Do You Use F&P's LLI Kits? Check Out #FPAskMeli!

I am fortunate enough to be in a school district that has purchased Foutnas' and Pinnell's Leveled Literacy Intervention Kits for Reading Specialists to use with RtI students. Are you familiar with these literacy resources? The kits are amazing and certainly engage my readers.

I have access to all of the kits ranging from Orange (Kindergarten) through Purple (5th grade), but mostly work with the Green and Blue kits geared toward 1st and 2nd graders. These kits have some lovable characters we get to revisit over and over again through new adventures, since the books are part of a series. The students enjoy reading about Moosling, The Fun Club, and, of course, our favorite, Meli the West Highland Terrier.

Anyway, if you are on Twitter, there is a new hashtag-#FPAskMeli- moderated by Fountas' and Pinnell's Twitter account where students can brainstorm questions for Irene Fountas' dog, Meli. Meli is actually her dog and, from what I've heard, Meli's owner "Ron" is Irene's hubby! Fun trivia facts, eh? Well, after learning about this hashtag, I had a group of 2nd grade girls brainstorm questions they wanted to ask Meli. These girls "Awwww!" every time I pull out another book with Meli as the headliner, so I figured they'd be the perfect group to test out the hashtag.

After pulling out the familiar Meli books, the students revisited the texts thinking about questions they have for Meli. The questions were recorded on TodaysMeet, which allowed me access to their questions as they were typing them. While they were brainstorming, I was writing them on chart paper. 

Once the questions were added to the chart, we tweeted out the image below. Every...single...day the girls asked if Meli responded. It took a bit of waiting, but when Meli responded, the girls' faces were priceless! Well worth the wait, for sure.

The chart paper of questions, a picture of the girls and the tweeted responses from Meli hang on my classroom door for now. The girls pat Meli each time they enter my room. ;)

If you test out the hashtag, keep me posted!

Live Twitter Chat with Michael Fisher, Author of Hacking the Common Core!

Hello! Have you read Hacking the Common Core by Michael Fisher? If so, do you have any questions you would like to ask the author himself? Are you on Twitter? 

If you've answered "Yes" to any of these questions, join the #D100bloggerPD crew on Twitter for the #D100chat. It's being held October 18, 2016 at 8PM CST. We will be discussing the Common Core with author, Michael Fisher. Even if you haven't read the book, feel free to peek in on the chat to learn more. Intrigued? I hope so! The questions are below. :)

Hope to see you virtually in the Twitter-sphere on October 18 at 8PM CST! 

All Are Invited! Upcoming Twitter Chat with Author Taylor Mali!

Feel free to join the #D100bloggerPD crew on Twitter next week! We will be having a live chat with author Taylor Mali on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 at 8PM CST. All are welcome to join in the conversation. If you are active on Twitter, just log in and follow along with the hashtag #D100bloggerPD. The questions are below.

 The Twitter chat is taking place to jumpstart the #D100bloggerPD crew's upcoming study on Mali's book, What Teachers Make: In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World. The kickoff will start right here on Literacy Loving Gals beginning Thursday, July 21, 2016 and will continue every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday through August 11, 2016. Hope to see you in the Twitter-sphere! 

P.S. Below is Taylor Mali performing his poem What Teachers Make.  

Join us for the #D100chat on Twitter! #D100bloggerPD #mytimePD

I'm looking forward to guest moderating my first Twitter Chat alongside my reading specialist pal, Kristin, from Reading and Owl of the Above.  I've participated in a handful of Twitter Chats over past few months but have never been a co-moderator until now.  The excitement is setting in!  If you're active on Twitter, kudos to you!  Don't you just love learning from others in the field? :)

Since a group of colleagues and I just finished up our #D100bloggerPD book study on Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer's Key to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits, we decided a Twitter Chat would be a worthwhile way to get others jumping on board the discussion about wild readers.  Having the opportunity to share thoughts with those beyond our school walls helped us see that social media proves #priceless for educators.  On Tuesday, December 15th at 8:00 P.M. CST, we will be discussing ways to encourage wild readers, in addition to how blogging or using a variety of social media outlets can help you develop as an educator. Remember, social media allows you to have a #mytimePD experience, meaning you learn when it's convenient for you.  Click HERE for more information on ways social media transforms teaching.

Anyone can join in the discussion, but if you are part of Berwyn South School District 100, we hope you share ideas for further topics to be explored in the #D100bloggerPD!

My school district's very first #D100chat took place in early December and was hosted by the talented @_miss_carillo and @MissBurdettHia in the district.  The topic was "Student Engagement During the Holidays."  Click HERE for the Storify of everyone's comments and tips.   Hope to see you in the Twittersphere tomorrow!

UPDATE: 

My first Twitter Chat as a co-moderator went well!  I really enjoyed the comments and reflections from and conversations with the colleagues in my district.  I hope to moderate again one day!  Here's the STORIFY documenting the event.  

Happy Tweeting!