The "Braidy" Bunch

On Thursday I visited Devon Carothers and her students during a Reading Workshop block.  I entered the classroom to find pairs of students animatedly discussing their independent reading books.  I sat down with two students and asked what they were doing.

"We are discussing whether our books follow Braidy, kind of follow Braidy, or don't follow Braidy."

I was intrigued.  I continued to listen to the students' discussions.

"It was a ho hum day until Frog wouldn't get out from under the covers!"
"My book has a character with feelings and a setting.  I'm not sure if there is a plan yet."
"My kick-off came at the end of the story!"

Devon gathered her students at the carpet for the share part of the lesson.  One student shared her book, Grapes for Dinner.   "I don't think this book followed Braidy." Devon asked her why, and she explained that there was no "kick-off" in the book.  She read a few pages and proudly announced, "I think this is a repeating book! It keeps on saying grapes for dinner."

Another boy shared his story, "My book followed Braidy.  There were tons of little kick-offs in the story, but it still had a setting, a character, and a plan."  Another girl exclaimed, "That's called an episode!"

I asked the class if they wouldn't mind explaining "Braidy" in more detail.  They were happy to oblige.  Braidy is doll that Mrs. Carothers' students use to help them retell a story.  Below is a picture of Braidy:

Devon Carothers and Braidy

The Braidy doll has many removable parts.  Students add parts to the doll to represent each part of a story that they are retelling. The class decided to explain Braidy to me using the read aloud that had launched their lesson.  One student began by explaining the character.  "Alphie is a little alligator who loves cookies." The star on the right leg represented the setting.  "The setting is inside and outside."  Next came the cleat, which represented the kick-off.  "It was a ho hum day until Alphie couldn't get a cookie."  The heart was a symbol for the character's feelings towards the kick-off.  "Alphie felt mad."  Devon asked for some other words to describe his feelings. "Angry, frustrated, worried, sad, disappointed," answered the students.  

The student moved on to the hand, which represented the plan.  "Alphie needed an idea to get a cookie."  Look at the left leg and you will see green rings.  Each ring is for a different part of the story is sequential order.  "First, Alphie pretended to be a cookie inspector.  Second, he went outside and tried to fish for cookies!  Then he tried to make his own cookies and he cried."  The last student came up to add his green ring. "Finally Alphie said please.  Then he got a cookie!"

It was amazing to see how easily these students were able to retell this story in chronological order using the Braidy doll.  The students clearly had an understanding of the key parts of the text structure.  

Devon closed the lesson by asking her class, "What do you think Alphie learned in the story?"  All hands went up for the students to share the author's message.

Devon and I discussed the purpose of the Braidy doll later that afternoon.  She tried using the doll last year after learning about it at a professional development conference.  She implemented it into her classroom much earlier this year and has been extremely impressed with her students and their ability to understand text structure and retell a story.  I was not only impressed with the students' understanding of text structure, but with the level of vocabulary they were using when they were discussing the books they read.  We both agreed that this was the basis for improving students' comprehension of texts they were reading.  

It is very clear that Mrs. Carothers has fostered a community of readers in her classroom.  I know she has named them the "Chicklets," but I think they could also be called the "Braidy bunch!"

Morning Meeting with Ms. Lyle's Crocodiles

Walk into Kate Lyle's third grade classroom in the morning and you will find her students engaged in their Morning Meeting routine. The students are on-task, listening to each other, greeting their classmates, and having a lot of fun!  I have been fortunate to be in a few of Kate's morning meetings and decided to find out the secret to her success.

Mia offered her thoughts on how the Morning Meeting runs each day.  "First, we all sit in a circle.  We start with a greeting.  For example, we can do the backwards name greeting, the ball with a silent rewind greeting, or the formal greeting with a handshake.  Sometimes we share in morning meeting.  Ms. Lyle also picks people to read the morning message and write the date on the Smartboard and to read the daily schedule."

