September 11th Read Aloud

I recently added the book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein to my classroom collection.

It tells the true story of the Frenchman, Philippe Petit's, tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers in 1974.  The theme of perseverance is a great point of discussion after reading this book. As I was preparing my lesson, I located this wonderful craftivity over at The Best Childrens' Books website.

Students work on goal setting, as Philippe Petit did with his tightrope feat.

Here's my rendition of the craftivity:

Other just as useful resources for The Man Who Walked Between the Towers can be found over at Scholastic. Resources include lessons on analyzing the character traits of Philippe Petit.

Will you be doing lessons to honor September 11th? I'd love you to share your ideas.

~Denise

TPT Store
Pinterest

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Back to School: Start the School Year with Kindness

As I start each school year I promote the idea of Bucket Filling.

I recently was introduced to a story, Each Kindness, that would be a great discussion starter for older students which covers the consequences of bullying.

The story introduces us to Maya, the new girl at school who is not accepted by the others.

She wears second hand clothes and eats weird food and her efforts at forming friendships are all but ignored. Then one day she is no longer at the school and the teacher shares a lesson on kindness to the class. Each student drops a rock in a bowl of water and witnesses the ripple which is like each little kindness we show towards others. This book doesn't have a happily ever after ending, which is a great lesson to discuss with students. It  can make them realize that we don't always get a second chance to make things right and that behaviors and choices have consequences.

After reading this book you might even want to keep a bowl of water and rocks to drop in to show ripples of kindness towards classmates.

~Denise

Stop by and visit

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Adverbs Practice through Literature

I like to introduce a lot of grammar concepts through literature tie ins.

The author, Rick Walton, has a whole series of language adventure books that are perfect for this.

For adverbs I use his book titled Suddenly Alligator which is a zany story about the adventures a boy encounters as he heads to town to replace his smelly socks.

I created this worksheet to use in conjunction with the book.

Grab it for free from my TPT store.

Students are to find the correct adverb to match the clues from the text.

Enjoy~

Denise

Find me at

TPT store

Pinterest

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Memoir Text

I read a wonderful memoir text to my students this week written by Lester Laminack. It's titled Saturdays and Teacakes which tells the author's memories of his Saturdays spent in the south with his mammaw. The book is filled with vivid vocabulary and descriptions of their "Every Saturday" events:

having hot biscuits with Golden Eagle Syrup, mowing the lawn, picking tomatoes for sandwiches, sitting in the glider that goes criick, crack (great for teaching onomatopoeia), and best of all making tea cakes. After reading and discussing the special relationship between Lester and his mammaw I showed my class this video retelling

A great follow up with this story is to share about the history and background of teacakes.

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Favorite Read Alouds in the Classroom

Here are my top 5 read alouds for the classroom. I'll share a snippet about each one in the order that I read them to my class this year.

First up is Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry

What a character Gooney Bird Greene is. She's quirky and fun and a master storyteller.

This book lends itself wonderfully to introducing the elements of a good story writing and telling.

This author has several other Gooney books that a well worth the read too.

You can check my original blog post for this book, which includes a video find and my Gooney Unit {HERE}

Next, is Lulu and the Brontosaurs by Judith Viorst.

Lulu is a spoiled brat who demands that she wants a dinosaur for a pet.

This is a quick read, but one my class adored.

I would hear them chanting in line like Lulu, 

" I"m gonna,  I'm gonna, I'm gonna gonna get a bronta, bronta, brontosaurus for a pet."

Then, we read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

A classic read about a lonely boy named James raised by his mean aunts.

He escapes his miserable life inside a magical peach with a crew of animated insects.

On to Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, a great tale of friendship between a little girl, a runt pig she raises and a spider.

We watched the video afterwards to compare the book to the movie.

My all time favorite I always end the year with is Dodger and Me by Jordan Sonnenblick

 The main character, Willie Ryan forms a friendship with an invisible, blue chimp in surfer shorts and his life literally changes. Cute, cute read. I originally blogged about this book {HERE}.

What are your favorite read alouds?

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Patricia Polacco Magic

Patricia Polacco is one of my favorite authors to use in the classroom.

She is such an engaging storyteller.  My class was riveted to this author study video today.

I plan to now have my students practice sharing a family story of their own with this assignment:

Which Patricia Polacco story is your favorite?


Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

Gooney Bird Greene - Read aloud Activities in the Classroom

I must say that I adore Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry!
And my class quadruple adores Gooney.

I just finished reading this to my class last week and this one little story has SO many good teaching points for mini lessons. Plus, Gooney Bird Greene models wonderful story telling!

Here's one teacher's take on all the teaching opportunities for this book.

I've made a packet of activities for Gooney Bird Greene
Take a peek. 

 

Stop by and visit

My TPT store

Pinterest

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Mr. Peabody’s Apples Read Aloud and Story Craft

This is my Patchwork Apple bulletin board. The read aloud lead in to our apple art was the book, Mr. Peabody's Apples, which is one of my first week MUST reads. It has a wonderful moral lesson that teaches about integrity and responsibility, particularly around the idea of spreading false rumors and the consequences that come from it. It shows the importance of mutual respect and trust in relationships. 

Following the reading students used squares of solid and patterned red wrapping paper to decorate the apples. Easy and cute!  I keep this bulletin board up year round as a reminder of the message the book sends.

