Literacy Choice Activity Rubric

Here it is, Sunday again, and I, as usual, am doing my lesson planning. Yes, lesson planning, yes, on Sunday night, even on one of the last Sunday nights of the school year. Why don't I just break out last year's plans and let them color for the next couple weeks? Why? Because I truly love learning and teaching and I feel determined to keep them engaged until the end ... maybe not the very end ... maybe then we'll all watch a well-known and well-loved movie, such as The Chronicles of Narnia ... that always makes for rich thinking and discussion! 

Anyway, I am inspired today by this book I bought at our end of the year book fair. 

I always try to spend some money at the book fair, and when it's buy one, get one free, I can't resist. Even started my Christmas shopping! 

Anyway, that's not what I am here to blog about! I came to share with you the rubric I made for the projects the kids are doing for Out of My Mind. Out of all the kids, they only chose a few projects, but you could absolutely modify this for any one of the choices on the menu. You know they need some kind of guidlines so they can be proud of the work they do! Hope this helps you in some way, and seriously, if you love reading and you want your kids to love reading, get that book mentioned above!

Novel Study Wrap-up

Teaching reading through novels is one of my absolute favorite things to do! This year, we read Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, again. I read this with my Book Club last year and decided I'd give it a try on my fifth grade class. I lost a few along the way. Even though I would love to think that all students will share my passion about a book, I am willing to find an alternative for some students who are just not ready to access the content or the reading level, and find them some other meaningful work to do. I will respond to their need when their work shows that they're not comprehending what they're reading, or even that they're not reading. I just found this great resource, though, on TPT which I think will make novel reading more accessible to all students next year. The students can choose from a menu of activities to engage with the text, and each one challenges one of the multiple intelligences. So smart, I really love it! Thank you Chalkboard Creations!

Well, it was a little late for me to use this great idea throughout my unit, but I wanted to give the kids an opportunity to do a project that will allow them to demonstrate what they learned. We had discussed creating dramatizations from some of the text, but, of course, not all kids want to do that. So, I am pretty psyched to see how this Literacy Activity Choice Board hits them, and what kinds of creative presentations they will come up with! I know you can use some time at the end of the year to get your room organized and checklist done, so feel free to modify this document to work with whatever you're reading. Happy end of the year happenings to you!