Celebrate: Threes

I’m celebrating threes. I’ve struggled with understanding the Common Core Standards in Reading Information.  I was struggling with raising the level of thinking my students will need to do to process and understand the standards.  

I’m celebrating Wonderopolis as my go to for non-fiction text to support higher-level thinking.  This week my students read Wonder #1377 What Was the Sit-In Movement? They read it three times with three different prompts. As we discussed their background knowledge, only two students out of 23 knew anything about the sit-in. 

1. Read it for an overview of the article: What did you learn new? Which vocabulary words were unknown to you?  
2. Read it for comprehension answering the three questions from the wonder and application of context clues for the vocabulary words they identified.
3. Read it for the author's purpose with supporting evidence. 

Thanks K. for letting me share your essay.

We never read an article three times. Occasionally, I heard, "We're reading it again." But more often I heard, "It helped me to understand it better because I read it several times."  It's hard to explain how much I learned from this experience.  I celebrate my students for allowing me to learn along with them. 

1. I learned what close reading really means. 
2. I learned that students can read an article three times and it's ok, and they didn't mind. 
3. I learned that when I choose an article - I want to hook my students with a subject they have limited background knowledge instead of always connecting with other content areas. 

I'm celebrating an amazing week of reading workshop. Thanks Ruth Ayres for encouraging us to celebrate.  Here is the link up for this week.

Once a Teacher Always a Teacher

I was going to take this week off from blogging because I look forward to the time with my family, and I had promised them that my school book bag would be put away in the corner. But the teacher in me never turns off.  I was always going to be a teacher ask my mom. Being an only child, I always had friends in my pretend classroom including my favorite student Karen Valentine from Room 222 for those of you old enough to remember that show. I set up a library in our back bedroom, and my parents would come and check books out.  I actually typed the cards for each book on a typewriter, and my mom let me tape them in the back of my books.  I remember begging for a date stamp so I could stamp the books as they were checked out from MY library.

Visiting Boston Public Library-great place to start our visit!

I arrived home from #NCTE13 with so much excitement and a huge pile of books to share with my students. We all gathered around the table and I told them the stories of each book.  I let them find the autographs and wow did they think I was a superhero with Lunch Lady and Baby Mouse signed to Mrs. Caplin's Class.  When my colleagues asked me about the conference the first word I used was contagious.  Being with 7,000 educators (I heard that was a record) who all loved literacy and wanted to learn more was infectious.  I was lucky enough to be with several colleagues from Dublin and surrounding districts, and then my extended friends through NCFL, Choice Literacy, Dublin Lit Conference and Literacy Connection. I was able to be apart of a wide variety of conversations that ranged from favorite books, BEST practices, integration of technology, extending the walls of the classroom and some great conversations about Common Core that shifted my thinking. I am still reflecting on my notes, and I am positive I will be writing more blogs about how I will connect my experiences in Boston with my learning community in Ohio.  

But let's flashback to my week off from blogging.  Our daughter arrived home finally after a flight delay, cancelled flight, standby and final arrival in Columbus.  She is sleeping peacefully on the couch.  Our son is out cutting wood with my husband so that we can continue to build huge fires as we begin to create our new Thanksgiving memories.  I am always a teacher and my thoughts continue to float back to NCTE13, and I take every small moment when possible to read a blog or catch up with my friends who I now know personally.  As Thanksgiving knocks on the door tomorrow,  I am thankful for my family but also for my extended family in education. Those that help me grow, challenge my thinking, cheering for me when I am unsure (yes I am still thinking about IT) and best of all supporting me through blogging and twitter. 

#300

I never know when to share those moments that make me so happy I could scream from the tallest mountain but since OH is void of any mountains I have decided to share one of my exciting moments on my blog. Today is number 300 post...who knew until I checked my design tab? 

Compliments of Google images (thanks Mary Lee for teaching me to give credit to photos)

I never imagined starting my blog on August 7, 2010 would lead to 300 posts.  I remember wondering if I could do this all by myself because so many friends had a blogging partner.  I remember several Central OH bloggers holding my hand virtually telling me it was going to be ok and it is.  A HUGE thanks to all my cheerleaders in OH. 

