Hey, y’all! I just got back from a two-day reading/writing conference with Smekens in Indianapolis. Even though it’s difficult to be away from school for two days in a row, I enjoy going to these conferences from time to time. There’s just a certain *buzz* in the air with a room full of teachers.
I definitely left with a list of things to try out during our last few weeks this year in order to hit the ground running with them next year {more on those later!}, but I also scooped up a few new teacher resource books. Now… I love me some TpT. Truly, you know I do. But I still love many of the Scholastic books that are often written by real teachers too.
Here’s what ended up coming home with me this time. I know I’m always on the hunt for great resources and it was nice to see them in person before buying. These definitely get my stamp of approval.
Writing Finds (my favorite!!)
The Cliffhanger Writing Prompts seem so fun for the end of the year! I love that there are pretty lengthy stories (3-4 paragraphs and some an entire page). Then the stories just STOP and students have to finish them.
We do a lot of revising in our classroom, and I *always* write with my students. I make common mistakes and model how to fix them. My students share their revisions to show the growth before/after. But sometimes, you just need a great example text to show students what you’re going for in your mini lessons. I love that the Benchmark Paper books show scored examples for each trait at various ranges of development.
Finally, our presenter at the conference shared her Trait-Based Writing lessons. It only has one review on Amazon and I totally disagree with it, so don’t be afraid to give it a try. Writing workshop is definitely a strength of mine and I still found new ideas in there.
Reading and Word Work Finds
I use centers in my reading workshop time, and one is always a word work center. We do a lot of vocabulary development, but I feel like I often use the same ideas over and over with different words. The Vocabulary book has a TON of ideas that are print and go for centers. Many of them feel like games too, which is a bonus!
Finally, the Comprehension Cliffhangers series is AWESOME! I already had the nonfiction one from last summer’s conference, but picked up the other two today. The passages are engaging, and the ideas for the teacher to encourage discussion are great. I love that I’m covering all of my important strategies– inferences, summarizing, etc.
I also really, really wanted to buy one of these, but I felt like my third graders were between the levels. The 2/3 seemed too easy and the 4-6 seemed too difficult. They would be awesome for primary and upper elementary students though!
Okay, hopefully those get your wheels turning! Once my brain stops spinning, I’ll pop back in to share some of the changes I already know I’ll be making in my reading and writing workshops next year. After a nice, long, relaxing summer break. 😉
