Tips for Goal Setting During Individual Reading Conferences

Hi everyone! By now, I think we are all getting fully adjusted to our classrooms and are really in the swing of things for the new year. I know some of you are getting ready to finish out your first nine weeks while others are just three weeks in (like me) and finally getting a good handle on your kids.

Right now, we're working hard to get our classes immersed in Daily 5 and CAFE. The lessons have begun, and this is the point where teachers really start pushing to get in those individual reading conferences. One of the issues that I notice many teachers struggle with on these conferences is setting goals.


I keep my form simple (you can click on the cover to the left to download for your own use), but writing useful goals takes a lot of time and practice. I pulled out my forms from the beginning of last year to look at and give some examples. You can see how some are a little weak and leave a lot wide open without a clear path. The more specific you are with the goals, the better your student will understand how to improve.

I'm going to give a few examples from my own forms and talk about what works and what might not. I hope these help!


These are some goals that aren't terrible, but they really don't do much for the student. Yes, as a seasoned teacher, I know what I mean when I write "author's message" or "practice with passages", but these goals are supposed to be something that the student can work on independently as well. I would have been better to put these on a sticky note (or maybe in the observation section) and then come up with a plan for them to work on at their seat that was more specific.

This one starts off weak (and then I think I just kept his goal for the middle and didn't bother to write anything), but notice how the goals get more specific. On the last one, I didn't even list the specific skill. I gave him a task to focus on while reading to self.

I felt proud looking back at this sheet because we had a definite plan all the way through with this child. We started out with just finding books to stay interested, then did a little accuracy before switching to comprehension goals. You can still use short-hand AS LONG AS your students understand what they are supposed to do. (FYI: SWBST stands for "Somebody Wanted But So Then", which is great for summarizing!)

Finally, sometimes you may have to assign "homework" to help. I had one student who just couldn't get the hang of text features. We did an activity in class (this actually was a small group lesson, not individual conferences), and I noticed he was WAY off. I jotted this little note with the date and then let him know that I wanted him to practice them at home for the next time. Also note that you can set goals during small group lessons if the opportunity arises!

It takes a lot of practice, and I still have a long way to go personally. I struggle with consistency, especially since my groups of kids change throughout the year and my time with them is very limited. Some other tips to consider:

• Make a chart with specific strategies/goals for each skill. I'm going to start collecting a list for myself to keep in the front of my binder. Then I can refer to it when I'm stuck. You could even do this as a team!
• If you're not sure where to start, it's okay to give everyone the same goal for a while. Don't stress yourself out! Good instruction is good instruction. As you become more comfortable with these conferences and learn more about your students, it will be easier to branch out and give different goals.
• The more notes you take, the better you will know your students. Any little note can help you recognize ways to help your student later. I like to make notes of the types of books they are drawn to as I work with them so I can help them find good books for them. This also helps when I'm choosing books or passages for us to use as a class!

I hope that some of these tips help with your own instruction!

5 Favorite Interactive Bulletin Boards

Hello, Literacy Land readers.  This is Wendy from Read With Me ABC.  I'm here to share a few of my favorite interactive bulletin boards with you.

Guess Who?

Whether you are looking for a great "getting to know" you activity or teaching students to write descriptive paragraphs, this activity is just for you.

Credit: Surfin' Through Second

Credit: Surfin' Through Second

Students write a paragraph describing themselves and draw a corresponding picture.  The hand-drawn picture is used as a flap to cover a photograph of the student hidden underneath.  Students read one another's paragraphs, guess who it describes, and lift the flap to reveal the author. This would also be the perfect display for parent visitation night.

Poetree

Credit: Adventures in Literacy Land

Credit: Adventures in Literacy Land

There are many versions of this bulletin board floating around the internet. However, I am particularly fond of the interactive aspect of the one shown above.  As students learn about poetry, they document their learning on the "Poetree" and add their own poems to the ring-booklets hanging from the tree.  Students returned to this display frequently as a reference and to read the poems.

Vocabulary Piggies

Credit: Teaching After Ten

Students show off new vocabulary words they learn by completing a vocabulary slip with the word, definition, synonyms, antonyms, and an illustration.  Each pig on the bulletin board serves as a pocket to store the vocabulary slips. As students learn a new word, they simply add it to their pig. As their pigs grow, so does their vocabulary.

