Fun with Literature Circles May 21, 2010

This past month my 6th grade classes have worked in literature circles. I used Harvey Daniels book Mini-Lessons for Literature Circles and we’ve had some really thought-provoking lessons. This past week we did a drawing lesson where the students drew a picture of a scene, character, symbol, or event from their books. I was amazed at the conversations buzzing around the room. The week before I introduced the bookmark as a response tool. The students brainstormed ways to respond on their bookmarks. Some of the students responded with questions, author’s craft, passages and quotes, as well as connections. They turned in their bookmarks today. I was quite impressed by how they responded. Below are some student examples:

The author tended to foreshadow a lot. She also used flashbacks that didn’t make sense at first. – Nick from the book The Westing Game

“Rush, hurry, rush.” This quote catches my attention because I wonder why there are whispers. Are they telling her to rush because if they don’t they won’t get to see her mom? – Alec from the book Walk Two Moons

Does Sal and Phoebe feel the same way about their mothers leaving? – Don from the book Walk Two Moons

Next week my students are creating collages of the books. I can’t wait to see what they come up with!

 

Home is Where the Heart is March 16, 2010

As my mother-in-law and I pack up the dining room, I realize I have a lot of stuff. Stuff that I didn’t even know I had. We carefully wrapped the china and crystal into neat boxes. I reminisced with each piece remembering who gave me this and that. I’m sad to be leaving my home of five years. I am going to miss the neighborhood, the trees, white squirrels, and the beautiful azalea bushes that bloom every spring.  This is where my husband and I started our life together, where our daughter was conceived, and where we started our imprint of our family. My home will always have a place in my heart.

This is for my friend… March 6, 2010

It’s been over a year since I last blogged and I was probed by my dear friend Angela to post something. So here I am! Today I went to a Free in- service given by the West Tennessee Writing Project. I learned a lot, but I did feel uneasy at one point. I wasn’t nervous about being there because I knew several people. It was because I was asked to write about my favorite song. At that moment I froze like a statue. I felt awkward because I was the only sitting there starring into space. I had no idea what to write. After a few minutes, which seemed like hours, I wrote down the song “Crash” by Dave Matthews. I can remember riding  in my green Kia Sportage around Austin Peay’s Campus listening to ALL of Dave’s songs with my friends. We would blare the music as loud as it would get and sing at the top of our lungs.

This writing brought back memories and it also got me thinking. Is this how my students feel when I ask them to write? Do I give them enough time to come up with a topic? How can I do better to make my students more at ease?

I am glad I went through that awkward moment because it caused me to feel like my students. I need to be more aware of how they feel, so that I can meet their writing needs.

slice of Life: Fend For Self (FFS) February 28, 2008

While preparing to go home from a long day at school, my cell phone rings. 

“What’cha doing?” asked Tony

“Oh, just finishing up somethings here at school,” I say.

“I am going to go to the gym and won’t be home until 7,” stated Tony, ”so you may want to cook something for dinner.”

“Ok, see you then,” I said as I slowly packed my school bag full of descriptive essays that desperately need to be graded.  Once my bag was full, I put my black coat on and advanced toward the door. The jingling of my keys rattled as I walked towards my jeep. I jumped in and was on my way home. My stomach started to growl, so I pondered on what I would  fix for dinner. As I pulled into the carport, the thought popped into my mind, mac-n-cheese is what I want.

My girls greeted me and I let them out to run around for a minute. The first thing I did after walking in the door was open the pantry door to find the Kraft macaroni and cheese. I rounded up the materials to prepare this decadent meal. I tore off the top of the box and poured the dried noodles into the roaring bubbling water. While waiting for the noodles to cook, I checked my emails. “Beep, Beep” sounded the kitchen timer. “Yes,” I thought to myself, “dinner time!”

