Like many of you, my district is transitioning to Common Core this year.  The past two years we have heard rumblings of it, but full implementation has now completely begun. With this transition comes many "new" ideas that are getting a lot of attention, one of them being "close reading." Now, I would love to say that of course I have been teaching close reading all along.  My students regularly read for evidence of questions that I pose, scouring the text to find the answer that I am seeking.  However, I am just not sure that that is enough.  So for the past few weeks (in between feedings and playing with the baby....during naptime :) ) I have been searching around for all that I can about this idea of Close Reading and what it will mean for me as a teacher. One of the best resources I have found so far is Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Beers and Probst.  If you know anything about me at all, you know that I love easy to follow ideas that ...
Writing.  It is always such a struggle of a topic for me to teach.  No wonder though...it is just hard.  Trying to convey your thoughts about any given topic in a coherent, organized manner takes even seasoned authors draft after draft after draft to do.  So it is no wonder that our students (and teacher bloggers ;) ) struggle with it.  (I have written this introduction myself about 5 times trying to get it just right!) So last year, I decided to try and make writing a bit easier for my students (and help them actually get some writing time in daily) with Paragraph of the Week.  And what do you know??  It worked!  The kids' writing became so much clearer and organized, and they actually started to think of writing as an EASY task! But, as you all know, I teach 5th grade.  Writing one, single paragraph, no matter how good it is, is just not enough.  The standards (Common Core or otherwise) call for MULTIPLE paragraph essays, so I was stuck in the same situation as before. I ha...
 Over the past *almost* two years (gasp!  Has it really been that long???!!!) I have immersed myself in the world of blogging.  It has been nothing short of amazing.  The blogging community is such a fantastic and inspiring group of teachers.  I have grown as a teacher, improved my craft, and shared a bit of it with you all along the way. So as a token of my appreciation to you for joining me on this journey, I have teamed up with 14 of my bloggy friends to bring you a downright awesome giveaway. First and foremost, as a blogger, I am thankful of course for you all.  Thank you for reading and commenting on my blog.  As a teacher, though, I am thankful for anything and everything that makes my life easier.  The things that I have used in my room that I can count on to not only be spot on with the lesson but also are ready to go.  In math, the Spiral Homework and Quizzes, as well as Calendar Math do both of those things.  It is because of those two programs that I NEVER EVER EV...
Look at this!  Posting two days in a row!  I don't know what has gotten into me :) Actually, I do.  I opened my email this morning and read something that I just HAD to share with you.  If you have been following me for a while, you know that last year I had the amazing opportunity to use The Walking Classroom with my students (click here and here  and here to read all about our experience with it.).  It truly was (IS) an exceptional program and I couldn't say enough about it.  My students gained so much from using the walk kits and heading outside to do our lessons instead of sticking with the same old routine indoors.  They instantly loved the program, and so did I. (I can't wait to get back in the swing of things when I got back after my maternity leave!) Luckily for me, I teach 5th grade, which just so happened to be the grade that the lessons were aligned to.  Unfortunately for many of my readers, there was no 4th grade kit written....UNTIL NOW!!!!  Laura Fenn, ...
One of the "sacred" times in my classroom is our end of the day read aloud.  I feel like it is *such* a great way to get the students involved in literature that they wouldn't necessarily choose themselves as well as help to create a community of readers out of those students.  Each day, as the class comes to a close, we all gather around on the rug, listen to the same story, and discuss it together.  But more importantly, we *enjoy it* together.  It is that enjoyment that helps to build our community.  They really do look forward to it (if for some reason we can't read one day, they ask incessantly about it.  Really.) So, I thought I would take this post to discuss some of my favorite read alouds and then open it up to you to discuss your favorites!   The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread   by Kate DiCamillo If you follow me on Facebook , you know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book.  I talked abou...