Back to School is right around the corner for us and I am SUPER excited to kick of this school year with some fun, hands-on and engaging resources for The
Setting up for small group in 2nd grade can be challenging! This post outlines one teacher's simple center rotation schedule.
Since it is poetry month, I thought I would share a bit about how I teach alliteration. Teaching literary devices is probably one of my favorite things to do, but they can be tricky for the little ones! That means I provide a lot of different kinds of activities to help the concepts stick! Here are just a few of my favorites with alliteration. Tongue Twisters Tongue twisters are a favorite! I love sharing some with my students and have them try to say them three times fast to the class. We usually end up doubled over in laughter. :) Once students are familiar with tongue twisters, we set out to write our own. We publish them on the tongues of these cute displays! No template - we just trace lids for the circle faces and I free-cut tongues out of the large construction paper. Poem Practice We read the Jack Prelutsky poem, "Bleezer's Ice Cream" and I ask students to identify the flavors that alliterate, like checkerberry cheddar chew or cotton candy carrot custard. This poem is in the book The New Kid on the Block and it's an all-time favorite poetry book that I highly recommend! {affiliate link below} There are a few ways to access this poem online if you can't get your hands on the book. Here is a YouTube reading of the poem. You can also play the musical version of the poem being sang by Natalie Merchant here. After analyzing the poem, I put students in partners and let them create their own wacky ice cream flavors that alliterate! You can download the freebie below to do this activity with your students. {Download Freebie Here} Games Galore Games are so important in the primary classroom. We play games every single day. Multiple times a day. For alliteration, we play an old fashioned car game. It's great, not only for alliteration, but for listening and memory, too! The items being taken on the trip must all begin with the same initial sound as the destination. To play, I read the card, for example, "I am going to Paris and I'm taking a parachute." The next student in the circle would repeat my item and add one of his own, for example..."I am going to Paris and I'm taking a parachute and a piano." The sentence keeps getting passed around the circle with each student repeating it and adding another "p" word. They are amazed when it make it all the way around the circle! I also teach students how to play it with just two players - perfect for the car ride home from school (sorry parents)! One student starts it, and it keeps alternating until one player either can't think of an item to add or can't remember an item. What fun practicing alliteration! Clever Crafts Since we study literary devices during the spring, we love to decorate the hall with clever craftivities. For alliteration, we create "Alliterainbows." Students use planning pages and brainstorm parts of speech to alliterate with each color and then use these ideas to write their own sentences with alliteration on each color band of the rainbow. By now, they are amazing at alliterating! :) Story Surprises Throughout our study, I always throw in a couple of surprise read-alouds! These are a couple of my favorites for alliteration. The first book I read is The Little Book of Alliterations. It is a simple alphabet book with one phrase per page. It's perfect to read before having students write tongue twisters. The next book I read closer to the end of our study. It's called One Smug Slug and it is written in story format. The story uses as many "s" words as possible. They enjoy trying to figure out what the smug slug is climbing throughout the story and are always surprised when he is eaten at the end! But, their favorite part of the book is that there is a hidden "S" somewhere on each page - some are super tricky and they love searching for them. {affiliate links for books} I hope this post gave you a few new ideas for teaching alliteration!
Hair help, stat.
Looking for a fun way to teach 2D shapes? This marshmallow geometry activity will do the trick - and fill your tummy!
Kagan strategies are nothing new – if you haven’t been to a conference then surely you know a teacher who has. I was one of those teachers that absorbed all the information teachers could give me about Kagan Learning since I was never lucky enough to attend. While I pushed cooperative learning and being interactive, […]
I always have fun when trying to teach my students why it is important to use pronouns. Most of them look at me blankly when I first introduce the concept of
Creepy crawly spiders! Heights! The dark! These are some common top fears to name a few, and if you're anything like me, heck, you're not to...
