Five for Friday I had four snow days this week. SO...my five for Friday may not be that exciting this week. BUT I promise it includes freebies and a giveaway! That has to count for something so I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly linky party. I woke up Tuesday morning and tried to comprehend that yes, my text message was correct, and we were really out of school. I don't watch the weather so I never know what is suppose to happen. I hadn't been expecting snow, and there was no snow on the ground early Tuesday morning. But, at 9:00am the snow started, and it didn't stop until 8:00pm that night. My superintendent made such a good call, and I am really thankful that we were not trying to dismiss our kids that morning like so many other districts across the south. Today marks day #4 of no school this week. I am a little stir crazy, but I have been productive(somewhat)! My kiddos started subtraction this week. My early ...
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Breaking down text and a Giveaway!
One of the biggest goals and focuses for my classroom this month(really, for the next 3 months) is to help my students feel confident and successful about reading and responding to text. So much of their yearly assessments requires them to read text that is on and above grade level---on their own. Yikes, I know! But, the purpose to get students reading and strengthening their comprehension goes so much deeper than that for me. As a teacher, I understand that students will be reading for the rest of their lives, and now, when they are in the lower elementary grades, we owe it to them to help prepare them for such a task. One of the best ways that I know to do this is to expose them to as much text as possible-both fiction and nonfiction. ALL. THE. TIME. Like most elementary teachers, I spend a great deal of time helping my students build a foundation for reading by teaching strategies during the first half of the school year. A majority of our reading lessons are centered around me ...
Penguins and QR Codes
I cannot believe that I haven't taught a penguin unit before now! My kiddos love researching, and it was so much fun pulling together resources and lessons that are CCSS aligned, rigorous, and engaging. I have been DYING to blog about our penguin unit. With snow days and cold delays, the last few weeks have been a little hectic, but we managed to fit in our penguin thematic unit, and I wanted to share with you how it went! Monday & Tuesday On Monday and Tuesday, we conducted our research about penguins. First, we modeled how to record information. Then, I explained their centers and set them loose! They had four centers they could rotate through in two days(nonfiction books from our library, PDF book from Hollie Griffith, fact cards from Amanda Tervoort, and a penguin ThingLink that I made). I did not tell them to record specific information. Their goal was to record 20 facts each day, and they were encouraged to record information ...
