Are you looking for a fun way to reinforce teaching similes to students? Making simile monsters is always a huge hit! Students will create a fictitious monster and use similes to describe the 5 senses about their monsters. To hook students, I love to read the text Quick as a Cricket by Audrey Wood (affiliate […]
'4B' was the code our school secretary used to easily identify our class back when I taught 4th grade. 4 = 4th grade. B = Bongers. I later went on to teach Language Arts at a middle school, so this blog documents the learning we did in reading and writing each day, in addition to many posts from when I taught fourth grade. I figured keeping it all in one place was better than having two separate blogs. One more thing: please feel free to PIN anything you see!
Celebrate Black History Month by learning about the birth of jazz music, and the history of African-Americans in pop music.
We have been continuing on our Grammar Land studies! We read about Dr. Verb’s Nominative (subjective) Case. I did not bother doing any writing about the Nominative Case, but we did find the s…
Author's Purpose PIE'ED Anchor Chart- take author's purpose to the next level for upper elementary students by using the PIE'ED Method!
Bloom's Taxonomy verbs include Evaluate: Criticize, Judge, Defend, Appraise, Value, Prioritize, Revise, Argue, Support, and Re-design.
I think this is a record this year. I'm actually posting for a third time in a week! Gotta celebrate the small things sometimes! Last week, we worked on idioms. Let me tell you...my kids KNOW how to identify some idioms! They don't always know what they mean, but by golly, they can tell you when they hear one! HAHA One of my students has even been keeping a list of all of the idioms he's found at home. He carries it everywhere and shows me his list like EVERY afternoon! Another one of my students told me at lunch today that he and his rowdy classmates were just trying to keep me on my toes! Anyways, I wanted to share a cute little Idiom Poster that I created to assess the students at the end of the week. We brainstormed all of our favorite idioms on the board and then I asked them to pick their favorite for the poster activity. Here are some cute examples! (Sorry it's blurry! He illustrated "party animal." HAHA It was my fav! I have found myself having a really hard time at school this year...with everything. I have felt defeated and unmovitated. So...I stumbled upon this blog post tonight by Elizabeth from Kickin' It In Kindergarten and it's just something to inspire a little some hope and comfort in those moments when we feel like we can't do anymore. Sometimes we just need a little list to remind us of the importance of what we do! Happy Hump Day!
For piano lovers everywhere, here's a fun reading exercise featuring George Gershwin, the composer who wrote the brilliant Rhapsody in Blue.
Author's Purpose PIE'ED Anchor Chart- take author's purpose to the next level for upper elementary students by using the PIE'ED Method!
Some people might think I am crazy, but I just love anchor charts. I think it is the elementary teacher trapped in me. It is rare that we d...
Help your young readers determine the various -ED suffix sounds with this phonics sorting activity. Cut and paste for 2nd-4th grades.
I recently DRA'ed my third graders and realized that some of them were lacking in the inference department. As a result, I developed the lesson below! In my typical style, I began with an anchor chart. Firs,t we went over the meaning of an inference together, and students glued a copy of the chart into their reader's notebooks. Then, I began the modeling portion of the lesson by reading aloud The Sweetest Fig. If you have not read this book, you need to! The kids absolutely loved this book. They were really upset that the school library did not have a copy. In this book, a man has two figs that will make your dreams come true. With the first fig, he did not fully understand its power, but he vowed not to make the same mistake with the second fig. The ending is fantastic, but I won't spoil it for you. I had already selected four text clues from the text and written them on the anchor chart. As I read aloud, we paused and recorded our inferences on the anchor chart. For the guided practice portion of the lesson, we used two of Shel Silverstein's poems. (This is based off of one of Debbie Miller's lessons.) I removed the titles of the poems before copying them. Students glued the poems into their reader's notebooks. We used notecards to cover up the remainder of the poem as we went line by line. We paused every line or two to make inferences. Students had to record their inference and underline the text clue that led them to their inference. When we had finished the entire poem, students made their final inference and provided their reasoning. I was surprised how much the kids loved this part of the lesson. They also came up with amazing inferences. The poems I used by Shel Silverstein were Reflection and Magic Carpet. Click on the links to get your own copies of the poems! For the independent practice part of the lesson, students read Three Names. In this story, Great-Grandfather remembers his days in school with his dog Three Names. Students glued a set of text clues into their reader's notebooks. As they read, they recorded their inferences. If you would like a copy of the text clues for the story, click here! As a final assessment, I had students complete a written response question requiring them to infer and provide support from the text. I hope you find something helpful! How do you teach and incorporate inferring into your classrooms?
