All Four Reading

Welcome to…

With Valentine's Day approaching, our group of reading specialists, coaches, and teacher bloggers decided it was the perfect time to share our love of literacy with you. Each of us is passionate about helping children develop a love of reading, and what better way to love reading than through our favorite books. Each blogger participating in this weekend's hop is sharing materials for his/her favorite book, book about friendship, or for Valentine's day. We hope you'll enjoy using them and sharing your love of literacy with your students.

I have a passion for teaching students to love reading. I was a very good reader, but I enjoyed reading less and less as I became older (sixth grade on). I began reading less for pleasure and when I did have to read for school, I found that my comprehension suffered if I really didn't care for the book. I found out as an adult that I have ADD, so I am sure that played a part in my lack of interest and comprehension as the books became more advanced. I know what it feels like to not want to read, so I make it my mission to find books that kids can get excited about and read even when they don't have to!

Today, I only teach reading, writing, and language arts, and I read aloud great books to my class every single day. Nothing inspires me more than to see students get excited about reading and learning about different authors.

One thing I have found that motivates reluctant readers and writers is poetry. We are learning about all kinds of poetry and how to write poems. Poetry motivates even the most reluctant reader and writer because it's fun, rhythmic, and it doesn't have to rhyme.

Product explanation… My students have started writing poetry, and they love it! They're pretty good at it, too! They love learning about the structure of poetry and how it sounds when they read it. One of their favorite assignments so far is writing color poems. I read students a few books to inspire their colorful imaginations!

These are all highly entertaining books that made colors come to life through figurative language. My students wrote letters to themselves from the point of view of one of their crayons and wrote color poems about a color of their choice. I have created a resource for writing color-themed letters and poetry that can be used with any or all of the resources shown above. Enjoy this freebie!

http://readingandthinkingoutloud.blogspot.com/2014/01/loving-literacymy-story.html

Jenifer

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Winter Planning Giveaway - Stop C-13

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to the Winter Planning Giveaway Scavenger Hunt hosted by I'm Lovin Lit. Be sure to stop by her blog first to begin this amazing scavenger hunt where EVERYONE wins!

I am a fourth and fifth grade reading and language arts teacher. I love creating products that are rigorous, support the Common Core, and promote higher level thinking. I also love teaching everything using mentor texts. I even created a 150+ page mentor text list with thousands of books organized by standard with a variety of different fiction and nonfiction reading skills. Please check it out!

Now, you have reached stop C-13 for the giveaway. Be sure to write down the secret word!

For my part of the hunt, please follow my store on TeachersPayTeachers.

And/or click on the "Follow me on Bloglovin'" button on my page!

My donation to the giveaway is: Winter Holidays & Festivals Around the World Close Reads.

There are 15 different close reading passages that each have 2 pages of text-dependent questions. It is perfect for grades 4-6 to be used for homework, literacy centers, guided reading groups, or for independent practice.

I created this product for my fourth and fifth grade reading students. My class is very diverse with students representing a wide variety of cultures around the world. I didn't want to make a product that just highlighted Christmas around the world. So, I researched and wrote passages about different winter festivals and holidays around the world based on a variety of different cultures and religions.

Good luck, and thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to All Four Reading. You have arrived at

At each blog stop, you will be gathering Reading gifts and freebies. In each post you will find a picture of a snowman with a letter on it. Collect all of the letter to solve the mystery quote to enter the giveaway. Record all of the letters on your recording sheet and follow each blog along the way so that you can enter the amazing giveaway at the end!

The hop is set up as a loop, so you may start anywhere along the hop, but if you would like to start at the beginning you may go to A Day In The Life of A Title I Teacher's blog. This is also where you will go after you finish the hop to enter the giveaway!!

When my students enjoy reading, I feel like I have received a gift. My primary goal as a teacher is to inspire a love of reading in my students. I love seeing students engaged in a book - whether it be a fiction or a nonfiction book.

I am always looking for new, interesting, and engaging books to read to my students. I use mentor texts in my classroom nearly daily, and it is my students' favorite time of the day.

One of the books I'm reading this year is The Secret Life of a Snowflake by Kenneth Libbrecht.

This is an amazing book for older elementary students. It has beautiful photographs of snowflakes and includes comparisons and science content, and I can teach many of the standards while integrating other subjects. I can incorporate writing and teaching nonfiction text features while students learn about something interesting. There is even an art activity where students learn how to make snowflakes out of paper. In fact, I am so inspired by this winter picture book that I made a whole unit based on the Secret Life of a Snowflake! Stop by and pick up this Freebie and don't forget to read!

My secret letter is...

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! I hope that you enjoyed your gift and learned something new. If you would like to be the first to know about new post, giveaways, and blog hops follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking the image on my page.

Don't stop now! Hop on over to Ripper Resources to pick up another amazing reading gift! Happy Holidays!

If you get lost along the way download the Hop Map here to easily pick back up where you left off!

Nonfiction Text Feature Scavenger Hunt

This year, our school has finally decided to departmentalize in the upper grades. Thankfully, I get to teach reading and language arts to almost 60 fourth graders ALL DAY!! As a result, I am trying to focus on integrating social studies and science content into my classes while teaching my students about the joy of reading - especially nonfiction reading!

I decided that my students are going on a nonfiction text feature scavenger hunt to learn about the many different nonfiction text features and authors use these text features to help readers learn and understand the content contained in these texts. They will discover how text features are used in Social Studies and Science texts. These texts are great to use in a scavenger hunt as they contain so many different nonfiction text features.

So, how exactly can I get my students interested in learning about nonfiction topics? They will participate in a scavenger hunt! By placing nonfiction texts around my classroom, including students' health, math, social studies, and science texts, among others I have collected in my classroom library over the years, students will be exposed to all kinds of topics. I have amassed lots and lots of nonfiction books about a variety of subjects in my classroom, and I want to get my students interested in learning.

I have created a fun scavenger hunt to engage students in learning about nonfiction text features while reading interesting nonfiction texts. Students will learn how much easier reading nonfiction can be by using these text features the author includes in a text.

Now you are ready for my clue. Record the letter on your page...

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you'll enjoy my unit with your students, and if you'd like to keep informed of upcoming events from our group, please click the Bloglovin or Google Friends button to the right to follow my blog. I appreciate your interest in reading instruction and wish you a wonderful school year. Now, on to the...