Fiction Friday

Happy Fiction Friday! I have some GREAT ones for you today!

My picture book for you is called C is for City. It is written by Nikki Grimes and illustrated by Pat Cummings.

This is quite a delightful book! Each page features an alliterative rhyme about the city. The rhythm is perfect and it would be pretty fun to read out loud. Here's an example from the W page:

W is for watching

those brave window washers

who dangle from buildings

a million feet tall.

Just rolls off the tongue! The book is set in New York City, but is applicable to any big city and I'm pretty sure most kids would relate it to a big city they know. I also learned something from this book - that "ghetto-blaster" is another word for boom box. News to me!

My chapter book for you this week is legit AMAZING! I read this in less than a day and I could not get enough of it. Here it is, Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai.

Even the cover is beautiful! This is the story of Hà, a Vietnamese girl who escapes to America at the end of the Vietnam War. She ends up settling in Alabama, and the book details her struggles to learn English, to live in a country where she is not part of the dominant culture, and to endure discrimination and bullying based only on her country of origin.

This book is written in verse, which really worked well. Thanhha Lai's choice of language was nothing short of beautiful. It was so descriptive, she used a ton of figurative language... it was like I was really there picking papayas with Hà and trying to choke down a hot dog for the first time. This would be a great mentor text for word choice beyond just a great read-aloud in general!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Halfway through the week! Wow!

I'm loving that I finished my ESL homework before 2 in the morning! I am the WORST procrastinator ever (or maybe I should say "the best"...), so I am pretty proud of myself for just sitting down and doing it! :)

I'm loving the Fresh Prince! I have been watching this show every day when it's on ABC Family before I go to bed and it is so funny. I just die laughing every day. I'm currently on the hunt for my Big Willie Style and Willennium CDs........ they have to be in my house somewhere!!

I'm loving People Colors crayons! I just bought these at Lakeshore on Tuesday. A few times this year I wanted the kids to draw legit pictures of themselves and I felt so bad when they would try to combine orange and brown to make their skin colors. Never again!

I'm loving that I got together with one of my teacher friends for lunch today!! I've only seen her once since school ended and it was great to catch up. I CAN'T WAIT to teach by her next year, yeah!!!!!!!!!!!! Also we ate at Chipotle and I just love that place. :)

I'm loving that I only have 2 more classes left of my summer class! I don't mind going but I do mind waking up at 6:30! Let's save that for August, thanks.

I'm loving that my boyfriend's birthday is on Saturday and I have a sweet gift for him! I can't tell you because he might read this.... and it's pretty much only exciting if you are him, haha!

I'm loving that the temperature has dropped significantly since last week. It is so pleasant to be outside! I love the summer when it's not ridiculously hot!!

What are you loving today?

Monday Made It: Mr. Spacer

Another week! Happy happy Monday. :)

This week I went with a super simple Monday Made It, but one that will be very useful next year! I introduce to you............. Mr. Spacer!

I first heard about Mr. Spacer from Hadar and he has been pinned for a long while. Mr. Spacer is used to help your students leave appropriate spaces between words! Lots of my students last year could have used this, but I can think of one student in particular who I wish I would have had this for! His handwriting is pretty messy, and a lot of the time I couldn't tell which letters he was making, let alone where one word ended and another began. I will have him again next year so I am excited to see how his work will change with the help of Mr. Spacer! 

To make Mr. Spacers, you'll need popsicle sticks, googly eyes, and Mod Podge. I got my popsicle sticks and googlies from Hobby Lobby. The popsicle sticks are regular sized and the googly eyes are 4 mm. So tiny!

All you have to do is Mod Podge two little eyeballs on top of each stick! I used a Q-tip to apply the Mod Podge and then just tossed it. That worked perfectly.

These can also be used as pointers or trackers to support one-to-one correspondence in reading. I think I'll have these out in baskets on the students' tables so they can use them when they need to. :)

Fiction Friday

Happy Friday! This week has been so crazy with the fourth. I feel like I am just floating from day to day, haha.

Time for Fiction Friday!

My first book for you today is a picture book, sort of! More like an Easy Reader I guess - Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa: Partners!

I recently finished No More I'm Done and the author suggested reading this book to introduce the idea of writing partners to the students. Now, I don't know about you, but I find that is WAY more effective to teach things in the context of a read-aloud than it is for me to just sit there and talk at the kids.

