Amick's Articles

Back To School Night

2010-09-07T11:38:00.002-04:00

Well, it's that time again where I get to meet with a classroom full of parents eager to hear what I have to say about what their child is going to be learning in the first grade! This year I am prepared with examples and a agenda!

Here are some things on my to do list:
-discuss procedures
-weekly progress reports
-how to help their child read, yes folks I plan to do that in 10 minutes!
-how to help them with their math
-and assessments

Mostly, I just want to share how they can help their child develop the love of books! What can they do if their child is struggling? Those things will be addressed.
Back to School night, I hope will be a great success!

A New Year

2010-08-25T11:44:00.002-04:00

Wow, can you believe that we are back at school already? That summer just flew by, it was such an awesome summer too. My girls and I spent days at the pool, we went to Disney World as a family, we took small little day trips here and there...I was sad to see it all end!

Now I'm back, in my new room, at my old school, and I have 20 of the best pumpkins you have ever met. They are eager to learn, they make me smile, they say the cutest things! And I deserve it too! Last year I left my school of 10 years to go off and create change for myself, and after the first week I thought, "what have I done?"

The class I had last year was not a group of pleasers, they didn't make me smile, and they didn't say the cutest things. We struggled all year, I thought of them constantly. I wanted throw in the towel on most days because it was not a good year. They were all needy, they struggled to learn, and they struggled to be a community. It was just one of those years. After it was through I think I was in a state of depression, I was physically beat down (I spent a month on prednizone to boost my immune system) and emotionally I was a wreck!

This summer I healed. I read whatever I wanted, I wrote whenever I felt like it, and I marveled at my own girls. Their growth, their differences, they are fantastic girls! And this year, I walked in the door, I arranged my room and I remained skeptical. But, to my liking a group of children stepped through my doorway ready to learn and I am so ready to teach them. I have so much to share with them and my enthusiasm seems to be blossoming with each day.

Think of those teachers that are struggling with their students this year. It really does seep into your daily thoughts and actions. It is hard to go to school daily when you haven't gotten them off your mind all night. Caring, thoughtful teachers are out there and they have students who struggle to gel together as a community- my thoughts are with them this year.

I'm off to go pick up my bubbly little students from lunch. Wish me luck this year! I have a lot to share!

Giving in to Frustration

2010-05-25T12:26:00.002-04:00

I haven't posted in a while... frustrating!
Last year I was invited to join a group of online book reviewers, and bloggers through Stenhouse Publishing. I joined wholeheartedly because I love to read and further myself professionally. I did pretty well for a time, reading and posting about what I was reading. I even joined the group to do some online discussing. Then, frustration took over. As I was reading, in the back of my mind I would be thinking, "this sounds wonderful, this would help my students tremendously, I can't wait to try this!"
But, also in my mind I heard, "This doesnt' follow my corporations curriculum, can I teach this and the curriculum with fidelity? (that's my corporations favorite word this year). Then why read? Oh, it's interesting, and I know it is well reseached, and would help my students tremendously with student achievement. But, it's not the basal, it's not what my corporation expects me to teach, with fidelity.
How do we as educators continue to press further? How do we swallow this educational "reform" and still want to teach? My biggest fear is that reform will be passed but at the end of it all it will not help children in any way become lifelong readers. I don't want to teach this way, I want to teach that books are so interesting that you can't put them down. I want them to know that I receive books from a publishing company to read so that I can make myself better, and because I love reading! I choose to be a reader, everyday! I want that to be my focus for children, and then if they have that love of books, the strategies, and the Venn diagrams, and the compare and contrast the characters, and the transperancies will make sense to them. I don't want to teach from a basal, I want to put real books into the hands of children who have never held the promise of a book.
Frustration took over, and it wilted me and my love for teaching, for a little while. Then I got back to my basics, I picked up books for enjoyment. I read, and read, and read. I discussed them with whoever would listen. They weren't the books from the publisher, they weren't books that I was forced to read, they were books that I wanted to read. I let them replenish me, take me away to places I had never been, and they taught me about myself as a reader. Things I wanted my students to discover about themselves.
Now I am ready, I have a whole stack of books to last me the summer. Ah, sweet summer! I'll be poolside with lots of books in hand, reading, blogging, and gathering myself for next year. I will still be met with "teaching the curriculum with fidelity." I will, but I am also going to sneak in some love of books. I'm going to make sure that frustration does not settle in and destroy my love for books, and teaching. I'll be ready, I just need the summer.

Christmas Through Their Eyes

2009-12-09T20:12:00.003-05:00

You know as a teacher, this is the dreaded season... children are on some kind of holiday roller coaster ride and it travels right through my room for six hours a day! Late nights watching Christmas specials, family parties, holiday shopping at school, cookie making, sing alongs, and it goes on and on and on...Their behavior is wild, they chatter endlessly, and they are consumed about about "the big man!" AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH!
In the last week I have been asked 22 times about my beliefs in Santa:
"Mrs. Amick, do you believe in Santa?"
My response is always the same, "I believe in anyone who brings me gifts!"
And so, instead of allowing myself to become grumpy about their misbehaviors I have decided to relish in their spirit. It is a magical time of year, we forget that as adults. We get so busy making sure we've purchased the perfect gift, and made the perfect food. We forget that Christmas is about spending time with family, friends, and traditions. The children love traditions, they love that every year when you put the tree up that you play music. They love to buy you that cheap "stuff" from the Holiday Shop at school. Christmas is love lived out loud to them!
Everyday I am witness to this... they share their family traditions, they sing carols spontaneously, consumed with their list, and always counting down the days. The magic is right in front of me, if I could bottle it I would. It is uplifting, spirited, and nostalgic. Little first graders addicted to Christmas, all day long.
And, as most of my colleagues are grumbling about the effects of Christmas upon their students I will remember that I am a very lucky individual...for I get to see Christmas through their eyes!

Making A List...

2009-12-01T12:26:00.002-05:00

Recently, my mom asked me what I wanted to for Christmas. Actually she asked what my whole family wanted for Christmas, and today as I pondered that question here is what I came up with:
-A watch that has a velcro band and a timer.
-An iPod docking station.
-An iPod thingy that helps you play your iPod music through your car radio. Not sure what that is called.
-We're getting a Wii for Christmas and I would love that Mario Kart, that looks like fun!

Here is my teacher list:
-We need more markers, crayons, post-it notes.
-Biscuit books
-Mo Willems
-The new Skippyjonjones book
-some new books bins, ours are falling apart

What's on your list?

It Was About Two Years Ago...

2009-11-28T22:37:00.004-05:00

Today during my three miles of solitude I began thinking back to this very same time two years ago. Two years ago I began a rigorous weight loss program that lasted 12 weeks. I drank 980 calories a day, was monitored by a doctor weekly, and met with a support group. I lost 35 pounds during that 12 week period. What followed that 12 weeks was 5 weeks of life changing nutritionists meetings where we discussed how I could change my life and never return to that shell of a person. And, for two years, I have managed to keep the pounds off, because I made serious changes to my lifestyle. I decided that I was worth the hard work. I decided that if I was going to be a good wife, mother, and teacher, that I needed to take care of me first. Here is what I learned: (And here is my before and after pictures that I wrote about in another post! Yikes!)

I exercise 6 days a week. Mostly, I run, but there are a couple of days during the week where I walk briskly through my neighborhood. These are days when my old body needs to recuperate so that the following days I can beat it mercilessly with a run. And, I love to run!

I eat well. I eat daily roughly the same things, I'm okay with that, but I do allow some indulgences every once in a while. I just run more...but my diet is more balanced than it has ever been.

I drink water. 64 oz. is my minimum. I have always been a water drinker but I have certainly kicked it up a notch. I panic when I forget my water bottle. What will I do? Why? Because I know that at the end of the day I am going to feel miserable because I haven't hydrated enough. I am amazed at how well I feel now that I keep myself full of water.

On Thursday, while many people were still sleeping in on their day off of work, I got up at 6 a.m. and drove to a small town with about 300 other crazy folks and ran in a 5k race. After the race I went to my annual Thanksgiving feast, but after the eating my children and family went for a hike through the woods. Instead of sleeping off that turkey, we hiked it off. My life has certainly changed!

I have learned through it all that the strength was always there, it was just being pushed around by self-doubt. It was trying to break free from within, it was in there screaming, "I'm here, just call upon me!"

I have a necklace that I wear daily, it reads, "All the strength you need is already inside of you."

Now, I run, for life, for hope, for my health, and to push my inner strength. I ask it each and every day, "how strong are you?"

I am never satisfied, always wanting to take it one step further, to see it run faster...

It was about two years ago...that I found my STRENGTH.

The Magic of Boxcar Children...

2009-11-24T13:27:00.002-05:00

What is it about this book? My third grade teacher read this book to me, stopping at very important parts of the text for us to hang on the cliff until the next day. It's the same today, I stopped when it was time for music and I heard the groans from my children. "Awwww, we have to stop?"
Lester Laminack says, and I paraphrase here, that the read aloud should be like crack to children. Hanging on your every word students should leave the read aloud wanting more, getting just enough, but hungry for more...
I think that teachers underestimate the value of reading aloud to students. When children hear that rich language flow from an adult they soak it up like a sponge. Teachers must be aware, they must practice, and they must use those tried and true texts that they love. Children notice when you haven't read the text prior to the performance. They will notice when you don't "perform" well.
When do you use the read aloud in your classroom? When do your students get to settle in and fall in love with a text?
-In the morning, to open the day. This is a time to enjoy new books, or read books that you will study later, or when you are able to use a book to discuss procedures or how to treat one another nicely! The opening read aloud is so important!
-During interactive read aloud, this give students the opportunity to discuss, share, and express themselves. Discussions like these really give me insight as to how my students are understanding the comprehension strategies, but it allows them to think critically. Really higher level thinking occurs here.
-Chapter book read aloud- for first grade this is difficult because their attention spans are all at varying lengths. We start with very short books, like Junie B. Jones, Magic Treehouse, and Frog and Toad. Now, we are moving into lengthier texts, like Boxcar Children and Charlotte's Web. This book is to discuss, to retell, and to just lovvvveeee.
- Thematic Books- these are books that introduce topics in Science, Math, or Health. Children need a wide variety of different types of books when you are introducing a topic. Some children enjoy poetry about animals, nonfiction books that give information, and even fictional characters that teach us about topics.
Reading aloud is so important!

A Fish Out of Water

2009-11-18T08:32:00.002-05:00

Lately, I have been feeling like a fish out of water...
We have acquired a lot of new mandates this year, taken our assessments to the max, and I have a whole new group of kids too! I, at times have been gulping for air...
But, I have also been mentoring myself with good professional books. They have been taking me back to my basics, they have been pumping the air into me and pushing the air out of me. Breathing for me when I haven't found the air on my own.
Georgia Heard, Lucy Calkins, and Debbie Miller to name a few have been asking me,"what's important here?"
"What do you know about how children read and write that will help you make THESE kids successful?"
I am aligning my practices and diving back into the water. I have work to do, and the establishment can go along their merry way. I am effecting student achievement, I am producing readers and writers. I know what I am doing, I have research backing me, and a whole ensemble of specialists guiding my every move.

A Wonderful Place

2009-11-15T14:51:00.004-05:00

One of the books that I received from Stenhouse Publishing Company was Georgia Heard's new book that she wrote with Jennifer McDonough called A Place for Wonder. You can read some of that new book here, and you won't be disappointed. First of all, love Georgia Heard, not sure why she seems to speak to me personally when she writes but she is just so passionate about encouraging our youngest writers. I love her poet's eye view of the world and she fosters that in this book. This book is littered with quotes about wonder, writing, and wonderful encouragements for teachers. She seems to understand the plight that we are all in this topsy turvy world of assessment driven instruction. And yet, she doesn't stray from the fact that our youngest learners need to be held in their world of wonder, that that world need not be taken away from their early in their learning. She understands that school can be a place where children are dumped information into their little minds instead of discovering it for themselves.

Here is what I loved about this book:

1. My Aha moment came when she discussed how students withing Jennifer's classroom were researching their wonders to make an All About Book about their wonder topic. They had several texts, website, and copied information (that was developmentally appropriate for 1st graders) within the classroom. They put these materials in logical common places and students were allowed to peruse them during Reader's Workshop, but, they were not allowed to remove them from the area to write down what they learned. In an effort to keep them from copying the resource the students were not allowed to remove the materials, they had to go back to their writing spots and jot down, in their own words, what they had just learned. Oh, so that's how you get young writers to not just copy the words out of the resource!!!!!! Duh!

2. The Wonder Wall, a place where the community of learners can write their wonders in public and then the other members of the community can use what they know, their prior knowledge, to answer the question. Jennifer brings a wonder to the whole group then once a week and asks the community to help answer the question. My students have been loving this aspect of their wonders. It has given them expertise about subjects that are sometimes not covered in my basal. It requires them to think about their inferences and to use their judgements to figure out real wonderings. It also has helped the community to know that we are all experts about certain things because of our interests.

3. The Wonder Box- a lid to a paper box really but what is contained inside is things from nature that we have brought in to share with each other. We wonder about a lot of things and we have placed them inside a booklet that I made that holds their wonders. Here are some things that we wonder about:

How does a snake eat such big things when they are so long and skinny?

How do the shark's teeth get out of its mouth and into the sand?

Why is that shark tooth black?

How do the people who sell shark's teeth collect them all to sell?

Where do all the colors come from on the shells, and why are they all different?

I can't wait to begin our unit on nonfiction, we have so much knowledge now about text features, and we also have things that will be so much more interesting because we have asked ourselves questions! If you are looking for a good read then buy this book, you will not be disappointed because Georgia has done it again!

Watermelons and Cousins

2009-10-11T22:47:00.002-04:00

Every summer my family would drive nine long hours to visit my father's side of the family. Most of our time we would stay with my grandfather and then ventured out each day to visit whomever was in the area. Usually during our time "back home" my family would arrange a reunion of sorts. This was always my favorite day as all my cousins would arrive. We played hard this day. Dirty, and sweaty from our games.

My family only had three girl cousins so the girls always played boy like games. First, we always hiked up my grandpa's hill. Through the woods we would walk loudly trying to scare away black bears that could be sleeping in the summer heat. Later, we'd hike over to grandad's creek to wade amongst the tadpoles and crawdads. Splashing and laughing we always skipped rocks, tried to catch minnows, and listened to lunch's call.

My grandfather had an enourmous supper bell attached to his front porch. I always imagined this bell calling my uncles to supper too. Upon hearing the bell we raced to Grandad's kitchen and grabbed a plate. The boys could eat heaping plates of food. And, there was always watermelon.

My grandfather always purchased three watermelons. One he cut up, removed the seeds and the adults ate it with a fork. The second watermelon was meant for us, his grandchildren. This watermelon was cut in slices, and we ate it for dessert. We sat on the backporch swinging our legs and spitting. One by one we shot those seedy bullets from our mouths seeing which one went the furthest. Time spent together lasted all day, but we knew that our time would end. A mom or a dad would summons a family of children and our time together would be over.
At the end of our time, while the late summer sun was waning we would all fix our gazes upon my grandfather's third watermelon.
While we were occupied with one another and our togetherness, he had cut the watermelon in fourths and placed it in the sun. The sweet juiciness drew them in like the reunion drew family together. From wherever they were they swarmed and rested upon my grandad's watermelon. Various colors, symetrical wings and patterns, the butterflies covered the watermelon. Using their straw-like mouths they sucked up the melon's sweet nectar. In the summer's sun they were stunning, and magical. We quietly watched as filled with my grandfather's watermelon they flitted off, like cousins leaving a reunion.

Here is the piece of writing that I am thinking about submitting to the Gallery of Writing for the National Day of Writing, October 20th. What will you submit?

Balance

2009-10-09T21:52:00.002-04:00

Recently, I posted that our corporation was experiencing low morale. Today we gathered in our meeting place and heard from our principal the "what if's" that can occur in our coming months and years. Low morale was again the cloud that hung over our school throughout the day. Today, I too started to be swept into that whirlwind that causes people to give up, to pack their bags, and say, "I'm done." But then, at 8:40, the bell rang, and I gathered up my all important papers and walked down the hall to room 134, took my post and hugged 22 faces that greeted me.
"Good morning Mrs. Amick!" they all exclaimed.
I closed my door, played 'Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,' took attendance, and read Skippyjon Jones. I concluded my unit on nursery rhymes, and fluency. And on, and on, and on...
Later, as I progress monitored my students (because I get to progress monitor EVERYONE now!) I noticed their gains. I smiled as they zipped through the NWF portion of the test. During reading groups after conducting running records I moved several students significantly to higher reading levels. My morale boosted, they are learning to read! I knew they would, because I continued to focus on what is important. Enjoying good books, allowing choice during reading time, and conferring with them. We are reading, reading, reading! One of my students overheard my conference with another student, as I said, "I want you to practice that today." He exclaimed, "Because practice makes perfect!" (I had to giggle!)
Morale IS low, the things I am faced to do are just for collecting data. Some things will remain the same, I've got to allow my students ample time to choose just right books, ample time to read and practice, ample time to discuss what they are discovering about themselves as readers, and together we will become lifelong lovers of books.
Low morale cloud or not...

