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!

Catching Up & Sparking Student Motivation

Hello again lovely followers!

Let me start by catching you up on something...

I know I've been away from the bloggy world for a few weeks. Let me explain..
My time in fourth grade as a permanent substitute has come to an end, so I have debated whether or not I should continue to post on this blog. At first, I thought I should not - leave it as is, and utilize it like an online portfolio. However, I remembered why I started this blog in the first place...to inspire others just as I have been inspired. It is a better opportunity to continue to post my ideas. I'm still the building substitute for my district, and working with grades 3 - 5. I still continue to incorporate my creative ideas into my lessons as a substitute, so I will share those, along with other ideas I have to offer. So please, I ask that you have an open mind as you continue to read my blog posts. Thank you, to those of you who have supported me on my blogging adventure, and who have inspired me to keep blogging.

On that note, I'm linking up today with Joanne from Head Over Heels for Teaching  to share an idea for Earth Day!

This time of year, I think we all need a little motivation. Maybe due to the state testing, or the change in the weather, or other reasons. But one thing's for sure - "it's THAT time of year." While there's plenty to celebrate in April (National Poetry month, autism awareness, Spring, Easter, etc.), I wanted to take some time to focus on one holiday, Earth Day. April 22nd marks Earth Day this year, and there's a ton of cute ideas out there on Pinterest, blogs, etc. to celebrate. However, I encourage you to try something new this year with a trending topic.

"Selfies." Yep, they're a trend. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, you name it. Social Media users everywhere are posting selfies, and chances are, if your students use social media, they are joining in this trend, too. Well, this year for Earth Day, NASA is making use of these pictures with the #GlobalSelfie initiative. With the constantly changing planet, NASA decided to create a more conducive image of earth, rather than just satellite mugshots. So, this year, people all over the world will be sending their respective selfies to NASA holding up a sign to show their location, and NASA will create a mosaic to combine these individual images to showcase our planet.

So, here's my idea to apply this in the classroom...

Have students take their own #GlobalSelfie, to create a classroom mosaic. You could join in the fun and use NASA's pdf  they provide users. This could be a lesson on latitude and longitude, and use Google Earth to find your exact classroom location. Or, you could have students write their promise to save the earth and "Go Green" and hold that sign in their selfie. 

 Depending on your district's technology available,  students can use laptops, iPads, etc. to take their selfie. Once it's taken, their picture could be uploaded onto Mosaically.com where you can choose a large image of the earth, and have students' pictures be the small images. 

This would make for a great classroom bulletin board display, or a grade wide display! What are you doing for Earth Day? 

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!!

Currently March

Happy March, everyone! Now we just need Spring to be here...I think it's late on arrival, but I have faith it's on its way!

One of my favorite bloggy things in the whole wide world, is the Currently linky party with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade!

So, without further adieu, my March Currently....

Listening: No, Dixieland is not my favorite type of music. But, I am getting ready to teach the regions this week, beginning with the Southeastern states; so, of course, that means we are celebrating our trip to Louisiana by listening to different types of New Orleans music on Tuesday!

Loving: Right now, it is my school's spring break. No, I'm not going anywhere warm, but I am taking advantage of home-cooked meals all week long, and having time to plan out my activities for the month!

Thinking: I can't believe our state's testing is at the end of this month! I've been making things to review and prepare my kiddos for the test.  This week, we started with a fraction frenzy. I told them we are totally doing math differently - they are taking a teaching role by working in groups and partners, and they decide what we do each day (to some extent, of course). Yes, I'm still giving quizzes, but it's all depending on how and what we do the day before. The first day of fractions, I told them they needed to prove they could show fractional parts. So they were off searching the room for objects they could use to trace. Then, they folded their paper until they made fractional parts.

In ELA our focus was on summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting within nonfiction text. We started by having a student-created anchor chart or two. (Okay, yes, that's my writing. But, they made the post-its)

While this is NOT what I do with my students, it's too funny not to share. It shows the state, administration, and teacher view of the state testing... I LOVE how it says, "the joy of learning" hahaha - no pressure!

How I actually feel about the standardized tests...

So no, I don't worry about how they score. I tell them to not worry about how they score either. I'd rather give them the confidence that they are familiar with all the material on the test, because they are prepared, and they can achieve well if they try. Yes, common core means that things are going to change, and things may be harder. But, we are ready to take on the challenge. Anyway, enough of my rant, and back to my currently.

Wanting: That's right. Call People magazine, it's official. Winter and I have ended our relationship. After the bipolar vortex, it's him, not me. I'm so through with the snow. While I love the whole, snow-globe look, I'm ready to retire my boots for some heels or flats.

Needing: I don't know what it's been about the past few days, but I've had a hard time keeping up. Maybe I'm planning too much, or maybe it's just that time of year. Either way, I've had more than my usual amount of coffee in the week, and I'm way over my limit. However, Starbucks shareholders should love me. You're welcome, I'm sure I've contributed a decent amount to your stock this week.

