Upper Elementary / Middle School Reading Freebies

I created this graphic organizer to be used with any fictional story or novel.  I also thought it would work well for the days my students earn time to watch a movie.  I often feel like we are wasting time, even though they've earned it AND everything I show is based on literature, so I think this will do the trick for my guilt. 

Any Book Graphic Organizer <-- click here

This next item is a sequencing graphic organizer that can be used to sequence main events or show a cause and effect chain. 

Sequencing Graphic Organizer <-- click here

Finally, I created an organizer for vocabulary words.  I'm not sure if I will use this for every word, but I think it would be great for non-fiction texts. 

Vocabulary Graphic Organizer < -- Click here



Denial

I'm in complete denial.  Although I'm leisurely reading some teacher books at home, I haven't been able to set my alarm to go in to school.  I end up sleeping in a bit and then farting around the house.  The next thing I know is it's noon and the school closes at 3:30.  This results in me staying at home. 

Is anyone else in denial? 

BTS Nightmare

It happened.  I had my first BTS nightmare last night.  I still have 4 weeks left of summer. 

It was the first day of school and I hadn't done anything in my room yet.  I got to school really early with my new vacuum (see previous post) and my principal wanted to use it to vacuum the steps.  Only instead of steps, it was an escalator.  And instead of my regular principal, it was some man I didn't know.  We were panicking because it was the first day, a half day of school AND administrators were coming through for a formal walkthrough already.  I got to my room and things just kept falling over, so I went to a room adjacent to mine and found a baby kitten.  Man that cat was cute. 

This happens a lot.  I'm not looking forward to sleeping tonight. 

 

So I went to Target to buy a vacuum...

...and I spent over $40 in the dollar section.  LOL

I did buy the vacuum.  I stay up super late in the summer and recently saw an infomercial for the Hoover Windtunnel Air and fell in infomercial love.  We have a Hoover Floormate hardwood floor cleaner that we love, so I figured it was worth a try.  With friends coming to stay this weekend, I think I'll be cleaning tomorrow. 

Anyway, got some awesome stuff in the dollar section at Target.  I usually try to avoid that area because I end up getting stuff I have no use for.  Here is a photo of the loot:

Purple pocket charts!  I have them in lime green and turquoise from years past, but I prefer stuff that isn't primary colored.  I got two packs of the puzzle border for our Autistic support teacher.  My 7th graders read two novels that center around Autism and end up volunteering in her room during centers.  I had one student ask me how many years of college are required to become an Autistic Support Teacher.  :-D 

The key chain is for my classroom key and the master key to the lockers on our floor.  I got the magnetic container for our refrigerator as a place to store our BoxTops for Education.  Finally, I SCORED with the dry erase pouches.  Class size in my district goes up to 34.  My Target had exactly 34 of them, so I knew it was a sign.  Here's a closer pic:

I guess it's a good thing my vacuum rung up at $20 less than it was marked!