Wonder activities for your classroom that are "wonder" ful and effective with your Wonder novel studies or We're All Wonders Book.
After reading Wonder by R.J. Palacio, students worked in small collaborative groups to create character posters about each of the characte...
This post is part 1 in my inquiry series. To learn more about inquiry click through to see my many other posts about inquiry. If you are new to my blog,
Today I thought I’d share a strategy I use to help my students communicate their thinking during the inquiry process. See, Think, Wonder is a thinking routine I use with my students to help t…
We introduce journals with our 3 year olds with simple ideas that teach them how to love and care for their little books.
Need Wonder activities for your classroom or home school Wonder teaching resources? We have Wonder lesson plans, Wonder worksheets, and more ideas for book projects, kindness activities for middle school, and diversity lessons to make a great study unit for students using both the novel by RJ Palacio and teaching with movies (including the popular precepts project!).
This week the movie Wonder released on DVD + Bluray. To celebrate I'm giving away two copies to two lucky readers. Plus, download these free printable Wonder activity sheets. Based on the New York Times
With the pupils of Year 3 of Cherry Garden Primary School we realized these pop-up card to summarize their topic about the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World. Every student realized a colorful pop-up c…
Check out these teaching ideas for the novel Wonder by RJ Palacio and grab free Wonder Novel Study samples and discussion questions.
Check out these beginning of the year science activities to get you started! This post has lots of science ideas and a freebie to engage your students.
Note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these links, I will receive a small compensation at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support! My district adopted Wonders reading curriculum this year. There are so many components! Leveled readers, decodable readers, vocabulary cards, high frequency cards, interactive readaloud cards...as I opened box after box, I quickly became overwhelmed with the idea of keeping it all organized and easily accessible. Now that we are a quarter of the way into the school year, I have perfected an organizational system that really works for me, and makes my weekly prep a breeze. I'm sharing it here in hopes that it will help someone else who is overwhelmed with the task of organizing all of these materials. Since there are six units, I went with a rainbow color-coded system. This goes well with my classroom decor, and, if you've read my blog before, you know I'm a bit of a nerd with my color coding (see my first grade classroom reveal post and my Pre-K organizational post). You can easily use this system without color-coding, however! It would work just as well with a uniform color scheme, as long as everything is labeled. EDITABLE binder covers and spines found here! I purchased three-ring binders and cubby bins in the six colors I was using. I found the binders at Target, and the cubby bins (with the exception of orange) here on Amazon. Confession: I really, really wanted orange cubby bins that matched the rest of my set, and the only ones I could find on Amazon were transparent. I finally ordered these directly from the Storex website. They were super pricey compared to the others, but I haven't regretted it. In fact, it makes my teacher-heart happy every time I look at my shelves. I told you, I'm a nerd when it comes to color coding. I divided up all of the leveled readers and decodable readers by unit, and then put them into the cubby bins in order by week. I used these EDITABLE blank labels to make them pretty! It took a bit of time initially, but now they are ready to go for small groups for the entire school year. Bonus: the ESOL teacher who comes in to support some of my kids knows exactly where to find them, and I don't have to remember to set them out for her each day. The real time-saver is my binder system. It took quite a while to set up, but now it's done--forever! I have one binder for each unit, which has tabs inside for each of the five weeks in the unit. Behind each tabbed page is a page protector. I divided all of the materials by week--the high frequency word cards, the visual high frequency word cards, the vocabulary and oral vocabulary cards, the small group cards--and placed them inside the page protector. Now, when I'm planning, I just flip to the tab that has the upcoming week's materials, pull everything out, and put it in my rainbow drawer unit, with the exception of the small group cards. Those go into the bin with the readers so my small groups are literally grab and go. I put the interactive readaloud cards for the week on top of the unit, as they are too large for the drawers. So fast and easy! When the week is over, I slide everything back into the page protector and then flip to the next page. I love not having to dig through cards every week! My only problem is that the interactive readaloud cards are so big, they don't fit in my drawers or my binders. It's not a big deal, however, as I keep them in a box with a few of the other resources, such as the large letter-sound cards. I keep the interactive readalouds in order by week, so at the end of the week I put the ones I'm finished with in the back, and then the current week is always at the front. So there's no digging through anything for those, either. The other resources are stored neatly in boxes or crates and are also readily accessible. These little crayon boxes are perfect for those tiny word building cards! I could easily have added the photo cards and letter-sound cards to the unit binders, which may be a great suggestion if you use them frequently. Personally, I utilize a lot of the online resources for those things. However, it still only takes me a minute to find these in the event that I need them. I love having so many resources to use, as long as I don't have to waste hours every week trying to put it all together. This organizational system has been very helpful to me, and I hope it is to you, too! Do you have any tips for organizing Wonders? Let me know in the comments!
