The Best Pencil Sharpener, Now in...

I know I've blogged about these little pencil sharpeners before and have even given a few away, but today they are releasing their newest color - PURPLE!!!! You know you want one...

Not only are they the best at getting a quick, sharp point, they are also WAY quieter than most sharpeners. You know you hate it when kids have to sharpen a pencil and you aren't even able to talk over it. (Unfortunately I still have to deal with this in other classrooms in my building. Maybe I should encourage some of my students to buy them as teacher gifts?)

They're quiet, easy to use, effective, clean, AND they were actually created by a teacher! Plus they come in 6 bright colors. Classroom Friendly Supplies sent me one to test. This time I actually mounted it to my desk, which helped a lot because I don't have to hold it in place. It also came already assembled (even though assembling mine from a few years ago only took a minute or two).

I decided to take a short video to show how easy it is to use in case you don't want to take my word for it.

One little tip that I've learned over the years: avoid cheap pencils. This sharpener is so effective that it will rip the led out of those pencils almost every time. I stocked up on Ticonderoga at the beginning of the year, and they work perfectly!

These really are the best, and prices aren't bad either. You can even make school bulk orders! Go get yours now before they sell out!

Room Reveal 2015

Okay, my room has been finished for a few weeks now, so I realize this is REALLY late. Like maybe I should have just skipped it and waited until next year. I was waiting to get my bookshelves in to store our new Fountas & Pinnell LLI system, which meant that I was able to get rid of old, mismatched shelves and cubbies used as shelves. It just looks so much cleaner!

I wanted to add a little more decoration to the room, so I bought some lanterns and poofs from Amazon. They add a nice little touch.

And since I'm so late in posting pictures, I also have some fall details that have been added to the room.

Print is free from Nest of Posies - super cute!

This garland featured on Eighteen25 was just TOO adorable to pass up - plus I had all of the supplies in my room and could do it in a day. Of course mine isn't quite as cute.. 

I made some for my house, but then I realized both of our mantels (yes we have two now) are white, and it just wouldn't show up. Oh well...

Now if only I could get a new filing cabinet and black storage cabinets to match, it would be perfect!

Currently October

I feel like it's been forever since I've linked up for a currently. I guess when you become a mother of two, everything is hard. Anyway, I'm excited to be back for October's currently! :-)

Listening: My room backs up to a bathroom. Fortunately I don't hear toilets or people, but I do have the constant, annoying sound of one of those paper towel dispensers. All. Day. Long.

Loving: We got a new intervention system from Fountas & Pinnell for Title I this year, and it's so great! The books are high interest, and I really like all of the activities that they pair with them. Even the canned discussion questions are helpful (especially since my aide can feel comfortable running a group on her own). I'm interested to see my students' progress with this program.

Thinking: Even though Joaquin looks like it will stay further east and not hit us, we're getting a ton of rain and will have even more from the hurricane. Some schools are already closed for possible flooding.

Wanting: We were supposed to go apple picking last Sunday, but it's literally been raining every day since fall arrived. I'm hoping we get to go...

Needing: We were waiting until payday to go grocery shopping. Now we have to go out with all of the nuts and pray they still have food. #hurricaneproblems #wealwaysneedmilk

Boo-tiful: I just finished my classroom last week (pictures and a post coming soon), but I also decided to add a little fall touch. I want to decorate my mantel at home also, but we need to buy some picture frames. And pumpkins.

Go link up with Farley for the currently, but be sure to also come back and check out The Reading Crew's mentor text hop that we kicked off today! Each blog is featuring a fall book AND a freebie, so you won't want to miss it!

Flipping for Fall Blog Hop

I'm so excited that fall is finally here (although a little bummed that it has rained basically every day of it so far)! There are so many fun activities that I love - apple picking, decorating pumpkins, state fair, football, hot chocolate, etc - and there are also a TON of great books that I love to read with my kids! When our group started talking about doing a mentor text hop, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. The only problem was selecting a book.

As you click through this hop, be sure to grab all of our freebies. They are forever freebies, so you can always mark them and download whenever you're ready. We will also each have a mystery word in orange somewhere on our page. Find those to enter our big giveaway at the end. The winner will receive a copy of ALL the books mentioned! Can you imagine? I wish I could enter!

Before we begin, I want to share one of my son's current favorite jokes since it at least somewhat relates to monsters and scary things:

Knock, knock!

Who's there?

Boo.

Boo who?

Why are you crying?

I'm sure most of you at this point have read or at least heard of I Need My Monster. This has become one of my favorite books, especially because it works for so many ages. My 3-year-old loves the book, but I can also read it to a group of 5th graders without insulting them.

One thing I noticed about this book right off the bat was the rich vocabulary. Shortly after reading the book, I read Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction (and even did an entire book study that you can find here), and I knew I wanted to create a vocabulary lesson for this book. Of course, then I got pregnant and did a lot of nothing extra at all. Fast forward a little over a year, and I finally finished it!

Lesson Introduction

The great thing about this lesson is that you really don't need any special introduction. You could begin by simply reading the book or even doing a mini-lesson on another skill. I like to do a lot of activating schema (prior knowledge) at the beginning of the year, so I would just start a conversation about ideas behind monsters under the bed. As you read, there is no need to draw extra attention to the words you will work on, although you could have students take note of words that were unfamiliar to them.

Working with the Text

Day 1: Read the book, and then give students the monster vocabulary sheet to discuss each word as a class. I would recommend asking students to help you come up with simple definitions (not from a dictionary), but only IF you think they will be able to guess it. If they start getting off track, cut it off quickly and tell them what it means. This is important because you don't want to confuse students with an inaccurate definition.

