Summer Blog Party Kick-Off

Happy Summer!  I hope this blog hop finds you ready to tackle some summer relaxation and fun!  For my family, we are in the midst of tournament play for baseball, attending various sports camps, spending lots of time at the pool, and enjoying time with friends.  We will be heading to the beach for a week in August, but for now, we bask in the warm weather and minimal schedule.

Despite our busyness, one thing we continue throughout summer is reading.  As a reading teacher, I enforce daily reading time in our house.  I say enforce because grabbing a book and slowing down is NOT a favorite past-time among my kiddos.  My littlest can sit and read book after book, my middle loves to be read to, and my oldest knows that his allowance gets reduced if I have to ask him to complete his daily reading more than once.  If a friend calls for a playdate for my daughter, or a knock comes at the door for my oldest, reading is the last thing on their minds.  Therefore, I have to mandate that it happens. 

I have given up on the idea that my kids should want to read. I want them to want to read, but ideally, if my children could be outside playing every moment of every day, that is what they would prefer to do! And so, before we head outside and grab for any type of technology, reading occurs.  Some might argue with this strategy, but it works for my family.  There are no written rules, no chart to keep track, just the expectation that for 20 minutes a day, we read.  Very manageable.

My heading into 4th grade son has tackled Chocolate Fever and is on to Frindle.  I am offering him the chance to choose the books. I am not making him complete any novel units to accompany his reading, but they are available, just in case.

My heading into 1st grade daughter is tackling Level D books and inspired me to create this FREEBIE text unit for my intervention students.  She loves Young Cam Jansen books.  She struggles a bit to read them independently, but loves when we read them together.  This unit is perfect for reading comprehension for grades 1-3, and an intervention resource for students that might be struggling a bit in grades 4-6.  If you are a teacher in the midst of summer school, or a parent wanting to help your child with comprehension, this text resource is ideal for you! It includes: directions for use, lesson plans, character analysis work, context clue word work, chapter by chapter reader response questions, and post-reading writing prompts for FREE!

It is a forever FREEBIE and I would love to hear how you put it to use at home or in your classroom.  Grab some more HOT resources as you move on to the next stops!  Michelle from Big Time Literacy has a great one!  Grab it at the next stop!  Happy Hopping!

Back to School Fun and Best Things About Summer FREEBIE!

I feel like I have blogged about it a bunch of times, but the feelings of back to school time are so tough to pinpoint.  There is the eagerness to learn all about that next class and the kind of crew it will be, the anticipation of meeting any new team or staff members, the thrill of finding the best deals on new school supplies, the dread nervousness with beginning of the year meetings, the getting back into any routine with our own kiddos, and the sleeplessness of the night before that very first day!  Yikes! How teachers keep all of this in check ALWAYS impresses me!

I can't control the majority of those emotions, but I can make the first day a little easier on you.  While running this morning sans my littlest, I had all of these ideas running through my brain.  I LOVE when that happens.  My focus was not on finding as many trucks during our 4-miler at 6:15AM, instead I could just get lost in my music and thoughts.  I don't have these runs often because my littlest is often ready to hit the ground running at 5:30AM.  Sweet babe...most days!

My littlest running buddy!

So today I was thinking about that first day and how CRAZY OVERWHELMING energizing it is to be a teacher.  All of these new students are arriving into your classroom for the first time ever, and you need to teach them every rule, procedure, and expectation.  To those kiddos it is daunting!  In addition, you need to have your classroom and hallway decorated because parents and administrators will be heading in your direction very soon!  Yikes, again!

So...I came up with this FREEBIE...

I am always looking for the perfect activity to welcome my students back to school on that very first day.   Due to the need to share rules and procedures, I want to allow them some time to have FUN! I need something engaging, but something that can be on display is always in my mind as well. I usually put up a fabric bulletin board with the title ‘Welcome Back to School, 6th Graders!” On the first day, I take each student’s picture and then display it on the bulletin board. It isn’t especially exciting, but it gets student faces displayed.  Most 6th graders LOVE to see their picture shared. After some brainstorming, I think this interactive “The Top 10 Best Things About My Summer” is even better! I came up with this interactive Back to School resource to:

• get my students reflecting on their summer
• engage them in a fun “Who’s Who?” activity
• utilize as a hallway display for students have fun with and for visitors to enjoy

Directions for use:
1. Copy The Top 10 Best Things About My Summer interactive page and I am page.
2. As a whole class, brainstorm different activities that people may have enjoyed in the summer.
3. Allow students time to create, reflect, color, and record what they did on their interactive page.
4. I have them glue the interactive page to a sheet of yellow legal pad paper because of the color and cheap cost.
5. As students are working, snap a picture of each student individually.
6. Using glue sticks, model for students how to put their display together.
7. Before displaying, share each student’s “Top 10” and allow students to infer which student the list belongs to.
8. Display on a bulletin board in the classroom or jazz up your hallway.
9. Don’t forget to do one for yourself. Students LOVE learning about their teacher and it is the perfect model.

Materials:
1. Copies of interactive pages, legal pad/notebook paper, and photograph
2. Glue stick
3. Colored pencils
4. Pencil/pen

Volia!  Decor' and the perfect ice breaker activity to help students get to know one another.

One last learning tool that will make your first week very easy is this...

This 19-page CCSS Fun Pack includes:
-an 8-page, 13-character script
-reader response questions
-context clue word work
-compare and contrast interactive notebook page
-a journal prompt for post-reading reflection
-a summary strategy interactive notebook page

Utilize this one day or over a period of a week as you enhance essential reading literature skills. Also, this is perfect to utilize with a substitute teacher as clear directions are provided for immediate implementation.

