Fun Ideas from Edufest

I worked most of Edufest, but I was able to sneak away for Dr. Susannah Richards nonfiction workshop.  (I've been thinking about her a lot this week since she lived in Storrs, CT.  Hoping her house and thousands of pounds of books are safe and dry.) She of course was FULL of great books and ideas.  Here are just a few I thought you might enjoy.  Let me know if you want to try one.  I'd love to support you and see the results.

1. Spine Poetry - This is about manipulating words and phrases.  You give a student or group of students a small stack of books.  They line them up spine out and move them around to make a spine poem.  It made me wonder what a poem created from my bookshelves would say.  :-)

2. The Quiet Book and The Loud Book by Deborah Underwood are simple picture books, but they hold such a great idea for writing poetry.  The book is organized through a child's day with illustrations and text like: Alarm clock loud, Last slurp loud, Dropping your lunch tray loud.  These would make great anchor texts for a poem or descriptive writing activity.

3.  Voki.com - This was new to me.  What a fun way to have kids share a book sell.  Check out the website for more information.

4.  Bibme.com - I also didn't know about this spot where you can create and save all kinds of bibliographies.  A new place for my book lists!  I've already started a list of books, recommended by kids who have accomplished a Classic Reader goal, that I can easily download and share with a child or parent since these books seem so elusive to younger kids trying for this goal.

5.  Reversible Poems - Never heard of a reversible poem?  Check this one out on Youtube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA Now check out the book Mirror, Mirror by M. Singer and J. Masse.  This picture book is full of poems bases on fairytale characters.  Also a great example of perspective.

Treat Each Instructional Moment As a Precious Pearl

One quote from the summer that has really stuck with me is the reminder to "...treat every instructional minute as a precious pearl," (Hoyt, 2009).  Each moment that I get to spend with all of you on behalf of students is precious.  We never get those moments back and I'm aiming (though I'm bound to miss the mark from time to time) to make the most of each one.  I'm so excited to think and plan with all of you on behalf of your gifted and advanced readers, writers and mathematicians this year.  It is so exciting to think about the new Common Core State Standards and the rich learning targets that we will develop for those.

Nicole and I will be testing this coming week, but we both already have meetings scheduled to begin planning for groups and kids.  Please let us know what you need and how we can help you prepare.

Here's a fun quick tip (Also from Linda Hoyt's book, Revisit, Reflect, Retell) to start the year off.

Enjoy!
Angie

Book Reviews

This is a fun way to have kids think about and respond to books.  Remember it always works best to model this one first for kids, do one together and then allow them to do their own throughout the year.

First, you have kids create their own system for judging books.  This would be a great time to talk about why we read books and what we think about when we choose a book to read.  I've got Travis and Dane (who always come looking for my latest books) doing this for me so that other kids can see what they thought.

Second, bring in a read book reviews from the local paper or from a book store news letter.  Movie reviews are also good, especially the ones that use 4 bags of popcorn or some similar rating system.

Third, kids choose 1-5 catagories in which they will judge books that they read.  This can also change depending on the genre if you choose. Travis and Dane are working on their own system, but we tossed around categories like level of adventure, humor, difficulty of vocabulary, Attention Grabbing, and others.  We talked about determining their categories so they could be thinking about them as they read.

Lastly, when the students finish reading a book they do their "book review" on a sticky note on the inside cover of the book (primarily from your classroom library).  I wish I had a kid example, but here's a pic of a review for Mike Lupica's book, Hero, so you can see what I mean.  Let me know if you try this in your classroom.  I'd love to know how it goes.

Back to School! Check out the Revisit, Reflect, Retell Page

Welcome back!  What a whirlwind summer.  Not sure if I would call it a vacation, but there were many opportunties to stretch and grow and in that sense I'm ready to be back.

The Boise State National Writing Project was AMAZING!  I've got ideas coming out of my ears.  Hopefully I won't wear out my welcome, but I'm so excited to work with all of you and share thoughts on learning, thinking, reading and writing with our GT and advanced students. 

Kim, Jelena, and I have also set to work on digesting the Common Core State Standards.  They are rich and deep and we are super excited (and a little nervous) for the changes they will bring to learning targets, rooms, schools and our district.  We look forward to sharing and thinking about what we've looked at so far with you.

There are two phrases from the summer writing project that have stuck with me:

"Consciously Competent" - The ability to understand, recognize and support what you are doing professionally

"Thinking Partner" - A colleague who comes beside you, asks you questions about your practice, encourages you to be reflective supports you in professional growth and someone whom you reciprocate the process

This is how I see my relationship with all of you and am so looking forward to growing and thinking on behalf of our kids and watching them become everything they can be!

See you soon,
Angie