Players in Pigtails

Did you know that the popular song, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," was written about a woman baseball player?  Well, it was!  In fact, the 1908 song was written about a fictional character named Katie Casey who absolutely loved baseball.  There are actually two verses of this song that most people have no clue exist!  They are both about Katie Casey, the star in one of my favorite stories, Players in Pigtails.

I absolutely love the story, Players in Pigtails by Shana Corey, about the time in our history when many of our country's men were going off to fight in war, including many of the men professional baseball players.  What would our country be like without our country's favorite pastime?  Our country did not want to find out!  Women across the country were in love with one of America's favorite games!

Player's in Pigtails was inspired by the popular movie, A League of their Own.  Read this book with your students to find out more information about the time in our nation's history when baseball was played by our ALL AMERICAN GIRLS PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE!

Thanks for reading this week's, WE READ IT WEDNESDAY!

*Information came from the text, as well as www.amazon.com.

I DON'T WANT TO BE A FROG

Welcome to this week's, "We Read it Wednesday!"

I Don't Want to be a Frog written by Dev Petty is hilarious!!  This book makes me laugh every time I even think of it!

Here are a few of my favorite pages!  :)

This will surely make your readers giggle, but also think about how fabulous it actually is to be themselves.  :)  This book reminds me the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."  It also makes me think of one of my all time favorite books, Spoon written by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.  I own 4 copies of this book.  :)  I soon want to own I Don't Want to be a Frog.  It is on the Summer Wish List from Amazon.  :)  Boy is that list long...

Have a great day!

We Read it Wednesday!!

Okay, this book is a must for any teacher!!  Even better if a teacher receives this book as a gift!!  Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou is a book with a teacher as the main character, but she is also a gardener.  I love the way the author relates the nurturing of a garden to the nurturing of the child.  This book is one that is on my shelf, and I take it off every so often when I need a smile, a pat on the back and reassurance that I am a good teacher, I am making a difference and that kids are learning in our classroom.  Please sit down for a quiet moment and enjoy this book, and if you are a parent as well, please consider buying this book for that special teacher on your list.

We Read it Wednesday!

Wow... I Wish You More is an adorable book with endless amounts of good wishes.  Each page reads, "I wish you more _______ than ______."  One of my favorite pages reads, "I wish you more umbrella than rain."  :)  This is a sweet book that can be used in so many different ways.  One way that comes to mind right now is to have kids write a few of these sentences modeling after the book for their moms for Mothers' Day.  I am going to buy this book to have in my personal collection to read to my little girl at home as well!  :)

We Read it Wednesday!

This week's We Read it Wednesday is actually a book I just read to my little girl before she went to sleep.  :)  Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You by Nancy Tillman makes me tear up every single time.

Reading this book to my daughter at night is ALMOST as special to me as when she "reads" it to me.  Tonight, Emma looked up at me after each and every page.  My heart melted.  If you have not read this book, do yourself a favor and do so as soon as you can.

#perfectbookforvisualizing

We read it Wednesday!  Well, Thursday this week!  ;-)  I so LOVE The Book With No Pictures?  This book is great for visualizing!  The.book.literally.has.no.pictures!  #perfectbookforvisualizing!!!!!  Not to mention it will make you and your students laugh hysterically!!  Check it out!!!

We Read it Wednesday!

It is time for We Read it Wednesday!!  Are your students addicted to learning all about nature?  Are they excited to learn about weather?  Do they want to find out all the facts they can about animals?

Mine do!!  I absolutely love any nonfiction book written by Seymour Simon!  Have you read any books written by him?  Seymour Simon writes nonfiction books about many interesting topics dealing with the world around us.  Students love the photographs and information and cannot get enough!

I don't actually read the entire book in front of the class because they are rather long and have lots of information.  These are books that I read ahead of time to myself.  I then pick out different sections to read in front of my class as my minilesson before I write aloud.  I use them as reference for my own writing so my students can see how good writers read about topics and research topics they are writing about.  I also use them as mentor texts to give the students great ideas they can use in their own nonfiction writing!  Check out some of my favorites!

We read it Wednesday: My favorite Patricia Polacco Books!

We read it Wednesday!!  :)  This marks the 4th edition of WE READ IT WEDNESDAY, and I could not be happier to announce this week's author!  Patricia Polacco!  In my classroom, we always do a Patricia Polacco Author Study in the spring.  Here are some of the books we will read in the coming weeks!

Patricia Polacco is one of the authors who changes your outlook on life and warms your heart.  She makes you think twice about the little and big things all around you and reminds you to truly appreciate them.  Sounds perfect for the spring months.  Here are some of my absolute favorites, but there are so many other that I enjoy as well.  If you are in your classroom right now, take one off the shelf and be prepared to reflectively smile.  You deserve it.

We Read it Wednesday!

Wednesday?!  Already?!  Again?!  Wow...many parts of this week flew by...while other parts DRAGGED!  My whole family got the stomach flu.  It was my daughter to show the symptoms first on Saturday afternoon.  Then, I wondered, could my husband and I really be immune and skip this whole debacle 100%...I. WAS. WRONG.  Boy was I wrong.  I think we complained more than little E did while she was going through what you go through during the stomach flu.  :(  But, I can 100% say, we are ready to face the world tomorrow.  We actually get to go outside.  :)

But anyways, I know you all have been desperately waiting for this week's WE READ IT WEDNESDAY, so here it is!!

Have you read the books How to Babysit a Grandpa and How to Babysit a Grandma?  Awww they are adorable!  As you can imagine, the little characters in the books are trying to make sure that the grandpa and grandma have the perfect days/nights by supplying the right snacks, what to do on a walk, how to play, where to sleep during a sleepover, and what to do once tucked in ever so tightly!

