Chronological Order Sort: Loser

I first read Jerry Spinelli's Loser over the summer after a retiring teacher gave me a few copies from his library. 

I love this author, so I immediately ordered a few more from Amazon so I'd have enough to read the novel with small groups.

I'm almost done with the novel with my group (they're finishing over winter break) and I'm really impressed with how well they're doing.  Some of the members of my small group have been bullying others, so I decided to use this text as a teachable moment.  

They're having some great discussions about being kind to others and labels like "loser".  What we talk about in our small group literature circle is having a positive impact on their classroom and playground choices, which is quite exciting.

My teacher guide is available here.

I'm pleased to announce I've made a chronological order sort as well!

Happy reading!

character charts

As we're finishing up our novels, we're posting our character and setting charts on the wall:

 I think I'm running out of space! I think I'll take them down, put them on a book ring:

And create a flipchart.

Plus, that'd free up valuable wall space!  Based on one of my fabulous neighbor's suggestions, I'm going to make a "shout out" board where I can post good examples of their "must do's" and work.

I had a major problem last week with a very small percentage of my classes not doing the must do correctly and on time.

Part of it was my fault for not explicitly modeling, but part of it was due to their desires to rush to do centers. 

So, as always in teaching, I'll make adjustments for next time.

I think having the positive motivator of being on the display board will definitely help! Stay tuned :)

New Novel Unit: Loser by Jerry Spinelli

I just finished Jerry Spinelli's Loser and although the book is over ten years old (yikes!), its message is still quite relevant today. I plan to have some great class discussions about bullying and acceptance with this novel.  I know some of the upcoming fifth graders would really benefit from the contrast between "winners" and "losers" in the novel.  

I created a teacher's guide with comprehension questions, vocabulary and homework (for each chapter) that is now available at my TpT store.  Coming in at close to thirty pages and aligned to the Common Core state standards, it is really quite a good deal.  Grab yours now and get ready to rock those small reading groups!

Also available at my TpT store are the last 2 of the Percy Jackson series.  Many more will be coming, they're just stored on my teacher computer which I don't have access to yet :)

Ms. Vice