Calling all Interns & New Teachers!

Even though I have been teaching for 13 years now, I still remember burning the midnight oil during my internship, wondering if I could really do this teaching thing forever. I also remember my 4th day of teaching, when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. I wondered how on earth I was supposed to help my precious 5th graders process the tragedy when I didn't know how to process it myself. And since then, I can recall at least a thousand other times I questioned my career choice, ability, and qualification. But at the end of the day, teaching is what I am passionate about. It's what I want to do. I will be the first to admit, however, that it's not easy. 

If you're just starting out in or thinking about entering the world of education, just know that although it's a very rewarding and enjoyable ( most days, in my opinion) career, it's not always easy. You will have days when you want to pull out your hair and days when you have more questions than answers. But the thing you need to remember is that you can do this. You're not alone. Ask others for help. Be confident. Yes, some lessons will absolutely suck, but there's always tomorrow. When you make a mistake-- notice I said 'when' and not 'if'-- figure out what you need to learn from it and try it again tomorrow. The kiddos in your class need you!

Below you will find a variety of resources to help you on this journey.  

Resources I Have Created

Co-teaching Pamphlet- click here
Plan that Lesson! Power Point- click here 
First Days of School Game Plan- click here 
Parent Conference Planning Sheet- click here
Best Practice for Teaching Active Kids video

Introductory Video to Microsoft OneNote

  

Resources I Have Gathered From The Web

Proven Classroom Management video
      (it specifies middle school, but useful for all teachers)

 
"What if Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Is Wrong?" Article
      Presents a different view on disciplining. click here 

"20 Tidbits for New Teachers" Article (via Edutopia)- click here

"Common Core Math Cheat Sheets"- click here

English Language Learners: Culture, Equity and Language video

  

Teaching Summaries with Jimmy Fallon

Okay, so I knew I'd get your attention with that title. And yes, I did [just this past week] use a Jimmy Fallon clip to teach writing summaries. Before we get to Jimmy though, let me walk you through the other parts of the introduction lesson.

Introduction to Writing Summaries
By nature, kids just have this way of including every unnecessary and pointless detail when they are writing summaries. After having one too many students tell me that the "character woke up", "the character went out the door", and "the character was sad", I knew I had to do something to keep my sanity. So, I introduced the 5-sentence summary. Yes, an entire book in 5 sentences. Yes, it drives the kids crazy and the parents even crazier, but before long the limitation of only 5 sentences really helps them to start picking only the most important details. Here's a free handy dandy resource, with a sample summary.

Before introducing this resource, I show the kids the short animated movie called Pigeon: Impossible. After watching it, I give them a HORRIBLE summary of it. By the end, they were begging me to stop. I then have them help me by telling me what should be in a good summary. (Because they're 5th graders, they have had exposure before.) I record their suggestions on an anchor chart. I make sure to emphasize that summaries only include the most important details from the beginning, middle, and end.To end the lesson, I give them a "good" summary of the movie by using their suggestions.

 

The next day we start by reviewing what makes a good summary. I make sure to lead the conversation to the point that summaries are much shorter than the original. As a great motivation/hook, I tell the kids that even Jimmy Fallon knows how to write a summary:) In fact, he's so good, that he can do it in 5 seconds! We all know that Jimmy likes to play games with his famous guests, and one of the games is "Five Second Summaries". The following clip is kid-friendly, appropriate, and even uses several movies kids know. 

 

 

And they loved the idea so much, that they begged to play our own version. They were even willing to work extra hard and work at writing summaries for nearly an hour to be rewarded with "Ms. G's Five Second Summaries"!

Of course this is just the beginning and much modeling is to follow, but I hope your kiddos enjoy this exciting introduction to writing summaries. 

 

Teacher Say the Weirdest Things-- Four Kinds of Sentences Review Game

Needless to say it's been nearly forever since I last did a blog entry. I'm not totally sure what happened. But never fear, I am back with a quick & simple review game activity that I think is just a little brilliant :)

While vegging a bit, I was browsing through Facebook when I came across a blog called "50 Strange Things Teachers Say". You can find the original blog here. Anyway, I was getting a chuckle reading the list when suddenly I had an idea. A brilliant, amazing idea. In grammar/writing my kiddos (5th graders) have just learned the four different kinds of sentences. We've been doing so much practice that as I was reading the weird things teachers say, I was automatically thinking about what kind of sentence each was. Knowing my kiddos would get a kick out of hearing the weird things teacher say, I decided it would be a great way to get them to practice the four different kinds of sentences. 

