Make Your Masterpiece

It’s Week 3 of the TPT Seller Challenge and luckily it was a 1½ week challenge because I’m coming in at the last minute!  This week, the assignment was “Make Your Masterpiece” and I decided to add another FREE Novel Unit to my TPT Store.

I recently created a “blog button” (see sidebar to the right near the bottom) and chose a polka dot bow for the graphic.  One of my favorite things about my Novel Units, and the reason I started creating them for my own classroom originally, is that I wanted to have everything I needed to teach a novel WELL, covering as many standards as possible, tied up in one neat package.  While my free products aren’t bundled together due to the ten page limit for free items, you can still find everything you need to teach the novel following the links to each free product.

It’s no secret that I love Roald Dahl.  My Comprehension Packet for The BFG is my best selling product and I now have eight different Novel Units for Roald Dahl books available in my store (three of them are FREE).  The Twits was an easy choice for this challenge because I can easily exhibit everything my Novel Units encompass with any Roald Dahl book.  Dahl’s strong characters, plot twists, rich vocabulary and relatable humor have kept his books favorites in most every elementary school classroom since I was a child. 

A popular Roald Dahl quote reads, “If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”  I didn’t realize until writing this Novel Unit that the quote comes from this book. (The Twits, p. 9)  That isn’t the only treasure found in this little novel, as Dahl snuck in several important life lessons amid the humor.  The theme is clear: the way you live your life will catch up with you in the end- good or bad.  It’s never too early to learn that lesson!

Make sure you snatch this freebie and while you’re there, check out my freebies for The Magic Finger and Esio Trot as well. 

A Book Report Makeover

Today I was going through posters I had my students make entitled, “Top 4 of 4^th.”  They highlighted four things they enjoyed about fourth grade, and I’ll hang them in the hall for Open House in August.  Most of the students illustrated topics like field trips, games they played at recess, or even talking to their friends at lunch.  But what really surprised me is that a couple of kids drew their book report they just completed for an end-of-year project.  Granted it was fresh on their minds but I was still surprised to see it made anyone’s Top 4 list.  Must not be half bad for a book report if I do say so myself!

One of my greatest missions as an upper elementary teacher is to get kids excited about reading QUALITY literature.  No offense to the wimpy kid and his diary, but sometimes I cringe at the difference in the average book I find in my fourth graders hands compared to the ones we read in elementary school.  One way that I encourage my students to read meaningful books is by requiring each of them to read and complete a book report on a Newbery Award winning book as their final project at the end of the year.  Then, we share these book reports the last week of school and it gives the kids some ideas for summer reading (hopefully).  

I signed up for a TPT Seller Challenge and the first challenge was to make over an existing product from your TPT store.  Since it had been on my mind today, I chose to make over my book report.  I love this product because it is Common Core aligned for third through fifth grade, so you can mix and match the pages that fit your students.  There is a page for EVERY Reading (literature) Common Core standard for each grade level.

For Makeover Madness, I updated the color on the cover and changed the title so that it could be used for any quality or award winning novel, not just a Newbery winner.  I had unnecessary headers and footers, so I nixed them and updated the fonts.  I also noticed this year that my students had trouble fitting their writing on some of the pages, so I enlarged the graphics to give them more room to write.  I'm so excited about my new and improved book report!

My Award Winning Book Report a great way to review the standards from the previous year at the beginning of the year, or it can serve as a capstone to review a year’s worth of standards.  And the best part is it’s on sale for 20% off (only $1.60) Tuesday through Friday this week!  Check it out…

A Snicker of Magic

“So you keep catching them words, you hear?  Pluck them out of the wind.  String them together like the finest set of pearls.  Line them up on paper.  And if it hurts too much to say them, then you sing them, or whisper them, or write them into a story.  But don’t waste them.  Your words matter more than you know.” (p. 181)

I love words.  Whether I’m writing, reading, teaching, or playing a word game, they captivate me.  The lyrics in a song, the way a student responds to a question, a text from a friend, words off the page in a book…it all gets in my head, and, often, the words work their way deep into my soul.

