The Book Whisperer- Be inspired!

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever! Between a student teacher, Career Ladders ( a hoop-jumping portfolio that is evaluated by other teachers every year) and life, I haven't had the time. I'm sure you've felt that way before, am I right?

 I did want to stop in quickly today to share an amazing, inspiring book I just read about developing life long readers.  The Book Whisperer examines current reading instruction in public schools and challenges teachers to redefine their beliefs about teaching reading. Although the author is a 6th grade teacher, the book will touch a  reading teacher of any grade. I highly recommend buying or borrowing this book. I just completed a book study with some teachers at my school and we all absolutely loved it! It's such an easy read but will offer many thought provoking alternatives to traditional reading instruction that will engage and inspire your own students.

Check it out on Amazon here!  Let me know if you have read it or have been inspired to read it.

Happy reading and teaching!

Another Easter Freebie!

Happy Spring Everyone!
I'm in AZ so it is especially gorgeous outside. I just wanted to pop in and share another Easter freebie with you.

I shared this Long Vowel Easter Egg Hunt a few days ago.

And today... Save the Egg- Mulitiples of 10 adding!

 

 

 

 

If you can use either one, leave me a comment below! Thanks!

 

Top of the Mornin'! Look here for an Easter freebie!

Top of the Mornin to ya'!

 I love St. Patrick's Day! When I was in Kindergarten, I remember my teacher set-up a Leprechaun visit and I've always remembered that. I do that for my students now because I loved it so much when I was young.

I used Reagan's Looking for a Leprechaun pack yesterday. Click the pic to check it out!!!

                                                                


It's so cute! I love that the students have to review skills after each clue on the scavenger hunt. The students loved it!!!! They've never been so excited to do work! ( Insert evil leprechaun laugh here)

My own son is in first grade this year and I set it up for him at home complete with Lucky Charms and green milk!

I'm on Spring Break now and with Easter just around the corner, I wanted to share an Easter Word Work freebie! Just click here to download your copy. Don't you just love dollar store tins!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Invention Investigations!

Hi Friends!

I just got back from a weekend in Sedona, Arizona. We went hiking both days and had a blast. It's just so beautiful there!

                                                             
I wanted to share the Inventions unit we started last week. The lesson we completed Friday hit so many Common Core Standards!

After reading Meet Ben Franklin in our Treasures books, we discussed Ben's inventions and built our background about inventions. We read Now and Ben, a great book about how Ben's inventions are used today.
And Kids Inventions, another story in our Treasures book.

On Friday, I modeled how to make a poster about an invention and then gave each table group a problem card that kids can relate to. The groups had to create an invention that would solve the problem.

They all did a really good job! I was so proud!

After they created their posters, they presented their inventions to the class.

 This group created the Lid Tracker 1000. This device tracks down your lost marker lids and shows you a GPS map so you can find them. It beeps as you get closer.Only sold at Walmart and Fry's! They even created a boy, girl, unisex and adult version. So amazing!

 This group created the Security Box. The pencil box with a security camera. If a pencil is lost or stolen, the camera alerts the robot and he retrieves it!




These kiddos invented the Sand Slippers.These slippers can be worn at recess to keep sand out and then are easily removed once recess is over. This product is also available in two styles as well.





This next week, the students will be thinking about a problem they want to solve individually and then an invention they could create to solve the problem.  We will be building our prototypes and creating diagrams with labels as well. Once they are done with that we will be writing about how our invention works.Here's last year's post about our inventions if you're interested.

I'll keep you posted with more pics as we continue through this unit. If you are interested in trying this yourself, I have everything you would need!

I'll be back this week with some freebies for Read Across America! Have a Happy Monday!

Becoming the Greater or Less Than Symbol!

Hi friends! Happy Presidents' Day Weekend!
For those of you who are new to this blog, I love integrating the Arts into my curriculum. I have been so fortunate to have had many trainings in integrating Dance, Drama, Visual Arts and Music with content. Using the Arts is so engaging for the students and helps learning "stick".

Last week, I gave a math test to assess my students before conferences.  Here's a look at the test. I included  the many different word problems we have been learning that are included in the Common Core.

 If you're interested in the test, let me know. It gave me great information about my students. However, I was shocked that my firsties had forgotten how to use the greater or less than symbols. :(

 Last weekend I came up with an idea to help them.Don't you love a teacher's brain?All of a sudden, this idea just popped into my head? I wanted to come up with a lesson that would be engaging and allow them to be up and moving so why not make them be the symbols!
I decided to give 2/3 of my class a number card between 20-100 and the other third became the greater or less than symbol.
I played music and the students danced around the room to the music. Once the music stopped, the students had to get into groups of three - 2 numbers and a symbol. After each group assembled, I called out " compare". At this cue, students put themselves into a number sentence and the greater or less than symbol would have to figure out which way to point. We then read the number sentences around the room.

The kids then switched jobs and we did it all over again!!!! So fun!

 The next day we played this dice roll game with 20 sided dice in partners to practice.

Unlovable- Valentine's Book and Written Response freebie!

Hi friends! I have a quick Valentine's book and activity to share. I always read the book
Unlovable by Dan Yaccarino.

It's an adorable book about a pug who is called "ugly" by the other pets in the house. He has no real friends and feels "unlovable". One day, a new dog moves in next door and rather than admitting to his new friend what kind of dog he really is, he tells him he is a retriever. They become the best of friends but soon the fence that separates then begins to break. The pug is so afraid that if his new friend sees his face he'll stop being his friend. However, when the fence finally gives way and the two come face to face, they realize they had more in common than they could have ever imagined. They find out they are both pugs and they both finally feel loved!



After reading, we talk about times when we feel loved. Here is a writing response paper for your students to use if you can find this book.

I have P/T conferences this week with two 10:00 early release days so we will be busy, busy!! I hope you have wonderful week!

I linked up with Laura Candler's Teaching Resources. Go check out the other freebies on her site!

Great Free Reading Website to Share!

Hi everyone!  Today is the last day of my giveaway. I will be emailing the winner soon! Yay! Good luck to you all!!

I wanted to share a couple random things today. Here's the agenda:

Snowman Change Unknown Word Problems
Surveys and Graphing
A new awesome reading website!

Snowman Change Unknown Word Problems
Have you seen these adorable snowmen on Pinterest?

Source: lh6.ggpht.com via Erin on Pinterest

\

I used this idea for the snowmen but we wrote change unknown problems instead. They turned out so cute! It was also great practice solving missing part equations.

Surveys and Graphing

We have been working on collecting data and organizing our data into graphs. We have also been analyzing that data by writing comparative sentences ( _ more than or _ less than) and making conclusions as to why certain categories were picked most. I begin this unit with these surveys I got from Lakeshore. I love them!

Don't worry... I helped those sweeties who were graphing from the top!

Now, we have been making our own tally charts and graphs. They love getting up and asking others their questions! On the tally chart below, everyone had the question, "what is your favorite pet?". Then they got to pick their choices from a page of pets, cut them out and glue them onto their tally chart.


Awesome Reading site

And, last but not least I was shown this website yesterday. I have been looking for more decodable passages that I could print so students could read and highlight the phonics skill we are working on. This website has all that and more!!

Ok, that's all for today. Have a great weekend!!!

Erin