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SOL16: #20 Look at This!

Posted in Digital Learning, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged discovery, student Slice of Life Challenge, Wonder on March 20, 2016| 11 Comments »

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My husband says to me, “Look at this!” He is not on any social media, but he reads USA Today on his tablet every day. He is a learner who always wants to know more. Yesterday he showed me this amazing video about a tiny poodle in a nursing home. Get your tissues out.

I want my students to know that learning is a part of life. Last week I brought in a snap circuit kit and just let them play with it to try to figure it out. My administrator was observing me, and I am hopeful that she understands the lack of instruction on my part. Discovery was the point, and the answer doesn’t always come immediately.

Discovery is an important aspect to any learning. Because we have so much available at our fingertips, discovery is easy and constant. “Look at this, Mrs. Simon” are words I hear often. Jacob wanted to know how many moons Jupiter has. That’s not something I keep tucked away in my brain. “Check NASA’s site,” I tell him.

Each week my students are engaged in discovery about whatever interests them. During the Slice of Life Challenge, their Wednesday Wonder has become a Wonder SOL. I ask them to write a paragraph about how they became interested in their topic and to conclude with ideas for further learning. Their research is now framed by a personal connection.

I wonder about a lot of things. Do tree trunks grow fungus to make their colors?

Were the leaves flowers at first but it just lost its petals?

Chlorophyll is a large molecule. It absorbs light from the Sun and because it is a green color it makes the plants green.

I was very surprised that Chlorophyll was a word and that it even existed. I didn’t know it made plants green. I wonder why plants are green and not different colors like,pink,black,brown,red,green,orange, or tan. I think that there is another planet out somewhere that has a atmosphere and has different colored plants.
–Jacob, 2nd grade

In what ways is discovery a part of Digital Literacy in your classroom? Join the discussion by leaving a link.

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SOL16 #15 She Gave me a Rock

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged Amy Ludwig Vanderwater, Today's Little Ditty on March 15, 2016| 12 Comments »

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Over at Today’s Little Ditty, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes interviewed Amy Ludwig VanDerwater who set out a challenge this month to write about small things. We wrote our poems on Friday and I posted some student poems here.

When my kids write, I write. I looked at my desk for inspiration and found the rock. We had decided to do something nice for teachers, so Emily brought in rocks. My students wrote inspirational words on the rocks and gave them out to teachers. This was a Halloween treat, so this rock has been sitting on my desk for a while. I think it was supposed to go to the art teacher, but whatever, there it sat…and inspired this prose poem in me.

She gave me a rock,
a smooth small stone
on which she wrote a quote
from a book about a boy who was bullied.

If you have a choice
of being right or being kind,
be kind.

Thirteen words to turn
my attention everyday
to the world
of choices, that choice
within myself to be kind.

I take her small kindness
into my hand and wonder
about the river bank
the stone lived in before,
a place where violent waves
smoothed rock.

I wonder
about the larger truth:
Can violence smooth out
the edges and leave behind
kind?

–Margaret Simon

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SOL16 #13 DigiLit Sunday: Transitions

Posted in Digital Learning, Gifted Education, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged independent learners, student transitions on March 13, 2016| 13 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

As winter transitions to spring, there is an argument in the skies. High winds, thunder, rain, and more rain. In parts of my state, flooding. Transitions can be ugly, hard, and unpredictable.

In a digital classroom, transitions come slowly and with less fanfare. In fact sometimes the transition is barely visible. You have to look hard to see it happening.

On Thursday, when winter was fighting with spring outside, inside the room was quiet. Every student was focused on the work of reading and writing. I didn’t want to breathe. I was afraid to make a sound for fear this was a fleeting moment.

When I look at this scene through the reflections of my students’ faces, I realize that they have become exactly who I had hoped they would be…independent learners.

Later that night I took some time to read their blog posts. I saw independent writers making craft moves, writing with voice, and creating complete stories. While I wasn’t looking, the transition happened.

There are some reasons for this growing independence:

Routine: Students thrive on routine. They like to know what is expected and when. Within a routine, students feel comfortable to be themselves.
Writing Daily: We have been participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge. Anything that you practice daily gets better and better. My students are no longer afraid of the blank screen. They usually walk into class knowing what they will write about that day.
Freedom: Within the framework of routine, my students have freedom of choice. They know the checklist and expectations, but they can choose what they write about and how they respond to learning.
Safety: Building a safe environment for students is at the top of my list. I respect (and love) each child and expect them to treat each other with kindness and respect.

