Celebrating Diversity with Yoko

Hi everyone! I hope that you have been enjoying my Back To School Blog Series.  If you haven't guessed it by now, including books that represent all of my students in my classroom is very important to me.  Just scroll back through my posts to see examples.  When I'm introducing standards for the first time in class, (which happens naturally during the first 9 weeks), I try to focus on engaging books that have a more simple story line.  This way the students build their foundational knowledge of the standard without confusion or frustration.  Yoko is a great book for looking at how character's react to events and actions in a story.   The story line is relatable to students and carries a theme of empathy which is so vital to our community.  This book lends itself to teaching reading skills while also teaching a social studies or character education lesson.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Celebrating Diversity with Amazing Grace

It is very important to children that they are represented in the classroom curriculum.  It's also important to represent quality diverse books in class.  These reasons are why Amazing Grace is so perfect for your classroom.  Every year my students fall in love with Grace, she's resilient, smart, creative and relatable.  One of my favorite parts of Amazing Grace is that it is a series that has at least another picture book and chapter book.  This is just perfect for 2nd and 3rd graders! Once the kids are hooked with Amazing Grace they love to read on their own during independent reading.  I love to teach this book with the standard -finding the story's lesson or central message.  Make sure to watch the video below for more information!

Celebrating Our Identity with The Name Jar

As someone who has a last name that no one can pronounce, I feel a deep connection with Unhei from the book "The Name Jar".  The Amazon description reads, "Being the new kid in school is hard enough, but what about when nobody can pronounce your name? Having just moved from Korea, Unhei is anxious that American kids will like her. So instead of introducing herself on the first day of school, she tells the class that she will choose a name by the following week. Her new classmates are fascinated by this no-name girl and decide to help out by filling a glass jar with names for her to pick from. But while Unhei practices being a Suzy, Laura, or Amanda, one of her classmates comes to her neighborhood and discovers her real name and its special meaning. On the day of her name choosing, the name jar has mysteriously disappeared. Encouraged by her new friends, Unhei chooses her own Korean name and helps everyone pronounce it".  This book is a wonderful way to teach children that our differences are to be celebrated and not changed.  It's also a great reminder to teachers that it is our responsibility to learn our student's names and not try to change them.

If you use this book during shared reading it's a wonderful opportunity to teach students to ask questions about key details.  We practice this a lot in the beginning of the year while the kids are mastering their reading stamina and questioning.   It's important to keep the questions simple like seen below until the students are ready to move on. As the year progresses we will add on to the questions and even learn how to ask higher order questions.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Teamwork with It's Mine

Hi there and welcome back! It's Mine is a wonderful story about teamwork that works great for primary grades.  One lesson that is a must for every reading teacher at the beginning of the year is teaching response to reading. We want students to be able to organize their thoughts in their heads and write them out clearly in response to a particular question.   In order to do this it's important that we start with a simple story with a clear answer.  In this story the characters have a clear change in behavior from the beginning to the end.  This makes it ideal for teaching students how to write proper sentences in response to how character's react to events or change throughout the story.  You will see an example below.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! We hope to see you tomorrow.

Launching STEM with Rosie Revere & The Most Magnificent Thing

Hi and welcome back! Hopefully you have read a few posts prior to this one and are planning to teach your students how to work in cooperative groups.  Once that is established, consider launching inquiry-based science in your classroom.  What better way to launch science then to read Rosie Revere Engineer and The Most Magnificent Thing. There is a little more information about how I use the books in reading below in the video.  I plan on reading the books and comparing and contrasting them during shared reading.  Once the students are excited about engineering we will practice working in a group and creating bug homes.  Read below to see what we have planned.

Research shows us that students perform better overall in school when they take part in inquiry-based science investigations.  Inquiry-based science allows students to explore questions and problems, develop explanations, elaborate on findings and concepts and assess their understanding.  To launch inquiry based science in younger grades consider starting with a simple yet engaging question.  Your question must have a measurable outcome.  For this project consider this question:  Do bugs prefer to live in hard or soft materials?  It's a simple question with a measurable outcome that can spark a number of follow up inquiries.  

