Testing Mrs. Dunn

Whew....so I know that the count down to our state Benchmark test has been quietly (and relentlessly) counting down in the background for a while now...but goodness, as we approach next week, it is pretty much all that I hear these days. I am so ready for it to be done and over!

Found this on Pinterest ...

I know that my kiddos are as ready as they can be. I have gone on and on about how sweet and hard working this group of kiddos is. I am very proud of them, and now that it is crunch time, I have no doubts that they will step up to perform at their VERY BEST.

I am excited for them to get it over as well. I am sure they are ready to get back to the fun of school as much as I am. Our next units of study are bright and exciting with a bit more independent learning, and I am sure the kiddos will have a blast with them.

In our writing this week, we have continued looking at stretching. We all did an awesome job with our snapshots, and yes, I am still working on getting some examples out to you. Some of my most reluctant writers had a great time with snapshots, and I was just as proud of their exploded moments!

OK....in case you have missed it, I am a huge fan of Mr. Barry Lane! I just LOVE, LOVE his Hooked on Meaning! He has such a simple way of reaching kiddos and an even better way of teaching teachers, LOL...

As we prepared to "explode" our own moments, I read one of the most famous exploded moments I could think of at the time. Ernest Lawrence Thayer's, Casey at the Bat. I have a copy illustrated by the great Patricia Polacco. So fun! Now I didn't read the whole book....just that moment he stepped up to bat and the entire moment that was exploded into all of its slow motion glory!

I know that I mentioned in my last post that we finished our last read aloud, The One and Only Ivan. I miss that sweet story! Well....as hard as it is to leave new books and characters when we finish reading them, we had to move onto our latest read aloud.

Of course the kids were clambering around me, wanting to know what we would read next. Secretly, I just love that excitement they have as we continue on in our reading journey...

Well, I picked up one of my all time faves! We began reading the book that turned me into the reader that I am today, in fourth grade as a matter of fact. :)

I mean...I loved Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume as a young reader...lots of realistic and humorous fiction, but it wasn't until I read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle that I truly, truly fell in love with reading. There are parts of that book that even as I read it today, I remember the wonder and excitement I had as a fourth grader. Each year I have kiddos revisit me, and always they ask if I have read it to my new class. I hope that means they loved it half as much as I did.

    

     

Of course...I have a few wonderful picture books to share with you today. 

Hmmm....let's see where I should start...how about Testing Miss Malarkey! Judy Finchler has hit the nail on the head with this one. (Are you seeing a pattern in my thoughts here...LOL)....Poor Miss Malarkey has to give her sweet kiddos the I.P.T.U. standardized test, and boy is she a mess! I love the characters in this book. Mrs. Slopdown, the cafeteria lady, starts feeding them fish because it's brain food ~ "Some of you need to eat a whale," she says! hehehe Besides, you can't go wrong with illustrations from Kevin O'Malley!

The next book to pop into my mind was A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech. Hahaha....I know I am being facetious here...but I just can't help myself! We read this one a while back, but how appropriately fitting when I think of all that school should be and all that we try to make it be. Well, NOT me...those lovely legislators that have never stepped foot in a classroom try to make it be. So we giggled and discussed just what Sharon Creech might be trying to say in this thoughtful story. Boy do the kiddos ever get it! 

OK...now one without such a not-so-subtle hidden meaning behind it and one that we read for the fun of it...I love Chameleon's Colors by Chisato Tashiro. This story reminds me a lot of Elmer by David McKee. I shared that colorful story in a previous post. Both stories are wonderful examples of why it is so important to be ourselves! This is a great read for looking at the theme of a story. It is easy to find as we follow Chameleon's efforts to first be noticed and finally to be himself. So sweet and powerful!

Happy Reading!

Currently Dancing with the Cabot Stars

Whoop Whoop! It's already time for another Currently! Where is this year going?  Any~whoooo...you know how I love linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade! She is such a hoot! Be sure to check out her corner of the blogging world. :)

Well...lots of fun stuff to share!

Thursday my team headed out to a girls' night dinner and an evening watching Cabot's very own Dancing with the Cabot Stars. Sooooo much fun! All of the teams did an amazing job. Heck...getting on the stage alone was more than I could ever imagine doing! Great fun and support of a good cause...you bet! Proceeds benefited the Cabot Pather Foundation.

Check out our principal....
in Dancing with the Cabot Stars!

Mrs. Hanna and her partner won 1st Runner up...CONGRATS!

I have the cutest video of her dance...as soon as I get the pesky thing to agree with me, I will get it uploaded for you...she did an awesome job! So much fun!

