What's Happening Around Lyon Academy? January 27th, 2017

Take a look at several highlights from around our school this week. If you see an anchor chart, student work, or something else in the building you would like showcased for the staff, please send it to Tyler.Archer@slps.org.

Students in Ms. Jones' class created a book review foldable about an independent reading book they recently completed. 

Ms. Andrews' students analyzed an advertisement and completed a graphic organizer. 

Ms. Welch combined students' interest in social media with a lesson about Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Ms. Wolfenden asked her students to write about their own dreams. 

Ms. Connell's students wrote about what they would like to do on a snowy day. 

Ms. Richardson's students did a science activity about types of rocks. 

Ms. Salmo's students wrote about their favorite parts from an IDR book they recently read. 

Ms. Walker and Ms. Stuckel's students created snowmen. 

The Pre-K classroom uses a number board as a strategy for introducing a new number to the students each week. 

Ms. Cychowski's students created modeled and engaged in a higher level comparison activity. 

Ms. Archer implements the "Own and Track" strategy by giving students a model of what the students should complete. 

Ms. Archer also visually represents for the students their assignments and what percentage of their grade each part is worth. 

Engineer Efficiency

The subject of the first January new teacher professional development session was Technique 48, "Engineer Efficiency" from Teach Like a Champion 2.0. Engineer Efficiency involves creating procedures by which students can perform both mundane and academic tasks in ways that yield more time for learning. Three types of procedures can be engineered efficiently: behavioral, cultural, and academic. The same design criteria work for all of them:

• Simplicity
• Quick is King
• Little Narration Required
• Planned in Detail

See the anchor charts below to learn more about each of the criteria, and to see an example of how the criteria is present in procedures. For more details about how you can "Engineer Efficiency" in your classroom, see page 361 of Teach Like a Champion 2.0! 

Open Ended Questioning Article Summaries

The summary presentation posters from each group's reading of "Open-Ended Questions: Stretching Children's Academic and Social Learning" are below, in order. Refer to the article for more specific charts and visuals to support implementation in your classroom. 

Graffiti Art and Graffiti Boards

Written by: Chrystal Williams-Alberty, 3rd-5th Grade Reading Teacher

Growing up in a clean cut neighborhood, with nicely painted houses, the term “graffiti” seemed out of place to me.  The thought of messy drawings on public walls was not only a menace to the visual peace of a neighborhood but also something I couldn’t find myself identifying with.

It wasn’t until I became a teacher I heard of the term “graffiti art.”  I discovered it was more than just messy drawings on a wall.  Graffiti art, in my opinion, is a great way to express yourself.

In my classroom I have used graffiti art as a tool to grasp the gist of a story for emerging readers or upper elementary students who read at an emerging reader level.  During a read aloud students make a graffiti board.  I give students time to draw pictures or words that stick out to them during the story on a graffiti board.  After reading we review our drawings and words then explain why these words and pictures stuck out to us.

Students who lack in reading and writing ability have an opportunity to respond to reading without the pressure of having to read by themselves or write.  Also, you need very few supplies to get the job done.

The picture below shows a group of 4th grade students who perform on Kindergarten and 1st grade levels in reading.  They are making a graffiti board using chart paper and markers.  They listened to the story Of Thee I Sing A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama.

What's Happening Around Lyon Academy? December 9th, 2016

Take a look at several highlights from around our school this week. If you see an anchor chart, student work, or something else in the building you would like showcased for the staff, please send it to Tyler.Archer@slps.org.

Ms. Cychowski has her students complete a variety of diagrams in order to demonstrate higher levels of understanding. 

Ms. Richardson had her students complete a short writing project about friendship last month. 

Ms. Salmo used cut-outs of people to teach her students the parts of speech. 

Prior to the election, Ms. Wolfenden asked her students to write about what they would do if they were President and showcased the work with pictures of her students. 

Ms. Walker and Ms. Stuckel showcased multicultural holidays in their classroom. 

Ms. Connell used a Christmas light theme to identify the title and author of books that students read during IDR.

Ms. Richardson's students created self-portraits as a way of learning about characterization. 

Ms. Trapp works with students to practice then publish their writing as part of the LLI program implementation in grades 1-2. 

Ms. Wolfenden's students composed Gingerbread Stories to celebrate the holiday season. 

Ms. McCord's "What's Going On?" board greets students when they enter the classroom. 

Ms. Cisar's data wall showcases the students making growth according to STAR Math. 

Ms. Archer tracks students' progress towards weekly Kickboard goals and rewards students who achieve their goal with an incentive. 

