Curbside Book Borrowing

While out on a long run the other evening, I ran passed something that made me stop in my tracks and literally back up.  It was this:

"What a cute decoration," I thought as I approached it and saw this:

"A curbside mini library, how cool!" I thought.  I took a peek at the book inside but didn't find anything I just had to run away with.  But this idea was something I had read about the Sunday paper a few weeks back.  So I did some research and found out that this is actually a worldwide phenomenon!

I think this is such a neat idea and a great way to promote and spread the love of reading.  There's a map that you can use to find these little nooks and here's one from my area:

I'm going to look into hosting one of these in my front yard and when we're vacationing in Minnesota this summer, I'm going to find some with my soon-to-be first grader.

Saturday Apps #8

Apps make the world go round....well not quite, but they do make our mobile devices go.  I stumble upon apps, I find apps on Pinterest and Facebook and seek out apps on AppsGoneFree. 

This week I'm sharing: Book Retriever, which is available for both the iPad and the iPhone.

This app is .99 and serves 2 main purposes:  To help you catalog your classroom  library AND allow students to check out classroom library books by scanning bar codes and keeping track of it all.  The later is the reason I'm excited about it.

Our PTA bought us a set of small, color books to use for our homework program.  To keep track of who has what book and if any are missing were my concerns and needs.  

This is the home screen and shows all the available features.

* Add books: you can either scan the bar code (ISBN number) or enter a book manually.  Often the app doesn't have a book's information on record, so then you have to manually enter it.

This is the manual entry screen.  Not sure what every field means (different levels).

* My Classroom Library:  This shows all of the books in your collection.

It will even show you if a book is checked out, by whom and the expected return date.

Checking out books is made easy by scanning the bar code of a book, but you have to go in and set up your class.  I envision training my kids how to check out and check in books so it can be an independent part of our 'Morning Work' routine.

The only thing I DON'T like about this app is that, once you have scanned a barcode to enter a book and the app recognizes the book and enters its information, you CAN'T edit it.  The only reason I would want to edit is to change the (DRA) level of the book because I didn't agree with what was recommended.  

After entering all of my books into this app, my next step is to make a small, elevated iPad holder so kids can easily check out and check in books by scanning them. 

Go check it out and I hope you enjoy it as much as I am!

A Visit to the Book Store and a FREEBIE

I love Children's Literature, primarily picture books for primary aged kiddos!

I am fortunate to have TONS of books in my classroom, so I don't often go buy more books.  But here in Anchorage we have a wonderful used book store called Titlewave and I went there earlier this week to peruse the book bins in search of books I just had to have.

I found some goodies and left a happy camper.

One thing I will miss over summer vacation is reading aloud (from picture books) to my students.  I love being animated, using voices and making the story jump off the pages!  And this reminds me of a strategy I use with my students on how to choose a book for silent reading, it's called TIP.  It's a FREEBIE over at my TPT store and I hope you check it out.

Have a great weekend!

Class Yearbook FREEBIE

Class Memory Books are soooooo cute...I don't do them though.  I can't wrap my head around how to do it throughout the year.

Instead, I like to make a class yearbook during the last two weeks of school.  Our school sells yearbooks, but not everyone buys one.  So kids are thrilled when they get their own class yearbook to keep, and it's FREE!

I updated the class yearbook that I have in my TPT store because, as usual, I found a way to improve upon last year's creation.  This year I added a class word find and telephone numbers pages.  I also found a FANTASTIC website called fotor (www.fotor.com) that creates picture collages for you for free.  So I used the "faces" feature in iPhoto to gather 9 pictures of each one of my students and then upload them to this website.  The collage is then saved as a .png file and I can insert it into the class yearbook (across from their writing) and send parents a digital copy if they ask for it.

Click here to get it!

If you're already done with the school year, like me, soak up the sun and summer freedom!  If you're almost done, hang in there and you'll soon cross the finish line too!

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeee...and a freebie for you!

Time flies...when you're wrapping up the school year!

I just realized that I haven't blogged at all during the month of May.  We wrap up our school year in May, so the month is spent doing assessments, report cards, end-of-year activities and then packing up and closing down the classroom.

This is what my classroom becomes on the very last day of school...

See you again in August!

On the last day of school we did some Readers' Theater for parents and the theme was pigs!  We performed 4 different plays based on funny fiction books about pigs.  One of the funniest plays was Pigs, by Robert Munsch.  There was lots of laughter from the audience and my students did a very good job!

So I'd like to share this play with you as a FREEBIE!

Head on over to

to check out more awesome FREEBIES!

Nature Hunt

The weather here in Alaska has been awesome and there is so much LIGHT now!  We just had to get outside last week and take advantage of our 'Living Classroom', which is an outdoor classroom complete with a walking trail and benches.  We did a Nature Hunt to reconnect with nature after many months of snow.  This is the freebie I'd love to share with you today via

And check out my guest blogging post on May 1st for Charity Preston of the Organized Classroom Blog!

Peer Teaching

I really didn't teach much today, my students did most of it!

We're taking a break from our Daily 6 reading groups this week but I still wanted to do something, so I thought it would be fun to combine Readers' Theater and science.  I choose 5 oviparous animals and then wrote short scripts about them.  Pairs of students were assigned 1 of those animals to learn about and then teach their peers about.  

Reading their scripts together and then taking notes about what to teach their peers.

The teaching focused on 5 questions: What is the animal?  What are the babies called?  Where are the eggs laid?  When are the eggs laid?   How much time do the babies spend in their eggs?  "Teachers" were also able to tell their "students" other facts they learned from their scripts. It was fun to incorporate 'close reading' which involved students going back to the text to find or make sure of their answers when taking notes. 

The 2 "teachers" teaching their group about turtles and the "students" taking notes. 

I modeled the entire process (learning and teaching) with the help of one of my students.  We read our script about salmon aloud for everyone and then I talked aloud as we were close reading and taking notes.  My student teacher was our "student" and it prepared kids very well!  Here is that script for FREE.


It was so FUN to hand the reigns over to my students today!  The most interesting part was debriefing between each teaching about how it went for the teachers.  Many kids told me it was hard to teach when some of their students were talking too much....boy I know what that feels like!   I think this experience really empowered them and I have a feeling it was the topic of conversation at many dinner tables tonight.

Check out the entire unit:

This is the perfect time of year for Peer Teaching and I can't wait to do more!