Summary of realistic fiction story:
The students at Sharpland Intermediate School are greeted by a police car on their first day of school. It turns out that a thief made off with a number of learning resources after Meet the Teacher Night. The students are frustrated about missing out on learning, so they come up with a plan to re-purchase the stolen goods.
 
I would love to hear what you think and I'd love for you to share any pics of your ice breakers or yor students performing.  Best of luck this year!

How My Family Spent Our Summer Vacation

The pictures have finally been downloaded from vacation...I still have to get copies to fill the frames in my house, and to send to friends and grandparents, but downloading is a start.  With the pictures downloaded, I have been able to create this slideshow on Smilebox.  I have posted a few of these on my blog from last year, but this is another way I utilize this awesome resource. 

This is the slideshow I plan to share with my new 6th grade students the first day of school.  I want them to learn a bit about me as their devoted new teacher, and I am hoping this might spark some thoughts as to what they want to share with me that they did over their summer break. This will be their very first entry in their writer's notebook of the year.  If students are able to bring in pictures to add to their writing, I will welcome them.  Any tools or resources that students willingly add to their writing is exciting.

Customize your own free slideshow

While some students will see this slideshow and immediately have a mind full of ideas, I know that is not true for all.  My plan is to introduce this ABC Brainstorming Organizer to show students one tool that is useful when they are trying to recall as much as possible about a topic.  My hope is that by generating as many thoughts about summer, my students will develop a piece, perhaps a narrative, to share their own experiences.

http://www.studenthandouts.com/Assortment-01/Graphic-Organizers/ABC-Brainstorming-Directions.html

Good luck with your first few days of writing in the classroom!  How will you inspire your amazing writers?

A Summer Day in the Life of a 6th Grade Teacher

I spent the first ten or so years of my teaching career trying to convince “those that DO NOT teach” that teachers work their tails off in the summer months to make ends meet-that we are SIMPLY not on vacation. I put in ten solid years of teaching summer school, coaching varsity athletics, working at Pottery Barn, tutoring, and putting my time and extensive energy into the restaurant industry to SURVIVE.  In fact right out of college, my first salary as a 5th grade teacher in a Catholic school was $16,900. While that was 1998, I gave teaching my all and still had to bartend to pay rent, my car payment, and all that comes with not being in college any longer.

Fast forward to TODAY…one of the best things about being a teacher with a family is that from Memorial Day until around the first week in August the majority of my summer days can be spent enjoying my kiddos and pretty terrific husband. Currently we are fortunate enough for him to have his own internet marketing business and he works from home. Fifteen years into teaching, I have the opportunity to attend summer workshops and professional development, develop units for my students, participate in novel studies, and blog on my own schedule during these rejuvenating summer months, which I find to be pretty AMAZING! However, never does my mind go into “VACATION” mode.

Like the majority of teachers my “teacher mind” is NEVER TURNED OFF! I am ALWAYS thinking about: a book, activity, item needing to be purchased for my incoming students, an update to my classroom, a song for the end of year video, a template I want to use in place of another I didn’t find quite as helpful, how I can improve upon something that I believe needs a little something else, etc.

I know those of you reading this can relate 100%. So while I no longer feel the need to justify what I do during what I like to call my “Summer REJUVENATION”-here is a look into a day in my life…

6:00-6:30AM: wake-up, make a cup of coffee, check/respond to e-mail, and check blog stats, read a few favorite blogs, and maybe take a peek at Pinterest

6:30-7:30AM: Run…I love running! It is a favorite stress reliever and there is nothing better than pounding the pavement first thing. I also love a butt-kicking cross-training class with my friends Maria and Rachel. Often Maria and I catch up for a few minutes about teaching..

7:30-8:30AM: my kiddos wake-up, breakfast, get dressed, figure out the day ahead if there is no football camp, basketball camp, or swimming lesson

8:30-9:30AM: morning playtime, we may read some books, build Lego creations, dress-up, draw some pictures, or JUST PLAY

9:30-12:00: maybe we play outside, go to a park, go to King’s Island or Soak City, visit the Cincinnati Zoo or the Newport Aquarium, the pool, an indoor play place, etc. Snack falls into that timeframe somewhere, too and I NEED a coffee from Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts-venti/x-large and cream!

12:00-1:00PM: lunch time-outside is the best!

1:00-2:00PM: more playtime-grocery store, pet shop, explosions of yelling, chasing, running, whining (not my favorite)

2:00-4:00PM; naptime for my daughter, but not before book time and a few minutes of Food Network-Giada is her favorite…for my son, it is time to do some work. He journals in his Daily Journal about an event of the day, we read his STAR words, go through sight word flash cards, (100 of them), we read 5 books and outside we go so he can play with his friend

4:00-5:00PM: “THE WITCHING HOUR”-I like to call this complaining time. Kids are hungry…

5:00-6:00PM certainly not an hour is spent at the dinner table, but that is the time frame when we cook and eat. Our favorite is eating outside.

6:00-6:30PM: walk to the library for new books

6:30-9:00PM: play outside with our neighbors-bouncehouse, sand or water table, run through the sprinkler, football, basketball, wiffleball, chase, swing, eat ice cream cones, etc

9:00-10:00PM: bathtime, booktime, snack, a show, more books, 5-minutes of Food Network (Chopped or Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives) bed for kiddos

10:00-11:00PM: check and respond to e-mail, check blogs, blurt out any new ideas, read a teacher resource or teaching-related text, jot down some thoughts, and head to bed

REPEAT!

Perhaps this is vacation to some, but I find I am a little exhausted at documenting it all. Most importantly, I don’t feel compelled to defend what I do as an educator during my “Summer Rejuvenation” because I know it helps me be my best from mid-August until the next Memorial Day! 

...until then, I'll be eating some popsicles with these handsome guys and running through the sprinkler with these silly chicks...