Gallon Man...Fiesta Style!

Viva Fiesta!!

As those living in San Antonio already know last week was Fiesta.  

Fiesta is San Antonio's biggest P-A-R-T-Y! This year there were over 100 events in 11 days including parades, concerts, coronations, exhibits, festivals, athletic events, and more. What fun!

So...to celebrate Fiesta and the completion of our state test, we had a little FUN!

 Thus...Gallon Man...Fiesta Style!

Gallon Man is an old classic.  It was the perfect activity for my students after testing all week.  They colored their little hearts out and then we added the San Antonio flair.

 Ahhh.. aren't they the cutest?!?  They really took pride in their Gallon Men People.

We wrapped up the day with cascarones. Hooray for confetti eggs!

At the end of the egg smashing, there was confetti EVERYWHERE! On the floor... in the desks... in the supply cups... in my hair! I will probably be discovering confetti in the most random places for the rest of the year.  The custodians were amazing when they saw my room.  She sighed and said, "Ah... they sure do love Fiesta!" Thanks for being so great ladies!

Book Clubs that Promote Discussion and Higher Level Thinking

Hands down...book clubs are the best part of my day.

I love reading and discussing books with my kids and I actually read along with my students.  Seriously!  I read to the designated stop page and prepare for each meeting.  I'm just another member of the club. I try to keep up with all of my book clubs, but it can be tough. Sometimes I fall behind, but I'm always kicking myself afterwards. I find our discussions are always 150% better if I have just read the chapters and it is fresh.  Even if I have read the book before, I reread. I've read Because of Winn-Dixie at least five times...great book!

The best part about meeting in book clubs is I get to read with all my kids. Does anyone else find themselves meeting with their lower readers way more often than their high readers? Isn't it nice when you meet with your top readers?  It's like a vacation from teaching.  You just sit back, relax, and enjoy the conversation.

Again... best part of the day. 

So, here is what we're reading right now:

The Secret Soldier is new to me, but my kids are captivated. I love that it is a true story.
Horrible Harry and the Dragon is perfect for my kiddos reading below grade level.
Babe & Me is a fantastic book.  I always get my girls and boys hooked on this book/series. They love it! Plus... baseball.  :)
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is a classic.  I haven't read it in years, so it has been fun to read about all of Fudge's crazy adventures.  Poor Peter!

Now, I have seen twenty different and wonderful ways to run a book club or literature circle including the different jobs (summarizer, visualizer, etc.) Over the years, I have tried many of these models, but I really love what I'm doing right now.  It is simple, easy, and my students love it!

They come prepared to discuss what they have read at each meeting. I used to use post-its, but I was flying through them. Now, I have a reading response sheet.  It looks like a lot, but it's really very simple.  The kids don't feel hassled filling it out and it always offers us a great jumping off point for discussion.

Book Club Thinking Discussion Sheet

Their favorite thing to share is their golden lines.  I start talking about golden lines in the beginning of the year during read alouds.  I explain that sometimes we read a sentence or a paragraph and that line just sticks with us.  We create a great mental image from it. It reminds us of something meaningful in our lives. It just seems important in the story...maybe a turning point. It makes use laugh. It's the moment when we figure something out about the characters or the plot for the first time.  I tell them there is no wrong answer, just find a line that speaks to you.  You would be amazed with what they come up with.  So many kids pick up on foreshadowing without even realizing it. :)

Now, as much as I would love reading to be just reading, realistically we live in a world where I have to give my students a grade.  Books clubs can be challenging to grade because all students are reading a different text at their instructional level.  I can't simply give a quiz on what was read.

 Below is the sheet I created to grade my students on book clubs.

Book Club Rubric

I am choosing to grade my students on their participation in our discussion and on how prepared they are when the come. I just follow the rubric.  Easy.  Each meeting, the student can earn up to 8 points.  I will then calculate their final grade based on points earned out of possible points.

So far everything seems to be working really smoothly.  My students are spending most of their time reading and talking about the books, not filling out worksheets.  I've been really impressed with the level of discussions and the eagerness with which students read and beg to meet with their group.

All and all... I'm loving my new system.
I hope some of you find it helpful as well.
Happy Book Clubbing!

