Mr. Doug Woods

Mr. Doug Woods visited our school this morning. Author of 32 books, with six more in the works, and having sold 2.5 million books around the world, we are so thankful he was able to spend part of his day and share his world with us!!

We welcomed him in our "Old Gym", the original gym that was updated last school year.

 Mr. Wood has ADHD and struggled to learn how to read. He shared his experiences with us as he shared his story, "Miss. Little's Gift", also a title of one of his books.

The students especially loved when he shared his book about "What Teachers Can't Do". He talked about running in the halls ... teachers' favorite flowers are dandelions ... and more.

Then he shared some of his songs with us.

 We loved singing along!

Thank you Mr. Wood for sharing your gifts of stories, your perspective on our opportunity to see our world around us, and introducing us to your books and songs. What a GREAT way to spend a morning!

Preparing

Children's book author, Doug Wood is visiting our school on Wednesday. SO exciting!! Another reason to love Milaca Elemenatry, our staff and administration have gone the extra mile to bring in accomplished and celebrated authors to our school EACH year in February to inspire our students in the art of writing, illustrating, and publishing books.

We can't help our giddy appreciation and make the time to prepare! Ms. Leom shared these books with her class on Wednesday:

We are prepared!

Valentine's Book Projects

In January, students were invited to read a nonfiction book and complete a book project. It was an opportunity for students and families who like to do projects and want an opportunity to extend their reading and learning. Today, we started to share our projects.

Our class display:

We have such creative students and supportive families at our school!! The pride and sense of accomplishment from our students is hard to miss. I am told there are more students who will be bringing in boxes today. We can't wait!!!

Volume

This week, our lessons in Reading are focused on fluency, with emphasis on using volume to read with expression. We may read loudly of someone is angry, or something loud is happening. We may read softly if someone is thinking, talking to themselves, sad, or for some other quieter action. We use punctuation marks, key words, and more to help us determine the right volume to use. We also reread shorter texts so we can be familiar with the story and develop our skills. We read out loud so we can hear ourselves.

Then students completed a checklist (also called an "inventory" or "self assessment") about their own reading. Ms. Leom doesn't collect it. We look at several different factors. These include our past and future fluency skills of volume, pausing, emphasizing words, rate, accuracy, and more. 

Next, students selected one of the areas they had checked "no" and worked on that goal for the remainder of class. You can see the checklists I'm the pictures. Being able to self assess and determine what you will focus on is an opportunity for students to be engaged in their learning.

Students are encouraged to "track" their reading with their finger as they read for fluency. 

Both classes are working hard to read with fluency, one of our standards. 

The Rules

This week, we are getting ready for Valentine's Day. The book project boxes are arriving. Valentine bags and paper to decorate were made available on Monday during indoor recess for students who weren't doing a box. And our new high school helper, "Dr. J" (a nickname given to him by his fourth grade teacher when he was a fourth grader just two doors down) is busy organizing "the rules".

Every Time

This week, we are studying Trickster Tales. Ms. Leom shares her favorite, "Tops and Bottoms". We learned about the features. We read "Monkey and Crocodile". We read "Anansi and Turtle". We compared and contrasted the two stories as we "made connections" (the name of our practice). On Wednesday, we read "Brer Rabbit and Sis Cow". We are focused in our learning.

Ms. Leom said we are not competing. Learning is not a race. We are all working together as a class to learn and make gains. We may work at individual paces, but we are all working to improve ourselves. In this case, reading. To do this, we all need to be engaged. Five learners leading the class with sixteen others daydreaming and tuning in occasionally isn't going to meet our goal of everybody learns. We all need to be engaged in the text.

 It was fun to watch this "seed" of thought begin to bloom in students' eye, in their actions, and our learning for the day.

Our discussion was looking deeper into the text of "Brer Rabbit and Sis Cow".

First, we searched for "setting elements". We started by thinking about the term, "setting elements". Many of us knew "setting" is the place and time of the story. We may not know what elements mean, but if we look for the setting, the details might help us figure out "elements" later. Our testing does this to us. It gives us unfamiliar terms to common skills we know, and we have to navigate the text. 

Next we reviewed our memory, what was the setting of the story? Often student comprehension ends here. We read a text once. We search our memory, and we selected our answer from the choices. This isn't a successful strategy. We NEED TO go back into the text and find exactly what the text says.

In the case of "Brer Rabbit and Sis Coe", the text has three settings. We found examples that synonyms, "field" and "meadow". 

This strategy, to go back in the text, is important, because in the past, our students would stop at "outside", and miss the details of "in the field", "by the persimmon tree", and "in the briar patch." Often "outside" isn't a test option, and our students are setting themselves up for a larger error. 

Our strategy:

1. Read the text

2. Possibly, for short texts (anything without chapters), reread to become more familiar with the text

3. Read the question and understand it

4. Recall the basic information from memory

5. Use tour memory to go back to the text and find information

6. Make a list / highlight / underline / write in the margins 

7. Simplify / summarize your thoughts

8. Answer.

I know. This is complicated for a fourth grader and for one single test question. These are not the tests or the level of comprehension that was expected of me as a fourth grader. Our communities and the country have high expectations for their students, their future work force. This is an example of what it looks like in Reading.

Our class discussion included summarizing the three key points of the story, followed by determining the meaning of the word, "disguised" from the text.  You can see our notes on the board. 

Everyone in the class needs to be engaged in our learning. Our goal is to improve as readers. To do that, we need to develop out comprehension strategies and go back to the text. Every time. 

Use the Map

Ms. Leom posted the new seating chart map on the board this morning, and the students found their new home. Some students benefitted from some local experts to help them find their way. The move was on ...

Only Ms. Leom's class appeared to be getting "too comfortable" with their neighbors and needed the move. Mr. Greninger's class continues to have a healthy balance of learning and socializing.