The AR Agenda

So I am guilty of pushing the AR agenda. Accelerated Reader is a well-intentioned program to get kids to read, take a comprehension quiz, and earn points. The theory is that their comprehension will get better and the points will make them eager to read.

Guess what? It backfired on me. I also accept that it could be completely my fault and not only could it be my fault, but it really honestly is all my fault. Let me tell you what I did.

I set a goal every month for my students. The first month they have to get 2 points. That's the equivalent of 4 small books. One teeny tiny book a week and make a 100% and they can make that goal. I even let them go back and look for answers in the book. Usually the first month or two my kids think it's great and they are on fire. It's new. It's interesting. Then the novelty wears off. It becomes a chore. That's where it backfires for me.

As the months go on the goals get slightly higher. The kids who love to read will read and read and read. Then they'll take tests and tests and more tests. The ones that don't want to read don't read though. They don't care about the points. I've tried bribery and giving snacks or cool prizes to the kids that meet their goal. We give out Book-It coupons every month when they reach their goal. I send letters home to parents half-way through so they can see where their child is at on their goal. For the kids that need the help and the reading comprehension, it just doesn't work though. They don't want to read and honestly the AR tests make them dislike reading even more. My frustration level rises. Their frustration level rises. I become the new muse for the next Black Lagoon Book, "AR Monster from the Black Lagoon." It. Doesn't. Work.

Once again, I'm not saying that it won't work for you. I'm not saying that other teachers don't succeed. I'm just saying it hasn't been working for me. So this year I tried something new. I set goals. I put up my goal chart. I took a deep breath and stopped freaking out. My kids aren't going to die if they don't reach their AR goal. The world won't stop turning. Their education will not fall apart and they will not be illiterate. If they meet their goal that's awesome! If they don't there will not be an AR Monster.

Do you know what happened this year? I had more kids than ever reading chapter books. The last couple years I have begged and pleaded and pulled every trick in the book to get kids to read chapter books, but they haven't been interested. I looked at the books kids were checking out this year and all but two of my kids checked out chapter books from the library. (insert happy dance) Oh and I stopped harping about their AR levels. They can read whatever they want in my classroom, but they can only take AR tests on books at their level. My kids are actually trying to read harder books that are at the upper end of their level or just beyond. Before they read books at the very bottom of their level and wouldn't go higher. That was easy to do for AR. That got their goal met faster. Why wouldn't you take the easy way out? So kids are now reading chapter books and harder books.

I feel like I'm winning. My kids aren't taking the tests they should be, but they are reading. I had one student pick out one of my favorite book series to start reading. It's not quite on his level, but he wants to try it. I'm all for it. I have another student reading a giant book set in World War II. I about fell out. If I focused on their points or AR goal they wouldn't dream of picking up those books.

Does that mean reading in my class is perfect. Ummmm no. Are there still issues in my class that I have to work through? Yeah. Could this be a fluke and next year's class could backfire in a whole new way with this new laissez-faire attitude toward AR? Absolutely and probably. My whole point is that you should question what you are doing. Is it giving you the end result you want? Is it helping your kids? Is it really something you and your kids enjoy doing or is it a battle? Can you do it differently?

Reading Wonders on Kahoot

So I know a lot of people are already using Kahoot and I'm not going to do a blog post on it. There are plenty of good ones out there. We used Kahoot last year and my kids begged to play it, but I was usually flying by the seat of my pants to create quizzes.

I'm devoting at least some of my summer to working with Kahoot and creating quizzes. Specifically I'm making Kahoots for the Reading Wonders series. I have the first unit done with matching vocabulary and definition, fill-in-the-blank with vocabulary words, picking the correctly spelled spelling word, and fill-in-the-blank with the correct spelling word. If you are interested head on over to Kahoot and type in Reading Wonders in the search for Public Kahoots. My username is bcbirrer so you can add that in to help narrow the search.

Reading Fair Finished Pieces

We presented our reading fair boards and here are some of the finished products. 

Reading Fair

This week we have been working on a culminating project and it just happens to be our reading fair boards. 

