Linking Up - Survey Says!

 Check out 5th Grade Rocks, 5th Grade Rules! for this fun survey linky today. Join in and share your thoughts.


1.  Are you married, do you have a bf, or are you flying free as a single lady/man?
I have been married for 7 wonderful years!

2.  Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Southern California and have been here my whole life except for my college stint in Utah for 5 years.

3.  Do you have any pets?  If so, what kind and what is his/her name?

I have two cats - Hunter and Ellie. They are the laziest, fattest cats you have ever seen but they help me keep my sanity on the nights when my husband is gone.

4. What is a favorite TV show you are embarrassed to admit to watching?
I really don't think there is anything that I would say I'm embarrassed about. I loooove Once Upon a Time, Chuck (so sad it's over!) and Raising Hope.


5.  Are you a saver or a spender?
I am a saver...unless I've had a hard week and then all I want to do is go out and buy something nice. A little retail therapy never hurt anyone...right?

6.  What is your favorite children's book?
Tough question...my favorite growing up was Sam, Bangs and Moonshine.


7.  Were you the class clown, teacher's pet, or neither?
I was the teacher's pet simply because I was quiet and I did all my work. Teachers liked that.

8.  Who is your favorite athletic team?
I don't follow sports much but I like to watch soccer and hockey.

9.  Where did you go on your last REALLY fun vacation?
I met up with some friends from elementary school in Vegas and we had an awesome time together. A couple of us hadn't seen each other since 6th grade!

10.  Who is your favorite actor?  Actress?
Actor - Zachary Levi, Tom Hanks
Actress - The Deschanel Sisters, Julia Roberts

11.  Tell about the last time you cried because you were happy.
I tear up at most happy moments in movies, TV shows, and commercials but the one I count is when my daughter started singing "Part of Your World" with me while we were going through her bedtime routine. She is going to be three next month and I can't believe how big she is getting. I also am amazed at the things she knows...like the lyrics to songs! 

12.  What is your favorite season?
Spring! Although in Cali there isn't really a spring. We kinda skip from winter to summer, weather-wise, but at least the leaves are back on the trees, flowers are growing and I don't have to wear socks anymore. :) Ahhh...bare feet!

13.  What is your biggest regret?
That I didn't take advantage of the time before I got married and started a family to travel more.

14.  What food do you just NOT like at all?
Onions...although in certain foods they are fine, such as salsa, minestrone soup and my mom's funeral potatoes.  Other than that I can taste it in almost any food and if I can taste it, I won't eat it (unless it would hurt someone's feelings). My mom has a good time trying to hide them from me and I indulge her by not letting on that I know what has onions and what doesn't.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST FOR MY TEACHER BLOG....

15. What do you do to relax after a tough day at work?
I love to go home and play games with my daughter. It reminds me that work is work and I can let it go. Although some days that isn't enough. On those days I cry, take bubble baths, eat french fries, and/or read get lost in a good book or movie.

The Dreaded Editing Session

My kids are terrible at editing papers. Not just this year but every. single. year. A few years ago I was lamenting this with my partner teacher and she came up with a great idea. We use this when we have a big process paper due around benchmark time.

Group students into teams - 5 or more to a team works best. Have each team collect their rough drafts and trade with another team.  Each team member takes a paper and then I give them directions on what to edit. For example we start with spelling. They have to read through the paper in front of them and circle any words they think are spelled wrong. I only give them 1-2 minutes to check a paper and then they pass it to the left starting where the last person left off. We repeat this process until every team member has seen every paper. I shorten the time frame each time because there are less errors to mark as more people see the paper.

A great thing about this is that I mix the groups with stronger and weaker writing students. This means that every paper has several levels of proficiency helping to edit.

Once we are finished with spelling we move to punctuation, capitalization and specific grammar checks. After about 45 minutes we have completely edited everyone's paper. We are ready to fix those errors and write our final drafts.

When we start this at the beginning of the year I talk about how peer editing is important but every correction is only a suggestion. When they get their paper back they can choose to change their writing or not. This helps with the fact that some students may mark an error incorrectly. I also get a lot more questions than I used to because my kiddos want to know if the marked error really does need to be fixed.