Spark your little musician's interest with a fun worksheet about a couple of famous composers, Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Since I traveled to Texas last week to visit a friend, I thought I should share a "cowboy" activity! I teach Cowboy Joe to my 4th graders at the start of the school year. I originally learned in it my Level 3 Orff training, and have adapted it a bit to work for my students. First, I teach the body percussion, encouraging students to listen to me model the pattern and find where the "trick" occurs. Once the kids can do the body percussion, I introduce the poem in conjunction with the body percussion. Then, we turn the body percussion into a clapping came with a partner, changing the snaps to partner claps. After that, the students are allowed to create their own clapping game and body percussion with their partner to go along with the song. We share those ideas out. Then, we make it a name game, going around the circle. Each student individually replaces Cowboy Joe's name with their name, i.e. Cowboy Tyler or Cowgirl Alicia. They also replace Mexico with the street that they live on, i.e comes from New Street. Then, the entire class completes the last two phrases of the poem, inserting their classmate's name on the last phrase. If you want to take it to another level, the students can transfer the levels of body percussion to three different unpitched percussion instruments. Enjoy my favorite "Cowboy" activity. Yee-Haw!
Effortlessly Communicate Your K–8 Curriculum With These Student Handouts Curriculum % %
In thinking about how children play with music and through music, I was reminded of a fun chanting and clapping game I taught to a second g...
Knowing common affixes is a helpful word-solving strategy students can use as they read, but there are so many to learn! Help your students review affixes and their meanings with these simple watercolor prefix and suffix posters! These make an eye-catching display that students can reference all year long! This resource includes: common prefixes list 32 prefix mini-posters common suffixes list 31 suffix mini-posters The posters are printed four to a page to save paper and space. Each includes the prefix/suffix, its definition, and 2-3 examples of words that use it. 32 prefixes are included: anti-, auto-, bi-, de-, deca-, dis-, ex-, fore-, im-, in-, inter-, micro-, mid-, mini-, mis-, multi-, non-, over-, poly-, post-, pre-, quad-, re-, semi-, sub-, super-, tele-, trans-, tri-, un-, under-, uni- 31 suffixes are included: -able, -ance, -ation, -dom, -ed, -en, -ence, -er, -es, -est, -ful, -hood, -ible, -ing, -ion, -ism, -ist, -ity, -less, -logy, -ly, -ment, -ness, -ology, -or, -ous, -s, -ship, -sion, -tion, -y This poster set corresponds nicely with my Vocabulary Skills/Word Analysis Posters! Get this and other helpful resources as part of my Affixes Bundle! Thanks for visiting my store! For more prefix and suffix resources, please click here!
Prefixes and suffixes in first grade? Kindergarten ? What?! I'm not sure who decided teaching them so early was the way to go but never fear...
Hey everyone!!! I hope everyone is having a great start to the NEW YEAR! It's always great to have a fresh start and a clean slate. (Although, is it just me or does your new year always begin in August?) : ) One of the things that I have been working on during my winter break is our lesson plans in science. By the way, we have a brand new standard this year in science!! (AND new standards are always exciting!) Drum roll...our new standard is... LIGHTS AND SHADOWS!! I know...so fun...kind of...except...I have never taught light and shadows, EVER!!! (Confession is good for the soul.) I mean, I have always taught first grade standards, AND light and shadows have never been one of our standards until now. So I definitely had to share what I learned with my first grade friends!! YOU! I have a lot of ideas, freebies, and links that you might be able to use, too. This blog post is part one of two...so hang tight...shadows will be coming next week!! We are going to launch our unit with Oscar and the Moth by Geoff Waring. He has a great collection of easy to understand books on science. This particular book is about light and shadows. Oscar the cat and his new friend the moth set out on a little journey to learn about shadows and light. Isn't Oscar a cutie? Light is energy and it makes objects visible and without it, we cannot see anything! So we are going to first discuss the kinds of light that we find in our world and list them by two categories: natural light and artificial light! We are going to use an anchor chart just like The Lesson Plan Diva's chart. Perfect! (You can check out her anchor chart by clicking on the photo above.) We are also going to be looking at all the different types of lights in real life. Would you include matches or a lighter? I am still debating. Since we don't have a real darkroom we are going to be using the restroom in our classroom. Hysterical! Just the thought of being in the restroom is going to crack my little firsties up! I am going to take them into the darkroom in groups cause my darkroom is tiny! My students who are not in the darkroom group will be working on the activity sheet below. You can find it free here! In the darkroom, I am hanging pictures of objects around the room. I want my students to see them when we shine the flashlight around the darkroom to make them visible because of light. We will discuss how light makes it possible for them to see the objects. And when I turn the flashlight off, the objects are no longer visible. (Yes...I totally expect some shrieks!! Eesh...but in the name of science, right?) In their science journals, they are going to record what they observed by drawing or writing what was visible in the darkroom. If you would like a copy of the pictures that I am going to use in my bathroom darkroom, you can find them here! We are also going to be looking at peep boxes. Have you ever used peep boxes? Kindergarten-Lessons.com is where I learned about peep boxes!! You should totally check out the website because they have some great suggestions and ideas for light and shadows! You can click here! They are not hard to make and you can easily make one for your students to see. Here is an example of one I made: Without light you can't see anything inside... But with light, you can see lots of things on the inside! I can't believe this box already had a peep hole!!!!! My students are going to record what they see inside the peep boxes in their science journals. You can find the scene that I used for my peep box here. It's so fun and exciting to look inside!!! I will be working on another one this week and I will let you know how it goes!! What kind of activities do you do for light and shadows? I am dying to know!! For the second part of our light and shadow unit, we will be talking about shadows and shadows will go along perfectly with Groundhog's Day. Yeah!! So come on back! I can't wait to show you what we are doing with shadows! Hoping you have a great week back!! An InLinkz Link-up
This worksheet on Etta James celebrates the legacy of this African American singer of soul and jazz.
