Big Time Blogging Challenge: Day 7 AND Made it Monday

Hey ya'll! I'm being a good girl and continuing with the blogging challenge AND posting my very first Monday Made It. Whoo hoo! 

Ok, for Day 7 Michelle has asked about our favorite books as a child or as an adult. 

Man, that is a tough one! I was (and still am) a WILD READER. (Shout out, Donalyn Miller! :)) I LOVE to read and can be totally engrossed in whatever I'm reading, no matter what is going on around me. 

As a kid, I loved the Babysitter's Club books and most realistic fiction. However, my 3 most favorite books I ever read were probably The Giver, The Phantom Tollbooth and The Twenty One Balloons...all fantasy. Go figure. 

I loved these books. (Still do) I read The Phantom Tollbooth to my students EVERY SINGLE YEAR and I love when they fall in love with it too. It is also one of those perfect examples of "don't judge a book by it's cover" because, let's be honest, that is not the most engaging cover for a 5th grader. I love the play on words and the "smart" humor...it is a MUST READ. Seriously. Add it to your list of books right now. And before I leave my soapbox, let me put in a plug for the necessity of teachers who read. Not 'Reading Teachers', but all teachers who read. We can't expect our students to read if we have zero knowledge of books ourselves. 

And now I'll step off my soapbox to show you my...

I have been in love with the mesh wreaths for a while. And I'm pretty crafty, but I hadn't tried these little guys out yet and I finally made one! This one is for my classroom, which will be UNT themed next year.

  I am itching to make my own wreath for my house for Fall...and Winter...and Valentines Day...and St. Patricks. I mean, I'm obsessed now. 

And then, I did some "re-lovin'" on this trunk my aunt bought. I don't know if the rest of the country is as obsessed with "distressing" furniture as we are in the south, but the old antique-y look is totally in down here :) 

Before

After :) 

 Ok, before I wrap up this now super long post, I am going to advertise a few more Monday Made Its--items in my TpT store! My Reading Review folder in English and Spanish is finally up! AND I also created a Literature Circles bundle for anyone wanting to dive into Lit Circles. :) 

Or if you are looking for some cute organization for your classroom supplies check out my chalkboard themed labels: 

Library labels coming soon! :) 

Thanks for stopping by, especially if you are still reading after this marathon post! Have a happy Monday!

Inferring...aka the HARDEST thing to teach :/

Am I the only teacher who has trouble teaching kids to make inferences? I'm starting to believe it's one of those innate talents people either have or they don't...sort of like understanding sarcasm, you either got it or you don't. 

Speaking of sarcasm, I feel I am doing my daily duty to teach 5th graders about making inferences with my multiple quips on an hourly basis. And they seem to get it...seriously, they do! But then they read a standardized test or an unfamiliar text and they lose the ability to infer. What.the.heck.  

Anyway, we (the other reading teacher on my team and I) decided to do an iInfer page for morning work. It's nothing special, just 5 boxes-one for each day of the week. Every morning students come in and read a "Mini Mystery" and use clues from the text (hello, text evidence!) to "solve" the mystery. We are using this book: 

I'll be honest, some of them are hard but my kids LOVE them and are always saying "OHHH yeaaaa" (over dramatically, of course) when they realize what the correct answer actually is. It's great when they have to use their text evidence ("clues" from the mystery) to support their answer. 

HOWEVER, I am pleading with all of you who might read this--share with me some of the tips/books/lessons you use with your kids when teaching inferencing. Even with testing "done" for most of my kids, it is a skill we need to continue to improve. :) Thanks in advance for all of your fabulous advice 

Have a great Tuesday! 

Mentor Monday 3/31/14: Visualizing

I'm not even gonna lie, when I first saw the topic for this week's Mentor Monday with The Reading Tutor, I was stumped---I couldn't pin down my "go-to" book. I mean, I try to have my kids visualize with every text we read; but then again, when I read picture books to them during a mini-lesson sometimes it kind of defeats the purpose of visualizing. They look at what the illustrator has drawn and assume that was the "right answer" for what they should have pictured...does that make sense? I almost prefer to use chapter books when teaching visualizing because many of them don't have pictures and require students to have "visual recall" [a new phrase I've decided to coin] when reading texts that span over several days. 

