Commas, Commas, Commas

Do your kiddos remember their commas?  Mine do!  (okay, most of the time)  I don't introduce commas by telling the kiddos the rules.  Instead, I have them come up with the rules themselves.  I give them a Comma Hunt paper and with a partner, they search through books to find three different ways that they see commas being used by real authors.  They try to find 3 examples to prove it is a rule.  Then they try to come up with a rule to present to the class. 

Once we discuss possible rules as a group, we create an anchor chart together.  I have the rules printed out and cut out already, so that I can easily glue them on.  We talk about the rules one at a time and the kiddos are THRILLED when they discover their rule is real!  I use examples the kiddos give me to record on the anchor chart.

For the next lesson, students search through books to find one example of each rule being used correctly.  They love this.  It gives them a real sense of ownership because they were involved in "making" these rules.  I tell them to make sure the authors used commas correctly, so the kiddo think they are looking for an author to make a mistake. =)

We leave the anchor chart up all year, and my little darlings refer to it often.  Enjoy!

I hope you can use this in your classroom!

Amy

Do you like to read?

So we are doing a book study on our second grade team called "Teaching Reading in Small Groups" by Jennifer Serravallo.  Our grade level has been discussing all of the "old school" techniques we have implemented in our classrooms to differentiate instruction for our struggling, on level, and advanced readers.  Luckily, we already have so many resources, our group pooled together some items that I wanted to share.  First of all, we went back to give our kiddos a reading inventory to see where they were at this point in the year with reading.  Of course, you have to have the "be honest about your answers" talk......which lead to me telling the kids that when I was their age, I very much disliked reading.  I had all kinds of negative experiences in elementary school.  Thank goodness they know that I enjoy math and science better, otherwise that would be a difficult conversation to have with parents.  (I can totally see myself in that situation haha).  I gave 2 inventories, one was for my on level and advanced readers, and the other was sufficient for my struggling readers.  I really got a good look at their affect for reading time, what they wanted out of reading, and what types of text they would like to read.  I attached the reading inventories below! Feel free to download them for free and utilize them to help you get a better picture of your students as readers!

Inventory 1

Inventory 2

I hope this helps you find out what your readers want to go, and helps to drive your reading instruction!

-Gretchen

Easter Reading and Writing Activities

I can't believe Easter is almost here! I had to scramble to  find all of my Easter activities before Good Friday! We started off by writing chick stories. By this time of year I expect my students to write more than one sentence but is hard to get the majority of kindergarten students to write a story on their own without some kind of structure. I  told my students to write a story but I gave them some guidelines for what to include. I asked them to include: their chick's name, to tell what he/she looks like and what he/she is doing.

This student wrote: My chick is a new born chick. Her name is
Avery. She is the cutest chick ever.

I had my students write about their chick on blank handwriting paper. Click on the picture below to download the cute chick writing if you would like to use it! Also, let me know how your smart kindergarteners are writing!

This week, we are also reading "The Tale of Peter Rabbit". I read the story and then put my students  into four groups. I assigned each group one section of the story map to complete. When everyone was finished, we met on the carpet and I wrote down the answers from each group onto the smartboard. This would also be a great writing activity during reader's workshop. I also included a page  that we are doing later in the week. Throughout the year, I have taught about speech bubbles and parenthesis in writing. I'm going to have my students write about what they think Peter Rabbit should tell his mom. I can't wait to read what my little creative kiddos will write! Click on the picture below to download both pages!

         

Problem.....SOLVED!

Problem solving is always a tricky element to teach to students.  I have taught third grade, first grade, and now second grade.  Since our district has implemented Singapore Math, I have absolutely loved teaching the 8 Steps of Model Drawing.  This method has helped my students tremendously when it comes to analyzing and correctly answering problems in math.  The year our district started Singapore Math, I was teaching third grade.  I wasn't too overwhelmed about teaching problem solving, but the following year I moved to first grade.  I was totally in shock about how to help the students keep the 8 steps organized and readable.  I created this diagram to help them fill out as they moved through the 8 steps of problem solving. To my surprise, the kiddos totally got it and were successful as they solved the problems!  I have continued to use this diagram for the students even this year as I teach second grade.  I am fortunate to be able to see just how effective this strategy has been, since I have several students this year from my first grade class last year.

 

I uploaded my diagram- they are mini....I use these daily and the students get one per day to fill out and glue into their math workbook to solve problems.  You could glue them into a notebook, or I have even used them as exit slips and collected them as they leave for recess or lunch.  One of my co-workers, Kolleen, created a scoring rubric to go along with the model drawing process.  I fancied it up a bit and attached it for free as well.  Take a look at a few of the slides I added to the page as well.  If you want to purchase the whole unit, you can visit my Teachers Pay Teachers page by clicking on my button to the right!  I hope you have as much success as I have teaching problem solving!

problem solving diagram page

scoring rubric

problem solving with problem

Have you ever used model drawing before?

-Gretchen

Writing for Teaching Blog Addict!

Wowza!  We are honored to write for Teaching Blog Addict!  This blog helped to inspire us to start our own blog. Check out our post over at TBA!  We have some awesome freebies over there!  While you're at it, make sure you are following us and our Facebook page so you can get updates!



Retelling

If you download the Five Finger Retelling, there is a book you can print to go along with it!

Retelling a story is something we have worked on all year long. I started using the five finger retelling strategy last year. I love it! All I have to do after a story is hold up my left hand and my students will list the characters, setting, beginning, middle and end of the story. This week, I have been explaining the difference between summarizing and retelling. The five finger retelling strategy is better used with summarizing but I have found that using this to get kindergarteners to retell has been great, especially for my boys that stare at me and say they don’t remember.

Today I read “Chicken Little” to my class and then I passed out one page of the five finger retelling book. As I handed it out, I told the student which part they were writing about. This is the first time that I have had my students retell by writing, so I was lenient on the explanations. I think they did a great job!

This student had the ending of “Chicken Little” and she wrote, “The wolf throwed the guys up”. In the “Chicken Little “book that we read, the wolf tricked them and they went into his mouth and he sneezed them out. 

This student said, “Second, Chicken Little ran into friends.”   

This student said, "Chicken Little got hit by an acorn."

To get to my teachers pay teachers account and download the free smartboard five finger retelling slide, click here.

State Testing Fun Ideas

In about 2 weeks, we will be giving our state tests.  Here in Missouri, it is called the MAP Test.  To get kiddos pumped up and excited to "Show what they Know", my grade level does a MAP Rockstars Theme.  Each kiddo gets to be interviewed for a display in the hall.  I got the idea for the display a few years ago from Beth Newingham and just tweeked it to fit.

For the interview, kiddos take turn being the paparazzo and the Star.  They can be any kind of famous person that they want.  Lots of my boys want to be famous football stars and my girls want to be famous singers.  After the interview, they write all the information in paragraph form.  We talk about writing like a magazine author.  You may even want to bring in some Kidzbop Magazines (or other kidish mags) to show how those authors write articles about stars.  Once the "articles" are written, they are allowed to bring in props to pose for their picture.  Today I had a little guy bring in a football and football helmet and one of my little girls had her hair teased so big, it look like she was wearing a wig.  They went all out!



I also have a list of tips for state testing. 

Do you do anything fun to prepare for your state testing?

*Amy