New School Web Page!

Oelwein School District has released a new look on their web pages!

I love seeing all the pictures and reading about the activities and events happening in our district. Oelwein students and staff are doing amazing things. This new design makes it easy to find everything! Check it out...

http://www.oelwein.k12.ia.us/

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: Life in Pictures — National Geographic Kids

MLK Jr-life-in-pictures-National Geographic Kids

Martins Big Words: Doreen Rappaport

MrsP.com honors Oelwein

Book Challenges 2011

1. Join me in any of my book challenges in 2011. Duff reading class is challenged to read 20 books every semester.

2. The 2011 Audio Book Challenge will run from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011. 

I'm going to go ahead go with the "Obsessed" level:

  Curious:    3 Audio Books

Fascinated:  6 Audio Books

Addicted:  12 Audio Books

Obsessed: 20 Audio Books

3. 2011 YA Reading Challenge: The Maga Size level is my goal :D

There are four levels:

 ►The Mini level – Read 12 YA novels.

 ►The Fun Size level – Read 20 YA novels.
 ►The Jumbo Size level – Read 40 YA novels.
 ►The Mega size level – Read 50+ YA novels.

4. The Centurions of 2011: 111 Books by January 2012!

A group of readers who have set a goal to read 111 or more books during the year, 2011. Members will be posting month by month their titles, highlighting at least one pick to total twelve favorites for 2011. All genres accepted from picture books to poetry anthologies to professional texts.

Book Title Challenge

December 31st  Out With A Bang Readathon brought a fun challenge from Reading Teen that I will pass on to our class.

Our mini-challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to find 3 or more books that you have laying around, and use them to make a sentence. Post your sentences in the comment area.

 For example:

1.Strangely Enough Bran Hambric Sabotaged The Unfinished Angel
2. What If The Mysterious Benedict Society Found The Shadow of Thieves Beyond The Valley of Thorns
3. Spilling Ink Ruined The Jaguar Stones MiddleWorld

Out With A Bang (and a book)

A quick post between reading breaks to share some of the titles I have read over break. I accepted a challenge to read a book a day while away from the classroom. Of course, I accepted! This reading challenge is taking place on Twitter #bookaday if you would like to see great titles and dedicated readers. I, in-turn, challenged by students to set a reading goal and report back after break. The second challenge I shared with my students was the "Out with A Bang Read A Thon". Starting today, reading as many books as possible before the end of the year will keep me smiling, doing one of my favorite activities-READING!

Wow! This was fun!

1.  The Scorch Trials, J. Dashner
2. Ruined, P. Morris
3. Cleopatra Rules!, V.A. Shecter
4. Adventure Beneath the Sea, K. Mallory
5. Fairview Felines A Newspaper Mystery, M. Corriel
6. Incarceron, C. Fisher
7. Wicked, N. Holder
8. An Egret's Day, J. Yolen
9. Saving the Baghdad Zoo, K Milner Halls
10. Birmingham Sunday, L. Brimner
11. Notes From the Dog, G. Paulsen
12. Mysteries of the Komodo Dragon, M. Crump
13. Mammoth Bones and Broken Stones, D. Harrison
14. Planet Hunter, V. Wittenstein
15. My Rotten Life, D. Lubar
16. Stone Child, D. Poblocki

Mermaids, Mystery and Middle School

What would be your most embarrassing moment ever? 

         Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau makes a regular day in middle school seem effortless. Jade finds that being fourteen means a little bit more to her then crushing on boys, sending text messages to friends and picking out the perfect swim suit for a pool party. When Jade finds out she inherited mermaid characteristics from her mother- meaning the unexpected morphing of a tail, her embarrassing moments have just begun!

What really happened to her mother? Can Jade help bring her back? And what will she do with this tail? These are just a few of the mysteries that keep you reading while keeping track of a possible relationship between Jade and Luke. In the spirit of Dory from Finding Nemo, "Just keep reading, just keep reading."

Last Week to Help

Are you in the "free and easy" giving mood? Click a few times and like magic my class gets new technology-but ONLY if you do it this week-THANKS! Yahoo! Homepages for Homerooms http://t.co/4LTeAjB

Picture Book Bananza

Duff Reading class is continuing their Friday Skype Share with 4th graders with enthusiasm. Every Friday, a 6th grader chooses a picture book to read and discuss with Mrs. D's class at Wing's Park Elementary. This time has created many connections between the students and with books.
Two new picture books that were favorites were More Bears and If I Could Keep You Little...

 This book created an impromptu chorus from students near and far repeating the phrase, "More bears!" during our Skype call. We enjoyed sharing the conflict between the story author and characters as the book was being created. The ending will have you giggling and wanting to read it again and again! Created by Kenn Nesbitt and Troy Cummings, this book is a must read whenever a smile is needed.