March may be a turbulent time in the weather forecast, but inside things are calm and running smoothly.

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SOL16: #11 Wonder(ful) Poems

Posted in Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching, tagged mask poem, student Slice of Life Challenge, wonder poems on March 11, 2016| 17 Comments »

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When Wonder Wednesday comes around on a Slice of Life Challenge Day, we write in a slightly more personal way about what we wonder about. My students scan the internet for information sometimes having a hard time committing to a subject. And as they sit side by side, ideas spread across the room and before I know it, I have 3 or 4 kids gathered around a computer screen watching a video about ghosts.

Later when I check blog posts, I find that not only do their interests spread, their writing decisions do, too. Wonder poems have been cropping up on Wednesdays. I am afraid to tell my students how much this pleases me. I think maybe I should leave well enough alone.

Tara Smith posted this quote on Facebook: “The fact is that kids learn to make good decisions by making good decisions, not by following directions.” Alfie Kohn

As my students write daily on their blogs, they are making more and more decisions about their writing without me. I read and see so much development, so many craft moves, and so much care to write well. I also see them becoming aware of the pleasures of writing for writing’s sake. They are pleased with themselves.

Lani shared with me her Wonder SOL, “Look at my poem! I rhymed and I didn’t even know it.”

I Believe

There is the world

where the dead

are still alive

and they

spy

on the living.

Maybe one day

everyone will

have a

belief that this

is true

that ghosts

can haunt you

and they indeed

say BOO!

Lani, 4th grade

Lynzee sat close to Lani and wrote about ghost towns. She created a poem, too.

Montana Ghost Town

Deserted,

No one to be seen or heard,

You suddenly think,

“Ghost Town.”

You run,

And run,

And run until you get home

Then you think,

“Home, Sweet, Home.”
Your parents then say,

“Where were you?”

You say,

“Just playing.”

–Lynzee, 1st grade

Emily perused some pictures from a local newspaper photo contest. I cut out the photos, mounted them on colored paper, and left them on the table for inspiration. She didn’t realize that she was writing a mask poem until I told her. Don’t you love when a student just naturally has a gift for writing a poem? What a pleasure to see this one appear in her Slice.

Photo by Kim Bayard.

I walk across a gravel road with my 3 little cubs,

We search for berries and fruits to eat, but we can not find them,

From behind some type of yellow shelter emerges a little child,

With hair of blonde and eyes of blue,

We run for a bit, but stop,

She approaches with berries of blue,

With even amounts for each,

I thank the young girl with a friendly rub at her knees,

She laughs and runs back home,

She won’t understand how grateful I am for feeding my children and me.

–Emily, 5th grade

Poetry Friday round-up with Irene Latham at Live your Poem

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SOL 16: #8 Treasure Box

Posted in Blogging, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged object writing, treasure box, writing prompts on March 8, 2016| 13 Comments »

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Julianne gave me an idea. She told me about an idea she heard from Cornelius Minor about making a box of items to prompt writing. She posted about her treasure box yesterday. Click here.

I started with a box from Tiny Prints (Our Christmas cards came in this box.)

I gathered Mod Podge, scissors, a sponge brush, and some papers that I had already gel printed. You could use any kind of decorated paper. I’ve been wanting to find some way to use my gel printed paper.

Step one: Cover the box with decorated paper. I like the way Modge Podge paints on so you have fewer wrinkles.

Step one: Cover the box with decorated paper. I like the way Mod Podge paints on so you have fewer wrinkles.

I continued to layer until the design pleased me. I found a postcard from Irene Latham that said “Live your Poem” and put that on the top. I labeled the box “Writing Treasures.”

Completed box. I thread a colorful ribbon through a hole to make a decorative pull.

Here is a collection of items I found around my house.

Inside the box, I placed found items. These items could be anything that fits. A rock, a peacock feather, a poem, a wooden whistle, a ceramic turtle, a message in a bottle, pretty cards, magnifying glass, a shell, etc.

My students were able to dig around and find an item to prompt their writing. I told them it could lead you to a memory, a poem, or a wonder.

I am really working hard this year to keep our writing momentum going. Last week it was the badges. This week a treasure box. Do you have any more ideas to inspire writing?

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SOL16: #6, DigiLit Sunday: Technique

Posted in Creativity, Digital Learning, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged art lessons, technique, watercolor on March 6, 2016| 21 Comments »

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I am taking a watercolor class. Like most art classes I’ve taken, the first few classes are frustrating for me. I feel defeated. I criticize myself over and over. This is very unattractive behavior, and my teacher is patient. He doesn’t praise me, though. He tells me that these techniques build upon each other. I am learning. It’s a process.

