Do you have reading pals? Interactive Notebooks for Reading Pals...Summer Stock Up on this perfect tool!

Each year my sixth graders are teamed up with the first graders as a way to connect our diverse groups of learners.  The idea began about six years ago when I realized that many of my sixth graders needed practice to enhance fluency, and my first grade teaching pal, Mrs. Eshman, had students that really needed practice listening to reading.  We decided it was the perfect match!  We brought the students to the cafeteria with books in hand, paired them up, and prepared for them to sit together and read.

My 6th graders have always loved reading with their reading buddies.  It is a treat each week to see a special little person that looks just as forward to spending time with them.   For the first few weeks it is a novelty and everyone seems to be on their best behavior, but as the first weeks of school turn into months, focus eases up and merely reading is no longer an activity that keeps everyone’s attention. 

Over the last few years I have found that the reading time seems to go very quickly and my sixth graders are trying to find the best way to fill up the rest of their time.  The little ones can get off task easily, which can be a challenge for my sixth graders to manage.  In addition, my sixth graders that are supposed to be the role models can have issues of their own at times.  Despite teacher re-direction, the time wasn’t being utilized the way we had envisioned.

After one week of far too much re-focusing of our students, we began planning and coordinating what was read from that point on.  It was ideal.  The sixth graders were armed with more than a book, and wanted to take ownership over not just reading, but also helping their first grade pal develop a skill.

Teachers are busy and have minimal time for extras, and so this interactive notebook was born.  Instead of having to plan each week for reading pals, this is the tool that will allow your older and younger students to thrive when working together.  The work is done for you!  Simply print, grab student book boxes/baskets, cut, glue, and go!  Your students will be more than excited to work together and there is enough fun to keep your reading pals engaged.  There is nothing like seeing the older students guiding the younger learners.

Check out this tool in action and grab this sampler...any summer time you had scheduled to plan for reading pals is no longer needed.  Grab this sampler and get back to some fun in the sun!

Here is a pic of one of the activities that helps the old pal and younger pal get to know each other.  It leads into the perfect tool to enhance understanding of compare and contrast and Venn diagrams.

Here is the entire Reading Pals Interactive Notebook Tool Kit for Grades 1-6.

My Favorite Maybe...a 6th grade music video about I-PICK books

If you want your students to remember something-put it to music!  I LOVE MUSIC!  I listen to it loudly in my car, my own kiddos LOVE to sing and dance, and each morning when I come into the classroom I log-on to my Rhapsody account and my classroom playlist begins.

I find music to be energizing and calming, and I try to share that energizing/calmness with my students.  While music has always been an essential in my life-I am not particularly musical.  I was not talented at the violin, flute, or the piano, but I have always loved to sing-despite my not so talented voice.

When my son, Brennan came along, I found that I turned EVERYTHING into song...I have a song for bathtime, bedtime, wake-up time, and every action in between.  Now both of my children sing these silly tunes.  This "song creating" has also impacted my teaching.  I often sing directions to my students, to their utter dismay.

This year I have a group of very musical students.  Boys and girls alike LOVE to sing.  I LOVE THIS FACT!  Before school even began, I was inspired by all of the reading I had done on implementing the Daily 5 into my classroom.  I laid in bed one night unable to sleep with the anticipation of the coming school year and the lyrics to a song came to me about I-Pick books to the tune of Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe."  I have shared the song below, which I shared in a different blog post at the beginning of the school year...

I shared the song with my students during the first week of school.  I played it here and there and as they began to memorize the words focusing on "I-PICK" books, they began to add movement and a whole lot of enthusiasm for the song.  I enlisted the music teacher to practice at the end of music class this week and asked the students if they would like to STAR in their very own music video.  The response was overwhelming!

Take a look at my talented, enthusiastic, and MUSICAL 6th graders in "My Favorite Maybe"...

W ho would have thought 6th grade boys and girls would by jammin' about books?! I view these awesome 6th graders in a completely different light.  They are a hoot! If you are looking for students to remember concepts you teach and share, incorporate music into your classroom.  Write a song and get your kiddos to star in a music video!