p: Tax Credits via photopin cc

I am really starting to think the math folks know how to celebrate their content area. Many of us were just recovering from celebrating Pi Day (3/14) when April, Financial Literacy Month, arrived. Of course, as literacy professionals, we don’t have to miss out on any of these celebrations. Financial Literacy Month provides another opportunity for us to focus on making powerful connections with literacy and the content areas.

I probably don’t need to explain why it is important that we start discussing financial literacy with our youngest of students. So many adults are struggling with debt, and it is getting worse. There are so many temptations out there. There are credit card offers, refinancing options. With the click of a computer, anyone can enter a virtual shopping mall and buy almost anything from almost anywhere. Most of the time, we don’t even have to click on a website, because the advertisements target our interests.

With the technology available, people are going to have to work harder and harder to manage their finances—and it’s never too early to get them thinking about what it means be to be financially literate. Here are some activities that can engage elementary students and introduce the topic.

Students might begin by talking about the difference between needs and wants. For many children, there is a very fine line between the two. Ask students to divide a sheet of paper in two. On the left side, needs can be listed; wants can go on the right.

Then students can take their lists and create a word shape at http://www.tagxedo.com/. At the website, students can type in their needs and select a shape from numerous ones available for the final word shape. Another option is to have the words put into the shape of the word NEEDS. The same activity can be done for their wants. Students can share their creations in groups and discuss the terms they put in the shapes.

Next, select a text to read aloud and discuss with students in order to communicate the importance of money and using it wisely. JENNY FOUND A PENNY (Harris, 2008) is a narrative text I have used with children as young as kindergarten age. Throughout the book, Jenny is trying to save money to make a purchase. As the young girl saves money, the reader can see the coins (both the front and the back) and continue to add Jenny’s savings. Students will enjoy the rhythmic writing and the rhyme found on the pages of this text.

Of course, with the current emphasis on informative text, you may want to read aloud WHAT DO WE BUY? A LOOK AT GOODS AND SERVICES (Nelson, 2010) and WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH MONEY? EARNING, SPENDING, AND SAVING (Larson, 2010). The ELA Common Core State Standards (ELA CCSS) recommend using at least 50% informational texts with children. Introducing these informational texts is a great way to reinforce key linguistic features found in the texts, increase prior knowledge about saving and spending, and build students’ vocabulary of technical terms related to financial literacy. Words such as producer, consumer, income, saving, spending, earning, and donate are all introduced through the pages of the texts.

We can also take the opportunity to create student interest in figurative language. Beginning in first grade (L.1.5), the ELA CCSS expect children to examine figurative language. The following are just a few phrases which relate to the topic of financial literacy:

Bet your bottom dollar	In the red	Nest egg
Not worth a cent	Pay an arm and a leg	Break even
Save for a rainy day	Pinch pennies	Keep your head above water
Money burns a hole in your pocket		Money doesn't grow on trees

Let small groups of students research the meanings to some of the phrases (or, with younger children, research as a class). Talk about the literal and figurative meaning for each phrase. If something burns a hole in your pocket, what happens? The object falls right through. How does that relate to the figurative meaning of the expression? What would it be like if money grew on trees? (Would there be plenty of money?) Children can also create illustrations which represent the figurative meaning and write the literal definition.

There are a couple of different ways we might choose to end the month. After the students have learned about financial literacy and saving and spending, they might create a second word shape at http://www.tagxedo.com/ to see if their thinking on needs and wants has changed. Hopefully, some of their needs may now be viewed as wants. Another possibility is having students create a class “_____ Is” poem on financial literacy, where each line defines the topic. The poem might look something like this:

Financial Literacy is…
knowing when to spend and when to save
learning that producers sell and consumers buy
important to paying bills
being able to have money left for the future
important to even adults

The goal of the culminating project is to have children reflect on the topic and what they learned.

Let’s take advantage of Financial Literacy Month to make important connections. We can create math and literacy connections so that our students are not only strengthening their literacy skills, but also building their content knowledge. These activities also enable us to connect our activities with the ELA Common Core State Standards. Finally, financial literacy month can help children connect what they learn in the classroom with their lives outside of school.

We can take this opportunity as teachers to seek powerful connections between literacy and the content areas and to create student interest in financial literacy. Students will (hopefully) realize the importance of saving money and that saving money is a lifelong skill.

