Currently it's Novemberrrrrrrrrr!

Hello All! I'm taking a break from the madness of completing Quarter 1 report cards and lesson planning to link up with the adorable Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade.  

October was a hard month on some of my friends, so I'm happy to move onto a new month where hopefully we will see some positive and uplifting changes! 

Listening: The silence is beautiful and quite necessary at this point.  It's been hard to stay focused and on task with these report cards this week.  Good thing I'm not distracted by Pinterest, Bloglovin, and Etsy....whoopsies ;) 

Loving: I absolutely love the chilly fall weather in Chicagoland area.  There is so much fun to be had outside and I love snuggling in my big comfy scarves.  What I don't love..wet, gray fall days. 

Thinking: That brings me right into October 31st where I thought the snow flurries were a very unnecessary preview of winter.   I don't know if it had something to do with all of the Elsa and Oleg costumes, either way, I was NOT a fan.

Wanting: These dang report cards done.  This is my second year using a Standards Based Report Card, and it is difficult! I see the benefits as well as some issues using one.  I just am taking my time as I carefully evaluate each piece and each child. *Insert exasperated sigh here*

Needing: Speaking of those precious children, we are in need of some more consistency in our daily schedule.  I'm not sure about them, but there poor teacher just might lose her marbles by Winter Break if something doesn't get figured out.  I'm feeling like my classroom is a revolving door of aides and specialists.  While I know all of these people are absolutely wonderful and greatly appreciate everything they are doing to help my students...sometimes I would just like to shut the door and for everyone else to pretend that we weren't there.  I hope you don't think I'm too awful of a person for admitting that...

Reading: I've been reading all sorts of fun things lately...here is what's currently on my bedside table

Children's Lit: 

Map Trap by Andrew Clements 

I LOVE and can't wait to use this for a map skills unit.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt 

ADORABLE, I just presented this book at school to 100 students who were rolling on the floor! It's quite cute and great for a lesson on point of view or voice.

Professional: 

Nonfiction Mentor Texts: Teaching Informational Writing Through Children's Literature, K-8 by Lynne R. Dorfman & Rose Cappelli 

Proving to be a great resource as I plan for my upcoming writing unit. 

Personal:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

SPOOKY and perfect for this season. 

Don't forget to check out all of the awesome teachers linking up with Farley this month! 

Happy Fall Y'all! 

Back to School Read Alouds

Hello All! In case you didn't know I love books. I mean LOVE books. They're one of my favorite treats.  A new hardcover picture books is right up there with cake batter ice-cream and ooey-gooey mac and cheese. Seriously. That's love folks.

I've decided to compile some of my favorites both new and old for the elementary classroom.

1. My Teacher is a Monster! No, I am Not. by Peter Brown

Bobby describes his teacher as a monster who growls and stomps around until one day he spends time with her outside of school and realizes that she is not what he thought she was. The simplicity of the story and illustrations make this an easy to read and enjoyable book for all!

2. How Not to Start Third Grade by Cathy Hapka

This book reminds me of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing...Will is dreading the start of his third grade year, it means he'll be sharing his school with his VERY naughty little brother. This books is sure to get a lot of giggles!!!

3. Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin

Just try to sing this song and not get it stuck in your head. Go ahead, I dare you! Younger primary grades adore Pete and jamming out as he goes to school.

4. Miss Nelson is Missing! by James Marshall

James Marshall is always a fan favorite, and this oldie is certainly not moldy.  Miss Nelson is Missing still delights my students no matter how many times they've heard it.

5. Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Witt

I've read this every day on the first day of school for the past three years. I love to connect Scaredy Squirrel jumping into the 'Unknown' to all of the unknowns that come along with a new school year. 

6. First Day Jitters by Julie Danneburg

This classic is a favorite read aloud for a lot of teachers on the first day of school, it's great for dealing with nervousness. 

7. The Teacher from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler 

Another forever favorite! I love how there is a picture book and chapter book series to go along too!

8. David Goes to School by David Shannon

Who doesn't love David???

9. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

This book creates for an excellent opportunity on how your students can help themselves when they are having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

10. Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes

Another great books dealing with nervousness and uncertainty.  I also love reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes to talk about the power of our words towards others.

11. Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus by Barbara Park

Students love, love, love to hear about sassy Junie B. and her first day of kindergarten.

12. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

A Fabulous heartwarming story about love and growing up. 

