Arrr you getting excited?

International Speak Like a Pirate Day is September 19th. Are you getting excited? I am! I love any excuse to bring more fun into the classroom. And what is more fun than pirates? In preparation for Speak Like a Pirate Day I am working on creating some fun pirate resources. Today I finished Pirate Puns - Classroom Management Using Jokes and updated Text Features Treasure Hunt. I plan to work on some more this weekend. Hubby is out of town for a race, so I am keeping myself busy.

I wanted to do all I could to help you get ready. Look at some of the fun FREE resources I have found:

Pirate Math Fast Finishers by yours truly - sudoku, and simple +/- regrouping

Pirate Adventures from Mrs. Freshwater's Class - CVC creation, 1 more 1 less

Pirate Color Charts from Mrs. Jump's Class - Click on the picture of the colored bears. Perfect for team posters.

Pirates Positional Words Interactive Book from Sped-ventures - Link in the middle of the post.

Pirate Classroom Dubloons from Sailing Through 1st Grade - Link at the bottom of the post.

Pirate Writing Pages from Jeremie Llorente
Write the Room -ar Words from First Grade Chatter
Place Value Pirates from Karen Pederson
Pirate Ten Frames from Math Coach's Corner

I would love to know what you are doing to celebrate. Anyone have any fun plans or resources?

Star Author - Roald Dahl

One of my favorite things to do in my classroom is Star Author. Our study of an author will often last a week. Other times our study will last a couple of weeks. It all depends on who we are studying, the amount of time we have, and the number of books and resources I am able to round up. How busy we are or how much I like an author also tends to have a small impact. :)

Star Author

I pick Star Authors by thinking of the following questions:

• What are we reading this week?
• When I used the reading series Treasures I often tried to match our star author to the author of that weeks story.
• What book are we currently reading aloud as a class?
• What is on the calendar?
• Whose birthday is this month?
• What holidays are we celebrating?
• What theme are we covering?
• Some books and people naturally tie in together.

We learn about the author in different ways:

• Autobiographies
• Youtube videos
• Author's websites
• Brain Pop Jr. Videos - If your school does not have access to these, I highly recommend them
• Comparing and contrasting the author's books
• Wikepedia

I love to help my students find new favorite authors, make connections, and sneak in some history, math, writing, and science. I'm so devious. :) 

The reason I bring all this up? Books are my passion! Just ask my husband who recently helped me unpack all my book boxes. (Poor guy. Not only does he have to deal with a hormonal pregnant wife he has to deal with all her books too.) I love reading new books and I love sharing them with other people. Children love to learn about things they find interesting. If I want them to love books as much as I do I need to show them books can be fun, interesting, and worth their time. [Has anyone else read the article What the Kardashians Taught Me About Reading Instruction (No, For Real) ? I really liked it and think it is worth 4 minutes of your time.]

Roald Dahl is one of my all time favorite authors. I went through a stage when I read anything of his I could get my hands on. (I went through a lot of stages and you will probably hear about most of them.) He was funny, different, and I consumed his stories. A boy who created a Marvelous Medicine? A girl who loved books and had amazing powers? A fox who wrecked havoc among the local farmers? Yes. Give it to me. I want to read it.

It was only recently that I learned more about the man himself, which I think is a shame. I wish someone had recognized my enthusiasm and helped me learn more about him as a person. His birthday is today, September 13th. If he were still alive he would be 96 years old. Isn't that amazing?

Source

This last week I have been reading D Is for Dahl: A gloriumptious A-Z guide to the world of Roald Dahl a book compiled by Wendy Cooling. I love this book because it is full of random facts about the man himself. It covers each letter of the alphabet with entries from Aardvark to Zoo. Each snippet covers a small part of his life and there are random facts sprinkled throughout.

In an effort to help more people discover this book I made a Roald Dahl Star Author Packet. It contains an alphabet chart to fill in facts, two venn diagrams, a page of helpful links, and the following wordle. Feel free to download it and tell me what you think. I am thinking of adding more to it later and placing a small price on it. So make sure you grab your free copy today.

