I think that The Black Friend by Frederick Joseph is going to help a lot of white people, like me, grow into the the type of person that the world needs us to be. The book drops in December. I hope you will consider adding it to your to-read list. This feels like a book that you should own (If you are able to purchase a copy.). Looking forward to hearing how others are impacted by this book. I share my thoughts on the book in the video below.
Yesterday, we reviewed some of the things that we had been learning in social studies using Kahoot!. I didn’t think it was a groundbreaking review, or that it was anything to get all that excited about. I’m not in love with the platform, but I thought it might be a decent way to review things.
Holy smokes! The kids went bonkers. They loved it. By the third question, they were all standing, dancing to the semi-annoying music, and celebrating each correct answer.
If I had more time, I probably could have developed a better review, but I’m glad I didn’t. More than ever, we need to have fun in the classroom. The world is sort of burning down around us, so putting smiles on the faces of my fifth graders is pretty high up on my priority list.
Everything is not going to be as fun and exciting as the first time a classroom experiences Kahoot! together, but I do think that I will try to find as many ways as I can to make our time together this year fun. I have always focused on fun, but it seems more important this year.
I hope you have fun with your kiddos today!
Check out my list of AWESOME 2020 books:
https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2020
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
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All links to books in this post are affiliate links.
Today at lunch, I was scrolling through Instagram while eating my lunch, when I realized that so many amazing books entered the world today. I love geeking out about the books coming out each Tuesday, and today seemed like an extra awesome week.
I should do a better job of tracking this sort of thing, but it does seem like publishers have identified a few Tuesdays each year to drop a bunch of awesome titles. I’m sure that they’ve done tons of research on this. Smart people working in those publishing houses. My totally uneducated thoughts have me thinking that we have one of these epic release dates at the end of January or very beginning of February, late August, and another one right round the start of fall. Maybe I’m crazy.
I’ll list some of the awesome 2020 books that came out today that I think everyone should read.
Class Act by Jerry Craft
The follow up to his Newbery Medal winning book is every bit as awesome as New Kid. Kids are going to LOVE getting to experience Drew’s story.
Twins by Varian Johnson and Shannon Wright
All those fans of Roller Girl, Smile, and Real Friends may have just found their new favorite book. I couldn’t stop turning pages. Add this one to your Newbery AND Caldecott short list. It is AMAZING!
Closer to Nowhere by Ellen Hopkins
I think readers are going to have a hard time going to sleep with pages of Closer to Nowhere left to read. I couldn’t stop turning pages!
Above the Rim by Jen Bryan and Frank Morrison
This picture book biography about the life of NBA legend Elgin Baylor is so important in today’s world. Readers that are following the social justice work being done by NBA players today are going to be fascinated to learn about the work Elgin did as an NBA rookie.
I’m sure that I’m missing a bunch of awesome titles, but the four I listed are MUST READS!
Check out my list of AWESOME 2020 books:
https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2020
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
Places to find me:
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All links to books in this post are affiliate links.
Last week, I wrote about the kid in my class that finds things. Over the weekend, I was running during my daughters’ gymnastics practice when Candace Fleming and Gérard Dubois’s The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell popped into my head. I loved reading this picture book when it was published in 2018. It is the story of artist Joey Cornell. He’s a kid that collected EVERYTHING as a child, and ended up becoming an extremely successful artist that made cool stuff out of the junk he collected. Learning about cool and unique people is one of my favorite things about reading picture book biographies. I just had to read this book to my class this year. The that finds things would love it!
On Monday morning, the first thing I did when I got to my classroom was find The Amazing Collection of Joey Cornell. I spent most of the day looking forward to reading it aloud to my fifth graders.
I decided to read the book before our end of the day mask break. The Kid That Finds things LOVED it, and he spent our entire mask break trying to find more things to add to his collection.
Reading aloud books at the end of each day is so much fun. I pick books for lots of different reasons. I think that one of my favorite reasons is when I find a book that I think a certain kid will absolutely love. It worked out magically yesterday, and I will continue to be on the lookout for books that will reach the hearts of each and every one of my readers.
Check out my list of AWESOME 2020 books:
https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2020
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
Places to find me:
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All links to books in this post are affiliate links.
I got a call from the office on Friday afternoon, letting me know that my kindergarten son ran into another kid at recess, resulting in a busted-up lip. He wanted to come down to my classroom to have me take a look at it.
Being able to give him a hug in the hallway was magical. We talked about what happened, and he let me know that he was going to go back to class, and that he was going to be alright. We hugged again. It felt amazing to be able to step into the hall for a minute or two and talk to my little guy. Not a lot of things feel normal right now, but this moment with my son felt right.
I’m finding myself looking for moments of normalcy at school. These moments are often found walking around the track with students during our two daily mask breaks. Last week: I learned about parents that have passed away, Halloween costumes, Minecraft (SO MUCH MINECRAFT), and dirt bike tracks.
My son wanted to be heard by someone he knows cares about him. I think that most of our students are looking for the same thing. As I begin a new week, I am going to continue to try to find as many opportunities as possible to listen to my students. Here’s to a great week!
Check out my list of AWESOME 2020 books:
https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2020
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
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2020 has been a very difficult year for most people. I’ve found myself reading funny books more than usual. I thought it might be a good idea to share some of the funny books that I’ve read this year.
