tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53569880069261428832024-03-19T21:22:18.860-07:00Adventures in 4th GradeSusan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-49593167179163033232014-04-28T17:39:00.000-07:002014-04-28T17:39:34.488-07:00Must Read Monday {4-28-14}I recently finish Three Times Lucky and I couldn't put it down. It had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! No wonder it won a Newberry Honor Award. Then while I was at the public library browsing the new book section, I saw that Shelia Turnage had a follow up book called "The Ghost of Tupelo Landing". I got it right away and began reading. The main characters Mo and Dale are very humorous and always end up right in the middle of the action! Both of these books are mysteries and I have a feeling when I share the books with my students they will be fighting over them.<br />
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On another note, Three Times Lucky would be a great read aloud or book club book for students grade 4 and up. If I recall correctly there were a few questionable parts in the beginning that might not be appropriate for younger kids. I could be totally wrong though because I read it a few weeks ago.<br />
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Description from Amazon for Three Times Lucky:</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A hilarious Southern debut with the kind of characters you meet once in a lifetime</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span></div>
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Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known.<br />
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Full of wisdom, humor, and grit, this timeless yarn will melt the heart of even the sternest Yankee.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Description from Amazon for The Ghost of Tupelo Landing:</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">The eagerly anticipated followup to the Newbery honor winner and <i>New York Times</i> bestseller, <i>Three Times Lucky</i></b><br />
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<i style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: start;">Small towns have rules. One is, you got to stay who you are -- no matter how many murders you solve.</i><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">When Miss Lana makes an Accidental Bid at the Tupelo auction and winds up the mortified owner of an old inn, she doesn't realize there's a ghost in the fine print. Naturally, Desperado Detective Agency (aka Mo and Dale) opens a paranormal division to solve the mystery of the ghost's identity. They've got to figure out who the ghost is so they can interview it for their history assignment (extra credit). But Mo and Dale start to realize that the Inn isn't the only haunted place in Tupelo Landing. People can also be haunted by their own past. As Mo and Dale handily track down the truth about the ghost (with some help from the new kid in town), they discover the truth about a great many other people, too.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">A laugh out loud, ghostly, Southern mystery that can be enjoyed by readers visiting Tupelo Landing for the first time, as well as those who are old friends of Mo and Dale.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">Thanks for stopping by! I love comments and new book suggestions!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;">~Susan</span></div>
Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-70231820183618689812014-04-27T15:36:00.000-07:002014-04-28T17:40:17.116-07:00A Peek At My Week {April 28, 2014}<div style="text-align: center;">
Here again for another week with Mrs. Laffin!! </div>
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I'm coming back from my Spring Break this week and I imagine it is going to be very hard to get up in the morning! But I spend the morning planning out the week with my teaching bud, Madison, and we are very excited about our plans. </div>
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First off, we will be starting a week long <b>greek mythology unit</b>. I absolutely love greek mythology as did my students last year. I think what is appealing to students is all the interesting stories. They know that the gods/goddesses aren't real but it is fun to hear all the crazy myths about them. I will be using the following unit by Nicole Shelby throughout the week for different activities.</div>
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(Students will complete story maps, character analysis, and use the venn diagram from her pack.)</div>
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For the first half of the week during reading groups, I plan on using a Reading A-Z close reading pack. (If you haven't checked them out you totally should :)) The students are put into groups of four. Each student gets a different myth and they read it two times by themselves. Then they answer the key question: "How are some ancient tales and our present day language connected?". After they have completed this all the students will come together with their group and share what their myth was about and come up with a general answer to the key question. </div>
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Later in the week, the students will be given a different version of their myth and they will get into groups with those students who have the same myth as them. They will compare and contrast the two versions. On Friday, I plan on having the students present a short summary of their myth to the class. Then we will discuss the different allusions we use in the present day! </div>
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(This is the book I will get the different versions from.)</div>
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After reading groups are over, the students will split up into two groups for mythology <b>rotations</b>. </div>
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<b>Group 1</b> will be working on researching 1-2 greek gods/goddesses, heroes, or creatures. They will list three facts about their character and and symbols that are important to them. After the research is complete the students will make a "trading card" on the iPad using Keynote. Once their trading card is finished they are going to write a Most Important Poem from the Greek Mythology Pack above. </div>
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<b>Group 2</b> will spend time immersing themselves in books about Greek Mythology. We took the majority of the school library's books about this topic :O. Hopefully no one will want to read about myths in the next week :). While they are reading, students will make a T-chart and record any text they find interesting on one side and tell why they like it on the other side. I think it's very important for students to become immersed in a topic and have choice over what they read so that's why we included this as a rotation. </div>
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Now on to math!! I usually just blog about reading because that is my passion but I am very pumped about a product I bought on TPT this weekend! Are you ready? Ok I am going to try interactive math notebooks for the first time tomorrow using the product below! It looks super kid-friendly and very engaging. I've been hesitant to use interactive notebooks all year because I feel like all the cutting and gluing will take a long time. But when I saw the geometry pack, I thought this is something that is hands on and the group of students I have really need that. </div>
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As a final note, I am working on a TPT product and want to give everyone a little sneak peak. I hope to be done with it by next week! </div>
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This will be greek god fact cards that I am going to use at a fluency station! </div>
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Thanks for stopping by! I love hearing comments and new ideas!</div>
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~<span style="font-size: x-large;">Susan</span></div>
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Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-1251009841915614152014-04-21T06:11:00.001-07:002014-04-21T06:17:20.071-07:00A Peek at My Week {Spring Break Edition} <div style="text-align: center;">
I'm linking up with Jennifer over at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings. Head on over to see what others are doing during the week.</div>
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My Spring Break is FINALLY here. Boy do I need the break. Some of my students have been giving me a run for my money. But now that it is here I'm all rested and plan on taking some day trips. Today my husband and I are planning on going to Linville Caverns! Pictures will be posted on my instagram! :) Tomorrow we are going to the NC Zoo with some great friends! On Wednesday, I'm going to visit some family. Then on Thursday one of the girls in my grad school class and I are going to observe some teachers at Ibraham Elementary School. Finally on Friday I am going into school to level my classroom library. (We had three optional workdays this week due to the snow days. I took off two but felt bad taking off all three). </div>
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Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to level a classroom library? I plan on using Scholastic Book Wizard to get the levels. But I'm not sure the best way to organize them. </div>
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I'm also going to link up for Must Read Monday over at Teaching Madness.</div>
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The focus this week is on Poetry.</div>
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Below are some of the books I use to teach poetry. I like to focus on free verse poetry when it comes to writing poems because students aren't required to write poetry for the CC standards. This gives them no limits and they can get used to writing in the poetry genre. In order to prepare students to write poetry I have them read a variety of poetry forms for weeks before we start writing. In Katie Ray Woods's book <u>Study Driven</u> she called this the immersion stage.With that said, here are some books the students have been using to immerse themselves in the poetry genre .</div>
