Scavenger Egg Hunt: Equivalent Expressions

Teaching is a blast because nothing is the same.  Sure, I teach the same standards each year and often use similar lessons and activities.  But each group is so different that it makes each day a blast!  The munchkins this year are in need of some extra practice for equivalent expressions.  We've moved on from an intense focus, but I REFUSE to let their hard work slip away into forgetful oblivion.  So, we're having an Easter Egg Hunt.  Because we can.  And because DEEEEEEEP down in a "cool" 6th grader's heart is a love for all things fun and all things holiday.  They're just taller kids. 

Anyway, I made this snazzy guy and I am PUMPED to bust it next week as we gear up for spring break.  #ineedallofthefocusicanget  I figure the kids are wild anyway, so why not take advantage and send them outside to do math.  I may even put a few Starburst Jelly Beans in them as well.  If I don't eat the bag, first!

I'm using this product I made which can be purchased in my store, here.  (PS - If you're not an egg/Easter person, don't worry.  It can be used for anytime of the year!)

 

I have 28 kiddos, so I'm going to make 4 groups of 6-7 (depending on how many kids are absent - a lot of families start vacation early......)  but I'm also going to put a few equivalent expressions in eggs that don't match anyone's expressions because I think it's also important to say, "Hey!  This one isn't equivalent at all!" vs. just finding a way it CAN be equivalent. 

 

 

Keep your "base" expressions (the part with the number) for a souvenir.  (this page doubles as the answer key...so they're there for reference)

 

 

Everyone in the group needs the response sheet.  There is a space for each equivalent expression! 

 

 

Send them outside to get out the energy, find eggs, AND do math.  It's a win-win-win.

 

PS - I make a rule that they have to stay at the egg to figure out if it's equivalent or not.  They can only keep the egg if it is, otherwise they put the paper back and leave it alone.  I let them take their whiteboards out, too, for a space to solve.

 

 

For your answer key, print 6-to-a-page in the "multiple" section of your print options.  This allows you to have ONE sheet with all of the answers.

 

 

Happy hunting!

 

 

 

 

Have Courage & Be Kind

There are tons of things that are hard about being a teacher.   The hardest, in my opinion, is seeing our students hurt.  Sometimes we can help them feel better, and sometimes there are things happening in their lives that are out of our control.  And it breaks my heart into a million little pieces.  If my students learn but one thing from me in the 180 days I have to make a difference in their valuable lives, I hope they learn this: HAVE COURAGE AND BE KIND.  Yes, more than math, writing, science, art, history, P.E. and even more than passing the end of year test.  Students are people, and people are more important than any of those things.  

 

 

 

 

We could all use a little (or a lot) more of this in our world.  You are making a difference.  Every day.  Even if it feels hopeless, you are making a difference.  Your kind words travel an extended distance.  You are enough!  You are terrific!  You are valued!  You are important.  You are appreciated.  So hang in there!  You've got this!

Drawing Expressions

I seriously L.O.V.E. algebra.  Every little thing about it!  I love teaching it, I love solving it, I just love, love, love it.  *cue Beatles music....

As a teacher I have come to realize that not all students come through my door with the same sentiment towards algebra.  Thus, I have a personal mission to make sure they leave through my door with a love (or at least some mutual respect!  Ha!)

Algebra can get a little tricky when you start to mix variables in, so I created this to help my students visualize what is going on with the distributive property and the variables.  Sometimes when they distribute, they forget about the variable and they just add or multiply the coefficients.  Those variables feel sad! 

 

I laminate these for student use, but the document camera gets a nasty glare when I try to project laminated things, so this one is just written right on there as an example. 

Color coding! It's a life saver.  My visual students really latch on to this, and it also helps to get the idea of terms across.  Later, when we combine like-terms, we will bring the colors back!  I also like to keep all math symbols in one color.  This also helps break up the terms, and it seems to help the math symbols & operations stick around....they tend to get lost on some problems...

I hope this little idea helps!  You can find this in my TPT store!

 

Winter Blues Buster

 

I love winter.  LOVE it!  I do not, however, love indoor recess.  I think it's safe to say that every teacher loathes the intercom announcement that no one will step outside.  My second year of teaching, we had three weeks of indoor recess.  THREE WEEKS!  I'm surprised we all made it alive to February.  Growing up my teachers would just put a video in the VCR.  The first few days I thought, "Yeah, I'll do that, too."  But after about 2 days of that, I was pretty much over it.  I needed the kids to be doing SOMETHING.  Some teachers are golden and can get their kids to just play math games all recess, but my math block is the 90 minutes before recess, and it just didn't really fly with my "tween" crowd.  So, I've collected over the years, and with the snow coming down harder by the minute as I look outside, I am prepared for that intercom.  BRING IT!

