Monday Made It: Reader's Notebook

Happy Summer friends! 

Today I'm linking up with Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics for my first Monday Made It of the summer!

This summer, my goal is to get organized for next year. On my to-do list right now is refining my reading strategies. This year I completed a thirty book challenge with my fourth grade students inspired by Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer. Now, I'm reading her second book, Reading in the Wild. As I read, I'm refining my Reader's Notebooks.

So, let me introduce to you the start of my new Reader's Notebook for next year. It's a model, that I plan to show students and have them create their own. 

I plan for students to decorate the cover of their spiral bound notebooks
during the first week of school. They can make them personal and unique.

One of the first pages of their notebook will include a reading timeline.
I want my students to see themselves as readers from day one.
I want them to think about why they are readers, and how they became readers.

A closer look at my timeline will show that I included books that
share personal impacts on my life as a reader. These books have shaped
the way in which I view my reading life.

My book timeline spans from my first book, to elementary
 and middle school, to my college life, and into my
recent year of teaching. 

Then, I want to have a section for genre blurbs where students can
determine what genre in which they are most interested, and discuss
why they like these kinds of books.

If you haven't yet, make sure to go to Tara's blog to check out more fabulous ideas for Monday Made It!

Monday Made It (Early Bird)

Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends!

Today I'm lucky enough to link up with Tara from Fourth Grade Frolics for her Monday Made It!

Warning: some of these are pretty random - but I'm playing catch-up from last week!

Pi Day Friday!! Our class celebrated Pi Day on Friday and I made this little "Pi Day Swag Tag" for a lucky winner! As part of their morning work, students were able to memorize the digits of pi for a competition at the end of the day. I had planned that the student who recited the most digits from memory would win bragging rights to this "Pi Day Swag Tag," but three of my kiddos successfully recited over 41 digits of Pi! How impressive! So I had to make more of these lovely tags for the winners tomorrow. 

Also, we read "Sir Comference and the Dragon of Pi" which is a cute little math adventure picture book to teach about Pi (not to be confused with pie). 

And, to top it off, we created a chain to show what the digits of Pi look line. ( Found the idea on Pinterest!) 

I finished making my #LiftPackage! It was my first teacher package exchange, and I had an absolutely fabulous time getting to know both of my partners. This month's theme was "Teachers Love Teaching" if you couldn't tell from the little writings I included. :o) If you haven't heard of LIFT packages, I'd definitely suggest signing up for the April/May package exchange. Basically, you are paired up with another teacher and you spend some time getting to know each other through blogging, instagram, email; then, you put together a little gift box to help "lift" their spirits.  It's a great way to network, meet fellow teachers, and be supportive of other teachers. Check out LIFT Packages here! 

Yep, that's right, those are lyrics! What happens when you spend time looking for a resource and you just can't find one good enough? You write your own song, of course! 

I spent a large chunk of time this weekend looking for more creative ways to remember capacity/measurement terms. I went through countless YouTube videos, anchor charts, and Pinterest finds. Nothing - okay, nothing that I found was up to par for me. So when I heard my ringtone, Pharrell Williams' "Happy" song, I thought it would make the perfect tune for a capacity song! I'm thinking my students are going to have fun making this music video this week - a great break from all the test prep we've been doing! Stay tuned for the mp3! Maybe educational song-writing will be in my future??

Hope you have a lucky day!!