Well, it's Friday again and I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday linky. You should link up to or just head over there to check out the Fab things posted for Friday.

#1 My Prescription Binder

This is my prescription binder that I just received this week for the 2013-2014 school year. This binder contains my schedules, Emergency checklists and procedures, ELA standards, ELA Units, my summer assignment, my student roster, and a Compass Teacher Rubric. My summer assignment includes to review how to read the ELA CCCS and to plan my 5 weeks of ELA lessons. 

#2 Freebie

I was inspired by Julie's library organization idea over at Lighting a Fire. She has a library book check out system that is similar to the one I used this current year, but is even better. She uses numbered sticks for students to place in the book box to hold their place. Click on the link above to see a picture of her system. This makes it easy for when students are ready to return their book they know their place. I used clothespins last year with students names, but the clothespins broke and some went missing. So, inspired by her idea I made numbered stars that I will  glue onto popsicle sticks for students. I have a set in gray like the ones above and a set in blue. If you would like a copy leave me your email address and I'll send them to you. I plan to post them on my TPT store soon. 

#3

I hope you are enjoying the first day of summer! It sure is hot here in southern Louisiana.

#4 

My boys and I went to the Children's Museum here in New Orleans, LA today, and one of their favorite things to do is to stand inside of a bubble. How cool is that! 

We also stopped at Michael's craft store on the way home and my twins had fun trying to make the 4th of July pinwheels spin. 

#5 TPT Store

I created two new items for my TPT store. The items are Clip Chart Leaders, which I plan to use this system for behavior this year instead of pulling cards like I've used in the past. The other item is Stars to be used for a Super Improver Wall, which is a Whole Brain Teaching method.  You can check both items out here and follow me on TPT. 

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Mrs. Shepherd

We were back in the classroom last Thursday and Friday after Hurricane Isaac and I took these two days to have students share their experiences during the Hurricane. I began by reading a story titled Hurricane by David Wiesner to have students make connections with the characters in the story. They then organized their thoughts in a Flee Map, and then took their thoughts and constructed a two paragraph essay describing their experiences and feelings before, during and after the Hurricane. Friday, students published their stories on our class blog at Kidblog. Check them out!

This week we have been super busy getting back into the routine of things and continuing to practice routines and procedures. Monday I taught students how to make a quality comment on a blog post, using the following anchor chart. Then I randomly handed out student's Hurricane stories and had them practice making a comment using a sticky note. Once they made their comment they delivered the writing back to its owner. They really enjoyed learning how to make comments, as well as reading comments made by their peers. I must also thank Mrs. Wilson and Mrs. Faust two teachers at my school, as well as Mrs. Howard the assistant principal and my student teacher Mrs. Ronquille for making additional comments on the student's first blog post. They were excited to know that their experience was shared with others outside of the classroom.

I am looking forward to hosting a Blog Commenting Party for my parents, where students will teach their parents how to log in their blogs and make a quality comment. The Blog Commenting Party is scheduled for Wednesday, September 26th.

Check them out making their comments! They did such an awesome job!

Our focus this week in Reading was identifying and describing the Plot in a text. I read aloud Sarah and the Freedom Quilt and created this Anchor chart with students to identify the Rising Actions, Problem, Climax, Falling Actions and Resolution.









We also practiced going to centers this week.

Here the students are going on a Louisiana Scavenger Hunt on the internet. My student teacher put together a packet for the students with links for the students to locate and use to find answers about their state such as state symbols, population, governor, and other facts.

Here is my student teacher facilitating a guided reading center. She is using the basal to review with students how to identify the plot in a story, and teaching them strategies such as re-reading when they can't determine the answer.

Students below are practicing on our state testing site LAPass. They are practicing Proofreading 1. Students were given two chances to complete the test and then recorded their best score.

Here students are utilizing Brainpop to review concepts we have learned this week such as landforms in  the US in Social Studies, Plot in Reading, and they are watching Harriet Tubman because the story Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt reminded them of Harriet Tubman.

Two other things I am super proud of this week check them out below!

Check out our class Goals. The Anchor chart in the middle is and idea I found on Pinterest and modified. I created Reading Goals for my students such as reading 40 books, reading 140 wpm, learning 150 new words and achieving 85% or higher on tests. I then passed out the color stars you see to students and had them write a goal they wanted to achieve. Some of their goals included changing their behavior, typing faster, passing their tests, making their mom and dad proud ( I loved this one!), doing all their homework, and reading for 20 minutes every night.

Finally, Check out my Super Improver Wall, which is going really well. Students began as a Fan (white star). You can see how many have already earned 10 stamps and have moved up to Rookie (orange star). These students received a free homework pass, as well as changing their star.

Looking forward to another great week!

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Mrs. Shepherd