Bend 1 Session 2 Growth in Pics

I am not feeling well tonight, but had to try to post some pics of the amazing growth from day 1 to day 2 of my students this year in writers workshop.  I am feeling more confident at teaching writing this year.  I captioned the photos to let them be my "voice" tonight.

We have read and discussed Freight Train by Donald Crews two times.
One student used a technique from this book to show speed.  (see student's work below)

"FAOR" is an ear spelling from a student who was retained last year.
This is his first time ear spelling on his own.  I was surprised by this that
I was choking back some tears of joy.  What does it spell?
Flower!

Writers Workshop: Bend 1 Session 1 Recap

Today was the day!  The tenth day of school and my class officially started "Writers Workshop".  The first 9 days of school we spent exploring all our "school tools" during our planned writing time, but today was launch day using Lucy Calkins Units of Study based on CCSS.

Wow!  Great things are already happening with my students.  I am not sure if it is due to me having an actual writing curriculum this year or the fact that my students seem very interested in the "academics" of school.  (They all still ask when play time is, but this group is easily focused on doing school work.)

Did the lesson go perfectly as written by Lucy Calkins?  NO.  Lucy left out the part where you needed to stop and remind the students about Criss-Cross etc.  But once we were settled, our mini lesson began.

I had planned and organized well for this lesson.  This paid off big time!  Having chart paper mounted to the Eno Board and my own box of new markers was a plus.  (Confession--I am not a fan of chart paper, but the Post It brand that our principal ordered for us was very easy to use.)  I decided to go with Lucy's example of a teaching story too--my grandma's garden.  Maybe next year I will come up with another idea, but right now easy is best for me.

After the mini lesson I sent each student on their way to write and draw about what they could teach someone about.  About 7 minutes in, I had one boy exclaim, "I'm DONE!"  I circled around and asked him to tell me about his paper.  He said he had drawn himself riding his scooter.  I looked and found a one color drawing of a boy on a scooter--with lots of white space left on the page.  I asked where are you?  He pointed to the drawing of the boy and said, "Right there."  LOL.  Silly, Mrs. Wolf.  I rephrased my question to prompt him to draw more details of "where" he was.  When I circled back he had added a blue sky and grass.  Success!  He added more details.

Another student asked me to spell monster truck for him.  I replied, "I won't tell you how to spell the words, but I will help you learn how to "ear spell" the words."  I modeled how to stretch a word. After helping with the first sound, he continued stretching the words.  He was able to write "mrtc" for monster truck.  He had a beginning and ending sound for two words.  This is the first day of Writer's Workshop--What will next week bring?

Looking at the clock, I knew we had to come back together for a share time.  Ugh!  I always hated share time because there is never enough time to let each child share their work with the class.  I hated hearing the "But Mrs. Wolf, I want to share mine too."  Guess what?  This did not happen today.  I tried what Lucy recommended.  Have the students share their work with someone next to them.  I gave them two minutes to share with their close neighbors on the carpet.  It worked!  No complaints.

I ended the lesson with coming up with a "club" name.  The students needed some help on this one.  So I suggested "Super Writers" and they all agreed.  (Super Writers is what Lucy called her club in the curriculum.  Easy Peasy!)

I forgot to take pics of some of their work.  I will post pics later.  If I was not so tired, I would run over to school and take a pic of some right now...but it will have to wait until tomorrow.  Thanks for visiting my blog.  Leave me comment about your writers workshop.

Donors Choose Communities--Giving Pages

If you are facebook friends with me, you know that I was all about my 3 Donors Choose projects this summer.  Before this summer, I had posted only 1 DC project that did "magically" become fully funded  without my promotion.  I think the only reason it funded without promotion by me was because is was a very small dollar amount.

In my school district, I am required to receive approval from my school board before posting to Donors Choose due to it being a type of "grant".  Due to this, I wrote 3 proposals for the summer months all at once.  It takes some planning to meet deadlines but my students are worth it.  I knew with 3 projects up at the same time, I would need a lot of help promoting them.

