tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54773546418368879112024-03-19T04:48:34.154-04:00Teaching My Friends!Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-6195588707317824332015-09-20T23:32:00.000-04:002015-09-20T23:32:30.385-04:00Classroom Library Redo! Part 2: Organizing, Leveling, <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9d0new8dzV0/Ve-MxBnG6DI/AAAAAAAADMg/tJgh-61uf20/s1600/libary%2Bredo%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9d0new8dzV0/Ve-MxBnG6DI/AAAAAAAADMg/tJgh-61uf20/s400/libary%2Bredo%2B2.jpg" width="322" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">This is part two of a two post series. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">You can catch Part 1: Purging & Restocking Your Classroom Library by clicking </span></i><a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2015/09/classroom-library-redo-part-1-purging.html" target="_blank">HERE.</a></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;">Sorry for the delay on this post. I have been trying to do a Periscope tour of my library, which I wanted to embed in this post. It hasn't quite worked out, so I'm just (finally!) going ahead.</span></i></div>
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Welcome to part two of our classroom library redo! Now that we have our libraries purged of MUSTIES and have new(ish?) books ready to add, it's time to look at how your library is organized.<br />
There are so many different thoughts on this. I'm going to start with my library. It is organized by both level and genre. Here are a few pictures to give you an overview. It begins with a small sign (that is really overexposed for some reason) which explains the baskets and a few other pics taken on different days. Take a look!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w_lDhELDYcM/Vf9OUi_p4vI/AAAAAAAADOM/qHiqWHwUatQ/s1600/basket%2Bchart.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-w_lDhELDYcM/Vf9OUi_p4vI/AAAAAAAADOM/qHiqWHwUatQ/s320/basket%2Bchart.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhenEKvftLc/Vf9OaZB6paI/AAAAAAAADOU/cwMgZlxVLMw/s1600/bboard.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhenEKvftLc/Vf9OaZB6paI/AAAAAAAADOU/cwMgZlxVLMw/s400/bboard.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jt2oJt2BGFY/Ve-PTemwIDI/AAAAAAAADMs/T7XyEfPPYyU/s1600/whole%2Bview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jt2oJt2BGFY/Ve-PTemwIDI/AAAAAAAADMs/T7XyEfPPYyU/s640/whole%2Bview.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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All these blue, red, green, and yellow baskets are from the Dollar Tree many years ago I am still surprised at how they have held up so well, especially since they are collapsible. In the pic above, you can see a bunch folded up extras at the bottom of the cubbies. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xEqTIAtHcIM/Ve-USRY05EI/AAAAAAAADNQ/GmMKHq6Mqdk/s1600/red.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xEqTIAtHcIM/Ve-USRY05EI/AAAAAAAADNQ/GmMKHq6Mqdk/s640/red.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
The red baskets are my leveled books, mixed fiction and nonfiction. If you are required to have a leveled library, I think it is important to also have a genre based section. I want my kids to not feel tethered to a book basket because it is "their" level. I want their reading selection to also be more interest based. Knowing it is a book they actually are interested in will make them want to read it more than knowing it is their level.<br />
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The yellow baskets are all nonfiction. Of course, I don't have every category, but there is a nice mix of topics I know are of interest to my students and projects we work on.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDtDtmOktVo/Vf92pm_-cAI/AAAAAAAADPc/-HDNSSsstag/s1600/non%2Bfiction%2Bshelves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NDtDtmOktVo/Vf92pm_-cAI/AAAAAAAADPc/-HDNSSsstag/s320/non%2Bfiction%2Bshelves.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m9sj0E2Ficw/Vf92j0emjQI/AAAAAAAADPU/EhP2JKtF0I8/s1600/corner.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m9sj0E2Ficw/Vf92j0emjQI/AAAAAAAADPU/EhP2JKtF0I8/s200/corner.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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The blue and green baskets are all fiction. Some baskets are labeled by genre, but there are a bunch of baskets labeled as Assorted Fiction which just have a mix of fiction books. I like having those assorted baskets because some children will never venture from what they know they like. If they like graphic novels, they will always go to that basket. If I tell them there are other graphic novels mixed in the assorted fiction baskets, they then end up browsing through an assortment of genres. You never know what might catch their eye!<br />
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These large baskets below rest on the floor and hold picture books and larger, over-sized books that don't fit on the shelves. These baskets are really large and hold a ton of books.</div>
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I found it really important to have some clear labels on every basket so my friends can easily find books and correctly return them. On my library sign out sheet, there is a column to put in the basket label. This way when they sign the book in, there's no guessing where they got it from and I don't end up with books randomly shoved in just any basket. I made all these labels and I love them, but oh my! Totally did not think about having to cut out all those loops! </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eieXsR-CqFk/Ve-T0P8IlYI/AAAAAAAADNI/BwjbEGD-ctk/s1600/big%2Bbooks%2Bbasket%2Blabels.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eieXsR-CqFk/Ve-T0P8IlYI/AAAAAAAADNI/BwjbEGD-ctk/s320/big%2Bbooks%2Bbasket%2Blabels.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I keep some favorite series books on a wooden shelf and new books are put on these <a href="http://www.dollartree.com/household/home-decor/frames/Braided-Metal-Easels/500c542c545p333594/index.pro?method=search" target="_blank">display stands that I got at Dollar Tree</a>. These are perfect book stands! For just a buck, I was able to pick up a bunch of them. Dollar Tree tends to have them in stock all year, so you can still pick some up.</div>
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<img alt="Braided Metal Easels" src="http://dollartree.resultspage.com/thumb.php?s=200&f=http%3a%2f%2fwww.dollartree.com%2fassets%2fproduct_images%2fstyles%2falternate_large%2f163962_v1.jpg" /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rRzUUsSBRsk/Ve-UfMPQDCI/AAAAAAAADNY/7wY3rRsTaZY/s1600/display.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rRzUUsSBRsk/Ve-UfMPQDCI/AAAAAAAADNY/7wY3rRsTaZY/s320/display.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I use my Scholastic Points to get a few new books each month. Then, I spotted this fantastic idea from an Instagram post by <a href="http://www.arockytopteacher.com/" target="_blank">A Rocky Top Teacher</a>. When she gets new books, the kids that want the book get a ticket to write their name on and put it in the cup. Once all the tickets are in, you pick one so that person gets first dibs. The other kids can put it on their "To Read' list. I thought this was a genius idea because I see kids from seven different classes. I had been trying to figure out how to distribute new books fairly and this works perfectly. It prevents the kids from my first period class always getting the new books. It works great with a single class too, especially if you have lots of kids that want to read the same book. So, that's what the cups are for. I use plastic cups and a dry erase marker to write the title so that I can wipe it off when done.</div>
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The big book shelf below is introduced after a couple of weeks of school. It is a place for teacher and student recommended books. The small teacher section holds some books I know my friends will love. The larger section is for my friends. If they have a book they love and want to recommend, they fill out a quick half sheet that basically tells why they recommend the book without giving away the ending. It gets tucked in the book for browsers to read. I do the same for the books I recommend. It's a great spot to take a friend that is having trouble selecting a book on their own. </div>
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Lets' quickly talk about building book excitement. There is one, foolproof, never fail, way to do it. It's not the only way, but it's the best one! I'm talking about. . . </div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: x-large;"><b>BOOK TALKS!</b></span> </div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><b><i>Never underestimate the power of a good book talk!</i></b></span></div>
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There are a few different kinds of book talks, but I'm referring to a general book talk by the teacher when you bring new books into your library. When I have a stack of new books for the month, I gather my friends in a circle on the carpet and we briefly go through each one. This is where the show begins. My excitement level for these new books transfers to my friends, so I (whether I really am or not) am totally excited about each and every book as I talk about it. We discuss the cover, I read the back, tell my connections, my thoughts. I may read a small section from the book or just a line. In <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rump-liesl-shurtliff/1112126035?ean=9780307977960" target="_blank">Rump: The True Story of Rumplestiltskin</a>, the very fist line of the book is, " <i>My mother named me after a cow's rear end</i>." If that doesn't hook your students, nothing will! Mine dissolved into a fit of giggles and after that book talk almost all wanted to read it. Scholastic puts out <a href="http://schools.nyc.gov/documents/d75/ais/booktalktips.pdf" target="_blank">this flyer</a> on how to give a book talk. It is mostly geared towards kids, but the tips also apply to a teacher given book talk. I tried to find more resources for teacher book talks, but there really isn't much out there. Honestly, just show your enthusiasm for the books, find a hook in the text, and they will want to read them.</div>
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Some other easy ways to build book excitement for your classroom library:</div>
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<li><i><u>Golden Tickets! </u></i> In random books, I hide golden tickets. They are tucked in well so that they don't fall out when browsing but are found while reading. The ticket allows the reader to claim a small prize. I started using the golden tickets from <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Nifty-Librarian" target="_blank">The Nifty Librarian's Tpt store</a>. It is a<a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Golden-Ticket-Hide-in-Seldom-Read-Library-or-Classroom-Books-FUN-816627" target="_blank"> free download</a> which is editable so you can change it to your name and how it works if you like. I've since created my own, but those are a good place to start.</li>
<li><i><u>Wrap Books! </u></i> Some months, I will wrap the new books like presents and allow students to unwrap the book which is the one we do a book talk on. For this, we do one a day with a quick book talk. Honestly, this takes no more than five minutes. It's the unwrapping of the book that is the hook. They can't wait to see what it is.I also sometimes pull books I already have that are good but just not circulating.</li>
<li><i><u>Bulletin Boards!</u></i> In my class library, I do a monthly (if I don't forget to change it!) author spotlight and genre spotlight. The book talk at the beginning of the month revolves around getting to know the author and his/her books. I always try to find something interesting or quirky about the author that captures my friends' interests. Then, when we do the genre spotlight, I can showcase books that some of my friends may have never thought about reading. Our spotlight this month is on the author Andrew Clements and the realistic fiction genre.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li><i><u>Read Aloud! </u></i> I think liking to be read to transcends every age. I have clear memories of being in 5th grade and my teacher reading the book <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-man-in-the-box-marylois-dunn/1121172922?ean=9781479402328" target="_blank">The Man in the Box</a> to us every day after lunch. It is set during the Vietnam War and tells the story of a captured American soldier who is tortured and put in a box in the hot sun and how he is helped and eventually freed and brought to safety by a young Vietnamese boy who lives in the village. I remember the book being so boring at first. Not exactly the reading material a 5th grade girl is likely to select. However, my teacher made that book come alive and our class couldn't wait to get back from lunch to read that book. I remember venturing into the historical fiction genre for books afterwards, which is something I probably never would have done if not for that read aloud.</li>
<li><i><u>What are you reading?</u></i> This year, I've made a commitment to read more of the books my friends are reading. Mostly because I realized I had not been keeping up. My friends were reading and wanting to talk about books I didn't know. This year, I've been reading tons of books. It has me excited about their books and enables me to have some great in-depth conversations about books with them. It has also helped me be much better at fitting books to my readers. If I can talk genuinely about a book with real knowledge of it, I can sell it! It has also helped to improve my reading conferences. While we don't have to have read the book we conference about, I have to say it does help.</li>
