End of Year in 18 Class Periods (it's only February!)

 

No, I am not counting down the days but I do count each school day for my students.  Today is Day 124 of 180 days.  I also try to plan out and pace my teaching modules - then see what it looks like on the students' schedule.  

Bam!  

It then hit me that I only see my students 18 more times this year.  And that is only if there is no CAASPP testing.

Panic - Panic - Panic.  Deep breath - Deep breath - Deep breath.  Relax - Relax - Relax.

I then realized that it was important to really look at what I wanted to teach my students in these final lessons before they move onto 8th grade and high school.  What skills can I teach that will create a solid foundation for those first few months in the new grade level?  

I bring this up just to encourage you to start the backwards planning process for this year if you have not already.

For my 8th graders, I realized that the topic, "Systems of Equations" was important to teach before the end of the year.  And as I mapped it out, taking into account possible CAASPP testing and the third iReady benchmark, this topic would take me to the end of the year.  I also realized that this one topic was a good review of many other skills taught this year - solving equations, types of equations, graphing linear equations, functions, and verifying solutions.  What a great way to finish the year being able to incorporate so many other skills into one unit of study.

For my 7th graders, we start a new module today on "Angles and Triangles" that will take us to spring break and then we finish the year with the module on "Statistics and Probability."  The 7th grade curriculum allowed for the modules to be shortened according to the "Priority Instructional Content" document here.  Thus, I was able to teach two modules in these final 18 lessons that I have students.

With all of this planning, there is also flexibility within the plan to make adjustments.  If there is anything that has been more important than any other year, it is realizing that things are constantly changing and I need to be flexible in what I plan for my students.

There is so much uncertainty with these final weeks to go as the District starts the process of possible returning to in person teaching in some format.  Remember, no one has ever taught in circumstances like this - so what you are doing right now with your students should be commended.  Continue making those connections with your students every day - for many of our students this is what is sustaining them through these difficult times.  

And I encourage you to take a quick look (especially Middle School teachers) at your plan for the rest of the year - it is going to come much faster than we all think.  I want you to be able to teach those final skills that you believe are really important before moving your students to the next grade.

As always, give yourself grace - and then give yourself more of that grace,

       Kevin Stott                                    

 De Anza Middle School                

Math 7/Math 8/Integrated Math I 

Online Learning Sub Plans

    Sub plans have always been my least favorite part about teaching. I always forget how much I do as a teacher until I have to write sub plans. It takes me a couple of hours to write just one sub-plan because I want to make sure that my substitute has everything they need for the day plus extra just in case they need to fill time. I write down in detail how my class is run, I provide copies of worksheets that the class will need, made extra copies of filler activities if needed, and I provide the sub with lengthy directions for each subject matter of the day. I always try to make clear directions so the substitute knows exactly what I need them to do and how to do it. Kindergarten is a whole different ball game for subs. They need to know how to redirect their energy when they are having a hard time in class. Now, imagine being a sub during a pandemic? There are no copies of worksheets or filler activities. All the students are online and the subs have limited access to any curriculum resources. At the beginning of the school year, I made a very generic emergency sub-plan. I optimistically thought I wouldn't need a sub because if I ever got sick, I could make it through a zoom with no problem. I was completely wrong when I contracted Covid-19.

I did my best to stay in contact with my subs for the 2 weeks I was sick. My sub-plans were not up to par. However, I had great subs that did the best they could with what I had given them. My emergency sub plans were not updated with the changes I had made throughout the last few months. I had to share my materials as much as I could. Luckily, I have been using google slides each week with my students so that was an easy share with a lot of resources on them. After this experience, I knew I had to change my sub plans and make them virtually friendly for my future subs if I needed them. A few weeks after my illness, my principal contacted me and asked me to be on the interview panel for our Elementary Administrator interviews. I immediately went to work on new sub plans. I went back to old sub plans that I had used before and revised them to online learning sub plans. I wrote in detail what occurs when at each time of the day, how we take classroom breaks, and survival tips to help them get through the day. I also provide my google slides.