Personally, I cannot think of a more valuable skill that they will need for the rest of their lives.

Jennifer L. Altieri, Ph.D. is the Literacy Division Coordinator in the School of Education at The Citadel in Charleston, SC, and the author of CONTENT COUNTS! DEVELOPING DISCIPLINARY LITERACY SKILLS, K-6. Jennifer will be speaking more about putting the L in stem as part of the Carolina curriculum leadership series at the National Science Teachers Association Conference in April. Her presentations will focus on helping teachers link literacy with science and math. Contact Jennifer at jenniferaltieri@bellsouth.net.



Putting Books to Work: Pretty Penny series by Devon Kinch

Building Classroom Community, One Township at a Time

How can we motivate our students to reach the CCSS goal of having students “set goals to read their level of books as well as increasingly more difficult fiction and informational texts” (Oczkus, 2012)?

If you think about it, setting such goals for one’s reading is what sets apart a “real reader” from someone who only reads what is required in school. A real reader is someone who approaches reading with heated passion, who talks with others about books, seeks out books, compares and devours books for enjoyment and for information, and passes judgment on issues in books (Oczkus, 2012).

Often our schools teach reading but don’t necessarily take the time to formally teach students about the “will” to read or how to become avid lifelong readers (Layne, 2009). I work in classrooms every week where we experience the following problems with motivation and reading:

Students…

• get stuck on one kind of book, such as the Junie B. Jones series or mysteries.
• experience difficulty selecting just-right books, and select books that are too difficult or too easy.
• are not motivated to read at all.

If our goal is to expand the reading repertoires of our students to include increasingly more difficult fiction and informational texts, then we desperately need some powerful strategies to engage and motivate our students to read more.

Barnes and Monroe (2011) developed some simple guiding principles for struggling readers that apply to any classroom to motivate kids to read. They suggest that we give students choice, share books daily in teacher book talks, encourage students to share books with each other, allow students to sit on Pilates balls and the floor while reading, and offer reading on laptops. The researchers also suggest that we make the time to confer individually with students about their reading.

When I enter a classroom to teach or coach for the first time, I always begin my lesson by asking the students to take out their independent reading books. I quickly circulate around the room, making note of what students are reading and chatting informally about the reasons for their choices. The mix is very telling; for example, books in a fifth grade classroom range from picture books and informational texts to young adult chapter books and magazines. From this quick “survey” about reading, I can easily see evidence of the reading levels and the motivation of the students I am about to teach.

My question to the students is always, “What are you reading next, and why?” Hopefully, the students are challenging themselves to move into a wide variety of texts at a mix of reading levels for different purposes. If you simply have your students keep a list of books they’ve read that includes dates and maybe a quick, one-sentence summary, a 1-5 score, and reason for the score, this log can be a place to record their reading goals as well. Be sure to be a Super Model (Oczkus, 2012) and share YOUR reading log as well. (Just keep the 50 Shades series off your list!)

Here are some practical and effective student-centered ideas that will help move students into the CCSS goal-setting mode—and ensure that they move forward in their reading levels and book choices,

Life Books (Oczkus, 2012)

Students select one or two favorite books of their lives to share with the class. These can be picture books from childhood or chapter books. They must give reasons for their choice and explain the significance of the book. I like videotaping students using an inexpensive camera and then posting the quick segments on the class or school website or blog. Ivan, a sixth grader, shared his love of CHARLOTTE’S WEB by E B. White because Charlotte was a hero and it was the first book his dad read to him. Be sure to share your favorite books from your life or childhood and reasons why you love them as well.

Students may stand in a stroll line—two lines facing partners to discuss books and upon cueing students rotate to the next partner. You can also go to Scholastic’s Read Every Day Campaign to see famous movie stars, television stars, authors, and musicians’ lists of favorite books too. Or you could follow what one elementary school did; they posted teachers’ childhood favorite book covers in the hallway next to photos of the teachers.

Key to Challenging Texts: Students see what books others cherish and hear the reasons for reading those books. Share your books too and why some of them include challenging titles. How did those books stretch you?

Book Idol (Oczkus, 2012)

This is a mock television show complete with three judges each with distinct “personalities” created by the students. For example, one judge might be a skateboarder, one a professor, and another a fancy gentleman or lady with an accent.

