Read

The holiday season has reached 115.

Many families at our school celebrate Christmas.

I happen to not be one of them (I mean, we rock those 8 crazy nights.)

;)

Regardless of what we celebrate, I want my entire class to be knowledgeable.

On customs around the world.

Not just in our neck of the world.

One great way to do this is to read books.

So.

My very first year I started collecting books.

Some were gifts to me or my class, some I picked up because I knew we needed them.

Kwanza, Christmas, Hanukah, Winter Solstice, and Winter theme books abound.

By December 1st, I wrap up one book for each student.

Not to give as a gift.

But to add to our classroom library.

They are all AR books, all levels.

Each school day I pull 1 or 2 numbers of a student.

That student opens the book.

I have a strong group of third graders this year, so when they open the books they also take my seat and read it to the class.

Two years ago, I had a third grade group that wouldn't have been successful (slash we tried one and it was pretty painful for that students, so I opted to read from there on out).

Still fun, still exciting.

And then best part is it's technically free.

I don't buy new books every year, I wrap up ones we already have!

Then once they are open they are back in the library.

My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Some of the books, especially the ones about winter will be kick off points for us for a winter activity.  The best part of that it is - I don't know which ones they will choose. 

It does take a little planning, but it's really fun.

I have all the activities ready to go, and when they are reading the book, my co-teacher and I get the activity ready.

Little Miss G. picked a poem book on Friday about a boy who wonders if the next day will be a snow day (even though it's summer).

The kids do a cute writing activity about if tomorrow were 100 degrees and it was a "sun day" instead of a snow day (we live in New England so snow days are much more likely.)

We served lemonade with a beach umbrellas while the kids worked.  They loved it!

Adding a little magic to the season is always my goal.

This year we added MAP testing Benchmarking and AR Benchmarking to the month of December, that's a lot of testing before  Winter Break.

I hope you can find time for a little magic in your classrooms this holiday season.

Our FAVORITE HOLIDAY reads:

Simon and the Bear

Winter Solstice

Lil' Rabbits Kwanza

The Night of Las Posadas

Totally Polar

Write

I love teaching writing.
Our school uses Collins Writing and Keys to Literacy.

Which is so funny since John Collins is married to Becky DeSmith who is a KTL Trainer.
Anyhoo. I adore both these programs and think they have made a gigantic impact on my students as readers and writers.

I've started writing more to show the kids that joy in writing.
When they read during independent reading, 4 out of the 5 days I read.
Something I'm intereted in.
I just finished Fortunately, Milk and found a higher reader who devoured it after me.
Before that I read Fish In A Tree...if you have not read it, stop reading this and go get it.
The other day I assess where they, evaluate their Accelerated Reader Assessments, etc.

Same thing with writing.
But "just" teaching them to write, doesn't necessarily inspire writing.
Fears of spelling and grammar mistakes can hold back even the brightest kid.

So at least twice, if not more times in a week, we do a quick write that's sole purpose is fun.
Not to be over edited and rewritten so it's pretty, just to get our ideas out...and share them.

A few years ago now I found an And Then...box on a shelf in a store here in Western Massachusetts called the Cedar Chest, it's eclectic and fun.

My better half limits the amount of time I spend there as their stationary section steals my heart the second we lock eyes.  "We don't need any more paper!" He'll say, before buying me some because he knows I won't let us leave otherwise.

And we LOVE LOVE LOVE And Then.
It's a simple box with a simple concept:
There is a set of cards with a little bit of a story.

Each story ends with...dun dun dun...AND THEN...

And that's when the kids pick up their pencils and start writing.
The first few times we did it, I wrote WITH them.
Now I just write my own while they are writing theirs.

To add an extra element of fun, I pick a student number to come up and "Pick a card, any card" and they take that responsibility very seriously.

Here's an early example with the card I read aloud and the student writing - and yes, I love her big ole enthusiasm as much as the next teacher, sometimes, you just gotta write - and I mean, can you tell it really was the WORST DAY EVER!!!! LOL :)

I don't know if Cedar Chest still carries this, so I've linked you to two of my favorite sites, Volume One is carried by Jet - so when you order you groceries this month, throw one in your cart.  And Volume 2 is carried by Le Target Boutique ;).

Volume #1
Volume #2

Travel

 

I had no idea, when I posted this photo of our class on our way to Greenland, it was going to be such a hit.

Many of my readers wanted to know more.

So.

Here we go:

Starting my first year of teaching, I had a smartboard, and I had some of the neediest kids. 
Kids who had never been on a plane.
Or train.
Or boat.
Or out of their barrio in the very inner city.

And so.
I started showing them what the jetway was.
And the plane boarding and the whole shebang.

Today, I don't teach in quiet the same environment.
We're more rural/suburban.

BUT - I do work at the Disney World of Elementary Schools.
LOVE...LOVE...LOVE.

Though the kids still lack a lot of experiences.
So, while they are at afternoon Extended Learning Time (this week they have Technology), I get the room ready.

This is actually the most time consuming part.
I only have 5 chairs.
We are a flexible seating room, so I have to borrow chairs from another specials room for this period.

I set them up in rows of two, the last row has three each as we have 18 kids.
I pass out Rachelle's amazing:
 Suitcase
Passport

Vocab Book

Along with a ticketthe day before, so I just pass out their suitcases at the end of specials.

When they enter the room, this is paused on the board:
   
Then we watch just a little bit of this, probably about 4-5 minutes.
While this next video is playing, we pass out our snack.
Yesterday we had oreos and crackers.

Our school provides daily snack, so next week, I'm just going to give them their regular snack during this time.
 

 

We spend a little bit of time talking about Greenland and pass out Rachelle's info sheet.

She also has a craftivity, but in this case, it was a letter to Santa, and we opted to do a video of Greenland over the craft.

Our class watched this:

Exploring caves as a job:

The class' favorite - Glaciers Up Close :) :

Honestly, here's the link to Rachelle's Work:
Holidays Around the World Part 1 & 2
It's incredible.
I don't even use her book recs, but they are there.
Bulletin board stuff.
There.
Passages.
There.
Games.
Pictures.
There and There.

One of the best products I've purchased from TPT.
(*I don't know her IRL, I don't get points for telling you I love it, it simply is easy to use and has over 200 pages.  So.  That should just speak for itself)

Sharing this experience with the kids is the best.
I am humbled by their enthusiasm and constant joy.
It's "free".
Like I don't have to order books online or DVDs, I just scour the internet for cool videos.
And let the magic of moving a few chairs do it's work.  Simply the best.!

As a souvenir, from each country, I pick a backdrop and we take a tourist class shot on our "trip".  While in Greenland, we took our photo with the aurora borealis: