of pictures and videos only to have the entire lesson derailed once I get to school because I spend so much time trying to get the technology to work that I completely lose the class. What the children learn is just how frustrating technology can be instead of the engaging content planned.  Like many teachers, I often don't include much technology in my lessons any more...even though I'd like to. I don't mind spending the extra time planning and I still constantly look for the resources, but sometimes it's not worth the frustration.  So... even though it's not permitted, I use to my iphone - to look up a picture of a wallaby when a second language student asks what it looks like or to make sure I have a word in Skills Block spelled correctly, or to show a short clip on my phone that I enlarge with a doc camera... even though we are using technology that is in a time before our children were born, I still feel compelled to pull lessons into the century that they are living.

But what if?  What if children had laptops, as many of them do at home now, and they could learn to use them to research the things they wonder about... instantly?  What if they could learn to use them for educational purposes, instead of just for games?

What if I had an anecdotal system that connected everyone that sees each of my children so that all the information was in a single place?  My classroom is like a revolving door - with students leaving my room for Occupational Therapy, Speech, Language intervention, counseling, Social Skills group, Special Education services and now RtI intervention.  Four different interventionists come to my door every day, just for RtI, to pull each student at a different time for a 30 minute intervention.  How do I know what they are doing when they are pulled out?  I don't really.  Yesterday one of the interventionist came to tell me that two different interventionist were pulling the same child for the same intervention!  With 36 children in and out, I hadn't even noticed!  It had been happening for two weeks.  I was mortified!   There is no way there is time in the day or even in the week to catch up with each of these support folks to find out how it's going with each student or more importantly, to find out how I can reinforce what they are doing when they are pulled out of my classroom.  But what if all those folks were tied into a single system and when I pulled up Joe's name to do guided reading, I could see what he did earlier that day in his RtI intervention group and I could add a few extra words that reinforce the skills he had just done?  The possibilities are limitless for how we could support each other instead of each chopping up the poor child's day and wondering why he isn't getting it with all that support.

The technology is here.  My co-teacher and Special Education teacher and I all pay for an app, called Confer.  I have talked about this app before because it connects all three of us.  We are able to type in notes and then sync our phones to share our notes instantly.  Yes, that's my iphone again, the one I'm not suppose to be using.  And yes, we each have to pay $25+ to have the app, but what a difference it has made.  What if I also had the sounds that the Speech Therapist is working on when I sit down to do an individual writing conference so that as I am stretching a word I could make sure the child to saying the sound correctly or the specific pencil grip that the OT wants a student to use as I sit down for a writing conference or the skills that the RtI interventionist is teaching later today to reinforce during my few minutes of conferring during independent reading with the student?

What if we had visionaries in our schools that made these dreams such a reality that every single person could see the benefits?  What is we cared so much about our children that they became a priority and it wasn't money that was blocking our road.  What if...?

Texting in the Classroom

I have written often about how pitiful the technology resources are at my school - not that administrators don't work to stretch every single resource and get as much usage as they can.  The county simply doesn't supply the needed resources.  We're on a list somewhere to be updated at some time, but in the meantime...  So often I have a lesson planned and can't get on Youtube or the Internet is down or whatever - seems like there are always more problems than solutions.  Our Media Specialist, who works tirelessly to keep everything going and helping us find solutions, is amazing, but the resources simply aren't there.  I do have four land computers that are old, but they work as student stations and a laptop for my desk. I am thankful for those.  However, I do not have wireless, so even though I have my own ipad, I can't get wireless and I'm really not allowed to use it anyway - rules about not using your own stuff, because...  there's a long list (most of it probably justifiable). 

Anyway, we have been struggling with ways to take anecdotal notes in Writing, Reading and Math and even Behavior with two teachers and a Special Education teacher all servicing the same students.  We've used lots of systems over the years - notebook (it's too inconvenient to keep one notebook for several teachers), sticky notes (they fall off over time and they still go into one notebook so you can't see the last note that was written), individual notebooks for each student at their desks (they get so ratty by the end of the year and there's really not enough room at their tables), stickers (they aren't  big enough for everything I want to write), and on and on and on.  Nothing has really been very efficient... until...  we found an app!

Although we can't get a signal on our iphones in much of our building, we are able to get a signal in our classroom because our room is on an outside wall, so one piece of technology that I can use is my iphone (although technically, I am not suppose to use personal devices).  For two years we have been using an app called Confer (we have had some recent syncing problems, but it was flawless for the first year, and I'm sure it will be again).  It was developed by a Nationally Board Certified Teacher - imagine that?!  A teacher with a solution! This app allows each of us to take notes during the day and then to sync at the end of the day and get each other's notes.  So, if I'm working with a child tomorrow, I will know that my co-teacher worked on conventions today during a writing conference or that the ESE teacher worked through a total melt down with a child yesterday in her room so I need to reinforce a specific behavior today.  We have very little time in our packed schedule to actually talk to each other about all the little conversations we have with children or all our noticings or wondering about specific children but this is a way we can keep in touch and keep a record of the progress students are making.

I never really thought to explain to the kids what I was doing while I was taking notes, so today one of the children asked me who I texted all day on my phone!  I wonder how many adults or other teachers have wondered through my class and asked the same question?!  I quickly pulled up my notes on this particular child so he could see what I was doing, but for anyone that has peeked into the classroom and seen us "texting," we really are taking notes!

Stop by.  I'd love to share what we are doing!  LOL!

Is anybody in charge out there?

Sometimes it is hard for me to understand what the decision makers are thinking when decisions are made. One recent decision really has me scratching my head.

