Stay Home- Stay Safe During COVID 19

Health and Wellness

• UM SOE Teacher Hierarchy of Needs-  COVID-19 Resources

• Michigan Cares- MVU free courses for emotional and mental wellbeing

• KQED exercise to help families stay balanced at home

• Teaching Tolerance-  Teaching Through Coronavirus: What Educators Need Right Now

• Cosmic Kids Yoga and Mindfulness

• Countering Online Hate Speech

• Teacher Interrupted:  Leaning into Social-Emotional Learning Amid the COVID 19 Crisis

English Learner Resources

• Serving EL Students and Families- Teaching Tolerance

• Wayne RESA Padlet of EL/Multilingual Resources

• COVID Fact Sheets in 15 languages

• Spanish children's Stories

TV Resources

• Netflix Documentaries 

• Detroit Public Television- PBS Learning at Home During the COVID Crisis-   Many resources and exact weekly schedules for ALL ages

Reading Resources

• FREE Time for Kids Digital Library

• Free Ranger Rick from NWF
• Story Time from Space- astronauts read aloud!

• PBSKids and YouTube offer full episodes of Molly of Denali, helping kids age 4-8 interact with Informational Text

• Authors Everywhere features Children's and Young Adult Authors and Illustrators sharing their work.

• Author Grace Lin reads her works online.

• The Classroom Bookshelf-  K-8

• Even More Authors and Illustrators...

• Storyline Online

• Elementary Reading Challenge

• NEWS ELA is offering FREE access to their ELA, Science, Social Studies and SEL articles for the rest of the school year. 

• Free Graphic Novels at Comic Extra.

• Scholastic Learn at Home resources 

• Illustrator Jarrett Lerner offers activity sheets and comic book panels 

Writing Resources

• 826 Michigan and 826 Digital Writing Resources 

• My COVID-19 Time Capsule 

• Journal Prompts to facilitate coping during the COVID 19 Pandemic

• Student's Journals Could Become Primary Sources

• Sharing Our Notebooks- Writing teacher

• Using and Creating Informational Texts at Home

• At Home with Kwame Alexander- free poetry writing lessons

• NY Times Mentor Text 

•  Kelly Gallagher- building deep readers and writers

• 100 Writing Prompts from John Spencer
• 
  

• Story Starters- Creative Writing Prompts for Kids- Scholastic

• Outdoor Writing Activities

• Outdoor Activities to Improve Writing

Science/STEM

• The Science Penguin 8 Free Elementary Science Activities 

• STEM Activities for Families

• 84 Easy Science Lessons You Can Do at Home

Math

• Khan Academy Schedule

• DreamBox

Social Studies

• Echoes and Reflections online webinars for teaching the Holocaust

• Webinars from Teaching Primary Sources

• SOCIAL STUDIES Shutdown Learning Community on Flipgrid by Dave Johnson-  Password: KeepLearning

• KQED- Above the Noise for Teens- Current topics 

• Read Write Inquire:   Social studies inquiry, reading, writing, and reasoning. From UM

• People's Historians Online

Music, Art, Travel

• UMMA Writing Prompts

• Resources from the Detroit Institute of Arts

• Seattle Symphony

• Discovery Education- from the Discovery Channel 

• 12 Famous Museums you can Tour Online- Travel and Leisure

• Common Sense Best Museums online

• Google Arts and Culture


• Hamilton's America

• Cincinnati Zoo virtual visit 

• Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems

Sample Lesson Plans and Tips from Teachers

• Pernille Ripp: Choose your Own Adventure

• Schedule of Learning Template

• Tips from Teachers on Teaching Online

• Spreadsheet of categorized digital resources- Melissa Wing

• Remote Learning Toolkit- Wayne RESA

Teaching Online Resources and Sample Lessons

• CMU Writing Project Continuity of Learning Webinar Series 

• WISD Remote Learning Tech PD

• REMC Google Classroom course

• Friday Institute MOOCs

• EdSurge has many articles, podcasts and resources for PK-12 Teachers facing online instruction

• Catlin Tucker tips for designing online lessons

• Free K-12  online learning resources for teachers from We Are Teachers 

• Education companies offering free subscriptions

• Free apps

• Achieve 3000 webinars for online teaching

• Suggested daily schedule from NESCA and suggestions
  
  

March

Change it up for March is Reading Month! 