Such was the case with my latest novel unit.  Typically, I highlight as I read children’s books- vocabulary words, quotations for analysis, figurative language… But as I read this book, I found myself highlighting for entirely different reasons.  This author truly has a way with words and I found myself marking quotation after quotation- life-applicable and attitude-altering ideas, not just words to fill the page of a children’s book. When an author puts into words a feeling you’ve experienced but have yet to articulate…there’s nothing else like it.  In A Snicker of Magic, Natalie Lloyd did that for me again and again.

If my current enthusiasm doesn’t fade, this book will remain on my personal all-time top three children’s books list.  The novel is nothing short of amazing; the clever plot, endearing characters and (the aptly named) snicker of magic held my attention from cover to cover.  Moreover, the life lessons embedded within the plot are priceless.  The main character of the book, Felicity Pickle, has a gift that enables her to see words hovering around people- their thoughts, feelings, wishes… the very core of who they are.  Such an interesting concept… how different our world would be if we could see each other that way.  Her gift also applied to objects, and it left me thinking about what words I would see hovering around this book if I had her gift.  I decided on these three:

Hardships.

“Everything you touch, everything you smell, everything you taste, every picture you see – all of that has the potential to call up a sad memory.  You can’t choose what comes up first.  But you can choose to replace it with something good.” (p. 265)

Home. 

“Home isn’t just a house or a city or a place; home is what happens when you’re brave enough to love people.” (p. 302)

 Hope.

“Hope doesn’t fizzle or flicker or burn out.  Hope isn’t the same as other words.  Hope holds steady.” (p. 174)

The themes of this book resonated deep inside me, and the words the author used grabbed hold of me… perhaps because we all have those three words hovering around us.  We’re all stumbling through hardships, searching for a place that feels like home, and holding onto hope, just like Felicity Pickle.  I have found that these truths hold whether we’re ten years old or a hundred years old, and whether you’re on either end of that spectrum or somewhere in between, I believe A Snicker of Magic will speak to your soul, as it did mine.

20% off through Tuesday, February 3rd

Sideways Stories from Wayside School

I recently completed my 30^th Novel Unit for my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  With this milestone, I’ve been trying to think up new ways to promote my products.  One change I made in hopes of gaining more followers (follow me on TPT here) is that new products are 20% off for the first 48 hours they’re posted.  However, that’s left me thinking about how the first 29 novel units never got their moment in the spotlight.  So, I’ve decided to highlight a novel unit every so often and put it on sale (20% off) for a few days following…

Introducing my first Novel Unit Spotlight: Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar.  It’s an odd choice perhaps because I’ve never even used this particular novel unit in my classroom, but I’m planning to use it next quarter, and I’m excited about it.  There’s always something fun about teaching a novel that I read as a child…this book was written in 1978!  It’s pretty silly and strange, but kids love the offbeat humor and unpredictability.

I chose this novel to support my unit on summarizing.  The short chapters will be perfect for practicing this skill, and I’m not the only person who thought so.  One of my favorite TPT authors, Deb Hanson, uses the novel in her SummarizingPowerPoint.  On my Final Test for the book, the constructed response question asks students to choose one chapter and change it to a short play in order to test both summarizing skills and knowledge of drama.  And of course, every page of my Comprehension Packets requires students to summarize the pages they read that day.

An added bonus is that Scholastic Book Clubs has this novel on sale for only $1 in this month’s 4^th Graders flyer!

In my opinion, the best part about reading children’s literature is finding new favorite quotations…lines that make me think, make me laugh, warm my heart, or stop me in my tracks so that I can read them again.  There are treasures like this in every quality children’s book, even the silly ones where you may not expect it.  My favorite quote from Louis Sachar in Sideways Stories from Wayside School comes in Chapter 16: “You need a reason to be sad.  You don’t need a reason to be happy.” (p. 73)  If you give this book a try, hope it gives you a reason to be happy, even though you don’t really need one!

Here’s a preview of my Sideways Stories from Wayside School Novel Unit... All my products from this novel will be on sale (20% off) now through Saturday.  (Link to my TPT store at top of home page.) Happy reading!

