Mark Your Calendars!

The Lion's Den is in Production!

The yearbook has been completed and shipped to our printer! My 7th and 8th Grade Elective students worked tirelessly on 80 pages of color pictures, captions and more! Now my Yearbook Elective Students are working on the next edition of The Lion's Den. Students are shown jurying some new art work that will be on display at our May 25th Art Show. Don't miss the Show and please consider purchasing a copy of the next edition of The Lion's Den!

T is for Trash!

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"Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town! Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town!" chant the students as we read Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman. We follow Mr. Gilly and his two cute mice as he cleans Trashy Town. This is a favorite read aloud of mine as it involves lots of student participation. At the end of the story there is only one thing left for Mr. Gilly to clean... what could that be? You can watch Mr. Gilly clean Trashy Town here!

Some Smug Slug!

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Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan is a sensational read aloud! It's a bit of a tongue twister with all the "s" words and my students LOVE finding all the "s" shapes as we read. In the end the fact that the slug does not heed some well placed advice captivates my students.  "Why doesn't he listen?" "They told him to stop!" "He's gone?" My students also drawing their own "smug slugs." We have fancy slugs, superhero slugs and even a few slug families. A great book for reinforcing listening skills, following directions and being safe.

It's Unanimous!

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All four of my first grade classes voted to read Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride! We will read one more Mercy Watson book together and they finished the series by reading the last two books by themselves on the computer through Tumblebooks. Tumblebooks is now a subscription service. Some schools subscribe and if you talk to your school librarian or your child's reading teacher they may have an access code. You can also try searching Mercy Watson books on Youtube.

Ring! Yo?

Visit your local library or purchase from your local indie bookshop.

For Letter R we read Ring! Yo? by Chris Raschka. The book features one side of a phone conversation between two boys. The words are large on each page and the illustrations of the boy on the phone are delightful. Students are captivated as we read through the book. Ms. Pinet's Class notice sight words and squeal with delight. I have several "old" phones and students are able to role play with them after they finish drawing a picture of someone they talk to on the phone.