If you give a kid a QR Code…

My preschooler is to blame for my new classroom listening center. She really is. She’s enamored with QR codes. While strolling through the grocery store or climbing the stairs at the doctor’s office , she’ll suddenly stop and yell, “QR code,” as loud as she possibly can upon glimpsing even the faintest little black square. No kidding. It’s beyond alarming and makes me jump every time!

I guess that’s what we get for showing her how magical these little quick response codes really are. No QR code is safe when she’s around! Her first QR code was on the back of a box of Lincoln Logs. Then she graduated to a QR code freebie posted by the The QR Queens that allowed her to scan her favorite  Christmas songs and videos on demand without the help of Mom and Dad. And by the time she was three and we visited the Fairhaven Historic District near Bellingham, WA – where tourists can take a self-guided tour of the town just by scanning QR codes on the ground – she was hooked.

So if she was hooked, it only made sense to me that emergent kindergarten readers would be just as engaged. QR codes allow students to independently access content before they can even write and read themselves. Talk about empowering! Our classroom listening center contains one student iPad and one student iPod Touch as well as Belkin’s Rockstar splitter which allows up to five students to listen to the same recording or video. Students have the option of browsing through our Listen to Reading Binder for a book of their choice and then scanning the associated QR code. I spent time this summer placing QR codes on the cover of popular books in my classroom library as well. It was a bit time consuming, but so much easier than fumbling with compact discs and tape recorders!

One of the best Listening Center resources I’ve found is Barnes & Noble’s Online Storytime. Periodically, B&N posts a short video of a celebrity reading a favorite picture book. I was able to create QR codes for all of the stories currently posted and have made them available for free download in Google Docs. — Nook Storytime Classics QR Code Freebie

If you’d like to try your hand at creating QR codes for your own library, I suggest using SafeShare prior to using a QR code generator such as QR Stuff to create your QR code. SafeShare eliminates any unwanted advertisements from videos as well as protects students from clicking on inappropriate content.

CCSS – SL.K.2. Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not
understood.

Digital Kinders: A New Adventure

After over a decade with the Post Falls School District, I recently made the tough choice to find a teaching position closer to home in Spokane. I am ecstatic to say I have happily landed in Washington state and I have spent the past two months ramping up and preparing to meet 44 eager kindergartners this fall! Believe it or not, it feels like my first year of teaching all over again and I’ve been welcomed with open arms by a wonderful  team of teachers.

In my previous position as an ELA Curriculum & Technology Specialist, I had the privilege of working with two fantastic educators. Together we started on a joint blogging journey  and I hope to continue it here as I tackle a brand new school, brand new curriculum, and brand new position. (I have imported literacy and technology related posts from Curriculum & Technology to Digital Kinders. They will continue to appear in the archives for easy reference.)

Please be sure to sign up for email updates by scrolling to the bottom of this page or like Digital Kinders on Facebook. You can also follow my adventures on Pinterest, Twitter, or Instagram. Digital Kinders is my own site and is not associated with any school district.

Let the kinder fun begin!

 

ELA: Close Reading with Emergent Readers

This year our elementary and middle school students have focused on close reading strategies to build perseverance and grit with complex text. However, it is a strategy even beginning readers can use!

This morning I was afforded the opportunity to visit with the staff at Fredrick Post Kindergarten and share ideas for supporting emergent readers in the close reading of text. This seemed like a perfect fit for their current caterpillar and butterfly unit!

The resources from this morning are available in the shared Google Drive folder and are accessible to anyone. Also included are two example lessons using The Very Hungry Caterpillar and From Caterpillar to Butterfly.  Readworks.Org is also an excellent resource for informational text passages that can be used in the classroom.

Teacher Amanda Hartman on Vimeo:

• Bringing Close Reading into an Interactive Read Aloud
• Accountable Talk after Close Reading

Presentation/Resources/Handouts

• Close Reading with Emergent Readers Shared Folder
• Close Reading with Emergent Readers Prezi

ELA: Mother’s Day

What a busy week! Teacher Appreciation, School Nurse Day, and Mother’s Day all packed into one. Check out this video produced by HarperCollins Publishers. It features some of our students’ favorite authors thanking their moms!

HarperCollins also has a great collection of Mother’s Day books and resources on their Pinterest Board.