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Here is the Amazon description: </div>
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tug-of-war with my new kite.<br />
The wind is winning.</div>
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When you’re a guy, nature is one big playground—no matter what the season. There are puddles to splash in the spring, pine trees to climb in the summer, maple seeds to catch in the fall, and icicles to swordfight with in the winter.<br />
Nature also has a way of making a guy appreciate important stuff—like how many rocks it takes to dam up a stream, or how much snow equals a day off from school.<br />
So what kind of poetry best captures these special moments, at a length that lets guys get right back to tree-climbing and kite-flying? Why, guyku, of course!</div>
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Here's the Amazon Description:</div>
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Homework, chemistry class, food fights, and accidental farts-this book covers all the ups and downs of school. Starring an adorable cat and a colorful cast of animal classmates, Jack Prelutsky′s poems come to life in fully illustrated spreads.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then of course you have the trusty old Shel Silverstein. It's what kind of poetry I read when I was a kid.</span><span style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<em>Millie McDeevit screamed a scream<br />So loud it made her eyebrows steam.<br />She screamed so loud<br />Her jawbone broke,<br />Her tongue caught fire,<br />Her nostrils smoked...</em></div>
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Poor Screamin' Millie is just one of the unforgettable characters in this wondrous new book of poems and drawings by the creator of <em>Where the Sidewalk Ends</em> and <em>A Light in the Attic</em>. Here you will also meet Allison Beals and her twenty-five eels; Danny O'Dare, the dancin' bear; the Human Balloon; and Headphone Harold.</div>
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So come, wander through the Nose Garden, ride the Little Hoarse, eat in the Strange Restaurant, and let the magic of Shel Silverstein open your eyes and tickle your mind.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">That's all for now. :) Please leave me comments below about your favorite books to use with poetry! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">~Susan</span></div>
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<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-91369134010558508372014-04-06T18:46:00.000-07:002014-04-06T18:46:38.689-07:00April Currently! :)<div style="text-align: center;">
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I'm linking up with Farley over at <a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/2014/03/april-currently.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2Fjtmhg+%28Oh%27+Boy+4th+Grade%29">Oh Boy 4th Grade</a> for this month's April Currently. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOmRr_aifeDgPrwxkND4FDsNhJ0FUIw3N2IR4tALy4wl_4QMMd6NLFtitLHihoemQuTGVmZaXLrno4Rl2lC1ERDJT-5tJt-14qGYAPqZhZoh-_Gu6kyKPm_-cAGS8ryZ2IGgiRbXYKM8l/s1600/April+currently.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcOmRr_aifeDgPrwxkND4FDsNhJ0FUIw3N2IR4tALy4wl_4QMMd6NLFtitLHihoemQuTGVmZaXLrno4Rl2lC1ERDJT-5tJt-14qGYAPqZhZoh-_Gu6kyKPm_-cAGS8ryZ2IGgiRbXYKM8l/s1600/April+currently.png" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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Listening: My husband is watching basketball (he's a huge sports fanatic) while some last minute school work. </div>
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Loving: This beautiful spring weather puts me in such a good mood! If only every day were like this. I went on a 3 mile run/walk earlier and it was superb!! Talk about motivation!</div>
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Thinking: Where is spring break? We still have TWO more weeks until Spring Break. I am dying!!! The spring fever is getting to my kids and they have been off the chains. </div>
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Wanting: I love HIMYM and am very sad it went off the air. Especially the way it did. I still have very mixed emotions about it.</div>
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Needing: A bath is a must for me after a run! </div>
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Below are some fun things going on in my room: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_oBHHp7DjJMqkTevB3KoiYHejiSk3jEzpJZG8G_OLF_Ap99hyzsa-mTqdVfJ1oRtTWlkI1noPooaB6UlszB_VBRfdYWxjRbkXN1H3ZBhIdWSpzKZEQtzCzh1CXmGN3apkvD4Ah0fiZmV/s640/blogger-image-1093663819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_oBHHp7DjJMqkTevB3KoiYHejiSk3jEzpJZG8G_OLF_Ap99hyzsa-mTqdVfJ1oRtTWlkI1noPooaB6UlszB_VBRfdYWxjRbkXN1H3ZBhIdWSpzKZEQtzCzh1CXmGN3apkvD4Ah0fiZmV/s640/blogger-image-1093663819.jpg" /></a></div>
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I had my first book raffle with my new birthday books. I got the idea from 4th grade frolics! The kids loved it. Plus I've read all but one of them so that helps. If you are looking for a way to spark reading motivation this is the way to so it. The kids get the smaller books for a week and the bigger books for two weeks. It motivates them to read quicker. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjHiyFqpafQo85POdJxxx0sGxJLL0hjxPZl4wovnG7w8ph7MmV1mugkCSKWuNpiIYhBxQZQmtiAPX1LDb7BDD75TPD2a-1QDnOfJhP1pUOGDzgf1LSzSRaX9CxXNVs2nzhqKjy5kl4pgw/s640/blogger-image--774506645.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisjHiyFqpafQo85POdJxxx0sGxJLL0hjxPZl4wovnG7w8ph7MmV1mugkCSKWuNpiIYhBxQZQmtiAPX1LDb7BDD75TPD2a-1QDnOfJhP1pUOGDzgf1LSzSRaX9CxXNVs2nzhqKjy5kl4pgw/s640/blogger-image--774506645.jpg" /></a></div>
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I got my figurative language wall up today and can't wait for kids to start posting the figurative language they find in their books. One of my poetry rotations is for my students to read poetry and if they spot anything interesting they need to stop and jot it down. This will be perfect to show what they are finding. We have been finding figurative language in our books all year but it will be nice to have a place to document it. :) also my kids love seeing their name up on the wall. It makes them feel famous or something. </div>
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Thanks for stopping in! </div>
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~Susan</div>
Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-75849775779532328072014-04-06T18:03:00.001-07:002014-04-06T18:45:30.668-07:00A Peek at the Week {4-7-14}<div style="text-align: center;">
Hello fellow bloggers! Susan here with a peek at my week with Jennifer over at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings.</div>
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This week should be pretty easy considering two of the days my students will be taking the 3rd Quarter benchmark assessments. I'm anxious about how they are going to do with it being so close to the EOGs. I'm sure they will do fine because we have all worked so hard!<br />
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Now, for the rest of the week I have some exciting activities line up.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">#1</span></div>
For my guide reading groups, I am using books from Reading A-Z. The books I've chosen are <u>Wildlife Rescue</u> and <u>Titanic Treasure</u>. I plan on trying something new this week that I heard about at the NC Reading Conference during Jen Jones's presentation. She introduced the idea of using TBE (Text Based Evidence) Graphs to get students to refer back to the text. Students get to shade in boxes on their graph for the quality of response they give to a question asked. They are required to use quotation marks and tell where in the text they find the evidence for the question. Students should display their answer on whiteboard. The graph gives the students instant gratification when they answer a question correctly. I am super pumped to finally try this out this week. Wish me good luck. Here is a picture of her product in use below. Click <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/My-TBE-Text-Based-Evidence-Graph-A-Common-Core-Guided-Reading-Behavior-Tool-1051127">here</a> to take you to her TPT store.<br />
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<a href="http://mcdn1.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/My-TBE-Text-Based-Evidence-Graph-A-Common-Core-Guided-Reading-Motivation-Tool-1051127-1396324864/original-1051127-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://mcdn1.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/My-TBE-Text-Based-Evidence-Graph-A-Common-Core-Guided-Reading-Motivation-Tool-1051127-1396324864/original-1051127-1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">#2</span></div>
