Today I'm talking about using the 6+1 Traits of Writing. Why do I teach with the Traits? It works perfectly with the B.C. Curriculum. Students get it. It breaks the writing process down into steps we can layer up all year. That means writing doesn't seem like such a large task. And that means, kids will usually write more because they feel a whole lot less overwhelmed. Sounds pretty good to me! Here is the writing board in my classroom. A large portion of it is taken up by my 6 Traits checklist. As the year goes on, and we introduce new pieces, it fills up and serves as a giant criteria list. The blank space to the left is where I add pieces specific to a current focus (figurative language, punctuation, etc.) You don't need to have a board dedicated to the Traits if you teach with the Traits. I do for two reasons: 1) I have the space. 2) It serves a giant checklist students can self assess their writing on that builds through the year as we learn new elements. You'll often hear me say "just because we are working on -----, don't forget all the other pieces we already know". A quick scan of the board and students know exactly what I'm looking for in their writing. (Download that awesome "What do Writers Write?" pencil here!) VOICES? Why does it say "Use your writing VOICES?". Well, VOICES is an acronym for the Traits. V- Voice O- Organization I - Ideas C- Conventions E- Excellent Word Choice S- Sentence Fluency They are now promoting 6+1 Traits and the +1 is Presentation. That didn't make it to my board.... but we do discuss it often. When I was starting out with the Traits, I wasn't sure where to go for resources. Here are some of my favourites to help you out: "Using Picture Books to Teach Writing With the Traits" is an excellent resource. Even though I teach grade 4, I still use it. They give you a scripted lesson plan for every trait as well as several other picture books that fit the trait and how you could use them to inspire writing. I use their examples and then extend on it for my bigger kids. Here are my favourite picture book for for each trait: Voice The story of the 3 Little Pigs told through the Wolf's perspective. Gives students a chance to think about the other side of things, and, it's funny. Organization Or any of the "If you Give a..." books. I love how they are cyclic. You really have to think ahead to write one of these stories. Good cause and effect too. Okay, I picked two for organization. Scaredy books are organized in a different way. I love all the charts and diagrams. Ideas This book is a favourite for many reasons. It is so touching. The boy in this story is searching for the answer to what a memory is. So many beautiful answers are given to him. Conventions This book uses two words. Yo! and Yes? You can talk about how the punctuation helps imply more language than is given. I also like to teach inferring with this book. Excellent Word Choice Max collects words. Although some of his words are basic, he collects some powerful ones as well. The author uses descriptive language throughout this book. Sentence Fluency I like to teach sentence fluency with poetry, because Jack's poems have such a good flow. They just roll off your tongue when you read them. And, they are hilarious. Pin this post. Helping to inspire,
Each classroom is likely utilizing the art form of Madeline Hunter’s ITIP in some way. If you’re a new teacher, then you may not know what I’m talking about specifically – and maybe I’m showing
This blog post includes ideas, activities, and free printables for using dice in the classroom. There’s a whole WORLD of possibilities for using dice with literacy!
Here is a project that I have done for many years with my third graders. I moved up to fourth grade this year and I have a handful of the same students, so I can't do it again until next year! I read the book "The Best Part of Me." The book is written by children who describe their favorite body parts. I have my kids pick their favorite part of their bodies and write a descriptive poem or paragraph. I also read some of my favorites from past students. I don't give any guidelines or a rubric, which they love! I take a black and white photo and zoom in on their part. I put one copy into their portfolio books and I created a large scrapbook for the School Art Auction. I made a photo collage for the title page. I mounted everything on black and white paper. This is one of my all time favorite lessons! I hope you do it with your class.
What is explicit teaching and how to do you use this teaching method in the classroom so that it is an effective method? Check out this blog post where I walk you through everything you need to know to help you make explicit teaching successful in your classroom!
Analogies are such an important skill for students to master. With these activities your students will have fun as they learn about analogies.
