Poetry Friday: State Testing & Idioms

In my school district, we start our state testing next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  I have blogged and voiced my concerns about the state tests.  I was thinking about state testing and for some reason idioms came to mind.  My apologies for not a typical poem but thought it might be fun to share.


I throw my hat into the wind as testing starts next week.
I had a major chip on my shoulder however I know this test is a drop in the bucket when I reflect on my students' learning this year.
My hope would be that my parent community realizes a picture paints a thousand words and their child's picture has been a work of art since September and will continue to be painted through the end of May. 
I hope my students hit the hay early and don't get up on the wrong side of the bed the morning of the tests.
I predict  my students will  break a leg and go the extra mile on their 2 and 4 pt. responses. They need to go for broke as well and use their loaf. 
By the way I will enjoy testing when pigs fly! 


Best of luck to all students who are taking states tests next week and congratulations to all the teachers who have gone above and beyond in preparing their classes!!


Check out Poetry Friday @ The Opposite of Indifference. Thanks for hosting Tabatha.

Connecting Wonderopolis to Content Areas

I have been asked to write about how I would use Wonderopolis in my classroom beyond my reading and writing workshop. This is an interesting question for me because it has become so automatic for me that I had to stop and reflect how I started using Wonderopolis.  I would suggest starting with the exploration of the site from that point I started using the links on the right to try and integrate the wonders that have already been written.  Another great feature of the site is the the search feature in the right hand corner of the site.  If you type in "plants", you would get the following links to wonders.

As you can see there are many options, I then preview them and decide which wonder will best support my Life Science indicators.  Often I use the videos to introduce or hook my students and then use parts of the text to support their learning.  I do the same thing with Social Studies for example if I search "maps."

The other amazing part of using wonderopolis is the learning can connect at home with the students' parents. Often I encourage the students to share the wonder of the day with their parents and even leave a comment if they want too.  I would encourage you to WONDER around the site and try to incorporate it into your classroom.  

Peaking into Our Classroom

Our class is in the middle of creating their wonder pages (an example page above). Sometimes it's fun just to sit back and observe. They are amazing in helping each other problem solve tech issues.  Most of the time they solve it before I can figure it out! Today I took several photos to allow you a peak into our room-enjoy!

The students got excited and share their video links.

I allowed the students the choice on how they wanted to
organize their research:  file folder, sticky notes,
xerox notes, index cards and rubric.

This was fun to see the open file folder with notes and
laptop along with using their iPod. If you look
closely you can see the start of a koala wonder page.

One of the students found a graph to support their
research and earn some extra credit. Their word
list is  above the graph on the right.


A teacher's reflection:  As I look back on these photos and think about how far I have come in allowing my students to have choice in their topic as well as their final  presentations. They are thinking and writing at a higher level because they wrote focused research questions with Bloom's verbs which pushed their research beyond the standard list of facts and finally the integration of 21st Century skills.  I am very proud of their hard work and effort.  I can't wait to share them with you in a few weeks. 

Wonder Rubric 2nd Try

Once again Mr. Mark is my hero and once again I have learned something new!  There is a lesson for all of us in my frustration-technology is ever changing and we have to learn right along with our students. Keep asking questions my friends.  For explanation of this rubric refer to this blog entry.

Still Learning....

I have tried three times to put my rubrics on my blog, and I guess I still don't have it figured out. It has me stumped. UGH got to love computers. Some times they are there for example last night when I posted them however  this morning I see little blue boxes with question marks.  I tried to take a snapshot of them in pages and copy them to the blog-guess that isn't working. Oh well once again  I have lots to learn. I will work with Mr. Mark and figure it out and try again to post them.  Sorry-

Traveling Down an Unknown Road- Creating Wonder Pages

I have a dark hidden secret that I finally have to let you know about- I am not always sure what the final end product is going to be when I start a new writing unit especially research.  In the past I  have had them create ABC books, a take off on the Magic School House books, and posters with flip cards. Once again this year, I am going down a road that I have never traveled, but we are all very excited about our journey. Have you ever traveled down an unknown road?

The first thing I had to do once I committed to wonder pages
for their final project was to talk to Mr. Mark.  I typically have these HUGE ideas and then I tell Mark what I want to do and he tells me the tool that we can use.  Again, the lesson/objectives/indicators were chosen first and the the technology tool to support the writing was chosen second. I presented Mark with these goals:

*model after the Wonderopolis pages (similar layout)
*integrate new technology:  adding videos and creating links
*force the students to choose the most important research that they have learned-not use it all
*intertwine vocabulary throughout every page
*import graphics that support the text

Finally Mark suggested iWeb which a new tool for me-so I spent the past two weeks playing (oh I mean learning) about it.  I like the ease of it-students get to choose their own design (there are about 15) and the pages are set up for them to basically just drop and drag.  I LOVE this part of it.

My next step was to create a rubric so the expectations will be clear for the students. They will  have to do their thinking at home ie: rough draft their wonder pages.  One negative for iWeb is the students can not work on them at home I am not sure if that is gong to be a big drawback or not. Here is a copy of my rubric so you will be able to see the requirements that I have outlined for my class. The * represent where the students will be filling in their choice vocabulary and links. In addition, I offered some "extra credit" to students to push them just a little bit further.  PS: All the credit for the name goes to Mark: Baileyopolis! LOVE that too.

Celebrating Wonderopolis!

Today we celebrated  poem in our pocket day with Mr. Fine's class in Montana. In addition, we celebrated starting our wonder projects with passing out wonder t-shirts!  It is hard to see but on the smart board is the first wonder #1: Why are flamingos pink? which is the logo on the shirts. Thanks wonderopolis for a wonderful day!