Reading Journal

Fourth graders need to be held accountable for their reading.  In a perfect world every student would be reading a book at their 'good fit' level...but I haven't found that to be true.  SO...enter my reading journal.  I made these stickers for the front of each journal...I even managed to get my student teacher to cut 12 composition books into two...she knows how to use a saw!

Every day there's a short question they need to answer in their journal.  I don't always check their journals, but writing something down holds them accountable for reading 15-20 minutes.

Thank you TheTeacherwife.com for the daily 5 posters.  I just took a screenshot of the poster I wanted and placed it in PrintShop on a 4 postcard layout.  I used packaging tape and taped the postcard on the front of the journal.

Happy reading!


Happy teaching moment...the other day one of my students came up and said..."Here's one of our words for the week."  Then he pointed to the word stamina in his book...BIG SMILE from me.

SlideShow

vocabulary    It's what most reluctant readers need to improve.

Here's my idea...make pictures using powerpoint, save them as pictures, put them on my flickr page and show them as a slideshow.  I looked into digital photo frames...but soooo expensive.

  What are you doing?

What free application do you use for producing slideshows?

Busy First Days

I've been in school 3 days...and boy have they been busy days. I did get one project done this week...thanks to a student teacher.

Gotta Love Target

First Read Aloud

The beginning of school promises to be hot, temperature wise (even though I'm enjoying the cooler temps of the Rockies--until tomorrow), so for an afternoon break we'll drink lemonade and listen to The Lemonade War.

This is a story about Evan and his sister.  They will both be entering 4th grade in the fall.  Sibling rivalry rears its ugly head when they both start a lemonade stand to see who can raise the most money.

Family values, friendships, and a little math computation will make this a great story to enjoy at the beginning of school...and 4th grade.

Vacation

I will be frantically working tomorrow at school and then off to a family reunion in Colorado.  The high temperature here today was 102...and look  at the temps where I'm going.  Maybe I can stay until school starts...Aug. 13th.

Math

I will be teaching math this year (insert sad face)...I'm thinking about doing every day calendar math. But then I'm wondering..."Does anyone use Mountain Math? "  I think this might be a little more interactive than Drops in the Bucket as a daily reviewing process. But how does it compare to calendar math?  


I would get the online version, so there would be not be much preparation. 

Any thoughts?