Life Lesson #3...

Be Courageous

*Today brought us life-lesson #3 during our writer's notebook time.

*This is one of my favorite days of the week because I love sharing these lessons with my students.

*It was all about COURAGE today.

*We watched the video clip first.  I actually had some "giggling" which led to a great discussion.

*The class watched again and this time there were no "giggles."

*The writers spent about 5 minutes writing in their notebooks.

*The writing could include thoughts, reactions, feelings, reminders, or anything related to the theme.

*Toward the end we take a few minutes to share.

*This one was a powerful lesson and I could tell the students wrote some great stuff!

Life Lessons from this Year...

Life Lesson #1 - Be Brave

Life Lesson #2 - Be Kind

Picture Wednesday #2 and #3...

"Sun Setting"

*This was the picture I used today for our writer's notebook.

*I post the picture and we discuss a bit as a class.

*Then the writers record their thoughts, reactions, feelings, and ideas about the picture.

*They can also write a fiction story about the picture if they would like.

*At the end of the writing time, we have a few writers share their writing if they would like.

"Panda Tumble"

*This was the picture we used last Wednesday and I forgot to post it!  

Wonder Wednesday #60...

Wonder Wednesday - Book Giveaway

*This idea comes directly from Donalyn Miller. 

*I attended a workshop she gave this past August.

*She described how she gives out "new reads" to her students.

*This is our first "giveaway" of the school year...

*My goal was to start this "wonderful" idea the first week of school, but that got away from me.

*As I blogged about earlier, I have three "reading" classes this year.  A dream come true!

*Today I set up our first book "giveaway".  No, they don't get to keep the book, but do get to read it.

*I "book talked" Comics Squad to all three classes.  

*After the book talk, I invited those students that were interested to submit their reading name card.

*All the cards went into our "book bowl".  

*Tomorrow I will draw a name from the bowl and that student will be the first reader to get their hands on this particular book.

*I'm thinking of drawing maybe five cards so we have a list of who will get the book next.  

*The readers are very excited to see who will be the first to get to read this new book in our classroom collection.

*I'm hoping to do this type of "drawing" several times a week.  

*Thanks to Donalyn Miller for sharing this awesome idea.  

*The excitement is palpable!!!  

Treat Tuesday #60...

Treat Tuesday - Cheeseburger Paradise Soup

*A friend of mine posted this on Facebook.

*We looked it up and gave it a try.

*Let me just say it was DELICIOUS!!!

Ingredients...

• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 small carrot, grated
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped seeded jalapeno pepper
• 3 cups water
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 2 pounds ground turkey or beef
  
• 1/2 pound sliced fresh mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5 cups 2% milk, divided
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 package (16 ounces) process cheese (Velveeta), cubed
• Crumbled cooked bacon

Directions...

1. In a Dutch oven, bring the first nine ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook beef and mushrooms in butter over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add to soup. Stir in 4 cups milk; heat through.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour and remaining milk until smooth; gradually stir into soup. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat; stir in cheese until melted. Garnish with bacon. Yield: 14 servings (about 3-1/2 quarts).

Treat Tuesday:  Middle Grade Novel

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

*A student saw these two books on my "hard cover" book shelf and asked me about them.

*After raving about them, the reader took Hugo to start reading and then was going to read Wonderstuck afterwards.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick











Treat Tuesday:  Adult Novel

How Evan Broke His Head by Garth Stein

*Garth's new book comes out this month and I was reminded of this great story that he wrote.  A must-read!  

Music Monday #2...

"Proud" by Heather Small

*Today brought our second selection for Music Monday.  

*This is one of my most favorite songs both for my students and myself.

*I have used it for years and to me it just gets better and better.  

*Today we watched the video and had a quick discussion about the content of the "story."

*My writers then spent about 5 minutes recording their thoughts in their writer's notebooks.

*While writing we wrote and listened to the song again (without the video showing).

*At the end we had a few of the writers share what they had written.  

Music Monday Selections for 2014-2015…

Week #1 = What I Am by will.i.am and Sesame Street Characters

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (9/15/14)...

Thanks to Jen and Kellee for hosting this idea on their site.  Here is a link to their site...

                

 http://www.teachmentortexts.com/


**I can tell the school year has started (and we had a country hoedown for 100 people at our house) and I'm just not having as much time to read.  

Books I Read this Past Week…

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

*5 STARS out of 5 Stars!







Books I Will (continue to) Read this Week…

Natchez Burning by Greg Iles

*My adult-novel novel

A Sudden Light by Garth Stein

*Another adult read.  The book comes out in September.

*Author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus by Tom Angleberger

*My second middle-grade novel

Friend Friday #59...

Hi!  I’m Julie and I’m reading the book called Sisters written by Raina Telegemeier.

I think this book is amazing because in the book there is a lot of details and exciting parts.  

My favorite part in the story is when they go to their aunt's house and how they got there  because  it was kind of funny.  

The character that I liked best was Raina because she had the most stuff happening in the book which I like.   

I think the author wrote this book because she wanted to let us know about Raina's (her) life.  

I would recommend this book to my friends because it is good with the other books the author has written.  

Reading to me is the best because this book really excites me.  


*This is the first "Friend Friday" post with one of my students from my new 2014-2015 fourth grade class.
*Julie started off our reading workshop this year with a bang.
*She appears to be an avid reader and whenever I observed her reading, she was always engaged deeply in her reading.
*I know it is going to be a great year of watching this particular student grow even more as a reader.