One of the Best Teachers EVER!

Homophones and Homographs song to "Call Me Baby"

Awesome PD!

Just a few short hours ago, I had the pleasure of working with teachers from various schools in Cumberland County. They were AWESOME, which made this PD session AWESOME! We discussed the essential components of a novel guide, with aspirations of creating our own. In our discussion, someone brought to my attention that they did not have this:

This is the CCSS for ELA in shorthand. Every teacher should have this nifty guide in their lesson plan book. It's a time saver and stress reducer. If  you would like to have a copy of this, make a comment below and be sure to include your email address.

Topnotch Book Thursday!

Earlier this week I attended the NCRA Conference in Raleigh, NC. I had a blast! I met lots of interesting people who all shared my passion for reading and teaching. At this conference, I picked up more than a few books to add to my professional library. As I was perusing through them, I decided to share them with you all. So, every Thursday check the blog to see which "Topnotch" book I chose to share. This week I would like to introduce, The House of Comprehension by Constance D.Casserly.

This book is full of ready to use lesson plans and printables. Right now I'm preparing for a PD session on creating novel guides, and something told me to flip through this book. I'm so glad I did because I found this:

On these two pages, I have found an assessment tool that can be used as a post-reading activity.You can implement this as an individual or small group activity. I think that it will work well either way. But to add more excitement to my discovery, on the very next page there is a rubric that allows you assess the your students by skill (character, plot, conflict, point of view, tone, symbols, and theme).

This is the "Topnotch" book of the week. Hope you all enjoy!

Building Community

Establishing a strong classroom community is the key to a healthy instructional environment. I want my students to feel safe and have a sense of belonging. So at the beginning of the year, I created class teams. I always call my classroom "SmallsWorld." I thought it only fitting that my students be considered SmallsWorld citizens. They are all "defenders of their destinies.".