Okay, I know I can't say enough great things about this fantastic book. (PLEASE buy it and read it if you haven't already!) We met for our book club and came up with a beautiful "rendering" of the first six chapters by taking a word, a phrase, and a sentence from each chapter and posting it up. The conversations were rich and fun -- this book really gets at the heart of teaching, in my opinion: first and foremost our love of learning is contagious to those around us. I heard stories from veteran and newbie teachers alike about how the chapters resonated with them, that it reminded them of good things they had done in the past and are doing now, and also that just by reading the first six chapters, they were trying new things in their rooms! Yes!!!
So guess what else I did.... I started a store on TeachersPayTeachers.com!!! I have put up my powerpoint (in pdf) and 11x17 posters in case someone else wants to use my work. I swear, I read a few chapters, fell in love, read some more and next thing I knew I was just about done! And then I hopped on my Mac and started making posters!!! I'm all about posters on the computer. I think too many posters in the classroom gets muddled and the kids don't pay attention, and also I think the ones I make on the fly are usually messy because the kids are coming up with ideas and I try to write them down, it just looks better to make them ahead of time.
We have been reading Seekers Book 1 in my third grade read aloud. We got to a section that was like, "What????" and I couldn't NOT use the Contrasts and Contradictions signpost. I pulled up the .pdf I created and showed my students what happens when a character acts out of the ordinary and what question we should ask ourselves. The next day, I used a modified graphic organizer I copied from the text (when I make my own I'll upload them to TpT!) and now in read aloud they sit with their clipboards ready to take notes on the unexpected things in the book. This, by the way, is now one of my very favorite read alouds. It's pretty difficult, but it's SO exciting. There are so many things on so many levels in this book, every kid is able to get something out of it, and for using Notice and Note I'm finding it superb!
Next project: book marks and graphic organizers. I'm COMPLETELY obsessed!!! Enjoy the book! What chapter spoke to you most strongly?
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