Teamwork! AND {Giveaways to Check Out!}

One of the best things about blogging and being a part of the blogosphere is the amazing amount of teachers who are working together to do great things for students! I've said it before and I'll say it again, when we can steal share ideas with each other, our students are the ones who truly benefit.

Yesterday, when attempting to review the characteristics of fiction and nonfiction, my room sounded like this:

chirp.

chirp.

chirp.



Yes. That's the sound of crickets. 24 of them to be exact.

I stopped my lesson in its tracks, because it was obvious (even with cajoling) that we weren't getting anywhere. And I knew that when I could get on Pinterest or blogs I would find the answer to my cricket problem.

So, last evening, I scoured blog-land and Pinterest looking for a way to REintroduce fiction and nonfiction to my adorable little crickets.

I found this pin:

which had the idea of comparing The Bicycle Book with Sally Jean, The Bicycle Queen. I really loved the idea of taking the two books and comparing them even though one is fiction and one is nonfiction.

I didn't have either of those books, but I did have Owls by Gail Gibbons and Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.

BONUS: We had read both of these books as a class!

Today, I showed them both books and we discussed what we noticed and how they were different. I was seeing a small glimmer of light!

Tomorrow, we are going to get into teams and look at multiple books so we can make a chart like this:

Click the picture to take you to the blog post from Thinking in Third.

I found a ton of great anchor charts on Pinterest...I can't wait to make ours tomorrow! 

Hooray for internet teamwork!

Speaking of teamwork...

Sara at Miss V's Busy Bees is having a ridiculously huge giveaway! So many wonderful bloggers have contributed to the giveaway, she broke it into 5 parts! I'm lucky to be a part of it. :-)

Go check it out when you have a chance! You can win so many great items - including a Thirty-One Bag!

Also, if you haven't entered my 100 Follower Giveaway, make sure you hop over to that post and enter! You can win a $25 gift card, awesome TPT items and even a photo print from my husband!
 

Have a great night all!