Narrative Writing- The Heart of the Story

Hello Buddies-

How's it going? Life is pretty busy here as we enter the final inning of the "big game". As I write this blog post I am currently in the middle of PARCC testing(yuck), my DRAs are due in two days (double-yuck), and somewhere in there I am trying to teach.  But this ISN'T a complaining post (I promise).  This post is all about my recent Narrative Writing Celebration.  Thanks to a dear colleague of mine and my extreme fear that for my looping class I would be the last writing teacher they would have before middle school (PANIC!)- I dived deep into Writers Workshop and it has been a HUGE success.  Seriously, like my kids are writing better than any other class I have ever had and the district keeps sending teachers to my classroom to see my writing instruction.  Not too bad for year two of Writers Workshop.  

Celebrations are a HUGE part of Writers Workshop and this time around I chose to publish our books hardcover using a great website called www.barebooks.com where you can order a variety of blank templates to write in.  They look great when finished and the kids talk about having created a "real" book. LOVE THEM!

Look at my writers and readers with their hardcover books

Although our book were fantastic, and they were.  I wanted those in attendance to see behind the published piece so besides a video of my kids explaining the writing process and answering some pretty challenging questions about writing we created exposition boards. An exposition board included samples of our work with post-it notes showing off some of our techniques and the changes made to our writing throughout the process. 

Here one of my writers teaches our second grade buddies about the process behind his story.

An exposition board close-up- (and sideways! LOL)

The boards are really impressive and help my kiddos to guide the conversation when parents, kids, administrators, or other teachers stop by their station in the APR. The post-its show what they want to showcase and help them share what happened, in some cases, weeks ago in our classroom.  God bless my classroom para who photocopies the samples for the kids to use on their boards.  

In the end our celebration was a HUGE success and my kids were so proud of their writing and a few people (including myself) teared up as the read the HEART of their story aloud in small groups.  

How do you celebrate the writing that your students have completed? Is your school using Writers Workshop? I'm dying to know!

'Til next time!
-Damien 

Harry Potter Day-AKA The Last Days of School part 2

On the last day of school, quite an emotional one for me, I decided we would spend the day having some fun and saving the tears for the end of the day. 

I saw a great idea on Pinterest about a mother who made her own Harry Potter robes for her son's birthday party using men's extra large t-shirts that she spliced up the front. Simple! Easy! Adorable! Perfect! 

Wands at the ready in our Hogwarts robes

I made the robes for my class (after their parents sent in the shirts) and a Harry Potter day was born. I made buttons for the students to wear denoting their assigned houses. Add the wands that they had earned from their magical behavior and we certainly looked the part, now what to do?  

We started the day by watching an interview with the HeadMistress JK Rowling herself. She is one of my top three ALL TIME idols. She is truly amazing and the video was GREAT!  The kids loved it as well totally drinking the JK Rowling Kool-aid. 

Then we held and Harry Potter Jeopardy game. I have a template to make my SMARTBoard look like the Jeopardy board and loaded it with questions about the two Potter novels we read this year-Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. It was quite a competition and a really enjoyable activity.  

Lastly, we made our own Golden Snitches (and frazzled-last day of school me didn't take any pictures).  

It was the perfect last day of school. We just had fun being together as we had all year long. This was a good year and I will definitely miss this group. 

-Damien 

The Last Days of School part 1

In reviewing our blog today I noticed that our last post declares only two days of school left...and that was almost a month ago!  Oops!

Maybe Kelly and I dove into summer quickly since it took us so long to get there (school lasted two and a half weeks longer than last year due to Superstorm Sandy and a new superintendent). 

Let's wrap some things up shall we...

Kelly and I held our first ever Reading Buddy Scavenger Hunt. I'll be honest with my blog buddies-it wasn't well planned and we cancelled it twice. Then, the day before, we decided to go with it. We raided the gym and found loads of equipment the play with. We organized twelve different tasks that our kids would participate in with their buddy. Although it was a stressful set-up and required me to arrive at school earlier than I desire (so not a morning person) it was soooooo worth it. 

Our tasks included:

-an obstacle course

-basketball shots

-a chalk mural

-an art station

-writing adjectives to describe their teachers

-teacher hug or high five station

.....and a few more. It was really a great day.  Check out the pictures below. 

Gathering our materials in the early dawn.

Food is illegal! (At least in my classroom)

No, this post isn't about the Haddix novel Among the Hidden where junk food is illegal.  It is about my own school district where food had become the enemy.  our school district has put strict guidelines on the food we are allowed to have in the classroom if we are allowed to have any due to the pressure from the state guidelines.  

-Movie with popcorn after reading the novel- NOPE!

-Teaching fractions while baking cupcakes-NOPE!

-Valentine cards with chocolates attached-NOT A CHANCE!

Now I am a fan of food.  I have always used food in my fifth grade classroom as a treat and as an educational tool.  Well not this year.  We have had more discussions on what we are allowed to eat and when then we have had about our struggling students-ABSURD!

Remember this FUN and engaging Math activity- Pi Day Activities .  Well, so do I but it seems as though it will be a distant memory soon as I am NOT ALLOWED to use food to teach.  

Now I know many of you might agree with the "no food in school" insanity.  And before you ask "yes there are other ways to teach these concepts".  That, however is not the point!  The point is, why is the government concerned with what is eaten on February 14th?  When did popcorn become the enemy?  And lastly, why isn't the answer to all these problem increased activity time (more PE and Recess) instead of no cupcakes? I believe that my government, my board of education, my administrators, my principal, and my colleagues and I have more important things to worry about.  

One of my favorite activity of the year and a hot seller in our TPT store Pi Day Edible Centers is no more.

I'm just curious, has anyone else suffered the "food ban" in their classroom?

Please share your comments and pardon me as I go grab a celery stick and some humus. 

A fan of food in the classroom, 
Damien