Author Studies

Does anyone do author studies to teach reading strategies and author's craft in writing?  This wasn't something I was exposed to in college, so it is new ground for me.  I have done an Eve Bunting author study in the past and I am currently doing an Angela Johnson author study.  Angela Johnson is an Ohio author.  Her books relate to many of my students.  She has won three Coretta Scott King awards and one book was awarded an ALA notable award.  With two split-up weeks, I thought this was the best time to conduct our Angela Johnson author study.  We started with The Leaving Morning and Tell Me a Story, Mama.  Both books are very relatable to my students.  We discussed making connections and point of view.  This week, we will be reading When I Am Old With You and studying sentence fluency.  Angela Johnson is a great author to study in fourth grade because she has authored picture books for young children, middle grade and young adult novels, and poetry.  This offers a wide variety of books for the wide variety of reading levels in my classroom.  We will also be doing a mini-study of the historical fiction genre with her books Wind Flyers about the Tuskegee Airmen and A Sweet Smell of Roses about the March on Washington.  Both books offer opportunities for nonfiction companions.

If you would like to learn more about Angela Johnson and her books, you can visit her website at http://www.ajohnsonauthor.com/.  There is also an excellent video on Ohio Channel where Angela Johnson discusses her books and writing process.

If you would like to purchase my Angela Johnson author study, you can visit my Teachers Notebook shop.  I will have it discounted this week only!!

Word Work Freebie!

After re-launching the Daily 5 and word work last week, I realized I needed to come up with more word work activities for my students to do.  They don't get that many choices in a week, but I want to make sure I keep things fresh for them.  Today I came up with a Valentine's Day Prefix-Suffix-Root match game.  I'm posting it for sale on my Teacher's Notebook shop, but I wanted to offer part of it up as a freebie to my faithful followers!  

click image to download freebie

In the freebie, there are 12 broken hearts, six prefixes & roots and six suffixes & roots and a sheet for students to record their answers.    The teacher (or a volunteer if you're one of the lucky ones!) would cut apart the broken hearts and the students are to match the prefix or suffix to the correct root word.  If you like the freebie, please consider making my shop one of your "favorites"!  

The full version, which is only $2.50, offers 48 broken hearts, 24 prefixes & roots and 24 suffixes & roots.  

Enjoy!

New Item at Teacher's Notebook!

I've been working on making some word ladders for my students to do during Daily 5-word work.  I've finally finished enough to make it a package!  I have posted my same vowel word families word ladder package on my Teacher's Notebook store.  This is designed for spelling and vocabulary growth for my letter name stage spellers.  I'm working on some more for my within word spellers.  

Here is a little preview:  

Hope everyone had a great Friday!  I was stuck in a technology meeting all day.  Believe it or not, I would've much rather been at school!  On the plus side, I got out a little early and was able to go over to Half Price Books.  I've been borrowing a friend's Harry Potter books and I just finished The Goblet of Fire.  I have become addicted and decided I needed my own copies!  I got all seven books in hard back and five other books on my Good Reads list for $60!  I felt like I got a steal!  Is anyone else obsessed with Good Reads like I am?  I've got 34 books on my To-Read shelf!

Have a great weekend!