My Favorite (Summer) Things

What’s not to love about summer?  Warm weather, weekend getaways, sunsets and fireflies, sleeping late, the lake, the river, and the pool, sandals and tank tops, cold drinks and dinner on the patio… I will admit even though I love my job, summer’s end leans more toward bitter than sweet.  Today marks the last official day of my summer; I'm marking it by sharing a list of my favorite things I’ve discovered this summer.

Ben and Jerry’s Salted Caramel Core ice cream

I’m not even going to try to explain how good it is!  You have to taste it.  I started the summer by stretching one of those little pints over three or four nights. Last week, I realized I accidentally finished the whole thing in two nights.  We won’t even discuss the serving size and calorie count…  But it’s worth it!

Novels by Sarah Addison Allen

My friend, Jackie, gets the credit for this find.  I started the summer with The Girl Who Chased the Moon and ended it with Garden Spells.  I’ve found myself suggesting both to friend after friend, trying to explain this unique style of mostly realistic fiction with just a touch of magic.  The author offers a whimsical, refreshing take on easy to read, romantic yet a little mysterious novels.  I highly recommend!

Amazon Prime Music

If you have Amazon Prime and haven’t checked this out, you need to.  It’s a new feature they added a few months ago where you go online and add playlists, and even some albums, to your library for free and then you can play them from your computer or phone just like Pandora, but without the commercials.  Just a few of my playlists are, “50 Great 2000s Country Songs,” “50 Great 90’s Songs,” “Jason Mraz and More,” and “Kelly Clarkson’s Top Songs.” It’s definitely worth checking out!

Wet ‘N Wild Emerald Pointe Season Passes

This one is thanks to my friend, Lisa.  She texted me the day after Thanksgiving and said the waterpark had season passes for half price on a Black Friday Deal.  Sixty-four dollars and ninety-nine cents later I was signed up for a half a dozen days of water slides and the wave pool with her and her sweet kids.  It really was a great deal, complete with free parking and 20% off food in the park.  We’ll be watching out for another great deal this fall!

Quizzative

This one is for my fellow nerds.  This is a game by Merriam-Webster that you can buy in the app store that quizzes you on vocabulary words through ten increasingly difficult levels with four different games on each level.  The first two levels are free, but I was hooked and bought the remaining levels in the car on our way back from the beach.  I was always able to resist a single Candy Crush purchase, but the word game did me in.

Capriz Italian Feast

Speaking of our trip to the beach, Brent and I went to the beach by ourselves for the first time ever this summer. We had a great time hanging by the ocean and of course, eating out.  Our favorite meal was at a place at Broadway at the Beach called Capriz Italian Feast. It wasn’t very fancy but it was DELICIOUS!  It’s all-you-can-eat for $20 per person.  There’s an amazing salad bar with a lot more than salad, and then the servers bring around every Italian dish you can think of, including steak and chicken dishes.  As an added bonus, the sangria is delicious.  It’s going at the top of our must-do list for Myrtle Beach now!

Hart of Dixie

I saved this one for last because I just discovered it, but last week I decided to pick a new series on Netflix and came across Hart of Dixie.  It only took one episode to hook me!  Well-cast, funny yet touching, with an endearing, sassy flair that makes me feel like I’m watching the movie Sweet Home Alabama transformed into several dozen glorious episodes.  Next time you’re looking for a new show, it’s definitely worth a try.   I’m hooked!

I’m trying to figure out which of my new favorite things I can stretch well into fall.  If you’re looking for me this week at night, I’ll probably be laid out on the couch eating Salted Caramel Core ice cream, watching Hart of Dixie.  We all have our vices, right?

Recommended by Mrs. Jones

I love to read.  I’m not just saying that because I’m a teacher and I have to.  I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t crave a good chapter book.  I read every single Babysitter’s Club book before I was even allowed to babysit.   My reading tastes have certainly evolved over the years, but lately it’s come full circle in that I have found myself reading young adult and children’s literature in my spare time, not just on “school” time.

