New Job in a New City!

I have been absent for awhile and it is my intention to start blogging again. I'm excited to announce that I'm moving up from 5th grade in Elementary School to a 7th grade Reading Teacher. I can't wait to just teach reading each day. Not only did I change schools, but moved to a new town too. It's exciting and scary at the same time. However, I tell myself you can't grow without change, so I'm sure this move will be for the best!

Walking Classroom Spotlight

I was spotlighted this month in The Walking Classroom's newsletter. We have been having sub zero temperatures here in Wyoming and we haven't been outside to walk in a few weeks and the students are itching to get outside! I'm pretty honored to be featured in their newsletter and here's the link.

Also, below is highlight about our classroom:

Teacher Feature

Tammy Bourne

Lakeview Elementary

Gillette, Wyoming 

While we haven't made it out to Wyoming yet to actually meet Tammy, her upbeat emails always written in a bubbly bright pink font have made her stand out from the beginning! An adopter of The Walking Classroom since August, she has been busy spreading the word on her blog, Facebook, Twitter -- you name it! We love getting updates about how the program is going and seeing pictures of her students out on their walks! We are thrilled to have her as an adopter and are excited to highlight her as this month's teacher feature. 

Where were you born, and where did you grow up?

I was born in Bellflower, CA. I grew up in Murrieta, CA and moved to South Dakota in 2006 when my husband retired from the Marine Corp.  We moved to South Dakota and went back to college to earn our degrees in teaching. In 2010 we moved to Wyoming.

How long have you been teaching and why did you decide to become a teacher?

This is my 6th year teaching. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. However, life and family got in the way from me doing it right away. I got side-tracked for a bit, and worked in the insurance industry for 16 years. I am now a teacher and am loving it! 

When have you been your "best self" as a teacher?

When I am my "best self" as a teacher I feel it's during reading time. I love teaching reading and helping my students to comprehend the books that they are reading. One of the things I am really proud of as a teacher is having a large classroom library. I entice my students to read a variety of genres and they read lots of books.  Last year the majority of my class read over 40 books apiece.  It was so awesome! 

As a teacher, for what are you most grateful?

As a teacher, I am most grateful for my students. I love teaching and seeing the look of understanding that crosses their face when they understand a concept that we are learning. 

What are some educational resources that you utilize to help cover the curriculum?

Some education resources that I use are The Walking Classroom, Stephanie Harvey's Toolkit, Notice and Note, Comprehension Connections, STEM Science Materials, Pinterest, Math in Focus, Teachers Pay Teachers and so many other wonderful resources. 

Please describe an experience that you and/or your students have had with The Walking Classroom.

The Walking Classroom has provided my students with a new way of learning. They love getting outside and walking together. One day this week when we were out walking we had some great conversations after our walk. We have been studying Christopher Columbus in class, and we solidified our learning by listening to podcast about Christopher Columbus. When we returned to the classroom it was evident that my students had broadened their knowledge. I love The Walking Classroom! 

National Board Certification...I did it!

I write this post with a happy heart! Yesterday, I received news that I am a National Board Certified Teacher in Early and Middle Childhood Literacy!

I began my journey late. I started the certification process in January of 2014. After I began I worked tirelessly towards my certification. The certification process is pretty rigid, but through it all I learned so much about my teaching and I was able to reflect about myself a long the way. I had to write 4 entries on writing, reading, listening, speaking and viewing, and finally one on my accomplishments. These entries were about 12 to 16 pages a piece depending upon the entry. In addition, two of them required video elements. My entries had to be submitted online to the National Board Website by May 16th.

This was quite a few months of writing and rewriting let me tell you. It's so hard to write about your teaching process and to reflect on what you've done. Through this process I'm getting better at doing it though.

Then in June of 2014 I took the National Board assessment for my certification area. I had to drive down to Casper Wyoming to the testing center. Where I spent 3 hours testing over the 6 required elements. Once I was done I took a sigh of relief that I was done. Then the wait began....

Score release day was yesterday, November 15th, 2014. I was so nervous to open my computer and sign in to the National Board site. However, I overcame my nerves and did just that and I was pleasantly surprised! It said, "Congratulations! You are a National Board Certified Teacher!" I started talking happily to the computer. You see, I know that many don't achieve in the first year and I didn't want to expect it. So truthfully, I was thinking I was going to have to redo something. Luckily, that wasn't the case and my journey to certify is complete. Now I'd like to motivate and help other teachers achieve their certification. It is a great professional development opportunity! Plus in the state of Wyoming it pays a stipend annually too.

This journey has been quite arduous to say the least, but it has been so worth it!

Notice and Note - Strategies for Close Reading!

Last night 7 other teachers and myself met in my classroom to attend the FREE webinar by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst on their book Notice and Note. The webinar was hosted by Heinemann who are also the publishers of this amazing classroom resource that is helping students across the country! If you haven't yet purchased or checked out this book you can purchase from Heinemann here!

The webinar was a short, but engaging 1/2 hour on Talking About Texts: What Matters!

