Birthdays and Five for Friday

Goodness, it is a super quiet night in the Dunn household! The hubby is out of town, and the kids are all out and about! So as I soak up the quiet for a bit, just before it drives me crazy, I thought I would join Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday!

First...this week...I turned 29 again! Whoo hoo...how many years now? haha...

My kiddos and teammates spoiled me :)

Katie Byrd brought an ice cream
cake...LOL...I didn't manage to
get a pic before we all dug into it :)

My teammates REALLY do spoil me
...new butterflies for our room :)

After such a wonderful birthday celebration at work, my boys had their first football game of the season! Yay! You know what that means...tons of football pictures headed your way soon!

Justin's Marine recruiter came to watch his first game. Never thought I could be so proud and frightened at the same time! I also found out that his departure date has been moved up to the day after his graduation ...can't help but to hold back the tears.

I am trying to gear myself up for a whirlwind of a year, preparing for Justin leave. My beautiful sister took Justin's senior pictures this week. I cannot wait to see the final results! You might as well get ready for senior picture overload! haha....I will try not to be overwhelming with it. ;)

In class, my kiddos and I are continuing to build a safe and strong writing community. As we fill our writer's notebooks with as many writing ideas as possible, we created our "Writer's Eye." Before hand, I created my own "Writer's Eye" (I) as explained by Jeff Anderson in Mechanically Inclined. (I have also seen it on Julie Ballew's amazing website A Literate Life.) This will be one more resource for them to use as we begin working our way to writing our narratives. We have spent many hours talking about where writers get their ideas! Using our writer's eye to look closely at ourselves is a perfect way to gather the ideas that just may lead to that perfect story.  My kiddos worked hard....

 

 

I love watching my kiddos work hard in their writer's notebooks, and even more, I love their excitement in sharing!

 

Silly fun with my kiddos :)
love my sweet class!

In all of our excitement in building just as strong a reading community as a writing community, my kiddos have fallen into the manic rush to read as many books as they can. (Which of course is such a double-edged sword.) The next few weeks will be spent slowing our roll...now that we have created that fun, excited buzz in reading we will be focusing on digging deep and thoughtfully responding in our Reader's notebooks.

I am pleased to report that all students
unanimously tallied...a few books deeply

Technically, I think that is more than 5, but oh well...it's my birthday week ;) haha!

Happy reading, friends...I am off to finish Divergent! 

Writer's Eye and Reader's Cafe

Today was the first day this year for me to be away from my sweet kiddos. I spent my day in Common Core  training, secretly wishing I was in my classroom reading and writing with my kids. I am anxious to see how my first day with a substitute went. 

While I was out, I left a fun writing activity for my kiddos. I cannot wait to see their finished products! Before hand, I created my "Writer's Eye" (I) as explained by Jeff Anderson in Mechanically Inclined. (I also have seen it on Julie Ballew's amazing website A Literate Life.) This will be one more resource for them to use as begin working our way to writing our narratives. As we have launched into writing, we have spent many hours talking about where writers get their ideas! Using our writer's eye to look closely at ourselves is a perfect way to gather the ideas that just may lead to that perfect story. 

Yesterday, we revisited Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter.  We discussed how the character Eva had to really be observant to help her become a better writer! Sometimes it is the little things around us that can make the best story. Another great example of using observation in our writing is Twilight Comes Twice by Ralph Fletcher. LOVE, love me some Ralph Fletcher! Such an amazing writer and teacher of writing! I share so many of his ideas every year!

I am really looking forward to the coming weeks as we focus on sensory detail and figurative language. So many great mentor texts ahead of us as we continue adding ideas and strategies to our notebooks. 

OK...so I know I am a little late in the game, but I have finally started my Reading Cafe board. It is not exactly where I would prefer it, but with limited space, I am glad to have it up at all. :) With hardly any wall space in my room, I tend to take over the hallways...

Well, ready to call it a night! Off to steal pin a few more ideas from Pinterest as I drift off to sleep.

Happy Reading!