I turned a good number (26 to be exact) of the sayings into a power point review game. The game and presentation is simple. Each slide contains one of the sayings. It's the students job to tell which type of sentence it is. For the sayings with more than one sentence, they are prompted to give the kind for each sentence. I'm thinking that this will be great for a class-wide "Family Feud style" review game. It could also be used for an "every student response" activity with the use of personal whiteboards. I think my kiddos are going to love reading all of these weird things we say-- and they won't even realize they are doing so much practice :) You can find the review game here. 

Amazing Teacher Hack: Duct Tape for Bulletin Board Border

Over the weekend, I bought some fun fabric for my bulletin board, but didn't have any border to match and just couldn't bear to take yet another trip to the teacher store. I ran to Walmart, but alas, they didn't have any. Before leaving, I was enticed by the 3 for $9 sale on decorative duct tape, so I snagged three rolls even though I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them. Today I was procrastinating from doing any "real" planning by decorating my room. The border-less bulletin board was bugging me, so I grabbed the roll of gold duct tape I bought. It was rather easy and looks great. I also used it to "edge" my calendar so that it would match.

Blogging Mini-Unit

As teachers are beginning to head back to school, we are all looking for new ideas and activities to implement this school year. I've read several blogs and posts about folks wondering how other teachers use blogging in their classroom. I taught and used blogs in my classroom last year, and a few teachers have asked me to share the activities and lessons I did for my "blogging mini-unit". Here you go. Feel free to use and tweak my ideas, as well as add your own activities suggestions and ideas below. 


The following activities and lessons were not necessarily designed/created by me, although I did tweak them to meet the needs of my classroom. I will gladly give credit for ideas/activities when I can.

Lesson/Activity #1: I started off by asking students about the social media/technology they use. After several answers, we moved the discussion to "why" people today use this technology. I used both discussions to transition to a conversation about blogs (ex. what are they, why people write them, how they differ from Facebook, Twitter, etc.). After getting a good idea of students' background knowledge of blogs and giving basics about blogs (ex. what they are & why they are used), we headed to the computer and checked out some blogs. I had students work in groups of three or four and check out several different blogs online. Ahead of time, I pre-selected and saved short-cuts to several different "kid appropriate" blogs. Groups were allowed to look at the blogs (from the ones I chose) that they wanted. Their task was to write down characteristics of effective blogs. (From the beginning I chose to use the words "effective" & "ineffective" instead of "good" & "bad".) After about 20 minutes, we came back together as a class and wrote down the characteristics they found. By the end of the class, we had a list of characteristics that make an effective blog. Here's a rubric that has the main characteristics on the left side of the chart. Not only did we ultimately use this rubric to "grade" blogs we looked at online, but I used it to assess/grade the blogs they wrote throughout the year. The rubric I used can be found here. Another possible rubric (made by Scholastic and includes an activity) can be found here.

Lesson/Activity #2: As a class we started by looking at a blog together. Students took turns points out things that either made it effective or ineffective. We also watched a short video on YouTube about why middle school students like about blogging. Find the YouTube video here. 

Lesson/Activity #3: A huge component of teaching kids blogging, is to make sure they do it safely and respectfully. I started the "safety" lesson by asking students general rules for being/going online and while using social media. For the most part, they gave nearly all of the rules that needed to be given. I recorded rules they gave me on the board. After class I put the rules on a poster that hung in the classroom for the rest of the year and also made a hand-out of the rules for students. Here's an example of some possible rules from Scholastic. 

Lesson/Activity #4: One of the characteristics of a blog is that it is used to cultivate discussions among readers and reviewers. Before students can be expected to respond effectively and appropriately to blogs, they need some instruction on the topic. I found a few different YouTube videos that I used. I really like the first one-- it's made my elementary students and provides clear instruction and examples. Find it here. The second video is super short, and I used it has a review on another day. Find this second video here. I also put together a resource sheet for students to use. Find the resource here.  

