Book Talk Thursday: Silver Packages

My sweet friend, Andrea, does Book Talk Thursday every week, and I have found some great new books from it. During the holidays, she has opened it up for us to also link our favorite books. I meant to link up last week, but I forgot. So this time I posted ahead and scheduled it to make sure it was done.

I mentioned this book Monday, but it truly deserves a post all to itself. It's that amazing of a book. I will say that it is out of print, so sometimes it gets a little expensive on Amazon. Last year when I looked, there was a time when it was going for $100. I waited until the summer and bought it dirt cheap, but it looks like Amazon now carries their own copies of it.

Anyway, the story is based in West Virginia (no surprise, it's Cynthia Rylant) and is based on the true story of a "Santa Train" that would come around and bring presents to children who were less fortunate. It follows one particular little boy who dreams of getting a doctor kit every year.

The vocabulary is amazing, and the book sets you up for some great questions and conversations. Plus the pictures are just beautiful. I honestly don't know why this book didn't win any awards. And if you want to have some pre-made activities so you don't have to put too much thought into it ahead of time, Carla from Comprehension Connection has a GREAT package to go along with the book. I ended up just discussing it this year, but I did use some of her questions and vocabulary words to guide my instruction. If I had more time with each class, I would have done all of these activities.

One piece of advice: read through the story on your own first. Especially if you are prone to crying. It's a super sweet story, no sad endings, but I don't want anyone getting mad because they cried in front of the class and I didn't warn them!

Christmas Questionairre

I had a surprise day at home with the little one today because our babysitter has two sick kids, so I'm enjoying extra time with my little sweetie and getting the house clean and ready for us to go out of town. While he's taking a nap, I thought I would join Fabulous in First for this fun little linky!

1. When do you decorate? 

We usually decorate right after Halloween (yes, we're "those" people). This year was a little later, but we still managed to have everything up but our tree (we get a real one) before the week of Thanksgiving!

2. Elf or no elf? 

No elf, although I kind of want one. Not to push Keagan to be good (we will do that on our own), but I think I'd have a ton of fun setting it up every night. Steven thinks it would give him a ton of headaches and is adamantly against it. Oh well! I will live vicariously through your pictures!

3. Christmas Cookies or No Baking for You? 

We LOVE making Christmas Cookies! I don't know when we'll get around to it this year, but I hope we still do it! Keagan got to help for the first time last year, and it was so much fun.

4. Favorite Holiday Tradition? 

This is tough because I love everything about the Christmas season, but I guess my favorite may be Christmas Eve. We usually attend a church service and then come home to eat a nice dinner. Before bed, we read "The Irish Night Before Christmas" and each open one gift (usually pajamas). Then we put Keagan to bed while getting everything ready for Christmas morning!

5. Favorite Christmas Movie? 

I love Christmas movies, so it's a hard choice. I would have to say Elf is my favorite, but A Charlie Brown Christmas is a close second. I just love when Linus lays out the true meaning of Christmas!

6. Snow or No Snow? 

If it has to be cold, it might as well snow. 

I saw this shirt on Etsy, and it's totally me. I actually can only handle snow for a little while still. Last year, it was SO miserably cold and yucky every time we got snow, and I was completely over it.

7. Favorite Christmas Song? 

I have to agree with Michelle. "Mary Did You Know" has been a favorite of mine for years. I have been teaching Keagan some Christmas songs this year, though, and Frosty is his favorite!

8. Favorite Gifts to Give and Get? 

Usually I love to get clothes, but it's a little more difficult this year with me being pregnant. I've found some great oversized sweaters that I could actually wear next year. When it comes to giving, I love to find unique or special gifts. This year, I scored a set of Ghostbusters that I was able to split between Keagan and Steven (he's been missing all but Winston for his set, and Keagan always wants to play with his). It's okay. Steven already knows!

Deck the Classroom

We have been in full-fledged Christmas mode at work and home, and I'm loving every minute of it! I'm in the second trimester and have my energy back, but we have barely been home enough for me to even think about blogging. Christmas is my favorite time of year despite the fact that it is so busy, and this year has been the best so far with Keagan old enough to really start understanding more of it. Last night we went to look at lights in downtown Richmond and were surprised to find Santa sitting under the big tree! Keagan wouldn't go on his own, so Papa (and his little cousin) had to come with him. Still, he was a big boy and told Santa what he wanted (apparently so did Papa!) and then sat near him for a quick picture. First picture without tears, so I'd call it a success!