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These are just a few simple ways to build excitement in your library. There's more, but this went on way longer than I intended! If you are still reading, thank you! :-) I hope some of this has been even just a bit helpful.</div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com264tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-77306435496460394562015-09-08T05:00:00.000-04:002015-09-08T21:34:20.770-04:00Classroom Library Redo! Part 1: Purging and Restocking Your Classroom Library<div style="text-align: center;">
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<i><span style="color: blue;">This is part one of a two post series. </span></i><br />
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I have always loved having a big class library. It has really helped me create readers out of my most reluctant students. But, over the years I realized that I had been lazy and sort of let my library go. It really hit home when I went to a workshop by <a href="http://bookwhisperer.com/" target="_blank">Donalyn Miller</a> and read her book <a href="http://bookwhisperer.com/books/reading-in-the-wild/" target="_blank">Reading in the Wild</a>. Holy Moly! If you read it, be prepared to look at your class library with new eyes and be compelled to improve things! It was this quote that really made me rethink my library:<br />
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"> ". . . remember why we build classroom libraries </span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">in the first place: so our students will fall in love with reading and find the right book at the right time. We cannot offer our students meaningful book access with damaged, outdated, </span></b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: blue;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">or uninteresting materials."</span></b> <b><span style="font-size: x-small;">(p. 86)</span></b></span></i></div>
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Yes, a lot of my library was <b>MUSTIE</b>. MUSTIE is Donalyn's acronym for the six factors librarians use when removing books from their collections. Essentially, MUSTIE asks if your books are <b>M</b>isleading (contain information that is no longer accurate), <b>U</b>gly (torn, ripped, yellowed, etc,), <b>S</b>uperseded (having older copies of books that are often updated), <b>T</b>rivial (books that don't engage most of your readers), <b>I</b>rrelevant (outdated, no longer popular), or can be found <b>E</b>lsewhere. I really suggest you read her book, especially chapter 2: Curating a Classroom Library, where Donalyn goes in to much more detail. Using the MUSTIE criteria, I did a huge purge of books in June, at the end of last school year. I ended up pulling about 275 books. These are just some.<br />
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Once I had all the books pulled, I let my students take home as many as they wanted. Honestly, I had kids coming from classes I don't even teach asking for books. Anyone that asked for a book got at least one. I even had kids taking books home for siblings. I realized this when one of my toughest boys was holding on to a fairy tale story book. When I asked and he explained it was for his little sister, I wanted to give him a huge hug. Of course, I couldn't because that would totally have messed with his tough guy image! It was so great to send kids home with books they wanted to read over summer vacation.<br />
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I then spent the summer restocking. Books are everywhere! And, you don't have to spend a fortune to restock. You can go to a thrift store. Thy always have a children's book section. I went to library book sales and got these goodies below. Books at my local library run from $0.25 to $2.00. I would say most of the books I purchased were about $0.50 each. When buying used books, just keep in mind that it should look fairly new and be relevant to your readers. Don't purchase more MUSTIE books to replace the MUSTIE books you've purged!<br />
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I ordered way too many books (That's not all of them by far!) from Amazon using points instead of cash. This is great for getting newer, popular, and more current books. <br />
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(By the way, <a href="http://theoneandonlyivan.com/" target="_blank">The One and Only Ivan</a>? I cried from the middle of the book to the end! One of the best children's books I've read in a while.)</div>
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Finally, the last thing I did to restock my library was to go to the <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/bookfairs/warehouse" target="_blank">Scholastic Warehouse Book Sale</a> where they had great deals. There were dollar tables, and they offered Build a Box where you could stuff as many books in a box as possible for $25. Th warehouse by me is having its next big sale in December. I suggest clicking the link and seeing if there is a warehouse near you. <br />
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There are still many other sources for stocking your classroom library inexpensively: </div>
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<li>Ask parents! You can send a flyer home with an upper grade class asking parents if they would like to donate any books their child may have outgrown. If there aren't younger siblings at home, you will probably have parents happy to donate when they know it is helping their child's school.</li>
<li>Facebook: Many communities have online garage sales where people will post items they want to sell. Also, just putting the call out there on your personal page that you are seeking donations for your classroom library will often bring forward people who have books to give but just didn't think about it. Of course, this works best when all your FB friends aren't teachers!</li>
<li>Ebay. When searching for books, don't just look for one particular book. I find I get more results when searching in the children's book category for "book lot." This way you get auctions for several books that are generally on the same level instead of individual titles. A couple of years ago I had a student that refused to read anything. Flat out refused to read. Finally, I was able to interst him in the Bone graphic novels. He liked the first one and said he would like to read another. Our school library didn't have it, so I was able to go on Ebay and purchase several books in the series for a fraction of what they would have cost anywhere else. It was money I was happy to part with because my friend ended up reading all the books!</li>
<li>Craigslist: I haven't used this myself for books, but I do see them listed.</li>
<li>Scholastic has an article on <a href="http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/classroom-solutions/2010/11/10-easy-ways-get-books-your-classroom-library" target="_blank">Ten Easy Ways to Get Books for Your Classroom Library</a>. It's an older article and some ideas I've suggested, but there are some others that might work for you.</li>
<li><b>Finally, <a href="https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2013/11/23/ten-ways-to-get-books-for-your-classroom-or-library-by-gigi-mcallister/" target="_blank">this post from The Nerdy Book Club</a> has lots of great ideas!</b></li>
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So, heading back to prep my room at the end of August with boxes of books turned in to quite a job! My library is sorted by level and by genre. Most of my books are leveled, even if they are not in a leveled basket. One of the easiest ways I've found to do this is to mark the book level on the bottom of the book. It is not seen by all and then the book can be in the leveled baskets or the genre baskets. I have to say though that I am not a believer that a child should be tethered to certain books because of levels. My students are allowed pick books that interest them. We use the reading levels more for guided reading instruction. But, for this to work, you really need to be tuned in to what your friends are reading and how it is going. <br />
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This is posting on Tuesday morning. After school this Tuesday afternoon I am planning to do a Periscope tour of my finished classroom library, sometime between 4-5 PM EST if you want to watch. Connection is always a little sketchy in my classroom, but hopefully it will work and I can do the tour. The second post in this series is the Classroom Library Redo Part 2: Organization and Excitement! This post will show you finished pictures of my library, how it is organized, my circulation procedures, and some extra tips on helping your students make the most of the library. If the Periscope tour works out, I will embed it in the post which should be up in a day or two at the longest.<br />
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Hopefully, you found this first part helpful. Check back for part 2!<br />
As always, thanks for reading!<br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-1048769954564064002015-07-21T19:37:00.002-04:002015-07-21T19:37:41.044-04:00Quick Tip: Bind Your Professional Books!<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Notice anything different about my <a href="http://www.heinemann.com/readingstrategiesbook/">Reading Strategies Book</a>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, I had that book bound! </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">This might be the best thing ever. </span></div>
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I have to give credit to Jennie Motes Smith who posted about doing it to some of her books on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/260078764136335/">Notice and Note Facebook page</a>. I saw her post and literally got off my couch, grabbed my book, and went to Staples. It was done in 20 minutes and for less than $4, The twenty minutes was good because I was in such a rush to get there I actually left my wallet home and had to go back for it!<br />
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When you get the book bound, just hand it over. They will take off the binding, put in the spiral, and add a cover to the front and back. I got the clear cover on both sides. This is great for increasing its durability and protecting it from the coffee drips and spills I always seem to have when I'm reading.<br />
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I think binding is the perfect addition to this book. You can lay it flat much easier, and fold it over to view just one page as shown below. I covered the page as I wasn't sure how much of the book content I could show. I think being able to fold the book over like this makes it much easier to handle during a lesson. It is easier to refer to while teaching if you need to.<br />
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Unfortunately, there was one down side. This particular book is a little large for the largest spiral Staples has. If you look at the picture below, you can see that the book curves around the binding a bit and isn't exactly even where the book opens.<br />
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Having said that, I don't see this being a real problem. The book handles fine, and when you have it open flat or folded in half you don't even notice it. This book is on the thicker side. I looked at a lot of my other professional books and most would fit without any problems. Staples also has spirals in smaller sizes for thinner books.</div>
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On another note, I had planned to do a review of this book, but I'm sort of on the fence. There is already so much out there about it right now. Let me know if you would like to see a review. I will say that I do highly recommend the book.</div>
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So, that's the quick tip. Get your favorite PD books bound!</div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-38777240252684282482015-07-13T06:00:00.000-04:002015-07-13T06:00:01.739-04:00Abandoning Post-It Notes During Independent Reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been a long time user of Post-It note annotations during reading. In fact, I've written posts, like <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5477354641836887911#editor/target=post;postID=8658064694937135028;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=10;src=postname">this one</a> and <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5477354641836887911#editor/target=post;postID=5593818826354961342;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=84;src=postname">this one</a>, where I mention using them. However, the nature of teaching is that we continue to learn, grow, reflect, and change our methods and instruction for the better. That's sort of where I am now with Post-It note (which I usually refer to as sticky notes) annotations. I think we are parting ways when it comes to independent reading.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dU79o6TOeYA/VaG24JzLtxI/AAAAAAAADJQ/mehkrxFyPog/s1600/Girl%2Bwith%2Bpost%2Bit%2Bnote%2Bannotated.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dU79o6TOeYA/VaG24JzLtxI/AAAAAAAADJQ/mehkrxFyPog/s640/Girl%2Bwith%2Bpost%2Bit%2Bnote%2Bannotated.jpg" width="640" /></a>I have to be honest and share my teacher fail here. I had done all the right things in implementing this. We did lessons on what was worth writing a sticky note, the different types of things they could write a note about, etc. We practiced it in guided reading groups, I modeled it many, many times. However, it just didn't seem to stick (pardon the pun!) for many of my students. Oh, there were a handful that got it and did well, but many seemed to struggle with using them in a way that helped them as readers. <br />
