Success With Stamina

We celebrated Read Across America Last week.

One of the fun activities we always do is a Read-A-thon.

Students take pledges and raise money for pages read.

Let me tell you, my kiddos have been reading,

a

lot!

For the Read-A-thon, my kiddos sustained their reading for 30 minutes.  And let this proud teacher tell you, they read the entire time :)

We have been building our stamina in reading.  You can read more HERE about it.  My kiddos do a great job for 20 minutes, then someone gets restless or the potty breaks begin, but today they were focussed!

We have examined the traits of a super reader and those of a blah reader.  

And these kiddos know, you're never going to be a super reader if you don't read.

Doesn't this pic make you want to cuddle up with your favorite book?

And this sweet girl brought her own bag of books to enjoy, (loved her bag :)

I didn't take many other pictures of our the activities, Open House is next week, 'nuff said :)

Adios amigos!

To Reading Log Or Not To Reading Log?

So...I've been teaching 19 years now.
(Ah hem, wow, wait I have to catch my breath, I say it but I just don't believe it). 

Anyways, I've had reading logs for 18 of those years.  Mostly because it was on our report card and it would let me know who was reading.

Since my return to First Grade though, I've stayed away from them.

I really didn't like the way my kiddos would read a lot of books just to fill out the log, so I stopped rewarding them a long time ago, (hence my hesitation with AR, but that's a different story).

I really didn't like how I would see several simple titles or chapter books to fill up the reading log.  I mean, come on, it really took you 20 minutes to read 3 chapter books?  And punishing kids for forgetting to fill out the reading log?  The terror in my kiddos eyes!  Isn't it funny how it's always our best students who get so worried about not being our perfect lil' students?

So in order to keep my frustration level low, (always a priority ;)
I decided I would still require 20 minutes of reading, but only a parent signature be necessary.

Do I wonder if some of my kids are really reading 20 minutes each night?  Sure.

Do I wonder if students are using any comprehension strategies?  Sure.

Do I wonder if parents are just signing and not reading with their child?  Sure.

But I've accepted the fact that I can't control any of it.
I always tell my parents and students that teachers can ALWAYS tell who reads at home and who doesn't.  So it's up to them if they want to be an eh, so-so reader or a ta-ta-chan....Super Reader.
 And to become a Super Reader you have to read, read, read!

So what to do? What to do?
Tune in for more info and freebies :)

To AR Or Not To AR?

Hola amigos!

Cannot believe February is almost over,

the trimester ended,

and parent conferences will be next week!

Just wanted to share what we've been up to.

Our President wall came out so cute!

Is it me or does my picture look fuzzy :-/

We have been busy reading, reading, reading.
We have been rereading for fluency and working on our comprehension skills.

This is our AR wall.

I'll admit, I was extremely hesitant about AR.  

I still don't like how some require students to read only books within their ZPD level.   Kids should be able to read and discuss any book any time.  I know students can read whatever they want, but if we push AR and only allow them to test within their level, will they really choose other books?  

 I was happily surprised when one of my girls told me she was going to take a test on a book at a 3rd grade level.  Her ZPD was 2 levels below that, and yet she got every question right!

I think I actually yelped!  I high-fived her, patted her back and walked away with the biggest smile on my face :)

      

I walked into an upper grade class and she had a super idea for posting AR points, so I tweaked it for our classroom.

For each level you earn a college degree and get to color in these super cute super heroes.

10 points- Bachelor's Degree (Captain America)

20 points- Master's Degree (Elastigirl)

30 points- Doctorate Degree (Iron Man)

So we now have a Doctor in the house!

He's so cute, he's putting Dr. last name on all his papers ;)

Author's Purpose

I don't know where the time goes!

We're getting ready to start our unit testing and I am so proud of my kiddos!
I have to say this now, because they've really learned a lot of vocabulary, reading strategies, and sometimes, testing doesn't always reflect their knowledge.

We've been working on author's purpose.

I don't really care for the way our program teaches author's purpose, so I thought I'd use the Pinterest friendly PIE method.

But instead of yummy smelling pies, we used the stinky, smelling feet. Feet?!

What do feet have to do with the reason author's write?

Well, of course, not much, but the acronym is the same: to persuade, to inform, and to entertain.

In Spanish, PIE is a foot.

My kiddos laugh, of course we don't really want to smell stinky feet, but let's see what it stands for:

And of course the first one is the hardest one to teach.

We spent a whole day just on persuasion.

We talked about the power of commercials and bring in my pumpkin spice latte, (finally a good reason to drink coffee ;)

And then work on a little project.

Ask my kiddos what is persuade/persuadir?

Persuadir: convencerte de cambiar tu opinión.

I uploaded a lil' unit in Spanish at my TPT if you're interested 

For now, let me know if you this freebie works for you :)

Adios amigos :)

Duck On A Bike Equals Stamina...

Whaaat?!

