Favorite Christmas Movies

I love Christmas because of all the decorations and the music. I also love it because I can see my favorite Christmas movies without my family thinking I’m crazy.

Here are my top 5 favorite Christmas movies: 

• Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
• White Christmas (1954)
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
• Elf (2003)

This would be a fun activity with students. Have them list their top 5 Christmas movies. It would be fun to put this list in a spreadsheet and then see how many of the same movies were listed. From the spreadsheet, students can make a chart of the top 5 Christmas movies for the class.

Put students in small groups and give them the class list of favorite movies. Have them come up with the group’s top 5 list and share it with the class.

Students can pick one of their five and write why they liked it. Students can pick one from someone else’s list and write why it didn’t make their top 5 list.

What are your top 5 Christmas movies? Please share.

Reading Lists

I have a Goodreads account and I log in the book I’m reading, the date when I’m done, and rate it. I also have a list of books that I want to read in the future. I’ve also connected with others who tend to read the same type of books that I do so when I’m looking for a book to read, I can glance at their lists for suggestions.

In August, I read 9 books. Four of the books were from a murder mystery series by Karin Slaughter. There are ten books in the series and so far I’m really enjoying the ones that I’ve finished. Two of them came as recommendations from friends. Two were sent to me for reviews. One was a nonfiction book that I read in order to reach my goal of reading twelve nonfiction books for the year.

I think keeping reading lists would be good to do with students. Older students could have a Goodreads account and follow each other. Younger students could keep a reading list of their own. They could list the book, the author, and rate it on a scale of 1 to 5. Students can get in groups and share the latest book they read and why they rated it the way they did.

Students who like mysteries can be grouped together. Others who like fantasies can be grouped together. Those that like an assortment of things can be in a separate group. These groups can change as student interests change.

When a student begins a book, the class can be asked to see who else has read it and what they rated it.

Different ratings of books can be discussed as partners. If the rating were different, partners can discuss why they rated it that way. This is a great way to have a critical discussion. The class can have a discussion on what they think makes a book “good” and what makes them rate books in a certain way.

Do you have students keep track of what they have read? Do they rate them and share their ratings? If so, please share.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

10 Things I Know To Be True

In Poetic Postings Day # 3 from Sioux's Page, Sioux gave this prompt and shared 10 things she loves. 

“Today's prompt involved a list. Some suggestions: 10 things I'd change... 10 things I've learned... 10 things I know to be true.”

1.     I can’t expect others to respect me if I don’t value myself.

2.     I can do more things than I realized I can.

3.     If I believe I can’t do something, I won’t be able to do it even if I try.

4.     The only person I can always count on is myself.

5.     Asking for help is nothing to be ashamed about.

6.     Limits that others put on my ability may not be accurate and if I want to try something, I should find out my limitations on my own.

7.     Mistakes are real opportunities for improvement.

8.     Killing people with kindness goes further than revenge.

9.     My mother always told me, “What goes around, comes around.” And she was right.

10.  I am a lifelong learner and I learn something new every day!

This would be a fun activity to do with my students. I like that I was able to choose what ten things I wanted to list. I would give my students a choice of three things but not more than that.

What 10 things would you list? Please share.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Making a To Do List

In Two Super Sexy Tips to build a better To Do List from Roman Reboot, Melissa asks,

“How about you?  How do you capture all of those things you need to do?  Paper?  Paper free?  And what about when you remember something in the shower?”

I used to make paper lists out for everything and had paper lists of my lists. Now I’m trying to move to a more digital versions.

I have started keeping a Google calendar that syncs my phone, iPad, and laptop so all appointments can be found on any device I use. My husband also gets the same calendar. I add alerts so that I get an email reminding me of appointments or things I should do.

I make an excel spreadsheet of my shopping list each week and even list the aisle that each item is found at my grocery store. I’m so geeky that I sort the items by aisle number so I don’t miss anything and I feel that it is more efficient than running back and forth between aisles.

If I don’t have an Internet connection or laptop or iPad, then I use the voice recorder on my phone. Then when I get home, I can play all the reminders and add them where they need to go.

If I’m in the shower, I just start making my list and repeating it over and over until I can get to my laptop, iPad or voice recorder.

Amazingly though, I still forget some things even if I try not to.

What do you do to remember all the things you need to do? Please share.