The TOP 5 Ways You Know You Have Found that BEST BOOK!

Finding novels for my students is both a challenge and a joy.

The TOP 5 ways I can always tell I have found that awesome text is when my students are:

1. talking about the book outside of class...recess, lunch, to parents, the principal...LOVE this!
2. not wanting to stop reading when ELA class has come to an end.
3. asking to take the book with them to the next class...not a favorite of my incredible teammates:(
4. buying the book with their own money or going to the public library to check out their own copy.
5. demanding that Hollywood turn the book into a feature film!

The texts this has happened with...Crash by Jerry Spinelli, Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, and The Lottery Rose by Irene Hunt have all been those AMAZING finds for my students!  These just happen to be books with characters they connect with, and really make an impression...a reading teacher's DREAM!

I just updated this novel unit with better graphics that I have utilized in my classroom with tremendous success.  If you are looking for a novel and unit to grab your students...check this out.

The Lottery Rose is perfect for grades 6-8.  It is about a boy named Georgie Burgess who is abused by his mom and her boyfriend.  He is eventually taken from his home and brought to this wonderful school for boys.  It is not a "rainbows and lollipops story" as I tell my students.  At times it is a very emotional read.  I love that Georgie has all of the odds stacked against him, but is able to grow into a compassionate human being.  Reading this novel with my students helps them to grasp the idea that we don't always know what someone is dealing with in their life and it is important to be kind to others ALWAYS!   This print and go unit has all of the tools you will need to teach this incredible novel.

Keep me posted on those novels that possess "THE TOP 5 Ways You Know You Have Found that BEST BOOK!"  I would love to share those upon my return to the classroom.

Frenzies and FREEBIES...OH MY!!

We are never too old to try something new...

This weekend was my very first Facebook Frenzy, which is a fun event with a bit if a learning curve. Basically you are teaming up with other teachers on Facebook, linking your FREEBIES together, then gaining some new friends as others LIKE your page and get some FREE teaching tools. I had no idea what I was in for when I signed up, but I am glad I did. Along the way I learned a TON!

Here is my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/erinbeerstpt if you want to head their and LIKE your way to some FREEBIES. My tab will be up through tomorrow night. If you have no interest in that, I don't blame you!

So here is another tool I created last week for student work with personification for the holidays...I plan to make it part of a 6th grade CCSS Figurative Language Unit, but it is not quite finished yet.  Click the image to download.  It is perfect for a refresher, mini-lesson, or literacy center activity.  If you do choose to download, I would love to hear how you used it with your students.

 

I'm also linking up early for Manic Monday at Classroom Freebies, make sure to head over there to find some more fantastic freebies!

Enjoy these last weeks before a well-deserved break! 

Post-Black Friday FREEBIE and a Cyber Monday Sale on my TpT site...

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!  I know that I ate too much and shopped too much, for sure.  While I was not one of the crazies that took off after Thanksgiving dinner and hit the local stores, I did spend a good portion of the afternoon today hoofing around Old Navy, Toys R Us, and Target looking for some leftover deals...I still have much to do!!!

If  you have been busy shopping like me, I bet you wouldn't mind a FREEBIE...

Click on the image to download The School Store: Reader's Theater for the Middle Grades with reader response questions. It is a fun CCSS tool to enhance fluency and comprehension in your middle grades classroom...for FREE!!!!

 

If you like this product, I will be throwing a sale in my TpT store on Monday, December 2 and Tuesday, December 3.  Come stock up on my other reader's theaters, novel units, and all things English Language Arts.  

Also, stay tuned for an exciting Facebook event coming up next Friday, December 6th...it is going to be BIG!!!

I would love your feedback!  If you have a moment, let me know what you think!  If you love it, be sure to follow me in my TPT store, so you can hear write away about any new products as soon as they come out.