The Jackpot for Common Core Resources!

Ever used DePaul University's Common Core Resources site?  I consider it the jackpot of Common Core resources.  If you are in need of lesson plans, ideas and/or materials for vocabulary, poetry, assessment, genres and more to raise the rigor in your classroom, check out this site.  Guides and graphic organizers to support PARCC are also included.  

Below are a few images of the links provided for teachers.  If you click on any image in this post, you will be brought to the site.  Once you're there, each click of your mouse brings you to even more links.  You will find paired fiction and nonfiction articles, as well as anchor chart examples that can be created with your students.  Carve out a little time in your day to sit back and peruse!  

    

 

Hope you find this information helpful.  If you know of any other Common Core resources for teachers, please share in the comments below. :)  

Enjoy!

Spring is Here! Blog Hop: Follow the Path of Poetry Freebies!

Welcome to the Spring is Here Poetry Hop!  I want to start off by thanking Carla over at Comprehension Connection for recruiting and organizing over 20 literacy bloggers to participate in the hop to share poetry freebies with you and for creating the adorable hop buttons. 

April is National Poetry Month, so to celebrate, my students have just begun listening to, reading and writing poetry, even on their computers!  Reading poetry is another fun way for students to practice becoming more fluent readers.  If you're a follower of mine, you know I love getting the kiddos to become fluent readers  in a variety of ways.  Novelty seems to be the key to student motivation! (Click HERE to read more.)  

I've shared my love of poetry with students for almost 20 years.  It all began with a gift from my cooperating teacher during my student teaching days.  Below is my original copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein.  After reading it hundreds of times to the students and allowing them to read it themselves, the binding fell apart.  I have a new version, but will never get rid of the old! ;)

I have off of school this week, but was able to catch a few snapshots of my students writing poetry before our Spring Break started.  They are thoroughly enjoying being poets themselves! 

  

Here are some of my favorite read alouds to heighten my students' interest in poetry.  Crack open these books to hear some giggles out of your students!   

Okay... are you ready for a poetry freebie?  The first image below will link you to my TpT Store for some Acrostic Poems your students can enjoy, which includes a poster example of an Acrostic Poem.  I also made sure to offer an open-ended version of the poem to allow students an opportunity to brainstorm a word they associate with Spring!  As you know, a rating/feedback on the freebie is always greatly appreciated! :) 

The second image is my Spring Poetry Pack, which includes a poster example and differentiated student recording forms for each of these forms of poetry: Color, Cinquain, Acrostic, Haiku, Couplet and Diamante.  Want to add it to your poetry collection for free?  Head on down to the Rafflecopter to enter a giveaway! :) 

Looking to infuse technology into your poetry lessons? Check out these online poetry resource sites to use with your students during poetry month and well beyond.  There are a great deal of entertaining, interactive and easy-to-use poetry activities for kids.  

ReadWriteThink Poetry

Students create their own poems!

Rainy Day Poems 

Links to numerous poems for kids organized by themes!

Poets.org

Poems curated around themes for young people!

Poetry4Kids

Poems, lessons, activities, podcasts and so on!

Poetry Writing and Analysis Guide

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you to Paula Kim Studio, Teaching Super Power, Hello Fonts, EduClips and Epiphanous Owl for the clipart and fonts used to create the blog hop buttons and the picture collages above!  To continue on the poetry path, click the Next Stop button below for a week's worth of 5th grade Poetry Unit lessons created by the talented Michelle over at BigTime Literacy! 

I appreciate your visit to Literacy Loving Gals.  Don't forget to link your blog under the Blogs tab above, so others may find you when they stop by Literacy Loving Gals. Happy Spring!

My Most-Loved Mentor: Blogging Challenge Day 24

 Picture from funny-pictures.picphotos.net

Check out Bigtime Literacy for more Blogging Challenge topics.  Only one week left! 

Day 24: Who are/were your mentors? Who helped you grow as a teacher?

Mrs. Ruth Ann Dalenberg will always be my very first and most influential mentor.  She was my cooperating teacher during my student teaching experience.   During that time, I had many sleepless nights with my mind running wildly about what I needed to plan to keep 28 first graders engaged, motivated and enlightened in the learning process for each subject area.  

Ruth Ann seemed to be a natural with the first graders.  Since I was probably a bit insecure back then with my teaching abilities, she would always reassure me she'd been teaching first grade for approximately 30 years at that point, and one day very soon, I'd be a natural, too.  Yes, Ruth Ann was amazing at modeling effective teaching strategies and classroom management techniques, as well as sharing resources, but she also had a way of teaching me lessons I'd never forget.  

For instance, I'll always recall the time I had to teach a science lesson that incorporated the use of pinwheels.  Once the pinwheels had been created by the students, we were ready to "put them to the test" outdoors in the wind.  Ruth Ann asked me if I was ready to take the students outdoors.  Of course, I responded with, "Yes.  I'm looking forward to it!" with a smile on my face.  Looking back (hindsight is 20/20, you know), it was probably a clueless "boy-do-I-really-know-what-I'm-getting-into?" kind of smile, especially since she gave an eye-raise with her comment.  Anyway, the minute the kids stepped onto the playground with their pinwheels, it was a disaster!  They took their pinwheels RUNNING, RUNNING, RUNNING chaotically in every direction possible!  Some of the boys even used the pinwheels as imaginary weapons against one another on the playground equipment.  I stood there...dumbfounded...with the look of "Whoopsie!" on my face.   

