Check out these memes about overdue library books that will make you laugh out loud. We've also included three library display inspiration to help you sk for library books to be returned.

Are you studying ancient history this year? If so you should check out this Ancient Sumeria booklist and look for the books at your library.

This choice board provides a variety of ways for students to show knowledge about a book they have read in a less traditional fashion. It includes activities involving multiple intelligence's as well as technology features. Students love these activities and it no longer is boring to complete a book report! Planning Pages are included for the following Activities: Artful Artist Trading Card Timeline Cartoon/Comic Word Art

"It was like herding cats!" That was my answer to my husband the other day when he asked how my day had gone. Seriously, the days I have first and second graders are just hard - fun, but exhausting. That is until I found the SECRET to STEM and the littles! Are you ready for

The following is a guest post from Dr. Jacie Maslyk . If your motto is, “so many books, so little time”, then this post is for you! With lots of great children’s literature to choose from, it’s hard to pick the best books to support engineering in the lower elementary grades.

FREE Book Report Forms

As I begin to share book lists, I do need to make it clear that you should use your own discernment when it comes to books for your family. Every family’s

Upper Elementary Novel Study Ideas - favorite book suggestions and novel study ideas for upper elementary ELA classrooms.

How's your summer reading going? Ours is fabulous! My boys are not avid readers but they have totally enjoyed reading this summer with this fun incentive program I came up.

[UPDATED: This post has been updated to reflect additional graphic novel titles and the importance of representation of authors and illustrators within graphic novels and the characters they create.] The classroom library. For some it is magical, others it can be a nightmare. For a long time it was a pit of doom in my classroom. I didn't know what to do. I thought I had great books (and I’d tell you they were great) but students did not read them. So I started over. About a year-and-a-half ago I made the decision that I was going to completely change my classroom library. I scrapped 75% of the books that were in my room and I started introducing (almost strictly) graphic novels and comics. I made the decision that reading fluency and word read correctly per minute were NOT what my students needed. They needed to WANT to read. On their own. Without a teacher breathing down their neck. Graphic novels were what my students needed. A little backstory: I grew up on Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side. As a kid these were the only books that I read. And I read them over and over and over. These were the only books that I would check out or read consistently year after year. Take an honest look at your classroom library. How many of your books never get read during the year? The percentage is pretty high. That's not to say the books aren't good, this is just the reality. It also fits nicely with the misconception that graphic novels aren't real reading (or books). That needs to be debunked right now. (And maybe you're not a teacher who thinks this, but I'm guessing you probably know who teacher is.) We're in the Golden Age graphic novels and comics. If you're on the fence for making a dramatic change to your library, that's cool...just take it slow. I've spent the year finding a variety on Amazon, scouring garage sales, and seeing what our local library has. I've also used Instagram to help identify and build variety and diversity -without other teachers giving input, it would be a pretty boring collection. This is part of my classroom library. There's not a lot of novels, just a bunch of picture books and graphic novels. Books are books are books I want my students reading. I want them to be willing to open up a book. I want them to enjoy it. Novels are great but they don’t mean much when my students won’t open them up. I tell all of my parents that graphic novels are more than fine for their kids, they are wonderful. If we (as teachers) are turning into the Fahrenheit 451ers by telling kids they can’t read something because it has picture…what are we doing. Seriously?! Rich in Text Sure, they might not have as much text, but they’re still telling stories using dialogue and making students analyze what they see and comprehend. Every single graphic novel varies in the amount of text it has and how it is presented, they're each their own language lesson. Diversity Graphic novels are incredibly diverse with a huge collection of characters that ALL kids will respond/reacty to. Representation matters. It matters even more with students and how they connect with characters, settings, and cultures within what they read/see. A lot of our favorite (older books) tend to be pretty cookie-cutter without any diversity and many are problematic too. Today's graphic novels are more diverse than anything we've ever had. Let your students see it and be part of it. Bridge Books Graphic novels levels all vary. Some simple, some complex. Once you take a little time you’ll realize how different each is, allowing you to slot them in to different reading levels for all your kids (if you need to). Think of graphic novels as scaffolding. Each time a student reads one they're moving up, becoming confident, and (hopefully) it'll move them into larger texts. They bridge those gaps between read alouds and novels. Gateway Literature That’s right. Graphic novels are the gateway drug that moves kids to those bigger and better novels that you want them to read. Engage the kids first, get them hooked, and then you can pressure them to text that’s even bigger and better. Classic Comic Books Marvel, Star Wars, DC- these are some of the staples in my collection. Classic comics are just as important even if it is superheroes. Remember how I said representation matters? Well, check out some of the characters there are now. There is something for every kid. Below you'll find an ever-growing list of the graphic novels in my classroom. The Importance of Representation and Recognizing Your [My] Own Bias Recently Booktoss took my original graphic novel list and broke down by race to find that 89% of those books were by white authors and illustrators. EIGHTY NINE PERCENT. In that same breakdown, 75% of the authors and illustrators were/are male. SEVENTY FIVE PERCENT. I'd encourage you to read the post. As a teacher, I need to make sure that I am really representing all of my students. That means I need to take the time and look at both authors AND illustrators. I need to be aware of WHO is telling who's story. Questions I need to ask myself more often: When I'm picking out graphic novels, who are they written by? When I'm picking out graphic novels, who are they illustrated by? Are people of the global majority writing and illustrating these characters? Am I allowing my students to truly see themselves when they read them? Booktoss states "...all literature, including graphic novels, are not culturally neutral" and this is something, that as teachers for our students, I/we need to always keep at the forefront and recognize that our choices matter. We can always work to be better. You can find more from me at Digital: Divide & Conquer where I tackle project based learning, some technology, and the space in between.