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So, I tried to fix the problem. When I noticed the friends that would sticky note almost every page, we had one to one lessons reviewing their notes and learning why some were good while others were just filler. We revisited the lesson on "sticky worthy" events. I had many frustrated days conferencing and reteaching with some friends that wouldn't write any sticky notes at all because, despite my exhaustive lessons, custom sticky notes with prompts, and the anchor charts hanging in the room, they would say they didn't know what to write.<br />
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I knew it was time to rethink this. How effective was having my students use sticky notes during independent reading? Was it working? In a word, no. It wasn't working for enough of my students that I could say it was effective. And, what really were my ultimate goals for my students? I wanted my friends reading. I wanted then to be immersed in a book they enjoyed. I wanted them to have sustained reading time, to be excited about reading and talking about books with their friends. What I had done by enforcing sticky notes was getting in the way of all of that. My students are children reading 1-2 years below grade level. Reading has been a struggle for them and not something they consider enjoyable. I was just making it more like work than the joy I know it could be for them.<br />
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Then, I thought about myself as a reader. I read. I read a lot! And, I rarely stop to jot a note when I'm reading fiction. Instead, I let myself be immersed in and carried away by the story. I live the events with the characters and become invested in what they do. I "feel" the book; laughing, crying, worrying, wondering, anticipating as the text pulls me in. This is what I want for my students. When reading nonfiction, I generally don't annotate unless I have a purpose of using the information in some way. For my students, this would be if they were working on a research project or found some information so interesting they wanted to share it with a friend later. But, what would be my purpose in forcing them to write Post-It notes on a nonfiction book they were reading for enjoyment?<br />
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The last two months of school, I decided to give it a shot and abandon sticky notes. Here's what I noticed immediately. My friends spent more time reading. Their enjoyment of reading increased. My most reluctant readers were no longer fake reading or complaining about having to read. They were talking more to each other about the books they were reading. They were spontaneously coming to me to talk about an interesting or funny part of their book. All those goals I had for my students were happening!<br />
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This September, I will not be using Post-It notes during independent reading. That's not to say I won't be using them at all. Post-Its definitely have their place in the classroom. We use them a lot during guided reading. They are perfect for jotting down an answer, a great spot for a student to jot down something they want to share, something they notice, etc. I will sometimes prewrite individual questions on them to differentiate for my students. There are a million places where they work well. I just no longer think independent reading is one of those places.<br />
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But, I do have to have something in place. My district is all about accountability, so as much as I would like to set my friends free to go read and just enjoy their books, there needs to be more to it. Because I have my notes from student conferences, goal setting, and lesson observations, I knew I could keep this fairly short and simple. Currently, I am thinking of having the kids do a single response when they finish a book. I plan on calling it <i>Just One Thing! </i>where students have a chance to share just one thing about the book they read. It can be a book review, something in the book events they want to comment on, etc. The point is they just have to say one thing about the book and it can be as detailed or as simple as they are capable of constructing at the time. This allows them to read without interruption or worry about writing Post-It notes. <br />
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Originally, I thought I would provide them with small, soft cove notebooks where they could write and I could respond. But, then I realized this would be perfect for technology integration. In the past, I've done a class blog where the kids responded to our read alouds. It worked out so well. They commented on each others post and had real conversations about the books. I am leaning toward using a blog again for this. A couple of suggestions from Instagram were to use <a href="https://www.edmodo.com/teachers">Edmodo</a> or <a href="http://www.mybigcampus.com/">My Big Campus</a>. I am not super familiar with those sites, but I plan to check them out over the summer.<br />
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So, that's where things stand now. I would love to know your thoughts. What are you doing with independent reading? Are you using sticky notes or have you found another way? Any suggestions?<br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-33096960855890646962015-07-04T12:41:00.001-04:002015-07-04T12:41:41.972-04:00Happy Independence Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oICQnCjLduk/VZgMwSkaz4I/AAAAAAAADI4/iJzRPcniA3A/s640/blogger-image-1525629206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oICQnCjLduk/VZgMwSkaz4I/AAAAAAAADI4/iJzRPcniA3A/s640/blogger-image-1525629206.jpg"></a></div>Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-59366871143504089652015-06-28T09:39:00.003-04:002015-06-28T09:39:49.970-04:00Why I Took A Year Off From Blogging<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><b>Can you believe it has been a </b></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><b>(school) year since we've last said hello? </b></span></i> </div>
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To be honest, I have no idea where the time went. My blog absence didn't begin as an intentional decision. I was overwhelmed by work, family, and other responsibilities that made blogging something I just didn't have time for. I kept meaning to do it, but as my daily to do lists got longer and longer, blogging kept getting moved down the list. When I look back at the last few posts I did write, you can sort of see it was coming. <br />
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At one point, I realized I hadn't blogged in a couple of months. That was when I did make a conscious decision to take the school year off. It was not an easy decision. I like blogging. I really, really like blogging! I like sharing ideas, having a place to express myself, and the interaction with you all through comments. I share, but I also learn so much from you. However, when blogging became something I no longer looked forward to, I knew it was time to take a break.<br />
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It had been, for me, a difficult couple of years at work with some changes that had me feeling somewhat uninspired. I found myself with fewer and fewer ideas on what I wanted to blog about. If I wasn't energized and excited about what I was doing, how could I possibly come here and share? I knew that I needed to refocus and find a new way to look at things. It was all about "reframing" the situation. Happily, I can write that I am in a totally different mindset now. I want to write a post about reframing and recharging your teaching. I think we all hit that slump at one time or another, and I was able to find some strategies that really helped turn things around.<br />
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So, do I regret taking the year off from blogging? I can 100% say it was the best thing I could have done! It really gave me a chance to recharge. So, what did I do with all that time? Lots!<br />
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I found time for all those school related things I would usually struggle to fit in. . .<br />
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I went to several out of district workshops that made my literacy loving heart sing! I was able to listen and learn from <a href="http://bookwhisperer.com/">Donalyn Miller</a>, <a href="http://www.harveydaniels.com/">Harvey "Smokey" Daniels</a>, <a href="http://www.heinemann.com/authors/4892.aspx">Debbie Miller</a>, <a href="http://fisherandfrey.com/">Douglas Fisher</a>, <a href="http://www.heinemann.com/authors/1804.aspx">Kyleene Beers</a>, and <a href="http://www.heinemann.com/authors/56.aspx">Bob Probst</a>. Tell me that isn't an amazing year of PD! Being able to learn from these literacy leaders has recharged my teaching and definitely made me refine my methods. It has also given me so many ideas for blog posts. There is so much I want to share with you from these workshops!<br />
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I finally got to read some of the books in the giant pile I've been meaning to get to. <a href="http://bookwhisperer.com/books/reading-in-the-wild/">Reading in the Wild</a> by Donalyn Miller was a really good one, but I've been on a big <a href="http://www.jenniferserravallo.com/">Jennifer Serravallo</a> kick. I love her books. If you are a literacy teacher, she is a must read. In particular, her latest book, <a href="http://www.jenniferserravallo.com/the-reading-strategies-book/">The Reading Strategies Book</a>, is one that should be on every reading teacher's desk. I'm planning to post reviews of the books I've read this past year. Most were fantastic like the two below, but there were a couple of duds.<br />
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I worked on cleaning up and reorganizing my classroom. This included taking the time to purge all those files I haven't opened in forever and reorganizing my closets and drawers that seemed to be filled with things I've sort of just thrown in there. I took a true tough love approach and got rid of anything I knew I haven't used and probably wouldn't. One of the biggest projects I took on was reevaluating my classroom library. I have a HUGE class library. After attending the Donalyn Miller workshop, I was inspired to make some big changes. I have a couple of blog posts planned about this with all the details and rational, but I can tell you I ended up purging 271 books and then completely reorganizing it all. The pic below is from my <a href="https://instagram.com/teachingmyfriends/">Instagram</a> that I posted as we were in progress. By the way, Instagram is without a doubt my favorite social media! I must be a visual learner :-)<br />
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There was also time to have a life outside of school. I found time to join a gym and workout. I had time to spend with friends and family. I read many (GASP!!) non-teaching related books. I went to movies, I slept, I cooked, I went to concerts, fairs, and festivals. I watched TV, I had a life! And, it wasn't that blogging took that much time. I mean, it does take time. If you blog, you know it can be time consuming. But not blogging gave me nights and weekends free to do more without the guilt of thinking I should be blogging.<br />
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The one area I had hoped to work on this past year was my presence on Teachers Pay Teachers. Yeah, that didn't happen. I still have just one or two lonely, simple freebies hanging out on my TpT page. I had lots of ideas and projects in mind, but never got around to it. It is still a goal for me. Being able to share products and ideas that work for me and I hope will help others is something I still really want to do. I just have to realize this is going to be a slow moving goal. I still have a lot to learn about creating products and how TpT works. I have July and August to do some learning and creating, so I'm hoping to have at least a couple of things ready to go for September. But, I'm not<br />
going to be pressuring myself to do it all. It will happen as it happens. <br />
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One thing this year off did help me realize is just how much I missed blogging. Even though I'm glad I took the year off, I'm excited to get back to it. Also, I have to give a huge thanks to those of you that continued to pop in during the year despite not seeing new content. To be honest, I was shocked anyone was still checking in on my little blog! <br />