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I plan on continuing my poetry rotations that I blogged about on last weeks <a href="http://adventuresin4thgrade15.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-peek-at-week-3312014.html">Peek at the Week</a>. But my focus this week is on Alliteration and Hyperboles. The poems I will be teaching with are called <u>The Base Stealer</u> by Robert Francis and <u>I Ate a Spicy Pepper</u> by Unknown Author. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTlMpPNl9IeVoQpCLELuVnvO-B8Iqnab55SDK0nMO_NuG4zvBVmw3IIXwqyqzZYU-6zmoBsWmi-RZMB0ILzea88gEsu0cw0QOVov3hKnL3Qeinc3CoCHgSAH8L6czDYo3qpEAn-acvaPdv/s1600/base+stealer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTlMpPNl9IeVoQpCLELuVnvO-B8Iqnab55SDK0nMO_NuG4zvBVmw3IIXwqyqzZYU-6zmoBsWmi-RZMB0ILzea88gEsu0cw0QOVov3hKnL3Qeinc3CoCHgSAH8L6czDYo3qpEAn-acvaPdv/s1600/base+stealer.png" height="400" width="301" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJ95vg-BVGg8UoqVGkZhu22OufG-c1RZ_99pd9p7KfCQ38wAOjO1RPSFibpm81C2uLtxs-gzYWA9EPOKYbkEzUjSnPhTKauJATvBXUzCDPnpdqOnF0CTfE8icCHkcw7SJQjfwZ6VIe5fJ/s1600/Spicy+Pepper.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXJ95vg-BVGg8UoqVGkZhu22OufG-c1RZ_99pd9p7KfCQ38wAOjO1RPSFibpm81C2uLtxs-gzYWA9EPOKYbkEzUjSnPhTKauJATvBXUzCDPnpdqOnF0CTfE8icCHkcw7SJQjfwZ6VIe5fJ/s1600/Spicy+Pepper.png" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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If you haven't read any of my posts before you probably don't know, but I'm getting my masters in Reading Education at Appalachian State University! Currently I am taking a poetry class as an elective and I have learned some fun teaching activities that I can take back to the classroom. One that I've been dying to try out is using scripted poetry. It's basically the same as a reader's theater but you use poetry instead and usually there are only a few speakers. The students are going to read it and answer the same questions above about the poem. I want to make sure the get the general gist of the poem. Then they are going to re-read it several times. Eventually they will add gestures, lots of expression, and have a performance. If time allows, I'd like them to find pictures to go along with the poem, background music that fits the mood, and make an Animoto with their poem. But with it being so close to the end of the year who knows if we will get to that. (Maybe an after the EOGs plan) Below is an example of one of the poems I scripted today! It's very easy to do and I believe it is going to be a real hit with my kids!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Keep A Poem In Your Pocket</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">By Beatrice Schenk de Regniers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 1: Keep a poem in your pocket <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 2: And a picture in your head <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 3: And you'll never feel lonely <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 1, 2, 3: At night when you're in bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 1: The little poem will sing to you <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 2: The little picture brings to you <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 3: A dozen dreams to dance to you <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 1, 2, 3: At night when you're in bed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 1, 2, 3: So - - <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 1: Keep a picture in your pocket <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 2: And a poem in your head <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 3: And you'll never feel lonely <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Person 1, 2, 3: At night when you're in bed.<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">#4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I started a text talk with </span><u style="font-family: Calibri;">Wonder</u><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> last week using the first 5 chapters and plan on finishing up the vocabulary portion this week! Text Talk's are typically used with K-2 to build vocabulary and comprehension but my teaching partner and I decided that if we did it with a 5th grade level book we could make it work. The kids absolutely love </span><u style="font-family: Calibri;">Wonder</u><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> and are dying to read more. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> The vocabulary portion includes a yes/no example game, word associations, what's the word, and which word works best. If you haven't used a text talk in the lower grades I highly suggest it! :) </span></div>
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<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-11886028157830451742014-04-03T04:03:00.000-07:002014-04-06T18:46:00.672-07:00Positive Thinking Thursday 4-3-14<div style="text-align: center;">
I'm linking up with Jennifer Over at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings for her first Positive Thinking Thursday link party. :) I think this is a fabulous idea to keep teachers in an optimistic mood.</div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7qO-I1t0ZGsvzEFuUKinz-CoS-JWwu1zivBvtpq0j_lz1Douqg9hwZzM7506MIfe3UQ5XGFSkw026QQKWNc_Gaw8Z-Pcs_WlzmoopCvxS-qxxM9zgkevBmi7u0baJjURnQL3F6LOEMQA/s1600/Slide1.PNG" height="240" width="320" /></div>
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So here you go! I absolutely LOVE this kid and he motivates me and my students! Check it out!</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RwlhUcSGqgs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br />
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Stay tuned next week for more positivity. :)</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">~Susan</span></div>
<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-50278438907345961332014-03-31T16:43:00.005-07:002014-03-31T17:06:19.770-07:00Must Read Monday Linky Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuVQfSQHNACeETae5ybMtum0VGKoA1biSoN4QM5X3zpUWSF6tLh_QIh63tBnMPgJFJOvOygsjtu39nLxCw0mXgFikClZ4Fi1OiyG1El5jUqEyO9vfIJLJBlAynZEbGBIHuNcYAnKcd90U/s1600/Must-Read_Monday_Linky_Button.png" height="320" width="318"></div>
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<a href="http://www.teachingmaddeness.com/2014/03/must-read-monday-linky-roald-dahl.html">Teaching Maddeness</a></div>
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I have made it my personal goal to read more children's books this year so that I can become more like the great "Book Whisperer", Donalyn Miller. I have made a Good Reads account (if you haven't you so should) and it lets you keep track of books you have read, want to read, and are currently reading. It also has a place to set a reading challenge for the year. My goal is 80 books. I've read 19 so far this year.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlbgHuHMQQioPtkzttrPcIiH3fOtQgVJd8kLgGqgKPdQyh5-M0BnKyQLGbrx92IevvWbPO-GEhEgRqxrku45Uo5TJp-UyeMN-kYKorxxcPgcmzLa02cHrJWjjelY9mfWWi21BKmKl9zaq/s1600/photo-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtlbgHuHMQQioPtkzttrPcIiH3fOtQgVJd8kLgGqgKPdQyh5-M0BnKyQLGbrx92IevvWbPO-GEhEgRqxrku45Uo5TJp-UyeMN-kYKorxxcPgcmzLa02cHrJWjjelY9mfWWi21BKmKl9zaq/s1600/photo-2.JPG" height="320" width="320"></a></div>
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(The Social Network book is an interactive choose your own path book. I thought it would be perfect for kids to learn about Social Media since it surrounds their everyday life.)</div>
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The most recent book I read is the new "Who is J.K. Rowling?" book. As soon as I saw it at Barnes and Noble I decided I had to have it. I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan. I have read all 7 of the books multiple times! </div>
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I think this is a must read because it lets kids know how the infamous Harry Potter series came to be. Also for those of your students who are hesitant to start the series might want to read it after learning about how J.K. Rowling came up with her billion dollar idea. </div>
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In general I love the "Who Was….?" Series because the books are written in kid-friendly language, the covers are attractive to the eye, and they get kids interested in the biography genre very quickly. My students are trying to reach their goal of reading 10 nonfiction books by the end of the year and they have just now begun to work towards it. (They spent the first part of the year working towards their 10 fiction books challenge.) I have showed them this series and now many of them are addicted! When I showed them my new book my students were begging to read it!</div>
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What is your favorite "Who was…..?" book?</div>
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Do you set yourself a personal reading goal?</div>
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Drop me a line below! :)</div>
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~Susan </div>
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Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-37821960558037323272014-03-30T18:43:00.000-07:002014-03-30T18:45:24.325-07:00New Blog Design and Blog URL Address<center>
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I have updated my blog, added some new social media buttons, made an Adventures in 4th Grade Facebook page, and made a Grab Button! I feel so accomplished! :) </center>
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In addition to all those things I wanted to change my blog URL address from smgibson15.blogspot.com to adventuresin4thgrade15.blogspot. I hope you will follow me on bloglovin and on my new Facebook page! :)</center>
Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-48567566744917972552014-03-30T14:13:00.003-07:002014-03-30T14:13:47.894-07:00Spring Cleaning Sale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiw2CtQJYNPlGtK7_D4jlo2phDoDeZic5ym_UgaF7tV0N0r-wwRAfAMzZPr7w103tC5kKPDCtmJzsiHYvSHAUC4DorBflNSj2c-A1BlhqGnHXYLEY0TjOJ0cWKQAnw3a9N7pK7Yg45ybqL/s1600/TpT_SpringCleaning_2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiw2CtQJYNPlGtK7_D4jlo2phDoDeZic5ym_UgaF7tV0N0r-wwRAfAMzZPr7w103tC5kKPDCtmJzsiHYvSHAUC4DorBflNSj2c-A1BlhqGnHXYLEY0TjOJ0cWKQAnw3a9N7pK7Yg45ybqL/s1600/TpT_SpringCleaning_2014.jpg" height="205" width="320" /></a></div>
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I'm a day late but <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adventures-In-Fourth-Grade">my whole store will be on sale (20 % off)</a> today through tomorrow. </div>
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Some of my top products are listed below:</div>
