Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller is one of my all-time favorite professional development books. When I read this book in 2008, it really helped me define my teaching philosophy and think about WHAT I do as a teacher and WHY I do it. When you do activities with your students, it's important to be able to define their purpose and to be able to explain why you think it's important. I LOVE this book, and I've blogged about it MANY times over the last five years. One of my favorite things ... continue reading...
Search Results for: label/schema
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...
Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: Chapters 1 & 2 LOTS OF PICTURES & EXAMPLES
I'm linking up with Elizabeth from Kickin' It in Kindergarten for this book study post. As I'm reading this book I constantly find myself nodding, Yes! and writing in the margins of the book. So far this book is really solidifying my Teaching Philosophy. I've always been a HUGE believer in giving students the opportunities to turn and talk. When students are given the opportunities to put what they've learned into their own words it solidifies their thinking and learning and they stand a ... continue reading...
Turkey Trouble Read Aloud Lesson Ideas for Kindergarten & First Grade
Turkey Trouble reading comprehension lesson plans. Responding to literature activities, vocabulary studies, center ideas, and fun crafts! Turkey Trouble Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano is a great read-aloud for November. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and turkey needs to hide. So, he comes up with an idea! You and your class will have fun reading and responding to this story! This Engaging Readers unit includes all of the print and teach lesson plans and resources ... 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...
Spiders!
We have been learning about spiders this week. I love this unit! I think spiders are so interesting and the kids love learning about them. I start my unit by finding out what the kids already know about spiders. The idea for this chart came from the book, Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller. I asked the kids what schema they have for spiders and I wrote it on a pink post it note and attached it to our chart under Our Schema (what we think we know). As we learned about spiders ... continue reading...
Book Talk Tuesday: Nonfiction books and Jack Hartmann!!!
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...