Do you struggle with how to get started? Writer's Workshop in kindergarten and first grade classrooms is one of the most powerful components. In Writing Workshop in kindergarten and first grade, students are encoding words that come from their thoughts and feelings, which is a much easier skill than decoding. Successful writers become successful readers! So, how do you get started? The answer is simple. Just jump right in!! I usually start at the beginning of the ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/fiction
Butterfly Lesson Plans | Digital & Printable Reading Response for K-2
Butterfly lesson plans. Students respond to literature using the story, The Very Impatient Caterpillar and also learn about the butterfly life cycle and migration using nonfiction text. Engaging Butterfly Lesson Plans Learning about butterflies is always a fun Spring lesson, or really at any time of the year! Students can easily get excited about these fun insects because they see them in everyday life. There are so many great pieces of children's literature that represent ... continue reading...
Writing Writers Workshop: Writing Through the Year Bundle
Writers Workshop Curriculum K-1 | Writing Through the Year™ BUNDLE Writers Workshop is a wonderful way to incorporate all of the ELA standards while introducing your students to the love of writing. Writing Through the Year™ was created by two kindergarten teachers with over 20 years of classroom experience and it will save you hours each month in writing lesson plans. Each writing lesson has been classroom tested and student approved. Students will be encouraged and guided as ... continue reading...
Guided Reading! Getting Organized
Getting organized for guided reading can be a challenge. In order for it to be effective, you need to keep your resources handy and all together. So I like to keep my guided reading books and lessons together in individual binders. Each binder is organized by level. and having the spine labeled helps to find the resource I need in seconds! Inside the binder is where a disaster can happen if you are not mindful! Right inside the cover is where I put the sound boxes. I slide ... continue reading...
It’s Shark Week! Freebies for Comparing Informational & Narrative Texts
FREEBIES Shark style! Clark the Shark is a perfect book for back to school, but it is also great as you round out the end of the year. Energy is high and patience is low and helping kids understand the importance of self-control, following the rules and thinking before they act. Clark the shark has an abundant amount of energy and enthusiasm and this causes him a few problems at school. {Sound familiar?} He loves school and he is so EXCITED about it that his behavior gets a ... continue reading...
All About Penguins Unit!
All about penguin lesson plan ideas for kindergarten and first grade. Reading, math, crafts, and anchor charts to help teach your students about penguins! Free file included too! All About Penguins! We love to learn about penguins each winter. It provides a great opportunity to teach your young learners using both fiction and nonfiction! All About Penguins: Charts Here are a few of the ways we organize our thinking! Penguin Chit Chats Chit Chats are a daily routine that we use to review ... continue reading...
Teaching Informational Text Features: Lions
Your students will love these informational text features lessons for reading and writing while studying lions! Through close reading, students study the features on non-fiction books. Informational Text Features in Books: Lions We decided to dig deeper into informational texts and this book made it a perfect place to start! National Geographic has some fantastic non-fiction books: Here are the books (affiliate link) that will be part of these series of lessons: ... continue reading...
Leonardo the Terrible Monster Reading Lesson Plans for K-1
Leonardo the Terrible Monster reading comprehension lesson plans with student response activities. Print and teach lessons to engage your students in reading! Leonardo the Terrible Monster This story by Mo Willems is one of my favorite stories to read, especially in October around Halloween. If you are not familiar with this book, it is about a monster named Leonardo. Leonardo is not a scary monster, no matter how hard he tries! He does some research and thinks he finds the perfect little ... continue reading...
FREE Spine Labels for Binders: Getting Organized!
This is a throwback post that I did awhile back about getting our Guiding Readers units organized. Since this post, I've had quite a few requests to make matching spine labels for the Writing and Math units. So HERE YOU GO! Sorry, it took me so long! We also have a Free Year-Long Curriculum Map for Kindergarten and First Grade. (Scroll to the bottom of this post to grab the map and spines) If you want to read the throw back post carry on! If not, Happy Organizing. ... continue reading...
Engaging Readers: Getting it ORGANIZED!
Hey There! Happy Hump day! We've had a few questions about how we organize our new Engaging Readers units so I thought I'd do a quick blog post to show you! These are the supplies I used to organize mine. I used a 1" binder sheet protectors Binder pocket (one pocket holds all four books) ziploc baggies Clear packing tape Printables for the spine and fronts of sheet protectors click HERE to get yours. First, I put our cutie patootie cover (thanks to ... continue reading...
The Gruffalo Lesson Plans | Reading Comprehension for K-2
The Gruffalo lesson plans for K-2. Engaging 5-day lesson plans with differentiated reading response, vocabulary, sentence study, and a craft for this fun story! The Gruffalo A clever mouse outsmarts some woodland animals who want to eat him with the story of a Gruffalo. Little does he know, a Gruffalo is real and loves to eat mice. Your students will love this award-winning story! Through our engaging lesson plans students will strengthen their reading comprehension skills and have fun ... continue reading...
Common Core Standards Organization and Wishy Washy!
I've had a lot of questions about how I organize my Common Core Standards and Essential Questions. I display them on posters which are hot glued to ribbon. The standards are attached with velcro so that they are easy to change in and out. (Please excuse the bad picture above. The standards shown are from the 1st grade set. Notice that the clipart images match the standard and that the essential question clipart also matches. This helps the little ones who can't read understand the ... continue reading...
Oceans of Fun!
I got up bright and early this morning and drove 2 hrs. in search of the perfect wedding dress for my daughter Taylor. SUCCESS! But, I'm one tired mamma so this is going to be a super quick post! We just started our ocean unit. Nothing gets boys excited more than sharks! (okay...maybe dinosaurs...but they still LOVE sharks too). We used interactive writing to label the parts of a shark. Comparing sharks and whales. Schema Chart Writing ... continue reading...
Inferring with Primary Students: The Case of the Missing Toy Sack
Inferring with Primary Students: Christmas Inference Detectives Activities for Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring with Primary Students: Kindergarten and First-Grade Inferring is an important comprehension skill for young readers to have and I love giving them lots of practice with this skill. We infer each week with the story we are reading, but I also like to give them opportunities to infer outside of the text. Inferring is just putting clues together and using that voice inside ... continue reading...
Fun on the Farm: Learning About Farm Animals
These farm animal activities will make learning about farm animals fun and engaging! This unit is packed full of close reading activities, directed drawings, writing, a craft, and more! Farm Animal Activities Learning about farm animals is so much fun! Students learn about the different animals they may find on a farm with these farm animal activities. Students become farm animal experts through close reading passages, discussions, and investigations. Close Reading Passages/Chit ... continue reading...