Mrs. P's Reading is Cool Blog

Submit a video by April 1 to @cantatalearning & kick off Poetry Month! Enter now! #elemchat

April is National Poetry Month, the largest literacy celebration in the world. I have the perfect warm-up for your class with my new online learning lesson. As a professional storyteller, I have learned firsthand the power that a good story holds for children. Without a boarding pass, a train ticket or even a good pair of walking shoes, I take children on a journey to the most wonderful and interesting places imaginable through this online lesson! And in the process, I help kids learn how to exercise their imaginations.

                                          You can find it on the front page of my website too!

And after your class is warmed up from my online lesson, spring them into action with a fun contest to enter! Learn about Harmony Projects, Global Connections With Cantata Learning. These are wonderful ways to get your students reading, creating, writing, singing, sharing, collaborating, and so much more with others around the world.  

Cantata Learning is holding a Rhythms and Rhymes contest. 5 winners will receive 30 Cantata Learning hardcover books!   
It so easy for your class to enter. Just follow these 3 simple steps!

1. Simply go to the Cantata Music Library where you will find free nursery rhymes and folk songs to stream online or download as an mp3 file. 
2. Then create a video that shows your students’ hand motions or other movements for the song. They can be the traditional hand motions or new motions that you create.
3. The deadline is April 1st, so you’ve got to jump on this fun activity this week. Here is the submit button so you have it handy!

My friend Teacher Librarian Shannon McClintock Miller will be judging!   Here is a post she wrote all about it too.

                                            

 

3rd Grade Winning Story, Classroom Pet’s, Inspired by Dr. Seuss - Joins #ReadAcrossAmerica Celebration!

This year the NEA’s Read Across America Day tips its hat to Dr. Seuss and celebrates his newly discovered book, What Pet Should I Get? And I tip my hat to the creative writing of Ms. MacInnes’s 3rd grade class at Brewer Community School in Brewer, Maine. They won the grand prize in my 7th annual Mrs. P Be-a-Famous Writer national contest. The theme of the contest was pets, and their story was inspired by the new Dr. Seuss story.

Read Across America celebrates reading across the county and what better day than to share the words of this talented 3rd grade class? I’ve added the video of "Classroom Pets," to my story time channel.  It includes beautiful and original new illustrations from the gifted artist Robin Robinson.

                                                  
This class has been on quite a journey since they learned they won the grand prize. Besides being in the local newspaper and on T.V., 2 state Representatives and 1 state Senator, visited their classroom and presented a special recognition certificate to the students for winning the national writing contest. They also brought a copy of the House Calendar that is handed out each day with that day's bills and special announcements because their class was in it.  Additionally, former first lady, Barbara Bush wrote them a hand written note congratulating them.

They were also invited to the Brewer City Counsel and received a lot of kind words, a plaque, a pin and a check for $250 to buy reading and writing materials for the classroom.

Their teacher wrote this to me: “Thank you again for providing an experience for the children that they will never forget and for helping them to know that they truly are writers.” This really touched me. Because, that’s what the writing contest is all about, helping kids gain that confidence in their writing abilities.

So let’s all Read it Forward by honoring young authors and the power of words! 
Here are a few suggestions for things you can do to encourage your own young readers and writers:

• Join the celebration by reading to your child for 20 minutes each day during the month of March.
• Go to your local library, check out a few books and ask your child to read them to you.
• Connect readers with Mackin's  free website "I Want To Read" that offers an astounding array of helpful resources for young readers.
• Take the time to learn more about the word gap  and the importance of hearing words at the  Tales2Go website.

And be sure to check out the super-fun theme for my upcoming, 8th annual Be-a-Famous Writer Contest.  Trust me, you don’t want to miss bookmarking this page for your classroom!  The contest is brought to you by Mackin Educational Resources and Tales2GO.