summer in a nutshell

We're ready for the 5th week at school already. Another summer over and out.  Another summer for this poor neglected blog.  I do try to keep some things on it, I love taking a second and looking back over the years.  It's like looking through an old photo album.  Surely someday, the kids will want to look back too. 

Here's what you've missed:

Lou and Bee cleaned up at the end of the school year awards ceremony.  It's fun when you get to be on stage when your kiddo's name is called.  Who else gets this view for a much embarrassing photo? 

We opened up our favorite local theme park.  Daddy must have taken the photo.

We helped open up our school's new high school.  Here we are signing the gym floor before the top layer was laid.

And signing the floor of the kid's future language classroom. 

The last day of school took us on our traditional IHOP early morning breakfast trip. 

The teachers (and their own kids) took an end of school year field trip to the local fro-yo place after the last day.  We rode a school bus and everything!  

The shop gave us a great set price deal and we didn't have to weigh our bowls.  Bee and Lou had permission to go all out... and they did!   Lou was just about first through the line and I didn't even get to see his bowl before he started in on it.  It was well deserved at the end of the school year. Goodbye 4th and 6th!

Our favorite nephew came for a visit.  He brought my sister along too. 

Hubby and I took a long weekend to Alabama without the kids. 

There was a lot of time spent on the water.

The kids found some new hobbies.

Luke pulled out my old stamp collecting stuff. 

We spent a lot of time in the wave pool- I spent a lot of time reading pool side.  My goal was 10 books this summer... I think I ended on 9. 

Lou and I  went on a little exploration of some nearby caves. 

This boat tour was a little too scary for him though, unfortunately we were committed for the whole hour before we realized it.  There something about the tour guides on cave tours...  Every one we've ever had has acted as though he's at open mic night- but not funny enough to go beyond that.  

The caving was while Bee was at camp. The weary camper arrived home.  

Lou spent the summer doing sports training.  The leg is strong again!

Those kids are getting so old!

Bee and I kept spying this colored wall downtown, on our way to take Lou to sports training. We passed it while we were on an overpass, so we had a general area, but didn't know exactly.   One afternoon we tracked it down.  

My dedicated workout parter and I kept our morning appointment together.  I love being able to stream my workouts on demand.    I met my summer goal of 22 consecutive pushups.  I was at 11 going in and made my goal on the last day before school started! 

There was a good deal of reading.  However, Sherlock Holmes did not get finished....

Bee and I tried some tomatoes this year at the new house.  Nothing like the old house!  To find a spot away from the woods (and deer) and with enough sunlight, we planted them down at the end of our long drive.  She had to get creative with watering.  We did not do well.  I have now gathered that the former owner used a large amount of weed killer in the beds.  Maybe a small raised bed next year?

We tried to spend time outside.  

This boy is sweet as ever. 

We took a trip to see the Cubbies.  

Didn't make it to Chicago, but we did weekend in Cincinnati with friends for the game. 

This photo is shortly before we lost one of the boys we were with and the police had to help us find him. It was eventful!  He just wanted autographs. 

We also went to the aquarium and Lou met a friend. 

Bee met a friend too. 

We ordered a pirate summer mystery from mail order mystery.  It was fun, what kid doesn't love to get mail?  It was spread out over 6 weeks, so we got to work on it for awhile. 

 It was a little pricey, but would make a cool gift for an elementary aged kid.   I used my tutoring money, so I didn't feel bad.  

We tried our hand at Ninja Warrior training.  I must say I really enjoyed it myself.  The warp wall is my new personal challenge.  

The kids enjoyed many programs at our library.  They offered a bunch of cool ones like Minecraft club, video game design, digital art, etc.  I signed them up for every one I could and they had a great afternoon while I worked on school stuff in the next room.  

 I like to take advantage of every professional development opportunity I can, especially ones my building will pay for.   I love learning new things. I feel like it's a perk of the job!  Here I am with Lou's math teacher from last year and his math teacher from this year.  They met at our house at 6:30 am to leave.  He was a little embarrassed to see teachers at his house while he was in his jammies.  It might have embarrassed him even more when I called them jammies. 

Hubby worked a ton this summer, so the kids and I were left on our own for fun.  We did surprise him with treats sometimes though. 

I really worked hard on my classroom library this summer.  I don't think you can ever have enough books!  I decided this summer to organize them all in tubs.  They are easier to access and the kids are using them more.  There were shelves that were totally ignored in the past.  No longer. 

First day of school 2017-18.  Bee is in 7th.  Lou is in 5th.  I'm still teaching 3rd.  Daddy is still in the office.   He didn't get a summer break, so I'm not sure he's really smiling here.  It was same old, same old for him on this morning. 

My lovely team makes coming to work a joy.  Even on the hard days.  This is our third year together and I think we have our work cut out for us this year!  

Bee started up another season of soccer. 

