Bookmark Freebie and Picture Books

Yesterday was the last day of summer school, and I could not be happier!  I love teaching, but I am ready for some time off!  Today, I have a bookmark to share with you. It was one of the projects my summer school friends completed.

Let me explain two things that prompted me to create the bookmark.

1. I may have mentioned that the summer school program in my district is focused on literacy.  Students who would benefit from extra literacy instruction over the summer are invited to attend.  This year, I had friends who are entering fourth grade but reading anywhere from 1.5-2.5 years below grade level.  
2. One of the things all students in our district are required to do is keep a reading log over the summer and turn in the log and a reading project to their new teacher in September.  The projects are quite varied in both type and level, so there is something on that list that every child would be able to complete.  

Now, here's how they come together.  My summer school friends, for the most part, are not independent readers.  They are not picking up a lot of books over the summer.  Many are struggling writers, as well.  So, the tasks of keeping a reading log and completing a reading project without any teacher guidance is a daunting one.

To ease the pain, we read A LOT of fun picture books this summer, both together and independently.  We even did a mini author study of Margie Palatini's books.  Three favorites were Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes, Bedhead, and Piggie Pie!  All were major crowd pleasers!  

Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes is a fun twist on the Aesop fable The Fox and the Grapes.  Great problem/solution story.  Reading all these picture books gave my friends a nice start on their summer reading logs. I know they now have something to turn in when they go back in September even if they don't read another book all August.   Fingers crossed they will!

                                            

Then, there was the issue of the required project.   I wanted them to independently reflect on a book of their choosing and have a simple, completed project to take home and turn in with their reading log.  My goal was to keep it simple considering the range of reading and writing abilities.  To accommodate all, I created a very basic bookmark.  The front has room for title, author, and an original illustration.  On the back, there was space to tell their favorite part (and why!) as well as their favorite character and why.  Finally, at the bottom is a little space to tell what their illustration on front shows. I made a model bookmark using the book A Bad Case of Stripes so they could see just what to do.  Here's some of what my friends came up with:

They aren't perfect, but I can tell you a lot of little kid heart and soul went in to getting them done. Below is a picture of the form I made. Remember, I wanted to keep this simple and easy.  The picture is crooked, but I promise the printable is not. 

Each friend was given a copy of the form to draft.  After revisions, mostly trying to get them to add more information and proofreading, they were given a copy I had printed on card stock to do a final copy. When they finished, we folded the paper in half and glued it together.  To finish it all, we hole-punched the top and added some ribbons.

You can print out your own copy of this bookmark by clicking HERE. I have added this bookmark as my first item on Teachers Pay Teachers.  You can still download it for free by clicking HERE! I think this would also make a great center activity.  Just print it out on plain paper and once your friends finish it, they can just fold and glue. You don't have to put the ribbons on top. It would also be a good back-to-school activity where they could create a bookmark to share with the class telling about their all-time favorite book.

That is all! :-)

All Star Summer (School) Centers

This week was the beginning of summer school.  It runs Monday-Thursday for twenty days.  I have twenty days to work some magic with my reluctant friends.  It would be nice if I could teach in my own classroom, but they put us all in a school that has air conditioned classrooms.  This means decorating a room that has already been completely packed up with all bulletin boards covered by the homeroom teacher. It makes setting up a bit difficult, but when the trade-off is air conditioning you won't find any complaints here!

Below are a few pics of the star-theme I went with. Overall, I kept things fairly simple on the decorating front. In the pictures you can see through the covered bulletin boards much more than you can standing in the room.

Our summer school program focuses on just literacy, so our day is a blend of guided reading, shared reading, word study, read aloud, independent reading, writing, and centers.  I have eleven friends with me whose reading levels break down into three separate groups.  It actually worked out pretty evenly.  We spend about 30-40 minutes on guided reading, allowing me to see two groups a day.  

