T.C. Booth's Blog, page 14

Recipe to Write

My love of stories began at an early age. Looking back, my mind was always geared to write. The stories flowed through my mind and  made for imaginative play as a child. Combine this with my passion for reading and the recipe to write was born. Like any good recipe, there is room for improvement as each ingredient is tweaked to perfection. The addition of new ingredients bring out the flavor of the masterpiece.

I have not perfected the recipe yet.  I am devoting this summer to improve my craft and enjoy the journey.

Read Your Way to the 1800′s!

This was the most amazing week at school.  My passion as a teacher and a writer is to get children excited about books.

The reading committee  chose to plan this year’s Right to Read Week theme around my book  The Time Travel Storm.                                                                                                                                                                   

I felt tremendously honored.  I was the kick off for the week of Read Your Way to the 1800′s.  I  read my book to each grade level and displayed the pictures on the screen using a power point. I also talked to the children about writing. I can’t even express the feeling of seeing the children so excited. The  school wide goal was to read 5,000 books by the end of Friday.  As of Thursday, the total was over 7,000!.

We also had two guest readers dressed like women in the 1800′s. They read stories set in that time period as well. The children heard musicians play music on instruments used in the 1800′s.  The high school drama club performed a skit of my book.  I had tears in  my eyes watching one of my former third grade students  play the part of the schoolmaster from my story.

The children had fun and read lots of books! What an awesome week!                                                                                                                                     

One room school house created by our talented art teacher to keep track of the books read.


Tagged: 1800's theme, children's book, Right to Read

Teacher Appreciation Week

Today I found a beautiful envelope on my desk from my principals and our student council.  Inside were two new pens and a gift certificate to our local root beer stand.  I enjoy this week every year.  I look forward to the little surprises each day. It is nice to feel appreciated.  I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow… See what others are doing to celebrate this week.

Tagged: teacher appreciation week

Smelly Socks!

The book Smelly Socks is an excellent story for characterization. The main character in the story, Tina, has a strong personality.  My children found the story hilarious and enjoyed picking out character traits for Tina.  The children wrote the character traits on a sock pattern and supported the traits with evidence from the story. They designed their own smelly socks and I displayed them on the wall. It was a fun review of this skill before testing.

Tagged: character traits, characterization, funny story, Smelly Socks, teaching with books

Testing! Testing! Testing!

I just finished up my lesson plans for next week with much wavering on what to do with the final days leading to the vital state assessments. (Our state changed the name from” tests” to “assessments”…more official sounding).  I decided on reviewing everything in math and reading in a “non test  taking” manner. We are going to play many review games, go on word scavenger hunts, and read stories of our choice for enjoyment and discuss them afterward.

My checklist is complete:

  Worked hard all year preparing my students for what they need to know in third grade academically and for life. ..check
Took care of all of their needs to the best of my ability…learning, emotional,  physical when necessary, social….check.
Have faith in them to succeed next week on the assessments and beyond the doors of my classroom…check.


Relax and know that I’ve done all I can do and enjoy my time with these precious children ….check.

Sharing….Testing Sign, Test Taking Survival Kit, Survival Kit for the Teacher

Tagged: assessments, test survival, testing, third grade

Earth Day

 I use the story Dear Children of the Earth by Schim Schimmel  to introduce my Earth Day Unit. After reading the story aloud, the children brainstorm ideas of how they can to their part to help Mother Earth.  I record the ideas on chart paper to display in the classroom.  Each child writes a Mother Earth Letter using the checklist I created. They also make a craft of Mother Earth from DLTK Kids to display on the bulletin board along with their letters.

Tagged: bulletin board, earth day ideas for the classroom, earth day unit, letter writing, mother earth, third grade, using literature in the classroom

The Time Travel Storm

I have had so much fun since the release of first children's book. My class was so pumped the first time I read the story to them. They enjoyed learning about what school was like in the 1800′s and wanted to know what I was going to write about next.

I feel so blessed to be teaching children and now writing stories for them as well. I hope to instill in each child the love of books.

Teacher resources available at www.tcbooth.com
Book available at Amazon and B&N.

The Power of the Pen

Writing is a powerful tool. Pent up emotions flow freely through the pen escaping the hand of the writer.

A character comes to life on paper with attributes created by holder of the pen.  His fate is determined by holder who has the power to decide the ending to his story.

Writing is the escape of reality to a world where the writer  decides the destiny of a journey so often out of one's control.

One of my most treasured possessions is my pen.

TC Booth

Part 3-Inside the Tree

Part Three

                                                          The Inside Tree

 

Now this is what I'm talkin' about! I thought my scratching post with the sitting perches was fantastic, but Brad really outdid himself with this. He put a big tree in the middle of the living right in front of the big windows. What more could a kitten ask for? I can hideout in the branches and look outside. I'm still curious to know what it is like out there. Oh well, I am enjoying this branch.

"Sasha get out of there." Tara makes me move. She and my human sisters are hanging things on the branches. Just when I thought things couldn't get any better. Now I can play with the dangling toys. This family loves me.

 "Sasha, no!" Bethany says."I just hung that angel on there."