I was in Kate's room this morning for the ball greeting.  Students gently tossed a large inflatable "globe" ball to each other while saying, "Good morning, ______ (insert name)."  Once they caught the ball, they were allowed to share something exciting from Thanksgiving break.  I learned that Ishan went to Florida, Ms. Lyle and Charlie are getting new cars, Nicole went to a movie, and Ben went to the King Tut exhibit with his aunt and cousin.  The students were very excited to share their adventures from the four day vacation. 

Other students chimed in their thoughts about Morning Meeting.  Edan said it's important to do each day because "you know what's happening that day and you get to recognize everyone in your class."  Ben noted that, "Morning meeting lets us start the day as a community."  Kayla commented that, "We get to socialize before we start the day.  My favorite greeting is called Hit the Floor."  I was intrigued, so I asked her to describe this greeting to me.  Hit the Floor is a greeting incorporating a lot of movement.  Students chant, "1, 2, 3, 4, come on _________ (insert name), hit the floor!"  The student who has his/her name called can then go into the center of the circle for a quick dance break.  If the child doesn't want to dance, he/she can hit their hands on the floor.  I definitely want to be in Kate's class the next time they do this greeting!

Finally, I asked Kate her thoughts on the importance of Morning Meeting.  She felt that it was key to do each day because every student feels acknowledged and comfortable in their community. 

Building community is basis for an effective learning environment.  Kate's commitment to the Social Skills curriculum, including the Morning Meeting, enables her students to feel welcomed,  to learn to take risks, and to celebrate each other's unique qualities.  I highly encourage you to visit Ms. Lyle's Crocodiles during one of their Morning Meetings.  You will feel like a part of their community immediately!

Podcasting Personal Narratives

Second grade students love to talk.  They love to tell their personal stories and anecdotes to all types of audiences. Second grade students also love to write.  Pop into a classroom during Writer's Workshop to see the children concentrating as they try to capture their ideas on paper. Thea Wirkus-Platz recently capitalized on these two truths by designing a project for her second grade classroom that allowed students to combine their love of writing with their love of talking.  The result....podcasting personal narratives!

This project began within the Writing Workshop unit of study on personal narratives.  Students chose to write about special events in their lives and illustrate their writing in their own books.  The second part of this unit was turning these stories into podcasts.  Thea utilized Audacity to capture her students' writing and create podcasts of their narratives. (If you are wondering what is a podcast, it's simply an audio or video file available to you on the web to either listen to or watch.  I regularly listen to different podcasts on my drive to school each morning via my Iphone on topics ranging from using Smartboards in the classroom to training your dog).

I was fortunate to be in the computer lab with Thea's class with a group of students learning how to podcast.  I listened attentively as one girl told the story of how she got her dog and a boy told the story of his first roller coaster ride with his mother.  The roller coaster story began with, "I hear a BOOM!  I hear an AAGGHH!  I'm scared to go on the roller coaster."  I could imagine the fear and excitement that this student had felt during his first roller coaster ride by his word choice and the sound of his voice. It was fascinating to see how enthusiastic the students were as they created these podcasts.  They had clearly practiced reading their stories as they read into their microphones with amazing fluency, expression, and inflection.

After creating their podcasts, Thea had each student write a self reflection using Max Write relating to this unit of study.  She asked the questions:

• Did you like making a podcast?
• Would you rather write your personal narrative using paper and pencil or create a podcast of your personal narrative?
• Why did you like podcasting?

Students also drew a picture of their podcasting experience.  Below are examples of the students' reflections.

Thea is planning on posting all of the student's podcasts on to her Blackboard page for families to enjoy.  

I asked some of the second graders what they thought about the podcasting project.  One girl told me it was important to do because, "All kinds of people get to hear my story."  Another student commented that, "More people get to hear our stories about special events in our lives.  We can share them with the world!"  Clearly even the second graders could appreciate the benefits of using this technology in a classroom as it gave them a real world audience for their stories.  Their writing was no longer confined to the classroom setting, they had an authentic purpose for crafting their stories, and their motivation increased as the new technology was introduced.   

