A is for A Great Book!

I missed yesterday.

simply out of pure exhaustion.

I should've scheduled my post ahead of time!

Yesterday was our last day of the week, and we know how long those days are!

So here's my A...

Like maybe I'm more thankful for books than the hubs sometimes!

I get in funks when I won't read for pleasure for months, but over this past summer I read all.the.time.

I read all the books I'd been wanting to read and found some new authors along the way!

I read all of Gillian Flynn's books this summer. Well, all THREE...she needs to get on the ball cause I'm addicted! I love them and am frustrated by them all at the same time!

Here's what I read my first month out of school. I LOVE Khaled Hosseini! The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns...ahhhh

I also read a few John Green novels. And I just finished An Abundance of Katherines.  Great teen novels. Looking for Alaska is the best so far. And I read the Divergent trilogy. Great. I always hate finishing series though!

Mindy Kaling brought some humor in between seriousness...
and since school has started I've kept up my reading...

I read Leaving Time and I seriously could not wait to get home everyday and READ! OH! Loved it!
Then I read a John Green novel and was like, um, I need to read another great book! I mean, he's a great author, but it just wasn't a good followup to a great author!
Now I'm reading my 4th Tana French novel.

My little sis got me on to her. She writes crime novels, but they are set in Dublin. The characters and stories are amazing!
Into the Woods and the Likeness are 2 of my favorite books EVER! Esp. Into the Woods. I've never read anything like it!

So that got me wanting to go and read!

Don't forget to link up with Blog Hoppin'!

Book Talk Tuesday...and a giveaway!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Deanna Jump for Book Talk Tuesday!

So here's what I'm sharing! Thank You, Sarah by Laurie Halse Anderson

Don't throw tomatoes or anything, but I just read this book for the first time on Monday! Like seriously. I forgot I even had it and I was doing a lesson on Sarah Hale and why Thanksgiving is a holiday...and I spotted this book in the class library...you'd think I would have read it before making the unit huh???
doh!
I grabbed it from the shelf...
let's be honest...
at first glance it looks kinda dull
One of my boys asked if it would be boring
I said it wasn't a funny book (apparently I stick to funny books when I read aloud and they are spoiled)
So I start reading...Oh.My. This book is hilarious! Seriously!
We laughed at the illustrations and text on every page! It's chock full of facts, the caricatures are hilarious, and I love the humor kids don't get!
Thank You, Sarah...
If you've avoided this book too...let me persuade you to read it aloud!
I'm giving away my newest pack...I've been using it all this week, in fact, I'll be teaching it to five different classes! If you haven't read much on Sarah Hale, let me tell you, she will be your idol! I dug deep into her beliefs and how she fought with her pen while writing my minibook, not to mention the lady almost singlehandedly got the President to agree to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, write Mary Had a Little Lamb-I'm biased-fought for playgrounds at schools, education for women, and maintaining national monuments all while raising 5 kids alone during the Civil War era!

Just comment below telling me your favorite part of this book and I'll choose a random winner on Friday!

favorite read-alouds and a Seuss winner

This week's show and tell at Denise's is all about favorite read alouds.

Now I read picture books for minilessons and such, but I also set aside a daily read aloud time right after lunch  This is when I leave the lights off, students are allowed to draw in their "doodle books" aka computer paper stapled together, and I read a chapter from a favorite book.
So here's my all time favs to read aloud:

*The BFG by Roald Dahl. It's the first one every single year! Love it! Just be careful not to cuss when reading the BFG's crazy talk! haha! My middle Lamb and I still call people "human beans"! On a side note, this book is one of the few Mr. Lamb remembers hearing as a child...so you know it's good! I really love all of Dahl's books, but some are better read-alouds than others.

*Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner-this will always have a special spot in my heart. I have read it out loud every year for 10 years and I still cry when that Stone Fox pulls Searchlight over the finish line (oh, spoiler alert!) This is the book I use to introduce the Iditarod...which I will be posting about soon! Swear!

*The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. Oh how I love this book! I think I went to school with the Herdmans! I love how you really see the specialness inside those kids. They are really the kind of kids in our school community, so it's special to us.

*Love That Dog by Sharon Creech. Another tear jerker. I read this one every April. The whole book is written in free verse. My professor read it to us in grad school. It's about a boy who discovers poetry, mainly the poet Mr. Walter Dean Myers. He learns to be proud of his work and use poetry to get through some tough topics!

