Non-Fiction Literacy Center

First, a disclaimer, I cannot take credit for this idea.  I read a blog post by Leslie over at Kindergarten Works and my wheels started turning.  I want my students to have a love of non-fiction and as an end of the year kindergarten goal I want them to be able to write a well organized paragraph regarding a non-fiction topic.  (You may be saying, "Yeah right Kerry, the majority of my class doesn't know their letters.  And you are talking about paragraphs!!!)


So how do you take non-literate children and expect them to create anything meaningful at a non-fiction center?  Let's start with circle thinking maps.  My class has done several circle thinking maps as class through Alphabet Boot Camp.  So my students were already very familiar with creating them.  We created some class samples and talked about my grading expectations.

I have supplied the center with lots of books on particular topics; sorted into bins.  These bins will be changed out about once a month (or when I see interest in a particular topic dwindling).  With these books students are learning to look for captions or scan the text to find the words to label their pictures.  (MOST of my students are not there yet.)  

 For students in need of more support, I have also included vocabulary pages (in a small binder in page protectors).  Now, everyone who is able to copy words can be successful at creating their circle map.

 I opened this center just a short 2 weeks ago and I had a kid (not even from my highest reading group) create a level 4 paper!!!!!  Can you say proud teacher???

So where do I go from here?  All the older maps will still be available for students to continue to work on; but I will be introducing new ones as the year goes on.  Here is what I am thinking my yearly timeline might look like...

For the next few months I will continue to let my students work on circle maps and help them develop stronger sentences.

December-January- In order to write a paragraph on one topic, students will need a narrower view.  I will introduce a bubble map.  With this map students will need to be able to read a book on one particular topic.  (Here I am expecting them to be early readers an be able to pull information from a simple text.)  Students will use the center of the bubble map to write their topic and then use the bubbles for details or adjectives.  From their bubble maps students can write a sentence and start writing paragraphs.

March- April- In the Spring I will introduce sequencing and the use of flow maps.  The books I put into the non-fiction center will be deliberate choices- life cycles and how things are made.  At this point, most students will be able to read and comprehend the simple texts.  Students will be able to use their flow map to write a paragraph on their chosen topic.

What are you thoughts or suggestions about this center?  What is something you do in your classroom to get your students working with non-fiction? 

  

Choice Centers

Yes, you read the title correctly, my students get to choose each day where they go for centers; literacy and math.  I started choice literacy centers about 4 years ago, about the same time I kicked off the Daily 5.

Now, I had a fair deal of trepidation when I gave up my control.  What if Johnny only wants to go to the listening center and work on sight words?????  He won't get enough phonics  or writing practice!!!!!!  I put a few things in place to make sure this was not an issue (for the most part).

1. Occasional requirements-  Every once in a while I would tell the students they had to make it to the writing center during the next 3 days.  This still gave them choice of when they were going to go, but I made sure to have that writing assignment from them by the end of the three days.
2. Training- I had to do lots of training about how to use centers effectively.  We talked about what might happen if you only went to one center all the time.  I referred to the centers like a puzzle.  You need all the pieces to be a successful reader.  
3. Student feedback- I encouraged them to talk to me about how they felt about specific centers.  "This one is too hard for me still.  I don't like this one because _____.  This one has gotten boring."  Yes, I am even happy when a kid can admit the center is boring.  They are so many ways to teach certain skills, I have no problem changing out the center.  My goal is to have them reading, and they are going to be more excited about it if they are excited about their centers.  
4. Change out centers often- If you see there is a center that no one is going to ask the kiddos why.  It may be too hard for most of them, it could be too easy, it could just be something they feel like they have done a million times.  Get to the root of why the center isn't working and make adjustments.  (Also I am a little sneaky in this area.  If the writing center is not getting enough traffic from my kiddos, I put out stamps, problem solved.  When the sight word center is at a lull I put out silly reading glasses.)  
5. Particular student requests- (This is similar to the occasional requirements but it is on an individual level.)  It usually goes something like this...(in a one on one conversation) "Johnny, I see that you could use some work with sight words.  You know your friend Bill is pretty strong there, but he could use some work in blending, which you are really good at.  Can you and Bill come up with a plan to spend your next two centers working together at sight words and the CVC center?"  The kiddos that I have done this with love it, maybe because they realize I notice their strengths and weaknesses, or because I've come up with a plan just for them.  

So that is how I maintain some control in a choice classroom. :)

Now here's the fun part; how students select centers.  As the kids were coming in from the playground and getting water we would start the process of picking centers.  In a room with a smart board this could be done with the pen on the board.  I didn't happen to have a smart board so we did ours old school; kids on my teacher laptop mouse.

There were 4 different slides- one for each center rotation.  Every day each student would come to reading group, they would have to read to self daily and also get on an ipad daily.  (I was fortunate enough to have 10 ipads).  (The ipad part is not included in the sample below.)