Needless to say, Ruth Ann and I had a "constructive feedback" session to discuss how I felt the lesson went.  She would always say, "What did you do right and what could you work on?  Start with the positives."  My response to that particular lesson was, "Well, I'd better go over my expectations of what to do and what NOT to do before I let them loose outside!!"  

As one would expect, I learned a lot from her because she allowed me to make my own mistakes and be reflective in my practices.  I will always remember her and want to thank her (again) for everything. 

On my last day in her classroom, she presented me with a book as a gift.  I've used it in my own classroom for 19 years.  It finally sits on my bookshelf at home because of all the wear and tear.  I replaced it with another copy to share with my students.  It's one of my favorites!

My actual copy-
the binding fell apart,
so the pages no longer stay put.

On the inside cover, each student from my first class had placed his/her picture and signature.   

"Thank YOU, Ruth Ann. This book is priceless." 

When all is said and done, over the years, I became a cooperating teacher for 9 student teachers and a mentor to 5 new teachers in my district because I wanted to pay it forward...just as Ruth Ann did for me. ;)

By the way, any individual out there recall minor catastrophes during your student teaching experience?  I bet you learned from your mistakes!



   

Some of My Favorite Books: Blogging Challenge Day 7

New favorite! 

Day 7: Favorite books as an adult and/or child.

As an adult, much of what I read is nonfiction.  I tend to read magazines, articles and newspapers, as well as books that relate to my field in education.  I find them very interesting and enjoy keeping abreast of the shifts out in the educational world, but I can't say they are necessarily "fun" reads.  

Since the topic is “favorite books”, I’m going to share some of the mindless, undemanding and entertaining books I enjoy when I actually get a chance to read for pure fun.  I'll also be sharing some favorites of my own kids, as well as a few titles I use in the classroom with my students. 

Have you ever heard of Sophie Kinsella?  She's one of my favorite fiction writers.  I've read most of her books, pre-twins, but my most-liked series by her is the Shopaholic Series.  There are five titles in this series and each one is funnier than the next.  I also loved another novel of hers called The Undomestic Goddess with a different main character.  The novel covers are below.

Sophie Kinsella's newest novel, Shopaholic to the Stars, comes out in August of 2014.  I'm looking forward to it hitting the shelves! 

In regards to children’s books when I was growing up, I can’t really recall any specific titles of books I loved reading over and over.  I do remember loving Holly Hobby and Strawberry Shortcake books growing up, but no specific titles.   Do the pictures below look familiar to anyone out there?

Holly Hobby

Strawberry Shortcake

However, my mother tells me I used to love Goodnight Moon as well as anything written by Dr. Seuss because of the silly illustrations and funny rhymes.  My kids do, too.

Now that I have my own children, I have new favorites.  Snatchabook by Helen and Thomas Dochery is a book I purchased in the Spring at our school's Scholastic Book Fair.  My kids are smitten with it, so we read about Eliza Brown on almost a daily basis.  She's the rabbit that solves the mystery of the Snatchabook.  It's a story for ages 3 and up, but if you click here, you can get an Educator's Guide, as well as an Activity kit that can be used in Kindergarten and First Grade.  It's a fun read. :)

Every...single...night we read Pinkalicious and Purplicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann.  There are many more titles about Pinkalicious and her crazy adventures, but these two are my children's favorites.  Alliteration is all over the pages of these books along with figurative language. 

My face was pink, my hands were pink and my belly was the color of a sunset.

Soon I was surrounded by bees, butterflies, and birds.

He was green with envy.

Take a peek at all of the alliteration on this page!

 Pinkalicious has the blues. 

Rumble in the Jungle and Down by the Station are two of many my son enjoys listening to on a daily basis.  These books are great for building vocabulary and listening for rhyming words. If you are looking for a book full of silly poems about jungle animals, Rumble in the Jungle is a great one, while Down by the Station is great for following a pattern while reading.

There are tons of Llama, Llama books by Anna Dewdney out there on the shelves, but my kids just light up for Llama, Llama Mad at Mama. I'm not going to take it personally, either, because I don't feel they're always mad at me. ;)  These books have wonderful illustrations that show loads of facial expressions and fun scenarios with plenty of rhyme. If you're helping little ones learn social skills, the Llama, Llama books are useful. 

My all-time favorites for the classroom are by Chris Van Allsburg.  Every single book he's written is phenomenal, in my opinion.  There are so many literary skills that can be enhanced through his books, including making predictions, drawing conclusions, making inferences, building vocabulary, writing extensions, reading closely, etc.   The list goes on and on, but here are a few of my favorite titles by Van Allsburg! 

Great for Environmental Awareness.

Open-ended types of pictures for writing extensions.

A stranger with special powers...

Twist ending!!

The world seen through an ant's "lense" (Close Reading).

Great around Halloween time- wonderful black and white illustrations.

In regards to nonfiction, there are many titles out there that are great resources for kids.  However, the one I read most often with my own children is ABC ZooBorns by Andrew Bleimen.  This book is also from our school's Scholastic Book Fair in the Spring.  I adore the photographs, as well as take pleasure in the ABC review for the little ones.  Readers can learn about doles, giraffes, vicunas, tapirs, wombats, nyalas, marmosets and more! 

Well, there you go!  A few of my favorites I wanted to share with the blogging community, even though I have a zillion more.  It was difficult for me to STOP sharing titles.  More to come throughout the school year along with activities and/or I use strategies with the various books. 

So long for now!