    My grade-level team and I have been using Google Slides for each unit. The slides include what we need for our Wonders unit and Eureka Math unit. It also includes a calendar, our classroom W.I.G, and our leadership roles. I got found these google slide templates from a Facebook group in August. All I did was make a copy and made the changes we needed for our class. I had to go to google images and save images I wanted for my slides and then add links to the images. I discovered VideoLink that generates links for youtube videos so that you don't have pop-up ads or any inappropriate content that you don't want your students to see. This takes time to complete, but worth it when it's all done. I never have to look for links or save videos in my tabs anymore! I can easily share these slides with the sub and all they have to do is click on the images and the link pops up. This is a game-changer that I will use from now on especially when we go back to in-person teaching! Another resource I was able to share was my TE's. I uploaded them to my google drive and have saved them as PDF's for my subs. 

 

  I have discovered through this process that I can share some resources from Wonders with my subs. I use the leveled readers with my students during U.A time. I needed to find a way to share the readers. At first, I went to the week and unit and clicked on small group and then clicked on the level reader. I was only able to use it from my account or share it to google classroom. This didn't work for me because so many parents could not access my google classroom or know how to use it. I had to abandon Google Classroom and only use Seesaw for activities. However, I discovered if you use the magnifying glass on wonders, type in the leveled reader you need, it will provide 2 images of the text. Click on the one that has a download option. I then downloaded the leveled readers I needed and saved it as a PDF and shared it with the sub. You can also share the close reading companion and TE's (by week) with the subs. Everything that I have learned through online learning sub planning I will take with me when we return to in-person teaching. To learn more about this process in detail, request a visit to my virtual classroom. 

We're all in this together, Maricella (Marcy) Mesa

Virtual Class Building & Team Building

 In pre-pandemic times, we know the importance of cooperative learning structures and cooperative grouping.  We know that that these routines keep students engaged and optimize their learning.  We know it is essential to teach kids how to work together to achieve a common goal, and to learn from one another, while building relationships.  The question is, how has this been working with online learning?  For many of us who are simply struggling to survive this pandemic and new world of online learning, it may be something that has been forgotten, or just plain difficult to achieve.

I believe that now more than ever, it's so important to ensure that we are implementing team building and class building exercises even into our online learning.  Children are being isolated from their peers and have minimal social interaction.  Not only do we know that collaborative learning structures help students learn more efficiently, it's also essential right now to focus on helping students to have that peer interaction with one another. And as Kagan has taught us so well, cooperative/collaborative learning only takes place once effective team building/building relationships has occurred.  The students need to know each other and feel comfortable with each other in order for them to effectively open up and work together.  

So that leads us to this important question, HOW can we implement team building exercises through virtual/online learning??  I know that team bulidng and class building has really been a struggle through virtual instruction.   I am going to give a few ideas here in this blog, that will hopefully help you out, if you're looking for some new ideas!

Class Building

First you want to start by building relationships with the class as a whole.  You want to get to know each of them as much as you want them to know each other.  This can be done through something as simple as a morning circle.  I teach 5th grade and we start every morning on zoom with our morining circle question.  Usually, you will want to start with questions that will be fun and engaging to the kids.  I often use the "would you rather" question prompts.  The kids LOVE these.  Here is one great resource I found that has a very conclusive list of "would you rather" questions for kids:

Click here to access a list of conversatons starters for kids!

I conduct these questions in a variety of ways:

1)  Type the question in the chat, they can send their response to me privately or to everyone.  I can further this discussion by asking for students to raise their hand and elaborate or share their responses.  I can also use the spinner to call on students at random after they've been given time to respond.  Additionally I can call on a student to share and then ask them to call on the next student to share, etc.  Once they get a little more comfortable with each other, I'll often throw them into quick random breakout rooms in pairs or groups to discuss the question as well.

2)I often use Nearpod which is an interactive white board site.  Here I will send students the link, which will take them to the Nearpod board with the question displayed.  They then type their answer on their virtual sticky note and everyone can read everyone elses responses. I read them aloud as they post them, and elevate or highlight any of participular interest, thus sparking further discussion.