Lesson/Activity #5: Before setting students loose to write and comment online, we did "paper blogging". This fabulous idea is from the blog "Notes from McTeach" dated September 5, 20120, and titled "Learning to Blog Using Paper". Find this amazing activity here. This activity gives students the opportunity to apply everything they have learned so far. They used the Blogging Rubric and Responding to Blogging resource to make sure that they included all of the components. We did this activity over a couple of days. They really did a good job with it and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lesson/Activity #6: It was finally time to take the blogging online. Although there are several different blogging options available for students and classrooms, I chose to use Edmodo. The majority of my students already had some experience with Edmodo and the platform worked best for my classes. (Here's a link to Edmodo in case you need it.) For their first blog, I basically gave them the same prompt as from the "paper blogging" activity, I just told them to pick a different hobby. They completed all of the steps (rough draft, editing, revising, etc.) of writing. They typed their final drafts on Word and then copied and pasted them on to the page I set up on Edmodo. Students also had to leave meaningful comments on at least two of their classmates' blogs. It turns out that they really enjoyed reading each others' blogs-- I think they ended up reading and commenting for nearly a whole class period. It was a wonderful way to trick them into reading and writing! :)

Year-long practice and use: After learning and practicing the basics of blogging, it became a very useful tool for discussing stories, novels, and even skills throughout the year. When my small groups were working on different novels, I had an Edmodo page for each novel. I'd post questions and they'd reply either at home or during independent work time. I also found it useful for students who missed in-class discussions due to being absent. I simply posted the discussion questions on Edmodo and they responded to them so I still had a chance to assess their comprehension and understanding. Towards the end of the year Edmodo was also a useful classroom for incorporating "flipped classroom" strategies. For example, while doing theme, I posted a movie clip on Edmodo, and they needed to respond with what they thought the theme was and "text/clip" evidence.

Teachers need to eat- Easy Mediterranean Pasta with Chicken

Looks delicious, right?? And trust me, it's super easy. Today is a Friday at the end of a very long week and the second to last day of school. It was a long half day of packing and managing my students (they named themselves my "little minions") moving my classroom from downstairs to upstairs. Afterwards, we went out for a late lunch as a staff. A few of us then went back to school (I know, a glutton for punishment) to organize and put report cards in student folders.   

So around 8pm this evening, I was hungry for something light & yummy, yet super easy to make because I barely had enough energy to get myself off the couch, let alone enough to do any 'real' cooking. I ended up grabbing some Mediterranean type veggies from the fridge, pre-made basil pesto, whole grain breaded chicken fingers, some feta and tossed it all with some pasta. It totally fit the bill! Yummy and WAY easy.  

I'm sure there are tons of variations that you can create based on your tastes and what you have on hand. Also, the quantities of ingredients will depend on how many servings you want to make. I made just enough for me, although I ended up with two servings.  

Ingredients:
- Frozen chicken tenders
- Pasta
- Sun-dried tomatoes
- Marinated artichoke hearts
- Kalamata olives
- Capers
- Feta cheese
- Basil Pesto

How to make:

1. Cook the chicken tenders and pasta according to the directions on the package.

2. Cut up the veggies you are using. I used sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, capers, and kalamata olives. 

3. Toss the vegetables, basil pesto, and chicken with the pasta.

4. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

Enjoy this simple and delicious meal!

Quotation Marks Antics

Throughout the year my students have really strengthened their writing. Their ideas are growing by leaps and bounds, and their grammar, structure, and organization is also improving. The one thing that continues to plague them, even my best writers, is consistently using and formatting dialogue properly. Why is it that students find using quotation marks correctly so difficult? This week I was feeling ambitious, so I decided to tackle it. 

Here are a few activities and things I tried with my kiddos. Feel free to give them a try and let me know how they work out. I also welcome any other ideas you have.

