A Week of Thanks: A



There is nothing quite like curling up with a good book and a warm drink... coffee, hot chocolate, tea.. all good choices!

Right now I am taking a Children's Literature course as part of my master's degree and our big assignment is to read 30 new to us children and young adult books. This has been a great excuse for reading the ever growing mountain of books on my bedside table. One of the best books I have read for this project was The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. I had seen several of my students read it in the past and I have read many other books by Kate but I had never been drawn to this particular book. However, one of my students asked me to read it - he said it was amazing and that I would love it. I of course said yes and I am so glad that I did. The book was touching and left me thinking about how we grow and change depending on the people we meet in our lifetime. I can see now why so many of my students love this book. When I got back to school the next day, I explained to my students that I might be extra tired because I had stayed up all night reading. They all wanted to know what the book was and then I had a line of students who wanted to read it next! I have read some excellent books. Check a few of them out below:

A Week of Thanks: H 



Last Christmas I pleaded with my husband to get a dog. Now anyone who knows me would question this request as I have always been rather afraid of dogs - at least until I get to know them. But my heart was set on rescuing a young dog and bringing it into my family. I wanted it so badly, that one of the persuasive writing activities I had my fourth graders complete was a letter to Mr. A. explaining why he should get me a dog for Christmas. I showed them pictures of the dogs I was interested in and then they went to work listing the pros and cons of dog ownership. Out of my 21 students, only one did not think I should have a dog (she had a misbehaving puppy of her own at home!). Needless to say, the letters did their job and 4 days before Christmas, we went and met our Audrey. She has added so much to our family and I could not imagine life without her. So I am thankful to have a happy puppy that loves to play and cuddle.

Over the summer I shared this picture of my Class Cash rewards poster as part of a Monday Made It and then promised a post about how I would use it in the classroom.


I didn't have a chance to share before now but I am kind of glad because now I can talk about how it is working in my classroom.... I LOVE it! And best of all, my students LOVE it too! So here is how it works:

During the week students earn points on Class Dojo, an electronic classroom management app. Since I work at a school that uses PBIS, I only use positive points. Here is a screen shot of the positive behaviors that I am looking for students to demonstrate.


Students are highly motivated to make good choices in class and perk up when they hear the positive ding that signals someone just earned a Dojo point.

What do you do to recognize individual students in your classroom?

This week I am working on a paper all about e-readers for my reading development class. Our textbook says that electronic talking books can be especially helpful for students who have limited motivation to read. I totally agree that e-readers can help entice reluctant readers but  I am cautious about letting my students use ETB in the classroom because of the possibility for distraction due to the “extras” such as sound effects or animation. An article that I read in The Reading Teacher discussed the different types of interactions that exist in ETBs and put forth an evaluation tool to help teachers determine the quality of an electronic book. The article suggested that teachers look at the interactions to see if they, supported the text, or extended the readers thinking beyond the text, or if they were just for fun. If you use electronic books in your classroom, do you find that interactions within the e-books draw students’ attention away from the actual reading of the text? How do you choose what books are available for students to read? What apps or websites do you use?

It is that time again - time to link up with Farley at Oh' Boy, 4th Grade for her fabulous "currently" linky.

Did you miss the huge Teachers Pay Teachers Back to School Sale? Did you miss out on a great resource? Well, you are in luck! TpT is having a BOOST sale. In honor of the sale, this week's Wordless Wednesday is focused on the great, creative resources that are on sale.



My whole store is on sale, but I wanted to highlight my favorite resource that is perfect for back to school!


What resources are you going back to grab today?

I am teaching literacy to two classes this year so I needed to find a way to manage students' Daily 5 choices in a way that allows me to quickly see what each student should be doing. At the beginning of class students come in, set their rotations for the period, and then start a "must-do" at their seat.

My question for you is - How do you manage your students' Daily 5 choices?

I'm linking up with Blog Hoppin' to show you some of the great products that I snagged during the TpT Back to School Sale. I have been waiting all summer for this sale to grab these great products!