  Angel, huh. How do you like this and that. I swing my left paw and then my right. The angel flies of the branch. I take it and run. Bethany chases me. I drop the angel and Bethany picks it up. You're safe for now angel, but I'll be back.

    My humans finish hanging things on my tree and then they shove a cord into the wall and the tree lights up. This is more than I can take. I've got to climb that thing. I take a running leap and bingo I 'm in the middle of the tree scurry  up to the top. Now to find a nice comfy branch.Ahh, here we go the perfect place for a nap.

  

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Sasha's Adventures Part Two

 

 

Part Two

  A Day in the Life of a Kitten

                                                                                                           

     Beep. Beep. Beep. The little box beside mommy Tara's bed was beeping. Tara stretched a pushed a button so the sound would stop. I uncurled myself from my sleeping position beside Tara and stretched.

  I follow Tara to the next room where she turns a knob and water comes out. Next, she puts something onto a stick with bristles and pushes the stick back and forth in her mouth. I sit on the edge of the sink and watch her.

  I follow Tara downstairs into the kitchen. This is my favorite part of the morning. Tara pulls a can out of the cupboard. I get so excited I can't stand still. I prance back and forth meowing.

" All right Sasha. I' m getting it.  I know you're hungry." says Tara.

She pops the lid off of the can and gets a spoon. I can smell the wonderful aroma! It smells like turkey and gravy today. Well, speed it up lady. Can't you see that I am starving here? "Meow, meow." I better lead Tara into the laundry room in case she forgets that my food dish is in there.        

"Okay.Okay. I am coming", says Tara. Tara spoons the food into my dish. I begin gobbling up the food as fast she spoons it in my dish. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. I finish the last delicious morsel.

  My belly is full and I'm feelin' good. Now it is time to find Tara. There she is in the big chair drinking her coffee. I jump up on her lap and rub against her purring.

 "There is mommy's little motor boat." says Tara "Do you have a full tummy?" I rub up against her as she pets me. I love mornings!

   After a couple of minutes, we head back upstairs. Tara turns on another faucet and fills up a big drinking bowl. I sit on the edge of the drinking bowl and Tara gets into the water. I dip my paw into  the water and lick it off.. When the water gets high enough, I lean over a drink it. A couple of minutes later, Tara gets out of the bowl and pulls out a round thing with a chain on it. This is the part I can't figure out. All of the water disappears. It happens every morning. As soon as the water is gone. I jump into the big bowl and try to figure out where it went. My paw explores the hole where the water went. I just don't get it.  This is my typical morning. Usually Tara and my human sisters leave for the day, but today is one of the days that they don't rush off. I like days like this. Everyone is home and giving me attention.  Brad is even home. I really like him. He plays with me a lot. There he is now. I think I'll sneak up on him from behind his chair. First, I crouch low and slowly creep toward him. I am zeroing in on his hand, slowly, slowly, and POUNCE. I attack his hand with my claws.

"Oh, you wanna fight?" says Brad. "How do you like the vulcan grip?" He puts his hand over my head and squeezes. I fight back swinging with my paws. I wriggle out of his grip and nip at him.

 Tara yells, "That's the reasons she bites us sometimes. Use her toys, not your hand, Brad."

Brad continues to use his hands and we battle. "She doesn't understand what is fun, does she Sasha?"  Brad says. After a few minutes of playing, I settle onto Brad's lap. He is big and I feel secure when I am laying with him. I doze off.

  I awake to hear the laundry room door close. I jump off of Brad's lap to investigate. Tara and the girls are coming in the door from the garage. I wonder what is beyond the garage. I have tried to sneak out  without success. I 've made it as far as the garage, but someone always pushes a button and the big wall of the garage comes down from the ceiling and traps me in.

  Tara is busy in the laundry room. I sit and watch her for awhile. She takes wet clothes out of a big white noisy thing that has a door. She leaves the room. I notice that the door on the white thing is open, so I get a little closer to check it out. It's not so scary when it is not making noise. I climb up to the opening and peak my head inside. It feels warm in here. What a good place to take a nap. I crawl inside. Just then Tara begins throwing cold wet clothes in at me. Ouch. Watch it. She slams the door shut and the noise begins. The inside of the white thing is moving. It is throwing me everywhere. BUMP. BANG. OUCH! Then the inside begins to get hot, very hot. YEEEEOWL! I screech. The door swings open and the nightmare stops. I hear Tara yelling, "Brad, I think I've killed the cat. Go check her. I cant' look."

 Brad looks in at me and smiles. He pulls me out, holds me up, and looks my body over. "She is fine." He yells to Tara who is in another room..

"Oh thank Goodness!" Tara comes running and snatches me out of Brad's hands. "Don't ever do that again." 

 The rest of the day my humans said I was fluffy and soft. They also said that I smelled like a drier sheet. 

That evening my human sister, Britany, puts a blue collar around me with a bell on it. "There, now we'll be able to hear you coming. Maybe that will keep you out of trouble."

  I don't see the what the big deal is. I am safe and sound here in my big bed. Life is good!