But that's not what I originally started this post for. Amy (you know, THE Amy Lemons who I just adore?) from Step into Second Grade has a cute little linky going on over at her blog that I've been meaning to join for at least a week. Then again, I just finished decorating my classroom this morning. 

I dug my tree out of school storage, where it had been since the year I had Keagan...so three years of cobwebs...and put it up last week, but I'd been meaning to bring the extra string of lights to put around my Promethean. Today I finally remembered, and it makes everything so much cheerier! I know there's only one week left, but if it brings a smile to my face, I don't care. Plus watching Rudolph like this is WAY cooler!



Last week, I went the serious route with my fourth and fifth graders. We read Silver Packages, which I will have to do a separate post on later this week, but it's a must read. And then I also did an infographic with my 5th grade students on childhood poverty in the United States. I want these kids to realize that it's not all about the presents and that some kids, even in our own country, don't experience the pleasures that they have. They really did a great job, but I figured it was time to change pace for the week before break.

This week, I'm doing some review of plot with 5th grade, so we're watching Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer and then making a plot tree. Then I kind of copied that for 3rd, and we're watching Frosty the Snowman while finding the problem, solution, and events leading up to it. Of course, I have Erin from Lovin' Lit to thank for both of those things! The problem/solution activity is part of her Interactive Notebook, and we'll finish it later this week. And the Rudolph activity is just one of many in this amazing pack!

     

Fourth grade is having fun with one of my mysteries. My first class had so much fun with it that they actually started making suggestions for New Year's mysteries. We'll see if I find time to actually make one, but I'm definitely interested in trying!

My small groups are also looking at the lyrics to You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch to practice some context clues and have some fun with it. Plus I make a deal with them that we can watch the song if they are good listeners and work hard. I'm never opposed to Christmas music!

We get out Friday, but I have the day off tomorrow to celebrate my little boy's birthday. Can you believe he turns 3? I guess it IS time for another ;-)

Five for Friday - It's a New Year!

I have kept my promise and spent very little time online blogging/following blogs. Actually, today I finally began going through my bloglovin feed to narrow down only to posts that would be most helpful for teaching. Today's post will be short, not very school related, and mostly just pictures of what I've been up to on my break!

We had a blast making Christmas memories with this little guy. He enjoyed trying cookies and has learned the word very well. Of course, he preferred eating cookie dough like his mommy over actually helping make cookies.

We woke up Christmas morning at home, and Keagan got a new tricycle! As tall as he is, his feet still don't quite touch the pedals, but he loves it! We also have a TON of new toy vehicles. Our living room is now officially a playroom.

On Thursday, we flew to see family in Mississippi. Keagan and I flew when he was 6 months old, but this time was a big deal because he had his own seat and is much more active. The flight attendants even gave him his own wings! He loved every minute of it.

One of the neatest things about visiting family was that this was the first time all of my mom's family were together in YEARS. We got a picture of my grandparents with all of the great-grandchildren (and me since Keagan wasn't up for anyone else holding him). Keagan is the baby by two months until my sister has her baby in February.

And for just a few teacher-y things, have you seen Joanne and Holly's big giveaway? It started yesterday, and it's awesome! I will be participating later in the week, so go check it out!

Then make sure you've marked your calendars for the big kick-off for our new Literacy Collaborative Blog. It starts Monday, and I'm SO excited!! There will be freebies every day, so make sure you don't miss them!

Merry Christmas!

This is just a quick post while my boys are taking naps (the hubs, dogs, AND son - it's gloriously peaceful!) to say Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

I plan on spending a lot of time with the family, so I probably won't post very much until school starts back on January 6. I hope all of my wonderful friends and followers have a wonderful and relaxing time away from school, and I pray that God showers you with his blessings!

A Sleighful of Christmas Lessons AND a giveaway

We have been busy, busy, busy with Christmas activities, but I have to say that I've been enjoying them for the most part! Unfortunately I don't have ANY pictures, but I thought I would share some a lot of the things that we've been doing in case you still need ideas to get you through the last few days. Only TWO more mornings to get up and go to school!

Last week, I spent a lot of time using Silver Packages which is my new favorite Christmas book and I wish it wasn't out of print and costing over $100 when I looked it up because I REALLY want my own copy!

