I Know My Teacher ABCs...

Post by Mrs. Edie Gogny:   Mrs. Gogny is a fifth-grade teacher at Conley Elementary who is celebrating her tenth year inspiring children to believe in themselves, ask difficult questions, enjoy escaping to new worlds through reading, and realize learning is fun.  Some of her hobbies include reading, fishing, tennis, and walking her teacup Yorkie, Elliott. You can follow her on Twitter at @district158edie.

I Know My Teacher ABC’s...

Accepting, Assisting, Attentive

Building, Bragging, Buying

Calming, Caring, Coaxing

Dancing, Daring, Developing

Efficient, Elevating, Encouraging

Figuring, Flattering, Fresh

Generous, Giving, Glad

Happy, Helping, Hip

Imaginative, Ingenious, Invincible

Jamming, Joyous, Juggling

Kind, Kinetic, Kooky

Laughing, Lively, Loving

Making, Mindful, Modeling

Natural, Noble, Nurturing

Obliging, Observant, Open-minded

Pinterest Lover, Playful, Proud

Qualified, Quick, Quotable

Radical, Ravenous, Ready

Savvy, Smart, Sunny

Talented, Testing, Time-manager

Unbeatable, Unbelievable, Unstoppable

Valiant, Victorious, Voracious

Wacky, Wishing, Wonderful

Excited, EXtra-helpful, EXtra Special

Year-Long, Yielding, Young-at-Heart

Zany, Zealous, Zippy

Next Time Won’t You Sing With Me?

Written by: Edie Gogny

   5th Grade

Historical Fiction

Post by Mr. Ryan Schaefer: Mr. Schaefer is a fifth-grade teacher at Conley Elementary. This is his eighth year teaching. He truly believes that learning is a life-long endeavor and is attending classes at Judson University to acquire his Doctorate of Education in Literacy degree. Some of his hobbies include reading, working out, grilling, and hanging out with his miniature schnauzer, Maggie. He blogs about historical fiction and you can find his personal blog at http://hfcomesalive.blogspot.com/.

Out of the Dust

Karen Hesse

Summary:

Billie Joe must deal with personal loss and tragedy as she and her father try to survive the Oklahoma Dust Bowl of 1934-1935.  

After the heart wrenching loss of her pregnant mother, Billie Joe and her father face two seemingly insurmountable obstacles.  First, they must attempt to deal with the void that was cast upon their mother's death.  Second, Billie Joe and her dad must try to survive the Dust Bowl and it ravages their land and crops.  Told in free-verse-poetry, this story is both page turning and extremely eye-opening.  

Teaching Tips:

1) Wow!  Simply Wow!  This book is an amazing verse-novel for fourth-graders and above.  This is a powerful book to place in the hands of reluctant readers, verse-novel lovers, and historical fiction fans.

2)  The Dust Bowl is not the most widely discussed historical event in Social Studies classrooms.  As such, Out of the Dust is a great resource for students to learn about this man made natural disaster.  This book would make a great text set with picture books, novels, and informational text regarding The Dust Bowl.   

3) At the end of the book is a section entitled "After Words".  The contents include:

About the Author

Behind the Scenes: Writing Out of the Dust

Q and A with Karen Hesse

Photographing the Great Depression

Billie Jo's World, Make Your Own Applesauce

Extracts from Karen Hesse's Newbery Medal Speech

Additional Resources:

Surviving The Dust Bowl

Informational video that discusses The Dust Bowl.  This brief video is kid-friendly and very informative.  

Scholastic Storia Teacher Guide

Extensive activities and lessons to use before, during, and after reading the story.   

Library of Congress Lesson Plan

Another great resource.  Use this as a 1-2 week lesson plan or a resource to share additional information with your students.