Kylene Beers co authored this book and you can read more about Kylene on her blog here, you can follow her on Facebook here, follow her on twitter here and finally read about her on Heineman here. Bob Probst who also co authored the book can be read about on Heinemann here and you can follow him on Twitter here.

The webinar was focused on engaging students in authentic conversations about text. Bob and Kylene were discussing ways to move away from monologic questions (check for understanding) to a dialogic question where students are (creating understanding). They believe that monologic questions should still be used when a teachers goal is to check for understanding. However, when we want students to go deeper in their conversations and to really create understanding in their text, we need to be asking them dialogic questions.

As shared by Beers and Probst when dialogic conversations are used students really begin to create understanding. This slide was shared of the benefits of dialogic conversations!

If you are like me, you may be wondering how can I get kids talking in this way. It all begins first with getting our students to turn and talk authentically. Then as teachers we guide the class to change this language over time. However, according to Beers and Probst some of the students that are ready to move on will automatically guide other students in the process as well. We need to get our students to be independent thinkers and allowing them to work harder through discussion and dialogue is one way to get them there. We need students to slow down and think about what is happening in the text, and begin to question the text and notice the sign posts!

It was stressed if we can change how kids talk about texts, this will change how kids think about a specific text, and eventually this changes how kids think about any text! Bottom line: we must find ways to ensure kids are talking and thinking about texts!

According to Beers and Probst if you really want kids to have dialogic conversations we need to turn the questions over to them as well and we need to just let them talk!

After the webinar there was a Twitter conversation here is the link to the Twitter feed. Finally, for a link to more information about this great book and the webinar watched tonight, click here and for great resources on the Notice and Note Facebook page click here.

Still Walking!

We have had some glorious days outside for the month of October in Wyoming! With that said we have been enjoying our walks outside listening to our walkkits from The Walking Classroom! I blogged recently about how our classroom received a classroom set of walkkits FREE from a generous donation. If you haven't looked in to this great resource for your classroom you should really do so! My students are reaping the benefits of exercise while learning. They are also really gaining deeper knowledge of content that is supported by the Common Core Standards. Their listening skills are getting stronger as well. They love walking outside, and we have been so fortunate that our weather is cooperating with us as well.

Please check out The Walking Classroom on their website here, or their Facebook page here, or follow them on Twitter here.

We Love Our Halloween Witches!

Thanks to Joey Udovich at Create, Teach and Share my class was able to make these wonderful "Witch Crafts"! I must tell you that my students loved making them. Originally, I was going to send copies of the witch to print in color, and let my students cut it out. However, I changed my mind and I'm so happy!  My students truly enjoyed creating their own unique witch! In addition, they loved writing their Halloween story to go with it.

Joey provides everything you need for this product in her store. It even came with ready made prompts for the students to use and create their Halloween stories. If you are interested in creating your own "Witch Crafts" you can click here!

Here's some of our witches from our hallway!

If you haven't liked Joey's Facebook page you should do that too. You can click here for that! She has great ideas for upper elementary teachers!

Thank you so much!

The Walking Classroom

Our classroom has been awarded a grant this year for the "Walking Classroom". We are so fortunate to have this amazing resource in our classroom. My students absolutely love it, and they can't wait to get outside to walk and learn! What is the "Walking Classroom" you ask? The question is answered below and is taken right off the "Walking Classroom" website.

The Walking Classroom Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and education of all students.  The Walking Classroom program is an in-school obesity intervention that promotes health literacy and develops and supports lifelong fitness habits for all students while addressing different learning styles.  The method combines standards-aligned academic content and exercise during the regular school day.

Using WalkKits pre-loaded with a year's worth of standards-aligned audio content, students walk, listen and learn.

The podcasts are directly aligned to the 4th and 5th grade English Language Arts Common Core State Standards(link opens new browser window).  Most podcasts last about 15 minutes, and each podcast is supported by an extensive lesson plan which includes a comprehension quiz. 

The teacher binder for the "Walking Classroom" is above. This binder is filled with 95 lessons that encompass all of the Common Core Language Arts standards. It's amazing. In addition our classroom was given 21 little WalkKits, which are little IPodish things preloaded with podcasts, and the students head outside to listen and learn. The Podcasts are filled with interesting topics from Idioms, Christopher Columbus, Westward Expansion, Slavery and so much more.

The pictures above are of us enjoying our walk around the school. My students are thrilled to be out listening, walking and learning. Today we learned about Negro Baseball leagues and how they finally were integrated into the Major Leagues. However, I'm so excited because in the next few walks, we will be learning more about Explorers. Currently, we are studying explorers in Social Studies. Now, we can integrate our Social Studies content in our reading/listening time and will learn more about this fabulous topic through the Walking Classroom.

If you are interested in learning more about the "Walking Classroom" and how to apply for your own grant. Please click here. Currently, there are Walkkits for both 4th and 5th grade classrooms. 

Please let me know if you have any questions? We are going to continue learning while walking and getting fit!