My mom (who is also a teacher) found tri-fold boards at the Dollar Tree near her and she has done this reading fair for a couple years. She typically sends home the boards with the students with information on what has to be included on the board. She works in a school district that doesn't always have the best parental involvement and has high poverty, but she says she only has one or two students a year that don't bring the board back. 

This year I decided to try it, but I didn't want to send the boards home. I have a group that I was pretty sure wouldn't participate. I didn't want to set my kids up for failure so I bought the boards ($1 per kid so not too shabby) and decided this last full week of school would be a great time to start working. 

Each student picked a book that they read and loved. Then we spent a couple days on the computer typing out the information we needed to go under the headings: Title, Author, Setting, Problem, Solution, Characters, Summary. My mom also included tone and purpose, but I wanted to keep it super simple for my first year. Once they each typed out all their information under the headings, they changed fonts to fit their personality and book. Then we printed them, cut out headings and typed information and put them on a piece of construction paper so they would stand out on our board. 

Next came the fun part: decorating! I did get the kids slightly started on this part. I let each child pick (choices were red, green, black, blue, and yellow) what they wanted their board to be covered in. Then I covered the boards while they were in specials. 

First I laid the trifold face down and taped down the paper to the bottom and top aides of the board. 

Next, I flipped it to the paper side up and practiced folding it so I could smooth out the front and taped the sides. 

Then you are ready to decorate! I'm sure there is a "better" way to do it but it worked just fine and had minimal impact on me or my kids. 

Here are a couple shots in progress. 

They put the typed information on the sides and then illustrated the middle of the board. 

Next year I want to make sure I have plenty of extra odds and ends so they can decorate with Pom-poms, feathers, tissue paper, etc. that way it's really 3-D. They had a blast for the most part. Monday we are going to present our boards. I'll post some finished products then!

Christmas Gifts

Today's post is short and sweet.  One of my favorite things about Scholastic are the $1 books.  Boy do these make me happy.  I like to buy a set for small groups and occasionally I'll buy a class set.  My favorite thing to do is to use them as Christmas gifts though.  For a dollar a book you really can't get a better deal.

My first year, I didn't think my students would like the idea of getting a book as a present, but I was wrong.  My kids loved their books.  I had kids that couldn't wait to start reading.  Some started in the middle of the party.  Even the kids who aren't fans of reading got excited to take a book home.

My Journey to the Centers of the Classroom 3

This year I have a specific group of kids that can read every word on the page, but they struggle to understand what they read.  One of my favorite resources I've started using is close reading passages from the 24/7 Teacher.  I love these because each passage has four different reading levels. They also have different questions that are leveled from questions that are explicitly in the text, questions about new vocabulary, and inference and higher level questions.  I love these because she has themed ones for each month and there are more than I can possibly ever use.

Animal Classification Reading Passages

One of the things I find it difficult to teach is science. I am not naturally good at understanding science which makes it harder to explain it.  On top of that, science and social studies somehow always get pushed to the back burner because math and reading take precedence in the classroom.  I am making a concentrated effort to be more effective, but it still manages to slip through the cracks.  I did manage to make this set though to help out with animal classification.

We don't have enough science books for a class set so my students need something in their hands they can read.  Plus, this also has comprehension questions to go with it.  I like using it to review after we've used our science books, talked, done activities, etc.  It has reading passages for mammals, reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, vertebrates, invertebrates, and fish. Each passage has an accompanying set of questions that build on all the previous knowledge and answer sheets to go with them.  If you would like to try it out you can grab it here.

Wordless Wednesday: Focus Wall

Two posts in one day! Say what??? For this post I'm linking up to Miss DeCarbo at Sugar and Spice's Wordless Wednesday.

Certain things have to be cute in my classroom. Certain things have to match. I'm pretty sure there is a law.  This week I managed to start on matching sets for my focus wall, because I have been pulling resources from everywhere  this year (yay new series) and nothing matched. So matching focus wall pieces is my new hobby. 

What things in your classroom or life need to be cute or match to make you happy?