Inference, Silent reading, and Reader's Notebooks

Today was a "revamping" day in my class's reading world. This week we're talking ALL ABOUT INFERENCE. 

One of my FAVORITE, FAVORITE, FAVORITE books for teaching reading strategies is the book Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor. You cannot go wrong. So practical. So concrete. 

Well, one of the strategies for teaching about inference is to use a bag of garbage and make inferences about the people who live in the house. I like that idea. But then I saw the blog post over at The Inspired Apple where instead of a bag of garbage, the teacher uses her own bag! So smart!

This is what I did today. I wish I would have snapped a picture, but I forgot. The kids were cracking me up with their inferences. They did a very good job. For example, they opened my wallet, saw my Macy's and Kohl's credit cards and said, "You must like to shop." They grabbed my library card and noted:

"You must like to read." 

"You've been to a library before."

"You like to spend time in quiet places."

Then one of them grabbed my phone. Keep in mind, THIS is my phone:

Yes, I do still live in the dark ages. 

And one of them said, "I infer that you wish you had an iPhone."

Oh, kid. How your inference is spot-on! One day....

But I digress.... So we finished up our mini-lesson on inference, and I sent them hither and yon to practice making inferences in their books. Meanwhile, I was going to make my rounds and continue to assess their Guided Reading (I'll post my forms soon). But, as I got ready to walk around and listen to them read, there was such chaos that I found myself staring at the class and thinking, "This is NOT working." This thought was immediately followed by gathering my kids together and declaring that ZYLAR (zip your lips and read) time was over (groaning...which is amazing, since very little reading was happening).

And so I began to revamp. We discussed some of our problems during independent reading. The kids know. They were able to point them out. Yes, one problem was that fourteen kids are looking for books... and it's the same offenders each day. Lots of talking, not much reading. 

So I raffled off my 11 book boxes, and bribed the other kids to bring cereal boxes to make some. I need to make a book "shopping" schedule so that kids are only at the class library once a week. (I've seriously never had this problem before with my kids, but now I do, so I have to change my system.) 

And then I grabbed the stack of composition notebooks that I stole from the resource room at our school. I gave each kid one and had them write their name on it. Then they turned to the first page and recorded their independent reading level for the quarter. In other words, they wrote the levels of books they're looking for to be independent reading books. Then I had them number the page to 3. 

See...This class is terrible about picking out a book and committing to it. I mean awful. They stare at the books, grab one, read four pages, and then quit. So I grabbed a bunch from the shelves today and started talking about each one... told them what the reading level was, and read the back of the book. I had them listen for at least three that interested them enough to want to read it. It's crazy to me. These are the same books that have been staring them in the face for a month, but only after I presented them did pencils start furiously scribbling the titles of these books. Nuts, I tell you. But, whatever. If it gets them reading, so be it. 

So, whew. That was our day in reading today. From now on the kids will have at least three books in their book box that they intend to read. Tomorrow we'll work on finding a reading spot and staying there. I've seen several independent reading self-assessments, and I think we'll use one of those.

I've always always always wanted to start reader's notebooks with my kids. I've just always been intimidated that I'd do it wrong. But you know what? I'm risking it. I'm jumping in. I had to rethink our reading today, and, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. I'll post more pictures and things in days to come as I steal more ideas from fabulous teachers and revamp my own system to get it to work. We'll get there! 

overwhelmed.

I'm there. Overwhelmed. I wasn't there yesterday. I wasn't there this morning. I just arrived in the land of the overwhelmed this afternoon. Suddenly I looked around my classroom and saw the chaos. The ungraded papers, the science materials stacked on the back counter, the unfed crayfish next to the sink (I have since fed them, so don't worry :), the desks all askew (I moved them into rows, but I hate that at the end of every day the desks are a mess!), and my desk PILED with stuff. Just piled.

And, it's the end of the month. You know what that means. Bulletin boards need to be changed, the calendar needs to be changed, and since it's the end of the week, the newsletter needs to be created and emailed out, too. Sigh. I raced around the room for about forty minutes after my kids left today, but it's still chaotic.

Don't get me wrong.... it's a good chaos. We had a really good week of learning. Thinking back to some of the conversations I heard my "friends" having this week, here's some of what I overheard:

"This is grammar? I love grammar!"
"What do crayfish eat? Do they poop? Can they live outside of water? When will we get to learn about the crayfish??"
"Can we work on our skits in our groups now?"
"Aw, man! I got chloroplast on my pants at recess!" (Learning about plants is paying off! Yay for the smarter vocabulary!)
"Do we have to stop reading now?  Can we have ten more minutes?"
"I can't choose from my writing prompts. Can I write both of them if I have time?"

Yes, it's been a VERY good learning week. And, in preparation of another such week, I'll be going into school tomorrow for awhile. We have a waffle breakfast fund-raiser anyhow, so I'll just stay and work on some things for a bit and be ready for another week of learning. And you know what? I don't love the chaos, or leaving my room in shambles in the evening, but if the chaos is a side-effect of my kids' learning, then so be it! Bring on the chaos!

What a way to start a year! [Leaving sub plans and more!]

Well, friends.... I really do have some great intentions to get on this blog someday soon and begin to show you some of the AMAZING things I've been learning from my 4th grade friends. They really are incredible!

This year just hasn't started as planned! I've had my kids for all of nine school days...  (which is crazy when I think of all we have accomplished in JUST nine days!). I really have been meaning to blog, but starting at a new school, in a new grade, with new curriculum... it's all I can do some days to keep my head above water!

Then, this weekend my grandfather passed away, which sent me into a tizzy to get sub plans ready. I am usually pretty good at getting sub plans ready. However, I have never had to leave four consecutive days of sub plans during which time I couldn't come back to the classroom to grab papers to grade, check on things, etc.

I began my hunt on pinterest and elsewhere to find some help!

I started with THIS cute Sub Tub Label from TPT. It's free and adorable. (I love free and adorable).
I applied it to my version of a Sub Tub, and viola!

Done {enough}: Classroom Tour

Well, folks, it's done. Enough. For this year.

I'm never *quite* satisfied with my classroom, but I think it'll get there. Part of it is because I'm at a new school this year. I'm in a new classroom. I haven't had 20 kids in there yet to figure out how the flow will go and what areas need to be accessible... you get the idea. But, it's done enough for the start of school this year. It's functional. And I think it's pretty enough and homey enough for Open House on Monday night.

Okay, okay...enough talk... pictures. I was going to put some in the post, but then I realized I had 42. Um...yeah. I really only took pictures for a couple of minutes, but I guess I take them fast. Soo.... I made a slideshow for your enjoyment! :) Let me know what you think!


I'm linking up here and here with other amazing teachers who are ready to reveal their rooms, too!