Well, the brand new book that is being released on March 24th is called How to Surprise a Dad and it looks JUST as adorable!  This looks like a must read!  This book walks you through how to surprise a dad by preparing for his surprise birthday party.  I cannot wait to read this book!!!!  So, although we have not actually READ it in my classroom, I think it is WAY SAFE to say that we will be reading this as soon as I get hands on it!!  :)

My question is...will there be a book about MOMS???  Maybe that one is next!!
Enjoy!

Warm Weather and We Read it Wednesday!!

Hi Everyone!  :)  I hope your week has gone well so far!  We are halfway to the weekend already.  And I do not know about you, but Chicago has just been given three 45+ degree days in a row!!  What?!?!  Soooo happy!  I wore no coat both Monday and Tuesday.  :)  Good old Chicago weather...bring us 45 degrees, and we think about going to eat outside at a restaurant and even going to the beach.  :)

This is your newest edition to WE READ IT WEDNESDAY!  :)  Sit back with a cup up coffee (or a mug of hot chocolate would be my pick!) and enjoy your preview to this adorable story...then buy it right away on Amazon!  :)  I even attached the link here!!

I LOVE reading this book aloud to my 2nd grade pals in the winter heading into the spring, so this may be the perfect time for you to start!  :)

The four main characters are:

Kona-the brave and loving labrador retriever

Stumpy-the mama squirrel  *I LOVE this cute little name for this little squirrel.  :)

Murray-the bat who LOVES Chinese food

Gwendolyn-the wise hermit crab who knows everything about everything

You and your students will enjoy this adventure story about courage, friendship and overcoming battles with light hearted humor.  :)  Enjoy!

Let me know if you choose to read it!!  :)

We read it Wednesday!

Welcome to the VERY FIRST EDITION of We Read it Wednesday!  That is READ as in the color, RED.  :)  It took me a LONG time to come up with a name for this special time where I get to share all the neat picture and chapter books we have read/are reading in our classroom!  I hope you tune in every Wednesday for this very special book sharing!!  Please leave comments giving details on other books you want to share with other amazing teachers like yourself!
*Thanks to MelonHeadz for the amazing clipart and KG Fonts for the adorable fonts on the above picture.

Have you ever read Boris Ate a Thesaurus??  Well if not, you should!!  This is a story about a little boy named Boris who eats a thesaurus and then starts speaking in synonyms.  It is fantastic and hilarious!  The kids LOVE it!  I love to use this book as a mentor text for using good word choice in student writing.  I usually read it during my minilesson, and then I give the kids the assignment of going back into their writing in their writing folders to change two words into new and exciting synonyms.  Then about 10 minutes in, I have volunteers stand up to share what they changed in their writing.  Read this book to your students to help them transform their writing from boring to engaging!

The Important Book

Have you read the book, The Important Book?  Well, it sure is important, so you really should.  ;-)  No seriously, this is a really old book, but boy do my 2nd grade students adore it!  

What a fantastic mentor text to speak to your students about patterns in text and patterns in color!  This text is also amazing to allow the students to take the text frame and write their very own page that could appear in this book.

In this pack you will get the book information, directions for the teacher to follow, example writing idea, pictures of final products, multiple papers for you to have your students use!


Enjoy having your students write about things/people they love!

Check it out here!

February Activities

One of my favorite times of year is February.  Not because of Valentine's Day and not because of Presidents' Day!  :)  However, Valentine's Day does make me think of all the important people in my life.  To help the kiddos in my classroom remember about all of the important people in their lives, I love to do these February activities in my classroom!

I just finished compiling all of the February Fun activities into this adorable product!

Check it out here!

Included in this Pack:

-A Treasure of the Heart

Kids bring in a special treasure and share it with the class. They then write about their special treasures.

-A Map of My Heart

Kids make maps of their hearts and write about all the special things and people that are close to their hearts.

-Friends Forever Poem

Kids get with a partner to write a short poem together.

Resources in this Pack:

-Mentor Text Ideas, Typed Out Lesson Plans, Full Color Examples, Black Line Masters ready to use, Differentiated Black Line Masters, and Tracers 

I know you and your students will love these special activities!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great rest of your weekend!  :)

Bookmarks

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Catherine from The Brown Bag Teacher, for these amazing bookmarks!  We made these for our kiddos for their holiday presents, and they LOVED them!  Great idea and love the font and colors!!  :)  You can snag these at Catherine's TpT store, here!  

#makethecase

Have you ever heard of Make the Case?

Have you ever heard of the Book Worm Angels Program?

How about Open Books?

Well, I had not....UNTIL about a week ago.  A friend asked me to come decorate a bookshelf in the Logan Square Auditorium last Friday evening.  I said, decorate, SURE!  I love to be creative, but had NO CLUE what to expect.  Well, this experience was a breath of fresh air and something I had never done before.  I am definitely glad I stepped outside of my comfort zone and took my friend up on her offer.  :)  To think that we decorated a bookshelf that will now be donated to a Chicago area classroom in order to help a student be inspired to read... truly. remarkable.  Makes me smile.
http://www.open-books.org/make-the-case-2014/
#makethecase

Full house!

The winner!  Reading is Awesome!  :)  Yes, it was meant to be sung to the tune in the Lego Movie. 

I think this is awesome!  We made those cases to brighten a student's interest in books, books, books!

 

Just using the materials on that table...I would say we did a great job!  :)

Some of the other cases!! :)

And after the work was done, we had a little fun in the photo booth!  :)