The Chronicles of 4th Grade

  We are ready for "social distancing" to be over! We are entering week 2 of the school closures in PA.  While it has been extended another two weeks, thankfully schools have not been canceled all together yet.  During this social distancing time, I am thankful for the writer's notebooks I started with my students.  Since that was the one thing I made sure student brought home with them, I hope they are using them to continue writing.   When I started my notebook, I honestly didn't have a 100% buy in with it. However, my mindset has completely changed in the last few weeks. I see how powerful it can be with my own writing, and I hope my students are feeling empowered with their writing as well.  I'm excited to finally be able to check in with my students next week. I'm also interested to hear about whether they have been using their writer's notebooks daily.  In the meantime, some of them have been using our Google Classroom page to respond to &q

Wow! Have things changed just in a week's time?!  This was Bailey the other day.  Just sitting, staring into space, maybe pondering about what in the world is going on right now?! When I think about a "slice" of my time this week, I'm not even sure where to start.  Is it that staff meeting last Tuesday talking about our school district's plan for dealing with what was going on in the country? Is it the moment my grade partner walks into my classroom on Friday in the middle of our planning time saying we need to get materials ready for the kids immediately since they may not be returning to school next week?  Is it Friday afternoon as the kids are walking out of the door and we are getting the official word of the two week school closure in Pennsylvania? Is it Monday morning when I log onto my computer with minimal directions as to help my students move forward as learners?  So many questions, so many slices! I know I have blogged about my students' wri

Bailey's expression here matches how I was feeling today while my students were working on a quick write.  The students were making a list of "authorities" - things that they are very knowledgeable about.  My "slice of life" happened towards the end of the quick write.  I decided to sit next to one of my reluctant writers.  This writer is able to express ideas verbally, but when it comes to putting ideas into written language, this student struggles with this task.  While we were writing, I looked over at this writer's paper and noticed the long list this student was creating in his notebook.  I whispered to him how proud I was for the amount of writing he was doing and this fueled him to keep writing.   As we wrapped up our quick write and the students were transitioning to our next activity, this particular writer came up to me and asked to see my list.  As I showed him, he started to count my list of "authorities" and then compared it to h

It's just that time of the school year.  We are at the longest stretch.. trying to say goodbye to winter and anxiously awaiting spring!  It is a long few months between the end of winter break and the beginning of spring break.   Living in southeast Pennsylvania, we still haven't seen one snow day this year! Lately, I have been feeling like my pup, Bailey, each morning. I wake up and get ready to take on a new school day, even though I rather still be crawled up under the covers!  Despite the daily craziness of teaching, we can always find small moments that remind us how we are making a difference in the students' lives who walk through our doors each day.  I recently attended a writing workshop about Writer's Notebooks.  When the presenter handed me a brand new teal notebook, I was actually excited!  I took time decorating it with stickers and pictures that reflected me.  I wanted to write in and take pride in how I was going to use it.  That excitement led to me