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

 (Freebie ideas and giveaways are sometimes shared there!)

Farmer Mac Nugget's Turkeys

What a classic read for Thanksgiving!

For my first grade blogger friends I ran across a math story mat lesson I used to do with my firsties following this story.

I guess now I can enrich this same lesson by dividing or multiplying turkeys and haystacks for my 3rd graders!

These mats used turkeys and hay stacks to build subtraction word problems.

I laminated the mats for reuse.

Gratitude Journal Prompt Writing for Thanksgiving Lessons in the Classroom

Thanksgiving at the Tappleton's is an adorable holiday read aloud with a great message of finding gratitude in all situations. The Tappleton's traditional Thanksgiving meal goes all awry when Mrs. Tappleton lets the frozen turkey accidentally slide down the icy sidewalk into the pond. The meal plans go from bad to worse shape from there on in! It's a very cute read.

This book is a perfect lead in to my Gratitude Journal prompts I use in November.

This set has 18 prompts focused on thanks and gratitude.

I also do this adorable Apple Turkey Craft. It makes a wonderful table decoration for families on Thanksgiving.

Click picture to grab a copy.

Keep in touch. Find me at:

My TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Favorite Read Aloud: Dodger and Me

One of my all time favorite read alouds is Dodger and Me.  I LOVE it and the students beg for me to read it! The blue chimp, Dodger, is a character with such irresistible charm.  The book has a baseball theme which boys love, as well as girls. It's a grand slam read across the board. Dodger becomes an imaginary friend to the main character Willie Ryan.  The flap excerpt reads:

What would you do if your best friend was:
     1. Imaginary?
     2. An oversize blue chimp in surfer shorts? (Potentially embarrassing, but hey, no one else can see him . . . right?)
     3. Proposing a plan to help you improve your life?
     4. Did we say imaginary?
     5. Driving you crazy?!?!
Now you have an idea of what Willie Ryan’s life is like when he meets Dodger. It’s the beginning of a lot of trouble—and a friendship you’ll never forget!

I found a chapter by chapter response packet online for it too.  What are your favorite read alouds?

Keep in touch. Find me at:

My TPT store

Pinterest

Traditions and Patricia Polacco Author Study

My class loved reading Patricia Polacco's The Keeping Quilt the past two weeks. It's such a special story about the importance of family and traditions. Students completed their own family tradition quilt square too and were proud to share a piece of their heritage.

After reading The Keeping Quilt, I read aloud some of her other books: Babushka's Doll, Some Birthday, Chicken Sunday, Thunder Cake and the most touching of the bunch, The Junkyard Wonders                      

To show our appreciation for her talent as a wonderfully inspiring author students wrote thank you letters to Patricia Polacco today.  

My class was "Over the Top" excited when we received a letter in return from Patricia Polacco.

There's no better way to bring letter writing to life than this!

Keep in touch. Find me at:

My TPT store

Pinterest

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Compound Word Fun

On Friday, I did my all time favorite compound word lesson.  I began by reading a "Build-A-Word" board book with slider windows that my 3rd graders were "Ooing and awing" over. They didn't care that it was a simple and easy "baby" book. The author is Nora Gaydos.

Then I brought out the challenge book by Rick Walton called Once There Was a Bullfrog.

It's an adorable story about a frog that's lost his hop and tries to find it. As the story is told picture clues help students try to form a new compound word.

I wrapped up my lesson by having students illustrate a retelling of the story I typed up.

Here's a sample:

I also have  compound word products in my TPT store you might like:

Find more great ideas on my Pinterest page or TPT store

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

Favorite Back to School Read Aloud

One of my all time favorites to read to start the school year is Nobody's Mother is in Second Grade by Robin Pulver. It's a story about a mom disguised as a plant so she can go to school with her child. It's a great way to discuss the importance of being an independent third grader.

I created this literature prompt to follow my read aloud.  The student's responses are always good for a chuckle. This version posted is for 3rd grade, as that's the grade I currently teach. I just couldn't let this story go when I moved from 2nd grade. 

Enjoy!

Keep in touch. Find me at:

My TPT store

Pinterest

 

Making Multiplication Arrays

I use the very cute book Bunches and Bunches of Bunnies to introduce basic multiplication and arrays.
This book is written in rhyme with whimsical bunny illustrations. For example, one rhyme is as follows:

Count the bunnies at the ball

Rabbit partners short and tall

Now the music comes alive

And 5 x 5 = 25

I follow this story by having students create an array using small objects. Some students have used items like pennies, cereal, buttons, beans, stickers and more.  

Like this idea?  Grab the {array worksheet}.

This is part of  a 3 product bundle of multiplication activities. You can grab it at a discount.

 

                      

Keep in touch. Find me at:

My TPT store

Pinterest

I recently started a Facebook Group for teachers to share ideas, questions, and inspiration. 

Come Join the group!

For the Love of Literature

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read."

Groucho Marx

If you have a love for literature like I do then I'm hoping you'll love the oodles and oodles of resources on these websites. I just spent the last 2 hours + searching and bookmarking them! And yes, I am on summer vacation. I just saved all my blogger friends that much more time to enjoy your summer.

Click on each screen snapshot to go to each site.

Happy, happy reading!