Favorite Read Alouds

*** For some reason I am having troubles with the links to the books. I will come back to work on it later.  Sorry!***

One of my favorite things each day is the time where my kids come to our library, I sit on the couch with the leader and I read to them.

I love seeing them involved so much in the book we are reading that they don't want to go to the special class that comes next.  

I love seeing them play Little House at recess. 

 I love hearing them beg for me to read to them during DEAR time because they have to know what happened after we stopped yesterday.  

I love hearing them groan when I stop at a cliffhanger - which I ALWAYS try to do.

I love hearing them cheer for Charlie when he FINALLY gets the Golden Ticket - even thought they know he is going to get it!

We cry together.  

We laugh together.  

It really is a great time.  The past two years these books have been our read alouds.  We (as a third grade team) chose 6 books to read to our kids.  We all read the same books at somewhat the same time/pace.  I admit I always get ahead and have read more than these 6 books to my kids - I will add the books I read extra at the end.

Stone Fox

We start the year with this book.  The kids have their hearts broken at the end, and always want to know the rest of the story - which leads to a great writing activity!

Little House in the Big Woods

My kids always love this one and this year they BEGGED to read the next book in the series Little House on the Prairie.  We read this one because I love it and bartering has been ALL OVER our state test in social studies. The kids always get the concept because of Pa!!

Indian in the Cupboard

This winds up being a favorite of the class as well.  They get so wrapped up in the characters. Many have gone on to read some of the others in the series.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The kids always THINK they know what this is going to be about, but find out that the movie is not always the same as the book - which turns into a great compare and contrast writing activity.  I love seeing them cheer (and sometimes shed tears of joy) when Charlie finds the Golden Ticket.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

This is one of my all time favorites.  The kids again get lost in the action, adventure and the language. By the end, they want to go to Narnia to meet Aslan themselves.  It is also great to talk about WWII and how the war affected the children.

Maniac Magee

WOW! What great lessons this book teaches us! The kids are always amazed at how people are treated and how others feel.  Sadly, some of my dears can relate to Maniac a little too much.  

Where the Red Ferns Grow

I will admit I have a hard time with this one.  My kids do as well at times.  We did not get to this one this year.  Even though I have a hard time with it, tears are always shed at the end!

Now, why did I take the time to write all of this?  As a team, we decided we needed to mix it up a bit! The reading teachers have been assigned the task of choosing new read alouds for the team.  I want to hear from YOU!  What are your favorite read alouds?  Which books do your kids enjoy?  Which ones do they hang onto every word?  

This year, I did read the following to my kids between the other books.

Little House on the Prairie

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Lemonade War

PLEASE share!!! I need your help and guidance!!!

Made It Monday: I Love Books

First, I am so excited about the look of my blog! Thanks to Blogs Fit For A Queen for designing it for me.I just love it and can't wait to really use everything this year! I AM going to do better!  To help me get in the habit, I am really going to try hard this summer. So here is my first go at it.

I saw on Lindsey's blog (Miss Johnston's Journey) where she had a Made It Monday posted today. She is getting married this weekend and shared some of the items she has made for her wedding.  I can't wait to see pictures of the wedding because everything she has posted has been adorable.  I just finished a wedding this weekend whose theme was Wallace Love Story.  Now, two things you need to know about me.

1.  I LOVE a good wedding.

2.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good book.

So, when you put the two together, I am a happy happy camper.  I was so pleased to be asked to help Mary Beth (whom I have seen grow up) prepare for her big day to her prince charming Matt.  I was even more excited when she told me the theme was Love Story and books!  So, here are some of the items I made for her big day.

Our Love Story

This was one of the things that was a must for Mary Beth at the wedding.  She found an old frame with glass in it.  We painted it with chalkboard paint and, then using chalkboard markers, I wrote the words out like she wanted.  I was so nervous she would not like it, but she loved it! Whew!!!  Also, since she is planning on keeping this forever, I sprayed it with a clear coating to protect it.

Banners

As a way to label different venues, Mary Beth wanted different pennants. She gave me full rein over what they looked liked and the design, so I kept with the Love Story theme.  I used purple (the color of the wedding) cardstock cut on my Cricut.  Then, I used old book pages to make the second layer on the banner.  Using my Cricut again and my Jasmine cartridge, I cut the letters on black cardstock.  Again, they were a hit with the bride!

Love Quotes

 The next item that I made for the wedding was the love quotes for the reception tables.  Mary Beth and Matt had gone through books (and I'm sure the internet) to find great quotes from books about love.  Using pages, I made the quotes on cards which we attached to place card holders.  I used the Elegant Typewriter font from dafont.com to make the cards.

Book Wreaths

These were probably my favorite things I made for the wedding.  I made four of them.  I used an installation tube from Lowe's that cost a whopping $0.97.  Then, I cut them in half for the big wreaths. I cute them into thirds for smaller wreaths I made.  Using duct tape, I formed a circle to hold the ends together.  From there, I followed the directions from this website.

