Adding Literacy During the Holidays

Book Clubs

Winter Break is right around the corner which means students will start getting a little antsy as they are getting ready to be on an extended beak and well for the most of us around the States they are stuck inside because of cold and snowy weather outside. I really try to make the 3 weeks in December really engaging, although I want them to still have lots of academics before break as well.  Chances are many students won't read a single word over their 2-week break. Scary, Scary, Scary!

I LOVE book clubs, or many call them, literature circles. I enjoy these because they are highly engaging, group oriented, bring a lot of discussion amount equivalent readers, and all have the reading/writing connection.  I have created 4 different holiday book clubs for my third grade classroom. The book selection was based on the needs of my classroom, so these may not translate  to every third grade class around the world.

1. Judy B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake (GR: Level M)
2. Judy Moody & Stink, The Holly Joliday (GR: ~Level M)
3. Miss Holly is Too Jolly (GR: Level O)
4. Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? (GR: Level Q)

Each book contains a breakdown of what chapter(s) to read during a 7-day period, except for Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? as this was my highest reading group and I was able to work with them a little differently since the book was at a higher level.  The group was independent enough to work on their own and together to complete the task.

Each group met with the teacher 2-3 times during their 7-day book club project.  I know 7 days does not match up with a normal school week, so it was technically a two week project (10 days).  Seven days they were reading, 1-2 days to catch up if we were behind, and/or 1-2 days to complete the final project.

The final projects were group oriented and we spent 1.5 Literacy Blocks completed them.  Because I wanted everyone to learn about the books other groups read, we created large movie posters (No pictures...bummer, I know!) to try to entice classmates to read this book over break.  Each student had a job (writer, artist, leader, supply manager, time manager, question master, presenter).  I hope to have a blog post soon on how these group activities work in my classroom.

After they completed their movie poster, they presented to the class what the book was about (without giving too much away).  It was a great informal assessment as you could truly tell which group members understood the book well and could answer the questions their classmates asked with confidence.  I added this as a grade as well.

A little more about the books/questions:

 Judy B. Jones group is asked to complete summaries of each chapter they complete using Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then and then completed a final summary in paragraph form of the book. Judy Moody's group is asked to complete a variety of questions about the text. They are comparing/contrasting, describing, identifying, and summarizing.

 Miss. Holly is Too Jolly asks group members to complete a variety of questions including grammar based, comparing, identifying, giving details, and summarizing.  Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? is all summaries of the chapter(s) read in paragraph form.

*Each group has the "Rate this Book" at the end of

Adjective Passage

If you are not looking to create a huge project around the holidays, as there is too many assessments, projects, papers, etc. due I also love included reading into grammar skills. No matter the grammar subject, my students are always reading and identifying it in text.  I think students retain the information more when they practice in text rather than the skill in isolation.

I have created a passage that has LOADS of adjectives in it.  Students are asked to read the passage and find the adjectives within it.  Where does the holiday part come in you may ask? Well, the passage is about a snow day! Many of us can already relate to a snowy filled day already this year!

Students will circle all the adjective they find in the text, but then they are also asked to draw a line to the noun it is describing, as that is just as important as the adjective itself.

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How Do I Begin Centers/Stations?

Centers...Stations...whatever you may call it, is something than can be overwhelming to add into your classroom, especially if you've never experienced them in a classroom before.

Starting out as a Title I teacher, I was able to be "exposed" to many types of stations. After viewing all of these types, I took a little something and created my own.  With that, I also researched Daily 5 to create a great foundation for my classroom. With this being said, because my class was never the "model" class, I had to role with the punches to create the best engaging methods that worked for them.

The Daily 5 should be broken down into these 5 stations: Read Independently, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Listen to Reading, & Word Work. I took these 5 stations and created a variation that worked with my teaching style and my students' needs:

• Read to Self
• Writing
• Word Work
• Work with Teacher
• Listening
• Work with Teacher (For 2 years, I was lucky enough to have a Title I instructor in my classroom, so I added a 6th Station those years)

For more information on my specific instructions in these stations, please visit Centers/Stations Part 2.

Before I jump right into doing stations, I spend 2 days during the station times to explain rules & have a practice round.  I know these days won't go perfectly, but students will have spent time with me practicing my expectations. A few weeks of practice, my classroom is silent during stations unless a group is supposed to be working together. *Note: I don't normally start stations until the 2nd or even 3rd full week of school. I want my students to master the rest of the classroom/school procedures before bringing in a whole new set of them to learn. 

Day 1: Expectations: I walk around with the entire class for the full hour (I'll discuss timing later) and we decide at each station what they should be completing during that time and what I should be completing at that time. I fill out these expectations sheets {FREEBIE} with the students and then post them when I am finished so it is always there at that particular spot so they can reference later. No excuses! 

