Notebook Know How by the Pool!

So here's my take...

I have a great book recommendation 

for your pool bag this summer! 

I found this book, Notebook Know How by Aimee Buckner, about six years ago and I still have it prominently sitting 

on my shelf behind my desk. 

I refer back to it constantly! 

Here are my top 3 reasons 

it should be in your pool bag this summer!

1. Motivating:

I don't know about you, but summer time is the best time to read a professional book. I become energized and excited and can't wait to get back in the classroom to try things out.It is a quick read at only 125 pages!

2. Ready to use: 

I use to struggle with how to incorporate a writer's notebook with mini lessons, journal writing time, and grammar during my Writer's Workshop. Aimee has many practical strategies and shows you step by step how to get a notebook up and running.What is nice about the book are the quick reference charts so you don't have to waste time re-reading sections! If you are a fan of Ralph Fletcher's, Craft Lessons, then you will love this book!

3. Comprehensive:

This was the biggest selling point for me! This book helped me to understand how and why to set up a notebook, how to develop and mold the notebook so students could see the connections from our lessons to their writing, and Aimee's book explained how to assess their notebook. Aimee's approach to the notebook gave my Workshop a soul. The student's notebook's became a part of them. I loved watching their proud faces as they protectively would bring their notebooks to our easel area for a mini-lesson or their eager faces when they would scatter around the room to get started on a piece. 

Of course I need something in my pool bag this summer too! I've decided to read Aimee's book on Nonfiction! I will be teaching Science and Math next year and I already know that I want to see students writing in their Science journals. I am hoping to get great ideas from this book! I'll let you know what I find out!

Happy Learning!!!

Art & Poetry for Mother's Day!

So here's my take...


Near the end of April my class began learning all about Haiku poems. At the same time we started learning about Henri Matisse. So, I decided to integrate art & poetry into a project for Mother's Day!  


Students were fascinated by how Matisse created his "paper art" by cutting paper without tracing. After studying about his art, the students were excited to try his style. We used the books below when learning about Matisse...great resources!

Since traditional Haiku poetry is about nature, our project started with an outside observation! Students had to create a chart to record nouns, verbs, and adjectives that they saw. Lastly, they drew a sketch just like Matisse would do before cutting.

We learned that Matisse's style for cutting was an "organic" one (mostly cutting as if it was just the outline of an object). We practiced cutting on notebook paper before ever getting to construction paper.  I was very impressed with my class and no one even tried to cheat by tracing!!! 

Another aspect of Henri Matisse's art was his use of bright colors. The students had fun going "outside the box" when choosing the colors they used. After cutting, students used their shapes to play with the composition of the piece before gluing. 

Once the art was finished students had to pick one element of nature to focus their Haiku on. The student above chose to do birds but she could have easily chosen the tree or bird's nest (orange circle).

Students used their observation chart of nouns, verbs, & adjectives to help them in the brainstorm part of writing their poem. They worked in groups to help with inspiration, correct syllabication (lots of clapping), and to keep each other true to the 5, 7, 5 syllable rule of a Haiku.

The students were proud of their work and can't wait to take them home tomorrow!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Making Prompt Writing Fun!

So here's my take... on writing prompts.


     Spring time is here and so is the Writing Predictor Assessment (my county's name for it). I have been researching (blog stalking) how others get students ready for this day.  I really enjoyed Lorraine's idea at Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies. She created a Writing Camp (you must check it out, plus there is a freebie!). I definitely aspire to implement this next year!

     My research turned up that many teachers are using picture prompts. I immediately found awesome pictures to use, but they didn't fully hook my students...until I found Video Writing Prompts!

     TeachHUB has a collection of relevant, interesting, and age appropriate video clips to get students excited to write!

     The best part is that they already have prompts ready to go for you, plus they differentiate them for different age groups (K-2, 3-5, 6-8 etc). 

     The graphic link above will take you to the first video prompt I did with my class. They had an absolute fun time writing and didn't want to stop once writing time was over! 

Freebie!

    My student's struggle with writing proper paragraphs and organizing a 5 paragraph essay. I used the video writing prompts to practice what we called "perfect paragraphs". 

     My student's had success with the above organizer for paragraphs, so I modified the organizer to introduce the 5 paragraph essay. When my student's got familiar with the organizers they learned to create them in their notebooks (copy paper is in short supply at my school).

Freebie!

What do you do to get your students ready for the writing assessment? I would love to hear about your great idea, please leave a comment below!