March is Reading Month With Eric Carle

Word of warning to all of you bloggers. . . Don't use the word BOOBS in your title! I received so much spam and junk from that! I wanted to be funny, but in the end, I learned a lesson. So now you know!

Last week I tried an inferring activity that I saw on someone's blog (and I'm so sad that I can't remember who's it was). It was very easy to do and I thought I could do it too. They used pictures from magazines or characters from a book. So I took the idea and tweaked it a bit for me. I blew up enlarged some pictures from my DJ Inkers collection and put them on top of this chart paper. I asked them to just look at the pictures and make some inferences. They got it! They clearly were able to not only tell me what they saw, but they also were able to infer what they might be feeling or going to do. I told them this helps them to understand characters in a story if they can make inferences about them so they can get to know them better.  Go ahead and try this with your class. .  It's easy, quick and very fun for them to do.

Every year our school picks a theme for 

March is Reading month. 

You can see last year's theme of Let Your Imagination Fly here.

This year we are celebrating Eric Carle Books. Each classroom decorates their door or a wall to highlight his work. The kids love it and are very respectful of keeping the walls and doors looking good. I've included a few of the pictures below. 

My favorite has to be Lisa's door. She used the Lonely Firefly and put Christmas lights behind this paper. I'm not so sure you can get the real effect in a picture, but in person it's WAY COOL!

This is my door. The kids made the flowers and I found some Easter grass to use at the bottom. Yes, it's coming off a little when people bump into it, but the kids are doing well with not pulling it off.

This is the back side of the door.

This is a Connie's door. The Bear is filled in with cotton balls.

Right next to her door on this wall is the Brown Bear and he is filled in with

 brown paint and coffee. 

It's a very cool textural thing to make him look furry.

This wall is right by the door when you walk in, so the first thing you smell is coffee!

Cathie's room is the Hungry Caterpillar. 

I love that she has little caterpillars

 eating the books!

This is a bulletin board in the main hallway. 

Even the office and Library doors get decorated!

This is inside the Library.

We have T-Shirts being made that say this slogan below.

We're having a contest to see which room can read the most books. In the gym each teacher has a caterpillar head. For every 10 books they read they get a circle to add to the body. These caterpillars will spread out around the gym. 

Our principal has challenged our 150 kids to read 4,000 books in one month. If they do, she will kiss a calf. 

My kids took on the challenge right away, I couldn't keep them from reading on Friday afternoon. Stay tuned at the end of the month to see how we do!

Do you all know Christina Bainbridge from Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge? She just started a newsletter that you might want to go and sign up for. She will be giving some cool ideas in it and she has freebies too. . . just for those who subscribe! And who doesn't like freebies? 

Plus that little stinker surprised me and highlighted me in her first newsletter. She is such a peach and has been the one who helped me get started. She's been there all along for me and answers any question that I have. You would love her as a friend. . . so if you haven't signed up, get on over there and find the form on the right side of her page. 

Patty