Check Out These Weather Forecasters!

Check out Ms. Krueger's and Ms. Flinn's class presentations.  These kiddos used the iPad to record their broadcast clips in front of a green screen (a lovely green sheet in the closet).  Then they took the clips and added them to iMovie.  They changed a setting that allowed them to do things like green screen and picture in picture.  Then they picked backgrounds from the free green screens on YouTube.  The students were so creative, excited, and highly engaged in this process!

Aly, Jordan, Lexi - http://vimeo.com/86716923

Emelyn & Alora - http://vimeo.com/86668715

Olivia & Audrey - http://vimeo.com/86668713

Jacob, Colin, Will - http://vimeo.com/86666751

Ella, Emma, Matt - http://vimeo.com/86666750

Anna, Kelsey, Eric - http://vimeo.com/86666749

Just Want You to Know How Grateful I am to Have You!

True love exists in business. It's when employee and employer are amazingly grateful to have each other. We should all have true love at work.    -Simon Sinek

Persuasive Writing

Students in Ms. Gardner's class were working on their persuasive writing skills today as they tried to convince me to host a a Read-a-Thon at Sappington.  Their ideas were pretty convincing!

Another Fantastic Close Reading Resource

Here is a great (and easy) read about Close Reading! This article from Scholastic explains exactly what close reading is, when it is appropriate to teach/use it (and how it is different from what we do in guided reading), and how to get students to use close reading strategies effectively.  It's definitely worth taking a few minutes to check out!  (P.S. I--Sarah--have the Scholastic book Nonfiction Passages with Graphic Organizers mentioned at the bottom of the article if anyone wants to borrow it.) Please comment below if you try out any of the strategies or teaching tips mentioned in the article!

Looking for some amazing nonfiction resources?

Check out this amazing resource with lots of nonfiction articles for our young readers.  Great up to date news source.  TTJunior is for students in grades K-4.

Tween Tribune is for students in grades 5-8.

Yep, that's right!   This next one is one of the best sites since sliced bread. Check out  NEWSELA!  You can register for free, enter your class information, and be up and running in no time.  Now for the fun part-you can take the articles, change the reading levels, annotate the article and then answer questions about the topic.  Or just enjoy the cool info.  Lots of options!

3rd Graders Incorporating Close Reading Techniques