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<a href="http://mcdn1.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Notice-and-Note-Anchor-Charts-Chevron-069177000-1378079203-1396213281/original-855989-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://mcdn1.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Notice-and-Note-Anchor-Charts-Chevron-069177000-1378079203-1396213281/original-855989-1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://mcdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Reciprocal-Teaching-Anchor-Charts-Chevron-1049788-1396213281/original-1049788-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://mcdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Reciprocal-Teaching-Anchor-Charts-Chevron-1049788-1396213281/original-1049788-1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://mcdn1.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Place-Value-QR-Code-Task-Cards-4NBT2-041090800-1378005862-1396213281/original-854585-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://mcdn1.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Place-Value-QR-Code-Task-Cards-4NBT2-041090800-1378005862-1396213281/original-854585-1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Hope you find something you like! I'm off to shop with my favorite sellers! :)</div>
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~Susan</div>
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Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-17283892333168769602014-03-30T13:56:00.003-07:002014-03-31T17:06:57.700-07:00A Peek at the Week 3/31/2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQb74pUjSc3F-K3fEfGvDO4CAfQX0FLX9xBtDFhnODwTx00JKdWoCSM_iQFd6Mdx6eQI3w6_slw7v51_G213v57D-_p5FzN5TMvE4ksCX2MY1hqIQZr8aFcy4g166cwaZkQK4-QvJaCQ/s1600/Slide1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIQb74pUjSc3F-K3fEfGvDO4CAfQX0FLX9xBtDFhnODwTx00JKdWoCSM_iQFd6Mdx6eQI3w6_slw7v51_G213v57D-_p5FzN5TMvE4ksCX2MY1hqIQZr8aFcy4g166cwaZkQK4-QvJaCQ/s1600/Slide1.PNG" height="240" width="320"></a></div>
I am linking up this week with Jennifer over at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings!<br>
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It has been quite a long time since I've posted in the blog world. Graduate School, my class, and reading tons of children's books have tied up all my time!<br>
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To kick off National Poetry Month we will be diving into poetry this week using some ideas from Hello Literacy's blog.<br>
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Idea # 1: Poem of the Week Focus Lesson<br>
<a href="http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2012/10/tracked-in-focused-on-poetry.html">http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2012/10/tracked-in-focused-on-poetry.html</a><br>
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I have had a Poem of the Week since the beginning of the year and I've been using poems and the Take 5 teaching points from the book below.<br>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41djmMJsBtL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41djmMJsBtL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg"></a></div>
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But after reading what Jen Jones has been doing with her poems I thought I would give it a shot! Click out her blog post and she gives you a sample of her lesson and a planning template. </div>
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Idea # 2: Close Reading of Poems</div>
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<a href="http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2013/04/hello-literacy-says-hello-national.html">http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2013/04/hello-literacy-says-hello-national.html</a></div>
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I took Jen's idea and tweaked it to fit my class. I decided that I would have poetry rotations so that I could meet with my students in small groups. I plan on have four rotations over a two day period. Each poem that we read focuses on a specific type of figurative language.</div>
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<b><u>Rotations:</u></b></div>
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<b>Teacher Time:</b></div>
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We will be reading the poem three times to practice our fluency. We will answer the following questions after the first read: What is the subject?, Who is speaking?, Who are they speaking to?, and What is the mood of the poem?. After the second, read we will be looking at the specific figurative language we are studying. To end the day, we will why we think the author wrote the poem. </div>
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Get a copy of the materials I am using during this lesson <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B55I3PmzIpjaTEdWSzRYN0liM3c/edit?usp=sharing">here</a>. </div>
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<b>Poetry Stop and Jot:</b></div>
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Students will use the Stop and Jot sheet in the link above while looking through poetry anthologies independently. Students are looking for verses they find interesting and record their thoughts about the verse. </div>
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<b>Fluency Fact Task Cards:</b></div>
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Another great idea from Jen Jones. Students will read the task card three times with a buddy to work on their fluency.</div>
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<a href="http://mcdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Planet-Earth-Fluency-Fact-Task-Cards-1157285-1396065963/original-1157285-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://mcdn.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/Planet-Earth-Fluency-Fact-Task-Cards-1157285-1396065963/original-1157285-1.jpg" height="153" width="200"></a></div>
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<b>Writing:</b></div>
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In my last rotation, students will be answering questions from the book below. This will sharpen their opinion writing skills. </div>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BpglpQL+L._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51BpglpQL+L._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg"></a></div>
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I feel very excited to try out these rotations! Tell me below how you celebrate National Poetry Month.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">One last note:</span></div>
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Last night a created a <span style="font-size: large;">Donors Choose Project</span> to get more high interest nonfiction texts for my classroom library. If you have read "The Book Whisperer" you know that she says the better classroom library you have the more you can get your students interested in books. </div>
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<span style="color: #424342; font-family: Arial, Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; text-align: start;">"Engaging students with reading and encouraging the development of lifelong reading habits begins with providing students with a wide range of interesting reading material and lots of opportunities to examine, read, write and talk about books with their teacher and classmates. Students should have access to lots of books in the classroom and the opportunity to self-select some of their own reading materials (Guthrie, J. T., & Humenick, N. M., 2004).</span></div>
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If you would like to donate or know someone who likes to support teachers check out my project below. If you donate by April 6th and enter INSPIRE at checkout they will match the donation by a $1. </div>
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<a href="http://www.donorschoose.org/project/finding-the-inner-reader-in-every-child/1211022/?rf=link_siteshare_2014_03_teacherid_994396&challengeid=170067">http://www.donorschoose.org/project/finding-the-inner-reader-in-every-child/1211022/?rf=link_siteshare_2014_03_teacherid_994396&challengeid=170067</a></div>
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Examples of the Books I'm Requesting are:</div>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S1tSxROUL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S1tSxROUL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-v3-big,TopRight,0,-55_SX278_SY278_PIkin4,BottomRight,1,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg"></a></div>
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"Who Was…..?" Series</div>
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XZB8eQD9L._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XZB8eQD9L._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA160_.jpg" height="200" width="200"></a></div>
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"What was….?" Series</div>
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Graphic History Series and Graphic Science Series</div>
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<br>Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-79778511585384842612014-01-20T13:29:00.000-08:002014-01-20T13:29:09.550-08:00My Steps Towards Becoming a Book Whisperer!Over the past year I have made some great changes to my classroom and the ways that I teach. One of the biggest things I am working towards is becoming a Book Whisperer just like Donalyn Miller. I have been trying to get more books for my classroom this year plus read them. Another thing I have recently started to do to get my students interested in the books I have bought is to show them book trailers versus giving a book talk. Below are some of my favorite 4th-6th grade books I have read this year plus their book trailers. I can already see an enormous difference in my students' eagerness to read with these quality books. I think when I have read a book and approve of it the students are more willing to give the book a chance. If you haven't started becoming a book whisperer I suggest you begin because the only way to show students the importance of reading is by having a good role model like a teacher or parent. By fourth grade some students already hate reading so if you can make a difference in just one student by talking to them about books it could change that child's life!<br />
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<u>The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane</u></div>
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<u>Among the Hidden</u></div>
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What are some ways you have become a "Book Whisperer" this year?</div>