A Place For Wonder

2009-10-04T22:04:00.002-04:00

On Friday, I got home from school and this package was sitting on my counter! "I wonder what they have sent me now?"
I opened the package and found this book inside! Georgia Heard, yes, Georgia Heard, my poet hero has a new book about creating an environment for primary children to read and write nonfiction!!!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! I am so excited to begin devouring these pages. I have read the acknowledgements, and the introduction and man do I love this book already! In the introduction she says this:
"such values as a silent class instead of students engaged in meaningful conversation, learning to take a test instead of discovering and asking questions, sitting silently at a desk all day preparing for a test." (Can I get an amen?)
Later she says,
"What's happened to education in which our youngest students are forced to practice for a test at the exclusion of play, curiosity, and exploration? Tests can't measure the esssential habits and understadings of young children that will make them lifelong learners." (Again, with the amen!)

I haven't gotten much further but my husband and I discussed at length that that is where public education is, "knowledge factories." What I don't understand is why can't we seem to get this knowledge to the people who are making the choices for us? Why can't we seem to get the research that is showing that we are raising a whole generation of children who can not think for themselves because there is really only one answer to the problems on the test? When will they see that we are just opening up brains and dumping knowledge in whether they are ready or not? When will they discover this and a real change will occur in the world of education? Who do I need to speak to, because I've had enough?!?!?!?!

New Books

2009-10-04T21:53:00.002-04:00

Stenhouse Publishing sends me books to read and review. Currently I am involved with an online discussion group that is discussing Jennifer Allen's new book A Sense of Belonging a book to foster and keep new teachers. While I liked the book I didn't find myself learning a lot, it didn't fit my needs. I asked a colleague who is a coach if she had read Jennifer's first book, Becoming a Literacy Leader and she lent it to me. I am not a coach, I am a first grade teacher, but Jennifer Allen is a coach and both books share her desire to foster teachers as a coach in her building. If you haven't read either of her books I encourage you to a least stop by Stenhouse and read the first chapter and discover this woman's heart for helping teachers. I want to teach in Jennifer's building! I get the feeling that I could go to her to "mull" things over, that I would be encouraged to try new things, that she would help come up with research and materials to support my thinking. I get the feeling that she doesn't just say what is the standard phrase that the state wants her to say, that she has her own beliefs and can support them. She is working hard and loving her work. Her idea of a coach is mainly to coach the teachers, to make available literature that improves their teaching, study groups that encourage conversation, and mentoring texts that teachers can grab and use at a moments notice. Her idea of coaching is what it was meant to be! If you are a coach, or a principal, or even have ideas about what can benefit your school then stop over and get this book!

Low Morale

2009-10-03T18:44:00.002-04:00

My school system is experiencing "low morale." This is a result of low test scores over several years, becoming a Title 1 because of our free/reduced lunch status, and many many jurisdictions from the state. "Low morale" is a phrase that many people are throwing around. I have been pondering,
"what do we do about low morale?"
"What can I do, right where I am, to improve the morale of my colleagues?"

Ultimately, I can do nothing to change the attitudes of those working around me. But, this attitude, this constant talk about what the "corporation" is doing to us is daunting. I love my school, I love the people that I work with, I love the leadership that my principal provides... I am in a good place. The morale is everywhere! I would dare say that if we took a poll across the United States in public sectors that we would find that most educators are desperate to find the solution that helps our public education. This desperation is good. GOOD? This desperation is good because it can be a proponent for change.
While I can't change the attitudes of my colleagues towards the administration, or the parents, or the state, or our community I can begin discussions that lead to change. Eventually, that discussion will circle around to the real reason why we're all here: the children. I hope to lead that discussion where instead of complaints, and moaning we decide that we can't do anything about the factors and decide to pull ourselves up by the boot straps and do whatever it takes for the sake of these children. We do this by:
-Knowing what we believe to be true about the instruction of reading. What do we know? How do we know it? What kind of research do we have to support it? The rest we throw out.
-What do we know about people that can help us motivate parents, and their children? How can we get them more involved, and how can we show them what to do with their children? Even though we don't have parent teacher conferences because the state took that away from us, we may have to sacrifice our time to help these children and their families.
-What do we believe as teachers individually? What do you believe? Once a teacher has established this they can go into that classroom and put those beliefs into practice. My core stays the same:
I believe that all children can learn, I believe that they learn by doing, and that working with a teacher in a small group, or individually is how they learn best.
These are my beliefs, now I must display that in my teaching.

It is daunting! The teaching of children will always be daunting. Don't come along if you're not up for the task. But, if you are willing, able, and optimistic, come along for the ride. For those of you who are on this ride already, let's talk, but in that talk let's help change occur...

The Big Day!

2009-08-23T19:48:00.002-04:00

This summer has brought a lot of changes for me this year. Last year I looped up with my first graders to second grade and had a blast. After last summer I was preparing to meet my treasures after a long summer break. This year, after much contemplating I made a big step. I moved schools...
I loved my old school friends, I loved my students, I loved having lots of prior knowledge there...but I wasn't satisfied, I wasn't content. An opening at another school became open in the first grade. I heart first grade. If ever I have loved an age of elementary children it is first graders. You see so much progress in a school year, it is a sight to behold. The school that had this posting is an excellent school, out of all the schools in my city it is one of my favorites! I applied, and after interviewing I accepted a job at my new school. I had to move!
I packed my bags, boxes, crates and whatnot...
And, here I am, ready to begin a new school year at a new school, with children I don't know, coming from families of unknown names, and I don't even know some of my colleagues names. I am content though, I have assembled my classroom, I have readied my books, gathered my materials, looked at my class list. On the eve of this new beginning I am nervous, excited, but ready for change.

This summer I chatted online with a former student through Facebook, here is the just of our conversation:

Student:"so mrs. amick, i went to registration today and they said that you don't work there anymore :-("

Me: "Yea, i moved schools this summer."

Student:"i don't get it mrs. amick, i won't see you everyday :-("

Me: "you know how i told you in the 1st and 2nd grade that i wanted you to take risks as a writer and a reader. and to do that that sometimes you had to change the way that you do things? i'm taking a risk as a teacher by moving. change is good remember?"

Student: "yea, i get it, but i'll miss you. i'm proud of your risk taking though. sometimes you have to work hard to see great results."

Me: "i'll do my best!"

Student: "i'll still miss you, but we can talk here."

A new year is starting for me, I am thrilled to see what change happens for me and my students.

The Cafe Book

2009-08-20T17:29:00.003-04:00

Recently, I posted about reading the Daily 5 because I was having trouble reading the Cafe Book. I understood the concepts but it seemed like I was missing the beliefs behind this book. I would recommend reading The Daily 5 first and then The Cafe Book. They springboard one right into the other. I would like to take you through the book and make my comments by chapters since there is a LOT of information inside this book!

The CAFE Book by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser "the sisters"

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Beginnings of the CAFE Menu Assessment System
This chapter basically gives you an overview of the research behind the CAFE, it's assessment tools, and how it is still a work in progress. I do have to say that throughout the book the sisters continually comment about how they continue to see and hear how teachers take this material and make it their own. They are excited to see the pieces played out in the classrooms around the country and they invite you to visit their website to ask questions, and moderate discussions. True lifelong learners never stop learning and growing!

Chapter 2: The CAFE Notebook and Record-Keeping Forms
I found this section very helpful. I have struggled with how to keep all of my conferring notes in order. Also, what do I talk about in a conference with a student? The sisters take their reader through their notebook which is really a binder that holds everything within. I went out and purchased a binder, personalized it to make sure I could always find it, and printed out the forms for each student. I am excited to give it a try and see how beneficial it is for record keeping. "We have gone through many, many different styles and formats for these forms, always trying to reduce what we collect to the information we truly need to assist students and capture how they are changing and growing as readers and writers." Collecting what we truly need is all teachers truly want!

Chapter 3: Step-by-Step: The First Days of School
This chapter gives a very descriptive review of how to get the ball rolling during those first couple of days of school. I didn't find it to be very useful specifically, but it did get me thinking about my own classroom and how I begin getting my classroom ready for Independent Reading. This chapter however was where The Literacy CAFE Menu was introduced. While I didn't think that in the first grade level that we needed to be so formative in the setting of our goals I did like the menu. It allows me as a teacher to look at that menu and confer more precisely with students. This is going to be an awesome tool for me to use during the conferring.

Chapter 4: Conferring with Children: Principles and Examples
Ever thought: "What should I say that will change this child as a reader/writer?" The sisters have developed a chart that deals with this question specifically. It is the, "Seven Elements to Successful Conferences." Wow! Someone make that into a poster so that I can use it every day! Actually, as mentioned before they have come up with a CAFE menu that can be used to help figure out what a kid needs to work on in Reading. What areas do we need to improve upon? Then we can use the menu to teach precisely and quickly during a conference. Within the CD-Rom that comes with the book all of the forms can be printed and used. I like that, because so many times there are forms within the book but they have to be made by me again, and they're never the same!

Chapter 5: Eavesdropping on Some Conferences
This chapter sort of explains itself, it is just some examples of conferences and how they have used the menu to help them with a student.

Chapter 6: Whole Class Instruction
One thing that blew me away in this chapter was a teachers ability to assess students and move through the strategies according to what they need as a class. There is a sequence, but they encourage teachers to move according to what the class needs! They do say, "These professional judgement calls come fairly easy to Joan because of her expertise with assessments and her experience with CAFE. New teachers who are trying to juggle assessment protocols, school standards, faculty expectations, student and family relationships, and a variety of academic lesson plans may feel too overwhelmed to select CAFE strategies based on emerging student needs. It is perfectly appropriate to follow the given sequence, alternating between columns to provide balance during the first months of school."
Then I got to thinking about my student teacher from two years ago. She still asks me for professional books to read. She still is trying to grasp this literacy thing, not because she is not knowledgeable, but because she is still trying to better herself. She is still trying to learn all she can to be the best that she can! This menu would help a new teacher tremendously because it gives them an outline to follow. The seven keys to conferring is perfect for someone who is not confident in their abilities yet!

Chapter 7: Strategy Groups
This chapter stretched me as a teacher of reading. I believe in small group instruction. I struggle, and have been contemplating having strategy groups as opposed to guided reading groups. I am still not sold. I may not be able to relinquish that control... I am a work in progress! However, it makes perfect sense except for in the first grade. I am wondering, "how am I going to teach those print strategies if they are in a small group right there in front of me?" Again, it is about me giving up that control.
I am not sold on the Daily 5, but I do see some very strong elements in the program. One of the things that I feel strongly about is making the learning of reading a very natural progress. I firmly believe that it should not be about setting goals and pressing on to meet them. I just believe that we need to see a skill, and then practice it. At my grade level I am not ready to add more "goal" pressure to them. (Just my opinion!) I do however like many other things about this book! I love the forms, I love the sequence of skills in the menu, I love the units that are in the back of the book. It gives people who are new to this readers workshop thing a very clear and precise path to follow. It would be a great buy for student teachers, or a principal or administrator that is trying to move towards the workshop model.

The Daily Five

2009-08-14T19:29:00.002-04:00

Okay, so I've been on hiatus. I have still been teaching, and reading, being a mother, wife, and etc. On top of that though I had been taking classes to renew my license and that really drained me for some reason. Now I am back ready to blog, and ready to continue growing professionally, not because I was made to do it but out of desire.
Stenhouse Publishers sent me the Cafe Book by the "sisters" to review. I got about halfway through the book and realized that I didn't have much schema about the The Daily Five. I was missing a large puzzlepiece of this book. So, instead I picked up The Daily Five and began reading it over the course of a couple of days. I learned a lot, and found it to be a very good read. After reading The Daily Five I picked up The Cafe Book and it has been a much easier read. Expect my review in a couple of days.

The Daily Five had a lot of good quotes that I had read over the years but had forgotten their meaning. As you all are beginning the start of you school think of your room arrangements, your communities, and your explicit instruction. How will these words guide your preparations?

"Just adding more time and space for independent reading is not enough. I'm advocating a carefully designed, structured reading program that includes demonstrating, teaching, guiding, monitoring, evaluating, and goal setting along with voluntary reading of books students choose... When an independent reading component is added, test scores go up." -Regie Routman

"Eventually, I realized, of course, that nothing was wrong with "these kids." They don't get it because I hadn't shown them how. I'd told them to be respectful, thoughtful, and kind, but I hadn't shown them what that looks and sounds like."
-Debbie Miller, Reading with Meaning: Teaching Comprehension in the Primary Grades

"Whe we follow routines day after day, our students can use their energy to grow as readers and learners rather than to figure out what we expect them to do. And we in turn, can focus our energy on teaching, not managing, our independent learners."
-Kathy Collins

Don't forget to plan for establishing routines, and developing routines!

2009-03-16T22:01:00.003-04:00

"Everything you need is already inside."

-Nike

I have been spending a lot of time at Nike.com lately as I log my hours of running on their website. I have entered and accomplished my first challenge of 25 miles. I have been documenting my times and setting goal after goal after goal. This quote came to me in an advertisement and I quickly jotted it down, placing it in my writer's notebook.

Mulling it over for the last couple of days I have finally found why it is so meaningful to me at this time. Today, I stayed home from school to take Sydni to the doctor, my husband arrived home at 3:00 and by 4 I was out running in the afternoon sun. I struggled during that 2:63 miles. My mile pace was high, I was supposed to run 3 miles and only could make it 2:63. I felt like my legs were lead, and I was seriously considering vomitting. I gave up!

Later, when I put my kids to bed I decided to take a walk with the dog. Lucy is my smallest dog, but she was meant to be a sled dog, she can pull someone literally anywhere she wants to go. Tonight, she wanted to run and boy did we run! We paced each other for 3:50 miles, my pace 8'11'' per mile. I darted home and realized, "this was in me all the time."

My students have been with me for 1year and half now and I am slowing dreading the time that is quickly ticking by us. Each day is another day that I will never regain with them. Today I decided that I need to share this quote with them. I know they are not runners, I know that they are 7/8 year olds, but I want to share these meaningful words.

What they need as readers is already inside: they have the skills, they know the language, the fix up strategies, and they have word power. Its time to set goals. I am excited to have them set reading goals for the end of the year. I am excited to see where they want to head. I am ready to let them lead, supporting them in their learning.

My writers need a little more support, but they are coming right along. They are so observant as readers that when they write they are willing to try different writing styles and forms. They write so freely, and they share so willingly. I want to set some goals there too but I want them to know that I support them completely.

Ultimately, I want them to know that I didn't give up. Today, it ate at me, this stinky run. The rest of the afternoon and evening I was restless, I couldn't wait to get back out there and see what was inside of me. I wanted to see what I could do! I wouldn't let it rest for another day, it had to be resolved today. I want my kids to know that giving up is not an option, that trying day after day is hard work. Work that is hard is worth doing, over and over until our goals are accomplished.

Another Day With Debbie Miller

2009-03-08T10:41:00.002-04:00

So Thursday night I stayed up late thinking I would have trouble sleeping anyway, and I was right, I awoke 20 minutes later than I wanted on Friday morning and flew through my routine. I arrived later than I wanted to my classroom but I still wasn't late. Debbie had not arrived yet and so I busied myself in my room making sure everything was perfect. My stomach was not a ball of nerves, I was not nervous, but I was jittery. I was anticipating the day, I was hoping she would approve of the work I had done with my students, I was hoping she would see my anchor charts and affirm my work. (Weird huh?)
I helped others find the room we would be filling, I talked with my friends, and then there she was walking down my hallway. I introduced her to some colleagues, showed her where she would be speaking, and then took her luggage to my van. When I returned to the building she asked to tour my room. She walked in and took a circle around my room, we discussed the individuals that would be attending today, and then made a decision about what they needed to see her do in my classroom. She decided that they would benefit from seeing my room as a room where Readers' Workshop had been in place for a long time. What an affirmation that my work is apparent!
The time arrived my students gathered on the rug, she read them the Alphabet Tree by Lee Lioni, and then dismissed them to go "happy reading." My students went dutifully to their seats, got their books out and began, and Debbie Miller had true conversations with my pumpkins. I stood back and reflected what I was learning from this whole experience.
-I need to live in the moment during workshop, I cannot let others things seep into my time. I need to be in the moment so that I can really listen. I need to sloooooowwwww doooowwwwn!Listening is very important and I need to be better at it!
-I need to read Choice Words by Peter Johnston. I feel like I am careful about what I say with children but that I am still learning. Researching this more can only make me better.
-I think what my facilitators learned is that this sort of reading instruction is the most important, and it doesn't fit into a little box that McGraw Hill is selling. Reading and thinking go hand in hand.

"If we teach kids to be readers and thinkers the assessments will show that." -Debbie Miller.

They have some really challenging thinking that is going to come from this workshop! Talk more about that...and keep me posted ladies!

-I have a lot of work ahead of me, I am challenged by her thinking, challenged by her words. I think that if I didn't come away feeling that way, then she would feel like she wasn't doing her job. She challenges me, in every way imaginable, and I relish in the fact that we all challenge her. She is a lifelong learner, not the master of it all. I like that about her.

As I dropped Debbie off at the airport she hugged me and told me what a pleasure it was to spend this time together. It was the experience of a lifetime, one I will cherish for a lifetime. It was a chance to challenge my beliefs, question their alignment, and continue practicing!

