Reading: checking on fluency

Your thoughts are beginning to soften on room readiness and your focus is sharpening on how you will lead your students this year. No doubt reading is looming large on your horizon.

We want to know all about our new students. We check their sight words, their reading levels and their decoding abilities. We often let one thing slide by, even though it can be an incredible indicator: fluency.

There are lots of assessments out there, but most of them have flimsy fluency checks built in if they have them at all. This was the problem I ran into a few years ago. I chose to let fluency assessment sneak by unnoticed until I began my grad research. Then fluency reared up and demanded to be noticed, but I didn't have the right tools. I took my research and mixed it with practicality, and then sorted through the bits to come up with my Fluency Assessment Pack.

Fluency is important for several reasons, as well as being a killer indicator.

• Fluent reading boosts comprehension, because cognitive brain space isn't being used to decode
• Fluent reading boosts comprehension because recognition of syntax and structure, as well as awareness of language
• Slow laborious reading is an indicator of breakdown in the skills of decoding, sight word recognition, and language structure

Fluency can be tracked and improved. A quick assessment done twice with the same reading can show information you can use to differentiate instruction for your readers.

My Fluency Assessment Pack is available at both my Teacher's Notebook shop and my Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can enter to win it FREE at Teacher's Notebook, all you need to do is stop by and enter (check it out here). 

Fluency Assessment Pack at Teachers Pay Teachers

Fluency Assessment Pack at Teacher's Notebook

Teachers Pay Teachers is an excellent avenue for sharing the items we all create. I love that I have a website store that was so simple to set up, and is straightforward and easy to post items.  Interested in sharing or selling your own items on Teachers Pay Teachers? I'd love to see you there! Please use my referral code if you decide to check it out! I'd be happy  to get your started!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Signup/referral:bhmathews

Back to School Jitters linky party

I just stumbled on this great blog by Jessica at A Turn to Learn. I've been reading through some of her posts and had to join up with her. She's been thinking about the beginning of the year - aren't we all? I'm so dang excited about this new year I just knew I had to link up.

I do need to warn you that I've been having school nightmares since the last day of school. They are the worst I've ever had. Oh, yes, there are still lockers without combinations and math finals and lost schedules, but there is more. The ante has been upped. Now there is vomiting, assault rifles and nudity. Sometimes all in the same dream. My favorite one was when I realized I had no clothes on while I was teaching, which prompted me to yell the f-bomb. I was promptly fired. No one mentioned my being naked.

So the big question remains...will I need to see the doctor for a sleeping aid soon? They seem to be getting more frantic as the year draws closer. 

But how can I be having these awful dreams and still be so dang excited? Check it out....

Thanks for staying and listening to nervous/excited chatter. Now you should go check out Jessica's site. She's excited, too! (lots of good stories!!)

B.Y.O.O. (becoming a better organizer) #1

Dear friends from

This truly is a "Made it Monday" post. Just keep reading! If you make it to the end there is a **FLASH FREEBIE** waiting for you!!

Have you ever seen photos of my classroom?

Ok, so that's not really me. But it could be. My favorite story is

I'm not joking. I am Sophie. 

But here's the thing: I have a brand new chance this year. The last time I had a brand new chance was when I had to opportunity to go back to college, and look what came of that! So needless to say I take brand new chances very seriously. 

What is my brand new chance exactly? Why, I have a new classroom. Here's the best part: The person before me retired and left nothing  hardly anything in the room! That means "A Whole New Beginning" for me and my classroom. 

I have some issues with organization. I don't think I'll ever be a separate-colors-and-whites kind of girl, but I really do need to make some improvements. Brand new chances mean brand new habits, right? In that spirit, I am launching my series B.Y.O.O. (Bring Your Own Organization). It's alias is "becoming a better organizer". Look for installments on my blog; they'll be labeled B.Y.O.O.

Goal: To have things *findable* in my classroom

Objective: To have clear, easy to find and use sub plans.