These questions help to bring about a positive attitude when starting the day.  The students really look forward to them and will start to engage in the dialogue voluntarily after a while.  At this point in the year we have all learned so much about each other, things we like or don't like.  I often see students referring to something another student likes in the chat.  It's really cute. Morning circle questions are fun, simple, and a great way to build your class community and sense of belonging.  Below is a video of my students engaging in one using Nearpod.

Team Building

Once you have spent a bit of time building relationships with your class a whole, you can move into team building.  You first want to establish norms for the breakout rooms so that students know what is expected.  Then you always want to start with fun, non-academic tasks.  The purpose of this again is to help students build relationships and get to know each other so that when it comes time to now complete academic tasks as a group, they will feel comfortable talking and sharing with one another. 

One GREAT way to do this through virtual instruction is through the use of "virtual escape rooms." You don't need to make them yourself, there are TONS out there already created.  I have purchased a few off of Teachers Pay Teachers.  The purpose of these activites is that students have to talk and work together in order to complete the tasks in the escape room to move onto the next room.  The goal is to be the group who finishes first.  The kids absolutely love these- they love anything that's a race right? They really have a lot of fun doing them.  Below You can watch a video of my students working to complete an escape room project.

Kagan recommends doing 1 non-academic team building activity once a week just to help students continue to build those relationships.  That's not always possible, not even in the classroom.  If I can do a non-academic team building activity once every couple weeks I feel pretty good about that.  My kids work collaboratively to complete academic tasks on a daily basis through breakout rooms.  I have really seen them grow in the way they talk to each other, feel comfortable with each other, etc.  I definitely attribute this to the time we spend class building and team building- building relationships with one another.  

I hope this helps you get started, or further supports you in building relationships with students!

Virtually Learning,

Megan Brown

megan.brown@omsd.net

Phonemic Awareness: The Building Blocks to Successful Readers

 You can improve your students' ability to read unfamiliar words without even showing them a single letter.  One of the major skills before one learns to decode printed words is phonemic awareness.  Phonemic awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds, which are called phonemes.  A student who is phonemically aware is able to isolate sounds, manipulate sounds, blend and segment the sounds into spoken and eventually written words.

Phonemic awareness differs from phonics in that it is all auditory.  Phonemic awareness focuses on sounds (phonemes) in spoken language, whereas phonics focuses on letters (graphemes) and their corresponding sounds in written language and print.

There are six layers of phonemic awareness:

1.  Phoneme Isolation: 

hearing and isolating individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.   

2.  Blending:   

phoneme blending is basically combining to create words 

(/c/ /a/ /t/ - cat).

3. Segmenting:   

dividing a spoken word into its component sounds (mad - /m/ /a/ /d/)

4. Addition:    adding phonemes to a given word to produce a new word; starting with the word bell and adding the phoneme /t/ at the ends makes the new word belt.

5.  Deletion:  starting with a word and deleting one phoneme to make a new word; starting with the word bite and deleting the final phoneme /t/ to make the new word buy.

6. Substitution:  This last skills comprises all 5 lower layers of phonemic awareness.  It is knowing how to add and delete phonemes.  Start with need, change /n/ to /s/, and the new word is seed.

These are the Common Core State Standards for Phonological Awareness for Kindergarten:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2a: recognize and and produce rhyming words

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2b: count, produce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2c: blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2d: isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds in CVC words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2e: add or substitute sounds in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

Notice how rhyming is not included in phonemic awareness. That is because it does not focus on individual sounds in words, but rhyming is a helpful first step in phonemic awareness.  Rhyming, syllabification (a word or word segment that is produced as a single sound), and onset and rime (two parts of a word: the first part is the onset, such as /m/ in map; the second part is the rime, such as /ap/ in map) are part of the broader phonological awareness necessary for learning to read.

In Wonders for Kindergarten, I found daily phonemic awareness activities in both whole group reading and small group differentiated instruction.

Our Wonders program also has a phonemic awareness guide. It is listed as a Tier II intervention resource.

I hope you found this to be a helpful refresher or clarifier to the components and importance of phonemic awareness.  In next month's blog, I will dig deeper in rhyming as a component of phonological awareness.

Happy Teaching!

