Why Word Quest?

Who: Members of Team 106
What: Word Quest Vocabulary Builders
Where: Done at school and at home
When: Minimum of one word list a week
Why: Attempt to build vocabulary, knowledge of word patterns for spelling, and application into writing

I figured I would interview myself tonight.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with Word Quest?
A: Ideally I would love for students to be motivated to dig deeper into their reading and writing to identify word patterns, learn new words, and become better spellers.  I would like this to be a way for students to have a meaningful conversation with their families and work together to think about how we spell words and use vowel patterns.

Q: What are you looking for in the sentence part of the quest?
A: I am looking for students to write a complete sentence with proper punctuation and capitalization.  I am looking for them to enjoy writing their sentences and creating them.  I would like to see them challenge themselves with difficult words and not fear getting some wrong.  I want to see a variety of sentences and see their writing voice come out.  I am looking for them to use their current skill correctly and especially hold onto past skills.  I am going to be more lenient when I see them choose the wrong pattern for long e by using "ee" instead of "ea" than I will if they don't identify that as a long e sound.  I am also looking for them to attempt to use their dragon words in their sentences.

Q: What are dragon words?
A: It is a fun way to motivate students to learn either words I think they should know how to spell or words or patterns that they have had trouble spelling.  For some it will be fixing common sight words that they can read, but they misspell in their writing.  For others it will be working on a commonly misspelled word list a couple at a time to make sure they are solid in those words.  This is designed to challenge students at all levels.  I would like students practicing their dragon words, writing them on the back page, and even using them in their other pages in their packet.  I then want them to correctly use them in two sentences either on one quest or two.

Q: What is the minimum participation?
A: I will be basing their work in word study on the successful completion of six quests by the end of the marking period.  I made that decision with six weeks to go in the marking period.  We have some students with one completed quest and we have a couple with seven or eight completed quests.  I need to set a minimum level of participation, but I want them to also be motivated to go beyond if they choose.  I will probably set a maximum output of three quests or I would be overwhelmed.

Q: What can parents do to help?
A: This isn't as much about skill and drill spelling as it is about absorbing word patterns.  There is value to old fashioned practice of some words, but their is just as much value as bringing home some words you found during the day and showing your student how they are used at work or the store.  There is value in reading together and finding words that fit patterns.  There is value in using authentic writing assessment to test the development of the skill like writing a letter, a story, a poem, or a comic strip.

Q: Where do we go from here?
A: I am hoping after working through some basic spelling patterns that at least some students will go into Greek and Latin root words as a way to pick up some new vocabulary and skills to decode larger words based on those clues found in root words.

If you have any further questions, please send them to me and I may do question and answer as one of my normal things.  Have a great night!

Learning in Action

Excuse the volume, but I wanted to try sharing video here to show you what we were doing in Science yesterday with the assistance of our watchdog.  We were reviewing how particles change states of matter based on their energy gained or lost.  I have no idea how much kids gained from this experience, but it is more memorable than a quiz on whether ice is a solid, liquid, or gas.  I am always looking for new ways to stretch their abilities to accept new ideas in their mind.

Language

I am on a huge push towards language acquisition.  Our growth numbers on the STAR reading assessment do not meet my normal standards and I am looking for new ways to push their ability to understand and comprehend.  I have a room full of wonderful readers who now need to transition from learners who are learning to read into learners that are reading to learn.  Word quest is going to be part of that push, but it is going to need to be a team wide effort to use strong vocabulary with kids, questions them about words, and show them how to use words in new ways.

Having a large vocabulary is a huge success factor in future endeavors.  It is not the only success factor, but it plays a huge role in the type of student they will become.  I am looking into other efforts and ways to spend my time that will yield the kinds of results we all want to see.  I am always looking for new ways to introduce great vocabulary if you run across resources that you find useful.

Christmas STEM Project

The holidays are upon us and I can already feel the buzz in the building.  The holidays are a wonderful time for many families to take time to celebrate with each other and have an excuse to take time to think about others.  As a teacher, I will look for ways to allow kids to use their excitement to our advantage educationally, but we still have two weeks that we HAVE to work hard.  That final week will be filled with some holiday celebrations and fun activities that are learning based.