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Any suggestions for me?</div>
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Thanks for checking out my blog!</div>
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~Susan</div>
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Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-78512966431087047722013-09-22T17:02:00.001-07:002013-09-22T17:02:53.264-07:00A Peek at the Week Linky PartyWell everyone it is finally the first day of FALL! If you have read some of posts you will find that I love fall! Pumpkin Spice sure is in the air at my house. How about yours?<br />
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Here's to another Peek at the Week with Mrs. Laffin!</div>
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1) I have a celebration from last week that I would like to share before I start with this week's activities. If you read last week's post you know that I tried the first signpost from the book "Notice and Note". Well I have to say that it was a total success in my class. Students were find the contrasts and contradictions in the excerpts I gave them like pros. Then when they asked themselves the anchor question "Why is the character acting this way?" they made wonderful inferences about the character! Go Mrs. Shepherd's Class! :)</div>
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2) We will be begin to learn about character traits and how to analyze the character this week. I have chosen to use the book "Black Cowboy, Wild Horses" by Julius Lester. This book is about a man named <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bob Lemmons and he is </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"famous for his ability to track wild horses. He rides his horse, Warrior, picks up the trail of mustangs, then runs with them day and night until they accept his presence</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;">"(Scholastic).</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"> </span>It has a great story line, examples of splendid figurative language, excellent sentence structure, and beautiful pictures. We are going to use the text to analyze the character. Students will create a T-Chart in their reader's notebook. On one side they will put the text and on the other they will write the character trait they inferred from the text. In addition to using this for reading, I am also going to use this book during writer's workshop. I plan on taking one of the sentences from the book and using it as a mentor sentence. I am going to model my lesson after the ladies over at <a href="http://dandelionsdragonflies.blogspot.com/2013/09/mentor-sentences.html">Dandelions and Dragonflies</a>. When I read about mentor sentences I knew it was something that I wanted to try.</div>
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3)The last plan for the week is to recover from this awful cold I've had all last week and to get all my graduate school readings done!!!!</div>
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Thanks for stopping by! I do love comments and new followers! :)</div>
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~Susan</div>
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Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-56141341625719746362013-09-15T08:51:00.001-07:002013-09-15T08:51:22.362-07:00A Peek at the Week Linky Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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# 1: I'm finally going to try the first signpost from the book "Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading". The first signpost is called "Contrasts and Contradictions". Students will read and as they read if they notice the character is doing something that is different from how they normally act or different from how they expect them to act, then they will stop and ask themselves the signpost question(every signpost has a question to help the students think) which is "Why is the character doing that?".<br />
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I am going to use the sample lesson from the book which uses the book "Thank You Ma'am". As a follow up we will read an excerpt from "The Watson's are Going to Birmingham." I'll blog on how it goes. I think it will be something totally different than what my students are used to but I think it's going to get them critically thinking! Wish me good luck.<br />
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I made these anchor charts to go along with the signposts! They are super cute! I can't wait to use them. Click the photo to take you to the product!<br />
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# 2: I received a grant last year for Social Studies Weekly. I got them in over the summer and have been dying to use them. Since the 4th grade social studies standards focus on North Carolina we really only have the text book to teach with but I'm not a fan of the text book. So we started the first newspaper last Thursday and the kids really seemed to like them. I think this will make learning about North Carolina more exciting. They have one main story in the middle and lots of little side articles. We are gonna try to get through the rest of week 1 and week 2 this week!</div>
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# 3: I plan on continuing my first "Word Nerd" vocabulary cycle this week. We are going to practice our words using a vocabulary rap, a counting dude/bragging dude activity, and we are going to look deep into our crystal ball to predict the meaning of our crystal ball words. Also we will be using our vocabulary lanyards all day, every day to practice our words!!! :) I love being a Word Nerd!! I will add pictures to show you all these activities! </div>
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Hope everyone else has a fantastic week! </div>
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I love comments and new bloggy friends! :)</div>
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~Susan</div>
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Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-26281069426121144802013-09-14T17:48:00.000-07:002013-09-14T17:48:41.110-07:00Five for Friday Linky Party<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I know it's saturday but that's ok! I still want to share about my week with you. </div>
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# 1</div>
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Graduate School is taking over my life and I haven't had time to blog in the last two weeks which is why I'm blogging twice today! But I will say that I have been learning so much and I get so excited every week when I am reading and learning. I also getting super pumped to try new ideas with my students. </div>
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# 2</div>
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I officially started my 1st vocabulary cycle with my students this week. I read the book "Word Nerds: Teaching All Students to Learn and Love Vocabulary" this past summer and got my inspiration from it. I absolutely love this book and approach to vocabulary. So far my students seem very engaged in the vocabulary activities. It has taken much longer than I anticipated to introduce the words but I think once the students get used to it things will go quicker. If you want more information on this book, this blogger had a book study on it this summer. </div>
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# 3</div>
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I started my own TPT store two weeks ago and just made another product. Come check out my new product and store! I am pumped to use these task cards with my math group. I have been trying out Daily Math this year and plan on using them during my "Math with Someone" time. I love Daily Math as much as I love Daily 5. So if you have been nervous to jump into Daily Math just take a leap of faith and try it. You will get great results. I don't know how I managed to get by before without it!</div>
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# 4</div>
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We started to work on making observations in writer's workshop on Friday and my students were really getting into it. They were walking around the room smelling, touching, and listening to objects and people all around the room. I loved seeing them working with their partner to describe things around the room. I got this idea from the book "Notebook Know-How" by Aimee Buckner. It's great for setting up writer's notebooks and getting students interested in writing. Another book I'm beginning to pull lessons from is called "Study Driven". I have to read it for grad school and it is changing the way I look at writing. It says you should teach writing from an inquiry stance. And so far I am trying to do that with my students and implement what I'm reading into my classroom. For example: for students to be able to revise a paper they first need a vision. But they can't have a vision without good intentions and passion! Wow that's deep! If only I knew this when I was in school! Maybe I would have liked writing more!</div>
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# 5</div>
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Lastly, I did this AMAZING activity on the first day of school. But I have just now added the pictures to my computer. We had a "Book Tasting"!!!!!!! It was so much fun! We asked our media coordinator to help us out and she went over and beyond what we expected. She got table cloths, genre signs, cookies, and hot chocolate. The kids spent about 3-4 minutes at each table to "taste" a book. It really exposed them to all the different genres and gave them an idea of what books they want to read this year. I would strongly suggest doing this to introduce the different genres. My students loved it!</div>
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I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!</div>
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Thanks for tuning in this week! I love comments and new followers!!</div>
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~Susan</div>
