Visiting a New York City School

Last week I had the chance to visit a great New York City school with a couple of my friends.  It was P.S. 247 in Brooklyn. The principal was wonderful to give us not only a tour of the building, but also took the time to explain his thinking behind what made the school so successful.

We picked this school to visit because it was similar to the ones we work with in our district. It has 27 different languages spoken in that one school of about 700 students.  There is a 75% free and reduced lunch count. We felt right at  home. The thing that startled us was when the principal took us to his office window and showed us another elementary school just three blocks away that has 1,000 students.  Yes, it is a neighborhood school. These children all live within three or four blocks of the school. AND, if you went to the other side and looked out, there would be another school with that many students.

We got there early in the morning as the students were walking to school.  In fact, after getting off the subway, we were having a hard time finding the school. We finally asked a mother with a little child, "Are you going to P.S. 247?"  She said yes and allowed us to follow them to the school. On the walk there, she couldn't stop talking about how great the school was. Many of her children had gone there and she loved it!

The school was build in the depression era and was four stories high. It was built on a small area of land. The funniest thing was when the principal showed us a stairway that led to nowhere...a wall. The original plans were to have a gym there, but there wasn't room when they went to build it. So, the wall!

As we traveled the halls of the building and stepped into various classrooms, we saw great teaching and very engaged children. The expectations for teachers and students are high. The atmosphere was relaxed and happy. The students would greet us with smiles and "Good Morning" as we entered the rooms. They were used to people visiting their rooms.

Next week, I will be blogging about some of the actual things I saw while walking around the school. Great charts and bulletin boards. We can't thank Mr. Ogno and the staff and students at P.S. 247 enough for allowing us to take a peek at the wonderful things that are happening for children at their school!

Where Poetry Hides For Me

This month in all Indiana schools, the children in many classrooms will be taking the state test. Doing writing during that time can be difficult. For that reason, many are turning to the more relaxed, pleasure of teaching poetry.

I remember when I first taught poetry to my second graders.  I tried all the usual types: acrosstic, haiku, rhyming, you get the idea. However, when I began using the non-rhyming poems, that is when both boys and girls fell in love with poetry. That is my wish for your children. Does that mean we don't teach those other types?  Of course not.  It is just an easier way to get the children "hooked" on poetry!  Here is a lesson that I started out with.  Try it and see what your students think!

Lesson: Beginning Poetry

Materials: overhead of my: Where Poetry Hides for Me; copies of various kids’ poetry showing variety of subjects on overheads

 CONNECTION:

You have been doing a lot of writing in your room.  Today we are going to talk about a different type of writing.  It is called poetry.  I love poetry because I can say things with poetry that I can’t say any other way.  The lines are short and usually I don’t have to worry that much about punctuation.  I get ideas for poetry everywhere.
TEACHING:
Today I want to talk to you about where we get our ideas for poems that we might write.  I like to think of it as, where poetry hides.  Yes, hides!  Poetry is everywhere!  Lots of times I find poems when I am outside. It seems like nature is a place where poetry hides for me.  I can see poems on my morning walks with my dog.  I can see poems when I sit outside under a tree and watch the sky.  Poems can be in the food I eat.  Poems might be around the Christmas tree or in the rain falling in big drops.
I'mgoing to show you what I do first when I get ready to write a poem.  I go to my notebook and look at a list I have made. I call the list: Where Poetry Hides For Me.  Look at this list. (Show it and go over list.)
Maybe you don’t have a list like I do.  That is something we are going to work on today.  First, I want to show you some poems that some kids have written.  Where do you think these poems were hidden? (Go over the overheads and let children talk about the topics.)
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT:
Think for a minute where you think poetry hides for you.  Who has an idea?  (Let them turn and talk about some ideas and then share a few with the group.)
LINK:
Now when you go back to your seats, get out a paper (or notebook) and start your list like mine.  I am going to give you some time to do that and then we will share our lists.

For sharing time use the “whip share”.  Sit in circle and each child gives one idea from the page.  The others may add an idea they liked from a friend’s list.

Monday in March, What are You Reading?

 This month I am going to be focusing on poetry books. One of the teachers I work with has Poetry Friday and they work with poems in the writer's workshop every Friday.  I love that idea! Many classrooms are busy with state testing this month. Doing a unit in poetry is a relaxing, fun way to focus on another type of writing.

all the small poems and fourteen more by Valerie Worth is a great book for any grade level. What I like best about this book is that it is not rhyming poetry. Do you know how hard that is to find for children? This book is full of poems that children can identify with and use as mentor texts. Ms. Worth also uses all aspects of poet's craft.  Her poems are fresh and observations are sharp. Here's a sample:
sun
The sun
Is a leaping fire
Too hot
To go near,

But it will still
Lie down
In warm yellow squares
On the floor

Like a flat
Quilt, where
The cat can curl
And purr.

The other book I want to start out with for the month is  Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. Yes, it is a novel, but it is based on poetry. This is a must read for the 3rd-5th graders studying this genre. It gives boys, especially, a new outlook on poetry. Here's a sample when Jack was asked to write a poem:
Sept. 13
I don't want to
because boys
don't write poetry.
Girls do.

Small Teaching Moments Happen Any Time

Teachers play a big part in a child's life.  I know, I was a teacher for 43 years and got to see not only those children grow up, but also see them with their own children and sometimes even grandchildren. I know how important teachers are.  However, even more than that, I always told the parents I worked with: "You are the most important person in your child's life. You are his/her first teacher!" Not only are the parents important, but so are the grandparents.