If you want to introduce the CER method to students or have them practice periodically, using video clips is a fun way to go. (If you aren’t familiar with the CER method, check out this blog post on ways you can use it in your classroom). I prefer short video clips because they are great ... Read more
One of the final things we study in 4th grade math is Geometry. By this point in the year, students brains are tired, folks. It’s about that time when we begin prepping students for the lovely end of the year tests, and we are all just.. well… TIRED. But hey.. the show must go on, […]
Crib is one of my favourite games and, sadly, it seems like many children do not know how to play it! Here in FSJ we have many inside days during the winter. I have often stayed in my classroom with children teaching them how to play cribbage. It's really got a few rules and minimal cleanup - perfect for a short play time. (Kids can also save their game and continue at lunch, which I know is a a complaint about many board games in my room.) The game of cribbage is all about adding numbers from 1 - 10 and combining numbers to make 15. Being able to see the relationship between numbers is crucial for kids in developing number sense. Looking for 15s is a great way to strengthen the fact that numbers are made up of smaller numbers (or, the Whole-Part-Part relationship.) John Van de Walle says this about Whole-Part-Part relationships: “To conceptualize a number as being made up of two or more parts is the most important relationship that can be developed about numbers” (Van de Walle & Folk, Elementary and Middle School Mathematics, Can. Ed., 2005, p.98). Practicing this skill can change the way that student's look at numbers. When they are given an addition or subtraction problem with larger numbers, they will be more likely to look for strategies to problem solve if they've spent time pulling apart smaller numbers. Not to mention that the ability to quickly add basic numbers will help greatly as they progress through larger problems. I believe you can teach cribbage to children as young as grade two. For them, you might want to simplify the rules or introduce them bit by bit: 1st game: look for 15's only 2nd game: look for 15's & pairs 3rd game: 15's, pairs, runs 4th game: 15's, pair, runs, nobs 5th game: demo entire game and let them play independently! Crib boards are often sold at the thrift store for a dollar or two. You can also buy little, travel size ones at the Dollar Store. I'm sure if you made a request parents would donate a few boards as well. Have you used cribbage in your classroom? Tell me how it works for you! If you want more ideas for strengthening basic math basics, check out my Pinterest board. Pin this post.
Geometric Art
Teaching area and perimeter in your upper elementary math class? This blog post shares a collection of ideas for teaching area and perimeter!
Check out these fun invertebrates activities for kids. Students in 4th grade will love this hands on project to help them with animal classification. You'll love seeing them learning the types of invertebrates with and without exoskeletons. Click to read about my science lesson on Shut the Door and Teach.
When I think about my experiences in school, I remember being bored during reading class. The stories in our reading book were always so boring. I remember rushing through my work so I could read the things that I wanted, which were books about sports! My best memories of school came during the Scholastic Book … Continue reading Paired Texts That Will Have Your Students Begging for More
Do you and I run in the same circles? Doubt it. Although we do share at least one circle: teaching. Right? And if you and I ha...
With the beginning of our geometry units in 6th grade math, it has been all about angles and triangles this past week! Thanks to some creative (and cheap!) angle ideas I found on social media, I was able to incorporate some new things in my classroom this year as we start geometry! First off, this fun idea to reinforce a basic understanding of angles! With some leftover fun tape from Office Depot, a little card stock to write the angles, and about ten minutes, I made this fun entryway into the classroom. I can't take credit for the idea, but am happy to share it! It definitely caught the students attention and had them thinking about different angles! The second fun idea I found (again... can't take credit for this one) I was able to use with my math intervention groups this week. After we had learned about different angle relationships (vertical angles, supplementary angles, and complementary angles), I covered our front dry-erase table with table at various angles. I then went through and measure the minimum number of angles they would need to be able to find all of the missing angles without a protractor. This turned out to be a great problem solving challenge and really promoted teamwork and working together. I could also see this working out great as a math center during math workshop. UPDATE: I recently added a full set of Angle Relationships Task Cards to my TpT store! It currently includes over 70 challenging angle problems and 4 different levels of difficulty! With the start of geometry, I was also able to try out one of my newest units of Math Task Cards: Triangles, Quadrilaterals, and Transformations. I now have two sets of task cards up in my store. A set of Math Task Cards, which are a little more basic problems. Then, for students that finish these quickly, I have them try the Math Enrichment Task Cards. Having these more challenging task cards makes it easy to push my higher students and keep them challenged! Here are a couple shots of the prep and final product of some of these task cards. I always print out six cards for each topic, which is what I need for my math workshop front table group. If I have time I corner round the corners and laminate to help them last! Geometry has also allowed me to finally get to what is probably my favorite Challenge of the Week problem! I recently updated this freebie with five more questions that could be used, so be sure to re-download it if you have already grabbed this one from my store in the past! So that's what we have been up to in 6th grade math recently. I'd love to hear what you have all been working on in your classrooms! And how about some humor to get everyone on their way? Who knew that One Direction is now a swear word?
