Guest: Ramblings of a 5th Grade Teacher

WOW! Did you see that I am 299 followers??! I may have to do another giveaway soon. Thank you all so much for reading my blog and leaving me comments. I know that it is because of each of you that I will be a stronger teacher. I just can't express my gratitude enough to you!

Today, I want to introduce you to Ms. M. She is new to the teaching blog village and relatively unknown. I am telling ya people you are missing out! She has some of the most unique ideas I have seen. Have you seen the biography bottle buddy on Pinterest... yep, it is THAT Ms. M who is joining us today. She has great ideas, a sarcastic wit, and no clean laundry. Ahhh... sounds like home.




Uhh...hello?...Is this microphone on?....

Living in my own little blog world, I have been able to share my rambling thoughts and ideas without too much worry of who would be reading my blog. (Ok, who am I kidding? Those who blog know the truth!)  Then along come Misty's great offer of doing a guest post and all rambling educator style thoughts shrank to the background and the big worry that I'd create the post that no one was interested in reading popped up front.  

I laid awake last night pondering, wording, revising, and finally coming up with..... nothing profound.  It was then that I decided to take my own advice to my students and be myself. Hmm...novel thought Mrs. M.  Be yourself.

Being myself, I can share that...

I started my blog, The Ramblings of a Fifth Grade Teacher  as more of an experiment to stay in touch with my school parents, but it has evolved and become a true passion for sharing ideas and ramblings about the career I love.  I seriously need a bumper sticker. I heart my blog. 

I am a 5th grade teacher from Wyoming, who enjoys my own sharp and sarcastic wit (even if no one else appreciates it). In fact I remind the class how lucky they are to be in my class, and I know they agree because they give me the universal sign of agreement...the eye roll and deep sigh. Yup, they enjoy my style!

Speaking of style, I have no fashion style.  I am the goofy dressed teacher, but that is ok because I can focus on teaching instead of worrying about my pinched toes or trying to sit in a group with a skirt. 

I do a mean version of the sprinkler dance move when I need to get my students up and moving.

Most day in my classroom you'll finding me combining my degree in Special Ed and my former work experience with our Parks and Rec to create differentiated instrution that fits kinetic, tactile, and auditory learners.

Today I want to share with you a freebie that I have created out of a desire to have my students spread their reading wings and get out of the mainstream genre rut.   In my classroom everything has a purpose, and if we can have fun doing it, even better. (Has anyone noticed that when you add a game word to any activity, it is much more exciting?)

 available at my teacherspayteachers store

For my freebie today, I have included a Genre Bingo template and a Reading Log.  The reading log is not the typical fill in the title and amount of time read, but includes practice of author's purpose, using evidence to support thinking, etc. 

I created and saved the format so that you can adapt as needed.  (Our students need a background with editorials, propoganda, and how to's for our district/state assessments, but I realize that may not be a focus your students need. Oh yes...they can even use their new schema on those genres for real life too! Shocking! : D

Thank you for letting me share a little snippet of my classroom, and I hope you enjoyed my ramblings.  Here is to the weeks before summer being productice, positive, and always about the students!  Have a great week.