For The Invention of Hugo Cabret, we are writing responses in our reading journals. I am using the book as a read-aloud and it is leading the best discussions in class. My students have also mastered making inferences about the characters! 

One of my students wrote these predictions for the story:

We also drew the automaton, the mechanical man, from the story. The pictures are actually quite amazing! 

To encourage more deep thinking, I had students write questions for the main character in the story. Some of them were rather profound! My kids loved sharing their questions aloud. Hearing the variety of questions was pretty exciting for me.

Another assignment we recently completed was a journal entry from the perspective of Hugo, our protagonist. I challenged students to try to empathize with him. How would they feel going through all of his hardships? What would go through their minds? 

Lastly, we did a fun fall activity! I brought in a unique squash (a red kuri squash), which resembles a pumpkin. I passed it around and had the kids write one simile, one metaphor, and one hyperbole about the squash. They were really awesome. One of my favorite metaphors was, "The squash is a bright, orange sunset."  

You can visit my Pinterest URL at https://pinterest.com/adrienneboone/
and my TeachersPayTeachers site at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adrienne-Boone

In class today, we learned how to round numbers. We had a big discussion about why we estimate. I had students write about the why. Here is one response a child wrote in her math journal:

I had them estimate how much their parents spent each month on groceries, gasoline, and clothing! It actually led to a great discussion about how expensive life is. I was floored to learn most of my students did not know that public education was free. They assumed there was tuition! I tried to explain how property taxes work, but I think it went over their heads. :) Nonetheless, most of them understand why we need to estimate. We talked about needing to budge money as grown-ups and estimating expenses in our lives!

For teaching rounding to certain place values, I had my kids pull out their highlighters. The goal was to highlight only the numbers to the right of the place value we were rounding to. Some kids got a bit "highlighter happy," but I think it helped them understand that all the highlighted numbers should become zeroes after the rounding. We always underline the place value that we are rounding to, then look at the number to the immediate right and draw and arrow.

You can see my efforts here:

We also took some notes in social studies. Our state standards pertain to California history, so we focused on how to read our California textbook. I tried to break apart the book from the chapter title, headings, vocabulary words, and so forth. We also often draw our notes so we can visualize what we're reading. 
Let me know what you think!

Here is a free lesson plan to help you teach fact & opinion!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teaching-Students-Facts-vs-Opinions

Common Core Writing Lessons for Sale!
I have opinion writing & narrative writing lessons for only $3 each!
Go to www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Adrienne-Boone 

Here are some pumpkin & jack-o-lantern metaphors we wrote in class! They look awesome if you string them all up together on a bulletin board. We hung mine along a "pumpkin tree" but you could also do a pumpkin patch!

We use Reading Response Journals in my class to analyze & comprehend our novels! We're currently doing The Invention of Hugo Cabret as a read-aloud and my students are completely obsessed! They love the protagonist, the setting (Paris in the 1930s), and the amazing tale of Hugo's life.

  Below, you can see my students are completing independent reading logs for the books they are reading as per our reading contract. I have them write or draw responses every night. We analyze the setting, main characters, conflicts in the story, plot development, and much more! We also predict and infer as much as possible for critical thinking and comprehension! 

We read an awesome picture book for older readers & analyzed the protagonist, Slim Pickins! The story is set in a coastal town in Maine. An obnoxious seagull pesters all the beach-goers day in and day out! They get together to try to think of a plan to stop him from stealing their lunches. You'll never predict how the story ends...

 Then we wrote similes about the protagonist, who is a naughty seagull! The kids had a lot of fun with this activity. The similes are quite creative as well! 

 Teach your students how to analyze, explain, and comprehend! This reading log guides students through story elements.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Log-to-Promote-Comprehension-Critical-Thinking

This is a preview of my inferences lesson from TeachersPayTeachers:

Making Inferences

Use known information from life to INFER!! Make an educated guess based on your known information. There are many possible inferences you could write down, so there is no “right” or “wrong” answer.

1. There are many gray clouds outside.

I can infer:

Perhaps it will rain!

There will be a hailstorm.

The temperature will soon drop.

2. We found ants inside the classroom.

I can infer:

There are cookie crumbs on the floor.

Someone left their lunch in the classroom overnight!

3. I have a headache.

I can infer:

I am coming down with a cold.

The noisy construction site next door is finally getting to me!

4. My friend is crying.

She fell and hurt herself on the playground.

Someone said something mean to her. 

 Here is a preview of my Halloween activity from TpT. It's only $1.85 and will motivate your students while teaching them important language arts skills. This packet includes grammar, spelling, figurative language lessons, and more! 

These awesome activities challenge students with parts of speech, proper punctuation, and literary devices! Children are highly motivated by these Halloween, Thanksgiving, and other fall-themed activities. Find the lesson here:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fun-Halloween-Grammar-Literary-Device-Activities

Name_________

                     Halloween Parts of Speech

Nouns are people, places, things, & ideas.

Verbs usually show action but can also be linking verbs (Ex: She is happy.)

Adjectives describe nouns.

Circle the nouns in the following sentences and underline the verbs.  Lastly, look for any adjectives and put an “adj” above them.

1. The spooky mummy cried, “Trick or Treat!”

2. A black cat sprinted across the street as if spooked by a ghost.

3. While trick-or treating, the little princess hoped for chocolate instead of raisins.

4. The rotten pumpkin smelled awful as it sagged over the porch.

5.  My neighbor sobbed after looking at her clown costume in the mirror.

6. I ate at least ten pieces of candy on Halloween but threw away all the Tootsie Rolls.

Now write four sentences about Halloween. Circle your nouns and underline your verbs! Write “adj” above your adjectives.

7.

8.

9.

10.