Go into any classroom and you'll find reluctant writers. Some will tell you writing is boring. Others will say it's too hard. Some students are afraid to begin because they don't know if their idea is good enough. So, how do we engage these reluctant writers? These 6 strategies will be sure to help you find success with any reluctant writer. 1) Talk it out One of the reasons students can struggle with writing is because they don't know WHAT to write. Whenever we start a writing task, I have my students share their thoughts as a whole class and also with a shoulder partner. The benefits of the whole-class talk is that it can be less daunting for some. It also provides a wide variety of learners to share their thoughts letting your reluctant kiddos hear more ideas. Sharing with a shoulder partner can be beneficial too because letting only one person hear what you're thinking can be safer. Also, students can carry on a short conversation, letting the ideas go a little deeper. 2) Draw it I often find that students with limited writing output can be excellent artists. Giving them some time (it doesn't need to be more than 5-10 minutes) to draw out their thinking allows them to get the creative juices flowing. Check in with your reluctant writers and help to provide some vocabulary for their image. You can leave them with a sticky note of thoughts from your conversation to get them going. Additionally, you can have your class get up and do a gallery walk to view all the drawings in the room. This prompts learners to have even more ideas! I like to give them another few minutes to add to their drawing in pen. This allows me to see what new info was added as information from others. 3) Brainstorm There's a lot of power in the tried and true graphic organizer. Getting some of the work "out of the way" helps reluctant writers to feel successful right away. Webs, Venn diagrams, t-charts, and 5 finger planners are all options depending on the writing task. Giving students the time to process their thinking through any of the top 3 strategies can be very rewarding. 4) Get them started In my experience those who are reluctant often feel overwhelmed at the start of the task, no matter how big or small it actually is. Checking in with them, and writing a few sentences (their own words from your conversation, of course!) can boost their confidence and attitude right away. Sentence starters can also be really powerful as well. 5) Involve technology If you're fortunate to have access to technology in your classroom - involve it! Some things I've done with reluctant writers in the past include: allowing students to video tape themselves telling their thoughts rather than write to use a voice to text feature to use apps with predictive spelling such as Clicker That being said, there is a time and place for the use of technology. I caution it's overuse as students do need still need the skill of writing with pencil and paper. 6) Don't assess Sometimes the issue can be that students are afraid of the assessment. As much as we love to grade, it can be really powerful to turn the reigns over to the students. Ask students self-assess or to to analyze each other's work in small groups. Through these activities, students will see that they don't just write for a grade, they write to strengthen their ability and think more clearly about a topic. There really is no need to assess EVERY piece of writing, especially if you do a weekly journal write. Let students know when pieces will be assessed (and how - with clear criteria!) and when they won't. Need some more writing inspiration? Check out my Pinterest board. Pin this post. Helping to inspire,
Teaching theme and summarizing can be challenging, but with my tips, guides, and resources to help with your methodology, you can be successful!
This Back to School Escape is quite a bit different from my other escape lessons, as it’s not directed toward a specific grade level.
Teach your students how to correctly write sentences containing dialogue. Focusing on the placement of character tags is extremely helpful to upper elementary students. This blog post contains a complete free minilesson, including an anchor chart, a free worksheet, and more!
