My class is sort of on an book series binge lately. Also, I love young adult literature, so when I find a series I like, I tend to devour it. Those points in mind, I thought I'd post a Top 5 of my favorite books in a series.


This is just a classic. We're currently reading the first installment of this series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, as our shared reading book. The vocabulary in these books is outstanding, and our class has had great things to say about what they're reading. The students in my class our quite interested in the rest of the series.

I love this series for several reasons. First, I love the style in which it is written. It seems as though the author, C.S. Lewis, is actually reciting the story to you as you read it. There are moments when he departs from the narrative of the story and talks to the reader. This is the kind of book where you can read it and take away the story, and then later in life read it again for even deeper meaning. Also, the magic in this book is great fun. How wonderful to discover a new world while playing hide-and-seek? Finally, I love the way in which the children have defining characteristics that make them separate from the whole. They need each other because they each offer something unique.


Speaking of needing one another, the Mysterious Benedict Society is such a great story. In this story, a group of children with unique talents join forces to save the world. I love the theme of everyone has to work together to achieve the task, and even the cantankerous little one is extremely important. This book is clever in that it involves riddles and puzzles to figure out.

I'm reading this story as our read aloud, and I've got a couple students following along as I read, and I have a few students ready to move on to the next story!


This is an AWESOME series. The premise seems pretty brutal: In a futuristic society, 24 children must fight to the death in order to bring honor to their land. However, the author does an excellent job of keeping the action going without being overly gruesome.

I read the three books in this series in a matter of a week; I couldn't put it down. Now, they are making the first book into a movie, and it comes out next month!


This series of books is awesome. They are funny and witty. I love them because they are easy to relate to, whether you are an adult or a fourth grader! They're written using cartoons, and so the books are fun to go through. It's like you're reading comics!


This series is epic. I couldn't make a list of series without at least mentioning this series. The books are amazing, and I love how the story gets darker and more intricate as the series goes on. It's like they hook you with a lighthearted tale in the first book, and then you're trapped in a much bigger story than you thought you would be!

In the case of fourth graders, the sheer size of the books can be intimidating, and it may be out of the reading level for some of them, but it's such a great story. The movies are good, but there is so much more in the books.


Books in a series a great fun. They have the ability to pique interest, and can hook you as you follow though a journey. There are several other series that are big with fourth graders (i.e. Percy Jackson), but these ones are my current favorites.

All hands have been on deck for reading, and great things are happening! For thirty minutes a day, four times a week, we have begun what we are currently referring to as Walk Time.

The premise is that we all have things we need to work on as readers. Some of us are working on phonics or comprehension, and others are working on fluency, vocabulary, or other reading indicators.

Our three fourth grade teachers, our principal, iCoach, and four paras are all contributing to groups working in these areas, and as a fourth grade, we are getting much better at discussing how we're learning.

It's time to begin scheduling parent/teacher conferences for the Spring. They are coming up on February 15th in the afternoon and all day on the 16th. This year, I am going to be scheduling them a little differently. I would like you to schedule them online through our class' Google Apps accounts. The process should be fairly simple, but it will take a few instructions.

1. Go to our Google Calendar appointment schedule by clicking [here] or going to http://schrad.me/appointment.

2. Log in using your child's Google Apps credentials, located in the MOOSE. In the email field, you will need to add an "@mrschrader.com" to the end. For example, if it says that my username is jdoe, then I would need to type "jdoe@mrschrader.com" in this field. Then, I would enter my password in the next box, and click Sign In. Your next page would look like the image below.



3. In the blue bar at the top, there is an arrow, and you will have to navigate to the right to the week of October 24th. You'll know you're there when you see a bunch of available appointments on the 15th and 16th.

4. Each box that says Parent/Teacher Conference is an available appointment for you to schedule. Find a time that works for you and click on the appointment slot. The box below is what will pop up, allowing you to confirm your appointment.



5. Click Save and your appointment for Parent/Teacher Conferences is set! See you then!

I appreciate your willingness to sort of change up the way you schedule this. My intentions are twofold. First, I want to make it convenient for you to schedule your time when you are available while letting you see what is available. This way, you can find what works for you. Second, I want to make it possible for you to schedule appointments with me. I'll talk more about this at conference time.

We've been studying narrative text this week. We know that it includes characters, is usually fiction, the author's purpose is to entertain, and that it has a plot. We've read several stories this week and completed plot diagrams with them.

So today, we used the iPads to use a fantastic app called Toontastic. I brought it up on the board, and there was an instant, "Ohhhh" from the class. The way in which you navigate the app and make your own cartoon is by completing a story arc. It is a direct correlation to what we're doing in our room.

The app is awesome. It is very interactive and very complete. As you select scenery, characters, and music, there are quite a few to choose from. Also, you can draw your own scenery and characters. Characters are animated when you move them, and you can control what movements they make. You can make things bigger or smaller by pinching and zooming, you can rotate them, and you can make them face different directions.

When you record your scene, it records the audio so you can recite your story.

Some things we noted during this activity:

It took us a bit to figure out how to delete characters that were added to a scene. You have to go to the next screen where you actually get to manipulate the characters. Then, you tap on the one you want to delete, and finally you get the red little trash can.

We had a great discussion before I let them begin making their cartoons about not making the whole cartoon in one slide. The first part is just setting up the story. Then the next scene is introducing the problem, and so on. Later, this led to great discussions about the narrative elements of their stories.

My class was trying to be very conscious of others around them making stories, too. So, the results were sometimes hard to hear their voices. Next time I may just have them work in groups to make a story so that we can be louder or more spread out.

It was fun to watch them working on their cartoons. It was quiet in the room except when someone was recording, which was funny to me. We also really enjoyed watching the movies as a class.

Toontastic is available in the iTunes app store and is available for iPads only. Toontastic - Launchpad Toys

It's one of my classroom jobs. One student is the assistant that passes out papers, collects things, calls on students, leads activities, and does odds and ends around the room. Today I was leading our morning work, and it struck me that this is so much a routine now, that I could have just about anybody in my room handle it. In fact, I've heard them do with when I'm not even in the room. So, I had our teacher's assistant handle the job. While he was leading the class, I walked over to my small box of props that I have in my closet, and I got out a tie. I wear a tie most days, so I figured if I was going to turn over the reigns of being teacher for a while, he should wear one, too.



The class did a fantastic job responding to him.

One of my favorite things to do when students are doing their morning work is to check for students who aren't tuned in. If they are fiddling with a marker after I have asked for markers to be put down, I will often take the marker and toss it to the back of the room. So, now that our teacher's assistant was in charge, I felt it was my job to let him get the full experience. I sat at a table, and started drawing, when he came up, took my marker, and tossed it to the back of the room!

I got to play sparkle to practice spelling words today. Our teacher's assistant led. I didn't get out until I was "sparkled."

I was called Clayton when I wasn't in my teacher role.

Today, I got to be just one of the class, and it was awesome.