Our county has put a lot of eggs in one basket.  The basket is a computer program called iReady.  Not only is it being used for progress monitoring in Reading and Math but also will be used this year to monitor many teachers' progress with their students.  That score along with a teacher's evaluation and professional development plan will be used to decide if a teacher is "highly effective" and  theoretically will eventually be linked to teacher pay, so... this computer program becomes pretty important.  I don't really think the program was ever designed to be used in this way, but that's probably a different blog!

As I have been working on rewriting assessments with some of my first grade peers, we have been trying to align test questions with what we anticipate will be on the state's FSA (state's high stake assessment),  our curriculum, and this iReady computer program - all things with accountability attached.  It is impossible to see an alignment.

Recently the county gave us iReady "cut" scores to make decisions.  If a child received below a certain cut score they were to be administered a DAR, an instrument that breaks down reading skills in simpler parts. This assessment allows a teacher to pinpoint exactly what the problem might be so that interventions might be targeted - a sound goal - but the cut score is too high (although nobody is asking teachers!)  In my class 22 of 35 students, 63%, were identified as needing this extra assessment which also assumes extra intervention is needed.  Fourteen of those 22 are reading at the level expected for this time of year according to the DRA (a long used and reliable measure of reading levels) and 19 are making "Satisfactory" in Reading this nine weeks on their report cards (6 have S+ and 3 have E's!)  This is common across our grade level.  According to this cut score, I would have well over half of the students in my class in need of extra intervention, Tier 2. Really? 

Is it really necessary for me to spend about three weeks of reading instructional time to give these students a test that will tell me nothing?  Is it necessary for me to spend time each week giving these students Tier 2 intervention when they don't need it, so that I don't have enough time to provide the intensive intervention where it is really needed? Maybe the decision makers will figure out the problem... eventually... after all the instructional time has been wasted?  I can only scratch my head and ask, "What are they thinking?"

The Summer Slide

This summer I have a looping class which means that the children I taught in kindergarten will loop up with me to first grade. Although there is always some natural attrition- parents separate and divorce and move away, parents are transferred, families move back home- about two-thirds of the class end up staying for the second year. I've looped classes before and one of the things that I have seen over and over is what is now being described by Richard Allington as the "summer slide."  It's simple. Children that don't read over the summer most often fall back a reading level when they are tested at the beginning of the new school year and those that read regularly, often visiting the public library weekly, move ahead a level. As you can imagine, the students that fall back are often those that are already behind.

So this year our Leadership Team thought they'd try to do something about it. Reading Allington's research is all it really took to light a fire under this Team. . Before I knew it, our media specialist had met with the Scholastic rep and designed an online summer reading program. She met with teachers and encouraged them to get kids logging in the last week of school. Several of our children were on the computer logging in the minutes they had read that very night. Of course, as you might expect, the students that were first to log on are also the ones that are already ahead and whose families  already furnish a rich language experience in their daily lives.

The challenge has always been how to encourage the others. Fortunately this program offered handouts in Spanish which helped many of my second language learners understand the expectation.  It even provided a paper version that the students could hand in at the end of the summer for those that don't have computer access. We were fortunate to have the Principal's support so she has offered a "prize" to any student that logs in 1500 minutes during the summer. We have pushed summer school teachers at our school and the two camp leaders that meet at our school to become involved.

Now I need to take responsibility for inspiring my own students and keep them reading throughout the summer.  My goal is to have 100% of the students log in at least once during the summer or to bring me a list of minutes at the end of the summer - no small task. This week I sent a personal post card to every student who has already logged in to congratulate them on their summer reading.  I am hoping to start an exchange with those students to encourage them to not only read, but to write.

I sent a letter to those that haven't logged on yet, urging them to give the program a try and sending them their user name and password again and a log sheet just in case they haven't logged in because they don't have computer access.  Now this will be the third time I have sent this information on how to log in, but I figure if their parents keep seeing it, they might decide that it's important.  And besides most of these students (and their parents) will have to face me again in the fall! I don't know if this extra effort will really pay off but I certainly believe it will. In two weeks I will be sending encouraging emails - instead of using the postal service - and then two weeks after that I thought I'd start sending selfies of me reading at home, in the car, at the beach, to my grand kids, and every other way I can think to read.  I'd do a headstand while reading but I can't do a headstand! I  am hoping the children will begin to send me selfies back of them reading!  Can't wait to see if this eliminates the summer slide in my returning students!

Kindergartners Login

Today I sent this letter to "the powers that be." Do any other kinder teachers feel my frustration?

 

a typical 17 digit kindergarten log in

I am a kindergarten teacher trying to use I-Ready (a computer-based county adopted intervention in Reading and Math) with fidelity.  I am at a "red" school, which means we do not have the technology capacity of other "blue" schools.  My only option, with 3 computers and 36 students, and trying to get students on the computer with fidelity, is to try to use our computer lab weekly (one lab, 1300 students) when it's not being used for testing.  That has presented quite a challenge.

The computer login screen

I know that you are probably not the  person that developed the login for students in Duval County but for a five year old, the login to our school computers is rather challenging.  The username is a random set of nine letters and numbers.  A 5 year old, at the beginning of the year doesn't even recognize all the letters and numbers, but even at the end of the year, some kindergartners can't track nine numbers and letters from a piece of paper as they try to find each one on their keyboard.  A kindergartner can't really tell the difference between the number 1, the capital I or the lowercase l or the number 0, the lowercase o and the uppercase O, which, of course, all have to be put in precisely.  To put in the password, the student has a different set of eight letters and numbers. The challenge is even greater because the child cannot see what is being typed.  He can only see dots (to protect the password) so the room for tracking mistakes is huge!