?????: Any idea what a sailor hat, Minnie Mouse ears, and Mardi Gras masks have in common? Leave me a comment with your guess, and find out later this week in my next post! :)

Well, back to planning I go! Wait until you see what our class is doing for Read Across America's celebration on Monday! Have a wonderful weekend, and hopefully avoid the snowstorm!

Five For Friday...on a Saturday

Happy Saturday friends!

Is it just me, or has all the snow days and delays really thrown off your teaching groove? I'm just getting back into the swing of things. So, beware, I'm updating two weeks into one big Five For Friday to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching today!

Our Valentine's Day Cardboard Box Challenge (inspired by Amanda from One Extra Degree) are finally finished on Valentine's Day. Oh boy, did they look SPECTACULAR! Take a peek at our final products...

Despicable Me minion with a lever to move the arms up and down. Hockey table with two hockey players that move side to side or up and down using a lever. A pinball machine using a lever and inclined plane. An owl (his name is Hoot Hoot) made from a laundry container using a hinge to open and close.

 For this project, they had to use a simple machine (an inclined plane, screw, wedge, lever, or pulley) and create a cardboard box containing a cavity to hold Valentine's treats.  Our goal was to use the design process from STEAM to brainstorm, build, test, and revise to create a successful box from recycled materials. 

This student created a basketball hoop that moves up and down using a pulley for an added challenge. 

This student made a locker using a hinge.

This student had an inclined plan inside of her flower garden for envelopes to slide down.

Basketball hoop using an inclined plane.

A merry go round using a pulley system.

A pinball machine using an inclined plane.

To celebrate Black History Month, and practice our writing from a new point of view, we researched a famous African American in history, and then created a diary for that person. It gave students a chance to see what it would be like to walk in someone else's shoes, and take on a new perspective of how difficult it was to overcome segregation.

Please ignore my poorly painted fingernails! :o)

We played a game on Friday to practice locating lines of longitude and latitude. Remember the "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" game show? She was an international jewel thief! Well, I introduced the theme of the show to my students and created clues for certain countries on the map points of latitude and longitude. They had to correctly identify each point/country on the map with their team and check with me if it was correct before they could move on to the next clue. This was an engaging review for them, and allowed me to formatively assess students who were still having trouble with the hemispheres and coordinates. Also, it gave a great opportunity to show team work, since they had to work as a team to find Carmen Sandiego's location. My favorite part was one of my darlings said, "Miss S, if Carmen Sandiego is a jewel thief, why is she leaving clues behind for the police? She must be a stupid thief!" Truth. Sometimes, teachers don't create the best "real-world" problems for students. :o)

Our focus in ELA this week was working on identifying the types of context clues. I made the set of task cards and used them during our centers to play scoot. I think out of all the skills we teach fourth graders, being able to use and identify context clues is one of the most important skills for reading. It's a huge help for test-taking, and is something they will use for the rest of their life. Get a set of your own task cards in my little TpT shop - they're only a dollar! Enjoy a FREEBIE anchor chart, too! 

Yesterday was an interesting experience for me. Friday was "TA for a Day" at our district, where the high school group FEA (Future Educators of America) raises money for their scholarship funds by allowing teachers to purchase a teacher assistant for the day. I just think it is such a unique opportunity for both the students (in high school AND my fourth graders) and for the teacher. We get to collaborate in learning, which is a rare opportunity in many districts. Although I am only 22 years old, I realized that I was ready to show a leadership role, and wanted to help support the FEA, so I took on the responsibility of having a TA. Let me tell you, it was a fabulous experience all around. Miss Melanie was such a sweet girl, and the students seemed to really enjoy having her around for the day. While it was fun for us to have a guest in the room, I didn't want to make her do busy work all day (because let's face it, don't we ALL hate busy work?) and, I didn't want to say "Just walk around, observe, and hangout,"because how fun is that? (Been there, done that, and was never a comfortable experience just meandering around a classroom for five hours.) I did my best to make her feel welcomed, and a part of our day. As I look back on the day, while I started the day being nervous that, maybe I wasn't ready to be a leader, considering I'm fresh out of college myself; I ended the day feeling grateful and rewarded with the collaborative opportunity. Isn't the goal of education to inspire others? She helped my fourth graders understand how important certain concepts were (like how yes, Ms. S is right in telling you that you will ALWAYS use context clues forever and ever; or how you do learn to write more than five paragraphs in high school - shocker!) The experience inspired me to be more confident in my teaching, that no matter what age you are, you can be a role model; I know she was mutually inspired to remain in the field of psychology/education after our day together.

Phew! What a lot to catch up on! Well, I promise to give more updates and stay in touch this week - we have a lot of activities planned.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!