The judges sit at a table facing the “audience” and use slates to write scores for the book the class is judging. One student role-plays as an interviewer and each of the judges shares his or her score for the book and distinct reasons for their thinking. The master of ceremonies might also invite the students in the audience to hold up their scores and tell partners reasons and evidence for their thinking. Students may give scores for the overall book, the author’s craft, or the character’s actions. Nonfiction books may be rated on their text features and treatment of the subject.

After the Book Idol show, encourage students to write a paragraph with evidence as they discuss their views of the book. Videotaping makes this a fun activity to share. The class may partner with a buddy class in another town or state and videoconference to share their show live.

Key to Challenging Texts: As students discuss a book they’ve all read, using the Book Idol show format, they reflect more deeply on the content of the book and the accessibility. Use the judges concept to give reasons for selecting new books to read as well. Make challenging texts part of the line up of choices and allow students to select titles to read either as a class or in small groups.

Observation Rubric of Reading Motivation (Oczkus, 2012)

Here is a rubric from BEST EVER LITERACY SURVIVAL TIPS: 72 LESSONS YOU CAN’T TEACH WITHOUT (Oczkus, 2012) that you can use to help you confer with students over their reading habits (adapted from the work of Edmunds & KLBauserman, 2006).

The rubric will help you score student behavior in reading on a scale of 1-4 (4 = exceeds expectations; 3 = meets expectations; 2 = needs assistance; and 1 = struggles). Score your students as you confer with them on the way they select books, how their interests influence their choices, and how characteristics of books guide book selection (genres, size of book, etc.). You may also want to chart how students respond to book referrals.

Key to Challenging Texts: Use this rubric to observe your students and to motivate them to set goals for reading and accessing more challenging texts.

The 7 Times a Day Read Aloud Challenge (Oczkus, 2012)

Keep a stack of reading material in a bin on your desk or somewhere you can easily access throughout the day. Assign a monitor to check off each time you read aloud to the class for a total of 7 hits! One of the read aloud sessions should last 15-20 min long. The other six are 1-2 minute “quickies” that might include a poem while students are lining up, an interesting newspaper article as students put their lunches away, or a menu or joke book during a transition time. Discuss purposes for reading each of these.

This is a great way to expose students to tons of reading materials at a variety of levels and to discuss different reasons people read. One teacher even went home and started doing the 7 times a day read aloud with her own children after school until bedtime. The kids keep track and each of the read alouds only takes a minute of plopping on the couch, floor, or even in the driveway in the car. They love it!

Key to Challenging Texts: You have many opportunities to share interesting challenging texts on a wide range of subjects when you make the 7 Times a Day Reading Challenge part of your schedule.

Summer Book Bags (Allington & McGill-Franzen, 2003, 2013; Oczkus, 2012) The summer slump rears its ugly head every year when our students from low socioeconomic backgrounds skip out classroom doors only to skip reading all summer long. The result is a loss of as much as three months of reading achievement. Contrast this to the higher socioeconomic neighborhoods where students make three month gains with trips to the library and bookstore ( Allington &McGill-Franzen, 2003).

p: NatalieSap via photopin cc

The difference between the two groups is access to books. The solution is simple: provide 10 to 12 books for students to choose to take home and read over the summer. Note that the key is the students choose their titles to take home. A volunteer or teacher contacts the students who struggle the most by telephone or other method to check on the reading. Researchers found that this $50.00 per student summer program motivates students to read more and significant impact is made on reading achievement.

In one of my project schools we targeted 37 of our intervention students in grades 3-5 by providing them with an array of choices of books to read. It was such a highlight of the year to see them enter the library where we displayed hundreds of books for them to choose from as they filled their summer book bags. The students plopped on the floor of the library to get final teacher approval for their choices and touchingly held onto the collections like they were precious treasures. For some of them, these were the first books they’d ever owned. We collected the books from used book stores, our local library book store, garage sales, and donations.

Key to Challenging Texts: Allowing students to take books home takes some coordination. If you can’t provide Summer Book Bags for all of your students, try to at least target your struggling readers, those who have the most to lose and gain. Make sure you are providing a wide range of books for those choices.

Also, give book talks about the various books and stand by as students select titles. Inspect their final choices to see that they’ve indeed filled their bags with a mix of on level and more challenging books that they really want to read. Discuss strategies for accessing the more challenging texts that include involving an adult to help read it, to partner read with a sibling, or to use a book on tape or other audio source.