1. I started by telling my kiddos that I wrote a story and wanted their opinion. I displayed the story on the smart board. It was a story that contained lots of dialogue, but no quotations marks or proper punctuation or formatting. They quickly identified what the problem was. As a class, we went through and they edited it together. 
2. Next it was time for some buddy practice and reteaching opportunities for those who needed it. I found a wonderful FREE resource by Kristine Nannini on teacherspayteachers.com. Here's the link to the wonderful resource. Thanks Kristine! It provides great hands-on practice with a little scaffolding built in! As they worked in pairs, I floated around the room and gave assistance as needed, and also pulled a small reteach group for a few friends that were really struggling.
3. Time to apply the skill to writing. I gave students the choice of either working in pairs or working independently. Most chose to work with a friend. I then posted three pictures for students to choose from.
   
   
   
   
 

 

Their assignment was to write a short story that included dialogue between the two animals. I told them that of course it would be funny, but they just needed to be sure to write and format the dialogue correctly. They really enjoyed this activity and came up with some great conversations.

4. Independent Practice: Due to the way our schedule worked out, they ended up doing this part a few days later, so it really was a good indication of how much they remembered and could actually apply the skill in their writing. I posted one more picture, and instructed them to write a story (that included dialogue) based on the picture. They got a real hoot out of the picture and came up with some really creative and truly good stories :) And amazingly, they did a really good job writing their dialogue correctly!

 

Picture credits:Snake & bird- http://www.flickr.com/photos/djphoenix18/3988720849/in/pool-1914019@N23/ Cat & mouse- http://pets.onas.ru/cat_mouse_strawberry_1.jpg.html Ant & Snail- http://www.zmescience.com/science/biology/ant-snail-amazing-picture-27062011/ Jedi Squirrels- http://500px.com/photo/1976424/jedi-squirrels-by-mark-white

 

Notice & Note Summer Book Club

Hello! Although I plan on enjoying my time off from school, I wanted take the opportunity to do a little personal professional development-- no classes or anything official, just a little something for personal enrichment.

This past year "Close Reading" was all the rage and although I gathered some useful info and strategies, I feel that this is an area that I want to explore a little more and plan a bit. I came across a book Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers & Robert E. Probst. It has some pretty good reviews and has been recommended to me more than once, so I thought this would be a good book to dig into this summer.

This is where you come in at. I'd love to get a group of educators to join me, so that we can have discussions and share ideas. Don't worry, I'm not proposing anything super structured or time (or energy) intensive. Just some casual discussion as we read. As I read, I'll post some questions for each chapter. Feel free to respond on that thread or pose your own questions, discussion topic, thought, or activity/lesson idea.

I've set up an Edmodo page for the book club. Click here to go to the page.
Here's the link address just in case: https://edmo.do/j/ac34ox
The group code is: kcc4fy

Here is the link to the book on Amazon. 

Please invite others to join us!

Point of View practice using Finding Nemo

For the past few weeks, my 5th grade class has been working on Point of View. We've gone beyond simply identifying 1st or 3rd person and are really analyzing how the narrator's/character's point of view/perspective affects the story and the message that readers receive. I found two great clips in Finding Nemo that are great for instruction or practice. I've listed the time that correlates to the clips on the DVD.

Example 1
@ 25:11-25:48 minutes- Nemo is being dumped into the dank in the dentist's office. I had the kids identify the setting and situation from Nemo's point of view/perspective. What does he see? How does he feel? What is he thinking? How did he get here?

@ 25:49-26:00 minutes- In this clip we get a look at the situation from the dentist's point of view. (He says he found Nemo struggling for his life in the reef, and he saved his life.) After watching this clip, the students had a quick discussion about perspective and how the same event can be perceived multiple ways. We then talked about how the perspective changes the story.

Example 2
28:40-29:22 minutes: The dentist shows Nemo (and company) the picture of his niece Darla and explains how Nemo is going to be her birthday gift this year. The other fish explain what happened to her birthday fish last year. I had the kids give me Darla's point of view about receiving a fish for her birthday, and then Nemo's point of view about being given to Darla. 
 

Teachers have to eat: Parmesan Crusted Chicken with Olive Tapenade

Looking for something super easy to make, yet savory? Try this oven baked chicken with olive tapenade topped with a mixture Parmesan and bread crumbs.

What you'll need:
- 2 chicken breasts (split them in half)
- 1/2 cup olive tapenade (I used Wegmans)
- 3 tablespoons bread crumbs
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- bunch of fresh thyme sprigs
- 4 or 5 large cherry/vine ripened tomatoes

What you need to do:
1. Preheat the oven to 375. 

