A Teaching Pot of Gold: Transforming Student Writing

Happy Spring Everyone!  This is Jessica Zannini from Notes from the Portable and today I want to talk about using mentor texts to transform student writing.  Transformations are one of my favorite ways to introduce a new writing genre.  The rhythm and word choice of mentor texts are fantastic to get students motivated to write.

What is a Transformation?

When teaching transformations you take a great book with a specific pattern that writers can follow. Students write using a similar structure.  Transformations allow students to make reading and writing connections.  

Sample lesson using Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

1. Read Aloud Click Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, by Doreen Cronin.

2. Ask, "What patterns did you notice in the book?"

3. Have the students look closely at the notes written by the farm animals.  Ask, "What are the parts of this note?" (Greeting, Body, Signature)

4. Discuss the organization/structure of this book. You may want to create an outline that student's can follow.  

5. As a class/group write your own version of the book.  (Ex.  Click, Clack, Neigh: Horses that Text, or Zoom, Zoom, Moo: Cows that Game. An example has been provided for you to use. 

6. You can extend this and have individuals or partners write their own version. 

Click, Clack Maa, Goats that Text

By: Jessica Zannini

 Dear Farmer Brown,

    We goats are tired of the same old trash. We would like to have some fresh flowers to eat.  The flowers will make our breath smell good.  We are tired of smelling bad. 

    Sincerely,

    The Goats

  
“What!” yelled Farmer Brown.  He threw his cell phone on the kitchen counter.  “Goats that want flowers? Who ever heard of such a ridiculous thing!  Goats are supposed to attract the bad things and eat trash. They are not supposed to have fresh breath!”

  In the background he heard:

  Click, clack, Maa.

  Click, clack, Maa.

  Ticky, tack, Maa.

  Dear Farmer Brown,

  If you do not get us fresh flowers we will not eat the weeds that are growing on the farm. We also will stick to one area and not keep the pests away from the other animals.  In addition, we will not socialize with the new horses you get.  How will they ever adjust to the barn without us?  If we get new flowers we will continue doing our job with fresh breath. 

    Sincerely,

    The Goats

    “I guess I will have to give them what they want,” sighed Farmer Brown.  “My new horses certainly will not adjust without them.” 

  
Farmer Brown plugged his phone into the charger and walked to the barn.  “Goats, here are your flowers.  But in order to get them, you have to give me your cell phone.  

The goats decided that they would rather have the flower.  They handed over the phone and thanked him.  Farmer Brown let out a sigh of relief, but when he left the barn he heard:

  Click, clack, Meow.

  Click, clack, Meow.

  Ticky, tack, Meow.

Additional Transformation Books:

1. When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant 

2.  T'was the Night Before Christmas

3.  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (or any of the other Mo Willems Pigeon books.

Don't forget to check out the other Primary Peach posts this month to learn more about making learning magical!

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A Teaching Pot of Gold: 5 Tips for Efficient Parent Communication

I am so excited to be back here at the Peach sharing some teacher tricks!  My post will hopefully make your year, well...a treasure ;).

When I first started teaching I would always gets annoyed when a child's folder came back fully stuffed with papers, obviously untouched.  I mean really, people?  How hard is it to check a folder?

Now that I am a parent I realize, it can be hard, very hard. And my girls are still in preschool!  I can imagine it will only get more difficult as the girls get older and we add dance and gymnastics and Wednesday night church to our plates.

I guess the trick is to make it as easy on parents as possible.  So how can you make this easy on YOU and the parents?  How can you increase parent involvement and communication? Here are a few easy tips.

When I was teaching I created a blog using Typepad.  It was easy to update during the week and  I was even able to add pictures of students during the week.  I also uploaded a copy of the monthly newsletter.

A friend of mine has created a private Facebook group. She loves it and so do her parents.  It might even be easier than a blog!  You can upload pictures and documents in a group and even add events to remind parents of special events like Open House, conferences, etc.

If you choose to do something online, just make sure the district approves this form of communication.  You also are going to want some kind of release form for photographs. Your school or district may already require one. Here are two examples I found. You can see them here and here.

I am sure you have heard all about Remind. It is an awesome and FREE way for teachers to keep in contact with parents. You can send text straight to your parent's phones while keeping your personal phone number private.  It is an ingenious idea! It would be great for reminders of dates, special events, returning library books a folders.

Send home sweet notes to the kids.  Parents love knowing positive things about their children.  I know it can be hard to find time to do, but is so important. Did you decorate your door in the beginning of the year?  I can't find a picture of mine, but here is an example I found online:

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Instead of just tossing the die cut (or in this case the sweet little owl) into the trash or folder when you done, keep them! Write a note to the child on the back and staple it in their agenda randomly.  I kept all mine in plastic baggie.  When I had an extra second or two, I would pull out one or two.  Then I would write a note to the child and staple it in the agenda.  Stapling usually made it stay there long enough for parents to see it, too! 

 It was a win-win!  The kids felt good, the parents felt good, and was super simple for me since I had made the door at the beginning of the year.

Do you send home a newsletter?  I did one monthly.  Actually, I didn't.  My co-teacher did.  I was terrible at writing the newsletters. She was amazing.  We were a pretty good team! LOL! I struggled with newsletters because I felt parents did not read them.  When I wrote them, I only send home a newsletter once a month. She wrote one EVERY week.  I am telling you.  She was good! She included:

• homework for the next week
• specials rotation (art, PE, etc because it changed every week)
• a calendar of upcoming events
• important notes
• enrichment ideas

Here is a sample of what ours looked like in February 4th, 2013.