Here is a glimpse at the screen the students saw each day.  (My student's center choice chart had names instead of numbers).  We would click on a number from the right and move it to one of the colorful rows.  (In order top to bottom- reading group, read to self, word work, listen to reading, buddy reading, writing center).  Once all centers had been selected I played the slideshow.  It was projected nice and big on the board during each center rotation.  I could, with a quick glance, make sure everyone was where they were supposed to be.  To move to center 2 we just simply clicked the mouse once and center 2 was projected.  If you are interested in this chart it is available in my TPT store, just click on one of the images below.   

Here's an example of what this might look like in action.
reading group- students 1, 14, 17, 7 and 19, read to self- students 2, 13, 5  and 15 etc.  For buddy reading I put the two kids names' who are reading together closer together so it was an easy visual.

So there you have it!  How I keep some control in a student choice center system.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.  There are definitely clear advantages to both systems.  What center rotation system do you use?  What makes it your favorite?

No More Tears- First Day of School

I am linking up with the Undercover Classroom and lots of other great teachers about Tried and True First Day of School Activities.  The linky party will be available starting Sunday, August 2. 

When I started teaching I was ready to get right to work and get those Kindergarten students tracing their names.  They walked in and on their table were neatly printed papers with everyone's name on them.  I thought it was brilliant starting the year off with them already working.  What I didn't take into account was how overwhelming the first day of school was for these little ones...  A new situation, a new person in charge, new classmates, no more parents.  (Enough to make a grown-up nervous.) And on top of that I told these unfortunate kids to do something academic. 

So as you can assume year after year I had at least one crier on the first day of school.  (Now people, I teach Kindergarten, tears don't bother me.  But the boo hoo crying so loud that people from outside the classroom walk in to check if everything was okay- that child has an amazing pair of lungs crying was just too much for me.)


I was talking to a veteran teacher a few years ago and she said something to the effect of, there will be plenty of time for academics, in fact the less nervous they are the quicker you truly have their full attention for learning.  So do something fun when they walk in.

/This teacher suggested play-doh.  If you don't care for play-doh have them do something else, independently.  You can verify dismissal plans with parents, take attendance and all that other first day stuff while the kids are playing.

I started doing play-doh the first day of school 3 years ago.  And on the first day of school my classroom for 3 years has been tear free!

An InLinkz Link-up

Apple Orchard Count the Room

So here is my latest creation.  I wanted to have a math center that was apple themed for the first few weeks of school.  Students will be developing that every important one to one correspondence as they work on this center.  I really like how it turned out!

 

 Are there skills you are surprised your students come in knowing, or ones you are surprised they are lacking at the beginning of the year?

Thanks for your support!

Enjoy!

Christmas in July Sale Starts Tomorrow

Tomorrow kicks of the Christmas in July sale.  

Here's what you can look forward to:

July 13 and 14 four of my most popular items will be 1/2 off!

July 13th 

8 flash freebies (only free for an hour), starting at 9am EST and going through 4pm.  Posts will be made through Facebook on the hour to let you know about the current freebie!  Here are some of the goodies that will be free...

July 14th 

9 flash freebies (only free for an hour), starting at 9am EST and going  through 5pm.  Again posts will be made through Facebook on the hour to let you know about the current freebie!  Here are some of  the goodies that will be free-

I hope you enjoy this sale and these freebies!

Christmas in July TPT sale- July 13-14

Hi everyone,

I will be hosting a sale on my TPT store July 13 and 14.  For this sale, some of my most popular items will be marked 1/2 off!  Also, I will be offering flash freebies the days of the sale.  Check back with my blog or follow me on Facebook to receive updates on these awesome freebies!

I am still organizing all my flash freebies.  Comment below and let me know what items you would like to get for free from my TPT store.   You may just get an early Christmas present! 

classroom tour

Up through this past school year I had been fortunate enough to stay in the same classroom and be able to keep up my fadeless paper and even some other random things.  I decided to give you a bit of a tour through last year's classroom through pictures.  I warn you, it is not Pinterest worthy, but it was functional.

 My calendar- (from the top) string lights (from Target), fishbowl numbers, months of the year (from calendar math kit), ordinal numbers chart, counting by 10s to 100 gummy bear chart, cupcake birthdays, calendar (calendar math kit),

yellow chart- blends, word families, place value, estimation jar, beginning sound and shape

Getting to Know Numbers 1-30- white poster with green bordered pieces,

clip collection- I put a strip of magnet on the bulletin board paper and put magnets on the back of the numbers then the numbers get moved to the We have been in school _ _ _ days chart (on the white board) to show the correct number.

 Below the white board is our straw collection, next is a hundreds chart and finally All About Today (the chart came from Lakeshore Learning 10 years ago).  Now they have one a little different- New All About Today with cards.  I like the cards for the simple fact that you can print up new years when you need them, but I am concerned that the cards will not last as long as the pillows have- 10 years and counting!  Because I didn't have 2015 from Lakeshore I ended up buying another calendar with pillows to get myself to 2025.   