In order to use our computer lab we have to find 4-5 parent volunteers who will come to the lab and help us log in students.  It takes 30 minutes of our 60 minute computer time to get all students logged on, even with that type of hep.  However, like I said, I know that you did not design that system.  Whoever designed it might be interested in what the parents, who have had to come help us, have had to say!

the iReady screen

Although you probably cannot help with the challenges of the login system, you could help with the sign in to I-Ready.  Right now we are trying to teach the students to log in themselves so that when they come back as first graders we will not be wasting all of our computer time with the login and might really get down to some lessons!  However, after we spend the time to teach the students how to log into the computer, we finally get to I-ready.  Now they have to use their username but instead of a lowercase s, they have to figure out how to make an uppercase S.  Do you have any idea how hard that is for 5 year olds to understand?  And then, after teaching them the password to sign in, now they are told not to use that password, although it says password, but to type in their username again, but don't forget to make it an uppercase S instead of the lowercase s that they signed in with. Confused?  I don't know if you can understand a five year old's frustration level, but if you want to feel it, drop by any time we're in the computer lab!

To help solve this problem, I'm wondering if it might be possible to have the I-ready login the same as the computer login?   The exact same - same letters, same numbers, same capitals and lowercase letters.  If we are going to spend the time to teach a five year old a username and password that, thankfully, will go with them throughout their Duval career, using the same username and password for everything would be ever so helpful.  Thanks for listening...

My frustration runneth over...

Update:  I never got a response from anyone to this letter or this problem although I heard from many kindergarten teachers - they said they were afraid to leave a comment that might be tracked back to them. Hmmmm...

Kindergarten Math Professional Development

Today we had a day of Kindergarten Professional Development in Math.  Oh my!  What a fantastic day!  Not only did I get to spend the day with a grade level of teachers I adore, but Suzanne Shall, who is our Assistant Principal, slipped on her Math Coaching hat and ran the TDE.  What a treat, in so many ways!

We started with a demo in the famous Mall-ard class!  There was so much to take back into my own class that I don't even know where to start.  Since this is my reflection, I guess I'll give you the high points for me and the things that I will be taking back!

1. The demo started with Math Journals. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture but they use composition books with a cross drawn on each page so that the students have 4 squares on each page.  These quick activities review skills/ standards from previous lessons.  Today's skills were: 1) How many more in a tens frame, 2) using pictures of 10 bundles to count by tens, 3) "counting on" starting with 6 donuts and then 3 are added, and 4) a 4+1 __ and 1-1 __ from our One More, One Fewer Math Investigations Game.  They actually set the timer for 5 minutes and called time.  Students that finish early know to go to the left side of their page and start writing the numbers by 1 as far as they can go.  This routine is so firmly established that it looked like most students finished. The compositions books were put away so seamlessly that I didn't even notice how it was done or where the composition books went!

2.  They transitioned to the carpet with a math song with the words on a chart and a child pointing to each word as the children sang.  They use Math in Motion by Mr. Al and Math in Motion by Jack Hartman and change the song every couple of weeks. This week the skill is counting by 5's.  Now, I know I have had both of those CDs at some point in my career.  They are not new, but I can't find them now, so I ordered them both and they will be here on Tuesday!  Woo hoo!

3. Next was a quick skill review.  Today they used an interactive game.  Only 5-6 minutes but today a quick review of ten frames with students sometimes identifying the number filled and sometimes identifying the empty blocks.  At the debrief later, Cheryl would share some favorite 5-10 minute Math Skills that she uses.

4.  We are in the middle of a geometry unit so today we saw the Math Investigations lesson about filling hexagons with shapes. The lesson started with the essential questions and then began with the comedy team of Mrs. Dillard and Mrs. Mallard pretending to be the students and playing the game together.  I blinked and the students were at their seats, playing while the 14 teacher (!) milled around talking to students as they worked.

Mrs. Dillard closed by going back to the essential questions and having students she had pre-selected come to the front and explain the combinations they had used as she filled in a design.

5.  At the end Mrs. Dillard used an "exit ticket" as an informal assessment.  She had five shapes on a piece of paper in a plastic protector sleeve at each student's desk.  She asked the students 3 questions and each student marked their answer and held it up.  This way she could do a a quick assessment of who got it and who didn't.  Master teacher in action. 

They did all this in a one hour Math Workshop!  The reason they can do so much is because their rituals and routines are so incredibly seamless and their time is tight not a second wasted.  As the children got out materials and put them away it was without directions.  They simply knew what to do.  Amazing!

As always, the teachers went back to the conference room and the debrief was full of praise and insight.  If we had done nothing else today, the entire day was worth seeing colleagues teach!  

But that was just the beginning of what Suzanne had planned with our Math Lead Cheryl Dillard for us to do.  We had been assigned a chapter to read from  Number Talks: Mental Math Computations by Sherry Parrish.  Instead of debriefing the chapter, we played a word/ definition/ picture game with partners - love when the coach models by using a teaching strategy we could do in the classroom.  Then we watched 5 minute video clips from the chapter with kindergarten teachers and students.  It makes such a difference when you can see a teacher demonstrating the principles.

This chapter is all about using ten frames, rekenreks and  dot cards to teach subitizing and conserving numbers, one-to-one correcsponse, counting by 1's and counting on by using 5's and 10's.  All of this is our foundation in these early grades.  That's not to say that we didn't have trouble wrapping our minds about how we would fit all this in! Suzanne has copied a stack of work we could use in the classroom tomorrow which is the sequence for implementing these strategies as part of a daily skills review.