We were lucky that Katie Byrd surprised us by stopping by for a quick visit. 

Katie read a cute little story to our kiddos!
She read a Skippyjon Jones adventure in her best Spanish accent!

 

Crazy girls...stole a minute between dismissal bells to be silly. :)

OMG...I am so happy and so sad at the same time that we finished The One and Only Ivan. I cannot say enough how sweet and moving it was. Ivan tells his story so poignantly. LOTS of conversation here...you know we are never the same person we were when we start a book...and I can promise you, I am NOT the same person now! More than once I had to hold back the tears. I will never visit a zoo and look at these beautiful animals the same again.

I have a few sweet books to share with you. Just a Minute by Bonnie Becker is a fun little rhyming read that I enjoy just because of how much kiddos can relate. Well, in all honesty, I relate just as well....my own precious mom's favorite words when I was little (you know, like a lifetime ago!) was JUST A MINUTE!!! I would always secretly wonder if it was a REAL minute or one of those crazy, confusing one hour minutes. LOL If you can relate at all or if you have found yourself saying just a minute, then this is a must read. I giggled at my kids connections, and the illustrations of Jack Davis are hysterical. (I really love when he hits puberty while waiting just a minute. hehehe)...just for the record: while I would whole-heartedly argue the point, my kiddos seem to feel that I say just a minute quite often. hmmmmm

This next one is so stinking cute! This is one of my new finds in one of the Books-a-Million sale bins. Sarah Sullivan did an awesome job with Once Upon a Baby Brother! What a great way to share where writers get their ideas! LOVED it... I cannot wait to use this at the launch of my writing workshop next year! When I asked my kiddos if they could relate to a little sibling that drives them crazy....you should have seen the hands fly!

What makes us different...

Well, looky here, looky here, folks! Southside is the proud new owner of one Cabot Spring Fling 5K Staff Team Champions trophy! Now if that's not a mouth full, I don't know what is!

So proud of our staff and kiddos! Whoo hoo!

We had a very busy day today! First days back always are...so much to catch up on. Our morning meetings always run over on first days back. We greeted each other with "What's the News?" Whoo...did my kiddos have tons to share! We sure missed each other! Katie Byrd left our morning message for us. Looks like we had lots of reading over our break...it was too cold to do much else. ;)

I know it is quite unusual these days for me to post two days in a row, but I have to keep it fresh, right? LOL..

Really, I just want to share a fun writing activity we did today.

If you teach upper elementary and you do not have Barry Lane's Hooked on Meaning, run out and get it now! This is one of my favorite resources for teaching writing. I could not live without it in my classroom. We watched a short video in which Mr. Lane pretty much demonstrates his true feelings regarding state mandated writing prompts and tests. Although I could not agree more, there is not much to be done about it but to do your very best!

After watching the clip, we sat down and brainstormed all of the things we can do that might make us different from so many other students taking the same test.

 

Sorry the first one is a bit on the fuzzy side, and they are both horrendously messy....but goodness was I writing as fast as I could to get down all of their ideas about their own writing.

We continued discussing all of the things that make them the strong writers I know they can be....then we had a little fun. We illustrated those poor test graders that had to read all of those boring papers...paper after paper after paper. We didn't know who to feel sorrier for: us for having to respond to a "prompt" or them for  having to grade everyone else's boring paper...(because ours would NEVER be boring ;)

Here are a few of their ideas...

~after...."I wish more papers were like this!"

~after....."I just adore this figurative language..."

~after...."Finally, A+"

~after..."Happiness is reading this wonderful paper!"

Some of their before graders (before reading one of our papers) and the after graders (after reading one of our masterpieces) totally cracked me up.

Tomorrow we continue putting it all together as we work on jazzing up those amazingly boring prompts! We've got this covered!!!

I have just one picture book for you tonight. This is one of my new titles from spring break, and much like my new Sarah Stewart book, I was so happy to find this one.

Searching for Oliver K. Woodman is written by Arkansas writer Darcy Pattison. I was very excited to see Darcy speak during a professional development workshop a couple of summers back, but I was so disappointed when the books she brought sold out before I could get my hands on one. Well....I finally have my copy of this great little travel story...so many fun Social Studies lessons to be had in this one as we help Imogene search for her friend, Oliver K. Woodman. I am sure that I will be sharing this one with Mrs. Whitt. 

All right friends....with that I must say goodnight!

Happy reading!

Spring Fling and Discovery

Well, ladies and gents...I have another long post for you today, so I must beg your indulgence. It has only been three days since my last post, but goodness has it been a super busy three days! (I feel like I am in confessional.)

