First Day Freebie

5th Grade Unit 4 Reading Street Amazing Words and Vocabulary Focus Wall Posters Freebie to celebrate the first day of winter break!  Merry Christmas!

 

I spent the second day of my break wrapping Sam's gifts and making his favorite Christmas treats, fudge and Buckeyes.  He had to take a class tonight (naughty...speeding ticket), so I spent the evening making Unit 4 Focus Wall Posters (nice!).  So get a bonus freebie here!

 

Finally!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks!  No copier functioning at school for three weeks, progress reports due, new curriculum for all reading, language arts, handwriting, writing, and spelling, district collaboration, "Dot Day", and Parent Academy!  Whew! 

Now getting ready to celebrate the weekend, and oh yeah... my birthday.  As I always tell the kids, "You never ask a lady her age!"  But I do love it when I don't have to go to work on my birthday (Thanks, Jim Gaffigan!)!

So, a very merry un-birthday to you!  Here are Reading Street Unit 2 Focus Wall Posters for anyone interested.  Yeah, I know... it's about time!

5th Grade Reading Street Unit 2

I cannot believe that this is the last week for Unit 1 of our new Reading curriculum!  Time has gone so quickly, and I still don't feel prepared on a daily basis.  The school year is speeding by, as usual.  But ready or not, it's time to get prepared for Unit 2!  So here you go, for all who are interested... Selection Titles and Questions and Amazing Words and Selection Vocabulary for Unit 2.  You may notice that I added the number of the unit and story at the bottom of each page.  I'm hoping that will help me stay organized and save me a few minutes each week when I change my focus wall.  I will continue to work on the skills and strategies this week, and hopefully have them up soon.  Please share any ideas you have on implementing Reading Street for this novice; any advice would be much appreciated!

 

On a side note, I want to congratulate our Reading Specialist (and my friend), Mrs. Skoff, for receiving the classroom iPads from our district!  I could not be happier for her; it is well-deserved, and I know she will make the most of them while reaching a greater and more varied population of students in our school.  Congratulations, Mindy!  It couldn't have happened to a better teacher or a nicer person!  Yay!

Why I Hate/Love Twitter and Unit 6 Reading Focus Wall

I hate Twitter.  I know, I know... it's the best way to make contacts and find resources in the PLC and edtech world.  I get that.  But, in the last month or so, someone has hacked my Twitter account twice and sent inappropriate messages in my name.  So, be warned Twitter, you're on my list (okay, now I know they're scared!).  ;)  And my sincere apologies to those who received unfortunate messages *NOT* from me.

Anyway, on to bigger and better (?) things.  I have finished my Unit 6 Titles and Questions, as well as the Selection Vocab and Amazing Words.  If you're interested, you can find them here and here, and Unit 6 Focus Wall posters here.  As always, let me know about any errors, and I will do my best to correct and repost them.

(Side note:  If you're wondering why I did Unit 6 after Unit 1... Well I picked the next book off of the shelf, assuming it was Unit 2...)

School starts for teachers in just two days.  Today I have to meet with other grade level curriculum writers to plan our Friday presentation.  Isn't funny that you can talk to rooms full of kids day in and day out, but one tiny presentation to a group of adults makes you nervous?  Crazy.

And even better... I opened up my class list this morning and saw my new friends, and a few old friends as well!  I taught first grade as recently as two years ago, and saw some familiar names and faces on my class list.  How lucky am I to get them twice????  Seriously, these are some great kids!  Looking forward to Monday's Back to School Night more than ever (hope they are too!)!

Tales of an Unlikely Comicon Attendee

Or What Did I Do on My Summer Vacation, Part 2

Well, I never imagined that I would be attending Comic Con.  Not in a MILLION years!  But for the last two summers, that's exactly where I've been!