I want to walk you through the last week before Christmas so you know what is going on.  On Monday, December 19th, students will be traveling to every second grade classroom to learn about the holiday traditions around the world.  Each teacher prepares a lesson about another country and does a craft from that region.  We enjoy taking time to teach each class in the grade level and share some other traditions with students.  Holidays Around the Word is one of my favorite days to teach as a second grade teacher.

On Tuesday, December 20th we will be doing some Holiday themed writing and taking time to create gifts for our parents.  This ends up being a light academic day as we work through some creative processes and enjoy making something for all of you.

Wednesday, December 21st will be the date of the classroom Christmas party.  As you know, I do things a bit differently whenever possible.  I was never happy with my holiday party as a teacher until I took it and made it a learning activity together.  I created a STEM day which stands for the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and math.  We will spend the day working on a problem and measuring our solutions.  In the morning, I will introduce a problem based on the need to create a marshmallow throwing catapult.  We will be working in partners to plan an idea with limited materials.  

I will be looking for parents who want to come help kid's plans come to life.  I will write more in the future, but I am looking for people that are dedicated to helping their plan come to life and not take it over and make it a parent competition.  One of the hardest things we have to do is let kids fail and innovate rather than steal their struggle.  There will be two parts to our party and I don't have exact times, but last year we met for design and engineering from 10:30-11:45.  The kids went to recess and lunch and then we came back to test our machines after lunch from 12:30-1:00.  Parents left after that and that gave me about an hour with the kids before gym to celebrate with our team and open gifts and hang out together.

Thursday, December 22nd will be the kickoff to our board game design project.  In this project we will be exploring creative design and technical writing when it comes to designing rules.  On Thursday, I will be bringing in a bunch of games and components and teaching an introduction to gaming past Candyland.  We will discuss what "fun" is and how to create it.  We will also be playing board games and generally having a team building day.

That is Christmas week.  Friday we have off to prepare for a wonderful holiday. 

When it comes to holiday gifts, I really don't need a lot of things in my life.  Everyone loves to get gifts, but my most cherished possessions are the homemade cards, notes, and items from kids.  These thoughtful gifts have often been the most touching things.  I drink coffee everyday, but I have more than enough coffee cups for a lifetime.  If you really want to buy a gift, I would love a gift of books or games for the classroom.  If you would like to give a gift card, I would prefer something that I can spend on my class.  I don't go out to eat or drink coffee outside of a small coffee shop in Goodrich.  I always appreciate those thoughts, but they end up getting lost and unused and I would rather be honest about that.

If you have any questions about Christmas activities coming up, please don't hesitate to e-mail me or send me a Dojo message.

Mr. Montgomery’s

Monday Memo

Learning Targets:

• I can create a bar graph and a pictograph.
• I can make generalizations about data.
• I can tell analog time to the five minutes.
• I can multiply two one digit numbers.
• I can read with purpose.
• I can begin to explain the plot of a story by concentrating on the problem and solution.
• I can use a dictionary to expand my vocabulary and define words I do not know.
• I can ask myself questions as I read to improve my comprehension.
• I can use figurative language in my writing.
• I can identify the subject and the predicate found in sentences.
• I can identify a declarative, imperative, and interrogative sentence.
• I can write a paragraph with five sentences.
• I can explore words with similar word patterns.
• I can define the words evaporation, precipitation, and condensation.
• I can explain how water acts like a solid.
• I can identify the difference between solids, liquids, and gasses.

Schedule:

12/5 - Last day for Cool to Care Drive

12/5 - STAR Reading

12/12 - STAR Math

12/13 - 2nd Grade Christmas Concert

12/16 - PTO Popcorn Day

12/19 - Holidays Around the World

12/21 - Christmas Party

12/22 - Board Game Design Kickoff

12/23 - Christmas Break Begins

01/03 - School Resumes

01/13 - End of 2nd Marking Period

01/20 - Report Cards Sent Home

Status of Word Quest

As I reflected on my teaching of reading and language arts, I realized that one of the places that I didn't spend enough time was direct instruction of language and vocabulary building.  It is tough because often you are leaning on a couple students with advanced vocabularies to help fill in the gaps of what kids don't know.  It can feel like it is not beneficial if the same kids are sharing the meaning of those tough words, but I am kind of coming around to the fact that it is helpful for kids to hear kids define words.

