January 2017

What a nice Christmas break. We are back now and we have started a new author study. We are studying Gary Paulsen. Most of my students have not heard of Gary Paulsen, but when this author study is finished I hope they will be inspired to read other books by him. We are currently reading The Woods Runner. It is a book about a boy who is 13 years old and his parents get captured and he is out to try to find them. He encounters many obstacles along the way. If you ever get a chance read Paulsen's books.

What a fun Week.
We just survived the week before Thanksgiving break,and full moon and 5th grade maturation video. That's a lot in one week for this tired teacher. 
This week is one of favorite. I have a fun writing activity for my students. I have them pretend they are a turkey and they have to persuade their owners not to cook them for Thanksgiving. They have to first example what would be better for the main course. They have need three arguments as to why. If the students have time, I let them make a self-portrait of themselves as the turkey. They always turn out cute. They are a lot of fun to read. I send them home and encourage them to read them to their parents at Thanksgiving.

I can't believe it is already almost Thanksgiving. I want to brag on my students. This week my students made their own Google document in Google Docs. We had a lesson about summarizing. Many times I think I take for granted that these students have been taught this process, but from year to year as teachers we need to revisit this process. For this lesson we did a gradual release of responsibility. I have ASU students in my classroom and I wanted to show them the process. So together we made an anchor chart in their reading journals for Somebody Wanted But Then So on the story we read this week, The Fabulous Perpetual Motion Machine in Reading Street for 5th grade. Then I had the students login into Google Classroom and access a document I made for them to help them make a SWBTS Chart with their partners on a story we have already read in class together. Lastly I had the students create their own SWBTS document from Google Drive and they were able to choose any book they wanted. The students did a fabulous job on this lesson and they enjoyed creating their own documents. I am so proud of my students and their progress with technology.

Last Friday of Summer

So today is Friday August 22, 2016. The last Friday of summer and here I sit at the end of the day feeling a bit overwhelmed. I don't think I was as productive as I would like to be. So who's fault is that mine. Now it's time to get focused on what needs to get finished now. Ok, so maybe in the morning. Hoping tomorrow is a much more productive day.
Good Night.
Marie