The Magician's Elephant

My students just finished our latest novel, The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo. 

Here is the description that is found on the back of the book:

"When a fortuneteller’s tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her?

The fortuneteller’s mysterious answer (An elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that Peter can hardly dare to believe it.

But it is―all of it―true."

I was excited to see that Renee Smalley had a novel study to go along with The Magician's Elephant. She creates the best novel studies!

The end of the book project that goes along with this novel is a story cube. My students had a lot of fun creating these. Below are some pictures of the final products. 

And now to pick out our next novel!

Stitch Fix #18

As you all know, I am obsessed with Stitch Fix! I'm here today to share with you what I got in my Fix #18!
I was so excited when I saw that my stylist was Sheri again. My fiance just happened to be there when I opened up my box, and I made him read the personalized note that Sheri had written me because I was so excited that she mentioned that she had read my blog! My fiance totally burst my bubble when he said, 

"You know that Sheri isn't real right? It's probably just a computer that writes this stuff."

Well, I don't believe that for one second. Sheri has to be real and if we were to meet we would totally be BFFs!

Ok, onto the good stuff.......

I still haven't decided what I'm going to keep. After trying it all on, I really want to keep it all! Decisions, Decisions!

I'm curious if any of you Stitch Fix lovers have received a pair of shoes? I am in need of some new shoes to wear to school and am thinking about requesting a pair in my next Fix. 

If you have been wanting to try Stitch Fix out, I would love it if you used my referral link :)

Stitch Fix

Flash Freebie! Literature Term Word Wall Cards!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I am stuck at home with a cold and sore throat, so I decided I might as well finish up a product that I have been working on. 

Literature Term Word Wall Cards

This product will be free for the next hour! Click on the picture above to head to my TpT store to download. If you download it, I would appreciate it if you left me feedback :)

States of Matter Flip Book!

States of matter is one of my favorite science units to teach. There are so many hands-on activities you can do that makes it fun for the students. This year I found a flipbook on TpT that was the perfect tool to use as a quick end of the unit assessment. 

by: Simply Skilled in Second

Here are some examples of the finished product. 

I also like to use my States of Matter Task Cards and "I Have, Who Has" game to review!

Valentine's Day Activities

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, we have worked on a couple fun activities that I would like to share with you!

First up is the Valentine's Day Collaborative Door Poster by Art with Jenny K. 

My students completed one of these door posters for Christmas and they loved it! They were excited to see me pull out the papers for the Valentine's Day poster! Here is the finished product:

For each of the holidays/seasons, I have also had my students complete a themed pennant to put up on their lockers. The Valentine's Day pennants are from a bundle that I got on TpT from Aimee VanMiddlesworth. 

Here are some of the finished products my students made!

What are some of your favorite Valentine's Day activities?

BookCase Club-For the Book Lover!

I am the worst gift giver ever, so when Christmas came around, I was struggling to come up with gifts for.... well, pretty much everyone. The one good gift I came up with was a subscription to BookCase Club for my book loving co-worker! This monthly subscription sends 2 books a month in the genre of your choice. I was so excited about this subscription service that I signed myself up as well! I have gotten two shipments so far and have been very impressed. I signed myself up for the mystery genre and have received two great hardcover books each month. Along with the books, comes a handwritten note!

I signed up for the 3 month prepay, which was $28 + $5 shipping. I should be receiving my next shipment very soon! If you are interested in checking out this monthly book subscription, I would love it if you used my referral link by clicking below:

BookCase Club

STEM Challenge: House of Cards

I am really trying hard this year to do more STEM projects in science. I think it is so important for students to be able to think outside of the box with these hands-on projects. I also love that it challenges students to listen to the ideas of others and work together to complete the challenge. 

I purchased a pack of 10 STEM challenges from Smart Chick on TpT. 

The most recent challenge my students completed was House of Cards. Groups were given a deck of cards and were challenged to build the tallest tower possible, using only the cards. Here are some pictures of their work in action!

What are some of your favorite STEM activities?

Project Funded! Wobble Chairs!

I was so excited to have my latest Donor's Choose project funded! I had seen other teacher bloggers blogging about the wobble chairs they had in their classrooms, and I knew I had to have them in mine!

My class was fortunate enough to receive 5 Kore Active Wobble Chairs. 

I love that these chairs allow my "active" students to get their wiggles out, without being a distraction to the rest of the class. These chairs have really proven to be a valuable resource.  I use these chairs at my guided reading table, and I also allow students to earn them as a reward. Even my students that actually really need the chairs, work hard to earn the reward of getting to put the stools at their desk for the day. 

Check out some pictures of  the stools in action!

Do you have these stools in your classroom? How are they working out for you? How do you decide who gets to use them? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Winter Reading Comprehension Activity

Runde's Room has a great set of winter craftivities that my students enjoy putting together each year. Last week we completed the Comprehension Snowman. 

This was a great assessment for the novels that my students were working on in their small groups. I loved that each of the snowmen had questions that could be used with any book. The questions included all of the important reading strategies that we have been working on, like summarizing, inferring, asking questions, synthesizing, and making connections. Here are some pictures of the finished products!

If you like this activity, check out the December Craftivity Bundle. This week my students will be working on the Figurative Language Snow Globes, which is included in this bundle. I'll be back to share pictures of those!