Ladies and Gentleman...Kylie Collins

She can out run you AND she's doing a killer job with Literacy.

 Kylie has set up her Literacy centers so students get the most opportunity to work on differentiated skills without her having to reinvent the wheel every week. This way she can spend more time planning reading groups and other fun opportunities. We can all benefit from this strategy. Here is a look at her system she has in place.  Students each get a laminated copy where they can use dry erase markers to mark their project. Spelling groups are leveled and differentiated and students have some ownership and choice in their weekly activities. The other great thing is the kids develop routines and familiarity with some consistency in the activities, so there is little back and forth with directions, taking away from precious reading group time. When is all this happening? During intervention hour! Perfect!

Another fun resource from Kylie. Looking for a fun way to do vocabulary words? Try Vocabulary Rock and Roll. Kylie does all kinds of great things with vocabulary. Here her kids are acting out the word, "disgusting." Pretty impressive faces, right?

She has kids tackling big words in writing by working on stretching them out, taking away the intimidation factor and encouraging experimentation (did I spell that right?)

 We all know how tough it is to teach kids about good fit books. They seem to always be interested in books that aren't their level. Students are often either picking books that are too hard or too easy. It's a real struggle in classrooms and in our reading room too! Kylie is working on teaching these kids about good fit books, and what that really means.  Her students jacket is not a good fit, but her own jacket is a perfect fit. A fun twist on the Daily 5 "shoe" lesson.  So concrete and easy for kids to relate to. 

" Today we talked more about picking a JUST RIGHT book.  It's harder than it sounds.  First of all, there are a few ways to pick books.  We pick books we are INTERESTED in.  We pick books that we UNDERSTAND.  And we pick books that we CAN READ (both the words and the pictures).  Sometimes it's hard to pick a just right book though when our friends are all picking different books...so, here's how we talk about it to make it seem a little more equitable." -Kylie Collins, Grade 1 :)

AND...Gratitude is becoming a theme here at AES.  Here's what Kylie is doing with Gratitude in her classroom... 

"Research shows that actively showing and practicing gratitude makes us happier human beings!  In first grade this year we will have our very own 
Gratitude Journals where we can express how grateful we are each week for our very special lives in this very special place.  Today, Miss Kylie chose what we wrote about...the sun.  Next week we'll come up with our own ideas.  It's amazing how just a little rain at recess made us miss the sun on our faces! "
​-Kylie Collins, Grade 1

How can you not grow in an environment like this! Bravo Kylie :)

 That's right, Kylie Collins. If you haven't checked her website out yet, prepare to be amazed.