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Moving forward, I have a better balance now with work, life, and blogging. I don't have a blogging schedule planned. I just have things I want to share on occasion. It might be twice a week, it might be once a week. I'm not sure. <i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: large;"><b>What I am sure of is that I am happy to be back to blogging! </b></span></i><br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-58895015573298408792014-09-18T17:17:00.001-04:002014-09-18T17:17:51.862-04:00I Have a Blog??<div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Just popping in with a quick post from my phone. I know it has been forever since I've posted! Big, long stories that include a crashed motherboard, family things, and (if I'm being honest) a bit of laziness! But not 2 months of laziness! </span></div><div><br></div><div>However, assuming anyone is still checking in, I will be back to regular posting on October 1st. Until then, check out my Instagram! Since I'm essentially working off my iPhone for the time being, it's been my favorite place to be! Just search "Teaching My Friends" and my account should pop up. Look for the pink apple!</div><div><br></div><div>These are just some of the pics I've shared there:</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lV28rAqtVQE/VBtL_HrE45I/AAAAAAAADGU/reenBfBokPE/s640/blogger-image-298978116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-lV28rAqtVQE/VBtL_HrE45I/AAAAAAAADGU/reenBfBokPE/s640/blogger-image-298978116.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vDGK8ulaicA/VBtLmioameI/AAAAAAAADF0/kZhZ17jQkh8/s640/blogger-image--1070431244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-vDGK8ulaicA/VBtLmioameI/AAAAAAAADF0/kZhZ17jQkh8/s640/blogger-image--1070431244.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TQel5Oq7gs4/VBtL1PAGBUI/AAAAAAAADF8/FPPTs8gZENk/s640/blogger-image--806483492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TQel5Oq7gs4/VBtL1PAGBUI/AAAAAAAADF8/FPPTs8gZENk/s640/blogger-image--806483492.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xrrlzV-j6nA/VBtL4ZoqQzI/AAAAAAAADGE/X1WFel-6258/s640/blogger-image--43978264.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xrrlzV-j6nA/VBtL4ZoqQzI/AAAAAAAADGE/X1WFel-6258/s640/blogger-image--43978264.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--zUJt6-Lagc/VBtL7Fw47GI/AAAAAAAADGM/e5ADBEOKe00/s640/blogger-image--635131058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--zUJt6-Lagc/VBtL7Fw47GI/AAAAAAAADGM/e5ADBEOKe00/s640/blogger-image--635131058.jpg"></a></div></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">There are blog posts to go with most of these pictures, but technology has not been my friend lately! But, fingers crossed, we should be BFFs once again by October!</div><br></div><div>So, thanks to all that have been checking in even though I've been MIA. I do appreciate it! I will see you on October 1st!</div><div><br></div>Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-4404039548049752982014-07-19T09:53:00.000-04:002014-07-19T09:54:18.218-04:00Weekend Words: "There Are Many Ways of Being Smart."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have no Weekend Words that can top this letter from a principal to her students. You can read the full article about this letter <a href="http://twistedsifter.com/2014/07/principal-writes-to-students-about-standardized-tests/">HERE.</a></div>
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<a href="http://twistedsifter.com/2014/07/principal-writes-to-students-about-standardized-tests/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo Origin</span></a></div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-11717076718121233332014-07-18T00:30:00.001-04:002014-07-18T00:30:57.608-04:00ThE MOst DisJoiNteD bLoG pOSt EvEr! (and some affixes!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This really is probably going to be the most disjointed blog post ever! There were a few different education and non-education topics swirling around in my head, and I'm just going to lump them all into one post.</div>
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I haven't blogged in a bit for no good reason than it is summer, and I'm being a bit lazy. </div>
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Every morning, this is the plan:</div>
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But, then I get distracted. One of my biggest distractions this summer has been this little app:</div>
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Yes, that devilish little Kindle app on my iPhone! It has been so nice to have time to read fluff. I am still in the middle of two different professional books, but I just lost interest for a bit. I might need to delete this app for a couple of weeks so I can get something done! Like blogging and working on my TpT stuff.</div>
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Figuring out this whole Tpt thing <strike>was</strike> is one of my goals this summer. I have some things I want to get done, but the time-suck that is my Kindle app has been getting the best of me. It was so fun seeing all the pics of bloggers who attended the Tpt gathering (convention?) in Vegas last week. It looked like so much fun. I've been reading lots of blog posts on it, and I have yet to hear of anyone that didn't have a great time, meet some amazing bloggers, and learn lots of helpful tips.</div>
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In fact, I posted this pic on my Instagram account during the festivities. More on Instagram later! My goal is that by next year my Tpt store will be up and running and I will attend the next gathering </div>
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One thing I am getting done is summer school. I have the best group of kids this year! I truly love them to pieces. They are so sweet, just really nice children who are willing to learn. No attitudes! They really make heading to work on nice, sunny, beach days not so bad. And, there are only 7 of them which has let me get so much done.</div>
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My summer friends will be entering 4th grade in September but have reading levels 1-2 years below that. One thing I learned right away is that they are unfamiliar with the most basic of affixes. I know they were taught them in 3rd grade, but the recall is not there at all. So, when deciding what to do with them for word study this summer, affixes it is! I wanted to get the most bang for my buck. They certainly need help with spelling patterns, but as soon-to-be-4th-graders I feel mastering some basic affixes will help them more with decoding the grade level words they will encounter.</div>
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For visuals with my lessons, I've been using this beach themed packet of <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/31-Prefix-and-Suffix-Mini-Posters-with-Definitions-OceanTheme-263136" target="_blank">31 different prefixes and suffixes by Rachael Parlett</a> that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers. It is awesome. And, free! She actually has this same pack available in different themes (pirates, jungle, Hollywood, and more) along with other for sale resources that compliment them. We've been doing one a day.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T3b3gxL-vDc/U8iODDJtFYI/AAAAAAAADDI/jdDbaiKi0sc/s1600/pokil+079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T3b3gxL-vDc/U8iODDJtFYI/AAAAAAAADDI/jdDbaiKi0sc/s1600/pokil+079.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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I write the affix down, and then I give the kids a basic word that has that affix. I then let them try to figure out what it means. Once they do, we write the definition on the chart we've glued in our notebook. We then work together to brainstorm a list of words. After that, they select a word and use it in a sentence that shows they know the meaning of the word. Finally, they sketch a quick picture showing their sentence. This form is another freebie I also found on Teachers Pay Teachers created by <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-Roots-Prefixes-and-Suffixes-Boost-Vocabulary-423735" target="_blank">Gaily Girl</a>. It's a pack of various materials, including this chart/organizer. I will say that I did tweak it a bit, but it is essentially the same. I just changed the font, made one line dotted, and changed the center box to put in the particular affixes we are using. The form is editable, so it was easy to do.</div>
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I only have my friends for five short weeks this summer, so we are spending two weeks on prefixes, two on suffixes (there they are below, ready to go!) and on our last week we will be combining the two. The best part of it all is that I can really see this clicking for the kids. They are using the new words they learned in our conversation and have stopped me during our read aloud more than once to point out that I said a word that had a prefix we learned. Score!!!</div>
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After summer school today, I went to my school to grab some materials from our supply room. If you are not a teacher and wonder what schools look like during the summer, here it is!<br />
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I really feel for our custodians in the summer. Our school is not air conditioned, and it is hot as blazes in that building. They are busy clearing out the classrooms, stripping and freshly waxing floors, cleaning the rooms, making repairs, and actually working to retile some classrooms this year. It is hot and sweaty work! They have to empty every room, do all that work, and then put it all back again. But, it all very much appreciated when we come back to shiny, clean classrooms in September!</div>
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So, frozen peas. Yup, that's me driving home from school last week with a bag of frozen peas on my knee. At dismissal last Thursday, I tripped on some uneven sidewalk and did a full-on face plant (really more of a knee injury) in front of all the summer school staff, students, and parents. It was so bad, I literally couldn't get up for a minute. I was going to post a picture of my knee today, but it is so ugly I didn't want to subject you to it! It is blue, green, purple, black, red, yellow, and every other color you can imagine. I honestly can't believe how bad the bruise is. It is still really sore, but I'm just glad I didn't break anything. And to prove how sweet my kids are this summer, I can't begin to tell you how upset they got when I fell. I was so busy reassuring them that I was fine that it wasn't until after they were all gone that I realized how bad it was. </div>
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To keep on with this disjointed post. . . I might be mildly obsessed with getting some <a href="http://www.jamberrynails.net/" target="_blank">Jamberry nails.</a> I'm seeing them all over the web. When I first heard of them, I thought I could just pick them up in the store. But, I think it is some kind of home party sales thing. I do see though that I can order some on their website. They aren't cheap, but I think it would be a fun treat. Have to look in to this some more! Do any of you do Jamberry nails? How do you like them? Where do you get them?</div>
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My other mild obsession this summer has been banana frozen yogurt. I tell you this for no reason other than I feel more people need to know about banana frozen yogurt. (You know I'm an elementary school teacher because I can't even type the word banana without thinking of Minions and laughing!) I posted this picture of some on Instagram a few days ago. It was a bit disappointing due to the lack of toppings. Notice there aren't really any? I wanted some fresh fruit, and there was none! When is the last time you went to a fro yo shop that had no fresh fruit?!! </div>
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Speaking of Instagram, I have just started using <a href="http://instagram.com/teachingmyfriends" target="_blank">my blog Instagram</a>. I find I am much more of an Instagram person than a Facebook person. I use FB in my personal life for friends and family, but I find it really difficult to switch back and forth between my blog FB page and my personal FB page. As a result, I sort of don't pay any attention to my blog FB page which isn't good. Some of you have been so nice to follow me on it which means you are probably on it more than I am! However, I find it much easier to blend my personal and blog Instagram in one. I think I'm more of a visual person and just find Instagram more appealing. I need to add an Instagram link to my buttons up top, but you can find me <a href="http://instagram.com/teachingmyfriends" target="_blank">HERE</a>. I've only posted a few pics, but I think IG is one social media I will keep up with.</div>
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So, that's my disjointed post. Which seems about right for summer blogging! :-)</div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com377tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-47208728334145700662014-07-05T22:12:00.001-04:002014-07-05T22:12:37.661-04:00Weekend Words: Happy Belated 4th America!<br />
The week has just gotten away from me! It's been my first full week of summer vacation, a holiday, and I've been prepping for summer school. I'll be back next week with some new posts. Until then, I hope that you all celebrated a wonderful 4th of July if you are here in the states.<br />
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We had terrible rain storms on the 4th due to Hurricane Arthur. The lightning was amazing. You could just watch it streak through the sky as it lit up the night. However, today has been beautiful. We just got back from watching our local fireworks display on the lakefront. Always fun except for the 10,000 mosquito bites! I am one itchy lady! Tomorrow promises to be another sunny day and a day filled with postponed 4th of July celebrations. I am going to try to not eat my weight in bbq chicken, corn on the cob, smores, and watermelon!<br />
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This picture is from the <a href="http://instagram.com/anntaylor" target="_blank">Ann Taylor Instagram page</a>. I just couldn't resist it! I remember getting those ice pops off the ice cream truck as a kid. A perfectly cool treat for the 4th of July! Their clothes are pretty darn nice, too! :-) Happy Belated 4th, America!<br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-5538511300671498982014-06-29T12:00:00.000-04:002014-06-29T12:00:02.943-04:00Weekend Words<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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And, that's my plan on this first weekend of what will hopefully be a great summer vacation!<br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-25369276899518190352014-06-27T19:58:00.000-04:002014-06-27T20:01:04.375-04:00Putting the Pieces Together: A Novel Activity<br />
