Author Studies

For the next 3 weeks we are going to be looking at some of our favorite authors. It will be a fun way to end our year! Here are some of our favorite series/ authors:

Shel Siverstein

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Skippyjon Jones

by Judith Schachner

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Jon Scieszka

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Mo Willems

Author of the Pigeon books!

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Lane Smith

Author and illustrator

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Tomie dePaola

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Anna Dewdney

Author of the Llama Llama books!

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Patricia Polacco

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Kevin Henkes

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Cynthia Rylant

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Obviously, there are a ton of more fabulous authors, but we only have 3 weeks! Can you believe the year has gone by so quickly? 

Here's my question: 

Which author or illustrator would you like to research? 

Leave your answer in the comments section!

It's TCAP time in Tennessee!

This past Friday we held our annual TCAP pep rally! Ms. Harris really outdid herself in preparing songs for each grade level. Since I was the MC, I was unable to get video. Mrs. Vinnie took videos with her ipad and as soon as I figure out how to get them on here, I will!

Here is one thing from the pep rally I can share- a music video! Ms. Harris and our 5th grade choir wrote, directed, featured in, and produced an awesome video for our students. I've never seen our students as a whole pay so much attention as they did for this video.

* This video was made with one of the ipads we got with our technology grant!*

It's just around the corner!

It's TCAP time again! That would be the Tennessee standards based test that students take at the end of the year, for anyone who doesn't know. In a few years everything will be Common Core based, but until then we keep taking the same ole' TCAP test.

For the past 4 weeks we at the Hills have been preparing our students by doing in-depth Boot Camp practice on specific strategies and standards. I have been focusing on the Language Arts standards. I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, but this week I managed to get out my camera.

Here are some pics of students getting to practice their comprehension of synonyms and antonyms by working together on some centers.

I know I've enjoyed seeing all the 3rd grade students these past 4 weeks, but I gotta admit.... I miss just having my kiddos! Just one more day of Boot Camp, then next week is testing. We can do it!!

Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook

Teachers- are you looking for over 850 pages of Common Core happiness all in one book? It's here! I've shared previously about the Kindergarten Common Core Workbook and the Third Grade Common Core Workbook, now it's time for the Fourth Grade Common Core Workbook!

What I love about these workbooks is how easy they are to use. They have the standards (of course) but also include colorful posters, practice worksheets, and activities for the classroom. I currently teach third grade but I love having the standards my students will see next year as well as activities to get them acquainted with the information.
These workbooks are a must have! They have them for first and second grades as well!

3rd Quarter Awards

I am late in posting these. I hope my kids don't mind!
I have some more videos from this week but I haven't downloaded them yet. I'm running behind. The sad thing is that by the time I get caught up it will probably be May. *sigh*

Here are my students who earned awards for the 3rd quarter:

 Most Improved- for some rockin' awesome behavior!

 Paw-sitive behavior! Way to be role models!

 A/B Honor Roll

Perfect Attendance

We had more students get awards, but some of them went home right after the awards ceremony.

Awesome job, Soldiers!