Visit Teaching After Ten to pick up this great freebie and build your own pig pen.  ;)

Tweet Me!

Credit: Ms. Spucci's Class

Credit: Seaver's Blog

This bulletin board was created as an exit slip activity, but has evolved into so much more. Depending on the teacher's direction, students tweet anything from a math problem to a question they still have about a lesson to something they are excited to learn. Students post their responses to the board and the teacher can gather information at a glance.

Teacher's Read Too!

Credit: Read With Me ABC

This bulletin board features photographs of teachers taken while they were reading.  Students guess which teacher is hidden behind each book.  What a great way for teachers to model that they are readers!  You can read more about this display and pick up a {free} copy of the bulletin board set on my blog today.

What are some of your favorite interactive bulletin board ideas?  Please share in the comments.  Our readers would love to know.  Thanks for stopping by!

Reading Inventories

Student interest  reading surveys are an important way to find out information about your students that you may not know yet.  They can be a great tool to help you plan instruction, find motivating texts to add to your classroom library, and to reach those students that just may not seem interested.  The only thing is...one size does not fit all.  We all have different kids, different ages, and different needs.  One inventory that I may find extremely useful, someone down the hall may not like at all!  So I wanted to search for different reading inventories that are free.  Hopefully, you will find one that works for you and your students.

This inventory is simple and geared towards younger students. I created it with my first graders in mind.  I knew that I was going to read the questions aloud and needed simple answers.

This inventory comes from Young Teacher Love.  It is geared towards upper elementary students.

This one comes from Ginger Snaps.  I would say that it is for students that have read a wide range of genres and would understand the different types that she lists in the inventory.

This inventory comes from Ms. D's Literacy Lab.  She recommends that it is for grades 2 and up.

Leslye Tilton created this inventory.  I like the layout of it and find it to be user friendly.  She suggests 1st through 6th grade for this one.

Creative Connections created an inventory for younger students that has graphics instead of written answers.

Smekens Education created these inventories.  This one is for grades 3-5.  When I downloaded it, I found that the layout is inviting and easy on the eyes.  I liked this one a lot.

This one is for 6th-12th students. 

If you have an inventory that you find helpful, please leave the link in the comments!  We would love to look at it and try it out.

Creating Our Classroom Enviornment with Books

Summer has ended and for most of us, school has started.  All of our summer planning, relaxation, professional development ideas, and bloggy-inspiration are put to the test.  How are we going to create the classroom environment that we want?  How do we make the kids respect each other and all their differences?  How do I make them listen, trust me, respect me, and want to learn in my class this year?
Books.

Lucky us, there are so many great authors and illustrators that have created some amazing books to help us create the environment that we want.  Books that help us to illustrate good listening and respect for others.  I (Em from Curious Firsties) wanted to highlight a few of these books today.  You will have so many more to add to this list.  Please comment below and let us know what other books we can add to our "back to school toolbox."

Respecting Yourself and Others:

All of these books help our students to understand the importance of being yourself and being different from each other.  I always try to emphasize how boring our classroom would be if we were all the same.  And that I would never want to be in a classroom like that.

For "The Crayon Box That Talked" I ask the students to draw me a picture using all the different colors.  When they open the box of crayons that I hand them, they see that all the crayons are the same color.  They start shouting that they cannot make a picture with just one color.

But I make them do it anyway!  Then they get to color a picture with a regular box of crayons.  We discuss the importance of having many colors in our world, just like we need lots of differences in our classroom.

"Cat The Cat Who Is That?" may seem like an odd book to have on my list.  It is a very simple book.  But I read it right along with "I Like Me."  I want the students to think about why they like themselves.

 After they complete a self portrait, I ask them to mirror the language from "Cat The Cat."  They write "I am _________ the ________." (It is also a great book to begin introducing speech bubbles during that first week.)

"Arthur's Nose," "I'm The Best," and "Chrysanthemum" are all stories that do a great job of illustrating a character that does not feel comfortable with what sets them apart from others.  But as the book progresses, they learn to accept themselves and their differences.  What an important skill to hit over and over and over again.