She did a great job.

If you worry about parents reading your newsletter, I LOVE this article by Jennifer from Cult of Pedagogy.  She did a guest post for Laura Candler all about how to get parents to read your newsletter.  She even included FREE newsletter templates!

Any tips I left out?  How do you communicate with parents effectively?

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A Teaching Pot of Gold: Show What You Know!

Hey Y'all! This is Chandra from Teaching with Crayons and Curls! I hope that you've been enjoying our posts this month and have learned some magical new ideas to use in your classroom with our Teaching Pot of Gold: Making Learning Magical blog series!

I don't know about you, but I truly believe that for my students to LEARN, they have to be ENGAGED! So, I'm here to share some magic about how I try my best to keep my students engaged!

My  husband is also an educator and many of our conversations are school related. He has been so fortunate to attend many more education conferences than I have, and has always been willing (and excited) to share the information he has learned with me! At one of the conferences that he attended, he was very lucky to learn all about Kagan Structures. I had never heard about Kagan Structures before, but now I am completely hooked! I have to figure out a way to be officially trained or find a way to attend a workshop!

If you've never heard of Kagan Cooperative Learning, but you are looking for ways to engage your students and provide them with experiences for cooperative learning, I highly suggest looking into these structures! This book is absolutely incredible!

One of my favorite structures is Show Down! My students absolutely LOVE this activity and it's a great way to review for a math test while also allowing them to work cooperatively- hello Speaking and Listening standards!!!

You can read about the specific directions for how to complete this activity from the creator, Laura Candler, on her blog! I changed it up a little bit in my classroom for my firsties, but it's still very similar!

My students always use dry erase boards for this particular strategy. I LOVE using dry erase boards in my classroom because they are fast and easy, and my kids love using them! Win, win!  I have my students work in small groups of about 4 students and they sit in a small circle. We usually sit on the floor for this activity and I walk around the classroom to take observations on their work- great quick assessment tool!

In the actual directions, there is a team captain that switches a task card over! However, I usually just display the problem students are solving on the Smartboard. The task cards are a great way for you to differentiate the problems each group is working on, but since I usually use this activity for a test review, we are all working on the same problem! Once the problem is up, students get to work independently. I have them try to keep their dry erase boards hidden from the other members of their group, so that they are working independently. 

Once I notice that most students are done working, I yell "SHOWDOWN" and students turn their boards around so that all the students in their group can see their work. This is when they work cooperatively to discuss how they solved their problems or completed the problem. They can celebrate successes or tutor each other on how to correctly solve the problem. This is NOT a game, nobody wins or gets point! It's truly about working together and teaching each other! My students get so excited everytime I tell them we are about to complete Showdown, which makes my teacher heart so very happy!

I would LOVE to know what Kagan Structures you love using in your classroom! Make sure to comment below with your favorites!

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and

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A Teaching Pot of Gold: Blurt Cards

Happy Friday eve! It's Kristin here from School and the City.

The peaches are excited to bring you "a pot of gold" this March to make your classroom magical!

My tip for you is definitely magical... but here's a secret:

It's a tip to benefit YOU, not your kids. (Your sanity is important!)

I have definitely had to work some magic lately because it is that time of year.

By that time of year, I mean the weather is getting warm, kids are getting extra peps in their steps, and it's almost time for spring break. We are so close!

When it's that time of year, it's also time for behaviors to start going downhill and the chattiness to begin getting out of control. (Well, that's how it is in my room, at least!)

Last week, I decided that enough was ENOUGH. I couldn't make it through a day block lesson sentence without getting rudely interrupted by a student blurting out.

So I did some research, during which I found the idea of blurt cards and figured out how to make a system that would work for my classroom.

On my first day of attempting blurt cards, I posted about it on my Instagram and Snapchat (@SchoolAndTheCty). Tons of you asked me to share, so here goes!

First, we read and discussed a book.

These are my absolutely favorite books for blurters:

   

Afterwards, I introduced and explained the blurt cards.

Each time a student blurts out or interrupts a lesson with their voice (like an inappropriate laugh or sound), they have to mark off a box on his or her blurt card.



I'm starting off with four boxes, but I hope to eventually move to three then two. If a child can make it to dismissal with an empty card, they get rewarded. PURRR tickets are school-wide PBIS "money" that students can spend at the school store.



Right now, my fancy-schmancy blurt cards are just good ol' sticky notes. They are easy enough to make a few of each afternoon and stick on desks before I leave.

I decided that the best way to go about this is to give all of my students the opportunity to earn rewards. Therefore, each day, 6 kids get blurt cards. Four kids are my special friends that will get blurt cards every day. I also give blurt cards to 2 more students. It's great to compare the results at the end of the day of the volcano kids and non-volcanic kids. And again, I wanted to make sure that my well-behaved students also have the opportunity to be rewarded. Last, I just made a quick schedule to keep in my binder so I can keep track of who hasn't had a turn yet.




Blurt cards have worked really well for a whole... week! Some of my volcanic littles have worked really hard to restrain themselves, and I can see improvement already.


Let me know over at School and the City if you try blurt cards or something similar! I'd love to have you follow my (never dull) teaching journey.


Good luck handling spring fever in your classroom... and stay tuned for more March magic!

For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!