Favorite Fall Books

Hey friends!  It's Amanda from Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten here with you today!

Do you have any favorite books that you love to teach for fall?  I do!  And I love using them to teach a standard that is really difficult for my kindergarten kiddos.

I love using The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything and There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves to teach the standard R.L.K.9 (With prompting and support, compare and contrast the adventures and experiences of characters in familiar stories).

My students really struggle with this standard, especially at the beginning of the year, but when I use these books to start us out the concept becomes easier to grasp.

I start by reading both books multiple times.  My students LOVE to help me read The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by saying the sounds the different items make and doing motions with them.

Then after my students are familiar with both stories we do a retelling of each story and put story cards in order.

Once we have the pictures in order, we start to compare and contrast the books.  I ask the students what they noticed was the same and different in the stories.  Then as they tell me we make a Venn Diagram with the pictures.  It is quick and easy activity and covers multiple standards.

Would you like to have some of these picture cards to do this activity with your class?  Just click here to grab them for FREE!

Summer Reading

Hey everyone!  It's Katie from Miss Kate's Desk.  Today I want to share with you my personal book lists for the summer.  I have two lists of books to get through by the end of summer break.  I don't know about you, but it seems like during the school year I buy books (or want to) but struggle finding the time to read.  If you're like me and in grad school my reading time is taken up by somewhat bland textbooks.  In this post I will share with you my professional development and for fun book lists.

Professional Development:

1. Purposeful Play by: Kristine Mraz, Alison Porcelli, and Cheryl Tyler.

2. Text-Dependent Questions (Grades K-5) by: Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey

3. The Unstoppable Writing Teacher by: M. Colleen Cruz

4. Reading in the Wild by: Donalyn Miller

I typically like to read professional development books during the summer when I have more time and can gather my new ideas/information and come up with a plan to implement.  I was told in May along with the other K teachers in our district that we can now have a free play time in our classrooms so naturally I wanted to read Purposeful Play.  Play helps social skills, behavior, and also things such as vocabulary and math skills.  Since I really enjoy books about literacy... Reading in the Wild, The Unstoppable Writing Teacher, & TDQ are on my list.  DeeDee Wills is doing a book study on TDQ, go check it out!  I know some people who hate reading these types of books because they feel it will be like reading their college textbooks.  Not at all!  There are some amazing teaching books that are not dry and information overload.   

For Fun:

1. The Nest by: Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeny

2. Me Before You by: Jojo Moyes

3. One for the Money by: Janet Evanovich

4. Girls in White Dresses by: Jennifer Close

I tend to read books for fun at night before I fall asleep.  There's a distinct little glow coming from my Kindle on my bed.  I just recently finished Me Before You.  I had to read it before seeing the movie (which I have yet to see).  A few teachers in my building are obsessed with the Stephanie Plum series and they keep a little cabinet in the lounge stocked with paperbacks of the books.  I finally decided it's time to give it a go.  The Nest and Girls in White Dresses are books I saw on GoodReads that I wanted to read this summer. 

No matter what you read this summer, have fun and enjoy!  Utilize this extra free time to enjoy a good book.  Doesn't matter if it is a professional book or a just for fun book. 

Comment below with your own summer book recommendation.

I took Me Before You with me to Pensacola and read in my beach chair under my blue umbrella between swims.

Happy reading!