Relax and Read!

For most of us, one of our goals as teachers is to instill a love of reading. I find much of that is in the way it's presented! I never tell my students they "have to" read. I never, ever let it sound like a chore. I tell them it's time to...

 

Independent Reading time in my classroom is pretty special. I have a collection of pillows that I ONLY allow to be used during independent reading time.

Plus, I make sure there are plenty of good books available for the kiddos. They typically go to the school library once a week, and I have loads of great books in the classroom as well.

Although I typically insist on their reading "Just Right Books", I make an exception on Fridays... they can read an "Easy Sneezy" book. Who doesn't love revisiting an old friend? This is the "summer beach read" for the kids.

One more thing I do to instill a love of reading: model a love of reading!

Much of this comes from my read alouds, which is my favorite part of the day! Read alouds are a great time to model many reading skills, but modeling that love of reading is at the top of the list.

I choose books for my read alouds that are worthy of loving... books I've loved in the past, books I know children enjoy, topics I know the children enjoy, and authors we love. 

I've actually been known to pick up a book and caress the cover.  Ok, maybe it's a little bit of overacting, but it really isn't. 

I really do love these books!

And I make sure the kids know it!

Hope you find some time to Relax and Read!

It's Time to Let Go of Summer, But Hooray for Autumn!

Summer is almost over. 

I hate to let go of summer, but...

Hooray for Autumn!

 

Don't you love this time of year? The kids are settled into their classroom routines and are really in "learning mode!"

The weather is perfect: cool nights for sleeping and warm days for playing outside. It's perfect for football, apple picking, carving pumpkins, and jumping into those beautiful leaves!

I'll be focusing on the change of seasons in my classroom this week.

This will be our writing focus this week:

See the image or see here for this Dollar Deal: Summer or Fall Opinion Writing.

This resource is part of my Fall Printables Collection, which I'll be using a lot these next couple of weeks!

 

Explore the image or see here for more information about this collection of fall printables: Fall No Prep Printables

I will be reading a couple of my favorite books for the season:

(All of these are affiliate links to Amazon.)

• The Reason for Seasons (I LOVE Gail Gibbons' books!)
• Sunshine Makes the Seasons
• A Tree for All Seasons
• Why Do Leaves Change Color?
• Apples (Another Gail Gibbons!)
• The Pumpkin Book (Yes, another Gail Gibbons!)    

Aren't books a great way to bring out science and social studies concepts?

What are your favorite fall books for kids?

What will you be doing to celebrate autumn?

Making Friends is an Art!

Julia Cook has written a number of children's books dealing with sensitive issues. 

In her books, she has amazing ways of dealing with tough subjects in a child friendly, fun way! 

Learn more about this author and her books at her website HERE.

I read Making Friends Is an Art!  to my class the other day, and I'm so glad I did! (Explore image for affiliate link to Amazon.)

The story is about the brown pencil in a box of colored pencils. It is jealous of the other colors because they get more use, and are well liked. Red, especially, is so popular that it's been sharpened down to a stump!

Brown explores friendships with the other colors, and finds out that in order to have friends, one has to be a friend, and their first friend should be themselves!

As Brown explores himself, through the help of his color friends, he finds out he is the combination of all the other colors!

We stopped to chat several times throughout the book to discuss the different personality traits.  "Yellow always does what's right, do you know anyone like that?"  Yes, they did!  "Who do you know that's like Pink, and always listens?" They had plenty of answers (including their teacher!)  The one that really made me smile was their response to Purple, who has hopes and dreams... they all said themselves!  (Don't you love kids?) My favorite part was that they included all the kids in the class in their comments, not just the "more popular" children.

After realizing that Brown was the combination of all the other colors, I simply had to give the kids some time to explore with paint so they could see for themselves!

Don't you love kids and paint? It really has a magical effect on them! (And they are amazingly quiet while painting!) I did happen to notice that most of the children included some BROWN in their pictures!

In Making Friends is an Art! Julia Cook personifies colored pencils with human characteristics. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get children to think about the character traits of their classmates.

Going along with the ART theme, I've designed a Friendship Palette for the children to take the character traits that Julia Cook gives the colored pencils in the book, and find classroom friends with the same character traits.

It was a great opportunity to look for the best in their classmates!

I made two versions of the Friendship Palette, one in color, and one that's more "printer ink" friendly, where the children can color the individual backgrounds themselves. Explore the image below for a link to this resource!

There are two options for sharing classmates: The children can draw their classmates in the ovals, or the teacher can provide photographs.  I chose to use photographs, and I chose to go a little crazy in order to avoid popularity contests or children being left out. Since I have 17 students, I made 17 different collections of photographs and rotated the faces so there were 11 per page, and each page was different.  (I'd show you, but I don't post my students' faces in public!)

It was totally worth the extra effort for me, as the children had no trouble fitting their 10 random classmates into all the spaces on the friendship palette.  Of course, their own picture went into the center for brown!

 
The children had fun, and spent time thinking about their friends and character traits!
 