Last year's OLW was reflection and this year's OLW is gratitude.  Both powerful words for me as I think about all of the amazing opportunities that have happened because of the connections that I have made through my blog along with twitter.  The new family that I have found and enjoy working with at National Center for Family Literacy along with having the opportunity to write for Choice Literacy. All my virtual friends that I have never met but still feel like I know is amazing.  Who knew that I would become friends with so many authors when 3 years ago I was just reading their books and wishing that I could meet them.  The connections I have made are priceless.   

As my summer begins and one of my favorite parts is becoming a full time student again-learning from others by reading blogs, articles and twitter chats (#5thchat and #titletalk). By attending professional conferences and having conversations that will enrich my learning and taking the time to read and write which will lead to several more blog posts and my ever growing community of learners.  Thanks to my family and friends, I couldn't have done it without all of you!!

Exciting News Check Out Wonderopolis!

Today is exciting @wonderopolis because NCFL has launched some NEW changes on the site.  There are so many I don't know where to start....Let's start at the top:  not there is a Listen button so the wonder of the day can be read aloud while the text is tracked on the wonder to help to follow along.  Next there is a Wonder Gallery where you submit your own pictures that support the wonder. Perhaps one of my favorite parts is: Test your knowledge:  an on line quiz that you can take after you have explored the wonder.  Within the wonder, the vocabulary words are linked to past wonders to help with background knowledge and/or enrichment opportunities. 

With the change to Common Core, the new pull down menu from clicking on the Explore Wonders tab is perfect for specific searches.  You can choose your grade level and topic.  It will make using wonders connected to curriculum much easier to find and then you can make great connections with strong non-fiction text. Make sure you check out all the changes and tell your friends-it's a great time to be wondering with your students right before summer.  Have you considered summer wonder journals?  More on that soon :)

Wonder Wednesday: Free Choice Really?

At this point in the school year with 3 weeks to go until summer, I am trying to immerse my students in learning that pulls everything we discussed, learned, explored into one full circle.  I am a huge advocate for choice in my classroom, but I have shifted from total free choice to focus free choice.  

I think about "free choice" differently after several years of teaching.  I want my students to choose a topic that they are interested in to learn more; however, I am not sure learning about their favorite video game or researching the height of the Demon Drop at Cedar Point constitutes higher thinking. After all with the internet, most questions can be answered with a click of a finger or a google of a search. I have organized "free choice" differently the last few weeks of school.  
I asked my students what were some of the important "thinking" strategies we have focused on this year, we brainstormed a list.  At the top of the list: vocabulary, main idea/supporting details, compare & contrast, cause/effect, predictions and #1 was evidence for your thinking.

 As I read this wonder work, I was intrigued by the opening sentence " because when I go out to eat I usually get chicken fingers, and I learned 3 new facts."  I was pleased how they chose to create their own compare contrast chart with textual support. 

I was thrilled to see a math connection with"data" because that idea did not make our top list of strategies, yet this students wrote all about data and sloths? Who would have thought to compare humans to sloths-not me, but how creative.  So as you wind down your school year, think about "free choice" along with allowing your students to explore Wonderopolis. It is an excellent site for your students to be aware of before summer vacation rolls into the picture.

Wonder in Pictures

After reading Barbara's blog post "Chalk A Bration" I shared the post with a second grade class at our school.  They celebrated wonderopolis on their last day of school by drawing pictures of their favorite wonders of the year.

After finding this wonder wordle on a blog, I am sorry I can't remember where I saw it. I shared it during our last week of school.  As a class, we read through the words and connected to past wonders.
*fascinate:  Wonder #478   What is Fool's Gold? 
*laugh:  Wonder #100 What is a Milestone?  (watch the video)
*inspire:  Wonder #22 How Can Spare Change Make a Difference?
*discover:  Wonder #152 How Does a Species Become Endangered? 

This was a great way to end our year of wonder and most of all it was fun for me to see the wonders that really touched my class. I also had fun spreading the wonder around my school and seeing all K-5 including the library spread the wonder to all BES students.  Thanks NCFL and Wonderopolis for bring such a huge part of our school.

Finally I received this letter, and it says it all :)  

Thinking in Wonder

In the middle of beach.

