Room 19’s Art Gallery Part 1

This week we will begin our Journey’s story called “The Dot.”  It is about a student that feels they can’t draw and do artwork.  Since I love art, galleries, and museums, I wanted to create that experience for my students and dive into art with the story and a gallery.  I spent the weekend setting up the gallery in Room 19.  Most of my students have never visited a gallery or museum of any kind.  When they entered the classroom today, they were surprised by the room’s transformation.  After putting away their belongings, they sat on the floor, as usual, and began examining the art more closely. I had put the name of our art gallery on the whiteboard, so the class figured out what this was called.   I asked the class if they would like to get up and walk around the gallery.  They jumped at this opportunity.  I recorded their explorations and a video of their sharing.  It was so encouraging they were engaging with the art.  I will be documenting our 2-week art gallery adventure here.  Stay tuned!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

/Arrrrrrr/ Matey! Pirate Week in Room 19

I always look forward to the week when our Journey’s textbook says to introduce the /ar/ sound.  In Room 19, we already know this sound because we use Secret Stories to learn our reading sounds (phonics).  We have been reading /ar/ words since the first month of school.  With Secret Stories, I get to introduce whatever sounds students need.  This “need to know” form of introduction eliminates the problem of students not knowing the /ar/ sound until week 21 in our reading series.  I call /ar/ the pirate sound after I introduce it.

 We put up our pointer finger in a hook shape and make pirate sounds to each other. Arrrrrrr,  matey!

Finally, at week 21, we get to be pirates!  We talk, read, write, draw, become experts, dress up, all things pirates.  This year if students finished writing their pirate paragraph they created a pirate talking head with an app called Chatterkid.

We posed in our pirate garb in front of a green screen so we could give our parents a unique picture of our pirate adventures.

Did I mention we had daily pirate duties to perform which earned each mate a treasure from Captain Settle’s treasure chest?!

 Believe me; all work was finished correctly that week on our ship!  Did I say how much I love this week due to the motivation factor?!  We listened to shanty music, read a list of Secret Stories /ar/ words to be able to walk the plank (we even had our principals walk the plank, hee hee), got eaten by a shark, found /ar/ words hidden around the school on one of our treasure hunts, had time to read in our classroom ship, learned and created a Jolly Roger, and so much more.

 Every day the students couldn’t wait to see what pirate work they were going to encounter.

My crew!

Let's Go to the Moon Learning

Hi Parents,
What a fun and busy week we experienced.  I hope your child came home excited to share what they learned about that day.  We talked about the universe, galaxies, the Milky Way Galaxy, our solar system, stars, the planets, and our moon.  I created a min-room transformation to fly them into our Milky Way.  We read about the moon in our textbook reader.  We watched videos about our solar system, the star (sun) in it, and our planets. I read space books to the class. The students learned space vocabulary, filled in a graphic organizer to support their writing, and finally wrote a paragraph using details learned about the moon.  When their paragraphs were completed they got to design a space ship using a math shape template. They used oil pastels to fill in the Earth and the Moon.  They used glue to paint in space and we filled it in with glitter.  If they had time, they colored a map of our solar system.  We sure were busy, but the learning that was happening was out of this world!

Our textbook story, "Let's Go to the Moon."

Walking into our room that had some "heavenly" space lighting.

Close up of our Milky Way Galaxy

Entering the room to peaceful music set to Hubble telescope photograph videos of the universe.

Learning how the moon reflects the light of the sun.

Making a spaceship of geometric blocks.  We later used a shape template to draw rockets.

Book shopping space books to put in our book boxes for the week.

Our finished writing hanging in the wall.  We focused on vocabulary.  Used graphic organizers to collect our thoughts. Wrote a paragraph about the moon.  Drew a space picture.  If students had time they colored a map of our solar system.

First Week Fun in 2019

Hello Parents,
Happy New Year!  We had a great 3 days back to school.  The students came back ready to learn and on task.  It is always exciting to get to see your school friends again after time away from each other.

I hope you are using the gift I sent home with your child at the end of December.  It was their own  personal Secret Stories card.  Please have this card along side of your child them when reading and writing.  If they are struggling to decode a word ask them "Is there a Secret Story in there?"  This Secret Story card gives them a visual tool to help them tackle the word.  Every first grader needs help sometimes!  I promise this will be such a benefit as you read nightly with your child.  (Remember part of your child's homework is to read nightly for 15 minutes!!!)

The author, Katie Garner,  offered teachers a free Secret Stories BINGO game over the break so I snatched it up for our class.  I used it today to review their  Secret Stories phonics.  What fun we had! What child does not want to win at BINGO?  What teacher doesn't want their students excited to review reading skills?  WIN...WIN and fun! Hooray!

I will be adding the Secret Stories BINGO to our reading rotation stations next week.  We also have Secret Stories Concentration, draw and write words from your favorite Secret Story, "Block Grab" sight word reading with words coded with Secret Stories, and Secret Story Buddy Chat.  Can you tell I really think these stories are a strong support for my Room 19 readers?

Next week we are heading to the Moon with our textbook story.  Be sure to allow your child to visit Settle On In and learn about our solar system!

So glad to be back, full steam ahead through 2019!

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.

Our Solar System Movie

Both of our first grades are divided into intervention groups daily for 40 minutes. These small groups use data to focus on the needs of each individual student. Ms. Buckley and I had our 2 enrichment groups combine to work on an extended research project and used various forms of technology with the students to record their work. The students used an iphone, ipad, and lavalier microphone to record their work. They used the apps called Chatter Pix Kids and Explain Everything to create a digital version of their work. You will see all this in the compiled video I stitched together of their work. I would have had the students do this also but really didn't have a device available with enough storage space on it to compile the video. We are going to challenge you to use some technology to get to the video. Use a free QR Code reader app on your Android or iphone to scan the code below and take it with you across the room or house to share with someone.  If you want to watch it here on the computer scroll below the code and watch the movie.  Either way, enjoy!