Literacy Fair!

What a year!

My school year officially ended today, even though I still have more moving and unpacking to do in my new classroom, and three (count ‘em) workshops next week. That’s okay. I can still say I’m on Summer Break!

My fourth grade team ended the year in a big way: We hosted a Book Fair (otherwise known on Pinterest as a Literacy Fair)!

Our students picked out their favorite “Good-Fit” book from this year that they already read. Over the course of a week, we worked on completing a graphic organizer together in class.  The organizer gave students everything they needed for their tri-fold boards to help them “sell” their book to their classmates, and even to the third graders who came for a sneak-peek into fourth grade! {Since I didn’t create the organizer, I’m not able to share it here. It included the following categories: book title, author, illustrator, setting, author’s purpose, theme, main characters, conflict, plot summary, their recommendation, and a twist on the conflict resolution: students wrote it in the form of a question to entice their classmates to read more!}

Once students brought home their finished organizers, they used a little bit of construction paper and glue, a lot of imagination, and they created some real masterpieces! We encouraged family participation, and were not disappointed!

These are just a few of all the great book displays kids made!

Amy Marie

from...

Spelling in a Techno World

Hello, all! It's Andrew from Mr. First Grade... I wanted to share a spelling tool that I've been utilizing in my classroom for a few years now.  Last week, I had the opportunity to present at our district's technology in-service on Spelling City.  They told me that I'd have an hour and fifteen minutes to talk about the site, so of course I said "YEAH! I'd love to!" and then later, I went "Oh shoot... that's a long time!"  So I did some digging.  The more I dug, the more I found.  Like I said, I've been using it for a few years, and maybe you have as well, but I was BLOWN AWAY by how many features this site has.  Did I mention it's a FREE resource?

When you first sign in, you can create your own spelling/vocabulary lists by clicking on the LIST MANAGEMENT section.  I added all of the spelling lists for our reading series, as well as our sight words, and here's what my lists look like...

You can decide how many lists are available to students for practice by selecting YES/NO under the "published" column.  You can also import lists from other teachers if you don't feel like typing them all in yourself!  On the homepage, you can search for lists - I recommend searching for a title from your reading series, then going to that teacher's page to import all of their lists.  Once you import the lists into YOUR lists, you can also edit the list without altering the original one.  This was especially helpful for me because we add 3 sight words to every spelling list.  I was able to import someone else's Reading Street spelling lists, then go in and add just the 3 extra words.

Speaking of importing lists, here's where my favorite find comes in! Under the Teaching Resources page there's all sorts of goodies like sample lessons and useful word lists.  The word lists include word families with practically every vowel sound, digraph, etc.  There are science and social studies word lists broken up by grade and topic.  The math word lists are broken up by grade level and common core strand... And all you've gotta do is hit "IMPORT" and the words are plopped right into your list management page.  BLEW MY MIND.

When you click on a list, it will bring up all of the options for practice. There's a chunk of free games that students can play, which they love.  You also have the ability to print worksheets of your word lists.  I especially like the handwriting worksheets option... I have handwriting fonts on my computer, but these are automatically generated from your spelling list.  Love it.

There is an option for a premium membership, which works out to roughly $2/student, I believe... Our principal told us that instead of purchasing spelling books for us, which we don't really use anyways, he's going to get us all premium memberships.  *Happy Dance*  With a premium membership, you can add students and assign different lists and activities to different students.  For example, I could add my advanced list to Spelling City, but only assign it to those students who are advanced in spelling.  I could also assign extra practice, such as the "teach me" practice, to my ESL students.  Students can take the test right on the computer.  It logs their score for each test in your grade book, as well as their overall score.  You can exempt students from assignments if they're absent for a few days, AND you can re-assign things to students who need extra practice... I'm pretty pumped to have this for next year!

If you want to give it a shot, OR if you already use it and want to see what else you can do with it, check out their FAQ page.  It's got short videos explaining every aspect of the website!  I highly recommend it... My students love it, and like I said, we only used the free side of it!!

What do you use to keep your students motivated to practice their spelling words in such a technology-driven society?

