Porch Pals - Get your students ready with fun stories based on real animals

Testing season is on the way!  I was having trouble finding good resources for getting my students ready for testing the Common Core standards, so I decided to create my own!

At my house, we have a lot of fun.  One of our favorite activities is to make up stories about our pets.  We have a dog and three cats who live on our back porch.  We pretend that the dog, Sergeant, is silly and naive.  Jacques the cat is a professor who is prideful and wise.  Pepe' the cat is always looking for aliens and conspiracies.  Finally, Toulouse the cat is completely wild and always tearing everything up.  Meet the Porch Pals!

My husband and I have been collaborating to write a series of passages about the Porch Pals and are writing constructed response test questions to go along with them.  There are three Porch Pals packets available for purchase in our Teachers Pay Teachers store already.  Each packet contains an original Porch Pals passage, constructed response questions, a creative response page for the story, and an essay writing prompt.  There is also a rubric included and some sample prompts for citing evidence in constructed response questions.

My students have loved reading the stories about Sergeant and Jacques (Pepe' and Toulouse will be introduced soon)!  We have used the packets in my classroom to offer the kids the chance to practice their reading comprehension skills and citing evidence in their answers!  They have also enjoyed the creative response and writing prompts!  

Check out the passages here:  

Porch Pals Story 1 Porch Pals Story 2 Porch Pals Story 3

And the Winners Are...All the Readers!

Yesterday I was so excited to escort my daughter to her first real competition, the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl!  I am happy to say that I believe Georgia is on to something really great with this reading competition!

The reading bowl is open to teams in elementary, middle, and high school.  Students read the books from the Georgia Children's Book Award Nominee list.  Their teams get ready to participate in a quiz bowl in which they will be asked questions about the books.  A few years ago I was able to volunteer as a moderator.  It was so exciting to see the kids show off their in depth knowledge of so many books!  

This year I saw the competition from a different angle, that of a parent.  My eighth grade daughter was on her school team and they went to the regional bowl.  I saw her get so nervous and excited at the same time.  I loved seeing her think deeply about her books, jump to ring the buzzer, and answer with confidence.  Below are some of the books read this year for the competition this year.

Watching the teams compete was awesome!  Some come in as quiet as can be, barely buzzing in, scoring a point or two.  Other teams come in like military units, ready to crush the competition!  The moderator would hardly get through the question before these well read soldiers were buzzing in!  And every team came in having read and reread many books to get ready for this big day!

The best part of the day for the kids by far was the award ceremony!  Every team that participated got a trophy, but the top three teams got towering trophies!  The pure joy and excitement by every student there was so thrilling!  There were fourth and fifth graders, middle schoolers, and high schoolers, yes, I said high schoolers, shouting over their victories!

I loved those high schoolers!  Man, they were cool!  There were dark and brooding boys and girls who had long since given up on the "natural look" in favor of green hair.  They were so typically "teenagery".  I had to laugh when the winning teams lost all control and swarmed the gym floor to claim their trophies!

I say, good for Helen Ruffin for recognizing the need to award and reward reading!  And good for the teachers who take on the title of coach for a READING team!  We as a society claim that we value reading and understand it's importance, but how often do we overlook reading in favor of sports?  I encourage everyone to find a way to reward readers!

I know what you are thinking, "Reading is its own reward."  Yes, I know.  And I agree.  But isn't football?  Isn't baseball?  After all, these are games.  Yet, no one would question whether they might be given trophies or rewards.  Why not acknowledge those who do what we really want them to do?  Read!

One for all...Teachers, we need to stick together!

A couple of weeks ago I took my kids to see Newsies, the latest Disney musical to travel to our area.  Let me just say, without this being a review blog, that this musical was amazing!  The stage, the dancing, the music, everything was just so full of energy and all the magic you expect from Disney!  But what was most compelling to me was the story.

If you're not familiar, the musical is based on the true story of newsboys who unionized and went on strike in 1899.  This strike eventually led to the passage of child labor laws.  Bless those brave children for having the courage to stand up for themselves and demand better treatment!

I teach in a state in which teacher's unions are not legal.  As I have no desire to lose my job or face any charges, I am in no way going to attempt to unionize any teachers.  But, I was so inspired by the solidarity and strength shown by the boys who were treated unfairly in the musical!

Teaching is the best job in the world, but also one of the most challenging.  Ask any teacher and he or she will tell you they love the students and the actual teaching, but the regulations and legislation have made the job nearly impossible!  Teachers must be expert statisticians, dynamic leaders, crackerjack curriculum writers, and technological geniuses!  All of that has nothing to do with the actual work of teaching, dealing with parents, trying to differentiate for abilities and interest.

On top of all the new items being added to teachers' plates, there are new student and teacher assessments and evaluations.  Teachers are being told that they will never reach the top level of those assessments because it would be nearly impossible to do so.  In the past two years, I have seen more teachers cry at work than ever.  More teachers are leaving than ever.  More teachers are breaking down than ever.

We can't unionize.  What can we do?  We can unite in spirit!  The only way to get through these hard times is to support one another in our strengths and weaknesses alike!  It's time to stop backbiting and competing with one another and time to start helping and defending one another!  Teachers, your best resource are the teachers across the hall from you!  Meet together, work together, plan together, pray together!

When we are a strong team we can best serve our students and parents!  No teacher can teach well who is overwhelmed with worry and burdened with the weight of the world.  It's time for us to bear one another's burdens.  Share your strengths and your weaknesses.  In this way, we will become better teachers, better wives, better mothers, better everything!