The rest of the day was about showing us tools that we could use during our Math Workshop and for our small groups.  Our county has bought i-Ready, which is a computer program.  Although we are expected to use it, there has been little professional development on this massive program so we went through some of the reports and how they could be used to inform parents, but also how to use them to inform instruction, such as forming small groups and then monitoring progress.  Unfortunately we are a school, not living in the 21st century with our technology so the barriers to implementing this program with kindergartners often seem insurmountable but as is our way, we shared the barriers and our frustrations and then quickly went to sharing solutions and ways that teachers were making it work.  Our technology is so less than ideal, but our children will live in an age where technology is part of their life, so we have to embrace what we have!   We looked at the Toolbox Lessons (Access code: NASM-X9SA) for i-Ready and some of the cpalms lessons that might supplement our lessons and our own professional development.  Although some of the lessons were taped right here at Chets Creek, we were especially interested in the videos, Is it still a triangle? and Compare Hexagons for this geometry unit.

The thing about Suzanne is that she walks in the shoes of a teacher.  She has a family.  She knows how tight our time is and how much is being added to our plate every day without anything coming off, so, instead of just giving us a list of resources that we could look at "when we have time" (as if that ever happens!), she made sure that she had carved out time in our day so  that we could look at some of the sights right then and there and see what we could find on our own. That way she assures that we will know how to return to the sights and actually use them later!

Suzanne always ends with time for partners to discuss what they learned and what they want to do with what they have learned and then has them share with the group the first thing that they saw that they want to implement.  You have to have time to synthesize and reflect and then develop a plan.  Each of us left with a plan.

 

I don't mind telling you that my head is swimming, but what a great day of learning.  Maybe other schools do this on a regular basis like we do at Chets Creek, but that was never true in the eight schools I taught at before coming to Chets.  Recently I inquired from someone in the county about wanting professional development in a reading technique that I knew was being offered in our county, but not at my school.  The person suggested that if I wanted the training, I should transfer to that school!  They so don't get it. Chets Creek is about being a learner and collaborative teaching. It's the leadership, the collegiality, the passion, the synergy that makes it work - that makes it different here. That's why I stay here.  Did I say that I love my job?

Technology at its Finest!

The county has purchased a computer support program for Math, called I-Ready.  Hooray! So we have been charged with getting all of our little ones on the computer and through the pre-test.  Sounds simple, right?  Not!  First the children, some who have never used a mouse before, are expected to log on to the county's system.  The county doesn't make that easy for a 5-year old.  Their username is a l-o-n-g sequence of numbers and letters.  Then their password is another l-o-n-g sequence of letters and numbers including both upper and lowercase letters.  Now it may be simple for you and me to follow a sequence of numbers and letters on a card, but for a 5-year-old that is virtually impossible!  They can't tell the l's from the 1's (did you get that? the lowercase letter l and the number 1!)  They can't tell if it's the number 0 or the letter O, not to mention not knowing how to use the shift key to make uppercase letters.  To say it's  a nightmare is an understatement.  There is a county policy barring teachers from using their own information to log all the kids in, so how in the world can this mandate be accomplished?

The good news is that once a child learns that long sequence of letters and numbers, it stays the same for the rest of their school career - thank goodness!  Having taught Kindergarten and first grade all these many years, I know it takes until about the middle of first grade, going to the lab often, before most children can actually log in independently.  Seems like the county could come up with a little simpler system for their youngest learners, doesn't it?

But Chets Creek is built for solving problems! To solve our problem with the pre-test, we invited our fifth grade partners to join us in the computer lab.  We also invited the Technologist/Media Specialist to join us.  Good thing!  We needed every single computer for our 35 students and our Technologist had made sure all were working.  However, several of the headphones were down and had to be replaced on the spot.  Had she not been with us (and she had to rearrange classes to make it happen!) those children would have lost that time and not completed the pre-test. When we first went in, the entire system was down and had she not been there to call the county and get a fix, we would have wasted an hour of our time and our fifth grade class.  That is our more normal, frustrating experience!  But today, all was right with the world, and after some initial frustration and lack of patience, all the fifth graders were able to log their kinder on and the kinders were able to work through the problems.

I am anxious to begin using this new resource in our classroom. I am trying to figure out a way to not have to log each student on, which would have me jumping up and down 35 times during each day to log in for a child. Any suggestions?  If I don't log them in myself, they will spend their entire time logging in (and maybe never hit the magic combination) and will get no time working on Math!  Also, we only have 3 computers and will find it challenging to get every kid on every day, but nonetheless, being an optimist, can't wait!

Close Reading in Kindergarten

Today we were treated to a demonstration lesson by Duval County's K-2 Reading Director, Katie Moeller.  How fortunate we are to have a Director of Reading that is willing to come into a classroom and actually demonstrate with children (and kindergartners at that!) as she teaches teachers.  Today's essential question was around a subject that our kindergarten teachers have been working with since the beginning of school, "What does close reading look like in kindergarten?" 

Today's lesson came from an exemplar K-2 lesson from the website Achieve the Core around a poem, "The Wind" by James Reeves.  The poem was written out for the kindergartners without the title (which gives away the main idea of the poem).  This "unit" of lessons would be presented over many days as the students look at small portions of the text each day.  However, today we were shown several different ways to use the text and then left with a lesson plan full of additional ideas. 

There were so many examples of just good teaching such as calling on students randomly, using "turn and talk" with a partner, asking for text evidence, using thumbs up for a quick assessment, teaching vocabulary, etc., not to mention the depth of the questioning that moves us toward the Core. 

Chets Creek kinder teachers have committed to teaching this lesson and some of its extensions so that they can come together again and discuss successes and challenges.  This is the idea of lesson study.  What a great way to spend a morning - learning with some of my favorite colleagues!

It's going to be a WILD ride!

