Read Aloud - The Dot

One of my all time favorite books to read aloud and inspire children with is The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.  Here is a link to Amazon to get further details or buy a copy of your own.  It is a truly wonderful book and reminds students that they can do anything they put their mind to!

I had been wanting to read this book since school started but had not found the perfect time.  Usually we have a guest speaker come in every Wednesday, but last week our speaker did not show. I knew it was the PerfecT time to do so.  Our class is finally used to each other and knows each others strengths and weaknesses.  It was time for my inspiration!!

So, we read the book and for the most part the kids loved it.  Some of them thought it was silly because it was so short.  Others loved it and wanted an art show of their own!

I decided to have them do a craft to go with and it was blown away.  I pre-made circle shapes for each student. But I told them they could fill the circle however they wanted.  Some chose to fill it with color, and others made little shapes and do-dads.  It was beautiful. Here are some samples.

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I went ahead and laminated them (because everything dies so quickly with the humidity!) and have them placed around the room. They have added the perfect touch of pizzazz and color to our room.  The kids love pointing theirs our and showing visitors what we did!  LOVE IT!

Have you ever read this book? Do you do anything fun with it?

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

I love reading aloud to my class but sometime struggle with the purpose.  We generally summarize the story afterward and predict what will happen next but sometimes I think I do it just for fun.  And that the kids want me to do it so they don't have to work!

We began the year by reading Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.  The kids LOVED it! It was wonderful.  They were asking to read it almost every day.  I enjoyed reading it to them and we had a good time.  By the last few chapters though it was dragging on, solely because we got so busy that we did not have time to read. The kids were begging though!  In effort to finish the book but still provide some learning in a culminating activity, I scoured the web for an answer.

I found this free worksheet from Super Teachers.  It was exactly what I was looking for.  It gives 3 options for activities: drawing a picture, writing a book review, or writing a test.  I encouraged my students away from book review because we had not talked about any of those things yet.  BUT I had some amazing things happen for the other two.  I had a handful of students write a test up and they had some wonderful questions and answers.  The drawing project revealed some amazing artists as well.  It was awesome.  Here are some pictures of the drawings.

I only wish I would have made coloring it part of the requirements! But we were pressed with time so it is what it is.  

In other news, today we had our first fire drill.  Let me tell you, fire drills in Thailand are waaaaaaaaay different than I am used to.  Maybe it is because I have always been at a fairly small school but I was shocked.  In Thailand as in many parts of Asia things are very close together here.  The entire school building  (K-12) is connected by ramps and awnings and hallways and whatnot.  SO the entire campus is considered dangerous if fire were to start/spread.  Our fire escape route requires complete evacuation of campus.  We have to cross the street and walk around the block to the field that is at the school across the street.  It literally took us 10 minutes to walk to where we needed to go!! That is unreal to me!  

Plus, I have a handful of students who this is their first year in public schooling. They had no idea what a fire drill was and what we were supposed to do.  Even though we went over procedures multiple times, they could not grasp the concept of "no talking".  It was quite frustrating but I know something we need to work on!   One of my students was terrified by the bell and that we were walking across the street.  It was quite overwhelming. 

Anyway, I learned a lot from my first fire drill as a teacher and my first drill in Thailand.  It is definitely something I will never forget.  

Do you have any crazy fire drill stories?  I am very glad that the first one is over and now I sort of know what to expect!