Sunday, May 6, 2018

Charlotte's Web Novel Study

I say it like a dozen times during the year, but this is my favorite thing we do all year.  I love reading Charlotte's Web with my third graders.  I love it because even though they've seen the movie, most haven't read the book.  Even those that have still enjoy another read. There are some sweet and funny parts and I love Templeton's lines- he's the best.  For the past several years we've been using random pieces from various sources and piecemealed our study together.  I decided to create my own resource that contains everything I wanted to use for our novel study.  It's ready and I've been using it and I'm ready to share it in my shop. 


I sorted the items into Plot:


Characters:


Setting:


Word Choice:


Mentor Text:


 Assessment pieces:


and Cumulative Activites:


 I'm super excited that it's done, happy to have a complete (and tidy and rigorous) resource for my kiddos and for my team.  I'm also really excited because next year when it's time for this, I'll be giving this to my student teacher!  I can't say how excited I am to have a student teacher.  We met this week and she is fan-tas-tic! 

I'm breaking this big novel study up into chunks to also list small pieces.  Right now, I have listed the whole inclusive novel study.





Saturday, May 5, 2018

catching up- Winter

Yikes, here's some old photos I'm just catching up on. Winter.  Geesh. 


Daddy and Lou at basketball.  So much basketball. 


The kid's got rid of the pumpkins for us! 


Staff Christmas Party.  I gave the best white elephant gift this year.  I saved up all the gift cards I had gotten in the past year (some with a bit of money, most with none) and gave them away as a bunch.  The family that got them said they spent a happy afternoon calling the number on each card and found a total of $8.50 on the cards! 


Bee went to a Christmas Activity at school.  Take note it was NOT a dance, it was an activity.  


She said I could not go as a chaperone... but I had friends chaperoning and several sent me pictures.  (She absolutely has a tank top on under the dress, it's ivory.)


Turns out there was dancing. 


We decorated our doors for Christmas at school.  My goal was quick, easy, but cute.  I printed out a large picture of the Elf and invited people to take a selfie with an elf.  Even people in the building for tours stopped by to get their selfie taken. 


Our favorite December activity- the food drop at our church.  We take the Thanksgiving week's offering and use it all to buy wholesale food.  It arrives via semi trucks. 



Hundreds of volunteers offload the trucks. 



Then we fill orders from the local food pantries. 



Then we deliver the food to fill the empty shelves



Ok, let's move on to warmer weather. 

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Prefixes

I took this linguistic class in college that was the hardest class I ever took.  It was part of my reading specialist certificate (a title they shortly later got rid of).  I worked harder than I had in any other class and really learned a lot (and I still mess up more than I should!).  I don't think I earned higher than a B in there, but it was well earned.  I made pretty good grades in college, but I think I was more proud of that B than other better grades.  Isn't that funny about hard work, how rewarding it is? 

Maybe it started in that linguistic class, but I really love working with prefixes with my kiddos. 

I was making up some prefix stuff for my kiddos this year and thought I'd stick them in the shop.  Apparently, other teachers are working on the same skills because they're doing pretty well.


Each set has an introduction activity where you can present these prefixes and delve into the way they change words. 



Then each set has an application activity sheet.  This can be used dozens of ways.  It can be an in-class piece, a daily five tool, or an assessment sheet. 


I have a freebie so you can see what they're like and try it out without risk:


Prefixes that Mean Not  mis, un, dis, im, in



The other sets are available separately and in a bundle:








-or- Save over $3.00 with the prefix bundle!


Did you know that you can earn 5% back in TPT credits when you leave feedback!  I just got caught up on leaving feedback and now have $3.00 ready to go towards my next purchase!  Sellers love feedback (especially the good kind).  That's a win-win!