Focus on Grammar: Grammar Games

We had a great morning talking about grammar and the Common Core! Looking for the language standards by strand and then lining them up in grade level order helped everyone to really read the standards carefully and think about how they progress through the grade levels.

Here is a playlist with some of the videos that we watched, as well as some others that work well for instruction:





Computer games can be another way to help students review and practice key grammar topics. However, there are so many games out there that sometime it is hard to find the ones that are really useful for elementary students. Here are some games that I have found (and tested) that work well for various concepts.

Punctuation Games
Learn about basic punctuation with Comma Chameleon.

In Alien Punctuation from BBC, students help aliens by correcting sentences to add correct capitalization and punctuation.

The game Complex Sentence Camp helps students to learn how to punctuate complex sentences.

Along the Sentence Trail, students decide on the kind of sentence and add correct end punctuation.

Parts of Speech
This simple Noun Explorer game helps students to learn about nouns.

The Adjective Adventure game helps students to identify adjectives.

With the game Verbs in Space, students look for verbs. Multiple tenses are used.

Other Resources
When we worked with sentence combining, I mentioned that Bruce Saddler had a book that includes more detail about sentence combining. The title is Teacher's Guide to Effective Sentence Writing. If you get it, drop a line and let me know what you think!

Additional resources about sentence composing can be found at the Sentence Composing page hosted by Don and Jenny Killgallon.

Summer Workshops

Time to start planning for summer! Even though the trout lilies are just blooming and it's quite cold here in Pennsylvania, it's time to think about what we'll do in the summer to refresh and learn more.

Over the last few years, I've enjoyed putting together different workshops for summer staff development. Here are some of my favorites from the last few years:

2012: A Closer Look at Close Reading, Reading Strategies and the Common Core

2011: Reading Refresher
This was so much fun--we looked at some of the newer ideas emerging in reading and how to integrate them into the classroom. I loved talking and sharing information about multiple literacies and multimedia texts.

This year, I'm putting together a morning workshop looking at grammar and the Common Core. How should our grammar expectations change? How can we make teaching grammar a meaningful part of the language arts classroom? We'll look at how we can help kids to develop a deeper appreciation for the rules of the language...and the confidence to experiment and try things out.

In the afternoon, we'll explore text complexity and the Common Core. (For more on this topic, check out my blog post over on the KSRA Conference blog.) I'm planning to get together a huge assortment of books for participants to browse and enjoy. We'll look at several text complexity rating tools and talk about how we can add more text complexity to our classrooms.

If you are an Adams or York County teacher, you can register through the LIU 12 site.

Notes
-The first peregrine falcon baby hatched today! I don't know how much teaching I'll get done on Monday--the kids are sure to be excited. I can't wait to share our last peregrine falcon text, which compares peregrine falcons to red-tailed hawks.
-I've been adding lots of new books to my Text Structure Pinterest board.
-On Monday (after we look at the peregrine falcon chicks, of course!) I'll be trying out some text structure literature circles. You can read about my experiences with previous literature circles here. You can download my literature circle materials for narratives from Slideshare here.

Science Standards Workshop

What a week! On Tuesday, I presented a workshop related to the Common Core standards for reading; on Friday, I'm presenting an outdoor workshop focused on science standards. Here are the resources that we'll be talking about at Friday's workshop--in between hiking and checking out all of the great locations for science instruction.

Curriculum Framework: Use this page to find the specific standards for each grade level.

Environmental Literacy Plan Draft: Follow the link on this page to learn about Pennsylvania's environmental literacy plan. You can also sign up for the newsletters on the right side of the screen.

Stream Study Practice Samples: At this site, kids can practice assessing the health of a stream with sample stream data.

For a more hands-on activity, I photocopied pictures of different macroinvertebrates and glued them to the bottom of paper "rocks". Then, I arranged various combinations of these "rocks" on large blue paper, and gave each group a different sample stream.

Pennsylvania Geological Survey: Very detailed information about Pennsylvania's geology.

BioBlitz: A BioBlitz is a focused event in which volunteers gather to find and document as many species as possible. Information about conducting a BioBlitz can be found at this website. (Nawakwa would be an ideal location for this. To my knowledge, nothing of this scale has been attempted. It would be fascinating to try to monitor species throughout the year.)

Narrows Stream Bank Stabilization Project: This document shows how stream banks along the Conewago in the Narrows were restored through an EPA project. This would be a good reading selection.

Geology of Adams County: A nice map showing the different formations in Adams County.

Pennsylvania Groundwater areas of concern: This easy article includes the fruit belt as an area of concern for groundwater resources. It would be an interesting text for students to consider in a study of groundwater.

Watershed Alliance of Adams County: A great source for information on local projects and watershed efforts.

Upcoming Workshop

I'll be presenting a full-day workshop called "Reading Refresher" on Friday, June 17. As I've been looking through the journals, there are so many interesting ideas that have a real value to our everyday classroom practice...yet these ideas often get overlooked in professional development. If you don't have time to read journal articles, but would like to get some fresh perspectives, this is for you! (And, as with all of my workshops, the emphasis is on practical classroom use.)

They day will include:

• Talking about those readers who puzzle us
• The "simple view" of reading, and how this relates to our teaching
• Helping students to use multiple strategies to build meaningful mental models
• Working with multiple literacies
• Making all of this work with the Common Core Standards...in a way that keeps our classrooms fun and engaging!

The presentation will be at Biglerville Elementary. York and Adams County teachers can register through the LIU:

https://act48.iu12.org/login.asp

If you are not teaching in York or Adams County, but would like to attend, please contact me.

Making inferences: KSRA

What a great session at KSRA! Thank you to everyone for your insight and participation. Here is a shortened version of the Powerpoint:

Making inferences

View more presentations from Emily Kissner.

Here are some links to other materials for making inferences. They are all on TeachersPayTeachers, and they are all free. (You will need to register.)

Character Traits and Emotions

The Magic School: A story to use to model making inferences

Visualizing Powerpoint

Visualizing story and lesson

If you like these activities, please rate them. Also, check out my books from Heinemann. Links are to the right.

June Workshop

For York/Adams area teachers: I'll be presenting two sessions at Biglerville Elementary on June 22.

8:00-11:30 AM: Teaching Text Structure

12:30-4:00 PM: Bringing Student Writing to Life: Balancing Standards and Creativity

Of course, both sessions will have lots of interaction, fun texts, and classroom materials...and Act 48 hours! You can sign up through the LIU website.