One of my biggest issues is leaving my room ready for a sub. I write up killer plans, but most of the time they are unprinted, scattered, spilled on. Sometimes I forget to leave notes about who is getting picked up that day, or the slip for attendance and lunch. Poor subs! And is there anything worse than not having "Puke Plans"? Lordy help anyone who tries to come into my room unplanned and without a map!

I came up with a solution. Note: this is not my original idea, but these are my original plans and designs. 

I started with a brand-new-chances binder. See how glittery and pink it is? See the fancy duct tape that not only matches my room but reinforces the binder? Genius. 

I bought cheapy paper tab dividers at Wally's. They were so plain that I had to spruce them up! I did that by getting a pack of scrapbooking papers in the colors of my classroom: black and white. I also bought some polka-dot decorative tape. 

The letter dots spell "Nurse", "lunch" and "attendance". I used the front pocket for the nurse passes, but I made the inside pockets by folding scrapping paper and gluing them in. I finished them off with the decorative tape, which I also used to line the edges of the divider pages. The lunch and attendance notes look like this:

The next tab features information the sub needs to know. 

The pages included are:

Contact and Important Numbers

Schedule (for the day)

Lesson Plans 

Special Notes

Class Seating

Attendance notes

Lunch notes

The best part is that this is a digital file that I can keep at school, at home, on my ipad, in our secretaries folder, wherever. It is a Word file with all the backgrounds, art and forms in place; I only need to go in and type the info I need into the forms. 

I loved this B.Y.O.O. idea so much that I just had to share! It's at my TPT Store, and for today it's absolutely FREE. You can customize it for YOU. And you subs, of course.

If you aren't crazy about the mustaches, then my Owls theme might be more to your liking! Check them both out...

See, already on my way to B.Y.O.O.!

Teachers Pay Teachers is an excellent avenue for sharing the items we all create. I love that I have a website store that was so simple to set up, and is straightforward and easy to post items.  Interested in sharing or selling your own items on Teachers Pay Teachers? I'd love to see you there! Please use my referral code if you decide to check it out! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Signup/referral:bhmathews

Math: Interventions and Fact Fluency!

I added an exclamation because I am SO excited! As I wrote last, I was at a conference for RtI in mathematics. The conference made me want to run around and throw brightly colored confetti in the shape of numbers into the air. It gave use lucky math committee teachers a ton to think about!

Here were the big ideas:
Give supplemental instruction that focuses on whole numbers for grades k-5, and rational numbers for 4-8. Using strategies that compose and decompose numbers is HUGE. Have the student break down numbers and build them back up.
example: 10 = 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1
This helps them build understanding for why algorithms work. Really, giving kids this skill is one of the biggest things you can do the build their foundations. Fact fluency is not only a result of this, it also helps in turn.

Get kids talking about math! A quickie 5 minute mental math session in the morning is a great opportunity to get kids talking about math. An example would be asking 4th graders to solve 16 x 35 in their heads, and then explain with the class how they got their answer. I was amazed at how quickly they can verbalize their strategies!

Build in opportunities to review skills. Don't just wait until the day before the test to review. Give the kids little problems or activities through the unit so that they keep the skills fresh and sharp. You know what they say: use it or lose it!

Focus on the structure of problems. Don't just tell the kids to look for the "clue words" like less or more. Young mathematicians need to be able to distinguish what type of problem they have in front of them. You can't do that by only looking for certain words. It's an easy way to be led astray.

Kids need to "see" the math. Use manipulatives! Draw pictures! Break down numbers on the board, and then build them back up. Show them WHY.

Struggling mathematicians should have 10 minutes of fact fluency every day. We often think that our older strugglers have fluency with their facts, but most of the time they do not. Devote a little bit of time every day to play a game that reinforces those facts. It doesn't have to be drill-and-kill, but those facts are important!

Always write problems out horizontally instead of vertically for struggling mathematicians. This will focus on the value of the numbers vs. the algorithm.