Plus, I'm really glad I chose this book!  It was just perfect for my class! 

 

See the image or see HERE for your resource!

Can you believe how many great books she has?  

 

You can buy this book and several others at her website HERE!

 

5 Patriotic Options for Veterans Day or Any Patriotic Holiday

The last couple of days, we spent a lot of time discussing what a veteran is and why it's important to honor them. 

(I always like my kids to know WHY we get a day off!) True, they're due for a break (as are the teachers!) We survived a marathon day of teaching and parent-teacher conferences this week, so we deserve a day off to recover!

1.  First of all, there are books! I absolutely love to introduce concepts to children through quality literature! I admit. The Wall gets me choked up every time I read it. As I read it yesterday, the children were totally silent. (My group is NEVER totally silent!) It affected them deeply.

The Wall

America: A Patriotic Primer

H is for Honor: A Military Family Alphabet

My Dad's a Hero

Night Catch

F is for Flag

2.  Next, I like to show some videos. I try to time it so we watch a video on Thursday during snack time since Thursday is popcorn day in our school. It just seems appropriate! Here is a great patriotic video, and the kids really take to it!

 

3.  I play music frequently through the school day. I make sure I have music playing in the morning as the children arrive, but I also make sure they hear music at different times of the day. Sometimes it's soft background music, and sometimes it's lively, fun music. Both kinds of music have their place. Here are a couple that I love!

God Bless America: The Ultimate Patriotic Album

Party Tyme Karaoke Patriotic

   

4.  I did this Veterans True or False activity with my students on Thursday, and it was awesome! Interestingly, our assistant principal came in while we played the game and told the students he was a veteran. My students broke out into applause! (I was so proud!) Of course, most of my little guys went nuts when they found out he drove a tank! Click the image or click HERE for the link!

Do you have active students? After they read this text, they can have a blast moving around to answer the questions in Reading Comprehension for Active Learners: Freedom Isn't Free!

5.  Here's a freebie that I did with my students on Friday.  They wrote thank you letters to Veterans! Their notes were heartwarming and proud to me. They understood how lucky we are to be Americans and have these wonderful people risking their lives for our freedom!

Thank You Veterans Writing Paper

How do you celebrate Patriotic Days?

Fun for Constitution Day

I love going all out for Constitution Day!

My students wear red, white, and blue, and the whole school recites the pledge together, outdoors at the flagpole.

 

 

We have 1700s USA flags for the kids to color, and copies of the school promise to sign with a quill pen. Sometimes even George Washington and Benjamin Franklin stop by the classrooms with a little skit about the signing of the Constitution.

Of course, I might read a book or two:

We the Kids: The Preamble to the Constitution of the United States

Constitution Day

Here's one of my favorite Schoolhouse Rock Videos!

Here's a Constitution Trivia Boom Learning Activity:

US Constitution Fun Facts

And, of course, I have a couple more Patriotic resources:

Here's an explanation of 6 USA holidays, and some suggestions on celebrating our country.

Patriotic Holidays!

Here's another fun resource: a variety of writing paper with a USA theme:

USA Themed Writing Paper

What are your ideas for fun on Constitution Day?

Resources to Celebrate Mexico!

Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day. 

(That is celebrated on September 16th.) Cinco de Mayo does celebrate a Mexican battle. It dates back to May 5, 1862, and I imagine if I were Mexican, I'd know more about it. I've shown this video in the past. The content is a little above the heads of my second graders, but it gives the kids a taste of Mexican history with a cute sombrero-wearing chili character and a catchy tune.

Those of us who live in the USA think of Mexico as our "neighbors to the south." It's also a lovely place to visit when the winter is cold and bitter. (Winter sure gets nasty here in New Hampshire!)

Many of us like to think of Cinco de Mayo as a day to celebrate our Mexican neighbors.

Here's another Youtube video that gives the kids a taste of Mexico. It's filled with Mariachi music and pictures that are classically Mexican!

A couple more You Tube videos that give kids a "taste" of Mexico:

Or... it's not too late to order some of your own Mariachi music. Check out these CDs available on Amazon. (These are affiliate links, which means I get a few cents from a sale, but it doesn't change your cost at all!)

• Viva El Mariachi
• Mexico and Mariachis

I prefer to have loads of literature when I teach about anything, particularly another country. Here are some of my favorite informational books about Mexico!

• Mexico ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Mexico
• P is for Pinata: A Mexico Alphabet
• Look What Came from Mexico
• Off We Go to Mexico  

Of course, after learning about Mexico through books and videos, I'd have my kids write about the country. Here's some paper with a Mexico theme, and it's only $2! You can find it here: Mexico Themed Writing Paper

What good is a celebration of Mexico without a little Mexican food and a craft?  Tortilla chips with salsa are easy and popular, so I imagine they'll make an appearance. If you're daring, bring in some hot salsa!

Here are a couple more Mexico resources your students might enjoy:

Cinco de Mayo No Prep Printables

Mexico Suffixes Go Fish