Last Christmas, I decided to begin my journey as a writer. I have always loved to read and write, and English was my strongest subject in school. With teaching, I only wrote on Christmas break and spring break, and then June came. In June I chose to dive in and complete my first book. I redid all the illustrations in watercolor at our kitchen table, worked with a writing coach, and went through the entire publishing process. In August I became a published author.
Here’s how I did it.
I decided to write about themes that I was passionate about as a teacher- teasing and bullying, friendship, self-acceptance, belonging, bravery, etc. Once I had my themes, I thought about my long term goals and decided to write multiple books with similar layouts. My first book is in the ocean and the main character is an octopus. Each book will be a different biome and a different animal. I also have minors in science, math, and language arts. I wanted to connect writing to my background in science, so every animal is based on a real-life animal.
After writing, I illustrated my story using water color paint and used Adobe Illustrator to put those paintings together into the pictures you see in the books.
Then I worked with my writing coach, Lauren, who went through the story with me and offered advice on any changes that may need to be made to make the story better. Once I was happy with the story, she walked me through the publishing process on Amazon.
My paperback is published in Amazon, and I have a hardcover currently being published on Lulu. My next goal would be to publish on IngramSpark. I have a second book about halfway done and then will go through the publishing process again. My hope is to have it released around Christmas. I have so many other ideas in my journal for children’s books that I can’t wait to release into the world!
If you are local to southeast Michigan and are a teacher who may want a class visit, you can always contact me at emilymooreauthor1@gmail.com. If you published your own story and want to share it, as always, you can comment below!
Every summer I have a long list of books that I want to read! These often include new releases of books for teaching. With my summer break starting tomorrow (and a little inspiration from our exchange student who has read 5 books in the last two weeks on vacation in Italy), I wanted to take this post to share about some new books that have been released or are being released, along with some of my old favorites that you might want to add to your reading list this summer! If you don’t want to think about teaching at all over summer, scroll to the last paragraph for some other reading inspiration!
The Writing Strategies Book is an old favorite of mine, but Jennifer Serravallo just released this new version with 50 new charts in spiral binding! She also released Companion Charts to go with it! These are perfect for small groups and conferencing with students! She also has an updated reading strategies book that was published in 2023.
Another Jennifer Serravallo May 2024 release is Teaching Reading Across the Day I haven’t read this yet, but this is on my summer read list this summer! I’m so excited to see ideas for incorporating reading into multiple subjects in middle school and how I can apply it to my own classroom next year.
Another May 2024 release is Mathematics Tasks for the Thinking Classroom! It can also be found an Amazon. I haven’t read this one either, but I have read and applied Building Thinking Classrooms to my own math classroom. Building Thinking Classrooms changed the way I teach mathematics. It’s an amazing resource, so I’m sure this elementary specific addition is just as valuable!
The Coffee Bean is a short read that isn’t like the above books. It isn’t a how-to teach book or a book for specific subjects or grade levels. This book is a book of inspiration. Maybe you had a rough year or you want to try to have a more positive outlook! Published in 2019, this book is a book that shows the power you have in how you see the world while using a metaphor of a coffee bean!
This week I implemented a new lesson. It was a Cheez-It activity with reading “What’s Your Angle, Pythagoreas?”
I love literacy. I love reading and writing, and I love incorporating both into other subjects. I asked students to identify connections to the Cheez-It activity but also to the real world before I started reading. These connections are the basis for learning. Every student was engaged.
If you’re looking to add read aloud to your math classroom, here are some of my favorites that I have on my bookcase.
Snowflake Bentley goes with my slope lesson when we create snowflakes using slopes. The lesson can be found here.
I use “What’s Your Angle, Pythagoreas” as an introduction to the Pythagorean Theorem.
When teaching elementary, I’ve used the following books to add literacy to math. The truth is, there are a ton of amazing books out there related to math, and students K-12 can engage in read aloud. It’s not just for elementary.
For writing, students often work in groups to solve problems. Students have to write sentences comparing their answers to the other groups. They write a paragraph to justify their solution. Students have to incorporate vocabulary into their writing too and use a rubric to guide their writing and explanations.
Before and during student writing, we discuss student board examples to compare ours and other groups’ work. Here I am explaining that x isn’t just amount but the amount of copies.
Here are some student examples of writing in math for their reflections.
Students also write in other ways or show literacy in math through projects. They are currently working on a Pythagorean Theorem project where they have to find a real world right triangle and prove the Pythagorean Theorem using graphs, captions, and sentences. I adapted it from this lesson.
We have to remember in math, literacy may look different than in other courses. Teachers use mathematical models in multiple representations, including the use of symbols, numbers, graphs, and words to show literacy in mathematics. Problem scenarios are stated in words, and student written work involves all the forms above. Students have to be given opportunities to practice speaking and listening within the subject and have routines and rubrics for how to do that. In future posts, I’ll go into lessons I use to develop vocabulary with literacy, like hexagonal thinking, and how I create opportunities for discourse through Building Thinking Classrooms.
How do you use literacy in your own classroom? Comment or message me if you want to share! I’m always looking to learn new ways of using literacy in my own classroom!