Our first day back was full of all the fun and excitement that is the cornerstone of the Chets philosophy.  We are living our theme by taking a walk on the WILD side!

We walk into a lobby this morning, which is amazing.  It even has a real water feature and offers the perfect photo op!

The first activity, as we begin to assemble, is a fun game and... there's always a prize to the winning grade level!

Next it was into the Dining Room where the Principal had assembled the cutest theme-related lunchbox of gifts.

Grade level skits are always one of the highlights if the day.  I won't give away the theme of the skits because "what happens at the Creek, stay at the Creek!"  I will say however, that our group won the prize for the third year in a row!  Woo hoo!

After such hilarious fun, the Principal goes over our scores from last year's assessments and gives us her goals for this coming year.  She reminds us of why we are teachers and what makes the Creek so special.  We each take a personality survey - so that we can get to know our teammates better - and find out if we are eagles, doves, peacocks or owls.  That information will help us all year as we work together.  Then.. it's off to the zoo!  We're off on a scavenger hunt.  One of the things that makes this year's team building different is that technology has become an integral part.  As we find things on the list we have to send a picture to the Principal with our iphones!  The picture below is my team with a zoo keeper - one of many pictures we sent.

We had lunch at the zoo.  Below is one of my new teammates facetiming to her boyfriend in...Afghanistan!



 

Then it is time for hazing the new teachers at the Creek.  First the Principal gives them a task and they have to entertain us with a chant/song with motions.  They have about eight minutes to get together and decide what to do and then it's performance time.

Finally, the newbies have to take the Chets Creek pledge.

 

We end the day with the Principal reading our first book of the month for this year, Wild About Books.  What a fantastic day!

As the day ends, I am tired, but leaving with a smile on my face because I am so excited about the new year to come!  That's what the first day back should be -a big family reunion celebrating our love for each other - and total inspiration!

Connected From the Start

I have been sitting in on interviews for teachers who want to teach at my school this week.  One of the questions we generally ask is how the teacher uses technology in the classroom.  The replies generally are a list of the technology that they have -  anything from Smartboards to ipads for each student.  Rarely does a teacher really explain how she uses the technology that she has or how that technology has made a difference in her connectedness or instruction, but yesterday one of the teachers said, "Well I've been reading this new book and it's made me rethink how I'm using my classroom blog.  It's by this teacher named Kathy Cassidy.  The title is something about being connected..."  Woo hoo!  She gets extra points!  In fact, I think there's a good chance we'll hire her!  Can't wait to sit down with her and discuss some ideas!

As I have been reading Kathy's book, I too have been rethinking how I use the technology I have in my classroom.  Sometimes I would just rather complain about what I don't have and what I do have that doesn't work.  It's a constant frustration but Kathy deals with that early on.  She didn't start with a million dollar grant and a technology genie that granted her every wish either.  She started in the same way that I am, with a little of this and a little of that, lots of curiosity, and probably a better disposition for working around problems.  Of course, she always seems to see the glass half full and turns "mistakes" into just another learning opportunity.  Her honesty and openness have made me to rethink how I am connecting my own class.

So... since I started reading Kathy's book...

• I have purchased a mini ipad because I got tired of getting out of my comfy chair with my paper copy of Kathy's book to go to my computer to check the live links!  I have now read several books on my little mini ipad (something I never really thought I wanted or would use) and find it really is quite convenient!  Who knew?
• I added my name to a Skype project and have connected with a first grade teacher in Brazil!
• I use Blogger for my class blog and I have figured out how to add the blog to my iphone which has made blogging so much simpler.  I carry my iphone everywhere so that I can snap a quick picture and add a few words.  Parents really have almost instant access to what is going on in the classroom.  (I have worried that some of my colleagues might think I'm texting friends throughout the day instead of blogging, but I hope they call me on it so I can teach them how to do it too!)
• While the children are not allowed to have their own blogs in our county, Kathy's book helped me move to letting the kids do some of the blogging on our class blog.  We are in a unit on persuasive writing, so I let the ones that wanted, blog their letters.  They have been so amazed at the comments they have gotten and it has really helped them understand that they are writing for an audience.  You can see what they have been blogging.  I also learned about the hashtag #comments4kids on Twitter and have been spending time at night commenting on other children's blogs which has been quite entertaining and informational.
•  I reacquainted myself with Twitter and found the hashtag #1stchat - which has been such a great way to see what other first grade teachers are thinking and saying.  And that's just the beginning...

I dare you to read this book and not find a million ways to get connected!  That's not a challenge.  It's a guarantee!

#1stchat

So... at the suggestion of friend and PLP Editor John Norton, I have downloaded Kathy Cassidy's new "book,"  an e-book, Connected from the Start.  I know Kathy's work because she is a 1st grade teacher who has been "the" voice for how first grade teachers can connect to the world.  My techy friend, Melanie Holtsman, has been sending me links to Kathy's work for years.  I started by downloading a paper copy of the book.  As I sat down this morning in my comfortable chair with my paper copy of the book, I soon realized this was going to be a different reading experience indeed!  There are live links throughout the book and I wasn't ten pages in before I had to get up out of my comfy chair, go to my computer, and check out one of the videos.  A few more pages and I had to see if my Skype account was still active.  I was remembering how we Skyped a teacher who went to Japan last year for the opening of the games of Major League Baseball.  The kids were so excited.  Why haven't I used that more in my classroom?  It really wasn't so hard - except for managing the time difference.  So as I searched first grade teachers in Skype, I tried to think of a project that might be interesting.  We have just started a new author study so I put in a request for any class that might also be studying Mem Fox.  We'll see what turns up!