2. Lay the sprigs of thyme in the bottom of a glass baking pan. Lay the 4 chicken breasts on top. Cut the tomatoes in half and place the tomatoes in the pan as well. Place the olive tapenade on top of the chicken-- evenly distribute.

3. Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, thyme, and olive oil together. Spoon the crumb mixture on top of the chicken and tomatoes.

4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until chicken is done.

I served mine with spinach & cheese ravioli 

Teachers have to eat: Easy Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala is one of those things that I order when out at a nice Italian restaurant, but never attempted to try myself. I just assumed it was too difficult-- especially if I wanted it to taste any good. Then one day I came across a recipe (by Savory Sweet Life) that claimed to not only be good but easy. So I made it and...

  After making it once, I knew I would be making it regularly. I've made it five or six times now, making minor tweaks each time. I think I finally have it to what I consider perfection. I wanted to have a little more sauce for the pasta & veggies yet still maintain a rich taste. If you'd like to check out the original recipe go here; if you'd like my tweaked recipe, keep reading. It takes approximately 15 minutes prep, and 30 minutes cook time.

Here is what you'll need:
- 2 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 cup flour
- a few tablespoons olive oil
- 8 ounces of mushrooms, sliced & cleaned
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup Marsala wine
- 1/2 cup sherry 
- 1 tub of chicken stock Concentrate (the one I use is by Knorr)
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Start by cutting each breast in half, pounding it to make it thinner and liberally sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Next, heat a few tablespoons of oil on medium/medium-high, dredge the breast through flour, and heat two at a time. It took about 4 minutes per side. When each batch is finished, keep warm in the oven.

 

 

While the chicken is cooking, gather your other supplies. I have used "real" wine & sherry, but found it a little more convenient to have the cooking wine on hand, and it tastes really good using this stuff :)

 

 

After all of the chicken is cooked, using the same pan, reduce heat to medium to saute the mushrooms in butter [for about 4 minutes]. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

 

Next, add the Marsala wine, sherry, chicken stock concentrate, and cream. Stir and simmer to allow it to reduce a little bit. I reduce heat a tad and let it simmer for about 6-7 minutes.

 

 

 I like to serve this with gnocchi-- my pasta of choice, asparagus-- my green vegetable of choice, and a glass of white. It makes a fabulous meal.

 

Notice & Wonder

We all know that critical thinking is the "new thing". Early this year a teacher at my school (thanks, Jeanne) introduced us to a quick and easy strategy to encourage and have kids practice using critical thinking. Ask the two questions: What do you notice? and What do you wonder?  

You know as well as I do, that when we ask kids, "Do you have any questions?" and "What do you think?", the responses are few and far between. By asking, "What do you notice?", the kids are motivated to get involved and tell you what they see. As the discussion continues, 'see' moves into a deeper 'notice'. By posing "What do you wonder?", the kids naturally make connections between what they have noticed and their prior knowledge and extend upon it. By using these two simple questions, you'll have kids thinking critically, and they won't even know it!

And the great thing about "Notice & Wonder", is that it can work for ANY subject. You can use it for Math problems, Science experiments, or while using primary resources or even reading a text in Social Studies. Since I'm a reading teacher, I have lots of ideas on how to use it in Reading :)

Anyways, as I was perusing Pinterest, I came across some great photos pinned by Suzy Brooks. She mentioned using them for a journal prompt. As I started thinking about how I could use them in my classroom, I suddenly thought of "Notice & Wonder". These photos will be great for giving students the chance to think critically, ask questions, dig deeper, and make connections. I can see them working for a journal prompt or a discussion.

    Photos retrieved from http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/b2/54/1f/b2541f2d3ca9cdc548802a33a3122407.jpg,  http://www.moillusions.com/elevator-optical-illusion-in-london.html/elevator4-1/, http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/01/bb /3d/01bb3d0cca1adc337e9b726567aaef84.jpg   respectively

Writing Prompt: Giving Instructions

Here's a real-life scenario writing prompt for giving instructions.