A Day With Debbie Miller

2009-03-04T21:33:00.002-05:00

Today I had the pleasure of listening to Debbie Miller in Warsaw Indiana. She is such a soft spoken speaker but she is mighty with her words and they pierce to the very being of a teacher's soul. This year has been a rough year, we have been thrown a lot of "new" stuff. Every administrator begins a conversation with, "I can't believe how much we've thrown at you all this year," and yet they still keep throwing...
I needed to sit and absorb what she had to say today. We get so bogged down with this crazed world we call education. We zoom around dibbeling and dabbeling, and TRCing and creating assessment after assessment, and before we know it we miss the point. We haven't stopped to listen to anyone, let alone the children in our classrooms.
I feel like a piece of salt water taffy stretched thin, but today I felt like someone started to walk me back to center. Debbie says that we must make this workshop all about being in the moment, planning surface or deep structure lessons that are explicit enough that they create the unpredictable. In this unpredictable situation we can come alongside children and guide them. It's about slowing down and listening to them think aloud, and modeling what that language is so that they can use it later. It's about creating a place of comfort that makes them believe that they are valued beyond measure, and that books have brought us to this epicenter. This is real teaching.
Here is what I have decided that I need to work on with my students:
-I would like to guide them more in their response in literature.
-We need to strengthen their partner work, really modeling this because I haven't done enough of it with my students.
-Sharing, we could stand to think more about the way that we share with one another.

I leave you with this quote that I loved from today:

"Sometimes we have to give children our words until they find their own."

-debbie miller

March 2009

I have more to share with you after Friday, you see Debbie Miller is coming to my school, and my classroom, and she will be working with my students. You'll pardon me if I am walking on cloud 9, but my hero is coming to town!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2009-02-09T22:10:00.002-05:00

We have been working so hard over the last couple of weeks, it seems I have lost track of time! We began the month of January working on All About Books. Last year when I introduced this unit of study my students were not ready for it and so I tabled it until I felt they were. This year, with prior knowledge with this genre, they were very excited about beginning the work of nonfiction. I added a a conclusion page this year to my books because I wanted to scaffold their learning for third grade. My students walked away knowing several things:
-an introduction page is a lead, it leads your reader to want to read your writing.
-a conclusion page helps wrap things up, and it again leads you back to the topic at hand.
-celebrations are fun, and they mean a lot in a community.
We celebrated after Muffins with Moms last Friday. This is an all school event where we invite the mothers in to school to say "thanks," and offer a chance for us to meet and greet them. My open house for our All About Books was directly after that event. What I find most amazing was my students behavior as they entered the classroom that morning. We had not discussed at length what they were supposed to do when they came in that morning. However, when they entered the room they immediately began to unpack, pick up books, read them, make positive comments on their comment page. There was a quiet hushed tone throughout the room, they were doing everything that I expected but didn't state.
I asked reflectively later: What made them know what to do? What triggers in my environment told them to do these things? How did the excitement of reading others' words create this reaction?
Later, at the close of our day we watched a celebration video that I had made last year after our celebration, and we watched a collection of photos that I have taken over the course of our time together. It was an act of togetherness, there was silence as their emotions took it all in...
"Mrs. Amick, these pictures sure bring back fond memories!" said one of my boys.

Determining Importance

2009-01-18T22:30:00.002-05:00

I introduced this topic last week using an activity from Comprehension Connection. I gathered my students and with a bowl of water, some spaghetti noodle and a strainer we discussed how readers must determine what's important when they read. My students made some interesting comments:
"You know when you put spaghetti in the pot it is hard and crispy, it needs the water to soak up, but it doesn't need all the water. That is what it is like when you read, you soak up some of the new information but you don't need it all."

Interesting thoughts that led me to this, Teaching With Intention by Debbie Miller. She has a lesson where she takes a group of students through the process of discovering things they already knew, adding new schema, and deleting misconceptions. This week we are moving in this direction. I have selected 16 shark books for us to peruse, not to gain new knowledge about sharks but to take a look at ourselves as readers. That new information is our ability to determine what is important. What does it mean to me as a reader?
The more I am reading and discovering, the more I am realizing that determining importance is not about finding the main idea. It is much more than that. Determining importance is more about searching a text for the things that I need as a reader. What does it mean for me as a reader?
This is determining importance.

My Break From Blogging(excuse, after excuse, after excuse!)

2009-01-11T10:49:00.002-05:00

So, I can't believe that it has been since December 30th since I have last blogged! I have many excuses:
1. The stomach flu hit the Amick household between holidays, and I took two family members to the ER during the night. I spent the next 24 hours opening windows during the dead of winter, and keeping lysol, 409, etc. in business. I think I might have sprayed the dogs with that stuff too!
2. We made our annual trip to Chicago to visit with friends over the New Year's holiday. Five adults took 7 small children into the city to ride the L. My was it ever fun, Chicago from a whole new perspective. Children would rather watch construction occuring on a barge from a bridge, ride the escalators in every store, and play with revolving doors. Yes, their perspective is quite different.
3. I have been sick, not with the flu, but with an upper respiratory cold. We had an ice/snow day on Wednesday after returning from school, and Thursday I was miserable. Friday I stayed home from school and just rested, while running a fever. My workouts have suffered and I am far behind already with school work.

Not a great start to the New Year I have to say, but today is a new day and I feel better than I have in days. I am ready to go back out and start walking, regaining my strength with every frozen breath. I am ready to dive into my unit of All About Books, and Determining Importance in Reader's Workshop. More posting to come...

Slice of Life

2008-12-30T11:05:00.003-05:00

Looking back over our holiday photos I have noticed that our house is a gathering mecca.
A place for cousins to gather and creatively use their imaginations, reconnect, and become princesses.

A place for a grandmother and her grandchildren to cuddle and smile.

Where connectedness can be felt.

And where a tradition can be lived out year after year.

This building that we call our home, has become a place for all to gather, meet, and promise to love for a lifetime.

Merry Christmas, from the Amicks

2008-12-24T22:53:00.003-05:00

We hope your day is filled with many blessings!

God bless you all in the upcoming year!

The Things I do Have...

2008-12-22T23:53:00.002-05:00

Stenhouse Publishers posted a poem on Friday for poetry Friday that really got me thinking. The title of the poem is, "You Can't Have It All, But You Do Have This" by Naomi Shihab-Nye here is a copy of her poem. We have had a wicked ice storm that has left many without power, people living in shelters, etc. The weather has been below 0, and the roads are not great. But I got to thinking in my hermit state of all the things that I have been blessed with this year. It made me make my own poem:

I can't have it all, but I do have this
a family, that is full.
A mother and father in love,
two children who get to see this love in action.
A profession that is challenging, its rewards forever redeeming
a warm home, a ride from point a to b
a lap covered in dogs, happiness when I walk through the door
I can't have it all, but I do have this,
a cupboard that is full of food, food for making, food for snacking
I am not scavenging, looking for loose rice on the side of the road
my water is clean, my clothes are the same
my skin smells like soap
I drive somewhere and Rona cuts my hair, just the way I like it
I don't have it all, but I do have this,
a healthy body, that loves to run, and take in this world that God created
a desire to maintain a healthiness that will allow me many years to fellowship
with the people I love
I have books, books to read, books that change me, and words that I use to allow my soul
to emerge
I have a brain, that is ready to learn more, evaluate knowledge, and desires to keep changing
I don't have it all, but I do have
a constant companion, who walks with me, behind me, and in front of me
he holds my hand, makes me giggle, and shelters me from this crazy world.
Two children, girls, upcoming women
I have the responsibility, the challenge
I have an opportunity to love, cherish, and set free these spirits into this world
Two parents who are living, healthy, and supportive
A grandmother, and then there was one
A woman that I worry about, take care of, and listen to her stories of old
An extended family that I relish, that I think of consistently, and want to keep in my life
I have clothing, a closet full, too many decisions, and too many shoes
I have friendships, old and new, loved ones who care for me, prosper me, and comfort me
I have laughter, daily seeping into my home, work, and play
I don't have it all but I do have
more than enough

The Angel Maker

2008-12-18T22:02:00.004-05:00

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest,

...and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Our Amy

2008-12-15T21:57:00.004-05:00

My cousin, Amy is our favorite. Amy is 15, she is your typical teenage girl. Loves sports, hanging out with friends, and texting on her cell phone. But, Amy has a secret. She has a fan club. This secret fan club consists of me, her 34 year old cousin. My two daughters, age 8 and 6. The ground she walks on is better because she walks across it. Tonight we had the pleasure of her company when we made cookies for Christmas. On Saturday, we visited with her at the Gingerbread festival. We try to spend as much time with her as our schedule permits. We are her biggest fans!

The thing we love about Amy is that she seems to want to spend time with us too! Perhaps no one has told her that when you are 15 you should roll your eyes more, or greet everyone with an abrasive attitude? Perhaps she doesn't realize that we are totally uncool?

I look at her, her attitude, her gentle spirit with my girls. I adore her ability to make them feel like they are very important, even though they have come in and wrecked her world. My girls arrived just as she was receiving the most attention. They have smothered that attention, I'm sure they have taken over. However, she has continued to love us in spite of our greediness.

I am astonished by her upbringing, I am hoping she will be the greatest influence upon my girls. They will see her model, her attitude, and her graciousness and want to be just like her.

She is "our Amy..."

Being Happy!

2008-12-09T22:39:00.002-05:00

Be happy today. Be kind and be generous with your smile — you’ll start some ripples.
– Stacey Julian, Altogether Too Happy

Ruth, from Two Writing Teachers posted this quote today. I needed it desperately! Today, I envisioned myself doing something else. A different vocation actually sounded appealing to me today... In a world where people throw accountability around for accountability sake, I was ready to throw in the towel. I am tired, tired of fighting for what I am sure is the best thing for my students. I am tired of collecting data and wondering, "when are we going to do something with it?" Do you ever wonder: "where does all the data go?" I turn it in but nothing ever comes of it, it becomes balanced somewhere I guess...

Today, I found it hard to be generous with my smile, I wanted to go into room 142, shut the door and be with my kids. I want to give them all things, everyday, things that I know through my own research that they will grow as readers, writers, and mathematicians. I'm tired of sharing with people not ready to learn, people who are critical, and people who aren't willing to work hard. I'm tired of official people mandating that I need to assess, assess, assess, and then I watch my instruction diminish, diminish, diminish.

But, I'll go back tomorrow. I'll persevere through this rough patch, I'll do what I am asked, and I'll keep on believing. Not for you, or you, or you, but for those 24 students that I stand in front of every day. I owe it to them for they are the reason why I go there everyday, not to assess them, collect data, or for balance. I go there to teach them to love learning, to light the fire within, and guide along side them.

Tomorrow, I will be happy!

Memoir Monday

2008-12-08T21:35:00.003-05:00

Waiting in the church nursery preparing to go upstairs my mother found me and shared with me that we would not be starting on time. My heart skipped a beat, had he escaped, was he here? Why were we not starting on time?

We ascended the basement stairs to the waiting area behind the sanctuary, this is where I would wait, and wait, and wait. Since I awoke that morning I had been waiting. Waiting at the hair dressers, waiting to get lunch, waiting until everyone had been seated. This was a day of waiting, and I hate waiting.

I heard the the sweet music of my wedding. I watched my flower girl, Amy, playing with some small toys. Completely unaffected by the timing of this day she was lost in her world of 5 years. Playing until she was called. Dressed prettily, the sun shone through the glass windows and her bright face met mine with a smile. My face returned her contentment and decided to wait with that attitude.

Finally, the candles lit, the runner placed it was our turn to walk down the aisle. With my fathers hand placed carefully on mine I descended to meet my groom. Fighting back tears I was anxious to embrace him. I had been waiting all this day, this summer, my life for this moment.

My father took my hand and placed it in his, and we began our life as one...

As I turned to leave I caught a glimpse of Amy, she was standing next to her mother, my aunt. She waved in my direction, I caught her smile as it spread across her face. Captured in this moment, I was whisked away to my new life.

My Heart...On the Outside

2008-12-07T16:54:00.003-05:00

here they are, together...my heart on the outside

they walk among this earth

mingling, living, and coexisting

I worry, protect, and hover

around them

conscious that others may harm

but to not let them live, create, or prosper

means that this world would be without them

this sense of humor, this compassionate lover,

this beautiful heart sleeve, full of passionate change

what will you be?

whom will you change?

how can I make you into that person?

or this heart sleeve,
beautiful eyes, charming smile, always wondering...
questioning, black and white- forget the gray
tender heart
how can I make you stronger?
will I protect your esteem forever?
how can we foster your strength?

and, finally my heart sleeve,
we started as the two, slowly becoming 4
keep me ever in this circle, loving me close
caring for me deeply
for I wear my heart
on my sleeve...

My Closest Friend

2008-12-01T20:59:00.003-05:00

As I opened the door of my dorm room I could hear her voice at the other end of the hall. She was already having fun. I was nervous as I opened the door, my arms full of things from home. My mother and father had pulled away, tearful I had raced up the three flights of steps to my home away from home. Putting things away I could still hear voices, fun voices, voices who had been here for a while. Later that evening, while I attended freshman orientation, and met with the other girls on my floor, I matched her voice to the voice I had heard when I arrived.

"Hey, my name is Angela. I'm from Colorado." she shyly said.

"Hey," I said.

I learned that she had arrived a couple weeks early, she and her father had driven all the way from Colorado to Indiana so that she could attend volleyball camp. She had been here all this time, waiting, and waiting. I felt for her so far away from home. All by herself, in a new state, without anyone.

We became instant friends she and I. She had so many life experiences, we had many classes together, and she got my sense of humor. We giggled until the wee hours of the night. She complained of the Indiana humidity, I complained about being away from home. We went to Denny's late at night, and church on Sundays.

Those two years at Anderson were the hardest years of my life. I struggled with friendships, studying, and being with people constantly. Angela, was always there, always encouraging me, and always being fun.

Today, we live 18 hours by train from one another. We call frequently, we email often, and we meet on Facebook every Saturday. I want to be with her more, but I know that when we talk, when we finally get to be together, our friendship will be the same. We are the closest of friends. I never had sisters, Angela has two, but I would consider her my own. Not because we always have fun together but because she has been my friend through it all. She puts me in my place, helps me hash out feelings that are harsh, and she laughs through my joys.

Living with Flat Stanley

2008-11-30T10:58:00.003-05:00

My name is Flat Stanley, I have been spending time at Sarah's house during the Thanksgiving weekend. Here I am sitting with Sophie and Sydni while we watch Kung Fu Panda. Sarah is making the popcorn while her husband is taking this picture. I am having a great time! The girls are so nice to me, after they heard the story of why I am flat they have decided to show me a great time.
Here I am getting ready to go see the lighting of the Santa in downtown Fort Wayne. That will be fun but I wish that whoever made me would have made me a coat too. It is freezing here!

Tomorrow I am going on a hike at Sarah's grandma's house. I know that will be a lot of fun.

There is a lot to do here during the weekend. On Friday I got up real early to go Christmas shopping with Scott and Sarah. I know what the girls are getting for Christmas!

On Saturday, last night, I went to the Festival of the Trees. Sarah and Mrs. Barney went there and the trees were beautiful. We keep very busy!

I will be glad to be back at school on Monday, it will be a good rest for one tired Stanely!

It Seems Like a Lot of Fluff...

2008-11-26T07:59:00.002-05:00

So I heard this phrase this week: "This writer's Workshop thing seems like a lot of fluff..."
Makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up doesn't it? Me too!

I pondered this statement a little further. I want my workshop to be fluffy. Any time I have ever read a book, or article that has touched me in some way I can imagine that it has been written with a certain flair of fluff. Any time I have every read something that has changed my life whether it be professionally or personally it has been surrounded by "fluff." Touching quotes that make me think, personal stories that make me weep, and differing ideals that make me stand up against the flow, these are the things that may be considered "fluff."
As I teach writer's workshop each day with my students I want them to believe that their "fluff," is real. Their words matter, what they have to say on a daily basis is important to me, and if that means I have to create an environment that others would consider too "fluffy" then so be it. This is my most important task, creating a world for children in which they believe that their words are worth putting down on paper. A world of fluff.

