Visit from Author Julie Berry

The fourth grade students in our school were lucky to have a visit from children's author Julie Berry.  She gave a presentation to all the fourth graders and then spent the day leading classroom workshops.  

Julie gave the kids many ideas to get their creative juices flowing and how to make their stories original.

The children were so excited to start their own stories after Julie modeled some ideas.

Surprise Author Visit- Lenore Look

The Marlborough Public Library scheduled the popular children's author Lenore Look, of the Alvin Ho and Ruby Lu series, to give a presentation on Monday night.  They also had her present to the third grade classrooms at my school.  I teach Fourth grade and was bummed out when I found out she was coming and we would not see here.

Ms. Look was set up in the school library for the day.  My class happened to have library at 12:00, during Lenore's lunch break.  She started chatted with my friends and next thing she starts tweeting with them about her visit to Jaworek School.  I came to pick them up at 12:30 and got to meet her.  This is where the story gets exciting....."Mrs. Hall, what are you doing at 2:15?  I could not possibly leave this school without giving my presentation to such an enthusiastic group of kids."  Before I could respond, my kids all said "SNACK...please come down to Room 210."  (so much for reading about the culture of Canada)

Lenore offered to do an extra presentation...WOW!

Lenore came to my classroom and gave the most inspiring talk.  She shared her kindergarten report card and how she was "not fully developed" in most areas that would apply to being an author.  Lenore spoke Chinese at home and had to learn English and adjust to the school culture.  She showed her manuscripts and rewrites and how much work it takes.  It was nice to hear her honesty with children and how hard work pays off.

Lenore had my children bring their writer's notebook to the rug and had them take notes on "How to Keep a Writer's Notebook."  This adorable author showed her many notebooks and ways that she uses them.  Here are some of my students' notes.

 At the end of our time, Lenore quickly showed them how to use Shakespearean Cursing.  Something that happens in the Alvin Ho books.  We compiled a list of adjectives using animals/body parts, compound adjectives and nouns.  Lenore had a "Cheat Sheet" from Shakespeare but had the kids add their own.  The way to use it are written below in a student notebook.  An example would be...Mrs. Hall, thou art a sheepish fat-kidneyed hedge pig.  My kids loved it...what a great way to use some new vocabulary.  You could even do the opposite and use compliments. (Lenore got the idea from her daughter's third grade teacher)

 Our school day ended and so did our fun.  Lenore Look signed my books and posed for a class picture.

Thank-you Lenore Look and you have become our favorite author!!!

From Lenore Look's Twitter

Got Read Aloud?

What books do you use for read aloud?
I am new to fourth grade and have been discovering so many great titles this year.  I have been modeling independent reading and reading aloud daily.


Here is what is happening in Room 210...
I am reading Punished.  The story is about a boy who gets punished and has a spell put on him.  The boy needs to collect special words to break the spell.  The book discusses puns, oxymorons, anagrams, palindromes and onomatopoeia.  It is a short chapter book, a very quick read.

Check out the link:

http://www.sturgeon.k12.mo.us/elementary/numphrey/subjectpages/reading/punished!.html

Here is a book that I just finished reading to my after school students.  This is a great story of friendship and perseverance.  Kate uses rich language and vocabulary.  At the end of every chapter, my students were begging for more.  I would highly recommend it...a tear jerker!

Check out the link:

http://www.edwardtulane.com/

A New Twist to My Author Studies

I used to always put up an author study each month on a large bulletin board.  I somehow got away from that and try to keep bulletin boards up during the year that are more interactive and that I don't have to change(my favorite kind)...like the calendar, US map, daily five, etc.

I bought a great frame at Target that was designed for album covers.  It has hinges and the glass is really plastic.  I get nervous with kids.  Here are the two that I have designed so far.  The pages are very easy to make and take up no space!

 I am incorporating the authors with my listening center.  I got two of Shel's books on Itunes and set the books out with the CD's that I made.  It is great for fluency and The Daily Five.

You can see the frame at the listening center

My second author is Andrew Clements and I just got "No Talking: on CD.