Books We've Shared!

“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” 

-Lemony Snicket

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I LOVE to read aloud to my students! I really make an effort to do it every day, even though the days are mega-packed as it is. 

When we share a story, I like to use it as an opportunity to understand genre. I have genre posters (from "Really Good Stuff" - here's the link) that I have posted on the cupboards in the back of my room. When we finish a story, whether it's a regular read-aloud or a story we have all shared from our reading textbook, I like to post a photo of the story next to the genre poster it belongs to. I used to just write the title and the author with overhead pen (you know I have TONS of those left since we got our document cameras!) but I think it is more helpful to kids to have the visual. You can either print an image of the cover off of your computer, or literally just make a black-and-white copy using the regular old copy machine.

I prefer to discuss with the students the genre after we finish the book, and some years I am better at that than others. If we don't get a chance to discuss it, I will still post it on the cupboard. Check out the examples below!

We started the year by reading No Talking by Andrew Clements. It was pretty cute and entertaining.

My new favorite picture book author is Oliver Jeffers. You can see three of his books in the photo above. If you haven't checked them out, I would highly suggest it! His books are just so charming.

I also heard of an idea a few years ago about letting the kids vote for some of their favorite stories from the year to reread as school begins to wind down for the year (picture books, of course!). I might try it!

Do you have a way of keeping track and/or celebrating of what books you read together as a class? How do you teach genre?

:) Jenny

Scholar Target Posters!!!

"But all the magic I have known, I've had to make myself." -Shel Silverstein, "Magic", Where the Sidewalk Ends

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Many teachers (like me!) post "Learning Targets" to help students make sense of what they are doing and what they are trying to achieve. I post "I can" statements every day next to each subject on my daily schedule on my whiteboard. Students check them out to see what the day will bring, and we sometimes read aloud through them together. It really helps me as a teacher to make sure I understand the learning goals of each lesson! Every day matters. :)

There are also a variety of behaviors that we can teach our students that will lead to their success in school. I have created “Scholar Targets” for this very purpose! You can find them in my TPT store (see link below). Students can choose which target they want to work on each week, or you can work on one as a class. There are 40 different Scholar Targets you will find in this pack, plus blank templates you can use to create your own. There is a HUGE variety of targets you will find. Examples include: "I can respond to the attention signal." "I can ask an academic question today." "I can do my share of the work." "I can answer by speaking in complete sentences." and MANY more!

Students can reflect in writing how they are doing, compliment each other at the end of a lesson or at the end of the day, or participate in a class discussion about the targets. There are lots of directions you could go with these!

Do you do something like this in your classroom? How would you incorporate "Scholar Targets" into what you are already doing?

TPT Link to Scholar Targets Posters

Keep molding those minds and shaping those hearts, teachers! The world is counting on us!

:) Jenny

Art From a Different Perspective!

"Think left and think right, think low and think high. Oh, the THINKS you think up if only you try!" -Dr. Seuss

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So this post is a little late in coming, because it refers to a project I completed before Christmas. Whoops! But it was just so cute that I wanted to write about it.

I've seen on Pinterest the idea of creating "Snowmen from a Different Perspective." The original blog post can be found here. Here's an example I made:

I try to integrate Math into Art whenever I can, and we call it "MART" (a former student of mine came up with this!). So when I did this project, it was important to me NOT to provide templates for the circles. Instead, we used compasses and learned about the parts of a circle (radius, diameter, circumference), and made our own circles! Combine that with some cute scrapbook paper, and you have one of the cutest snowmen around! My grade level colleague even had the idea of using some of the scraps and making "mini" snowmen, so we did that this year. They were super fun!

Anyway, I looped up with a few of my students, because I had a 4/5 blend last year, and a straight 5th grade this year, so 10 of my kiddos already did this project. BUT...I love it so much, I didn't want to give it up, so I thought.... what could we do that is similar, so my new kids could do the snowman, but the kids who had already done it would have a different option?

So.... I thought of.... wait for it..."Christmas Trees from a Different Perspective"! Every one of my kids from last year chose to do the tree. We still used compasses to make the circles, but then they trimmed them to make them look like branches. Then we added garland, ornaments, and some presents! My example is on the left below, and a student sample is the one on the right!



All the work went up on a bulletin board, and it looked super cute!

I plan to bust out the compasses again to do a solar system art project - Science+Math+Art="SMART"!

What are your ideas for integrating math into art?

Yay!
:) Jenny