Scattergories - Best game ever.  It's a quick set up/take down and can be played for as long or short as you like.  I like to play the game as a class first, and then set the kids free because the "challenge" process can get a little brutal without some guidance.  This game has been officially banned in my family because my siblings and I can't leave the game as friends.  Ha! 

 

Story Cubes - One of the teachers on my team gave me this the year I taught her son.  I love this game!  I use it in my writing centers, too, but the kids like to play it without actually having to write.  They just love the elaborate stories they can come up with!  Super easy to set up and clean up.  #win

 Set - This one definitely takes practice, but it is one of those fun card games that works the mind.  This is a great way for me to sneak in mathematical thinking and critical thinking without the protest.  In fact, my class thinks it's fun. 

Scrabble SLAM! - My first year of teaching the shyest, quietest girl in my class brought this game in during a cold week and asked if I would play it with her during an indoor recess.  She beat me by a landslide.  This game is great for young and old alike!

 

 

Dollar Tree Card Games - I picked both of these games up at Christmas from Dollar Tree.  I'm sure they have stuff like this for holidays all of the time, so stop by and see what they have!  For a buck, you can't lose.

Suspend - STEM practice in a cylinder.  Y'all, this game is a blast.  I play it with my husband and brother-in-law, and we all love it!  Be prepared for cheers and gasps throughout the game play, so if you're looking for silence, I wouldn't bring this guy out.  :)

Dominoes - These are "mini" dominoes that I bought at Dollar Tree a few years back.  I bought about 10 sets for math, but they are a popular choice during indoor recess. 

 

Appletters - From the company of Banana Grams (quick confession, every time I spell "banana" I have to sing Gwen Stefani....maybe she should make more spelling songs for easily misspelled words because I am yet to get that one wrong!) comes this game!  It's pretty much the same.  Only it's in the shape of an Apple.  Ha!  Scrabble works, too, but I like that these are the size of my hand vs. a whole box and Scrabble requires a longer time commitment. 

 

What do you do when you're trapped inside all day?



Plug it In, Plug it In...

No, this isn't a post about Glade plug-ins...  (Though I do show a clip of that nifty jingle when we talk about "plugging in" the answer to check our work...and my students think I'm nuts and "old" because that commercial hasn't been around for a long time...ha!)

 

Algebra is hands down my favorite part of math.  I use it ALL.  OF.  THE.  TIME.  I write equations to figure out if I can beat my brother and his family to my parents' house based on how many stops they make and how fast they are going...it's SO useful.  Getting that across to a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds takes more than just a nice speech, though. I'm sharing a few of my favorite things to do with my class to get them love-love-loving expressions & equations. 

To introduce variables I do this activity - and I FINALLY made a product and posted it in my store.  This just gets kids thinking about variables and what they mean - that they stand for something!

 

 

For each letter of the alphabet, there is a card with a variable.  For example, card B says, "B is bigger than a baboon."  They have to write B = a cruise ship (or whatever they pick) and they also have to PLUG IT BACK INTO THE ORIGINAL STATEMENT.  After teaching this for a few years, I've decided to get the plugging into their heads early.  So, their final statement is "A cruise ship is bigger than a baboon."  If they just say that B = cruise ship, it no longer makes sense in the original statement (Cruise ship is bigger than a baboon).  Why not throw a little grammatical practice in, too, am I right?  Poor kids. 

 

 

 

I love this activity especially because my class has to get up, move around, and talk to each other to find out information about each other.  Some of the statements say things like, "V wants to be a veterinarian." etc.  So they get to chat and they think they're totally getting out of math work.  My rule is that they can only use a person once on their paper.  That way they have to *gasp!* branch out from their BFFs. 

To practice evaluating expressions I created this gem: EQUATION INVASION!  The game requires the group to have a die!  A card is flipped and each person rolls the die as many times as there are variables.  This way not everyone has the same exact answer since they each roll for themselves.  Evaluate away!  If your answer is a multiple of 10, touch luck, Chuck.  You lose ALL OF YOUR POINTS!  (Invasion).  If it is not a multiple of 10, you get to add the answer you generated to your total points score.  I tell my class to keep each other honest because if your neighbor isn't being honest, they'll beat you.  Competitive, much?

