Ain't Nobody Got Time for That!

Do you LOVE lapbooks and interactive notes? I LOVE using interactive notes however let's be honest, it can take FOREVER to cut out the pieces and get students to glue the items into their notebooks. This teacher ain't got time for that this year! We've lost some teaching time with a new push for a longer RTI block and our schedule this year is completely unforgiving... We've all been there right? So, I've been looking for ways to cut corners but still do the valuable activities I love!

What's the solution?
Take those interactive activities and put them at stations or have students work on them in table groups! I'm still having students glue in important notes but practice or "fun" activities, we've been doing them as table groups. This helps cut wayyyy down on the time it takes to set up our interactive activities!

For today's genre sort activity, I prepped the activity by cutting and gluing down the pockets to neon construction paper.This was a pretty quick task since I could use the paper cutter to cut the rectangular pockets and square cards. I was able to make 10 sets in about 15 minutes. The extra 15 minutes was well worth my time because it meant my students could go straight to the sorting and discussing part of the activity!

Last Year vs. This Year: Last year I had each student glue in the pockets and cut out FOUR pages of books to sort... This year I decided that all the kids didn't need this activity in their notebooks. I wanted the to have the genre notes but they didn't need to the sort all year. Plus, I have them write down "good" books on their books I want to read list.

Last year:

This year:

Afterwards, we bagged up the cards and the pockets so I can use them again next year!

If you want to try out this genre sort activity, it's available as part of Lovin' Lit's Reading Interactive Notebooks!

Happy "Prepping"!

What's in the Bag?

I saw several bloggers posting about their teacher bags and since I haul mine back and forth just about every night, I thought I'd share my teacher cargo! First, let me say, I love my new Vera teacher bag! This one has the most comfortable straps...EVER! Thank you, Vera Bradley!

What's in my bag?

Test Correction Slips: I always carry my test correct slips with  me. I place these on any test or quiz under a 70%. Students have 1 week to correct the assignment for a 70%.

Backpack Paper Organizer: I found this amazing backpack paper organizer at Target! It's a lot smaller than a normal flex-file. I also like that it stands vertical. I have it organized by homeroom teacher along with keys & late work. I also made a cute laminated "cover" for my flex-file since it's nearly clear.

Pencil Pouch: I already have tons of pens and markers at my house but I bring my favorites home. Inside my pencil pouch I have my Crayola Powerlines, mechanical pencils, Flairs, Post-its, and a granola bar.

Folder: I keep a folder in my teacher bag for anything I need to copy. The folder helps keeps my copies safe and I can go directly to the copier when I arrive at school without stopping by my classroom.

Notebook: I keep my Erin Condren Notebook in my teacher bag. It's great for bringing to workshops or department meetings. I also like that I can write down my To Do Lists and jot down any notes I need to remember. It's a great way to keep track of my school life at home!

Umbrella: I never seem to have one when it rains. Now, I'm carrying all the time. Enough said.

What's in your teacher bag? What are your essentials?

Book Raffles! #Excitement

Looking for a way to bring some excitement into the classroom? 

Try a book raffle! One of my blogging besties, Literacy for Big Kids,  is a book raffle pro! After reading her posts last year, I just had to try it out myself!

Plus, I just hit the mother load of books from our first Scholastic Book Order...

So after sorting and organizing the books... I chose five books from our Scholastic order and  Crenshaw from Amazon to put in our raffle! I made sure to give a few book talks yesterday to get the kids really excited about our raffle!

Here's the end result of our raffle... 
Please note: I had every blogger intention to take photos of the adorable set up... but then life and teaching happened. My step up included these $1 buckets from Target and this book stand, also from Target.

Students took all the books home to be the FIRST reader! My two Crenshaw winners know they will get their copies in the morning and until then we have a stand-in in place!

Students were so excited to be the FIRST to check out new books! They also loved that EVERYONE was able to participate or hold their tickets for an upcoming book raffle! Both classes begged me to draw the tickets before the end of the year! #Excitement. The next questions was, "When's the next book raffle?"

Need quick tickets? Click {here}.

I just printed on Astrobrights for a pop of color and so kids could find them if they were saving them in their pencil pouch.

Here's some things to remember if you're planning your own book raffle! 

How do you keep the #excitement alive in your classroom?

Book Sale: Game Plan!

This weekend, Half Price Books is hosting a huge clearance sale event on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! Whether you have a Half Price Books or not, it's always good to have a game plan when building your classroom library. I know I've walked away with books I don't need or buy duplicates because I go into a sale blind and get overwhelmed by all the books.

Here's a few tips to help you score big on your next book buying trip!

Have a strategy. I make a list of favorite authors, series, and books I'm looking for before going into any book store. I find this helps me focus on books I'm needing for my classroom library. I also write down future book club topics and the numbers in a series I'm currently missing.

This year one of my big game plans was to look for lower level novels. I've done a great job at building up grade level and above novels but I'm in some series need of below grade level reads in the classroom. Before hitting the sale, I wrote down series like June B. Jones, Stink, and Horrible Harry that I wanted to look out for!

It's also important to know what you're getting into. If you're shopping a huge warehouse sale, get a map and know where you're going!

I also make note of favorite authors. A few of my favorites that I'm always looking for: Sarah Weeks, Margaret Petterson Haddix, Roland Smith, Sharon Creech, Wendy Mass, Patricia Riley Giff, Lauren Tarshis and Mike Lupica. I'm also on the lookout for popular series like Stranded, IQ, or I Survived -- those are always popular check-outs in the classroom.

Then it's time to make your selections before heading to the checkout! Know your budget and decide what is a keeper and what goes back to the benches!

So how did I do? I ended up spending $49 on 41 new books for my classroom library! I didn't think $1.20 was too bad for most books. I added books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever that sells for $8 at Scholastic. I paid no more than $2 per book and some books were as low as .50 cents. I bought mostly fiction but I did find two nonfiction books to add to my library.  Plus, I was able to find a small book club set of Fourth Grade Rats and some new copies of Love that Dog for $1 to replace my overly "loved" copies.

Five for Friday: Back to School Edition!

Who doesn't love back to school?! We've actually been back for over a month now, what!? I haven't been about to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching since I've been back so I thought I'd give a snapshot of our year so far! So here's my back to school Five for Friday!

We are currently in the start of our Character Reading Unit. We're reading Rules together as a class! I shared this video about Autism with my class. Such a great way for students to understand how different people can see the world!

In the middle of our Native American Unit. We loved using Brain Wrinkles Native American Cultures Powerpoint to kick off our study of ancient Native Americans. We really enjoyed learning about the Woodland & Mississippian cultures! 

We are counting down until the release of Crenshaw! All fourth graders read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, so my fifth graders are soooo excited for Crenshaw! I may have given them some teasers and shared my EXCITEMENT for this book as well! I'm planning my first book raffle for the release! 

Native American Word Wall is going up! Students really understood the concept of a region this year! Love the way this group made their picture clue... Vocabulary Rock Stars! 

We launched our Character Book Clubs just last week! Students are flying through the books! So, far this group of fifth graders are loving graphic novels like El Deafo and Smile.  My student are also digging Lisa Graff's novels Absolutely, Almost and The Thing About Georgie! One of my sweet girls keeps me updated on her The Thing About Georgie status... She read 6 chapters in a night which is quite the feat for this reader! I can't thank all my book loving friends for all the great recommendations. Teaching students how to celebrate and choose books is SO important!  Read more about my book clubs {here}.