I read several others through the year, but these are books I continually go back to year after year. I happened upon a Step into Reading version of Les Mis. It's a second grad reading level in case you are interested. They were on sale for $1 at Target after Christmas.
And we read it. And they refer to Jean Valjean! ha! Of course I could not pronounce half the french words, but they don't know the difference. It was a real showstopper!
Go link up with Denise!
And the winners of the revised Silly Skills packs are:

Playing catch-up favorite fonts, projects, and books

I love doing series of common topic posts, but I miss out on all the fun stuff sometimes! I am taking a break to join in on some linky parties from these fab bloggers.

Whooo loves fonts?! I do! I’ve done a linky like this before, but my font preferences change with my moods. I am quite moody! Here’s something I HATE though. When I save previews {as in below in ppt picture format} a lot of fonts get cut off….boo! Hopefully you can still see them! And they’re all free cause that’s how I roll

and Miss Nelson also led me to Wordmark.it! Hello!

Next, Amanda’s Favorite class project linky. Honestly I use a lot of hers even when I taught 4th grade. However, my favorite project we do all year is the green screen weather reports. I will post more closer to my unit. But check this out! These are priceless and super easy. I actually did not have access to an actual green screen until this past year. Before I used bulletin board paper!

We watch a lot of weather channel clips, brainstorm what a good report needs using a brace map, then they write a script. I type them up in proper script form and give each partner a copy. They only had the script for 2 days this year! Our tech guy had a last minute change up, but we made do!

And finally, I wanted to link up with Ms. Lindsey because I love picture books. I have my go-to ones I read year after year, and I love finding more ideas. I find so many new ones from your blogs!

Don't let the Pigeon Stay up Late. Love Mo Williems! His books are easy text, but fabulous fun. This is the perfect book for teaching problem and solution! And this little guy is part of my Monday Made It!

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Grandfather Twilight by Barbara Berger. I’d never have known about this one if it wasn’t for the reading lady! It’s old and tucked away in our public library. I finally got a copy when I got $300 to spend on books this year. Questioning…questioning, questioning, it leaves you with so many!

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Any VanAllsburg book, but The Sweetest Fig is my favorite to read aloud because it’s  just plain crazy! Another great one I use for questioning.

Popcorn  by Frank Asch. This is a childhood favorite. It was in my dentist’s office. I always headed straight for it. I have no idea what the draw is, but I love anything from my childhood. It could be used many ways, but this year I read it in conjunction with Tomie DePola’s Popcorn book.

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Another fun book is Piggie Pie. I first heard this book when our then curriculum specialist helped me host a Mystery Month with my 4th graders. We journeyed to her classroom and she read this aloud. It’s hilarious! And I found out there’s a sequel. Think a mix between The Night Before Thanksgiving and Three Little Pigs.

So that’s catch up! I hope you saw some new book ideas or fonts, or a project you’d like to try!

$300 Can Buy...

not too many books from Barnes and Noble!

I recently worked with our local university {and my undergrad Alma mater} on the annual Little Read event for our district.
And I got paid in BOOKS!
I spent a long time choosing books
why is it always harder to spend money when it's not yours??
I recieved them all at once and wanted a meanigful way to introduce them to the classroom library, so I made "New Book Review" slips for the kiddos to fill out
We've been learning how to determine importance, so this was a perfect tie in
They each chose a book to review, read it independently {I chose appropriate ones from lower readers} and then we taped the reviews inside the cover.
Next we shared with a partner
Lots were immediately tucked into book boxes! Yay!

Here's the book review freebie on TpT

What else have we been up to? Air! I love our Air and Weather FOSS kits. The lessons are air and so engaging and just plain fun!

water fountains

parachutes

keep the paper towel dry!

Babbling Abby's moustache freebie!

