Writer's Notebook Resource

I'm so excited that I FINALLY finished my newest product on TPT, just in time for the beginning of the school year when writing workshops are getting started.

In my writing workshop, my students keep a writer's notebook in which they store their works-in-progress writing and other important writing tools.  One of my favorite sections of the notebook is the Reference section.  This is the place where my writers go to when they have a question about some aspect of writing that we have learned in class but they may have (temporarily) forgotten.

Writer's Notebook Reference puts all of these resources into one booklet that can either be copied as a complete packet and placed in the notebook, or can have pages copied and added as needed.

Topics include:
Editing Marks
Paragraph Rules
Capitalization Rules
Transitions
Confusing Words
Other Ways to Say "Said"
Use This, Not That to Improve Word Choice 
Great Grabbers for both Fiction and Informational Writing
Power of Three Tips
Editing vs. Revising
Revising Tips
Editing Checklist

Want to win a copy? Just pin my product and leave me the Pinterest link in the comment section below.  A winner will be chosen on Friday, August 2nd.  Good luck and thanks!!

A Peek at My Week {4-27-14}

It's that time again...Time to get together for another Peek at My Week!  Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you will link up and share your plans for this week too!

I can't believe that we are winding down to the end of another month and that by this time next week, it will be MAY!!!  April sure flew by...

I'm excited because in  reading, we are going to begin a three week study of Mythology.  I'll admit, when we first started working with Common Core and I found out that I needed to include Mythology vocabulary and allusions in my teaching, I was NOT excited.  I had never read any Mythology and didn't know anything about it, but boy, did my students L.O.V.E. it and now I LOVE teaching it too!

This year, I designed a new product that is based on many of the activities we have been doing in my classroom that my students have enjoyed.  I call it Mythology Museum & More!

If you remember back to the fall, my students did a Native American Museum project to learn about a particular Native American group that lived in Wisconsin in the past.  This was the inspiration for my new Mythology Museum.

This week, students will work in groups of three to learn about a Greek god or goddess.  They will then prepare a poster board to teach the rest of the class about their mythological character.  These posters will be set up in a Mythology Museum for our class and others to visit.  The Mythology Museum displays will include:

A drawing or sketch of their god or goddess

Five fast facts about their god or goddess

A bio poem

Trading cards for museum visitors to fill out and keep after visiting the museum display

Carefully chosen artifacts to represent their god or goddess.

This is a great way for students to be creative and crafty -- 

Bring on the Legos!

After learning about the major players in mythology through this project, we will read different versions of the same myth to compare and contrast them. (This is a Common Core skill for 4th grade.)

We will also discuss allusions.  In the past, I taught the most popular allusions (Midas Touch, Pandora's box, etc.) but they always seemed so disconnected from my student's lives.  So in my Mythology Museum & More unit, students learn about the allusions, but also relate them to their own lives.

If you are gearing up to teach Mythology (or have avoided it in the past because you didn't know what to do), you can win this unit simply by pinning it and leaving the link in a comment below!  Two winners will be chosen on Tuesday.  Or if you can't wait, you can pick up your own Mythology Museum & More in my TPT Store on sale through Monday.

I know my students will be so psyched to begin working on their museums.  I hope to have our museum displays ready on Friday and will share more pictures next week.  This time of year, we need to bring out all the fireworks to keep our students motivated to keep working and learning and projects like this do the trick!

An InLinkz Link-up

I hope you have a great week!  See you back here on Thursday for Positive Thinking Thursday if not sooner.

Monday Made It -- A Win & a Fail

Just a quick link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for her monthly Monday Made It linky party.  This is where we all get to share our craftiness and creative sides, two areas of our psyche that are not nurtured enough during the school year.

Today, I am sharing a Win and a Fail.

First, the "win".

Last month, I finished up working on my new TpT product, Super Writer Research.  I am addicted to all things writing and am obsessed with helping my 4th grade students write better.  I currently teach two sections of writing and love it!  I can definitely see growth in my writers since the beginning of the year.  I can't wait to hear what the 5th grade teachers think when they get them next year.  :)

We are working on research writing and I noticed that my students love to get on the internet and do research, but they really don't know the difference between a reliable source and an unreliable source, how to take notes, and how to prepare a bibliography.  My new Super Writer Research unit teaches them all they need to know to prepare for research.  You just add your own topic after going over the presentation.

