Non-Fiction Focus: Narrative Biography

As we look towards the Common Core and the additional emphasis on non-fiction I have been working on a non-fiction unit with my third graders. We've studied text features and text structures. Now they are researching an animal and will be creating their own non-fiction book about their animal!

One of my favorite non-fiction books I've read to my students is My Name is Georgia: A Portrait by Jeanette Winter. The book describes Georgia O'Keefe's life from a childhood, to her schooling in Chicago, to her experiences in New Mexico.

This book is quite complex (to use that favorite Common Core word!) as the author embeds quotes from Georgia O'Keefe throughout. If possible, this would be a wonderful book to read under a document camera so that students can see where the text switch from the narrator to quotes.

My students were familiar with Georgia O'Keefe from an art project where they made their own red poppies, which added a fun element to reading the book. Living in Chicago many of my students had seen Sky Above Clouds IV at the Art Institute and recognized the importance of the incorporation of clouds throughout the book. The art and social studies connections that could be made from this book are numerous.

If your students are going to be writing biographies this would be a wonderful mentor text for them as the narrative style is much more interesting (to me as a reader!) than the traditional elementary school biography.

If you're looking for more non-fiction suggestions (or amazing children's book suggestions, in general) you MUST visit:
http://www.kidlitfrenzy.com (they are doing a non-fiction Wednesday link up)
and http://teachmentortexts.com

Hopefully, you'll see more ways to incorporate non-fiction instruction in your classroom from me!

Table by Table Organizational Supply

The start to any school year can be overwhelming and with a switch to a new school, a new grade level, and a strike the second week of school this was certainly an interesting beginning of the year!

A new start for me meant that I got to rethink many of the procedures and organizational strategies I had used for the past few years. As I switched from second to third grade I wondered how I should handle school supplies. With my second graders I passed out scissors, glue, colored pencils, or markers each time they needed them. Would there be a way to save time with third graders?

I reached out to Brandi, from Really Good Stuff, who I met last year at the International Reading Association Conference. I wanted to know what she recommended for organization of supplies. She offered to have me review their Four Compartment Caddies. This way each table could have their supplies at the ready, rather than waiting for them to be passed out. Her one warning was that I might find the compartments to be a little small.

And guess what? The small compartments were my favorite part! Look at how nicely everything stands up in the compartments!

Because the compartments are smaller than in most caddies, it is really easy for my students find what they need and put the items away in the correct compartments. There is enough room to store scissors, glue, markers, regular pencils, and colored pencils!! One of my tables has even added erasers to the large compartment where they store their markers.

If there's ever a time I don't want my students to access these supplies, the handles on top make it super easy for a student to carry the supplies off to a shelf on the side of the room.

If you'd like your own set of Four Compartment Caddies with Handles (and you are a US Resident over the age of 18) you can enter my giveaway!

To enter you can enter by doing any of the following:
1) Follow my blog
2) Leave a comment talking about the best organizational advice you have for the classroom!
3) Follow me on Twitter (@KarynTeaches)
4) Follow Really Good Stuff on Twitter

One entry for each! Leave a comment for each with your e-mail address!

Giveaway ends on October 7th at midnight! I will announce the (randomly selected) winner after that!

Classroom Pictures

Here is a glimpse of my room all set up before school started!

At the front of the room!

View From the Door

Add caption

Math Wall

Another View from the Door

Yet Another View From the Door!

Welcome!

Welcome to Karyn Teaches, the blog! I am hoping to use this blog as a way to share the learning and thinking I am doing as I transition to third grade and a new school!

I'll still be blogging over at Doing the Daily 5 as I use the Daily 5 for the second year.

Check back soon for new ideas!