Inspiration, Thank You, and What Are You Reading

As you can see, I have changed grade levels this year. I have been very busy learning (refamiliarizing myself since I did teach third grade several years ago) all about third grade, taking classes to earn my Gifted Endorsement, being a wife, and being a mommy. I rarely have time to blog or even look at my favorite blogs, but when I do I am totally inspired. I have been inspired to create Reading Notebooks similar to Ms. Bongers' Thoughtful Logs over at Life in 4b. Really I have taken an organizational stance with the notebooks and divided a composition book into 4 easy to use/find sections fro my kiddeos. These are reading workshop, literature circles, reflections, and lessons. We also have a Writing Notebook that I have divided into sections-Writing Workshop lessons, My Writing, Grammar. Lastly, we have a Math Notebook too. It is divided into Math Lessons and Practice and Vocabulary (mush set up like a dictionary). These are made my life so much easier. Papers are not flying around, getting lost, and I do not have to hear "I can't find it" quite so often. I have also fallen in love with lapbooks especially for Science and Social Studies. (Sadly, I do not have any pics, but google lapbooks and you will get a gazillion ideas.)

Next, I want to thank Sandra from Literacy Minute for awarding me the Liebster Blog and commenting that she enjoys my ideas in regards to Reading Notebook. The rules for this awarding is to nominate blogs with less than 200 followers.

I am also nominating the following blogs for this award:

Teach Play Smile

cute, crisp blog with lots of flair for multiage classroom 2/3

Adventures of a Third Grade Teacher

I love the fraction ideas!
Third Grade in First State
We both recently opened our TpT store! :)

Lastly, my class is learning to write in cursive. I am using the book Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary. We are also continuing to learning vocabulary and use our comprehension strategies--especially making connections as we read. What are you reading? Or what are you reading next? I thought about a Chris Van Allsburg study OR a Mystery Unit. Any other suggestions?