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In cleaning up my computer, I came across these pictures of an activity I did three years ago with my friends. I didn't remember posting about it, and in searching the blog I couldn't find it. So, better late than never!<br />
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This activity was done towards the later part of the school year. We had spend time learning all the story elements and vocabulary that goes along with it. We had learned how to effectively write summaries and peer edit. We had plenty of practice working in cooperative groups where collaboration and good conversation are a must. It was time to put it all together.<br />
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After we had read the novel <span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/frindle-andrew-clements/1100300730?ean=9780689818769" target="_blank">Frindle</a> </span>by <a href="http://andrewclements.com/books-frindle.html" target="_blank">Andrew Clements</a>, I broke my friends into <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/05/meaningful-cooperative-learning.html" target="_blank">strategic groups</a> of five. They were going to work together to identify the important details of each story element and summarize their section. We were putting the puzzle pieces (of all we had learned) together!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9_LUJHHcO4g/U639y_iXc7I/AAAAAAAADBY/L0ghvnKKAQk/s1600/zomibe+011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9_LUJHHcO4g/U639y_iXc7I/AAAAAAAADBY/L0ghvnKKAQk/s1600/zomibe+011.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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Each color represents a different group. Each puzzle piece, from top to bottom, represents a different story element: characters, plot, problem, solution, setting. Using a graphic organizer, my friends worked with their group to outline what from the book (working on important information and detail vs. unimportant) must be included in each section.<br />
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Once the graphic organizers were completed and agreed on by the group, each member took one element and turned it into a written summary on their puzzle piece. Some were longer than others and required us to staple a couple of pages together, but it all worked out. It was a nice mix of cooperative work combined with an element of personal responsibility for the finished product. If they had room, they also created small illustrations that went along with their writing. These are some samples below.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pFbSacLL8lE/U63_Mr2gNoI/AAAAAAAADBo/qaXtTehVGxA/s1600/zomibe+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pFbSacLL8lE/U63_Mr2gNoI/AAAAAAAADBo/qaXtTehVGxA/s1600/zomibe+022.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iKVNS-1Zt9Q/U63_J21oQrI/AAAAAAAADBg/auw-4lyKkus/s1600/zomibe+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iKVNS-1Zt9Q/U63_J21oQrI/AAAAAAAADBg/auw-4lyKkus/s1600/zomibe+014.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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When all were done, we glued them on to a column of construction paper in order. To finish, they added some extra illustrations. Each group then presented their summary of the book. When we were done, I hung them on the lockers outside my room. If you are a regular reader, you know of my never ending quest for vertical display ideas for those darn lockers!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SlsqOWe30JM/U63_a9VGL4I/AAAAAAAADCA/aqUjRyHASkU/s1600/zomibe+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SlsqOWe30JM/U63_a9VGL4I/AAAAAAAADCA/aqUjRyHASkU/s1600/zomibe+012.JPG" height="640" width="174" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lrq0ahkKLcs/U64AOAN5xkI/AAAAAAAADCI/axgWjT_W210/s1600/zomibe+020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lrq0ahkKLcs/U64AOAN5xkI/AAAAAAAADCI/axgWjT_W210/s1600/zomibe+020.JPG" height="400" width="253" /></a></div>
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I can't remember where I got the puzzle pieces, but honestly they are something you could draw free-hand on white paper and just make some copies. If you wanted to get fancy, you could make it so the puzzle pieces fit together in a rectangle and actually put the pieces together for a display that doesn't have to be vertical. I did minimize two puzzle pieces on the copier for the top of each chart, one had the book title and author while the other listed the kids' names.<br />
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All in all, this was a good activity that allowed the kids to pull together all we had been learning in reading and writing. You can also make this as simple or involved as you want depending on the ages group your are working with. Another plus is that it works with any book! <br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-15847061118391720352014-06-26T19:54:00.000-04:002014-06-26T19:54:07.561-04:00It's the Last Day of School!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwV4OvA7Ok7MDaLlmSYya4dwtXLhFgyL_qfgiRKRm5M2BMtVKfngZ1AY2oIg0qLWfLLQ_EVBAP2v7yU5l4lvA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Enough said!<br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-61627901489268624152014-06-23T06:42:00.001-04:002014-06-23T06:42:48.466-04:00Missed It!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ne3wovERJ5I/U6gEpnUJ-PI/AAAAAAAADBE/z1MJU_ykNx4/s640/blogger-image-1931265755.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Ne3wovERJ5I/U6gEpnUJ-PI/AAAAAAAADBE/z1MJU_ykNx4/s640/blogger-image-1931265755.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">First time since I've started it that I missed Weekend Words. Sorry about that! That picture pretty much sums up the craziness of my life this past week. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">With school ending this week, it has been a mad dash to not just pack up my classroom, but to totally organize it from the inside out. My goal is to hit the ground running in September with very little room prep. I have no plans to go in before our first official workshop days!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Add to that, lots of crazy but fun home stuff going on at the same time, and I have just run out of days! I feel like I have been running non-stop at school all day only to come home and do the same until I crash into bed at night! I could have totally used that eighth day for blogging!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">But, I do have some posts coming this week! In the process of cleaning up an old computer I found pics of a bulletin board reading project I don't think I've shared. I also attended a workshop by Douglas Fisher I want to tell you about. (No links as I'm blogging from my phone right now!) and there are a few other posts in the works!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This morning. I am off to school for our last Monday!! Woo Hoo!!!! Just four more days!! Summer vacation is so close!!!</div>Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-10589718171665771672014-06-14T10:24:00.000-04:002014-06-14T12:56:01.349-04:00Weekend Words: Did I Say That?<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i><u><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Things I've said this week as a teacher </span></u></i></b></div>
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<b><i><u><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">that normal people say:</span></u></i></b></div>
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Tie your shoes.</div>
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Put the cap back on the marker when you are done.</div>
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Please wait your turn.</div>
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Did you finish your work?</div>
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Don't forget to wash your hands.</div>
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<b><i><u><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Things I've said this week as a teacher </span></u></i></b></div>
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<b><i><u><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">that normal people don't say:</span></u></i></b></div>
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No, licking your hands is not the same as washing your hands.</div>
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Take that pencil out of your nose right now.</div>
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Please don't be upset. I promise he was just kidding with you </div>
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and isn't really going to Mars for his summer vacation.</div>
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We have tissues for that!!!!!</div>
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Just because the owl already digested what was in the <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/05/whoooooo-survived-state-testing.html" target="_blank">pellet </a></div>
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does NOT mean it is clean enough for you to eat.</div>
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Stop sniffing his socks!</div>
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Yogurt is a great snack, </div>
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just not after it has been sitting in your desk for two days.</div>
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And, I actually found myself saying this one. . . </div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-size: large;"><i>Just 9 more days, 9 more days, 9 more days. . . </i></span></div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-45570907323658257052014-06-11T21:15:00.001-04:002014-06-11T21:15:20.349-04:00June Currently<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><u><span style="color: blue;">It's </span><span style="color: #6aa84f;">the</span><span style="color: blue;"> June </span><span style="color: #6aa84f;">Currently</span><span style="color: blue;">!</span></u></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">With special thanks to <a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade</a>!</span></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Listening: </span></i></b> Not sure where I would be without all the podcasts I listen to! Do you download podcasts from iTunes? I listen to them in the car, while cleaning the house, during walks, etc. Some are short, just a few minutes, while others can be an hour or so long. Some education related podcasts I listen to are:<br />
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Voices of Literacy </div>
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Choice Literacy Podcast </div>
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K-12 Greatest Hits: The Best Ideas in Education </div>
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The Whole Child Podcast: Changing the Conversation About Education</div>
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National Writing Project</div>
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Those are just a few! You can find them on iTunes by searching for the title. There are also a bunch of podcasts not education related that I like. Some of those would be:<br />
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Radio Lab</div>
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Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me</div>
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For Crying Out Loud</div>
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10th Avenue Podcast</div>
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The Jillian Michaels Podcast</div>
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Money Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips</div>
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Dave Ramsey</div>
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No matter your interests, there's something out there that will catch your interest!<br />
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<span style="color: #6aa84f;"><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Loving:</span></i></b> </span> I have been a decluttering fool both at home and at school. I looked around and realized that there was so much stuff taking up space that I just don't need. At home, I've been a regular at the Goodwill drop off! In school, I think the custodian is beginning to dislike me. I have recently filled my trash cans to overflowing several times over on a daily basis! Basically, if I haven't used it in the past two years, out it goes!<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Thinking: </span></i></b> Summer school. Why, oh why, did I say I would do it? Actually, I know why. It is just 2 1/2 hours a day, Monday through Thursday for four weeks. Easy peasy lemon squeezy and good money! Plus, I will still have a month off before school starts in September. Plenty of beach time!<br />
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<i><b><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;">Wanting:</span></b></i> A new couch! Yet another reason why I said yes to summer school! Did you ever just look around your home and realize that your taste and style have totally changed since you bought your furniture? That's kind of where I am. The decluttering and new couch will be a good start to a new look!<br />