Confession:  My husband is... a comic book geek.  Yes, I admit it.  I have a basement full of superhero pictures, statues, action figures, and - of course - comic books.  These items often trickle upstairs, much to my dismay.  We see *almost* every superhero movie (luckily his son agrees to see some of them with him), and he owns all of the ones that have been released (deliberately not mentioning all of the animated ones he owns!).  He has been to the last two or three Kansas City Comic Cons, but that's a busy time at school for me. ;)

But I digress.  When I found out about the Denver Comic Con, I was less than enthused.  But then I found out three things.  First, the Comic Con itself is a way to raise money for a program called Comic Book Classroom.  There were panels about using pop culture, such as comic books, as a way to engage reluctant readers and writers.  Very cool.  They also gave out some super (yeah, I said it!) lesson plans for a nominal donation.  Twenty bucks well spent, good cause + lesson plans = happy teacher.

 

Next, Max Brooks was a panelist.  You know, author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft...  He wasn't at all what I expected, funny and self-deprecating, by far the best panel I attended!  I would go see him again in a heartbeat.

And finally, there was a Walking Dead panel with Merle (Michael Rooker) and two featured "walkers."  Chad Coleman, hammer-wielding Tyreese, unfortunately canceled.  And Chandler Riggs (of the "Get in the house, Carl!" fame) was also a no-show at the panel.  Rumor had it that he chose to go to a local amusement park instead (but then, I don't want to spread any rumors!) (still love you, Carl!).  Still, it's my favorite show so I didn't mind the long lines to get in, and it was still pretty entertaining.  Next year, Daryl, next year...

 

Reading Focus Wall

For the past few years I have been fortunate enough to be involved in writing our district's new Reading curriculum.  We are starting Reading Street in the new school year, so with a little help from Karen Cox's wonderful Polka Dot Labels, I made some focus wall posters.  Please feel free to use part or all of them if you like!  Hopefully, I will be adding more as I finish them. 

Click here for 5th Grade Reading Street focus wall headers and Words Their Way headers.

Here are the 5th Grade Reading Street Unit 1 Title/Author/Question posters. 

And here for Unit 1 Amazing Words and Selection Vocabulary.

And finally, here for the rest of the skills/strategies/etc. posters for Unit 1.

I have the headers mounted on green paper and laminated, but the rest of the posters I put in plastic sleeves to save time, as well as for ease of storage.  Please let me know if you find any errors, and I will correct and repost them as soon as possible.  Thanks!  ;)

How is your focus wall displayed?

Monkeys!

Our last reading story was "Baboon," so we created Baboon portraits. The kids always love that story!

I show them step-by-step directions to draw a monkey...

...they draw in pencil,

then trace with black dry erase markers and paint with watercolors.  So cute!

Spelling/Reading Projects

We created these children holding umbrellas after reading The Puddle.

We write our spelling words in patterns on the sections of the umbrellas.

We make "Spelling Bees" after reading Busy Buzzy Bee.

I hang them on our strings and on the walls, interspersed with our Grouchy Ladybugs.  They made our room look like spring!

Daily 5

The Daily Five is a reading program that we are implementing in our school.  Students make their Daily 5 choice when they sign up for lunch.  They can choose from Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work.  Thank you to The Two Sisters for this great system.  I got to see them speak in Omaha last year, and our district has really encouraged the use of their reading plan.

I got these posters in a Daily 5 Learning Team class given by our wonderful Reading Specialist and one of the 3rd grade teachers in our school (two excellent teachers!).  They downloaded the posters from a great source, Ms. Winston's web site, although she has since changed her reading plan.   Check out her blog, too!  Amazing!

Frogs in Trees?

Last week's reading story was "Frog and Toad All Year," by Arnold Lobel.  There is a nonfiction selection directly following the story, called "Frogs in Trees?"  After reading the story, the students imagine they have discovered a frog that no one has ever seen before.  They cut frogs from cardstock and use brightly colored markers to design their frogs.  We then use the "Step Up to Writing" system to write about their frogs.   I give them a topic sentence suggestion, such as "I discovered a new frog!"   They must then add at least two details about their frogs, and then end with a wrap up sentence, such as "Clearly, my frog is amazing!"  Their paragraphs show hints of Spring Fever, unfortunately, but their frogs are colorful and creative!