Whew...my fun begins with an afternoon outing with my fourth grade girlies to Garden Ridge. Now I've heard all the hoopla about the wonders of Garden Ridge, but no one, and I mean NO ONE, ever told me that I might find piles and piles of books ~INEXPENSIVE books ~ there! Just look at all those amazing piles of heaven! hehe Needless to say, I did not move from this spot, and I left my patient friends to their own devices. Check out all the great titles I snagged!  Keep reading to hear about some of my favorite new picture books...

Finally my girls pulled me away, and we headed out to enjoy a wonderfully filling lunch where Mrs. Whitt gave me a gift she picked up for me. I can't wait to wear my new lanyard! She said as soon as she saw it, she thought of me ~ LOL...so sweet! We all had a quick giggle when I showed her my phone's screensaver...

My latest screen saver..LOL

My new lanyard :)

   

Such a fun day! 

 

I just thought that Friday was a busy day...it didn't even compare to all that I ended up doing Saturday...

I think instead of writing it all out ~ I will share it my favorite way...in pics!

Katie Byrd and I (she's not pictured) started our day with a 5K
The Cabot Spring Fling!

I was so glad to see some of my kiddos there! 

Ms. Shewmaker rocked it and came
in as the fastest teacher walker!

Katie and I might have made better time if we
didn't stop to snap pics....haha....
such a beautiful daughter I have :)

After the race, Katie and I had breakfast with some great friends before stopping by the school to get ready for an awesome week of learning. I dread the day that she doesn't enjoy coming to help me in my classroom. I think my kiddos love it each year as much as I do.

Later, we stopped by to see Josh at one of his off-duty gigs at the River Market, and on a whim Katie and I ended up at the Museum of Discovery. Josh ended up getting off a bit early and even joined in on the fun!

 

I love the look on her face! 

 

After all the fun at the Museum of Discovery...
we enjoyed dinner at Olive Garden.

One of our silly family traditions while we are in NLR
 is to stop by Books-a-Million after we eat dinner.
No telling what these two are giggling about, but again I
just love the look on her face! So happy and cute!

The only way this day could have been more perfect would have been if my boys could have been with us, but with three boys and one girl, Katie Byrd is about the only one I can get to hang out with her old mom. We were lucky to sneak in some quality time with Josh in between his off-duty jobs (hence the uniform.)

Woohoo....now to share some of my new treasures! I can't wait to see my kiddos tomorrow because I have missed them so, but I cannot wait to see their little faces when I show them our new books! 

 

I found a new (well, new for my library :) book from the team of Sarah Stewart and David Small. I think I might have let out a small YEP! when I put my hands on it. LOL....I first fell in love with this husband and wife duo when I read what is now my all time favorite picture book, The Friend. You can read more about it in this previous post. The Journey did NOT disappoint! It reminded me so much of their book, The Gardener. In The Journey Hannah tells the story through diary entries while in The Gardener sweet little Lydia Grace tells her story through her letters home. Both stories are so moving, and I love the compare/contrast of the letters and images! There is something so intuitive in the illustrations of David Small. He carries the story so much further!

 

The Monster Diaries by Luciano Saracino was so stinking cute; I just couldn't NOT get it! I love the format of this fun and quirky little story. The illustrations of Poly Bernatene have a way of making this wild group of monsters easy to relate to. Now as you read, be sure to pay careful to each diary entry...lots to infer here!

OK...I can tell that this post is forever-long, but just a couple more. I promise.

This next precious little picture book is also illustrated by Poly Bernatene. I fell in love with these illustrations as much as I did The Monster Diaries. The Tickle Tree by Chae Strathie is so whimsical and hopeful at the same time. In the beginning of the year, as we establish our writing workshop and our notebooking, we discuss that one of the things we can write about are those wild and unanswerable questions that we all have. This fanciful little fantasy is an amazing example of this! I cannot wait to use it in the launch of our notebooking next year and as a great reminder here in the thick and hard haul of the year. What a perfect pause to all the writing prompts and texting practice! I will for sure be keeping my eye out for this illustrator...Mr. Bernatene has grabbed my attention, and I look forward to finding more of his great work.

OK....last one for the night....

This Humpty-Dumpty~ish little story is so fun and silly. "The egg was young. It didn't listen. If only..." I can't wait to giggle with my kiddos over this one, and even more I cannot wait to see their little faces when we hit the end. "If only...." We have a great study of theme in this one....hmmm...be happy with what you have, maybe...patience maybe....

Thanks for indulging me. 

Happy Reading!

OK....one last little thing to share...and only because I have listened to it about a half dozen times as I have written. I don't know how many American Idol fans read this, but this season Kree is my favorite. :)