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! 

Loving Donors Choose!

Lately, I have been writing many Donors Choose projects to help get things for my classroom. Donors Choose is a non profit organization that allows teachers to write projects for items for their classroom and donors donate to the projects to get them into the classroom. I have learned a lot recently about writing projects and getting them funded. I have found out more about the amazing giving pages that are out there supporting teachers.

The biggest giving page out there is Caring Classrooms with more than 7,000 followers on their facebook page. They have funding days every Sunday where teachers and other supporters donate to the projects on their page. In addition, teachers can request that their project be featured on their page each Sunday. They will only post 10 teacher projects at a time, but believe me they fund fast. I recently had a project on their page and the support was tremendous. Please check them out and like their facebook page.

Another great giving page that supports teachers in the South on their projects is Southern Hospitality on Donors Choose. Although, I don't live in the south, I like to support their page, because the admin on the page gives out great advice and funding tips to teachers. Please go and like their page and check them out.

Kindergarten Rocks is another giving page that offers amazing support. Just recently she promoted a project of mine that got funded within hours. The cool part of it was the fact that my project wasn't even on her page at the time. She did it because I had been using her challengeid to support her giving page. I'm learning so much!! Please click on the link and check out and like Kindergarten Rocks and write a Donors Choose Project.

Okay, I'm not even close to being done with all of the great giving pages. The next one is DonorsChoose Anonymous and they have provided me with amazing help and tips to get my project funded. I even ran a contest with one of their admins on their page. Please go and like and check out their amazing giving page.

There are so many more amazing pages. They are all so helpful and offer some amazing advice and help teachers get their projects funded. I don't have time right now to write about them each individually so, I'm going to list and link them here, please go and check them out on FB and see what they have to offer.

Music Makes Our Students Smarter  - Supports music projects
Classroom Angels - supports all projects
Mrs. Kinder Owl - supports all projects
The Roundup - supports projects across U.S.
Send a Smile Giving Page - supports all projects
Northern Lights Donors Choose Giving Page - works to support projects in the northern U.S.
Special Acts for Special Kids - supports projects in U.S.
Reading is FUNdamental - Supports book and literacy based projects
#Team 37 - supports never been funded teachers with less than $100 to go.
Costume Box - supports teachers for costumes and the arts
FaerieFive - supports all projects
Heart of Texas - supports projects in Texas
Just Because you Care - Supports all projects
Hand in Hand Giving page - Supports all projects
Memories and Milestones - Supports all projects
Supporting Excellence in Education - Supports all projects
It's a Jungle Out There on Donorschoose - Supports all projects
Georgia Peaches on Donors Choose - Supports projects in Georgia and other great states
Furry Friends Donors Choose Giving page - Supports all projects
Projects to Lead the Way - Supports all projects
All About the Kids on Donors Choose - Supports all projects
And How are The Children - Supports all projects
Supporting School Counselors - Supports school counselors
Sweet Home Alabama - Supports projects for Alabama teachers but saves space for other teachers too.

Writing a Donors Choose project is fairly easy. The key is to keep your project small, be sure to donate to yourself, be sure to get as many donations as you can in the first 7 days and always be sure to promote your project. Don't just post and hope it will get funded, you have to work at it too. Remember to pay it forward to teachers. Please check out Southern Hospitality's page for helpful tips. These tips are very useful and will help you get your project funded.

Wow, I Have Been Absent!

Hi Friends,

I have been ignoring my blog and I need to get back to it. I just wanted to post that I realized this and I will begin posting more this week. I can't believe summer is already 1/2 over, where has the time gone??

World Read Aloud Day is Coming!

I love to read aloud to my students. They love to hear the stories as they imagine themselves in the book. As much as I like to read aloud I know there are classrooms out there that don't read aloud as much as they would like to.

Well guess what? World Read Aloud Day is on March 5th. Please click the link to read more about this amazing day in literacy! http://litworld.org/worldreadaloudday

I hope that everyone participates in this amazing day and spreads the love of reading!

Great Read aloud!

I have been reading the book "The Boy on the Wooden Box" with my class of 5th graders. I wasn't sure if I should read it, but I wanted to read them another genre and I thought a memoir would be a good choice. This book is about Leon Leyson who was the youngest Shindler List survivor from World War II.

I have to say my students love it! They have been completely engaged in the story, as have I. We are having some great conversations, and they are hearing first hand accounts of some of the suffering that occurred during that time. I am excited that they like it and the fact that we are able to have these rich and wonderful conversations.

If you haven't read this book, I would definitely put on your to read pile!!