 Here is my word wall.  On the counter you can see my listening centers (MP3 players and 2 books in each basket).  You can also see the book bins that were in much need of being replaced.  I found the navy blue sturdy ones at IKEA for $0.50 a piece about 4 years ago.  They had been used even since then.  Finally many of them were starting to fall apart this past year so i supplemented with white paper bins.  (Those fell apart real fast!)  This year I plan to splurge and get the set from Really Good Stuff (hopefully I can make them last a while).  Has anyone used these or have a suggestion for another company?  Also if you use plastic book bins, how do you put student names on them?

 http://www.reallygoodstuff.com/durable-magazine-book-binder-holders-neon/p/156298/

Objectives- My thought was if I could make them look really nice I would remember to change them on a weekly basis.  Don't ask me how that worked for me.  They still look nice though.

To make your own- To put these together I found some plastic frames at Michael's, used a Cricut cutter to punch out the letters and then rubber cemented the letters to the frames.  (You can just as easily, or maybe more easily use letter stickers to do this.)  On the back of the frames I attached two command hooks, tied loops at the two ends of a piece of ribbon and put the loops on the hooks.  If you happen to want these objective cards you can find them in my TPT store.

CHAMPs display- The letters are from the teachers store, just your normal 4" punch out letters.  I put the expectations up with magnets on the white board so they are easy to change out.  I find this super helpful in the beginning of the year in teaching expectations; but generally phase it out when they know what I expect.  This past year I had a student who kept reminding me, "shouldn't that say whisper voices because we are working at our tables with or friends."  Which my response would be, "Good point, let me change that now."  (In my head however it was "I cant wait for you to get tall enough to change this without me wasting teaching time...") I guess I don't have much room to complain, she knew the expectations well enough to remind me of them. :)  Want these cards- you can find them here for FREE!

Here are my student self-assessment rubrics- based on Marzano's levels of understanding.  The students got pretty good at using these.  It was a really great tool when I was getting ready to pull a small group or seeing dazed looks on their faces.  I would ask them to rate their level of understanding by holding up fingers.  I even used this to put kids together into center pairs/groups.  "Okay it seems I have 5 kids who say they are level 4s, here's who they are.  If I have not called you to a small group with me you need to make sure you are in a group with one of those students; 3 students max per group."  I generally would take the 1s and 2s in my small group first and let some of the 2s and 3s try to get a better understanding from their classmates. 

   

 Here is my writing center.  The Rhyme Time Concentration by Stay and Play (used on the rhyming anchor chart) is a set that can be found here for FREE!  Even in March I had students having trouble with rhyming.  So we made this anchor chart by playing a rhyming and reading game.  I printed this set onto different colored paper, cut the word off of each picture and spread the words out on the tables.  I gave each student a picture to start with and they walked around the room looking for the word to match.  When they found the match they brought the word and the picture to me and I taped them together.  We did this until all the pictures and words were matched.  Each child got 1-2 cards (with the pictures and words).  They we started making this anchor chart, "Johnny has star, who has something that rhymes with star?"  I glued the cards next to one another on the anchor chart and then displayed it at the writing center for reference.  

Punctuation Paradise, short vowels, and blend posters are all from the Dollar Tree.  The smaller alphabet poster and exemplar writing piece are from The Writing Center Starter Kit by A Cupcake for the Teacher.  There are LOTS of resources in this kit!  On the counter are the student writing portfolios (scrapbook paper pouches to fit writing paper and construction paper bigger than 8.5x11). In the pocket chart is a set of writing picture prompts and vocabulary cards to go with it.  Sadly I cannot remember who published the set.  Finally there is a drawer set that holds different types of paper.  The chairs at the center face the word wall.    

Here are my grab and go centers.  

On the top and bottom of the white shelf are literacy centers.  The middle shelf contains cups for making cup towers (best and cheapest building center ever!)  

These here are my math centers.  They are all grab and go.  There are a variety of levels and skills out at any given time.  

 

One of my favorite poster sets- Reading Reminders.  I love everything about this, the simplicity of the wording, the size of the items (perfect for a display behind my reading table).  Different reading groups can have a different focus without me having to do much changing to the display.

My pride and joy- the classroom library.   I put some cheap book shelves on the counter behind the white book shelves.  I got some fabric at JoAnn's, folded the edges back (didn't bother sewing) and used flat push pins to tack the curtain to the top of the book shelf.  The purple curtains hide all the books for different topics that are not out at the moment.  I do have a LOT of books. 

 The books are organized in ziploc bags by topic.  Making it super easy to change books out efficiently.


So there it is... a tour  of last year's classroom.  This coming year I am moving schools and I will be starting from scratch with room decorating.  I think I am going to be more deliberate with the neon colors and try to keep my room less cluttered.  

I would love to see your classroom design plans for next year.  Leave me a link below to your design inspiration- blog, pinterest or whatever.


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