Back to Bloggin' with a Slice of Life

As much as I enjoy blogging, it has been difficult for me to keep up. I'm venturing back and linking up with Two Writing Teachers for a Slice of Life Story.

" Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen."  Horace Mann

It is these words that inspired me make a dream come true.

I am a huge fan of the Reading and Writing Project at the Teachers College in New York. Last year, I applied to attend one of their summer institutes and was accepted. I had to decline because I was switching schools and there were no funds.

Flash forward... I'm in a new school and asked by my principal to work with a colleague to help teachers in assessing writing and also provide teachers with resources to help with their lessons in the teaching of writing. As we tackled this project, I inspired 3 teachers to apply for the summer institutes this year. After securing funds, we successfully applied.

What a surprise when we learned all 3 of us were wait listed! One of my colleagues got into the reading institute and I was still left waiting. After much persistence, I  am now blessed with the opportunity to attend both the writing and reading institutes in a little less than a week. This is a dream come true. I will be surround by many who share the same passion, teaching reading and writing to make a difference even if its in the life of one child.

I will reflect on my experience and share whatever I can.

Comma Quest ( Mentor Text Linky)

I am back on the blogging wagon, so I am linking up with Collaboration Cuties for the Language Arts Mentor Text.

I had to start the New Year writing about this great new book Comma Quest by Lesley Roessing.  It is a fun book that teaches boring and sometimes complex rules through a silly story and song. It is a delightful little story about a Comma Momma that must send her comma children to find sentences of their own. As the story goes on, the commas find themselves in the appropriate sentences. The song approach that worked so well for the Schoolhouse Rock series is a strength of this book.
Your students will learn and remember comma rules through songs that are written to the tune of popular favorites such as: "If you are Happy and you Know it.", "Row, Row, Row your Boat, and a few others.
The comma rule songs are for the Direct Address, Introductory Clause, Nonessential Clause, Conjunctions are Joiners, Items in a Series, Compound Sentences, Double Introductory Phrases, and a bonus with a song about Prepositions and Nouns.
In my class, my fifth graders got a kick out of the silly story and now anytime I have to remind them about a comma rule, I sing the little ditty.
Lesley also has a blog Writing With Comma Momma where she talks about punctuation, grammar and everything about writing.

Happy New Year!

It has been a long time since I have written a post. Life has gotten in the way. Being in a new school and in a new grade has taken up most of my time. A daughter in college, keeping up with 2 high school girls,  and a boy in middle school takes up the rest of my time. I can't forget my wonderful husband as well.

My New Year's Resolution is to share some of the great things that have been happening in my class and also to share some of the great resources that I have come across. Although 2013 has been hectic and full of so many changes, it has brought me many blessings.

 I hope that 2014 will continue to with more blessings.

Tomorrow, I will link up with Collaboration Cuties to share a brand new language arts mentor text on teaching comma rules.

What resolutions have you made?