The Schneider Award Jury celebrated the Award’s 10th Anniversary at a festive luncheon during the recent American Library Association’s Annual Conference. Distinguished guests included this year’s…

Accompanied by Workbooks [wkbk.], Teacher's manuals [tch.man]

Visit the post for more.

Book digitized by Google from the library of Harvard University and uploaded to the Internet Archive by user tpb.

This year we will be taking some time to study the history of the world. It's first grade so obviously we aren't going to study the entire history of the

Many United States teachers may not have heard of the term "hot seating" yet, but we envision this creative teaching idea jumping across the pond from the U.K very soon! Overview “Hot Seating” is a teaching strategy in which either the teacher or student takes on the role of a character from a book or real person and sits in the hot seat. Then the other classmates ask questions and the person in the “hot seat” must answer the questions the way the character or historical figure would have answered. Background Knowledge For “Hot Seating” to be effective, students involved must have background knowledge of the character/person. This will need to take place during normal classroom instruction or outside of school. In order for students to acquire the background knowledge, they must do the research/read the book. Acquiring background knowledge can be accomplished through a variety of ways: Classroom textbook/or literature book Books from the school or public library Online resources (Encyclopedia Britannica, Explora, Kids Discover, etc.) Questioning At the center of “Hot Seating” are the questions that the students will be asking. It is highly recommend that you model the questioning process. You want the questions to focus on the personal feelings and observations that the character would be familiar with. It is important that you are the moderator during the questioning period so the questions stay on topic. Grouping Hot Seating can be structured a few different ways: Whole Class- This is where the entire class takes turns to ask another student(s) in the “hot seat” questions. Small Group- This is where a small group of students (5-6) ask one another student in the “hot seat” questions. Partners- This is where one student is in the “hot seat” and the other student asks the questions. Debate One interesting twist that you could do with your class is to have opposing viewpoints as part of a debate. There are two ways to do this. The first way would be to give a student in the hot seat a specific amount of time to answer questions from the audience. Then his/her “opponent” would do the same. The second way would be for both students are in front of the class taking turns answering the same questions (back and forth). This can really help students understand different perspectives. Extension Ideas During “Hot Seating”, you could have your students take notes on how the character/person answers the questions. Once the “Hot Seating” session has ended, have each student choose how he/she would like to display what he/she learned. Some choices could be: Make a poster Write a news article Create a timeline Perform a news show Write a song Teacher Tips: Decide how you want the hot seat to look in your classroom. In other words, decide if you want to do it as a whole class, small groups, or partners. Decide which student(s) will be on the hot seat. Choose the role/figure that they will portray. Find a "hot seat" for the person. It can be a simple student chair, or a special one for the activity. You may also want to show the students how to write a bibliography if students are doing a historical figure and are taking notes from various media. When the research is complete, or the literature book is finished, organize your class and figure out how questions will be asked. Make sure to help facilitate between the character/person and the audience asking questions. Check out our Hot Seating resources here. We hope you can try "Hot Seating" in your classroom. Your students will love it! Follow us on TPT. Find us on Pinterest.