Building Teamwork:

Teamwork....SO important.  I like to work on this skill throughout the whole year because I really believe that it is a life skill that our students need to survive in any job/career that they enter.  Here are a few books that can be used to help reinforce this skill:

I think all of these books help to set the tone for teamwork in a classroom environment, but it is the activities and discussions that you plan and implement with your students that make the most difference.  One example comes with "Rainbow Fish."  Teamwork is not the focus of this book.  It is more about sharing; however, I use it to teach teamwork by putting the kids into groups and asking them to make a fish together.  Once they work together to complete this task, they receive their "sparkle" fin.

This year I will use "Swimmy" to work on teamwork during our first full week of school.  My entire group of first graders will use their individual fish to create one large fish in the hallway!  I love this visual to help them understand the impact that teamwork can have.

Being a Good Listener:

I know that there are some really good books out there to help introduce good listening skills in the classroom but I want to focus on just one right now.

My firsties think this book is so funny!  They crack up as I read it because Rapunzel does not listen to the prince and throws many silly things out of her tower.  This book has some great vocabulary, includes rhyming, but really serves the purpose I need it to: listening.  Rapunzel is a terrible listener.  Once we complete the book, we discuss what a whole body listener would look like and we label those parts on a person.  The book is so engaging and funny that I can refer back to it and remind them to be a whole body listener.

What books do you use to create the classroom environment that you want?

Introducing Robust Vocabulary in the Classroom

Hi everyone! I know many of you are already back to school or are preparing for students to arrive next week like I am. Today I wanted to share a great activity that I have used in my classroom to help build a stronger vocabulary for my students!

I'm sure many of you have seen or maybe even used "vivid verbs" in your room, but I have a great activity for introducing adjectives.

Our school started a huge bullying prevention program a few years back, and part of the program included having morning meetings with your class at least once a week. It was tough to come up with meaningful discussions, plus I was frustrated to be losing instructional time. Then I found a solution from an edition of The Reading Teacher. It was an article about introducing more rigorous vocabulary in the classroom, and one of the ideas it mentioned was using simple compliments to teach synonyms. I loved this idea!

We would begin our morning meetings in a circle, so I asked students to look to their left and write one positive word to describe that person. Of course, many of them wrote words such as nice, funny, smart, etc. We went around the circle, and each person shared what they came up with. Then I gave the students an encyclopedia and encouraged them to find a synonym for that word that was more interesting. We shared those, and then I collected all of the words and made a bulletin board linking the "dull word" to its stronger companions. I searched my classroom high and low today to find a picture, but unfortunately I did this activity before I started blogging and saving everything AND when I was using my old computer that died at the end of that year. So I had to create a quick sample to share.

It's very simple, but the students were able to refer to it throughout the year not only for the morning meetings, but also in their writing. I really pushed them to avoid simple adjectives and find more creative ways to describe their peers. We had instances, of course, where students chose a synonym that didn't quite relate to what they were trying to describe, and I would address them as the students used the words. "Cool" was also a difficult word to find synonyms. In that case, I had the student describe what made their classmate "cool", and then we searched for a more appropriate term. Many times, it was something completely different, such as "athletic" that we found for the final adjective.

One other reason I like using the compliment circle is that it helps students recognize and connect with more appropriate character traits when they are reading. Many of my students have trouble coming up with the adjectives needed to describe characters. Through these meetings, hopefully students can begin to make those connections more easily!

Quick Time Savers for Back-to-School

Hello,
This is Deniece from This Little Piggy Reads.  Normally I share a reading tip with you, but today I am going to share a few recipes that I hope will save you time (and sanity).  I know this time of year is incredibly busy and if you're like me, you're ACTUALLY beginning to feel tired in your bones!  These recipes will save you a little time and guess what?  They're on the healthy side.  All of these recipes have been tried in my home & approved my family.

And the final recipe is my MOST pinned PIN on Pinterest!  It gets atleast 30 PINS per day!  My family loves it.  BBQ chicken sandwiches with coleslaw on top.   If you're interested in the recipe, click the pic and it will take you to it.