Fiction and Nonfiction Summary Writing FREEBIE!!!

As I sat here this afternoon grading the summaries that my students had written using Jen's Comprehension Strategy Posters For Nonfiction Text (which I LOVE!!!) I was disappointed to see that several of my students didn't seem to understand how to write a summary...even after all of my modeling. 

One student had written his opinion, a couple had written their thoughts about the text, but few had been able to actually pull out examples from the text and summarize it in their own words.  So, I decided to create some scaffolding sheets that will help them when writing summaries (Which we'll be doing a lot next week as I re-teach!)

Click on the picture below if you'd like a copy :)

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Enjoy!

What's Your Schedule Linky!

Hello friends!
I'm linking up with Susan over at TGIF (Thank God It's First) for her 'What's Your Schedule?' linky!  I love this idea...I'm curious too, and can't wait to check out other teacher's schedules!

I teach at a private, Christian school with grades TK-8.  We aren't affiliated with a church or archdiocese, but are completely independent.  When you hear this, you may think "spoiled, rich kids in a fancy school", but that's far from the truth.  The majority of our parents are not wealthy, and are sacrificing 'nice to have' things to send their children to a private school (unfortunately, the nearby public schools are really struggling).  We also have a good number of full and partial scholarship students.

My scheduled hours are from 7:45 to 3:45, with the morning bell ringing at 8:25 (kids start arriving at 8:00) and dismissal beginning at 2:50.  By the time car riders, after school clubs & sports, and after-school care kids (we offer various clubs and sports for students after school, and have our own after school care program) are all picked up and my room is empty, it's usually about 3:15, then I have planning from 3:15 to 3:45.

I'm the 5th grade homeroom teacher, and I teach Language Arts and Social Studies to 4th and 5th grade, while the 4th grade homeroom teacher does Math and Science.  Other than specials, which have assigned times, we're able to make our own schedules.  This is what mine looks like:

The times over on the side look really crazy, but it's because our schedule changes a bit from day to day depending on specials, etc.

Depending on what we need, I might use the flex time on Friday afternoons as an additional Writing Workshop or Social Studies time, Ketchup & Pick-les time (students with unfinished work 'catch up', and those with everything finished 'pick' something fun to do), or Fun Friday.  I'm with the kids for lunch, but am blessed to have a 45 minute planning period each day during specials. 

I like to get to school early, and usually arrive between 7:15 and 7:30 to make sure I've got everything ready for the day.  My youngest son goes to school with me (he's in 7th grade) and usually has some kind of sports practice 2-3 times a week, so we're almost always there until 4:30 or so.  It's a long day, but I LOVE my school, so I don't mind :)

Go and link up with Susan to share your schedule!!!

November Currently

How can it possibly be November already?!? 

So, I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the November Currently...

Listening...everyone else in my house is still asleep, and I'm trying to catch up on Bloglovin' when I should be doing other things.

Loving...that parent/teacher conferences are done!  Yesterday my teaching partner and I cranked out all of our conferences together (except for two who didn't show up, and one who had to leave because we were running behind and she had to be somewhere for an appointment...I felt SO bad!).  We started at 7:45am and finished at 7:30pm.  It was a LOOONNGG day, but it was worth it!  All of our conferences went GREAT...even the ones I was a little worried about.  And the best part is, after getting to know my students' parents a little better, I love my kiddos even more!  It was so amazing to sit across from parent after parent and hear from them:

1.  How much they love their children
2.  How much they want to support their children and their childrens' teachers
3.  How they know their kids aren't perfect, and they want to be told about any problems...academic or behavior...so they can be part of the solution
4.  How much they love our school
5.  That they think we're doing a great job teaching their children

I KNOW that conferences are not always like this, and I feel SO blessed to be teaching in a school with so much parent support!!!

Thinking...our refrigerator is dangerously close to EMPTY and I really need to take a shower and go grocery shopping (I will in just 5 more minutes!!!).  I love that my daughter has been planning our dinner menu and writing a grocery list for the past few weeks...it's a little thing, but it makes a BIG difference to me.

Wanting...nuff said.

Needing...my husband wants to go hiking at Linville Gorge today, and we'll go, but I hate that in the back of my mind I'll be thinking about all of the things that I need to get done around here...laundry, lesson planning, etc...you know how it goes.

A yummy pin...Frozen Chocolate Chip Cookie Balls.  I'm SO making these as one of my Christmas cookies.  I know the link to the pin is hard to read, so just click on the pic below to access it.

 I hope you're having a wonderful and relaxing weekend!  Go and link up with Farley to share your November Currently!