I drained the soft noodles and anticipated the buttery, creamy noodles melting on my tongue. Once drained, I stirred the butter and powered cheese in. I opened the fridge door and reached for the gallon of milk. “What! No milk!” I cry. I thought to myself, “Now what. What am I going to do?” I concluded that I would try water. “It can’t be that bad, right?” I wondered. Well, the girls liked mac-n-cheese for dinner and I settled for left over pasta from Wednesday. Again, I guess I need to make sure I have all the ingredients to make something before starting. It never crossed my mind that we would be out of milk because we always have milk. Oh, well.

Six Word Memoir February 21, 2008

My friend Beth has got my mind spinning trying to come up with a six word memoir, so here it goes:

My life– quilted, embellished, comfortable–loved.

I was thinking about doing this with my students and hanging them on a bulletin board or having them use it in a piece of writing. 

Please feel free to share yours!

Stay A While February 17, 2008

It’s amazing how one day the weather is freezing cold and the next day it’s beautiful. I wrote an etheree about spring. See Ruth’s entry and Stephanie’s entry.

Spring

is in

the air now

but not for long

tulip leaves emerge

birds chirping songs of love

people walking their furry friends

trees swaying in the breezy wind

the sun and clouds dance across the sky

don’t you wish spring is here to stay a while?

 

Book Jacket Project February 11, 2008

At the end of literature circles my students created a book jacket for their book. Each group created one jacket. They had several days to create their jacket with the following guidelines:

• must have a cover with picture, title, & author
• summary of book
• biography of author
• and a book review from each group member

I then graded them on the following:

• creativity
• accurate details
• organization
• group participation (for this I had each member evaluate their group’s effort with an evaluation form & I also watched them as they worked)
• CHIPS (capitalization, handwriting, indenting, punctuation, spelling)

I am impressed with the outcomes. Take a look at their final projects. Click on each for a bigger picture!

 

 

 

 

The Big Question February 5, 2008

It is time to be thinking of my Lenten promises as a Catholic. Tomorrow marks the first day of Lent to make sacrifices for the Lord because His son died for us. I have been thinking about it for a while and I think I have the answer to my big question: what are you giving up this year? Really, you shouldn’t boast about this or anything like it, but I feel I need to get in writing so that I will stick to my plans. I feel that I don’t really need to GIVE up anything, but I need to work on being a better person. My promise consists of 2 components which correlate with my one little word I chose.

• Work on not complaining about every little thing (my husband says I have a severe problem)
• Work on being appreciative for the little things in life, especially everything my husband does for me

Inspiration Goes a Long Way… December 19, 2007

 

Today was our class’s Christmas party. Before the party stated, we created an inspirational calendar for a 12 year old girl who has cancer. One of my student’s brought me an article about her and wanted to do something special for her. Stacey gave me the idea of gifts that are written, so I came up with the idea for making her an inspirational calendar. All I did was go on microsoft publisher and create a 2008 calendar with clip art and printed it off. Then I glued the calendar onto assorted colors of construction paper. Here is where my students came in: they chose an inspirational quote that I printed out from an inspirational quote site and wrote it onto white paper then decorating it however they chose. It turned out beautifully. I bound the pages with a spiral comb with the front and back cover. I had each student sign the back cover. The student, who had the idea, is going to deliver the calendar to the young girl over the holidays. Thanks Stacey for the idea!

Writers in the Spotlight December 18, 2007

Each quarter I have my students create a writing of choice. This is where they browse through their writer’s notebooks or come up with a new topic to write about. I give them a week to create their works of writing. I provide them with self editing rubrics, peer editing rubrics, and a teacher rubric. These rubrics are to help them edit their writing. The teacher rubric looks just like the self and peer rubrics; however, they don’t write on it. I use it to grade their work. I feel that they need to know what I am expecting and that’s why the self and peer rubrics have the same criteria. This has helped greatly.

After completing their writing of choice, they turn them in and I grade them. I then decide on the best ones and display them in the hallway. I have a flashlight with a beam coming down and their writing is placed on the beam. The title says “Writers in the Spotlight.” I then award those students with an award and a pen for their creative work. By the end of the year, I will have everyone’s work on the wall and they will also be awarded. I try to look for improvements in their writing. I also send a postcard to their parents to let them know how well they are doing in class. I have gotten several complements from their parents and my students too!