First promotion I did was to contact my family and friends via facebook and email.  A few donations trickled in from this attempt.  It was a good start, but not enough to fund even one of them.

One afternoon, I stumbled across a facebook page that was a "giving page".  I had no idea what a giving page was about so I liked the page and read up on the posts.  I discovered that Donors Choose has communities that some refer to giving pages.  Giving pages will promote projects via facebook and twitter to their members.  Most hold contests where the prizes may range from $5 on up when you simply donate a $1 to one of their projects listed on their page.  You become a member of the community when you donate at least $1 to a project.

Over the next several weeks I became obsessed with giving pages!  I stalked them and figured out how to get my projects listed onto their giving pages.  It took a little bit of effort, but I succeeded in having all 3 projects listed on at least 1 giving page by giving to other projects that were listed on their pages.  Two of the 3 projects have been fully funded thanks to exposure from these communities.  One more to go.  Yay!

You maybe saying to yourself, "Why would you give to someone else project?  Just put the money towards your own."  First of all, each $1 given through Donors Choose is a tax deduction due to its 501c status.  Second, I learned through my years in business that nothing can flow through a tight fist.  When you are willing to support others, that support comes back around to you.  Old saying...you reap what you sow.

I am posting the links to my favorite giving pages that have helped me fund my projects.  If you need a way to promote your DC project, seek these giving pages out on facebook and follow them.  Look for helpful tips in their file sections on facebook.  (Southern Hospitality has great files listed.)

Here are my favorite giving page communities:

Kindergarten Rocks
Send A Smile
Memories and Milestones
Hand in Hand
Southern Hospitality
Caring Classrooms
Northern Lights

Right now there is a Back To School Contest going on that is sponsored by many of the giving pages.  Follow this link to Send A Smile for details.  Over the next 11 days, there will be 4--$10 DC winners compliments of Donors Choose!

How We Survived a Narrative Writing Prompt

I mentioned in an earlier post that my school is focusing on our students' writing process this year.  We are using Lucy Calkins latest writing curriculum Units of Study which is aligned with the CCSS.  I love the lessons that are laid out in this curriculum!

However, there was one section I was hoping maybe the kindergarten teachers could just skip due to our young ones not knowing enough to write.  They are just beginning their journey to become writers.  How could I ever ask them "to write" a narrative on the THIRD day of school?  Ask them to spend 45 minutes "writing"?  Not only am I asking them "to write" but I am using vocabulary they have never heard of in the prompt.

And then there is the task of taking down dictation for each and every student so I can see their thought process.  I have 22 new kindergarteners who don't know how to raise their hand to speak yet.  As soon as I ask the first one about their work, the other 21 will be surrounding me calling out, "Mrs. Wolf!  Mrs. Wolf, look at mine next!"

Off to our planning meeting before the second day of school I went with all these thoughts and concerns.  The topic of the meeting was the narrative writing prompt.  I was a brave teacher who raised her hand in a planning meeting.  I spoke of my biggest concern--taking down the dictation for each of my 22 students.  The other two kindergarten teachers agreed that dictation was our biggest challenge. As a staff we had a short discussion if dictation was necessary.  We decided it was definitely necessary based on the rubrics that are provided in Lucy Calkins' materials.  We needed to see each student's thought process.  Did the words they wanted to write match their pictures?  Did they attempt a first sound by writing some letters under the picture?  Did they have a beginning, middle and end when they spoke of their narrative?  So much information can be gathered from dictation.

So our staff came up with a solution to have our Title I aides assist with the dictation.  Our school is blessed with amazing aides who support our classrooms in so many ways.  Since our school is just beginning, the aides could adjust their schedule in the morning to be in our three classrooms to help.