Beyond Leveled Books

2008-11-16T21:50:00.003-05:00

Recently, Stenhouse Publishers, sent me a book to review for them. I was so excited to receive Beyond Leveled Books by Karen Szymusiak, Franki Sibberson, and Lisa Koch. But to review this book in one post will be impossible. After reading the forward, the list of mini lessons, and the first chapter I knew that I had much to gain from this book. Franki Sibberson, if you don't know is a co-blogger. Her blog, A Year of Reading, is a great place to land when you are looking for that perfect book. I have found myself browsing over there several times in the past. She and Mary Lee have much to offer to us in the teaching world.
Beyond Leveled Books draws you in during the first chapter as they persuade you to move away from the bookroom, away from the prepublished books from your basal, and to really evaluate the books you are placing in the hands of your children.
Chapter two begins by showing us that there is a place for leveled books, it is beside the real books. These books, in baskets are arranged with in our classrooms for students to pick from. Chapter 2 has an extensive list of authors that k-1 students can choose as "just right" texts for independent reading. This book list would be great for teachers who are just beginning to understand what Reader's Workshop is all about, and how to select and set up their classroom library.
However, where my learning occurred was through the rest of the book. These authors have shown me how to move my first grade readers into that transitional territory and then into independence. The authors discuss the importance for these transitional readers to choose books within a series. (Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby, The Magic Treehouse, etc.) When readers choose series books they can rely on the characters to carry them through the new material. They learn to rely on these sections of the book, they come to trust the author and even struggling readers can use their comprehension strategies because of the "known."
Again, there is another extensive list of series books, picture and chapter, that a teacher could use to select and use within their classroom.
Mostly, I have loved just reading that others that teach are excited about children learning to love books. At the end of the book the ladies give this information:
"In a time of test scores and accountability, teachers are being forced to spend precious classroom time in ways that do not necessarily foster lifelong reading. We worry that in the name of accountability we are increasingly pressed to find time for the things we know our transitional readers need." Amen sisters! This book keeps me from searching for those things that my students need, it is within this book. I am anxious to use the mini lessons, and strategies suggested in this book. I can more explicitly teach in my crunch of time. Thank you for showing me the important "stuff."
More to come from this book:
Mini lesson, mini lesson, mini lesson (this book is full of them!)
Ways to take learning home for your students, there are lots of ways to encourage your families in their discussions about books.
Graphic Novels, and their take (I love Graphica!)
Go get this book, it is phenomenal!!!!!

Our Author Mentor...Lynn Plourde

2008-11-13T13:43:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I gave my students a two column page and two books by our mentor. The student groups took to their places and scoured their books looking for things that they could use as a writer. Here is a list that we generated as a class:
1. She writes small moment stories-all of her stories could happen at school.
2. She uses comeback phrases.
3. She loves the seasons and creates imaginary characters out of the months.
4. She grows her story problem- it gets bigger and bigger like a mountain. And, then there is a solution.
5. She uses the dash, a lot. She also likes the exclamation mark and the elipses.
6. She uses letters to show how the character is feeling or the loudness of the voice. Gets bigger when their voice gets louder, and smaller when they are whispering.
7. Uses a lot of rhyming text and fancy words, words that roll off your tongue. She does this to make her words draw the reader into the story. (they actually said this!!!!)
8. The text on the page is placed weirdly on the page. I'm not sure if this is an editor thing or author sort of thing? Any ideas?
9. She loves sound words.

So today, I went a different direction, I went with the magical way she uses word groupings. We are going to do a few short practices together and then I'm going to have them have a go with it. It is so cool to see their growth from last year. They really get the idea of using an author to mentor them.

Thank you for your service...

2008-11-11T08:48:00.004-05:00

Today I have the day off of school. I am remembering the sacrifices that these brave men and women face everyday. I thank them for their sacrifice. 1.6 million soldiers are currently deployed to other areas of the world. Whether you believe in the politics behind the deployments you must always support their sacrifice. Husbands, mothers, sisters, wives, dads, brothers, sons, and daughters currently serving our country for my freedom and yours.

Support our troops today!

Using Lynn Plourde as our mentor!

2008-11-09T15:45:00.004-05:00

Last week, every day of the week, my students were greeted with a wrapped gift sitting on the chalk rail. Every morning they came in excited to see who would unwrap the gift, what the title of the book would be, and who would be the newest character we would be introduced to?

My students were very excited, I had learned of this author when I had coffee with a friend at Starbucks. Cathy, from becoming, had mentioned these books as being perfect for study an author as a mentor. She was right!

Lynn Plourde has published many titles that you have probably seen. The books we opened were from her series about a teacher, Mrs. Shephard and her crafty students. They get into a lot of mischief, and they are centered around real events that happen at school. Here are the titles we opened this week:

Teacher Appreciation Day

Book Fair Day

Science Fair Day

School Picture Day

Pajama Day

After we opened four of the books, on Thursday, I sent home a secret letter with each child. Inside was an invitation to wear their jammies to school on Friday. I mentioned that it was in honor of our last Lynn Plourde book.

Friday morning dawned and I arrived at school and hoped they were as thrilled about being in their jammies as I was. We hugged and giggled about each other's jammies. We talked about our adorable slippers, and then during our morning meeting we read the last of our series. It was a celebration that I didn't expect. We became one again as a community, we again enjoyed books, and we are anticipating this week's mentor lessons.

During writer's workshop we didn't even discuss the literary elements of Lynn Plourde's work. We discussed our own literary elements, things we have discovered about one another. I have a student who has been mimicking Kate DiCamillo in his own work because we have been reading The Tale of Desperaux. I used Lester Laminack as a mentor in one of my pieces and I wanted my students to see my end result. We also read Peter Reynolds' book The Dot. We noticed things about using books as our mentors.

Today I went to my main branch library, after checking out a gazillion books by Lynn Plourde I came home and brainstormed some things that I want my kids to notice about her work. Here is my current list:

1. Magical words of three

2. Sound words

3. Words placed weirdly on the page and in different colors. I have two people I know this will impress!

4. Characters have names used to describe their personalities

5. Mrs. Shephard, the setting, problems at school- they always reoccur in those series books

6. Clever use of elipses

7. Ms. Plourde loves alliteration

8. The story always seems to lead back to familiar phrases

9. Verbs in synonyms

While I realize that my students won't find all of these things within the pages, they will see some of these things very useful. I can't wait to see their growth! Here is an interesting quote I found in my teacher ideas notebook about this unit of study. Not sure where I got it but I am still going to use it with my students. Here it is:

What can I learn from this that I might try in my writing?

Caption: This is a beautiful book about a dump man who takes care of the town dump. He refuses to throw away books. He lends then out, gives them away, but all must promise not to throw them away. Through the storyline we discover that he himself can not read! Imagine, a person who can not read cherishing books so much, a lesson for early readers!

My Two Treasures

2008-11-07T19:54:00.002-05:00

I took these photos recently of the girls. They are both oblivious to the fact that I am taking their pictue at these times. Recently, I have been reflecting on my life with them. It seems that eight years ago my life changed and now my two treasures are walking around in this giant world, unprotected. I question what I did before they were here walking this earth?

What did I do with my time?

Now my life, thoughts, actions, and emotions are wrapped up in these two little girls. I want so much for them, I want it all

for

them!

Lately, I have felt this responsibilty the most as I haven't been able to attend all their field trips, as I have had to pick them up at school sick, and while the little one cries because,

"I want you to be a stay at home mommy like my friends."

As I look at these photos of them, oblivious, I see contentment.

I see happiness.

Their childhoods are more than most people can ask for, or have ever had.

I must push away the guilt, the questioning, the worry...

and just enjoy

them...

Visualizing

2008-11-03T21:45:00.002-05:00

We launched visualizing today in our classroom. I started by having the students take a large piece of newsprint paper and folding it into fourths. I then played for them 4 sounds:
1. A horse's neigh
2. crickets
3. fireworks
4. a crowd cheering at an event

My students were to draw connections that they made with the sounds, images that popped into their heads as they listened. Each sound was short, even played several times, but colored pencils were working themselves into a frenzy. When the sounds were finished, we gathered together on the rug and shared our picures with a partner. We discussed what each sound brought forth into our minds, the discussion was amazing. What we really discovered was how different our schema is, we have all been to some amazing places in our lives. Images are everywhere!
Tomorrow, When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant. I am going to read it and reference my images as I read, modeling the appropriate language. Already though, I can see the creative images flowing.

So Cool...

2008-10-29T20:54:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow I have Parent/Teacher conferences. This week before school and after school I have been conducting conferences for parents who can't make it on Thursday. Already I am saying, "so cool." I have every one of my students signed up for confences. I usually have a great turnout but this year it has been easy to get parents signed up! My most favorite thing that we are discussing is choosing books for their child. More than a few times I have had parents asking me how to choose books at the library, on book orders, etc. They are truly looking for "just right" books for their student. This is exciting to me, it means that their student is wanting books, and the parents are understanding the value of books. Reading is becoming a priority in their homes!
During my 15 minutes I must again relay the power of reading at home with their child. Most of my parents are game, and they are seeing the results in their child. I have some parents that are still not getting it, they don't have time, they don't have the resources, they are not reading at home.
How can we get parents to understand the power of a reading time daily for their child?

Bedtime Giggles

2008-10-26T22:42:00.003-04:00

My children don't have school tomorrow. A friend called and asked if Sophie could have a sleepover. My youngest daughter is not ready for sleepovers and so was a little bummed to be left with just mommy and daddy. We made a trip to Sonic for a strawberry sundae and then she snuggled a little with daddy watching America's Funniest Home Videos. After that, we snuck upstairs to do some reading before bed. We always read before bed so this was not new. Being all alone with just mommy is new.
Good Night Alfie Atkins is a book that we checked out recently and we have read it every day since then. It is a wonderful book about a little boy who doesn't want to go to sleep at night. He keeps asking his dad to do things, and the father keeps doing them. My daughter's favorite part is when Alfie has to "pee." This totally cracks her up because the illustrator has drawn that into the picture. Alfie, is standing there legs crossed, holding himself. She always laughs big belly giggles. Tonight was no different. She laughed, showed it to daddy, explained it to him, and then giggled some more. Tonight reading was fun, this is what I want for her, this is my hope for her.
As you read with your children, in your classroom or at home this week focus on the joy of reading.
How will you show them that books can be fun?
What will you do to create a lifelong love of reading?

4 on Friday

2008-10-24T19:50:00.002-04:00

1. My husband is finally on the mend and heading back to work. Two and a half weeks ago he had his tonsils removed on a Thursday. On Saturday we went to the emergency room twice on Saturday, the last time they kept him overnight. Sunday we returned home at about 4 in the afternoon. After only 4 hours of sleep I crashed on the couch for 2 went to bed at 9 p.m. and then began a new week of school. It was crazy!!! Thankfully, this week most things have returned to normal and he is going back to work. We are seeing normalcy back in our household.

2. I took this afternoon off from the classroom. I went with my family and we saw High School Musical 3. Great flick, but even better was sitting with both girls on either side. Watching my husband watching a "chick" flick is hilarious!

3. My students are doing awesome! We are moving through questioning, story elements, and next week we will begin questioning the author. I am excited to see what that holds for us. Writer's workshop has been fun this week. With our artifacts in hand I saw a renewed sense of writer's purpose. Suddenly, their stories needed telling! Very cool to see.

4. My own children had parent teacher conferences. This is always hard for me. I have a lot of role switching that I need to overcome as a teacher/parent person. Sometimes it is nice to have Scott there asking questions that I never seem to ask, and he calms my inner assumptions. They are doing fine. They are nice, kind children who love to learn. They are both creative, and imaginative. They have very good vocabularies, and they exactly where they need to be for their grade level. I knew this, but it is good to hear it from someone who spends 6 hours a day with them.

Happy Friday!

All the buzz...

2008-10-22T18:00:00.002-04:00

This week we began our week with artifacts from home. I sent home a letter last week to parents asking for students to bring in some special "things." We were ready Monday morning with our gallon size bags in hand to share what we brought. We got with a couple of friends and shared our baggies, each person valuing everything within. We photocopied pictures, did rubbings of several special artifacts, and then we placed them within our notebooks. Some students immediately had some things to write about and so that work began. Some of us sat back and began planning some stories that we would be writing in the near future. We were all the buzz...
Yesterday, another student modeled her list of story ideas that she had written on Monday. She talked about the piece that she wrote describing her picture but how that picture of her family planted even more seed stories for her to write. Many students spent yesterday planting seeds for some short story narratives.
Today, I pulled my piece about putting up Christmas at our house out and onto a large sheet of chart paper. I modeled for students what a "sensory" writing would look like. I used a web to display the different senses and then wrote some ideas for that piece. I encouraged students to use the web to help with preplan writing. I was thrilled to see some of them writing like this today during independent writing time.
Tomorrow, we will be discussing where to put periods. I have some students placing them at the end of every line in their notebook. Hopefully, I can model effectively proper placement of periods.
It is amazing to watch them grow. They are tremendous writers, living writerly lives.

Writing to a Prompt

2008-10-14T19:22:00.002-04:00

My school corporation quarterly requires my students to write from a prompt. This is to prepare my students for next year when they will be given the state's standardized test, but also, it is a great way to see their progress periodically. This quarter's writing prompt dealt with writing a personal narrative story about a special memory. Last week we discussed several prompts that could be given for the writing prompt. I took some time to just let them talk about what they would write about for the writing examples, we talked through the prompts, we discussed what was required for each example. I also showed them the editing checklist that always appears on the test. We discussed each item and then placed a sample within our writer's notebooks. We underlined words that needed to be capitalized, and sentences in our own writing that needed punctuation. Today, I had my students do the actual writing prompt and then graded them for the assessment. I am using a new rubric because I have moved up a grade so it was a little new to me.
I think initially that I graded them a little harder than I should have, so I am going to ask a colleague to review my grading.
I also generated a list of things that I could use as mini lesson ideas for Writer's Workshop. (Writing to a prompt may not be such a bad idea at times!)
Here are some things I will conduct mini lessons on:
1. The use of i being capitalized when referring to yourself. Really, I didn't think it needed to be discussed but okay...
2. Going back over our work, rereading and finding the missing words. I noticed a lot of missing words in their work.
3. Run-on sentences, this is a hard concept. But, I do know that the use of and, and, and, and, And, and, And, is not going to be acceptable anymore.
4. Capitalization and punctuation. (always something we must model, model, model)
This gives me a good start...

Does my mindset reflect change?

2008-10-12T20:46:00.003-04:00

You know with the upcoming elections we are hearing a lot about change. We are hearing a lot of promises that we know can't be kept, even in highly prosperous economical times. We hear a lot about that word, change.
I began wondering, am I a person who is willing to change? One commentator from my area, a man running for our school board, says that teachers, and parents, and apparently the members of the current school board, aren't hearing criticism and then changing. They say that the teachers in my district don't want to change, or hear the negative and then change. Am I one of those teachers?
I ask that question as one of reflection, (not necessarily opening myself up to criticism, believe me, as a teacher, I receive enough criticism.)
I think that I openly embrace change, change that is given to me in a positive way, in a way that is constructive, in a way that by no means tears me, my students, or my other colleagues (that I have grown to respect) apart...I respect this kind of change! But you see, many people who are talking right now are speaking not from their heart of change, but from the heart of election. They are so caught up in calling one and all to their cause that they are missing the true focus of what my profession means, to educate all students.
Most people running for public office are criticizing, pointing the blame, and promising things they cannot guarantee! This is not change we need, what we need is someone who will constructively come along side us and support us in our own change. We need to study best practices, we need to read about what works best, we need to begin to discuss, and mull things over. This is how change occurs, when people come together, out of respect, and say, "Let's work together."
If you are not a person that does that well, then you shouldn't volunteer to oversee a board, or partnership with a school corporation. We have big issues that need to be worked out positively. Your finger blaming, condescending, lack of respect tone will get us no where. Most people will rise up and buck the system if they feel the system doesn't respect the work they are doing. And then where will we be? We will be changing, it just won't be for the better...
Does my mindset reflect change? I think that if you read previous posts on this blog you will see that my mindset reflects change, you will see that I have grown, changed, and bettered myself because it was important to my students.
Am I perfect? By no means, I am still an active learner in my students' eyes. I want them to see me as a reader, a writer, and a person who loves learning. When they leave my classroom I care whether or not they are reading at grade level, I care whether or not they know their math facts, and I care whether or not they can pass the state standardized test next year.
But most importantly, the most important thing that I want for them... I want them to love reading, love what a book can give them, love the journey a book can take them along. I want them to be able to use the math that we have been studying all year, I want them to have number sense, and problem solving skills. I want them to value learning, so that they keep learning, not just for a test, not just for their community, not just for me or their parents, but for themselves.
That is change that I can believe in!

Watching Myself in my Students' Eyes

2008-10-08T17:58:00.002-04:00

This morning as I watched my intern from a far I sat and listened to her teach a small group of students. Trying to stay invisible from my post I glanced around the room at two girls sitting close to me. Thinking to myself I wondered why they weren't at their workstation, why did they feel like they didn't need to follow routines. Grunting at their lack of focus I got up to go ask them to do what they were supposed to be doing! As I approached the two I quickly noticed one girl who was covering the text of a book. As she covered the text she asked the second girl, "what text can you predict will be on this page?" The student replied with a very good inference and the little girl said, "very good, you made a very good inference. What evidence did you use to help you come up with that inference?" Together the two girls practiced what we have been doing in our independent workshop! I walked back to my invisible spot and observed both my interns lesson and the lessons these two girls were learning together.
You know sometimes I have self doubt. Sometimes I think they aren't "getting it." Sometimes I wonder if it is really as useful as the research proves to me. And then I have moments like today, when I get to watch myself through my student's eyes...

A Night For Us...

2008-10-05T10:50:00.005-04:00

I hurried through my day at school, not caring about the things that would normally get me in a tizzy on a Friday afternoon. I had to get home, my mother would be arriving, I didn't want to be late! My mother arrived, two children excited about their overnight adventure greeted her at the door. Getting their shoes on they chattered away happily about what they wanted to accomplish in our absence.