Dolphins at Daybreak is the focus of this novel unit for students with autism and special learning needs. Includes 11 activities and questions.
With this fun and educational worksheet, your students will practice adding the suffix -S, -ED, and -ING onto root words to change their meaning!
Understanding characters can be tricky! Learn my favorite strategies for helping students master character traits and changes.
I absolutely love teaching poetry! That explains why I teach it ALL year! Each month I focus on TWO types of poetry and then during POETRY MONTH, we review all of our work, create poetry portfolios for a review, and have a POETRY SLAM! Read on for details! 1. BULLETIN BOARD At the beginning of the year, make a bulletin board to display posters of the different types of poetry. Leave a space below each one to place a student example. Review it with your class and tell them by the end of the year, they will have written an example of all the types. For the time being, put a little sign under each type of poetry that says something like, "Under Construction" or "Coming Soon!" I place a large 12" X 18" black piece of construction paper under the posters. 2. MONTHLY POEMS Each month, introduce a new type of poem and teach the rules for that poem. If you created a bulletin board like above, add a student example. The following order works well for upper elementary! August- Couplets and Quatrains September- Acrostic and Cinquain October- Haiku and Humorous November- Diamante and Informative December- Free Verse and Concrete January- Narrative and Lyrical February- BioPoem and Ballad March- Limerick and Parody April- Review and Poetry Portfolios (see below) May- Poetry Slam 3. POETRY AND LYRICS ANALYSIS In addition to introducing a new type of poetry each month, also choose a poem or song to analyze each month. I actually try to do two of these a month - one regular poem and one song to analyze the lyrics. Students love the musical feature and I start to see them wiggle in their seats and try to sing the songs. I allow them to sing and even dance to the songs. Any little thing to get them excited about learning poetry! I love when they say, "My dad likes that music!" or "Who is that?" Use the following elements of poetry when analyzing poems! Alliteration- Ex. Slimy slugs slither slowly on the sidewalk. Imagery- Ex. The thick fuzzy coat was a blessing in the winter blizzard. Metaphor- Ex. A good laugh is sunshine in a house. Onomatopoeia- Ex. Bang, ding, pop! Personification- Ex. The wind whistled its happy tune. Repetition- Ex. Leaving my friends, leaving my home leaving my room, leaving my memories Rhyme- Ex. School, tool, rule Rhyme Scheme- Ex. Roses are red A data-blogger-escaped-comment-StartFragment Violets are blue B Sugar is sweet C And so are you. B Rhythm- (musical quality) Simile- Ex. She was as pale as a lump of sugar. Stanza- (a poetry paragraph) Theme- (the message) Tone- (feeling) Grab these free poetry study cards! 4. POETRY PORTFOLIO At the end of the year, I like to have students create their own Poetry Portfolio. Basically, they get out their notes from throughout the year or I supply them with directions. Since it is a review, I don't usually teach the rules for each of the poems. I either give it as a class project in centers or homework. If you don't have time for your class to write new poems for each different type, save the poems throughout the year and create a portfolio of poems. 5. POETRY SLAM Finish off the year with a Poetry Slam! Oh yeah! Students love to share their work and this way they can show ownership and pride of their hard work. 1. Allow your students to relax around the room and enjoy listening to poetry from their fellow classmates or set up chairs for them. It can be formal or informal! 2. Set up a schedule so students know the order of when to share their poems. 3. Have a special author's chair? Use it! 4. Do you have iPads, tablets, video cameras? Have the student videotape! I have my students rotate. After they present, they go to the video chair. That way each student gets the experience of both being the videographer and the presenter! AND parents absolutely love to see these videos! Thank you for visiting! Come back to get some more amazing ideas from Upper Elementary Snapshots!!!! If you need poetry resources, click below! They are sold separately too. Connect With Me! TPT Store Facebook Pinterest My Blog
How I CAN Statements Can Work for You % %
Understanding characters can be tricky! Learn my favorite strategies for helping students master character traits and changes.
Phonics for the year, teach your phonics word families in order, activities for every phonics pattern, free phonics guide, phonics review