What are you doing to motivate students to read more in your school and classroom? Please share!

Come see featured IRA author Lori D. Oczkus at IRA 2013! Lori’s session, “Best Ever Literacy Survival Tips: 72 Lessons You Can't Teach Without,” takes place on Sunday, April 21, from 1 PM to 2 PM. Lori will also be signing at the IRA Bookstore on Sunday, 4/21 at 2:30PM.

References

Allington, R. L., & McGill-Franzen, A. (2003). The impact of summer setback on the reading achievement gap. PhiDelta Kappan, 85(1), 68-75.

Allington, R. L. & McGill-Franzen, A. M. (2013). Summer reading: Closing the rich/poor reading achievement gap. New York: Teachers College Press.

Barnes C. & Monroe, R. (2011). Reading motivation strategies to motivate struggling readers K-8. Retrieved January 20, 2012 from faculty.rcoe.appstate.edu/koppenhaverd/s11/5040/papers/Candace&Rachael.pdf.

Edmunds, K. M., & Bauserman, K. L. (2006). What teachers can learn about reading motivation through conversations with children. The Reading Teacher, 59(5), 414-424. Koi:10.1598/RT.59.5.1

Layne, S. L. (2009). Igniting a passion for reading: Successful strategies for building lifetime readers. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Oczkus, L. (2012). Best Ever Literacy Survival Tips: 72 Lessons You Can’t Teach Without. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Lori D. Oczkus is a literacy coach, author, and popular speaker across the United States. Tens of thousands of teachers have attended her motivating, fast-paced workshops and read her practical, research-based professional books. Lori has extensive experience as a bilingual elementary teacher, intervention specialist working with struggling readers, and staff developer and literacy coach. Her most recent book with IRA is BEST EVER LITERACY SURVIVAL TIPS: 72 LESSONS YOU CAN’T TEACH WITHOUT.



One Equally Effective but Lower-Cost Option to Summer School

Teaching Tips: The Reading Makeover

Spring is just around the corner, and not a minute too soon for those of you still wearing your snow boots. But that doesn’t mean your classroom needs to stay buried in a snowdrift of doldrums.

Creating a classroom township—complete with neighborhoods, businesses, and budgets—will help you welcome springtime with renewed energy. Your students will come away with a true sense of what is required of them to cohabitate and function emotionally, financially, and socially in the real world. Along the way your students will use everyday skills in reading, writing, math, art, and social studies, which for you, the teacher, makes meeting academic needs across the curriculum almost—dare I say—easy?

The snow is melting, so without further a-dew, let’s get started!

FOUNDERS DAY

After introducing the concept of a classroom township to your students, the first item of business is to name your new municipality. My class made many suggestions, and after a vote Hunterville was the winning name.

p: Images_of_Money via photopin cc

The next order of business is to have a form of currency. My classroom was organized in groups which were identified as neighborhoods. I then gave each neighborhood a template of blank currency (rectangles drawn on white paper). The neighborhoods each designed ones, fives, tens, and twenties. Once again, we took a vote for the most popular of each and then I made photocopies.

To get Hunterville up and running, I provided each student with $200. With that money they were required to pay taxes, rent, and any fines they might incur. Anything left over was theirs to do with as they pleased. I explained that the only way to acquire more money was to earn it by either starting a business or working for someone else.

WAYS TO EARN A LIVING

The highly motivated students were the entrepreneurs. They were required to write a business proposal and submit to me for approval. Once approved, they applied for a business license, for which there was a fee. Each day they were open for business, they were required to have their license properly on display.

There were a variety of new businesses in Hunterville. One in particular was a bookmark making business where the girls designed bookmarks and then sold them to their classmates. The owner of the business had such a high demand that she hired two employees. Of course, she then needed to pay their wages, too.

Business owners who hired employees quickly learned about the relationship of general contractor/subcontractor and the can of worms that opens up. For example, if a job was not done correctly—or not at all, which did happen—the consequences first fell on the general contractor who then needed to take care of the subcontractors. Often that meant they fired their employees and needed to hire new ones in order to maintain a product for sale. Others decided it was not worth the headache and closed up shop and went to work for someone else.