One of my goals this year is to make my students truly hunger for the meaning to the words that they read.  It may be a situation where I want them in a dictionary looking words up, it may be that I want them talking about books together to make meaning, or it may be that I want them to be better at using context to anticipate the meaning of difficult words.

Then we come to the spelling/word study conundrum.  The district went away from the traditional model for spelling because we were not seeing children apply it in their writing or outside of a test they were memorizing word in order to pass.  Many in the district have moved to following a word study program based on doing word sorts and basically still working in the old model but letting kids be in groups based on their abilities and not just "grade level" words.

I wanted to try something different and more self-directed.  I want to create something that helps kids see vowel patterns within their reading and take it over into writing their own sentences.  I wanted to create something that they could work on with families and share and talk about words.  I want kids to have ownership of their vocabularies and understand the words that they use and not just memorize them.  I am not a good speller, but I love learning and thinking about the origins of words and the Greek and Latin roots that help create words.

Word Quest is my attempt to create that love of words.  My goal for word quest is that they complete a minimum of one quest per week, but if that is an area that they want to grow then they can do more.  Word quest may evolve over the year as I see how effective we are on our next spelling inventory.  The kids seem to be excited and I am happy to see dictionaries being cracked and students excitedly sharing words they learned.  I want to create a video that walks through what I am looking for so you know how to help on word quest.  I am going to try to get that done this weekend.

The bottom line is that I only want to do work that shows a long term benefit.  I will be toying with this program until I see something that students will invest in and it will carry over into their work and help them use their vocabularies in meaningful ways.  Thank you for helping me out with the support at home if kids are bringing their quests for help.  I have seen some amazing work that I can tell was supported by a conversation with parents at home.  It really feels like a team this year and it feels good.

Thanksgiving

I truly have the best job in the world.  There are days where the paperwork gets frustrating or the politics of dealing with the government, but it is all superseded by the moments I get to spend with your children.  There are days where we don't get as much done as I planned or have a bad day and it can be frustrating, but when I reflect on where we are, I am proud of all that we have done and look forward to what is to come.  I truly hope the work we do here this year is something that you will be able to observe in your child's life for the rest of their school career and beyond.

Often education is too focused on short term results and teachers forget the goal of producing life long excited learners.  This is a product of the system in which we are evaluated.  It is always nice to take a step back and appreciate the character growth that is going on that can't be measured by standardized tests.  I love watching kids come in excited to be in class and not want to miss a moment.  I love to see kids respectfully building on each other's conversations.  I love listening to them talk about how they treat others and want to be treated with respect.

We started the year with five expectations (Smile Every Day - Attitude, Respect, Integrity, Effort, and Teamwork.)  I am happy to proclaim that I feel we are doing a very good job at each of these aspects, but in my opinion the true measure is whether we are making a difference in these aspects ten years down the road.  I hope all of my students can still list those five principles of character on the day they graduate from high school and remember times when it was tough, but those principles meant more to them than taking a shortcut in life or following the wave of popularity.

It is in these times of reflection where I am truly thankful for parents who are willing to take time to read this kind of communication and help me have a long lasting impact on your child's life through character development and not just academics.  I love the little messages I have received from parents and students through e-mail and Dojo letting me know about how students are using our expectations outside of school.

I guess what I am trying to say is Thank You!  Thank you for sharing your kids and your wisdom.  Thank you for making these things important everywhere in their life.  Thank you for being on Team 106 and helping your children feel part of something special.

Here is to another great week!

Mr. Montgomery’s

Monday Memo

Learning Targets:

• I can use an addition algorithm to solve problems in the thousands.
• I can use estimation to check my work.
• I can use a subtraction algorithm to solve problems in the thousands.
• I can tell analog time to the five minutes.
• I can multiply two one digit numbers.
• I can read with purpose.
• I can use a Venn Diagram to compare two ideas in my reading.
• I can begin to explain the plot of a story by concentrating on the problem and solution.
• I can use a dictionary to expand my vocabulary and define words I do not know.
• I can ask myself questions as I read to improve my comprehension.
• I can use figurative language in my creative writing.
• I can identify the subject and the predicate found in sentences.
• I can identify a declarative, imperative, and interrogative sentence.
• I can write a paragraph with five sentences.
• I can explain how adults create change in their community.
• I can identify the differences in a rural, suburban, and urban community.
• I can identify the difference in natural (physical) and human characteristics in a community.