Who knew this book would help drive home the point of building stamina? 

I often refer to building stamina, or in Spanish leer con vigor, to riding a bike. We can't just jump on a bike  and expect to ride it like a pro right away. I ask kids to talk to their partners about how they first learned to ride a bike. Without fail, they all say how they had to practice and practice and practice.

Well, reading is just like riding a bike.
We can't read well just like that, we have to read and read and read. It's up to us if we want to be an eh-so-so reader or if they want to be a.... Super Reader! 

And they all want to be Super Readers of course ;) 

So what do we have to do to become a Super Reader?
Read, read, and read some more!
I cannot stress enough how important it is for kids to see themselves as readers!
This is why it's so important for kids to realize there are 3 ways to read a book.  Struggling readers can read the pictures or retell the story, which are both very important for comprehension.
Click below to grab your freebie.

To start building stamina, I use our Treasures reader.  Students are familiar with the stories, they're familiar with the 3 ways to read a book, and are set to go.

My kiddos found many places to read...

Ahhh, can anything else warm a teacher's heart like seeing her kiddos read?

Have a super weekend amigos :)

Book Baggies

 Spring Break Finally...YAHOO!!!
Ah-hem, sorry about that, it's been a loooooong year people.

Anyways, getting back to reading.
Let me just say that I follow Amy Lemon's super blog, Step Into 2nd Grade, and she wrote a great blog about Book Buddies.  If you don't know about her, be sure to check her out, she offers many freebies and fabulous ideas.

I bought these cute bags and had such great intentions...
I checked here for my post and realized it was almost a year and half ago (yikes)!

 I just couldn't manage it with Kinder, but I finally got a good system going.

I numbered the bags 1-21 and put different titles in each bag.

My kiddos take home a new bag with 5 new titles every Monday and return them on Thursday.

This gives them the opportunity to read 5 different Spanish books at home each week!

I really liked the notice about why I can't skip my 20 minutes of reading, I knew this was something my students and parents could use, so I had to translate this one.   It really drives home the point of being an eh-so-so reader or a Super Reader

I revised the parent letter and permission form for my kiddos, be sure to visit Amy's blog for copies.

My kiddos love receiving new Book Baggies each Monday.

I'm working on a Book Recommendation Form for my kiddos to fill out, hopefully after I get back.

For now I'm loving every moment relaxing, catching up on my cleaning, and time with my lil' cutie pie.

And don't forget to visit Step Into 2nd Grade for more super ideas!

Having Fun With Words

Anyone out there still reading my lil' blog?

Anyone?  Anyone?

:)

I cannot believe how busy and tired I am.

Anywho, I wanted to share some pics of a fun activity we do every week to review our spelling and high frequency words.

I number and write our words on our Smart Board and put an interactive dice or two.

A student touches or rolls the dice,

 and the rest of the students write the word for that number on their white board.

My kiddos love this!
 When we don't roll a 1 for example, I encourage them to chant,
one, one, one,
a student rolls the dice and
we cheer or awe when it lands.

Give it a try, your kiddos will love it!

Mystery Reader

Today we had our first Mystery Reader visit our classroom!

I gave my students a hint every day to see if they could guess who would visit us and read us a story.

Emma's mom, Ms. Benitez, was our Mystery Reader.

She attended this same elementary school as her daughter and graduated from U.C.L.A.

After reading:

several students wanted to also visit the moon. 

What a great way to introduce the idea about becoming astronauts.

Thank you again Ms. Benitez for reading us a great story!

I first saw this fun idea at 

Check out Mrs. Noble's awesome blog if you haven't already :)
For more information about Mystery Readers,check out the information below.I would love to hear any comments :)
Mystery Reader

Mystery Reader Sp

Book Whisperer Ch. 1

How do I feel after reading the intro and first chapter of The Book Whisperer?

In a word, validated.

When I taught 2nd, 1st, and now Kindergarten, 

all I wanted to show my students was to leave my classroom with a love of reading.

I believe all students can read. 

Some students just take a little longer.

The last month of school, one of my struggling students finally became proficient with their HFW.

When I was assessing his decodable words, he began by saying whatever came to mind, not decoding.

I isolated the first part of the word, he read it.

I uncovered the second syllable, he read it.

I praised him and acknowledged that he was reading.

I swear I saw the light inside him shine!

As teachers, we live for these moments don't we?

He read the rest of the words.

He read sentences.

He started reading books.

He saw himself as a reader, and he now knew he was a reader.

I was so excited, I told everyone, my coworkers, my principal, my husband!

I'm anxious to read more about Donalyn Miller's strategies, and I'm encouraged by her words so far.
I try to foster a love of reading by reading to my kids.
After reading a book, Big Book, or poem I let kids revisit them.
Can I just say it's the best feeling to see kids huddled around books,
seeing them with pointers, reading chants,
hearing the inflection in their voice.

Ahhhh, music to my ears........