With a lot of winter weather recently, you've been hired to write an article explaining what to do in case someone becomes stranded in a snowstorm. Use the 'order & sequence' text structure to give detailed instructions/directions about what to do and how to survive should someone become stranded in a snowstorm.  

Pinterest for Historical Figures

On the docket today was to read a biography about Jane Addams and practice the skills we've been learning so far in our ELA unit. You know, summarizing, author's view point.... As I planned the lesson, I just couldn't, in good conscience, have them read, take notes and then write yet another summary. I feel that that's all we have been doing lately. Deciding to not do a basic summary was easy; figuring out what to do instead was not. What task can they do that's "real world", tests their comprehension, and encourages connections and higher level thinking? Then it came to me....

To demonstrate their comprehension of Jane Addams, her life, and accomplishments and to give them a chance to synthesize and use this knowledge, I had them create a Pinterest page they think Jane would have if she was alive today. Based on the information they learned, they needed to decide what books, movies, hobbies, organizations, etc. Jane would like and be interested in. They really enjoyed the activity and it made them REALLY think! They drew pictures, symbols, and wrote description, just like a real Pinterest page. I found the above "Pinterest like" template made by Best Teacher Resources on TPT for only a dollar! Her blog can be found here, and a link to this template here. For an extension, students could be asked to justify why they chose the items they did. This would give them the opportunity to cite the text.

Common Core Standards: Reading Informational Text Anchor 1, 2, and 3

Creative Connections Writing Prompt

Here's another quick and easy writing prompt. This prompt requires students to make a personal connection with a quote about friendship. And besides, who doesn't love Cookie Monster??

 Explain what Cookie Monster means, and tell whether or not you agree with him, and why.

Persuasive Writing Prompt

Are you looking for a quick and easy persuasive writing prompt? 

Ask and ye shall receive...

You have just discovered this ice cave. 

* If you want to play in the cave, write a persuasive paragraph explaining why your parents should allow you to play in the cave. 

* If you do not want to play in the cave, write a persuasive essay explaining why you don't think children should be allowed to play in the cave.

Photo retrieved from http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=68637

ELA Common Core Resources

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have been overwhelmed by the transition to Common Core ELA standards. I do see and understand the need for exposing students to more complex texts and giving them the chance to really dig into and interact with what they are reading. I'm just struggling with how to handle the transition, especially for my 5th graders who have not had previous exposure to the standards and are just being "thrown in". Not only am I not totally sure how to "unpack" and teach the new standards, but it's difficult to know how to build in the prerequisite skills and experiences they are missing while moving them forward.

What follows is nothing that I have created-- I claim no ownership to the websites, blogs, or activities-- I have merely made a collection of resources that I have found useful. 

STUDENT RESOURCES (**FREE** STUFF TO USE WITH YOUR STUDENTS!!)

•  Newsela- This site is A-MAZING, and I'm not exaggerating. It not only provides nonfiction/informational texts in the form of current event news articles BUT it provides the article on multiple Lexile levels! It does the differentiation for you! AND.... many of the articles come with a quiz or discussion questions, which also are differentiated based on the level of the article selected. Told you-- amazing, right??
• The Learning Network- This site is linked to the New York Times, and provides teaching and learning materials. Includes NYT articles as well as lesson plans and activity ideas.
• FCRR's Student Center Activities- Use this link to access TONS of graphic organizers that are matched to specific CC standards, objectives, and lesson ideas. Activities are organized by grade level, CC Standard, and then lesson/activity title. Because this website and resources are from Florida, they align with Florida's CC Standards, but each is categorized by CC standard, so everyone can use them and easily tie them to their state's specific standards.  

WEBSITES/BLOGS

• "Five Close Reading Strategies to Support the Common Core" blog entry at iTeach.iCoach.iBlog.'s blog. This blog gives some great strategies to teach and use with (intermediate elementary and above) students to help them learn how to access complex texts. The strategies can be first taught, and then used independently by students. They are simple, yet quite brilliant. 

• Hello Literacy's Blog & Website- If you have never checked out this blog or resources by Jen Jones, take 10 minutes and do it now! It's that good. She has great ideas, information, and activities to share, and she shares them in a clear and enjoyable way. If it has to do with literacy and the Common Core, she'll have something about it :)

• School Improvement Network's Common Core blog- I just found this blog, but it looks chalked full of resources. It advertises itself as, "A resource guide to Common Core Standards tools". 
• Create-Abilities: Top Notch Common Core Activities- Although this blog is what many would consider "a regular teacher's blog", the majority of the posts and resources are about Common Core. I especially found the (several) posts about Close reading helpful.

