...And the Work Continues

For most people summer means sun, sand, and relaxation.  For me, it means catching up on spring cleaning, yard work, and working on school stuff.  

Gardening is hard work,

 

 Not that it's all work, work, work.  One of my "projects" this summer is to watch as many of the movies and tv shows in my Netflix instant queue as possible.  Luckily, working on items to put on Teachers Pay Teachers is conducive to watching tv at the same time.  Win!

but it's also rewarding.

I've been spending time updating my pennant letters so they're one letter to a page (By popular request).  That way, you can choose which pages to print and not end up with extra, unneeded letters.

I've also been uploading more and more colors of my circle letters.  (HINT:  They make a great addition to your word building center!)

purple circle letters

light blue and black

I'm planning some games to play during small reading groups and center/workstation times.  With the addition of more and more nonfiction into the reading curriculum, I'm finding that I've been looking for more resources.  Most of the reading resources out there deal with fiction.  What are some areas that your students struggle with that you'd like some games and/or practice materials for?  I'd love to hear some suggestions so I can make items that will actually be used.  Thanks!

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Idioms and Inside Recess

     This week has been a loooooooong week.  It started raining Sunday evening, and here it is Wednesday, and it doesn't show any signs of stopping.  The munchkins and I are going a little stir crazy with all the forced togetherness and inside recess this week.

     I have a few games and activities in my classroom that I reserve for inside recess, but there are only so many times you can play Sorry, or Heads Up, Seven Up, or with Matchbox cars before you slowly go insane.  I don't think I've ever had so many disagreements about such petty things in my classroom than I've had this week.  If anyone has any suggestions for activities that are fairly quiet and easy to do, please leave a comment and let me know!

     In other news, I've finished the I Know Idioms Like the Back of My Hand class book that I've been working on, and uploaded it to Teachers Pay Teachers.  I love working with the munchkins on any kind of figurative language, and I think idioms are my favorite.  It always makes me laugh when they act out having ants in their pants or running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
     This class book was created so that each student can take one idiom, write the figurative meaning (the meaning behind the words), and illustrate the literal meaning (what the words actually say).  I ALWAYS get great results and really cute pictures from this activity, and the class book makes a GREAT classroom resource! Pin It Now!

Back to School Already?

     Has it already been a month since school got out?  Wow, summer is flying by.

     I went to my first summer inservice workshop on Friday (Using iPads in the Classroom... I learned so much!!) and it dawned on me that the back to school season is already upon us.  Have you noticed that now that the 4th of July stuff is out of the stores the shelves are filling up with school supplies?  My brain has been sort of half-processing school ideas all summer, but now is the time to rev it up to full gear.  

     I was on Pinterest the other day collecting ideas for anchor charts, and it reminded me of my favorite one that I made last year.  My munchkins and I were talking about the reason an author writes a book or story (author's purpose), and I was relating their purpose in writing to the books and stories we had read in class.

     I LOVE making anchor charts with the munchkins so they have ownership of the information.  I pre-programed this chart with the definitions and key words, then I wrote titles of stories and books we had read in class on sticky notes as we talked about them.  As a follow-up activity, my munchkins wrote the title of the books in their book boxes on sticky notes and placed them in the proper place on the chart.  Later, we took the titles of the stories we were writing and classified them with the same chart.

      I'm hoping to use more anchor charts this year to help solidify student learning, and I want to make them as interactive as possible.  If it's me up there writing on chart paper, then it is just another poster on the wall. But if the kids help make it and consistently use it to shape their thinking, then it becomes a useful learning tool.

     I would love to hear about any anchor charts you use with your class.  Please share!

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Some Light Summer Reading

     I'm now two weeks into my summer break, and I decided to do some 

light summer reading.

amazon.com 

amazon.com 

 

amazon.com 

Ha ha.

     I've been working my way through these three page-turners.  I know that my small group reading time is one of my weaknesses, so I decided to use this summer to do some research and get some inspiration for the upcoming year.  

     The two books with Guided Reading in the title are great, but I actually got the most practical information from Small Group Reading Instruction.  It claims that it's NOT guided reading, but it shares a lot of the same teaching points.  Small group reading includes more word study and phonics instruction, but otherwise they're a lot alike.  I like the fact that the last third of the book is made up of reproducibles, forms, and sample lesson plans (along with scripts of some sample lessons).  

     {FYI-- I have also been speedily reading my way through the Hunger Games trilogy, so I'm not all work and no play this summer.}

     Do you have any hints, tips, and tricks for successful small reading groups?

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