Thinking in Primary

Still going strong!  I'm linking up with Big Time Literacy's Big Time Blogging Challenge again and today's topic is to write about your favorite books to teach with!  That's a hard one because I have sooooo many!  But, what I really love is to teach with good quality big books.  My teaching pals and I are HUGE fans of shared reading.  Sometimes we find out that people aren't doing it and that makes us very sad. You can read a little bit about the way we do it here! One of my favorite shared reading books is Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  I just love this book and I use it every single year! If you click on the picture below it will take you to Amazon and this is the anniversary version with the original words! I know I've blogged about his before to, but this is the class book I have for sale in my TPT shop.  I love making class books with my class (although sometimes I get caught up and don't do it as often as I should)! Thanks for stopping by!...

Why I haven’t been blogging... This is the only part of the post that is personal, so for those of you who want to get to the school stuff (and I totally get that) skip to the next paragraph.  Anyway, I turned 40 and all you know what broke loose!  I’ve always been a migraine sufferer, but I suddenly stepped up into the chronic category.  We’re talking nearly every day.  I’ve tried eliminating my triggers, changing my diet, eliminating stress (as much as anyone can), getting more exercise, less exercise, yoga, meditation, more water, I’ve tried pretty much everything. Towards the end of the summer I finally dragged myself into a neurologist’s office (one of those “are you tired of living a maybe life” doctor’s from the TV commercial) and she’s doing her best to take care of me.  She put me on some medication that is supposed to prevent them, it doesn’t.  She doubled the dosage, it makes me sick.  On the bright side she ordered some tests to make s...

My niece and nephew are always willing to pose for a picture, especially when I tell them that they will be superstars!  Here they are modeling the pocket chart art center project from my new fire safety unit- They are pretty adorable right?  Superstars! This is just one of two art projects in my shared reading unit.  Here's a peak at the rest!                                Pin It Thanks for stopping by!  If you want to find out more about the fire safety unit it's available at my  Teachers Notebook  store and  Teachers Pay Teachers .

I received and awesome question about shared reading and read alouds.  While I definitely do not consider myself an expert, here's my answer! Read Aloud -to me a read aloud is just that, a time to read aloud.  I try to read aloud several times throughout the day.  I keep a book basket under my chair filled with theme books and other books that I think my class might enjoy.  Sometimes I choose the book and sometime the kids choose the book.  After reading the story the book is placed in the classroom library for students to enjoy during centers, free time or (coming soon) daily five! Shared Reading  - to me is a time when students and the teacher share the book.  I usually use a big book but I also use poems in a pocket chart or on a poster.  Since I now have an awesome smart board I also use books or poems that I project onto the smart board.  I feel that the most important thing is that the print is large enough for students to see. ...