My husband and I loaded up into the family mini van and off we went. We arrived in Chicago by 9:00 pm. The city was lit up like they were expecting our arrival. I chattered on about the beauty of the city, delayed in traffic we waited, and waited and... Finally, we arrived at the hotel, placed our things on the counters, vegged out on the TV, happy to be together.

Saturday arrived bright and early we readied ourselves, ate a continental breakfast, and took the shuttle to O'Hare airport. From this destination we took the blue line to the red line to downtown Chicago. We tooled around Chicago, popping in and out of stores. We watched street performers, and drank expensive drinks that we don't typically purchase. We went into the only "holiness" on Michigan Ave, the First Presbyterian Church, we joked about renewing our vows here. It was lovely.

We purchased two brownies from the Hershey store, mine minty and delicious his covered in chocolate.

We ate at Gino's East where we didn't worry about a 25 minute wait for pizza. We sat and discussed, watched the other customers, time was on our side.

Finally, we loaded the subway back to our stop, waited for the shuttle, and went to find some old dear friends. We ate dinner, conversed, again, time was on our side. Leaving Chicago we promised to return at the holidays for a weekend among friends, a new tradition, one were building for our children.

Our children... when we returned home we found them sleeping, we kissed them and smelled their familiar smell. We gazed at one another, whole and renewed, we were ready for these two little girls. Today we awoke to their wonderful voices, they snuggled down into our bed, and again, we were a family.

Ahhh, much better!

2008-10-02T21:25:00.002-04:00

Confering is going much better during that Independent Reader's Workshop time. Students are far more accepting of my invasion. We have discovered that we have some really great things to discuss even! Today though, I just sat back and watched...
We have a new student in our classroom and he has been getting adjusted to the routine of how things are done in this classroom. I am sure it is quite the adjustment, but he is doing great! Today, I watched as he and the rest of the class settled into the routine.
-Two girls were reading Green Eggs and Ham together, the inflection was incredible!
-One of my boys has moved from Flat Stanley to Flat Stanley Invisible. He is so in to the books! Finding an author that you really enjoy makes a huge diffence.
-Babymouse-how can one describe what joys this series has brought to our classroom? We are really sharing these books. I see trading, discussion, and boy is that mouse funny!
-Mighty Robots by Dave Pilkey has been another hit in our room! Today I actually had to break up an argument about who's book it was. We compromised and resolved a situation but it was humorous to see arguing about books!
Sitting back in reflection I saw them as readers today. They have come so far, working with a student who has no background in Reader's Workshop you see how far they have come. I was really proud of them!

Why We Confer

2008-09-29T21:23:00.002-04:00

Today, after much deliberating I posed my problem to my students during my mini lesson:
"Boys and Girls, last week I really struggled to get you to confer with me during Independent Reading time. I would pull up next to you and try to pry you from your reading!"

"Well, Mrs. Amick, we just love our books, and we don't want to come above water." commented one of the boys. The rest of the class nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, I think we need to confer, what will I do during that time if I can't discuss your books with you?" I asked.

Together, we discussed the importance of conferring, and why I needed to do this simple task with them. Together, we came up with a list of questions, things that I would be asking them when I pulled up next to them. Here, is my student generated list of things that I am going to be asking them:
-What is your book about?
-Do you like the book?
-What level is this book for you? Is it easy, medium, or hard? (1, 2, or 3)
-Can you read some of it to me?
-What strategy are you using with this book? (we made a list of comprehension or monitoring strategies)

We talked about how important it would be for them to be thinking about their reading and what I may be asking of them. However, if they really wanted to share something specific with me during that time then they could go ahead and do that instead.
Overall, I was impressed, it was a very student led conversation. I just simply wrote their suggestions down while they discussed. I also discovered that they know exactly what I am asking of them. They get it!

"Oh, just leave us alone!"

2008-09-26T18:04:00.002-04:00

This week has been a truly great week. We have truly been into the schedule, we have met together as small groups, whole group, and we have been reading! We received two packages from Scholastic Book Clubs where I spent all my classroom PTA money on books for my pumpkins. I showcased them all from the boxes and we made it quite the spectacle. We got some really great titles that my kids are thrilled about reading! Here is the problem:
Twice this week I have pulled up next to some kiddos ready to confer about their books. Ready to hear what they have to say about their connections, their inferencing, etc... They don't want to confer! They don't want to talk, my talking to them is pulling them up from under the water! I have kids asking if they can take books out to RECESS because apparently the 20 minutes I have squeezed into our schedule for reading independently is not enough for them! Conferring is the last thing they want to do because they are to into their books! (I even had eye rolling!)
What would Carl Anderson say? How about the great Debbie Miller? Any ideas?

Inferring through the garbage

2008-09-25T22:08:00.003-04:00

I am in love with a new book called Comprehension Connection. This book was recommended by one of my colleagues last year but my principal purchased it for us for a book talk. I am already using its contents. One of its contents was an activity on Inferencing. The author recommends bringing in garbage so the children can examine it and make inferences about the people that it belongs to, here is our conversation:
"I walk by a house everyday, they have the most beautiful yard, they have pretty flowers, and they have nice cars. Their house is immaculate. The thing is, I've never seen the people who live there. So, last night when I was walking by their trash, I took some!"
Here is where every jaw in my classroom dropped to the floor and they stared at me in astonishment. Their teacher had done the unthinkable...taken trash!
"So, I was wondering if you could help me solve the mystery of my neighbors?"
Every head nodded, still, no sound coming from their lips.
Inside the bag I had a Better Homes and Garden magazine, a coffee cup and lid, a tea bag, some receipts to very expensive places, and a band aid. Here are their inferences:
-The people who live there have no children. People with children don't have their "nice" things just out, they keep it up until their children are grown.
-The people who live here are older because they keep things so nice, they don't have to go to work a lot because their so old. That is why their stuff is so nice and why I never see them. They get up very early and they go to be very early at night.
They drink expensive teas and coffees because they don't have children.

About five minutes into this activity one of my boys says,"I don't think that you can get in trouble for stealing someone's garbage, they already put it out, they don't want it, I think it's okay."
Another little girl, "Mrs. Amick, you should get up early and go and knock on those people's door and introduce yourself. Then you should tell them that you took their garbage, because that is the right thing to do."
Have you ever been disciplined by a seven year old? I told them today that I really didn't take someone's garbage. I could see the relief on some of their faces!

A Whole New World

2008-09-23T22:18:00.002-04:00

Last Friday, at approximately 3:00 I received a package of 100 red worms. Worried that they would die over the weekend I went into a panic. I have never taught 2nd grade Science and so I was concerned about their well being! My other colleagues assured me that they would live in that box over the weekend and be just fine. Today, after forgetting my dirt at home on Monday, we "planted" our redworms. The concept of the whole experiment is to show students the work of the worms. We placed them in containers, watered the dirt, and gave them some compost that we collected in our school's woods out back. We also had a lot of worms and dirt left over and I put them in an aquarium that I stored in the attic. Many of my children are very interested in the changes that will take place in our containers. My surprise came during Writer's Workshop:
"What sort of work are you doing today as a writer?"

Many of my students that I conferred with today were writing about their worms, and the project. They were making predictions, giving them names, writing about the things they had seen, heard, smelled...
One boy discussed with me at length his learning. "You know Mrs. Amick, we created their world right here in our room! They have everything they need right there in that container! Isn't it cool to think that right now there are 100 worms working and doing their thing while we are here doing ours?"

I guess I didn't see it as that important! I really just thought that I was putting some worms into some dirt to watch them eat compost and poop it out! Boy, was I ever wrong!

Tomorrow: intensive group of students working on creating "worm like" words for stretching them into a story about a worm, or perhaps even a poem about what we're learning.
We'll see, the possibilities are endless!

New Blogs!

2008-09-20T10:26:00.002-04:00

So recently I stumbled upon the Stenhouse Blog by Stenhouse Publishers and I was impressed. Not only do they have some pretty great articles to read that I am completely interested in reading, but they have also created a really great Blogroll! I have been checking some of them out, they are mixed with just normal reflective pieces like mine, author's websites, and then great lesson ideas like at The Two Writing Teachers. Anyway you slice it, it is a great blog to add to your perusing! Check it out!

Thursday...is library day in room 142!

2008-09-19T19:51:00.002-04:00

A Trip to the Library...

You may not think that is a big deal. You may not think students would get excited about a little ol' trip to the school library...but not these kids. Thursday morning rolled in and I mentioned that I had spoken to our librarian, our school has Babymouse, and Captain Underpants! We have acquired these titles this summer in our classroom during my many trips to Village Books, Goodwill, and Amazon.com. The kids began to buzz, little post-it notes began to disappear, I was asked to write a note to the librarian. "Mrs. Amick can you write her and tell her we want to check out anything?"

"You always get to check out anything, now you just know what you want to check out!" I said.

Plans were being made!

Lunch arrived, "Mrs. Amick, Mrs. Amick, when are we going to the library?"
After lunch was over, we used the facilities, gathered our notes and we were off to the school library. As we entered, the librarian led them to the story area. She gave me a questioning look as it seemed everyone had brought a post-it note to the library. As I left the library, I felt proud of my students, they are readers. They are setting goals as readers, they are developing interests and finding favorite authors, they are excited (at the age of 7/8) about going to the library! Mostly, they are turning into lifelong readers, something I have tried to instill in them.
When I gathered them later they were all a twitter about their new finds. Some had stuck with with their post-it note ideas, some had been enticed by other titles. Mostly, they were just content. They were talkative, mentioning to their neighbor what book they checked out, some had gotten nonfiction books and were revealing new information they were learning. All the talk was "good" talk, it was about books!
Fast forward to Friday: "Mrs. Amick, can we do Independent Reading time all day?"

Building Stamina

2008-09-16T21:42:00.003-04:00

Reading Workshop in first grade was noisy. First graders read aloud, alot. They aren't talking but they are "whisper" reading for about 20 minutes. It's hard to confer, it's hard to maintain focus for some students, but we got through it. This year I have noticed that most of my kiddos are drifting off and really valuing this precious time that I give them. At first they chatter while getting their books, they find their spot, and then the room falls silent. They are growing as readers.
Today we discussed our stamina. I used myself as a runner to model this new word for them. I talked about how I used to just walk the dog, then I started walking faster, and then I started running. I kept mentioning that all that time I was building stamina. Readers build stamina when they dive under with great books (this is an analogy we came up with when we talk about how readers dive into books. Like a SCUBA diver, they don't experience the above water world, only what is going on under the water, their in their own little world). We discussed that when they go to their reading spot that they need to have enough books to maintain their stamina.
When they marched off excited to read a pin could have dropped in that room.
I pulled up to a person who was reading just a simple Dr. Seuss book, I asked, "Why did you choose this book?"
"I'm working on my fluency, Mrs. Amick! I'm going to practice with this book (the Dr. Seuss book) and then I'm going to really dive under with this one!"
In one reflective moment I realized how much they have grown as readers. Not only do they value this time, they have built stamina, but they also know what they need to read to build themselves up as readers.

Living with a Kindergartner

2008-09-14T14:07:00.002-04:00

So Syd is learning about beginning sounds at school lately. Everywhere we go she points out words and says what their beginning sound is, stressing the sound at the beginning. It's a start and we're so proud of her progress. Today at lunch though we had to chuckle when she said this:

"Scaragus, scaragus, Momma, scaragus starts with scary, that starts with 'S'! So, scaragus must start with S!"

Scragus=Asparagus

We had to talk about Asparagus, starting with 'A' even though the beginning sound sounds like the 'E.'

Darn that schwa sound, gets us everytime!

When "**!!Eeerrrr!!*! becomes "WOoo Hooo!!!"

2008-09-12T20:39:00.003-04:00

So, for the last three weeks I have been arriving at school prepared to greet my little pumpkins with my bright shining face, full of lessons that won't get taught, workstations that will be had (no small groups to meet yet), and workshops to be given minus the conferring. EEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR! Yes, my system, my non meeting AYP (Annual yearly pain in the ?) system has to do DIBELS and TRC. We were given palm pilots to record our data and while that was very cool I saw myself losing ground. Dibels took no time at all, but the TRC, whoa, I was spending 30-60 minutes on one child. What were the others doing you may ask? Keeping busy! I became more and more stressed at just "getting it done" and I was not doing my students justice. I started to hate the system, hate going there, hate my job, hate, hate, hate. My mind said, "this is why the world loses good teachers!" Thursday, after almost 3 weeks of testing my students, I finished... (can you hear the hallelujah chorus?)
I synched my palm pilot and then printed out my data.
Here is what I discovered:

-My five students who are not where they should be, are already receiving interventions. Apparently, the moron that I am according to No Child Left Behind, is smart enough to notice when a child is not reading at grade level. Hmmmm.....
-My other students, the other 16 proficient readers, are reading at the end of second grade. How can that be? They just started 2nd grade, well you see, their teacher, has studied the benefits of Reader's Workshop and implemented that in her classroom. Those students excelled with that program and she continues to work with them again this year. Why? Because she knows it will continue to work.
-The other 2 proficient readers, are at grade level, and that is okay. They are where they should be, reader's workshop will get them to a k by the end of 2ND grade.
Maybe, I am not such a moron after all. Smart enough to read really great best practices and apply!

Our Family...complete

2008-08-17T21:37:00.002-04:00

Last week we adopted a new dog. Her name is Lucy, she is rescued from God only knows where, she is a year, and she is ever so sweet. We feel complete now that we are a two dog family.

Writing From Another Perspective

2008-08-17T21:22:00.003-04:00

Scott's Perspective:

"Oh, I know what this message is!"

"Um, Scott, this is Sarah, I am the one leaving our child's elementary school where she has just begun her first day of Kindergarten. She is so beautiful (sniff)babe, you should have seen her! She was sitting at her table, pencil in hand, and writing her name. (sob)I peered at her one last time. She is so confident, everything we wanted her to be and more. I think we can be very proud of her (sniff, sniff,)"

"I knew she would cry! She always holds it together but when it comes down to it, she sent her baby off to school today!" Scott says to his fellow worker.

Jen's Perspective:

"Hey, how's it going?" asks Jen.

"Not great! (wailing sobs) (sniff, sniff)

"Oh Sarah, I wondered, she's okay, she'll do fine!" Jen reassures me.

"I know but you should have seen her, (sob) she was so confident, and so mad at me for being at her new school. She doesn't need me any more! (sob, wail, sniff)" Sarah weeps into the phone.

"Where are you sitting? I need to get my mind off all of this! I'll call you back when I get to the coliseum!"

I sent my baby child off to school on Thursday. She did wonderfully, the bus ride was awesome, and Mrs. Hilger is very kind. Kindergarten has been a culmination of parenting to me, when I looked at her confidence, her stride, her independence...I knew we had done enough. She is ready, now I must find it within my heart to be ready as well.

Choosing 5...

2008-08-13T22:50:00.002-04:00

If you could choose five books to have in your classroom library that you could use for both writer's and reader's workshop what would they be? These books encompass what you teach throughout the year, you can pull them from the shelf and your know exactly what you will teach. What would your five books be?
Here are my five:

1. Chrysanthemum, by Kevin Henkes: I know I have said it before, "I love this book!" It's perfect for teaching small moments, dialogue, repetition, point of view, I could go on and on and on... In reading, this book is excellent for making connections, character development, protagonists, antagonists, heroes, repetition, making inferences, again, on and on and on... This book really is phenomenal when creating community. When we had a bully this year we simply reflected about how Chrysanthemum felt, and how Victoria and the gang only treated her this way because they didn't love themselves. We connected with Chrysanthemum!

2. Apples by Gail Gibbons: If you want to teach All About books, this is the book for you. Gail has such a wonderful way of turning nonfiction books into very interesting materials. You always learn something new when you pick up one of her books.

3. All the Places to Love by Patricia Maclachlan: Connections, imagery, writing a story using poetic words. Inferencing, repetition, using illustrations to make your reader fall in love with your story. Besides all that... it is a beautiful book!

4. Skippyjonjones: Okay, so it is a far cry from making connections, and sometimes it is hard to read and follow as a reader... by golly, this is a fun read! There is nothing like opening a new Skippyjonjones books and reading it aloud to your students. They make me giggle for goodness sake! My students love the language that Mrs. Jones uses with her kittens. They love the songs the chimichangos sing. We absolutely love using our "best Mexican accent." These books teach us that reading is fun! You can open a book, get lost, and have a blast!!!1

5. Charlotte's Web: I loved it in the third grade and I love it now as a teacher. I don't teach a lot in writing from this classic. I teach a lot of things from it in reading. We really connect as a class when we read this classic. We cry at the end, even the boys. We discuss their friendship, how even though they were very different they learned to get over their differences and enjoy each other for their strengths. Plus, E.B. White is phenomenal! His language usage is so beautiful when it rolls off the tongue. The kids can't believe that Charlotte dies, they just can't believe she's gone.

My five mainstays in my classroom. This week I have been putting books back on shelves, and organizing my books. Debbie Miller set up a nook in her basement when she retired from teaching so that she could be among her books. I was so glad to be back with my friends (my books) when I pulled them from the boxes. I held each one, put it in its basket, now we wait for our human friends to come and read.

Slice of Life

2008-07-22T13:02:00.003-04:00

"I'm going to take my iron and ironing board to hen party tonight," I said.
"What?" he questioned.
"We have to iron all of Emily's chair covers and lavender sashes for the reception!" I replied.
(He has learned to not ask too many questions when it comes to the Hen Party.)