Ever since I joined the NCFL team, I think in wonder.  I am pleased to say that I do notice life differently. My family might say that I notice some unique elements, and I occasionally agree with them. But at least I am wondering and noticing. This happened to me on our trip to San Diego, I started to observe the trees.  I live in OH and to be totally honest our trees are nothing to blog about except for the first 2-3 weeks of Spring which is where we are right now.  OH trees are beautiful with all the blossoms.  The other time our trees are beautiful are at the end of fall when the leaves are changing, and they paint a beautiful sunset just looking at the wide variety of colors. Getting back to sunny, beautiful San Diego where the weather is typically 75 degrees with no bugs and no humidity.  Yes I would live there if I could move our  22 acres of heaven that we have here in OH.  As I said in the opening I noticed the trees, and I started taking pictures even though Tom and Bill kept saying, "Why?"  Here are my pictures of some of the unique trees.  My hope would be that you might start to think in wonder after reading this post.

When I was younger, I would have climbed all the way to the top!

Have you ever seen this many roots above ground? They stretched on forever!

Perfect lollypop tree!

Just wondering what is the purpose of the big knot at the top of this palm tree? I think this would be a perfect wonder at Wonderopolis. 

Who's Going to Remember?

As we walked around San Diego near the pier, you can't help but notice the humungous Naval ships in port as well as those sailing in the harbor.  I have never had the chance to get that close to these amazing vessels that reminded me of a compact mini city on an ocean.  As we walked along, we stopped at this exhibit and I read this overview about hundred of thousands of sailors who put their personal lives on hold during WWII and how it is the only ship in which there were not any losses of life during its voyages. 

Then as we looked ahead we saw ships and this statue at the end of the pier, so we proceeded over to it to find out what it represented.  At this point, I have to admit I just sat on a bench and began thinking about the courage the sailors must have had to go into this war.  I have never been asked to have that much courage I admire those that do.

Finally we found an amazing exhibit in salute of Bob Hope-which brings my blog post title to life " Who Will Remember?"  As we listened to Bob's voice talk to the troops and looked at the massive ship in the background, I was in awe of the experience. I am old enough to remember Bob Hope's tours to support the troops, but I wonder who will teach the future generations about the sacrifice of WWII?  This part of the trip reminded me of the importance of taking the time to visit the historic sites while on vacation or attending a conference. 

I am going to share these pictures and video with my class to discuss the importance of this historic event along with Wonder #239  What is the Medal of Honor?  I think this will make the connection for my young 11-12 year old students.

Slice of Life From the Cockpit

Our world is changing. not a lightbulb moment but once again as I sit on the airplane I notice such a wider variety of tech tools from my previous flying experiences. I have been lucky to have flown since I was young. I remember I was only allowed to bring one book, my crayons and coloring book and of course my teddy bear. Fast forward 20 years, we have our own children and they brought their game boy, Magic fluorescent marker games and playing cards. Fast forward another 10 years and today I am typing my blog on my iPad and listening to my music. Next to me, my friend is reading Steve Job"s book on his iPad. In front of me, someone is working on a presentation that looks really confusing. The seat right next to me has probably a two year old who is watching a movie on his parents iPad but one thing that is the same are those cute little sippy cups. I guess those haven't changed in the past 40 years. As I close my iPad I notice the time has already changed--what ever happened to setting the Timex watch back. Guess that has changed also. Our world is changing.

PS. I am posting this after I wrote it in pages in Phoenix Airport.
PSS. I have tried to add the Slice graphic and can't figure it out. Still have lots of learning to do.

Full Circle Reflection-OLW

I am going to take a break from posting about technology, literacy, and professional development.  Last Saturday, I had a full circle moment, and it was one of those moments in my career that I just stopped when I got home and told my husband, "I made it."   I joined the Central OH Bloggers for breakfast at North Star Cafe and then we went to a local bookstore to enjoy some new books.

As I write this post, and I look at our picture, I am thankful for so many friends in this picture. One of the friendships goes back to my college years at BGSU and many of them are my colleagues in Dublin and yet others are new friends that I now know personally instead of just reading their amazing blogs.  As we ate breakfast and talked there were common themes: technology is important in our classrooms, one key to success in all classrooms is a strong literacy program and finally the best professional conversations can happen over a bowl of granola and a fresh squeezed class of orange juice.  Thinking about my growth with NCFL and how my blogging community is growing because of Wonder Year 2012 I guess I have come full circle!

My OLW in January

Many of you know my One Little Word for the year is reflection.  The OLW changed my month.  I stop now and reflect much more than I ever did.  I even started a place in my writer's notebook of ideas for January that I can reflect on.  I never took the time to this before and what is even more interesting to me I thought I would reflect on teaching practices.  But at least for January that is not what I have chosen to blog about-- what really stopped me this month were two first time experiences.