<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-90380009727643634332013-09-14T17:00:00.003-07:002013-09-14T17:56:39.901-07:00Classroom Reveal 2013-2014 (Safari Theme)So I am just now posting these pictures and we have been in school for three weeks now. But running behind seems to be my life story lately. I have just started graduate school and it is definitely taking a toll on me.<br />
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I still have my safari theme this year but I have made quite a few things using powerpoint over the summer. I felt like my class needed a face lift. Also I decided to take the big leap and get rid of my teacher desk AND my students' desks. It has been the greatest decision I have made. I love not having my desk. I have so much more room for my students to read around the room. It has also made me stay organized.<br />
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Now, for the kids. I LOVE not having paper falling out of desks. I LOVE the desks not getting separated and turning a different way than I originally put them. Plus I feel like my students are very organized because of this big move. They have a cubby and their book baskets to store their work. I tell them exactly where to put everything and they don't have a desk to shove papers into so they don't do it. Ahhhhh! It's just so wonderful!!!!<br />
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Here's my room when you walk in the door! I love the lanterns and parasols. </div>
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This is my standards, math rotations, and homework board.</div>
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Here is the link to the daily math signs freebie!!!!</div>
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These are my students' cubbies and student supplies.</div>
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This is my "Have you Filled a Bucket Today?" display! My kids love it!</div>
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Here's my transportation clip chart. I also keep my class rams tickets here. It's part of PBIS.</div>
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Here is my NEW bulletin board. I love my CAFE and Vocabulary board! </div>
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This is where I have my safari helper display, my behavior clip chart, and where students keep their rams tickets.</div>
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This is part of my library. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbzyfXDRgl4IYKt3snmLbCfVUPzZDPUi2w0IlGWT99EtAuo0dgAmVxfEx0ZCrKU6KKgMIEa_gwqvtot2wZBDqnfsqqOXceRX0rdEhwoS9q6omWd2kSCvdnxJCb9WtDSJFU9JYnM6vF_1Jo/s1600/photo+1-5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbzyfXDRgl4IYKt3snmLbCfVUPzZDPUi2w0IlGWT99EtAuo0dgAmVxfEx0ZCrKU6KKgMIEa_gwqvtot2wZBDqnfsqqOXceRX0rdEhwoS9q6omWd2kSCvdnxJCb9WtDSJFU9JYnM6vF_1Jo/s640/photo+1-5.JPG" width="478" /></a></div>
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This is my "Show What You Know" board. I use this frequently to assess students.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZD__hK14XzVN6NJUOCbWh3UuzHgR_fgYZBOP1c6eAiOBltwbaTZbfxq-AU9xUxyJ6hIQ_xxqK6btxWuFHltgt4UBALbeT5mCeMk8sdv6vT-AHkQdVMd_UFD_qLA0WhovwWdGPLOeKi-U/s1600/photo+4-3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaZD__hK14XzVN6NJUOCbWh3UuzHgR_fgYZBOP1c6eAiOBltwbaTZbfxq-AU9xUxyJ6hIQ_xxqK6btxWuFHltgt4UBALbeT5mCeMk8sdv6vT-AHkQdVMd_UFD_qLA0WhovwWdGPLOeKi-U/s320/photo+4-3.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
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This is one place I keep my anchor charts. </div>
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Thanks for stopping by! I love comments and new followers!</div>
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~Susan</div>
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<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-52046243524769066462013-09-02T08:20:00.001-07:002013-09-02T08:20:27.784-07:00September Currently<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Here's my September Currently from Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade. Click on the picture below to go to her blog! </div>
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<a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7csXg7QAHlbEVbibei4HW4wb7kiQOadPFer_rSk6WfrpZFYVJg2Omwur-5Jr5pSs3_ua1ixkZzbFO9irFmuJxYdErsbC12nurbljruk3cdjZPYRaJRTu2c4_jPlj4CEC410UkrpBkDX0o/s400/Slide1.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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I have been obsessed with watching Grey's Anatomy over the last week! I've started from Season one. How many of you like Grey's?</div>
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I have throughly enjoyed my long weekend especially since we went back to school on a Monday last week. Man it was a long week!</div>
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This new class seems like a pretty neat group! I went from having 19 students in my class last year to 25 students this year. So that is change that I'm adjusting to. I kept looking at my line last week thinking.......Man this line is so LONG! Also, I have lots of diversity in this group so I hope to learn a great deal from them this year. </div>
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Fall is my favorite season by far! I love the changing of the leaves, pumpkins, corn mazes, pumpkin scented items, the cool autumn air, and Halloween!<br />
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I need to get to work on my lesson plans but I think I'm still in summer mode because I'm waiting until the last minute to get them done! Imagine that! Plus I need to do some work around the house today. Who knows if that will get done.<br />
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Now for my monthly goals.........I need to start exercising more so I can get my endorphins flowing. I also need to be consistent with my blogging. Lastly, my husband has a second job and I am in graduate school so we really need to spent all extra time with each other!<br />
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<span style="color: #741b47; font-size: large;">~Susan</span>Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-56200396114426813792013-09-01T17:21:00.002-07:002013-09-01T17:25:28.320-07:00Follow my blog with Bloglovin<br />
Now that I'm back in the blog world...... I figured I should join Bloglovin so that I could follow all my favorite bloggers out there. Here's the link to follow my blog as well!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fbfFxhYi2Us/UiB6haFwE2I/AAAAAAAAUHI/lw77n3BDKX0/fiveforfriday2_thumb3.jpg?imgmax=800" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fbfFxhYi2Us/UiB6haFwE2I/AAAAAAAAUHI/lw77n3BDKX0/fiveforfriday2_thumb3.jpg?imgmax=800" width="320" /></a></div>
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On to Five for Friday...... I know I am a couple days late but I figured better late than never! </div>
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1. I have been having a very crafty sunday and am super ready for fall! It's my FAVORITE season! So I decided I would try to make a wreath for our front door. I feel pretty good about it. What do you think? </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJYRKBulpSgYUo1TbB3MQa-YFS5OeNEnexgkDaQ-ynk7JhbQe_IDhukEX5cQdu4uqyI8ypUKBUpTiMEYJ99aLjznNHtK9jCR0nS_sxdpfjf40kCLkIR2w4aQoEnFd7BRJkLMTErMklze0/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDJYRKBulpSgYUo1TbB3MQa-YFS5OeNEnexgkDaQ-ynk7JhbQe_IDhukEX5cQdu4uqyI8ypUKBUpTiMEYJ99aLjznNHtK9jCR0nS_sxdpfjf40kCLkIR2w4aQoEnFd7BRJkLMTErMklze0/s320/photo+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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2. I bought the book "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?" this summer and wanted to try it out with my students. It went very well this past week. The students were all giving each other compliments and filling each others buckets. This is my bulletin board where students can actually "fill" their bucket.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKkqji1r8Fj5dt8NObJGMAS9rdcuZKUeL23X41NNOimB0Lv1BHJCGv3ffSvnqJMQaHQWjBnwJ9MBAGhQ83Fy56yn2dYSFrdb0tnOaK9Tp3XxSLzZMqyjPjF9jQC7qaivhqY7_jQ3w_y1_/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyKkqji1r8Fj5dt8NObJGMAS9rdcuZKUeL23X41NNOimB0Lv1BHJCGv3ffSvnqJMQaHQWjBnwJ9MBAGhQ83Fy56yn2dYSFrdb0tnOaK9Tp3XxSLzZMqyjPjF9jQC7qaivhqY7_jQ3w_y1_/s320/photo+1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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3. Let me start off by saying that this year I am teaching the "low" math group in 4th grade. Boy, it is quite a difficult class. There are 14 students in this class but 9 of them are E.C. I do get the E.C. teacher for an hour and our fourth grade assistant but it is still a challenging adventure. So far they seem like very sweet kids and I'm excited to work with them.With that said, I found this resource on TPT and laminated it. I am going to use these next week to practice writing numbers in different forms. This group needs lots of repetition and this is just the activity for them! </div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Place-Value-Picnic-Freebie-292077">http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Place-Value-Picnic-Freebie-292077</a></div>
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4. I have started my own TPT store this weekend! I'm super pumped! I have already put up four products this weekend. I hope to continue to make some throughout the year. Come on over and check them out. </div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adventures-In-Fourth-Grade">http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adventures-In-Fourth-Grade</a></div>