Don’t get me wrong: I still love a good Kristin Hannah, Nicholas Sparks, or Jodi Picoult read.  But more and more I’ve found myself feeling like every novel I read, I’ve read before.  There are only so many ways to twist a plot in contemporary adult fiction.  With children’s literature, it’s different.  It’s less predictable, more magical, funnier, and more endearing. When I’m reading a book through the eyes of a child, I see things differently and feel them more deeply (maybe it’s the teacher in me).  I always learn something new.  The more children’s literature I read, the more I want to read.

There are SO many choices out there for kids to read nowadays, and I think that’s awesome; there is truly something for everyone.  But at times among the library shelves filled with so many choices (think everything from Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Captain Underpants to my students’ current favorite, My Big Fat Zombie Golfish- not kidding…look it up!) I have found that my students rarely read a quality, timeless, classic novel.  For that reason, at the end of each school year, I require that they complete a book report project on a Newbery Medal Winner or Newbery Honor Book.  (If you don’t know, the Newbery Medal is awarded to the author of “the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” yearly.)

I have a large boxful of Newbery books in my classroom and I’m sure they are all worthy of this honor; just think how many books they had to beat out that year to win that shiny seal on the cover!  I wish I had time to read and savor each and every one of them.  But too often, when a student asks me if the one they are about to pick is good, I’ve had to admit I haven’t read that particular book.  It seemed pretty excusable back when I was still a “new” teacher, but the more time that passes, the more ashamed I am to come up as less than the expert.

For this reason, I challenged myself a few months ago to start reading the Newbery Medal Winner and Newbery Honor Winner books each year, and hopefully work myself backwards if I can get ahead.  Unfortunately, I just finished the 2013 winners about the time the 2014 winners were announced, so I haven’t made any headway yet, but I am excited that I just completed the last 2013 winner.  It’s at least a start!  Instead of downloading the Newbery winners on my Kindle, which has been my reading habit in recent years, I’ve been paying the extra few dollars for the hardcover editions (it helps that my husband and I have Amazon Prime and use the heck out of it – the UPS man probably hates us!).  I set up a little section in my classroom called, “Recommended by Mrs. Jones” and have these books, along with a few others that I’ve read and enjoyed, displayed with special “checkout” cards like an old-fashioned library.  This display has created some excitement throughout the year; when I “recommend” and add a new book, the kids all fight over it. 

This was definitely the case when I added the last 2013 winner to my display this week.  I read this one last on purpose: it’s entitled Bomb and subtitled The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon.  Everything about this book screams “boy!” and my boys were all over it.  For that same reason, I procrastinated.  In fact, I almost made Brent read it instead and planned to make a new section called, “Recommended by Mr. Jones!” in my classroom.  But I’m so glad I didn’t!  Surprisingly, I really liked it and I learned a lot.  It was an enjoyable and educational read and it reminded me why I’m doing this in the first place: these books don’t just win by coincidence!  They’re masterful, insightful, and well worth the read.

Maybe you aren’t interested in reading ALL the Newbery Winners and Newbery Honor Books, like I am, or maybe you don’t have time, like I barely do.  But I would challenge you to read one of these at least once in a while.  If you’re like me, and you’ve loved to read as long as you can remember, it will remind you why you loved reading in the first place.  Children’s literature is unpredictable and magical.  You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn something new.  And maybe, like me, it’ll leave you wanting more.

If you’re looking for a place to start, here’s a list of the 2013 Newbery Winner and Honor books, in my order of recommendation with a 10 word or less review of each:

1.    The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (2013 Winner)

I’m a sucker for a good animal book.  Bless.

2.  Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin (Honor)

Who knew nonfiction could win?  But it’s a page-turner!

3.  Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage (Honor)

Such interesting characters!  Made me want to meet them somehow.

4. Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz (Honor)

Brilliantly creepy, but somewhat hard to stick with (for me).

Now it’s time for me to start in on the 2014 winners! But for now, I’m mostly just anxiously awaiting the next time “The Atomic Bomb” is a category on Jeopardy so I can kick Mr. Jones’ butt…he hasn’t read Bomb yet. :)