ELA: Why Lexile Scores Don’t Tell the Whole Story

Last week I provided teachers with updated Lexile Ranges from Appdenix A of the Common Core State Standards. Read on to see how teachers must also take in consideration more qualitative measures when determining which books to use in the classroom.

Can you identify the words in this word cloud taken from Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea? What about those from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling? Or even from Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

On first glance, either can I! The reason? All three books scored between 940L-980L using the online Lexile Text Analyzer  tool. This would place all three books firmly in the 4th-5th grade reading range.  Even more surprising? The simple board book The Wee Little Woman  by Byron Barton  scores a 1300L using the same set of metrics due to the repeated use of the slightly archaic word “wee.”

In a nutshell, these examples remind us that other, more qualitative, measures must be taken into consideration when selecting high-quality literature for students. While Lexile scores are a quick and dirty measure of readability, teachers still need to carefully consider the text structure and language features of each text as well as visual supports such as illustrations, the levels of meaning and purpose of the selected text, and the prior knowledge students need to have to understand the text.

The non-profit Aspen Institute has created a user-friendly Text Complexity Analysis Worksheet for classroom teachers to use when evaluating the reading level of student materials. This is an excellent collaboration tool for both elementary and secondary teachers. Please feel free to contact me if you’d like me to show your grade level team or department how to use this worksheet.

Thanks to Lakeland School District teacher Katie Graupman for sharing this resource at a recent Region 1 CORE workshop! 

ELA: Updated Text Complexity Bands

Determining text complexity just got a little bit easier. Scroll to the bottom to download an updated readability chart!

During many of our informational text sessions, Post Falls teachers have focused on the three components of Text Complexity as they relate to the Idaho Core Standards. Text complexity is not determined by a one simple measure, but is determined by quantitative evaluations, qualitative evaluations, and by matching the reader and the task.

While qualitative measures look at things such as the meaning, structure, and language of the text, quantitative measures analyze text readability based on vocabulary as well as word and sentence length. A text may have a quantitative score of 620L, but may be too complex in terms of meaning and purpose to use in a second grade classroom.

Many Post Falls teachers have been using AIMSweb or Accelerated Reader correlation guides to convert student reading levels to Lexile scores. However, Appendix A of the Common Core State Standards has been updated with new quantitative text readability ranges for the most commonly used text-analyzer tools. This is an easy way to continue using student ATOS scores from AR or with Flesch-Kincaid scores from your word processing program.

I suggest printing the chart below and using as a reference when lesson planning or helping students select books.

• Updated Appendix A including Readability Ranges
• Updated Text Complexity Bands for Common Text Analyzer Tools

Would you like guidance in leveling your current classroom library? I’m here to help!

ELA: High-Interest Informational Text for Differentiated Instruction

Love Scholastic’s StoryWorks or Scope magazine? Have you discovered Action yet?

Scholastic’s Action was designed as a high-interest magazine intended to boost the reading and writing skills of at-risk middle and high school readers. Like StoryWorks and Scope, each issue is directly aligned to the Idaho Core ELA Standards and includes informational text, reader’s theater for building fluency, paired texts, and argumentative writing prompts. Many English Language Arts teachers at both River City and Post Falls Middle School currently use StoryWorks and Scope magazine. Scope magazine is an integral part of the Middle School Summer School program as well.

Teachers who subscribe to Action magazine receive additional lesson planning materials and online resources. However, many of the informational text passages are currently available online free of charge.

Like Newsela, each Action article is written at a low, a middle, and  a high reading level which allows teachers to easily differentiate instruction for all types of readers. Multiple levels of texts allows all students to be included in the instructional process and contribute to the in-class learning environment.  Currently, passages can be found anywhere from 420L to 1060L allowing teachers to meet the needs of all learners. Scholastic Action has made the lower and higher Lexile passages available for teachers to print. The middle Lexile passages are available for digital download and also include an audio option for those students needing additional support. Digital companion videos and links are also available.

Know another great source for secondary level text? Let me know!

ELA: Mentor Texts for Writing

Let’s just put it out there- Writing is hard! How about using mentor texts with students to help develop fluent writing skills in the classroom?