Check out this fun free MATILDA Word Search, free for use at home or in school This is a printable MATILDA Word Search pdf file,...

Learn to make your own repairs to books. It is not hard; you just have to know what to do and have the right tools for making repairs to torn pages or broken spines or covers that are loose.

Although we may only think of using fables in lower grades, using fables in upper elementary can be very beneficial. Not only are fables an excellent genre for teaching morals and themes in stories, but because they are short, they are wonderful to use when comparing and contrasting the treatment of similar themes and topics. Using these short stories can be both beneficial and fun, even for our older students. Finding Free Resources Finding free resources for teaching fables is easier than you may think. One wonderful resource can be found at Library of Congress. This website contains a list of classic Aesop fables that you can print or display with your overhead projector for your entire class to use. Another website is Aesop's Fables that also contains a large list of fables. A Fun "Fable Strip" Activity Recently, my students read a variety of fables that I printed from Library of Congress. The students discussed the morals of each fable, compared fables, and completed a fun writing activity. For the "Fable Strips" writing activity, students worked in groups and chose a favorite fable. Then each group collaborated together to create a comic strip style "fable strip" to display. Students sketched and planned three or four scenes about the chosen fable. Once the "fable strip" was planned, students continued working in their groups to draw and color each scene on white paper. Then they cut out each one and used a speech bubble to write the dialogue. Each group created three to four scenes for their fable strip that were then displayed on the bulletin board. Students wrote the moral of the fable on a yellow strip of paper. The moral was then placed below each "fable strip." The final result was this fun fables bulletin board. Graphic Organizers If you follow my blog, then you are not surprised that if I'm discussing reading, I must include graphic organizers. I am a huge fan of using graphic organizers to help students write about their reading, to help them increase their thinking, and to help improve comprehension. This graphic organizer is one of three that are designed specifically for fables. All three graphic organizers can be found HERE in my best selling Reading Graphic Organizers for Literature. Plan a day or two for your students to have fun with fables. They will love it! Thanks for stopping by! Connect with Me: Blog TpT Store Instagram Facebook Pinterest

Thank you to Diane for submitting this fun book report poster. It’s legal size (paper) worksheet and is great for lower grades (or as an easy project for upper grades). Great end of the year …

One of the presentations I was most looking forward to going to at NAEA ’19 was the author Peter H. Reynolds. Most elementary art teachers are familiar with his books.. they are all so colorf…

Our favorite books about opposites for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Perfect for early math and oral language development.

The double calendar spread is a very safe option strategy which profits consistently - provided you know exactly what to do when price action threatens it.

We love graphic novels and it's way fun for an early reader to have some to read. See this list of graphic novels for early elementary readers!

This genre is often underrepresented in classroom libraries. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix. Any one of these books would make a great addition to any classroom library.

