Dear Diary....

Doreen Cronin has become one of my favorite picture book authors. I just love her "Diary" books. I read Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider to my second graders this week. They loved them! I knew they would.

Ms. Cronin's works inspired my class to create their own "diaries". They had to compile two stories because they couldn't agree on one critter for the class project. No problem - two books are better than one!  The Diary of a Snake and The Diary of a Dog were finally finished today during library time. It took a couple library sessions, but I think they turned out great. I created  cover sheets and bound them for their classroom. My students love making books for their classroom libraries.

 

Other diary favorites of mine or my students are as follows:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney
The Dear America series various Scholastic authors
My America series various Scholastic authors
Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
Dork Diaries by Rachel Russell


Other great books that can be used to teach dialogue are
With Love, Little Red Hen by Alma Flor Ada
Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James
Amelia's Notebook by Marissa Moss

New Books

I'm so excited! My principal walked in today and told me he needs to empty the Title account for this year. (In my school system, if you don't spend it you lose it!!!) So OF COURSE I told him no problem. Fortunately I keep lists at Bound to Stay Bound and on Follett's Titlewave. Now all I have to do is decide which list to submit. Oh the joys of having fast money to spend. I feel like I'm on a game show. At least on this one, we all win! This is as good as having a 30% off coupon for Kohl’s on a Kohl’s cash weekend!

Library Centers , Test Reviews, and TPT

It's that time of the year again. TEST TIME. As my teachers prepare their students for the state test, I try to reinforce what skills I can for them during library classes. My upper grade students just finished a poetry unit. Last year I created some mix and match cards on types of poetry to collaborate with their ELA teacher. So I jazzed them up a bit for this year. Ok, I admit the decision was based on TPT. I've been so inspired by all the cool finds on TPT. I have to admit now I rate my own literacy games for cuteness and effectiveness. So for me, TPT has made a positive impact on my library activities. You can find my Poetry Mix and Match cards on TPT for free.

During Spring Break I had an encounter with bronchitis! Fun, NOT. Since I didn't feel like doing any spring cleaning, I created my latest library center game - Spine Sort for Non-fiction. I just posted it in my TPT store if you are interested in a copy. It made a good addition to my Fiction and Easy spine sorts I created back in the fall.

Knowing my love of TPT, I went to TPT for some ideas to help with skills requested by my teachers. To help with cause and effect I purchased Cause and Effect Literacy Center by Klever Kiddos and I used Cause and Effect Task cards from Rachel Lynette. I just love her task cards. I think she has them for any topic. I'm slowly purchasing all of them. To help with sequencing I found Yvonne Dixon's Jack and the Beanstalk Sequencing Activity. It's been a big hit.


Tonight after I finish blogging, it's back to TPT for word games. My 4 and 5th graders are struggling with synonyms and antonyms. Of course I'm going to my favorite resource, TPT!!!

Second Grade Not Second Place!

I'm sure NO ONE had a crazy, stressful week this week. RIGHT.... This week should have been a breeze. Monday was a staff development day and I already had completed my day.  I knew it wasn't going to be so easy when Tuesday became a 12 hour work day. There are times when the general public has no clue. I got to school at 7:30 A.M. which is normal. Then proceeded to my normal school schedule, but wait I had a meeting after school that lasted until 5:45. Oh yeah, the health fair was next. (At least I didn't have to worry about food. I picked up an apple and some grapes. :) Finally, I had to get ready for our PTA meeting. I needed to get the sound system set up for our program. Yes, I also get that little job. Hey, somebody's got to do it. I finally arrived home at 8:15 P.M. Footnote: I only live 12 minutes from school.

It's been one of THOSE weeks. Hey, we all have them. That's what Dr. Pepper and chocolate are for!!! Did I mention attending the health fair? I had at least 2 fruit servings this week. ROFL!

My highlight for the week revolved around my second graders. Normally I dread this one group of second graders. They're very immature and require strong classroom management skills. I have them at the end of the day when they're tired and very demanding. Need I say more.... I found THE STORY. I read them "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig" by Eugune Trivizas.

I love fractured fairy tales. This is one of my favorites. It is usually in the list I read with third grade but I needed something special for this wiggly group. I read through to the page where the bad pig blows up the metal house. Then I stopped.... Yes, it freaked them out. I love doing the unexpected. I passed out paper and crayons and had them draw what kind of house they thought (predicted) the little wolves would build next. My favorites where the house of laser beams  and the house of macaroni and cheese. (I'm sorry I forgot to take a picture.) Very creative! and I thought they were done for the day... I love it when I'm wrong. I had to step back and remember I was teaching second grade not second place students! Gosh, I love my job, even on crazy weeks like this one. I'm going home and take a nap!

Book for the Middle School Students

I just finished the neatest book for the middle to upper grade students. I work with students in RTI groups to help out the middle school ELA classes. During RTI this nine weeks, we read the novel Girl, Stolen by April Henry. I used the edition published by Scholastic. I don't normally like to read realistic fiction, but this one was very engaging.  The kids were hooked. I actually got complaints if we were out for snow or had to cancel RTI for testing. Warning!!! It did have some language which I turned into a quick lesson on formal and informal language.  My 7th and 8th graders were spellbound! Yes, even the boys.

This is one I'll be adding to the school's library collection!

Read Across America Day

I just love RAAD! At my school it's really Dr. Seuss Day! Of course any day we celebrate reading is an awesome day for me. I'm fortunate enough to work at a school that has a full time reading specialist. Jessica is wonderful. She organized the day wonderfully. I am also our Technology Support Teacher and had 3 new computers arrive so it was great to let someone else be in charge. The teachers, with help from Mrs. Jessica, decorated bulletin boards and really got into the spirit of the day. The school looked wonderful. We had guest speakers, a real cat in the hat, and Dr. Seuss snacks. Several of the teachers dressed up for the day. Everyone had a wonderful day. I have posted a few pictures from the day.

 

That is me on the right!

 
I got my bulletin board idea from Pinterest of course! I tweaked a door display from Audie's Oddities. The kiddies thought it was funny I put my name on the bulletin board. The flowers all have books on them. I'm going to use the book spines I created in a library center after spring break.

In library we read Dr. Seuss books, of course. I found all kinds of cute center activities on TPT and Pinterest. My favorites were Erin Low’s Dr. Seuss ABC’s  and Lindsay Messner’s Read Across America packet. I even found one for my upper grade students. Yes, 8th graders love Dr. Seuss! I used Name that Dr. Seuss Book from Rachel Lynette. She's so creative. I love picking up her items from TPT.

Hope your Read Across America Day was as terrific as ours! Happy Reading!!!

Great Reads!

What are your darlings reading? My upper grade students are going crazy over John Flanagan's Ranger Apprentice Series. I just finished reading his Brotherhood Chronicles. The kids are going to love them too! If you students like Tolkien (fantasy) but find him hard to follow, they will love John Flanagan's books.



Of course Diary of the Wimpy Kid, Twilight, and Hunger Games are also very popular series.

My middle grade students found my "You wouldn't want to be...." series. They are written by different authors in graphic novel format about historical events. This is a great way to get students to read history.

Lower grade students are enjoying anything with dinosaurs and snakes. Fancy Nancy and Pinkalicious are also very popular. I just love helping the kids find a book and watching them fall in love with reading!