Notebook Know How: Chapter 1

Every year I pick an area of instruction that I want to strengthen and develop as a teacher. This happens to be the year for writing. I recently purchased Notebook Know-How by Aimee Buckner and started reading the first chapter tonight. After each chapter I am going to spend time reflecting on what I've learned and some of the "ah-ha" moments I encountered in my reading.

The first chapter focuses on why Aimee believes notebooks are crucial for budding writers. She begins the book by painting this picture of students bringing in their personal notebooks to store their words and thoughts, but simultaneously gets bombarded with questions about size of the notebooks, how much needs to be written, what exactly is an "entry," and a myriad of other notebook requirements. I so relate to this because my students gave me the same grief and I really couldn't adequately answer them. Aimee also goes on to attempt a remedy by providing the notebooks for her students, but comes to the conclusion that she does too much for her students. The writing does not belong to the students, it belongs to the teacher. Again, this was my classroom to a "T". 

Aimee goes on write about the true purpose of the writing notebook - "to practice living like a writer." Wow! The writer has become more than just a school subject, but it is now a way of life. It is something intentionally done on a daily basis. My questions now are... What does the life of a writer look like and sound like in the classroom? What if I don't have anything significant to write about? I struggled with this a little bit because there are times where I don't blog because I don't feel like I have anything "blog worthy," especially when there are so many talented authors out there in the blogosphere. Aimee addresses this directly in her book! We don't write because we always have something significant to share, but we find significance later as we revisit and reflect on our writing. We find significance and meaning in our writing when we make it a daily habit and we put that writing in our notebook. 

In summary, keeping a notebook is a process. There's no right or wrong way to keep a notebook, but remember the true purpose behind the notebook. It's to simply practice the act of writing. It's the act of writing that leads the author to significance. 

I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I think I'm going to learn a lot and model a love of writing to inspire my students to live like a writer. 

Thanks for reading my ramblings! Come back soon to read about Chapter 2 - Launching the Notebook. 

Fiction Friday... on Tuesday?!

Howdy, friends!

Summer and life, in general, has been way crazy here lately. Can anyone else relate? Anyhoot... I am seizing the opportunity to blog during my lunch break here at work to update my blog. My new bloggy friend, Amanda, has a fun linky going right now called Fiction Friday. Yeah, I know it's Tuesday, but... who cares?!?! You can click her graphic below to link up!

Without further ado... here are a couple of my Fiction Friday picks!

One of the grade level expectations in Missouri is to understand Missouri's role in the Civil War as well as an overview on what it was fought, slavery, African American contributions to Missouri's history, etc. This book does just that! The Story of Jonas is written by Maurine Dahlberg and is about a slave boy who accompanies his master's brutal son on a gold expedition in the Kansas Territory. Jonas meets many interesting characters and begins to learn he was way bigger dreams than being another man's slave. This would be a great read for grades 4-6, maybe even 3rd. 

My next pick is a classic... The Witches by Roald Dahl! I read this every year to my students and it's a class favorite. I don't think I've ever had a class that didn't like this book. After the death of his parents, a boy and his grandmother decide to go on holiday in England. During their vacation, they meet the most gruesome witches known to mankind and create a plan to foil their evil schemes. Read this to your kids and make sure you read this with your best witch voice. This was a big motivator and inspiration for students to work on inflection and fluency in reading - not to mention it shows them reading is fun!

Well, lunch is over and I guess I should go back to "work" (if you can even call it that!). Make sure you link up at The Teaching Thief's blog! I can't wait to read your Fiction Friday posts!

Josh

A Little "Light" Reading

One of my favorite blogs to stalk, the Clutter-Free Classroom, is hosting a linky party about our summer reading plans, plus there's a contest for a $15 gift certificate. Woot! I just gotta link up!

Click the pic to go directly to the Linky Party & Contest!

Here's what I'm reading currently:

I am a huge Rick Riordan fan and have read the other Kane Chronicle books, so I had to get this downloaded to my Kindle. This is a great read for upper elementary grades and is FULL of Egyptian history and myth!

I plan on re-reading these two books and begin to map out what Daily 5 is going to look like in my classroom. I'm very excited because I'm going to a district where everyone does D5! It's going to be a great learning experience!

Here are a few I plan on reading this summer:

I really want to beef up my writing instruction next year, and this is a book

I keep seeing in the "blogosphere". It's got to be good!

This is another one I've heard buzz about. I've heard excellent things about Debbie Diller, so I look
forward to learning more about doing small groups more effectively. 

Ok, now it's your turn to link up and share your summer reading plans! Have a faboo Friday!!

Friday Freebie, BookSource, & My New Classroom!

Happy Friday! I hope you have wonderful plans for the long weekend. As for my wife and I, I think we are "stay-cationing" for the weekend!

I wanted to let you know that I've posted a freebie in my TpT store! You can click the little button over there on the right or follow this link to download my IPICK Bookmarks. I tried to post a nice little picture of them on here, but for whatever reason, they were coming out really blurry. So, just click the link to get your freebie!

Next up... I've been waffling back and forth on how to organize my classroom library because it seems every year I start a system I think will be good only to have it fall apart half way through the school year. I went out in search of blog posts on the subject and one in particular led me to...

http:///classroom.booksource.com

The only problem is... I can't remember which blog it was! If you pointed me to the Classroom Organizer, please comment below so I can give you the accolades you deserve! Update: I figured out who pointed me in the direction of Booksource -- Tiffani from Time4Organization! Check out her blog - lots of great organizational ideas there!

Anyhoot... I just spent the last day or so cataloging 393 books by scanning the bar codes with an iPhone (free app also available for Android) and now I have a spreadsheet with titles & guided reading levels. How cool is that?! What is more, you can create a class roster and have your students check out your books using the online tools! It's definitely worth a look!!

Finally... I got to visit my new classroom the other day! I thought I'd post a few "before" pictures for you guys.

Maybe where my classroom library will be?

Student workstations

Student workstations

I'm thinking is will be my "meeting" area for Morning Meeting and minilessons.

I have a sink! Woot!

Teacher workstation

Cubbies with additional storage up top! Score!

This will be the CAFE menu for Daily 5. 

Presently, my challenge is where I will put my bean bags and other reading furniture I had in my other classroom. I'd love to have a designated reading area, but we may have to get creative with how we do that.

So, I guess that's it for today! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Be sure to show your appreciation for our military this weekend! :)

End of the Year Gift & My First TpT Product!

The end of the year is always the craziest part of the school year, but today, I received the BEST and CRAZIEST present I have ever received from a student. Behold...

Yes, it's a toilet coffee mug!! There is a back story to this gift, but I will have to save that for another post, but I started my day with a hugamongous LOL! Have you ever gotten a crazy gift at the end of the year? If so, I want to hear about it! :)

The second thing I wanted to mention in my second post for the week (yes, I'm in shock, too!) is that I have placed my first Teachers Pay Teachers product in my online store. I am selling a Daily 5 Anchor Chart Pack which includes a mini anchor chart students can put in their reading notebooks or teachers can place in a classroom binder for reference. The profits I make off the products I sell are all going toward the adoption of my future son or daughter. You can read more about my family's adoption adventure by cruisin' over to Bringing Baby Bennett Home. 

If you do purchase or preview the anchor chart pack, I would appreciate your constructive feedback on how I can make my products more useful and effective for teachers. 

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful night!! :)