I love Matilda! I even love the movie almost as much as I love the book. Which is saying something, because most movies come no where near the books when it comes to quality.

What is your favorite Dahl Story?

Books for Our Children

I love to read. A value that was instilled in me by my librarian mother and countless others as I grew up. In the summer time we would spend hours visiting the local library, perusing shelves, and reading stacks of books. I worry that my son will not have that experience. Budgets are tight and libraries are seen as expendable in a digital world.  I love my iPad and spend a lot of time online, but there is something completely different about reading with a real book.

Some schools no longer have librarians. I think this is an outrage! If you take away a child's access to literature how will they learn important research skills or develop a love of life long learning? Students are not responsible enough to care for a library alone and thousands of amazing books are locked away. This is a crime.

Source: lisnews.org via Madison on Pinterest

Today I found the following video online. I love it! I wish there were more people out there willing to make a small sacrifice for good books.

 
Troy Library from Jennie Hochthanner on Vimeo.

(I apologize if this is too political for you.) Is anyone else out there a California voter? Can you see the similarities between this video and Prop 30? How are libraries being treated in your hometown?

Currently September

I love Farley's monthly Currently Parties! I always get so excited to join in on the fun. Look at the fun colors she used this month. I love it! (I think my husband's preference for bright colors is wearing off on me.)

I started Teaching Blog Traffic School a couple of months ago and have been so busy that I haven't done as many of the amazing tutorials as I wanted to this summer. But I made a goal to have it all finished before my baby arrives. There are 30 amazing lessons. So far I have only watched 21 of them. Which is a lot of progress from the start of this summer. :) I still need to watch nine lessons but I have seen such a difference in my blog and in my media awareness. If you are a new blogger or even a blogger who wants to expand their influence/audience I highly recommend looking into TBTS. You won't regret it. If you are interested check it out here.

I love my hometown. The weather is amazing 97% of the time. I need to take advantage of it more and spend some time outside walking and sun tanning. I am perhaps one of the whitest people you will ever meet. And Farley has inspired me to do better with my Nike Plus app. She totally has me beat. And I am not pushing a stroller or walking a dog. Power to you girl!

My son is due early November which means I have a lot of things on my to do list to get done before then. You know the little things like finish the nursery, finish unpacking, finish TBTS, and set up my food storage and meal plans. 

I have found a cute crib on sale at Target this week and am seriously contemplating getting it. If I have it set up maybe I would worry less about being ready for the baby. Probably not, because I am a natural worrier, but maybe. My sister has volunteered to make his comforter. I am super excited because we found some cuter than cute space fabric when we were on vacation this summer.

I need to update some of my newest creations to my shops. I still need to tweak a few things but I hope to have at least one new thing up by the end of the week. After all the more items in my shop, the more options for people to buy, which means more money in the cute baby crib fund. I think I suddenly found my motivation. Maybe I will even get it done tomorrow. :)

I hated on Owl City for the longest time. Like forever. Which is unfortunate because it is one of my husband's favorite bands. Well after their newest CD I had to take back my words. I love it. And have listened to each of the songs at least 10 times more than my husband. Which is impressive, because I don't always have music playing. In fact, I rarely have music playing.

I also love road trips to see family. Since moving we are 7 hours closer to my family, 12 hours closer to his family, and an hour away from two sets of grandparents.  This means that we spend a lot of time in the car visiting said families. Which is nice. Except with my tiny pregnant bladder and the cost of gas. I think it is the cost of gas that makes me wince most.

My husband got me a jewelry box for my birthday. It is gorgeous and sits on top of our dresser. I think my husband didn't realize how much jewelry I had until I had to compile it from the four different places I was storing it. :) Now I know where everything is it makes it so much easier to accessorize  I feel so girly. It was the perfect gift. Speaking of gifts, last week I shared all kinds of freebies  to celebrate my birthday. I hope you check them out.