Mystery Monday is BACK...

Hello there my sweet friends.  So, are you back to school yet?  Today we started back for staff development and next week the kids come!!!  :0)  I meet my sweet students on Thursday for Meet the Teacher Night!  I have been working so hard on many projects to make my class excited and ready to learn.  I will try to share pictures for my next post.

And...without further wait...another A to Z Mysteries reading response journal...The Deadly Dungeon by Ron Roy.

Get yours by clicking here-The Deadly Dungeon

Enjoy,
Coconut Cutie

Back to School A-Z Mystery Style

Grab yourself a snack because this is going to be a long post.  :0)  I’m going to work backward a bit as I show you how I will be implementing the A-Z Mystery Series into my classroom. 

First off, I found a wonderful resource for this series.  Amazingly enough, it is Ron Roy’s {the author or A-Z Mysteries} website, www.ronroy.com.  Check it out!  He has stuff for kids, parents, and teachers.  It’s great!  What is SUPER great is that at the end of the 26 book series you can go back and do A-Z Mystery Trivia.  How great is that?  I totally can't wait!

So...the first week of school is super hectic as we all know.  I plan on beginning this series a few weeks in, as soon as everything/everyone is all settled and all of the routines have been taught.  I will be reading to the kids during their snack time and they will complete a reading response (see other posts about this) piece at the end of the chapter(s) and snack time. 

Before hopping into the series with The Absent Author, I thought I would do a few little pre-series activities that would include an introduction to the series, an author study about Ron Roy to learn a little bit about him and his life as an author. Ron Roy also has a pet dog, which I thought the students would enjoy.  I would also include a meet the characters activity, and a little map of Green Lawn activity. 

So, on Monday, I will introduce the book series by showing the students my 26 books in the series and discussing what we will be doing during snack time for the rest of the year.  I will set some expectations for this time.  If you have not purchased all of the books and you will be buying them/checking the out one at a time, you can go to Ron Roy's website and click the home page and select A-Z Mysteries and learn about each book.  Once that has been done, I will hand out their A-Z Mystery Reading Response Journals and allow them to decorate them to add their own little "spark".

On Tuesday I will introduce Ron Roy by going to his website, showing the kids his "welcome" page that has a letter to them, showing them the "about Ron Roy" page as well as "Pal's doggie page".  Then as a response page, I would have them complete this author study recording sheet. This page would get glued into their journals.  

 Click here to get your recording sheet FREEBIE!

On Wednesday, I will have the students meet the characters of the series.  We {as a class} will read about the characters by going to Ron Roy's website again and click on "games for kids" and look at the A-Z Mystery Menu.  We will select "read about the characters"and scroll over top of the pictures to read about them.  I will then give the students a character color sheet for them to color and label the characters.  Print Yours HERE from the Ron Roy website.  This page will also be glued into their A-Z Mystery Journals.

On Thursday and Friday we will be doing some mapping activities with the maps of Green Lawn from the books.  I will gather all of my books, give each student a book, and have them turn to the maps at the beginning of the book.  The maps are right after the title page.  If you do not have enough books for each kiddo to have one, you could project it on the screen with a document camera.  On Thursday we would just note some of the areas of green Lawn and make any connects to the town that we could such as "I see they have a town hall.  We have a town hall too." etc.  On Friday we will again look at the maps and have a short discussion on the compass rose (north, south, east, and west).  I (the teacher) will call out a place for the students to locate.  Once the students locate that place we can discuss what is north or south, etc. of each location that I call out. 

I hope you found some ideas that you can do in your classroom as well.

Enjoy,

Coconut Cutie

P.S.  Check back NEXT Monday for another update.  This Monday there will not be a post.  Thanks!

Time to Shop Till You Drop

Hey all,

It’s Back to School Time and both Teachers Pay Teachers and I are offering an awesome SALE!!! 

I am offering 20% off everything at my store and TPT is offering 10% off everything on the site.  Together {my 20% + TPT 10%} that equals a total of 28% off everything at my store.  (I know what you are thinking, 20 +10 =30, not 28.  Here’s the thing, TPT’s 10% is taken off my already 20% off so that how it works out to 28%.)  This sale will run from August 12-13. 

Use the promo BTS12 when you check out.

To get to my store, click here

Happy Shopping,
Coconut Cutie

P.S.  Stop by tomorrow for a surprise FREEBIE and fun Mystery Monday {on Friday} update!

Mystery Monday AGAIN...



Hi ya!

I hope y'all have been having a wonderful summer and have had much needed rest and relaxation.  Are you back to school yet?  I head back in a few weeks but I will be working at home and in my classroom for most of it as I gear up for...Back To SCHOOL!!!  Are you excited?  I'm not quite ready, but will be soon.

I spent the weekend in San Antonio at another Frog Street Conference {SPLASH} and Oh.My.Word, so much fun and so many new ideas.  As you may remember, I was presenting on Guided Reading.  I have been uploading several of the items I was presenting on to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and will continue to do so. 

One of the kits that I have uploaded is some comprehension activities.  It is great for guided reading, centers, literature circles, etc.  Here are a few photos of *some* of the activities included.  Click here to get to my Rainbow Readers Book Club Comprehension Activities product.   Click on the preview to see more pictures :0)

  It includes this and is only $4.00:

  20 easy to read with full color comprehension cards 

7 different comprehension activities with complete directions on how to make and do:

· Pick Six

· Top Choice Two

(includes recording sheet)

· Sit and Snack Sack

· Pickin’ Questions and Popcorn

· Juice Box Jamboree

· Quiz Show

· True/False

(includes 18 true/false statement cards and labels)

So, also on the agenda for tonight is the A-Z Mystery Monday series.  This Monday's journal response kit is for The Canary Caper.    This is a Reading Level book 2.3!

Click here for your FREEBIE!  The Canary Caper.  Tune in next week for another A-Z Mystery!