SUMMER TO DO LISTS! :)

HAPPY MONDAY MORNING FRIENDS!! I hope - oh how I hope, hope, hope - that you are ALLLL enjoying your summer breaks!! 

The weather this weekend in Northeastern Ohio was absolutely GORGEOUS! If you follow me on instagram - @schroedershenanigansin2nd - you may have seen that I've been spending some time outside, loving the sunshine and the beauty that is SUMMER<3

There's really nothing like a sunshine filled day at the park :) And, I've been a bit obsessed lately with taking pictures - I may need to take a photography class....and buy a camera #ilovemyiphone - and I snapped this gorgeous shot of these monstrous trees that were still kind enough to let the sunlight in. :)

And really - does anything say summer like iced coffee?!? Nope.  Definitely not. Journaling, reading and ice coffee-ing were my Saturday morning agenda, after Zumba of course, this weekend!

 Shameless selfie alert - - - I don't shop for myself.  Like....EVER. But I bought new sunglasses annnnd a new bag this weekend on a shopping date with my hubby. :) Soooo selfie it is to show them off.

As BLISSFUL as summer has been - I've been trying to stay in SOME sort of routine as far as keeping my school/TPT/organizational to-dos fresh in my mind.  SOOOO I've (been going to school regularly #don'tjudge annnnd) created a Summer Break To Do list pack! :) It's perfect to just keep track of those ideas that jump into our teacher brains WHILE sipping on a mai-tai or while binge watching ______ on Netflix?!? 

I've been semi-successful so far at staying productive in some way shape or form each day, and I've used my newest product, some cutesy summer break themed to-do lists to help me to prioritize and to keep track of the inevitable to dos, whether they be school related or projects to tackle around the house!! 

Click below to take a closer look at these TO DO LISTS IN MY TPT STORE! :)

You might like to plan your to-dos at a glance for the week . . .

Maybe you like to map out a few mini projects to tackle throughout the week either for home or for school! . . . Oh, and don't forget to check them off when you're done! I know y'all love to check things off of your list as much as I do!!

Or maybe you just want a good ol', adorably clip-arted (THANK YOU NIKKI @ MELONHEADZ) to do list to jot down your thoughts as they come to you!

SOOOO enjoy these blissful days of summer, but hopefully you can use these to do lists, too, to prioritize and not put off all of the things you've been waiting for summer to tackle! :) Summer's here! 

I'm off to tackle a few things at school and thennnn off to plan out outfits and to pack for a weekend of hosting parties with my mom at home followed immediately by a weekend in DISNEY! I'm headed to see Mickey next week! eek!

Thanks for stopping by, friends! :) :)

End of the Year Activities and Summer Plans

Hello Teachers!

It is exciting to do a summer post, as I am sure everyone is wrapping up the year and transitioning into all we do in the summertime. This summer is an especially special summer for me. I get married in just 5 days… This Saturday! I am so excited, but I’ve never felt busier. We are also moving into our first home together in a little townhouse we are renting. It seems like complete chaos right now, but I know it will all be beautiful as we begin our lives together. We are traveling to Bora Bora for our honeymoon. The adventures and the bungalows are so romantic. The land looks amazing! I can hardly make it through a 2 hour flight, so it will be very interesting to experience 17.5 hours of travel time each way. I am really excited because a few of my students will be attending my wedding ceremony. When I get nervous from everyone staring at me as I walk down the aisle, I hope I see the smiling faces that I am used to seeing each day! Isn’t it so sweet how second graders always love everything about their teacher and want to share so much life with them?

I thought I would share a few favorites that stood out with my group of students this year as end of the year activities.

-Secret Friends: Each child drew a name of another student in the class. All week this was their “secret friend.” They spent the week doing random acts of kindness and giving compliments to this friend. They also created an “Awesome Award” for that person. They wrote why that friend is awesome and decorated the outside of the award. On the last day of school, we had an awesome award ceremony where each child was given his/her award and celebrated as an individual.

