Getting back into the swing of it...

Ok...so I totally suck as a blogger. I have a new goal for blogging, but fear if I write it down that I won't do it.  Funny how my brain works like that.  Anyway, I'm back for now and that's all that matters....right?

Now that we have that squared away, I HAVE at least been using more blog-free time to focus on becoming a better educator.  There is so much going on in my classroom that I don't even know where to begin...hmmm...how about with the most recent events.

Well, last week we began working on inferences.  I had a week's worth of inference activities planned and then Hurricane Sandy aka Sandra Dee huffed and puffed and blew her way into town.  She shut us down for two days, which left me with only two days to teach this wonderful topic! We ended our week going to the UniverSoul Circus....yipppee!

Anywho,  I used the lovely pinterest to search for fun activities.  I found lots, but couldn't use them all (good thing we cycle through our literacy anchors).  I started with a discussion about Schema and how it works.  We then filled in our own Schema Brain Maps.

It was a perfect activity in my opinion since this was the closest we were going to get to some ghoulish Halloween craft.  What's more Halloween than writing on a brain on Halloween day?  

I then used an activity found as this site:

CLICK HERE

 My little birdies got a real kick out of seeing what I carry in my handbag and making inferences of about me.  My two favorites were:
1) I infer that Sis. K has a wallet full of makeup, because she wants to be cute.
2) I infer that Sis. K has deodorant in her bag, because she doesn't want her armpit to ball like onions!

So true my children....LOL!


For Day two of inferences, I found another pinterest board of pictures/photographs that were used for making inferences.  I selected one photo and modeled how to write in a complete sentence using the sentence starter "I infer that..." to make an inference based on the details of each photo. I posted pics at each group and gave them different colored sticky notes.  Each group had to make an inference about the picture and write it down on their sticky note. They spent about 3-5 min at each photo and rotated when the timer went off.  This activity took ~20 min to complete with 5 photographs. 

We read all of the inferences aloud at the end and got some good laughs in the process.  I think it really hit home and both activities served as great introductions to how good readers use this skill.  This week, we will begin applying this to text.  Wish us luck!

I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things (even if I am writing this blog post while I am under the weather and should be finishing my lesson plan...oh well, gotta move when motivation strikes)!