Days 2-4: I have provided three activities for students to work on independently or with a partner or group. These activities all help students apply the words to their life, which is important for ownership of the words. I avoid matching and looking up definitions because they are not as meaningful

Day 5: Give the short assessment to check for student assessment. Notice that it includes some fill-in-the-blank, but it also has application questions. These will prompt the students to use the words as they apply to their own experiences.

Next step options...

If you haven't already read this book, I highly recommend checking it out! I know vocabulary is one of the major issues with my students, and this book has SO many recommendations for expanding their vocabulary. I also recommend checking out my book study. I plan on creating more lessons like this one, so be sure to follow me on Facebook, Bloglovin, and TPT for more updates.

If you missed it earlier, my mystery word is boo. Download the chart below to help you keep track of all the words as you hop through, then go on over to Andrea's blog for more freebies. Don't forget, there is a HUGE giveaway at the end that you don't want to miss!

Happy fall!

     
     

Upper Elementary (3rd - 6th Grades) Blog Hop

     

Going Deeper with Author's Purpose

This week has been a little crazy at school because we're starting MAPS testing. Computer problems, anyone?

What was supposed to be an hour long test turned into much longer, and we're only on day 2. I haven't had a day yet that I've been able to pull all of my groups, and today was worse than most. Hopefully they will all be finished by Friday so I can start a normal schedule next week.

I have been able to push in to my 4th grade classes for an author's purpose lesson, though, and I thought I could at least share it!

A few years back, I wanted to create something to help my students get past "PIE" for author's purpose. I knew they weren't really understanding enough, so I made this little pack.

I first ask students what they think an author would really say if they were being interviewed about why they wrote their book. I want them to realize it would be silly for them to simply respond, "To inform". Then we brainstorm a few things they might say (I usually go with J.K. Rowling since I have older readers).

After that, I explain to them how they can find different pieces of evidence to help them determine the author's purpose: characters/topic, setting, choice of language, details, and genre. We talk about each of those pieces and then practice with a book.

The only section that really takes a lot of explaining at this level is language. They all want to write "English" and move on with it. I have to give lots of examples for each part. Here are my examples:

• Persuasive books will have words such as "should", "the best", "don't", etc.
• Informational books will always include facts. You only need to choose one or two to write.
• Entertaining books will have story elements ("Once upon a time"), characters, and events that are not necessary for the story line. I explain that if there are any funny or scary lines, these would be good to include.

If I had more time, I would show how to fill out the sheet on an informational or persuasive book as well as a fictional story, but I could only do one. This year I chose to read a chapter from Sideways Stories from Wayside School (Chapter 10: Paul) because it's one of my favorite. Plus I know it will hold the students' attention even without pictures. You could do this activity with any book, though.

I also included a few practice paragraphs for students to try writing the author's purpose a little more. They need a lot of guidance at the beginning, so I usually ask them to work with a partner or even a table to come up with the purpose (as I walk around to each group and help) until they're a little more comfortable with it.

Five for Friday

Today is the end of week two for us, and I'm slowly getting back into the groove of life and schedules. I mean, blogging two days in a row? That hasn't happened in almost a year!

I didn't end up decorating my door until last Friday because I was just too tired to bother with it. Then I saw this on Facebook and sent it to our librarian wishing we had doors on our library to do it. Yes, we have an open library. In fact, our classrooms didn't have doors until 8 years ago. True story. Apparently there weren't inner walls originally, but I digress...

Anyway, then I realized I could just get some white paper and do it on my door instead. So I looked through my Wimpy Kid books and found a page that I liked, and then I made it happen. I'm pretty proud of it (and praying it doesn't get messed up)!

I just started to work with a few kids Wednesday, so I don't have much in the way of teaching yet. However, I did work with my fourth grade students on context clues using Miss Rumphius. I just marked a few words in the book ahead of time (I actually did this lesson last year and left the marks in the book for later) and was ready to roll. We stopped at each word and discussed what it might me based on the pictures and other words on the page. You can do this with pretty much any book. Just be sure to look ahead and plan what words you use so the students can actually figure them out.

We had Back-to-School Night on Tuesday, which was pretty uneventful for me. Since I'm a Reading Specialist, I usually don't get any visitors. This year was no exception. I did, however, enjoy a yummy Barbecue dinner thanks to our PTO. And I may have also indulged on a brownie. Which leads to...

I've been having trouble kick-starting my weight loss after having Caffrey. Maybe it's because of how insanely busy life has been ever since then? Anyway, a lot of my coworkers did the 21 Day Fix and saw great results, so I decided to try it out. So far, I'm really just doing the diet part (sans shakes - I tried one and thought it was AWFUL. Fortunately I didn't buy them or I'd be out a lot of money), and today is day 11. I've lost 3 1/2 pounds and am feeling pretty good, but I have to admit I really miss my desserts!

How fitting that the state fair will be in town when my 21 days end! I'm just going to have to be really careful that I watch my portions and don't go crazy when this is over. And hopefully I can get on some kind of workout routine soon. If Caffrey will ever start sleeping through the night, it would help!

This weekend, the UCI Road World Championship is coming to Richmond. Apparently it's a big deal, especially if you're into biking. I'm not. What I do know is that it's shutting down parts of the city for two weeks and causing a lot of chaos.

We go to church in the city, and they actually have cancelled services for both weeks because of the race. One of the schools in the city is closed both weeks, and some others are closing on certain days when the routes affect them drastically. We won't be able to get out of our neighborhood this weekend until later in the afternoon, and we don't even live in the city. It's crazy.

But since the church BUILDING is closed for two weeks, all of the group leaders are hosting cook-outs at our houses and inviting friends. So if you live in the Richmond area and want to hang out this Sunday night, email me and I'll give you the info. We'd love to have you over!