This super cute dude learned to walk.  

These cute ladies moved in.  Turns out the guinea pigs might be a more expensive pet than the dog.  Who knew? 

Well that gets us caught up.  See you again at Christmas?  No, really... 

reading response paragraph prompts

I added a new item to my shop, From The Hive:

*Increase the time students spend actually reading and writing! 

*These rigorous, differentiated, prompted reading responses will train your students to write strong, well-supported paragraphs showing their understanding of their reading. 

*With these reading response prompt forms students write about whatever book they are currently reading (fiction or non-fiction)- increasing choice- increasing engagement!

*They learn to write one well-developed paragraph using a hook, topic sentence, and supporting sentences. 

*Each of the four forms has a slightly more advanced structure guiding them in paragraph creation. 

Reading Response Paragraph Prompts

This started for me last summer. With the goal in mind of increasing the time my students (3rd graders) spent actually reading and writing, I knew I wanted to incorporate reading responses into my classroom routine.  After reading Donalyn Miller’s books (if you haven't read them and you are a teacher- go straight to the library!), Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild, I became passionate about finding an age-appropriate but rigorous method to train my kiddos to write about their reading.   

Thus were born, these prompted reading responses. There are 4 forms. I use one form per quarter during the school year, but you could use them to differentiate giving kids the form they are ready for.  You could skip right to form 3 for 4th graders, or stay on form 1 and 2 for 2nd graders.  By third quarter, or form 3, I have the students use the form as a guide, but don’t require they write directly on it.  I have them write their responses in a spiral notebook.  If they can use the form to write a strong paragraph, mission accomplished.  

The students use the guided forms to help them write a reading response. This became weekly homework for my class, but it could be in-class work as well. They write about whatever book they are already reading, at whatever spot they are already at, fiction or nonfiction.  They write one well-developed paragraph using a hook, topic sentence, and supporting sentences.  Each quarter has a slightly more advanced form guiding them in paragraph creation.  You can have your students simply fill out the form, or take what they’ve written on the form and write it in an actual paragraph (I recommend moving towards this).  I have my kiddos write this in a notebook.

I collect their notebooks and respond with a sentence or two about their reading response, book choice, paragraph development, word choice, etc.  I write something specific like "This book sounds like something several other boys in class would like, you'll want to tell Matt and Kevin about it," or "I'm excited to hear what Jack decides to do when he solves this  riddle, please let me know," or "I like the way you described Grandpa, but I think you might be surprised when you get to chapter 6!"  We have a little on-going book conversation.  I grade mostly for completion and following format; I don’t typically nit-pick over conventions- grading is never tedious. 

We also used these entries in class for oral  book commercials- advertising the books aloud to each other.  I used this product with my class last year, and after 14 years in the classroom, I've never had a class more excited about reading each other's favorite books and sharing great reads with each other!  

I feel like reading responses help me (and the parents, if you’re using it for homework) keep track of what the kids are reading, the progress they are making, the rate of book completion vs. abandoning books.  The students get an increased amount of practice in paragraph construction,  summarizing, and applying skills from class (using ‘exciting’ words, varying sentence length, adding description, etc). Students have to focus on their own comprehension, knowing they are going to write about what they are reading.  It also excited many to read their book and then write, knowing that their audience would respond (my reading and responding to their entries and then the oral book commercials with their classmates responding).  It sets a purpose for their reading (“I haven't written about setting in awhile, I should pay attention to information about the setting today and write about that.”).  It helps me check their level of understanding as they are reading... “Are they totally missing the main themes of the book?  Are they only picking up on surface level information?  Is setting all they ever what to write about?”    It increases opportunities for reading and writing and builds the connection between the two- my original goal.

   The difference in the writing samples from the beginning of the year to the end are dramatic and impressive.  Here’s a real 3rd grade student example from the first quarter of our school year.  

I enjoyed Charlotte's Web by E.B White.  One of the characters is a spider named Charlotte. Charlotte saved Wilbur's life.  She wrote words in the web so the people thought the pig did it.  

Here’s a real 3rd grade student example from the end of the year:

I am enjoying The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires.  The story is about a little girl who has a wonderful idea.  She has a dog that is her assistant.  According to the book the little girl knows exactly what she wants to make.  She knows exactly what it should look like and how it should work.  She does not know how she will make it and she has tried many times and has failed. She is now mad and explodes in anger.  The book said it’s not her finest moment!  After she calms down, she gets a vision how to make it using all of the other parts that she made and failed.

I used this strategy with my students all last year and got some amazing results, not just what I saw in class, but with the growth they made in our benchmark testing.  If you teach reading grades 2-4, I hope you'll come take a look.  This is my first paid item, but I priced it nice and low because I genuinely do want teachers to be able to use it.  If you like it as much as I do, please let me know! 

Find it in my shop here.