Fabulous Melissa from Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late!

Melissa from Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late is this week's Best Guest Blogger!! I love her blog and if you aren't following her then you definitely need to! Enjoy!!!

Hi, my name is Melissa and I blog at Don't Let the Teacher Stay Up Late. 

I was so honored when Tina asked me to be a guest blogger. It's so neat that just a year ago, I was starting up this blog with a few followers from my personal blog. Now I'm almost to 300 followers and guest blogging on other sites!

I have been teaching for 7 years at the same school just outside of Richmond, VA, but I have been in a few different positions there. My first year marked the end of the "Primary School", so we only had grades K-2. I taught 1st grade with the understanding that I would move to upper grades (my heart) when the school became K-5 the next year. After that, I spent 5 years in fourth grade, which is my true love. Last year, my principal asked me to move into the Title I Reading position for grades 3-5. I was a little sad to leave the classroom, but it was a great opportunity to use my Reading Specialist certification that I had JUST completed that year. Plus, the demands past school hours are much smaller, which is perfect since I have the cutest little boy ever waiting at home for me to play with!

Sorry, I just had to brag about him. I'm done now!

As a reading specialist, I have the pleasure of working with students in small groups (anywhere from 5-12ish) throughout the day. I also get to push-in to classrooms and do some fun whole class lessons with other teachers. I love to share new books and activities with other teachers, especially since my time with the students in small groups is too limited for some activities. We do a lot of review games and activities mixed with an adapted form of Daily 5 when students are in my class, but I have to say that I miss getting to do crafts with my sweeties.

We do a lot of mini-lessons with some great books, so I've been working on building up my read-aloud selections. I have a ton of favorites, and I will share some of these lessons on my blog from time to time. Probably one of my favorite go-books for a lot of different skills is A Bad Case of Stripes. 

 

I just LOVE this book, and there's so much you can learn from it! I like to use it to teach Predicting, Cause and Effect, Visualizing, Main Idea/Details, and Problem/Solution.

I entered the blogging world a little over 2 years ago when all of the girls in my small group were blogging. It seemed like a lot of fun, so I started up The Dalton Gang. After I started getting into the groove of it and browsing around, I stumbled upon the teacher blogger community and got sucked in! Pretty soon my blog was being pulled in two very different directions. I decided it was time to split off and start a teacher-specific blog. I still post on The Dalton Gang occasionally, but it gets neglected a little more, at least during the school year.

I also have my own TPT and TN store. Most of the products in my store are for grades 3-5 Reading, although I do have a few other products. If you want to say hi, please come by my blog! I love new followers and comments!