You can use whatever materials you have on hand.  Here students have the choice between cups, trays, straws, pom poms, pipe cleaners and plastic tubes.  I also considered using paper tubes, paper egg trays, and strings, but wanted to keep it simple.

Students will work with their group to develop a hypothesis.  Once they have their hypothesis they will create homes with only one variable.  So if they want to put straws in a cup for hard materials, then they would put a soft material like pom poms in a cup. Once they build the homes they put them outside in a safe place.

You will then decide how long the investigation will last.  One suggestion would be to do this investigation on two Mondays, but record data every day in between during transitions.  Students will observe the homes at predetermined days and record their findings in their science logs.  When the investigation is over they will make a conclusion and then you can determine if they will come up with another investigation based on the first or if you will move on to another topic.  Before you move on, make sure students have plenty of opportunities to explain the findings of the investigation.  

Teaching Teamwork with Tops and Bottoms

Tops and Bottoms is a quick read that would work for grades k-5, but is best suited for grades k-3.  It does an awesome job demonstrating how teamwork and hard work are much more effective than laziness.  In the story the character Bear inherits property and wealth that he is way to lazy to take care of.  Down the street from Bear is a family of hares who got into a little trouble and have a hard time getting what they need to survive now.  So the father hare tricks Bear over and over again to feed his family.  At the end Bear wises up and starts to work his land and the Hare family no longer has access to food because they tricked Bear so many times.

If you have been following along to our Back To School series then you might have read the post "Say Hello" which showed how I introduce Think-Pair-Share to my classroom.  Now that students have been practicing and know how to work with a partner it's time to launch expectations and procedures for group work.  It's really nice reading a book before hand that demonstrates so clearly what benefits might come from teamwork.  After reading the book we fill in a Venn diagram as a class that explores the character's traits in the book.  Then I pose the question:  What would have been a plan that worked best for all of the characters?  After we have a class conversation I then pose the question, "What's the best way for everyone in our class to work together?" We fill out a Do's and Don't anchor chart that can stay up all year.  Once our anchor chart is filled out, students need a break and we move onto something else.  After the students have a break I will teach another lesson that requires group work and we will develop our procedures from our expectation chart. Then I will have the students work together in a group.  The lesson that we use for practicing group work really doesn't matter.  It's so nice to be able to teach standards, procedures and character education all in a 30 minute lesson.  Be sure to check out the video below and come back tomorrow for another post!

Behavior Management Expectations for Back To School

Hello there! Welcome back.  Make sure to check back every week day because we'll be taking a look at more than 20 different books that are perfect for the k-5 classroom and we don't want you to miss anything.  If you have a question that you need answered, make sure to send me an email at amylabrasciano@yahoo.com and I'll see if I have an answer for you.  A big thank you to my Instagram friends for sending in so many questions already! (@amylabrasciano)

This is the second post that discusses behavior management.  I'll explain my thoughts in the video below, but because I'm so uncomfortable on camera I thought I would put it in writing for you here too.  One of my Instagram friends asked what I recommend for behavior management.  So here's the thing, I've implemented a lot of different behavior management plans.  Each one has been just about as effective as the other.  My two favorites are clip charts that go up and down and Dojo.  Both have their benefits and drawbacks.  There are a lot of teachers who are very vocal about not using the clip chart, while I support their feelings I think if they are done in a consistent respectful way clip charts  are just fine.  Dojo works nicely because kids get and lose points.  The downfall for me was that parents didn't click to see if their children were losing points and why.  Dojo shows a total so if they lost a point for being disrespectful, but gained two points because you needed to encourage them to produce work, the parents never saw this behavior and didn't follow up with a conversation.  I will use Dojo again, but I will also be sure to have students write how many points were lost in their binders for a parent signature.