Schedule:

11/30 - Early Release Day 1:28

12/5 - Last day for Cool to Care Drive

12/5 - STAR Reading

12/13 - 2nd Grade Christmas Concert

12/19 - Holidays Around the World

12/21 - Christmas Party

12/22 - Board Game Design Kickoff

12/23 - Christmas Break Begins

Turning Good to Great - Inspiration to Innovation

One of my major themes for this next period of time until Christmas is going to be motivation.  The path from inspiration to innovation is sweaty work.  One of the most dangerous aspects of our society is that we often let our highest potential students become complacent with being good enough.  We inadvertently teach our kids to be happy with knowing the answers.  It takes a while, but I want to turn that idea on its head.

I cannot allow these kids to be happy with knowing the things they already know.  They need to have a hunger to learn.  We talked about this today as we thought about how hunger and the need to change has driven our society geographically and scientifically.  If at any point people became complacent, we wouldn't have the amazing advancements that we have in our society.  We have to have the hunger and inspiration to learn in order to have the ability to be the innovators.  I will never stop trying to be better at this job, and I hope that rubs off on the kids as I want to see them develop the same aspiration about their job as a learner.

DICTIONARY WARS

I have always loved having a competition with the kids to see how fast they can get at finding words in the dictionary.  I think it is an important skill and helps make the dictionary a better tool if they can use it more efficiently.  This is fun for them and great practice.  The difficulty has always been that it takes up an incredible amount of time from the teacher that I can't provide.  This year, I am planning on having my former students run it so that I can still be teaching and working with kids while they are running it.  It is not a huge deal, but if they want to practice it is all about finding words quickly and efficiently in the dictionary.

It is going to be a short week, but we will take advantage of it as best as we can and then enjoy some family time!

Mr. Montgomery’s

Monday Memo

Learning Targets:

• I can create a multiplication and division fact family.
• I can draw a model for a multiplication or division story problem.
• I can use an addition algorithm to solve problems in the thousands.
• I can use estimation to check my work.
• I can read with purpose.
• I can support my ideas with evidence.
• I can use a dictionary to expand my vocabulary and define words I do not know.
• I can make predictions in a nonfiction book by using prior knowledge.
• I can ask myself questions as I read to improve my comprehension.
• I can use figurative language in my creative writing.
• I can identify a simile and a metaphor.
• I can create writing that excites me.
• I can explain how adults create change in their community.
• I can identify the differences in a rural, suburban, and urban community.

Schedule:

11/24 - No School Thanksgiving break

11/25 - No School Thanksgiving break

11/30 - Early Release Day 1:28

12/5 - Last day for Cool to Care Drive

12/5 - STAR Reading

12/13 - 2nd Grade Christmas Concert

12/20 - Holidays Around the World

12/21 - Christmas Party

12/22 - Board Game Design Kickoff

12/23 - Christmas Break Begins

Learning Teamwork for the Team

Yesterday we had some larger group work to test some group working skills.  We were filling in information about the differences between a large city and a smaller town for our social studies.  Watching students work in groups of ten was very interesting.  Each group faced a different difficulty that kept them from their best work.  Each group was successful, but we also reflected on how we could be better.

I observed and shared that one group had students who sat back because they didn't feel welcomed into the group for some reason and we can't be our best unless everyone is engaged.  Another group dealt with the opposite effect where too many people were trying to take a leadership role and were talking over each other. We talked about how we have to find ways to take turns for us to be our best.  The final group had established a great group dynamic, but got silly and wasted the last five minutes and we talked about how we have to have the endurance to work the whole time.

It was a simple lesson, but a valuable experience in group dynamics.  We have really mastered the partner work aspect, so we will be working on how to get 6-10 students to be able to feel involved in a project and sharing.  I dislike group work myself, so I am sensitive to the difficulties, but I also understand the importance and want to be part of the people helping these amazing kids learn to respect each other and work together.

