Whenever I turn the calendar page and it says "June" I am swept with two equally overwhelming sensations. First, I usually feel significant "dread" because there is STILL so much to do and so much I want to share with my kids. Plus, it is in the spring that you see the "fruits" of your labor all year through! But at the same time, I feel excited because it also means "summer" and the end to the daily traffic-defying commute (for a few weeks)!
The days in June are often filled with picnics and moving up planning as well as ice pop eating and celebrating our learning. There is a part of me, however, that feels students get July and August "off" from school and therefore I need to make June count extra as a month of "learning" and "growing" as more-self-empowered readers and writers.
I love the idea of introducing kids to series books they might want to explore over the summer and I love the idea of staring writing projects they might continue on their own. I am HOPING to start a summer writing blog for kids...even to just share what they are reading with me....and hope to have the logistics (privacy) figured out soon.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning, I read Elizabeth Peterson's post about paper blogs and it got me thinking about "end of the year" type projects.
http://theinspiredclassroom.com/2012/06/making-paper-blogs-to-prepare-for-the-online-experience/#comment-35894
I'm going to try to do something like this with my third graders who will be leaving for a new building in a few weeks. I want to do it as a way to publicly share what we have learned and to encourage their reading of each other's writing. For a long time, I have been asking small groups of students to give each other feedback and am always amazed at the impact of having real audiences! When I found these "talking bubble stickynotes" at a local discount store a few weeks ago, I was not sure when I would use them; however, I was sure I would use them. Now I know where they are going!
The days in June are often filled with picnics and moving up planning as well as ice pop eating and celebrating our learning. There is a part of me, however, that feels students get July and August "off" from school and therefore I need to make June count extra as a month of "learning" and "growing" as more-self-empowered readers and writers.
I love the idea of introducing kids to series books they might want to explore over the summer and I love the idea of staring writing projects they might continue on their own. I am HOPING to start a summer writing blog for kids...even to just share what they are reading with me....and hope to have the logistics (privacy) figured out soon.
Meanwhile, on Friday morning, I read Elizabeth Peterson's post about paper blogs and it got me thinking about "end of the year" type projects.
http://theinspiredclassroom.com/2012/06/making-paper-blogs-to-prepare-for-the-online-experience/#comment-35894
I'm going to try to do something like this with my third graders who will be leaving for a new building in a few weeks. I want to do it as a way to publicly share what we have learned and to encourage their reading of each other's writing. For a long time, I have been asking small groups of students to give each other feedback and am always amazed at the impact of having real audiences! When I found these "talking bubble stickynotes" at a local discount store a few weeks ago, I was not sure when I would use them; however, I was sure I would use them. Now I know where they are going!
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