Teacher Notebook Store Sale this Weekend

 

Just a quick post to tell you that everything in my Teachers Notebook Store is 20% off. 

Shades of Summer -- Back to School #3

For the Free Printable stationery that accompanies this writing prompt, click here for the Google Doc.

The first week of school I collect a writing sample from each of my students.  I use this to make plans for whole group mini lessons for at least the first several months.

I often use "Using Hyperbole: the Making of a Tall Tale" for this first writing sample.  Instead of writing the same old "What I did this summer" essay, students exaggerate what they did.  The resulting story is more interesting for students to write and usually more interesting for me to read.  Over time, this has become my bestselling product on TPT.

An alternate writing prompt for the beginning of the year is Shades of Summer.  Students chose one event that happened over the summer and write an account of that one event.  We would then create sunglasses -- or shades -- that would illustrate this event. I have patterns to make out of construction paper.

I like this prompt because I can easily see who is writing a narrative with beginning, middle and end and who is still writing lists.  What I didn't like was how the sunglasses kept getting separated from the papers.

So this year I created some stationery for the students to write their accounts.  I left some space in the lenses for students to draw small illustrations.  I thought I would share this freebie with all of you.

I will save Using Hyperbole for later in the year when I am teaching the genre tall tales.

Blackout by John Rocco

A family is engrossed in their usual activities when the lights go out one summer night.  Priorities change.  I don't want to give away too much of the story, but I loved sharing it with my fourth graders.

This book would be a great choice as a mentor text for personal narratives.  Most students have a time when the power went out and what they did without electric devices.

For an explanation of my rating scale, click here
Find me at Goodreads.

Setting the Stage

Frequent readers of this blog know that I spent two weeks this summer helping a husband/wife team put on a Summer Theater Workshop for middle school and high school students.  I have an itch to create an after school drama club this year.  (I'll let you know if that turns out.)  A colleague of mine also wants to have students do theater.  She has no experience, but said to me, "How hard can it be?" 

Just because I have attended a play, it doesn't mean I can direct one.  I have lost count of the number of productions I have helped in a backstage or front of the house position.  Every time I work with someone, I learn so much about the art that is theater.  I feel barely qualified to start a small program this year, but I'm willing to try.

One of my tasks for the musical was setting water bottles and props on stage and behind the curtain so that the actors would have them at a particular part of the production.  Backstage is dark and each item needs to be in place.

Just now I have a nasty bruise on my knee because while I was setting props, I ran into a bench that someone had moved in the dark.  The audience has no idea the preparation that stage hands make to create the illusion of the production.  Just as the casual observer has no idea the preparation it takes to conduct a typical school day.

Depending upon when your school starts, you are likely setting your own stage.  Some teachers seem to have a knack for having just the right props in just the right place.  Just because someone attended school, doesn't mean they know all of the preparation that goes on.

Quote of the Week -- August 4, 2013

"Watch your thoughts, they become words.

Watch your words, they become your actions.

Watch your actions, they become habits.

Watch your habits, they become character.

Watch your character, it becomes your destiny." 

 Frank Outlaw


Have a good week,

Parent Survey -- Back to School #2

 

Last week I shared my student information form that I use the first week of school and keep until the last day of school.  Today I want to share my parent information form: forever free and completely editable.

To download Parent Information Form from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, click here.

To download Parent Information Form from my Teachers Notebook Store, click here.


I have left it in a form that is completely editable so you can add, edit or delete questions and add your contact information.  I seldom use materials exactly the way they were created and this is definitely one each teacher will want to put their personal stamp on.

This is the first communication parents receive from me and I start out with this statement:

I believe that a parent is a child’s first and best teacher.  Please take a moment and share with me some information about your child as a learner.

 

I find that this sets a positive tone for my communication with parents.  I hang onto these forms and review them before I have a parent/teacher conference.  I hope you find them useful.

August Currently...ready or not

It's August first and time for Oh Boy 4th Grade Currently.
Currently I am listening for the sound of rain.  It has been a dry July so I may need to get out there and water my plants.

Currently I love that I have four more weeks of summer.  We didn't get out until June 18, so students don't arrive until September 4.  I still have quite a home and garden to do list.

Currently I think that I should do one thing for my classroom today.  In August, I try to do just a little bit in the days leading up to our contract days.  It's less overwhelming that way.

Currently I want chocolate.  Yes, I usually want chocolate, but I'm out and might have to reward myself for my one classroom job today.

Currently I need to pack up the recipe I made last night for dinner.  I used a recipe from Pinterest for Chicken Tetrazzini that was delicious but made way too much.  I wonder if it will freeze.

My back to school items are mechanical pencils, a new calendar, and a better coat for bus duty.  Mechanical pencils are prizes in my room.  My classroom calendar is 12-years-old and could use an update.  Every day after school we all walk our students to the busses and supervise.  I need something that looks professional and protects me from Seattle drizzle.

Now, I'm off to my favorite part of Currently: blog hopping.