The picture below explains how it works.  I will meet with one groups first.  Then, the group I will be meeting with next works on a center activity.  The group I will not be meeting with that day works on centers for the entire time.  Now, they don't really have the stamina to work on a writing center or any other center for that length of time so the rule is they must complete at least one center activity each day.  Then, they have the choice of doing another center activity or finding a spot for independent reading.  Each day, I rotate the group names (the center picture) so that the friends I see and the assigned center activity changes each day.

I thought I would write about the centers I decided to use this year.  My friends are promoted third graders that will be going into fourth grade in September.  Unfortunately, they are all working around a low second grade level.  This means we need a lot of work with the basics, and that is what I had in mind when choosing my centers.  I kept it simple with just three; one for writing, one for word study, and one for reading fluency.  I would love to tell you I sat and made tons of center activites, but I just didn't have time for that!  Instead, I went to Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) and found three that would meet the needs of my summer school friends while also work for my basic skills friends in September.

Before I go on, let me preface by saying that this is not meant to be an endorsement of TpT, although I do love the site.  Also, the authors of the items below have no idea I'm writing about their products.  As a busy teacher and one who would like to be able to spend at least a little of her summer at the beach, I wasn't looking to reinvent the wheel with original center activities.  And since my materials are all packed away at school,  I was perfectly delighted to go on TpT and be able to find exactly what I was looking for.  I like them so much, I thought I would share them with you today.  So, below are the three items I found that are working well as center activities.  

• Writing Center

Summer Writing Journal by Irene Hines

I wanted my friends to just do some basic writing.  They are not yet proficient writers.  I find I'm getting a lot of random sentences on a topic with no coherence.  I'm also finding a lot of need in basic sentence structure.  Having them work on writing topics that are interesting and relevant gives them a place to practice and a place for me to find great teaching points for our conferencing.   

Irene Hines has created a Summer Writing Journal that has twenty days of topics, a word bank of summer words, a variety of summer themed writing paper, and is common core aligned.  What more could I ask for?The clip art used is really cute and summery, too!  I made each friend a booklet, and it became our writing center.  Of course, they always have the choice of free writing in this journal as well. 

• Word Works Center

Word Works Literacy Center by SunnyDays

This center covers a wide variety of basic skills.  It gives you forty activity cards that ask the students to use their independent reading book to locate ten words (I did modify this to a few less words for some of the cards) that address the particular skill named on the card.  Some of the skills include:  phonics and phonemic awareness, compounds, contractions, syllables, prefixes, suffixes, verb tenses, part of speech, acronyms, abbreviations, antonyms, synonyms, homonyms, and possessives.  With forty cards, you certainly don't have to use them all.  There were a few that I left out as they didn't target the skills I needed to address for this group of friends, but there were still plenty of cards left.

• Poetry Center

Poetry Center Task Cards by SunnyDays

It wasn't until I just wrote this that I realized the word works center and this poetry center are both created by SunnyDays.  I must really like her stuff!  While this is a  poetry center, I see it as more of a fluency center.  This pack comes with fifteen cards that ask the reader to read a poem to themselves, then whisper read it with fluency and expression, and finally complete a skills task.  The tasks focus them on practice with nouns, verbs, adjectives, suffixes, prefixes, compounds, L blends, R blends, digraphs, rhymes, contractions, past tense verbs, handwriting, response to poetry, and imagery. 

My focus with these cards is less on the skills and more on the "with fluency and expression" part.  I wanted my summer school friends to practice fluency.  To do this, I found a bunch of poems that contained a lot of sight words they should know and were not difficult to read.  I copied about 15 different poems and put a few copies of each in a folder.  To work on this center, all a friend needs is a copy of the poem and a task card.  

The only other thing I felt it necessary to do was some explicit instruction on fluency.  The blog Sandra's Savvy Teaching Tips has four fluency posters that were perfect for a mini-lesson on what it means to "read with fluency and expression."  I used her posters and a picture book to do a mini-lesson on our first day before I explained the centers.  The posters were perfect because they were very simple and understandable to my friends.  The best part is that you can DOWNLOAD THEM FOR FREE on Sandra's blog.

