Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

My students just finished their first novel of the school year, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume. This is a great book to start the year off with because it is a quick, easy and fun novel. I really made an effort to have my students read as many novels as possible last year, and it paid off. My students showed more growth in their reading scores than any classes in the past have shown. So, I'm going to read just as many if not more novels with this year's class!

Renee Smalley has an awesome novel study that goes along with Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. It has a reading skills worksheets that go with each chapter and then ends with a character trait art project.

Here are a few pictures of  the completed projects that my students made. 

What novel do you use at the beginning of the year?

Story of My Name Writing Activity

My students completed their first writing activity of the year, and it turned out great! Fourth and Ten has a great beginning of the year writing activity to use with your students.

Students start by filling out a form asking their parents how they got their name. They then use that information to complete a prewriting organizer and then turn that into their final product. When they are done with the writing portion, they can complete the craftivity part! 

Take a look at some of my students' finished products! We hung them up on their lockers to show them off!