FAQ

Are my classes ability grouped?

Ish. My first reading class of the day is my lowest group. At the beginning
of the year, every single student was below grade level. Right now, about 1/3
of my kids are below grade level. This is the class I co-teach with an amazing
Special Education teacher. God bless her. She is a rock star. ROCK.STAR.
Without my co-teacher, I would hide in the corner and cry. No joke.

My other two reading classes aren’t intentionally ability-grouped, but
generally the second class is on-grade level, and my third class is above-grade
level. 

In the fall, my writing class was just my homeroom (no ability grouping)…but with
two months until state testing,  we have started grouping the kids.  I am n.e.r.v.o.u.s!
I have a group of 29 “apprentice” writers and we hit the ground
running. Watch out 5th graders! If you think reading is like running
a race, put on your best running shoes…writing
will be a 100 m dash!

What do you mean On-Demand writing?

Great
question! In Kentucky, 5th grade students take an On Demand test at the end of
the year. This test consists of 2 writing prompts. The first prompt is a 30 minute stand-alone
prompt that can be a narrative, an argumentative essay, or an inform/explain
piece. The second prompt is a 90 minute passage-based prompt. In this prompt,
students are given 2 reading passages on similar subjects and they must respond
in a 5-paragraph essay with a thesis statement and supporting details.

In our
writing block, we only teach “real-world” or On Demand writing. Students normally
spend at least 20 minutes of our writing block actually writing On Demand.
Students rarely edit/revise their writing but do spend a fair amount of
time {10 minutes a class} conferring with their classmates about their writing.
Many days we introduce a prompt, SPAM
the prompt, and write the introduction to the piece. Some days we only SPAM
and then, write the thesis. Sometimes we SPAM and only complete the 4-square outline. Regardless, students are doing on-the-spot writing each and every day.
You can click here
to learn more about how we SPAM or analyze our prompts.

Do we use curriculum?

Nope – outside
of the ‘formula’ that the district has for our classes {see below}, we do not
use curriculum. For vocabulary, I use a mix of my vocabulary wall set and Flocabulary. For my core  reading instruction, I use our district’s
curriculum maps and common assessments to guide my instruction. I love using Read Works and Story Works for
grade-level appropriate articles to use in class. I love Jennifer Findley’s
Common Core Passages for extra practice, and use Nicole Shelby’s
Interactive Notebook for note taking. Specifically with my lowest class, I do a
TON of hands-on activities. From inferring,
main
idea, to root
words, these kids are my concrete learners, so I make most of these resources
myself. Using Common Core language, I make my own exit slips for each day’s
lesson. What does this all mean? I have a TON of freedom in my own classroom as
long as my students are showing growth. It also means life is expensive and it
is time consuming. Thank goodness for amazing friends who share their awesome
ideas online!

What does an average reading class look like?

What are flashbacks?

In our district, flashbacks are 3-5
multiple choice questions that open all of our classes. They are very intentional
Common Core spiral reviews of skills. Flashbacks are not intended to review materials being taught right now or even content taught a week ago. Rather, we flashback to topics already assessed. Since I am 1:1 iPad classroom, we use the free Socrative app to take our flashbacks {and it’s AMAZING!}. 

What’s a Kagan Structure?

Kagan is all about cooperative learning – not group work – with frequent modeling, celebrations, community building, and brain breaks…sounds fun, right? Kagan structures hold every student accountable and eliminate ‘hogs’ and ‘logs’ in the learning process. Every person in our district is Kagan trained and it has TOTALLY revamped my idea of my classroom. Hands down, it is the best training I’ve received. I have shared more about Kagan here!

How do you run your literacy centers?

I must be honest. As a first-year
teacher, it took me until November to fit in literacy centers. Now that I have
hit my teaching groove, they work wonderfully and next year, I’ll start them in
week 2.  I have explained how it all
works in this post and talk about our January centers here. Every day, students
go to 1 literacy center and I change-out centers every two weeks.
During our literacy center time, I pull groups for guided reading and target
intervention. 

Do you have other questions? If so, please let me know!