Reading Response Booklets

Does anyone ask their kids to respond to their reading? Does anyone think it's a PAIN keeping up with all those loose papers? ME!! My kids have such a hard time keeping up with their reading response pages this year. I could almost label it a disaster! They are losing pages, not doing what they should, not completing the assignment, etc.

If you look at my last post, I showed you these word work centers we have been using. I have LOVED having the word work booklets to go with the centers because it keeps all their work in one place. SOOOO I took that idea and made reading response booklets! I just debuted them in my classroom last week, and they have definitely been a hit so far!

I have been really happy with the change! My kids fill out one response each day after their independent reading. I made 20 different responses so it will take up around 4 weeks. (I say 'around' since we all know some days just never go as we plan!)

If you are interested in this for your classroom, you can click on the pictures which will take you directly to my store! Thanks! 

January Plans

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I rang in the new year with my husband...on the couch...watching a movie...with our kids in bed. BUT I loved it, and with all the craziness of Christmas, we were grateful for some down time at home. Today our plans consist of shopping for cleaning supplies and bins for storage...sounds super fun, right? 

However, teaching is never far away from my thoughts, and I have been steadily working on an arctic animals unit for my kiddos when we get back! We are going to dive into nonfiction using arctic animals (with a few fiction snowman items thrown in between). I'm SUPER EXCITED about it because I think my kids will really love it. I'm going to divide them into animal groups to study. So they will no longer be "group 1, group 2" when we return, but "walruses, killer whales, etc." They will study their animal in the computer lab, library, books I read, etc, and record what they find on the worksheets I made. I'll be using the National Geographic Kids website, and lots and lots of books! 

In the unit, I included quizzes for each animal after reading about them on National Geographic Kids website. We have to get those grades in!! There is a booklet to create, graphic organizers, sorting activities, and a worksheet to show the difference between the Arctic and Antarctica. You can click on the picture and it will take you to my store! 

I'm also going to be using Amanda Nickerson's Snow Business for nonfiction. She has some GREAT posters and activities in here.

 I'm also going to use Deanna Jump's Arctic Animals unit! This focuses more on walruses and polar bears. It's made for kindergarten, but I know I can adapt a lot the pages. I saw lots of great things in here that my kids are going to go crazy for! 

OH and to celebrate the New Year, everything in my store (including my new unit) is on sale 20% through midnight!

Author's Purpose

Sorry I have been a little M.I.A. lately! I miss my blogging world, and all my blogging friends! I guess you could say I have been a little bit of a rut lately in the creativity department.  Changing grade levels was more of a challenge than I ever dreamed, but I'm finally getting my groove back:) This week we have been working Author's Purpose! Since I've been swimming in my "rut," I've taken a lot of my ideas from Amy Lemons at Step into Second Grade. Seriously...could this girl be any more creative??!! I'm so grateful for her blog this year while I'm on this new journey into second grade. She just has so many great ideas and units that I'm soaking up as a new second grade teacher. So here is a little look into what's been going on:

We started the week with writing to entertain. I read Where the Wild Things Are, and the kids wrote on this CUTE paper why they thought the story was entertaining.

You can get this activity for free at Amy's blog HERE!

In the same file you find on her blog, Amy uses the book I Wanna Iguana to introduce writing to persuade. There is a great test and activity you can use with that book. I, however, do not have that book, but I do have I Wanna New Room. SO I just adapted.

This is a great book to use because the little boy is actually writing letters to his parents trying to persuade them to get him a new room. It's also pretty hilarious and my kids laughed all the way through. When we finished with this, I gave my students a quiz I created for comprehension:

Then they did Amy's activity where they try to persuade their parents to get/give them something. Here is a picture of her example. You can get this on the link above to her blog.

I kept telling them over and over again they had to tell their parents WHY they thought they deserved what they wanted. They came up with some really great and creative ideas! 