 

This product differentiates in seconds - each card has the letter A, B, or C on it.  C is your most challenging card level. 

 

 

To differentiate WITHIN each letter, just change up your dice options!  I have a million different dice in my classroom.  If a student needs a change, just give them a different die!  I've learned that differentiation doesn't always mean writing three or four (or more!) different assessments and lessons.  There are some ways to make it really easy for myself!  #teacherwin!

 

 

For combining like terms, I use two things.  This activity from Middle School Math Madness.  It's great for your visual learners to color coordinate.  I also use this as a math center (also designed for quick differentiation) from my store here.

 

What are your favorite tips, tricks & products for algebra?

 

Desiderata

Today's post is a little more serious than I usually go for, but it's something that is near and dear to my heart at the moment.

 





 

My mom sent me a poem called "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann today.  It's just lovely.  Anyway, I couldn't shake how this poem made me feel in light of all that is going on in our world today, and as teachers, a huge part of why we went pursued a teaching degree was to let the future of the world know that they are important, they are valued, and that they are loved.  It is SO hard to remember on the days when the students know need this reminder most are the ones you want to yell at and send in the hallway and to tell them just how obnoxious and naughty they are.  But, I truly believe that so much of the violence in our country is a cry for help.  A cry from someone who doesn't feel valued and loved, and a cry from someone who needs to know that they are a child of the universe, no less than the tree and the stars and that they have a right to be here.  As a teacher, I hope when my students leave my classroom at the end of each year they feel more valued than on day 1.  I hope they learned academic stuff, too, but if they learn but one thing, I hope they know that I love and value them.



Oh Factor Tree! Math Carnival Part 2

So a few lovely, kind people were interested in the rest of the stations for my math carnival, so instead of trying to type it out on my phone for Instagram, I thought I'd just post about it here!  I don't have pictures because I haven't pulled everything out yet, so it's just ideas.  Sorry 'bout that!

These stations change each year based on what the group needs.  We usually host the carnival the second to last Friday before Christmas or sometime during the last week before Christmas break.  NOT the very last day because we get out at noon and eat lunch at 10:30.  And it's just a crazy, crazy day.

I use the math carnival to review a few topics that I noticed my class struggled with during the main instruction or things I don't want them to lose from the beginning of the year.

Oh, Factor-Tree

This station reviews prime factorization of numbers.  I cut out a Christmas tree from a poster board and laminated it because I wanted it to last.  On a yellow star, I write the number I want the students to "prime factorize."  On red circles to represent ornaments (or whatever color), I write every number involved in breaking the number down to prime factors.  Example:

Every number gets put on a red circle.  I like to cut straws in thirds for the lines.  :)  In groups, students are supposed to build the tree from top to bottom.  If they have extra numbers, they have to rearrange until every number is used!  My parent helper has a detailed answer key to check it, though I've been fortunate to have parent helpers that have helped enough that they already know how to do it.  Win!  I usually make 5-6 different problems to complete.  Remember, they are only at each station for 15ish minutes.


SKUNK

You can change this to whatever you want to suit your theme: elves, Santa, Claus, reindeer (if you want a longer round), etc.   This is to practice basic multiplication facts.  Instead of just adding the numbers together, I like to have the kids add the number and then multiply them by a certain number for each letter.  ex: for the u, everything gets multiplied by 6, for the n, everything gets multiplied by 9, etc.  My old teaching buddy actually has a product for it here if you'd rather not make it yourself: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Multiplication-Game-of-Chance-to-Practice-Basic-Facts-660547

The detailed instructions are here:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Lesson.aspx?id=956
http://illuminations.nctm.org/uploadedFiles/Content/Lessons/Resources/6-8/Skunk-AS-FurtherExamples.pdf

Divisibility Rules

One year our kids really struggled with this.  We wrote out numbers, placed them in a brown paper bag, and then the kids had to figure out which numbers they were divisible by.  We chose 4 digit numbers so they actually had to apply the rules.  :)  It was pretty low key.  You could have them roll the dice to come up with their own numbers or make it a scavenger hunt.

Moveable Fractions

This year my kids need practice with operations.  We've done a million hands on lessons, but they need to improve their speed because they can't rely SOLELY on drawing it out.  (Not that I am opposed to drawing it out - I think its CRITICAL for deep understanding, but speed and fluency in math is also important).  So I'm using this that I created for my first group: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jolly-Fractions-Fractions-with-All-Operations-CCSS-5NF1-5NF4-6NS1-1377655

I'll put this group in the hall with some Christmas music.  They'll LOVE it!

