Looking Forward

Whew!  It's h-o-t, hot here!

And it's going to stay hot and humid for most of the week.

Welcome, summer.

I am the first to admit I am not a fan of being hot.  Give me a nice sunny, 75 degree day with a cool breeze and I am content.  So I guess this week, I'll stay inside and read!  Nothing better!

Funny enough, I just found a book that I love - and it's all about fall!

Ivan's Great Fall is a cute little picture book that I can't wait to share with my {future} class on the first day of school.  Ivan is a little boy who loves summer!  He loves the long days full of adventure, baseball, and fun - and he's not looking forward to fall.

This story is a great read aloud for the first days of school.  I think kids and teachers alike all relate with Ivan's love of the freedom that comes with summer.

But the best aspect of this book is the format.  With the exception of the beginning and the end of the story, the rest is quotes from famous poets.  Super creative!  Everyone from William Blake to Emily Bronte to Ernest Lawrence Thayer is quoted.  Not in entirety, but enough to move the story along.  Each page tells of an adventure Ivan enjoys.

Every year, my kids write poetry books.  This would be a great book to revisit at the beginning of the unit.  I can totally see my kids writing a similar book on a topic they love and using the more contemporary poems by poets they love - Sara Holbrook, Shel Silverstein, Judith Viorst to name a few.

from A Giraffe and a Half by Shel Silverstein

If you haven't read these authors, do so.  They are great!

What a great way for kids to explore poetry with a purpose!




What are your favorite kids' poets?  More importantly, is there room for poetry in the CCSS?

Bye, Bye GR!

As many of you know, come July 1, Google Reader is closing up shop.

I, for one, am totally, completely bummed by this news.

I don't like change.

I don't want to learn a new reader.

I don't like that {at least, so far} I can only see part of each post and have to click to read the entire post.  That's a lot of clicking and going back and forth when you follow well over 250 blogs!

That being said, here's the link to follow me on Bloglovin'; the reader most bloggers seem to be moving towards. 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Change is hard.  But it can be good.  We can get through it!

 

Chalk Talk

I found a new linky to join!

So, of course, I did.

This linky is a once a month kind of linky.  My fav.  When they are once a week, I'm behind by about week 2.  But give me 30 or so days, and I can totally keep on top of it!

Anyway, Julie over at The Teaching Bug hosts this great linky; each month the prompt changes.  Here's this month's question:

IMHO, the last week of school is the MOST DIFFICULT of the year!   Kids are done.  It's too hot.  I just want the year to end and get out of there for the summer.  And it's too stinkin' hot!  Add in a principal who wants grades done and honors awarded before the year actually ends, and the stress can make a girl nutty!

My solution:

MYSTERY WEEK!

As a kid - heck even as an adult - my favorite genre has always been mysteries.  Kids don't always appreciate the complexities and many even say they can't stand to read mysteries.  *Gasp*  "It's the not knowing.  I hate that I don't know who did it and have to wait to find out," one of my darling readers told me this year.

This is the book I used.

I inundate my kids with mystery week.  It's starts at the door with a password.  These vary from year to year, but this year I wrote word puzzles called Plexers on scraps of paper.  Students had to draw from a box and solve the riddle before they could enter.  I let the kids go ask other older kids in our hallway if they needed help.  The kids moaned and groaned - and loved every minute of it!

We spend the week talking about how detectives solve crimes.  We experiment with fingerprints, chromatography, and forensics.  AT the end of the week, I invite the DARE officer back for a visit to talk about these things.  It's very, very cool!

You know those books of mini mysteries that have picture clues?  Years ago I made copies of  the pictures and made little booklets for the kids to use during mystery week.  I read the mysteries, they have to solve it using the picture.  You would not believe how hard it is for kids to use the pictures.  They just make stuff up!  Great learning going on!

I have secret codes the kids have to solve when I need a minute of quiet and hands off time.  Some of them are math codes, some are reading or grammar codes.  The codes are used to 'unlock' the next activity.  By wording it that way, my students go crazy for them.