Finally, we wrote to inform. I began by reading them an informational book on spiders. It was a great thing to do because spiders are a high interest level for kiddos for some reason. I think you could have heard a pin drop while I was reading:) We talked about spiders for a bit, and all the information we learned from the book. I had them fill out a short paper to write down their thoughts, and then they made these spiders with their information:

This is the example I showed them to get them started. 

As they finished up their projects, I slowly added them to our door:

I just need to add their writing to inform spiders at the bottom, and we are all set! 

On Monday, I'm going to review what we learned this week by asking them to look at a character picture and write a story to entertain, persuade, or inform. Here is the example we will do together:

We will decide if we want to write an entertaining story about a firefighter, an informational piece, or persuade someone why firefighters are the best/persuade mom and dad to be a firefighter when they grow up. (I hope that makes sense!)

Everything I created this week for Author's Purpose, you can get HERE for FREE!

I hope everyone has had a fabulous fall so far! It's crazy how time is flying:) I hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Writing Clubs

Hello all! I wanted to tell you about a WONDERFUL idea I've used in my classroom the past few years! WRITING CLUBS! Seriously. I can't say it enough how great writing clubs are! So here is how I've used writing clubs in my room:

My kids write in their writing notebooks every day. Sometimes they are writing to a prompt, and sometimes it is just random free writing. On Fridays, they take their notebooks with them to their writing club. I assign every group. I usually mix it up based on ability, but I REALLY try to get my higher kids in the same group because they need that support from one another. I also don't want them "running the show" and doing all the work in the group while the other kids just sit and listen.

Writing clubs last about 30-40 minutes depending on how much time we have. Each student in the group gets about 10 minutes to share their favorite piece they wrote that week. First, they read it out loud to the group for enjoyment. When they are finished reading, the kids in the group talk about it. They talk about what they liked, if something didn't make sense, things they could add, things they could fix, etc. It's AWESOME. Many times the kids help with spelling and punctuation mistakes as well. I'm amazed at the wonderful conversations my kids can have. It's a great support group, and the kids love it.

I made up this worksheet to go with the groups to make sure there was some kind of accountability. There will always be that group that just wants to play, and you have to constantly redirect them. This page helps them stay on task. You can get this for FREE in my TpT store HERE.

I hope as you go back to school someone finds this idea helpful! Of course, I had to spend a few weeks really walking them through what writing clubs looked like, rules, etc. But after a few weeks of practice, they basically ran themselves:)

Story Map

I was piddling around today, and I decided I wanted to add a new worksheet to my Reading Workshop response station. I thought about it for a while, and then I decided I would create a story map for kids who have finished an entire chapter book!  I pulled up one story map I created a while back, and just made it cleaner while adding clipart.

 I put a map for the background to go with "story map." However, when I showed it to my colleague to preview she asked me, "Why do you have a flag in the background?" Hahah....SO it might come across looking like a flag:) You can just decide for yourself if you would like to use one!

I posted the two that I made...one being simpler than the other! You can download them both FREE here. Have a great night!!

Baseball Practice with Synonyms and Antonyms

SO excited baseball season is almost here! I'm from Texas, and the Ranger's Ballpark is literally right across the highway from my school! I work with two Ranger fanatics, and they are the ones that gave me the idea to create something with a baseball theme. We are completely in review mode right now, and something my kids keep stumbling on is synonyms and antonyms. Some of my kids really caught on when I taught this the first time, but some of them really struggle! I wanted to review it differently hoping it would actually stick this time! I created a few activities and worksheets to get them excited to learn!

This was a game where they had to walk around the room and match their synonym/antonym. This turned out to be a lot of fun, and it launched several discussions:) 

 Matching synonyms

 Matching antonyms

Then it was time to play baseball!! Classroom style, though! I was pleasantly surprised at how much they enjoyed this. I knew they would like it, but I had no idea how much they would L.O.V.E it. I  have a pretty competitive group of kids this year, and I'm sure that added to the fun! Below are pictures of them playing.