Want to learn more about the potential of podcasting in the classroom?  Be sure to stop Thea or her students when you see them in the halls to ask them about this special project.  I know that they will be excited to share their learning with the CES community!

Want to learn more about podcasting in education?  Check out:

http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/

Being a Scientist

The following blog post was written by four students in Mrs. Hawkins’ fourth grade classroom. Thank you to Jack, Abigail, Jason, and Georgia for their hard work and effort in crafting this post. They worked with me for the past two weeks during their lunch periods to brainstorm, write, edit, and revise the following piece. We hope you enjoy their post on the wonderful learning experience in Mrs. Hawkins’ fourth grade Science class.


Do you know how to make light with just a battery, a mini light bulb, and a wire? We do, because we are currently studying this in Mrs. Hawkins’ fourth grade classroom. Well, we are going to tell you how! First, you put the wire touching the 2 ends of the battery. After you have done so, you take the light bulb and put the silver part of the light bulb touching the battery. Then, hopefully the energy from the battery does not shock you like it did to Abby. “Ouch!” (Don’t worry, it wasn’t a real shock, just a slight burst of energy). Then, the mini light bulb will hopefully generate an orange glow. That is how you make light!

In this experiment we acted like Mad Scientists :)  because… First, we looked at the objects and saw what they looked like and how we could use them to make light.

Second, we made a hypothesis about how we were going to put the objects together for them to work. Then we used the materials to experiment how to make the light bulb light up. Last, we put the objects in holders. It was an exciting and intriguing experiment.

We thought this experiment was entertaining because of the challenge to try and figure out the steps to make the bulb turn on. This is a challenge because sometimes you can make a mistake and it won’t light up!

Also, there are a few tips to make the bulbs light up. First, make sure that one end of the wire is touching the bulb. Second, make the other end touch the battery. Third, pull up all your supplies close to each other. Last, but not least, watch carefully as the energy flows through the wire. The frown on your face will turn into a huge smile when the light turns on!

We think this experiment is important for a couple of reasons. One day, if your power ever goes out, you will know how to make power again if there are wires, light bulbs, and batteries in your house. You can share your knowledge with your parents because as children, we cannot touch electrical things in the house. Also, if you would like to be a scientist when you grow up, this is one of the basic lessons to get you started. One last reason is if you have an electronic device and the wires get disconnected you will know how to shut it down so you don’t get hurt by a shock.

This is why we think Mrs. Hawkins’ Science class is really amazing and important!

The CES Team

At the start of the year one of our colleagues gave a speech about our school where she referred to the members of the community as being part of a team.  She noted that successful teams have different parts-strong coaches, bonds between players, differentiation for all skill sets, and a common vision and passion. Last week, after hearing about a meeting between a particular set of team members at CES,  I realized that my next blog post should be dedicated to the amazing work they do as part of our school each day.  This blog post is dedicated to the spectacular paraprofessionals that we have working in our building.  I quickly realized that my own writing would not truly capture their impact on the school, so I began to gather input from some other members of the CES team including other administrators, teachers, and students.  Here is a sample of why they feel that the paraprofessionals in our building are so important to the CES team. (See if you can guess which ones are from students!)

“She does the best read aloud voice...accents when needed and beautiful expression.  The kids always think it’s a special treat when she does the read aloud.”  

“She helps me tie my shoes and plays with me at recess.”

“He’s like everyone’s favorite uncle when he is in class!  The students are excited when he walks into the room...not only is he extremely knowledgeable in math, but it is also the way he is able to speak with the kids to help them understand concepts and ideas they may need to revisit (many times he comes up with algebraic formulas and computations, that I just have to shake my head, because either I don’t understand it, or he figured it out before I even finished explaining it!)  The students respect him, and feel proud and accomplished when they receive a compliment or positive feedback from him."

“She is very smart.  I voted for her to be principal last year.”

“She is amazing in my fourth grade room!  She can step in at any moment and start or continue the lesson that I was working on with the students.  She has created her own lessons to do with the class that extend the teaching I’ve been doing in my units of study.  We are all excited about this!”