Anyway, this was a cute story about Kate and her cowhorse, Cocoa! There were 4 little chapters in the book detailing different little adventures they had - like trying to find a lost calf and getting new horseshoes for Cocoa. You might want to spread this over a few days, reading a chapter a day, when introducing Read to Someone in Daily 5 or when introducing writing partners, like the book said!

My second book for you is a chapter book: Anything But Typical.

This story is narrated by a middle school boy with autism. It basically goes through his day to day life, and you get to peek inside the head of someone who lives every day with autism. It was very interesting and eye-opening, especially because I've never worked closely with a student who has autism. I am just in awe of people who dedicate their lives to teaching students with autism - that is such an important and difficult job.

The only complaint I had about this book is that the author, Nora Raleigh Baskin, didn't mention how she came to write this book. Does she have a child with autism? Did she ever work with a student who has autism? Or was everything she wrote just based on research? I would have liked to know how true-to-life the story was.

Go check out the linky party for other good reads this week!

What I'm Loving Thursday

I missed my WILW post yesterday! Too busy having fun. :)

I'm loving the fourth of July. :) I forgot how fun it is! Everyone just chills all day, everyone is smiling, and you get to spend time with people you love! Yay.

I'm loving outlet malls! Today I went with my brother to one and it was amazing! I bought some linen crop pants, a new shirt for school, and a scarf, and I saved $50 compared to what I would have paid in the real New York and Company store. Any ideas of how to store my scarves? This is what I have now and it is kind of overflowing... haha!

I'm loving that I'm going sailing tomorrow! So excited!

I'm loving that there is going to be a Chicago area blogger meetup! Click on the picture to go to the Lesson Plan SOS blog so you can get your evite!

I'm loving that my cousins and I made t-shirts for the fourth of July. They were pretty much the cutest things ever and we had a great day together! I am in the middle here. :)

What are you loving today?

4 on the Fourth

Happy fourth of July!! Here in the Chicago area it was excruciatingly warm but I survived. :)

Today I am going to link up with the lovely Ms. M for her 4 on the Fourth linky party!

For this party, we need to talk about four things we are going to try this year - brand new stuff!

This is timely for me because during my ESL grad class yesterday, I got bored and started making a list of all the new stuff I want to implement! It was longer than four things but I will pick my four favoritos. :)

(1) I want to do writer's workshop this year. Last year I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants and doing my best teaching writing, but I know it wasn't as good as it could have been. I just finished No More "I'm Done!" and it was awesome. This combined with Mrs. Meacham's writing workshop lessons is hopefully going to equal happiness in my life next year. :)

(2) I want to expand my calendar routine to incorporate some of the Teacher Tipster's ideas to make it more well-rounded and comprehensive. I also want to move my calendar routine to the afternoon since I teach math at that time!

(3) I want my class to fill out their planners/assignment notebooks first thing in the morning next year. It seems like a little change but I think it will be a big difference in the day. Last year I would have them do it right before dismissal and it was a mess every day. Now I'll know that everyone has the right information and parents will know exactly what's expected of their kiddos!

(4) I want to forego my weekly newsletter to parents. It was a lot of work and stressed me out every Friday! Instead, I already set up a Tumblr page for our class to update parents on spelling words and upcoming events, and I'm going to implement News Notebooks in my class. Hopefully I'll write more about that once the school year starts - if it's going well, that is!

I have a really good feeling that this upcoming year is going to be, like, 8492749832 times better than this past year. My confidence is super high and I feel unstoppable!! :)

Skippyjon!

In case you haven't heard already, Kohl's has Skippyjon Jones books AND matching plushes right now for only 5 dolla dolla bills.

I picked up one of each.

The plush cracks me up; its head is HUGE. 

I'm thinking about putting Skippyjon in a basket so the kids can read to him during Read to Self time next fall. It might make reading a little bit more exciting for them. :)

Also, I have been legit bombarded by awards, which of course I so appreciate!! Thank you so, so much everybody for the Versatile Blogger Award and One Lovely Blog Award!

Check out these super nice lovely ladies' blogs. :)

and Alyce at Mrs. Bartel's School Family!
I hope you have a super happy and fun 4th tomorrow!