Do you have reluctant readers in your classroom? You know, those kiddos who pretend to read but never really finish a book. Those kids who just don't love reading (YET)? Graphic Novels may be the answer that turns those non-readers into the readers they're meant to be!!!! When I call off our 'status of the class' check in - these kids always list off a different book. (For more about keeping track of your readers with 'status of the class' check out this blog post HERE.) You know who they are. They're in every classroom and by 5th grade they've gotten really good at NOT reading. These kids become my ultimate challenge every year. And I LOVE a good competition. Reading is such a passion of mine and I just HAVE to spread that joy to my students. But finding each reluctant reader's 'perfect' book is definitely tough. In the past, it would take me months and months and hundreds of books to get every reader in my class hooked. Then the graphic novel made its debut......... I slowly began purchasing (through Scholastic and Amazon) a few graphic novels for our classroom library. I noticed right away books like Smile and Sisters and El Deafo were 'hot commodities' and even my reluctant readers were picking them up - without my help!!! Ding, ding ding!!!!! Can you feel my excitement?!? So of course I had to purchase a few more, and a few more, until ALL of my reluctant readers were reading and reading and reading. Goal accomplished! What is it that makes the graphic novel so appealing to reluctant readers? After reading several myself, my predictions are: the ability to rely heavily on picture cues, less text per page, quicker reads, thickness (all reluctant readers want to read the thickest books right?!?), and great, relevant story lines! It took me several years to build up our graphic novel collection and I want to share our favorite titles with you so you won't have to agonize over book orders and book stores like I did. Who am I kidding? - book orders and book stores are two of my most favorite things in the world :) Here are room 206's recommendations for the best graphic novels! (Be careful with Drama - some mature content involved - better for middle school audiences and above.) (We recommend ALL of the Nathan Hale Hazardous Tales graphic novel series.) Lastly, for additional graphic novel recommendations check out this FREEBIE HERE! Enjoy!! And I hope your readers fall in love with reading graphic novels as much as mine have!

The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless exp…

Are you ready for the month of March? We are all geared up for some fun learning this month! Our March NO PREP packets are done and we are ready to go!

The best books profoundly change us. Like Wonder, these books push us toward greater empathy, compassion, and acceptance of differences.

Are you looking for living books for ancient history for your homeschool? Here's a huge list!

My 18th logic game is about pets. You know the five children: Bobby, Danny, Jenny, Molly and Sally are friends. They live in the same street. From this game you can find out what kind of animals they have got, what their name is and their colour. Hope you and your ss will also enjoy it. The cliparts are from Philip Martin and there is one from Grace Lee. Have a great day. Hugs, ZsuzsapsziIf you don’t know how to solve this kind of game, you can look at the Einstein riddle on the net or have a look at my 33rd logic game, called Best friends where I wrote down the solution step by step. - ESL worksheets

Find ideas for teaching Retelling & Recounting Stories including books, activities, no-prep resources, and more.

The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless exp…

German books for children can be a great learning tool for German language learners. Read free German children's books as downloads and even paperbacks now!

I LOVE saving figurative language until June - it's such a fun language unit ... and perfect for our "dreaming of summer brains". We finished up our EQAO testing mid week, and this onomatopoeia activity was the perfect break from testing. How fun is that??? Students chose two contrasting colours - one for the background and one for the word and border "bursting out of the page". They also needed newspaper (cut just a fraction smaller that the "bursting out of the page border" and glued the newspaper on top. They glued their word on top of that (we had brainstormed a lot of onomatopoeia words, but for some reason most of them chose SPLAT for their word). I also had them do a little shading under their letters for that little extra POP (see, I know some onomatopoeia words, too). ;) I had seen this awesome idea on Pinterest and followed it back to Artisan des Arts. Her examples are FANTASTIC!! We also wrote simile poems this week. I found a little template HERE for the students to use for their rough copies. When students were finished their templates, I had them write out their good copies, and illustrate a few lines with a small image. I hung these up, too ... LOVING our bulletin board switch up ... even this late in the school year!!! (I have two of these "smART class" bulletin boards side by side in the classroom. 15 more school days left ... I think I can ... I think I can ... Happy Friday!!!

Do your readers like graphic novels? Remember to include graphic novels in regular reading rotation. The visual format requires readers to make more inferences...