Flip Flops, Beach Chairs, and Teaching With Mentor Texts

Happy Summer!!!  I don't know about you, but this was a very long school year and I am super excited to relax and recharge this summer.  And by recharge, I mean exploring new books and new ideas to bring into the classroom for the upcoming year.

One book I would like to share with you that I think is super fun for teaching students about perspective is called A Weed is a Seed by Ferida Wolff.  I came across this gem at Half Price Books and immediately knew it would be a keeper for my classroom.  After reading it once, my teacher brain kicked into high gear.  So many different lesson ideas were forming.  Theme.....creative writing.....cause & effect.....perspective......growth mindset.  I could go on and on.  As teachers, we know that we can do just about anything with a picture book.

A Weed is a Seed teaches children about what the word optimism means (which is such a powerful word to teach to any age).  This picture books is all about finding the silver linings that nature has to offer.  Ferida Wolff points out the down side perspective of such natural wonders (such as moths, sand, earthworms, and air) and then celebrates or finds the positive side of their virtues.  This is a great example of looking at things from various perspectives that could generate a thoughtful discussion among students.  This is a fairly easy picture book, but it will provide a lot of great lessons!

This book can be used for many different lessons, but I would start by using this text to teach students about perspective.  After giving the definition of the word perspective, I would create an t-chart chart on the whiteboard to complete while reading whole group with the students.  Record the two perspectives of each object, event, or activity.  The anchor chart will be a way for students to see the different perspectives visually rather than just orally.  With the students, discuss how the readers can see that the same object, event, or activity can be viewed in two different ways (and stressing that both ways are true).  It's even fun to hear the students generate a second perspective before turning the page to read on.

What's another perspective of dealing with the sand when you are at the beach?

The freebie is to be used after the whole-group read aloud.  It can be used in a work station or as a scoot activity.  The perspective-taking cards can even be used for a creative activity writing exercise.  If you are using this freebie in a work station or scoot activity,  print the cards on card stock, cut apart, and laminate.  This will ensure that the cards last longer.  Students will use the Perspective-Taking Activity Sheet to record two different, but true perspectives for each situation. I did not include an answer sheet because there really is no right or wrong answer.  The purpose for the activity is to get the students thinking about different sides or perspectives to every situation, object, event, or activity. Grab your freebie HERE!  This would be a great lesson before teaching growth mindset!!!

Before you head on, don't forget to enter our group giveaway.  It will be open until June 10th.  Good luck!!
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To see what else is available in our link up, check out the list below!  Enjoy!
 

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Reading in a Winter Wonderland

Hello and welcome to our second annual Winter Wonderland link up!  Last year, The Reading Crew sponsored a winter literacy hop, but we decided to run it a little different this time.  Instead of hopping with the potential of dead links, we decided on a closed link up.  What this means is that there is a "map" of the blogs at the bottom of each post, so you can hop through them all at once, visit some today and some later in the week, or see what best matches your literacy needs.  

On each blog, you will see a word in blue font.  This is the blog's mystery word.  Please be sure to record them because you will need each word for a five point entry in our raffle.  To help you keep track, you can print and use the recording form.

"Run, run, run.....as fast as you can!  You can't catch me!  I'm the........"

As a child, we learned to end this refrain by saying "..Gingerbread Man!"  Did you ever learn a different way to end the refrain when you were younger?  Luckily, our children now have the opportunity to read so many different versions of the gingerbread man.  Too many versions to read in a year!  I love teaching my third graders several ways to end this refrain.  And I am so excited to share one of my favorite gingerbread versions with you!

The Matzo Ball Boy is written by Lisa Shulman and illustrated by Rosanne Litzinger.  This 2005 fictional fairy tale is a Jewish version of the gingerbread boy.  On the morning of the Passover seder, a lonely grandmother, or bubbe, decides to make a delicious matzo ball boy for her soup.  Before long, the matzo ball boy runs away from the old woman, the schneider, the yenta and her children, the rabbi, and hungry fox with a dream to see the world.   

This familiar story of the gingerbread man is an updated twist which will leave your students wondering how this version will come to an end.  Plus, this book offers a way to introduce and teach your students about a Jewish holiday which is celebrated by many around the world. 

I look forward to December every single year.  It's not just because the holidays are around the corner.  It's because I spend the whole month exposing my third graders to different versions of the gingerbread man.  You won't imagine how many versions there are of the gingerbread man!!!  The Matzo Ball Boy by Lisa Shulman is definitely a must to have on-hand!