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Here are some samples of the resources I have made!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjLvbSvunVMJahrkrf9OQglJRmExBM_naMSNcKspRVmeUh6EDMy_tlKsunkKBFRuxS6yudgD5IWtx5d8gyXH9B1nXfj2BEn0oHNDVjV0l1qy_NOExMUSewY6rVE7_rH7_QQefa_RYPr6_G/s1600/Slide4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjLvbSvunVMJahrkrf9OQglJRmExBM_naMSNcKspRVmeUh6EDMy_tlKsunkKBFRuxS6yudgD5IWtx5d8gyXH9B1nXfj2BEn0oHNDVjV0l1qy_NOExMUSewY6rVE7_rH7_QQefa_RYPr6_G/s320/Slide4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgr4YyEqQdP9CvLrSRI6gJZqW47KBRBtmy781zUTHdwXhDY1HdejFajaUXIG834v9RPTnsZ8elnnf_XbIcNAjDR-3G-XxEX38E-0zeDm3MCOg5RrHvmPGCZdV0BjQa5zGWgpJgf5xPU48v/s1600/Slide2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgr4YyEqQdP9CvLrSRI6gJZqW47KBRBtmy781zUTHdwXhDY1HdejFajaUXIG834v9RPTnsZ8elnnf_XbIcNAjDR-3G-XxEX38E-0zeDm3MCOg5RrHvmPGCZdV0BjQa5zGWgpJgf5xPU48v/s320/Slide2.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80LsWmfRrpdvVZVtWag4aOsYGjSPxtqq4oKSDj84MBld7YGRZKSm_5LwcBhHo-KsuEIrZkxGo59eIJXaRD66JCPPygwdlWPpoWOjuc4p6F8C78XkYaAp4CY-uOSum2EdE2umDiR4baIuh/s1600/Slide2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh80LsWmfRrpdvVZVtWag4aOsYGjSPxtqq4oKSDj84MBld7YGRZKSm_5LwcBhHo-KsuEIrZkxGo59eIJXaRD66JCPPygwdlWPpoWOjuc4p6F8C78XkYaAp4CY-uOSum2EdE2umDiR4baIuh/s320/Slide2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you have any tips for me, I would greatly appreciate it! :)</div>
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5. On Friday, I introduced my class to "Fluency Friday". What is Fluency Friday? you ask. Well every Friday I break my students up into groups and we work on reader's theaters. We practice every Friday for the whole month. Then on the last Friday of the month we perform the play. I have four rotations so that I can work with each group. </div>
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~Read to Self</div>
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~Work on Writing</div>
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~Making Words</div>
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~Teacher Time</div>
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This week during Work on Writing I had my students write a story about the picture below. </div>
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<a href="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/702/cache/street-lisbon-wentzel_70227_990x742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/702/cache/street-lisbon-wentzel_70227_990x742.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I can't wait to read what they came up with. Normally I would let them share but we were running short on time.</div>
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Well that's all I have for now! Catch ya on the flip side :)</div>
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<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-67470190523324463202013-08-31T20:19:00.001-07:002013-08-31T20:21:01.131-07:00New School Year.......New Kiddos :)Well fellow bloggers I just finished my first week of my fourth year of teaching and my first year of grad school. Woooooo! it was quite exhausting but I am absolutely loving my classes and the fabulous teachers I have meet. My class is also pretty great! :)<br />
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Well I'm trying some new stuff in my room this year and I'm pretty pumped about them!<br />
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One of the amazing things I am trying out this year is called "Whole Brain Teaching". If you haven't heard of this before you need head on over to their website and start reading up. <a href="https://www.wholebrainteaching.com/">https://www.wholebrainteaching.com</a><br />
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Here are five reasons I LOVE using WBT in my room.<br />
1. The kids are super engaged.<br />
2. No more trying lots of different attention getters. Class?Yes! is the best!<br />
3. The students love teaching each other.<br />
4. I love using all the gestures and expression when teaching!<br />
5. The scoreboard is my new best friend!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/X23lf9OgU3I?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
This is a video I found on Youtube that gives a perfect example of why WBT is so AH-mazing!<br />
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The second thing I am trying this year is incorporating the Notice and Note Signposts into my Daily 5 lessons. Another teacher on my grade level and I spent the summer reading the book and adding the signposts to our curriculum map. We tried to think which reading strategies we already taught would be good to introduce with each of the signposts. We plan on introducing the "Contrasts and Contradictions" signpost with character traits and story elements. We can't wait to try this out and have our students thinking deeply about what they are reading! I'll let you know how it goes when we try it. If you haven't read this book and are looking for a professional book, I would recommend this one!<br />
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Well that's all for now. I'm going to make it a personal goal to blog at least once a week this year! So tune it for more from Adventures in 4th grade.Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-57333305158256517642013-04-09T18:06:00.001-07:002013-04-09T18:06:13.155-07:00April currently :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm6Ftz1VGuM5ELOUavI9dtlAHwrziJmmQn2YmAO7LRsJBMtzj5XZRdgEAEwuffyIf3yU1VBQYcZPGmejQsZdvDEZpZUVMbem2U7XyY0DbtF3fUOht3UgA99zDPEAaSzIaJlZreOf9Ha5YL/s1600/photo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm6Ftz1VGuM5ELOUavI9dtlAHwrziJmmQn2YmAO7LRsJBMtzj5XZRdgEAEwuffyIf3yU1VBQYcZPGmejQsZdvDEZpZUVMbem2U7XyY0DbtF3fUOht3UgA99zDPEAaSzIaJlZreOf9Ha5YL/s400/photo.png" width="300" /></a></div>
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Now onto what's going on in Ms. G's class this month.<br />
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April is a busy, busy month!<br />
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#1 Free Verse poetry writing for National Poetry Month. I am hoping to have a poetry slam day at the end of the month. The students have been writing up a storm and are loving poetry. They are so eager to share their poems everyday. Students are going to start editing and typing up their poems on the "Notebook +" app on the iPads. Then they will create their very own poetry anthology. I've gotten all my inspiration and lesson ideas from the infamous Regie Routman. Check out her book.<br />
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#2 Country Research for International Day on April 25th. Students have been working for the last three weeks researching a country of their choice in preparation for a presentation on International Day. I got the project guidelines from teacherspayteachers. The project has students pretend like they are going on a vacation to their chosen country. The kids write about the country like they are actually there. The students have had to broaden their thinking and get creative. As a final project the students will then create a Prezi or powerpoint on their country and bring in a "suitcase full of souvenirs" from their travels.</div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Traveling-the-World-A-Social-StudiesELA-Research-Project">http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Traveling-the-World-A-Social-StudiesELA-Research-Project</a></div>
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#3 Starting next week I will begin the dreaded test prep. AAAHHH!!!! But as a fun way to review for the BIG TEST I'm going to have the students participate in test prep rotations. </div>
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1. Teacher Time- I plan on using these resources during time with me. I plan on reviewing test taking strategies and how questions are worded because my students struggle with the format in which questions are asked on the State tests. </div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/CCSS-TDQ-Text-Evidence-April-Close-Reading-Comp-Pack-100-Aligned">CCSS TDQ Text Evidence April Close Reading Comp Pack </a><br />
2. Independent Time- I plan on using the following pack because it does a good job of reviewing comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and writing all on one page!<br />
<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Core-ELA-Fourth-Grade-Test-Prep">Common Core ELA Fourth Grade Test Prep</a><br />
3. Vocabulary Games from Florida Reading Research Center as well as some TPT resources.<br />
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4. iPads- I will be having the kids using the following website to review reading strategies learned throughout the year. I like the lesson, practice, and "quiz" format.<br />
<a href="http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/elagrade4.cfm">New York Elementary Test Prep </a><br />
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Well that's all for now! :)<br />
<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-5207866505161284412013-03-04T18:46:00.001-08:002013-03-04T18:47:56.531-08:00March Currently :) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been out of the blogging world for a few months now so I thought I'd link up. Well here it is.........to link up head on over to <a href="http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/">Oh' Boy 4th Grade</a>. Oh! Spring Break is in the near future. Only four more weeks!!!!! YAY!!!!Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-1763305559683181902013-03-04T18:26:00.001-08:002013-03-05T15:26:38.576-08:00Close ReadingAfter reading several blogs and attending some professional development workshops, I have realized that we should be teaching students how to read the text closely a.k.a "Close Reading". For the first half of the year I primarily spent time during my focus lessons teaching grammar, comprehension strategies, and accuracy strategies. I use Fridays to work on fluency. I call this time "Fluency Friday". Students practice their reader's theater every week with guidance from me. Then the fourth Friday of the month they perform their play. But I eventually realized that even though we were collecting words on our word collector that it wasn't enough. I needed to choose mentor text to read and teach vocabulary words. I stumbled upon this blog called Hello Literacy. I read her post about Marzano's Vocabulary and decided to use this in my classroom. Free feel to hop on over and check it out on her blog.<br />