I used some great resources from Carla at Comprehension Connection. She's another reading specialist from VA that I met through Andrea, and she also works with older kids. I snagged this for free, but I probably would have bought it if I needed to. It has enough activities to last at least a few days, and they are very well put together!

Actually, I liked Carla's things so much that I ended up also using her Gingerbread Friends unit this week with my third graders. It worked out perfectly because there is a great sequencing activity, and my little group is REALLY struggling with that right now. Any practice we can do is perfect!

Actually, we have been practicing sequencing with Christmas-y stories since last week. 

I found this really fun book that you may not have heard of last year after meeting the author when she came for an author visit at our school. She's SUPER sweet and actually bought the packet that I created (even though I had already sent it to her for free). Anyway, this packet includes an elf writing craft, sequencing cards from the story, and a little game to review sight words from the book.

Today, we will be reading The Polar Express and using my sequencing cards that are part of my entire Christmas Literacy Centers pack. I almost wish I could stay in their room all day and enjoy the other Polar Express activities. Especially if they have yummy hot chocolate!

Yesterday was Grinch Day in fourth grade, so I whipped up a cute little sheet with the lyrics to You're A Mean One so we could do some close reading. This is really new to me, but it's the second Christmas song we've done (One Horse Open Sleigh with my 5th graders last week along with Erin's unit I mentioned here and here). Funny story? Both songs mention drunkenness (a sot is a drunkard, FYI). That is bound to get the attention of a 4th or 5th grade student, right? I can't post the lyrics I put together because Dr. Seuss's clipart is all copyrighted, but there are lots of great resources on TPT or you can just print out the lyrics from online if you're strapped for money right now from all the Christmas shopping like me and want to go that route.

In 5th grade yesterday, I got to read one of my favorite Christmas books from childhood:

I decided my packet needed a little facelift, so I also worked on that. It just wasn't quite up to my new standards for products, and I have more resources now to make it prettier. The kids were starting their new versions as I left, and I will have to peak in today to see what they came up with!

I hope you're still reading (or at least skimmed through to the bottom) because my BBB, Andrea, is having a giveaway over at her blog where you can win a lot of great literacy resources. Best part? It's all winner's choice, so you get to go SHOPPING!!

Hang in there! Only 7 more days until Christmas!

Night Before Christmas FREEBIE

We have been busy celebrating my son's birthday, so I haven't had time to sit and share about all of the fun things we're doing at school right now. That will come soon (hopefully). Today is just a quick update: I have mentioned a few times that I have a freebie to use with all of the different versions of The Night Before Christmas, and today it got a little facelift. It's still free, so go download and enjoy!

Also, I realized that this Thursday is time for the monthly Teacher Fitness linky. 

Since so many people will be thinking about New Year's resolutions after Christmas passes (in EIGHT days!), I think it would be fun to share your favorite way to work out. Please come link up with me and share with your friends!

Book Talk Thursday: Irish Night Before Christmas

When I saw Andrew's topic for this week, I KNEW I had to link up!

I also knew she would already be writing about my favorite because (1) we have so much in common that it's kind of crazy and (2) she grew up in Louisiana, so we have similar cultural experiences. It's okay though because I already mentioned a few weeks back how much I love the Cajun Night Before Christmas and how my dad used to read it every year. I'm not going to repeat it because Andrea wrote a great post about it today, and you should check out hers (and everyone else who links up).

When Steven and I got married and began to start our own Christmas book collection, we ran across this little gem and took it home immediately! The Cajun is fun, but he can't really relate to it. We both have Irish heritage (Why else would we name our son Keagan?) and we thought it would be fun! Steven has already tried to read it to Keagan. Emphasis on the "tried" because he only sits for a book in 1 minute increments...maybe...

Anyway, in this book, Santa (in green, of course) has seven lucky leprechauns helping deliver the packages as they ride around in a cart pulled by their donkey (who eats the thatch roof while waiting for them to come back). And with any true Irish story, they all have such a good time drinking and partying that they wake up the mom and get chased out of the house!

I've done this one with my kids before, but it's still far too removed from their spectrum to really understand. They do a little better with the Cajun version because  it's a little easier to spot differences. I did order a new version this morning to try with a fifth grade class on Monday - The Hillbilly Night Afore Christmas. Haven't read it yet, but I figure it will be more relatable since its set in Appalachia. We'll see how it goes!

And as you're hopping around and checking out all these fantastic versions, g download my freebie I created last year. I listed as many versions as I could find and made a quick template for students to create their own version!