Loving it in Lafayette!

I always enjoy working with teachers in Lafayette, IN, where I taught classes on literacy work stations. During the training we brainstormed ideas for having an observation station in K-2. You might cover a table with a large piece of bulletin board paper, set up in a similar fashion to the chart pictured below. Place an object or two in the middle for kids to observe, place a few related books at this station, and include a magnifying glass. Possible objects include: fall leaves, rocks, shells, a bug in a jar, an ant farm, worms in a terrarium… The possibilities are endless! Provide crayons or colored pencils for students to jot down their observations and thinking in words and pictures on the paper.

First, talk with your class about questions they might answer as they observe, and list each question in a quadrant on the paper. Here’s a sample of what this might look like. Please let me know if you try this in your classroom. We’d love to see pictures of what your kids do!

Sample recording space for an observation station in primary grades

Teachers discuss ideas at training in Lafayette, IN at Wabash Valley Education Center

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Successes and more cake in Bethel, WA

Just like when we teach students, we built upon our successes with literacy work stations. From there, we learned how to teach with math work stations, too! As I talked about how to get started, I used the analogy of a cake with layers. One of the teachers is starting a new business, baking cakes, and brought one in for tasting. (Yum! I think she will be very successful!) I pointed to the cake and explained that the first 4-6 weeks of school are like the first layer of the cake. After it has been established, layer on small group instruction. A delicious lesson!

Teachers charted and shared successes they had with literacy work stations last year

We used a cake as an analogy for "layering" on small group instruction once stations are established (a delicious example!)

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Voila! Literacy Work Stations in French!

My book, Literacy Work Stations, has just been translated to French. And when I say translated, I mean the text AND the words in every picture AND all the appendix pages have been written in French. This new book, Les Centres de litteratie, is available from Cheneliere Education at www.cheneliere.ca

Here are a few pictures from this newest version:

The cover looks very different, but it's still the Literacy Work Stations book

Look! Christe is teaching with a French word wall!

This classroom library is set up with the labels in French

And even the big book and listening stations hold French materials

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Stepping Up with Literacy Stations

These videos were just posted on YouTube, so I thought I’d share these with all of you so that you can get a taste of this great video! Enjoy!

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Dedicated in Denver

My recent travels have taken me to Denver Public Schools where I’m working with CORE Matters teams. Educators there are so dedicated to improving instruction for their students. It is a delight to be a part of this project! Teachers have used my book, Spaces & Places, to set up their classrooms and are using literacy work stations and small group instruction.

Here are some photos from January 2010:

"I Can" lists help children remember exactly what to do at stations and independent reading. This one is in a classroom library.

 

"I Can" list for independent reading

First and 5th grade teachers wear something on their heads to remind students to work independently of them- It works!

A cowboy hat works too!

Dedicated educators from the Force Elementary CORE Matters team

Teams examine leveled books together for guided reading instruction

Teachers make comprehension anchor charts

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Awesome Arkansas Classrooms

I started out the new year in Greenwood, Arkansas on a return visit to Westwood Primary. On my last trip there in June, we set up a first grade classroom together and made over the space in a day. We also learned about literacy work stations. Boy, did these teachers put it into action! A big thank you to all the awesome teachers at Westwood Primary!

Kindergarten read-aloud with word wall and ABC chart

  

Whole-group area and word wall

 

Whole-group area - note the automotive drip pan on the wall

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ABC book station in Dyersburg, TN

While working in Tennessee with upper grade teachers this week, we looked at how to have students make a class ABC book related to a content-area topic. After viewing the ABC Book clip in 5th grade from my video, Stepping Up with Stations, teachers each made an ABC book page. First we brainstormed words from A-Z that went with our topic of study– literacy work stations. Then each teacher made a page for the book to experience the process.

 

Some things we noticed:

• it was a great way to review what we’d learned
• we enjoyed talking with a friend while we worked
• you could use a book for reference
• if we weren’t good at drawing, a partner could help

I modeled how to make an ABC book page first. If this were at a station, we’d have directions (brainstormed with students) of how to make an ABC book page. We’d also have books related to the topic of study, a list of words to choose from created by the class, and blank pages ready to fill in for the book. Here are some photos of our work. If you have an ABC Book station in your classroom, we’d love to see what your students are doing, too!

