Close Reading: Super Bowl Commercials are Not For Kids!

I was reading this blog
http://allthingsupperelementary.blogspot.com/2014/01/AMCTeachingwithCommercials.html

the other day with it's graphic organizers.

I was thinking I would love to do something like this with my students!  I knew I could not do the Budwieser puppy commercial, even though it was adorable, but figured after the Super Bowl some "child approved commercial" would surface!  

 Since it's a snow day here, I did more than my share of blog surfing and found the links to all these commercials:  http://www.nj.com/super-bowl/index.ssf/2014/02/super_bowl_commercials_game_ads_2014_watch_sb48.html

While there were lots of cute ones, there aren't many that would work!  I considered the Chobani commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ABxP3t7XP3g but the growling attacking bear might induce nightmares!  

The Heinz commercial is cute....but.......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAhkswKitQg  I don't think they will get it!

And while I smiled at the snorting bull on the Chevy commercial, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOMrA-BGuLY
I have concluded that the SUPER BOWL (including the commercials) is NOT FOR KIDS!  

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Curriculum Based Assessment Resources

In searching for my grad class on curriculum based assessments, I landed here.  So easy to use, so simple, so flexible.  I can't believe I forget about these sites and make my own from scratch! 

http://www.interventioncentral.org/curriculum-based-measurement-reading-math-assesment-tests

This pages focuses on writing

http://www.interventioncentral.org/assessment/writing_assessment_elementary

I also landed on the famous Jim Wright's sites.  Jim has been taking his CBA probes on the road for a long time.  His resources are fabulous

Curriculum-Based Measurement: A Manual for Teachers (Jim Wright)

www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/cbaManual.pdf

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View shared postGraphing data resources

www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/cbmresources/.../writing_40_12.pd

A whole lot of resources

http://www.jimwrightonline.com/htmdocs/interventions/cbmwarehouse.php

A virtual workshop on assessment

www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/cbmresources/cbaWkshpPacket.PDF

#celebrateu Legacies

I was not planning to link up to Ruth Ayer's Celebrate this week.  It was a busy, stressful week and there is "stuff on my plate" this weekend!  Yet, as  I checked my email, Twitter and Facebook feeds, there were reminders that this has been a week filled with things to celebrate!
So.......

1) One of my nieces, scored her 1000 point (and then a few more) in a HS basketball game last night!  Holy moly, that is a lot of points.  I suspect her many years of playing family-driveway-ball are paying off!    http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20140131/SPORTS01/140131013

2) While waiting to congratulate the sharp shooter, I snapped a shot of my son's HS jersey that hangs in that same gym!  I suspect his many years of watching and admiring his older cousins contributed to his own legacy of tackles, leadership and perseverance.

3) Thanks to the world of you tube, the "reasons" I watch the Super Bowl, "leak" onto the internet "early" and the "best" will be highlighted on Twitter.  Thus, I might just get to work on next week's grad school Powerpoint during the Super Bowl!  I am grateful that this adorable commercial filled with puppy love and Clydesdale horses (a legacy in the advertising world)  can be watched again and again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQB7QRyF4p4

4)  Last, but certainly not least, a local legend and one of the great heroes of our time, Pete Seeger, passed away this week.  His messages will be forever immortalized in his own songs and in those he mentored during his journey here on earth.  I hope his legacy of compassion, service and respect for our planet will endure as long as his songs.  
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/01/28/pete-seeger-best-songs/4957543/