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Creative writing activities for kids, teachers and parents by Bruce Van Patter

Creative writing activities for kids, teachers and parents by Bruce Van Patter

Holiday Writing Activities I try to give credit to those of you that inspire me to do these activities, so if I ever post anything and don't give a shout out to you.....let me know! My 1st grade team (the best team ever) uses these books for writing prompts. Check them out! Another writing activity would be to first read "The Polar Express". Writing warm-ups There’s nothing quite like a writing warm-up or game to put some fun into writing and get the creative juices flowing. Whether you’re teaching young children or teens, writing games serve an important purpose in the writing process. Spend five or ten minutes a day gearing your kids up for writing with some of these enticing activities! Five-Word Stories This is a great group activity to play with several children at home or with a co-op or class group. Directions: Each person begins with a 5-word prompt and then adds exactly five words of his own. Five-word story prompt ideas Once upon a time there . . .The mystery began when the . . .In a kingdom far away . . .Once, long ago, a tiny . . .Last week, while digging in . . .Today was far from normal! Word Association Another fun family or group exercise! Directions: Each person begins by writing a word on a piece of paper. Unrelated Words Game Messing with Modifiers This is a great vocabulary-building exercise for all ages. Example (younger child)

25 Activities for Reading and Writing Fun These activities have been developed by national reading experts for you to use with children, ages birth to Grade 6. The activities are meant to be used in addition to reading with children every day. In using these activities, your main goal will be to develop great enthusiasm in the reader for reading and writing. You are the child's cheerleader. Activities for birth to preschool: The early years Activity 1: Books and babies Babies love to listen to the human voice. What you'll need: Some books written especially for babies (books made of cardboard or cloth with flaps to lift and holes to peek through). What to do: Start out by singing lullabies and folk songs to your baby. As you read to your baby, your child is forming an association between books and what is most loved – your voice and closeness. Activity 2: Tot talk What's "old hat" to you can be new and exciting to toddlers and preschoolers. Yourself and your child Activity 3: R and R – repetition and rhyme Activity 4: Poetry in motion

Common Core Support Tools Below you will find unpacking standards documents to support teachers in their understanding of the common core and essential standards. The unpacking documents demonstrate at a granular level the knowledge and skills students are expected to master at a particular grade. Important Note: The current Standard Course of Study will continue to be taught and tested during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years. New standards and assessments are to be implemented for the first time beginning with the 2012-13 school year. Please send any thoughts, feedback, questions and ideas about additional resources that would help you start preparing to teach the new standards to feedback@dpi.nc.gov. English Language Arts Unpacking Standards Kindergarten (pdf, 276kb) 1st Grade (pdf, 161kb) 2nd Grade (pdf, 170kb) 3rd Grade (pdf, 165kb) 4th Grade (pdf, 282kb) 5th Grade (pdf, 298kb) 6th Grade (pdf, 315kb) 7th Grade (pdf, 300kb) 8th Grade (pdf, 340kb) English I & II (pdf, 303kb) English III & IV (pdf, 302kb)

Origami & Math Origami & Math So, you're interested in origami and mathematics...perhaps you are a high school or K-8 math teacher, or a math student doing a report on the subject, or maybe you've always been interested in both and never made the connection, or maybe you're just curious. Origami really does have many educational benefits. Whether you are a student, a teacher, or just a casual surfer, I have tried my best to answer your questions, so please read on. So exactly how do origami and math relate to each other? The connection with geometry is clear and yet multifaceted; a folded model is both a piece of art and a geometric figure. For instance, when you fold the traditional waterbomb base, you have created a crease pattern with eight congruent right triangles. On the other hand, if you are a person who likes puzzles, there are a number of great origami challenges that you might enjoy trying to solve. Origami, Geometry, and the Kawasaki Theorem How about the angles around this point?

Spelling Lists for Grade 6 students using Ozspeller, which is a Free Australian Online Spelling Tutor and Game for students and everyone wanting to improve their spelling skills. It features spoken (voiced) words, hints, dictionary and sentence prompts, a The words included in each of the Lists for Grade 6 are shown below. Note the name of the list and use it to set student tasks. More lists are being added all the time so check for updates. You can print each list with five columns for students to do manual exercises. Grade 6 - Easy 1 against almost alone also always anyway army aunt beach become begin begun belong beside boat body born both bought bread Grade 6 - Easy 2 bridge broke brought build built carry case caught cause centre chain change charge check chest cold collect collide cool copy Grade 6 - Easy 3 death deep died discuss doctor dollar done down dozen dream dresses drink drive duck dugong during easy eclipse enter evening Grade 6 - Easy 4 except expand expect explore extra fair family feel few fight fix float floor flour flower follow forget front fuel powder Grade 6 - Easy 5 galaxy gauge goes govern grate gravel gravity great groceries ground guard happened happy hardly hear heard heart herself himself robbery Grade 6 - Easy 6

Common Core Vocabulary Wall Set: 4th Grade First of all, YAHOO! This is my 100th post! I never knew that blogging would turn into #1- something I love, and #2- a complete addiction! :) YAY! This is currently what works for me..... but not anymore! Right now, I just have these available for 4th grade, but I am planning on adding them for each grade level. You can view the 4th grade Common Core Vocabulary Wall Set in my TpT store by clicking the picture below. And... because I like a good giveaway (which I am also doing with my Spring Math Journal Prompts & Fraction Packet, click {HERE} for more info.) 1) blog about my vocab wall set with a picture (the one above) and a link to my TpT store and blog 2) come back to this page and comment with a link to your post. Remember the first two are my winners so be quick! Lastly, I have an awesome giveaway that I have coming up. 2 Products 2 Giveaways 2 Lucky Winners Here's a hint.... it's technology!