Third Day of School--Writing Prompt Day

When two aides and our instructional coach arrived in my classroom this morning, I was still instructing some basic procedures for our classroom restroom.  I hope they loved my chant, "Potty, Potty. Flush, Flush.  Wash, Wash.  Hush, Hush."  Oh well, it is the things we have to do when teaching kindergarten.  But back to the writing prompt...

Once I finished our restroom procedures, I had the students meet me on our carpet.  I used the writing prompt from Lucy's book.  The questions were excellent from my students.  They wanted to know what "details" were and what is a "narrative".  They were ready to try.  After short explanations, I handed out the paper to write their narrative writing piece.  I praised those who got to work right away, just like Lucy said to do in her lessons.  One by one, each student got busy.  They got busy doing the "best" writing they could do!  It was a beautiful thing to see and experience.

The two aides, instructional coach and I each took a table group of students.  We had sticky notes on clip boards and pen in hand.  We asked child to tell us about their paper.  WoW!  The dictation results were amazing!  So much information that I can now use to know exactly where each child is starting their writing journey in kindergarten.

I have the full spectrum of "writers" in my room too.  Everything from the scribble to a full sentence with finger spaces.  Some students drew pictures that look like scribble to the untrained eye.  Others drew familiar things like houses.  Some added details like stairs and light switches to their house.  Two told about a small moment in their dictations with a beginning, middle and end.

The writing prompt was not only the highlight of my day, but my week!  I can not wait to see the growth these children will make as writers this year.

Does your school have a writing curriculum?  Do you do writing prompts?  Share your experiences with writing prompts in the comments below.

And the Winner Is...

It has been a long first day of school with students.  Before putting on my PJ's and heading to bed, I wanted to post the winner of my "Git R Done 2" Contest.

Drum roll, please...

BJ contacted me and the donation has been made to BJ's project, Calling All Students to Learn.  Show BJ some "love" by stopping by the link and donating a $1 or more.

Sneak Peek

This will be a short post, but wanted to share one area of my classroom that needed some attention.

I have gotten in the habit of taking pics of my classroom during the last week of school so I can remember what worked that year.  This week while cruising through my pics I came across one that made me desperate for change.  It got to the point that I really could not focus on the rest of the room until I came up with a plan to change it.

Here is the before pic:

Yuck!  Tack strips are helpful, but are ugly!  So I decided to do a "fake" bulletin board around the tack strips.  Here is the new improved wall:

Yes!  Good bye ugly tack strips.  Hello, gorgeous schedule and dismissal board!  The Special Schedule will be helpful during the first weeks of school.  The "How We Go Home" will have clothespins for each student.  I am going to double check with each parent to be sure we have the correct transportation for their little ones ride home that first day.

Do you take pics of your room each year?  Does it help you when you are setting everything back up for a new year?  Let me know in the comments below if you have improved an area in your room this year and what the improvement is.

Craftivity & Contest "Git R Done 2"

My mind is filled with clutter from setting up my classroom!  School starts with kiddos on August 14th.  I am officially on the "clock" on Monday.  I am further along today than I was yesterday.  I really wanted to post photos today of my room...but it is sooooo NOT ready for that yet.  And why am I not ready?  Because I am taking time to do cute craft projects.

I am sure that most of you have seen the cute photos of kindergarten students holding a photo frame that has the quote "My 1st Day of Kindergarten".  I have wanted to do this for 2 years now and I am glad to say I am to the finish line on this one.  Whoop! Whoop!

Here is a pic of what mine looks like:

I am using velcro on the "1st" and the apple.  At the end of the year, I will replace the "1st" with the word "last".  The apple will be switched out each year.  The rest of the letters I used hot glue to attach them around the frame.  I will use these photos in our Kindergarten Memory Book that we put together the last week of school.

Supplies to make this were cheap!  Scrapbook paper was on sale at Hobby Lobby earlier in the summer.  The foam apple came in a pack of 10 at the Target Dollar Spot.  The frame I picked up for $2.99 at Goodwill.  (I used a black sharpie marker to color in a couple of chips in the frame.)  This project was less than $5 to make.  I am so excited to finally have this "craftivity" completed.  Check that off the to do list.

