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Snow in Atlanta

You have more than likely heard about the chaos created by a tiny amount of snow and ice in our area. Luckily we live just north of the city so we missed out on the madness. I had an easy drive home from school, and no, I did not have to sleep at my school with my students. Oh, trust me, the way the media has portrayed the incident they made it sounds like kids all over town were stranded, not totally the case. I have fielded a few phone calls from those outside my area to make sure that we were ok. We are doing great.
I am thankful we all made it home and that there were teachers/schools ready to jump in and help all of the kids out. It is simply amazing how much teachers contribute to a child's world!
We did enjoy the snow though. I took my class outside to play during recess and they were like kids in a candy shop. They only see snow every few years, so it was something worth playing in.
My youngest son does not remember the snowstorm that stranded us for a week in 2011, since he was only 5 months old. He was especially delighted with the weather, although has informed me that he does not like when his brothers throw snow in his face.

A picture of our backyard/playhouse.

The boys sled and made snowballs and basked in the glory of the white wonderland. Hubs and I both laughed at them for being in early, as we both would spend the entire day outside during the winters. Guess they didn't inherit our northern blood!
It has been nice having an impromptu vacation. I played around with my Silhouette and actually made my son's Valentine mailbox for his party in 2 weeks. I am not often ahead on much, but hey, this is one less thing off my list.

I also finished up a little Valentine (math story problems )freebie for my TPT store. I made a set of math task cards that cover several skills. We are heading in to crunch time and mixed review is becoming crucial. I would love some feedback, so if you download them please let me know what you think.

I am working on some sports-themed math problems, but those are still a product in progress.
I had some work I needed to get done, but unfortunately I left that stuff behind in my classroom, not thinking we would be out for 2 days! Ooops, I guess Friday will be a hectic day as we pick up where we left off and try to keep the ball rolling.

I have been incredibly busy lately. Seriously, it seems that I am running non-stop lately. So when I have managed to stop, I have crashed. 2014 has started off with a bang! I apologize for my minor disappearance, I am doing my best to keep my head above the ever rising tide!

I am excited about a giveaway I joined. Carol's Garden is celebrating 100 followers and is hosting a big K-2, 3-5, and clipart giveaway. The giveaway started today, make sure you check it out. I would love one of you to win the great prizes!
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Hope you are staying warm, have thawed out if you were part of the arctic freeze, and are doing well. Enjoy your Friday and many wishes for a relaxing weekend!

Mentor Text: Earth Science

It has been a while, so I am excited about linking up with Collaboration Cuties for their Mentor Text linky party. This week's focus is science texts. I love integrating reading with Science. 

We are currently in our Earth Science unit, and supplementing with texts is so helpful for the kids to be able to see land forms and read all about the land forms. One of the best sources of engaging text with tons of pictures are books by Seymour Simon. 

Seymour Simon Images from Amazon

I have both of these books, bought them through Amazon a few years ago and they are always favorites of my kiddos. I do not put them in my student library, instead I save them for when we study Earth Science and then the kids are really excited about getting a chance to read them! 

Seymour Simon's science texts teach the content alongside vivid images that are often breathtaking. They provide images that capture the readers attention. The text is not overwhelming and provides explanations of the content, along with examples of locations of events. They also include cause and effect explanations that further explain the topics. 

There are tons of other texts by Seymour Simon as well as apps. If you are looking for a way to integrate reading in science or texts to supplement your lessons, his books are an excellent place to start. 

If you are looking for a book to read aloud to your class, I highly recommend Quake! Disaster in San Francisco 1906. 

Quake! Image from Amazon

Quake! is an incredible story of how 2 young boys survived the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. The story is loaded with factual information about the earthquake and the effects of the disaster. The story also focuses on how different groups of immigrants were discriminated against in different regions, this book discusses the poor treatment of Asian immigrants along the West Coast. Since 5th grade also studies immigration this book integrates topics from our social studies curriculum, our science curriculum. 

This historical text integrates social studies, science, and factual details and images; you really can't get much better than that! 
Another book I have recently purchased, but have not read, that I plan to share with my class is I Survived The Japanese Tsunami, 2011. This series of books is very popular with students. I have a Scholastic Magazine with an article about the tsunami from 2011 that was written by Lauren Tarshis, and it is always one of their favorites. I was excited to see this book, and knew that I would share it during my earth science unit.  

Students will more than likely the events from this tsunami, so it is a great text to share with them. 
I also want to share a document that I created to use with my students to help them with analyzing informational text. I know that my students can connect with text, but they continue to struggle with analyzing text closely and citing evidence. 

Fonts by Lovin' Lit, Graphics by: Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, Glitter Meets Glue Designs, Graphics from the Pond, & JCSweetpea

As part of a book study at my school, we are reading, Pathways to the Common Core Accelerating Achievement. 

Image from Amazon

In the section we just completed, the text emphasizes closely reading text and citing with evidence explicitly mentioned in the text. It is a tough skill for many of my students. So, I decided to create a practice sheet to guide them through standards 2-6.  

Informational Text Analysis Sheet

The questions encourage students to go back to the text to locate information. The first question seems simple, "What did you learn from the text?," yet while administering Foutnas & Pinnell benchamrks, I was surprised how many of my kiddos wanted to tell me what they already knew, instead of details from the text. Obviously, it is not such a simple question. 
I plan to use this with my weekly fluency articles (which this quarter will focus on major social studies and science topics), and with informational text. I will model how to answer the questions, then have students answer questions independently before we discuss the topics. After discussing the text, students will be given a chance to add or revise their responses.
I hope that continuously exposing students to the questions will help them think more about their text as they read. Until then, we will keep practicing! 
You can download the informational text practice sheets for free, here. If you download the document, please leave feedback to let me know what you think. If you use this with your students I would love to know about your experiences. 
Don't forget to check out the other links for this week's mentor texts at Collaboration Cuties. Thank you to Amanda & Stacia for hosting this party! It always helps me think about texts I want to use with my class. Sometimes, it simply reminds me to pull out some of the books I might have forgotten about. A lot of times it helps me discover a text I did not know about. 
Hope everyone has a fabulous day and discovers something inspiring!