Scholastic Book Fair Supports Learning in Enrichment

In the last year Mrs. Gilbar and Mrs. Woodruff have dedicated time and effort into bringing several of the Scholastic Book Fairs to RES.  This work is on top of their every day tasks, and is done with the intention of adding books to our classroom environments so that we have a literature rich landscape in which to teach and learn.  

After the last Scholastic book fair, I was given the opportunity to purchase some books for the enrichment classroom.  I was truly grateful for this chance to increase our classroom library, and I spent quite a bit of time trying to decide what books to select! 

I am excited to report that the first sets of books have been received and they are a great success.  Because of Mrs. Woodruff and Mrs. Gilbar's hard work, students are energized to read in enrichment!  One book is a Lego play book which provides students with building ideas.  By bringing text and reading into this creative building space this text is giving students an authentic purpose for their reading.  I also selected a set of group reading books.  In my first kindergarten class with these books, I simply introduced that the books were available and let students know they could create their own reading groups and enjoy reading together.  On Friday the first group of students visited the classroom library during their exploratory time and read together.  I witnessed decoding, group reading and real joy in reading!

I am so thankful for Mrs. Woodruff and Mrs. Gilbar's work, and also the RES school community for supporting our book fairs.

Keep reading!

Mystery Festival

What better way to celebrate Halloween AND the end of a writing and reading unit on mystery than with a mystery festival??  On Friday I was thrilled to work with Ms. Senning's class to solve a mystery that involved true detective work by students, strong critical thinking skills, attention to detail, scientific observation, collaboration and problem solving!  After studying the genre of mysteries in their classroom for many weeks, students were excited to put their skills to work and solve the mystery of "Who Borrowed Mr. Bear"  (this activity was taken from an LHS GEMS book called Mystery Festival by Beals and Willard: http://lhsgems.org/GEM350.html). 

First students were put on teams and challenged to observe a crime scene.  With no preliminary information, students had to assume that everything could be a clue to solve the mystery.  Some students drew intricate maps and took detailed notes, while other teams discussed each clue and pondered what it could mean. After twenty minutes at the crime scene, we went back to the classroom.  Here we heard some details of the story and created a clue board.  We also had a chance to use our science skills to examine data more closely.  Students did a great job working together and really thinking about what might have happened. After much deliberation, every student had a chance to choose the suspect they thought was responsible.  Next, the true story was revealed!

Mysteries are such a great way to encourage  critical thinking and problem solving skills.  I hope that they will remember this activity in the future when they are writing and reading more mysteries!

I am thankful to Ms. Senning for collaborating with me on this special project.  I am also grateful to Mrs. Ankerson, Mrs. Redford and Mr. Langevin who provided coverage of other classes so that I could work on this project.  I am lucky to be part of a school in which staff members value student experiences and are flexible in order to support these sorts of activities.

Looking for more mysteries to solve?
I enjoy the site: http://kids.mysterynet.com/ for quick student challenges!

Sharing: Second Grade Reading Posters!

 Students in second grade have spent the last few weeks in the enrichment classroom working on reading posters.  You can read about the idea behind this project here:
http://enrichmentatres.blogspot.com/2013/09/reading-is-awesome.html

The posters are complete and are on display in the Richmond Free Library in downtown Richmond!  I hope you will take some time to stop by and check out the posters for yourself! And if you cannot make it to the library, here is a video of our process and their work!

http://youtu.be/w6YEv4Q3UUY

 If these posters have encouraged you to read, or if you are using this video to encourage others to read, please share your thoughts in the blog comments!

Differentiating Reading Instruction--RAZ Kids

Several years ago a classroom teacher shared a program with me that was being used by a colleague in a different school.  After reviewing the details of the program, we did a pilot in which we purchased RAZ Kids for her grade level and utilized it over the course of a year.  This pilot led to the purchase of RAZ Kids licenses last year and this year for Grades K,1 and 2.  

RAZ Kids has appeal because it allows for the classroom teacher to use the data they have about their students as readers to select appropriate books for each student.  Each time students use the program, the teacher knows that they are reading books that are at their just right level!  It is differentiated for each student!  RAZ Kids also gives students the ability to choose their own books from a selection that is set for their reading level--thus allowing choice and student interest.  Each level of readers also contains a selection of fiction and nonfiction texts-- many of which can be tied to our curricular units in science and social studies.  The program also has a feature in which students can listen to the books before they independently read them...thus supporting decoding of unknown words and helping them to be successful.  After each book, students are also asked to take a quiz.  These quizzes are set up to look at reading comprehension as well as sequencing and other important reading skills.  Quiz results are recorded and the teacher can review reports to see which skills their students are mastering, or which skills might require lessons and practice in class.

In addition to benefits at school, RAZ Kids is great because it also allows students to log in at home.  Now families can support students in their reading growth....and have a clear way of determining which books would be great for their children to read to them at their independent reading level.  New this year RAZ Kids is supported on tablets too!  

I realize as I write this that it sounds a little like an advertisement for this software...which was not the intention of this post.  I am really trying to clarify how with the right pieces of technology in our school environment we can have powerful differentiated opportunities for students.  I was excited to be a part of the pilot of this software and I am even more thrilled to watch as students effortlessly go on line to find just right books!  As the enrichment teacher, part of my role is helping to figure out how all students can be challenged---meeting them where they are and GROWING!  Technology is a powerful tool that supports teachers in this effort, and I hope to continue to be part of the RES conversation about technology implementation.

Do you have a technology tool that you believe we should consider for classrooms at RES?  Please share your ideas. Do you have questions about RAZ Kids? Please contact myself or your classroom teacher.