Day 1: Book Selection: In my classroom, I found these great cloth red bags from Goodwill that my students hold their books they selected for that week.  Now, I have used these bags now for 3 years and they are still holding up, so I suggest buying something at a higher quality that will last for years instead of plastic baggies or boxes. 

When I explain how to pick books, we go through how the classroom library is organized.  I explain my expectations that books need to go back in the bin they were selected from whether it by reading level or genre.  This takes a while, but a few months (yes months!) they get the hang of it. Once they start understanding genres it becomes easier.  My students pick 5 books (4 for my 3rd graders). Of those 5 books, 3 need to be Fiction and 2 need to be Non-fiction. This allows students to read a variety and not pick the same type of books each week.  (3rd grade: 2 Fiction; 2 Non-Fiction).  Students are allowed to keep the same books from week-week if they are not finished.

Weekly Visits/Timing: I switch each station activity each week.  Students visit each station twice a week except (Listening & Word Work).  Mondays were for co-teaching and Tuesday-Friday were stations.  That is the goal, although students are given different amounts of time based on what they need extra help on.  Also, some years I have differentiated within the station.  My expectations are different for each of the groups based on what they can accomplish during that time frame. For example, my lower achieving students might only be required to write a paragraph at writing station, but my highest achieving students may be asked to write 3 paragraphs in that given time.  

As for timing, in second grade, I had three 20-minute stations.  They would rotate when the bell rang.  In third grade, because I felt they needed more time to accomplish their goal I had two 30-minute station. Many people thought this was too much time, but I took time and value into planning stations so student activities were worthwhile. I was really able to get quality work from each of them. Quality always trumps quantity.  

This is a screenshot of my lesson plans for stations.  They are not very detailed as I know my requirements and do not want to take up a lot of room on my lesson plan template. 

Grouping: Of all the things needed to prepare to add centers/stations into your classroom creating groups and organizing them can be the most difficult. And if your classroom is anything like mine, students are coming in-out for other services during that time so I need to make sure they are receiving the instruction from me that is needed. It can definitely get confusing. After organizing groups by ability/skill (depending how often you're wanting to change groups), I give each group a name. My groups always go with my classroom theme:

• Rainforest Theme (all animal named groups)
• Garden Theme (flower named groups)
• United States Themed (Midwest states)

On the chart I use, I color code each station so it makes it easier to see if I missed a station for one of the groups.  I also go day-by-day to check over my work and literally say "Kentucky is at listening while Indiana is working with me.  Ohio is working with Title I, and Michigan is at writing".  I say each day aloud to make sure groups are not doubled at one particular station. Let's just say...I have learned from my mistakes on this one! 

This is a quick example of how I color code to make sure every need is met.  Now my Kentucky group has outside needs, so I make sure the second station is things they really need to work and not miss out on. 

Organizing each Station: Stations stayed the same on Tuesday/Wednesday and on Thursday/Friday.  This allowed me to only have to put out supplies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I would have all the supplies they would need, minus lined paper as that was in a specific bin within the classroom.  I also always had my Word Work station stocked with dictionaries, pencils, scissors, and anything else they may need during that time frame.

Most Importantly: You have to make stations work for you and your students.  If you are stressed during stations, your students will be stressed during stations. Set your expectations high, especially in the high-stress times of the year (BOY, holidays, EOY). If you do, your students will take it seriously and it will run smoothly. Good luck & let me know if you have questions.

Teaching Literary Genres

I think teaching literary genres can be really fun, but difficult at times. Thank goodness for Pinterest, bloggers, and the other resources on the internet to give me amazing resources to teach the topic. Check out this website for great PDF versions of a few genre posters.

I start of teaching each genre in isolation, as each grade learns a few new genres as each year progresses. You can find amazing videos and teaching chart examples to teaching the units. As for my anchor charts, I like to make 1 chart per genre. I know what you're thinking: "Where do you put them all?!" When I am done teaching all of the genres, I do a review week where students have to start figuring out the differences and identifying them in a larger context. At the beginning of that week, I'll make one anchor chart to keep up for the remainder of the year that has all of the genres and just a short definition/characteristics so students can use it to reference later on.

This past year when I taught 3rd grade, I had students begin the "Traveling Through the Book Genres" packet where they are to read many different books to identify that book on the correct genre page. I had students fill out that particular genre page throughout the week we studied that genre. During our review week, they tied up any lose ends and compared/contrasted two of the genres we studied. My students did a really good job!

 

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Good luck teaching this unit and have fun! There are some amazing books out there! Look for a post soon for some read alouds for each of these genres!