“She works with students who are struggling using word rings, on letter identification, sound recognition, math problems, number reversals, review and practice of old and new concepts...you name it, she does it!”

“She works with all students and makes them feel special and smart!”  

“She anticipates possible safety issues before they occur.  She often will walk the playground before recess begins to look for potential areas of concern.”  

“She works so hard in the bookroom...leveling, barcoding, shelving, and rearranging books.  She has also helped to organize all of the packets for the K-2 AIMS benchmarking process.  Her dedication is admirable.”

“She is organized, efficient, and willing to learn new ways to support the students at CES.”  

“She has an innate ability to understand students' needs, and works diligently with us to support these needs in the classroom setting.”

“She makes me feel better when I’m upset.  She helped me when I was fighting with a friend at recess and we figured out our problem.”

“She often brings in stuff from home to compliment our lessons. I honestly feel like she is a co-teacher in the classroom.”

“She is so cool!”  

It is obvious that the students and staff at CES are extremely appreciative of the wonderful work that our paraprofessionals do each day.  Thank you to all of our paraprofessionals for being such important members of the CES team!

(I wasn't able to get photos of all of the wonderful paraprofessionals at CES. Below are a few shots of some of the members of this valuable team).

The Recess Queen

Dismissal Time in the Cafeteria

Greeting the students in the morning

On the way to work with some children in their classrooms

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs-A Surrealist Adventure

Surrealism, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, is:

 "the principles, ideals, or practice of producing fantastic or incongruous imagery or effects in art, literature, film, or theater by means of unnatural or irrational juxtapositions and combinations."


So... how would you teach the concept of surrealism to a group of third graders?  Mary Jo Lombardo,  Art teacher at CES, created a series of lessons to conquer this objective.

First, students viewed a variety of surrealist paintings on the Smartboard.  They discussed their observations with their classmates and generated some questions based on the paintings (notice the link to Science inquiry.)  Then MaryJo began a discussion about the current weather here in CT, which has been rainy, windy, and gross all week long.  She asked the students if they had heard of the expression, "It's raining cats and dogs" and many had.  After reading a nonfiction text about how it can't rain cats and dogs, she followed by reading the children's classic Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.   This proved to be the perfect springboard for the objective of the lesson!

Students discussed how this story had elements of surrealism within it since it can't actually rain food.  Their ensuing challenge was to create a surrealistic, watercolor painting where it was "raining" something of their choice.  The children had to put themselves in their paintings but had artistic freedom as to what it was "raining" in each piece of work.  Students from Ms. Baldwin's third grade class were creating their sketches when I was in the Art room today.  Below is one of the rough drafts that a child had sketched:

Sample sketch 

Students were happily drawing and discussing their creative ideas throughout the class period.  I am excited to see the finished products in a few days and will post some of the paintings on the blog.  Be sure to look outside of the Art room for samples of the finished products within the next few weeks!

Ms. Lombardo with her fiction and non-fiction texts she integrated into the lesson.

Running for Fun

Tuesday, September 28th was the first outdoor meeting of the CES PTA Runner's Club.  This new initiative was the brainstorm of Celeste A., current CES parent, who has a nephew participating in a similar program in his school in California.  She brought her idea to Joyce Evans, one of our Physical Education teachers at CES, and together they were able to make this wonderful idea a reality for our students.  

Why start a running club?  Ask Joyce or Celeste and they will give you a variety of reasons:

• To promote a healthy lifestyle
• To give students regular exercise
• To practice goal setting
• To build relationships and participate on a team
• To improve focus
• To boost brain function (research has shown that exercise does this!)

What exactly happens when the running club meets?  Students begin by stretching to prepare their bodies for the exercise of the morning.  They participate in different courses, games, and activities while running, and track their progress through a daily mileage chart.  Students will set individual goals and the group will set goals together for the club.  In addition, Joyce and Celeste will be introducing pedometers to the students in upcoming days to help track their progress.

