Must Read (Super Fantastic Bubble Plastic) Mentor Text!

If you are using the Lucy Calkins Writing Workshop model like me, you know that mentor texts are the absolute heart-and-soul of the program.

My Sweet Thirdies and I have been writin' our little hearts out on everything from small moments narratives to informational/expert texts.

And then...cue the ominous music...we ran headfirst into...opinion essays!  

It's that bad.  'Nuff said.

The most frustrating part is that there just aren't that many really great mentor texts that are written in the "full-on, in your face" opinion essay style. 

And then the heavens opened up and a beam of light burst forth from the clouds...bearing...

A real opinion essay in an engaging book form!

Oh my stars!  A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea is such a remarkable book in that is written in ACTUAL OPINION WRITING FORMAT!  It's true!  My kiddos could pick out everything from the thesis to the supporting details PLUS the author uses a generous sprinkling of great transitional words (which we have been having a heckuva time with!).  A strong grabbing lead and a terrific wrap-up closure make this book just that much more appealing!

It's about time.  That's all I'm sayin'.

The author of this remarkable specimen is none other than this guy...Michael Ian Black.  (You might recognize him from shows like "Ed.")  He's a pretty funny guy and this book is just great!

Anywho...Those Collaboration Cuties, Amanda and Stacia, have put out this great linky partay and I've decided to join in on the fun.  Go ahead...you know you want to go over there and get a little crazy!  Get ready to start pulling more books into your Amazon.com wish list!  It could get expensive!  

Happy Reading!

Nikki

uncommontothecore.blogspot.com

Monday Made It...January 2014 Edition

Wow!  I wasn't sure that I would be able to join in the fun at Tara's Monday Made It, but a cold Arctic blast has basically closed every school in the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota, so, I felt like I could splurge a bit and take a few moments to expand on my "Word Snow Globe" idea that I put together before the holidays hit like a ton of bricks!

In my last post, I shared some super cute and really fun snow globes that I made for word work in my holiday spelling unit.  I thought about trying these little honeys out with colored rice instead of water, and so this is what I came up with:

Have I told you how much I.  LOVE.  THESE.  Honestly...why haven't I made these sooner?

I started with these great little 6-packs of storage containers from Dollar Tree.

Dollar Tree also carries an 8-pack of these containers, but they are just a "skooosh" smaller than the 6-pack and I'm not convinced these would work quite as nice as their larger cousins.  The number on the back of these is 3927777607.  One thing that I'm not in love with about Dollar Tree is that not every locale carries the same product, so I thought I'd include the SKU number for you...just in case.

I substituted out the water for colored rice and added a couple little pony beads to help move things around a bit in the little containers.  (If you are ever wondering "why the pony beads?", put some of these together and see how much better stuff moves around with some heavier junk in the container!)

Each container includes one of this week's spelling words, spelled out in individual letter beads.  Your students search for all of the letters in the container, write them on my Snow Globe Sheet, and then unscramble their letters to arrive at one of this week's spelling words.  It's really pretty simple.

A simple number sticker or a reference number written in Sharpie marker makes for quick identification and corrections by the teacher or as a self-correct by your kiddos.  (I always love it when I can reach into my scrapbook stash and use up some of those number stickers that I NEVER use!)

My thirdies love this activity, but they did find it a bit challenging, so this is a really great Word Work station of intermediate grades (3-5).  I can't wait to try these out this week!

Remember, "sharing is caring," so why not make a second set for your partner-in-crime?  If you aren't feeling that lovey dovey, at least share my post with a colleague, a new teacher, or your grade level buddies...I'd love to have you stop by my blog sometime!

Stay warm!

Nikki

uncommontothecore.blogspot.com