Ms. Smith acknowledges the students making growth each STAR cycle on her hallway bulletin board. 

Ms. Smith's anchor charts help students clearly distinguish between figurative and literal language. 

Ms. Davison uses STAR graphs to show her students' progress anonymously. 

Ms. Cychowski's students demonstrate their understanding of the What it Says/What it Means (WIS/WIM) strategy for Science writing. 

Using Focused Questioning to Increase Student Engagement

Written by Anna Cychowski, 7th & 8th Grade Science Teacher

Student Engagement: Centering your lesson around a focused question & varied methods of investigation.

I use two-day cycles in the classroom in order to both establish a routine students are comfortable working in and to make sure content is being covered fully through exploration, redirection of misconceptions and practice. Each of my two-day cycles starts with a question. Questions are basically just SWBAT objectives written in a student-friendly, question format.  Some questions are more interesting or enticing than others, but they get the students excited for the lesson. More often than not. I have students itching to share what they think the answer is and arguing with one another about scientific concepts before class even starts (aka my dream come true).

Example:  Does water ever disappear?

Class opens with the question after the Do Now. While I circulate to check Do Now’s, students write their question in their notebook, then skip some space underneath. This skipped space is for students to add thoughts they have or evidence that helps them answer the question at the end of day one and two of the cycle.

Day one begins our exploration and individual reflection in the cycle.  For our exploration of the example question, students looked at a series of pictures of steps in the water cycle without knowing what they were, I asked the students to put them in order and write what happened to make each step transition into the next in their groups. Afterwards students answered a series of scaffolded reflection questions and I circulated to check for misconceptions as well as guide student thinking. Day one closes out with students going back to the question of the day section in their notebook and jotting down what they think the answer is based on the knowledge they acquired or what they observed that day.

Day two is our clearing up misconceptions and practice day. For our “Does water ever disappear?” lesson, students read a short article about the water cycle. In the article they underlined what they already knew from yesterday, and circled any information new to them.  Afterwards, they constructed a water cycle model for their notes. At the end of class, students completed an exit ticket, then went back to their notebook to write their final answer for the question of the day.

In order to push engagement even more, I plan to share the best QOTD responses for each class at the end of the week. Not only will this allow students to see each other’s final answers, it will better identify for them what their written responses should look like.

Classroom Data Walls

Classroom data walls are an excellent strategy for recognizing student growth and promoting learning for students. All students should have goals for their learning, and classroom data walls provide a way for teachers to showcase their students' progress prominently. It is an expectation that every Lyon Academy classroom have a functioning, updated data wall.

Some criteria/suggestions to consider when creating your data wall include:

• The data wall presents a snapshot of how students are doing as a class or individually 
• The data wall is regularly updated
• The data wall may be created/maintained by the students as data as added
• The data wall should be geared towards students and be student-friendly
• The data wall should encourage action and responsibility by the student, without publicly embarrassing students

The following blog post is a great website that provides more information about using data walls in the classroom: https://www.whatihavelearnedteaching.com/6-ways-to-use-data-walls-effectively/ 

Take a look at several outstanding examples of data walls from around Lyon classrooms across a variety of grade levels. As you update your classroom data wall, send a picture of the wall to Tyler.Archer@slps.org and it will be included!

Ms. Wolfenden adds stripes to bumble bees each time a student makes a month of STAR Reading growth. 

Ms. Archer posts a star for every student showing growth on the STAR Math assessment. 

Ms. Smith posts the names and growth of her students after each STAR Reading assessment cycle. 

Ms. Pocost displays the students in her classes, by homeroom, that demonstrated 80% mastery on objectives. 

Ms. Archer uses a sticker chart to track student mastery of multiplication tables. 

Ms. Salmo's students move their individual markers along the reading level tracker board in her classroom. 

Ms. Connell adds a flower petal to each student as they grow according to Fountas and Pinnell assessments. 

Ms. Andrews tracks students' STAR Reading & Math growth, along with their point tracker progress. 

Ms. Walker and Ms. Stuckel keep track of the skills that students are able to do using an easy to read sticker chart. 

Mr. Craig tracks students' progress on the PACER assessment in P.E. 

Ms. Richardson keeps track of her students' STAR Reading growth by using fish and adding stickers when students show growth. 

Ms. Trapp gives students a sticker on their chart when they show growth from one STAR Reading assessment to the next. 

Both Mrs. Williams-Alberty and Ms. Benjamin maintain a tracker that indicates when students show growth according to STAR Reading. 

The K-2 Team posts their STAR Reading and STAR Math data in their hallway as a way of showing the students' performance across each grade level.