As I spend time with my own grandchildren, I can see how it is important to take those tiny moments and make them into teaching moments.   We did that at Gramma Preschool last week.  It was a cold February day when Meron came.  For Science we decided to do an experiment. We wrote our thoughts in her Science Notebook. Our question was: What happens to bubbles in the winter?  Her prediction was: They will freeze.  We then went outside and tried it out. It wasn't quite freezing that day, only 34 degrees. So when we blew bubbles, they flew off into the sky. But when she would blow them into the snow, they lit on the snow and froze. When she "popped" them, they would shatter!  We had loads of fun!

We also noticed that across the street, there were big machines digging into the ground. They were going to build a new house.  So, we watched.  We investigated. Then she wrote her book about Big Machines and what they did.  What a great chance to do some research before our writing!

Graham also had a new learning experience at Story Time.  They were learning songs, stories and rhymns about Teddy Bears.  For one of the songs, all the children put their bears in the middle of a parachute. Then they sang and bounced their bears. How fun!

For the craft that day, they all colored a bear with a poem on the back.  After they colored it, they got to take it home!

Being a Gramma is so much fun!!!!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess!

Saturday was Dr. Suess Day...his birthday! Many classrooms will be celebrating by reading his books to the students.  That is what I have been invited to do in a fifth grade classroom. I decided to do my read aloud with the first book Dr. Seuss wrote: And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

Since I will be traveling to New York City this week, I thought it would be great to share the idea of what Mulberry Street in New York looked like and the history of the book. Well, I was mistaken.  The Mulberry Street in this book is from the hometown of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Suess, in Springfield, Mass.

The book is about a boy named Marco who wants to tell his dad an interesting story about what he saw that day. But the only thing Marco saw was a boring old horse and wagon. So he decides to liven it up a bit and the story goes from there!

But, did you know this book was rejected 27 times? One day Theodor was walking home in New York City and he bumped into a friend who had just become an editor at a publishing house. Theodor told his friend that he had given up and was going to destroy the book. His friend told him to let him look at the book. That was the moment that changed Dr. Suess's life.

If he had been walking down the other side of the street, he probably would never have become an author. The book was published. So, it was that ordinary street that launched one extraordinary career!

Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers

Time for another professional "book talk". When this book came out, I just knew I had to have it. First, of all, the author, Penny Kittle, is one of my favorites! I love her books! I love when she comes to speak at our All Write Summer Institute. I just love her! So, even though I'm retired...I bought Book Love! And yes, I love it!

Last week I was in my niece's sixth grade classroom in Utah and heard the same story I hear in classrooms in Indiana: "My students are great word callers, but they are fake readers!" Penny addresses that issue and talks about how we, as teachers, can help students develop a love for reading!

Her book tells us about building stamina and fluency. She helps students set goals. Penny knows what students need to be successful in college and she knows how to encourage them to get there. Even if you are an upper elementary or middle school teacher, you will be able to take what she says about stamina and apply it.

Even though I have sat at the feet of the master of conferencing, Carl Anderson, for many years, I still learned so much from Penny's chapter on conferencing during reading time. Samples of conferences, questions to ask, and types of conferences were all so helpful.

I really enjoyed her chapter on Book Talks. When she talked about the book Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, I knew I had to have it. Then when she showed how the students took that into their writing time, I was really hooked. I mean hooked---as in "getting out my writer's notebook and beginning my Encyclopedia of a Retired Teacher hooked". But, that's for another blog!

Let's just say, I am so enjoying this book! Penny just keeps sharing her wonderful ability to be herself and show (not tell) us her passion for books and kids!

See you this summer, Penny, at All Write's Summer Institute!  

Planning a Unit of Study

One of the things I enjoy most about working with teachers is the time spent in collaborating with them. Recently, I have had the chance to work closely with a couple teachers doing just that.  One is a fifth grade teacher in my hometown and the other is my niece who lives in Utah and teaches sixth grade.

Last Sunday, Amy, the fifth grade teacher, came over and we brainstormed how to teach a unit of study. She wanted her students to do well on the state test next month, but did not want to do the usual prompt study. Her kiddos are amazing writers, so how could we make them even better. We decided to do a two-week study on reviewing the genres. This would be a learning unit, not a pre-testing unit. She came up with lesson titles like: Writers Can Write in Many Genres.  She would have the students first brainstorm what each of the four genres components were and she would chart that. The next day the students would come up with one topic they loved and could write about in all four  genres. After that she would model day by day a genre using her topic. This was the beginning. For the following days we came up with things that we thought the children needed to review...specific nouns, punctuation as a revising tool, etc. How fun it was to sit and just work all this out together!

I also got the chance to work with my niece. We were planning a trip to see family in Utah and I volunteered to come do a lesson in her sixth grade classroom. She accepted! So via email and texting, we planned what I would do when I visited. 

After arriving in Utah on Thursday, the two of us met at her house that night. We sat at the kitchen bar and made our last minute plans.  I tried not to overwhelm her with all my writer's workshop blather. She asked me to do a lesson on persuasion. I wanted to give her something that she could take and continue to do in her classroom even when I wasn't there to give her support. I decided to do the lesson on using mentor texts and writing for real reasons...each child having the choice of what to write.

I used the Wal-Mart letter that Mary Helen's children wrote many years ago. It is the perfect example of the power kids have in writing. (Thanks again, Mary Helen for sharing. Utah kids loved the letter!) We charted what we noticed and then, in notebooks, the kiddos made their own lists of things they wanted to change.

The kids wrote and wrote as I sat beside them and talked about what they wanted to change. Such great ideas!  These students have the power to change the world!

Thank you so much, Park Elementary School, Mrs. Anderson's sixth graders and Annalyse for allowing me to be part of your classroom today!