Learn how to manage one of the biggest challenges of teaching: Six disrespectful students in the same class. Yikes!
Today, 4th grade starting working on their self portraits, inspired by the art of Tad Carpenter, and the fabulous art teacher Katie Allain. You can check out their art on their Instagram accounts, if you click on their names. He's the artist who designed the cover for the book, Wonder! Here's how we created ours! Materials: Sax 90lb paper Sax liquid watercolors Sharpie markers Pencils hair examples Day 1: Talk about the book and movie, Wonder. I plan on playing the audio book, and listening to it while they work. I demonstrated how to draw a simple outline of a face and a simple hairline, like the artist did. I then demonstrated how to trace/color with a Sharpie, and paint with liquid watercolors. I also put up different hair styles on the screen. I think individual copies at their tables would work better, btw :) Here's my fist 4th grade class, working on theirs today!
Reading Response Activities for Wonder
We introduce journals with our 3 year olds with simple ideas that teach them how to love and care for their little books.
Kindergarten Rocks! 5 year olds are the best. I was a kindergarten teacher for many years before I became an art teacher. The kids are so full of wonder and possibility. I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite art activities for 5 year olds. Some are ones I’ve done more recently, […]
Grab our free, clickable Mega List of Themes and Skills for Pre-K & Kindergarten Lesson Plans to see what themes/skills I cover in my classroom all year!
These all about me, back to school art activities for kids are engaging icebreakers. Encourage creativity and build community during the first week back
These Wonder character faces are perfect for creative writing, extension activities, or novel study. Characters included: - August - Via - Summer - Miranda Posters with lines and no lines are included. Please leave feedback and enjoy the freebie!
In this special episode, Kasey shares 30 Things You Didn't Know Google Slides Could Do and a FREE eBook download with templates! A follow-up to one of our most popular blog and podcast series, Kasey is going to give you even more ideas for student-created projects with Google Slides.There is so much you can create with the Swiss Army Knife of Google!
As Spring Break approaches, I find that my fifth graders are in need of some reminders as to what it means to be kind to each other. In general, they are sweet kids, but at times the words they use and actions they take, particularly on the playground, aren't the kindest. Our read aloud for the month is Wonder by RJ Palacio so the theme of kindness fit right into our room. It just so happens that a new book, We're All Wonders by RJ Palacio, a picture book intended for younger readers to access the story, came out this week as well. So the timing was perfect. (the two links above are my affiliate links and will take you to Amazon to buy the books.) I began by asking the students what kindness is. We brainstormed a list of ideas and created an anchor chart. Then I read the picture book to the students. Because we had just finished Wonder, they were so excited to read this new version. When we finished, I asked the kids to think of all the ways, in both the picture book and the novel, that people were not very kind to Auggie (the main character). The kids were able to fill our entire circle map in no time. It was easy to recall how people would scream in his face, recoiling at the way he looked. They remembered the names Auggie was called and the no-touching game that was played. The instantly told me about all the awful things that happened to him. I then asked the kids to brainstorm ways that, if they were in the novel with Auggie, they could be kinder to him. Again, they had no problem thinking of ways they could be kind to Auggie. Next, I asked the students to think about their own real life. I asked them to reflect upon how they personally treat others and how they personally could make better choices when speaking to others. Here is where things got a little challenging. You see, when students are talking about fictional characters, or reading news stories about OTHER kids they don't know being treated unfairly or unkindly, they know exactly what they would do if they were there. Because they aren't there. They know they never will be there. But when confronted with their own lives, and real possibilities for what they would have to do to step in or change situations, it is a bit harder for them. So I asked them to brainstorm 15 different ways they PERSONALLY could show kindness to our classmates. (I drew a lot of inspiration for this next part from Study All Knight's FREE Kindness unit, which you can grab here.) The students then used tempra paint and painted 15 (or so) rainbow sunshine rays. They also drew their own Wonder-Inspired portrait. (I have previously done this before, but had them focus on precepts and writing....if you would like to do that, click here. It is one of my fav lessons too!) The students then glued their Wonder portraits into the middle of the rays, used Sharpie to outline and write the 15 ways they could show real kindness in their lives (one way per ray) and were done. They came out amazing. (See the picture at the top of the post!) What is better though, is that the past two days, my students are actively trying to be kinder to each other. They are watching their words. I have seen people purposefully go up to those who tend to wander during group time and invite them into the group. I have seen students smile at others just a bit more. It truly has been a Wonder. Right now, for a limited time, Amazon has the book available for $3.99!!! Snag up to 4 copies at that price. Use my affiliate link here to get your copy ASAP before they are all gone!! SaveSave
The Orrido di Bellano, a breathtaking natural gorge with gushing waterfalls formed over 15 million years, is one of Lake Como's best-kept secrets.
