Muslim Woman in Amman

Last summer I read a book that changed my whole thinking about how I teach reading. I loved Donalyn Miller's Book Whisperer ,  and it has motivated me in many ways. One way it motivated me was with her summer Book a Day Challenge. I decided that this year I was going to do my own Book a Day Challenge. Mine unfortunately, will only last a month, because I am moving out of town and won't have the time later in the summer. From today June 10th, 2017 till July 10th, 2017 I am going to read a book a day. To start my challenge I picked up a book by my favorite motivational writer, Ron Clark. I love his books they always make me want to get up and change the world. The book I read today, Move Your Bus , is directed towards business leaders but works well in the classroom. It has given me many different ideas I want to implement in the classroom to motivate my students more. I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to make a difference in their world.

This semester me and my students have been reading Phantom Tollbooth and we loved it. Milo's adventure was so exciting that I lost my voice every time we read it. I found a great resource for activities and comprehension quizzes that really helped us delve deep into the story. Unfortunately I can't find it again to share the link. A lot of activities were about drawing parts of the story. I made it into a little contest. The kids competed for the best artwork and that gave some amazing images. Below are some of their drawings: Once we finished the book we had a movie viewing party. I made some cinnamon rolls that were supposed to be synonym buns but my glaze was to thick and it didn't cover the bun enough for me to write on them.  But my half baked idea was good. My kids loved the movie and really paid attention. I've never seen them so riveted before. 

This week I want to sing praises for sidewalk chalk. I use Crayola's big 48 piece chalk set . I purchase a box every year and I can't imagine teaching without it handy. While I don't use it everyday having it around is so very useful. The first time I used chalk was to teach a lesson outside. It gave the kids some fun in the sun and let them go a little wild in a big open space, especially because I have a pretty small classroom. Another good use for sidewalk chalk is having it available when you need a quick art project, during those rare down times.  Or a quick lesson on cave drawings. And sometimes just to let the kids have fun during recess. Sidewalk chalk in my humble opinion is a must have staple in the Elementary classroom. FYI: I am not getting paid to advertise this is just my opinion.

     There is this app on my phone that I have been using for almost three years now. Until recently I have been taking my knowledge of this app for granted. The app called  CamScanner  let's you use your phone camera to scan pages and email them to yourself or other people. I have been using it to scan our math worksheets so I could project them onto the whiteboard (so much easier than writing them on a chart). I love my little app and I use it all the time.      Yet, recently in a discussion with my school's office manager 'B' I realized I should have been sharing my knowledge of CamScanner from the beginning. What happened was our major copier was down for a few days and one of my colleges needed to print out her math test from her assessment booklet. So 'B' had to pull out this old clunky copier, from storage, to do it. I told her about the app and that instead of pulling out the old copier why didn't she just scan it email it to 'B' o...