A Book We Adore!

Have you ever adored a children’s book so much you couldn’t wait to share it with someone? This happens to me often and I usually end up sending an email about it, walking the book over to another teacher’s class or sharing on planning time. But sometimes I wish I could share it with all of the kids, teachers and parents that pass by my room each day too! I created a unique way to share these fabulous books called “A Book We Adore.” Each month I display a book cover (or a picture of the cover) on my door. (Did you see our Book Bite last week for this book? We can't get enough of Bob Shea!)

I also write a few words about the book (like a mini review), which will allow passersby to quickly read about it. I include small cards with the title and author, so those interested can remember the book for library check-out or purchase from a store or school book order. Some publishers or authors have fun printables on their websites to accompany the book you’ve chosen. You can print those as well and hang some copies on your door.

If you love books like I do, you may find yourself changing out your display more than once a month! Happy Reading!

Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship

We love this book!

We used it at the start of the school year last year and had so much fun we are using it again this fall! It’s an adorable story about an apple named Mac and his unlikely friendship with a worm named Will. There’s game-playing, bullies and an irresistible happy ending. After reading the book, we do different writing activities like “I am a good apple because…” or “A good apple never…”. We also do a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast a friend and a bully and a web containing the qualities of a good friend. This book is an easy way to introduce the rules of your classroom, as well as ways to be a good friend. As a final treat, serve apples and gummy worms!

Book Bite #2- Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great

Last week we shared Book Bite #1 based around Alex Latimer’s, Lion vs. Rabbit. Now it's time to share Book Bite #2! This time we focused on Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea. (Have you ever visited his Twitter account? He's hilarious!)

I snagged this book last year and have been sharing it with people as often as I can. This must-read book has a goat, a unicorn, jealousy, friendship, talents and adventure all rolled into one hysterical tale. You've got to check it out! How can you resist the adorable illustrations?? (Does Goat's expression remind anyone else of McKayla Maroney's "not impressed" face after she won the silver medal?)

Quick and Easy Fall Art

In the last couple of years, fire safety codes made it mandatory to take down anything hanging from the ceiling of our classrooms. What? No more swirly ghosts or colorful clotheslines? Tragic. Bound and determined to simulate the clothesline look, Erin and I have hung one flat against our obsolete chalkboards. To help prevent sagging, we added magnets to the back of our clothespins. It’s not perfect but it’s a clothesline, darn it! We created patterns for leaf people and scarecrows. Easy to print, copy and assemble. Provide a sample for your students. The scarecrow shirts are just the triangle pattern, traced on a variety of scrapbook paper. Enjoy!

Book Bites

Every time a new book is released I try to rationalize why I need it for my classroom. Does it fit into the curriculum or any of my existing units of study? If the book doesn’t fit but it’s really amazing, I buy it anyway! Then I create activities around the book, so it isn’t just read quickly and shelved. I call them Book Bites and I’m really excited to share them.

Here’s Book Bite #1 based around Alex Latimer’s hilarious, Lion vs. Rabbit.

If you enjoyed this Book Bite, check out Book Bite #2 based around Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great, by Bob Shea!

Guess My Vacation

Save trinkets and treasures from your summer vacation for this back-to-school guessing game. Collect small items that represent the place or places you visited this summer, like shells, postcards, salt-water taffy, key chains, magnets, etc... Decorate a gift bag or lunch bag like ours. 

For kindergarten through second grade we call the game “Guess My Vacation.” For third through fifth, we call it “Guess My Vacation Location.” You can print the label appropriate for your grade level.

Fill the bag with some items from your vacation, plus a sealed envelope containing the name of the place you vacationed. Pull out one item at a time. Ask the class to use their inference skills and guess where you might have gone by looking at each item. Make a list of their guesses. After all items have been removed from the bag, open your envelope to show the answer.

Teachers of third to fifth grade can use trickier items like a picture of the continent where the vacation was located or a postcard of its native animals. Students can guess using the 20 questions method. “Was your vacation in the Northern Hemisphere?” “Was your vacation below the equator?” “Was the climate tropical?”  “Were their mountains?”

As a follow-up, send home paper lunch bags with each student. Have them adhere a label like ours to the front of their bags or let them decorate it themselves. Also give them envelopes and an index card or scrap of paper to write and seal up the answer. Ask them to gather a few small items that represent where they went or what they did on their summer vacation. If any students didn’t go on a vacation, encourage them to cut magazine pictures or draw pictures to show a place they would like to visit.

In a few days, the students will return to school with their bags in hand, ready to play “Guess My Vacation!”

Graphing All Year

Student surveys are one of my favorite things to do. It’s really fun to see the similarities and differences among my students. Often you’ll even see new bridges built and friendships formed after students make their choices. 

The format of conducting surveys in my room has changed from year to year. I’ve had students place clothespins with their names onto a sign to display their choice. I’ve done TONS of graphs on my SMARTBoard. I’ve even had students fill in over-sized graphs that you can wipe off and reuse.

However, my favorite kinds of graphs are the ones that you can keep all year. Sometimes I even have my students write their names to make the bars on the graph to create a permanent record of their choices. They are great conversation starters and it’s entertaining for the students to look back at surveys from the beginning of the year to see how their opinions have changed.

This year we combined all of our favorite surveys into one unit on Teachers pay Teachers. Graphing All Year is a student-centered collection of 40 printable graphs that pose thought-provoking questions, 4 per month, to last the school year. (No more trying to think of surveys last minute! Hallelujah!)

The graph topics have students discussing their opinions and debating their feelings on food, animals and more! After completing each survey, you can use the blank graph at the end of the product with the matching number of categories to allow students to transfer the data into another form (e.g. tally marks or picture graphs).

I love to combine my completed graphs into a class graph book or display each graph on my math board. These graphs are a perfect teaching tool for tallies, totals and comparisons. To crank up a higher level of thinking, students can also use the surveys in a supported forum to discuss their choices and construct arguments to persuade others.