My favorite activity are One-Hour Mysteries:

 

These books by Mary Ann Carr are so much fun!  Some of them are fairly easy, but this year's class was definitely up for the challenge:  They solved one that was super challenging!  Some of the detectives left the room when I was giving the answers because they hadn't finished yet! They were so proud of themselves when they finally cracked it!

I love this question because I LOVE my end of the year plans!  One of the hardest things I go through is resisting the urge to pull out this stuff in February when it's dark and cold and everyone's crabby - even me!

Thanks to Julie at The Teaching Bug for a great linky!

Changes. Currently.

It's been a month for me.  Not a good month. 

In May, I found out I was not going to be offered a contract for the next school year.  Working in a Catholic school, I've always known that this could happen.  I was sooo not expecting it this year.  Our principal had said for months that everyone was coming back next year.  I was completely blindsided and truly devastated.

I don't know if I'll be able to get another job teaching; maybe God has different plans for me.  I didn't know if I wanted to continue blogging, but after some distance I realize that blogging is a great outlet for me.  Even if I don't teach anymore, I still enjoy reading and sharing new children's lit.  I still have some great ideas to share from this past year.  And I still want to learn new things from all of you!

 I love the ideas I learn and hope that my ideas help others.  Therefore I will continue my blog this summer.

And who knows, I may just get another teaching job in the fall...


And, so...

It's finally summer.  I'm back.  I have tons of ideas for blogging, have read a bunch of great books I want to share, and can't wait to link up with all the great linky parties!

Starting with my favorite:  June's Currently.  Y'all know I love a linky!

 

Stay tuned!  I'm back and better than ever.  I'm not going to quit growing, learning and sharing just because I don't have a job right now!  I will get another job.  I don't know what it will be, but in the meantime, I will be here!

Thanks for the support you give me every day - even if you don't know you're doing it!

May Currently

I'm getting a little better...  It's been less than one month (instead of four!) since my last post.
And, sure, it's just this month's Currently.

But I love doing these things!
And, hey!  I'm moving up in the list: only #415 this month!

Anyway - here it is:

http://ohboy3rdgrade.blogspot.com/2013/05/may-currently.html

Loving and Wanting

On Monday, I have my first formal observation - ever!  Even thought this is my twelfth year teaching, this is the first year with our new principal, and she's no slacker!

Our previous principal never got around to doing our observations; she planned them a lot, but never actually made it into my room.

So, for a couple of reasons, this lesson must impress!  First - I want to impress the new boss!  Working contract to contract is a scary, scary way to live, and I want my lesson to prove to her that I am indispensable!

Second - I am scheduled to sign a contract Monday at 3:45; I would hate it if this lesson caused the P to call the Pastor and rescind the offer!

The lesson I wrote is good!  I can't wait; I just hope it goes well.  I have written a great lesson about food chains - from photosynthesis to decomposers.  I am pulling out all the technology stops - ActivInspire flipchart, BrainPop movie, YouTube videos (that's right- more than one!) and my newest love Socrative for the iPads!  I'm going to test it out on my family tomorrow while we're supposed to be celebrating Mother's Day.

"Happy Mother's Day, mom.  Now sit down, and pretend to be 10."

Thinking, Needing and Bucket List

The only thing that's been worse than my blogging recently is my complete lack of attention span for books lately.  I haven't finished a book in months!  MONTHS!  I usually read 4 or 5 at a time and finish all of them within a week.

That's not to say I haven't started new books!  I've started many, many books.  I just can't get to that point where I can't put it down and Must finish.

These are just a few of the books I've started recently:

I blame BRAVO.

Seriously,  reality TV is going to be the death of me!

On another note, about eight years ago, I moved into my first home.  I love it.  Except the loft.
 The loft has become one huge junk drawer.

I must clean out that mess.  I don't think I've been up there for more than two total in the last six months!  Clearly I don't need all the stuff that's, well, stuffed up there!  This summer is dedicated to purging!

That's it for now.  Thanks, Farley, for a great, fun way to stay connected!

Your turn.  Go link up!