More important than consequences and rewards for behavior are ENGAGEMENT and EXPECTATIONS.  You can have the best reward system in the world but if you aren't engaging your students in lessons they are going to play around while they should be learning.  You can have the best lessons in the world, but if you aren't consistent with expectations then your kids won't know what to do and you will lose them.  So instead of worrying about clip charts, you should be planning awesome consistent lessons and an expectation procedure for your classroom.  If you want to add engagement to your classroom, check back in my blog.  I have published my lessons for free here for over a year.  You might also want to give a student interest survey to see what your kids want to learn about.  There is a free interest survey here.  It is super easy to teach reading and writing standards while using books that your kids love.  While it's a bit more difficult, you can also do it with math, science and social studies.  Let's talk about expectations now.  You should have a procedure for everything in your classroom.  We'll talk about what those procedures are a little later in this series.  To set expectations for every lesson consider using CHAMPS.  It has worked brilliantly for years in my classroom.  It tells students what conversation level you want them on, how to get help, what activity, what movement is allowed in the classroom, how to participate and if they are successful or not.  You can buy the book on Amazon used.  I have yet to find a program that helps set such great expectations for kids. (Again, they did not pay me to say this I just love them that much!)

For a reward system, I allow students to turn in their Dojo points for a classroom store on Friday.  The classroom store sells mostly things that didn't cost me money like:  socks in class, change desks, super supplies, lunch with teacher, hat in class, read with a stuffed animal, etc.  Before Dojo points we gave out classroom cash and the premise was the same.  A lot of emphasis is put on the reward system, but we also have a consistent natural consequence procedure.  If students break a rule or procedure after clear expectations have been set and practiced, then they lose a Dojo point.  The natural consequence is that they won't get their Friday reward if they don't have enough points.  There are also consequences that encourage students to do work.  If they don't finish written responses or certain assignments, then they don't get to do center work or other fun learning activities.  If there is an ongoing issue with behavior, then you have to dig deeper and connect more with your student.  At this point we implement a personal system that works for the student.  If by chance you end up with a student who does not respond to your efforts, you just have to keep trying until you reach them. This can be very stressful and wearing, but you can't give up.  Just make sure to take care of yourself and take your breaks as needed because your health is very important.

So hopefully you found some value in our post on classroom rules, consequences, expectations and rewards.  Make sure to come back every week day to read more.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  If you are looking for a way to increase engagement in your classroom, check out the video below in my TPT store.

Class Cheer with The Pout Pout Fish

Character education is so important to teach in the classroom.  We are very lucky to have millions of books to choose from to help us with this.  One cute book that's an easy read is "The Pout-Pout Fish Goes To School".  The lesson is that everyone learns at their own pace in their own time. Who doesn't love that lesson?  What's really fun about this book is that you could use it to teach your class a cheer.  

Fact One:  You are smart!

Fact Two:  You can get it!

Fact Three:  You belong!

Four:  Don't forget it!

If you want to tie it to a standard you could teach it along with a story's central message or lesson.  I hope you are as excited about teaching this cheer as I am!!! Maybe I'll even teach it to teachers at my school?

Creating Classroom Rules with the book Back To School Rules

Hi again and welcome back to our Back To School blog series.  We opened up the series to questions from our Instagram followers and a lot of people asked about our behavior management plan.  We are going to break our ideas on behavior management up into two parts.  The first part we will address today and that is making classroom rules.  The second part which will be published Monday  will focus on incentives and how we manage them.

We found this super engaging book called "Back-toSchool Rules". It's fun, bright, humorous and perfect for grades k-5.  One of the best parts is that the main character describes the rules in a few ways so that students are sure to understand.  As we read this book we look for key details.  The key details are going to focus on the 10 rules that the character thinks every student needs to follow to be successful.  Most teachers will be happy to support these rules.  After we read the rules and chart the details, we open it up to classroom collaboration.  Students work together to come up with their own rules and then we list them for the classroom to vote on.  It's really important to have student buy in to the rules. Please stop back tomorrow for the second most controversial part of this post!