Every month is Reading Month, but since March is designated as such, I encourage you to try some new things with reading in your classroom, no matter what your position or grade level in education. Here are four ideas to get you started:

1. Learn from SOEL Teacher Holly Bella about vocabulary in Interactive Read Alouds:


3. Try Book Talks to engage and motivate readers:

3. Start a Math Book Club! PBS Teachers show us how Reading Can Expand What Kids Think About Mathematics


4. E-mail me to check out books from the Diverse Lending Library at WISD

SAVE THE DATES for Summer Professional Learning! 

Yes, it's time to think about summer learning at WISD!  
Plan ahead by saving these dates.   
*Exact times and details TBD

August 14th:  Grades K-3 Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy one day overview (pre-requisite for SOEL 2020-2021)

August 13th:  Grades 4&5 Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy one day overview  (Pre-requisite for SOEL 2020-2021)

August 4, 5, 6:  Grades 6-12 Essential Instructional Practices for Disciplinary Literacy  three day workshop  (Pre-requisite for IDLL 2020-2021)

August 17, 18, 19:  K-12  Social Studies Standards, Framework, and Literacy Essentials Three day Workshop 

August 13: KRA Training for new K teachers in Washtenaw County

Creating Context for Teaching Night- one day in August, TBD 

July & August

Light Summer Reads

As we end July, and I see school supplies show up in stores, I start thinking of the first days of school! I appreciate some light reads with new ideas that are offered in Choice Literacy:

• For Instructional Coaches on Building Coach-Teacher Relationships

• Building Routines in the Early Elementary Classroom

• Voice and Choice in the Middle School Classroom

• You may also want to check Literacy Updates from MDE

Upcoming Professional Learning

Teaching the Holocaust, Empowering Students

July 31 8:30-3:30 at WISD

Register HERE

Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy-

 One Day Overviews

 August 1st for grades K-3 at WISD 8:30-3:30

August 2nd for grades 4-5 at WISD 8:30-3:30

At the end of each session, registrants will be invited to join the SOEL network for the 2019-2020 school year. 

**Also, don't forget about the online modules for the PreK and K-3 Essentials

January 2019

SOEL Highlights of 2018

As we enter 2019, we look back on SOEL with additional members, more classroom observations for the Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy, aligned book studies, our arts integration collaboration with UMS, and considering our past to plan for our future.  Take a look at a few images we captured as part of our school year learning thus far. 

4th and 5th Grade Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy

On December 5th, 30 literacy coaches and teachers came together for a one day overview of the Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy, Grades 4&5.  Our theme for the day was "Shifts and Bridges".  Together, we did a close read and review of these Essentials to identify shifts from the K-3 Essentials and bridges to the Grades 6-12 Essentials.  We will host another overview in the spring, date TBD. 

Inquiry Into Disciplinary Literacy and Learning Meets in an Intermediate School

Thanks to IDLL member Melanie Dever for organizing and hosting the December 13th meeting at Creekside Intermediate in Dexter. After reading the grades 4&5 Literacy Essentials and the 6-12 Disciplinary Literacy Essentials, we got a chance to observe in several 5th and 6th grade classrooms. This helped us to see the bridges from upper elementary to secondary literacy practices.

Through a Success Analysis Protocol, we also elevated themes of success in disciplinary literacy instruction from IDLL teachers, and the student learning as a result.

Our next meeting is January 17th as part of the Responsive Teaching Institute. While it is a regular meeting date for us, everyone is welcome to register .

Our guests will be Dr. Ernest Morrell,  Dr. April Baker-Bell, and Dr. Richard Milner. 

Upcoming Professional Learning Opportunities

RESCHEDULED: The 4th in our SOEL Teacher Research Webinar Series with Dr. Cathy Fleischer will be on February 13th at 4:00.

No registration is necessary. 

Join us at:  
https://zoom.us/j/189529059

If you missed previous webinars, catch up HERE!

Echoes and Reflections Offerings

Echoes & Reflections is dedicated to reshaping the way that teachers and students understand, process, and navigate the world through the events of the Holocaust. The Holocaust is more than a historical event; it’s part of the larger human story. Educating students about its significance is a great responsibility. We partner with educators to help them introduce students to the complex themes of the Holocaust and to understand its lasting effect on the world.

Join us February 25th or March 5th. Free. Register HERE

December

SOEL Searching for the Essentials in Action!

