Words Are Not For Hurting

Words are not for hurting. Some first graders need a bit of help with this concept. 

Think. (Oh how difficult this can be.) Are the words I'm thinking going to hurt? 

If so, then swallow those words.

If those words accidentally (or otherwise) come out, make it right.

That's where this chart comes in handy, because first graders (and many adults) don't know how to make it right. "Sorry" is not a one-way ticket to get out of trouble.

Charts like this don't automatically fix issues, but they sure provide a helpful scaffold that can be referred to all throughout the year (Hopefully they'll catch on sooner though, right?).

Library Smarter Charts

Every year I figure out ways to make my charts smarter. Most of the time I think, "And why didn't I think of this before?" The charts above are this year's versions of my library charts. (They didn't start the year on the wall by the way. That's not the way good teaching charts work.) I like that they're easy for kids to follow, even kids who aren't readers yet. Charts won't be very useful if they're not friendly to everyone.

P.S. Have you read Smarter Charts by Marjorie Martinelli and Kristine Mraz? No? You need to.

Smarter Teacher, Smarter Charts

Have you read Smarter Charts yet?  It was one of my favorite summer reads.  (Look here if you're interested.)  I feel light-years away from really having a handle on charts, but I think my charts and I are getting a little smarter at least.  I thought I'd share a few that I've created so far this year.

Talking Tips:  I see this chart growing or at least inspiring a chart about how to listen and what kinds of things partners say to each other when they listen well.

When You're Done You've Just Begun:  I can thank Lucy Calkins for this idea.  I've been making a chart for this concept for years.  This one is just a whole lot easier to understand.

And look, it became a table chart too.  I just took a picture and now each table of desks has one.

3 Ways to Read a Book:  This idea comes from The Sisters and Daily 5.  Again, this one is so much more simplistic than the version I used to make.

More or Less: This math chart could have started with pictures instead of numbers and then eventually grew by adding numbers.  It could also be interactive by having kids change out the numbers.

Math Journals: I think in the future I'd give this one a better title, but I do like how it breaks down the steps for how we prepare our math journals.  I also have been thinking about adding a step for partner talk.  Without creating chart pollution, I can see how creating a separate chart for how to talk with a math partner could be useful too.

Smarter teacher + smarter charts hopefully = smarter kids.   

Not Just Any Old Glue

My classroom supplies showed up yesterday.  (We don't have  community teacher supplies.  Instead we each get $250 to spend on whatever we'll need for our own classrooms.  Works for me!)  One particular item that arrived has got me excited.  Actually, I bought ten of them!

 It's not just any old glue stick.  Notice what kind it is.

Yep, it's restickable.  Go ahead and move things around.

Basically, you can make your own post-it notes from whatever paper you'd like, large or small.  I never knew such a glue existed until I read Smarter Charts.  (I posted about the book here.)

Here's a picture of how the authors used the restickable glue to help them create one of their classroom charts.

I'm looking forward to the joys of resticking in my room this year!

Experts in Smartness

I found a little something at IKEA this last week that will come in so very handy in my classroom.  Check these out.

A few times last year I tried turning charts into small table versions that could sit at each group of desks.  It's a great strategy for getting essential ideas practically right into their hands.  It's kind of hard to ignore when it's sitting right in front of their noses.  (Interested in the idea and the book that gave it to me? Go here.)  Unfortunately, I struggled with execution.  My stands were a little too wobbly.  That's why IKEA's little frames are going to save the day.  

At the beginning of the year I won't have any charts to shrink, so I'm going to start the year off by making sure one of these is at each group.  As the year goes on, I'm looking forward to changing them out with those ideas from charts that really need to stick.    

Thanks to www.doodledotillustrations.blogspot.com for the dot paper.

Even though this might only be useful for someone who owns the IKEA frames and does blue in their classroom, click on the graphic for your own copy.  

By the way, you might want to know

• the words can be seen on both sides of the frame
• they're only 99 cents
• they come in a variety of colors
• if I'm not mistaken, they're soon to be discontinued
• better get yours now

Thanks Tara for letting me join you again for some Monday Made-It!

The Third Teacher

I recently finished my 11th book of the summer.  I'm on a book reading frenzy of sorts, making up for all the books I didn't read while being a teacher the past nine months I guess.  

One of my favorites out of the 11 reads was Smarter Charts by Marjorie Martinelli and Kristine Mraz.  It's filled with powerful tips that show teachers how to envision, make, and use charts in more powerful and engaging ways.  The charts they talk about are not time-consuming.  Nor are they cutesy, but they're so very eye-catching.  They're meant to be engaging tools that students will repeatedly use to become independent problem solvers.  These kinds of charts take on the roll of teacher as stated by the authors themselves in the quote below.

"Consider this book a consciousness-raising effort aimed to elevate charts to a level of necessity - not just because we teachers are told to, but because we have found them to be incredibly helpful tools, full of information, and truly the third teacher in the room."

The book also contains several photos of charts for those of us who live on the visual side of things, as well as a handful of lesson plans so we can envision the making and use of smarter charts in action.

You can find the authors of this book on Facebook.  Look up Chartchums or click on the picture below.

The authors also blog about charts.  Their posts include excellent ideas, descriptions, and photos from teachers who are creating smarter charts with their students.  The posts are excellent.  Click on the link below to see for yourself.

I'm looking forward to putting the ideas from this book into action next year.  I'd definitely recommend it if you'd like to see charts become the third teacher in your room as well.

Did You Plan?

During writing workshop, I've seen a lack of planning of late.  Sometimes it results in a story that has no focus.  It's a story that's not zoomed in on the details of one small moment.  Instead it's about several moments and all of them lack any depth.  I recently created this chart in front of my writers as a tool for how to be better planners.

I also turned it into small table charts for my groups.  Click on the picture for your own copy.

Earlier this fall I posted about I'm making smaller table charts from large charts as a way to help make my teaching stick.  Look here if you're interested in seeing how I use and display them.  You can also get yourself a copy of the first one I created.  

Here's to better planners!

Making Your Teaching Stick

We teachers love our alliteration, rhymes, and catchy phrases, but I haven't come up with one for this situation.  At each group of desks, one person is in charge of collecting and passing out various tools and such to their group for the week.  As boring as it may sound, they're called table monitors.  This year, I've come up with a handy way of pointing out who those people are.  See the next picture.

Each table monitor has this blue cube thingy on their desk (Target $1 special).  Throughout the year it will be holding onto various things.  Currently, it's holding a small table version of our latest writing workshop anchor chart that's printed on both sides, by the way.  It's one that I wanted kids to think about even after they left the mini-lesson and days after as well.  I found the idea of making small table versions of charts in the book, A Guide to Making Your Teaching Stick by Shanna Schwartz.

So far the table charts are indeed working like a charm.  Just the other day, a boy pointed it out to his neighbor who didn't seem to know what to do next.  I've used them during my conferences as well.  Of course, as we progress through writing workshop and create new anchor charts, this one will certainly be replaced by others that I feel are important enough for kids to see over and over.

(Click on the picture for your own copy.)

If you don't have blue cube thingies, there are other creative ways to display table versions of charts.  The book suggests making table tents, so voila.  Of course, writing workshop doesn't need to dominate this idea.  What about reading charts, math charts, vocabulary words, or words of character?  I'm thinking there are endless options here, and they can all help our teaching stick.