Math journals, how to use math journals to support math achievement. Math Journals For All Ages Why Math Journals? Journal writing can be a valuable technique to further develop and enhance your mathematical thinking and communication skills in mathematics. Journal entries in mathematics provide opportunities for individuals to self-assess what they've learned. If math journals are something new, you will want to use the following strategies to assist the implementation of this valuable writing activity. Procedure: A journal should be written at the end of a math exercise. Math Journal Prompts To Get You Started: I knew I was right when...... If I missed____________ I would have to__________________. The thing you have to remember with this kind of problem is........ Tips I would give a friend to solve this problem are......... I wish I knew more about...... How many times did you try to solve the problem? Could you have found the answer by doing something different? What method did you use to solve this problem and why? Was this hard or easy?

200 Free Kids Educational Resources: Lessons, Apps, Books, Websites... This col­lec­tion pro­vides a list of free edu­ca­tion­al resources for K‑12 stu­dents (kinder­garten through high school stu­dents) and their par­ents and teach­ers. This page is being updat­ed and cleaned up dur­ing the COVID-19 cri­sis. Please tell us if we’re miss­ing some­thing valu­able. Below you will find free video lessons/tutorials; free mobile apps; free audio­books, ebooks and text­books; qual­i­ty YouTube chan­nels; free for­eign lan­guage lessons; test prep mate­ri­als; and free web resources in aca­d­e­m­ic sub­jects like lit­er­a­ture, his­to­ry, sci­ence and com­put­ing. Home School­ing Resources Dur­ing COVID-19 Amaz­ing Edu­ca­tion­al Resources: A spread­sheet of 300+ edu­ca­tion com­pa­nies offer­ing free sub­scrip­tions due to school clos­ings. Free Audio Books, eBooks and Text­books Free Audio Books: Our col­lec­tion of 450 free audio books includes many chil­dren’s clas­sics. For­eign Lan­guages Video Lessons/Tutorials Art & Visu­al Cul­ture (Web Resources)

4th Grade Spelling Words / Fourth Grade Spelling Lists Enjoy our 4th grade spelling lists plus practice these spelling words for fourth graders online. You can also create your own custom lists all for free at Home Spelling Words. Fourth grade is a great time to use spelling to improve vocabulary which helps your student become a better writer. All Printable Lists / Study Online Make Your Own Spelling Lists Make your own spelling lists by registering for your free account. What Parents Are Saying... Spelling Games Fill-in-the-Blank Game A new game is generated every time so you can play all week and not get bored! Word Find Randomly creates a new word find for your student with the words from their spelling list. Spelling Soup Catch the correctly spelled word with your soup bowl for points.

EXPLORE ® Test: Above-Level Testing Above-level EXPLORE® testing offers insight into students academic abilities by providing personal measures in English, math, reading, and science and invaluable testing experience. Students who already excel on grade-specific tests may benefit from this above-level test (traditionally given in the eighth grade) which will provide helpful insight into their level of ability and their depth of knowledge. Though Duke TIP recommends taking advantage of this opportunity, testing is optional and is not required for participation in any of our talent search benefits or educational offerings. All enrolled fourth through sixth grade participants in the Duke TIP 4th–6th Grade Talent Search are eligible to register for and to take the EXPLORE test once each school year. Parents and testers should expect this test to be challenging. The EXPLORE consists of four 30 minute tests measuring aptitude in mathematics, science, English and reading. Registration Dates and Fees Score Reports Recognition

Letter Sounds (Phonics on the Web) Consonant Sounds Consonants are the letters which stop or limit the flow of air from the throat in speech. These are the sounds, or phonemes, of single consonants: Sometimes the vowel u takes upon itself the consonant sound of w, as in quick or suave. Vowel Sounds A vowel is a sound made by the relatively free movement of air through the mouth, usually forming the main sound of a syllable. Each vowel has two sounds: a long sound and a short sound. When a single vowel letter is in the middle of a word (or syllable), it usually says its short sound (e.g., got, bed.) The following is a list of vowel sounds, shown along with their diacritical marks: The letter y sometimes substitutes for i and is a vowel when it does so.

4th Grade Common Core Math Cards!!! Finally! After much hard work, the Common Core math word wall cards are done!! I am so happy to have them finally finished! AND, they will be on sale through Monday for $4.20, along with all of the other items in my store! To go purchase your set, or any other items in my shop for 30% off, click my Teachers Notebook shop button below! Happy Sunday! Phonics Page Need help with your child's phonics homework?The following rules have been covered in our class.As we learn more about letters and their sounds I will add to this list. Pig Out on Phonics Rules vc RuleA vowel followed by a consonant is short; code it with a breve.A breve looks like a smile placed over the short vowel.Examples of words following this rule:log cat sit tug wet v RuleAn open, accented vowel is long; code it with a macron.A macron is a line -- placed over the long vowel.Examples of words following this rule:no me so we go hi Twin ConsonantsTwin consonants are two identical letters side by side in a word with only the first letter making the sound.To code a word with twin consonants cross out the second letter of the pair.Examples of words following this rule:ball class stuff Consonant DigraphsA digraph is two letters that come together and make one sound.This is different from a blend. K and C RulesThere are two ways to spell the /k/ sound. Combinations

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