Before I get off my soap box and onto which text I love best for visualizing, I have one more (ok, two) things to point out. 1. Visualizing is probably one of the most important strategies we can teach emergent readers because if they don't learn how to picture the words in their head, they really never learn to love reading. I mean, how boring would it be if you weren't playing a "movie" in your head while reading the text?! 2. I think many times readers are disappointed when they see a movie adaptation of a book they've read, because it isn't how they visualized it. See? Visualizing. is. important. 

Ok, on with my book. I LOVE to start off the year reading Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick 

It is such an incredible story, I definitely recommend it to fellow teachers. Now, it's probably not a book you want to read with students younger than 4th grade...and really it's probably best for 5th graders. It has everything you could ever want in a book, dynamic characters, a plot with lots of twists and turns and such a sweet message to kids. The narrator is the main character and he is so sarcastic (which happens to fit my personality perfectly) so the kids can really relate to him. I wanted to share some of the descriptive language the author uses that is perfect for having kids visualize, but I realized I lent my copy to another teacher and I can't remember who at the moment! 

Anyway, I usually start off reading this book the first day of school and allow my kids to take turns drawing what they visualize on the white board. (There is something so "magical" about the white board to them...)

I know there are about a zillion books that are great for teaching visualizing--I mean, pretty much any 'good' book is, right? But this is just one of my favorites! 

PS. Today was the first day of STAAR. yipeee. 

PPS. Pray for my darlin's tomorrow--it's the Reading STAAR. :)

Mentor Monday (or Thursday Night..whatever)-Analyzing Characters

Due to my Spring Break hiatus, I am trying to catch up...but that's because I couldn't miss this Mentor Text Monday! I'm pretty sure there are a zillion books you could use for when teaching students to analyze characters. In 5th grade, my kids have to be able to identify character traits, relationships and conflicts...that includes noting how and why characters change. Well, I have used several books to teach and reteach and reteach this (because sometimes, it just doesn't stick or another example is even better!) Here are a few books I use for teaching character:

Julius Baby of the World by Kevin Henkes

Not only is it hilarious, students can see how Lily goes from thinking her brother is "disgusting" to being fiercely protective of him. And of course, kids can make lots of connections to this book!Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch

Here is a summary: 

The main character in the picture book is a very lonely man, Mr. Hatch. The story begins with a description of Mr. Hatch's lonely daily life. He lives alone, barely knows or talks to anyone, works all day in a shoelace factory, buys a fresh turkey wing for supper each day, eats, takes a shower, and goes to bed. In his neighborhood and at work people say the same thing about Mr. Hatch, "He keeps to himself." Mr. Hatch's loneliness is illustrated with drab colors and by the way in which the artist depicts him: shoulders slumped, head down, manner subdued.

All of this changes when the postman brings Mr. Hatch a huge, heart shaped box of chocolates along with a card that says, "Somebody loves you." Mr. Hatch is so happy he does a little dance. Because he thinks he might meet his secret admirer, Mr. Hatch puts on a colorful tie and some old aftershave. He takes the box of chocolates to work to share. He even talks to Mr. Smith at his newspaper stand, notices he looks sick, and offers to watch the newsstand while Mr. Smith goes to the doctor's office. Mr. Hatch continues to talk to others, to help those in need, and to share with his neighbors. In fact, Mr. Hatch bakes brownies and holds an impromptu picnic for his neighbors at which he plays his old harmonica for them. His neighbors enjoy being with Mr. Hatch and like him very much. The more Mr. Hatch is friendly and kind to his neighbors, the more they reciprocate. When the postman tells Mr. Hatch that the candy had been delivered to his house by mistake and that he doesn't have a secret admirer, Mr. Hatch becomes withdrawn again. The postman tells the neighbors what has happened. The neighbors get together and throw a big surprise party for Mr. Hatch, complete with candy, a new harmonica, and a big sign that said, "Everybody loves Mr. Hatch."

This book is so sweet. It is great for character changes...and bonus! If you go to Storyline Online, it can be read to your students :) 

And last, but of course NOT least, I always always always use 

Yes, I use the Little Golden Book version, (I still have mine from when I was a kid) because it is short enough to read in one mini-lesson but I have several version to choose from. :)

For more info on how to use this timeless story, see this post!

Those are my go-to books for characters but there are sooo many more I love to use too! Can't wait to see what everyone else has been using! 

-Caitlin