How Flexible Seating Works in the Kafe

Hey Everyone! Thanks for stopping by my blog!  It's so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already over! That means it's time to start getting holiday activities ready. December is one of my favorite times with the kids.  (It probably helps that we only see them for a couple weeks and then get a break!) 

Today I wanted to share how my classroom is set up from a seating perspective.  I am blessed to have a very large classroom. There are plenty of nooks and crannies for kids to move about and sit. I do realize that many teachers are not as lucky. I spent 6 years in a small room (1 year in basically a closet), so when the principal offered me this WONDERFUL room, I jumped at the chance. This room allows me to give the opportunity for my students to choose a seating position that fits them best. Scholastic has a great article that shows some possibilities for flexible seating. When I first began allowing kids to move around, even in my old classroom, I never realized that this idea would become such a wonderful tool for my teaching and for the students' learning. 

Here are some examples of how the Klinsky Kafe allows students to choose their seating:

One area I love is by the bay window, there are benches to sit on. I decided to make that a comfy area, and bought bean bags and pillows to put there. This is where we meet with whole group. The kids share the items, and no one can have 2 things (no bean bag and pillow).  Over the years, my mom, the coupon queen, has been able to find these GINORMOUS beanbags and chairs to place in this area.  This is my most popular area for kids to sit. 

During the day, my students are up out of their seats 90% of the time. They do have an assigned seat at a table. I do not have desks. They keep their supplies there at the table in a basket and can choose to sit there during literacy stations or math workshop. I find however, that most students prefer to be laying down or siting comfortably.  To me, this makes TOTAL sense.  I am sitting right now, propped up on the couch, with a blanket and a pillow. I am not sitting at a desk. For me, this helps me to complete my work. 

During literacy stations, if the students sit in the bay window area (called the Bean Bag area), it is a silent area. They can read to self, work on writing, word work, or Lexia, but whatever they are doing, it MUST be silent.  

During math workshop, it is different. They can talk and work together so often times you'll see 3-4 kids sharing a bean bag while working through our math lesson. 

If you walk in my classroom, you will see students sitting at their seats. For some, their own space and their table is most comfortable.  Many times, they have papers spread out or want to use crayons and it is easier to lay those out on a table.  

Many times, you will look under the table to see a child working hard while relaxing under the table too! 

When we meet as a whole group for a mini lesson, students may need to be able to see the Smartboard. At that point, some students stay at their seats, but others come up the front and sit or lay on the rug. 

 We have 5 exercise balls that can be used for a person at each table if they wish. Students know that the ball can be rotated to each person during the week to give everyone a chance. If space allows, students can lay down on the rug, but if space is needed, they must sit up so everyone has a space.

These pillows work very well for students doing partner reading. It gives them a space to sit down on the floor away from their friends who are reading to self.  These boys are working on math workshop together.

In the back of my room, I have a beautiful window with a countertop. I put some ottomans there and my students can sit and work there. This gives them a space with a flat surface so I usually find kids working on writing or solving math problems. 

What I have learned is that once I let go of the control of having kids in their seats at all times, the students made great choices with where they choose to sit. The first week of school is hardest because everyone thinks they want to sit on the floor, but then they learn that they are more of a desk person.  They choose their space, take of their shoes, and relax. When they are in control of their learning space, I find that more learning occurs.  Believe me, it was hard to let go of control, but this has been a wonderful addition to my classroom management. 

Thank you for all you do :) Happy Holidays!

Chapter 11 of The Reading Strategies Book with the "Crew"

Hello Friends! I'm Lauren and I am NOT "just" a teacher (and neither are any of you).  While I was having "my easy peasy summer off", I came across this post from Colleen at Literacy Loving Gals asking who wanted to do a book study for The Reading Strategies book by Jennifer Serravallo.  I ordered the book, which is a lil pricey, so I wanted to make sure that I was spending money wisely. It was TOTALLY worth it! 

Order the Book by Clicking Here

I feel like this book can be shared amongst teachers in my school at any grade. I teach fourth grade this year, but I already have ideas for my primary friends and my intermediate friends. I have a TON of ideas for my sweet English Language Learners too! I teach a Sheltered English classroom where my students struggle with comprehending simply because they spend a lot of time trying to understand the words that they are reading.  Jennifer Serravallo uses research that says, "...if students are truly to understand what they read, they must be able to UNDERSTAND, not only decode, upward of 95 percent of the words."  WHOA! Wow.... That sticks out to me sooooooo much!  I know that the chances of my students understanding 95 percent of what they read is a very tough expectation for me to be able to reach. But, I will try my VERY best because that is what they deserve. That is why I was so excited to get to blog about Chapter 11: Improving Comprehension by Understanding Vocabulary and Figurative Language. 

Another great part of this chapter is when they reiterate something that I have learned, seen firsthand, and been told, but many district curriculums don't always support..... 

That most word learning occurs unconsciously and naturally through normal reading, writing, speaking, and listening.

