Kleinspiration. Unit 1 Launching With Small Moments Resources. HANDWRITING. The Handwriting Fairy! It's time... the handwriting fairy NEEDS to visit our classroom again!
The students have been writing longer pieces than they've even written before, but it's so sloppy that it's starting to drive me crazy! I need to address this ASAP! I have to say, I love the Handwriting Fairy Pack from What the Teacher Wants (below) and it is 100% my inspiration for this post! Please be sure to visit Rachelle's blog to get the original pack! SecondGradeSquad.com / 2nd graders wrote about a time they got hurt (we called them Ouch Stories). We used bandaids as artwork when they published their stories. Literacy / for stories that pop into our heads during the day. Squiggle Stories! When I did my student teaching in 1st grade, my mentor teacher (who was fabulous!)
Had this as a fun little writing project. I have used it every year in 5th grade and my students love it. The 1st thing the students do is turn their squiggle into a picture. Then, they write a story about their picture. Simple! In this download, I have included a younger grades and an upper grades version, 2 pre-made squiggles, and a blank one for you (or your students) to create your own squiggle.
Kindergarten / Quiet writing Love this chart to introduce the expectations for it. Writing. I must say, I LOVE when writing workshop finally comes together.
It usually happens right around the same time they have built their stamina for Daily 5 and are ready to start rotations. You know the moment? It's when the lightbulb goes on and the kids realize that they are AUTHORS, and that what they do during writing workshop is special and important and thoughtful. For me, this finally came together last Friday. I noticed the little conversations had stopped (aside from reading your story to your neighbor) and they all had very serious, thoughtful faces on as they worked. J under the easel P and C at the listening table using the crate seats :) K and K at the reading table. K under my desk. J again. J under the sink. Sentence Writing Expanding adding who what when where why - Kristin Wilson. Silly sentences/dictionary kites. I’ve been a little MIA lately.
In all honesty, I’ve had the blogging “blahs”. Not a whole lot of motivation to sit down and post anything. I’ve just been lovin’ on my boys and spending an insane amount of my “free” time just having fun with my little family of four {and some out of town visitors, too!!}. Since my last post, things at school have been, ummm…CRAZY. Since Friday, I have… …sanitzed my hands…and the hands of 17 littles…NO LESS than 2,347 times.
…successfully cleaned up a few cases of the pukies {talk about gag reflex} Journaling Tips. 1.
Write in your journals EVERY DAY! We start on the very first day of school and we continue every day after. I show them how to write the short date and then I give them a sentence like this: I like to eat _____________. They copy the sentence and sound out a word to fit in the sentence. Collecting writing thru year; GO with squares. Call the cops. High interest word sheets. Word work for us consists of VOCABULARY, SPELLING, PHONEMIC AWARENESS, and PHONICS.
Each day I try to have three separate minilessons whole group. We also do a lot of word work during Guided Reading/Writing, Modeled Reading/Writing, Shared Reading/Writing, and Independent Reading/Writing. We use the White Board, SMART Board, and Pocket Chart. We use magnet letters and letter cards. We use books, poetry, notebooks, and charts. I use a combination of resources to address these four areas areas: VOCABULARY, SPELLING, PHONEMIC AWARENESS, and PHONICS. Burrito Book. Thinking tables and cinquains. Daily 5 writing journals pic. Daily 5 writing ideas. Shape-Book Patterns. Scrambled Sentence Freebie.
I can't believe how fast this year has flown by.
We are almost to THE END! My little ones are getting anxious. How about yours? Here is a little scrambled sentence to help keep them occupied. Riddles, limericks, etc. Ouch, video game writing prompts. Daily writing prompts for each month. Sentence strip surgery. Writing paper. Penmanship small, tall, fall. Show, not tell prompts. Facebook In Your Classroom? About a month ago I got this idea to bring Facebook into my classroom.
Is that weird? Actually . . . it's just the idea of Facebook status updates that I wanted to bring in. Indenting, sentence fragments on sent strips. Writing process tracker: large pencil. Story starter machine idea generator. Wizard of oz, kites and balloons. Have I mentioned lately that I am LOVING third grade?
Because, I am. I mean it. I think kids in third grade are kind of at the best age ever. What can i write about. Letter reversals. Learning lowercase letters can be really confusing for many children, especially the letters b, d, p, and g.
When you think about it, it's not surprising that kids often mix them up. After all, most objects don't change what they are just because you flip them around or turn them upside down! Several years ago when I went to a workshop while teaching, I learned about an awesome tip that really helps with letter reversals.
The best part? Your child won't need anything fancier than their own two hands (and a little bit of imagination). Writing goals. Sometimes you take the time to make something that looks good, but when it's all said and done you don't use it. Well, that's not the case with these posters. The "writing goals" poster is a great reminder for me and helps me coach children on the specific areas that they need to work on. When we're reading their story together I can see if they are meeting their goal. The students are using it as well reminding themselves of their focus.
If I notice there is another area they need to work on I ask the student to move their name to that area.