The first experience happened in writer's workshop and it took my breath away.  As the students were leaving to do their writing a student asked if she could talk to me.  We walked over to my desk,  and she said, "I have been asked to speak at my great grandmother's funeral.  I want to say something special.  Can you please help me write down some strong vocabulary words? "  I looked at her and replied, "I'd be honored." with a tear in my eye.  Together we came up with 5 very special words.

Jon and his son enjoying the moment.

The next experience was an opportunity for my family to spend a weekend in Louisville with the 5 other wonder lead families and the amazing group from NCFL .  I had been lucky enough to spend time with many members of the NCFL in the past.  But this was the first experience for my family to learn about this extraordinary organization.  During the weekend, the wonder families visited many different places and as we arrived at the Louisville Zoo, each family was given a question to WONDER about.  All of a sudden our family was talking and thinking about this question, of course the first place we went to was the orangutans.  We didn't find the answer on the signs that we read around the area, but we were lucky enough to ask the assistant keeper to find out our answer. The reflection came later from this experience how one question hooked four adults (remember our kids are 19 and 21) We had fun searching the answer and connecting as a family in the primate house-who knew?

On a side note, I am very excited because we are going to
do some cross posting today.  Please check out my friend's blogs:

Melissa @ Technology: figuring out how the pieces fit
   
Tracy @ Thinking Stems 

Tara @ A Teaching Life

Barbara @ One Little Word

Memories with your family, friends and students are what makes me thankful each day. Take some time in February to stop and reflect.

Welcome in Wonder Year 2012

I have been very fortunate the past two years to have the opportunity to surround myself with a strong community through twitter and blogging. I believe that this community has helped me grow professionally, increase my understanding of my craft, ask better questions and allow me the chance to grow in areas where I never thought I would be today-mainly technology.  Many of you who have been following my blog know that when I got my iPod grant I was searching for a way to integrate literacy and technology.  I found through a friend, thanks Andrea, an amazing website: Wonderopolis.   

Best breakfast in the world @ Lynn's Paradise Cafe

With the background set, I have some exciting news I have been chosen to be one of the lead ambassadors for Wonder Year 2012. Last weekend, my family was invited to Louisville, KY the home of NCFL to explore and wonder with the other 5 families which included children from the age of 3 to 21. (disclaimer: I happen to be the eldest lead but proud of it) We had amazing opportunities to visit so many exciting places and the BEST part was that we learned first hand that there is WONDER everywhere we visited-more about that in future posts. So with that said-Welcome in Wonder Year 2012, and I am honored to be included in this journey.

Marvelous News!

 I have received a $500 mini-grant from the National Center for Family Literacy and Better World Books.  I am one of only 20 winners nationwide to receive the award, which will promote creative ideas for using Wonderopolis with families. Wonderopolis.org was created by NCFL in 2010 to provide free, family friendly content that is practical, easy to use and designed to engage children's natural curiosity. It was one of only five family websites that Time Magazine named the 50 best websites in 2011.  I will be using the funding to continue to build wonder in my classroom but also begin to work in smaller groups with students who need additional help with their reading. In addition, I will continue to build professional development within my building and share about the wide variety of ways to use Wonderopolis with non fiction reading.

Wonderopolis is a free resource for families and schools, so hundreds of educators across the country already are using it to generate excitement for learning in schools, libraries and homes across the country. But this mini-grant will help my students magnify and reach towards the 21^st century online learning tool. Other communities will learn from my journey including the world of blogging and twitter on how they can maximize the use of Wonderopolis.  I am very thankful and excited as I continue my journey with NCFL and Better World Books.

Bah Humbug to Apple Computers

For those of you have have been reading my blog for the past year hopefully you have noticed my thirst for knowledge about the 21 Century Skills.  I have spent many hours on the web researching and then purchasing apps to use with my class including 5 new apps that I was going to purchase for this coming year.  Thinking about the phrase " the glass is always half full or half empty"-now I am writing about the half empty.

At the end of last school year, I got an email from our district technology coordinator telling me that Apple has changed their policy about how many apps you can install on iPods.  Last school year,  because of the teacher/student agreement if I bought one app I was allowed to load the apps on all 25 iPods for free.  This supported my learning as well as the students and honestly I was very careful about the apps I purchased.