I love using interactive lapbooks in the classroom. They are fun to create, engaging and can be used throughout the year to review skills taught. I finally completely my Lapbook Bundle and I am happy to share the lapbooks included with you. Whether you think your learners will enjoy creating all of the lapbooks, if you
One of the most important elements of Reggio-Inspired teaching is documentation. From experience, I know this can be one of the most intimidating pieces to implement. I want to share one example of a documentation panel I created along with my students in a first grade classroom. I want to share how I simplified this documentation […]
Discover over 20 amazing free things to do in Bordeaux at any time of the year from a local who loves finding free activities in the city!
Pre-K & Preschool activities for the first days of school. Find more Beginning of School Activities for Pre-K In the beginning of the year, we spend a
Want to make money selling nothing but information? Since we're talking about making money and giving people what they will pay cold hard cash for all the time - how about how some people try to start a website, hire a internet marketing expert or even throw up a few affiliate links and yet still remain as broke as ever while others who don't have a lick of business sense rake in money like clockwork from simple eBooks on crazy topics? Why is the online buying public so gung-ho over eBooks? Because information sells. In fact, it could be said that information is one of the best selling products of all time. How can that be, you might wonder. Not everyone in the world is on the Internet, and there are an awful lot of products for sale floating around both on and offline. Why do people buy information? I'm speaking about eBooks - simple, easy to make digital products that help, educate, entertain, challenge and solve people's problems. The kind of products that people can download instantly and that bring in large sums of money for you even while you sleep ... When selling information products, you are never going to find yourself low on stock. Write it once, and sell it for years has been my motto ever since I started writing and selling informational eBooks! These eBooks are easy to create. I am going to explain a technique to you later in this book that will enable you to crank out your own information products in less time than you could imagine! You'll also learn The secrets of discovering what is high-demand and how to tap into a free tool that literally reveals what people want right now. What You'll Learn Introduction - Why Information Products? Digital Self-Publishing What Makes Information Ebooks Such A Special Product? What Are Information Products? Why Are They So Popular? The Perfect Product And The Domino Effect Finding Your Niche Audience Over And Over Again Why Do Ebooks Fail? Writing For A Desperate Audience Become An Information Detective Target The Book To The Audience How To Use The Public Domain - The Power Of Research Creating Your Content With Public Domain Material Choosing & Homing In On Your Subject You Absolutely Must Be Specific With Your Subject Maintaining Quality All About Your Sales Letter Research The Competition Never Give Away Your Information For Free Justify The Price The Power Of The P.S. Benefits And Consequences Pricing Your Product Marketing Your Information Product Advertise Your Site Seo/Links/Directories Promotional Articles Google Adwords A Word About Backlinks Why You Should Have A Mailing List/Newsletter Persuading People To Sign Up Sequential Auto Responders And Ecourses And Much More!
Ok so…I know I haven’t posted much of anything lately. That’s because I’ve been working on a Pacing Guide to use this school year. I wanted to make it editable…
If your students haven't gotten to read Wonder yet, they are missing out! Not only is it an inspiring read, but it makes for a perfect writing unit where students get to consider different points of view!