The November meetings of the Study of Early Literacy (SOEL) network were hosted by elementary schools in our community. We only need to look to our local schools to see exemplary literacy practices in action! 
Our experiences with and connections to teachers and students helps us to see the Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy in an authentic way: 

Ann Arbor Northside STEAM hosted our November 7th meeting of SOEL 1- Equity, Engagement and Motivation in Literacy to look at prime examples of Essential #1- Deliberate, research informed efforts to foster literacy motivation and engagement within and across lessons.   In our brief observations across several classrooms, we saw an abundance of bullet #2- provides daily opportunities for children to make choices in their reading and writing in what children read, where in the classroom they read it, how they read it, and their reading partners. 
Thanks to SOEL member Brooke Stidham and teachers at Northside STEAM for our day!

SOEL 2- Reading Instruction in Early Literacy met November 14th at EMU during the Responsive Teaching Institute hosted by the AI Team of WISD. Presentations by Dr. Ernest Morrell and Dr. Laura Jimenez (two of five speakers) highlighted the importance of culturally relevant literacy practices, connected to Essential #8- Abundant reading material and reading opportunities in the classroom, bullet 2, books and other materials connected to children's interests and that reflect children's backgrounds and cultural experiences. See Dr. Morrell's and other presentation slides here for a snapshot of sessions.
 **Save the date for the next Responsive Teaching Institute on January 17th!   

Paddock Elementary hosted the November 15th meeting of SOEL 3- Writing Instruction in Early Literacy.  In our observations of writing instruction, we clearly saw Essential #6- Research- and standards-aligned writing instruction,
bullets #1- Interactive Writing Experiences, #2, daily time for children to write,  and #3, instruction in writing processes and strategies.  
**Thank you to SOEL member Tracy Terris and Paddock staff for hosting!

Grades 4&5 and 6-12 Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy

 On December 5th at WISD there will be an overview of the Essential Instructional Practices for Literacy in Grades 4 & 5.  Register HERE by November 30th!  $25 


6-12 Essentials for Secondary Literacy-
The Inquiry into Disciplinary Literacy and Learning (IDLL) network will meet at Creekside Intermediate on December 13th to examine the bridges from Grades 4& 5 Essentials and shifts into the draft 6-12 Disciplinary Literacy Essentials for which we are a pilot group for the state of Michigan. 
Our experience in a grades 5 & 6 building will help us understand the progression from literacy instruction in upper elementary into Disciplinary Literacy in the secondary grades. 
*Thanks to IDLL member Melanie Dever and Creekside staff for hosting!

Online Professional Learning Links

Did you know that several SOEL teachers are featured in videos on the LiteracyEssentials.org site?    This is more evidence of authentic examples of the Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy Instruction in our county classrooms! See Caroline Jacob in this video, modeling Essential #4, Bullet 5: Listening for sounds in words to estimate spelling.

 Picture Books and Read Alouds are for EVERYONE!

Dr. Ernest Morrell is the director for the Center for Literacy Education at the University of Notre Dame.  In a recent two part blog post, his team at the CLE detailed how to use picture books at every age- also referencing the Essentials! 

See Part 1 for early and upper elementary grades and Part 2 for middle and high school grades. 
How do you use picture books and read alouds in your classroom?

July & August

Summer Reading Lists for Educators

Whether it's for our own reading pleasure,  professional learning, or a mix of both, we should all make time to read this summer!   

Check out these lists for some ideas:

ASCD Summer Reading List

Education Closet 

Scholastic

Kids Books (by teachers)

EdMentum

DitchThatTextbook

NEA (list of lists!) 

Upcoming Professional Learning

July 31-  Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy- An Overview

Register HERE

Anyone is welcome, but this day will also provide an overview of the Essentials in preparation for SOEL SI August 1, 2, 3**

The purpose of the Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy document is to increase Michigan's capacity to improve children's literacy by identifying a small set of research supported literacy instructional practices that could be a focus of professional development throughout the state. The focus of the document is on classroom practices, rather than on school- or systems-level practices.

August 1, 2, 3, SOEL Summer Institute

K-3 Educators- Join SOEL in Our SIXTH Year!

Register HERE  (THREE spots open!)

Because teachers are continual learners, dedicated to perfecting their craft, they participate in robust professional learning experiences, such as SOEL, as part of their career.

Rooted in the Essential Instructional Practices in Early Literacy, SOEL began in an effort to prepare teachers to not only teach students to learn to read, but to read to learn from the start of their literacy journey (Reutzel, 2014).

We know good teachers, effective teachers, matter much more than particular curriculum materials, pedagogical approaches, or programs.