We all pulled into my mother's driveway separately but all of our cars contained the same items, an iron and an ironing board. We set them all up next to the six pronged outlet in the living room. We waited for the irons to heat up and then we began. Chipper at first we talked, gossiped about the beauty of the color lavender, and ironed. Our arms worked at a feverish pace. My girls worked in a corner to unwrap each piece of fabric, stacking them by the multiple ironing boards. We laughed about the hilarity of four ironing boards sitting in one room. What if someone could see into my mother's living room? What would they think was occurring inside this house?
After about two hours of continuous ironing we broke and dished out ice cream, strawberries, and shortcake. We sat, careful not to spill, and relaxed during our dessert break. My grandmother complained about her back hurting, my aunt about her foot, and I just kept ironing. We found the style channel on TV, watching "shallow" TV so that we could concentrate on our job.
At 10:30 p.m., four and a half hours after starting we began to get silly. Noticing any time that someone set their iron down. We counted how many pieces were left to iron, the task becoming daunting. Still, we continued to iron.
Finally, at 11:45 my mother and I, who had to be at work in the morning decided that we would stop at midnight. We sighed and continued to iron, watching the ever ticking clock. Our bodies tired, and sore. And then the clock struck midnight...
We unplugged our irons, collapsed our boards, loaded up and headed home...to our beds.
Finished? Not exactly, but close. We will finish this week, in the evenings, until Thursday when they will all be collected and taken to the reception hall. This slice of life was work, hard, hot, satisfying work.

A New Workstation

2008-07-19T10:06:00.002-04:00

Last year I became very disappointed with my workstations. I just didn't feel like my kiddos were doing anything but playing around during their "work" time. This year we have a new basal series and so throughout the week I have been looking through materials. I am not a huge fan of any basal but I do use it for shared reading, I use it to pace my phoneme skills, and this series has a testing strategy for each unit. Since my kiddos are getting ready to take the state test I figure it wouldn't hurt them to learn some of the strategies they will need.
During the All Write conference in June I went to hear Georgia Heard. If you have never read, listened to, or aren't familiar with Georgia then you are living under a rock. I am a big fan! I was fortunate enough to listen to her speak about the Revision Toolbox. She created a revision center/workstation in her son's classroom. This was a place where kids could go and do some writing exercises to strengthen their revision skills. So, this year I am trying to incorporate that station during my small group instruction time. Here are some of the things that my students will be working on:
-Two verbs, walking and sleeping, can you think of as many synonyms that go with these words?
-Here is a sentence with the missing verb, replace it with your own.
-Here is a popular poem with some words taken out, replace them with your own.
-Here is a simple sentence, now you may describe what it is that made it this way. Here is the sentence: It was the perfect day.
-This piece of writing is missing the quotation marks, can you rewrite it so that the quotation marks are in the right place?
-Look through these books and make a list of different ways that writers write that someone is speaking. Instead of: The girl said, " what could replace "said?"
-This poem has a lot of alliteration, I describe the meaning of alliteration and then they must come up with their own!
-This is an idiom, can you tell me what it means?
-Find the simile and tell me what the item is being compared to.

So, I am also placing some information that is about grammar within this workstation too. I am hoping that my kids will stay busy, and they will learn some stuff that they can use later in writing. We'll see, I hope that it is a little more productive than last year.

Ah... So True!

2008-07-16T12:31:00.002-04:00

At the All Write conference I purchased the book About the Authors by Kate Wood Ray with Lisa B. Cleaveland. I read it pretty much in one day because it already contained much information that I already know. One of the things that I found to be so powerful was in chapter one when Katie is describing what writer's workshop is and why it is important. She says, "...if students have writing time every day, but that time is highly directed by someone else, then they have no need to think like writers outside of that time." I got to thinking about my own writer's workshop, my kids have choice, I simply give them a class generated list they can use if they get "stuck." I also wonder if that is the reason why they hated the All About unit? Could it be that it was too much about the creating of a book and not so much about their choice? Hmmm.....

She goes on to say, "... they don't see themselves as people who need ideas for writing. When someone tells students exactly how everything should be written, they have no reason to notice and ideas for their writing" Why would they need ideas when they come to school, someone opens their brains and tells them what to say, write, feel, prompting them always! So many classrooms are functioning in this capacity. Sad.....

Finally, (and bear with me, it is long) my favorite part of this section says this:

We are moved when we realize our decisions in the classroom teach students to think of themselves as particular kinds of people. But we realize that all teaching does this. If we told students what to do all day long, we'd be teaching them to think of themselves as people who should wait to be told what to do. So we embrace the people we ask them to become, people who make books, and we teach and teach into this essential identity."

Ah... so true!

Now the work of teaching teachers this way. I think there is a group of teachers out there who still believe that teaching is about dumping information in and spitting outcomes out. If we read work by Katie Wood Ray, Debbie Miller, and Piaget we begin to understand that teaching is about guiding, showing through example, and the chance for discovery. If we can begin to establish classrooms in this way then we will begin to see results.

6 Random Things About Me...

2008-07-14T22:05:00.002-04:00

Cathy, at becoming... tagged me for this meme. I have to come up with 6 random things about me...

1. I love potato chips. I like all flavors, even salt and vinegar. They are my nemesis and I could eat an entire bag of them. If I have to take a snack somewhere, then I love to take chips. Since my dieting however, I have been trying to just stick to pretzels. I like those, but not as much as chips!

2. I have a routine in the morning, if I don't do the routine then I am all thrown off for the day. It goes like this: shower, contacts, hair gel, tooth brushing, moisturizer, blow my hair dry, make-up, apply body lotion, get dressed, put on wedding ring. It's the OCD in me I know.

3. I have always been alone. Since I was a child I have been a loner of sorts. I was an only child, I enjoyed playing alone, I lived alone in college, I go shopping alone. Now that I am married and have children getting to be alone can be a challenge but, I long for it. I long for solidarity. If I could spend a week alone I could do it. I am alone and never lonely, just like Sydni.

4. Anything having to do with teeth terrifies me. When people talk about their root canals, or children show me their loose teeth, it all grosses me out. I went to the dentist twice last year, prior to that I hadn't been in 9 years. I had perfectly fine teeth and didn't even have that much plaque! I hate anything that has to do with teeth.

5. I am learning more and more about loving the human race, not just Americans. I am learning that everyone wants to live the American dream (it doesn't always have to be in America, I just mean figuratively the "American Dream"), that we all want what's best for our children, and we want to just live and die happy. My world is getting smaller and I am liking all that I am learning.

6. Someday, in my lifetime, I don't know when, how, or why, but my heart is calling me to adopt a child from Africa. I am hoping for a boy, but a girl would be fine as well. I am hoping for someone who has HIV, or has lost their family to HIV, or just someone who needs... us.

(Seriously, I can't believe that I typed that out loud.)

So, the rules are simple:
-list 6 random things about you.
-tag 6 other people
-link back to the person who tagged you.

(I will admit, that everyone I know has been tagged! So, I am not going to tag someone else.)

A Family Wedding

2008-07-13T11:45:00.005-04:00

So, yesterday I saw my aunt's son marry a beautiful young girl. Dating for more than 4 years the happy couple today is boarding a plane to Hawaii to honeymoon. Weddings always make me nostalgic and this wedding made me feel old. I was only 11 when he was born and obsessed with babies. My aunt had me come and spend many weekends to help her care for her newborn. I rocked him, changed him, and sang to him. It was an odd feeling watching him walk down the isle.

My girls performed a task in the wedding that I had never heard of, they were bell ringers. They announced to the congregation that the ceremony was about to start. They started on each side, walk to the front and then together, up the middle. Yesterday, I took Sophie to get her hair done. They looked magical! I was so proud of them and their beauty, inside and out.

Magical weddings are, they are a culmination of all we have worked so hard to accomplish in our children. But, it is also the start of something new, a new life.

Leaving the wedding yesterday I walked to our car with my two lovely children, my husband of 11 years, and inside my heart was full. Looking at my life, I realize how truly blessed I am.

My cup, runneth over...

Poetry Friday

2008-07-11T09:26:00.003-04:00

I mentioned the possibility of this poem yesterday in my post. An exercise that I tried was to take a noun and write as much as possible about that topic. Another exercise that I did was to lift a line from this entry and turn it into a draft of something else. I lifted four lines:
1. fly through the air so gracefully
2. soaring high above the tree line, gliding and swooping
3. mother bird tell them not to fly so high
4. the mama sits in the tree and squawks

Another exercise is to "top ten" something. I used the word: glide
soar, coast, float, balance, swoop, rustle, swing, fly, flex, levitate

Another exercise I used was to write from another person's perspective.
Here is the poem that I came up with:

Bird, Spread Your Wings and Fly

My little one from egg so small

I sat upon you

keeping you warm

protecting you from enemies and prey;

You are my little one, my pride and joy.

I brought food to your closed eyes

and your ever open mouth

Crying out in hunger,

you rocked and cried

rocked and cried

I fed you from my beak to yours

your belly fully satisfied you rested, safely.

Your wings have grown

your feathers soft and downy

are now full and strong

Your once closed eyes are now open

Take in your surroundings,

Experience life's joy

Ever watching for life's pain

Open your wings and fly through the air

gracefully, gracefully, floating

soar, high above the tree line

swoop and glide

let your wings stretch and flex

feel the earth's wind in your feathers

open your eyes to the sights

listen to the sounds of your world

Go my little bird

stretch your wings and fly...

Where seed stories come from...

2008-07-10T12:05:00.003-04:00

I have been trying many of the activities in Aimee Buckner's book just for myself as a writer. I have to tell you that I dig living the writerly life! I started with an activity where you take a noun and just write as much as possible about that noun. I reread some of my former notebook, another idea in the book, and found the word bird. I love birds, and I thought, I want to write a whole page about birds. This was easier than I thought! Aimee says to write anything, and if other things lead from that topic it is okay. So I began my piece about birds. Meaningless at first, I began to see the poetry of words coming together, I want to reread and highlight soon this one piece and change it into a poem about birds. So, a meaningless topic has been the seed to a poem.
Next, I was just doing some writing about a childhood memory. Aimee Buckner says that the start of writing with children in her classroom is through oral storytelling. My children and I were driving to the pool yesterday and Sophie asked me about my deceased grandfather. I began telling her that I have a lot of really great stories I could tell about him, as he was such a vital part of my life. I began telling her the story of family reunions and his watermelons. That oral storytelling led to me writing a piece about that memory.
I can't wait to share these workshop ideas with my kids this year. They will catch on fast I know, they are such great writers. I know that having these personal writing moments myself will encourage them that even I can do it! Kids love the fact that teachers write themselves!
Today, Sophie got her notebook out and wrote about flowers. She noticed that my notebook is filling up with all kinds of words. I read some of it and mentioned the noun activity. She said, "Can I get my notebook out and try that?" Well, duh, yea... I pressed her to pick a topic that she can write a whole page about. "I want you to fill the whole page!" Daunting it seemed, she began her piece about flowers. At first, it was about me planting flowers, how she gets to help, then it turned to labeling the parts of a flower, and then planting a seed, and growing a flower.
So what could this piece become?
All about
A story about planting flowers with her mom
A research project about the different types of flowers
The smells of flowers, a senses piece

The possibilities are endless...

My Own Learning

2008-07-09T11:03:00.002-04:00

Lately I have been reading Notebook Know How by Aimee Buckner a book that has been on my shelf for at least two years. When our facilitator gave it to us she said that she thought it would be for older students and I didn't read it. Wow, I wish that I had read it and at least tried some of the great ideas within it for myself. One of the first things that Aimee tries to stress is the importance of the notebook. She gives many quotes from the greats, Fletcher, Caulkins, Graves, etc. One of the greatest things that I am coming to understand is the importance of writing everyday, something, even if it is just a small happening. She says, "Interview after interview, book after book, writers talk about having a place to write every day... The concept is the same- to have a place just to write... a lot." She goes on to discuss that her first notebook she wrote a lot, and she seemed to think that there was not significance to what she was writing. This is how I feel a lot of times about my own writing. There doesn't seem to be anything significant to what I write about, who will really care. She began to notice though that as she wrote she began to get further away from diary like writing because she was revisiting, revising, and being a fluent writer. You see just from overly writing she began to notice things she could pull out from that mundane writing and turn it into something extraordinary!
I am thinking that that is the key to the notebook, we must encourage students to write even when they think they have nothing to say, to go back and revisit, and then write from those seeds.
Vicki Vinton says, "It is an illusion that writers live more significant lives than non writers; the truth is writers are just more in the habit of finding the significance that there is in their lives."
That significance comes in the form of writing, writing, writing...
I am making a commitment to write everyday, at least something, even if at the time it is insignificant. I want my students to know how writing mundane can translate into the seed of something bigger later. So, adios, I am off to write...a lot!

Things I am Pondering...

2008-06-25T13:56:00.002-04:00

So, because I am marinating after the All Write Conference here are some things that I am trying to study or research:

1. More about launching Writer's Notebooks- I am launching WN because I know my class and they were already complaining about the use of folders, three pages of stories and their inablity to organize. I need more information about launching, collecting things to write about, and teaching the concepts of the Writer's Notebook.

2. I need to purchase more books for my students that are on a second grade level since I am looping. I hope some of you have some great titles that you would like to send my way for that grade level. My students are pretty great readers so send me whatever!

3. Mini lessons for both reading and writing workshop. This is going to take some time and a little help from the curriculum department of FWCS. I hope they have these things ready, because it is time to get geared up for second grade.

I am awake and ready to go, my fire is ablaze! Here we go...

The All Write Conference (year 2, for me anyway!)

2008-06-24T21:53:00.003-04:00

Since Sunday I have been without husband and children. I have had no responsibilities, just taking care of myself. I have been in Shipshewana, IN attending a reading and writing conference. I have been a life-long learner.
Recently I discussed with my dear friend my summer motivation. I am teaching swim lessons, attending this conference, preparing for one at the end of the summer, waiting for July 14th Sydni's surgery date, going to the library... on and on and on my summer goes. I am not doing very much professionally. Lately I have been unwilling to pick up books, plan lessons, or even think about school. And then June 22 rolled around and my dear friend Kirsten picked me up in her Honda to go on a journey. This is where the story really begins, this is the heart, Penny Kittle and Georgia Heard would draw a heart around this part.
My journey over the last couple of days has been very reflective. You see prior to the conference I have been stagnate, just letting the days of the summer "stuff" roll over me and keep me busy. I think we all need to just let the moments of life rush over us, collecting, and brewing until a moment comes when we are ready to release our thoughts, passions, and ideas into the world. Katherine Bomer, on Monday, says that "we should write what we are obsessing about," because these are the things that are really going to matter. She gave me time then, to go off into the sunny summer day to lay on my belly and just expose my writing "bones." I produced some really great things in my WN, I hope to share them someday with all of you.

I also had a chance to hear the greatest speaker ever, Lester Laminack, I am a huge fan. Even though I probably have heard him say the same things, they still touch my heart each time. His passion for placing words within the realm of young minds is addicting. I needed addicting right now. I needed someone to relight my flame. Not burned out, my flame had just not been stoked, and fanned. The conference gave me a chance to reboot, reload, rejuvenate. I am marinating...

Finally, I leave you with a quote from Pamela Munoz Ryan (actually it's not hers but I can't remember to whom she gave credit, and yea, I heard her too!):

"Every time we ask a child to read aloud in school it is a test.

When we read aloud to a child in school it is a gift."

The face of Joy...

2008-06-22T11:47:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I awoke with soreness in my biceps and an achy upper back...
Friday, was the last session for swim lessons, I teach the toddler and preschool classes at the local pool. Friday was the family swim, this is where toddlers and preschoolers have the chance to zing themselves with an adult or by themselves down the slide. This is why my back is sore and my biceps are screaming out in pain! I was the "catcher!" I caught all the littlest swimmers as they went down the slide. I have had approximately 49 students this session, times their 10 times down the slide! Yep, I caught roughly 490 times! OUCH...
My husband summed it up best, not a writer, he put it into words that perfectly matched the moment. He said, "yea, you may be sore but you witnessed the purest childhood joy! Little people doing something in the "big" world, that' joy!"
It made the soreness so worth it. As I turned around at one point I saw about 12 parents standing by the slide, they had video cameras, cell phone cameras, and digitals pointed in my direction! Ah, but I caught the faces first, hiding them in my mind's memory.
The face of joy...

Poetry Friday...

2008-06-13T10:07:00.002-04:00

So my "job" this summer is to teach swim lessons at a public pool. So far I have loved every minute, teaching while kids have fun doing something is very rewarding! I am on an antibiotic though that cut my week short because it makes me super sensitive to the sun. Being an almost redhead that means that by Wednesday night I had blisters, and basically a bad case of sun poisoning. I called my boss, who was very understanding, (thanks Jen) and was let go of my duties until Tuesday. Here is my poem about my experience:

Sun Poisoned

by Sarah Amick

The day wears on...

antibiotic sensitive

splashing all around, smiles, and laughter

"The Wheels on the bus..."

smathering on sunscreen

keep applying...

blistered, tender, prickly heat

superpowered antibiotic breaks through

keep applying...

core temperature rising

nausea, dehydration

surrounded by water

like a sizzled egg where skins exposed

healing now, itchy skin, daily waiting

for the nerves to heal

the skin to mend

returning to normal

swim lessons

Tuesday...