13. The Night Before First Grade Natasha Wing

This sweet rhyming poem is a great read for 1st grade teachers.  There's also a kindergarten version of the same book- so cute!!

14. My Mouth is a Volcano! by Julia Cook

Julia Cook's books are always a great addition to any classroom.  This title is great for curing a bad case of the blurts!

15. Too Much Glue by Jason Lefebvre 

Hysterical read aloud for art teachers and primary level classrooms. 

16. How Do Dinosaurs Go to School by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

Sweet read aloud for your littles as they get ready for school!

17. Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

My third graders loved hearing about Ramona and her adventures in kindergarten this past year. 

18. The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

A touching story about the importance of being yourself. 

19. If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff 

Adorable and fun!

20. Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun by Mario Dismondy

I love the theme of this story about having the courage to be who you are no matter what!

21. Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship by Edward Hemingway

This sweet story about two unlikely friends makes for an adorable read aloud for any elementary classroom.

22. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Even though it always hurts my throat, I can't resist reading Fudge's dialogue in a silly voices that gets my students rolling on the floor. 

23. Swimmy by Leo Lionni

Another great classic story that's excellent for talking about team work and cooperation in the classroom.

24. Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein

Another fun story to help cure the blurts!

25. Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary

A fantastic book that shoes even the most stubborn student can learn a lesson.  This books is especially fantastic for those grades who are learning cursive writing.

I hope you were able to spot some new read alouds on this list.  What are some of your favorite back to school must haves? I'm always looking to add to my collection! 

XOXO

We Love Books Linky: Mustache Baby

I'm linking up with the famous and fabulous Deanna Jump for her new summertime linky party: We Love Books! As a third generation teacher I've spent my life surrounded by children's literature.  Sharing my love for these books, both classics and new fun stories is one of my favorite parts of my job!

Mustache Baby by Bridget Heos is a hysterical read aloud that has kids and adults giggling from beginning to end.  In the story Baby Billy is born with a mustache.  All is fine with his family, at first Billy uses his mustache for good. Keeping the peace as a police officer, taking care of animals as a cowboy, and leading a three-ring circus.  But then, Billy's mustache suspiciously begins to turn upwards and becomes a BAD GUY MUSTACHE.  He's a bank robber, a cat burglar, and train robber.  With hysterical pictures your kids will be rolling! 

After reading, my class had a bit of fun making mustache disguises and playing Pin the Mustache on the Baby.  I should warn you that this read aloud was a special reward and didn't link to any specific lesson. However, it would be easy to talk about figurative language OR a great way to connect internal vs. external character traits.

If you're a kindergarten teacher...sigh, my dream grade...and you teach a letter of the week, Mustache Baby would be perfect for M! When I worked with preschool aged children, I drew mustaches on my kiddies with a cheap eyeliner pencil for a Mustache Monday.  SO CUTE! 

BUT, if you just want to have fun, I've posted my mustaches on TPT as a freebie for you HERE.

Have fun playing/creating all sorts of activities with these!

I can't wait to check out some new fun books over at Deanna's blog, don't forget to check it out!

Five for Friday 5/6/14

It's been an exhausting week and I still have a few more days until summer.  This is truly beginning to feel like the never ending school year! We've been keeping busy and having lots of fun activities to keep us learning and to stay motivated.  

Have you ever heard of Boosterthon? A few weeks ago our PTA brought them out to our school for a huge fundraiser.  Boosterthon really does an excellent job pumping the kids up to raise money for your school.  With a focus on leadership, good character, and fitness the final event of the Boosterthon Fundraiser was the Fun Run.  The kids asked family and friends to pledge $1 for every lap they ran at the Fun Run, the culminating event.  The kids were SO excited and most did over 35 laps!

This girls was ready to RUN at the Fun Run!  

We've been studying energy in my third grade class...we certainly are full of energy, but sometimes have difficulty understanding our science textbook.  During this lesson, students used wind-up cars to demonstrate potential and kinetic energy.  I have to laugh because I can't see any cars in this photo, they were zooming so fast around my room! 

We were able to squeeze in another science experiment.  Since we've been learning about energy, we tried making circuits of energy with Energy Balls.  One of my fantastic teammates loaned these to me...they were awesome! If students made a successful circuit the ball would flash red and make a sound.  These boys are having a blast making a human circuit of energy! 