Now for my "fail"...

I consider myself a pretty good cook.  Yesterday for our family St. Patrick's Day dinner, I made an ice cream grasshopper pie.  Well, let me tell ya, I don't know what I did, but it did not turn out.

How simple could it be?

Take a half gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream and soften it.  I added in about 1/2 cup of mint syrup (the kind you could add to coffee, no alcohol), and poured it into a chocolate cookie crust.  I let that freeze up for a bit.  Then I smoothed on some hot fudge sauce and refroze for a few hours.  Finally, I added some Cool Whip and mint chips to the top and froze it again.  When it was time to eat dinner, we took it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about 15 minute to soften a bit.

When my husband went to cut it to serve it, the pie was so soupy we could have eaten it through a STRAW!  I would have taken a picture of it but I was too busy trying to help scoop what little remained frozen out of the pie plate to serve it.  Uggghhhh....Any idea what happened?

I am looking forward to spring break in two weeks to nurture more of my crafty side.  Can't wait!  I'll probably leave the cooking alone for awhile...

I'm looking forward to seeing more Monday Made It's at 4th Grade Frolics.  See you there!

A Peek at My Week {3-09-14}

Welcome to another edition of A Peek at My Week, the weekly linky party where you can share your plans for the upcoming week.  I just love checking out what everybody else has going on!

The sun rose an hour later here in Wisconsin....Daylight Savings Time.  That means an hour of lost sleep -- but also an extra hour of sunlight tonight.  Ahhh....I think spring is on its way!

I hope you have a great week planned for yourself. I know many of you have spring break this week. I'm so jealous. We don't have break until March 31st. Oh well...Here's what I've got going on this week:

This week, we are beginning to work on our biography research projects.  While planning for this unit, I reflected back to how I've taught it in the past and decided it was time for a change.

As a lifelong learner myself, research is something that comes naturally to me.  Anyone who knows me, knows how addicted I am to reading professional books that will help me learn new things.  I am always on the prowl for ideas and best practices that can help improve my students' achievement.  While this is good for me, it is something that I assume is everyone knows how to do.  Even my students....But they don't.

When I've taught this research unit in the past, I have always assumed that my students knew HOW to research.  But as I reflect back on this, I realize that their idea of research was copying information off of the internet and recycling it (sometimes word-for-word) in their own research project.  Ughhh...

So this year we will begin our research project by learning HOW to research.

I am excited to share my newest product in my TPT Store -- Getting Ready to Research!

In this unit, students will learn 

     * The difference between informational and research writing

     * The pros and cons of using books, encyclopedias & the internet to research

     * Evaluating website reliability

     * How to avoid plagiarism

     * How to take notes & paraphrase

     * Citing sources

     * Creating a bibliography

I just know this unit will help set my students up for success in researching!  I'll let you know how it goes.

An InLinkz Link-up

I wish you a great week!  Thanks for stopping by and for linking up!!

Reading Motivation Needed???

In case you haven't heard, there is a HUGE giveaway going on at Head Over Heels for Teaching and Fourth Grade Flipper.  Holly and Joanne are joining their superpowers to bring you this enormous giveaway to celebrate both of these ladies reaching 1,000 followers!  Congrats, ladies!  With all of the inspiration you provide on your blogs, I'm not surprised at your following.  :)

One of the prizes offered today is my Reading Challenge Genre Tags.

If you are familiar with the 40 Book Challenge shared by Donalyn Miller in The Book Whisperer, these tags are a must-have!  There is a different tag for each of the 40 books in the challenge representing a variety of genres.  

I started the 40 Book Challenge in September, but it pretty much went no where.  But once I brought these babies out, the amount of reading in my classroom SOARED!  I have one student who has already met the 40 Book Challenge and several others who are close.  My students are reading like CRAZY just to earn these tags.  (One boy took home four chapter books over break so he could read, read, read!)

