Science exploration and lots of great reading

Hello sweet friends... I have been slow getting to the computer for a post today... but here I am! :)  Our short week flew right by us, and we did have quite the successful parent teacher conferences! I always enjoy spending time with my kiddos and their parents. It is fun to watch the kiddos show off their work. We were also lucky enough to have a large selection of books available for our students to pick up before or after their conferences. How fun is that?! Free books! I had a hard time keeping myself out of the big library to find some new additions to our classroom library.

Both classes worked hard to get out a few examples of their work

I am sure I have said it before, but I will say it again...I love the education blogging community! There are so many amazing teachers that share so many amazing ideas!

Thursday morning I woke up and perused my Bloglovin' feed. Michelle at The Teaching Tribune shared her post about Read and Review, a Kagan structure. I have been to many Kagan workshops, but this structure wasn't familiar to me for some reason. She promised plenty of smiles as I watched engaged students.

She could not have been more right! Knowing that we were reading a short nonfiction text to accompany our read aloud, Trumpet of the Swan, I jumped at the chance to give this structure a try. I loved every moment of it, and even more, when the kiddos and I came back together for closing discussion, they expressed how purposeful and helpful it was for them to work together in this way. I have NO doubts that we will use this again! 

Be sure to check out Michelle's post at The Teaching Tribune to find out more. 

The kiddos have been working hard (and having a blast) in Mrs. Whitt's class. Their explorations in science have been too cute!

Students worked together to create their own glue...these are the successful examples of glue, holding up beans. 

After reading Jess Makes Hair Gel by Jacqueline Barber, the students had to determine which ingredients would best make glue.

Below, the kiddos are looking at states of matter as they investigate baking soda and vinegar...look at that face. :)

Lots of great work happening all around...

I have been doing lots of my own reading...it has been a while since I shared. 

Again...many different genres this time. I loved some more than others of course, but they were all great reads. 

I listened to the audio version of Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea, but it was so wonderful that I had to buy my own hard copy. Oh my goodness....I cannot wait until it comes in, and I am seriously thinking about using it as a read aloud this year. LOVED it!

Ann Hite's The Storycatcher is now one of my fave ghost stories! This one is definitely for adults only. Shelly and Faith and all their ghosts make for such stunning story telling! I loved all of the strong women in this story. I will definitely be looking into more of Ms. Hite's work very soon! 

I have no doubt mentioned my love for Neil Gaiman's work as well. I just can't get enough of his modern fairy tales...so I read two more just recently. Stardust...(yes I know, again...where have I been to not have read this already, but better late than never) was one that I could not put down! I do love a happy ending!

Odd and the Frost Giants was a quick and amusing little read. Check out the book trailer....

Lots of great reading... here is my reader's notebook and examples of think marks. The kiddos enjoy looking through it here and there for ideas. 

Well, with that friends, I am off to watch some Walking Dead...so glad it is back on. ;)

Happy Reading, friends!