Grade+3+Collaboration+2013-14

// We will use this space to keep track of our work together during team collaborations. Members are free to include comments, insights, add content, etc. Click edit to add content. // =Team Notes=

**__September 18, 2013__**
Present: Scott, Morgan, Sue S., Sue L, Monica

Purpose of our Collaborative Meeting Together
The 4 P's of Collaboration We want our collaborative time and conversation to encompass the following P’s:
 * __Purpose__ – a focus in student learning that is results -oriented and data driven
 * __Practice__ - discussing and sharing instructional best practices
 * __Participation__ - each member of the team engaged in accountable talk, sharing ideas, present and prepared for meetings
 * __Product__ - making student work the focus of our collaborative efforts

September Assessment- How did it go?
Sue L.- Everything enter- two kids absent need to complete HFW; complete ELP on 2- students Sue S.- Needs to score HFW- Working on F&P working on a few outliners Monica- Need to complete ELP on a few student.

Comprehensive Assessment System (CAS) and AIS
Passed out expectations and calendar for submitting data into Northstar. Scott will meet with each teacher during the next 3-4 week to review classroom data.

Know- Need- Teach- Check
After reviewing student data, use KNTC to isolate next step for striving students in the areas of reading, writing, word study or literacy behaviors.

Coaching
Grade levels should choose for the following menu of possible cycle topics: •Student Talk During IRA •Shared Reading •Reading Workshop Mini-Lessons •Small Group Reading •Student-Based Instruction •**Writing About Reading- 3rd grade picked this; will start in October**

Personal Narrative
__**Rubrics**__- Opinion Writing- Narrative Writing- Informational Writing-

Passed out 3rd grade narrative rubric from Lucy Calkin's and writing learning progression. The personal narrative is the most essential, the other two gives you beginning of the year baseline data on the 3-types of writing. Ideally we want to show evidence of learning by comparing these baseline sample with post-unit demand tasks. We should see growth by every student. (Scott will get a copy of Chp. 2 from Writing Pathways- The First Step On Demand Performance Assessment for teachers. Teachers should review this chapter to understand the rationale behind the baseline and ongoing writing assessments). Briefly practiced process looking at one narrative writing piece. Teachers should use the legal size writing progression rubric to score writing and see where their students fall out. Consider overall class results for mini-lesson. Do the same for informational and opinion writing piece. We will compare baseline to other writing piece after units of study.

__October 1, 2013__
Present: Scott, Frank, Sue S., Sue L, and Monica

Math Meeting Notes-

**__October 9, 2013__**
Present: Scott, Morgan, Monica, Susan S, and Susan L


 * Reader's Workshop**
 * Susan L.- Routines in place- kids know them; they are anticipating what they need, talking about books- students taking risks; using sentence starter to support conversation- encouraging listening and responding to your partner. Kids honest- not reading at home; using a poem for fluency- they are not reading that at home.
 * Susan S.- Workshop going generally well; so kids more focused that other; some kids that are not strong at independent reading (majority reading); kids are using the reading log; Need to continue to influence parent to look at the log; need more lower level reading books- idea- swap baskets from other teachers. Ideally- we need to find ways to get these readers out of the lower levels; Susan L- suggested reading buddies with lower grades- use resources from the wiki on levels
 * Monica- routines much smoother- log going well, most kids choosing just right books; struggling kids working on the KNTC sheets. Choose

__Writer's Notebooks-__
 * Writers Workshop**- Looking More Closely at the Personal Narrative Baseline Task
 * Collecting ideas- then taking it to writing- Goal right now- lots of writing- building stamina- collecting. Students writing 10-20 minutes
 * Ideas- Susan L. shared how she used mentor text (read aloud) to encourage ideas.
 * Morgan will share practical resource- __Notebook Know How__- Aimee Buckner- copied first chapter.

__Writing Expectations-__ __Trends/Focus Needs__ Structure
 * Look over annotated sample from Lucy Calkin's- to see expectation and progression (grade 1-3)
 * Team needs to continue to make sense of writing progression- concern that it does not direction address writing complete sentences and subject- verb agreement.
 * Many piece falling in the grade 1 range of development
 * Beginning, middle and end- not consistent; listing events in the story
 * __Goal__- move from listing events to telling a story; (strategy- use the story arch)

Development- (create similar goal/ focus for this area)

Conventions- getting students to convey an idea in a complete sentence.


