Non-Fiction Writing
General Non-Fiction Ideas / Resources: Activity Clues - A fun writing task which requires children to think of clues related to particular activities. Write to Santa! - Send a letter to Santa at Christmas, and receive a reply too! Describing Yourself - A game, useful for the beginning of term, which helps you and the children get to know each other. Letter Writing - Writing letters can be extremely enjoyable for children, and this page shows you how. Letter Writing Frame - A great letter writing frame for your children to use (PDF). Persuasive Writing / Adverts: Persuasive Words and Phrases - A selection of words and phrases which children can use within their own persuasive writing. Discussion: Discursive Writing - A discursive text (in PDF) with a framework. Explanations: Postcards - A fantastic way for the children to tell you about their holidays, encouraging independent writing without intimidating them.
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Word Work
Ok, so in my last post I mentioned being inspired to give my literacy block a little facelift. A week and a half ago I went to another school in my district to visit a T1 classroom. When these kids came into this classroom they were about 5 months behind where a first grader should be. This wonderful teacher has obviously worked extremely hard because her students seem to be right where they need to be now. She has the amazing blessing of having 3 adults in her room-- teacher, assistant, and tutor. Clearly, this allows her to do a rotation of 3 intensive small groups daily. So, here's what I came up... {These are all of the sheets I am using to make my groups and plan activities.} In my group, I also do a variety of reading and word study activities with a focus on reading fluency. My independent workers go to the tub and find their group's folder. So far, so good. --Mrs.
Home of word fun, word puzzles and word play!
Spelling - Educating Deborah
Yes, spelling or at least vocabulary is important. But spelling tests are deadly dull and have no educational value – all they do is tell you which kids got the letters in the right order in that particular contrived circumstance. They don’t teach anything themselves except panic. I do think there are circumstances where rote learning is valuable, my daughter is currently learning sight words. And never forgetting that outcomes need to be demonstrated in a variety of ways in a variety of contexts. Assessment is not a mystery story – we are not trying to trick kids but allowing them to show off what they have learnt. HangmanEach student spells a word of their choice and tells you what it means before they leave the classroom.Use the words you’ve been learning to create a mind-map summary of your topic.Have students find ‘families’ of words. How many more can you think of?