Laundry and dishes are done on this snowy Saturday so I've rewarded myself with some extra search time on the computer.  I have just finished downloading several free documents from Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher. They're great!  Thank you Amber!

I'm learning more every day about the business of blogging.  Blogs like the two I've mentioned so far (in this and a previous post) have been a huge help.  Still trying to figure out "grab my button", how to rework my background and use different fonts.  Sadly my MO is to learn though play.  I end up learning so much but in a round about, unfocused sort of way.   What I have been most impressed by is the positive tone of each and every blog.  I know we teachers love kids but sometimes the paperwork and other minutiae can wear us down.  There's a little bit of a pep talk in each blog I read.  Thanks teachers!

I've also loved all the free fonts from kevinandamanda.com.  Another big thank you!!

So far I'm pretty sure no one has even visited this page.  Not doing much in the way of advertising since I'm really just blogging for myself at this point.  Kind of curious if anyone will discover it.  :)  We'll see.

Here's something I made this week for my students.  They are writing narratives with a focus on character.  At school we have a couple of book clubs in progress.  One club is reading Carl Anderson's book Assessing Writers.

I really enjoy his book and the conversation that ensues with my fellow teachers.  I attended his week-long workshop a few summers ago and totally transformed my writer's workshop as a result.  Putting the children in the driver's seat, allowing them to feel greater ownership and responsibility for their writing is a game changer.  One of the ideas that was presented in our book club discussion was the idea of embracing the art children create as a means of planning writing pieces.  I have always wondered just how much art before writing is "ok".  As a third grade teacher, my rule has been that there must be more text than drawing on a page.  This time I thought I'd rethink and not only allow but require students to draw before they write.  I used the document below to help students think about what they should draw to create a complete character.  I'm hoping to see a correlation between detailed art and elaborated writing!

If anyone actually reads this and is interested, I'm happy to post it so that it can be downloaded.  I just haven't figured that bit out yet.  Off to do a little more investigative "playing".