-Turtle Talk: Each child wore a paper plate on his/her back. The other students anonymously wrote words, phrases, and compliments that described that person. At the end, the students took of their shells and read what their classmates appreciate about them. It is something they can keep and treasure.

-Many students need closure during this transition out of one grade and into another. I read the students A House for Hermit Crab. This book is about a hermit crab that keeps outgrowing his shell. Each time he gets bigger, he needs a new shell. The students made a connection that they too have outgrown their second grade shell and will find a new shell in third grade. We talk about how younger students will come to their old second grade shell and learn here. We wrote letters to the incoming first graders about some of the best things they will experience in second grade. It was a great source of reflection and a positive way for those kiddos who just want to stay forever to see the change!

In addition to getting married, I thought I would share my professional goals and plans for the summer. My past few summers, much of my learning has come from experience with children such as tutoring or teaching summer courses. This year, I am going to spend more of time researching and attending workshops. I plan to read Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probsy. We are using a new reading curriculum next year, Schoolwide. I love Kylene Beers so my goal is to build background knowledge as I begin to study and implement this new resource. I am also studying Lucy Calkins newest Units of Study and attending a Writing Intensive Teacher’s College 4-day conference to expand my knowledge of instructional strategies, assessment, and resources as it relates to literacy. I am attending a technology day hosted by teachers from around my district. They are sharing/modeling how they use technology in their classrooms. Finally, I am attending a two-day workshop on math rotations and differentiation hosted by a fabulous teacher from my district. I am so excited about all the opportunities, and I look forward to sharing my learning with you as the summer progresses. What are your plans for the summer?

Last, my blogging partner, Crystal, from Once Upon a Classroom: Tales of Two Teachers, was so sweet to celebrate my bachelorette party with me last weekend. I thought I would post a picture of the fun we had painting canvases!

Happy Summer!

Marie

I'm Still Addicted to Reading

Hi Everyone!  Are you enjoying summer?  Summer is a wonderful time to sit back, relax, and read.  In case you didn't see my post yesterday over on my own blog, I wanted to repost it over here.  It's such an awesome deal that I want to shout it from the rooftops!

I love reading in my classroom.  I know I've talked about that before - I adore my Read Aloud time.  During this past year we read 12 books whole class, and I already bought a few more class sets for next year.  I am an official Scholastic Bonus Point/Dollar Book Addict!  In class I carve out time every day after lunch for us to settle down together and read for 15-20 minutes.  It's only enough time for a chapter or two, but enough to get the kids wanting more.  Many of them will continue on with the books during silent reading time.  

This past year I got smart.  I have always read every single page of every single book, but this year I found that website "Audible".  So many of our class read alouds were on there, read by the authors.  Having the authors read the characters the way that they imagined them to be, with different voices, etc... it was amazing!  I downloaded the books onto my iPod and then it was easy to plug into my speakers.  Many of the downloads were cheaper than getting a CD on Amazon.  During the chapters, I was able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the books with my students.  It felt really good to sit for a change...

 I am teaming up with Educents again with some instant downloads for you! It includes activities for so many of your favorite stories you will be reading this next year (and even a few downloads you can use with any book)! 

My products included will surely be loved by your students!  Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and The Chocolate Touch are both books that I read with my kiddos.  Last summer I wanted to create critical thinking questions for my kiddos, so I made up 48 Activity Cards using Marzano's Dimensions of Thinking prompts for each book.  When we were reading the books, I put the cards into our ELA Workshop/Daily 5 rotation, and the kids responded to them in their journals.  

      

There is also a chapter summary grid included in both of them (just like my Read Aloud Mini Packs), that the kids responded on.  I LOVED those chapter summary sentence grids this past year.  It was a easy graphic organizer that kept the kids responsible and paying attention to what we read together.  I already have them copied for all my read alouds for this coming year!  

This bundle contains other great stories too!  

       

For a limited time it is $19.99 from Educents which is about 78% off!  

18 instant downloads with over 700 pages of materials perfect to accompany your reading list!

You can also take peek at some of the other products included in the bundle at any of the links below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Have a Great Day!