I just love that these girls ask me to help plan their special days.  It makes my heart happy.  Here's a look at the happy couple.  There was NO DOUBT how in love they are! I pray they always have that love in them.

What have you made today?

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I am getting ready to launch my new blog design!! I am so excited! One thing I am doing is linking up to BlogLovin'!  I can't wait to explore and connect with so many people through this!

Just trying to cook up some success....

June 2015

A day late, (and more than a dollar short) but I am determined to do better this year with this whole blogging thing now that I have a new "title" other than "third grade teacher."  I am going to be working as our school's Reading Curriculum Coach.  I am not really sure what all that entails, but we are going to go for it!!

So, thanks to Oh Boy 4th Grade for doing this for us.  Back to this month and what is currently going on in my life....

Listening:  When I first did this, my husband was channel surfing, but now he has landed on America's Got Talent.

Loving: The end of the school year was kind of rough for us for many different reasons so I am LOVING just being at home with my two kiddos.

Thinking:  While I am enjoying being at home, I am thinking of all the things I would like to get done this summer from house cleaning to school stuff.

Wanting:  Blogs Fit For A Queen is working on my new blog design and I am so excited! I got the preview last night and it I just can't wait until it is up and going!

Needing: I think I say every year that I am going to do a better job at blogging, but I am REALLY serious about it this year.  In the past, I had another blog for my students and this one just fell to the side.  However, we can now get blogspot at school, so this is the ONLY blog I will be using.  I am so excited about the possibilities!

Summer Lovin':  I love relaxing, reading what I want to read (as well as some PD books) and playing all kinds of games with my kids.  Right now we have a Phase 10 summer tournament going with BIG stakes on the line (winner chooses lunch the last day of summer break and possibly more, but don't tell them that!).

I can't wait to meet some of you and learn from you! That is why I am wanting to do better at this - for the simple fact that I want to be better tomorrow than I was today!

Mr. Bob's Physics of Flight Show

Each year we LOVE Mr. Bob coming to our school.

He has the BEST animals to show us - even if there is a snake at times!

This year was NO exception (and it was even better because there was no snake!).

Here are some of the animals he brought to show us.

Flying or house gecko

Straw-colored fruit bat

Yellow-naped green African parrot

Harris hawk

Eurasian Eagle owl

My kids had a lot to say about the assembly here.

We are ready for Mr. Bob to come back!

FREEBIE: Junkyard Wonders

As part of our first few weeks of school, we put aside math and reading to concentrate on character education.  Each third grade teacher (there are 6 of us) chooses a book to read and do an activity that correlates with the book.  Then, each third grade class rotates over 6 days to each class to hear their story and do their activity.  This is wonderful in a lot of ways and we really enjoy getting to know all the third graders in the school.  The books that were chosen this year were;

The Giving Tree

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse

How to Fill a Bucket

You are Special

Owen and Mzee

The Junkyard Wonders

I read The Junkyard Wonders and love reading it for so many reasons.  The kids are amazed it is a true story and have a ton of questions after reading it.  However, I love the lesson it teaches.  Many of my students feel like they are junk for different reasons.  As I read this to them, I see the light come on in their eyes as if they have never seen themselves as a wonder before.  It also teaches them to FIND the wonder in each person they meet in their lives.  I made this quick little activity for us to do after we had read the book.  It was very sad to see that most of them could not come up with a reason as to why they were wonderful. However, once we got started and friends shared with them why they were wonderful, some filled up every line and would have done more! Now my kids have been introduced to a fabulous author and know what makes them the great kid they are! I can't ask for anything better!  Next year, I want to have a whole unit made for this book because there are so many wonderful things about it! What do you do to instill character and self-worth in your students?

We Are Going to SOAR This Year

For the past 4 years, our school has held a SOAR assembly after we have been in school for 2 weeks.

This assembly is a motivation for the students to SOAR in academics as well as being good citizens in the new year.

It has become a favorite of the teachers because we do it for the kids.

We get to dress all crazy (I have been a cowboy, a rock star and a vampire) and the kids love it.

Since we ALL have been studying the book The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon, our SOAR assembly again this year was centered around that theme.

Palmer led our class in our bus to the assembly.

The whole school was there and a TON of parents and grandparents.

 The assembly starts off with The Harlem Shake and all the teachers break it down as they go to the risers.

Our assistant principal, Mrs. Spring, and Mrs. Norma (the stand-in for Mrs. Kim who was called to a meeting) start the Shake off for us.

Joy is the driver of the Energy Bus and she made a special appearance at our assembly as she talked to us about the 5 rules we must have if we ride the Energy Bus.

Since the third graders are the leaders at our school, they played a very important part in the assembly. They talked about rules.

Led the school in different songs we had learned...

The third grade teachers (with the exception of Mrs. Belinda who played Joy) get the great honor of being the energy vampires.

Yes... we have actually scared little kids.

Yes... kindergartners ask us all year long why we were vampires.

It is exhausting but a wonderful start to the new year!

I love it, but am so glad we only do it once a year!

How do you get your students motivated to SOAR at the beginning of the year?