I am Teacher Woman!

Eek...this is my 2nd post today, but I LOVE this and had to share.

Check out the completely wonderful card I was given today by one of my students. 

The outside...

Hmm... we may need to review the -est suffix again.  I'm going to let it slide here because he called me the smartest and powerful.  He's absolutely right.  *wink, wink*

The inside...

Best portrait of me, EVER!

First, I love my pencil jet packs.  Can you say awesome?

The apple knee pads are pretty cool too.

Plus... did you notice?  That's right...I'm wearing glasses AND a mask.  I'm incognito x2!

I'm laminating this and keeping it forever.  :)

Comparing Texts with Jackie Robinson

April 15th is a magical day in Major League Baseball.  It is the day all players in MLB put on #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson.  Pretty cool, huh?

In my post the other day I shared a favorite baseball book, Teammates, and mentioned that I like to read this book aloud and then have my class read a non-fiction article on Jackie Robinson.  My favorite article comes form Toolkit Texts (Grades 4-5) from Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.  There is also an additional article on the Negro Leagues. Click below to link directly to Amazon.com.  This book is a bit pricey, but worth it.

 My students partner read the non-fiction article and completed an I learned/I think T-chart.  Then, they worked in groups of 3-4 to complete a Venn Diagram comparing the two texts. 

Here are a few examples from my class:

As you can see, I love to incorporate baseball!

What other lessons have you seen around baseball or legendary sports heroes?

Favorite Baseball Books

Spring is here and baseball season has begun! 

Some of my all-time favorite books to read aloud in the classroom are baseball stories.  I started collecting books here and there and suddenly realized I had a pretty large collection and I read them to my class EVERY year. My kids love them. They are captivated by them.  They are inspired by the heroes in the stories.  They always spark great conversation and lead to good thinking while reading. 

(Yay for metacognition!) Here are some of my favorites:

 

Teammates is the story of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese.  

I usually read this story aloud and then we read a non-fiction article about Jackie Robinson for the students to compare and contrast the two stories.

 Mighty Jackie played in Chattanooga. She struck out some of the best baseball players in baseball including Babe Ruth, but was asked to leave the major leagues because she was a woman.

Roberto Clemente... what a role model! Enough said.

It is a beautiful story about Babe Ruth, but also a great mentor text.  

The poetic text has great word choice and description.

Set during WWII, Baseball Saved Us  follows the Japanese Americans that were put in an internment camp and shows how baseball helps one father and son make the best of a difficult situation.

This showcases the amazing perseverance of Lou Gehrig.

 I'm a huge fan of the movie A League of Their Own, so I just adore this book.  

Mama Played Baseball tells the story of a young woman who has to get a job when her husband goes away to war, so she starts playing ball.

A great historical story about two boys during the great depression that don't have a lot,

 but they do have Babe Ruth.

Ahh, America's pastime...one of the best sports and some of the most inspiring stories.  I'm sure there are many other great baseball books. Please share if you have a favorite.  I'd love to add to my collection.

"Find something you love, and go after it, with all of your heart." ~ Jim Abbott

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." ~ Jackie Robinson

"Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth." ~ Roberto Clemente

I've been funded & K5 Learning Review

Guess what? I've been funded!

 That's right...I've had my first Donors Choose project funded.  I'm so excited. I submitted my project on Sunday and received all my funding this afternoon. A huge thank you goes out to the George and Fay Young Foundation for matching dollars and to my big brother for donating the rest.  How great is family? Thank you both for your generosity and believing in my students.  Anyway, twelve brand new Whisperphones will be arriving in my classroom sometime soon. I know my students are going to love them!

In other news, K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students.  I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program.  If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their  open invitation to write an online learning review of their program. 

Whisperphones Wanted - My 1st Donors Choose Project

I'm so excited y'all! I have just been approved to start my very first Donors Choose project. 

 For those that don't know, Donors Choose is a non-profit organization that helps connect public school teachers with people all over the country that would like to help children and schools.  