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<b><i><span style="color: blue; font-size: large;">Needing:</span></i></b> Time! I am in the process of totally rearranging my classroom for next year. If I get it all reorganized and set up by the end of the school year, the cleaning crew will put it back the same way after summer cleaning which means less work for me in getting ready for the start of the school in September. The past week has been filled with moving furniture, reassessing my class library and purging books, reorganizing closets, moving computers, and more. I still have a lot to do, but I will be done by June 26th! That's my last day! I just need to use my time wisely if I am going to get it done. I'm sort of excited about the reorganizing because I have been able to create a small teacher corner for all my books and supplies that I can easily access during the school year. I will post about my "teacher corner" in September when it is all set up. <br />
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<b><i><span style="color: #6aa84f; font-size: large;">Summer Bucket List: </span></i></b> So much! I want to finally finish all the blog items I haven't gotten to just yet; about me page, cleaning up the labels, organizing the freebies, and more. I also have a huge summer reading list to get to. Living so close to NY, I am planning to explore some different parts of town in more depth; SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy, East Village, etc. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x_Uu6cUHEx8/U5j6BQNOiOI/AAAAAAAADAk/l0T8qpBCC8A/s1600/map_hoods4.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x_Uu6cUHEx8/U5j6BQNOiOI/AAAAAAAADAk/l0T8qpBCC8A/s1600/map_hoods4.gif" height="400" width="210" /></a></div>
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I find when I go to NY I tend to stick to the Midtown-Times Square-Upper East & West Side-Central Park areas. This summer, I feel the need to branch out! Also on my bucket list is more beach time and the continuation of my decluttering spree!</div>
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<b><span style="color: blue;">????</span> </b></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><i>Are you a podcast listener? </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><b><i>What do you listen to?</i></b></span></div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-87833401299732792692014-06-08T07:00:00.000-04:002014-06-08T07:00:00.282-04:00Weekend Words: Smart is not something you are.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>"Smart is not something you are, smart is something you get."</i> So true! This was a quote from Stephanie Harvey that I heard at her workshop in May. I think this resonates with me as a teacher so much because I have worked many years with enrichment students and now several years with struggling students. And, I have seen this quote reflected in their thinking and achievement in very different ways.<br />
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My struggling students tend to think "smart kids" are just that way. They see smart as an inherent trait "smart kids" just have. They don't see being smart as something that requires some action to achieve. <br />
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The so-called "smart kids" often take being smart for granted because they are often naturally inquisitive. They want to know more so they don't see the work, the actions of reading, writing, listening, investigating, etc. as work. They see it as a means to an end tin satisfying their curiosity.<br />
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I guess then, our goal is to build that inquisitive nature in our students. <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/06/hanging-out-with-stephanie-harvey.html" target="_blank">To guide them in living a curious life!</a><br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-37818536914377880342014-06-06T22:59:00.000-04:002014-06-06T22:59:55.423-04:00Hanging Out With Stephanie Harvey<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm going to start this post with an apology for the pictures. I totally take all my blog pictures with my iPhone. No fancy cameras here! So, while my pictures are never amazing quality, they are usually a little better than these. I think it's because they are pictures of photocopies that themselves were not super clear. Oh well, it's the content that matters!</div>
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At the end of May, I went to an amazing workshop by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-Harvey/e/B001JS10S8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1402099954&sr=8-2" target="_blank">Stephanie Harvey</a>. You probably know her best from her book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strategies-That-Work-Comprehension-Understanding/dp/157110481X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk" target="_blank">Strategies That Work</a>. It is well worth checking out if you don't know it. On this day, she was giving a presentation on comprehension. </div>
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I'm not really going to dissect the entire workshop here, because I couldn't do it justice. I will, however, share a small hodge-podge of ideas and thoughts.</div>
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<li> First, much to my surprise, it was a small gathering. There were only about 30 or so people there. We were able to interact and converse with Stephanie in a way that you just can't when you are in a large crowd. It was great to be so up close and personal with an educator of her caliber.</li>
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<li>One of the things stressed was the importance of living a curious life. The best learning happens when there is a genuine desire to know something new. Stephanie went on to stress the importance of teachers modeling this by being inquisitive ourselves and sharing this with our students. She told a story about a teacher that was telling her kids how she knew it was Spring because birds had come back and built a nest in the eaves of her house. She wondered why they always picked that particular eave to build every year. She wondered if it was the same birds that were coming back every year. This was a conversation she had with her students which led to them asking questions as well which led to investigation, research, reading, and writing to find the answers. Because the topic came from a genuine question, there was genuine interest in finding the answers. This sounds great, but if you are like me you are thinking that we have specific curriculum to cover and birds in eaves doesn't exactly lend itself to what I need to teach. Well, it's not about the exact content. It is about approaching any content with a good measure of curiosity. What is it about this subject that I want to know? As the page in her handout below noyes, ask questions and care about finding the answers. Perhaps rather than approaching those content area topics with a "this is what I have to cover and I'm going to do it in x number of lessons with this topic on day 1, this on day 2, etc." we might be able to get our students better invested if we find out what they are curious to know about the topic. I would imagine that what we "have" to cover will work its way in.</li>
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<li>Stephanie related a quote by P. David Pearson that I also liked. <i>"The questions a student asks after reading a text are a better assessment than the questions a student can answer about that text." </i> So true if you really think about it. To ask a good question about a text requires you to comprehend and synthesize that text, which absolutely requires higher level thinking skills. When a child asks an awesome question about a text, you know they got it. You know they understood, thought about what they read ,and were able to move beyond to think outside the text. When a child doesn't ask those great questions, but asks questions that show basic understanding or misinformation, you know there is still work to be done. Stephanie suggested that asking something as simple as, "What questions do you have about what we read?" will provide you with a nice assessment of the reader, perhaps better than a story quiz will. <i>(If you want to know more related to Pearson's quote, this blogger did <a href="http://readingintheborderlands.wordpress.com/2010/07/18/p-david-pearsons-views-on-assessment/" target="_blank">a synopsis</a> of his speech from which this quote comes, and you can view the slides he used in giving the speech by clicking <a href="http://www.scienceandliteracy.org/research/pdavidpearson" target="_blank">here</a> and going to the link "Reading Assessment: Still Time to Change." There are also a lot of other interesting articles linked on the page you might like.)</i></li>
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<li>The amount of time children spend reading on an average day was also discussed. There are so many studies that show the more time spent reading in a school day, the higher the reading achievement. Stephanie did point out the significance of other factors such as socio-economic status, but one of the largest factors of success was the amount of time spent reading in the school day. She backed up the importance of this siting many different studies that support the correlation. One study showed that the lowest performing classrooms spent about 30 minutes a day reading while the highest achieving classrooms spent almost half the day reading. My first thought was that half a day reading seems like an unachievable goal with so many demands on our instruction time. The most obvious solution is that our students need to be reading across the curriculum to get in that reading time. Stephanie went on to say if we teach science and social studies in a day, taking the first ten minutes of each class to have the students read a topic related text and write down a question is twenty minutes done and added to that total reading time. In my school, we don't teach our content classes every day so increasing our reading time in this way is still somewhat of a challenge. However, any increase in student reading time that we can make happen is a step in the right direction!</li>
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As I wrote, there is so much more I could write about, but I will end my recap with one more thought from Stephanie Harvey. She ended the workshop discussing some of the difficulties we face as teachers these days; curriculum demands, time constraints, the overall attitude towards teachers these days, common core, and more. As teachers, we are pulled in so many directions and given so many directives that impact our teaching. In light of all that, her final advice to us was this: <b><i>Good instruction is good instruction, so stay the course!</i></b> In case you can't tell, it was a great workshop!</div>
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I am also going to do a little plug here for Rutgers University, specifically their <a href="http://rlc.gse.rutgers.edu/" target="_blank">Center for Literacy Development at Rutgers Graduate School of Education</a>. I'm lucky enough to live close enough to the university that I am able to attend their literacy workshops and experience amazing literacy leaders like Stephanie Harvey. Below is a flyer for an upcoming development day this summer; Children's Literature in the Elementary & Middle School. I am planning to attend because I love <a href="http://www.seymoursimon.com/index.php" target="_blank">Seymour Simon</a>'s books and would like to hear him speak. He is a great author of science books that just grab my students' interest every time.</div>
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But, what I am most excited about is their next literacy development series. They are always able to get great literacy leaders to come and present. You can sign up for the entire series or as many presentations as you like. They aren't two day workshops, instead they offer two options. The first day is a full day workshop, or if your time is limited, the second day is what they call an after school series which usually runs 4:30-6:30 and offers an abbreviated presentation of the full day workshop.</div>
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You can see from the flyer below that they have some phenomenal speakers coming up. <a href="http://www.harveydaniels.com/" target="_blank">Harvey Daniels</a> wrote, among his many publications, a great book about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Literature-Circles-Choice-Reading-Groups-ebook/dp/B001C30WZC/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402108421&sr=1-6&keywords=harvey+daniels" target="_blank">literature circles</a> you might be familiar with. One of <a href="http://www.stenhouse.com/html/authorbios_174.htm" target="_blank">Debbie Miller's</a> more recent books, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/More-Independent-Reading-Without-Support/dp/0325049041/ref=la_B001JRZF30_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402107139&sr=1-2">No More Independent Reading Without Support</a>, is on my summer reading list. Beers and Probst have a great <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Notice-Note-Strategies-Close-Reading/dp/032504693X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402107332&sr=1-1&keywords=beers+probst" target="_blank">book</a> out now about close reading that is also on my to-read list. Kylene Beer has a <a href="http://kylenebeers.com/blog/" target="_blank">blog</a> you might want to check out if you have an interest in literacy, which I have to assume you do if you are still reading this! I especially like <a href="http://kylenebeers.com/blog/2014/05/04/guidelines-for-summer-reading/" target="_blank">her post on the importance of summer reading.</a> Finally, the last presenter in the series is <a href="http://bookwhisperer.com/" target="_blank">Donalyn Miller</a> author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Book-Whisperer-Awakening-Inner-Reader/dp/0470372273/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1402107844&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=book+whiseper" target="_blank">The Book Whisperer</a>. I love that book! If you need one professional book for your summer reading list, I would suggest that one. It is an easy read for the summer and will change how you think about reading.</div>
