Class update!

Phew! I can' believe that it has been so long since I have regularly posted. I'm so sorry. I have been having a fantastically busy school year and, with a son in kindergarten and one that *almost* toddling, it's been quite hectic!

I know I will post more regularly now that we are into the swing of things. I've been trying to schedule some bloggy time on the calendar (which will be easy how that it's football season for the hubs).

I think I have gotten myself into something new- not just a "dip your toe in" but more of a "jump in with both feet" kinda thing. My principal went to visit a school that was using personalized learning and asked some of us at a meeting if we were interested in trying it out in our school. It sounds really awesome! Do any of you do personalized learning? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I really want to do a school visit to the school that my principal went to...I'm trying to get on the list for the next crew to go.

This week we only have 3 days of school because there is an Education Minnesota conference (our union here) on Thursday and Friday. Here are a few things I'm doing this week:

Nate the Great book clubs in reading using this awesome packet by Judy Kvaale on TPT (which is on sale right now!)

Since I couldn't find enough copies of one Nate the Great book I've got about 6 kids reading each Nate the Great title I could wrangle and they are all doing the same packet from this product.

We are also doing some descriptive writing about haunted houses with this packet from Clutter-Free Classroom on TPT. This was the first thing I ever bought on Teachers Pay Teachers and my kiddos LOVED it last year. They did such a fantastic job with the writing and the pictures. I invited a mom who was a realtor to come in and she taught the kids some of the things that they need to include in a description for a house. 

We will also be making this art project to add to our calendars. We make calendars for families for our holiday gift in second grade. I will share more about these when we finish them up. 

We will be busy but I love these 3-day weeks because I get to do a lot of fun stuff that we normally don't have time to do. :)

Inspiration Board: Henry & Mudge

Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant is our story this week. It's such a great friendship story and one kids can definitely relate to! Here are some things to inspire my lessons. Just click on the image for the link. 

You can find more at my aStore.

Henry and Mudge Trifold Freebie by Ashley Reed on TPT

Henry and Mudge Printables from Teacher Vision

Ideas from Marcia's Lesson Links

Also by Cynthia Rylant

A fantastic read-aloud for visualizing

A cute spin-off series

Another spin-off series

Inspiration Board: Arthur's Reading Race

This week our Storytown series begins! Our first story in 2nd grade is Arthur's Reading Race by Marc Brown. I like starting with this story because the kids love Arthur. I also like to teach them how to draw Arthur and write some character traits. Here is my "inspiration board" for this week. Click on any of the pictures for more information.

Directions on How to Draw Arthur

Reading Rockets Interview with Marc Brown

Arthur's Reading Race $3.99

Arthur and Friends Story Stamps

How to Be a Friend: A Guide to Making Friends and Keeping Them

Teaching With Favorite Marc Brown Books

8.5x11" Sketch Pad

18 Count Mr. Sketch Markers

You can find the items at my Amazon store!

Reading Assessments

Sometimes I feel like I could use every Daily 5 session assessing students' reading levels and fluency. It can get overwhelming! My colleagues decided to use Reading A-Z for our running records. Our district does not require us to do DIEBELS or Read Naturally so we use the Reading A-Z site for most of our group placements and practice fluency checks (our district does have fluency benchmarks we are required to give throughout the year). We also use Raz-Kids (from Reading A-Z) for our students to practice reading online at home. We have had great success with that site and it helps them to read stories online since they are required to do so during our NWEA MAP tests.

Here is how I organize my reading assessments.

I have a TON of folders leftover from when I did my master's project on comprehension. I purchased them on mega-clearance...I think it was a dime for five folders. Each color is a grade level according to Reading A-Z standards. In one bucket I have folders for levels AA-Z. I also have a list of "lifetime words" and high frequency words. I have a calculator, a timer, a pen, and a highlighter.  Here is what is in each folder:

On one side are shrunken copies of the fluency checks for each reading level. I use a half-sheet for each student. On the other side is the running record that we do. Each level has a few "benchmark" books on Reading A-Z. I have a copy of the book for the students to read and then shrunken copies of the running record for me to mark. On the back of each running record are the comprehension questions from the website as well. I use a half-sheet for these, too. 

Many teachers come to my room looking for masters to copy and they love that mine is organized so they can find things easily (and replace them!) and that all of the shrunken copies save on their copy budget, too.