Some students worked independently, such as the artists who sold their pictures to classmates. They learned their profession had an unsteady income, but ultimately decided they could live on less. Others liked the idea of a steady income and chose to work for the township cleaning the classroom, being the classroom librarian, collecting garbage/recycling, or enforcing classroom law. I provided the Tickets for Behavior to the officers who were on duty in the classroom, watching for negative behavior.

And then, as in the real world, others chose to not work at all. Consequences for this choice were dire. They learned that asking for money from their friends was short-lived at best, and they could not participate in any of the perks that required money (more on this below).

BASIC EXPENDITURES

Students were required to pay rent for their “home,” or in our case, their desk and surrounding space. Rent was based on the number of members living in the community and the location of the community within the classroom. For example, three students living together near the window paid a higher rent than five students living near the locked supply cupboard.

Those who did not pay rent received notices to pay or vacate, and if they continued to not pay rent they received an eviction notice. Those students lived on their own with their desk set apart from the rest of the community.

p: 401(K) 2013 via photopin cc

One last requirement was that everyone needed to pay monthly taxes. Once again if they did not pay taxes there were consequences. Taxes were paid to the township’s treasurer (the teacher). That money was then used to pay salaries for those working for the township. It was also used to pay interest to those who had a savings account with the township’s bank. (I was the banker for Hunterville but I did have employees to help collect on debts.)

After about two months of Hunterville in full operation, one student decided to open his own bank, creating a healthy competition. The door was then wide open to discuss business monopolies and why they are not necessarily a good thing for the greater good.

INDIVIDUAL BENEFITS AND CONSEQUENCES

Students who were able to pay their debts and still have some money left over were allowed to make purchases such as Friday Free time, extra recess, and homework passes (certain restrictions applied!), or earn interest on money held in a savings account at the bank. The fact that their money could make money was very interesting and exciting for the students.

Once a month we had a Hunterville Marketplace. The students were allowed to bring items from home to sell to their classmates using Hunterville currency. I sent a letter home with each student that they needed to return granting permission to bring their selected items to school to sell. The students who did not have money could not purchase any of the perks and during Marketplace they were allowed to only window shop.

Of course friends would sometimes loan money to friends but that never lasted for very long. Ultimately, students who were without an income realized the benefit of having a job.

MEETING CURRICULUM REQUIREMENTS

Literacy: During your introduction of the classroom township, model how to write a basic business proposal and have an example posted for the students to refer to at anytime. Then, let your students work independently to write their own plan. They will certainly have a sense of accomplishment and ownership of their new business and will work harder to make sure it is a success. Be sure to check for content as well as correct grammar and punctuation before giving them final approval!

For those not wanting to start their own business, they are required to complete a job application with the same writing requirements. Students will also need to read the various notices that are posted by the township’s Mayor (also the teacher), and fellow citizens and comprehend what they mean. If they don’t, they will be surprised by the consequences that will certainly follow.

Math: Students quickly learn the value of money—how to earn money, how to save and earn interest. They also learn how to budget their money earned so they can pay their debts and still take advantage of the perks. The entrepreneurs especially learn about the concept of cost benefit analysis for services provided and money earned.

Art: With budget cuts and expectations for high-stakes testing, art in the classroom is a subject of the past. But in your classroom township there are many opportunities and teachable moments to take advantage of for you to teach art and for students to experiment with different media.

For example, your township will need a sign. I used butcher paper and paints and let the students use their creative skills to make a sign they would all be proud to display. Signs for the individual businesses are another simple way for students to express their creativity. Designing the currency is another wonderful opportunity for students to collaborate on art designs. All you need to do is provide a few materials—construction paper, crayons, paints, pastels, markers, or whatever else you find in the dusty art cupboard. Art does not need to be fancy but it does need opportunity to explore and then see what happens!

Social Studies: Creating a township is the perfect way to touch on so many aspects of living socially, government, laws, rules, and regulations. Your students will understand what it means to actually commune with one another. And they will see firsthand how everyone has a very important role to play in their community’s success.

It will not take long for the township to operate fully by the students, reducing your role to that of a moderator, more or less. If there are glitches along the way, and there are certainly bound to be some, your students will be more inclined to solve the problems themselves and carry on business as usual.

As you witness their transformation from student to active community leaders and participants in their township, you will cherish everyday even more that you go to work in your new town!

Kathleen A. Hunter, MS is a literacy tutor and aspiring children's book author. You can visit her online at www.KathleenHunterWrites.com.



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