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My plan is to attend all four workshops. I'm hoping I can get my district to pay for them or at least a couple of them. If not, I will pay out of pocket because they are so worth it! When I find a good thing, I like to share a good thing. That is why I am telling you all about these upcoming professional development opportunities. If you are in the tri-state area, I encourage you to try and attend one. They are never less than amazing!</div>
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On a different note, I wanted to let you know that I updated the post on t-shirt book talks. Even though the post is two years old, it is still a popular one. And, despite noting that I don't have a rubric available for the project, I still get emails asking for one. So much so that I decided to find you a rubric. I found a great one! I updated the post to link to the rubric. It is a Teachers Pay Teachers product, but it is only $1.50 and well worth it! So, if you are still looking for a book talk rubric, click <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/03/book-talk-with-little-bit-of-pi-on-side.html">HERE</a> to go to the post and the link.<br />
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Finally, I will see you Sunday for some new Weekend Words! My weekend words this week come straight from the Stephanie Harvey workshop and just may be my favorite so far! Check back on Sunday to see what she said. If you've missed some past Weekend Words, you can see them here: <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/04/weekend-words-recognizing-strengths.html">1</a> <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/04/weekend-words-procrastination-is-my.html">2</a> <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/04/weekend-words-hard-is-okay.html">3</a> <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekend-words-i-got-you-corn-dog.html">4</a> <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekend-words-feelings-matter.html">5</a> <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekend-words-now-and-then.html">6</a> <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekend-words-i-like-to-party.html">7</a><br />
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<i>Any thoughts on the Stephanie Harvey workshop? </i></div>
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<i>Any one interested in attending any of the Literacy Center workshops? </i></div>
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<i>We can have lunch together! :-)</i></div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-4381196469476378572014-06-01T12:06:00.000-04:002014-06-01T12:09:23.714-04:00End of Year Favorite Book Activity<br />
First, let us all take a minute to admire the creativity of this post title! I am so lame at coming up with post titles. Most of the time I just put up the topic. So, can you tell that this post is about an end of the year favorite book activity? :-)<br />
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As you may know, I teach in a building that was a middle school prior to being an elementary school. This is why the hallway I teach in is lined with lockers instead of bulletin boards. The kids use them as cubbies with no locks which is kind of nice because it keeps a lot of coat and book bag clutter out of the classroom itself. However, it does pose a problem for displaying things. We are constantly vertically challenged! Whatever you put out has to fit on a locker, and you can't overlap because the kids need to be able to open them. I've posted <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/08/hallway-decorating-and-great-printables.html">here</a> and <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-many-colored-days.html">here</a> about some different ways I've used vertical displays on the lockers.<br />
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The end of the year favorite book part was an idea I had to have our entire hallway do a common display for the end of the year and encourage summer reading. What if each child in every class told about the most favorite book they read this year? We would have a long hallway full of book suggestions for summer reading. I made this big display at one end of the hallway on a bank of lockers that isn't in use.<br />
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I designed a sheet where each child could tell a bit about their favorite book and design the cover.<br />
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If you want to get lots of teachers involved in a project, make it as little work as possible for them and something they can do easily! I made a class set of copies for each classroom and a quick Power Point that teachers could use to explain the activity. Teachers could have students do this activity in class or for homework. I was really happy that almost everyone was on board! <br />
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The kids did a great job. It was an activity that spanned every reading and interest level, so all could participate.<br />
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In addition to the activity sheet, I made a quick poster for each teacher to hang outside their room with some summer cut-outs I picked up at the dollar store. Since this was just for use in our hallway, will be thrown out at the end of June, and are not for sale or anything like that, I just googled different summer reading clip art to make some simple posters. It is a long hallway, so I thought this would help keep it all more cohesive.<br />
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When done, each class hung their posters on the lockers and we had a long hallway of book recommendations. There are 15 classes on this hallway with about 25 kids per a class. That is a hallway of 375 book recommendations! The last thing I did was create a quick book list sheet where teachers could take their classes on a book walk to "shop" for books they might like to read this summer based on classmates recommendations. Give each kid a clipboard and the blank sheet and they can walk around and read the hall to create their own personalized book list.<br />
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Finally, that big sun I made for the end of the hallway? Turned out to be a little easier than I thought. I projected the image on my Pro Board and hung some yellow fadeless bulletin board paper to trace it on. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m03A5PKubIY/U4tHogVqzBI/AAAAAAAAC2M/Ei2Z0nY-fG8/s1600/pl;%5Bpl+049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m03A5PKubIY/U4tHogVqzBI/AAAAAAAAC2M/Ei2Z0nY-fG8/s1600/pl;%5Bpl+049.JPG" height="320" width="304" /></a></div>
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The only problem was, once I traced it I couldn't figure out how to get the blue book, white teeth, and sunglasses. I thought it would look kind of messy if I colored it in. Then, I looked over at my science tub and saw a roll of wax paper! Now, you may already know this trick but when I realized I could trace the shape of the book on wax paper and then use that as a template to cut it out in blue paper, I was delighted. Once I cut out the blue paper, I just glued it on the yellow paper. I did the same for the teeth using white paper and the sunglasses using tin foil. I wish someone had shared this wax paper trick with me years ago! As I've written before, <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2011/11/im-teacher-just-not-art-teacher.html">I'm a teacher just not an art teacher!</a><u> </u> </div>
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If you would like a copy of the blank book form, you can download it <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0W2XxP8Gw-tZF9KcUpNSmdMczg/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>. It should be printed on 8.5" by 14" paper. The font is a little different than what you see in the photos, but still the same content. Well, except that the only one I saved is the original which says, "The Best Book I Read This Year." I did revise it to say, "The Best Book I've Read This Year." So, if the I instead of I've will bug you like it did me, don't download it! Sorry, but for some reason I didn't save the revised copy. So, that is the not-so-cleverly-titled "End of Year Favorite Book Activity."</div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-80291056359873676352014-05-31T15:29:00.000-04:002014-05-31T15:31:40.983-04:00Weekend Words: I Like to Party!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zCkHFWrXNBc/U4onRc6gHTI/AAAAAAAAC0s/IAYZOmIRT8U/s1600/polk+011+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zCkHFWrXNBc/U4onRc6gHTI/AAAAAAAAC0s/IAYZOmIRT8U/s1600/polk+011+(2).jpg" height="320" width="319" /></a></div>
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Probably the truest statement you will ever read about me! I remember as a kid, during family parties I would squirrel away in my bedroom and read. My mother used to have to come and drag me out of the room to socialize with my family! Yeah, I was that kid!<br />
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Speaking of books (and some upcoming posts). . .<br />
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<li>I'm still reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Words-Life-Second-Edition/dp/1462508162">Bringing Words to Life by Beck, McKewon, and Kucan</a> as I brush on my vocabulary instruction. It's good reading but slower reading. There's a post to come once I finish.</li>
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<li>At the same time, I'm also reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teach-Like-PIRATE-Engagement-Creativity-ebook/dp/B009V9RQNU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401563165&sr=1-1&keywords=teach+like+a+pirate">Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator by Dave Burgess</a>. This one is a fairly quick read, and I'm close to finishing it. I know it is one of the more recently buzzed about books in education, but I must say I have some mixed feelings on it. I'll also post about this one, too.</li>
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<li>Earlier this week I went to an <b>AMAZING</b> workshop by <a href="http://www.stephanieharvey.com/home">Stephanie Harvey</a>. You probably know her best from her book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Strategies-That-Work-Comprehension-Understanding/dp/157110481X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401563754&sr=1-1&keywords=strategies+that+work">Strategies That Work</a>.</i> I think she is just so on target with her thinking and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stephanie-Harvey/e/B001JS10S8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1401563639&sr=8-2">her books</a>. I will share some of the workshop with you soon.</li>
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<li>Finally, for those of us still teaching (I am until June 26th!) summer reading plans are in the works. I will share later this weekend a little "summer reading - favorite book" project I organized for fifteen classroom in my school. It turned out to be a cute end of the year mini-project.</li>
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For now, I'm off to "party!" :-)<br />
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-89786947718879100912014-05-28T12:36:00.000-04:002014-05-28T21:03:37.443-04:00Maya Angelou<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">Today, I learned of the passing of Maya Angelou. I had a heartfelt sadness when I heard this news. It was in college as a lit major that I first encountered Ms. Angelou's work in any depth. I have yet to find another poet, author, scholar that resonates with me in so many ways on so many levels. I thought today I would post some of her quotes that bring teaching to mind.</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2EvvpaU-MY/U4aGm7RTMkI/AAAAAAAAC0I/CDFTMxkyBEI/s1600/1103-maya-angelou_at.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2EvvpaU-MY/U4aGm7RTMkI/AAAAAAAAC0I/CDFTMxkyBEI/s1600/1103-maya-angelou_at.jpg" height="320" width="259" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: 'Haas Grot Text Web', Helvetica, Arial, Georgia; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: start; text-transform: capitalize;">Photographed By Brigitte Lacombe At Dr. Angelou’s Home </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #999999; font-family: 'Haas Grot Text Web', Helvetica, Arial, Georgia; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; text-align: start; text-transform: capitalize;">In Winston-Salem, North Carolina</span></div>
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<li><b style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"> </span><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">I've posted about my belief in this with </span><a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/05/weekend-words-feelings-matter.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">a similar quote</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">.</span></i></li>
