The BEST GIFT to My Students EVER

 
Now that the hustle, bustle, and chaos of the Christmas classroom season is over, I wanted to share with all of you something that helped me so much during the year. I do love the spirit of teachers. We are in this altogether, not for us, but for the kids. That is one of the things I truly appreciate about being a teacher, as well as the need to share great ideas with one another!

I am a passionate advocate for Secret Stories. I tell every teacher I meet about them, as I know the difference they make. The Secrets are a brain-based approach to teaching reading and writing that provide logical explanations for letter sound "behavior" that learners' brains crave. Secret Stories is not a program and you don't need to carve-out additional time to teach it. The Secrets simply make phonics make sense so that kids can have more of the code they need to read and write with.

I work in a Title 1 school with many extremely low level students. The Secret Stories are the most helpful approach I have ever used in my classroom to turn my students into readers!  I will never teach without them again, period! I bought them with my own money one summer because I was desperate to help my struggling students. I was sooooo frustrated as a teacher because I felt I was failing them year after year, no matter what I tried. Yes, they were learning to read, but I knew they needed to make more progress in first grade, due to the new demands and standards. I no longer feel this way! I now know that I am providing the best approach to help all of my students master reading. I honestly feel this way, so that is how the BEST GIFT I have ever given came to be this year....and I am so excited to share this idea with all of you, my fellow teachers!

I had recently watched a YouTube Live video by Secret Stories author, Katie Garner. One of the Title 1 teachers mentioned in the broadcast about sponsoring a parent event at which they had given the Secret Stories to parents on something called "Porta-Pics."  I had been pondering what to give my first graders for Christmas, and it suddenly came to me....I could give them the entire Secret Stories "Secret Code" to take and keep at home! This was the BEST GIFT I could ever give my kids! Why hadn't I thought of this before??? Oh yeah, money and cost, duh! A class set was $65 (which is $2.60 a kid) but  I figured and schemed a way around this problem! At our Title 1 school, each teacher receives $100 to purchase items for the classroom. I already had a set of Porta-Pics that I used in the classroom, so I could give these to my kids this year, and then use next year's Title 1 money to replace them for next year's group... and still have $35 left over! :-) Yes, yes, yes, I did it folks! I really would have paid for them out of my own pocket to tell the truth. I realized what a dunce I had been all these years, teaching Secret Stories, but never giving the Secrets to the kids to keep at home. What had I been thinking? This was another "a-ha" moment in my teaching life.

The last part of my gift was to try and make sure the parents understood what a precious gift the child now owned. The children needed help from a trusted adult to protect this treasure! (No kidding, I really feel this way, too!) I typed up a note to the "trusted adults" and taped it on the back of the Secret Stories Porta-Pic treasure code card. And honestly, I even teared-up a bit as I taped the note on the gift. I explained to the parents this was the BEST GIFT I had ever given my students. I didn't want to brag, but I wanted them to understand the power of this gift to help their child.

I was saddened I had never given the Secret Stories code cards (that's what we call the Porta-Pics in the classroom) to my previous students. I had taught them all of the the Secrets as we worked through our Journeys Reading Program, but never did they have this piece of additional support at home. Now, this class will have help on-hand for reading and writing at home, so that they can be the teacher and educate their parents about the "stories" that help them read. The parents, in turn, can learn along with their child, and have a "real" tangible tool to support their children as readers. Maybe the Secret Stories will help take away some of the frustrations that children and parents feel in trying to improve their reading levels, fluency, sight word knowledge, and so on, and so on.... Can you now see why this is the BEST GIFT I have ever given my class??

Well, Mrs. Settle, Christmas is over so I will try to remember this idea next year. I say to you, why wait? I am disappointed that I waited so long to think about giving this precious gift to my students. Don't make the same mistake. You could give them as a New Year's Gift or a Valentine Gift. Better yet, have a parent event in your classroom, and say you will be giving out a special treasure to all those who are able to come! Make it pirate-themed with the Porta-Pics the "gold" given at the end of the party. Find a reason to get this tool into your students' hands at home to support their reading adventure! And if you don't use Secret Stories, you should! I NEVER (well, almost) have to say to a child trying to read an unknown word, "It just is... it just does... you just have to remember," or worse, "I taught that last week!"

All I have to say is, "Is there a Secret in that word?" and they immediately look to the posters and find the sound (or spelling) they need. Even without the posters (in the hallway, library, lunch line, etc...) a simple "Secret" gesture is all it takes to prompt the needed sound! What more can you ask for? Oh, and one more thing, my first graders can now READ the sight words, not memorize them! Can you imagine?

So, visualize the "happy teacher dance" I did when I gave my kids BEST GIFT EVER this Christmas and my students "ohhhhed" and "ahhhhed!" They were overwhelmed at the idea of getting to take the "grown-up" reading and writing Secrets home with them! :-)

To help you understand why I am so passionate about Secret Stories, there are some free Secrets called the "AppetizerPack" you can start using with your kiddos!

Oh yeah, and here is the link to the Porta-Pics!

Mrs. Settle
www.settleonin.blogspot.com

PS And just in case you're wondering, you can't just use the Porta-Pics to teach Secret Stories, as they don't have the stories... only the pictures to prompt the sounds/spellings. The Secret Stories FAQ page  explains this and is a helpful and quick overview into what I use and see everyday in my classroom.

Christmas Pajama Day

We played the "I Know My Secrets" game before I told 

them they got to take the Porta-Pic Tri-fold home.  

They point to a picture and the other student has to

tell the story and the sound.  If they know it they put

their colored chip on the board. I set a timer for 3 minutes to
keep the game going quickly. We played several

rounds.  I had the winner of each team stand up for a prize.  This 

was the most popular Christmas party game of the day!

 (Still working on our large floor puzzle from our Journey's Ocean story.)

 Love this picture.  The beauty of the game is that if 

one partner doesn't know the "Secret" the other

teaches it before moving on in the game.