Okay so my title also mentions a CONTEST.  I am calling it "Git R Done 2".  This contest is connected to another goal of mine--to have all of my Donors Choose Projects funded by the start of school.  YiKeS!!!!  I still have two projects left to fund.  One is under $100 and the other is at $285.  So I decided to come up with a contest to help promote donations.  

HOW TO ENTER:

Click on over to my Donors Choose Project Page and donate $1.  Every $1 donation is an entry when you put in the comments "Git R Done 2".  If you use the match code DREAMS (courtesy of the Black Philanthropy Giving Page) your donation will be doubled and you will receive an additional entry into the contest.  Contest ends at Midnight August 13, 2013 (EST)

THE PRIZE:

The winner will receive a $5 Donors Choose Donation to a project of the their choice.  If one of my projects is fully funded by Midnight of August 13th, 2013 the prize will jump to a $10 Donors Choose Donation.  If BOTH projects fund by midnight of August 13th, 2013 the prize will be increase to $25.

THE DRAWING:

I will randomly draw the winner on August 14th, 2013 by 8:00 pm (EST).  I will post the winner right here on the blog and share it on facebook.  (I may draw the winner sooner, but remember this is my FIRST day with the kiddos!)

If you have questions about the contest, please leave it in the comments below for me to answer.  Thanks!!!  Now let's Git R Done!

Cords be GONE!

Whoop! Whoop! My Donors Choose project to make headphone cords disappear in my classroom was fully funded on Monday morning!  This is going to make our listen to read center run so much smoother.  No more cords getting in the way of turning a page, or being tangled up with another student's headphone cord.  Gone are the annoying shorts that always happen in cords.

Everyone HaPpY DaNcE!!!!!

I have two more projects to go for summer funding. First, We Are Authors is a project that will enable our writing supplies to be organized as well as an optional writing desk for up to four students.  This will come in handy as our whole school is focusing on writing this year--Kindergarten through Fifth grade!

We are using Lucy Calkins brand new CCSS Writing Curriculum.  I have attended our district's training and read through about half of the materials. As I progress through this new curriculum, I will let you know my thoughts and how things are working in the classroom.  So far I am loving how the units of study are laid out and are appropriate for the kindergarten classroom.  Click here to find out more about this "spiraled" writing curriculum.

My last project for summer funding is Leveling Up!  This project is for a leveled reader cart that is eye level and easy for students to choose their own "good fit" books.  This will save a lot of my personal
and instructional time.

I have been truly blessed by a discovery this summer for my DC projects--Giving Pages.  If you have not heard about them or used them for your own Donors Choose Projects, you are missing out.  My Cords, Cords, Go Away! project would not have been funded as quickly if it was not for the wonderful  support of the Send A Smile Giving Page.  Giving pages help you promote your project while helping other teachers promote their own projects.  It is a win-win.

My two other projects have recently been added to giving pages.  We Are Authors is on Northern Lights giving page and Leveling Up! is on Kindergarten Rocks giving page.  Each giving page has a purpose and focus that is unique.  I know with the help of these two additional giving pages, I will be doing the HaPpY DaNcE very soon for my two other projects.

Were you aware of giving pages on Donors Choose?  Do you have any funding tips for Donors Choose?  Do you have a writing curriculum?  Let me know...leave a comment below.

Biz Card Script

Before returning to the classroom in 2008, I spent many years in business with my family.  I have worked in my family's candle shop, toy Store, and online businesses.  I even grew up with my grandparents and parents working in fast food.  I have done the party plans selling crystal, jewelry, and make-up.  I have been a bank teller and moved up to an account representative.  My husband and I successfully built a handmade candle business and just recently "retired" from our video production business.  Whew!  With all this business background, no wonder I thought I need to be marketing my classroom to the community.

