Point of View

I am not falling off the blog wagon! I want to share my 5th grade activities with others out there :) (Maybe I was talking to myself a little this morning:)

We have been working on Point of View so far this week. We are studying it during our writing time, but have been applying it to both reading and writing. I found some really great ideas HERE and have been moving right along. I started Day 1 with introducing the 3 P.O.V. and talking about them. Then we watched the Toy Story video clip that is at the link above. The students loved watching this and were able to really look and retell the story from each characters POV.

Then we created a poster together using a picture as a prompt. I followed both of the lessons from Teaching With a Mountain View and they worked GREAT!!

Here is our class poster:

Here is the group posters: (Disclaimer- I really can't wait to get my classroom digital camera in! My phone just doesn't cut it! Sorry for the blur!)

I also made these wonderful posters and a black and white copy that the students pasted in their Language Arts Journals. Here is the link to the FREE Black and White Posters. Purchase the Glittery Posters HERE.

My next plan for POV...bring it into writing with this writing prompt (found here):

One final closing thought...My baby boy turned ONE on Sunday! Isn't he just adorable :)

Narrative Writing Unit

Let us talk about Narrative Writing...

I have found a new website that I have come to LOVE! It is called The Curriculum Corner! It has awesome lessons, units, ideas, organizers, check-lists...and so on. AND best of all: they are FREE!

That is where I found the basis for my own Narrative Writing Unit. We have been focusing on writing our own personal narrative picture books. We are still in the drafting phase, but have been reading and inspecting elements each day.

Go HERE to see the Whole Unit! (Note this is recommended as a 2nd grade aligned unit, but the read alouds are wonderful! I find it fitting for my kiddos as well!)

It has also been very convenient to tie all of this into my reading block as well. We have been covering story structure, main idea, close reading strategy (on-going in my room), character analysis, and will be moving into theme next week.

We have been tracking the Story Structure on an anchor chart like this (mine isn't as pretty so go to her site and take a look at Mrs. Jump's version-pictured below):


WE have been seriously practicing using Text Based Evidence and have been graphing our use of such evidence. I bought this from TPT, because I was sooo in love with it! Check out this TBE graph and what it does. I honestly think my 5th graders are really into it and have become much better at using TBE to support their thinking. This what the graph looks like...

(***NOTE***THIS IS NOT MY PRODUCT! GO TO HELLO LITERACY LINKED ABOVE AND CHECK OUT HER AMAZING POST ON HOW TO USE THIS GRAPH.)
I seriously encourage you to RUN over to her blog and check out this product from Hello Literacy!!

Ok...I am going to stop there for now! I can't imagine life without Pinterest and TPT!! Maybe I will get around to adding more of my own products soon.

Life in 5th Grade...and Inference!

I am back in the blogging world! I have decided that I need to become more active and blog about my teaching! I am now teaching 5th Grade in a Laboratory School. My kids have their own laptops which they are required to bring every day.

With that said...last week we talked about inference. (We previously and very briefly as it was a review covered Non-Fiction Text Features and Genres)

I found on the internet inferring using the text The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg. I honestly had never read this book, but fell in love with it as I read it with my kids. A good reference I found after the lesson was from Teaching With Blonde Ambition. We read the text together and made our inferences together as a class.

The following day we dove into The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Can Allsburg. My kids love these as well! I gave them a table with 4 columns. The columns were Picture Title- What I Observed, What I Wonder, What I Infer. They had to fill it out on their computer and submit it to me online. HERE is a copy of the recording sheet I used.

Up next for inferring...Inference Detectives from my TPT store. To be followed by inferring with direct quotes from the text. I see the direct quoting part taking me all week. Wish me luck! What do you use for teaching inference??  I also can't wait to use Harris Burdick for writing mysteries!!

Common Core Helpers

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Common Core Helpers! 

More Common Core Helpers!

Western Classrooms Displaying My Products :)

Take a look at these AWESOME classroom ideas that display some of my Western products! Thanks to these wonderful teachers for letting me take pictures of their super cute rooms!

My months used as a birthday display!

Name tags that I made

Classroom labels used for a schedule

My Cowprint Alphabet

Another classroom label

I LOVE this little piece!! I have mine hanging on the door in my room! 

Objective Board and Classroom Schedule using my labels

My alphabet again and my welcome banner! So cute!

My calendar set...adorable display!

Daily 5 Chart

Another birthday display!

I just love these classrooms and that I was able to help out my teacher friends during tight budget times! 

Classroom Tour!! (I'm Back!)

Who knew teaching a new grade and adapting to being very pregnant would make the first couple of weeks so busy!! I am pretty sure I have done nothing but school, dinner/laundry, and more school work! BUT have no fear...I am back (providing the whole having a baby and finishing my last semester of grad school doesn't completely consume me)!

Here are some pictures of my new classroom! I feel like it is always a work in progress and that I have lots more organizing to do before October!

Meet The Teacher Night Goodies! 

Mailbox/Lunch Cards/Math Focus Area

Calendar Area/The Front of the Room

WBT Classroom Rules :)

Guided Reading Chart and Reading Focus Chart Area

Group Table and New Shelves (if only they were still that organized)

Student Book Boxes

My desk...ignore the junk ;)

Student B-Day Area (will post when it is completed)

Library Area

More anchor chart area!

Objective Board and Soon-to-be Chromebook area

Objective Board

Math Groups Board

Outside the Classroom

Lunch Time Choices (obviously the door)

Well that's a tour of my Western Themed Room!! Next up, time permitting, my co-western themed rooms that are displaying my western products! :) Happy Back to School time! 

Week at a glance!

Well, I have had a week with a bit of R&R and lots of work at the same time! ;) By R&R I mean 7 months pregnant...don't sleep well at night...so naps throughout various parts of the day! Mix that with super humid/muggy beginning of the week, a dr appt and family dinner at LAMBERT's, and CANNING makes for a busy week!

So what have you done for school this week, you ask! Made some more posters to laminate next week when I can get to the laminator at school! :)

I am embarking on WHOLE BRAIN TEACHING this year. While I tried some of the basics in my math groups last year, this year I am going all in. I used the Class, Yes! Mirror! and Teach, Okay! with my kids last year and I loved it! The Class, Yes! really got their attention and the Mirror really helped me know that they were listening and comprehending what I said. So this week I made some rule cards to help implement the rules the first day and some class cheer cards to display as well. The cheer cards are a work in progress, but I will let you have them in western of course!

I also made some Daily 5 posters for my classroom to use when we get that up and running! We are also going to jump on the HOMEWORK CLUB bandwagon (see Pinterest) and maybe a Reading to 100 Club as well! Lots of good things coming this year!

Click on the picture to download your own copy! Again I take no credit for the Daily 5!!! That is why I AM NOT selling these! Same goes for WBT!

All clip art came from mycutegraphics.com!! If you haven't checked it out you should...it is amazing!! And FREE for educators!! :) 

Well it is out for dinner this rainy (THANK THE LORD) cool (AMAZING) evening in MO! I couldn't be more blessed by the rain after last year's drought really hurt all us farmers!! Plus I have managed to can some Dill Pickles and Zucchini Salsa this week along with making some Zucchini bread that I might be addicted to!