The most difficult part of this process is that your kiddos have to be on the same writing schedule. You should have a class set of rough drafts ready to go. Although I'm sure you could modify the process to work with a writer's workshop model.

This process has worked really well to help my students focus on editing (just look at the photos!). They find it fun to find as many errors as they can in the short time I give them. They also comment how easy it is to edit when they are only looking for one specific thing at a time instead of having to find all the mistakes in a partner's paper.

This does not mean that my kids papers are perfect - far from. But I have seen a great improvement in their final products and their editing skills in general! (and that's what it's really all about, right?)

So how do you edit rough drafts in your classroom? What motivates your kids to work through this tedious step of the writing process?

Weekend Reads - Wither (The Chemical Garden Trilogy #1)

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Wither by Lauren DeStefano is the story of a world in turmoil. The heroine, Rhine, has only four years left to live and she is only 16. Scientists have perfected the human race but only for one generation. Their children are dying - boys at 25 and girls at 20. Scientists are racing to find a cure and young girls are kidnapped to be brides in wealthy families to produce heirs before they die.

In the opening of the story, Rhine is kidnapped and locked up in a mansion to wed wealthy Lindon with two other young girls (yes, this is a polygamous relationship), servants and creepy father-in-law. She desperately wants to escape but knows it will take time. While working out the details, she finds solace in a servant who helps to form the story's love triangle.

I found this book to be interesting but a little strange. The premise is hard to believe and a well-written dystopian novel should be believable. That's one of the things that makes them so hard to resist!  Despite this I do want to know how everything turns out. I really like Rhine and want her to plans to succeed. I also want to know exactly what could possibly save the children of this future world. I have a very strong inkling that it has to do with Rhine's genetics. It's just too bad I have to read two more books to get there.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Weekend Reads - Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1)

http://www.amazon.com/Cinder-Book-One-Lunar-Chronicles/dp/0312641893

Oh my word! I love this book. I could stop right there with this review and it would be enough for me but I won't because I want to convince all of you to read it.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a Cinderella story. I love Cinderella stories. I have done units on them with 1st grade (during my student teaching), 5th grade and 6th grade. I collect Cinderella stories because they have been my favorite since I was a little girl.
Cinder is a cyborg living a quiet life in New Bejing - post-World War 4. She works as a mechanic trying to hide the robotic side of herself. (Although I would have to say that it would make teaching a whole lot easier if we had some of her interface designs!)

All the classic elements are there - a chance meeting with a prince, an evil stepmother & stepsisters, a ball, and a glass slipper (of sorts). But there's also a merciless virus running rampant, a lunar colony that is not on good terms with the people of Earth and a dramatic cliffhanger ending. (Sorry to spoil it but there is no happily ever after...yet!)

Cinder is the first in a series of four. The next heroine will be Little Red Riding Hood followed by Rupunzel and Snow White. I am so upset that the second one isn't coming out until next year. Usually I am so far behind on the book trends that I get to read a whole series at once but this one was too hard to resist. Meyers writing style is wonderful. The story moves and intertwines so smoothly that you don't even realize how much time has passed until your husband rolls over and reminds you that you have work in the morning and how much you hate to face those kids without a full night's sleep! (But it's soooo worth it!)

I had a chance to meet Marissa Meyer in La Verne a couple weeks ago and I was all pumped up to go but came down with an awful cold that is still plaguing me three weeks later. Bummer!   

Have you read Cinder yet? What did you think? Would you read this book to your class? (I'm thinking about it.)

Currently...March

 

Linking up with Oh' Boy 4th Grade today. It's always fun to fill out these wonderfully cute Currently posters. I especially like March's because I have such a love for St. Paddy's Day...who wouldn't with a last name like O'Leary!

I had to go searching for words that started with O but these three words describe me well. I am observant because I like to sit back and see what everyone else is doing before I jump in. Many people take that as a shyness but it's really just the way I work. If you know me, I'm not shy.  I am optimistic most of the time. When I find myself being pessimistic I back up and figure out why and change my attitude. I truly believe that attitude is everything. The opinionated side of me only shows up after my observations and typically only to people I really, really trust and with lots of thought before I speak. I have learned that lesson the hard way. :)