February 11, 2017

Reading Workshop

The work you're your reader at doing shows!  I am so impressed with readers stamina and ability to make meaning as they read.  The whole reason we read is to get a message. We want to learn something new, how to do something or to travel to new places when we read.  Without the message getting reading is powerless.  Despite where your reader is in refining their reading tools. Matching a finger to one word at a time, using beginning, ending, even middle letters to read unknown words.  Scanning pictures for word and meaning support, learning to use grammatically correct word choices, or pulling ALL these tools together to making reading looking effortless one thing I can count on is whatever word they choose, in error or correct the word will make sense!  Making meaning as we read is the ONE skill we can't read without! 

As Addison and Gaven reported in the Celebrate~this week, we are working to make the students do more of the work than me.  Did you know the one doing the most work is the one doing the most learning?  I am currently reading, Who's Doing the Work? How to Say Less So the Readers Can Do More by Jan Burkins & Kim Yaris.  I shared with the readers I learned I am helping them too much! When I say "Does that make sense?" or "Look at the letters." I am not allowing the time they need to think about what might help. Nor am I giving them the time to try out different strategies to see which one works best. So, now my prompts to a reader who I want to push further whether it's decoding an unknown word or thinking more deeply about a story I simply say, "Are you right?" or "How do you know? Or "What can you do to help you?" then, I wait. And this is the hardest part! When I wait, it allows the reader to think in their time and at their speed. I am so impressed with what these kids can do when given the time and power over their learning! 

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Writing Workshop

The writers in our room are filled with ideas, craft, and energy for writing!  Our Muscle Minute Mondays have helped these writers gather confidence and awareness of who they are as writers.  As our focus lessons are gradually taking a turn to a new writing skill, I am noticing the writers are taking control of their stories and adding more details and interesting language to their writing. Our writers often talk to the reader, use dialogue, and make the reader feel they're in the story with them through the precise details they use. Check out our blog writing here to read exactly what it is I am seeing in these amazing kids! 
To maintain writing skills writers need to write regularly.  Help your writer understand the power and purpose of daily writing.  Enlist their help in writing store lists, taking drink orders for dinner as a waitress, writing postcards, cards, emails to others, allow them to blog often and then YOU can leave them comments for them and comment on the post of others.  Allow your first grader to leave comments to friends, plan a summer trip,  or make a list of free fun things you can do as a family. The possibilities are endless, and the power your young writer see will be the best commercial for life long writing! 

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Mathematicians at Work 

As our mathematicians work to make sense of problems and persevere in solving them they are instantly drawn to giving THE answer. While in math we want our kids to attend to precision and be accurate, knowing the answer (or working only for an answer) can interfere with their ability and willingness to make sense of the problem and reason abstractly and quantitatively. Mathematicians need to know more than the answer. They need to know what the problem is asking them to do, choose and use appropriate tools to solve problems, and to reason and critique their work and the work of their peers.  We are no longer teaching answers, but we are teaching our mathematicians how to think.
As you begin to see math work trickle home (in particular math stories) use the chart below to talk about the thinking behind the work. 

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Nominate a Teacher for an Educator of Excellence Award

The Hilliard High School Alumni Association has established the Educators of Excellence Award as a way of recognizing educators who have made a difference in the lives of Alumni and/or current students in the Hilliard City School District. The Award is given annually to one educator from each school building who exemplifies a commitment to excellence in education.  You can click here for more information and a nomination form.


Parenting in the Digital Age Workshop: Screenagers

For our next parenting workshop, we will be showing the movie SCREENAGERS: Growing Up in the Digital Age.  This is a documentary about the biggest parenting issue of our time.  If you are watching your kids scroll through life, with their rapid-fire thumbs and a six-second attention span and you are looking for insights from doctors and authors, please make plans to attend this amazing film.  It will take place in the Darby High School PAC, on February 15.  Note this is a change in the location!  You can click here to get free tickets and learn more.


IMPORTANT DATES
SKYPE WITH AME DYCKMAN February 15 @1:30 (PLEASE AVOID ABSENCES)
No School, Parent Teacher Comp Day – February 17
No School, Presidents’ Day – February 20
No School, Spring Break – March 20-24

Upcoming Darby Creek Dates:
2/10--6:00-8:30--I LOVE DARBY CREEK WINTERFEST at Darby Creek
2/14--Valentine’s Day treat day--PLEASE be mindful of Nutritional Balance
2/17--CONFERENCE COMP DAY--NO SCHOOL
2/20--PRESIDENT’S DAY--NO SCHOOL
3/6--7:00 p.m. PTO Meeting--Intervention Team to attend
3/10--6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. PTO March Madness event
3/14--2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. 5th grade musical performance
3/20-3/24--SPRING BREAK--NO SCHOOL--SPRING BREAK
4/3--7:00 p.m. PTO meeting
4/14--NO SCHOOL--GOOD FRIDAY
4/21--DCTrail Bike Rodeo and Playground night with Mr. D---more info to come!
5/1--7:00 p.m. PTO meeting