Passwords

I wish I would have found what I had found at the beginning of the school year because it has changed my teaching a bit. But I am glad I stumbled across, regardless.

And that thing I found.

Passwords.

About two weeks ago I came across a website on accident. I was looking for something completely different, but what I found was a whole bunch of root cards. I had seen plenty like this before so it was nothing new.

What was new to me was the information that came with the cards. In the file, the woman who created it explained that she uses these root cards all week long. One root is put up outside her classroom on Mondays, and it is used as a password to get into the classroom. Every time the students enter the room they need to say the password (root and definition).

Well I just took that idea and ran with it.

And my students LOVE it.

Each morning I have a different password outside the classroom. Most of the time it is a root. Today, though, I put up IVTB. Each time they walked in today they needed to tell me the password. If they forgot, they needed to find someone to rescue them.

IVTB is the first letter of our strategy  when  writing a main idea sentence in a nonfiction summary. So when I taught reading at the end of the day, I asked the students what the password was for the day. "IVTB," is what I heard.

On the board I wrote:
I
V
T
B

I then added the words that go with it:

Identify text
Verb
Topic
Big idea

We continued to learn about and practice this new strategy. Then the students went off and worked on their own. The neat thing about it is when I was walking around helping students I only had to ask them what the password was. From that password, they were to remember their new found words in our strategy. 

Tomorrow the password is going to be all four of the words.

And I will be able to know which kids are struggling with it and which are not because they won't be able to get into the classroom without it.

Our nonfiction summary strategy from Crafting Connections