 

In a nutshell, mentor texts are high-quality examples of writing that can be used in the classroom to help students develop their own writing skills and meet the more rigorous demands of the Idaho Core Writing Standards. Mentor texts allow students to model their own writing after the work of others through intentional exposure to targeted books, excerpts, and passages.  Mentor texts can by written by professional authors, teachers, and even other students. Typically, mentor texts fall into three categories: Ideas, Structure, and Craft.

Mentor texts that focus on unique and new ideas may inspire students to create narratives of their own or explore unfamiliar themes or concepts. These are the type of mentor texts that most teachers are already familiar with and have used for years. I’ve seen several teachers use Judi Barrett’s classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs to help young writers generate their own extraordinary ideas.

Mentor texts that focus on structure are great illustrations of the commonly found text structures in writing. Mentor texts can help model common text structures (Sequence, Descriptive, Compare & Contrast, Cause & Effect, Problem & Solution) so that students can utilize similar structures in their own writing. A common mentor text used at the primary level is Margaret Wise Brown’s The Important Book. Students can “borrow” the structure of this book to frame their own paragraphs or passages about things that are important.

Lastly, mentor texts that focus on craft can be used in the classroom to model the use of figurative language, dialogue, word choice, sentence length, and alliteration. Kevin Henkes‘ picture books are a great way to introduce younger students to many of these abstract ideas.

So where can you find mentor texts? There are probably perfect examples in your classroom already, but for some guidance check out the links below:

• Hello Literacy K-2 Narrative Mentor Texts -Lists mentor texts by Idaho Core Reading for Literature Standard K-2. Also includes paired texts and texts by grade level stretch Lexile band.
• Hello Literacy K-2 Informational Mentor Texts -Lists mentor texts  by Idaho Core Reading for Information Standard K-2. Also includes paired texts and texts by grade level stretch Lexile band.
• Hello Literacy 3-6 Informational Mentor Texts – Includes mentor texts by Idaho Core Reading for Information Standard as well as Common Core State Standard Exemplar Texts and texts by grade level stretch Lexile band.
• List of Mentor Texts from the Writing Fix -Bibliography of picture and chapter books including lessons and writing prompts.
• Follow my Pinterest Mentor Text Board!
• This month’s Educational Leadership also includes articles on writing and mentor texts.

Please email me if you’d like to team on a Mentor Text writing lesson in your classroom or see close reading modeled at any level. 

ELA: Perseverance

Earlier this week teachers at Ponderosa Elementary put on their dancing shoes! Skip to 1:09 to check out their awesome moves to Katy Perry’s “Roar!”

 

The video was produced by music teacher Sarah Windisch and will be shared with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students prior to next month’s S-BAC testing. Teachers Kelly Howard, Stacey Peppin, and Becky Rice recently came up with the idea after attending a workshop focused on helping kids develop GRIT and GRIP. The presenter gave teachers the lyrics to “Roar!” and suggested sharing them with students in a lesson about perseverance. The Ponderosa team took it a step further and made a video. Thanks for inviting me to be part of the fun!

ELA: Basal Alignment Project

Over the past month, I have been asked several questions about the Basal Alignment Project. More specifically — “What is the Basal Alignment Project?” and “How can I access it?”

The Basal Alignment Project  started as a way for teachers to share Common Core aligned resources with other teachers for use with common basal readers throughout the country. Teachers worked to create a bank of text-dependent questions as well as resources focused on specific comprehension strategies and Tier 2 vocabulary support. The result was the Basal Alignment Project.

The Basal Alignment Project does not address the spelling, phonics, or grammar portion of textbooks and is only available for grades 3-5. However, almost each lesson contains culminating tasks and classroom activities that align with the more rigorous standards. Paired with our District’s TIA StoryTown documents, the Basal Alignment Project is a great tool for teachers to use while planning instruction.

The Basal Alignment Project can be accessed two ways:

By visiting the AchievetheCore.Org website 

1. Select grade 3, 4, or 5.
2. Scroll down to find StoryTown.
3. Select the appropriate story title.
4. The Word document will open and save to your computer.

By creating or logging into your Edmodo account

1.  Join the Basal Alignment Project group with the join code “F4Q6NM.”
2. Click on the folder icon on the left side.
3.  Choose the “HMH StoryTown” folder.
4.  Click on appropriate story title.
5. The Word document will open and save to your computer.