 * Reminders**-
 * Use shared reading and interactive reading aloud to prepare for Novembers units of study.
 * Use shared reading to model "deep reading" and processing of short text similar to what students will need to do on the NYS Assessment
 * Team will be getting their own set of Lucy Calkin's Writing Units to use as a resource to support the work

Scott will be collecting monthly writing snap shots (collection, process pieces, on-demand writing) from the following students. Teachers just need to make copies of their work.
 * Action Research- Evidence of Learning- Tracking Student Growth in Writing**
 * Lubick- David Corby, Jack Larson, Mercadiez Raymond
 * McDowell- Hajjar Altwani, Alexander Tigg, Niveen Zidan
 * Stephens- Meadow Fumerelle, Bori Lee, Esteven Ortiz-Cruz

__October 24, 2013__
Present: Scott, Morgan, Sue S., Sue L, and Monica


 * Coaching Update- Writing About Reading**

Takeaways so far... Monica- Good start- good that it is done during the read aloud- makes it easier to monitor all kids. Harder to monitor with their independent book- unit of study focus- jots to conversations. Sue- teaching kids to follow the story first (referring to the unit of study) Sue L.- agrees- good start

Purpose- Writing About Reading is a vehicle to....
 * show your reaction to a book;
 * to get the kids to look past the author's thinking;
 * help kids provide evidence to support their thinking;
 * makes the student's thinking visible;
 * gets the reader to slows down to deepen their understanding as they unpack the chapter books;
 * promote meaningful conversation

There are lot a different form of writing about reading but the purpose is the same

Goal- transfer to independence. The tool and strategy needs to fit the purpose and need. Go from oral to meaningful jots- to conversation to writing. Trust the gradual release model- slow down and listen to students and their language as they first do the work orally before taking it to writing.

At this point- As the result of our work, are we seeing any changes in the jots (post it) students are making during independent reading?

=**October 28, 2013**= Present-Susan L., Sue S., Morgan Writing: Where are we in our personal narrative writing unit? Other discussion-managing HFW lists for writing folders-Sue S. shared lists she and Meghan prepared for each kid to use in folders rather than lists of 100 words
 * students are drafting; we are working toward revising, editing, publishing
 * Paper choices-perhaps give kids 3-5 papers w boxes for pictures to continue editing/revising...publishing
 * We need to give demand task at the end of the unit-same as Sept demand prompt before moving on to next UoS
 * Next UoS- writing narrative non-fiction--we pulled out read alouds to get started on to support the work
 * Susan L. suggested using the list of HFW that kids read from-highlight for each kid; much more user friendly

=**January 16, 2014**= Present-Susan L., Sue S., Morgan, Moncia, Scott Launching the Writing Coaching Cycle

Teachers completed the pre-cycle reflection from- specific teacher behaviors relate to writer's workshop

Looking at cycle resources and materials- Chapter from... __The Art of Teaching Writing__ by Lucy Calkins ( nuts and bolts of the writer's workshop), __What You Know by Heart__ by Katie Wood Ray (affective side to writing, looking at minilessons) and, __Celebrating Writers From Possibilities Through Publication__ (focus of celebrations at the end of writing) by Ruth Ayres and Christi Overman and
 * Susan- using the document camera to celebrate. Maybe take a picture of student work and put it into a powerpoint.

Planning and Logistics __Question__: Looking at calendar of instruction- fitting everything in (unit seem to be taking longer than expected)- Suggestion: Backward map the unit. Work backwards from the publication date, also make sure you make time for an on-demand independent writing sample. Looking at the schedule- start with visitation in each classroom. Planning start with Monica on 1st Friday. Teaching starts the next week.

=**January 31, 2014**= Present-Susan L., Sue S., Morgan, Moncia, Scott Writing- Looking at Literacy Essay

Planning Calendar Team has given the pre-writing. Student had trouble switching from non-fiction writing to opinion writing.

