Summer Reading Ideas

Happy summer vacation!  It's Lisa from over at Second Grade Stories.  We ended earlier this week and I am sooo ready for some rest an relaxation.  I spent my first day of summer break today cleaning everything I could put my hands on.  My workroom and hall closet were in need of some serious reorganizing and I always find it so hard to work with clutter around me (which I'm sure explains why I don't get much done...)

 

One thing I'm really looking forward to doing this summer is enjoying some new professional reading.  I have a pile of books on my couch that I am excited to get to.

 

The first is Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers, Robert E Probst.  I am really looking forward to getting a better handle on the idea of close reading an how it is different from what I already do.  Melissa over at DillyDabbles has been hosting a blog book study on this book.

I know I am WAY late to this party... but since my summer break just started, I'll have to catch up sitting outside on the deck with a strawberry watermelon coolatta in hand....  I have heard this book is very "textbook" for the first few chapters, but it's full of great information and ideas.

 

Next up is a way to improve my math instruction. 

 

Amanda from The Primary Gal has a huge book study on the book, Guided Math, by Laney Sammons.  I admit, I bought this book last summer an never got around to reading it.  Amanda's online book study is filled with tons of other bloggers who linked up to share their ideas.  Again, this one started before I was even THINKING about being out of school (how early do all of you go back?!)... but I'm still looking forward to reading everyone's ideas.



 

And continuing with the guided math theme.... this one, hosted by Brenda over at Primary Inspired started yesterday, June 19 (and this time, I was ready!)

I always feel I'm not doing enough in my small group math time, so I'm hoping to get some ideas on how to make this part of my math block even better.

 

And finally, just because I need some F*U*N* summer (professional) reading... I'm diving into



This book definitely looks like an interesting and fun read for the summer.  I love finding fun and creative ways to engage my students in learning.  Arr!!  Start the ideas a-coming!

 

 

Well, there you have it... my very ambitious booklist for the summer.  I'm sure I won't actually get through all these books... but I know I'll come away with some great new ideas to start fresh in the fall.  That's the best part about teaching!

 



Partnering Students Using Appointment Cards

I am always looking for new ways to partner my students up and I found a great technique in Total Participation Techniques.

This book has many (37 to be exact) practical techniques to involve your students in every lesson.

 

Many of the techniques allow students to mingle with peers while discussing/figuring out concepts taught. This relies on having students work with partners a lot. You can put students with partners in many ways such as desk partners, grade partners, or number partners. One of the best (and used the most in my classroom) techniques for putting students in partners is the use of an appointment card. The book goes into great detail on this partnering technique and I immediately fell in love with the practicality and ease of this technique.

Basically, students set up appointments ahead of time and when you need them to work with a partner you have them pull out their laminated appointment card and say "I want you to work with your 2pm appointment." My students always ask if they can meet with their appointment partners. Click on the picture of the appointment cards for a ready-to-go template.

Tip: If you have an odd number of students make sure they make an appointment where there will be 3 of them in a group.

Trust me when I say that this is the professional resource to have in EVERY classroom. What methods do you use to partner your students?

Cheers,