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?

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Fossil Fun

 In science my class is learning about living things

I awed my class with real fossil observations from my dad's collection.        Thanks dad!

They loved seeing real trilobites after reading about them in our text.

The evening following our lesson I whipped up a batch of Coffee Ground fossil dough.

After realizing one batch wasn't enough I found myself brewing another pot of coffee to get more grounds and 2 hours later had my fossil dough prepped.  I drank a couple of cups of the coffee I brewed along the way, so as to not waste.

Then I cut out enough circles for my students to make fossil imprints with a small fish.

The imprint process

 Tip alert: Spray the imprinting object with nonstick cooking spray

(I learned this the hard way after tearing up several imprints while trying to lift them off)

The finished fossil after drying

Grab the directions to have fossil fun in your class!

Thanks for taking another "Peek Into my Planbook"

Pick of the Patch Bucket Fillers

Calling all Bucket Fillers. Add a little fall spirit to your bucket filling notes with my "Pick of the Patch" notes. I find when I switch my notes up it keeps the bucket filling interest going and going.

Be sure to check back & follow me, because I'll post more themed bucket filler notes for other holidays.

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 (Freebie ideas and giveaways are sometimes shared there!)

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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!

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Fall Art and Writing Ideas using Leaves

Fall is here!  I love doing crayon resist oil leaf art with this accompanied fall leaf creative writing project. Both projects sure make beautiful autumn bulletin boards. 

Students change a leaf into another object and create a story plot about it.    

                                                                 

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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:

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California Regions

This week my class wrapped up our learning of the four main regions of California by making these bean maps.  My grade level does these every year. We used rice, pinto/kidney beans, split peas, and popcorn kernels to represent the coast, mountain, central valley and desert areas.

 

~Enjoy

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I'm Sunshine Spreading: The Power of Positive

Here's to the power of positive!

On Task Behavior

I loved the self regulation idea I ran across on Empowering Little Learners.  It called to me because I have at least 3 students who have difficulty realizing when they are off task. I'm hoping this cue sheet will become a magic bullet to help them self monitor their choices. I'm willing to give anything a try. Today was my first day giving it a spin, and all 3 students were able to honestly tell me what level they felt they were at when I asked them. I posted a mini version on each of their desks. Enjoy this revised version of the original.

Join The Wise and Witty Teacher Linky for more ideas!

~Enjoy

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Let's Say Thanks with American Pride

A patriotic activity I use every year is the "Let's Say Thanks" site sponsored by Zerox. You can have your students send a postcard of their choice to show appreciation and support of our military and country.  All the free postcards are designed by kids as seen by this sample from the site. This is such an easy, but powerful way to validate the sacrifice of our country's armed forces, especially with the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 upon us tomorrow.

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