Launching Writer's Workshop with How I Spent My Summer

Have you noticed that handwriting and sentence formation have gone down hill over the last several years? Years ago, it was very normal to expect 2nd graders to capitalize letters and write proper sentences.  Sadly enough, it took me a while to realize that this wasn't a normal any more.   Students aren't writing proper sentences and it isn't just a fluke year. In order to address this I launch the year with How I Spent My Summer Vacation and Handwriting Bootcamp.  

Handwriting Bootcamp is a very simple yet effective concept.  We go through every letter of the alphabet throughout the first couple of weeks of school and practice writing letters the proper way on proper handwriting paper.  Yes I know we don't have time for this, but if you can't read their writing during the school year it will take much longer than just stopping and teaching penmanship.  Before we start writing I hand out pencil grips to show everyone exactly where their fingers should be placed.  I'm a big fan of the Pencil Grip Company and I am in no way being paid to say that.  After I tried them and loved them, I wrote a grant sometime ago to get a class set.  We watch Youtube videos on proper handwriting, and when the students write neatly for a couple of weeks they join our Handwriting Hall of Fame and receive a special pencil.  They also know that if they get sloppy they lose their place and can't get their end of the year pencil until they make it back to the Hall of Fame.  The Hall of Fame is a simple anchor chart describing our expectations of handwriting in the classroom.  When students make the Hall of Fame they get to sign the anchor chart in front of the class.  They love it.

My very first writer's workshop is done with the mentor text How I Spent My Summer Vacation.  We look at a mentor sentence and follow all of the prompts from the anchor chart below.  Then the students write about their summer focusing on proper sentences.  Throughout the beginning of the year, I really express the need to produce one quality sentence over a ton of improper sentences.   Make sure to watch the video below to see other ideas and stop back by for our entire Back To School Series!

Asking Questions While We Read with The Dog Days of School

Hi and welcome back to our Back To School Blog Series! Dog Days of School is a brightly colored book just perfect for grades k-3.  In the book the main character Charlie dislikes school so much that on Sunday nights he can’t sleep. He thinks his dog has it so good that he wishes for them to switch places.  The next morning Charlie wakes up on the floor and sees Norman his dog in his bed. Before Charlie knows it his dog is off to school and he is drinking from the toilet for a week.  Next thing you know Charlie learns that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

This book is fun and engaging.  It's the perfect way to launch asking and answering questions about key details in a text.  While it does have a school theme, it would be fine for any time of the school year.  The most important thing I model is asking and answering questions in all the books that we're reading.  I start it off simple by introducing who, what, where, when, why and how.  Make sure to check out my video below to see some other ideas. Don't forget to stop back by tomorrow for another post in this series or take a look back at ones that you may have missed.  We have a lot of great ideas for you!

If you need more detailed lessons or texts for asking and answering questions, click on the picture below to visit my store.

Helping Children with Anxiety and Perseverance at School with After the Fall

Hi everyone! Welcome back to our month long Back to School Blog Series.  Every one knows the story of Humpty Dumpty and this is what makes this text so endearing for children and adults alike.  In this text the author Dan Santat gives Humpty many character traits that are relatable including anxiety, doubt and perseverance.   Continuing on in the story Humpty finds he has a newfound fear of heights which prevents him from enjoying his birdwatching and other simple daily tasks. While he lives each day in fear,  he still yearns for the skies. Determined not to give up Humpty goes through many trials and tribulations to build a model plane and climb a wall showing much courage and perseverance.  The ending is pretty amazing for detailing how illustrations can contribute to a text.

This text is just perfect for watching how a character changes throughout a text or reacts to different events.  You could teach with this book any time of the year.  I like to use it while teaching children to use text evidence and cite the text in their written response.  What I think this text is best for is teaching children that anxiety is normal and helping them with strategies for overcoming anxiety.  This is really important for teachers to address.  Make sure to watch the video below for additional ideas.  Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for another post full of ideas!