Twenty pages in and I've reconnected with my Twitter account (which I admit to not using very much - I just couldn't seem to find MY place on Twitter), because Kathy suggested searching by the hashtag #1stchat! An hour later and I've been through dozens of links to amazing suggestions and apps. Can't wait to get to Chapter 6 which is all about Twitter!

Now this is going to be one interesting read!  I think I need a more comfortable chair at my computer! So... back to the "book" - but I just had to take a moment to share!

The Highs and Lows of Technology

We took our first graders to the computer lab today for the first time this year.  We took them a couple of times last year but just teaching kindergartners to sign in is close to impossible.  In our county students use a 9-10 number/letter username and a 9-10 number/letter password.  Just getting youngsters to follow the sequence of the letters - and did I mention that some are uppercase and some lowercase so you have teach them to use the shift key - is a tedious task.  Now granted, once they learn the username and password at least they keep the same one for the duration of their time in Duval County.

In Kindergarten it is hardly worth the time it takes to get kids signed in, but by the time students reach first grade, there are several programs that the county has paid big money for that really can supplement the curriculum.  So... off we go to the computer lab to practice turning on the computer and signing in...

We have to sign up for the lab, but the calendar was blank today and probably will be until the lab is filled for mandatory testing.  Regardless, when we troop up the stairs  - a first for most of our students - we find another small group in the room - not using the computers, just using the room.  As sweetly as I can muster, I say that we came because we didn't see anyone on the calendar.  We even checked with the front office to be sure.  She, just as sweetly, says the room should have been signed out to her every day from 9-10 to work with her small group.  My line of first graders out the door are getting antsy as she kindly agrees to find another place to work.  Good thing too because I have promised these pint-sized learners an exciting hour!

We never really have enough computers  in the lab for every child to have their own, especially when our numbers are so swollen at the beginning of the year.  You can see the disappointment as children are asked to share... And, as always a few of the computers don't work.  While I'm sure this happens everywhere, younger students really have not developed much patience and tolerance for broken machines and again, even  a few more have to double up. 

As I am leaning over computers to help students realize that the 1 they typed is actually a lowercase l and the o is really the number zero 0 and not the letter O, the sweat rolls down my back.  It's bloody hot in this lab, but I guess no one has used the Lab this year to report that the air is not working properly.  Why is it that I seem to be the only one sweating as the children are totally engrossed with the task at hand!  Of course, there are several trying to sign in once, throwing their hands up in utter exasperation and complaining that their computer is broken.  I want to yell - IT'S USER ERROR! - but instead I smile and go the next student that has a hand raised.

Finally - and I do mean F-I-N-A-L-L-Y - we get to the site - SRA Number Worlds - and are faced with another username and password - a different one, of course. We have been working for an hour now when a few students finally reach the game stage.  Of course, now we realize that most of the computers don't have headphones.  The noise level begins to rise so... we congratulate the children for getting the computers turned on and teach them how to sign off!  Are we really going to call this Math today?

It was an exhausting lesson, but most of the children leave with smiles.  The first students sign in on our four computers when we get back to the room and we're off and running.  We've assigned a few computer "experts" to help friends get signed on so we are not disturbed every time a child wants to use the computers throughout the day. So... with all the barriers and all the bumps along the way, why do we make the effort?  Because this generation of children will be digital natives and will grow up in a world that we can't even imagine, and also because... it's part of our first grade standards!

Celebrating Eric Carle in 2012

In Kindergarten Author Studies are all about retelling books.  At Chets Creek we chose the beloved early childhood author and illustrator Eric Carle to focus our first author study.  All through this unit the children have worked on ways to retell each story.  They have used pre-made props and made some of their own props.  They have drawn sequences of events and have played games to reinforce the events in each story.  They have completed story maps and have answered literal and inferred questions as they have gotten to know each book better and better.  More than the retelling, an author study is about looking across a body of work.  The children have compared and contrasted stories and of course, Eric Carle's art as they have gotten to know him and his body of work.  Many of our retelling activities are kept on our grade level wiki.

Today all seven kindergarten classes celebrated by revisiting some of their favorite books.  They began the day by donning shirts they made of the very hungry caterpillar.  First up was eating Pancakes to reinforce Eric Carle's Pancakes, Pancakes. They watched a video of the movie as they ate.

Next the children visited a center where they made necklaces threading green and red construction paper circles, spaced apart with cut green straws.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is absolutely a favorite book and the children enjoyed retelling as they threaded their necklaces.

Of course every celebration needs a hat!  So it was on to the hat center where the children made ladybug bands to celebrate The Grouchy Ladybug.  The children talked about a ladybug being an insect and having six legs. They enjoyed listening to the story once again..

Our final center was a study of Eric Carle's art,  The children took a pattern of a seahorse and covered it with tissue paper just like Eric Carle does with the animals in his books.  Mister Seahorse never looked so good!

Thank you Eric Carle!  We have thoroughly enjoyed our study!  Can't you tell?!!

Author Visit: Carmen Agra Deedy

One of most special traditions at Chets Creek is Media Specialist's KK Cherney's commitment to bring a children's author or illustrator to our campus each year.  This year the children and staff had the opportunity to hear the delightful children's author, Carmen Agra Deedy.  The children were captivated by her stories.  She was born in Cuba and came to the United States when she was three years old.  She told the primary students about leaving Cuba and about her first year in school in Decatur, GA as a first grader and as a second language learner, and about finding common ground in baseball and the peanut man.  Not only was her story heart-wrenching but it was so funny!  She had the children in the palm of her hand!  She told other stories to the assemblies of older students and even met with a group of second language learners during lunch.