Looking for fun and educational activities? Check out these 1 year old lesson plans organized by theme, from farms to outer space!
Print this free kindergarten assessment pack to use as end of the year testing for your kindergarten students. This is a great way to see where your students are at, and find any areas for development.
I took photographs of the students and used a computer drawing program to convert them to high contrast image. The portrait image was transferred (photo copied) to a clear overhead transparency. The students created a collage on white base paper under the overhead picture. To complete the project the artists added a personal phrase about themselves and mounted the portraits on a 12x18 sheet of heavy construction paper. The student portraits were placed around the multi purpose room for the 6th grade promotion ceremony and given to the families at the end of the program.
If you've been overlooking health class in favour of literacy and numeracy lessons, you might be missing out. Come read why.
Wonder activities for your classroom that are "wonder" ful and effective with your Wonder novel studies or We're All Wonders Book.
The 15 best jobs for retired teachers in 2024, whether retirement or changing careers. Work in continuing education, the government and more.
The story of Adam and Eve is a classic one for kids to learn in children’s ministry. In fact, you’ve probably already taught it dozens of times over the years. You may be wondering how to teach this story again in a way to make it fun and memorable for kids. First, don’t forget that even though YOU have heard the stor
The first week of school generally consists of getting to know one another, in addition to discussion and practice of classroom procedures and routines. We also got our creative juices flowing by creating summer reflection writing pieces, squiggle stories, and "All About Me" mini-posters. Students are getting to know one another and me, and we are learning to work together to build a successful and positive classroom environment. On Wednesday, I wrote out six questions, all having to do with how to make our classroom and ourselves function to the highest level, on six pieces of chart paper. Students, in groups of three, spent two minutes at each chart, collaborating and responding to each question on a sticky note. After all groups visited each chart paper station, I hung all of the charts up and we discussed each answer and noticed some very interesting trends. Here's the finished product, which you can click on to enlarge: Inspired by Life in 4B To tie into the previous activity, I was inspired by my wonderful teammates, Mrs. Fadden and Ms. Mattox, to develop at class pledge with my students. We reviewed our responses to the above questions, and then we put all of the ideas together to form a cohesive paragraph that we have all agreed will help us to remember why we are here at school and what our common goal is. Below is the rough draft of our class pledge (which I will type up, make pretty, and have all of my students sign): Since we were able to develop a class goal (to achieve success in third grade), I also had each student determine an individual goal after reading the story Matthew's Dream by Leo Lionni. I displayed our "Hopes and Dreams" for third grade near the classroom door, so that we can refer to, and revisit, them throughout the year. Lots of students are interested in learning how to sharpen their cursive skills, multiplication and division skills. I was very impressed by the number of students ready to take on our 40 book challenge! More on that later! Here's our class display of our hopes and dreams for third grade: Lastly, I read a book called Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The premise is that everyone carries an invisible bucket everywhere they go. When your bucket is "filled" you feel happy.When your bucket is "empty" you feel sad or upset. People can fill buckets by lending a helping hand, smiling, being kind, including others in games, and more. People can empty buckets by teasing, being ungrateful, acting disrespectfully, and more. I encourage my students to recognize the actions of bucket-fillers by writing them quick note and sticking it in their bucket display. This helps make everyone feel good. When we feel good, we want others to feel good. Therefore, kindess is passed from person to person. This is our bucket-filling display, complete with ways we can fill buckets and ways we can empty buckets: I look forward to more of these types of meaningful activities that promote teamwork, kindness, and achievement with your child!
It is always tricky to have a finished piece of work after one lesson that is decent to put up in the main office area! Here is a quick display that everyone loved and the 3D aspect added greatly t…
Get your cameras and prepare to be inspired, camera-happy puppy parents! Andrew Knapp is a photographer and Instagrammer who has been travelling with his adorable Border Collie, Momo, for their project, Find Momo. A warning before you follow the link: you’ll start clicking and wonder where the time went! Andrew calls Momo his muse, and it’s easy to see why Momo inspires him! Those big puppy dog eyes just beg to be photographed! Momo has his own Instagram, where Andrew ... Read more