On Tuesday, I had my 4th class. It has taken me a while to create something I wanted to share with others. I finally pulled together the techniques into one art piece that I actually liked. My teacher pointed out the things I did well. The thin lines for branches, the shadows, the light. But still he held back. I said I was pleased with it, but he did not give out a great deal of empty praise. In fact, he told me to practice.

Watercolor pine tree by Margaret Simon

Sound familiar? How we try to lead our students through the writing process. We teach techniques. We look at models. We praise when we see a craft move. These lessons build a writer, but the process can be slow. It can be frustrating. Eventually, the writer will feel good about the product.

The motivation has to move away from teacher approval. The writer/artist must own the process to feel success.

My students have started the classroom Slice of Life Challenge. They are practicing. They are trying craft moves. They are noticing techniques in each other’s slices.

The creative process is a curious thing. We need to learn techniques. We need the guidance of teachers. But in the end, it’s just you and the paper. I believe in techniques, but I also believe in magic. Sometimes magic happens when you continue to show up.

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I invite other teacher-bloggers to participate in this weekly meme, DigiLit Sunday. Link your posts up below.

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SOL16: #5 Celebrating Badges

Posted in Blogging, Celebration Saturday, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged badges, Slice of Life Classroom Challenge on March 5, 2016| 17 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

Stacey Shubitz, the fearless leader of the Slice of Life Challenge designed badges for our students who are doing this work of writing a blog post every day. I was looking for something to motivate them. My students come back to me year after year, so some of them have done this slicing before, and they were gasping, “Ugh. No. Not again!”

And here comes Kathleen Sokowolski, another brave teacher on the Two Writing Teachers team, sharing pages of badges in Google docs. She also made a Picassa Gallery for sharing the badges. Click here.

I showed the badges to my students on Monday and told them they could make a chart to mount them on. I opened up the art supply cabinet. Some made charts. Some made booklets. And one of my students made a bucket out of construction paper that hangs in her cubby. They were primed, ready, motivated.

As the week went on, we found other things we needed a badge for. On Tuesday, one of my younger kids, a 3rd grader, got his slice done along with commenting and had free time. I announced, “Andrew is the super student of the day!”

“We need a badge for that!” Emily opened up Canva and created this badge. And also a badge for me, how sweet, Super Teacher of the Day.

One of my students wrote a slice of 612 words. He’s only in 2nd grade, but he had a lot to say about his field trip. I told my students that the slice needed to be at least 200 words. We needed a badge for writing more than 300 words. Here it is!

Lani made this badge on Canva.

I also noticed that some of my students were writing outside of class. There’s a badge for that!

I’m not sure how many more badges we will come up with. They may lose motivation for the badges by mid-March, and we will need to find a new way to encourage and cheer for Slice of Life writing, but for this first week, badges are gold!

Thanks, Kathleen and Stacey.

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

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SOL16: 2 Skype with Nikki Loftin

Posted in Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing, tagged Nikki Loftin, Skype, World Read Aloud Day on March 2, 2016| 11 Comments »

Join the Two Writing Teachers blog for March Slice of Life Challenge.

For World Read Aloud, I followed a link to a page of authors volunteering to read aloud to students by Skype. I selected Nikki Loftin to contact because I had read Wish Girl over the summer and loved it. All set…until…I checked the calendar. World Read Aloud Day was set for February 24th which was a WOW day. We do a project with our gifted 6th graders and meet once a month. No problem, said Nikki. We rescheduled for Friday, February 26th.

Then Monday last week, my students informed me the state Beta convention was happening on Thursday and Friday, and they would be out. Quick email to Nikki. No problem, said Nikki. We rescheduled for Monday, Feb. 20th.

I thought all would be well, but when it comes to technology, one never knows. On the morning announcements, “Teachers, the internet will be shut down today.” What? You’ve got to be kidding me. In a panic, I called the school board office. Transferred to tech department, no answer. I resorted to email, hoping someone was out there listening. He was. The tech director came into my classroom. He promised to hold off disconnecting my classroom until 10:30.

Scrambling off a triumphant email to Nikki, we were all set.

The visit was a complete delight. Not only is Nikki personable and engaging, she also loves narwhals. Let me explain. My student, Erin, has a borderline obsession with narwhals. She wanted to ask Nikki if she liked narwhals. Against my better judgement, I let her ask the question.

