Before we get to Book Talk Tuesday I have some EXCITING news. Jack Hartmann has been working with me to create songs and videos for some of my units. How cool is that? We just added his new Frog Life Cycle video to my Frog unit. So if you are one of the sweet people who have already purchased the unit head on over and download the video that goes with it. It shows actual real life footage of a frog's life cycle. You can click on the cover below to check it out. He is ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/nonfiction
How to Start Teaching Writer’s Workshop in Kindergarten & First Grade
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...
African Animal Activities and Lesson Plans for Kindergarten & First Grade
African animal activities that are perfect for a zoo unit! Your students will love learning about African animals with these nonfiction book activities. Engaging reading lessons about lions, giraffes, elephants, and meerkats. African Animal Activities Are you ready to begin a unit about animals in kindergarten or first grade? Maybe you are focusing on zoo animals, too? These African animal activities are just what you need to keep your students engaged and excited about an animal unit of ... continue reading...
Reindeer Activities | Nonfiction Unit About Reindeer and a FREEBIE!
Kindergarten and first grade students will love learning about reindeer with these engaging reindeer activities. Informational texts, response to reading, directed drawing, and more! It's nearly December! How is time going by so quickly? I hope your school year is going smoothly as we are approaching winter! This is always a fun time of year in the classroom. With the holidays coming, it can be a little difficult to find engaging activities that are not related to Christmas. If that ... continue reading...
President’s Day Activities | Read Aloud Lesson Plans
Fun President's Day activities! Nonfiction reading comprehension lesson plans for K-2. Students learn about Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. President's Day Activities President's Day is a fun time to talk about the great leaders of our Country. This nonfiction engaging readers unit helps you to do just that! Our President's Day biography unit is full of resources and lesson plans about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Students also learn about nonfiction text features. For ... continue reading...
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...
Frog Frenzy! Learning all about Frogs
Fun frog lesson plans in a nonfiction unit about frogs. Students read and write about frogs, play math and literacy games, and create a craft, too! Frog Lesson Plans This is one of my favorite units! We love learning about frogs through nonfiction reading and expressing what we learn in writing. I like to start any nonfiction unit with charting our schema about frogs and boy do kids know A LOT about frogs! We then begin reading several nonfiction books and even watch some videos ... continue reading...
15 Fall Videos for Kids | Great for a Primary Classroom
Fall videos for kids! Use these fall videos to teach about leaves, pumpkins, bats, owls, and spiders during your fall-themed lessons. Fall Videos for Kids It's Fall Y'all! Autumn is such a fun time of the year in the classroom and even out of the classroom. With the weather getting cooler and the leaves changing colors, it gives you a special kind of feeling! During the Fall season, we oftentimes teach about the falling leaves, pumpkins, bats, spiders, and owls as we lead into Halloween. I ... continue reading...
Digital Learning Reading Lessons for K-2 | Giraffe Problems
Digital learning reading lesson plans that work great for distance learning. This unit features the story, Giraffe Problems by Jory John. Reading response and nonfiction activities, too! Digital Learning Reading Lesson Plans Giraffe Problems by Jory John is a story about a giraffe who doesn't like his long neck. He meets a turtle who is having neck problems, too! The two become friends and learn to appreciate what they have. Students will love this story and will have fun responding to ... continue reading...
Ideas for a Kindergarten Earth Day Lesson Plan
We know how much kindergarteners love holidays! We can almost feel the excitement in the room as the calendar inches closer to holidays like Halloween or Christmas. However, there are other holidays that our young kindergarten students likely haven’t heard of before. Earth Day is one of these important holidays! I’ve put together a list of ideas for a kindergarten Earth Day lesson plan to help you introduce this holiday to your class. What is Earth Day? Earth Day is celebrated every ... continue reading...
Zoo unit Day 1 Giraffes
I LOVE this time of year. My little sweeties are becoming independent thinkers and learners who have blossomed into readers and writers AND all of my Favorite units are in the Spring!! Zoo animals, Dinosaurs (my fave), and Insects (my fave), What???!! I can have more than one favorite! :) I spend two weeks on each of these units. There is just something about these topics that get kids super excited about learning! Today we learned all about Giraffes. ... continue reading...
Walruses and Writers Workshop
Common Core Standards Posters and Essential Questions So.... many of you have asked, " How do you get your kids to write like that?" So, here's your answer. First of all, I am totally in love with the Philosophy behind the Workshop Model. I teach my kids to write by doing a quick mini lesson where I model the writing process. I think out loud as I write in front of them, Then, they have the opportunity to practice what I've just modeled. They turn ... 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...
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...