Showing posts with label literacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label literacy. Show all posts

June 14, 2014

*FREEBIE* Reading Wonders QR activity

*blows dust off blog*

Yikes! It's been awhile since I last updated this blog! I've been busy having and raising babies!

This summer calls for lots of relaxation and doing the things I love with the people I love most....but as a teacher, I can't totally get school off of my mind. Our district is adopting McGraw-Hill Reading Wonders! So far, I'm excited with what I see and with the alignment of the common core.

I have started to create materials to go with the first grade Wonders program. I plan to still use The Daily 5 as my framework, but incorporate minilessons and activities from the Wonders program. Hopefully it will be a great marriage between the two.

To start off, I have a wonderful freebie.





Please leave feedback if you like what you see! Thank you! Happy weekend!

March 12, 2012

The Dot Project -- Digital Art!

I read about The Dot Project and thought I'd try it out with my first graders. We read the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. This is an inspiring story about a student who doesn't think they can draw and ends up making great art. The students were ready to make their own art after reading this book!

Drawing on iPads would have been super fun, but we don't have any in our classroom. So we went to the computer lab and used Kid Pix to draw our very own dots. They are all unique and beautiful. The kids really enjoyed this and I'm sure we'll be doing more digital art in the future! Just another easy way to incorporate some tech into your day!




March 8, 2012

Nonfiction Text Features

We've been spending the week learning about text features of nonfiction books. This is coinciding PERFECTLY with writing "All About Books" ala Lucy Calkins.

We made this anchor chart...a great visual for the kiddos.


And today, the students dug deep into their own nonfiction books and looked for the specific features we've been learning this week.

To download, click the picture.


October 4, 2011

CHOICE Time for the Daily 5!

Yesterday was the day my firsties have been waiting for -- making their own choices for the Daily 5! I knew they were ready! We spent the minilesson during the first choice to talk about my expectations for choosing, which include the following:

  1. You must pick Read to Self every day.
  2. You must do Work on Writing 2 times a week (we also have a separate time for writing).
  3. No more than 6 at the Listen to Reading Center. 
  4. There must be an even number for Read to Someone. 
  5. Pick a variety of activities.
So far, so good! I will start reading groups tomorrow -- for now, I'm still individual conferencing and making sure things are smooth before I'm committed to groups!

But isn't this a beautiful thing??


My Word Work and Work on Writing stations are on the other side of my classroom.

Also just wanted to share how I use our "CHECK OUT OUR SCHEMA" chart.

A student stands under the poster and tells us their schema prior to reading a book. **Emphasize to the others in the class that everyone's schema is different. They may not have the same schema as this student does.


Then, we read the story....
After the story, the same student gets up to tell us the new schema they have after reading the book. Also, if their were some misconceptions, those are talked about as well. Students are really able to see how schema grows and changes during this lesson.


Thanks to Rachael for the fabulous idea! This reading response sheet can be used to recording schema and thinking prior to reading, and after reading. Mark schema before reading with red, and after reading with blue! Here's a freebie for you! Great idea!!

If the graphics aren't showing up below, don't worry, it will download just fine. 


schemaresponse

October 2, 2011

October Readers' Theater

I love to have every student in my class participate in a readers' theater during the month of October. We practice a lot, have fun putting props together, and then we invite the parents in for a fun little show.

Each one of these scripts has 10 parts --- perfect to split your class in half. Depending on how many kids I have each year, I may assign the narrator parts differently.

They are challenging enough for your higher students, and there are parts for your beginning readers too. 

The first one I'm offering is Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman. This is a cute tale about a witch who can't get her pumpkin off of the vine and the friends that help her.



bigpumpkinRT



This story is always a favorite! The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams is a fun story about a lady who is walking home and runs into a pair of shoes, a shirt, a pair of pants...and a HUGE PUMPKIN HEAD! The ending may surprise you!



littleoldladyRT2010



Have a great week, everyone!!

September 12, 2011

Eight Planets Around the Sun...

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope everyone is having a great start to their work week!

Last week, I posted a poem titled Planet Roll Call. You can find that printable HERE. I decided this would make a super cute little Reader's Theater for my firsties. 9 different parts...I can get all of my students participating if we do it 2 times through. Perfect!

I made little planet hand puppets....I guess you can call them puppets, but they don't do anything but slide over the little hands of my firsties. :)


We will use these for our reader's theater. I think overall they turned out pretty cute! The kids love them and that's all that matters!

I modified the Planet Roll Call poem to be read as a reader's theater. Feel free to download! It messed up the original font I had, but it works. :) Enjoy!

Planet Readers Theater

We also read this book today:

And made this graphic organizer about astronauts -- inspired by Abby at The Inspired Apple!