faulker099

Hello Everyone! I know! I know! Two posts in two days???  What??? Well, I told you that I was digging deeper into Lucy Calkins Units of Study for first grade and her first resource  Small Moments has once again inspired me to create something fun for my little writers.  Lucy suggests using the little book, Night of the Veggie Monster by George McClements, as a mentor text for helping kids understand what a small moment story looks and sounds like. As soon as I saw that title, I knew I wanted to dig even deeper!  It is a great little book about a boy who turns into a monster when he has to eat a pea! (How perfect for our beginning of the year monster unit too! I already had the book lined up to read!) Well, if you know me, I can't just read a book once and leave it alone.  I wanted to really inspire kids about small moment stories by comparing peapods and peas. I know, a little wacky, but the connections just scream out to kids!!  So I created a little intr...

Hello Everyone! This post is a joyful and emotional one for me.  Mostly because as I was creating this little writing unit, it brought back some incredible memories and  brought some joy for the days to come.  I was working on setting up some pieces for my writers workshop and decided to beef up my motivational lessons for the kids.  Part of this motivation includes the well known "Map of the Heart," a beautiful idea from Georgia Heard.  I've been doing the map of the heart thing for years, but I always thought something was missing. I needed the kids to be able to make more of a connection. Using a mentor text like "Treasures of the Heart" by Alice Ann Miller helps to clarify the heart part! I have used this book for other things before, but it fits so perfectly with the motivation and inspiration with which I want to cover my kids. The book is about a little boy who has many treasures hidden under his bed. His mom wants to clean, but this sweet boy wants to sh...

Hello Everyone!! Well, it happened again. A huge apology for not posting much this summer!  I am so enjoying being home.  I am just feeling the stress melting off my sholders.  I'm getting a lot done on the house and am still planning some beach time with the fam!!  Can't wait!! I love my guys!! (and I love the beach!) But I wanted to answer a question I've been getting lately...I've lost count on how many e-mails I've gotten about a new beginning of year theme.  Thank you for your patience!!! I finally got some things put together to send out.  Our theme this year will be MONSTERS!!! Oh. My!!  The kids are going to have so much fun...and learn a little bit along the way!  If you don't have the book The Monster Who Lost His Mean by Tiffany Haber, you seriously need to order it right now!!!  It is precious and a perfect little book to use for kids. I picked it up on a whim at our Scholastic Book Fair this past spring and fell in love with it!...