 

First, we made a chart together of vocabulary related to our content topic of study (literacy work stations, in this case)

Teachers use a template to create individual pages for the class ABC book

Sample pages for A and Z

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Fun in Flagstaff

Downtown Flagstaff

This past weekend I gave the keynote address at the Arizona Reading Association conference and enjoyed meeting so many wonderful educators from this beautiful state. I was fortunate to have in-depth conversations with many attendees about their classrooms and concerns. Everywhere I go, I’m touched by the caring of teachers no matter what their circumstances. I met teachers working with Apache children, folks with overcrowded spaces, educators that spent their fall break attending this conference– people who care deeply about their students.

 

My keynote address was titled, “Getting and Keeping Their Attention.” Here are a few points from my presentation:

1. Three ways to get students’ attention– emotion, novelty, and meaning.

2. Ways to keep student attention- proximity, technology, telling a story, movement, all-pupil response.

3. Small-group instruction holds students’ attention if the tasks are at the cutting edge of students’ development (and the group isn’t too big- no more than 4-6 students)

4. Literacy work stations engage students because they have ownership and peer interaction.

 

The brain doesn’t need to constantly pay attention. It needs downtime to process new information, too. The brain needs “white space.” So, we did some resting and rejuvenating while in Flagstaff, too. If you’ve never been here, take the trip! Tom and I flew to Phoenix (an easy trip on Southwest from Houston) and drove about 2 hours from the desert into the mountains (a lovely drive) to reach Flagstaff. I loved the historic downtown and found some great jewelry and greeting cards at a little shop called Zani. Great dinner at Mountain Oasis, too. We also drove to Sedona to see the sights. Amazing red rocks along the way!

 

Ollie Archambault, president-elect of ARA gave me an Apache "burden basket" or tats'a

Posing with Stenhouse rep, Lisa York, and a literacy coach who encouraged me to write a book on middle school work stations!

The winding mountain road we took from Flagstaff to Sedona

Amazing red rock formations

Horse statue in Sedona

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Learning together in Dyersburg, TN

This week I worked with kind, caring K-2 teachers from Tennessee. Dyersburg is in farm country about 3 hours driving time from Nashville. We drove past cotton fields and saw lots of soybeans too, on the way there. In the evening, we enjoyed cool temperatures as we strolled past a historic monument and restored buildings.  On the way home, we flew on a 9-seat Cessna back to Nashville to save driving time. Smooth ride on Tennessee Air!

I look forward to ongoing work in this part of the world. The teachers I met care deeply about their children and doing the best they can to help them achieve. They were warm, friendly, and fun. As part of our work together, we studied the power of developing “I Can” lists with students to give them ownership for their work at literacy stations. We made some together to experience the process and the thinking behind them. One of my favorite moments was when we were working in grade level teams brainstorming ideas of what children might do at a poetry station. A 2^nd grade teacher pulled out her iPhone and looked up the state standards to be sure they were including meaningful independent practice linked to standards. Now that’s 21^st century teaching!

Sample “I Can” list for an observation station in 2nd grade

A 2nd grade teacher consults an iPhone to check state standards to include at poetry station practice

First grade teachers brainstorm ideas that might go on an “I Can” list for poetry

Kindergarten teachers think about what kids might try at a poetry station

Downtown statue in Dyersburg, TN

Downtown drug store in Dyersburg

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Reading in Reading, PA

The city of Reading

I spent last week in Pennsylvania and worked in the city of Reading. How appropriate! (It’s pronounced red-ding, though). My drive there included driving through farmland in Lancaster County (where I grew up) and passing through city streets with woods in the background. Pennsylvania means “Penn’s Woods.”

School starts here this week, and the 3rd-6th grade teachers I was with did a great job of working together to plan for starting stations in the next few weeks. We brainstormed which stations they’d use first, how they’d introduce them, and even did a few together. During breaks, I peaked into classrooms.

One 6th grade classroom had wall to wall cabinets on two walls. The teacher is looking for solutions of how to hang things on the doors for display, since there is virtually no wall space. Sixth graders keep their things in these “lockers” behind the doors and open them frequently. Any suggestions??? Please post your ideas so they can be shared!

 

A farm in Lancaster County, PA

Bulletin boards covered in the same color red

How would you use these cabinets for display?

Organized supplies in sixth grade

Playing "guess my word" during the inservice

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