Mostly this is just a time to review and make it fun!  If students earn a sticker at each station (just for participating and not being obnoxious and genuinely trying), they can cash their stickers in for a homework pass after Christmas break.  I also give everyone a Christmas word search so that if their station ends early, they have something to work on, and my parent helpers aren't scrambling. 

Hope that helps my friends, you can make it though these last few days!!!

Christmas Math Carnival

You guys!  It's the most wonderful time of the year when I get to wish for snow and drink hot cocoa that has a candy cane as a stirrer.  YES!  Please don't hate me for being a winter-obsessive.  I love the snow - skiing, coats, boots, scarves, and NO WEEDS GROWING IN MY GARDEN!  Y'all.  Do you even know big my gardening/yard work struggle is?  Ask my neighbors.  They'll tell ya. 

PS, I just purchased Photoshop Elements.  The bottom picture is a free program, the top is Photoshop.  It's a JUMBO learning curve, but I'm liking it so far!  Any tips and tricks, send them my way!

 

My old teaching friend and I came up with the idea to host a math carnival during December as a way to review some key math concepts before the long break.  We picked out 4 topics that students had struggled to master so that we could reteach and review them, but we wanted to do it in a fun way! 

We set up 4 different stations in each of our rooms and mixed our kids and split them into 8 groups.  (By the way, they thought this was AWESOME to do math with the "other" 6th graders.  Ha!)  I also enlisted some parent volunteers to help out, though it's totally possible to do without them (though if you CAN get them in your room, DO IT!  It's so great to build great parent-teacher relationships). 

At each station, students earned a sticker on their carnival "ticket" for participating.  At the end, they could cash it in for a math homework pass.  This, my friends, is like winning a Golden Ticket into Willy Wonka's factory in our class because homework passes do NOT come easily.

This year, I'm replacing a station that I've used in the past.  My class really struggles with making simple mistakes with their math facts & remembering Order of Operations.  #pleasetellmeyourkidsdotoo  They know the ins and outs of the algorithm, and they can tell you why it works.  But they just go too gosh darn fast, and they mess up in one little place, and I worry about equations after the break because little mistakes like that just make or break a formula.  Ya know?  So, I'm throwing in this tasty booth.

What you need:
Hershey Kisses
Hershey Minatures
(you really can use whatever you'd like, I just like these)
Sharpie
Label/Post-it

Optional:
Those cute little Avery circle labels.  I didn't have them when I came up with this, but next year if I'm feeling like I want a cute booth, I will use those!

Put a number on each Hershey Kiss.  For differentiation, some groups can have fractions while others have simpler numbers.  I'd stick with 0-14 and use each number several times.  Maybe like two times with 8-14 and three times with 0-7.  This is a very careful set-up....can you tell?  On your Minatures, put a label or Post-it note on the bottom with a number.  These are the target answers.  Students take 5 kisses and 1 miniature to create their problem.  It plays just like Krypto, so if you've never played that, check out this video below...thanks random nice man for saving me time! :)

Here's a free PDF of the recording sheet for your kiddos!  I usually only give them 15-20 minutes at the station, so they generally get through 4-5 problems in that time.  It's a blast for them!

Elf on the Shelf in Your Classroom: 25 Days of Problem Solving

December is SO magical!  I remember my first year of teaching, I was just itching to get the Christmas season started in my room.  As soon as Halloween ended, I couldn't wait to implement all of the fun Christmas traditions I'd been dreaming of and planning all through college.  I waited as long as I could, but I didn't quite make it to Thanksgiving.  *ashamed, I know*  By the time Christmas actually rolled around, we were SO OVER IT!  Even my students were tired of Christmas music!  I was a total humbug that year, and I vowed to never EVER do that again.

And yet, here we are before Thanksgiving talking about CHRISTMAS!  :)  Don't worry, there's a reason!  I'm hosting a giveaway for a fun, new product for December, but I want the winner to have it BEFORE December begins!

The other morning I was in the shower getting ready for the day.  I have a love-hate relationship with showers (love them, HATE drying/curling my hair, and air drying looks like a lion got electrocuted), but I seem to get my best ideas for school in there.  So this little idea popped into my head of a way to do a "middle school/grown up" version of Elf on the Shelf and actually make it fun and educational.  As soon as I got out, I had to just dump all of my ideas out before they got away!  Click HERE to get this product on sale!  It's on sale through 11/20/15!

