New Email

I have a new email!
Please email me at MissRachelRoss11@gmail.com or RachelRoss@iusd.org.

Summer Enrichment Academy

I taught "Fly Into First" in the first session.  I had a small group of 7 students which was great because I had a lot of time to work one-on-one with some students.  Before the session began, I met with a friend who taught first grade.  We discussed daily routines and skills students would learn in first grade.  Each day in the SEA, I did lessons to introduce students to new skills so students would have a head start in the new school year.  With such a small group, we had lots of opportunities to share work and partner talk.  We had so much fun playing math games, and practicing numbers, writing and high-frequency words!

I taught "Jumpstart Kindergarten" in the second session.  This is a great opportunity for students to be introduced to the school setting before the school year starts.  I had an amazing Instructional Assistant who knew most of the students from the first session of "Kinderfun."  Each day, we introduced alphabet letters and numbers.  We practiced writing our names and learned to use scissors and glue.  We did fun activities with bubbles and chalk so students could practice social skills too.  It was really cool to see how much students learned in the short summer session!  I'm so excited for these students to start Kindergarten!

IPSF Summer Enrichment Academy- Round 2

This summer, I'm going to teach two sessions at IPSF's Summer Enrichment Academy.  This will be my second time and I am so excited and thankful for the opportunity!  I'll be teaching "Fly Into First Grade" and "Jumpstart Kindergarten."  Only two more days of school and then I'll be getting ready for the summer sessions.  It's going to a busy and great summer!  Like I always say, "Busy is good!"

Fluency Practice

After the second trimester testing, our team decided to focus on building fluency.  We started using these fluency practice worksheets from Shelby County Schools Kindergarten Kove.  At the start of the week, we highlight all the high-frequency words and blend the CVC words.  Students keep this in their morning work folder and will take it home on Friday.  We practice reading throughout the week.  The highlighted HFWs and the blending support has definitely helped students read more fluently.  The repetition has helped build confidence and by the end of the week, students are reading the whole page independently.  I can't wait to see our improved fluency scores next trimester!

During conferences, parents told me how impressed and surprised they were when their child first came home with this handout and read all these sentences.  Proud teacher moment!

Project Based Learning- Bird Nests (Kinder)

We've read a lot of stories about animals; the way they move, their babies and habitats.  We had a field trip to The Living Desert (a local zoo) and got to see lots of different types of desert animals in their homes.

 I planned a PBL project and we made bird nests!  I gave each heterogeneous group a bird and they had to build the perfect nest for their bird.  Our driving question was, "What type of home could we build for our bird?"  The final products turned out perfect!

On the first day, I introduced the project by talking about our past animal stories and reading the book, "Mama Built a Little Nest."  This book was perfect because it has a lot of different types of birds from different habitats.  We talked about the different types of nests; cavity, platform, cup, pendulum.  Our project was focusing on two of the nests, platform and cup. 

On the second day, I told students a story about a bird that got lost during the weekend storm and landed on our school campus.  I gave each group a bird, an eagle or hummingbird, and assigned a captain.  Students made a collage with pictures I printed from the internet and copied from our stories.  As groups were building their collages and talking about the characteristics of their nest, I talked with groups and wrote the items they would need to search for.  Then we went on our nature walk.  I gave each student a pair of plastic tweezers to act as the beak of the birds.  The captains carried the collection bags.

My BTSA mentor came into observe our project and she walked in as we were walking back from our nature walk.  Students started building their nests, using the collages as a guide.  The building was the best part of the project!  Every single student was engaged and participating, even my shy students!  And everyone was on task, which just goes to show that it was a real meaningful learning experience.  I heard lots of great collaborating and academic language.  Students were discussing the items they collected and where they needed to be glued down (we were using glue since we didn't have mud).  They were discussing the shape their nest needed to be; tall, round, flat, big, small. 

I heard a lot of reflecting and once students started building, they were talking about items they wish they would've gotten more of.  The time flew by and before we knew it, it was time for recess.  I let my students use their recess to collect more items, now that they had a better idea of what they needed (No tweezers this time because all the other classes were out there too).  They were thrilled to give up their recess to work on their project, I couldn't believe it!

After round 2 of their item collection, they got back to work on building their nest.  When our nests were finally finished, I moved their poster boards to the hallway counters to dry.  My students had PE, which was perfect because my BTSA mentor and I had time to discuss the project.  We talked about PBL projects and how they are a lot of planning but well worth it, if you can connect content all together.  For my class, we had all the animal stories from the previous unit and our field trip which made a perfect platform for a PBL project.  I was so nervous for the management aspect and staying on a time schedule.  I think these uncertainties come with the planning of a PBL project.  Every project will be different and I had to just do it with the kids and figure out what would work for us.

On the third day, we made a concluding video.  I filmed each group for about 30 seconds while they presented their nest to the class.  They talked about what type of nest it was, what items they used, and why their nest was perfect for their bird.  I used the VivaVideo app (it's free and I downloaded it onto my phone) to put all the clips together.  Of course, we had to watch our video together and my students were so excited to see it!

Overall, a very successful project.  It was wonderful to hear all the academic language and see students collaborating.  It was a lot of planning but it was so worth it, I can't wait to plan the next PBL project!

ELA Writing Tasks

My district has a big focus on writing and each unit has a "Module" that outlines the writing tasks.  Each week we complete thinking maps and write 2-3 sentences about our story.  This week's story was My Lucky Day and we wrote about which character we thought was smarter.  On the first day of writing, we completed a circle map about Piglet, who we thought was the smarter character.  The middle circle has the main idea, "Piglet," and the bigger circle has details about why Piglet is smarter.  On the next day, I model how to transfer the information from our circle map to the sentence frame.  We do a partner talk to orally practice the sentence frames.

Sidenote- The circle maps are outlined in green and yellow to expose students to "Step Up To Writing."  In later writing tasks, we will also use an outline T-chart.  They use the circle map to brainstorm, the T-chart to organize their thoughts, and the sentence frame to publish their writing.  With guidance and support, of course!

Now we are ready to write!  Students use their own circle map to fill out the sentence frames.  The circle maps have 3 or more details and they get to chose 2 for their sentence frame.

Roll A Sight Word

We are always practicing our high-frequency words!  I found this dice game that is super simple and lots of fun!  I downloaded the freebie worksheet from The Reading Bungalow.  Students roll the dice, read the sight word, and then write it!

I had one student that went above and beyond!  After he filled the chart, he created his own on the back! So amazing!

My students loved the game and practiced reading and writing their HFWs, I love it!