Last up, Animal Adaptations and Survival - Science Weekly Five from the Science Penguin. She always creates the best science mini-units. They fit in well with my guided reading and literacy rotations. Plus this unit matches up with our new science standards!

I am linking up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for her fabulous Monday Made It linky party. I have been busy this past week making some new items for my classroom. My summer goal was to get my classroom and materials organized so that this next year will at least start off organized. So my Made Its are all about organization!

We had a workshop day for our building today and I was excited to get back into my room and do some planning with my fourth grade team. Things started off well but the afternoon was rocky. I came home feeling frustrated and grumpy. I was about to call my mom to vent about what happened when I thought of something she has said to me a million times: PMA - Positive Mental Attitude. Stay positive and things will turn around. Growing up when she would say this, I would get so annoyed. I am not usually a positive person - the glass is almost always half empty. But for some reason thinking about her motto this afternoon helped to calm my frustrations and turn my attitude around. With her motto in mind, I am ready to go back tomorrow and get some more work done!

Since this quote has had such an impact on me today, I want to share it with you. So I am linking up with Mrs. Laffin's Laughings and her:



Do you have a quote that helps you calm down and turn your attitude around?

Tuesdays have been my favorite day of the week this summer. I have gotten some great new resources that I am excited to try out this school year! I decided to share the love and link up with two of my most popular items.

The first product is a graphic organizer that I created last year during our narrative writing unit. My students struggled with developing a conflict so I had them think of a lesson that they learned. I shared about slamming my finger in the door when I was 5 or 6 and I explained that my lesson was make sure your fingers are not in the car door before closing it. Then I modeled how to build up to learning the lesson learned by focusing in on a small moment and using my senses to describe the scene for my readers. Students then chose a seed moment, created their lesson learned, and then filled out the graphic organizer. The resulting stories were fabulous! Unfortunately, I do not have any picture of their final products.

The second product is a conferring form that I used while meeting with students individually to discuss their narrative writing pieces. Down the side are a list of goals that directly relate to the writing Common Core Standards. Along the top you can add your students names. Then as you confer, you can record evidence of skills or strategies applied by students. This form helped me build strategy groups and mini-lessons for my writer's workshop time. It also allowed me to give immediate constructive feedback to my writers.


My Tried It Tuesday is technology related. I am new to the blogging community. I have been reading and following quite a few blogs for the past three years and I have finally worked up the courage to try it myself. I have used bloglovin' as my reader for some time so I knew that I wanted to have a Follow Me button on my page. I think I have followed the directions correctly and I hope that you will  Follow my blog with Bloglovin!

Head back over to The Teaching Tribune to find some great deals and link up with Fourth Grade Flipper to share something that you've tried!

For my first post I am linking up with The Teaching Tribune as part of the Summer Bloggin' series. What a fun way to introduce myself and get to know some great bloggers!


1. I absolutely love to read and always have. One of my earliest memories is sitting with my mom reading Good Morning, Muffin Mouse. She read me that book so often, that I had it memorized and could "read" it to anyone.

2. I really like my name, even though I graduated with at least 3 other girls with the same name. I would be happy with my middle name too - Elizabeth.

3. This was extremely scary for me as a new teacher! I was teaching fifth grade at the time and my student tried to catch a football while swinging. When he let go, he flipped over backwards and landed face first in the wood chips. It was very difficult to keep composed so that I didn't frighten him or the other 100 students on the playground who witnessed it happen!

4. Hermione Granger is my favorite female literary character. She has brains and is not afraid to use them. My husband got to go to to the Harry Potter Universal theme park a few years ago and brought me back Hermione's wand. I get to take it out once a year around Halloween when my school does Character Dress Up Day :)

5. I have a brother who is ten years older than me and a sister that is 7 years younger than me. Yes, that's right. There are 17 years between my brother and my sister. My mom's explanation for the wide spread: Built-in babysitter!

6. I absolutely love breakfast and I cannot function without eating in the morning! Usually it consists of something quick, like toast with Nutella or an english muffin with jelly. But when given the choice of something more substantial I love eggs and french toast.