The excitement on Tuesday morning was unbelievable.  The students were focused, engaged, and ready to run!  I passed many of them in the hallway during the day and asked how the first meeting of the club went.  Some sample responses:

"It was awesome!"

"I ran so much!"

"You need to run with us, too!"

"I can't wait to do it again!"

I invite all teachers to spend a morning with this club.  I promise you will not only get a great workout, but will have fun with our student runners, too.

Our runners getting ready for the challenges ahead!

Wild about Reading in Second Grade

CES kicked off our first Town Hall Meeting of the year on September 15th by launching a new initiative called  “Wild about Reading."  A variety of staff members read the story Wild About Books by Judy Sierra to the students.  This story is about a librarian who brings books to a zoo and finds out that the animals are “wild” about the books. The hyenas like joke books, the scorpions write “stinging” reviews of their novels, the llamas like dramas, and much more!  On a recent visit to Nanci Brochinski's second grade classroom, I saw how "wild" her students were about reading during a fantastic Reading Workshop lesson!

Nanci's Reading Workshop is a place where students can truly thrive as readers. The purpose of her mini-lesson was to teach students how to "read through the pictures." She read aloud the story The Stray Dog by Marc Simont. It is the perfect picture book for modeling how to "read with pictures." Nanci engaged in a "think aloud" as she modeled this strategy, and then encouraged her students to try as well. The mini-lesson ended with Nanci restating the lesson's objective and challenging the students to try this strategy in their independent reading time.

Nanci has established clear routines for the Reading Workshop in her classroom and this was evident in how quickly her second graders easily transitioned to the independent reading portion of the workshop. They gathered their "just right book" boxes, found comfortable reading spots, and dove into their stories. Each child was completely engaged and, as Nancy Atwell would say, "in their reading zones."

I spoke to one student about her book choice. She told me that she was rereading this particular book because she "loved the characters so much" and found them so "funny." She also let me know that "Mrs. Brochinsky likes to reread her favorite books too!" Nanci's willingness to share her reading life with her students has clearly made an impact on them in this very short start to the year. Another student read two pages of her new story about puppies to me and exclaimed, "I noticed the pictures! Look! The mom is smiling when she is holding the new puppy. This shows she is happy!" Two children in the back used whisper phones to read quietly to themselves, while two students discussed their favorite part in a book they were reading together. Nanci was quietly having individual reading conferences with different students, and Ann Stratton was listening to another child read aloud. Each child in the classroom was deeply engaged with his/her book.

Nanci Brochinski's enthusiasm and passion for literacy has already helped her second graders become "wild about reading." I can't wait to keep reading with them throughout this school year!

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends;
they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors,
and the most patient of teachers.”
~ Charles W. Eliot ~

The Digit Hunt

How many digits are in our number system?  The answer is now known to all Kindergarten, first, and second grade students at CES due to Karen Toth's innovative Digit Scavenger Hunt.  Karen created a Scavenger Hunt that is composed of a series of rhymes to help students identify and find digits all across the school.The purpose of this Scavenger Hunt is for students to identify the ten digits in our number system and understand the difference between a digit and a number. It begins like this:

"Let's go on a scavenger hunt around school,

We're looking for DIGITS, now isn't that cool?

You'll learn a new clue as you finish each rhyme,

I wish you good luck; now have a good time!

Your favorite color could be yellow or blue,

Go to the Art room to find the digit __________."

Students use the clues to identify all ten digits in the number system.  At each location, there is a small packet taped to the wall with digits inside.  Each class gets to take a digit with them as they continue on the scavenger hunt.  

I was fortunate to participate in the "Digit Hunt" with Emily Boyle's first grade class.  Mrs. Boyle would read the clue to her students and then have them make predictions as to which digit each clue represented.  Then the class would search for the digit in the designated location.  However, the learning did not stop once the digit was found!  Mrs. Boyle would then make different numbers with the digits and ask her students to name each number. 

