iPick- No YOU PICK!

I think I just reinvented the wheel. We may or may not be using a new spelling series this year in fourth grade. I like our old one. It is very intermediate/upper elementary. I purposely didn't bring home our new series this summer! Whichever series we use, I think this will be a fun way to assign spelling. I made this assignment menu so students would have some choice about how to study spelling words. I would have liked it a whole lot more than writing the words five times each! Below is the link to the Google Document. You can open it to view or print.

iPick Spelling Mrs.Watson's Spelling Assignment Menu

There's An App For That

I really love Sesame Street, not just because I grew up with it or have two small children. The little videos that teach with music are always so cute. I love seeing some celebrities in them too. This one made me smile.

School Supplies Already?!

I'm guilty. I've been everywhere, Target, Walmart, Staples, Five Below... checking out the new school supplies and it's only mid July. I wish that I could say that I found some deals. I'm going to have to train myself to at least check clearance sections. I found lots of great stuff though. Fancy bulletin board paper, stamps, glitter hearts, cupcakes, and some other  cool but traditional back to school things.  Here's what I've found so far!

The Answer is...

Good Morning all! I think I found the solution and end to my reading log dilema. I found a free website called kidblog.org and I'm thinking that I will use it a ton this school year. First of all it is free. Secondly, students just need a user name and password, not an email address. Last and best of all, they can use it at home after they read, or at school during their Reader's and Writer's workshop. I'm thinking of this as sort of an idea bank where kids can post about books that they are reading and give recommendations to others. Through the settings you can approve posts and student comments. I really think this will help teach students about appropriate social media behavior as well, although more in an academic context. Also, it will serve as somewhat of a record for our Million Word Challenge. I'M SO EXCITED THAT I FOUND THIS! Here's the link http://kidblog.org/home.php

Let's Get It Started in Here

Hello! Just starting out and I think this is going to be fun! Hopefully this blogging thing will be easy to figure out and useful to keep my student's families in the loop of what is going on in our classroom this year. So I'm starting out today with a thought about reading logs. How can I ditch them this year? I love the idea of students reading a lot or even a little at home. I love knowing what they're reading, be it novel, comic book, science book, magazine, or website... but I hate the thought of them having to record it all like a chore. Reading is suppose to be fun and if parents and students are nagging one another about recording minutes and signing off, well it sort of becomes not fun. If anyone ever told me I had to read a certain required book like say, The Perfect Putt (which my husband is reading now), and record the minutes I read it, seven days a week, and then also write some commentary about what I liked or disliked, quite frankly I would ask,"WHY?" No purpose would be served except to turn me off on reading. I'm already turned off by golf :-) Last June I gave my class a survey about their year. I asked all kinds of questions and one was what they liked least about our class. It was clear to me that the most popular answer was keeping a reading log.  Anyhow, teachers get to know who reads and who doesn't pretty quickly. So it's my mission this summer to find an alternative to the dreaded reading log.