We focused on quotations with this one

Halloween Day Plan Book Peek

Halloween on a Monday? The gods must be unhappy with us! But to make the best of this tomorrow, here are my plans for the day…and some freebies for you, too! FYI-I do 2-3 mini lessons during reading workshop.
Morning Work: My kiddos will be using their thinking skills on a Ponder the Picture activity from Ed Helper. I love these things even though I am not a huge Ed Helper fan.
Reading mini-lesson 1: Sequence review with Room on the Broom
Last week I read Room on the Broom as a read aloud. We will review it by putting some events on a flow map using First, then, next, last headings. After that, students will work in partners to fill out the main event story map.
Mini-lesson 2: Read aloud of Legend of Sleepy Hollow
I am reading the original spooky tale aloud to my kids. We will be focusing on inferring and visualizing. During the read aloud we will sketch the characters. After I read it aloud students will create a missing persons poster for Ichabod.
I created a packet of spooky fun for the story too. It includes:
-Legend of Sleepy Hollow text and link to online reading if you prefer
-visualizing the characters sheet
-Missing poster for Ichabod Crane
-What do you think happened sheet
-Comparing the movie to the book (we will watch the movie at the end of the day on You Tube)

in Math: Pattern Blocks and story problems
We will use this game from Math Wire. I used it last year! Love it! Students compete to finish the pumpkin face first. We will then begin our October Snazzy Snacks: Marshmallow Spiders! Here are last year’s pictures.

 

At the end of the day we will watch The Legend of Sleepy Hollow {Disney version} and compare it to the text I read to them. It’s a childhood fav of mine!

Oh…and I will be gifting this babies from target!

Source: lovestitched.com via Rachel on Pinterest

You can download the tags I made here

fangtastic

Happy Halloween!

Pay day, a little Target shopping, and a freebie

Finally payday; and that long awaited trip to Target was on! We first made a stop by Michael's to get a few supplies for a gift for each of my teammates. I’ll be mod-podged later on! Also found some rainbow ombre colored poster board! woo-hoo!
At Target I picked up a tub for my big books that came with our Reading Street series. I had to make a little signage too. Inspired by a Pinterest…shared with you!

Big Books Sign

10 things you never really needed to know about ME!

In honor of Go Fourth!'s linky party here are 10 things you don't need to know to get through your days, but enjoy the printable at the end!

10. I LOVE reading and have trouble understanding those who don't! (ie. my hubby, bless him) I love teen fiction, DK books on anything,dirty vamp novels (I just finished up the latest Sookie book! and classics. I am currently reading Fahrenheit 451. My shelfari shelf needs some updating, but you get the idea.

9. I am extremely ADD. Really, not joking or saying lightly. I just purchased myself on of those special pads to sit on during teacher meetings!

8.  I never thought I would start a blog or teacher website, but am addicted to both. I thought the teachers who did that stuff were just full of themselves! I wonder now how I could ever come up with an idea without them!

7. I love Bravo and any program on that darn channel! Inside the Actor's Studio is a fav!

6. I am/was a teen mom. I went into labor the day after high school graduation and started college when he was 3 months. I love when people say "Oh, you don't look old enough to have a 12 year old..." We were married when our Jackson was 3 and eleven years later have 3 boys! Love happy endings right?! Because of this, I am super determined and out to prove others wrong. I do not care for judgment.

5. I have 2 tattoos. I got them both in the same month I turned 30 (this past April). I have three stars on the side of my foot for each of my babies and the Chinese symbols for elder and sister (big sister isn't a Chinese symbol all on its own) on my inner wrist.  My little sis got a matching one too! They are both quite visible, but the kids think they are fake!

4. I love school. Being in school, teaching school, whatever. Most co-workers think I am crazy, but I need routine and enjoy what I do. Summer break is really tough for me!

3. I am what my dearest teaching partner calls a global thinker! I can come up with anything, but have no follow-through! That's why we were such a great team for 5 years!

2. I LOVE decorating with birds, but I am terrified of real birds. They really gross me out.

1. I am obsessed with the following items: Bath and Body Works lotions/soaps/car scent portables/body wash; stationary aisles and pens/pencils, Target, storage baskets, did I mention birds, Pier 1, exclamation marks and commas, shoes, and chocolate. I have too much of all them

And if you read all this-here is an awesome Pencil Sharpener sign for your classroom. I got the idea from Mrs. Beam's blog. Because, as you can see, pencil sharpeners are not on my list of things I am obsessed with!

Sqworl...Bookmarking sites for the kiddos

Ok, I have a tizmos account, but I was not in love with it. I saw a post about Sqworl today. Yay! I re-bookmarked all my Listen to Reading sites for easier navigation for my little people! Click below to see our Listen to Reading page revamped!

 

http://sqworl.com/frw5xz

Summer Reading

Just ordered 2 professional books to peruse this summer. Comprehension Through Conversation and Reading with Meaning (ok, I'm a little behind on the latter one!). Though after this year I think I need to be reading up on writing instruction...