Classroom Library Update

I've just finished reading Game Changer by Donalyn Miller and Colby Sharp. Wow. The book is packed full of ways to make books real and alive for your students ... how to update your classroom library ... finding newly published books to add to your library ... to finding ways to get books into the hands of your students and their families.

So check out these updates in not only my own classroom library, but also in my thinking about children and books.

Famous Americans: Benjamin Franklin

We are in the midst of our very long famous people unit in Social Studies. In Virginia, second graders have to know George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington Carver, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Helen Keller, and Christopher Columbus. So that I don't overwhelm them, I taught Columbus around Columbus Day in October and MLK last week and this week around Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We will save Washington and Lincoln for Presidents Day in February.

The first person we covered this month was Benjamin Franklin. Since he was part of the Social Studies curriculum for first graders and I taught first grade for 8 years, I just grabbed my notebook off the first grade shelf! (I taught a combination of first and second for 2 years and now, thankfully, this year I have just second grade.)

Some of the books that I used are:

And here's the unit I created, which includes a reader, word search, vocabulary words with picture cards, and comprehension questions. 

This year I made a pocket in our Social Studies notebook to keep our reader safe. {See the picture above.}

1st Grade Reading: Flat Stanley on Ice

Hi, friends!

My first graders just finished reading Flat Stanley on Ice. I just love Flat Stanley and was thrilled to find these books in the Scholastic orders!

Halloween Mash Up

What a crazy week! We have been super busy with reading novels and researching about spiders, along with beginning our money unit in second grade and finishing our skip counting unit in first grade.

This week we broke out all of our Halloween centers and went to town!

Classroom Library

Books. {Insert sigh.} For as long as I can remember, I have loved to read. The worst punishment growing up was not being able to read and having extra chores. I wanted my students to have the same love for books that I did when I was their age. So during the summer I worked on organizing my books and leveling them. I had no idea how huge of a project that was going to be!

Back to School Read Alouds

Back to School? Do we hafta?? Well, since we do ... how about some different read alouds? I just blogged on the Virginia is for Teachers blog about some of my new books I am going to use this year!

Join me over there to read about the books I am going to use!

Wrapping Up the Year

I cannot believe that I have only four more days until this school year is over! Our grades were due earlier this week, but there was so much time left that we needed to stay busy. Here's some ideas to do in your classroom if you're like me!

Mr. Putter and Tabby Walk the Dog

I LoVe Mr. Putter and Tabby!
My second graders are at the point where they can read a couple of chapters and work independently on skill work. I knew I wanted them to be introduced to Mr. Putter and Tabby.

Joy Cowley contest: Barbie the Lamb

I have had the privilege of reading some new books by Joy Cowley, featuring the characters Mr. Whisper and Barbie.

I featured Mr. Whisper in a post last week. If you didn't see the post, click here.

Joy Cowley contest: Mr. Whisper

I have had the privilege of reading some new books by Joy Cowley, featuring the character, Mr. Whisper. Hameray Publishing is having a giveaway!

Mr. Whisper, well, whispers! He is a lovable character!

Christmas Book Recommendations

I LoVe kids books! What elementary teacher doesn't?! I have bins of books and bins of bins of books! Books on every bookcase and stacked everywhere! My bookcases at home are ridiculous. The books are spilling out of the shelves and onto the floor! Maybe I should have asked for another bookcase for Christmas!

Here's some of my favorite collections of books from posts in the past.

And now ... some of my favorite Christmas books!

Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation

What happens when Mrs. Claus needs to be recharged? She takes a vacation, of course! But what happens to the North Pole and Santa when she's away?

Franklin's Christmas Gift

Franklin learns first hand the importance of choosing the right gift to give away. And that it's more blessed to give than to receive.

Santa's Stuck

Check out this book to find out what happens when Santa gets stuck!

I have used Nancy's "Oh No! Santa's Stuck" unit for several years to accompany this book. Check out the link to see her wonderful activities!

How Santa Got His Job

Did you know Santa had other jobs before he became ... well ... Santa? This story tells about his other jobs and why he wasn't any good at them!

Jerry Pallotta is one of my favorite authors! 

Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight?

Santa thinks maybe he should have some different animals guide his sleigh on Christmas Eve night. 

Who Will Help Santa This Year?

Santa needs some help in the workshop this year. Who will he get?

And Rob Scotton's famous Splat books!

Merry Christmas, Splat!

Splat wonders if he's been good enough for a really big present this year. Will he get it??

Splat the Cat: Christmas Countdown

This touch and feel book is a fun one as you read through how Splat's family gets ready for Christmas!

Happy Christmas book reading!

More Concept of Word

This is a very short post and you can tell where my mind is on the night before the last day of school!  Here's "Little Boy Blue" concept of word unit.  You can get the free unit by visiting my TpT store or clicking on the image below.  I purchased a set of six books to have for a small group, as this book has an emphasis on sight words in context.  You can get the books for your classroom from Newmark Learning's website.


Little Boy Blue concept of word unit




Blessings,

Summer Reading

Happy Friday!  We've been reading, reading, reading fun books in class as we wind down for the year.  The children sit so still and quiet for a book - I'm amazed over and over again!  Here's some of my summer reading books that I recommend for first graders.

- Splat the Cat books

- Hot Rod Hamster

- Froggy books

- I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato

- Puff, the Magic Dragon

- There Was a Coyote Who Swallowed a Flea (similar to the "There Was an Old Lady ...")

- Frog & Toad books

While mentioning "I Will Never NOT EVER Eat a Tomato," I prepared an activity for my children to complete after listening to the story.  Click here to go to my TpT page or click on the image below.

Am working on activities to review telling time to the hour and half-hour and will post before the weekend is over.

Happy Weekend!

Let's Read!

We’re continuing to read fun books in class!  Today we read A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams.  We finished our economics unit last week, so the concept of saving money was still fresh in our minds, as the family saved money to purchase a new, soft, comfortable chair for Mama to relax in after a hard day at work.

What are your favorite read aloud books in your classroom?

Later,

Book Idea

It has been a long, difficult week in my house as we watch my grandfather's health quickly decline.  We have spent a lot of time with family, creating as many positive memories as possible.

With that said, I haven't put many "extras" into my lessons this week ~ well, that and the fact that I've been doing end-of-year reading testing!  But since we finished yesterday afternoon - much faster than anticipated! - we read Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk today and did several activities.

I frequently expect my children - yes, I know they're "only first graders" - to complete comprehension activities after listening to a story.  For this one, they completed a cause/effect map to tell three things that happened after Tom found Sam's notebook.  The other activity was to write about what they think Sam's next story would be.  I gave the children an opportunity to share with the rest of the class their idea.  My favorite was that Sam would join the Army and they would fight off the Chinese in a tank!  I'm adding the activities to my TpT store for you to enjoy . . . for free!

Enjoy the rest of your year!
Sarah