{Download FREEBIE pack here.} Economics is my absolute FAVORITE social studies unit to teach. There are so many hands-on activities to do with students and they are so eager to earn and spend money! One of my favorite activities is to end with our "Madden's Marketplace." This is a chance for students to put into action all of the things they have learned about being producers and consumers. To begin with, I send home a letter asking students to create paper goods. Why paper? It's something all of my students have at home (or I can easily give them). I want my marketplace to be fair for all students. I'm sure I could let them have the freedom to create any product, using any materials and I would get some amazing masterpieces. I would also get some elaborate (and expensive) items. That's not what I want. I encourage parents to spend NO money on this and for it to be STUDENT CREATED. I really want them to take the initiative. Here are some samples of paper products my students created to sell this year - everything from rockets to bookmarks to lanterns to hats. I incorporate the making of goods into my students' homework schedule, encouraging them to create two products per night. Before the due date, we work on creating "shops" in class. We create our "shop" by gluing two file folders together. The picture below is using legal-sized file folders, but that just happens to be what we had available. Shop Parts: Signs: Initially, we create the signs for our shops, color the awnings to make them eye-catching. Open/Closed: Next, we create open/closed signs that sit atop our shop so we can easily flip the sign to show the status of our shops. Slogan: We then come up with a catchy slogan. We talk about slogan's we know from commercials. Why did those stick in our heads? We learn to use a play on words, alliteration, onomatopoeia, etc. to make our slogans catchy so consumers will remember them. Product Description: Students each write a product description detailing WHAT their product is and HOW it works or can be used. We talk about the importance of letting consumers know exactly what they are getting. Commercial Script: Finally, students write commercials to "sell" their products to their classmates. We use hooks to get their attention, repetitions of our catchy slogans, and persuasion. Other Components: We also glue on the Consumer Comments, Price, and Interest Inventories, but we leave all of those blank initially. On the day of the marketplace, students set up their shops and lay their products out on display. Then, they have a chance to walk around the classroom and "window shop." They are encouraged to take a good look at all of their options, reading the product descriptions and examining the merchandise. After students have had a good look at all of their choices, I give them stickers (I would recommend 3-4). They walk around and place their stickers on the "Interest Inventory" of the products that interest them the most. The results of the interest inventory are used by the shop owners to determine if they have a high demand or low demand for their products. Knowing the demand helps them determine a price for their product. High demand = higher price. Low demand = lower price. The only rule is that all prices have to be in whole dollars. Once prices are set, then students are ready to go shopping! There are many different ways to let students shop. Some years, if I've done economy-based management system, my students will use "money" they've earned to shop. This year, I just gave them all $12 to shop with. I'm always torn about letting my students split into groups to run their shops (half shop while half work) - it always seems that students don't get to shop at all of the stores in that scenario. To solve that problem, I let all of my students shop at the same time. To do this students create "tokens" to leave at their shop. They create the same number as products they have to sell. For example, if Katie has 10 kites to sell, she creates and leaves 10 tokens with her name or shop name on them. Once each shop has tokens, students are ready to shop. Since there are no workers at the shops to collect money, I give my students "consumer spending logs" with pictures of dollars on them. Since I gave my students 12 dollars to spend, their consumer spending logs had 12 one dollar pictures. As students go around to the shops, they color in the dollars they've spent and pick up tokens (NOT products) that they will trade in for their purchases once the shops close. Once all of the tokens are gone, that shop is "closed." Once a student has colored in all of the dollars on his/her spending log, they are done shopping. It really works out quite well. Once students have traded all of their tokens in for their goods, they are given paper for providing feedback to the shops. They slip these into the "consumer comments" pockets on the storefronts. They love reading the feedback from their customers! <3 After wrapping up our shops, students are often left with some extra products. Instead of having them take their own products back home, I let them put another economics concept into practice - BARTERING! They have a blast working out "fair swaps" for their products and really working to get the other things they may have wanted but didn't have the money to purchase...and of course, they do all of this while proudly wearing some of their favorite purchases. :) All in all, it is a fun day of learning. Students take their roles as both producers and consumers seriously and come away with a real sense of accomplishment! If you would like to download this packet of FREE resources to hold your own Economics shop, you can do so HERE. Enjoy!
Take a G and an E and O, And add a little R-G-E, To a W-A-S-H, I...N...G If you add 2,000 pounds, That makes a ton, So what have you got? You've got a lot!
Brush up your kids’ English language skill with this free and printable collection of English worksheets. There is a variety of English exercises that you can select and download.
January is rolling along and my kids (both my school and actual kids) are finally readjusted to our routine after winter break. While in real life, I find January-March the three most difficult months to
It’s always so much fun listening and watching our young readers figure out those “longer” words. Many of our little ones are pretty solid decoding one-syllabe words and are now ready to learn strategies for decoding multisyllabic words. So, really, what is a syllable? Simply put, a syllable is a unit of pronunciation containing a […]
Here is my printable latin noun declension chart to go along with my verb conjugations chart I have done in a previous post.
We have been brushing up on our quotation skills the last couple of weeks. It is such a hard skill for students to grasp in first grade, but once they reach second grade it's like something "clicks" and they can pick it up quickly. (So don't stress yourselves out first grade teachers!) Here is our quotation mark anchor chart... we used quotes from our Magic Tree House read aloud that we have been reading. During stations, we used play-dough to create quotation marks on our sentence cards. Then we recorded the sentences correctly on the recording sheet. I always include these with my stations so I can check for understanding when I am not able to roam the room while students are working. Later in the week, students roamed the room to rewrite sentences correctly including the quotation marks. You can also use this activity for scoot or stations. We also added quotation marks into sentences, rewrote sentences with quotation marks, and created our own sentences with quotation marks. You can grab up the activities in this packet by clicking the image below... Here is a quotation mark freebie to get you started! Click on the image below to download.
There are so many engaging resources and activities that can be used to help 2nd grade students master verbs!