Basically, we don't need fancy vocabulary programs to teach our kids vocabulary! We can guide and support them through the four domains of language acquisition and they will learn more words that way than studying vocabulary words in a structured program.  

And this is what Chapter 11 is all about. Here is a list of the strategies you can reference and have access to if you purchase this book.

Here are 3 strategies that caught my attention and I wanted to share with you!

11.3 Insert a Synonym

Levels: H and Above

Genre/Text Types: ANY

Skills: prior knowledge, monitoring meaning

Often times, authors use vivid vocabulary in texts. With my classroom of English Language Learners, most of the time, my students struggle most with what these words mean and how to say them. If they don't know a word, they aren't able to comprehend deeply. With this strategy, you ask students to insert another word that would make sense in the sentence.  The hardest part is when the students must read the sentence with the substituted word to see if the sentence still makes sense.

Here are some prompts to use when teaching this strategy:

What's going on so far?... So what might this word mean?

Try a word you know. Does that make sense?

Stick in a word that would make sense here.

What's another word the author might have used that would still make sense?

11.16 Be Word Conscious

Levels: M and Above

Genre/Text Types: ANY

Skills: monitoring meaning

I wish SOOOOOOOO badly that my students were taught this strategy much younger. This strategy asks 1 simple question of the students:

Do I know this word?

If the answer to that question is no, then they can apply strategies they know to try to figure it out. So many of my students read and read and read and read.... and then when I ask them what a word means, I get a blank stare. I wish they could see how this is affecting their ability to comprehend.  My hope is my students will learn to recognize words that they don't know. That is the first step. From there, we can add more strategies to their toolbox to help them figure it out.

Here are some prompts to use when teaching this strategy:

Do you know all the words?

What strategy can you try here to figure out a word?

Do you think you are reading too fast to notice words that you don't know?

Great job! You realized that there is a word you don't know.

11.19 It's Right There in the Sentence

Levels: M and Above

Genre/Text Types: nonfiction (mostly)

Skills: synthesizing

Authors often stick the definition of a challenging word right into the sentence where the word is. Students need to learn key words and other clues to find these definitions.  Help students to see key words such as: also, or, this is called, when reading nonfiction. Another clue is hidden in the punctuation. Commas and dashes are usually used to separate a challenging word from it definition. Students can find these clues very helpful, especially when reading science and social studies texts. 

This was my social studies text today! It fits in PERFECTLY with this strategy. My students were like #mindblown 

Here are some prompts to use when teaching this strategy:

Do you see any key words that tell you the definition is in the sentence?

Does the author explain the word?

Look at the punctuation. I think I see something that clues me in to a definition.

You're right, there's no definition for this word. For this one, you'll need to use a different strategy.

Jennifer Serravallo discusses giving students the knowledge of what goal they are working on. I find that when my students know what they need to work on, and specific strategies to focus on, they are more motivated and likely to succeed.  I created a handout for students to keep with their goals and strategies listed.  I would like students to take this with them for individual conferences and guided reading so that I can help assess how they are doing. Click below to grab this chart to use!

 Reading Strategy Student Goals

Hope you enjoyed these strategies that help us become better learners and teachers. Make sure to follow along with the whole book study! 

Next up is Matt at Digital: Divide and Conquer

Fractions Summative Assessment: iPad Style

Well.... The school year is over, and I feel like I can actually sit, relax for a lil, and maybe blog.... How was everyone's end of the school year? Did you have a crazy, intense school year like I did? Between curriculum and behavior and evaluations.... man! I'm glad it's over! But I am soooooo sad. I had to say goodbye to my babies who I have had for multiple years.

About 15 of these kids were in third grade when I moved down from fifth. Then, due to numbers, I moved to fourth and kept 15 out of 18 (my smallest number ever!!). Last year, I was given the great opportunity to begin a collaborative learning pilot where I was given 1:1 iPads and the assistant superintendent and I thought it would be best to loop to fifth grade to immerse the kids into iPads as a mode of supplementing learning.  So, we did, and we became super close. I love each one of them. I can't imagine teaching a new group of kids. It's going to be so different!

So, next year I will be teaching fourth grade again (maybe a 4/5 split) and looping with those kids to fifth grade the following year. I am hoping that I will be able to take this group of students, who may or may not have used iPads in a learning environment before, and take them to a new level of iLearning. It is a challenge that I am a lil nervous, but excited to take on.

At the end of the year, the fifth grade math curriculum teaches and reviews fractions. Common core standards expect students in fifth grade to have mastered a basic understanding of fractions, equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, and adding and subtracting with like denominators.  My students did not have these concepts mastered, although many did have a basic understanding with some exposure.

After reviewing and reteaching these concepts, I took my students into 5.NF.1 and we learned how to add and subtract with unlike denominators. This took a long time!  Their favorite part was singing their favorite skip counting songs to find the common denominator!  After adding and subtracting, we did a review of mixed numbers and improper fractions, then added and subtracted those. That was MUCH harder when you had to regroup a whole into the fractional pieces. 1=4/4... I thought they knew that, but when we had to regroup, I swear I had 15 heads or was speaking a foreign language because they all just stared at me.....

