* Secret Snowflake *

‘Tis is the season of spreading kindness.  In class I’d like our students to participate in the concept of a “Secret Snowflake”. 

It isn't about buying anything, but more about making something/doing something nice and from the heart for our secret pal each day.  

   

This activity helps build upon the caring community in our classroom.  It also reinforces that one person can make a difference.

On the days below you will leave a special treat for your secret snowflake.  On Wednesday and Thursday you can secretly give me the card/poem and I will put them in the student mailboxes.  You may also leave a clue as to your identity if you wish. It is nice to put time and effort into these special treats for your classmates.  On Friday we will sit down and each student will open their gifts one by one.

 I have done this for the past few years in class, and each year I am blown away with the thoughtfulness behind these acts of kindness. 

  Wednesday Dec. 21st - Handmade Card

A card wishing your classmate well, to show you care.

Thursday Dec. 22nd - A Decorated Poem 

Could be an acrostic of  the recipients’ name or any poem about the recipient!

I will provide special winter themed paper if needed.

Friday Dec. 23rd - Handmade Gift 

This gift is made from the heart!

You will have from (Dec. 12th ) to work on this gift. 

I look forward to seeing the creative and thoughtful gifts made for your classmates!! 

Some Helpful DIY gift ideas:

-Your person loves to read? Make some cool Bookmarks!

-Someone likes Graphic Novels? Write one for them where they are the main character!

-Likes sports? Like Soccer? Make an ornament of a soccer ball with their name on it!

-Has a certain favorite animal? Make a stuffed animal of it with felt and cotton balls!

-Loves games? Make a board game!

Some Helpful DIY gift websites:

https://www.parents.com/fun/arts-crafts/kid/gifts-kids-can-make/

https://dreamingindiy.com/the-best-do-it-yourself-gifts-fun-clever-and-unique-diy-craft-projects-and-ideas-for-christmas-birthdays-thank-you-or-any-occasion/

https://www.thriftyfrugalmom.com/20-inexpensive-homemade-gifts-kids/

https://www.prudentpennypincher.com/100-best-christmas-crafts/

Balloons Over Broadway

Over the past few days we have been working on our own Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon activity.   We read the book, Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. We also looked at the balloon line up for this year's parade and then created our own balloons and wrote about what kind of balloon we felt should be in the parade and why.  
Macy's Balloon Line-up

( I can't take credit for the cuteness of this project, as I got it from a teacher I follow on instagram 😂)
Here is our parade route:

New Lit Circle Books

New Literature Circle Books

With our new Lit Circle books, we are dealing a lot with empathy.   These books all connect to social situations and how to work through tough issues with friends and peers.   I picked these books to correlate with our current read aloud book.   This too, follows along the same theme.  The social emotional learning that happens alongside these books is a wonderful thing to watch unfold in the classroom. There is some mature content in these books which make it realistic and relatable.   

Our current Read Aloud 

New Lit Circle Books

Posted:  In middle school, words aren’t just words. They can be weapons. They can be gifts. The right words can win you friends or make you enemies. They can come back to haunt you. Sometimes they can change things forever.

When cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost and his friends Deedee, Wolf, and Bench come up with a new way to communicate: leaving sticky notes for each other all around the school. It catches on, and soon all the kids in school are leaving notes—though for every kind and friendly one, there is a cutting and cruel one as well.

The Revealers:  Parkland Middle School is a place the students call Darkland, because no one in it does much to stop the daily harassment of kids by other kids. 

Three bullied seventh graders use their smarts to get the better of their tormentors by starting an unofficial e-mail forum at school in which they publicize their experiences. Unexpectedly, lots of other kids come forward to confess their similar troubles, and it becomes clear that the problem at their school is bigger than anyone knew. 

The school principal wants to clamp down on the operation, which she does when the trio, in their zealousness for revenge, libel a fellow student in what turns out to have been a setup. Now a new plan of attack is needed . . .

Loser:  Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like "Jabip."

Other kids have their own word to describe him, but Zinkoff is too busy to hear it. He doesn't know he's not like everyone else. And one winter night, Zinkoff's differences show that any name can someday become "hero."