Because I was SO JAZZED about this conference and came away with so much food for thought where interventions in math are concerned, I created a whole set of flip and slide cards for learning number relations and practicing fact fluency for numbers 1-9. Remember what I said about fact fluency? Here you go!

Check it out at my TN store or TPT store!

These are all printable cards (and I included black and white printables so you don't have to print in color if you don't want to). Let me tell you, this is a complete set including all the addition facts for numbers 1-9.

The flip cards look like this:

The full lines are folded and the dotted line is cut. You can pull down one side or the other, leaving one addend revealed (one part) along with the sum (the whole). The sum can also be folded back and the Flip Card can be used to practice addition facts.

The Flip Cards include color coded sets for:
doubles
making 10
and adding numbers 1-9.

The slide cards look like this:

They can be printed double sided so that there are numbers on one side and dots on the other. A folded and glued loop of paper (included, with instructions!) is slid over the problem so that you can hide whatever part of the problem you want. This is great practice in algebraic thinking, breaking down numbers and thinking about how to build numbers. 

Just like the Flip Cards, the Slide Cards include color coded sets for:

doubles

making 10

and adding numbers 1-9.

Also included is a tracking progress packet, especially useful for gathering data if you feel a student isn't making gains. Having math fact data on fluency for numbers 1-9 will show how the student is doing with alignment to the CCSS in the areas of numbers and operations for first and second grade. It can also help track if an older student is missing some critical fluency in the early numbers. 

Ready for the big news?

I will be GIVING AWAY three Math Fact Fluency Kits to three lucky teachers on Monday the 13th. Just go to my Teacher's Notebook store and get entered to win! 

Fiction Friday

It's time for Fiction Friday Saturday! Don't throw tomatoes at me, I have a good excuse. I was at that RtI math conference yesterday. Boy, I can't wait to tell you what I learned!

This was my Jerry Spinelli week. I broke my one-book rule and read 2 books by Spinelli. I would have read more if I had more in my hands (alas, they are all at school). Here are some key words I can say about Spinelli's writing: hilarious, thoughtful, mature, rich, real.

Donald Zinkoff is just a regular kid...kind of. He is kind, thoughtful, and exuberantly happy. He is also clumsy, goofy, and always raises his hand with the wrong answer. You will fall in love with Zinkoff by page 3. All of his good qualities (the ones that really matter in life, and trust me, he has them in spades) begin to take a back seat to the kids at school around 4th grade. He can't win a race or ace a test, and the vultures zero in on him. Zinkoff's big heart and good character keep you warmly endeared to him and smiling despite the cruelty of kids. The final suspense is colored by what can only be described as "Zink-ness", and shows that the name Hero can  replace any of the others that someone may carry.

LOVED. THIS. BOOK. It gives my heart a little squeezy-squeeze just writing about it.

My inner-geek LOVED this story. So did the anxiety-ridden monster that lives in the dark part of my head.

Will Tuppence is a skate-boarding, chess winning, Monopoly playing, sister hating, best-friend-crushing 15 year old. When the story begins, it is discovered that protons can die. This sends Will into a tailspin of worry and existence-questioning. You'll get to live life inside the complex head of Will as he navigates his first crush, jealously, failure, and dealing with his (horrid) little sister.

Things are not always what they seem, and Spinelli is a master of revealing the other side. Being able to change perspective is a gift, and Spinelli shows us the importance of opening our eyes to all sides.

Now RUN to the library (or book store, or Amazon, or your own class library) and grab a Spinelli book. I can guarantee that I will be breaking my rule again this week to check out Maniac Magee and whatever else I can get my hands on by Spinelli.

AHEM....and while I still have your attention.
I am participating in the HUGE back-to-school sale for TPT. In honor of that goliath sale I am also hosting a 30% sale at TN.

I have set my sale to run at 20% off, but if you use the promo code BTS12 you can get an additional 8%. Cool, huh?

Fun Friday! a.k.a. Life At The Spa

Hee hee. I'm not really living life at a spa. I just get to spend one night here. One lovely, relaxing, aromatic, fluffery night here.