Making this list, I realized that I do not do a good enough job of making videos about the books that made me laugh. I’m going to work on doing a better job of that going forward.
2. Fancy Friends: Bunbun & Bonbon by Jess Keating
3. Wink by Rob Harrell
4. When Pluto Gets the Call by Adam Rex and Laurie Keller
5. The Next Great Paulie Fink by Ali Benjamin
Check out the first 10 books I read my students this year:
Check out my list of AWESOME 2020 books:
https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2020
Check out the list of books I have read my students during the 2020-2021 school year.
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
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Thanks for reading. Please let me know if I can help you in any way.
I have a kid in my class that finds things. It feels like every time we go outside for a mask-break (recess) he comes back with something interesting. He’s found a broken golf ball, a bronze Sharpie, a mask filter, a metal pipe, a rubber thingy, a Shopkin, an old baseball, and a bunch of other things.
After about the third day of school, I helped him start a Padlet board that looks a lot like a blog. Each time he finds something, he posts it along with a short description, to his blog. The kids in class love following along, and often I find other kids walking around outside looking for things.
I’m not sure why I think this is so fascinating, but this kid’s “Cool Stuff I’ve Found” blog makes me so happy. When we went to virtual school last spring, one of the things I missed the most was getting to know kids, and learning about all of their little quirks.
Yesterday’s post on the found things blog was about the outside of a basketball that was found yesterday on the playground. He took what was left of the ball, and turned it into a placement to hold his iPad.
Kids are so cool.
Last month, our district decided to make Wednesdays virtual for all students. The hope is that this would give us a chance to dedicate more of our time to collaboration, planning, online lesson creation, and more time to work directly with our virtual learners. September 30th was our first virtual day.
It was a weird day.
The added bonus of this virtual day was how big of a difference it made for teachers Tuesday evening. Instead of Tuesday evening being filled with stress, anxiety and the pressure of trying to get everything done, it was an evening that felt a lot more calm. I was able to fold a ton of laundry and spend some quality time with my kids and our four kittens.
During the day, I had two great Zoom meetings with my fifth graders. The first one included the reading of the amazing new picture book Hello, Arnie by Laurie Keller. Our afternoon Zoom was a math work session. I invited all the kids to do some extra practice problems with me. It was lovely to be able just hang out and talk decimals with them. They seemed happy. That made me happy.
As I packed up to head home on Wednesday afternoon, I only have two days left this week, and I actually feel sort of ready for it. I appreciate our principals fighting for us to get this time, and I’m thankful that our school board agreed to giving it a try. Based on the comments I saw on Facebook, a lot people were not fans of kids learning virtually on Wednesdays.
This year is wild and crazy, so it was lovely having a little bit of time to explore new virtual teaching techniques, connect with all of my students, and have a little bit of time to breathe.
Check out my list of AWESOME 2020 books:
https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2020
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
Places to find me:
I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up.
I am currently my 10 year old daughter’s fifth grade teacher. Our family decided on the at home learning option for our oldest three kids to start the school year.
It is very weird to have my daughter learning at home, while many of her classmates and friends are in my classroom. The last five years, she has spent every single morning inside my classroom before she headed off to her classroom when the bell would ring promptly at 8:25.
One of the hardest things is keeping the home/school boundary. I taught my older two kids, but we weren’t in the middle of a global pandemic when I had them. After school, I just got to be their dad. I’ve been trying to help my fifth grade daughter in the evenings, but neither one of us likes it very much. We are both tired, and wants her dad a lot more than she wants her teacher.
Today, while I was teaching, the Padlet app on my school iPad flashed with a notification that one of my students had created a new Padlet. It was AJ. The Padlet’s title is “Daddy help”.
She’s the best.
We were able to message back and forth during the day about her work. It was fun being her teacher, and when the bell rang at 3:35, I felt excited to go home and be her dad.
Check out my list of AWESOME 2020 books:
https://www.mrcolbysharp.com/2020
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
Places to find me:
I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up.
I feel like we are starting to get into a bit of a groove in our classroom. I’m still struggling to be the virtual teacher I’d like to be, but I do feel like we are starting to find a new normal in the classroom. Nineteen kids are currently learning in school, and ten are learning from home.
The more I confer with my readers, the more I have realized that so many of them are struggling with stamina. Many of them haven’t read much the last six months. Today, a few of the kids that I conferred with told me that they’d like to try and get back into reading chapter books, but right now they are struggling to stick with books. I asked them if they had ever listened to a book with their ears, while following along in a physical copy of the book. One said that he had, and the other one hadn’t tried it before. They both decided that it was something they wanted to do. One of my readers is now reading Wings of Fire, and the other one is reading an I Survived book. They are listening to the audiobook on Epic and following along with a copy of the physical book from our classroom library.
I’m excited to see how they do in the coming days. It is a weird time to be a student and an odd time to be a reader. As we navigate our new normal, it is nice to see that many of the issues my fifth graders have in reading are the same this year as they have been in the past. Hopefully a little support from audiobooks will help these kiddos reach the goals they have set for themselves.
Game Changer! Book Access for All Kids:
The Creativity Project edited by Colby Sharp (ME!)
Places to find me:
I started a newsletter! Click below to sign up.
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