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<a href="http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/2011/08/marzanos-six-steps-for-vocabulary.html">Marzano's Six Steps to Vocabulary Instruction</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMkNo0nd9NjV-uygM-2kYRMiT1fb2RNCeCWWHvHKTF2G61kOEWsz8lHyQ2zL3U1SlYvL_CkvTtIOLXfCFOSHqLQHyyP-bR_N0XNJxWVJ3jHR73sJcLquv2KquMtoLU8rB8F_2jlpq7vE/s1600/marzano_6_step_vocabulary_process.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMkNo0nd9NjV-uygM-2kYRMiT1fb2RNCeCWWHvHKTF2G61kOEWsz8lHyQ2zL3U1SlYvL_CkvTtIOLXfCFOSHqLQHyyP-bR_N0XNJxWVJ3jHR73sJcLquv2KquMtoLU8rB8F_2jlpq7vE/s200/marzano_6_step_vocabulary_process.png" width="122" /></a></div>
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Then I read some more and realized I could reach all of my reading needs by doing what is called "Close Reading" (which is what common core wants us to be doing). My co-team member and I decided that we would sit down and create our first close reading lesson.<br />
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We chose to complete this reading with the book "Molly Bannaky". First, we had students read the text by themselves(We made copies of the first few pages of the text so they could make notes. This is totally legal if you only copy 10% of the book). They underlined information they felt was important and circled any word they thought was interesting or they didn't know. Next, we scanned the first few pages onto the Smart Board and wrote text dependent questions and syntax that we thought would be difficult for students. Then we used the think, pair, and share strategy to go through the questions we asked. We had students check for understanding, make predictions/inferences, and form their own opinion about what was going on in the story.<br />
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All in all, I think our first try at close reading was a success.<br />
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One last note:<br />
This book below is one we are currently reading as professional development with some of our other team members. So far it is great and they have lessons in the book that are ready to apply in your classroom. Apparently, there are six signposts in the book that students should notice then students will make notes about what they noticed in the text. The first lesson is called "Contrasts and Contradictions". I plan on trying the first lesson out in the next couple of weeks. I'll post to let everyone know how it went!!! :)<br />
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<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-14947382300949641212013-03-04T18:01:00.001-08:002013-03-04T18:01:13.263-08:00Updated Safari Themed Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here is my front wall with my new cafe board and anchor chart space!!<br />
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Here is my word wall area and my teacher's corner!<br />
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Here is my reading area. The bench is a pinterest inspired idea. I'm going to have my students write book reviews when they finish a book and post them on the wall.<br />
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This is my new behavior clip chart! So far it has been working wonders!<br />
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<br />Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-8077940055368488982013-03-04T17:59:00.001-08:002013-03-04T17:59:22.257-08:00Daily CafeSo it's been a while since I've posted. This first half of the year has been very busy(common core, daily five, CAFE, crazy kids, reading, RTI! etc.). I have absolutely loved implementing the Daily Cafe with my co-team member Mrs. Wyatt. I feel so connected to my students this year and they are becoming such amazing readers. They constantly come up to me and are like "Ms. Gibson I'm inferring this....." Or "look at this word I found, can we put it on our word collector?". In addition to the Daily Cafe we have started book clubs in January. The clubs meet twice a week and when they are meeting, the students complete read to self with their books. Students select the book they want to read with their group. The children have gotten extremely good at summarizing, questioning, picking out parts from the text and analyzing them, and reflecting on their meetings.<br />
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With that being said here are positives about the Daily Cafe:<br />
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Students are becoming more fluent readers, more, accurate, and thinking critically.<br />
Students love picking their own books to read.<br />
They love the different rounds.<br />
Their writing has become deep and thought provoking.<br />
They are learning lots of new words.<br />
The variety of genres being read have increased.<br />
It has been amazing having flexible strategy groups and being able to confer one on one.<br />
Students have grow close with their elbow buddy and most pairs work really well together.<br />
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Here are some of the negatives:<br />
There isn't always time to fit in all the rounds.<br />
Currently, I'm only doing three rounds a day for about 15-20 for a round.<br />
Sometimes my mini lessons last longer than the 7-10 minutes the sisters usually do.<br />
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But obviously those who have started the Daily Cafe in their classroom can agree that the positives outweigh the negatives tremendously.<br />
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One last plus, our school just got 30 iPads!!!!!!!!!!!! So Mrs. Wyatt and I are slowly implementing them into our rounds. We have used the StoryKit app during Work on Writing time. They are creating stories with their elbow buddy.Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-31186212698203209882012-09-01T20:00:00.000-07:002012-09-01T20:00:19.547-07:00Two Sisters' Workshop- CAFE<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">It's been FOREVER since I've been on here. I worked so much throughout the summer that I had no time to think about school. Now that I'm back in school I hope to blog more frequently. </span><div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">So for all those who have read "The Daily Five" and "Cafe" I know you would be as excited as I was to go to one of their workshops. I decided only to go to the Cafe workshop because I thought that would be more beneficial. My principal would only pay for one of them. It was one of the best workshops I've ever been to. If you are a teacher/literacy coach/ principal you should definitely go to one of their workshops. I learned so much about how to implement "Cafe" and how to teach reading. I read the book before I went to the workshop but was very nervous about using it in my class. But after the workshop it seemed like perfect sense to make this work in my class. They provided many research based reasons explaining why "Cafe" works. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">If you aren't familiar with "Cafe" it stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding Vocabulary. You would teach the students specific strategies and practice them as a group. Then you assess all of your students to see what kind of instruction they need. Afterwards you and your students discuss their assessment results and have students pick a "Cafe" strategy to work on during independent reading time and practicing it until they have mastered the skill. The sisters did a wonderful job explaining touch points. Touch points are what they use to assess each conference they have with a child. There are four levels: 1-below standard, 2-approaching standard, 3- meets standard, and 4- exceeds standard. If a child gets 3s or 4s for five or more conferences then they are ready to add a new goal to work on. This method really works because teachers are catering their instruction to each individual student based on their needs. I could go on and on about why I love their ideas! So if you have any questions please feel free to ask. :)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">Another wonderful thing about the workshop is you get tons of free stuff. BOOKS, classroom materials, and a year subscription to their website which is super useful!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">Keep a look out for my next post which will be about my first week of using Daily 5 and CAFE. :)</span></div>
Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356988006926142883.post-59770173388690091442012-05-30T11:39:00.000-07:002012-05-30T11:39:50.820-07:00Camp Learn A LotHello All! There are 8 more days of school left for me and boy am I ready for the last day! As much as I love my group of students this year, I really need a vacation!!!!!!<br />
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For the past couple of days and the last 8 days of school I've been using this great resource I found on teacherspayteachers.com. Its called Camp Learn A Lot.<br />
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It has activities for five days for all subject areas (reading, writing, math, social studies, and science). It could be applied to any 2nd - 5th grade classroom. My class divided up into different "cabins" and created posters with their cabin names. My students have had a blast practicing the Reader's Theater and making props for the script. They will be performing the play later on in the week! There are also lots of different experiments for the week. Today we tried the Airplane Experiment. For this experiment students took straws and added paper loops to the straw to make a glider. This ties in really well with our study of the Wright Bros. that we did a few weeks ago. Students have also made book recommendations and commercials so that the rising 3rd graders will have a good idea of some books to read. Plus that's something I can hang up at the beginning of the year which is always great!<br />
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Next week we are going to bring our sleeping bags and pillows in and watch a movie just as if we were at a real camp. What a fun and EASY way to end the year! :))))<br />
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What are some different ways you have ended the year?Susan Shepherdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10634514884560591373noreply@blogger.com0