And by that I mean I got to take a shower and crawl into bed.

That's how nice it is! Score, right?

 Actually, I'm here at Lake Geneva, WI for an RtI for Math conference. I am here with one administrator, 2 special ed teachers, and one other regular ed classroom teacher. We spend 6 hours in the car to get here, and that time includes the 5 minutes we mistakenly took a little drive down a golf cart trail while trying to find the main entrance.

I actually scored this room All. To. Myself.

I decided that even though it was midnight I would take a shower and wash up my hair so I didn't have to in the morning. I was ooohing and aaaahing over the soaps and lotions in the bathroom when I noticed a remote control next to the sink.

 What could it be for? Fan? Lights?

 TV!! In the bathroom MIRROR!!!!

It was a Bat Mirror, delivered here just for my from the Bat Cave by Alfred himself. I could get used to this richy rich stuff. I think I was maybe born for it. The ease at which I blew out my hair while watching Chopped proves it.

 Ahem. So Beth over at Thinking of Teaching came up with this super exciting idea to feature bloggers on her blog. And who is going to be featured today, Friday? That would be ME!!! So if you bopped on over from Thinking of Teaching, welcome!! It's nice to have you here.

To celebrate my feature-ness, I am hosting a sale. 20% OFF OF EVERYTHING BECAUSE I AM A FEATURED BLOGGER SALE. Rainbows and sparkles, my friends!!

So go HERE to visit my TPT store. I've got some fun going on!

Just today I opened my Teacher's Notebook shop. I think I like it even better than TPT! Because I l-u-u-u-r-v-e it so much, I am offering a 30% OFF OF EVERYTHING BECAUSE I AM A FEATURED BLOGGER SALE. I only have one item for sale on TN, but some goodies for free. Check 'er out!

Now I should tuck myself into my spa-soft bed and enjoy having this big ol' bed all to my lonesome. I will be spending the day learning intriguing and mysterious things about RtI and Math, and that day starts in 5 hours.

p.s. please be forgiving for typos and mistakes! It's very late, and I am too blissed out by the spa-ness to care.

Fiction Friday

Time for Fiction Friday with Amanda from The Teaching Thief. Amanda, are the you the smartest thing or what for making this linky? It's been crazy fun!

This week I read three books. The first book has been on my list to read since undergrad. Now I understand what all the big business is about with this story.

You know this book would be perfect for? Teens and pre-teens whose emotions are almost too sharp to deal with. I can remember thinking that life would almost be easier if people didn't feel anything at all. 

The Giver is about a future society in which everyone is the same. They have been assimilated. There is no choice (choice causes anxiety), no surprises (surprises cause emotions), and no stimulation. They don't see in color, everyone dresses the same, and everyone's lives are identical except for the career they are assigned. 

12 year old Jonas is just like everyone else his age. He is nervous about the assignment he will be given for his career. When he is chosen to be the holder of memories a whole new world of emotions and sensations is opened for him. The Receiver of Memories is a lonely job; he is the only one who knows anything of feelings.

This is a MUST READ.

The second book I read was 

Rules is the perfect example of how complex emotions are during growing-up. Catherine just wants to have a normal life, but her autistic brother David makes that impossible. Catherine is torn between her protective love and her embarrassment of him. Things are made more complicated when she discovers a real friendship with  Jason, a boy without the ability to speak.

Catherine tries to categorize her life with David by making a list of Rules for him. But the rules can't solve everything.

Finally, I read

If you liked The Giver and Gregor the Overlander, you'll like The City of Ember. With no awareness of why, the residents of Ember live in a darkness that is only broken by electric lights that shine for prescribed hours of each day. When the lights begin to fail and food and supplies start to run out there is panic and fear. 

12 year old Lina and Doon are just beginning their assigned careers when they stumble upon a puzzling and imcomplete set of instructions and a shocking secret. Can they find the answers in time?