Author Visit

David LaRochelle
A Minnesota author and Illustrator 

Our students at HOTL had the best presentation from a Minnesota author/illustrator, David LaRochelle on Tuesday.  David LaRochelle kept the students engaged throughout the whole hour.  He started his presentation by drawing the number 1-10 on his large chart paper.  He proceeded to tell and draw a story out of the numbers, about how you can't give a monkey a book!   The students were in awe!  

He taught the students how you can never give up by telling how he waited 6 1/2 years to get one of his books published.  David shared with the students a writing that he wrote back in 2nd grade...the special thing about this writing was that the teacher had kept it all these years and mailed to him when he began a teacher! How cool is that?  

He talked about the process of writing a "sloppy copy" and editing it over and over again to make it write. Showing them his work.  His teachings fit perfect to what we teach in our classrooms.  

Some of the books that he has written: 

                  

Here is link to learn more about David LaRochelle.  Check it out! 

So with hearing how wonderful his presentation is for our students, I suggest you check him out.  Maybe you can have the same great experience and have him present at your school!   

Checklists

We having been reading and learning about checklists.  I found that checklists are a simple list to help students learn basic or new skills.  They are simple in that the student needs to state either yes or no to show that they have done something.  A few examples of when to use a check list are: teaching organizational skills or entry level skills.  Checklist help students see what they need to accomplish.  

In writing class, my students are working on a non-fiction research paper.  Where they need to gather information about their animal and then write a paper on it.  To help my students learn the editing and revising steps, I have created a checklist that looks like this: 

Name:___________________  Animal:__________________

Editing Checklist:  Think COPS!

_____Capital letters: beginning of sentences and proper nouns

_____Order and Organization:  Does it make sense?

_____Punctuation:  end of sentences, commas

_____Spelling:  check words for spelling

 

Partners Name:___________________

Editing Checklist:  Think COPS!

_____Capital letters; beginning of sentences and proper nouns

_____Order and Organization:  Does it make sense?

_____Punctuation:  end of sentences, commas

_____Spelling:  check words for spelling

I teach them by using a poster that looks like this: 

I am hoping that the checklist will guide them through the steps on making their paper better!!! 

Homework

Teacher side of me... A hot topic that we discussed in one of my Master classes was "Homework!"  We researched and discussed: should homework be given out to kids!  I can say that I was one that was on board with not giving out homework to my 3rd graders.  I feel and what I learned is that it is "BUSY" work for them.   So this year I changed how and what type of homework I sent home.  I know I just said I am for not giving out homework...but it is required by our school to hand it out.  So the changes that I made was making my math homework more skill based and giving them more than a night to get it done.  I hand it out on Friday morning and it is due the following Friday.   I know how busy everyones schedules are (mine included).   The only other requirements for at home are to practice their spelling words and to read.  

The parent side of me... I was a little, ok alot, upset with my daughters 6th grade teacher.  My daughter had TONS of homework over our winter break.  Everything from a 12 page editing packet, to an 8 page math packet and reading, to meet her AR goal.  This was not good in my eyes.

I am curious to hear others thoughts on this topic!  Do you pass out homework?  What do you pass out?  Do you give your homework a grade?  What if a student doesn't bring it back?

New Year's Resolutions

It's great to be back into the classroom again!  My kids are so full of life and energy.  I just love it!!  Happy New Year everyone!

To start our 2015 year, we did a project that I found on Scholastic called New's Year Resolution Time Capsule .   We have talked a lot about goal setting.  It is that time of the year to set some new goals for ourselves.  I followed the lesson and had my students fill out the sheet that was provided.  We didn't share our resolutions at this time.  We are saving that until we decide to open at the end of school in May.  

The kids loved that idea of wrapping the box and keeping their goals a secret!  It was a great way to open up our first day back and include setting some new goals for ourselves!