Avoid the Winter Blahs: New Winter Read Alouds are Here!

Despite the radio silence, I'm still here and busy learning, teaching, and just doing! Today I am finally able to carve out a little time to share with you some great resources for Reader's and Writer's Workshop that I've picked up in my substituting travels. With the (tiny) bit of extra time I have right now without a classroom to call my own, I've been searching out some great resources to add to my repertoire. In January, I was lucky enough to make it to a fantastic workshop held by the West Jersey Reading Council which introduced me to some great new winter books and I couldn't wait to share them here on my blog. 

A way to combat the classroom winter blahs is to inject some snazzy read alouds into your everyday routine. Some of my old favorites for winter read alouds are Snow Day by Jack Ezra Keats, a great one for demonstrating small moments, and The Mitten by Jan Brett, a no-brainer for tons of imaginative writing and craft projects or to kick off a primary classroom author study. Here are some new books that sound just perfect for incorporating into your winter read aloud library:

A Perfect Day by Carin Berger: A great way to get kids to start writing a personal narrative about their snow days (hey New England and Midwestern teachers!)

Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed: I can't count how many times I've taught a lesson on descriptive words, from getting my kindergartners to stop say "nice" and "good" and with my fourth graders to use more figurative language in their NJ ASK practice essays. I was so excited to hear about this book which gives very illustrative and imaginative descriptions of the different types of ice you encounter over the winter months. 

Cold Snap by Eileen Spinelli: Brrr, it's cold outside! This fun and engaging read aloud talks about the winter's bitter cold and a creative idea to beat the chill. This would be a fun way to discuss or review problem/solution in a story and might spark some great writing for "If it were very cold in my town, I would..."

Don't you just love new books and new lessons?

Tech Topics: Little Bird Tales

One writing concept I was working on with my kindergartners was adding details to their stories. As we were working on this in the first part of the year, my students were struggling with spelling, conventions, and other concepts of print and storytelling that are established throughout the year. I had them working on adding details to pictures that matched a sentence or phrase that I created for them. My classroom wasn't equipped with a lot of technology or the extra help but a resource that I would love to use eventually is Little Bird Tales. 

I first discovered this website when I was working as a teaching assistant at a gifted program this past summer. I used it in conjunction with a storytelling class to create their final project. It's a very easy website to work into your classroom: students come up with a story and draw artwork, you upload the artwork and record the students reciting the story. You and the students are then able to play back their story, complete with text (if you want to add it) and art work. It's that simple!

It's perfect addition to teaching the "add details" part of your writing workshop. It allows you to use the student's words and artwork as examples of why details are so important. When I was working with my students this summer, we would listen to their story together and stop and look at the picture. Many times I've had a student give me an oral telling of their story with so much excitement and details but, looking at their picture, you don't see any of it! I was able to listen for details in their telling that weren't present in their drawings. It also eliminates a lot of the anxiety of writing and really lets kids dig deep into their creativity. A great compliment to working with Little Bird Tales would be to use a picture book and look for details in the pictures that match what you're reading aloud. 

Go check it out; you're guaranteed to love it! Also if you happen to have an iPad or iPads in your classroom, they came out with an app and you can scoop it up here!

Celebrating MLK Day with Some Good Books

Whether you're doing it this week or next, there are some great resources to explain why we celebrate MLK Jr. Day to our elementary kids. And it's not just to have a day off, though that's nice too. Here are some of my favorite books for celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.


I just snatched this book up for my future classroom and as soon as you flip open the cover, you'll want one too. Kadir Nelson's gorgeous paintings of the March on Washington are accompanied by King's iconic "I Have A Dream" speech. It's a very visual book and will help your older elementary students connect to the speech and open a discussion of King's hopes and dreams.


Written by Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister Christine, this book describes what it was like to be a part of the march and how King took his ideas and dreams and formed them into his speech. This book will help second, third, and fourth graders make a connection to Martin Luther King Jr.


Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport is a wonderful picture book biography of Martin Luther King Jr. While detailing his life, Rappaport highlights key phrases from his important speech. It will help our youngest learners connect to King as it describes his childhood and how it shaped him into being a leader.

In addition to these wonderful books, I always like to look on Scholastic to see what kind of interactive lesson ideas they have for each and every important holiday. I especially like their ideas for grades 3-5 in planning a service learning lesson. I think teaching our students to help our community is a perfect way to honor the legacy of Dr. King.

And not to forget our littlest learners: I love this video made by a kindergartner found on Chalk Talk and it's the perfect way to bring the holiday and its significance to their level.

Hope you got some great ideas for celebrating MLK day! Make sure you click on the books for a link to purchasing them.

Snowman Addition!

January is the perfect time for winter and snow-themed lessons despite the unseasonably warm temperatures around here. The elementary schools I have been subbing in have snowflakes hanging in their windows and snowmen lounging on their bulletin boards. Let's not even start with the sledding, skating, and penguins. I happen to love the snowmen and was dreaming up some different way to integrate them into the primary classroom. 

That's when I dreamed up snowman math. One of my favorite things to use in my classrooms is activity mats. I have used different types of mats for both my literacy and math centers since the kids love having a unique surface to work on. It seems to really energize their learning and improve their interactions with the material we're learning. 

For snowman math, using the mat below, students can practice simple addition of two or three numbers. You could use counters or make it even more fun with mini marshmallows. I would definitely use this math mat in my kindergarten teaching as it aligns well with the CCS of using drawings or manipulatives to solve addition problems. It can even be made more challenging by using all three parts of the snowman to practice solving three number addition problems, a great activity up through second grade. What can I say, I love activity mats and I love snowmen!

Click here to download!

Let me know if and how you use it in your classroom!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my little (and  new) blog! I'm Miss Haring and this is my first year as a teacher. I absolutely love everything about being a teacher from greeting the kids at the door in the morning to dreaming up engaging centers and workshop mini lessons. I decided to begin the journey into teaching after graduating from college so I went back to get my certification. It's been the most amazing experience so far and I'm so lucky to have found my life's calling.

I'm beginning this blog after starting the year off in a maternity leave position in kindergarten. Boy, did I learn a lot about teaching in those first few months! Not only did I learn a lot teaching those crazy kinders each and every day but it energized my teaching and gave me a lot of ideas. I called my blog "Miss Haring's Garden" because I'd like to make this a place for sharing my teaching ideas that will help little learners grow. Since I haven't yet found my forever classroom, I don't have a place to put all those ideas.

That's where this blog comes in. I love collaborating, sharing, learning, and growing. Isn't that what teaching's all about? I feel like blogging is the perfect place to do all that and more. As I search for my forever classroom, I'd like to build my online classroom right here in my "garden". Come and join me as I grow my teaching garden!