Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Giveaway Time!!!

I'm so very excited to present a wonderful giveaway today!! 
The HearALL Assessment Recorder!! 
I know you have seen these giveaways popping up around blog land. I was so excited when Learning Resources contacted me about reviewing this product. I get to provide yet another reader with the HearALL Assessment Recorder! This awesome recorder is worth $100 buckaroos girlfriends!! So, get in on the fun!!

I've been using this handy little gadget in my classroom for well over a month now and my students and I LOVE it! What do I love about it you ask??

  • It's light weight and easy to use! 
  • The sound is very clear and high quality.
  • It allows me to be in two places at once.
  • The reluctant/shy students are motivated to read aloud to it.  
  • The kids are under it's charm and stay focused when reading to it. 
  • It doesn't need batteries.
  • You can play back recordings on the spot, save for later, send to a parent via email, upload recording to your blog, etc... (So much potential!!)
  • Wonderful way to practice fluency! They can buddy read in a fun voice (cowboy/robot/alien/etc.) then play it back and listen to themselves. Super fun!! 
Here is the HearALL in action in my classroom!

Thanks super duper 
Learning Resources 
for making this giveaway possible!
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Thanks super duper for entering my giveaway!! 
I have another one in the works so stay tuned!!
Saturday, June 2, 2012

Getting My Linky On!!

I so love a linky and now that I have a little more time on my hands, (I mean a LITTLE) I'm joining in on the fun over at ...
Sour Apple Studio
Besides the fact that her blog design is AWESOME!! She is celebrating with a giveaway. Why not type on over and show some love!?!?

Here is a list of the things I soooooo could not live without!!
For the sake of cornyness (is that a word?) I will not say my students. :) But, seriously I love those little turkeys!! Even the turkeys that are very hard to love. :) I'm off right now taking care of my little guy who had surgery. I went in today to catch up on sub plans and one of my little guys came up to me and said in a sooo very serious voice, "I missed you more than this whole room Mrs. Lutton". 
(heart melting into a puddle of goo)

1. My Library!! I have worked so very hard to build up the classroom library that I have and I love it! I know I have a book buying problem and I've slowed down tremendously but I have a passion people what can I say!!
2. Xtramath.com - Love me some xtramath!! This is a free site for math fact practice. It has made a huge difference in my classroom. It makes math fact practice fun and we do it every day.
3. This girl LOVES her some Sharpie markers!! Seriously LOVE EM'!! Enough said!
4. Pinterest is a must for me. I will same I'm a little less obsessed and I don't check it every night. Hey!! I admit I do have some small obsessions. Is it so bad?!? Pinterest has been a way for me to organize and utilize ideas and has allowed me to improve my teaching. If you don't already then jump on over and follow along!! I've have a couple people checking in on my pinning. :)
Follow Me on Pinterest
5. Have I mentioned how very much I adore my co-workers? They make me laugh. They pick me up when I feel down. They inspire me. They make work fun and I'm so very lucky to have them!
6. Did I mention DIET COKE!?!

There are so very many more things that keep me chug a lugging through the day but hey, we just don't have enough time to cover them all!



Friday, June 1, 2012

Persuasive Writing

I made a solid effort to sneak in persuasive writing before the year ended. My kids LOVED it!! I gathered some awesome picture books to show author examples, modeled, and whipped up some snazzy charts. I think that next year I will review letter writing and then jump right into persuasive writing. They just go together so well. I'll have to say that the Common Core looks highly on persuasive writing so I want to do it up right! :)

Here were a few of my favorite books. They were great! Super funny, with beautiful illustrations, they would make wonderful additions to any classroom library. My kids were CRAZY for the I Wanna books! I think I'll put a twist on my LaRue books next year to mesh with elections. Never too soon to plan ahead!! :) Now, I just have to not forget. hehe! I have to say I get so many wonderful ideas from all the wonderful blogs and the awesome Pinteresters that I need to get better at writing all the awesome ideas down on some kind of organized map. Imagine that!! :)



I swear I'm not one big sales pitch but I purchased this Persuasive Writing unit on Teacher's Pay Teachers. It has come in super handy! If you know Jen from Runde's Room than you know she has been blogging a long while. She has some super cool stuff in her store and I can vouch that the Persuasuve Writing unit is wonderful. 
If you want to jump over and check out Runde's Room she just recently posted about a Daily 5 book study.  
You know how I LOVE Daily 5!!

Now for the charts I whipped together! I took information from the writing unit, threw in picture book examples, snazzed it all up with my sassy sharpies and......POOF!!

My kids focused on writing letters to people trying to "persuade" them to do, think, buy, etc. Most of them wrote letters to parents that were very similar to the ones in the picture books I read. I see taking things a step further next year when I loop to fourth. I want to see them choosing candidates or issues, then writing to persuade. How cool would that be!?!
I did have a few who wrote a few sentences and would run up to me saying they were done. Go figure!! :) We work on writing during Daily 5 time and I couldn't have my conferences/guided reading interrupted so I broke things down for them.
All in all things went well! I had two girls tag team a letter to convince me to allow them to bring in their cat. I read the letter and planned to respond but they took my not saying no, as a yes. The next day in walks a grandma with a cat. I guess we need to talk a bit more about persuasion and permission! Ha! It was a very nice cat. :) 

Please feel free to comment with other materials, books, and/or tools you use for persuasive writing. I would love to hear from you!

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