I know I’ve been MIA, but I have returned! It has been a while since I blogged last. Actually, the last time I blogged was the year I was teaching first grade, and the world shut down for covid. A lot has changed over the last few years. I switched grades multiples times and districts! I’m going to recap as much as I can of all the highlights from the last couple of years. I cannot wait to share what’s new.
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be writing about topics that focus on student discourse, vocabulary comprehension, technology, and assessment. I’ll share about my experiences with MACUL grants, virtual resources, building thinking classrooms, data, and more. These are all topics that I focus heavily on in my own classroom and across grade levels. I can’t wait to tell you about what works for me, but I also can’t wait to learn from you as well!
In the meantime, here is a picture from my honeymoon this year! Out of all the changes in the last year, this by far was the best one!
I hope this blog post finds you well. Make sure to check out my instagram and X account for more up to date posts. I’ll start posting content later this week while enjoying my time in Florida on spring break!
I wanted to start this blog with the words “Great Job” because every teacher reading this right now deserves to hear those words. You are doing a great job with what you’re going through, whether you’re the teacher parent trying to keep your own kids sane while creating lessons for your students or you’re the first year teacher that was thrown into this with no preparation and no good-bye for your first class. Just like you, I never imagined something like this happening in my teaching career. We are in this whirlwind together. So what next?
We don’t know what’s coming in the fall or what the fall will look like, but we can control the now by doing special things for our students to maintain a relationship, continuing to create lessons for the students participating, and continuing to communicate with each other through this time to know we aren’t alone.
Relationships
Gift for Mother’s Day/ I Miss You
This past week I gifted each student a pot, some seeds, and a note that said “I miss watching you grow” postcard. I had the extra pots from my own planting, which is how I got the idea, and how adorable are those seed packets? Mother’s Day is over, but you can still gift these to your students as an “I miss you” present!
I also mailed these this week to May birthdays, which are in the postcard link above, by Carolyn Hacker @Carolyns Creative Classroom on TeachersPayTeachers.
Birthday Postcard for May and Summer Birthdays
Lessons
Need an example of a lesson? We are using Classkick for our current virtual learning, and I create the math lessons for our grade level. We use Everyday Math, but I sometimes split the lessons into 2 days because we have time and some students need extra practice, so I use other resources. This is a combination of EVDM and a graphing resource by My Teaching Pal found here. I also used Powtoon to create the video in the beginning, which can be found here. Using Google Slides, a screen recorder, or PowToons, you can easily create videos to teach your students.
Virtual Meet-Ups
Whether you are using Zoom or Google Classroom, there are some fun things you can do with your students to make Zooms more fun and engaging! I usually have a guest staff member read us a book on Mondays and then do a virtual field trip on Wednesdays. Need ideas for virtual trips? No problem! Here are some that I have done over the last couple of weeks!
National Parks Virtual Field Trip Here you can go on adventures at a variety of National Parks by clicking explore. Horseback riding, scuba diving, glacier climbing, and kayaking are a few of the fun activities in the presentation! Stare at a night sky of constellations or walk through a cave and sky of bats. The fun doesn’t end, and the best part? This is great for any age!
Farm Virtual Field Trip This farm is a local place nearby we visited with our class and another class. It was so much fun seeing all the animals. Look local! You never know what your area is offering. Bonus: You can take screenshot pictures to share with students or use in a class end-of-the-year slideshow or project.
Monterey Bay Aquarium has a great YouTube Channel with Live Chats and great live cams for a virtual field trip. My class watched the Jelly Fish one in parts. You can explore Monterey Bay’s Website as well. I linked the educator’s page, but feel free to watch the live cams with your class here. The National Aquarium in Baltimore also has a virtual aquarium tour, but I like Monterey Bay’s Live Cams better. I combined both aquariums into my aquarium virtual field trip zoom, which lasted a little longer than normal.
Virtual Safari Trip We used Explore live cams to visit Africa, Asia, and our west coast to look at different animals! We even looked at GRACE in Africa to see orphan gorillas and had a local gorilla zookeeper teach us about gorillas and GRACE. This week we have a national park ranger from California joining us!
Zoom with Detroit Zoo’s Gorilla Zoologist
We also celebrate special days! On May 4, we dressed up for Star Wars Day, and I invited our school librarian to read to us, our school nurse and our interventionist have also read to us this past month! This week we are celebrating Dinosaur Day on Friday with our Book Buddies! It’s also celebrated on June 1, so you have time if you’d like to share it with your class! There are some really cool VR dinosaur videos and you can find information and exhibits here. The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and Google Arts and Culture also have 2 VR videos on YouTube as well. One is about the Brachiosaurus/Giraffatitan and one is about the Rhomaleosaurus. Visit those links to watch dinosaurs come to life!
Read Aloud
I want to leave you with this video I watched last week that reminded me that no matter what you are doing, you are doing something and that’s okay! It’s okay that we are all in different places with remote learning. Hopefully the ideas and resources above help you through the last couple weeks until summer. Your students miss you as much as you miss them and continue to do what you’re doing. I always tell my parents in our weekly news “As always, reach out anytime if you need anything.” I’m going to tell the same to you today. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to reach out to other teachers or me. We are in this together.
Teacher Station 