Status of the Class

Well, today was the first day for teachers at BES! I have a love/hate relationship with the first few days back to school...I love catching up with my coworkers, but I could do without the meetings, meetings, and more meetings. It's all so important, but I wish we had a whole month to spread them out rather than just a few days!

Regardless, I survived, and I am really looking forward to Meet Your Teacher Night tomorrow! Woohoo for meeting the new set of kiddos coming through!

Today I want to share my Pinterest stolen and adapted "Status of the Class" board for the writing process. First, I moved both of my file cabinets so that the broad side is against the wall. I saw this on Pinterest and thought, DUH! What a brilliant idea to maximize space! I covered the sides with butcher paper and all of the sudden I have two new bulletin boards!

On one I am putting a birthday board (will post in the future!). On the other is my Status of the Class. Using poster board and left over border from my other bulletin boards, I created a six section chart (Prewriting, First Draft, Edit and Revise, Peer Conference, Teacher Conference, and Final Draft). I then used foam stars (glitter stars, of course), circular magnets, and some puffy paint to create a star for each of my students. I used the paint to write numbers on the stars. (My students each have a number that I use on just about everything.) As students move from one stage of the writing process to another, they will move their stars. This gives me a quick idea of where all of my students are, and it will encourage some of my writers who drag their feet to keep in pace with the other students!

Here are some pictures of the finished product:

Reader's and Writer's Pledge

Our school uses the Balanced Literacy model for language arts, and I love, love, love my reader's and writer's workshop time every day. Last year, I noticed that many of my students came in not believing they were or even could one day be readers and writers. To help combat those attitudes and instill confidence in all of my students as readers and writers, I developed a pledge for both reader's and writer's workshop. These hang in my reading corner, and a different student leads us in the pledges each day before workshop time!

Reader's Pledge

I am a reader.

I am capable and smart.

I do not study how an author writes; I participate in his or her writing.

I will learn to be a better writer as I read more.

I will learn to be a better reader as I read more.

I will read like I am a writer.

I know that reading is important.

I value the opportunity to read.

I respect other readers.

I take advantage of the time I get to read.

I am a reader.

Writer's Pledge

I am a writer.

I am capable and smart.

I will write like a reader. 

I will learn to be a better writer as I write more.

I will learn to be a better reader as I write more.

I know that writing is important.

I will write with my heart first.

I respect those who will read my work and take the time to make my writing beautiful.

I value the opportunity to write.

I respect other writers.

I take advantage of the time I get to write.

I am a writer.

Keep Track of What You Are Reading and Writing!

My first year teaching I wanted to have a way to keep track of all the books we had read together as a class without writing them on a chart. I think it's important to remember what you have read together so that you can refer back to those common reading experiences later in the year. I had tons of available cabinet space in the back of my room, so I decided to not only record the books we have read, but also add a way for students to classify books by genre and display their writing. I am always looking for ways to make a connection between reading and writing! 

What I decided to do was use each cabinet as a different genre of reading/writing (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, historical fiction, biography/autobiography, and other texts). The top part of the cabinet is for displaying books we have read, and the bottom part is for displaying writing. I added clothes pins to the writing portion to easily change writing samples throughout the year. 

The displaying of what we have read takes a little prep work and time, but once you get it ready you can use it year after year! I print small pictures of the cover of the books we are reading and "laminate" them with clear packaging tape. On the back of each picture I put a velcro circle, and I put the other side of the velcro circle on the cabinets. Then, after we have read a book, we discuss both the author's purpose for writing the book and the genre. As a class we classify the book's genre, and a student sticks the picture of the book cover to the appropriate cabinet. They love our discussions, and they love having the opportunity to put the book cover on the right cabinet!

I've posted some pictures below of what this looks like in my room. Have fun!!