Erin Grebel

Forever in the Middle: Jamming with Kami

Jamming with Kami

Over the last few months I have been using Jamboard for quick collaboration with students in this digital environment. After a lesson on Jamboard etiquette with my students, they have come to use the feature fairly easily. It has been an excellent resource and the students prefer it over other sites we have tried.

Currently in eighth grade, we are working with a unit based on the topic of happiness. Last week we started reading Look Both Ways, by Jason Reynolds, and I had students use Jamboard to record beautiful quotes from the reading. The book allows students to explore the different ways the characters in the book find happiness within their own lives and Jason Reynolds is usually a winner for this age group. I am using the book as an extension for both my Intervention group and my Honors group so the way I use it within my classroom is very different. 

Both groups were instructed to find a quote that stood out to them as they read the selection for the week and to post it on the shared class Jamboard. For the intervention group, my goal is to spark an appreciation for how words are used in writing and to practice emulating those techniques in their own writing, and for the honors group, the goal is to analyze the techniques the author used in the text to appeal to the reader. 

Once the Jamboard was completed for the week, I created a PDF from it and posted it to Google Classroom for my honors students to then analyze using Kami. They were to choose three quotes posted by their peers and comment on the narrative techniques the author used and their effects on the reader. Below is an example of one student's response. 

Another great benefit of using Kami is that I can then go into the student's annotated document and push them to think deeper with probing questions. Below is an example of a student's response (black text box with white text) and my comment on the right to push him further in his thinking. He is then able to add more to his response on Kami. 

Tips for Jamming with Kami

1. Allow a window of time for students to interact with the Jamboard. You can close their access and make it "view only" once that time is up. This eliminates the possibility that students will accidentally erase others' ideas and also keeps the focus on the information and less on the fun features such as laser pointer, which can sometimes get out of hand.

2. Save the Jamboard as a PDF then post to Google Classroom so students can interact with it on Kami. Any PDF file works with Kami.

3. Don't forget to give students feedback on their responses. This can be overwhelming sometimes I know, but without feedback, the work isn't meaningful to students. Choose just one section to respond to so that your students are pushed deeper in their thinking and you can usually get to everyone in a class in under 45 minutes. 

Have you also combined the use of any tech tools? Tell me about it below! 

Keep the magic alive,

Kandyce Valverde

Wiltsey Middle School
Grade 7 and 8 ELA

Breakout Room Success

Providing students with the opportunity to participate in shared small groups can foster a deeper connection and communication level. Still, depending on your class, the students' age, and the subject matter, it can be a frightening experience to release control and trust the process. After all, a teacher cannot be everywhere, and if we are, are we really able to focus and offer support?  

Allowing students to meet to work in small groups helps build community and fosters deeper learning.

Breakout rooms allow students to connect with me and one another in a way that is only possible in a smaller setting. I wanted to give you some tips I have used to make Breakout rooms successful in my classroom.

1. It's all about organization!
Just like in the actual classroom, our kids need to be placed in differentiated groups according to their levels in the subject being taught. So, according to ability, I organize my kids into breakout room groups for each subject. Each group contains a high. high medium, low medium, and low student. Each student is numbered as either a 1A, 2B, 3A, OR 4B. My students know when they log into Zoom they need to put their number and letter in front of their names; that way, it's quick and efficient when I place them into breakout rooms. When using a Round Robin structure, my kiddos can easily use their numbers to know the order that they share. When speaking with a partner, students understand that A goes first and B follows. I also like to make my 1/A's my team leaders. That way, they can help lead the team if they get stuck or if a teammate needs assistance. I always make the team leader repeat the task aloud before letting the breakout rooms begin. Besides team leaders, it's a good idea to assign other roles to the team members. For example, if the team is working out a math equation, maybe one member is the recorder, one is the timekeeper, and one is the presenter. These jobs can be swapped or set in stone to cut down on confusion and keep routines.

    

2. Short and to the point

Make sure to keep your breakout time very short! This will ensure students focus and stay on track. By keeping breakouts to under five minutes can help students accomplish the task promptly. It's a good idea to have your team leader keep everyone on track. Once the time is up, have them come back as a whole class to discuss their conclusions, findings, and questions.  