This set of problems features 25 problem solving and critical thinking problems!  (Mostly 25 because 12 just was NOT enough!)  I thought it would be fun to hide a problem somewhere in the school each morning (nice and early) and students can find and solve it each day.  If they turn it in with a good effort, they get a point.  If they get it right, they get a prize!  I've also thought of incorporating this into my behavior management system where the kids earn letters to a word throughout the day and if they get the word, we get to solve one of these the last 10-15 minutes and then they are entered into a drawing.  I haven't decided yet! 

 

 

There are 6 different varieties of student response sheets to fit the needs of you and your students.  I am going to be giving only 1-2 problems a day, so mine will be a quarter-sheet sized paper for each day so that the students have some space to work out their thinking!  Then they can just fold that paper up and enter it in the drawing.  I'm all about making December easy!

Anyway, take a look at some of the sample problems and be sure to enter the drawing on my Instagram account!  @6thgrademarksthespot  Along with the digital file for you and your grade-level team at your school, you'll also receive a set of COLORED questions that are task-card sized that are laminated and cut.  I am so thankful for all of you, so here's my way of saying THANKS to you!

 

**Please see terms & conditions for entering on Instagram**

A Long, Long Time Ago I Can Still Remember

I know that I'm a day late in getting this posted...since Veteran's Day was yesterday and all, but it just wasn't going to happen.  Sorry y'all!  Fortunately, this is an activity that isn't necessarily a Veteran's Day only activity.  It's terrific for all of November as we turn our focus to gratitude.

When I was getting my arts integration endorsement, we had a few classes on technological arts.  We were challenged to create a video with technology that our students had access to so that we would be familiar with it.  I've made a few movies in my day, but our school has Chrome books, and those don't come preloaded with video editing software.  There WAS an online program called Mozilla Popcorn that is an online video editing program.  And it's my favorite four-letter f-word: FREE!  Unfortunately, they no longer support this service, so...it's not available to make new videos.  :(

It's pretty basic, but, hey, when you're teaching video and movie creation to 11 year-olds, basic is okay!  Our other challenge was to become familiar with Creative Commons licensing for pictures & music.  When I was in junior high, I was in a choir that sang the song "In Flanders Fields."  I loved the song because it was gorgeous, but it wasn't until years later that I understood the meaning.  I decided to create a video that featured the song along with pictures and to use the original poem as a close read for my students to launch a more thoughtful essay on gratitude.  I was worried that my students would totally miss the point and think it was weird, but I should have learned to NEVER EVER underestimate 6th graders.

I had my kids read the poem first without any background.  (At this point, we had done a lot of close reading, so they knew the drill of highlighting, writing, notating, etc. and writing about their first read.)  We talked about it and I asked them what they thought it was about.  The first read most of them said, "I'm kind of confused...what's a lark?"  Ha!  Gotta love kids.  Anyway, I slowly introduced more information before each respective reading: history of the author, the story behind the poem's authorship, and where/what Flanders Field is.  I honestly struggled to hold back tears by the end of the third read as students where pulling out some SERIOUSLY DEEP MEANING!  They were so moved by this short poem.

For the fourth read, I asked them to watch the video and write down their thoughts as it went along.  As the video ended, not a soul moved.  They quietly left my room for lunch, and they frequently talked about how much they enjoyed the lesson.  It's one that I've used again and again because it is so powerful to instill deep gratitude in our students.  After all, we have SO much to be grateful for.

This would be a powerful way to begin a class project of sending letters and packages to troops overseas or to begin a social studies unit on WWI & WWII or The Revolutionary war (or any war really) so that students have a little more respect and understanding for those who have given their lives fighting for freedom.

I'm including the links for the background info and the video I used.  Because of the CC licensing, you are also welcome to use this video and edit it as you wish, so long as you are not seeking financial gain for the video, pictures, etc.  I'd LOVE to hear how it goes in your class!

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields.htm
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john-mccrae-in-flanders-fields-inspiration.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! IT'S FINALLY HERE!

Ohhhhh my lanta.  This was the project that just wasn't meant to be...according to fate that is.  In the course of my attempt to complete it, I have had to recreate it due to computer (user error, ha!) issues and I had to solve every card twice because I accidentally shredded the first one when I was anger-cleaning.  Yes, that's a thing at my house.  When I get really mad, I clean frantically, but it's usually in haste.  I was tired of the ghastly amount of junk that comes into our mailbox each day, so in anger I went to shred it.  Along with my SHOWN WORK!  Sigh.  But!  It's done!  And I love it!  And it's posted!  If you're interested, click any of the pictures or HERE and they'll link you to my TpT store where it's currently on sale for this weekend! 

