Wouldn’t it be fun to make a classroom book?!

Last weekend I attended my sister’s college graduation at Virginia Tech. Since the drive to Tech is a bit long, my family had lots of time to catch up. While talking about FreeReading with my father, he mentioned that I should spend time on the website blurb.

Blurb is a website and service that allows you to turn your photos, text and artwork into beautiful and professionally bound books. For examples of the types of books you can make using this site, click here. My father’s good friend Andy Ilachinski uses blurb to create books of his photographs. Andy highly recommends the site, which in my mind is the equivalent of giving blurb a Michelin star!

Just imagine how much fun it would be for your students to create a professionally bound class book filled with student poetry, illustrations and more!

Have fun!

Anna

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Happy National Poetry Month!

It’s National Poetry Month, so why not celebrate with these classics:

Where the Sidewalk Ends, Don’t Bump the Glump, The Giving Tree … Ring a bell?! Who doesn’t have fond memories of curling up with these Shel Silverstein hits! Check out Silverstein’s website! You won’t be disappointed. This site is SO much fun for both children and adults. You can watch animations for each of Silverstein’s books, you can find printables and activities about poetry, and you can try your hand at writing some poetry as well! Click here to start! -Anna

Welcome!

Welcome to the Literacy is Priceless blog. I am a first-time blogger, so bare with me, as I get used to this new online world…

 

I guess I should start by introducing myself. I am a first grade teacher on the south side of Chicago. Like most public school teachers, I find myself with too many kids in my class, not enough help, and the ever-present problem of a broken copy machine. When I am not in school, I am busy planning my upcoming wedding. Busy is pretty much the theme of my life for the moment!

We all know that most teachers are pressed for time. That is why I want to share this great website with all of you. Check out Kidzone. The free printables save lots of time. I haven’t used it yet, but the word family card game listed under 2^nd grade will definitely be at my Game Board Center next week. And I did the poem worksheet #2 with my class last week. I needed a quick writing activity. Well, actually I needed something cute to display for the parents at Open House! Either way, it worked out well. We did Worksheet #2 in class as a rough draft, and then I had them recopy a final draft and illustrate it. I hope you find this site as useful as I have.

Melissa