Five for Friday

It's the first Friday of summer and I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

This week in review...

1. It's summmmmmmmmmmerrrrrrrrr!!!!!!  Enough said.

2. This summer I will be partaking in two book studies!  I myself will be hosting Word Nerds as many of you already know.  For my friend Beth from Thinking of Teaching, I will also be hosting chapter 3 (and discussing along the way) for the book study on Building Mathematical Comprehension.  I am very excited for both of these!  Since I have talked to death my book study, lol, I will give you a little information on Beth's!  Building Mathematical Comprehension is by Laney Sammons (the same author who wrote Guided Math) and is all about connecting your reading strategies and academic language to math!  I can't wait!

 

 

3. Well I finally got one!  I'm so stinkin' excited about my new pencil sharpener!  I had been seeing them all over the place and thought... No way, those look like throwback, albeit very cute throwback, pencil sharpeners that we did away with.  Well I WAS WRONG.  And I have never been so happy to be wrong :o)  Tomorrow I will be posting my review so come back and check it out!  I mean, look how sharp those pencils are!?

4. I had to go to a workshop this week about a new reading series we are adopting from Pearson.  Anyone know anything about it?

Now I will be the first to admit that I am not a HUGE fan of textbooks.  Nothing against textbooks or teachers who use them, but I am more of a teach from novels kind of gal.  Remember, I teach fifth grade.  If I taught younger students I might feel otherwise but my kids are about to be entering middle school and should be able to comprehend and analyze passages longer than four pages.

We also have to teach this textbook with fidelity till December to see how it goes.  A lot of people keep saying, "You won't have to do lesson plans now.  It's all there for you, you don't have to do anything."  But I'm one of those weirdoes who LIKES doing things.  I like to create new lessons and find other's activities that worked well for them and implement them into my classroom.  Again, I don't mind using it occasionally and I am excited about parts of this whole kit and caboodle, but I'm not a fan of someone telling me how to teach all the time and making all of us teach the exact same way.  (It's my Texas-Irish blood, I'm very stubborn that way, lol)  Teachers are just as unique as our students and what works for one might not work for another.  If we have to differentiate for our kids why not for our teachers?  Okay, off my soapbox now, haha!

5. If you follow me on Instagram you have already been alerted to this! LOL At Wendy's, if you donate a dollar to... well I'm not sure because I forgot in all the excitement, but if you donate $1 you get this cute little Wendy's Frosty Key Tag.  This key tag allows you to get a free Jr. Frosty every time you get something from Wendy's for a whole year.  Absorb that... A WHOLE YEAR OF FREE FROSTIES FOR ONE DOLLAR!!!!  Now it is just a Jr. Frosty, but who cares!?  I'm very excited about this and donated about $5 and got tags for family and friends, haha!  I don't know how long this lasts so go get yours today!

That's my week in review!  Nothing too overly exciting and I'm okay with that :o)  I am very excited for tomorrow because I will be having lunch with 5-6 other fabulous blogging buddies from our area and I'm working on Monday's Made It!  Already a good weekend and it hasn't even started yet.  Don't forget to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday and tell us what you did this week!

Tried It Tuesday: Summer Book Study... You Pick!

Over the school year I never get a chance to read professional development books but over the summer I'm all about it!  This summer I have three new additions to my library: Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess, Word Nerd by Brenda J. Overturf, and Guided Math by Laney Sammons.  I'm linking up today with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday because I am trying my first ever online book study!  Technically I'm not starting it until this summer but I wanted the voting to start now :o)  Here is a rundown of all three books!

Teach Like a Pirate

Based on Dave Burgess's popular "Outrageous Teaching" and "Teach Like a PIRATE" seminars, this book offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. You'll learn how to: • Tap into and dramatically increase your passion as a teacher • Develop outrageously engaging lessons that draw students in like a magnet • Establish rapport and a sense of camaraderie in your classroom • Transform your class into a life-changing experience for your students This groundbreaking inspirational manifesto contains over 30 hooks specially designed to captivate your class and 170 brainstorming questions that will skyrocket your creativity. Once you learn the Teach Like a PIRATE system, you'll never look at your role as an educator the same again.

I have heard many good things about this book and wanted to see how it could help me become a better teacher.  Usually my book studies are more geared toward amping up a particular subject (as you can tell by the other two choices) but this one just spoke to me about amping up ME as an educator. 


Word Nerd

 Word Nerds takes you inside classrooms at a high-poverty urban school and shows how two teachers implement creative, flexible vocabulary instruction that improves their students' word knowledge and confidence, enhances classroom community, and increases achievement.

I've actually already started reading this one and REALLY like it!  There are TONS of amazing ideas to teach, and have my students actually remember after the test, new vocabulary words.  Another good point for this book is that there is a free preview online, but the "preview" is actually the whole book!


Guided Math

Use a practical approach to teaching mathematics that integrates proven literacy strategies for effective instruction. This professional resource will help to maximize the impact of instruction through the use of whole-class instruction, small-group instruction, and Math Workshop. Incorporate ideas for using ongoing assessment to guide your instruction and increase student learning, and use hands-on, problem-solving experiences with small groups to encourage mathematical communication and discussion.

Now I know that Guided Math was a big book study last summer but now that I am most likely going back to teaching math next year, I wanted to give it a go.  There are also new teachers/bloggers out there that might want to try it as well.  That all being said I have not met one blogger who did not LOVE this book and implement it this year!

What summer book study would you like to see?  Please leave a comment if you would like to participate with your email and once the votes are in I will send a Google Doc for all those who want to participate by hosting a chapter.  I know some of you might only want to participate if it is a particular book and that is okay, I will ask for volunteers again once the final book has been chosen!  I plan on starting the book study around the beginning of June so be on the look out!