BOOKS

• Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating Achievement by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, and Christopher Lehman

        There is a brief introductory and a summary of a section on how to help all students access complex texts at The Teacher Studio blog.  

• Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kyleen Beers and Robert E. Probst

         I am actually reading this book right now, and I am happy with my purchase. I purchased the book after reading a review at Teaching in Room 6's blog. She also includes some activity ideas and the way she implemented it in her classroom.

Teachers have to eat: Chocolate Chip M&M Oatmeal Cookies

Now that's a lot of adjectives for one little cookie! I was recently introduced to this cookie by way of one of those "cookie mixes in a canning jar" gifts. It was the favor at my sister-in-law's baby shower. Not only did it look very pretty layered in a jar, they tasted really yummy! Since it's a girl **YEAH** the M&Ms were shades of pink. My brain got thinking about how using different colored ones could make it seasonal. So, I got busy picking out the brown, yellow, orange, and red M&Ms and decided to turn them into Thanksgiving/fall cookies :) (You could always use Reese's Pieces and throw in the peanut butter flavor, but I needed these to be peanut free).

The original recipe comes from Bakerella and is shows you how to make it in the canning jars-- super cute which I may just someday try. Enjoy these yummy, super yummy cookies! And here's the thing, I know they look like they'd be a "dry" cookie, but they really aren't, which really surprised me. I mean, of course they'd go great with a glass of milk, but they're not a cookie that you have to choke down. Give 'em a try!

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup quick oats
3/4 cup M&Ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 slightly beaten egg
1/2 cup butter (slightly melted in the microwave)
1 tsp vanilla

Making them:

1. Preheat oven to  350 degrees.
2. Mix all of the dry ingredients together.
3. Add egg, melted butter & vanilla. Mix until it's "dough like" and all dry ingredients are no longer dry.

 4. Roll the dough into 1 and 1/2 inch balls; place on cookie sheet.

5. Baked for about 10 minutes. This cookie doesn't seem to 'brown' very well, so you can't really go by that. 
6. Enjoy!

 
  

Read to us!

In the day and age of testing and the endless roll out of new standards, some times we forget the simpliest things... Yesterday I read a picture book to my 5th graders. They so enjoyed it, and today they asked if I could read to them again.

Fear not, Standard Sticklers, I made sure to pick a good mentor text which led to a lot of rich discussion and the practice of some essential CC skills. 

Wednesday's pick...

• Grace is a wonderful character to analyze for traits based on her thoughts, actions, and feelings. 
• Good text clues in which to make inferences
• A great story for determining theme
• Has a very positive message about self-confidence and perseverance

Thursday's pick...

• This book is great for inferring Grace's feelings and thoughts; not just what they are, but why she has them
• There is opportunity for self-to-text and text-to-text connection as concepts of family and divorce are discussed
• A few opportunities for predicting
• A great story for determining theme
• Seeing a "known" character on another adventure allowed for deeper character analysis 
• It would be easy to look at story events from another character's perspective (ie. her dad's or stepmother's)

Using Padlet in the Classroom

This year as been a bit hectic and has not been as enjoyable as some. But I must say, while trying to jazz up today's lesson for a central office visit (don't judge.. you know you do it too :)), I decided to try out Padlet.

We've been working on analogies for a little while now, and it was time to take it to the next level-- using it in a brief statement, comparing two dissimilar items (one abstract and one concrete). I found an example with a picture online, posted it on Padlet with brief instruction and directions and let the kids have at it. I was amazed by the finished product! (click to check it out). 

This was the first time they ever used Padlet, but they had absolutely no trouble. It was so easy, and they really enjoyed it. Students don't need to sign-up, no usernames or passwords, no e-mail addresses needed. Only the teacher needs to sign-up (or log-in using a google account). It took literally 5 minutes to set-up/create. I highly recommend trying it in the classroom.

Feel free to share links to Padlets you've created and used :)