Halloween Fun

We had a wonderful visit from our class grandma today! The kids love her. She read "The Big Pumpkin"and had the kids act out the retelling of the story. Talk about engagement. They could all retell the key details within minutes.

Bats, Owls and Spiders Oh My!

Student Interest and Engagement

The last couple of weeks have been all about student choice for us. I figured out a while ago that if I let the students have a controlled choice they are much more engaged. As the year progresses, I give them more freedom of choice. I gave a very informal poll. What spooky creatures do you want to learn about this month? They voted on bats, spiders and owls. So of course I chose texts with these themes for shared reading. It's pretty easy to match common core standards to these topics. For writing I told them they could research any of the three and then write an informational paper on it.  Every day when writing was over someone said, "Do we have to stop?" Music to a teacher's ears. I encourage you to give your students choices. Instead of deciding between two topics yourself, throw the choice out to the class for a vote. I bet you that they will be more interested than if you always choose.

Bats, Owls and Spiders

Welcome

One of the first lesson's that I give my new students every year is a lesson on pronouncing my name.  It's a tough one. I'm sure that you just have to know.  So here goes: La-bra-she-on-o.  We can make it simple and you can just call me Amy.  Stay tuned for my latest class updates, lessons and freebies from my TPT store!