Throwback Thursday!

Hey y'all!  It's time for another installment of Throwback Thursday!  Woo hoo!!  Before we get to all that, I just have to tell you that Mr. Spouse and I celebrated 9 years of *wedded bliss* yesterday :)  Ummmm...if I'm being totally honest, I don't think either of us wished each other a happy anniversary until it was time for dinner.  Life really got in the way!  I rushed Landon to the ER the night before with severe stomach pains.  Praise Jesus it was just GAS!!!  HA!!!  Our little pug, Lloyd, went to the vet for some issues...I took the boys to get their hair cut....we were going a little crazy trying to get things ready for our annual trek up north...and well...it was just a CRAZY day!  But it was great to finally sit down...sans kids...and reflect on the last 9 years and look forward to the next 90 {hey, a girl can dream ;)}

We actually got dressed up!  I mean, that sorta NEVER happens!!!  And the boys even asked to take pictures with us.  Pretty much the best anniversary gift ever!

We went to a yummy steakhouse and had the most amazing appetizer...a little Tuna Tartare {my husband has a VERY adventurous taste palate} and it was SO yum!

We finished the night with a DElicious croissant bread pudding topped with caramel, toffee chips, and cinnamon caramel ice cream.  YUM!!!  I was sorta floating out of there when it was all said and done :)

Now we'll move on to the real reason you're here....

Time for a little throwback!  Here's a post from January 2011.  One of my favorites!!!!!  Maybe it's something you can incorporate into your classroom this year.  My kids absolutely LOVED our Brown Bag Book Club!!!!!  Our favorite time of the week!!

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Originally posted January 7, 2011

Years ago I was lucky enough to attend a Linda Holliman workshop.  It.was.AWESOME!!  She is such a hoot and her ideas are SO inspiring!!!  While she was explaining a few different ideas to us, one of them really got my attention.  She talked about how her kids would complete a readers/listening response on a lunch bag and then she’d fill the bags with popcorn and have the kids partner up and share what they wrote.  I LOVED that idea!!!  Since I’m such a big fan of book clubs, I decided to incorporate this idea and turn it into a book club…hence the birth of the “Brown Bag Book Club”.  Y’all…my kids are OBSESSED.  And I gotta say…I’m LOVIN’ it, too!!!

Here’s a little peek at this week’s Brown Bag Book Club…our first of the year!!

So here’s how the book club works…

Choose a story to read at the beginning of the week.  This week, we read The Mitten. {We did a few whole group reader’s responses throughout the week…venn diagram, flow chart, story elements, etc.}  At some point during the week, have the kids fill out a graphic organizer/thinking map and glue it to a brown paper bag {lunch sack}.  I had my kids fill out a graphic organizer focusing on characters, setting, main idea, and author’s purpose.  Any kind of graphic organizer/thinking map/response to reading will do!

The kids held on to their paper bags until this afternoon {Friday}.  We ended up having an odd number of kids in the class today, so I grouped the kids into 3’s.  We talked about book clubs and their purpose…the kids were SO on board!  As I was passing out the popcorn for their bags, I had the kids talk to their groups about whether or not they liked the book, why, and what part of the book was their favorite.  I heard some GOOD discussions!

Once they had their popcorn, Brown Bag Book Club was in session!  I used these questions to guide discussion…

I gave the kids about 3-5 minutes to discuss each question and then have one group share their thoughts.  They were SO into it!  I couldn’t believe how well the discussions really went.  It was so fun to hear my kids really “dissect” the book.  Of course, the popcorn pick-me-up really helped, too :) 

I plan on having the Brown Bag Book Club meet every Friday afternoon.  I’ll use a different set of guiding questions every week {depending on the book} and the graphic organizer will change, too!  I think we’ll be using a beginning/middle/end graphic organizer this week because that’s one of our week’s objectives.  And I’ll always serve popcorn!  The kids just LOVE it!!! 

This might be my most favorite Friday activity!!!  It’s an awesome way to end the week and the kids get SO into it all.  I HIGHLY recommend starting a book club of your own!!  And if you do start one, let me know!!!  I’d LOVE to hear how yours is organized!! 

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Wanna share an old post from your early blogging days?!?!  Even if your "early" days were only a few weeks ago?!  I hope you do!!!  Just post a link to an "old" post below :)  Can't wait to see what I've been missing ;)