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A Culture and Climate of READERS

4/1/2017

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All humans can be readers, if they find the right book! Harry Potter opened up the world of reading, magic, and possibilities for me. Being a classroom teacher, spending 30+ hours with young minds, it is my job to expose students to their type of book. 

Read Alouds

With testing and curriculum, how do you find time to do a read-aloud?  Easy, reading aloud is learning and curriculum! Reading together allows GREAT class discussions on important topics in addition to exposure to vocabulary, quality writing, fluent reading, new text structure, genre books, author studies and more. As we read we monitor comprehension, make predictions, and connections! So I ask you, with testing and curriculum, how can you NOT do a read aloud? 

Certain days allow more time to invest into a novel as a class, but when we are doing a class novel we take some time every day to read together. Sometimes this is as they are unpacking in the morning, as  transition from recess, at dismissal, or taking the time to read as we relax to soak up reading. 
My FAVORITE book to read whole class is Wonder by RJ Palaccio, as you can see by my beat up copy. I have read this book with 5th, 6th, and 8th graders in the different classrooms I have taught. Each year and each group of students loved it just as much, if not more, than the class before! Students, and adults alike, are fascinated by the story of Auggie overcoming challenges. It is a great way to start the year with discussions of differences, acceptance, and kindness. It tends to become a motto in our room, "when given the choice between being right or being kind, always choose kind". We take this motto and tie it into character education and take the kindness pledge. 
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Welcome to the world of Greek Mythology! The Percy Jackson and the Olympian series is the modern day version of my Harry Potter magical gateway to reading. I usually read this book in tandem with D'Aulaires Book of Greek Mythology. The D'Aulaires book is a work of art alone, but the images and stories combined give such clear stories. Having this background knowledge, they make better inferences and connections to the fictional additions in the Percy Jackson series. Students, in my experience, rarely stumble onto Greek mythology on their own and when they do, they don't realize there is reading out there that includes this type of adventure! We only read book 1, Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, together as a class, but soon after, our classroom and school library runs out of Rick Riordan books! 
I've noticed some students will read within the comedy genre and never leave it, sticking to Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and any joke book, while other students have never picked up this genre. Towards the spring I love reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar. It is a quick read, light hearted, and each chapter doesn't necessarily connect to the last, except repeating characters. This book is OFTEN on Scholastic's $1 list, so I purchased a class set so students are holding their own book as we read. 
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Flashlight Reading!

Turn off the lights, close the curtains, shut the door, and READ! This is the first year I have tried flashlight reading! The students LOVE it! We usually work to earn this as a reward over the course of a week in our reading blocks. Students can earn minutes towards flashlight reading by meeting our small group expectations (6inch voices, on task, keep teacher time special...). It's so catchy to say flashlight Friday, but our schedule makes it easier to work into on Wednesdays when we don't have RTI reading (Response to Intervention). 
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I found affordable flashlights on Amazon. These EverBrite flashlights were sold in a pack of 18 for $16 (at the time) AND they came with batteries! They are miniature and fit in your palm, but provide a great amount of bright light for reading in the dark. 
We have some expectations for our Flashlight Reading time. With the room so dark, students need to stay where they are; so they must have 1-2 books ready to go so that no one has to move. We talk about safety with shining bright things on someone's eyes, so therefore lights have to shine on and only on the books. If we are not able to follow the expectations, the consequence is not having a flashlight to join us. 

My students genuinely love this activity and want to follow the rules and WANT TO READ. They have a book of their choice and are building reading endurance in addition to reading and writing skills! 
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*This blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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Valentine's Day in the Classroom 

2/14/2017

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What is Valentine's Day when it comes to the classroom? For me it is a community building opportunity to notice the things we love about our school and classroom and the people we share it with. 
I found this simple and plain heart at the local Dollar Store. I added my favorite seasonal "Valentine's" quote, I say that because I think we should notice an love the little things all year long. 
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This large felt envelope was in the Target Dollar Spot this month. What will you do with it? I've seen it hang from the back of a chair as a place to put your Valentines. For me, I have plans to attach to to a bulletin board. Meanwhile, the Student Council and I have been selling candy grams all month. I made a could extra to place the candy grams that are going to a certain teachers' classrooms. 
How cute is this felt mini mailbox? While this is a Valentine's Day purchase from Target, it will have a year long placement in my classroom. We have a "Quiet Corner" in every classroom. It is a place for students to take a break when they are upset, it has fidgets and a special T-mail paper. T-mail is teacher mail, students can use the quiet corner to write to me about something they want me to know, to explain why they are upset, or virtually any reason they would like. Now we have a great mailbox for them to drop their letters in! I made a couple of these too, there was no way it would be ok for me to bring this in the building and not share the idea with others. 
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Author Meet & Greet

