Book Spine Poetry

Yesterday I tried a great little lesson inspired by a PBS Facebook post. I wanted to do some kind of poetry related activity this month in honor of April being National Poetry Month, but I was having difficulty fitting it into our already jam packed schedule. 

This quick Book Spine Poetry activity was the solution to my problem! My students chose books from our classroom library and used the titles on their spines to create poems, phrases, and silly sentences. It was great for reluctant writers who have difficulty creating original sentences from scratch. By working with existing book titles as sentences and phrases students only had to look for a connection between them to create a beautiful piece of original writing.

After showing the class my example, I told students to head to our classroom bookshelves and choose 5 or 6 books with titles they liked or found interesting. Students brought these books back to their seats and started stacking them in different ways to see if any interesting sentences or phrases appeared. If books in their stack didn't work or they needed something else they went back to the shelves to find another.

Stop by my TpT store to grab this quick and easy activity for your classroom! 

Let me know if you try this out in your classroom! I'd love to hear the poems your students create!

LOVE the Scholastic Warehouse Sale!

Last Monday I finally seized the chance to go to a Scholastic Warehouse sale! 

I've received the emails in the past letting me know that the Warehouse Sale was coming to town, but never made the time to go. This year, however, I decided to go with my grade level partner and our 6-7-8 ELA teacher. 

It was my first time there and I was skeptical about finding good deals or anything useful for my classroom. I stepped into the room, my jaw dropped to the floor, and all my previous worries melted away! It was like your regular school book fair on steroids!

Our 6-7-8 ELA teacher had been to one before, so I relied heavily on her guidance and headed to the famous $24/box section first. Literally, anything you can pack into a box from that section is only $24! They had all sorts of books ranging from picture books to adult bestsellers. I watched in awe as she filled box after box. She cleaned the shelves, finding enough copies (20+) to make class sets! One of her boxes contained 24 hardcovers of Just Ella (Margaret Peterson Haddix), 5 copies of Hunger Games, and multiple copies of Scat and Skink (Hiaasen). All for 24 bucks!!!

Once I overcame the shock I grabbed a box and started filling!

In my box are all the books you see above (I'm super excited to use the Neverland book Cave of the Dark Wind as a class novel next year!) plus a few others I forgot to photograph. I picked up the picture book Titanicat to complement my other Titanic teaching materials, grabbed a few copies of a Pirates of the Caribbean graphic novel, and threw in a book for myself to top it off (a Bones novel by Kathy Reichs!). All for $24! The Neverland books were priced @ $9.99 each and I snagged 20 of them, plus so much more, for $24! (If you can't tell, I'm just a LITTLE excited)

Now the rest of the Warehouse Sale outside of the $24/box section was 50%. They had everything you can find in recent Scholastic Reading Club flyers and more. Some books had "Final Price" stickers on them, so I asked if those were 50% off too... They answered YES and I double checked with a few other volunteers just to make sure because the deal was too good to believe. I found a few books that were marked at 79 cents and ended up ringing up at 40 cents when I checked out. SCORE! I bought 5-10 copies of each to make small group sets for literature circles/book clubs. Thats $2 for a small group set of 5 books!

To top it all off, I had a coupon from Scholastic for $25 off a $100 purchase. So everything I snagged only cost me $83. Over 100 books for less than 100 dollars. You can't beat that! Click {{HERE}} to find a Scholastic Warehouse Sale near you and don't hesitate to sign up.

You can bet that next year when the Scholastic Warehouse sale rolls around, I will be there.
I think I might start saving up now so next year's haul can be even BIGGER!

Happy Reading :)

Late to the party...

So I'm running a little late to the "Currently" party this month... Sorry! To make up for it though I'm having an awesome {{GIVEAWAY}} Keep reading to find out more!

Listening to the New York Rangers clinch the Division!! Last night's win over Minnesota puts us FIRST in the division going into the playoffs! Woo-hoo! I see the Stanley Cup in our future!

Loving Jamberry nails!! Have you tried these yet? They are seriously awesome! I love having my nails painted but am too cheap to go get them done. I try to do them myself but they always end up getting smudged and start chipping the very next day. Jamberry nail wraps are like stickers for your nails. They are super strong, easy to put on, and look great for 2 weeks! Best of all, they come in hundreds of colors and designs. There was a basket raffle at my son's hockey banquet this week and I won a Jamberry basket!! (I usually never win at these things)

To share the love, I'm giving away the soccer set of nail wraps I received. This pack is enough for at least 2 manicures and a pedicure! So, here's how they can be yours: I'm thinking of a number.... :) Comment on this post below and leave your email address.  If your post is the lucky number I'm thinking of you win and I'll get the nail wraps out in the mail to you this weekend!

Thinking about some new TpT products! Spring break is only a week away and I'm looking forward to having some time to sit down and develop these ideas in my head.

Wanting more time to write! There is never enough time in the day. If only I could put the world on pause for an hour or two a day... think of what I could accomplish!

Needing to put Easter baskets together for my boys! Easter is two days away... Seriously, how did that happen!?!?

Smocus Smocus? Really weird blog name, I know. When I was creating this blog for part of my masters course, I was having a hard time coming up with a name. I was working on my laptop at the kitchen table when my then 3 year old came up to me pointed his fire house at me and said, "Smocus Smocus Mommy! I turn you into a frog!" Just like that, his cute toddler talk became my new blog title!