One thing that hasn't stopped since we have gone on lockdown is my daily read aloud.  Each day, whether it be live on Zoom or prerecorded using QuickTime and posted to my Google Classroom, I choose a picture book and read it to my students.   Usually, I just read the book.   Nothing more, nothing less.  But at times, there are picture books I read to my students that lend themselves very well to a fun, quick, and easy response.  One such book is Scribble Stones by Diane Adler.  (this is my affiliate link and will take you to Amazon to purchase the book)  This is a sweet story about how a little rock gains a little color and spreads happiness because of it.   On the inside dust cover of the book, and a page in the back, it tells how everyone can make their own scribble stone as well.  This got me to thinking.  Making a scribble stone is something fun that m......

Now, admittedly, I am not expert when it comes to video recording.  Generally, I take small snippets of my classroom or whatever on Instagram and am done with it all.  But with this "distance learning" thing upon us, and in my efforts to keep the love of reading alive for my students, I have been forced to learn how to use some basic video recording technology. Daily, I read a book aloud to my students.  There have been many authors who have given permission during this shut down to read books aloud to students via video as long as those read alouds are locked down to some extent (meaning, not just free and clear on youtube for anyone to see.)  So each day, I choose a book that I know has been cleared. Then, I sit down with my computer and open QuickTime.  This application was already loaded on my Mac when I bought it.  It is a super easy video recording method.  I press "New Movie Recording" and the little box pops up.  I press record and......

One of the nonnegotiables in my classroom is read aloud time.  I build it into my schedule so that every day, rain or shine, I read aloud to my students.  I get quite a few questions about how I actually do read aloud and what it looks like in my classroom, so I thought I would write about it here to give you a clearer picture of what read aloud looks like in my room. At the end of every school day, about 20 minutes before the bell rings for dismissal,  I have my students clean up our classroom using the 60 second clean up , they write their homework in their planners, we pass out papers (homework, flyers from the office, etc...) and then they pack up their stuff to go home.  When the kids are done packing up, I have them join me on the rug.  Since this is an individual process (some kids take longer than others) I head to the rug at this time and sit in my chair.  Kids join me as they finish up and we usually start talking about the books we are read......

Today's post is going to be short and sweet (I know, I know...so unlike me!)  Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my little "Bookshelf" door that I have put up in my room.  I tried my hardest this year to instill a love of reading in my students and wanted them to have a place to record their reading.  In the past I have done "What Are You Reading Now?" book rings .  While I feel like they were a good place for the kids to write down their reading, they just weren't visual enough.  So this year, taking inspiration from this pin , I put up some butcher paper and was on my way. This was VERY easy to put up in my classroom.  I just covered one door with brown butcher paper, painted some brown lines to look like a bookshelf, and was done.  I added a "plant" to the top and the READ letters, just to give it some dimension.  And that was it. Using a book spine clip art I found for free on the web (I just typed in "Book Spine Clip Art" an......

So this post has been a long time coming.  If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram , you know that we read Wonder by RJ Palacio as a read aloud this year.  My students were captivated by it...especially the Julian chapter. In the book, a major storyline revolves around the precepts that Mr. Browne, a teacher, teaches the students each month. These are short quotes that become sort of "rules to live by".  At the end of the story, Mr. Browne asks each of the students to write their very own precept and send it to him on a postcard.  So that is what we did. I first had each student create their own "Wonder picture".  You see, each of the chapters are broken up with a picture of the child telling the story.  The picture is drawn with very little facial features and only using black ink.  So that is what we did.  Here is mine I used as an example with the kids. Then, I asked them to choose a precept that related to their own life.......

For quite some time, I have had this teeny little bulletin board hung up by my library.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it since school began, but just have been too lazy busy to put it up.  I FINALLY finished it, and wanted to share it with you! It is my Read Aloud Spotlight board! The idea is simple.  The current read aloud book is spotlighted so that anyone walking into our room knows just what book we are reading.  I have the name of the book (in this case Wonder by RJ Palacio) showcased under a "spotlight".  I then have the cover of the book stapled up and a little area designated for our current chapter and some thoughts.  Each day, I wipe off the vis-a-vie marker and write the latest chapter.  I then have one student volunteer write their thoughts on the book so far.  The kids really enjoy this part.  I find that they are listening *extra* hard just so they have something valuable to write on the sticky note! (not ......

This summer, I read The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child and was inspired to change my entire reading block.  I loved every word that was written and found myself nodding in agreement page after page.   As I began this school year, I was determined to have a "Book Whisperer" classroom. Then the year began. And I went back to my old ways. Now, part of this is due to the fact that I was really only in my class for 4 weeks before my little one was born.  But the other part was due to my own ingrained habits.  Old habits are hard to break! So instead of going all in, I decided to make small changes.  I can do small changes.  The small change came with my read aloud. I have always read aloud to the kids, however, if something needed to "go" for whatever reason, it was always that.  I decided that my read aloud time would be a sacred time in the class this year.  That it would be something that we would never not d......

One of the "sacred" times in my classroom is our end of the day read aloud.  I feel like it is *such* a great way to get the students involved in literature that they wouldn't necessarily choose themselves as well as help to create a community of readers out of those students.  Each day, as the class comes to a close, we all gather around on the rug, listen to the same story, and discuss it together.  But more importantly, we *enjoy it* together.  It is that enjoyment that helps to build our community.  They really do look forward to it (if for some reason we can't read one day, they ask incessantly about it.  Really.) So, I thought I would take this post to discuss some of my favorite read alouds and then open it up to you to discuss your favorites!   The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread   by Kate DiCamillo If you follow me on Facebook , you know how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE this......