Are you looking for a NO PREP quick review for grammar and/or fractions? This Boot Camp Bundle is just what you need. This resource includes the printable and digital versions of Grammar Boot Camp - a 21 day grammar review. Grammar Boot Camp is a 21-day pack to cover all major grammar standards and works perfectly for distance learning purposes. This bundle also includes a 10 day FRACTION Boot Camp to help your students review key fraction skills and concepts. Grammar Boot Camp - 21 Day Grammar Review includes: A 21 page packet for students, each including 5 questions per day 25 posters on various grammar and writing skills and standards Pre-assessment Post- assessment Directions on how to print posters to use as interactive notebook pages for students Answer Key This program is meant to boost students’ grammar and writing skills, while also meeting multiple language standards. Students will participate in this program for 21 days, completing a daily review of skills. This will take about 10-15 minutes per day during your ELA or writing block. This is meant to get students "in-shape" in terms of grammar and language standards. The following skills & concepts are included in Grammar Boot Camp: parts of speech editing editing marks Comma usage using a dictionary using a thesaurus adverbs adjectives prepositions compound and complex sentence Prefixes Suffixes Verb tenses Their there they're too two to irregular verbs quotation marks contractions conjunctions possessive interjections pronouns prepositions Fraction Boot Camp - 10 Day Fraction Review includes: A 10 page packet for students, each including 5 questions per day 12 posters on ALL fraction standards Pre-assessment Post- assessment Directions on how to print posters to use as interactive notebook pages for students This program is meant to boost students’ fraction skills, while also meeting multiple word problem and problem solving standards. Students will participate in this program for 10 days, completing a daily review of skills. This will take about 15-20 minutes per day during your math block. This is meant to get students "in-shape" in terms of fraction standards! The following skills and concepts are included in Fraction Boot Camp: Fractions on a number line Partitioning fractions Finding equivalent fractions Comparing fractions Measuring on a number line Fractions as part of a set Shading fractions Fractions a one whole Fractions as more than a whole Cross multiplication to find equivalent fractions Word Problems with fractions See What Other Teachers Are Saying . . . ⭐ My students and I loved this resource. It was little to no prep and very easy to navigate and assign for the students. It is a great review of grammar activities, and helps the students immensely. ⭐ This was a resource that was easy to apply in the classroom. This resource allows me to differentiate the needs of students in my class It also helped to teach the gaps as well as work on individual goals based on an IEP. ⭐ I love this! This was useful in reteaching the skills at the end of the year. I've also used it at the beginning of the year to review. More Fun and Engaging Resources from Mr. Mault’s Marketplace: Word of the Day Math Craftivity Bundle STEAM into Reading Bundle ⭐ Follow Me to be notified when new resources are added. ⭐ Find more on the Website | Connect with me on Instagram | Follow on Facebook
Need a creative idea for teaching money to kids? The Money Game is a fun hands-on way! Inspired by the Beth Kobliner Book- Make Your Kids a Money Genius
3-Act Math Tasks are some of the most powerful learning experiences I've used in my middle school classroom. Learn about the research behind these effective teaching practices, and grab some incredible ready-to-go lessons for every grade level, primary to high school! #math #mathteacher #mathclass #3actmath #teaching
How to Avoid the Summer Slide! Summer is right around the corner! We all LOVE our summer vacation, but not the "Summer Slide!" The Summer Review Packets
What is a Conditional? A grammar device that shows possible results from certain situations is called a “conditional.” The presence of the word “if” will usually call attention to them, and s…
Prepositions of movement. To, from, into, out of, towards, up, down, round, through, across, etc. A2. Pre-intermediate English grammar and exercises.
A few years ago, I created a set of group work roles posters for my classroom. These were inspired by Ilana Horn's Strength in Numbers.
Teaching schwa-A vowels can feel tricky, but it really isn't! This article will help you discover some useful ways how to teach schwa
Learn how to teach silent e words through explicit phonics instruction. Use orthographic mapping, connecting sound to symbol. Learn about the many jobs of the silent e!
I am pretty excited to share with you something I have been working on all summer! As a first grade teacher, I have had parents tell me t...
Would you like to decorate your classroom with fun, hand-drawn anchor charts/posters? Do you simply not have the time to get them done? Well, you have come to the perfect place! I love making these engaging and appealing anchor charts. I also can draw/create any other topic you would like, just contact me directly and ask! My students absolutely love these posters and references them every day. Many of them are visual learners, so the colorful images really help them connect and remember what they have learned. This particular anchor chart is for readers/writers practicing vowel teams. It helps students remember how to read and write words with vowel teams by using a short, fun saying/song. The pictures help my students have so much fun with the new skill! It will be approximately 32 x 24 inches, and will be a copy of my original. **These will be copies unless asked otherwise for a custom poster. They are not laminated, and are printed on normal, anchor chart paper. I ship these out ASAP after being ordered, but please keep in mind once shipped, it is outside of my control. Therefore, if shipping does not meet your expectations, I highly encourage you to please reach out to me first, and we have always been able to work something out to make up for anything that may have occurred after I have sent your package, thanks so much!! Hope you love it :)
