Reading Poetry

I found these 3 poetry books at Tuesday Morning proving you just never know where you can find a great book!



The Ocean Is... compares the ocean to other places familiar to children. For instance, a closeup picture of a shark compares the ocean to a dentist's office. This book has gorgeous photographs by Norbert Wu.






Hot Potato: mealtime rhymes was written by Neil Philip. This one has some tricky words such as placidly, persist and tureen, but they work into the known subjects visited in this book with poems about cake, jelly sandwiches, picnics and the cafeteria.




Swing around the Sun by Barbara Juster Esbensen contains poems that take you through the seasons of the year. These poems are accompanied by the artwork of Cheng-Khee Chee, Janice Lee Porter, Mary GrandPre and Stephen Gammel. The artists create a visual playground that is just as fun as reading the poetry.

Day in a Sentence

Check out Kevin's Meandering Mind to learn more about this challenge.

My entry this week:
The sun breaks though the clouds as my master's project nears completion.

15 Words or Less Poem Challenge

I found this weekly challenge at Laura Salas' blog: Writing the World for Kids. http://laurasalas.livejournal.com She provides the picture as inspiration for a quick poem. http://laurasalas.livejournal.com/83010.html



Radiance
Morning arrives
Slowly drifting in
As my eyes open
to the glory of the day.

Spell with Flickr

This is a fun tool! It takes the word or words given and finds letter pictures from Flickr creating your word in pictures. If you don't like a particular letter, click on it and it will change to another selection.

link to Spell with Flickr

Ideas are Poppin' in Second Grade

After a trip to the teacher store to look for thematic back-to-school stuff, the theme idea has changed. Now we are looking at a popcorn theme.

I bookmarked some webpages.

• del.icio.us popcorn bookmarks

Here are some stickers.

• Popcorn stickers

More ideas...
• Look Who Popped in to Second Grade!

Ideas from Melissa:

Estimation
Popcorn in a jar

Graphing
What kind of popcorn do you like best?
plain, butter, caramel, cheese

Glyph
stripes on bag a certain color, number of kernels, draw a picture in middle circle of bucket of hobby, sentence along the top lip of the popcorn bucket (see pdf)?

Read poem/song in hallway
www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems94.html

I think it's the 4th one I like--didn't know if happy little fellow could be changed to second grade someway

Different character for math, reading, etc
www.popcorn.org/kids/books/coloring.cfm


Popcorn boxes for homework
www.popcornpopper.com/16605.html

Possible Bulletin Board Titles

newsletter: What's Popping Up in Second Grade?

hallway: Ideas are Popping in Second Grade or
Let's Make Second Grade Pop!

possibilities:

Munch a Bunch of Math

Take a Bite out of _____________

Chew on Some __________ Strategies

Mouth Watering Work!
This Work Really POPS!
An Explosion of Poppin' Good Work!

Pop Open a Good Book! (from Upstart They have some bookmarks,stickers, etc...)

Image from webweaver.nu

More Lillies

Lillies

I love when the lillies bloom. They require a minimum of care for some brilliant flowers.

Websites with a Writing Correlation

This summer I am working on an independent study regarding how technology can be used to enhance writing in the classroom. I have found several websites. Check out the list here at http://writingsites.googlepages.com.

Image from Discovery Education's Clipart Gallery

2008 Olympics

Kathi Mitchell's Olympic Site has some great links for kids!

Writing & Technology

My de.icio.us bookmark tags have been changing in direct correlation to my INO 599: Independent Study - Writing and Technology. Interesting how writing has become a LARGE part of my thinking lately. Compared to the links on my school web page where writing workshop only has ONE link!

Science is still obviously a big part of my teaching. but I was surprised that math is such a major part. Although, it is relatively easy to find sites that drill math skills. I also use several of these sites for review and practice with my students.

Happy Fourth of July!

Day in a Sentence

Here is my entry for this week.

Graduate school projects consume my time!

Now you know why I haven't been blogging. :-)

This challenge comes from Kevin's Meandering Mind .

Day/Week in a Sentence

This week brings randomness due to no established summer schedule.