The girl in the middle holding the paper is the "pitcher." She would call out a word, and I would let the "batter" know if they have to give the synonym or antonym for that word. If they got the word right, they could move to first base and so on. This picture shows three of the kids on base, and one at home plate "batting." They would score a point as each kid made their way around the bases and crossed home plate. If the "batter" missed the word, it was an automatic out. After three outs, we would switch teams and I would assign a new pitcher. 

 One of the bases:

 This is what the pitcher used to call out the words. After they called the word, they had to mark it with a highlighter so it wouldn't be repeated. 

This is a picture of their independent work

We had a blast with this review! It was a lot of fun, and you can purchase the pages I used at my TpT store here. Here is a preview page to glance at:

Spelling Triangles

Just an idea for those of you stuck on spelling ideas! I have my kiddos do something a little different with their spelling words each day. On Tuesday, they create spelling triangles! Here is the idea

between


b
be
bet
betw
betwe
betwee
between

Then they draw a triangle around the words.

I wish I had a picture of my kids' work, but I forgot to snap one this week. Will try to do that on Monday! I just wanted to post this so I didn't' forget about it over the weekend!

Daily News

Our district adopted a new handwriting book this year, and (happy dance) we received a consumable for every kiddo!  I was really excited to no longer make copies of handwriting pages, and I would be able to keep all their work in one place! They worked really hard on their handwriting, and we finished their books before we left for Christmas break.

Now that we are finished with the book, we are moving on to Daily News! Daily News is a time when kids share ONE thing from their weekend, day, evening, etc. I copy down what they tell on the Daily News board so the whole class can see. I love Daily News because it is a great way for kids to share that one thing they have been DYING to tell me all day! I also get to know a lot about my kiddos and their interests. It allows me to have conversations about sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, nouns, verbs...anything! Many times I purposefully make a mistake while I'm writing down what they told me so it can be corrected. Since we worked on cursive writing during the fall, Daily News is written entirely in cursive this semester so they can practice their skills. Once the board is filled up and our discussion is over, the kids copy Daily News in their notebooks so I can get a handwriting grade:)

Here is a picture of Daily News in my classroom. I know the name makes it seem like we do this everyday, but I usually only have time for it about 2 or 3 times a week. Sorry it looks a little messy, but I had to blotch out kids' names!

I'm lucky enough to have a lined dry erase board that I just attach to the top of my regular board. I've also done Daily News on chart paper, and it works really well (and you get to keep a record of all the Daily News throughout the year). 

Lucky Writing Paper

You can find this writing paper here. Enjoy! 

graphics@scrappindoodles.com

Book Buddies

   I know in my last post, I talked briefly about book buddies. This is something that is fairly new in our classroom, so we are still working out the kinks! However, in the few weeks we have been working with them, I have been pleasantly surprised at the progress my kids have made as readers, supporters, and independent thinkers!
   I never wanted to have book buddies because it has always sounded like a nightmare situation to me. Kids arguing with each other about what book to read, talking about things that don't relate to the book, yelling, interrupting those who are reading silently, and not getting anything accomplished. These were all worries I had that prevented me from sticking my toe in the book buddy pond.
  I purchased a reading workshop packet from TPT a while back that you can find here. Honestly, I printed it off and let other papers pile on top of it for the past few months. I had every intention of using it, but just got too busy...and I felt like I had already established my reading
workshop in my classroom. On a testing day a few weeks ago, I was cleaning out some things, and found this little gem again. I'm calling it a "gem" because it truly is amazing! I think it can be a little overwhelming with all the materials and ideas, but I chose to pull out just the book buddy pages.  I made copies of what I thought I would use, and chose to get started.

This is where I keep all the copies the kids need for book buddies. I put them in these magnetic pockets so they would have access to them at all times, and stay organized! I bought these magnetic pockets from lakeshore.