My project is called Building Independence and Confidence in Readers and Writers. My students need 12 whisper phones that allow them to hear themselves clearly while speaking softly to develop their reading fluency and writing skills. Whisperphones are the coolest tool and I know teachers have been using versions of them for ages, but check out the new Whisperphones...

 

They are super cool headsets! This is definitely a step up from the PVC pipe.  My 4th graders will be begging to use these! The best part is (for those kids that can turn anything into a toy) this sits on their head and is hands free. Brilliant! They will look so professional.  Students will be able to hear themselves read clearly and build fluency without distracting others in class.  I'm so excited! 

I plan on having my kids use the Whisperphone to develop their reading fluency and reread their writing.  It seems like an uphill battle to get students to reread their writing and I mean REALLY reread. If I had a nickel for every time I've heard, "I'm done!" during Writers Workshop.  I always respond, "You're not done, you've only just begun!" but that only goes so far. Hopefully, I will soon be able to say this and hand them a Whisperphone to listen to their own writing, revise for clarity, and edit grammar mistakes.

If you are interested in reading about more projects and possibly donating please visit DonorsChoose.org. There are so many great projects to support and together we can all make a difference. To link to my project, click here!

Thank you all for your support. 

Furry Friends Linky Party - Meet Riley

Sandy, my fellow corgi lover over at Soaring Through Second Grade, is having a Furry Friends Linky Party!

For those that know me, I'm obsessed with my dog, Riley, so I had to join the fun. 

 

Meet Riley

This is my calendar shot.  

We played in the Texas wildflowers last weekend and had so much fun.  

 Corgis are amazing.  I love that he smiles up at me everyday, no matter what!

My husband and I got Riley nearly seven years ago when he was 8 weeks old. 

He is very playful and always happy.  Honestly, he still acts like he's two or three. He loves to go for walks and chase a ball. In fact, his favorite thing in the world is probably a tennis ball.  He always makes me feel better when I'm down and will curl up and sleep with me all day if I'm sick.  He loves to lay in the sun, sniff the air, and experience the outdoors. Riley has taught me to stop and enjoy the world around me, after all adventure and new friends might be just around the corner.

Head on over to Soaring Through Second Grade to add your own pictures of your furry friend and share what they have taught you.

Favorite Blog Post? Please Share!

Dear Fellow Bloggers and Followers,

This tired thief needs your help! I've been sifting through my dashboard and reading as many posts as I possibly can, but I can't seem to get through it all. (Big sigh!) It has taken hours to visit a fraction of the blogs I follow. My butt can't stay in this chair any longer, but I MUST find out what I missed.  I've simply been out of the game far too long. I need your guidance and advice.   I'm begging!!

Please post a link to a blog post that you have found especially helpful, creative, or fun in the past (uh...I'm embarrassed to say) three months. The gems of the blogging world if you will. I'm most interested in 4th grade activities as that is what I can use in my classroom right away. Don't be shy and feel free to post back to yourself. 

Perhaps with your help, I can catch up on the best of the last 3 months and discover some new wonderful blogs that I have been missing out on along the way.  I can't wait to see what I've missed.

Thanks, Amanda

 

Art + Math = Fractional Me

I love integrating art into my classroom whenever possible.  This year, I was introduced to a great project by my 4th grade team.  It's called Fractional Me.  

Fractional Me is a portrait created out of small squares. (I taught a few students to use the di-cut machine and they just went to town.)  Students are only allowed to use whole and half squares for ease of counting later on. They construct their portrait and are then responsible for determining the fractional amounts of squares for each color.  They turn out really cute and with so much personality. We added googly eyes just to make them more fun.

 

Don't you just love the belt in the last picture?

 

Let's Rock the STAAR

Hey everyone!  Long time...no blog.

I choosing to just ignore the fact that I have not posted in over two months and just jump right back in. (big smile)

As all Texas teachers know, the STAAR test is looming just around the corner.  It's a mere 8 school days away and yes, I'm counting. Here is an awesome video that an elementary school in my district put together to help motivate their students for the upcoming test. They will pass the STAAR.  They know it!

While exploring YouTube, I also found this video from Felty Elementary in Waxahachie, Texas where my sister works, so I had to share this one too.

So, rock out with your kids and rock the STAAR!