Gift From the Sea

2008-06-08T22:19:00.002-04:00

I am currently reading this book, Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. She is the wife of Charles Lindbergh. This book's copyright date is 1955! My aunt gave me this book because she said I just had to read it! I have discovered that even though it was written in 1955 that it still translate to year 2008. The book was written by Anne after she spent some solitary time on an island. She compares many of the items that she found along the beach, shells in particular, to the way we feel as women. What I really noticed is that Anne went to this island because her day to day life of being a wife and a mother drained who she was as a person. She realized that in order to bring that balance back she needed to go and be alone to revive her inner person. As her weeks ended on the island she rediscovered herself and all that she had to offer to this world. Here is what she says about the moon shell:

"Moon shell, who named you? Some intuitive woman I like to think. I shall give you another name-island shell. I cannot live forever on my island. But I can take you back to my desk in Connecticut. You will sit there and fasten your single eye upon me. You will make me think, with your smooth circles winding inward to the tiny core, of the island I lived on for a few weekes. You will say to me "solitude." You will remind me that I must try to be alone for part of each year, even a week, or a few days; and for part of each day, even for an hour or a few minutes in order to keep my core, my center, my island quality. You will remind me that unless I keep the island quality intact somewhere within me, I will have little to give my husband, my children, my friends or the world at large. You will remind me that woman must be still as the axis of a wheel in the midst of her activities; that she must be the pioneer in achieving this stillness, not only for her own salvation, but for the salvation of family life, of society, perhaps even of our civilization."

What have you done lately to achieve solidarity in your life? How do you find your center core, like the center of a Moon Shell?

June's Slice of Life... A Little Late!

2008-06-04T10:07:00.002-04:00

We all gathered from many different directions at the local restaurant of her choice. My little family of four, my mother, my aunt, her son, and my second cousin, along with the guest of honor. A mismatch group of 9 gathered for her celebration. My aunt bringing in the cake, the color of a Mary Kay Cadillac. We all chose our spot, we ordered carefully from the menu, conversation flitting like a butterfly from person to person, guest to guest. Our food arrives and we bow our heads reverently as my mother prays for our food, our fellowship, and for the life we are celebrating. We all nod our heads at her example, her constant love, and our overwhelming joy to have her still with us. We ask that her life be able to celebrate many more years with us at this time in June.
We discuss her upcoming events, today she will celebrate with us, tomorrow she will celebrate with high school chums! This month she will attend bridal showers for grandchildren, DAR meetings, and on and on and on... her calendar always full.
After our meal we light sparkler candles, we sing in perfect harmony, and we cut the cake.
We arise from our chairs, collect our to-go boxes, and exit from the restaurant hugging.
"See you on Friday," I say.
"Love you!" she smiles back...
Happy Birthday Grandma, 83...

On The Move...

2008-05-31T10:20:00.002-04:00

Last week for Writing Workshop we wrote genres of choice. That is I gave them the option of writing narratives, fairy tales, All About books, poetry, or How -To pieces. I was thrilled to see my pumpkins grab their materials and go off and do their magic. I suppose giving them the choice I had the hesitation that someone would say, "Mrs. Amick I don't know what to write today!" or, "I don't want to write!" My students were thrilled to have the option of any kind of genre they wanted. They were ready! I couldn't believe those people who chose All About pieces, we haven't done those in a long while. While some popped right into a fairy tale mode, we have researched those in Reading workshop and I saw a transfer of knowledge from reading to writing! Wow!
I am taking my current first graders to second grade, we get to spend another year together. One of my "all boy, 100% genuine boys" said, "Mrs. Amick will we be writing more next year?"
I hesitated, what were his thoughts on this? Was he asking so that he could reevaluate if he wanted to be in my classroom next year? I plunged forward with enthusiasm, "Why yes we are and I can't wait to see our growth!"
He beamed, yes, my 100% genuine boy beamed, "I can't wait to write some more, I think we will become even better writers!" I'm so glad someone didn't push me over because I would have fallen flat! My students love this crazy world of writing!
I have so many plans for them, the one I am most excited about is the introduction of: A Writer's Notebook! My students are ready, I just have a lot to prepare myself for this summer. I have Ralph Fletcher's book to read, and Notebook Know How too! I am planning an unveiling at the beginning of the year. Time to stock up on stickers and what not to decorate our notebooks. It will be an exciting ride!
My community is on the move!

Our Class Poem

2008-05-18T21:40:00.001-04:00

A Tree
A tree with branches
like a giant paperclip unbent
A tree with leaves
like a piece of paper
a torn piece of paper;

A tree with bark
like peeling an orange
the sound of the leaves
like the crunch of
chips, apples, and crackers

A tree is a giant circle of life
like parents they keep going
the tree keeps producing
a seed...
a new tree is born
a new future
keeps on rotating

We had just finished discussing how poets are like scientists. We charted the different characteristics of a tree from a scientific perspective. We then thought of words to describe these characteristics. I started with the branches and led them this way, "The branches are like...?" At first it was painful, at first, they didn't get it. Then one arm shot up, reluctantly I cringed upon calling him. His answer, "branches are like a giant paperclip unbent." I about blew over! More arms shot up and soon we achieved this poem. My goal was to just expose my pumpkins to poetry, to immerse them, and let them know the purpose. I think we have achieved just that, next year I think that the writing of poetry will even be better because of their exposure.

One year anniversary

2008-05-18T21:08:00.002-04:00

Well, I have not been very good about posting lately. We just recently had our fourth round of tonsillitis with little one and now the oldest one just strolled in from the RediMed with the same diagnosis.
Excuses aside, Saturday, May 17, was my blog's one year anniversary!!! I thought I would commemorate the occasion with my top five posts:
1. You Are Special this is a post about little notes I give to my students. My kiddos keep them and I tape them to their table. All over the room you see these little special notes that they receive. They have become treasures in our room!
2. My Thoughts About Your Birth, is a poem I wrote for my first grader. She is the light of my life and wow, I can't believe she's seven, almost 8!
3. The One Who Calls Me Mama is a poem I wrote for my littlest person. She still calls me mama. It is the nicest sounding word to me...
4. Our Deepest Fear is a post about our potential. I wonder, what is your deepest fear that is keeping you from attaining your ultimate goals?
5. My Little Word for 2007 it was optimism, and this year: VISION. Keeping the eye on the prize I am still envisioning my future for this year.
So, today I celebrate a little late my first year anniversary!

Poetry Friday

2008-04-25T15:30:00.002-04:00

PONGO A LOT

Black and white rabbit
when he shakes
it means he's scared.
loves my daddy's feet
poops a lot
chews a lot
hides a lot
hops a lot
sleeps sometimes
runs a lot
gets in trouble
A lot

SUNSHINE
Sunshine
Sunshine
Let sun shine
glow in the summer morning
when you wake up
outside
the sun glows in your eyes

SUNSHINE
When you wake up
in the morning
you look out your window
The sun lights up your bedroom
And you run outside

Straight from our poetry notebooks these students really impressed me with their poetry writing! Go first graders!!!

Yikes! Teaching First Graders to Be Poets!

2008-04-24T17:42:00.002-04:00

We began our poetry unit last week. I spent Sunday afternoon at the library with my hubby and two children. We checked out 31 poetry anthologies for my pumpkins to immerse themselves. My husband just shook his head as we stood in line with a mile high pile of books. We paid my fine, (I swear, they should dedicate a new wing with the monies I pay in fines!) and then we went off to read some excellent poetry.
Monday morning arrived and I mentioned that I had put some new books in a basket and that each student needed a book to read from during Independent Reading time. We made our selections and began looking through our great poems. You know we couldn't keep those great morsels to ourselves so we spent a lot of time reading them to a partner. We worked all week on how to read poems, how to stop at the commas, and line breaks. We discussed what the author's purpose was during certain poems. We put some poetry in place in our classroom. We reflected on poems and who they reminded us of, always making connections. (How does one curriculum map all of this?) We even sent poems to our fourth grade friends and started a project at our school called, "Poetry in Place." Week one: poetry immersion.
This week we discussed what we notice about poetry. My favorite from a very insightful young man, "Poems say things in very odd ways." How about this one, "the words and lines are simple, but you know what they're talking about." Tuesday, we made a list of where poetry may hide for us. I made a list from simple to more insightful, these things made the list. Wednesday, I chose something from the list and made a list of feelings, and actions. I wrote about my dog Louie. Students did an excellent job with this, I was very impressed! Today, I took my actions and feelings list and modeled my poem about Louie.
Points from the mini lesson:
-poems are skinny
-poem words must be chosen carefully because you can't use a lot of them.
-poets like the sound of repetition, kind of like Keven Henkes!
So, off they went to give it a try. I was so nervous. You know I love poetry, it is my way of writing, it flows through my soul like a river flowing from a mountain. I know poetry, I don't know how to teach poetry. I was treading on uncharted territory...

My Fish

My fish

stopped breathing

stopped swimming

stopped living

My goodness was I impressed, I will post some for you later, especially my favorite poem.

There was a lot of listening today, something that is few and far between during these warm spring months. My kids did terrific. Where to go tomorrow?

My Note

2008-04-24T17:35:00.003-04:00

"I like you as my teacher you are the best your the one who taught me how to read great. Thank you Mrs. Amick!"

I got this note the day after my birthday. It was among the many that I received. What I like most was that this one didn't just mention that I was the best teacher, it mentioned that learning to read "great" happened for this child. She is a great reader but I really felt my importance, I opened the world for this child because now, she is a reader. I always think that if they write about it they realize its importance! This is my passion, realizing that reading and being able to read is a gift!

A Blast From the Past

2008-04-02T11:39:00.003-04:00

On Monday, the girls and I drove the two hours that it takes to get to Toledo to visit the Toledo Zoo. We go there because our zoo pass gets us in free and it is just a lovely zoo. We see a lot of the animals that the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo doesn't have in their exhibits. My favorite part, and don't laugh, are the buildings. The Toledo Zoo has a lot of indoor exhibits. In fact, when you go there on March 31st a lot of the animals are inside these buildings. It's pretty great though because you can see a lot more of them inside than when they are on display outdoors. Not so great for the animals I am sure but great for viewing. Some of the exhibits are always inside, for instance, the zoo has a wonderful reptilian exhibit and aquarium. These are my favorite buildings, for they were built out of brick and mortar. They are exceptional in their workmanship. A real architectural wonder right there at the zoo! Why?

Most of the zoos buildings were built during the Great Depression! During "the Works" era Roosevelt decided to put men back to work, the federal government created jobs for them. The Toledo Zoo was one such project. On site you can view several buildings that were built for this project, and they are stunning. I always think though, what did those men think as they were building these buildings. Were they just thankful to have jobs? Were they thinking, "who will be able to afford coming to the zoo at this time?" I just wonder what were they thinking?

As I tool around the zoo with my girls I always stop to read the signs. They are there to commemorate a time when people had great need. I wonder, do people stop to read them? Do they stop to think about the men, and their families, and their struggle? Sometimes, in the present, we think that we have struggles with the economy, and gas prices, etc. I am glad that this one bit of history, this architecture is there to help me be thankful for what I do have. Be thankful for what this country has become, and trust that it is still made up of men and women that can work through great struggles.

They're Back!

2008-03-30T15:49:00.003-04:00

As I round the bend of my daily walk I gaze upon the small lake in which my housing addition is built around. I take the wooden path through the heart of the marsh where recently the geese have returned to find new mates. The ducks call out as we pass. I remove my ear buds drowning out the music and focusing on my natural surroundings. I have seen this lake move through the seasons. In the fall I saw the beautiful fall leaves be a backdrop to my little pond. During the winter I gazed at the snow as it fell silently upon the water. The snow, catching on the marsh grasses and reeds laid in little clumps that caught my ever gazing eye. In my mind, in my gazing, I always remembered the red winged blackbirds as they used to sit balancing on the marsh's reeds. Their shrill calls notified all the others that I was present. They disappeared in November, like Floridian grandparents, I longed for their return.

In Indiana we have many different kinds of birds that still stay throughout the winter. The Cardinal, the state bird, stays for most of the winter, although it seems like they disappear during those frigid February months. The Juncos, the sparrows, and the finches all stay if you feed them. The finches change color throughout the year, like a chameleon they change with the seasons. But, the Red-Winged Blackbird, leaves and returns only truly when spring has arrived. My grandmother and I have always had a conversation about this breed of bird. We always remind each other that spring has not arrived until we see the first Red-Winged Blackbird.

Today, as I rounded the bend to the marsh, I heard their call. At first I was stunned by the difference in their call. Then my gaze searched for their bright red wing patches. I searched the tops of trees, and then my gaze fell to the top of a pussy willow out in the wetlands. There sitting, balancing really on its top was my promise of spring. My heart lifted! My spirit, beaten down from the doom and gloom of winter soared with the birds. My step got lighter as I raced home to tell my family!

"They're back!!!!" I shouted when I raced through the door! My family just stared at their crazy mother.

"Who? Who's back?" they said at once.

"I saw them today, the red-winged blackbirds! They're back to spend the summer with us!" I said.

You see like Floridian grandparents returning in the spring, so are the Red-Winged Blackbirds returning the promise of spring.

Welcome Back, we're so glad you've arrived!

(go here to hear the sound of the Red-Winged Blackbird)

Passion Meme

2008-03-27T19:11:00.003-04:00

These kids are toasting at the beginning of our publishing party. We soon left, went to music and hoped parents, administrators, and support staff would arrive. We didn't know who would come?!?!?!
This is one of my little girls leaving a message on another student's comment sheet. The students walked around the room, in and out of the crowd, and read other student's books. They left comments, positive and kind, about the books.

This student wrote a question on each and every comment sheet!

I had 11 parents show their support!

My reading recovery teacher came and my k-2 teacher!

Principal and assistant principal!

It was a full house, we had the greatest time ever!!!!

Jen Barney memed me a month or so ago about my teaching passion. Today I captured a few of my cherubs on film so I have a picture to show you. Sorry it took so long! My passion is creating readers and writers. My students truly believe that they are authors, that their words matter. I truly believe it too!

A Poem For Easter

2008-03-22T11:23:00.002-04:00

Our Many Colored Eggs

by Sarah Amick

Blank canvases
like pearls from the sea

walls of protection, fragile, delicate;

One by one plucked from the carton

diving into colored liquids

red like love

blue like sorrow

green like growth

yellow like the sun

waiting, soaking, absorbing

color-

a change from the blank canvas

the contrast, brilliant, vibrant;

radiant the egg waits for the others.

One by one they gather

each a different color

some with messages

All of them the color of their maker, designer

the artist.

One by one they gather

a bouquet, a rainbow, a mosaic

Our many colored eggs.

*Taking pictures of our festivities, I was just blown away by my new camera and its ability to take really vivid shots. I relished in this little slice of life, what a blessing to color eggs. Messy yes, memories, priceless.

Before the Break

2008-03-17T21:32:00.002-04:00

So, this evening I finished my report cards for the third term. I can't believe that it's the third term. We have so much to do still.

We are starting our All About unit tomorrow. Hopefully, it will go better this time. (Cross your fingers)

I have a month and a half of stored up information to report for curriculum mapping. It just hasn't worked for me each time I get on... I am not a very positive person for the mapping.

I am being observed by my principal on Thursday, during my writing workshop time. This is for my Professional Growth Plan.

My daughter has gymnastics on Tuesday and I am going to Kindergarten Orientation for my youngest child (still trying to deny that my baby is going to Kindergarten).

We still have little milk carton bunnies to make and I have to play the role of Easter bunny.

I am planning a celebration for our Young Author's Books for next week.

The storm before the calm is happening in my life...

I am ready for the break. My family is ready for the break. I may sit for a week just catching up on some reading. Taking my children to the Toledo Zoo. Sleeping in, drinking coffee, and watching some "Good Morning America."

Come on break...

These girls need to spend some time just loafing around!

The Promise of Spring

2008-03-10T21:42:00.004-04:00

My budding photographer, snapping shots. Click here to see more, really very talented if I do say so myself!
This kid is a ham I tell you! She's had tonsillitis twice in the month of February. We just finished the last dose of antibiotics. An afternoon in the snow and woods hopefully will be good to clear the germs away!!!! (mommy really needs the germs to go away, come on spring!)
The surprise of raccoon tracks in the snow. Capturing the surprise in my girls' faces: priceless!

When do we stop imagining about things like this? At what age does that occur?
The girls, pleasantly being warmed by the sun. Melting snow all around. Carefree and young, may they always be able to enjoy the great outside.
"Come On Spring!" we all hope...

Wordless Wednesday

2008-03-05T09:42:00.002-05:00

Before, July 2007

After: March 2008

Chicago...