Through learning together with literacy experts, professional texts, and teacher action research, SOEL teachers are powerful teachers of literacy!

'Probably the most compelling data is the difference in the percentage of kids who made their reading growth goals in NWEA comparing SOEL-trained teachers to others. Non-SOEL teachers averaged 58.1% of their kids who met their reading growth goals. SOEL teachers averaged 69.7% of their kids, 11.5% more. That's a big deal!'- District Curriculum Director

Engaging Students through Arts Integration and Student Participatory Action Research for Social Justice

August 9th   9:00-12:00 

      &          1:00-4:00  

* Register for one or both  

              

Arts Integration with Kimberly Boyd-  August 9th 9:00-12:00

A UMS/SOEL Collabortion:
Movement engages students in active learning! Movement and creative dance provide an opportunity to reach kinesthetic learners in a way that allows them to process and retain information efficiently. Join dance teaching artist Kimberli Boyd to explore warm-ups, creative movement learning activities, and simple structures for composing dances that involve students in active learning.

Rationale

Whether your students are learning a new language, building a bolder vocabulary or discovering more dynamic descriptive word choices, movement provides an active approach to understanding nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, simile, and metaphor. This interactive and participatory workshop will share strategies that integrate best practices in teaching with elements and principles of dance. The result is a simple yet highly effective approach to enhancing student engagement, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and much more.

Objectives for the Workshop-  To know:

• the basic elements of dance;
• how to identify the movement potential in a poem topic

Be able to:

• apply specific strategies for using simile and metaphor to write a free verse poem
• apply structures that use improvisation to create dances inspired by prom theme introduced in the workshop.

Appreciate:

• the value of integrating movement and creative dance with poetry as a means of supporting student engagement, critical thinking, collaboration and creative expression.

 Dr. Vaughn Watson on Engaging Students in Youth Participatory Action Research as a Means for Social Justice

August 9th 1:00-4:00 

 The Responsive Mathematics Institute continues this year, beginning with Dr. Vaughan Watson from Michigan State University. This professional development is an opportunity for teachers to learn how to use Youth Participatory Action Research as a means for incorporating social justice into the classroom. 

*Teachers are also invited to participate in the morning session from 9:00am - 12:00pm with Kimberli Boyd. The morning session will focus on Engaging Students through Arts Integration. Movement engages students in active learning! Movement and creative dance provide an opportunity to reach kinesthetic learners in a way that allows them to process and retain information efficiently. Join dance teaching artist Kimberli Boyd to explore warm-ups, creative movement learning activities, and simple structures for composing dances that involve students in active learning.

Back to School!

The First Week of School:
Community Building, Writing, and Goal Setting

From scavenger hunts to "Dear Me" letters, you might find some new ideas here to shake-up your back-to-school routine of building community and getting to know your students as readers, writers, and learners.   Create-Abilities shares five activities here.  

Knowing our History to Build a Brighter Future

Books to Help Kids Understand the Fight for Racial Equality

Readbrightly.com provides K-12 text resources to "help us move beyond tokens and icons to a deeper understanding of our history and its legacy, toward our own march for liberty and justice for all." 

Essential Instructional Practices for Literacy

While SOEL (Study of Early Literacy) moves into our fifth year at WISD and LESA, we continue to follow the most recent research (last two-three years) supported instructional practices through the Essential Instructional Practices in Literacy. 

The updated collection includes:

PreK

K-3

4-5

Building Level

Coaching

*Coming soon!  Grades 6-12 Discipline Specific

REGISTER for the MEMPSA Literacy Summit- October 4th at WISD

The SOEL Family Grows !  

During two SOEL Summer Institutes, the Study of Early Literacy welcomed 72 new members for the 2017-2018 school year. After three days of collaborative learning, teachers chose a learning path for the school year around early literacy instruction.  

Inquiry into Disciplinary Literacy and Learning (IDLL)

Secondary teachers of all subjects, you won't want to miss our IDLL line-up of professional learning and guest speakers for 2017-2018!

Save these dates:

September 28-  hosted at Saline High School with "From the Classroom" presentations. 

October 26-  at WISD with guest speaker Dr. Troy Hicks on Argument Writing in the Real World  Register HERE

December 14- at WISD with guest speaker Dr. Liz Kolb on Learning First, Technology Second  Register HERE

February 22  - hosted at Mill Creek Middle School in Dexter with Project Based Learning demonstrations.

March 22- TBD

May 17- TBD

*If you have any questions, please e-mail Melissa Brooks-Yip