Organizing Literacy Center Materials

Yesterday over at my other blog, Shut the Door and Teach, I wrote about how I set up my Literacy Centers.  My school has been using Journeys for a few years now, and I'm more familiar with common core this year than I was at the beginning of last year, so I felt ready to really delve in.  You can see how I set up my rotation topics and schedule here.

Today I thought I'd share how I organize my materials.  Let's face it; the best instructional activities will not engage students if the organization behind them doesn't work!  And if it's too complicated for us to manage, we're not going to want to use it either.  There was some trial and error when it came to different locations in the room and moving desks, which the kids HATED.  Who knew how nervous they would get about other people sitting at their desk!  

So I scrapped that first idea and instead created a file folder system.  It worked for my math games, so I shouldn't be surprised that it turned out to be the best solution for my literacy activities.  They know where to access the folders, how to distribute materials, and they can stay at their own desk.  There is only one activity in the course of the week that requires a single group to move to a separate spot in the room, and fortunately I have the space to accommodate that.

I keep the bin with 3 file folders right in the middle of my leveled readers.  My rotations are right above this set of bins as well, so everything is within reach.  Other than "read with the teacher," each of the other stations has its own file folder of activities.

Inside each file folder I can "preload" the activities for the week.  The Mentor Sentences page has 3 different activities in one, so it keeps them occupied in the "Editing" station for 3 days, and I load the spelling in on the final day.  The Vocabulary pages look different enough from one day to the next, so the kids don't mix up which one to do first, second and so on.  I clip the "not yet" pages to the folder as a gentle reminder, and their current pages are loose in the folder for them to take.  And finally, the Independent Reading Responsefolder has 3 separate envelopes.  These are clearly labeled for each Close Read slip they need to do, in order.  The kids know they need to tape the first into their notebook and complete it before they take the second.  This is the most time consuming center, so often they come back to it when they finish a different literacy center early. 

Considering that this is my first year running Literacy Stations since moving to fourth grade (and since Common Core began) I think they are going pretty well!  I plan to offer my Close Reads in my TPT store this summer, so if you are thinking about trying stations next year, stay tuned!

[Edit:  I've started to post my Mentor Sentences products in my TPT store.  There are a few freebies in the section I've linked to if you want to give them a try!]

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Creating Classroom Rules

Every year I start out by talking to my fourth graders about rules.  But by fourth grade, they already know, on paper, what classroom rules should be.  So I've always asked them what they think the rules should be instead of telling them "these are my rules." 

And yet until last year, I would alter those rules, combine with other ideas, throw out "obvious" rules, until lo and behold, their rules were the same as I happened to have on my poster that I'd secretly kept from the previous years.

I don't do that anymore!

Of course, when my students list rules, some are too general, some are more motivational phrases than actionable rules, and a couple are rules that I feel are actually unnecessary.  They also used to be an overabundance of "Don'ts," however once this went out of fashion a few years ago, it seems that by the time they get to my class nowadays they've had enough models of rules phrased as a positive ("stay quiet" instead of "don't talk") that I don't even have to "fix" those (I allow some, I just keep them in the minority).  So of course I still need to "tweak" their rules, but I do NOT put up the same poster every year.

The trouble we DO run into is that we can end up with nearly 50 rules.  So I tell them, "obviously we are never going to be able to remember every single rule on its own.  So it's going to be very hard to follow them!  Are there any we can throw out?"  Once we realize that they are in fact all important, I promise them, "tomorrow I'll teach you a way that we can group these rules to make them easier."

This is when our discussion about rules turns into a reading/writing/executive functioning lesson: sorting details from main ideas.  This is usually SO difficult for kids to grasp, and I used to think it was so hard to teach (since I used to be bad at it when I was their age).  So I model it in the easiest way I know; so simple that many preschoolers would have some success: relate it to animals. 



I start sticking these cards on the board, and at the end I write the sentence in blue.  They're all yelling out the answer before I can even finish the question.  