2008-03-04T21:21:00.002-05:00

After Debbie Miller I drove to Chicago from Kendallville and met my college friend. She flew into O'Hare from Colorado. We haven't seen each other in about 2 years. It was a long awaited weekend for two hairied moms with small children. I drove through rush hour during one of the most beautiful winter sunsets I have seen. The backdrop of the city leaking through those tall statues. I thought of pausing but I was urgent to see my friend. I raced to find a parking spot at O'Hare and rushed through the glass doors looking for the sign that read that my friend had arrived. I stood by the down escalator as floods of people descended and then she was there... We both walked to one another and embraced, tears streaming, many words pouring from our mouths, trying desperately to catch up years, in moments.

Friday we awoke after a peaceful night of sleep and wondered about what to do with the day. No obligations, not baby schedules, not responsibilities, she proclaimed, "I want to see priceless works of art!" We rode the train, sitting quietly, or talking in small murmurs, enjoying the moment of just being together. We arrived at the museum to find that the museum was free during the month of February: BONUS! We lazily walked about talking, discussing, adult conversation at its finest. It was pure bliss.

On Saturday a beautiful sunny winter day we meandered around North Michigan Avenue ducking into stores that looked like fun, not really caring about which was a turn would take us. We arrived at a local bakery, our sugar low from the walking, and we sat with cups of conversation and sugary treats. That evening we spent two hours dining at a restaurant of our choice. Two hours, eating, tasting, talking, refreshing. I literally could feel my body unwind and release myself from the daily rituals of my own life.

As I left her off at O'Hare on Sunday I cried as I drove away. Not knowing when I would see her again, knowing that she is going back to a life of rituals, and smallness. I cried because I missed my own children, my husband, and my life at home.

The city was great, just what I needed, but my home is where I belong.

Long Anticipated Debbie Miller Post

2008-02-27T21:54:00.002-05:00

Ah, Debbie Miller, where to begin? First, I not only got to go to a two day conference given by Debbie Miller, but my Lang. Arts facilitator asked if I wanted to go to lunch. "Sure!" I said. Lo' and behold, guess who we ate lunch with? You guessed it, I sat quietly taking it all in, asking little questions here and there, I was in heaven!!!!
Here is what I have taken with me:
(honestly, how can you sum up two days of extraordinary insight, here is just the skimming of the surface. because as i am writing this piece i am coming back and thinking of the thousands of things that i really could have written and shared, they will come out, just later. i may be still pondering them as well!)
Conferencing: she says is the heart of the workshop, but it is also the hardest part of the workshop too! She says when you pull up to a student or group of students be thinking,
What do I know about this student as a reader?
What do I know about myself as a reader?
W hat do I know about teaching reading?
Basals:
How do they know where my students will be on day four of the week?
She says that basals have good stories in them but they are not all that we should be offering students as literature.
Lessons:
Create anchor charts after the lesson. Use a notebook or a lesson plan and write the important things that are going to go on the anchor chart later. We all know how fidgety kids get while we are writing! (Duh! What a no brainer!)
She also mentioned that there should be a really great balance between surface structure (decoding and phoneme awareness) and comprehension strategies.
Environment:
allow children to use everything!!!
large poster paper
post-its
the freedom to create their own
mostly, just let them lead how they'll respond to what their reading.

And finally, what I noticed about Debbie Miller, the person:
She is small in stature. I am 4'11" and 3/4 of an inch. Debbie is not much taller than I!
She is very soft spoken, not timid, she just has a soft tone about her.
In social situations she is quiet- not withdrawn, an observer really.
Her philosophies, goals, aspirations- you don't wonder about them! She lets you know right up front what she is all about!

Here is the best quote of the whole time spent there. I imagine that it sums up the whole workshop model and all that I believe in as a teacher.

"Each time one prematurely teaches a child something he could have discovered himselft that child is kept from inventing it and consequently from understanding it completely."

-Piaget

I Miss You Already

2008-02-20T21:18:00.002-05:00

I'm leaving tomorrow after my second glorious day in the presence of Debbie Miller and driving to Chicago to meet my best friend from college. She is flying in from Colorado Springs and we are going to spend the entire weekend together. I am thrilled, but the mom in me still... misses them already.

I miss you already...

"I miss you already," I whisper goodnight

packing, and planning, for an incoming flight

I kiss them, and nuzzle their faces with care

Knowing the weekend will be one with flare!

"I miss you already," I murmur to them

treasuring faces like a precious gem.

I clean, prepare, about to take flight

Pushing off feelings of guilt with all of my might

"I miss you already," as I lay down to sleep

A memory with a friend, a weekend to keep

I love, I hug, I kiss, and treasure

every moment, precious, we spend together.

"I miss you already," as she boards on the plane

leaving, refreshed and finally sane

A moment between friends, refilling each one

parting, and returning after a weekend of fun

It's Contagious

2008-02-18T20:15:00.002-05:00

Last week my corporation held a conference at my school. Mindy Hoffar and Kathy Douglas led these professionals through the workshop that will hopefully send them back to the beginnings of Writer's Workshop. During that time I had the opportunity to teach my own students a lesson while these primary teachers watched us go about our daily business of writing. I then went and debriefed them and their questions. They had many! We talked about many things but so far all of the comments that I have heard have been very positive. I so want for those teachers what I get to be a part of everyday. I was so proud of my kiddos and their willingness to teach teachers. They did a phenomenol job and the teachers were impressed with their procedures, and routines. Mostly, they respected the way we treat "writing," with high esteem.
My favorite questions was from a teacher who asked, "what if a student approached another student to confer with them and they were busy writing? How would you handle that so that they didn't interupt the writer?"
This was a no brainer for me, I said this, "You know I would never say that they would never bother someone who is writing, but I think that if you would ask them they would say that you should never bother the work of a writer! We hold writing with such honor in our room that they would probably find someone who wasn't busy!"
At that moment I felt the proudest of my kids. They truly feel that they are writers, that their words matter, and they respect each other as writers.
Today, during collaboration I was asked, "Sarah, what has lit a fire in you this year with regards to writer's workshop?" This is a hard question to ponder... I guess that I just know more, and I feel more purposeful about what I want to accomplish. I feel like I have really honed my skills over the summer, and I was and am still armed with much to share.
I enjoy sharing!
Still to come... Debbie Miller...here I come!!!!!!

How Can I Respond?

2008-02-17T14:59:00.002-05:00

My first graders are spectacular, I think I have mentioned this before, they are moving right along with our plans in Reader's and Writer's Workshop. We specifically are doing some great things in Reader's Workshop. One of the awesome things that I am seeing is that my kids are responding to what they are reading, daily! We began a discussion about 2 weeks ago about managing our post-it notes, sketch notes, and question marks. How could we keep track of all these things organizationally? I brought this up to my students during a community time.
I had thought that I would like to show my kiddos reader's response notebooks next year if I got to loop with them. However, the timing was right and they seemed led to begin the work of readers. We discussed many different ways that readers respond. I showed them my "Teacher's Ideas" chub pad that I take just about everywhere professionally. I showed them my own reader's notebook that I keep at home by my bedside. I write little quotes, and questions, or new book I want to read. It's purely for enjoyment that notebook is...

So we took the leap, we got our guided reading notebooks from the basket and we placed them in our bins. I made a little piece of paper that became an "I can..." reference for responding to literature. Here are some of the important things I placed on that paper for each student:

How Can I Respond?

I can...

-Make a connection

this reminds me of

when I hear these words I thought of

-Ask questions

I wonder

-Make an image that I have as I read

-Make an opinion statement

I believe or I think

-Start a page of words that I think are fancy!

So everyday my kiddos go off to read and then I see them writing in their notebooks. I think perhaps they are just drawing or wasting time, but when I conference with them they are writing remarkable statements! It is just amazing what my kids can do when I trust them to do the work of a reader.

Writer's Notebook Wednesday

2008-02-06T19:05:00.000-05:00

A Winter's Walk

by Sarah Amick

Each night when I go walking

The snow crunches under my feet;

Some nights when it is cold and frosty

a crackle, pop, snap is what I hear.

On nights when I am not able to see my breath

my feet sink with each insulated step;

But last night as I went walking

The fog enveloped me like a warm fleece

My feet slushed in the newly warmed snow;

Each night when I go walking

The snow becomes apart of my walk

Insulating, a world of wonder created by its

bleakness...

For One Moment

2008-02-05T21:04:00.000-05:00

My usual routine during Writer's Workshop is to draw 3-4 students back to my kidney shaped table and have them write for a while. As they write I confer with them about their pieces and take notes and try to help them individually as writers. "Fix the writer not the writing!" -Carl Anderson. Well, today I was doing the usual when I noticed that one of my students at the table was busy. I didn't feel like I should interupt her process and so I just conferred with the others. I waited and then she revealed her piece.
With tears streaming down her cheeks she read a piece about being adopted, and seeing her birth mother for the first time. I asked her questions about her feelings, I asked her why she wrote certain words, and I asked her what provoked the tears. She said, "I just feel them." I nodded my approving nod. We discussed why she chose now to write this piece as that moment was months ago. "It felt right to do it now," she answered. I didn't fix her as a writer today, I let this workshop be exactly what she needed it to be, an opening to her heart. As she fell into my arms this strong, unwavering little girl needed to know that getting that out did not need fixing. My fixing came in the knowledge that writer's write mainly for themselves, especially when they have emotions that they don't know how to handle.
I wish that I could find the words to console her and her many questions about why she was adopted. Ultimately her writing and her freedom of choice is consoling her, allowing her to feel on the outside the storm that is occuring on the inside.
I was amazed as I reflect now at the moment that all of this occured. I now can see the world's brake being pressed. I know that today was the day that I needed to really be open and welcoming. I am forever grateful to have the opportunity to work with these children. To see them grow and change and conquer their world as readers and writers. I am also grateful that the groundwork for community has been laid and we rest firmly within its sanctuary daily.
Today, I had a moment, I am part of a community.

The Power of Choice

2008-02-02T22:37:00.000-05:00

After Christmas I launched a unit of study in writing. The unit was for All-About books. Immediately upon returning from break I noticed that my students enthusiasm for writing had diminished. Previously I posted about their behavior in the classroom and my return to the beginning of the year basics. Something was missing...
Daily I had a different student say, "Mrs. Amick, I wish that we could write like we used to."
I started pulling eye teeth just to get my kiddos writing their pieces. Even my wonderful facilitator Kathy came in to check us out.
The truth be told: they hated it! I hated it, it wasn't for us...now.
I called and collaborated with my friend Jen and we discussed these questions:
Why is is not working?
Do they not understand?
If you quit the unit will you come back to it?
Are you making the task of writing dreaded?
How will you stop the unit, what words will you use?
I decided, because I have the power to choose for my pumpkins what is best for them, that we would stop the unit and go back to the way we used to write. I told my pumpkins that sometimes writers put things in a drawer to gain more information about their topic, or character. We decided to put this unit away for a little bit, but we all decided that we needed to come back to it later. I told them to get their favorite story starter ready because they were just going to write narratives for a while. My pumpkins, my little first graders, those sweet cherubs of mine...cheered! Literally, I heard clapping, "yea!" and then silence as they set off to gather materials, and find their spots. It was the best writing day we had had since break. We gathered for sharing at the end and than we discussed why they needed to go back to this type of writing. One little boy shared I think what they were all feeling. He said, "You know over break I thought about all the things that I could write about and I just didn't have the chance. Now I can say what I wanted to say." The power of writing was felt in that room but so was the power of choice that I feel I have as a teacher of writing. What my students need is what should drive my instruction. I am just glad that I have a collaborating friend, and the vision to see when change needs to occur.
Guess what? Behaviorally my students for the rest of the week, AWESOME! Go figure!

I Hope It's Not Too Late!

2008-01-22T20:46:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to let my readers know that frequently I visit this really great website to get ideas for teaching Writer's Workshop. One of the writing coaches that I know helps write the site and I so love hearing what she is doing in my corner of the world. But, she also co-writes with a teacher that teaches 4th grade out east. I love to hear from teachers in the trenches doing some of the same things that I do. I also love both of their passions for teaching writing! If you would, please stop over and visit the Two Writing Teachers! You won't be disappointed!
(I just hope that I am not too late!)

Oh, my word...

2008-01-20T22:44:00.000-05:00

So I have TIVO here at the house and was going through the guide and found a k-2 Workshop training show. Please, I have no idea who it was or where, or when, not even why? I just hit record. I sat and watched the program one night when I didn't have anything better to do and really hit upon some great information.
One thing that really stood out to me was this one statement that she made(again, don't know she was?): She mentions that in a workshop setting, during a mini lesson teachers are teaching a skill, strategy, procedure, some form of information for the student. Teachers don't teach motivation in that mini lesson. The procedures and routines that are run within our classrooms are the motivation. That is why it is so necessary for students to be able to find materials, books, tools, and anchor charts so easily. Our placement of things has consequential effects upon our students. It can either provide more time for reading and writing or take away time for reading and writing. Effective teachers ask, what needs to be display and where will it be most effectively displayed?
It made me ponder these questions:
Are my materials and tools where they need to be?
Are my kids wasting time looking for all that they need?
How can I utilize my space better?
Is my word wall, anchor charts, books, etc. at a place where students can use them readily?
Are my procedures and routines creating a motivation for students to want to read more or write more? Is my environment motivational?

Bumps in the Road

2008-01-15T21:17:00.000-05:00

Lately, I have been hitting some bumps in the road. Personally, my body is tired and sick, that is getting better. Last week however, when I was at my sickest and at school teaching my kids were CRAZY! It was a rough week. They forgot procedures, they couldn't remember to be quiet when the teacher was talking, they just haven't been motivated to learn. My youngest daughter awoke on Saturday morning with a drippy nose and nasty cough. Wonder where she got that from? I didn't want to do it but was forced to take Monday off to play nurse. (She's getting better though, thank goodness!) Today, another indoor recess and my kids were awful! We had to stop a lot to regain composure, we struggled with doing even the mundane things. My girls have begun to squabble, and use unkind words...
Wednesday will be different. When Kathy Collins wrote her book Growing Readers she gives descriptions of units that a first grade teacher could teach with regards to Reading Workshop. One of the neat things that she does in the book,and I can only assume in real life,is anticipate "he bumps in the road." Now I did not anticipate this bump in the road. Usually after holiday the students are different. Here is what I have decided to do about these bumps:
1. Spend a day going over procedures. All procedures, don't miss anything.
2. Get back to the basics of the workshop classroom. Go over the promise, again, and again. Get out the book Oliver Button is a Sissy, and Molly Lou Melon. Discuss how to be "nice," again.
3. Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud. We have to reestablish our sense of community.
Anybody else got any suggestions?

Lessons I am learning...

2008-01-13T12:01:00.000-05:00

You know one of my goals for this year is to be more intentional, I also have stated that I really have a desire to train others in my profession. I am growing and changing in my teaching and I really have found something that I believe in when it comes to the teaching of reading and writing. I am not sure how all of this plays out for me, I am sure that I will find the answer in this coming year.
This week though I was struck with a blow that stung but after pondering the situation I began to realize that my time will come. This week the blow came not from negative words but, just a sentiment that made me realize that others are just not ready, they are not there yet, and that is something that I must learn. Something I am learning...

I guess that I am learning that my vision is not necessary the vision of others. The optimist in me had her ballon deflated, however, it doesn't mean that it lost all of its air. I still need to move forward with MY vision and if others want to go along for the ride I will enjoy the company. I must only do what I can.

These are the lessons that I am learning...

Amick's Articles

Back To School Night

A New Year

Giving in to Frustration

Christmas Through Their Eyes

Making A List...

It Was About Two Years Ago...

The Magic of Boxcar Children...

A Fish Out of Water

A Wonderful Place

Watermelons and Cousins

Balance

A Place For Wonder

New Books

Low Morale

The Big Day!

The Cafe Book

The Daily Five

Another Day With Debbie Miller

A Day With Debbie Miller

Busy, Busy, Busy

Determining Importance

My Break From Blogging(excuse, after excuse, after excuse!)

Slice of Life

Merry Christmas, from the Amicks

The Things I do Have...

The Angel Maker

Our Amy

Being Happy!

Memoir Monday

My Heart...On the Outside

My Closest Friend

Living with Flat Stanley

It Seems Like a Lot of Fluff...

Beyond Leveled Books

Our Author Mentor...Lynn Plourde

Thank you for your service...

Using Lynn Plourde as our mentor!

My Two Treasures

Visualizing

So Cool...

Bedtime Giggles

4 on Friday

All the buzz...

Writing to a Prompt

Does my mindset reflect change?

Watching Myself in my Students' Eyes

A Night For Us...

Ahhh, much better!

Why We Confer

"Oh, just leave us alone!"

Inferring through the garbage

A Whole New World

New Blogs!

Thursday...is library day in room 142!

Building Stamina

Living with a Kindergartner

When "**!!Eeerrrr*!*!*! becomes "WOoo Hooo!!!"

Our Family...complete

Writing From Another Perspective

Choosing 5...

Slice of Life

A New Workstation

Ah... So True!

6 Random Things About Me...

A Family Wedding

Poetry Friday

Where seed stories come from...

My Own Learning

Things I am Pondering...

The All Write Conference (year 2, for me anyway!)

The face of Joy...

Poetry Friday...

Gift From the Sea

June's Slice of Life... A Little Late!

On The Move...

Our Class Poem

One year anniversary

Poetry Friday

Yikes! Teaching First Graders to Be Poets!

When "**!!Eeerrrr!!*! becomes "WOoo Hooo!!!"