Daily 5 Chapter 5: Read to Someone and Listen to Reading

My post on Daily 5 Chapter 5: Read to Someone and Listen to Reading is up on We Read, We Blog, We Teach! 

Come read my tips and add your own suggetions.  All comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

Lovely Blog Award

I have been given an award by the wonderfully creative Bayyinah, AKA: the Queen Bee, at On the Road to Accomplished Teaching.  Don't you just love her name? :) I am honored to be named as one of her 15 choices for this award because her list contains some truly accomplished bloggers.  Thank you, Queen Bee!

There are a few rules that go along with this award:

1. Follow the person who gave you the award
2. Link back to the person who gave you the award

3. Pass the award on to 15 bloggers

4. Highlight your favorite awarder’s blog post to share with others!


Now I get to name some of the bloggers that bring loveliness to my days.  I need to shorten the list to 5 because many of the blogs I follow (understandably so) have already been awarded with this.

Rachel at Sub Hub
Anna at Smarty Pants Teaching Resources
Sara at Smiling in Second Grade
Ms.Jasztal at Jasztalville
Jordon at Life is Better Messy Anyway

I follow so many creative bloggers that inspire me to be better each day.  Come check out these wonderful blogs!

Versatile Blogger Award!

I want to thank Jackie at Third Grade's A Charm for giving me this award! 

How sweet it is to be chosen out of the big bloggy community for this!  I am extremely honored.

There are 7 rules you're supposed to follow when you get this award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.  Done!  Shouldn't that always be first?

2. Include a link to their site. Done!  Only seems natural :)

3. Include the award image in your post. Yep.

And now.....

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.

• I'm double-jointed.  Makes yoga harder, if you can imagine that.
• My cat has been missing for two days, and I'm in a tizzy about it. :(
• I like the sand part of the beach, but not the water as much.
• On the other hand, I like the water in a lake, but not the shore as much.
• I love to cook.
• I strongly dislike doing dishes.
• I hated math as a student, but love teaching it now :)

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.  The tough part because there are so many good ones!

1. Kayla at Fourth Grade Freebies from the High-Tech Teacher
2. Mary at Artistry of Education
3. Kristin at iTeach 1 to 1
4. Sandy at Fearless in 5th
5. Josh at Mr. B's Beach Brains
6. Suzanne at Krazy Town
7. Mrs. Wilson at Mrs. Wilson's 4th Graders Are on the Road to Success
8. April at Wolfelicious
9. Mary at Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives
10. Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade
11. Leslie at Engaging Learning in the Upper Grades
12. Jessica at Mrs. Stanford's Class
13. Jana at Thinking Out Loud
14. Heather at Heather's Heart
15. Britney at Mrs. V's Adventures in Teaching

6. When nominating, include a link to their site. Done!

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated.  Will do!

Today is a good day!

Upper Grades Daily 5 & CAFE Book Study

Calling all upper-grades teachers (that means you, third- through middle school teachers)!  The Daily 5 & CAFE Book Study blog is officially up and running as of today!  Click on the link and join us!

I am just getting into Daily 5 & CAFE for my reading and writing blocks, but I'm super excited about it!  In my humble opinion, the books are written more with a primary classroom in mind, but I also feel like they are easily adapted to suit the needs of upper grades teachers.  Thus, the upper-grades book study!

You can stop by just to pick up suggestions, or you can leave your own experiences in the comment lines.  All suggestions are appreciated and welcome!

Read Alouds that Compliment Curriculum

Amanda is hosting a "Fiction Friday Link-Up" at her very cool blog: The Teaching Thief.  This is a great opportunity to share some of the fiction books we all love to use because, let's be honest, no one can tolerate ONLY nonfiction books all the time!

I chose to stick to Virginia Studies and Science for my read-aloud books this time.  I could do an entire post on nothing but Language Arts books, but I'll save that for another day ;)

Historical Fiction

A Friendship For Today by McKissack, Patricia

This is a chapter book about integration in the 1950s and a friendship between two girls that overcomes prejudice.