Excerpt From More Bears!

Once upon a time there was a story. This story was a lovely story with absolutely no bears in it—not a single bear anywhere. Then one day...

MORE BEARS!!

What? Who said that? The author of the story looked around the room, wondering where those voices had come from. Were those the voices of children shouting? Then he went back to writing.

As I was saying, this story had absolutely no bears at all. The author was very certain about this.

MORE BEARS!!

The author tried very, very hard to ignore the children who thought that the story ought to have…

MORE BEARS!!

 

Excerpt From If I Could Keep You Little:

If I could keep you little, we'd finger-paint our art.  But then I'd miss you creating stories from your heart.

If I Could Keep You Little by Marianne Richmond is a touching book that creates a relaxed atmosphere to share memories and "warm fuzzies." This book had everyone in class remembering what it was like to be little and how much they have changed with their families. Readers of all ages will find their own life stories falling out of the pages of rhythmic verse and warm watercolors.

Students will be using this book next semester during our Live and Dream unit. Come back to see where this special picture book takes us!

100 Best Blogs by Teachers for Teachers

I opened my email to a nice surprise this morning- Spot To Read had been chosen as a top educational blog. Spot To Read was created last school year to connect and share our classroom happenings with our families and community. Little did I imagine that it would open the door to the world and involve our class in so many opportunities and celebrations!

I plan to visit the other honored blogs and share in their on-line learning.
Thanks to On-line Schools for bestowing such an honor on our blog!

Donors Choose Celebration

Soon we will be receiving our 4th donation from Donors Choose- a web site that matches donors with classrooms. This shipment will consist of a new netbook, speakers, head set and flash drive.
Individual donors from around the world, corporations like US Cellular and Yahoo, and smaller groups all have donated money to help our classroom stay updated with technology. If you are looking for a place to donate that really makes a difference, please go to donorschoose.org You can find many Oelwein School projects waiting to be funded by a donor like you!

If you have donated to a project-- THANK YOU!

Love That Poetry on Twitter

Reading and writing poetry was made into an adventure by following Jack and his teacher Mrs. Strechberry. Love That Dog by Sharon Creech guided us through the sharing of many famous poems and poets. While Jack struggled with his understanding and writing of poetry, our class wrote and shared using Twitter, class partners and even created our own yellow "Love That Poetry" booklets.

The highlight of this activity was our interaction with Sharon Creech and other classrooms around the world via Twitter. You can see all of our tweets by visiting us @OMS6th on Twitter.
Below are some actual tweets from our classroom and replies we celebrated:

OMS6th @ciaobellacreech starting "Love That Dog" celebration Thursday-will last a week or so :D Follow our tweets

OMS6th I think Love That Dog is going to be a great book!!!!

OMS6thWe have to write about what we would say if we were the teacher. I wrote about how you have to at least try to write.

ciaobellacreech @OMS6th Happy LTD celebration!

ciaobellacreech@OMS6th Hi! Thanks for your notes. . .I'm glad you're enjoying LTD and think it's cool you're making your own booklets. . .

OMS6thSo much depends upon A big warm bed Covered with warm blankets Beside my white wall

Gill_Villeans @OMS6th We want to add one! So much depends upon apps working properly, typing in small spaces, and seeing small words. Can you guess?

ChocolateAir @ciaobellacreech @OMS6th So much depends upon a bloodsucking leech stuck to my ankle from the dark green lake.

ChocolateAir @ciaobellacreech @OMS6th Winning Shot...So much depends upon a basketball dribbling in my hands with thirty seconds left.

OMS6thI am reading a book during study hall/ the story takes me to a different world/I would like to stay and play/ you come too

OMS6thI'm going out to get the mail/all the way down the road/ I'll say hello to the toad/ I'll not be gone long you come too.

ciaobellacreech @OMS6th I'm going out to get some chocolate / in the storefront window / I won't be gone long / You come, too . . .

ciaobellacreech@OMS6th ohmygosh, I love these 'you come too' poems!

Gill_Villeans @OMS6th We like reading your patterned tweets! Can you tell? :)

Gill_Villeans@OMS6th We're learning about Newfoundland. We'll present our findings to other classes. We're going on a learning journey. You come too! :

OMS6thLove using Twitter/Like a bat loves a ball/Love using Twitter/Like a bat loves a ball/Love 2share w/the world/Using it daily/Learning it all

ciaobellacreech @OMS6th Love the ongoing tweets--the 'love that. . .' ones. Love those tweets /love that class . . .

OMS6th@ciaobellacreech Thanks for all your tweets while we "Loved Your Book" We will follow Jack through his next year during our own reading time