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What'cha Reading?!

We just cannot get enough of the book Pictures of Hollis Woods!  Have you read it?  It's been a fantastic book that has generated so many thoughtful and meaningful conversations within my classroom.  

Is it bad that I secretly LOVE it when the kids beg me to read....ONE....MORE...CHAPTER...PUHLEEEAAZZE?!  
It makes my teacher heart happy, happy, happy. 

We spent some time writing letters to Hollis giving her helpful advice. I have the most thoughtful and kindest kids!

 We've looked for similarities and differences between Hollis and a close friend of ours. Wow, I learned a lot about their friends!

 Student partners had jobs that I assigned from my Literature Circle group packet from the fabulous 4th Grade Frolics.  They completed and shared their questions, connections, and favorite parts with the class to create their own discussions.


I LOVE this packet! It has been a fantastic unit to use with my literature circles so I just changed it up and incorporated it with the whole group while I was reading this book to the class. They enjoyed completing their jobs and our class discussions were ran by the students. 


Have you heard of Plickers?? Well, I tried this app in the classroom to check comprehension of our story. Seriously.......it was the coolest and strangest thing ever! It's free and I REEEEALLY think you should check it out.

 The kids hold up their answer and you scan the room with your phone or ipad. You will need to type the student's names in the computer but that's easy peasy. Type the questions that you want them to answer and you're ready to go.
Then you immediately can see who got it wrong and who got it right. You can print a report from your computer if you'd like to use the data. I showed the kids how it worked and they were amazed by it too. 
How does it do that?! 

So COOL!! Oh and it's FREE. Seriously, you should check it out. A great change from paper and pencil. 


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