A Good Night For Freedom by Morrow, Barbara Olenyik

This is a picture book about a family of Quakers that house runaway slaves and describes the resulting danger in which they find themselves.

Freedom On The Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins by Weatherford, Carole B.

This is a picture book about the integration/desegregation period and passive resistance. 

Sounder by William H. Armstrong

This is a chapter book about a sharecropping family that is torn apart when the father is imprisoned for stealing food.

Science

Ecosystems/Habitats

The Great Kapok Tree by Cherry, Lynne

Not only is this great for discussing ecosystems (rainforest in this case), but it also has a great tie-in to writing.  The animals are trying to convince the human not to cut down their home.  I use this to discuss persuasive language and which styles/phrases are most effective and human impact on ecosystems.


What fiction books do you use for read-aloud?  Come join the link-up and share your favorites!

Music for Learning and Bonding Link-Up

I know I already posted about this, but Amanda at Teaching Madness is having a music Link-Up.

I have always been a big fan of using music to set the mood in the classroom. This past year, I really started exploring using it as more than just "background music."  Here's some of the songs I love and the ways I use them.

To signal that it's time to transition or clean up.  Usually, these are upbeat songs with heavy rhythms.  They dance their way to their seat or the next station until the music stops.  These are just some of my/their favorites.

• Peanut Butter and Jelly Time by Kidz Bop
• Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Pokerface Hits
• I Like to Move It by Madagascar Team Players
• Born This Way (Lady Gaga Karaoke Tribute Instrumental Version)
• Celebration by Kool & the Gang
• Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day
• Mambo No. 5 by (Karaoke Instrumental Track) in the style of Lou Bega
• Whip It (Karaoke Instrumental Track) in the style of Devo

To reinforce math concepts. 

• Lemonade Stand (Liquid Measurement) by Teacher and the Rockbots
• You Can Multiply by Twelve by Teacher and teh Rockbots
• Long Division by Karl Roemer
• Nonagon by They Might Be Giants

 To reinforce science concepts.

• Things in Space (8 Planets) by Teacher and the Rockbots

To reinforce language arts concepts.

• Prepositional Phrases by Mr. Duey
• Synonym Antonym Homonym by Rockin' the Standards
• Writer's Song by Rockin' the Standards

Watching Movies AND Teaching the Curriculum

As more and more expectations were piled on my plate at the end of the school year, my grade level colleague and I came up with a plan to get it all done.  We had read many of the same authors and/or books during our read-aloud time.  Why not show the movies that went with those books?  Our two classes watched the movie in ONE room.  This freed up one of us to go other places if need be (to the office to get student files, for example). 

Of course, I didn't want it to be all fluff and no curriculum.  Here's how I made that happen.

1. Read the books during read-aloud or small group time. 
2. Have your normal vocabulary, comprehension, author studies, etc. discussions.
3. Watch the corresponding movie.
4. Compare and contrast the movie with the book.

 To extend this idea, I thought about doing the following activities after watching the movie.

1.  Create a "sequel" to the movie:  Brainstorm what happened to the characters after the end.  Create a play, skit, or short story to demonstrate. 

Here are some tools:

• Use Storybird to create a story with pictures.

• Create a comic depicting the events.

 You can see how I used all of this in more detail by clicking here.

2.  Create a commercial advertising the sequel. This is a great opportunity to review or teach persuasive writing.  You could film this if it suits your needs.

Here's a list of the books/movies I have done at least part of this with or would like to:


I like the "old school" version of this movie or the BBC version. 





I wish there were more movies to go with Kate Dicamillo's books!  And on that note....

Our school has the 1985 version of this movie. The newer version might be too "racy."

Do you use movies in coordination with your curriculum?  If so, which movies do you find most closely adhere to the book?