Focus- students respond to reading related to character and theme. Take students through the process **__two__** times- Options
 * Option 1-First time though- mentor text- Model off __Winn Dixie__. During demonstration use this text. Challenge- it might be hard for students to go back to find evidence if they don't have the text in front of them. Also- Due to the length of chapter books, it take longer for ideas and evidence to develop. Consider these challenges- You could create an anchor to make notes and record- demonstrate with one set of ideas, have students pull from the same chart to practice and write; or students could re-read a short text/picture book or go back and use one of the interactive read aloud. Scott concern here- Literacy Essay should be based on a book already read not a book currently being reading. When we write about a book we are currently reading it fall more under the category of "writing about reading." Is all literacy essay- writing about reading? I all writing about reading- literary essay? Its about purpose and perspective. We need to chose our mentor text wisely base on the purpose.
 * Option 2- First time through- use a picture book to demonstrate with and have students use a picture book. Use Winn Dixie for demonstration the second time through. As you continue to read aloud Winn Dixie make notes/jots that you can referred back to during future collecting lesson the second time through the process. (seems like most of the team was leaning in this direction)
 * Second time through- model with Winn Dixie with another idea (if used the first time), students this time use the chapter book they have recently

Team back-mapped the lesson- Morgan created a calender w/team- will made/distributed copies. Immersion- Video, show students an actual example of literacy essay "What do you notice about it?" (done in shared reading)- read it like a reader. Later, use the same sample as an anchor during mini-lessons and read it like a writer. __Possible Timeline__: Day 1- Choosing a picture (short text) book (re-read) to write an essay around- What do you notice- big ideas about the book Day 2- jot ideas about the book- character and theme ideas Day 3- pick the one idea and list details for the text to support the idea (skim for evidence) Day 4- develop the thesis statement base on the idea chosen- practice writing different introductions Day 5- Body paragraphs- essay on that big idea Day 6- Writing the conclusion of the essay- How to restate the thesis statement- leave the reader with something- question, statement, conclusion, etc. Day 7-8- Drafting- take time to the develop writing- work on transitions Day 9- Revisining Day 10- Editing Day 11- Second Round- essay on a chapter book read

Draft Writing Unit- Lit Essay Overview-

= February 24, 2014 =

Scoring Using the Lucy Calkins Rubric:
- scored a few pieces, referring to the rubric, and sample piece (p. 216) - discussed scoring only what the student has represented, even if this means the final score appears low - when students demonstrate behaviors in two grade levels, score in between

Discussed How to Frame Upcoming Weeks of Literary Essay:
- use Because of Winn-Dixie as modeling text- doesn't matter if you write through the lens of character or theme - kids will have a choice of either a short story or typed text in which they can take notes on - students should complete two more pieces: one process and one on-demand - let's look at the on-demand to see if we can use it to assess both the reading and writing units

=**February 27, 2014**= Present- Susan L., Sue S., Frank, Scott

Discussed Math Practice- Susan has been explicitly identifying the math practices and calling on students randomly to respond. Frank mentioned some of our brightest 5th grade math students having trouble creating visual models to show their math thinking. When solving problems students needs to understand and use words- numbers- models

Challenge- students still not closely reading the question before solving. Possible solutions (see this Randell Charles article-
 * Teach the process of solving a word problem using very easy math. Focus on process not content or specific math skill.
 * Read the question through once without stopping. Think- what is the gist of the problem? What is the big idea? What is the relationship between the numbers. **If necessary,** slow down the process- As they read **stop and think** after each sentence or phrase- what do I know now? As you read the next sentence or phrase- what do we know now, how does this relate to the previous statement, phrase or information.
 * When solving a problem ask- what do we expect it to look like when were finished.
 * Create an estimated answer- "What would make sense?" (Make sure students know the purpose of estimation)- We need to teach this content vocabulary- Use vocabulary CODE and put these key word on a math word wall with examples to anchor student thinking about the word.
 * Place the focus on a visual model to solve
 * Ask students to write an equation before solving- "Thinking Blocks" might be a good practice website for this process

Getting Ready for the NYS Math Assessment
 * Reviewing critical concepts- give students daily practice (Common Core review- Evisions)
 * Frank share a "math box" skill packet, aligned to the math standards students need to know for the NYS assessment- all were short answers (no MC).

April 7, 2014
Susan, Monica, Susan 

Writing unit- Speech/persuasive writing

Possibilities- Kid Speech on Riding his Bike Ted Talks- What Parents Can Learn From Kids Pay It Forward Bullying CD (see Sal) Kids Change the World (ideas from kids in Australia to make change in school) O-opinion for change R-reasons E-examples O- opinion
 * all using excerpt from President Obama's speech on education for shared reading and for modeling during writer's workshop
 * searched for other examples of speech writing to share
 * Persuasive Writing Video- use OREO acronym

How? (Speech- persuasive writing) Why? To rally/inspire others to join your cause
 * What? (Change)

Possible areas for kids to want to make a change... *neighborhood
 * environment
 * school