Emily Boyle making a number for her class to identify.

The students in Mrs. Boyle's class were so excited to name all different numbers as they added more digits to their collection!  In addition to these activities, Karen Toth suggested that teachers could use these digits in their classrooms to:

• Identify even and odd digits and sort them accordingly
• Build different numbers 
• Order digits and numbers

Thanks to Karen Toth for creating this exciting opportunity for our primary teachers to integrate key math learning into their classrooms!

Karen Toth and Emily Boyle with clues to "The Digit Hunt."

Building Community in Kindergarten

Walk into any Kindergarten classroom at the start of the year and you will find students and teachers immersed in building community.  Walk into Jessica Lack's Kindergarten classroom and you will meet two essential members of the "Lack Pack" who help foster a community spirit within her class.  These key members are Mack and Jack, two ducklings who are the official "Lack Pack" mascots.

How do Mack and Jack fit into the community?  Within the first two weeks of school, the students in the Lack Pack enter the classroom one day to find a duck's footprint with a special message on it.

This footprint contains the first clue that leads the class on a scavenger hunt around the school.  On their travels they will meet other important members of the CES community such as their specials teachers, the administration, the library media specialist, and the nurse.  Students get to collect the duck prints as the Lack Pack searches for their owners.  Eventually, the prints lead them back into the classroom, where they get to meet Mack and Jack!

Who are Mack and Jack and how do they relate to the community?  Jack is a duckling who sits in a nest near the thinking chair.  Sometimes Kindergarten students need to sit in the chair because they miss home or they want to tell a secret to someone, and Jack is always ready to listen.  Mack hangs out in the Peace tree on the other side of the room.  He often helps Kindergarten students when they are problem solving a situation with a friend.  Both Mack and Jack are valuable members of the Lack Pack and the students learn to rely on them throughout the year.

Building a strong community is the foundation for success in any classroom.  The members of the Lack Pack are well on their way to establishing a strong, caring, and successful Kindergarten community this year.

First Faculty Meeting

First Faculty Meeting from Janna Bell on Vimeo.

We held our first faculty meeting of the year on Tuesday, August 31.  Our goal was to build community and learn a little bit about our personal learning preferences.  We modeled the faculty meeting after a TED talk presented by Tom Wujec on "The Marshmallow Challenge."

It was amusing to watch the creative ways that the staff members responded to this challenge.  We had a variety of different structures built (some legally, some bending the rules a bit), but I felt the morning was a success.  Some learning points that we discussed:

-When working in a group, being aware of others' learning styles can help the group function more cooperatively.
-Mistakes are a huge part of the learning process.  It is okay to fail and to keep trying.

I learned a lot about the staff today and continue to be impressed by their spirit, dedication, and innovation when faced with a challenge.  I can't wait to see what this school year brings!

Why Blog?

Welcome to the 2010-2011 year! I am so excited to begin this exciting year together with such an amazing staff.

The Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step.” My first step as a new principal is to begin this blog! I am looking forward to teaching and learning with all members of the CES community throughout the year. I hope that this blog is one vehicle of communication for our collaborating, sharing, brainstorming, and debating. My goal is twofold:

1.  I want to highlight the amazing teaching & learning that occurs at CES in all classrooms. I was inspired by Bill Derry’s Spotlight on Teaching and Learning blog he wrote for two years in his position as Coordinator of Information & Technology Literacy. Bill used the blog to showcase the innovative ways that teachers were using ITL skills in the classroom. Many of our staff members were featured on his blog! My goal is similar; I hope to highlight the wonderful teaching and learning across all curriculum areas that I see at CES throughout the year.

2. Writing is a part of my teaching and learning process. I hope to use this blog to share knowledge and gain knowledge about teaching and learning in an elementary setting with the members of my PLN (Personal Learning Network).

I want the blog to be an interactive tool to develop the CES community. I encourage people to add their comments to the blog posts and to give me suggestions for blog topics. Guest bloggers are welcome at anytime!

I look forward to another successful year together at CES.