Slow Reading

I love it when the media finally catches up to what us "REAL" readers know! Check out this article in the Wall Street Journal.

I'm curling up with a good book and a Pumpkin Spice Latte!

We had one wild week! Between counselor lessons, library, ISIP reading testing on the computer and early dismissal, we have been busy!

I plan to enjoy the weekend though with a good book! I've been reading The Club Dumas and it has been a tough one. When I struggle with reading it helps remind me of strategies that I can teach my students. And one of my all time favorite go-tos is go back and reread! I had to do just that! I had already gotten 40 pages into the novel and just wasn't sure of it. I wasn't understanding the story and wasn't enjoying it either. So I decided to go back to the beginning and now I'm hooked! Two days later, I've already sped through a hundred pages! 

So take the fall-ish weather as inspiration and don't forget you can always fall back into a book to enjoy it more!

Overheard in Mrs. V's Class Last Week

"Mrs. V? Can I leave my book open to this page when we go to lunch so when we come back for indoor recess I can just start reading?

"Can I take this book home to read?"

"Can we get an extra copy at the library so we can read it at home too?"

"I really like this author."

WE ARE READERS!!!

Fall is in the air!

It's on overcast days like this, when the weather finally gives us a little break, that I love to curl up with a good book! This week I have been reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. It is a Newberry honor book and has really kept my attention. So far I could easily see it being paired with our class read aloud Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan or the first in a trilogy that we will read later in the year called A Paradise Called Texas by Janice Jordan Shefflman. I can't decide yet, if it will be appropriate for all of our readers, but I'm giving it a shot.

I was really impressed this week by my readers though. Both of my classes are able to sustain reading for longer periods of time now. There are so many studies that correlate the time you spend reading to the strength of all other academics including test scores.

Our students wrapped up our first narratives for the year, but will immediately start a second unit on narrative so we can work on raising the quality of our writing. I am really enjoying our editing invitations. ALL students should know that every writer starts a sentence with a capital letter and ends with a punctuation mark and that writers include a subject and a predicate to form a complete sentence.

In social studies we will continue studying the regions of Texas for one final week, though we will break on Wednesday to celebrate Constitution Day!

Short, but busy, week!

It's amazing how busy a shortened week can feel! We had a nice one though. We began studying the regions of Texas by making a "puzzle-foldable" map. Students started writing their second narrative draft today. Our 1st Publishing Party is only 1 week away. Yesterday we learned not to read like a "curmudgeon" and we had a fun time acting out what that would look like. 

Next week we will continue our study of regions of Texas. We will continue to build our stamina in reading and we will begin learning how a reading partner can help us expand our reading possibilities. And, in writing we will begin the work of all writers: Revision.