 

Imagine me fistbumping you.  Because I am THAT excited that this is finally LIVE!!!!!!!!! 

 

 

 

 

I love QR codes!  They make immediate feedback so easy, and what middle schooler doesn't love pulling out their phone without fear?

 

These cards have multiple versions so that you can use one product with a variety of levels.  One version asks students just to explain how to break the shapes apart without the pressure of calculations.  The other version requires calculation and for students to decide which dimensions are actually necessary-some cards have extraneous dimensions!  It's good for them!

Every teacher needs simplicity in their lives without worrying about compromising the content.  There are multiple student work pages so that you can pick what works best for YOU!

The cards are designed on single pages so that you can pick you'd like to have them printed.  Work mats?  Yup.  Mini task cards?  Just tell the printer what to do!  Every teacher uses task cards so differently, so I want to make sure you get the options to do it just how you want without the hassle! 

I am stoked about these y'all.  Let me know how you use them in your room!  I can't wait to hear!

I Love Books and I Cannot Lie

It really is no secret that I love books.  I'm pretty sure most teachers do!  As I was doing a bit of book organizing in my library over fall break, I pulled out a few of my all-time favorites so I could share them!  I do this pretty regularly with my students because sometimes they just look at the library and think, "There's so many that I don't even know where to start."  I pull a few out here and there and talk about what I loved about each one.  Almost always those books don't go back in the shelf for a while.  Kids just need a little help sometimes, even the big kids!

The Giver and Wonder are two books that are talked about on nearly every upper elementary teacher blog, so I won't spend much time.  They are great, and you should read them.

Avi has FANTASTIC BOOKS!  However, I must admit that my favorite is The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.  Do your class a favor and get a newer copy of this book (probably within the last 10 years?).  The old copy has a girl in colonial clothing and my boys were just not that into it.  However, they enjoyed the story line, but it took a LOT of chapters to get them convinced that it wasn't a "girl" book.  :)  Almost all of them liked the newer version's cover.  Yes, we all judge books by their covers despite the old adage.

My first year teaching 6th my fellow teacher friend introduced me to this book.  We both read it to our classes at the beginning of the year and the kids LOVED it!  A ton of my students bought the book at the book fair or the book order to read along.  Win-win there my friends!  I read the first book out loud and then had the remaining books in the series in my classroom library.  They rarely are found IN my library.  They're usually on a desk.  Ha!

I have read so many Andrew Clements books it's ridiculous.  However, Frindle is hands DOWN my all-time favorite.  It's such a great discussion for words and how "texting" and "selfies" didn't really used to be words at all!  It's usually a crowd favorite, though I have found that a lot of my students are love-or-hate readers on this book.  Andrew Clements book typically feature a manipulative and clever protagonist that overcomes some sort of school system or educational set back.  Most kids can relate, but every year I have a few haters.  :)

So many great books here.  The Giver is such a great book because it really gets kids thinking.  I often save this one for a read aloud towards the end of the year, but I think it could also be a terrific book for the beginning of a 6th grade year (in Utah we teach government systems in social studies, and I really think this could be eye-opening!).  I love that students begin to value the importance of making wise choices.  My reading groups love this book and The Unwanteds (not pictured because it's checked out!) and comparing the two.  One of my FAVORITE things to do with The Unwanteds is to tie the importance of art and creativity into it as a launch and selling point to get kids to buy in to our increased participation of the arts.  (I have an arts integration endorsement and I am a HUGE advocate of the arts and the kids love, love, LOVE it.)

I am not a scary person.  I hate scary movies and scary stories.  When I was in fourth grade, my teacher had a copy of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark in her room and I read about 4 of them.  Guys, it took me years, YEARS, to go into a bathroom and look in the mirror at night (even with the lights ON).  Wait Til Helen Comes was a book I had to read for a children's lit class in college and it even scared me then.  BUT!  I think her books are fabulous.  Her books are great mentor texts!  Some classes I've had can totally handle this as a read aloud in October, but some have a few more sensitive souls (like me!), so just be aware that some kids are legitimately terrified.  It's a real thing!  

What are some of your books that you swear by in the upper grades?