I start the month with reading the traditional version....the version that most people are familiar with, The Gingerbread Man by Eric A. Kimmel. Each student is given a story map graphic organizer at the beginning of the lesson to record the characters, setting, refrain, and ending.  Next, I like to read The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires, The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst, or The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.  These versions are closely related to the original.  While reading the versions, the students continue to complete their story map while I fill in my giant story map gingerbread house.  Next, I like to model how to compare and contrast the two versions using the cookie jar venn diagram.   By modeling this activity, my students are more comfortable completing the venn diagram independently or with a partner when I read The Matzo Ball Boy.

After reading the more traditional versions, I like to introduce my students to versions that they have hopefully never read before.  Such versions include The Cajun Cornbread Boy by Dianne De Las Casas, The Runaway Rice Cake by Ying Chang Compestine, and The Musubi Man by Sandi Takayama...etc.  BUT one of my favorite gingerbread books is The Matzo Ball Boy by Lisa Shulman.  I have the same story map from above copied for the students where they can record the characters, setting, refrain, and ending.  This year, my students are comparing and contrasting the The Matzo Ball Boy (Jewish version) and The Musubi Man (Hawaiian version).  With a partner, the students use their story map to compare and contrast the two versions using the cookie jar venn diagram from above.  This lesson is not just for teaching compare and contrast.  Below is another freebie that help practice another important skill. 

Once the students have become familiar with The Matzo Ball Boy, they are ready to identify some cause and effect relationships.  Teaching cause and effect has never been my favorite skill in third grade to teach....(never!)  But it must be done!  By December, I have already exposed the students to cause and effect, so this activity is more of a review to practice the skill.    Below is the cause and effect freebie! 

Once the students are familiar with the story, this cause and effect activity freebie can be a great way to practice the skill.  I have done this activity two different ways.  I have had the students complete the cause and effect t-chart while I am reading, in partners, or as a whole group.  I have also made a few different versions, depending on the level of your students.  On the first two pages, the students only find the cause of each effect.  In the second version, the students are to find the cause and effect.  The third version has the students draw a line (match-up) the correct cause to the effect.

To extend on this lesson, students can continue reading more versions of the gingerbread man.  The list keeps growing every year!  I also have my students complete a gingerbread persuasive writing piece.  The students convince the reader (Mr. Fox) that they are not a gingerbread man and do not want to be eaten.  They have to convince Mr. Fox they are something other than a cookie.  Plus, the students get to decorate their gingerbread man to match their writing.  

Before you go, I will remind you that my mystery word is gingerbread. You can enter it onto your sheet or into the rafflecopter below. Good luck to you, and I hope you'll come back soon.

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An InLinkz Link-up

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Back to School Book Favorites Linky

It's that time of the year!  I feel like jumping for joy and crying at the same time.  August is quickly approaching (umm...less than 72 hours away!) and my "back-to-school" brain is in full affect!  My first day of school is not until August 19th, but I already feel the "back to school panic" setting in.  How about you?

So, I thought I would share with you one of my favorite back-to-school picture books.  It's one of my favorite books to read aloud on the first day of school because I love the discussions that are created!

Source

My book is called What If Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick.  It is recommended to be read to children ages 4 to 9.

What if everybody fed the animals at the zoo?  What if everybody threw their soda can out the window of their car?  What if everybody broke the rules?  The world would be a mess!  This book, What If Everybody Did That?, is a great book to read to discuss rules within the classroom, school, and even the world.  This book offers humorous illustrations that display the consequences and answers to these types of questions in a child-friendly way.  This is such a great way to introduce your classroom rules while reading this book together in a class.  

Here is a page from the book. Wouldn't this be great for some open-ended class discussions?  I love to hear what my students have to say about the consequences for the certain situations in the book.  This is such a great way to encourage students to be more mindful of their own behaviors and how it affects people around them.

Source

I have used this book for several years on the very first day of school.  I think it is very important for my students to come up with our classroom rules.  When my students write the rules, I feel that they take more ownership and responsibility of their actions.  

Click here for Forever Freebie

Before we create our classroom rules, I have the students brainstorm some actions that could happen in our classroom and the consequences if everybody did that.  For example, "what if everybody was late to school?"  The freebie to the right is a document I created that allows the students to describe and illustrate two actions that could happen in the classroom. To ensure the students understand the directions, I like to do a few examples on the whiteboard before they get started.  

Once the students have finished, I like to have them share their actions with the classmates at their table groups.  Depending on time, I may have students share with the whole class.  

Side note--(I think this book would also be good to use when teaching cause and effect.....but that's not something I would do on the first day of school.)  

This activity leads us into our group discussion of class rules.  We brainstorm our ideas on the board, decide on the most important and crucial rules for our classroom, and I'll write them onto chart paper.  All students sign their names to the rules and I laminate it before hanging it on the wall.

Check out the bloggers below for their back-to-school favorites (and a freebie!!).  Leave me a comment and tell me how you do your classroom rules at the beginning of the year!

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