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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Poetry Coffeehouse

I wanted to share an event that was a success in my ELA classroom - Poetry Coffeehouse! We just finished up a poetry unit, so this was a fun way to celebrate poetry and practice speaking skills. And drink hot chocolate, of course :)



The set up was quite simple. All students had a poem to read. This was a poem we had been working on for a little while, so I knew they would be ready. A few volunteers brought in treats. I bought a few large tubs of hot cocoa powder and made hot chocolate for students to enjoy.



Students went up one by one in rows (I re-arranged my classroom for that day). The runner up sat in the "support chair" so that the student reading was not the only one up there :)



Students got to sit in my chair and read in front of a coffeehouse-themed background. We snapped our fingers when they were done, in true "coffeehouse style". After each row went, I played a song on the "coffeehouse" Pandora station to keep the mood light and enjoyable.

I'd say it was a success because some students asked if we could do it again! I loved hearing their poems read, and it was so fun to do something a little more out of the ordinary. I know that there are way more involved ways to do this, but for my classroom this worked quite well!

Next up for practicing speaking skills - reading their "How To Explanatory" essays to the class. And what a pleasant coincidence that some students are writing about how-to make baked goods and are planning to bring some in to share ;) teaching is sweet!

Have you ever done a poetry reading in your class?

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Sunday Scoop 3/8

Sunday Scoop time! I am in the final stretch up until conferences (next week Wednesday/Thursday), so I plan to go to my classroom today so that I am all prepped for this week.
I know that not rushing around in the morning to get a lesson ready will make me much more relaxed :)


I'm linking up with The Teaching Trio!


Does anyone else have "Spring" conferences soon? It sure feels like a long way from spring in Michigan!


Sunday, March 1, 2015

Sunday Scoop 3/1

I'm linking up with The Teaching Trio for this short and sweet linky :)



You know how it is - you bring something home to grade on your "must do" list, but in reality it's more of a "hope to do". I did take the pile of tests out of my teaching bag, so step #1 is completed :)

As far as the exercise plan, I am feeling extra motivated now that it's just about one month until I'm in Florida for spring break. Another blogger reccomended the Blogilates Youtube videos, and I'm so glad she did! I've been enjoying these quick and motivating workouts. Okay, so I don't really "enjoy" the workout part, but I enjoy the quickness and the fact that I'm sore the next day tells me it must be working!)