Principal Susan Phillips used one of Carmen's books in the morning to provide monthly professional development for the teachers around her book-of-the-month.  This month the teachers walked in to find the Cuban folktale, Martina,The Beautiful Cockroach as their selected book for the month. The table was set up with Cuban coffee ( which was wonderful!) and Cuban bread!   However, the beautiful book was written totally in Spanish!   The Principal asked the teachers in groups of three to read the book and figure out what the story was about as the author watched from the back of the room! 

It was quite interesting to watch the teachers - responses mirrored what we see from our second language students on a daily basis, from those that simply gave up because it was too hard, to those that tried to figure out the story from the few words that they knew (often incorrectly), to those that used other strategies such as looking at the pictures to figure out the story.  The point was to put teachers in the place of a second language student... and it worked quite well.  Principal Phillips then gave the teachers a list of researched based strategies for teaching second language students and asked each group of teachers to write ways that they would use the book to reinforce one of the strategies.  Those teacher-generated ideas will be housed on the school's book-of-the-month wiki so that teachers can return to and use this book, that is now part of their classroom library, each year.

Carmen Agra Deedy with
my kindergarten granddaughter

Students were allowed the opportunity to order one of the author's books before the holiday, so after lunch each of those children was invited to the Media Center to meet with the author and have the book signed.  What a thrill it is for these young students to actually meet a published author!  I loved hearing some of the older students talk about how they have a signed book from each year they have been at Chets Creek!  What a treasured gift of memories.

It was such a special day for the teachers and the children, especially some of our second language learners.  Many of our students heard books by Carmen Agra Deedy for the first time and others revisited books they have loved and had been hearing for the weeks leading up to her visit.  For many this will be a day that is pressed into  their  memories for a long time to come and it will help them realize that authors are real people and help them visualize the possibility of becoming an author themselves! For some of our second language learners who are struggling each day to comprehend what is going on around them, I think this visit must have renewed hope as they look at how well things turned out for Carmen.  Amazing day!

Check out this delightful retelling done by a Cuban-American (former teacher) mom with  a kindergartner in Mrs. Mallon and Mrs. Dillard's class!  People just wouldn't believe what happens at our school!

The First Day of the New Year

The first day back to school after Christmas is always hard.  The alarm clock rings so early and this morning it was so-o-o cold - at least for Florida.  It was hard to crawl out from under those warm covers.  I got to school to find the laminator out of film so I couldn't use the centers I had worked on over the holiday.  Then it was printers that didn't work and teachers stressed by their inability to print their Newsletters and morning work.  Computers had been "deployed" over the break and every bit of a semester's work for four of my students vanished.  Their daily computer intervention was lost for today, and probably forever, since I can't ask them to repeat a semester's worth of work to figure out where they are in the program. I HATE technology.  I'm sure at some executive level, technology decisions make lots of sense, but for those of us in the trenches, technology is a nightmare. 

With that kind of start, I guess I could say it was a dreadful start to the new school year but then the students walked through the door.  Their new haircuts and clothes - Kayla with her special toboggan knitted by mom, Christian's adorable Superman hat, Grace's cute little gingerbread tee-shirt that made us all laugh - and all those little toys sneaked into backpacks to share.  They walked in with such enthusiasm - smiles ear to ear -chattering away about all that had happened since we had last been together.  Their faces were so eager and some of them seemed to have grown while they were away.  A million stories had been etched into their memories - both good and bad - and they shared so willingly - places they had been, nanas they had seen, cousins they had played with, hugs they had shared... and then there was the one child who said nothing good had happened over the break and told about her dad being so mad on Christmas Eve and crying all night.  Even with the few sad stories, the sun shone brightly through the windows as the children began to take their places in the room melting the fog and dark clouds of the earlier morning.  I guess this is why I teach... because no matter what is going on in my own life, no matter the distractions and roadblocks of the "system," the children warm the air.  They remind me of all that is good in this world and of my responsibility to them for these 180 days that we have together.  Life really is good... and I feel blessed to be able to spend my days teaching children...  Welcome new year!

Pow Wow 2011

Today was the culmination of our month long study of the great Native American Nations.  When Chets Creek opened, Chief Jumping Frog was a Kindergarten teacher and she brought the tradition of a Native American Powwow around the Thanksgiving holiday with her from another local elementary school.  Today Chief Jumping Frog Principal Susan Phillips and that tradition have evolved from one of teaching our children that Native Americans use bows and arrows to hunt buffalo and all live in tepees to an in-depth study of First Americantribes across this country.  As the years passed we became dissatisfied with our simple ceremony and began to delve into all of the differences among the First Americans that inhabited our land.  We learned that the Sioux really did live in tepees but the the great Iroquois Nation were people of the longhouses and the peaceful Lenape built wigwams and Inuits actually lived in igloos...  As each tribe researched the clothes that their tribes wore they found that many of the Natives used the skins and feathers of the animals that they hunted in their area and that the Seminoles of our native Florida used shells which were abundant along the shore and that each tribe had different traditional garb so the costumes of the Powwow took on different colors and shapes.

It was not long before we knew that we wanted to involve parents more heavily into our study so homework for the month became family projects.  Families were asked to tell their children stories of their own childhood and their child's early days and to make knots in a counting rope as they told each story just like the beautiful Iroquois story of a Grandfather who tells the story of the birth and childhood to his blind grandson in the beautifully written and former Book-of-the-Month Knots on a Counting Rope. Children bring their ropes back to school and share one of their favorite stories with the class. 

A cardboard gingerbread shape is sent home and families are asked to decorate the native child after researching how their child's tribe might dress.  These colorful First Americans hang in our hallways.

Parents are invited in Tuesday before Powwow for a night of fun as each tribe gathers their families to make replicas of the types of houses that their tribe might have lived in and then these are also displayed in the hallways.  You can walk through the halls and see Seminole  chickees,  Hopi adobe homes, and plank houses with totem poles from the Nootkas...