In all, I think it cost me about $11 for all three centers.  While it has only been three days, I can say the centers have all been working well so far.  This is good to see as I am planning to use these same centers with my students this coming school year.  Win! Win!

Beanie Baby Centers

I was browsing around Goodwill a few weeks ago when I came across a table full of these.

A table full of Beanie Babies that were in super condition.  I think they must have been purchased by someone who collected them back when they were all the rage as opposed to a child because they really were in new condition. There were tons of them for just a dollar each.  On top of that, it was 50% off day, so I couldn't help but scoop a bunch up for just fifty cents each.  I immediately knew what I wanted to do with them and  went out and purchased a bunch of pencil bags from the dollar store.

I wanted to make some Beanie Baby center activities.  Tell me a stuffed animal is not a perfect way to trick engage your friends into doing a little work?  As I don't really have need for the centers this year, I've been sitting on this project for a few weeks.  However, I did work on a few and thought I would share.

This one is centered on creative writing.  It asks my friends to write a narrative telling about Rizzo Rooster's exciting and adventurous day.  The great thing about the Beanie Babies is that you can use them for any activity.  I think Rizzo would also be great for a description activity.  He is not your ordinary rooster!

Here's Rizzo tucked away in the pencil case.  I do think the fact that my friends can have that stuffed animal sit on their desk as they work will be motivating and fun.  And, possibly a distraction?  Maybe at first, but I predict overall it will work well in capturing the interest of my friends and motivate them to do the work.

Here's another.  This one includes two easier books I already had on the topic of penguins.  It asks my friends to identify some interesting facts and make a teaching poster.   If you have younger kids, have them read aloud to the stuffed animal.  Makes for great fluency practice.  My 5th graders, especially at this point in the year, think they are a bit too "cool" to read to a stuffed animal.  Insert eye roll here!

These books were a bit larger than the pencil cases I purchased, but they would fit in an over-sized pencil bag.  I just need to run out and grab a few.  Of course, a Ziplock bag would work just as well.

One more.  This one is a word making activity.  And, yes! I noticed the missing words in the second paragraph only after I uploaded this picture. I promise I will be fixing that before my friends get their hands on this it. :-)  Can you spot what I left out?

Those Beanie Babies are the perfect size for the pencil cases.  I also plan to laminate the task cards for durability.  Just place the Beanie Baby in the pencil case along with your task card, and your center is ready to go.  A basket full of these  is sure to grab their interest. I also love that you can change the task cards to do just about anything.  As I was working on the snake activity, I contemplated doing a math measurement center where they had to unroll the snake and measure it followed up with some other measuring tasks.

If you have some of those Beanie Babies stashed in a box somewhere, you might consider creating some centers with them.  If not, try the dollar store.  In the first picture, I did pick up the lady bug and skunk at the dollar store.  They probably won't be as durable as the Beanie Babies, but they are cute!

Update! (3/16/13)  I have been thinking about this project since I posted it and was thinking how it could be differentiated for your friends and/or provide some choice.  I'm a big believer in task choice, When your friends have a chance to pick what they can do, they usually are more engaged.  For choice, you can simply put more than one task card in each pencil case.  Students can then pick the task they would like to complete.  If you were looking to differentiate for different abilities, you could glue the task card on three different colored index cards.  Students can be assigned a color for center work, and when they take the center they complete the activity on their colored card. Just a thought!

Before I go, let me just apologize for the picture quality.  I can't seem to find my camera anywhere.  I think there is a black hole somewhere in my house because I've also recently lost my watch and eye glasses.  So, until I find my camera, we're going to have to suffer through with my iPhone pictures.  Sorry!

I should also mention that I'm still working on the blog design.  I am hopeful to really make some progress over our upcoming Spring Break.

By the way, if you have any ideas for centers for the other animals in that first picture, feel free to share!