Board Builder by Discovery Education

This is my follow up post on Discovery Education. In my 1-1 meeting with a company representative I learned that DE offers more than just videos. I learned about creating assignments and quizzes, but I also learned about this awesome feature called Board Builder. It's a giant educational Pinterest board! I feel there is no limit to your options for this feature. My first time using the Board Builder was for sub plans. I was going to be out, but wanted to continue on with my lessons. So I used the Board Builder to teach my lesson to the students so they could complete their work. I'm excited to explore it more this summer for setting up my reading centers, and pairing it with my mentor texts. if you have Discovery Education access, dive into the program and enjoy it!

100% of Students Reading on Grade Level

My district set a very strong goal this year. The goal is that 100% of our students will be reading at grade level. With that we have been given many PL's, more resources, and they adjusted our reading block. Data showed that just reading is the best way to improve their scores. With that in mind we changed our block to have a 30 minute period of uninterrupted reading, and we started reading conferences.

I made many adjustments to my reading curriculum. I started with my reading block. After lunch I had been having silent reading to help calm them from the chaos of lunch and recess; I continued to do it during that time, but I changed it so I was conferencing them as well. Part of our PL's we were given Jennifer Serravallo's Reading Strategies book, and were trained on how to use that for small groups and individual conferencing. For my conferencing I found a form to use with each student to track their reading throughout the year. You can find it here. I then uploaded it in OneNote where I had created a classroom notebook where I had a file for each student. Within there I could write or type in each box for my tracking. I wrote down what books they were reading, why they chose it, how they read the story aloud to me, how they noticed the pictures with the text, how they retold the story, words they asked for meaning on, things we researched because they had questions from the text, etc.

The next area I modified was their access to books. In our PL's we learned about how your classroom library is organized helps students choose their books. My classroom library was already pretty well organized, but I still made improvements to it. I made sure the books were in bins by genres so they could easily flip through a genre they liked vs having to pull the books off of the shelf. Each book I made sure it was labeled with its lexile level on the inside and front cover of the book. To help them know where to return their books I labeled each bin with an assigned number; each book within the bin had the bins number written on the cover of the book. Some of my genres have multiple bins because I have so many books. I also made it so my bins all weren't in the same place; I have placed many around the room. I also only allow one student in charge of putting the books away, I make it a class job each week. I saw another teacher use a trash can and loved the idea so I had to make my own as well! Then I worked with the students on deciding the rules for our classroom library. They came up with the hours, and decided on what books go in their book bins. 

Looking at my classroom library that is a lot of books to keep track of. That was also part of the student responsibility. I created a google form for checking out books and checking in books. I gave them access to the link in an assignment in Showbie (I took away the due date so it would stay all year), and I also gave them access through our classroom Symbaloo. Once they checked in their books on our google form they put them in our return bin, chose new ones based on our criteria for our book bins, then they checked them out on the other google form with their iPad. 

I wanted the students to be more responsible for their reading data this year. In the past I was constantly asked during progress monitoring if they were hitting their goals, which I would then have to look up. This year, after our beginning of year testing, I sat down with each student individually and we came up with their reading goal. We use DIBELS and SRI in my district; each system shows us typical growth for each student. Once we made their goals, I wrote their goals on their desk with a sharpie (dry erase marker takes it off). Then every time I progressed monitored them they were able to determine on their own if they met their goal. Once they met their goal we worked and set a new one. I also had them make posters to hang in the room so they had another visual reminder. Anytime an adult in the building came in my room they could see my students reading goals, and my students were able to always tell that adult their own goal. I created my own system for tracking it in my data binder. Here is where you can find my system. My system I send home with the students at the end of the year to show their parents their growth as well - I no longer need it because I can print reports from our system we use for the next years teacher. 

       

                    

                      

The data is starting to come in and it is amazing! The data I have in is for SRI,  it measures their reading comprehension and helps determine their reading level. At the beginning of the year I had 9 students red (below), 13 yellow (approaching, and 7 green (on level or above). Now I have 6 students red, 8 yellow, and 15 green. Red decreased by 67%, yellow decreased by 62%, and green increased by 50%. It amazes me that they worked hard and we were able to decrease the approaching and below levels by over 50% and see a 50% growth for my grade level! This data tells me that at the beginning of the year 24% of my class was reading at grade level, and by the end of the year 52% of my class was reading at grade level! I can definitely prove that increased time reading independently with conferencing does improve students reading scores!!!!

Camp Wonderopolis

Wonderopolis is a great tool to use in your classroom for informational texts. I like during Daily 5 to have the kids, for read to self, go explore the Wonder of the Day. I wanted to post their website to my classroom Facebook page for my students and families to have access to over the summer. During the summer students lose reading skills they had gained during the school year. I'm trying to boost summer literacy to help retain skills for the following school year. When I went to their website it took me to Camp Wonderopolis. I was like, "what is this?" I had to start exploring it! The first thing I saw is that it is FREE!!!

I found the tour option and I quickly began exploring. Not only is their summer program about reading and vocabulary, but there are also experiments! They've created a Wonder Wall where posts have been uploaded with quick interesting facts for students to read or watch. The program motivates students to earn Wonder Cards. Their progress is charted within the site on their login page. Students can share out their progress too! What is really catchy is they created the Seven Wonders for the program. How cute is that?! I highly suggest you check this out - ITS FREE!!!!! 

Center/Bulletin Board Idea

These are the cutest thing I have ever made! They are tiny iPods that you add text or pictures to the display screen! I'm going to use them on my classroom door with the heading: This Years Playlist in Room 9 and have all my new kiddos names on an iPod (picture to follow when completed). They have more uses than as a welcome board. You can put a sight word on each iPod and display them on your sight word wall. You can also type in math problems or literacy activities. These have endless possibilities! Check them out!

          

                  

*This is also posted under my TPT tab.

Over Drive

This year in my classroom I'm going to try and utilize over drive. This is an app that is free for your students to get on their iPads and have access to ebooks. I noticed once it was all set up that my students were able to see items they should not see on their screens like romance novels. I have created a video to teach you how to restrict what your students see on their screen.

You will feel much better knowing that your students can no longer see inappropriate material. Now it is time to teach them how to find a book and add it to their bookshelf. For this I have created a video as well. 

I hope these two items have helped you to set up over drive for your students as well as understand the app a little better.