Several years ago we decided to keep all the information together on a Native American wiki.  Not only is there space for each of the tribes to upload information but on the home page there is a copy of every letter sent to parents, lists of materials to gather for the many projects, invitation sent to first graders, and a million of the other little details that help to keep us all organized!  What a gift each year as we recreate this tradition at our school.  This is a HUGE project and is only accomplished because the work stands on the shoulders of the teachers who came before.

It wasn't long before we began to worry that we were sending our children from Chets Creek with many stereotypes about Native Americans because we were only talking about how Native Americans used to be, but we knew that our five years olds were too young to take on the rich, but sometimes difficult histories, of our tribes, so we decided to bring the tribes alive again in Social Studies in fifth grade.  Our older students do projects that include "compare and contrast" and then do models and PowerPoint's and include many different kinds of technology.  They join us on the night that we have kindergarten parents in for "Make 'n' Take" and make their presentations to the kindergarten children and their families.  Each child gets a "passport" at the beginning of the night and has it stamped at each stop.  When they fill their passport, they can collect a Native American bracelet from Chief Jumping Frog as they leave for the night.  This addition to our curriculum brings our study full circle.

Today was the great Powwow celebration.  Fifth graders joined us by helping to give out programs, holding authentic Native American flags, dressing with colorful tribe-related sashes and roping off the Powwow area and performing a million different chores.  Kindergartners performed Native dances and songs in Native tongues, dressed in their Native costumes.  Chief Chets Creek performed a traditional grass dance that is actually performed to stomp the grass flat before a Powwow.  He had researched, not only the dance and specific dance steps, but the costume, which was replicated by a parent. Parents and children enjoyed the entire Powwow presentation, led by Chief Jumping Frog, of course, and snapped a gazillion pictures.

But that is just the start of the day.  The kindergarten children visit centers throughout the day, led by our Resource Team and each one teaches something important about the tribes.  A real tepee is erected around the flagpole (amazing to behold).  The children enter in disbelief and look up at the beautiful paintings on the inside wall of the tepee.  This is one of the most anticipated and meaningful stops of the day.   Peaceful Waters (Media Specialist KK Cherney) tells stories about the "three sisters."  Each child leaves with seeds of corn, beans, and squash to plant at home.  As she tells the stories Drawing Hands paints a picture.  Peaceful Waters then tells of the native tradition of a talking stick and as she passes the stick to each child and adult, she asks them to tell of one thing they are thankful.  Many of the children are thankful for family and friends - Daddy coming home from Iraq, a grandmother that has been sick, a new baby brother.  A few are thankful for their teachers (thank goodness) and a few are also thankful for dinosaurs and videogames and toys!  The adults always seemed surprised when Peaceful Waters asks each of them to name the thing they are most thankful, but it is not unusual to sometimes see grown men cry.

Next the children visit Colorful Wind (Art Teacher Jen Snead) and she teaches them about the natural dyes used to paint and communicate.  Children are surprised to learn that the Native Americans so long ago could not run to Walmart for paint and brushes!  Then the children experiment by painting with such things as beets and blueberries and spices.  At another art center the children mold clay into balls and then discs and use shapes of native designs to make a keepsake that will be fired and returned. Some of these will be used on necklaces and some will find their way onto Christmas trees commemorating the child's first Powwow.  At that same center each child is given a piece of animal hide (or crumpled brown paper bag) and encouraged to use some of the Native American designs from a chart to write a story. 

Chief Sing um Song invited the children in and taught them a Native song.  They got to beat the steady beat on drums and then used paddles pretending to row boats to the beat of the paddle song.  Today my class visited this center as the last one of the day and Music teacher, DeeDee Tamburrino, was just as upbeat and excited to teach this last group as she had been to teach that first group so much earlier in the day. 

The children always need a break to run and play so the PE teachers divide the tribe into groups and let them compete, much like the Native American kids did.  They have a list of things that they can find in the elements on a picture list and have to find each of the items in the wooded area of our property.  Some of the items are planted such as bird eggs and nests and animal fur and others are found in the natural surroundings such as rocks, sticks, bark, and pine cones.  As they come with their treasures, the teachers discuss how the Native American's used each of these items from their environment. Today, because it was a little blustery, the children gathered around the natural fire heat, much like children must have done in days gone by.

The tasting center is always a fun break.  The children get to taste carrots, dried fruit and apple slices.  They enjoy corn muffins and popcorn and even a taste of beef jerky.  Our Speech Teacher, Moe Dygan, a true hunter, also prepares venison from one of his catches, pork from a wild bore and turkey.  Many of the children make their first connections to the game that the Natives hunted and our own food supply.  Moe also brings in many artifacts of his hunting days for the children to see.  He shows the children real horns and hooves, reinforcing vocabulary we learned during The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  The children, and parents, sit spell bound as he speaks.

I don't even know how to explain how I feel about this day or this entire unit.  It has evolved over time, but there is just so much to be proud of as we complete this unit.  I am so proud of my colleagues and our parents who give and give and give - all who really put out the extra effort to make it such a rich learning experience for our children. Am I tired? EXHAUSTED!  But it is so worth it... The learning, the fun, the collegiality...  It just makes me proud to be a Creeker!

P.S-  Oh, and did I mention that my daughter-in-law helped lead the great Iroquois Nation and my granddaughter was with the peaceful Lenape tribe?  Yes, Kallyn I know that is is Lena-PAY and not Lena-PEE!  So-o-o-o proud to be a Creeker and have the opportunity to watch this tradition pass through the generations of my own family!