Sunday night football, and still school tomorrow :)

Hello all it has been a hectic week to say the least, I teach in Tennessee and we are under a new evaluation system that is very intense (look up TAP rubric on the Internet), and my first evaluation was this past Friday so I have been busy doing paperwork, not to mention our grades are due by Thursday of this week at noon. YIKES!!!

Anyways I thought I would post today. Last week we did author's purpose, and I decided to make an anchor chart to chart our stories as we read them so that we do author's purpose with every story throughout the year. Here it is.

to make the PIE pop of the wall I cut a tissue box covered it with construction paper and hot glued it. This way we could use the clothes pins easily. Each week right before planning, the students turn in a picture to be cut for the clothes pin as well as telling me what they think the author's purpose was and why. I read them and pick the best ones to vote on at the end of the day, after we pack up we vote on where the pin should go and whose picture to use. They love this and it has been working out well. We are now three stories in and they are already starting to get better with their explanations.

Also, this past week I went to a Sally Ride Science Training, and just a little thing to plug, but I recommend anyone who gets a chance to go. It was really good, and gives you kind of a different perspective for Science.

Well I will let all of you get back to your very important lives because I have to help my hubby and fur child make a snack. :) Hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed week.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Hello Followers!! So here lately we have been working with Metro School Essential Literature Program and our class recently read Tale of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. This is my favorite book to do with fourth graders, I love it they love it and it is so easy to teach the story elements using this book. One of the skills we worked on was making connections text-text, text-world, and of coarse the easiest to do with book text-self. As part of our text to self connections I have the students do a writing prompt called Tales of a Fourth Grade.....Nothing/Something. After reading the book and discussing how the title of the book comes from how Peter feels like a fourth grade nothing because of Fudge, I have the students brain storm a time when they felt like a fourth grade nothing just like peter. Then they write and illustrate it on a half sheet of paper, then they get to brainstorm about a time they felt like a fourth grade SOMETHING (a time someone went out of their way to make them feel loved and appreciated). I love this lesson, you really get to know your kids, and it really helps them think about the fact that someone does care about them. Here are some examples....(please excuse the spelling errors, they were not counted for spelling on this assignment because I wanted them to focus on the tone and feeling of their writing) :) They did a great job!

hope this a lesson you can share with your class. They loved it!! Talk to you all next time!

Mrs. Beasley