This week my grade level has planned fun themed days to help countdown to summer.  Look out for a post on this soon. :) However, on Tuesday of this week we had some special literacy activities.  I got to read aloud Mustache Baby, a very sweet and silly story, to a small group of kids. 

Afterwards my mustache babies made our own mustache disguises...um, hello cheap and easy last minute project! 

We also played Pin the Mustache on the Baby, which was a hit! 

I couldn't wait to create Hope King's Dive into Summer writing pieces with my kiddies! Once they saw what it was going to look like they were chomping at the bit for extra writing time- SCORE! Here's my horrific sample...yes, that is my drawing of a car....and yes, I have a boring white straw for my snorkel. I bought fun packs of neon straws, but decided to save those for my students.  *Sigh* the sacrifices I make for these kids. ;) 

We've got only a few days left, I can't wait!

Erin

Pairs of Pears: Having Fun with Homophones

My kiddies have been working on homophones, which I have to admit was trickier for some of my ELL students than I had anticipated.  So, I just HAD to share with you two great resources that helped in my classroom while teaching homophones!

First up is Gene Barretta's Dear Deer picture book.  This was not a new addition to my classroom library, but I was reminded by how helpful and fun it is for my class to read.  The illustrations help my students connect the two different meanings.  I read this story underneath my document camera, so all of my third graders could read the text and spot the two different spellings.  They LOVED it!  Click on the picture to find the book being sold on Amazon...I ordered mine through Scholastic. Hello Bonus Points! 

My second find is new to my classroom this year...Pingo! It's from Sarah Cooley's great Homophone Activity Pack and my kids LOVE it.  They're literally begging me to play Pingo any chance they get.  What is Pingo you ask? Well, it's a homophone Bingo and a whole lot of fun! Follow Sarah's name to pick up your Pair of Pear pack now...how say that three times fast!!! 

XOXO

SUBlime Read Alouds for the Substitute Teacher

Hi All!  I'm relaxing and enjoying the last night of Spring Break.  I'm sad to wake up early again tomorrow, but happy I had time to spend time with some people I love!!!  

Currently I'm a busy, busy girl working on report cards, a presentation for the school board, writing a grant, and preparing 3 days worth of sub plans.  No, I'm not going on vacation or having surgery.  I'm chaperoning my school's Fifth Grade Outdoor Education Trip.  

I'll give you a moment to take that in.

Yep, me.....little miss I like to craft, bake, read, and shop.  I'm outdoorsy now.

That's what I keep telling everyone anyways!

I even bought my first piece of camo clothing to celebrate the occasion!

So, anyways back to that little picture above...

Back in my babysitting days I used to carry with me a few picture books that included babysitters in the storyline.  It was something fun and special for those little kiddos and I! 

 I decided why not have a collection of books on substitute teachers to leave with my sub!?

I leave this little pile on my desk with a small note saying to read one of these if the mood strikes 

(or if you need a time filler)!

Here's what I've collected so far:

Substitute Creacher by Chris Gall

The Substitute Teacher from the Black Lagoon

The Berenstain Bears and the Substitute Teacher

I'd love to know if you know of any other titles for my collection! 

Do you leave anything special on the days when you have a substitute? 

XOXO

I'm off to do outdoorsy things...like chop some firewood or cure my own meat...NBD

Boy, We Were Wrong About the Solar System- A Science Must Read Mentor Text

My kiddies have been loving our unit on the solar system and I have to admit that I'm having a lot of fun with it to!  We love exploring each of the planets in our solar system, creating craters in the sand like on the moon, and demonstrating how eclipses work with flashlights and our globe.  

I don't know about you, but our science text book is outdated...like really, really outdated.  This is especially difficult with the solar system since so many things have changed! Enter: Boy We Were Wrong About the Solar System!  

To kick off our solar system unit I read Kathleen Kudlinski's informational book that covers from the early greek astronomers, to Isaac Newton, up to the demotion of Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet.  It's a great text that clues readers into how we are always making new discoveries in science and changing our thinking of what we know.  

Poor Pluto, was a Young Authors Award winner, written and illustrated by third-grade students is another beloved read aloud for this unit.  The illustrations hand-drawn by the third grade students and simple story line are so enjoyable! In the story a third grade class welcomes Pluto to be a part of their room, since he is no longer a planet.  In the end, they decide it's best for Pluto to return to the solar system.  Adorable, fun, and the it ignites a lot of students into wanting to write their own stories! 