Next I tell them to think about ways they're alike, and tell me what groups to put them into.  I draw 3 columns as a hint, and listen in as they "turn and talk with a partner."  When they answer, they will usually say, "These 3 are all birds," I'll ask, "How do you know?"  This is because we'll be talking about "finding evidence" a LOT this year.  And finally we name the groups.

Next I ask if there is any other way we can sort these words.  I move "eagle" over into the middle column and ask if the animals are all related in some way.  Kids might see that they are all wild animals.  I ask if robins and blue jays are different; are they not wild animals?  We start to find that there is more than one way to name the groups; sometimes it results in the cards being in different columns, and there is no one right answer.

Next, I gave each group a set of sentence strips.  Last year I "fixed" the strips so that each group would come to a single main idea.  I even threw a main idea strip into the mix to see if they could find it and check if the rules below it "fit inside it." 

This year I mostly fixed the strip distribution it so that each group would have 2 sets of details, and they had to figure out the main idea on their own.  They still have plenty to learn when it comes to compromise and hearing all voices, but I was able to point out some positive behaviors for others to watch and learn from.

In the end, we were able to come up with 5 topics.  Some groups realized their main ideas were synonymous so we needed to combine their piles into one.  Some strips needed resorting the next day, and another lesson was needed to change the topics into main idea sentences (the model I gave them was "Learn as much as you can.") 

There are some rules that I think fit better on a different poster, and the "talking rules" makes me cringe because it's not a fantastic main idea sentence, however the class feels a sense of ownership over these rules.  When we had a fire drill today they pointed out that we needed to add to the safety rules.  Having 5 main ideas to focus on, especially when they were all their own ideas is very manageable.  And yet for those "black or white" thinkers, having the sub-rules that help clarify and define the general rules is helpful.  

We still have more work to do such as talking about how it feels when others break the rules that the rest of us are following (using role playing) as well as talking about their rights as students in our class (which will lead into our unit on government and the Constitution).  But for the most part, after a week and a half our rules are finally finished!  

How do you get kids to "buy into" rules in your class? 

Shut the Door and Teach (This week I talk about Character Education). 
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Organizing the Math Manipulatives Shelf: Summer Project Series Kickoff!

Is it just me, or is it a lot harder to think of things to write about on a blog for school when school isn't in session?  It's cruel; we've got all this time, but no kiddos to keep us on our toes.

Well, after some thought and lots of Pinterest browsing, inspiration struck.  Pictures of other people's classrooms have given me so many great ideas this year.  So maybe pictures of MY classroom could give me ideas this summer!  I don't mean pictures of my classroom perfectly staged, like it feels at the beginning of the school year.  I mean pictures of the "decay" that eats away at my classroom for 175 days while being inhabited by a couple dozen children.  What does my classroom look like when it's been used?  What are the areas that stick out like a sore thumb?  Because if I can hone in on those, I can really figure out what I need to do to make the organization more efficient.  And since I have the whole summer to do it, I might as well do it with style.

So over on my other blog, Shutthedoorandteach, for the next 6 weeks I'm running a "Summer Project Series."  Think of these as the "before" pictures, all of them taken right before the end of the year packing and organizing began.  I'll go over what worked in each space, what problems I plan to fix, and if I get stuck I'll ask for suggestions on how to solve those issues.  Then at the end of the summer I'll take some "after" photos.

The first area I zeroed in on when flicking through my cameral roll was my Manipulatives Shelf.  Be warned.  These pictures are not pretty.

What works:

1. I just created those fun "curtains" in my classroom colors to hide half of the stuff.  I made sure that the items we use the most are on the open shelving in the middle, and the items we're not currently using are under the fabric.
2. All the items are grouped together according to the units they are needed for.
3. A year after I "inherited" all these treasures and the various containers that housed them, I got rid of a few and got several plastic shoeboxes to replace them.
4. That same year I made labels for just about every box on the shelf (that coordinates with the Measureworks labels on some of our kits).

