Genre Favorites

Over the years, I've surveyed my students to see what kinds of books they love to read. I remember one day when my fifth grade teacher introduced Jack London's Call of the Wild by reading a chapter of it to us and I was hooked immediately! I became so engrossed in the story that I couldn't put it down. Buck was my hero and the memory of his struggle in the far north is still as vivid as it was back then.

This activity will give you a good idea of what genre your students love to read. Once they complete the worksheet, I have them share their thoughts about their favorite genre in small groups. I tally their results with the whole group to see what were the most and least favorites. My objective is to expose them to other genre via their peers which hopefully will convince them to explore other types of literature!  Click on the poster to see this packet. 

Be Mine Valentine!

I've always loved the sayings on those little pastel Valentine sugar hearts! 

Surprise your reading/writing classes on that sweet day by introducing these 24 

Valentine Language Arts worksheets to them.

 The picture on the front cover is our view from the Meistertrunk Hotel in Rothenburg ob der Tober, a charming walled in medieval German town, that's on the Romantick Strasse (Romantic Road). 

Attention Middle and Secondary Teachers!

Secondary Solutions is having a ROCKIN' New Year Blog Party!  The invitation is for grades 5 - 12. Check out these blogs for creative lessons, teaching ideas. free items and more! And the best part! You can add your blog too!

Our Dachshunds

I couldn't resist posting a picture of our dachshunds,  Jeffrey and Frederick. The boys are brothers and standard size. Dachshunds although loving and adorable, are fierce hunters and were originally used to hunt badgers in Germany that were three times their size. I knew the breed well because I grew up with Gretchen, a dachshund, who lived to be 19 years old. If you can't find a dachshund, look under fleece blankets or down rabbit holes. They love being warm and are hunters at heart :)

Frederick and Jeffrey - Soccer Stars :)

Jeffrey wondering if it's dinner time LOL

Jeffrey with our niece, Sarah. Look at that long dog! 

Touch down! Jeffrey scores!!

Book Review of Hoot on Teacher2Teacher

The days and weeks fly by so quickly! How could I have forgotten to post my book review of Hoot that I wrote for Teacher2Teacher? Take a look :)

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Martin Luther King, Jr. "I HAVE A DREAM"

One of the most recognized speeches in history, is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech "I Have A Dream".

My 11 page packet has a fill in the blank activity for King's "I Have a Dream" speech. A word bank is provided for students.

There are vocabulary cut out cards, a formatted letter that students use to write to someone about their dreams. 

Many websites are provided. One website is of King’s speech (audio and video). MANY teacher ideas are provided that I’ve used in the classroom and that have been very successful. Answers are provided. This can be used with younger and older students.

Click on the picture to learn more. 

Ruth

Connections

CONNECTIONS

Educators are constantly striving to improve their students' reading comprehension by implementing various reading strategies. Making connections is a strategy that is used with struggling readers 

as well as higher level readers. 

TEXT TO SELF

Text to Self - Struggling readers have an easier time making personal life connections, or text to self connections, than other connections. Talking about what's happened to a character in a book and asking students if they've ever experienced anything like it is a good way for them to make these connections.

More advanced readers are usually able to make text to self connections, but often need to expand their connections by "thinking out of the box" in higher level modes. For example, if a connection is made about something that a character did in the story, the higher level reader should be able to explain WHY the character might have done it.  For example, when Maniac Magee decided to teach Grayson, the elderly ex-baseball player to read, higher level students should explain why they think Maniac did that. 

TEXT TO TEXT

Text to Text refers to connections between a text that students are reading and connecting it to to another text they've read. As students read a novel, remind them of other novels they've read and to think  what's alike and different in both. For example, a theme of friendship could run throughout both books. It's important that the students support their connections by stating examples from the books.

TEXT TO WORLD

Text to world are connections that can made between a text and something that is happening or has happened around the world. These connections are often made with nonfiction text, but can also be made using historical fiction books, biographies or true life adventure stories. 

Teachers should model making text connections as they read texts aloud to students.  For example, a connection could be made between a Civil War story and one about the Revolutionary War, comparing battle strategies, the outcomes of the battles or the accomplishments of two military generals.

I created ready to print connection worksheets for my students. These sheets are generic and can be used with any text, nonfiction or fiction. Click below for more information. These can be used with grades 4 and up.