However, Apple has now changed their policy for this school year.  You no longer can purchase one app and add it to the 25 iPods.  I now have to purchase the app for every iPod.  Which means a .99 app now will cost me $24.75.  A $2.99 app will cost me $74.75. For my classroom specifically last year I purchased 14 apps and spent about $20.00 this year to get the same apps I will need to spend $764.46.  In these times of budget crunches, I know that I will have to choose very few apps and will not have the flexibility that I had last year to try and find an app for each subject.  Pardon me while I rant for one sentence:  I thought Apple's philosophy was to support teachers as well as students in education how does this change support 21 Century learning?

Now my glass is half full, and I am thankful for strong educational sites like Wonderopolis sponsored by NCFL that I have been writing about in my blog.  Wonderopolis is FREE and is available to anyone on the web.  It is a site that includes all the crucial parts of education:  inquiry, collaboration, new knowledge, excitement/hooks for learners and finally a connection between home and school.  In these challenging financial times, I am thankful to Wonderopolis for an amazing FREE site that allows teachers, parents, and students to continue their thirst for a wonder everyday.

Wonderopolis in NYC

Have you ever had to keep a secret that was so exciting that you thought you might burst at the seams? Well I have had to keep a few secrets about Wonderopolis but now the word is out, and I can share their WONDERful news. I was invited to their national media release breakfast to celebrate Wonderopolis.  It was an amazing 24 hours in New York City, and I can't even begin to tell you about all the excitement.  I was honored to be interviewed by Jenna Bush Hager. She asked me several questions about how I incorporated Wonderopolis into my classroom this year. I loved talking about my amazing students and how we wondered daily. After the breakfast, I had the opportunity to talk to the media including People Magazine, Parents Magazine, and Family Circle.  I also enjoyed talking to members of Thinkfinity which provides free educational resources to teachers, parents and students as well as offering a comprehensive professional-development program for teachers on line. As I reflect, I am very thankful to Sharon, Emily and Laura from NCFL for inviting me to this event. It was one of those moments that I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real. I look forward to the next BIG announcement from Wonderopolis.......keep checking back-it's going to be lots of fun!!  Here is their teaser from twitter:

We're just a few days away from announcing our SUPER SPECIAL SUMMER SURPRISE! Hint: Think of summer adventures past, present and future! :-)  Wish I could tell you more, but it is another secret!

Wonderful Word Wednesday: Check out Wonderopolis

IT is the first thing I should do when I finish teaching  a lesson.  IT is the first thing I should do when I complete a unit, and I am ready to put it away for the year.  IT is one of the most important parts of thinking that teachers should do but IT is the first thing to go when we are too busy, overwhelmed or just need  five minutes to breathe.  I am sure you have figured IT out by now -- IT is reflection.   


So after I arrived home from the NCFL conference, I spent some time reflecting on one particular question that I was asked in our presentation.  How do you use Wonderopolis to help your ESL students?  As I answered this question, I realized that I have never blogged about how important the list of words can be in word study.  I am going to model a lesson with Wonder #152 How Does a Species Become Endangered ?  The list of words include:
*  species
*  endangered
*  unite
*  extinction
*  predator
*  range
*  conserve
* preserve
*  status
*  estimate
*  political
*  funding
*  influence
*  biodiversity

 If I was going to use this Wonder I would choose 3-5 words from the list for my ESL students.  I would choose species, endangered, estimate and range.  I am sure you might be wondering why I chose those words.  I will give you a few reasons for each word.

species:  I always try to chose 1 word in the title to help with understanding and predicting for the article.  I would define the word as a synonym for animals.  In addition I could teach singular/plural nouns.

endangered:  Again it is in the title.  I would teach about the base word (danger) prefix (en) and (ed) ending for verbs.  

range:   I would choose this word because of multiple meanings (math, synonym for stove,

driving range) This would be a great word for context clues practice.

estimate:  I LOVE this word because of the math connection that I can teach as well as the connection with the article.

The other idea that I always consider is if the words could form their own sentence for example: I estimate that some species are endangered.   

Finally I suggested to xerox the article and lift out the sentences with the focus vocabulary, so as I instruct the class the students needing limited vocabulary will only focus on their own words.  As I finish this blog entry, I  realize  these focus lessons on vocabulary could benefit any student if additional help was needed with word development.  Let me know if you try any of these strategies.  Enjoy Wonderful Word Wednesday I know we will!