What I plan to fix:

1. That Fluff container has got to go.  But why stop there?  I feel like I'm ready to splurge and get rid of all the miscellaneous shapes and sizes and invest in uniform containers.  Maybe not every single item will fit, but most of it will, I'm sure.  I have a few shoeboxes in other areas of the room that I'll swap out.
2. Update the labels.  I've been working on some labels to match my classroom color scheme.  Getting new containers is a good excuse to swap those out too. 

These will be small cosmetic changes but hopefully they will project a nicer image.  Examining this shelf also sparked a lot of ideas regarding changes to other shelves, since I'll be swapping out those Sterilite containers.  So if you're interested in classroom organization and decor, stop by my other blog.  Or if you have ideas for my shelves here, answer in the comments below.

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Math in Focus: Bar Models with Manipulatives

We are in our second year using the Math in Focus (Singapore Math) program, and my fourth graders recently finished Chapter 3 on multiplication, long division, and using bar models for problem solving.  This is by far the most challenging chapter, or at least it has been for us these first 2 years.  For those of you who aren't familiar with MIF, one of the earlier fourth grade problems in this chapter might be:

My sister had $8,359, and I had 3,596 less than her.  How much did we have altogether?

Well, last year I think I was even more scared than they were (at first, since they didn't know better).  This year I felt more confident, although it's still a struggle for a lot of my students to master the sample problems as they become more complex than this one, and to complete them independently.

Although I'm still learning, I wanted to share a couple new tricks I used this year that seemed to go over very well with my group.  Like most programs, Singapore talks about a gradual release of responsibility.  And like most programs, we start with manipulatives before requiring abstract thinking.  Yet there were no manipulatives for bar models; just visuals.  Until now.

All I did was cut strips of paper cut into 2 different sizes.  The yellow paper is a Post It note with the sticky side holding the strips in place.  For my students, "Noun 1" and "Noun 2" were replaced with "Me" and "My sister."  

I told my class to remember these things as we progressed through the chapter:

1.  Bar models are just a tool to make solving math word problems easier; they are not there to make us crazy.  

2.  Bar models are at their most useful in fourth grade problems for helping us keep track of who has the bigger amount, who has the smaller amount, the difference, and the combined total.  

In the above problem, I told my students, "I have some money.  My sister has some more.  Decide where to put the little bar, and where to put the big bar."  Everyone was able to do that, so I told them that in this case, they'd know when it came time to draw the bars and put the bigger number with the right person, they could do it.

Below, I asked them to show me how much we had altogether.  Easy.  Indicate both.  That funny bracket in the book could be indicated with just their fingers.  Again, it totally took away the pressure of "I can't draw that weird mustache thing," (although they love when I draw it because hey, mustaches are cool, haha).

Below, I asked them to cover up all the extra money my sister had so that it looked like we had the same amount.  That covering up was "taking away" the extra. I told them that what I was doing for this sort of question was to subtract.

In the problem below, I told them, "I have some money.  My sister has some more.  Show me how much more."  Those funny brackets they show in the book were indicated with their fingers.  I told them if they were looking for the difference between the two bars, it's a smaller amount than the bigger bar, so they'd know they'd subtract.

The activity was a huge hit.  Notice that no numbers were mentioned today!  It was all about conceptualizing the process using manipulatives.  Kids whose computation is shaky could follow along at the same level as everyone else.  Even those kids who don't like to write were successful.  And an unexpected side effect to using these bars was that when it was time to start drawing them, all but two students had them lined up correctly on the left!  I wanted to go back to do this lesson all over again with my former students from last year who kept drawing the bars right after the words instead of lining them up correctly.

Readers, are any of you using Math in Focus/Singapore Math?  Do you have any tips you can share on how to survive chapter 3?

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P.S., If you're interested in a follow up lesson I did with Bar Models using a free website, check it out over on my other blog at Shut the Door and Teach!

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