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<li><b style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">"We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated."<i> </i></b><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Never give up! </span><a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/04/weekend-words-hard-is-okay.html" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;">Hard is okay!</a></i></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>"You are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten, smelled, been told, forgot - it's all there. Everything influences each of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are positive."<i> </i></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><i>I teach one grade, but my students are, in part, the sum of all their teachers and learning experiences that have come before me. It is like growing a flower. So, as I spend my year with them, I try to make sure what I add this year is meaningful and positive so that they may bloom even bigger and brighter for next year's teacher.</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b>"Nothing will work unless you do." </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><i>Enough Said!</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b>"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain." </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><i>It is so easy to complain, and as of late, I have found myself too often falling into complaining mode. It took a concentrated effort recently to decide I can complain about what I can't change at work, or I can do what I can to make it work.</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>"You can only become truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money your goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you."</b> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><i>Why so many of us teach.</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>"In diversity, there is beauty and there is strength." </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><i>Look out over the colors and cultures you see in those little faces and tell me there isn't beauty in diversity! I live in an area with a great amount of cultural diversity, and it is one of the things I love about my students and community.</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>"I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music." </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><i>If only our students would!</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><b>"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." </b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; line-height: 22px;"><i>Why does this make me think of faculty meetings?!</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b>"If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love."<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></b></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><i>Or, I would add, the students you teach. For some, our smile may be the only one they get that day.</i></span></li>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span></div>
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I had to come back and edit this post when I realized I forgot to add the Maya Angelou quote that I use most often with my friends. <b><u>"When you know better, you do better!"</u></b> </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: proxima-nova, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><i>Isn't that what education is all about? </i></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;">There are so many more thoughts of Maya's that are so inspirational in other, more personal ways. These few are just some that come to mind for teaching. If you know of her, but don't know her work that well, I strongly suggest you pick up a book or two. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 22px;"><b><i>A phenomenal woman always, may she rest in peace.</i></b></span></span></span></div>
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Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-64035923473289983802014-05-25T06:00:00.000-04:002014-05-25T09:56:25.776-04:00Weekend Words: Memorial Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSwFaXVqbLM/U4FnM2tpLHI/AAAAAAAACz4/eDKKzKcCKEA/s1600/d02c85c041b7a6f1a723f45e1fca5940.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bSwFaXVqbLM/U4FnM2tpLHI/AAAAAAAACz4/eDKKzKcCKEA/s1600/d02c85c041b7a6f1a723f45e1fca5940.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://crosscards.com/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(picture source)</span></a></div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-3310030997903355252014-05-18T06:00:00.000-04:002014-05-18T10:29:23.074-04:00Weekend Words: Now and Then<div style="text-align: center;">
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I told you in <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-to-do-with-your-extra-scholastic.html" target="_blank">this post</a> how I am on a clean and purge kick </div>
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as my school year is coming to an end in six weeks. </div>
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Look what I found!</div>
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This would be a picture of my plan book from 2001-2002 </div>
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and my plan book from this year, 2013-2014.</div>
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Keep in mind the plan book on the right still has six more weeks of plans to be added to it.</div>
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Hmmm. . . </div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-32678321486215225772014-05-16T21:16:00.000-04:002014-05-16T21:16:04.757-04:00What To Do With Your Extra Scholastic News Magazines<br />
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With six weeks of school left, I have started a major clean and purge kick this week. One of the first things on my list was organizing the many Scholastic News magazines I have leftover from the year. I mean many. <br />
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Since I teach children of several different reading levels, I have subscriptions to grades 2, 3, and 4 Scholastic News. Since I teach small groups, I tend to have lots and lots of leftovers! Yes, I am revising my number of subscriptions for next year. But, for this year, I had more than I could use. I sorted them all in a copy paper box by grade level, and then the question became what in the world can I do with them? <br />
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Throwing them out is not an option. Scholastic News is a great resource for informational articles that my friends love reading, and I love teaching with. But, what to do with them all? I figure I can't be the only one to have this lovely problem, so I sat down and brainstormed a list of different ways to make the most of those past dated magazines.<br />
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<li><b><i><u>Text Features Posters </u></i></b>- Earlier last year, my friends made non-fiction text features posters. I gave them a handful of old Scholastic News (SN) magazines, poster paper, and scissors. Their task was to identify as many informational text features they could find. They cut them out, pasted them on the poster and labeled each one, and wrote a sentence telling what it does. In case you were wondering, given a handful of SN magazines, you will find pretty much every text feature imaginable.</li>
<li><u><b><i>Centers</i></b></u> - There are so many options for these in centers!</li>
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<li><u>5<i>Ws</i> </u>- Place a variety of SN mags in a folder with a 5W graphic organizer (who, what, where, when, why.) Students can pick any article to read and complete the organizer.</li>
<li><u><i>Vocab Search</i></u> - There are always vocab boxes in SN. Task your friends with creating a definition in their own words. Then, they can locate and then write down the sentence in which the word is used. Next, they can write their own sentence using the word in context correctly and create an illustration for this. This can all happen on one sheet of paper!</li>
<li><u><i>Grammar Hunts</i></u> - Stack some newspapers with a bucket of highlighters and a task card that has your friends highlight (for example) 5 nouns in yellow, 5 verbs in blue, 3 pronouns, 4 adjectives, etc. You get the idea. If you have been working on prefixes and suffixes, you could create a task card that has them hunt for that. For younger kids, you could do a search for words that begin with certain blends. There's wide variety of things you could search for!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li><u><i>Title It! </i></u>- Use labels to cover the titles of the article. Task your friends with creating a title for the article once they have read it. Not as easy as it might seem if you require a relevant title that will catch the reader's interest. It really forces your friends to mentally summarize the article and think about the author's message.</li>
<li><u><i>A Magazine and A Task</i></u> - There are so many generic graphic organizers that can be put with any magazine. You can provide organizers that have your friends summarize, compare and contrast, sequence, etc. Just match up a SN with a particular organizer and done. I should say that SN all come with an activity sheet which you could also just copy and use.</li>
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<li><b><i><u>Social Studies Maps</u></i></b> - There is a map in every SN, usually with questions that rely on reading the map and not the article. It would be great to cut out a bunch of maps from different magazines, paste them on card stock, laminate them, and have your friends practice map skills using the various maps and dry erase markers. You could have the answer key on the other side for easy self-checks. This would also be a good center activity.</li>
<li><u><i><b>Substitute Work </b></i></u>- I'm sure this one was kind of obvious! SN come with very explicit lesson plans and worksheets making them easy for substitutes to use. I find the content is always on target, so I know a worthwhile lesson is being done while I am gone. Plus, my friends like these newspapers which means I know the sub won't have resistant students on her hands.</li>
<li><b><i><u>Have a Nonfiction Read In!</u></i></b> - I wrote about <a href="http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-rainy-day-read-in.html" target="_blank">a read in I recently had</a> with my friends. These would be great for that if you have a limited amount of time to do it and wanted your friends to get in some nonfiction text reading.</li>
<li><b><i><u>Write the Story</u></i></b> - The cover of each SN has a catchy title, a great photograph, and a blurb designed to spark your friends' interest. Give them the cover and have them write the article that goes along with it. Now, the obvious problem here is that these are informational articles, and your friends may not have the information needed to write the article. No problem! They could write a draft, read the article, then incorporate some facts from the article into their own writing. They are writing, identifying facts, revising, and more. Or, they could just write an imaginative piece. Your choice.</li>
<li><b><i><u>Cut Them Up</u></i></b> - Lots of the photographs in the magazines would make great picture prompts. If you are making a collage of some kind, old SN magazines are a great age appropriate resource for pictures unlike some magazines where the ads alone can make you cringe!</li>
<li><u><i><b>Summer Quick Read Packets </b></i></u>- If you want your friends to do some summer reading, create a variety pack of SN magazines in a folder. Give your friends a folder to decorate with a summer reading theme. Let them pick the magazines they would want to read over the summer to put in their folder. It wouldn't really matter if they've read them earlier in the year. Rereading is good! Plus, these are short, engaging articles that are great for reluctant readers to engage in over the summer. If there is an accountability or project component to your summer reading, the kids could complete the back page of the magazine which has questions to answer on the various articles.</li>
<li><b><i><u>Interview the Expert</u></i></b> - Pair your friends to read the same article. When done, have one friend be the reporter and the other the expert. Have the reporter interview the expert on the article topic. They will both need to have read the article so the expert has the information and the reporter can come up with questions to ask. </li>
<li><b><i><u>Donate!</u></i></b> - If all else fails and you really can't find a use for them in your classroom, donate them to a teacher who doesn't get a subscription. Or, if your district allows, drop some off at your pediatrician's or orthodontist's office to put in with their magazines. If you have a local boys or girls club you might donate them there. </li>
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Those are just some ideas I came up with thinking about this today. I'll bet you could come up with even more! If you have another great idea or a thought about these ideas, tell us in the comments. Love to hear from you!</div>
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5477354641836887911.post-43311904736366967852014-05-11T10:16:00.001-04:002014-05-11T10:16:42.165-04:00Happy Mother's Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11696705378556776950noreply@blogger.com0