Remember: This challenge comes from Kevin's Meandering Mind .

Summer Goals

It's Summer Break time here in the midwest!

I have some goals in mind but find that I do better if I actually make lists. So here it goes...

1. Finish graduate school! (1 project left and 2 committee meetings)

2. Read professionally: Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor (Check out a recommendation here. )and the daily 5 by Gail Boushey & Joan Moser.

3. Start walking again (at least 4 days a week). I ran into a definite time crunch at the end of school and now I am having a terrible time starting again!

4. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Think healthy. :-)

5. Sand whiteboards for classroom. Dad and I cut the huge shower board from Menard's last fall. My old boards are showing a lot of wear.

Hopefully, actually writing them will help me stick to them.

Theme Thoughts

I needed a place to gather my thoughts & sites for next year's theme. Yes, it does seem early to be thinking about this, but I generally need to let the thoughts simmer for a while before they grow into real "do-able" ideas. So here is my spot to collect ideas...



Melissa thought about a sunglasses type theme last year with
• Our Future Looks So Bright, That We Have To Wear Shades
Here are some pictures and some other word thoughts.

•"Sun"sational Second Graders
• Our future is bright!
• So smart - we shine!
• School is for the Cool!
• Brilliant
• reflection

I've Got a Hunch
This is a Bright Bunch!
See Bulletin Board



More web sites with beginning of school stuff:
• Back to School
• Bulletin Boards
• Shades of Summer - Art Lesson
• Fall Bulletin Boards (Look 3 from bottom of page for sunglasses theme)
• Theme Ideas (Look at #5: Cool Cats)

Possible cubby hangers?
• sun w/ sunglasses

Words: Wonderful Words

I used my recipe poem to create a Wordle cloud. Fun! 
It might be an interesting way to practice spelling, word wall or vocabulary words.


(Click on the picture for a larger view.)

I try to read Donovan's Word Jar to get kids excited about words, but it has been difficult lately to squeeze in this chapter book even though it is short.  In the process of purging some educational magazines I found Max's Words as a suggested book.  A picture book may be exactly what I need.  I previewed Max's Words by Kate Bank at Amazon and that led to  The Boy Who Loved Words by Roni Schotter.  I have ordered them from the library for a better look before actual purchase.  

Day in a Sentence

This week's day in a sentence challenge is to try creating a comic. Kevin suggested using Make Beliefs Comix. It was quite easy to use. I'm not sure that I am a very good at writing for cartoons, though. Here is my attempt.

6 Words - Day/Week in a Sentence

Here is my 6 word week in a sentence:

A whirlwind of activities encompasses me!

It's been an extremely busy and non-routine week for me (...and it's only Wednesday). I hope it becomes calmer soon, but I don't really expect it. ;-)




If you want to learn more about Day/Week in a Sentence see Kevin's Meandering Mind blog for more details!

Color Poem - #8

It's hard to believe that this is my 8th poem. I am surprisingly happy to have written a poem every day. Thanks for allowing me to participate in this poetry challenge, as I am sure that it has helped me to grow as a writing teacher! (It has also required me to practice blogging again.)

Pink

Pink is the color of a newborn's soft, snuggly blanket.
Pink is a piece of juicy watermelon dripping on toes in the heat of summer.
Pink is the sugary sweet growing bubble blown until it pops covering a nose.
Pink is the color that rises across cheeks in a moment of embarrassment.
Pink are the aromatic roses in a wedding bouquet.
Pink is the brightly colored sweater that earns the wearer compliments.
Pink is the polish covering the long smooth fingernails.
Pink is the color of the warm flannel nightgown.
Pink is the color of memories.

5 Senses - 7th Poem

This 5 Sense Poem has a different format than the one that I have used with my students.

Here is my draft.





Excitement is orange!
It sounds like lightning striking.
It feels like school starting.
It tastes like circus popcorn
Eaten under a 3 ring circus tent!






Here is a shared 5 Sense Poem that my students and I wrote earlier this year.

First Day of School
Old friends from first grade
Teachers greeting new students
Cooks making the first meal to share
Tasting hot dogs at lunch
Glad to be learning again
First Day of School