Need tips for teaching vocabulary in context and how to apply these tips into your daily lessons? This post provides vocab in context teaching strategies!
Read how I carried out an experiment on weathering and erosion with my upper elementary class. Students get to use background knowledge to make predictions!
I get questions on occasion about how to edit my editable products. If you're not sure how to do this, read on. This tutorial is for you! Step One: Open the file with Powerpoint. On the left side you'll see a small preview of each page in the file. The file I'm showing you, my chalkboard themed schedule cards, only has one page. On the right, the larger version is the one you'll actually be working with and editing. If the font doesn't look like it's supposed to, you likely do not have the correct font downloaded on your computer. There's typically instructions within the file or the purchase details about what font you need and where you can get it. This file uses the font "Return to Sender". Step Two: Click on the piece you're going to edit. Here, I've just written "Type here" so buyers have a text box already made. Step Three: Highlight the text you want to edit. Step Four: Replace the standard text with whatever you want it to say. Step Five: Highlight the text again. Adjust the font size to fit the area using the top toolbar. If you hover your mouse over the outer border of the text box, your cursor will change to what looks like a compass rose. You can now click and move the text box so it fits your area better. Pin this post.
Teaching area and perimeter can be challenging, but these fun and meaningful lessons ideas can help you teach area and perimeter in a fun, engaging way!
This week I had a lot of success teaching homophones! I've always been interested in grammar. I feel like it's one of those subjects that can be so dry, but does not have to be. And honestly, I don't take it too seriously. If I had to rank order reading, math, and proper grammar, it's going to come last. Maybe that's why when I teach it, it always needs to be quick, relevant, and/or fun. I started out by researching homophone anchor charts on Pinterest, and I was not disappointed! Next, I took a long look at our word wall. Because we use both Journeys and Fundations, I decided it would work better to just create a custom version of a free homophone sort that I found on Teacher's Pay Teachers for free. It was at this point that something clicked for me. Previously I had been wondering exactly what a first grader needs to know about homophones. Since I taught about homophones in fourth grade, it seemed odd that kids this young are also learning them. Once I looked at the sorting page I realized the level of understanding I was aiming for. Kids don't need to choose the correct spelling of the homophone to use in a sentence like they do in fourth. They simply need to be able to read both words (often sight words that have been taught previously this year) and recognize a match. Of course, for some first graders are ready to move on to the next concept, but not necessarily the whole class. So our first activity was to play a little game I called, "I've got your back." Write 4 pairs of homophones on sticky notes. Then make a second and even third set, depending on how many students you have. Mix them up, post them, and read the first word. "There." I can find the word "Their." Stick it beside the first. Call students up to match the words similarly. Call up 8 volunteers to participate, and the rest of the class gets to be "spectators." Stand behind the volunteers. Make a spectacle of holding up a word over the first kid's head so the spectators can see, but the volunteers can't. Stick it on the volunteer's back. Do the same for the rest of the kids. Tell the kids they are not allowed to LOOK at their back, but they can ask other students what it says. They should also read names on the backs of the other kids when they ask. When they find their "match" of a word that sounds just like their own word, they go to a designated side. When all partners have found each other, ask them to read their words to sum up. After this activity they were quite ready to do the word sort! Later in the week I did a follow up activity. They had a good sense of what homophones were, but I wanted a hook to keep the idea fun so it stuck with them. I found a cute homophones VeggieTales clip on YouTube that was less than 3 minutes long. I showed it on my new (less than one month) iPad/projector. We had to play it through twice because it was clear the first time that speakers were needed (luckily it only took me the 2 minutes and 10 seconds for the first run through to finish to untangle the ones on my desktop). I had let the kids know, "This video goes very fast (although it's also repetitive). So it would be hard to learn EVERY new homophone. But if you each remember ONE PAIR, we can make a list together at the end. Hopefully that way we can get them all." As they took turns telling me the pairs, that's when I introduced the idea of spelling each differently depending on the meaning. A child would say "read" or "red," and I'd ask, "Which one?" They would say "the color" and I would write "red." I'd ask, "What does the other 'read' mean," and they'd answer, "Like when you've read a book." I stuck with modeling (waiting to hear the definition in order to write the correct spelling for the meaning) in order to introduce the concept, as opposed to having them master it and apply it independently. Readers, do any of you disagree? Is there anyone out there who teaches first grade who holds their first graders accountable for spelling a certain number of homophones correctly in the right context? If so, can you share any tricks? The unplanned happy ending to my week on homophones was that my principal walked in during the song (for the second run through, fortunately!!!) enjoyed the tune, and praised me for learning/applying the new expensive technology quickly! Plus the fact that they kids were so into it that they were still singing it at lunch. One of my precocious (and favorite) boys told me, "Ugh, it's stuck in my head!" I told him, "Good, that was my goal." My Teachers Pay Teachers Store My Pinterest
Teaching dependent and independent clauses in upper elementary does not have to be as tricky or difficult as you think.