3. Sentence Stems/Whiteboards

To help your younger students understand how to talk to one another, send them into their breakout rooms with a sentence stem/starter or their whiteboard with the problem already solved. Since they only have a short time to share, you want to set them up for success. It's not fun to enter into a breakout room and have complete silence. Most of the time, students just don't know where to begin and need guidance. Sentence stems or whiteboards can help them understand expectations and give them the language to get started.

4. Volunteers

It might not be feasible for all teachers, but I have found it very beneficial to have volunteers help out during breakout rooms. It's helpful to receive the support and that outside presence. I've enlisted all sorts of volunteers- approved parents, student teachers, staff members, and our principal to volunteer in our classroom. These people can actually be part of the conversation, or they can be there to just facilitate and help students focus. It takes a village!

Breakout rooms take time. When we first started, we practiced as a whole group. When we practiced everyone muted and turned their cameras off beside the chosen team members. Then we all watched them answer a simple question as a team.  The process, like everything in our classrooms, takes time and practice. When we provide a meaningful process, we can create an atmosphere that values student voice and choice.

If you'd like to see this in action please contact Tamara Moyers at tamara.moyers@omsd.net to set up a Spotlight visit.

Positively Teaching,  

Randi Muehlen

Less Teacher Talk and More Student Talk

    While talking to some of my colleagues last week, we all shared that we were shocked that we were still teaching remotely. For most of us in San Bernardino County, we have been teaching virtually for almost a whole school year. A year of creating and recreating content. A year of computer screens and zoom meetings. A year of teaching students how to submit an assignment on Google Classroom. And a year of how to learn from afar. I know I’m not alone in feeling frustration and sadness over this complicated year. If we could have guessed how long we would have been doing this, we would have started the year differently. 

    One thing I know I would have done differently from the beginning would have been to use structures to get my students talking more. At the beginning of each school year, I’m always exhausted from introducing my to-do classroom strategies and structures to my new students. This school, I was so busy trying to figure out how to teach this way that those strategies and structures were forgotten. Then, in November, I remember still being exhausted, and I noticed it was from doing all the talking and doing! My students were still working hard. It was fair to give them grace, but my normal high expectations were significantly lowered. I was not having students share their thoughts and ideas as I did before. Because of this, my students were disengaged and disconnected from their learning.

    To get students engaged and connected to their learning, I needed to make changes. Here are a couple of things that I started implementing in late November and continue to do to get my students talking more and me talking less:

1. Wait time with music:
   
   I’m not good with long silences in the classroom, and it makes me even more anxious in the virtual setting. Thus, it made it easy for me to talk more when my students did not answer or share their ideas. To give students thinking time, I started playing a couple of songs as informal timers. To do this, I created playlists (you can use Apple Music or Spotify) to use with my students. I give my students a task and set the expectation that they should be ready to share out after one song. This structure has increased the number of students who share and gives students time to ask me for clarification in the chat (if needed). Speaking of the chat...
2. 3-2-1-Waterfall: One fact is that most of our middle school students do not feel comfortable sharing their ideas aloud. This is true in the physical classroom and extends to the virtual one. The plus of a virtual classroom is it has the chat to share ideas and resources. One structure that I’ve been using is called 3-2-1 Waterfall. This is where students type out their response to a prompt into the chat, but they do not send their answer until I say “waterfall.” I do this to give students time to think and type and also so I can ensure that ALL students are answering. I wait to look at the chat until I have my magic
   number (the number of students in class that day). While I’m waiting, students are asked to look over their classmates’ responses and choose one that they either agree with or respectfully disagree with. Next, I cold-call (randomly using
   
   Flippity spinner) on students to share a response that they either agree or disagree with aloud with the class. This structure has helped students connect with their peers and feel safer sharing their ideas since someone else feels the same way. When we started this, I would share a couple of sentence frames to help them organize their thoughts (See picture to the right). 
   
