A Little More Nonfiction Fun!!

My students and I have now wrapped up our nonfiction unit! They learned so much and have become such in depth thinkers! I LOVE to hear their connections to what they are reading and the conversations that are going on in my classroom. I love that my students have meet the challenge to a more rigorous curriculum and are having meaningful interactions with text. I AM ONE HAPPY TEACHER!!! 

A super fun activity that  my students adored was an interview. As a class, we reviewed how to write a question and modeled our questions around those that were found in the biographies that they had read and Internet resources that they had used to complete research on an American President. We created a flip chart with several questions that they had created. 

Once the questions were written, we talked about how to organize our paper. We reviewed many biographies to create an organizer where they could write questions to ask their friend. The kiddos decided that they would use these questions as subtitles in their writing to help their readers find and understand information about their classmates. I was so impressed with them and totally got the teacher goose bumps as they took over the conversation about their books...they truly applied their knowledge!!

Once the class made plans for organizing their writing, they had the choice to use this organizer or to create this in their writer's notebook.

Once the class had made plans for organizing their writing, they used the following form to write their final rough draft on the following form:

These turned out wonderful and the kids had the best time writing them and sharing their writing with their classmates. One of the best parts of this assignment were the "photographs" that they drew of their friends in the text box provided in the final draft form. They were so adorable!!!

Hope you enjoy this! 

We have started with poetry and all I can say is.....SO MUCH FUN!!!

I will post more about that very soon!! :)

Nonfiction Note Taking and Writing

This past nine weeks, my little darlings had a WONDERFUL time exploring the world of nonfiction reading and writing. We have a great textbook adoption that has a variety of nonfiction selections. Has we moved our way through this super exciting genre, I thought it would be a great opportunity to for my students to begin note taking to help keep track of the important details. Here are a couple of graphic organizers that we used to jot down our thoughts:

Note Taking Form

 

Nonfiction Circle Map

 The kiddos read their stories and others that complimented the given topics (weather books, biographies on African American inventors and U.S. Presidents) and then took notes or added to the notes that they had already gathered. This made for an awesome prewriting activity as well!! Before the students used their notes to write their 5 page books, they worked with a partner and shared their notes verbally with them....retelling what they had read as they were planning their books!!

My little ones then used this stationary:

to write about their topics.My students also used this page to create their table of contents with the corresponding page number.

The next step to our fabulous 5 page books was to make a cover that included our title, cover illustration and author's name. On the inside cover, the kiddos wrote a dedication, publishing information and a copyright date.

Then, it was time to share our hard work with our classmates! They were so proud of their books and learned so much along the way!

Another Little Extra :)

I wanted to share a subtraction version of my Beach Ball Addition Review....

Hope you like it :)

 

Freebie, Big News and a giveway!!

Woohoo!!! It's Memorial Day weekend and I am ready for a great finish to another eucational year!! Yesterday was the big day when we all found out what we would be teaching and after 11 years in first grade, I will be moving in to a new phase of my career. I will be teaching

 SECOND GRADE

next year!! I am so excited about my new opportunity and am looking forward to seeing my firsties grow and develop as learners for another school year. So, know I am curious, any advice for the new second grade teacher on the block? I would LOVE to read your comments and start planning for the next year!


In other news,  I created this math review to cover a few of the strategies that my firsties learned this school year. I plan to create a subtraction page as well so make sure to stop by and check it out :)

         

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST......

I will be celebrating the end of the year and my big move to second grade with a GIVEAWAY!!

Stay tuned for all the magical details in my post this weekend.....

I am all smiles today and I hope you are too!!

I am SOOOOO excited to have you here!!

Happy Monday (last one of the year for me - Woohoo)! I am so happy to be back on track after what seemed like forever since my last post! As you all know, the school year is very quickly coming to an end and I have been super busy finishing grades, going to meetings, DRA testing and a million other things. But, I am looking forward to this short week and saying hi to many new friends through Tag! You're It over at TBA. I am so happy to be a part of such an amazing group of teachers and am honored to be a featured author this week.

I started blogging in January as a way to find new materials for my classroom...and WOW did I ever!! I have not only found so many wonderful and inspiring ideas but have been so lucky to find a new group of PHENOMENAL teachers to collaborate with through blogging. I have meet some of the sweetest and most dedicated teachers I have ever known and I am so grateful to have found this opportunity to grow as an educator.

This week, I will be posting some freebies and also having a MAGICAL giveway with the lovely Ms. Magge from First Grade Brain and Ms. Perry from Primary Prespective....so make sure to come by and visit this week (and invite a friend along too!)

So to start your Monday off...here is a little something that I used with my kiddos that I hope you will enjoy:

A Royal Event...

Once upon a time, there was a very excited teacher who couldn't wait to get to school the next day. She knew that her students were going to have a magical time learning of all the royal tales of far away lands....

Here is a sneak peek of what the week has to bring.......

Check in and see all the adventures my little firsties will be having in the land of Fairy Tales (and find a few freebies along the way)!

Hello again!!!!!

I am so happy to have a chance to post tonight! There have been so many wonderful ideas going on in blogland and I must say....I am grabbing the chance to add some of my own :)

First up.....I love all the wonderful ideas that I have seen on classroom management. Although the green-yellow-red system is one that works with most students, I couldn't help but try something new with my group of kiddos this year. As I looked for alternatives, I came across a chart that had five colors rather than three. This system has turned out to work really will with my class because it allows students to strive for a "sparkle" rather than just a  good day. My students are able to move fluidly through the day, allowing them to be able to make decisions that will benefit them, even when they have made choices that ....well, weren't the best. We agreed, as a class, that the only time that you could not change your color "up" is when someone changes their color to red. All in all, I have been really impressed with this chart and with the students response to it.

I loved that the person who created this chart gave their students gems to deorate their clips when they got a "sparkle" ...and the kiddos are still SOOO excited about getting a gem for their clip!

I made my own posters to use with this system.... I hope that you like them!!

Just click on the picture below to download.

 

I plan to post some great activities that I have done with my kiddos very soon so make sure to drop by and check it out!!

Have a happy Monday!!

Literacy Stations

My kiddos love literacy stations! They enjoy working independently and with a partner and adore all the wonderful ideas I have collected (so many sensational blogs....I can't help myself!!). However, there are times when little friends can't contain their excitement and energy and become a distraction to others that are trying to stay on task. I have been guiding my students to make better choices and one of the things I like to do with them is have them fill out a behavior report. The kiddos reflect on their behavior (while sitting out during one rotation as a consequence) and work on the report. Then we take a minute or two to discuss what happened, what would have been a better choice and what they will do during their next opportunity at stations. Then we both sign the bottom, just like a like a real contract :) and the student goes back to stations. This has worked with a few of my students who need a little more support than the others.

What do you do to keep literacy stations running smoothly? I would love to hear all your FABULOUS ideas!!

My Human Body Mini Book

I am so excited about all that is blog related that I have started on a few little things. This little cutie is an abbreviated mini version of the book I made for my class that is in my TpT store. I am new to all this so hopefully the post will work...cross your fingers! Oh and please let me know what you think :)

Click to Download