   I made the decision to put the kids with a buddy they would enjoy reading with. I want them to love this experience and not dread the words "book buddy." They are going to be spending a lot of time with this person, so I wanted it to be enjoyable. All that to say, my kiddos are paired with someone I think they will like, and someone who is close to their reading ability. This is not a time to stick higher kids with lower kids. Again, I want them to enjoy this time and really challenge each other in their reading. I looked through their DRA scores and paired them up as closely as I could.

This is a snapshot of our classroom library! I have a double copy of some books, but most of the books the kids are having to share! 

  Each group HAD to agree on the book they chose. If one person didn't want to read the book, they had to choose another book. Their first meeting consisted of them choosing a book, previewing it, making predictions, and choosing a page to read to before they met again. Some of them were able to begin reading the book together the same day. I spent a lot of that first week making sure they were getting along with their buddy, staying on task, and completing their work correctly. They meet with their book buddy during the reading workshop rotation I discussed in the last post. Again, I have been SO happy with how it is going, and I can see the kids are really enjoying it, too! I hope to show more posts about our book buddy adventures soon!

Reading Workshop Rotation

*** Update: You can now buy my rotation board here! I hope you enjoy it!

  

Last week, I decided to begin a rotation schedule with my reading workshop. My kids were dying for a change, and to be honest...so was I. Our regular reading workshop consists of the kids reading independently for 45 minutes while I pulled them individually throughout that time. I have to admit that I am TERRIBLE at pulling small groups. I've always enjoyed working with them one-on-one, but I'm seeing that I need to meet with them in groups. First of all, it will help me reach more of them throughout the week, it will give them support in each other, and it gives all of us more accountability!

I know a lot of people use the Daily 5, and I guess this is just my own version of that. I like the rotation because it ensures that I will see every student at least once every single day. So here is how it works: 

This is the rotation board. I got the idea from Clutter-Free Classroom's Math Workshop rotation board. I purchased this last summer, and LOVE it! It is so easy to follow, and the kids can see where they are supposed to be at any time. You can find a link to that board here. Anyways, with that as an inspiration, I created this reading workshop board with the acronym R.E.A.D. Students are divided into 4 groups that rotate to different stations for 15-20 minutes. 

 R=response, E=engage, A-at my seat D=discuss with my teacher

RESPOND. At this station, students are responding to books they read during their independent reading time. I created 8 different reading response pages for the kids to choose from. They must complete 5 worksheets per week, but if they choose to do more they will get extra credit for those pages.  You can find the pages I use here in my TPT store. 

 

ENGAGE. Students are working at the computer. They are listening to books on tumblebooks.com and starfall. This is also a time when they can take an AR test.                                                

AT MY SEAT. The kids are working with their book buddy. I chose not to have this as an independent reading time, because I know some of my kiddos would have a REALLY hard time staying on task if everyone else in the room was talking or on the computer.  This is a time they meet with their book buddy to discuss their book, or read together.

DISCUSS WITH MY TEACHER. I'm hoping this is an obvious station:) I'm meeting with the group. They come to me immediately after they have finished a reading response page, so I'm able to go over that with them. I'm also able to check in on them and the progress they are making as book buddies. I'm hoping to start reinforcing specific skills during this time beginning next week!

Animal Research

     Every year, third grade goes to the Aquarium for one of our field trips. Beyond the stress of the field trip itself, sometimes I walk away wondering if they truly got new and meaningful information from the experience. To solve this problem, I started giving them a small research project to work on the week before the trip. I wanted them to research an animal, look up facts about it, and present the information they found either in the classroom or at the Aquarium. The kids LOVE choosing an animal, and they love using the computer even more! It's a simple way for them to begin the process of researching.
     I usually just thrown something together last minute each year, but this year I decided to take my time and create a few pages I could use over and over again! Below is a copy of the cover page...sorry if it is blurry, I'm still trying to figure out how to upload files!!