3. Ice breaker and breakout rooms: I don’t know if it’s just my 6th graders, but I would put my students in breakout rooms to work on a shared task, and they would just stare at each other. However, I recently noticed that my students LOVED participating within breakout rooms if it was ice breakers. Therefore, I started planning to do a simple ice breaker in breakout rooms at the start of the class to get my students talking to each other and then use those groups to complete a shared task. Two that have worked great are zoom roulette and silly stories.

• Zoom roulette: The teacher gives their students a question like “Who is your favorite YouTuber?” or “What’s your favorite thing to do on the weekends?” The students are placed in random 2-3 people breakout rooms and given 1 minute to answer the question. The teacher closes the room and asks students to share out either their answer or their partners. Then you repeat for a couple of rounds with different questions and partners. Later on, when it’s time to work in pairs, you explain the task and open the same rooms. My students seem to be more talkative with the partner that they have already worked with that day. 

• Three-word stories: My students have become pros at this one! For this one, I randomly put my students in a breakout room in groups of 4-5.
  
  Their first task is to rename themselves by their breakout room number and then alphabetically (For example: if I were in room two and the 3rd person alphabetically, my name would be 2-Jenni-3). After they rename themselves, you bring them back to the main room to give them the story prompt. You can use any three words: My cat is… Once upon a… The craziness thing… One weird day… Students are instructed to all keep track of the story because they don’t know which seat number (alpha number) I will call on. Then, students are placed back in breakout rooms, and in alphabetic order, they create a story by only adding three words at a time. After 3-4 minutes, rooms are closed, and students come back to share the story (These stories are hilarious). Finally, after the lesson for the day, students are put back in the same breakout rooms to work on a shared task. 

I hope these structures give you some ideas to use in your virtual classroom and give your teacher voice a much needed rest!

Jenni Merry 

Unpacking the ELPAC

In the not too far future, exactly half of my students will be taking the ELPAC. I would venture to say that most, if not all, of us OMSD teachers have had, currently have, or will have, students who are English Language Learners.  Therefore, it is important for us to understand how we can best support our students as they become proficient in English. Listed below are answers to some frequently asked questions (Okay, full disclosure, I made these questions up, but they really are only a handful of the questions that I believe educators want to know the answers to.)

So, what exactly is the ELPAC? ELPAC stands for English Language Proficiency Assessments for California. It is a state-mandated exam to ascertain second language learners' proficiency in English.

Who takes the ELPAC? The purpose of this state language assessment is to identify and monitor ELL students' acquisition of English.  

What skills does the ELPAC focus on? The ELPAC focuses on Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.

How can I prepare my students for the ELPAC? Like ALL students, English Language Learners need intense, direct instruction in English in order to continue moving forward in their acquisition of English.

What do I do with the information once I know the results?  The results will point to our students' needs in the areas of LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING, AND WRITING. We can plan how we will address those needs during our Designated E.L.D. time (not a preview, a review, or optional) or during our Integrated E.L.D. time (content is essential, but language instruction makes the content understandable)

Where do I start?  If you click the English Learner tab (Symbaloo), you'll find a plethora of amazing resources compiled by some of the finest and most talented E.L.L. experts. (Of course, I'm biased. One of these experts just so happens to be an esteemed former principal of mine--Lisa Gettler.) If you have English second-language learners, I would highly encourage you to take some time to investigate the valuable information that each tile unlocks.

One of the tiles that are particularly helpful is the one for ELLevation. Here you'll quickly find the number of students on your roster who are English Language Learners as well their names. The same is true for the Reclassified Fully English Proficient students. There are a whole host of instructional strategies and activities (informed by the Common Core State Standards, the Next Generation Science Standards, and the California E.L.D. Standards) for a wide variety of topics listed under the "Instruction" tab. 

                                                                     

If we want our E.L.L. students to reach proficiency in English, then we need to ensure that we have the same high expectations for them as we do for their English proficient classmates. They deserve to be challenged academically. That being said, of course, scaffolds need to be in place as long as necessary, but those same scaffolds need to be removed once they are not needed. Our concern for our English-challenged students should propel us to empower and invite them to engage in the important, albeit challenging, and life-changing work that is happening in our classrooms day in and day out. None of our students are merely spectators on the sidelines; they ALL need to be actively involved.

ELLevating the possibilities!

Lola E. Jollie