Book Giveaway Winner and all sorts of other stuff!!

Congratulations to Stacy B.  She won The Transparent Teacher Giveaway!  If you aren't Stacy, but you still want the book, just click below and go to Amazon and put your order in!

Also, I wanted to let you know that I got my Easy-to-Fix-and-Get-Ready Summer Sanity packet finished.  So, if you are still in school or you have kids at home that you need to entertain, this is a great packet for you.  Just print it off and give it to your kids to fix if you are at home <only if you like living on the edge!>.  My group here at home are patiently <for now> waiting on me to get some more color ink to print off the flip flop antonym matching game.  You'd think that they haven't seen flip flops before!!!

Here is what the cover looks like:

You can check it out on Teachers Pay Teachers and have your kids review antonyms, dictionary drills, sentence work, and ABC order.  Or.....you can go and enter this summer giveaway and get this same pack <because everyone wins!!>.   I vote for the cheap route so you just have to enter the giveaway and follow all of the blogs that are listed.

Another remind:  This Wednesday I will have a blog up for Chapter 1 of Reading Without Limits

and will be including some freebies, so you won't want to miss that.  I'm pretty excited about it because the author of the book has already been by to offer support, so if we have any questions, we will defer to her!  It isn't often that we get an offer like that!!!  So....grab a book and study along with us.  It is pretty easy...all you have to do is answer a question or two <or chit chat--that's why we are converting over to the website www.chartsnchitchat.com....I'm all about the chit chat these days!!> in the comment section of the blog.  If you haven't left a comment yet, PLEASE LEAVE ONE!!!

Have a great weekend!  I'll be looking for you to come by!

Reading Without Limits Book Study--Week 1

Hi, everyone!  Thanks for stopping by to participate in this GREAT book study!  Today's post is going to start with an introduction and some housekeeping.  First, I want to let you know that I have ADDED a new title to the blog and we are now officially Charts 'N' Chit Chat.  We have a new address on the web:  http://www.chartsnchitchat.com and a new website on Pinterest:  http://www.pinterest.com/chartsnchitchat.

Here is the schedule we are going to be following.  You will see that today that we are just getting started and we are going to become familiar with some outside resources that may assist us with the book study.  But first, here is our schedule:

                                    Feel Free to Pin This!


If you haven't purchased the book you can find it at Amazon!  Just click on the link below and you can go straight to the book to purchase it.

Just click here to purchase!

OUR FIRST QUESTION

WHAT WILL I GAIN FROM TAKING PART IN THIS BOOK STUDY?

First of all, you will gain some resources (those are call freebies in a blogger's world!!!), lots of knowledge, a large base of 'internet friends' that have the same struggles as you, and tools for your reading toolbox!!!

QUESTIONS TO PONDER:

Here are some questions to think about and to respond to in the comments section later on:

1.  What are the limits your students face when learning to read.  How did these limits get placed on them?  What do you plan to do about these limits?

2.  Who is Maddie Witter and why did she write this book?

3.  Go to this WONDERFUL BLOG and explore.  Tell us about it!

4.  Did you know that there is a website for the book with resources?  Tell us about it!

5.  Did you know that there is a Facebook page just about the book?  Go like it! What is being said on the FB page?

6.  In the preface of the book, we learn the purpose of the book.  What is the purpose of the book?

7.  What do you think of the terms 'mild, medium, and spicy'?  How are they used?

8.  In the preface, we learn what we need to do to help struggling readers.  Choose one to discuss.  How do you or how do you plan to make this happen in your classroom?

9.  What is the Reading Without Limits mission and how can it apply to you, your children, or your students?  Why is it important?

10.  In the introduction we learn about the components of a strong reading program.  What are they?  Which one are you struggling with?  Do you have a plan to improve it?  Can we help you come up with a plan to improve it?

11.  Take a look at the Reading Checklist for Part I.  Can you check those items off?  Do you have plan ready that will make you and your students stronger?

12.  Why was this book chosen for this summer's book study?

Here is a button for you to use on your blog if you would like to incorporate your thoughts into a post:

Thanks for dropping by...don't forget to pick a question or 2 and discuss them in the comment section!  I can't wait until next week when we really get to delve into the book even more! Also, for next week, read Chapters 1 and 2 and look for some great freebies!!!  Also, thanks to 3AM Teacher for the use of the cool orange shell background.

Summer Vacation

While my summer vacation actually started at noon on May 22, I started counting the start of my vacation as of May 18 at 3:20 when my group of second graders walked down the hallway to get into their car or on their bus. So, that has left me pondering.....what will I do this summer??

1.  Go to a workshop for 'Words Their Way' in June.
2.  Go to my niece's dance recital.
3.  Go to a reading and writing workshop towards the end of June.
4.  Finish my reading unit.
5.  Spend as much time with my kids as possible.
6.  Eat out as much as possible!
7.  Get new windows put in.
8.  SLEEP!
9.  Plan a vacation....I better get on it!
10.  Organize all of the files on my computer and make a few games!


Also, along with this, I want to give you a freebie or 2 along the way that you can use in your classroom.
Speaking of which, here is a fluency game that my kids love called Read It, To Believe It!  It is an easy center to make and plan and infect, you can make around 7 different centers out of this one file!!  Hope it can work for you!  Sorry there is no thumbnail.  Microsoft Word wouldn't work with me!

Enjoy!