But I know not every teacher has this same background.  So here are some tips that I have learned through my business experience to help promote what you are doing in the classroom.

This takes practice and I promise it will become easier over time.

Tip 1:  Be Sharp!  Make sure you are "Dressed for Success".  I don't mean a business suit, but you certainly do not want to promote your classroom in a t-shirt and sweats!  Remember you are representing your school and classroom to your community.

Tip 2:  Be a Customer!  I would not recommend using this method for "door to door" promotion of your classroom.  This is about connecting with businesses that you frequent.  Build the connections for future donations.  This method takes time to see results.  

Tip 3:  Be SMOOTH!  Have your biz cards in a place that is easy to access.  I have placed mine in my wallet just in front of my debit card.  Each time I reach for my debit card, I slide one out.  No searching or fumbling in my purse for one--it is ready to go.

Tip 4:  Be NICE!  It is much easier to ask for a donation from a stranger when you have treated them with kindness.  For instance, make sure you leave a good tip for your server if you are also giving him/her your card.

Tip 5:  Be Respectful!  After introducing yourself and handing them the card, have just a couple of sentences to explain your purpose.  Keep it short.  It does not hurt to rehearse it at home, but make sure it is natural.  It should only take 60 seconds or less to hand your card to someone.  Being quick shows respect to the business and other clients who may be waiting.

If you want a "script" to play with I have one below.  Please put your own personality into it.  I have never said these EXACT words but I follow this formula:  introduce my position and school, state my mission, give an invitation to go online, and give the range of donations accepted.  Leave me a comment with your thoughts.

Script
"I am a kindergarten teacher at Dayton Elementary.  And I am letting area businesses know about my classroom projects on a non-profit website called Donors Choose.  If you are interested in supporting education in our community, please take a couple minutes when you have time to visit my website.   Donations from a $1 on up are appreciated and tax deductible."

A Biz Card for Your Classroom

Early in the Spring I designed customized self-inking stamps due to Kinder Craze's blog post that show me how to use VistaPrint to create them.  I love how mine turned out and can't wait to see how hard my new students are going to work to earn one of these special stamps!

While I was creating my stamps, my eyes wondered to the business cards.  Hmmm...How could I use a business card in my classroom?  The answer came quickly.  Along with my preferred contact info I could also include my Scholastic Online Book Order Code, my Remind101 directions and my DonorsChoose web address.  Whoop!  Whoop!  A new way for parents to keep all that info in one spot in an adorable way.  I love my design and spent the extra few dollars to have the cute back on the card as well.  (The black boxes are there to protect too much of me going public.)

Next Question--How to make sure a parent receives and keeps my business card?

The first step will be to include one in my "Welcome" letter that I will mail out to each student asking them to give it to their parents.  I am excited that this will be the first summer that I CAN send them a "Welcome" letter since I already have their addresses from early registration.  I will share the letter after I create it!  Have an idea for a "Welcome" letter--tell me about it in the comments.

The second step is to tape one in each "Take Home Folder" for easy access to my info during the school year.  Since it is a very rare occasion that a folder is lost (might be misplaced for a couple days), this should be a good spot for this info.

Next IDEA...not a question this time...use a business card when I am out and about with local businesses to encourage donations to my DonorsChoose projects.  This required a REDIGN of my original biz card because I want it to just focus on my DonorsChoose link.  I decided to add a quote from my favorite author on the back.

Before designing this new DC Biz Card, I tested out how people would react with my classroom card.  I have handed out 10 cards in the last 24 hours.  Every time I received smiles and positive comments.  Donations have not been made from these folks YET but it is a numbers game.  One of those cards could fund a project!

It will be a few days before the DC Design arrives so I am going to continue to hand out my originals until then.  Why?  Because I posted 3 projects for this summer!!!  If it's meant to be it is up to ME!

I would love to hear your ideas on how to use a biz card to promote your classroom.  Leave me a message in the comments.