Book of the Month Blog Hop for October

I am linking up with Tammy @ 1...2...3... Teach With Me for her Book of the Month Blog Hop.

Come check out the Hop for some great read alouds for your class and join in to share some of your own.

Little Mummy isn't afraid of the usual scary Halloween sites but he IS scared of a wee little Mouse.   The rhythm & repetition in this book make it easy for my firsties to join along in the reading a few pages in.  The illustrations are wonderful.

If you liked Bats at the Beach, you will fall in love with Bats at the Library, too.  In this story, the bored bats find an open window to a library and go on quite the adventure.  Pay close attention to the illustrations.  I love the rhyming text and use this book for Round up the Rhymes Activities.

A Must Have for the month .... Halloween Is... by Gail Gibbons.  Halloween is  is a nonfiction text filled with information about the origin of the Holiday and how we celebrate it today.  I love to use Gail Gibbons books when students are learning about nonfiction text features and learning to write their own.

Amazon Rewards & Update

If you are a teacher, you're missing out if you don't have an Amazon Credit Card.  I signed up for my card at the beginning of June & in 2 months I have gotten over $85 in credit.   I get 

• 3x the points for using my card @ Amazon.  
• 2x the points for gas & groceries
• 1x the points for everything else

This month I had enough points for $55.  What did I buy?  Books of course!

I had to purchase Chewy Louie because I made a text to self connection.  I think Howie Schneider must have been the first owner of my dog Cooper.  When I got to the page where Chewy Louie chewed up the back porch, I laughed out loud (and this was just hours after my lithotripsy) because currently my porch is ALL chewed up!

Patricia Polacco is one of my favorite authors so I always try to pick up more of her books.   If you don't mind crying in front of your class, you will love this book.  Miss Wichelman teaches her students that when life gives you lemons, add water and a little sugar to make lemonade.  In the end, her students help her remember the same.

In this book, my Firsties will learn big words like cooperate, respect, and patience in an engaging way with rhyming text.  The pictures are busy and fun to explore.

You have to add this book to your fairy tale collection.  Baby Bear tells you what "really happened" when Goldilocks broke into his house.

       

And finally, I purchased these 3 books for my measurement unit. 

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After 1 trip to the emergency room, 1 trip to medical park for a stent, and 1 trip to the Stone Center I may be on the mend.  My 6mm stone has now been blasted.  It is amazing how something so small can hurt so much and cause so much trouble.  

Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers.

Early Friday Finds

I could NOT wait to share this on Friday!  (Not to mention I am having a minor in office surgery on Thursday & if I wait and post Friday who knows what it will say!)

One of my favorite things about First Grade is that they LOVE ME almost unconditionally.  They think I draw beautifully and sing like an American Idol.  Singing is not something I can do well, even a little.  Seriously, when dating my husband told me I sing like a "Cat in Heat!"  I know you may be asking why I still married him after that comment, but check out the last Monday Made It.  He is great in so many other ways. 

Another example, when my 3rd child was a toddler and I was rocking him to sleep, he actually said to me, "No, Mommy. Don't sing!"   

What do they know!?  

My firsties think I sing beautifully.

I am telling you this because I found the most hilarious book to sing to my firsties.  They are going to love it when I sing songs from ....

  

On Top of the Potty, by Alan Katz.  

The kids love his books because they are funny and set to the tune of classics like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Be WARNED!

  This book has POTTY humor.  

But hey, we all go, don't we?

Here is a small teaser called

Tinkle, Tinkle on the Floor

(sung to Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Tinkle, tinkle on the floor

That's what Bob did til age four

And he pooped on the den chair,

on the couch, or anywhere

He'd poop on your welcome mat,

On your swing, or on your cat.

I purchased I'm Gonna Like Me to use for Back to School,  

Cinderella Skeleton to add to my fairytale collection, and 

Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? to go in my Eric Carle basket.  

I have heard so many wonderful things about Stranger in the Woods.  So, I bought it, too.  

Common Core Math Workstation & Must Have Picture Books Linky

I am breaking an unwritten blogger rule about posting twice in one day, BUT I feel soooo far behind from being on vacation & feel like I missed out on a ton!  

I went in to work for a little bit before vacation to start organizing my math workstations.  I decided to store them in tubs ice cube buckets like my kiddos store their reading books in (see here).

Before, I was storing them in baggies in my filing cabinet behind each Common Core Standard File Folder.  It just wasn't working!

Once I organized them, I realized I was short a variety of activities for certain standards and had lots for others, like place value.  So, either I could start searching TPT or create some of my own.

Here is a game I created for practice with adding 3 numbers.

Just click on the picture above to get it.

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Lindsey @ The Teacher's Wife is having a wonderful linky about your Must Have Picture Books.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this linky.  My LOVE for Children's Literature began as a child.  I was an avid reader!

My OBSESSION with collecting children's books began during my Children's Literature Class in college - Thank you Dr. Cates!  I remember crying in class when she read, I'll Love You Forever.

Later, I purchased that book for my mom for Mother's Day & years later sang the song to my beautiful children.  The power of books is amazing!  The amount of money I have in books is STAGGERING. I could possibly retire if I sold them all for full price.  With so many books and so many memories, how could I just pick a few?  I decided I would pick a one book for several different categories.

• Math book - Time

• Science

Gail Gibbons books are amazing & I use them not 
only in science, but also in teaching 
non fiction text features.

• Beginning of School

Chrysanthemum is one of my beginning of the year books 
used to teach about our classroom community.  We talk
 about how not to hurt each other's feelings and how 
to get along.  I have a few super cute activities I use 
with this book which  I will share @ the beginning of 
school.  
I also use this at that time during math, where we look 
at the length of each other's names and do graphing & 
counting activities.

• Writing Features

One of my favorite Writer's Workshop Units is teaching 

Writer's Craft.  I begin this unit with Lester 

Laminack's, Saturdays and Teacakes, 

but follow it up with lots of other books.  

The Recess Queen provides many examples like:

stacked words

bold words

sound words

ellipses

repeated phrases

Not to mention, this is a great book to talk about being 

the new kid in class or bullying!

• Just to Read Aloud

The message in this book is heart warming.  

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge likes to spend 
time at the nursing home next door.  He likes all 
the older people, but he especially likes 
Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper because 
she also has 4 names.  When he finds out she is losing 
her memory, he does his best to help her get her 
memory back.

• Word Work

Twenty-six Princesses is a great book to use for 

Rounding Up the Rhymes 

where you look at, study, and use rhyming pairs 

to help you read & write other rhyming pairs.  

Check out my lesson here.

Also, a great book to use when teaching how to write ABC books.

• Fairytales

One of my favorite times of the year is when we learn ...

 "What are Fairytales."

I love to compare and contrast different versions of favorite fairytale. Petite Rouge is a spin off of Little Red Riding Hood
 and is a MUST HAVE! 

It is creative and funny, 
especially if you hear me trying to read this

 with a Cajun accent!

• Vocabulary

Fancy Nancy always uses Fancy words which are often perfect for 

stretching the vocabulary of our young readers and writers.

Check out a free lesson here.

I could go on & on & on!