This year, I got myself together and finished off the new year reading unit I started last year. I added a ton to that baby, and I am so happy with the results. I cannot wait to try it out in my own classroom next week.
Paired Reading
I fell in love with the book Because by Mo Willems. The book is written in simple sentences that are enhanced with beautiful drawings. Each sentence is a series of cause/effect relationships...perfect for a learning connection. The whole book is about inspiration and hard work. I love the concept that hard work pays off in the long run. That is the theme of this book and leads to great conversations with kids about goals and how we can achieve them through...you guessed it...hard work! It's is a perfect book for anytime, but I LOVE it for the New Year. We can revisit our old goals for the school year to check in and we can create new goals for the rest of the year.
One of the things other things I enjoyed about this book was that it introduced some famous composer's names to students. So, I decided that I would create a set of paired texts (perfect for practicing annotating) about these two famous composers and some quick research activities to go along with them.
Once I found this book, I wanted to find another book to go with it as a paired reading book that we could compare and contrast. In my quest for the perfect book, I found the whimsical and fun book, Never Play Music Right Next to the Zoo. In this lively book, a little boy falls asleep at an outdoor concert that his parents take the family to. As he dozes, he dreams of a fanciful orchestra. The zoo animals escape and storm the stage, taking over the orchestra. In the end, the boy wakes up and all is well.
There are a lot of learning activities that cover skills from visualizing (this book is perfect for this), alliteration, new vocabulary, and many others. I love the fun around the room activity that has students earning pieces to create an orchestra animal craft.
Division Math Centers
After Christmas break, I am ready to add some new math centers to my rotation. I did not have any division activities in my math centers, and that is the last unit we just finished, so...I decided to create a set of three games for my students to keep practicing with. These are quick-to-learn and prep games that will help the students continue growing in their basic division facts.