I am always talking about our team needing to have 30 paddles in the water rowing the boat.  We can't afford to have any passengers just riding along.  I hope that I can drill into them the importance of having everyone engaged in every lesson and contributing because they can learn so much from each other when they learn to listen to each other.

Each day is a process, but I truly feel like we are making good progress in the classroom and I look forward to seeing all the things that we will do.  We also cut apart some fact triangles yesterday that I told the kids they could take home if they wanted to practice them.  I am going to get some more printed so that you can have a set at home to work on addition and subtraction facts.  I kind of like the practice that asks them to think of their facts in a family because then you know your subtraction when you are automatic with your addition facts.

Questing for Words

It was so cool to see the support of parents pouring in on Class Dojo.  I hope that I didn't start something that becomes a pain for you as parents.  I thought it would be a fun way for them to see that parents on this team are cheering all of them on as we work.  The smiles were large as we read through the comments and encouragement.  I guess we will see where this goes, but I will continue to try sharing these comments as a way to motivate them.

I was going to have the students vote on a day for the pajama day reward, but since I forgot I will just make an executive decision and make it this Friday.  We will have a pajama day and spend some time in the afternoon reading or working on a fun lesson that I will put together for team building.

Today I passed out my first attempt at my word study program called Word Quest.  I offered your students a chance to bring it home and work on it at home.  I want to make sure that you understand that we are really focused on finding words that match patterns and compare them to other words.  I have one group that is working on "long a" words that the sound is made with "ai" or "ay."  There are others that started on "oo" and "ew."  Finally there is a group that is working on plural words with "-s" and "-es."

This is a work in progress.  You are more then welcome to help them find words to fit their patterns and the hardest working students will generate more words than the ten lines on the front of their packets.  I am not doing anything with the second page in the packet.  They can complete the 3rd and 4th page with the words generated from the front page.  This will evolve this year as we learn together what works best to help students key into the important word patterns in their spelling.

FAMILY GAME SPOTLIGHT: Doctor Eureka

I taught this game to a couple students today.  It is a fun dexterity and pattern matching game with a fun theme.  Scientists compete to create the right formula by dumping colored balls back and forth between the test tubes to match cards that are presented before them.  They have to strategically dump their chemical balls back and forth and sometimes put them in the wrong tube to clear it out for a different order.  It is a calming and fun experience if you aren't playing for speed.  I think it runs around 15 dollars on Amazon and makes a really fun experience for kids and even adults.

Life Long Collaborators and Learners

If I could guarantee anything this year, I would love to be able to know that everyone of my students would make a commitment to being a life long learner.  That is the ultimate key to being successful as a teacher, as we are challenged to constantly evolve and improve.  This is the attitude that I want to impart most on my students.  I want them to be flexible and to also have the desire to always learn how to do new things.

With that in mind, I have offered a chance to collaborate as a team.  I am responsible for educating your children, but I am also trying to grow into someone who makes parents feel that they are part of the team. Technology gives us so many ways that we can collaborate and share together.  That collaboration can be with me and then I disseminate the information to others or it could be a living team where parents learn from other parents.

I have been sharing information here on the blog, through class dojo, and through e-mail.  My new attempt is to use a website called stormboard.  The link to our discussion is here https://stormboard.com/invite/373612/fare7604.  If you have trouble logging in, please use the information below.

Stormboard is basically a huge bulletin board for posting.  Anyone should have the ability to double click on the screen to add a sticky note if you have a question or want to start some discussion around our topic of writing.  There is a legend for colors, but if you can't figure out where that is don't worry about it.  You can also click the chat box on each sticky note to see other's contributions to that question.

You can see one of the boxes blown up to see the comments inside.  You may also see the chat button at the top which is an open forum to ask questions or leave comments.  I have been using the activity button which will show you everything that has been added since the last time you have read the storm.  I don't know if this is going to be a great idea or just a fun experiment, but I appreciate the people that have jumped on to learn with me and help me grow as a teacher.

Ultimately we do everything we can so our kids have the best chance to be successful.  Please let me know if you have other ideas for us to grow as a team and an educational unit.  Thanks for being willing to let me experiment and be honest about not knowing everything.  Thanks for helping inspire your children to greatness.  Hop on if you get a chance and let your voice be heard.