Five for Friday {November 20, 2014}

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share five things about my week.

This vanilla cashew smoothie that has changed my life. Okay, I'm (slightly) exaggerating, but this thing is so damn delicious. And easy. (It only takes a few minutes to make before I bolt out the door in the morning.) And it gives me the energy I need after my coffee wears off. What do you do for breakfast?

Vanilla Cashew Shake

This week we've started using a special bookmark with sticky notes to guide our thinking while reading independently. After students finish reading, they have about 10 minutes to discuss their book (and sticky notes) with a partner. It's a little messy right now, but the bookmarks are a HUGE help, and I've given students a few phrases to help them extend their book talk. I set the timer for 4 minutes, and each partner has to lead the conversation for that much time. I'm really impressed by how they're pushing themselves to achieve this goal.

Here is the latest book treasure I found this week.

Stuart Goes to School by Sara Pennypacker

An adorable read-aloud. I've been reading this to model how readers react to the text, and this is a great book for all different kinds of reactions--LOL, making connections, envisioning, etc. Even my boys who occasionally pretend to be too cool for read-alouds were hanging on every word. I only read about ten pages, and the students were begging my to continue. I will definitely have to finish it next week!

My school is near lots of interesting shops, cafés, and outdoor/community spaces for artists, hipsters, and techies. The other day I passed by an outdoor exhibit called "Before I Die". People can add their thoughts in chalk. Some people had written silly things, and others wrote more sentimental things. It made me wonder how I would finish the sentence. How would you?

One of the few benefits of the time change and darker days... I get to see sunrises that look like this.

Happy weekend!