By the time we went into multiplication of fractions, I was so tempted to just teach them the quick version, multiply tops, multiply bottoms. BUTTTTTTTTT, I didn't. We took weeks to learn the abstract concepts and ideas.  We drew rectangles, shaded, and counted. And then, my above level students were like..."Teacher! Why are we doing that? Can't we just multiply the tops and bottoms?" I was like well, yea.

To gauge their understanding of fractions as a whole unit, I asked each student to create a mind map for fractions. They were given a list of directions to add to a popplet. This meant they had to use Smart Notebook, Jot (whiteboard app), and photos to show each concept.  I gave them about 2 math periods to work on this (about 3 hours total) and then they shared it with a neighbor to check that they had all the required parts, and they submitted it to me.

Here is how it started. With every project I ask for, I always have the students close their iPads and watch me create it first. This saves me from the millions of questions I get, most of which are repeated questions.  So I showed them what apps to use and what pieces they were required to include.

Then, I let them begin. They get to move around the room and work quietly.  They are working alone, unless they are stuck on a concept and then they can ask a friend to help them learn it. I always make sure to remind them that teaching someone who is confused is VERY different than doing it for them.

I asked them to choose a fraction that went in the middle of their popplet.

They had to draw their fraction using a model as well as a set.

They were asked to find two equivalent fractions and draw them. They used Smart Notebook to draw rectangles and show equal fractions.

They had to choose a second fraction and compare it to their chosen fraction.

They had to add a fraction with the same denominator.  Then, students added a fraction with an unlike denominator. Most students used Jot to solve the problems. They took a screenshot, and saved it to their camera roll.  They cropped it and uploaded it to Popplet.

Students did the same for subtracting fractions.

Finally they were asked to multiply fractions. They multiplied their fraction by a whole number as well as by another fraction.

When they finished their map, they had a friend check it over to make sure they completed the tasks and that they understood.

After that, they exported the popplet to the camera roll. They are connected to my Dropbox account, so they upload it to me so I can look at it and print it. I often look at the files, and grade them using a rubric or just assigning points for proper tasks/requirements. I do not always print them and grade them, or open them into an app for annotation.

This is the way I turn something fun into a summative assessment that allows me to check a student's understanding of a unit of study. I have learned through my 1:1 journey, that I can gain a lot of knowledge about understandings through projects and not only tests that are assigned.  I am hoping to use things like this to show growth for my evaluation tool next year.

Do you get evaluated using your students' growth? What tool do they use to check for growth? Do you select the assessment tool or is it district decided? Any suggestions for other ways to incorporate technology into your summative assessments?

Thanks for all you do! Don't you love when people say "enjoy your summer OFF".... like we actually get 3 months off!! We are all working, studying, learning, creating, reading, buying, and thinking! Thanks for being more than "just" a teacher!

xoxo

And.... I got too busy to remember to post.... shoot! (and some vocabulary stuff)

Hey Everyone! I am so mad that I let myself get soooooo bad about posting! How do you fellow bloggers do it?! Do you put it on your To-Do list or on the calendar? 

Anyways.... Today I am enjoying a nice UNEXPECTED day off! A SNOW DAY! We had a record blizzard here in Chicagoland, almost 20 inches of snow some places! I wouldn't really know, because I have hardly left my house! I enjoy these days because I didn't have plans to stay home. I was able to relax a little and work on some TPT products and even blog! Woo hoo!

Today I finished and posted my Context Clue QR Task Cards. 

My students are still learning English. Especially those tier 2 and 3 words they hardly use or see. I find that they do poorly on tests such as Discovery Education and Fountas and Pinnell, partly because they don't know what words mean, and don't have enough background knowledge and strategies to figure out the definition.  I feel so badly for them. Even if they know what the academic question is asking, such as "Find the simile" or "Locate the main idea", they end up getting lost in the answer choices!  Many students get frustrated because they can't say what they want to say due to a lack of vocabulary. Any one else have problems with this?

I am hoping to teach them more strategies to try to figure out a decent idea of what a word might mean.  It's ok if they don't know exactly what the definition might be, but I want them to try to select a word that is close to the definition and makes sense. This is an area I need to improve in. I need more help and ideas. I don't want them to go on without learning skills that they can use. Middle school and high school textbooks will only get increasingly harder! 

I have used foldables and flash cards to help teach vocabulary.  I've taken sentences in and out of context and tried to help students discover meanings. But, I find when they go to read independently, they struggle to apply those strategies. 

What are some strategies you guys use? I would love some ideas!

Hope you are staying warm and remembering that you are LOVED during the month of February! We do our job for the kids. Whether they say it or not, they love you, appreciate you, and care about you. The same way we feel about them! You're never "just" a teacher!