For more great science read alouds check out Collaboration Cuties! I adore their weekly linky parties and adding new books to my Amazon wish list! 

Mentor Math Text: Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares

Hey there! I'm linking up with the lovely ladies at Collaboration Cuties for their weekly mentor text link!  This week I shared one of my favorite social studies picture books, however the text also has a great tie into our math curriculum!  Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares has been a favorite read aloud for both myself and my third grade students while learning about my favorite founding father...Ben Franklin!

Ben Franklin and the Magic Squares not only highlights interesting information about Ben Franklin, it also connects to Ben's love of problem-solving and mathematical puzzles.  The story tells how Ben Franklin generated the idea of a magic square, which consists of nine boxes with a digit inside each box.  The numbers in rows, columns, and diagonally each added up to 15. 

At the back of the book are directions from Ben on how to create your own magic square.  My kiddies were so excited to get started on creating their own magic squares, just like Ben.

On Monday we were stuck inside for recess due to rainy weather, so a crew of third graders decided to work on creating magic squares during their inside recess!! Aren't they precious!!!

On a not so unrelated side-note....my kiddies have been working hard on learning their multiplication facts, strategies, and properties! Here are some of my favorite texts I've been able to pull in:

The Best of Times by Greg Tang

Too Many Cooks! by Andrea Buckless

Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do! by Stuart Murphy

Each Orange Has 8 Slices by Paul Giganti

Two of Everything by Lily Toy Hong

Hershey's Chocolate Math: From Addition to Multipication by Jerry Pallotta

Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar by Mitsumasa Anno

Two more days left for this week! Am I the only one or has this week taken FOREVER?!?

As always, thanks for reading!

Monday Made It: Understanding Types of Sentences

I made it for Monday!!! Woo-hoo! (enter image of me doing a touchdown dance) It's been forever since I've attempted to make a new product (or anything for that matter) for my classroom.  It's been an overwhelming start to a new year. However, I've finally gotten my footing in time to prep for the holidays and parent/teacher conferences! 

Last Friday, I gave you a little sneak peek at an activity my kiddies and I did to practice identifying the four different types of sentences.  First, I read aloud Frog. Frog? Frog! which came in a Language on the Loose pack from Scholastic Books.  

The story is cute, simple, entertaining, and gets the message across of what each sentence type sounds like.  Winning!

Afterwards, my students were divided into partners and given four different color sticky-notes.  They were instructed to find an example of each type of sentence in the novel we've been reading as a class.  Just look at these two cuties working so diligently!

Then, students put their sticky-notes onto our class chart.  My class loves collaborating together to create and some even asked for extra sticky-notes!  Why certainly children, of course you can continue to identify types of sentences in your free time. :) 

I suppose I should apologize for the horrendous looking anchor chart...I have no idea how all of you get yours so cute and perfect looking.  I guess I have more of a 'git-r-done' attitude when it comes to that!

SO, you might be wondering what it is that I made (aside from the embarrassing chart)...I've created two sets of posters featuring the four types of sentences with examples. There are two sets, polka-dot or my current favorite, chevron.  

Just click on the images below to find my TPT store!

Thanks for reading! I'm excited to check out all of the other amazing Monday Made-its! 

Must Read Mentor Text: Little Red Writing

I have a confession to make...I am a bookaholic.  As soon as I enter any book store I head straight for the children's section and that's where I stay until it's time to leave. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there...right!? Anyways...it was on one of these visits to Barnes and Noble that I came upon Little Red Writing by Joan Holub and fell in love! I'm excited to link up for the first time EVER with Collaboration Cuties for their mentor text linky party..I have a feeling all of the great books I'm being introduced to out there could end in a disaster for my bank account. Ha!

Little Red Writing is a parody of sorts to Little Red Riding Hood and could be used in a fractured fairy tale or parody lesson...however, in my classroom this read aloud jumpstarted our conversation on the importance of word choice in our writing.  

My students were in awe of Melissa Sweet's detailed illustrations and hidden WOW words.  Our favorite part was of course the villain in the story was not a wolf..but a terribly hungry pencil sharpener.  So cute! 

My third graders enjoyed this story immensely and I'm sure yours will too!

Check out Collaboration Cuties for other amazing mentor text ideas...my Amazon cart is filling up fast with new books! 

As always thanks for reading!!!