2/1/2017

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The Children's Book World is a locally owned business, that may love books just as much as I do! Through their shop and author programs, I have had the opportunity to meet many beloved authors, hear them speak about writing, and get signed books for our classroom library. (It is also a GREAT way to get student motivated to read a new book or genre!)
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Laurie Halse Anderson
  • Fever 1793
  • Chains 
  • Forge
  • Ashes
  • Speak
Brian Selznick 
  • Hugo Cabret
  • Wonderstruck
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Chris Van Allsburg 
  • ​The Sweetest Fig
  • The Polar Express
  • The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
  • The Chronicles of Harris Burdick 
  • ​Jumanji 
  • The Stranger
  • The Z was Zapped
My proudest moment was when I handed Mr. Van Allsburg a bound book made by my students. It was inspired by his picture book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. They took his beautiful illustrations and the mystery behind Harris Burdick to create their own answers to the illustration. The pride students had in sharing their work with the author was amazing. 
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*This blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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2016-2017 Bulletin Boards

1/1/2017

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Bulletin boards are great way to encourage community and school spirit. They can be educational, motivational, or just pure decoration. Either way, when the kids see something new they get excited (especially when their name or face is on it)!
Welcome to the
5th Grade

I'm prepared to be called cliche for telling you that I LOVE Astrobrights Cardstock. This year, with the borders I selected, it coordinates perfectly! 
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​Students Light Up any Season 


​Turn into a Turkey

Students took the time to design their own feather. On each one is their name and the things they are thankful for. 
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​Signed, Sealed, Delivered

These valentines are all mine!
*This blog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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Harry Potter: Flying Across the Curriculum

6/18/2015

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Technology

Pottermore is a fantastic addition to the traditional book experience! Students followed along with the Pottermore story lines to explore additional information about the characters, setting, and plot that was revealed to them by the author, J.K. Rowling!

After being sorted into Hogwarts houses and purchasing school supplies in Diagon Alley, students explored the rest of the magical world of Harry Potter. They were able to practice potions and jinxes, just like book characters, to earn house points towards the Hogwarts House Cup! We created a Google Sheet to track our own house points to see who could earn the most points within just our school houses!
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English Language Arts

During our regular school week, students read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with their ELA teacher and class. Although, on Fridays students had an opportunity to combine with another grade level to take part in a book clubs across grade levels! Students had reading roles throughout the unit to help lead their own book discussions. They were able to make predictions, connections, inferences, as well as generate discussion questions and visualize the setting and/or plot! 
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Art and Physical Education

Miss Derrickson and I are lucky to work with a supportive and flexible faculty! Our physical education teacher made the last 5th and 6th grade gym class extra special. 

The 5th and 6th grade students were able to play Quidditch together! They were able to adapt the fictional sport of Quiddidtch to our gym class.  While we were unable to find a magical snitch to fly around the gym the whole time, we were able to have a student be the snitch! The snitch would have various bases to remain safe on during the game, but would "fly" across the field at any point trying to avoid the seeker!  
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During art class the 6th grade made two creations related to Harry Potter. At the start of the literature unit they were able to envision their own magical owl, like Hedwig. We found our inspiration from Art Dish with MJ. We used charcoal and pastels to create a feathered or textured effect for our owls. I find anytime we use pastels it is best to laminate the student work before hanging it so it does not end up on clothing as visitors walk by. 
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Towards the end our our Harry Potter unit we had one book that was read so much it fell apart at the seems. We took this as an opportunity to make some creative Sharpie Art Wizard Poetry! Student took any page out of the novel and drew a magical image. Then within the image or across the page they picked out key words to compose a muggle or wizard poem by illustrating over the other words. 
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Magic in the Classroom: Harry Potter Literature Unit

6/16/2015

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During our last trimester of the school year, the 5th and 6th grade met on Fridays to work together on a Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Book Clubs. It was a wonderful opportunity for our classes to combine, to work with new teachers, students, and experience the magical world of Harry Potter. 
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Students ordered their books through our classroom Scholastic Book Clubs! While we anxiously awaited our book deliveries, the teachers began to built excitement across the classrooms for the novel. Our four homeroom teachers went to Pottermore and took the official test to see which houses we would be sorted into. It just so happened, we each represented a different house, building a connection to the book and healthy book based competition among all those on the middle school floor. 
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We set the stage for reading by creating a few Hogwarts themed classroom decorations. I wanted to build enthusiasm by recreating some of the environment we were reading about in school. I was blown away by my previous students offering to come in at recess to help create the magic for my current class! 

The 9 3/4 platform was made using butcher block paper, a large sponge, and mix of brown and red tempra paint. Our "floating candles" are made from recycled paper towel/toilet paper tubes, fishing line, felt, tissue paper, and paint. If you look closely, before painting our tubes we dripped hot glue down the sides for a drippy wax effect!
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    Author

    Current 1st grade teacher and former middle school educator trying to be techy, Reading Specialist, Science Coordinator, Student Government Coordinator, life long learner, and avid reader
    

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