Flying Solo:  When the substitute for Mr. "Fab" Fabiano never shows up and his sixth-grade students are on their own, they set out to prove that they can run the class by themselves. With a little ingenuity and some careful planning, they might just succeed. 

But when a fight breaks out between Bastian Fauvell and Rachel White over a classmate, Tommy Feathers, who died six months earlier, everything begins to fall apart. Can Rachel deal with the anxieties that plunged her into silence the day Tommy died? Inventive and uniquely constructed, "Flying Solo" follows Mr. Fab's students hour by hour as they tackle the challenges of an unusual school day.

Because of Mr.Terupt:   It’s the start of a new year at Snow Hill School, and seven students find themselves thrown together in Mr. Terupt’s fifth grade class. 

They don’t have much in common, and they’ve never gotten along. Not until a certain new teacher arrives and helps them to find strength inside themselves—and in each other. 

But when Mr. Terupt is out, will his students be able to remember the lessons he taught them? Or will their lives go back to the way they were before—before fifth grade and before Mr. Terupt?

                                           

Gratitude is the Attitude

This month's superpower is GRATITUDE.  We are already on a roll brainstorming on things we are grateful for.  

Spinning the wheel to find the ABC's of gratitude

Please post on the padlet below with something you are grateful for! 

Literature Circles

I am loving the conversations I overheard during the past few Lit Circle meetings.   The kids have been passionate about their feelings on the books and eager to share their ideas and takeaways.   They have been respectful while partners share and add to the discussions with meaningful comments.  

Restart

Tale of Despereaux

Because of Winn Dixie 

Shiloh

Hatchet

Sometimes they are given time to just read and catch up on their work independently and they find a nice comfy spot to read.  

Life is Good- Superpower Kit Fun!

This year in homeroom we are focusing on a different SUPERPOWER each month.  These superpowers come from the community read we had a few years ago.  The book was "Life is Good, The Book: How to Live with Purpose and Enjoy the Ride".   Many of you may be familiar with the Life is Good t-shirt brand.  I encourage you to read this book!  It focuses on 10 Superpowers, which coincide with the 10 months of the school year.  A few years ago, as a school, we focused on these superpowers.   Now we are bringing them back!   With the generosity from our Curriculum Enrichment program through the PTO, we purchased the Life is Good Superpower Kit for our classroom!  I had already started to read picture books and discuss September's theme of Openness before we got the kit, so the kids were familiar with the idea.   Now that we have the kit, we are using the ideas to have wonderful, meaningful Morning Meetings.  
This month of October, the superpower is Creativity.  The kids have enjoyed some activities such as, Magic Ball, Piece by Piece Masterpiece, Slideshow, Superpower Breathing, and Circles, Squares, and Triangles.   All these activities have sparked the imagination and creativity.  The students have had chances to earn badges each month as well. 
I'm loving seeing our classroom community bond over the discussion of these superpowers!! 

Piece by Piece Masterpiece "Potato Pirate" 😂

Create as many items as you can using a limited amount of circles, squares, and triangles

"Magic Ball, Magic Ball, what will you be?"

Welcome Back to School!

We are so ready for this school year!! 
This year, you will be working with a team of teachers.  I will be your ELA (Reading and Writing) and Social Studies teacher. Mrs. Wiles-Stasko will be your Math, and Science teacher. We are lucky to also have Mrs. Whittaker who will be working with our team as well. We have some teaching assistants like Mrs. Sordillo and Mrs. Foley who will be in and out of our rooms helping out as well!

I'm excited to bring back the blog this year.  We didn't end up using it much last year, and not at all the year before with the craziness of the past few years.  However, this is a place where homework is posted nightly, as well as pictures and useful resources that we use in the classroom.  We will also be utilizing our Google Site and Google Classroom. 

On the right sidebar there used to be a place for your parents to enter their email and they will get updates when new posts are added- however Google got rid of that last year.   

We have a lot of fun activities planned for this year.  I am very much looking forward to this school year to begin!  

If you checked in tonight- I'd love for you to comment below with something you enjoyed so far at school.  Don't forget to leave your name.  If you don't see your post show up- it is because I haven't had a chance to approve it yet :)