Personal Learning Networks

A Personal Learning Network (PLN) is an extension of the self that enables a learner to harness the knowledge and experiences of many voices through a collaborative connection. Here at school, PLNs often take form based on grade level or content area assignments, professional areas of interest, or simply the location of your room in the building. These are the people we call upon for advice, to help solve a problem, or fill in the gaps when we can’t figure it out on our own. This network of friends enhances our learning and offers the support necessary to grow professionally.

Informational Text

Along with all of the other challenges we face in the classroom each day, we have the constant reminder of our state's adoption of the "Common Core" and the promise of standardized tests which are expected to reflect achievement of these standards each spring. Over the past three years, curriculum has been updated and modified accordingly and efforts have been made to assist in "unpacking" the standards to ensure educators understand specifically what the new standards mean, and what a student must know, understand and be able to do. This year, in the area of ELA, our teacher toolbox expanded to include more resources for informational text, defined by the CCSS as a broad category of nonfiction resources, including: biographies; autobiographies; books about history, social studies, science, and the arts; technical texts (including how-to books and procedural books); and literary nonfiction.

Math Workshop

Connecting language, mathematics and thinking...
Many teachers have adopted the workshop model of instruction for mathematics with great success. Breaking down math instruction..."chunking" the content by presenting important concepts in a mini-lesson, providing guided practice and then gradually releasing students to complete independent work while the teacher/teachers scaffold instruction via tiered groups and then close with a quick check is becoming the norm in many elementary classrooms. The student success teachers have observed using this model in reading and writing has made the choice easy for many. The integration of technology into instruction allows teachers to reinforce math skills digitally or to "flip" the learning to front load new concepts before the actual classroom instruction takes place. The sharing of educational resources online through web sites blogs, wikis, and social media such as Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook has become common place and gives teachers just in time access to the tools they need. If you have implemented this model in your classroom or if you are considering making this change, the following resources may be helpful...

Rev Up Writing!

Increase student engagement using apps and online resources!

Writing, speaking and listening are critical elements of the Common Core State Standards. The ability to write clearly and coherently is highly emphasized. Using digital tools such as the Comic Life and Toontastic apps, and websites such as Make Beliefs Comix and ReadWriteThink’s comic generator will motivate students to write more and adapt what they write for a specific audience. Students may enjoy orally presenting what they have written by acting out these graphic stories for their peers.

For other online writing options, try Inklewriter, which allows students to make and play interactive stories, or Edit Central, where students may enter text they have composed and have it analyzed for its readability immediately.

The Daily Five: Digital

Teachers in kindergarten through grade two will find that their newest digital tool, their iPad, can be put to use immediately to reinforce The Daily Five areas; Read to Others, Read to Self, Listen to Reading, Word Work and Work on Writing. In fact, they may soon come to wonder how they met student needs in each of these areas without it! The iPad or iTouch alone or coupled with the Belkin RockStar or another multiple splitter device  provides an immediate listening center, and delivers apps which reinforce skills in all areas. In fact, a quick search on the Internet returns several sites devoted to just this purpose, using mobile devices and their applications to support instruction in ELA during The Daily Five. When we first looked at this option a few years ago for the iTouch the app selection was limited. Today there are so many apps available that we struggle with which app to recommend, but here we go...

Acronyms Abound!

As we spoke with teachers during our Back-to-School meetings in early September, we got a sense that everyone's head was spinning with the number of new acronyms being tossed into conversations, presentations and videos. It reminded me of the Wordles our students create by inputting text and seeing the artwork, or "word cloud" it creates with their words. The more times a word is entered the more prominence it is given in the Wordle. Each time I heard an acronym mentioned I added it to a Google doc. (Another term that has been thrown around as well!) Then I added the terms a few more times to reflect the importance of these terms in the life of the educators in our building this year. As we continued to meet over and spoke about these terms during ATMs and informal conversations we all agreed that an acronym glossary wouldn't be a bad idea! 

Here is what we've come up with so far...

Book Room Revival!

The EBR or Elementary Book Room, for grades 3-5 has had a facelift...so many new books had been purchased that we needed to organize the book room to allow teachers to find titles quickly and with a focus on genre, level and strategy instruction. With input and help from staff members, the book room was organized with the demands for more informational text in mind. Now non-fiction/informational text can be found when you open the door, organized by science (green bins in most cases) and social studies (usually blue). There is a separate section just for biographies! All titles have been sorted by publisher and/or series, making it easier to go through each bin because the books in the bins are the same size (especially the ones of the bottom row!). The fictional titles are also sorted by publisher and series and then by realistic fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, and so on. Reader's theater and plays, along with folk tales and tall tales are stored in a book shelf near the window. The shelves across from the windows house mentor texts and other fictional series. The books we received for participating in the trial last year remain in those shelves. An additional shelf is on order for our growing library. More fictional series and chapter books are stored in the closets and shelves against the inner wall. There are many popular series of books to choose from, especially at levels M-P.