You can enter the contest for this and other fun prizes at either of these blogs just by clicking on the buttons below.  New winners every day!  Best of luck to you!!

   

BTS Sale -- Get Your Credit Card Ready!!

I don't know about you, but I am so glad to see that the TpT Back to School Sale has finally arrived!

 This Sunday and Monday, my entire TpT Store will be on sale for 20% off.  If you enter the code BTS13 at checkout, you will get another 10% off, which adds up for a total 28% discount!

One of my biggest sellers is my Word Parts We Know Program.  If you are looking for a complete program to teach Greek and Latin Word Parts, this Common Core aligned product is for you!

 I have two levels, each consisting of 12 weeks of word parts (60 word parts total per level), or you can buy the bundle (Levels 1 & 2) and SAVE BIG!! 

 

I have been using this program in my room for three years now and my students' MAP scores and ability to decode complex words have greatly improved!

Another big seller of mine is my Number of the Day Program.  This program makes a great math warm up or morning work.  It improves mental math and number sense capabilities and doesn't take a long time out of your busy schedule.

I hope you've got your credit card ready, because I know I do!  My cart is full and waiting for Sunday.  I really appreciate a service like Teachers Pay Teachers because I feel that no one knows what is needed in the classroom more than teachers who work in one every day.  That's why I like to support my fellow teachers and receive a helpful product at the same time!

Happy Shopping!  :)

Monday Made It {August 12, 2013} & Blog Hoppin'!

Do you hear that sound???

I definitely hear it....

It sounds like a clock ticking...Ticking down the last few days before I go back.  I begin teaching summer school on Wednesday and while I will really miss being home, I am also looking forward to getting back at it.

Today I'm linking up with two linky parties...First, Monday Made It with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.

I spent a lot of time this week reading...I'm trying to get through Writing Circles by Jim Vopat and Word Nerds by Brenda Overturf before I go back to school.  Both are AWESOME books and I would probably feel more accomplished if I actually finished one book before beginning another, but I digress...

So here are two things I made this week, one for school and one for home.

For my door at school

Homemade sweet pickles with cucumbers from the garden

I did make a few other things, but they are in my classroom (I forgot to take pictures before relocating them) so I will post pics of those later.  :)  I don't know about you, but I'm a little forgetful these days....

Next, I'm excited to do a special link up this week with the gals from Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week '13!

What a great way to gather up some last minute ideas to feel ready for the new year!  (I purposefully didn't say "be ready" because I'm not sure if I ever really am...  :)

Today's Topic is "Let's Talk About Me!:  Meet the Teacher"

This will be my 6th year teaching 4th grade.  I came to decide on teaching as a career after "trying out" several others -- inside sales, real estate, employment recruiting...With all of this real life experience, I am proud to say that teaching is my passion and something I want to do for a really long time.

Source:  www.venspired.com

I have been a blog reader for at least three years.  I love the ideas and inspiration that I get from other bloggers and I know that I am a better teacher because of it!  I began blogging myself in March of this year and absolutely love it! 

This past June, I opened my TpT Store to share many of the resources that I have created.  Doing this has encouraged me to look deeply at my instruction and to try to improve on what I was already doing.  I feel that this has also helped me be a better teacher.

(Just a reminder that these writing Mini-Posters are 20% off at my TpT Store TODAY!  :)

 

Another thing that I am passionate about is WRITING!  This summer, I participated in the National Writing Project at UW-Milwaukee and blogged about my experiences.  (You can read about them by clicking on National Writing Project in my sidebar to the right...)  I am really looking forward to getting back into the classroom to try out some new ideas.

As an educator, I feel that it is my responsibility to keep current on the latest research and trends in our field.  That is why you will always find me reading a professional book or taking some class or the other.  I feel that doing these things keeps me fresh and energized for the job that I do every day.  I know many of you who read blogs and/or write blogs yourself feel the same way.  :)
               

Well, that's enough about me!  Can't wait to check out BOTH of these linky parties later today to gather some more ideas and meet some new bloggers.

If you dropped by,(and made it all the way to the end of this very long post), I would love to hear from you.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here!  :)