This is where Nikki won all our hearts. She started reciting the words to the narwhal song. And then she turned around and came back as a unicorn. Look closely at the image and you can see Erin’s amazement.

Authors are my heroes. I’ve said this before, and I haven’t been proven wrong yet. They bring a love of story, an enthusiasm for writing, and love narwhals, too.

I’ve ordered Nikki’s other two books because my students can’t wait to read them. And it’s the least I could do for her for being so accommodating and entertaining. When we came back to school on Tuesday, Nikki had left a Skype video (since we had been so rudely disconnected at exactly 10:30) to tell us how much she enjoyed meeting us. What a thrill!

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DigiLit Sunday: Safe Classroom

Posted in Blogging, Digital Learning, Teaching, Writing, tagged blogging, classroom philosophy, safe classroom on February 28, 2016| 6 Comments »

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Yesterday I was searching for a one word topic for today’s DigiLit posts, and Kimberley suggested “safe.” At first I was thinking about digital literacy safety as in how we teach our students to be digital citizens. But there are lots of resources already out there for that, rules to share with your kids like using a pseudonym or only their first name. Digital citizenship is important. We must teach it so that our students can work safely on the internet.

However, my gut is telling me that safety in the classroom is a bigger issue. How do we create an atmosphere in which our students not only learn, but they also thrive, in which they find a soft, safe place to land?

A growing, active classroom library: Two of my students have taken on the role of librarian. They have sorted and arranged the book shelves. They have claimed ownership. My students share books. They talk about books.

Soft pillows and blankets: I realized the significance this year when I brought in pillows, a blanket, and a kid-made quilt. My students curl up with these comfy things during reading time. Even the 5th grade boys love the feel of a soft blanket when they are reading.

Personalized notebooks: At the beginning of the year, the marbleized notebooks are covered. My students decorate their own and claim these notebooks. I do not grade these or even read them. Their journals are their own. A friend recently donated tiny notebooks to my class, so we decorated these for capturing Slice of Life moments.

A classroom blog with a special name: Our kidblog site is Mrs. Simon’s Sea. The site is kid-friendly and inviting. My students have learned how to navigate it, and they interact with their written words as much as their spoken ones. Blogging (Writing) is valued, honored, and shared.

Kindness: I insist on the practice of kindness. Probably the one thing that makes me angrier than anything is when one student is unkind to another. I also have to watch my own tone and words to make sure they are kind. Kindness leads to respect and when students feel respected, they can do amazing things.

This post strayed somewhat from digital literacy, but in truth, the beliefs of a classroom contribute to the success of digital literacies. I welcome your additions to this conversation. Please leave a link.

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Celebrating an Art Field Trip

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Gifted Education, Teaching, Writing, tagged A&E Gallery, ekphrastic poetry, field trip, Hilliard Museum, Writing to art on February 13, 2016| 6 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

On Friday we took our youngest gifted students on a field trip. The day started at A&E Gallery. Paul Schexnayder, the owner, is an artist and teacher in our talent program. He opened up this old historical building to the wandering eyes of 1st-3rd grade kids. I asked them to find a piece of art that makes them amazed. I had made a form for them to use for a cinquain poem. After they wrote, they created a final draft to give to Mr. Paul. He will place the poems next to the art piece for visitors to see.

Gwen Voorhies, artist.

Madison wrote about the peaceful painting above.

Lynzee wrote about a 3-D piece of an alligator on the high trapeze.

We ventured onward to the Hilliard Museum in Lafayette. This museum is a fine art museum, different from the co-op gallery in New Iberia. The children drew a postcard of a painting and wrote as if they had visited the place. The docent then brought them to an art room where they could color their pictures with oil pastels and colored pencils. My students enjoyed exploring these art materials.

Exploring drawing with oil pastels.

An art display of dresses made from cut up romance novels.

Our final stop (after lunch in the park) was the Lafayette Science Museum where the kids were allowed to roam freely to see dinosaur bones, insects, magnets, and a favorite of all, video games.
Field trips are a great way to expose our students to new things like art. As I was chatting with the docents, they shared with me that not many teachers take advantage of their program. This is disappointing to me. We need to take our students out of the school and into the world of ideas and creativity. This field trip was inexpensive, too. We only charged the students $5. They brought their own lunches and our gifted program procured the school bus.

I celebrate the beautiful day (temps in the 70’s), art, enthusiastic docents, and students writing, learning, and playing. An added bonus: Our students are all from different schools, so they made new friends, too.

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