Are you teaching idioms? Your students will have a ball with these idiom activities that you can begin using in your classroom tomorrow!
This blog posts looks at how students can prove multiplication strategies through Project Based Learning! Students can use their creativity and their new knowledge to develop a Multiplication Mall Store based on any theme they can imagine! And, there's a language arts tie in too! Read all about it!
I made these food matching cards to make sure that everyone was included in a fun way. Classroom partnerships have never been easier!
Twenty five easy and fun Google Meet & Zoom activities to keep your kids engaged during distance learning. Freebie inside!
Learn the difference between the two types of understanding and how to provide opportunities of procedural and conceptual questioning in your classroom.
I love having flex seating for my students and they love it, too! No money? No problem! This is a low-budget, kid-friendly flex seating plan!
I am linking up again with Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her Spark Student Motivation Saturdays! I love this linky! Everyone shared so many great ideas last weekend:) Last Saturday I blogged about my 20 stars whole class incentive for good behavior here. I left this teaser:) What do you do for the few kids that are still reluctant to follow the rules? I do have a strategy for those students that goes along with the 20 stars plan. It has something to do with what happens when the free time day (well, 20 minutes of free time) comes! Check back next Saturday for more on that topic:) Now it is "next Saturday" and I wanted to share with you the quick strategy I have for those students that still tend to break the rules and might ruin the whole class getting a star. Instead of those students holding the whole class back from getting a star for the day, I have them make a check on our owl individual charts. I laminated these little mini incentive charts from Carson Dellosa. They have all kinds of styles available and have used them for many different reasons over the years. They also take and complete an "owl slip" to indicate what their behavior was. It immediately stops the behavior when they have to walk over to the owl chart and make that check. It is interesting to see what they write because sometimes they try to downplay what the actual infraction was. I keep these in a file and pull them out for future reference. I also have them on hand in case I need them at a parent conference. Click here to download a PDF of this owl slip. When it comes time for the 20 stars incentive, anyone with checks on the "owl chart" loses some (or all) of the class free time. They sit in the pod and, using their owl slips, write about the poor behaviors they had exhibited and how they can improve. If they will not do this, they don't have a chance of coming back to the room so the students really work hard getting it done. Each time we have made a 20 stars incentive, the number of checks on the owl chart have decreased. It has really been effective! That being said, I have started a new incentive for the last 10 weeks of school using Class Dojo. I just finished my first week using the system and it has sparked a lot of new excitement. This might be just what I need to get through the remainder of the year:) I will blog more about that after I have used it longer. Check back at Joanne's blog and see what other ideas bloggers have linked up!
With these end of the year activities and ideas, your school year is sure to end on a high note! Click through to see all the great ideas and freebies!!
I don't know why I like index cards so much. I mean, I like them almost as much as Post-Its, pretty note cards and papers, and fancy notebooks. Yes, I admit,
I don't know about you, but I feel like my students need a little fun project to break from the nonstop review - review - review that we are doing right now. Our big state test is in one week and I thought I'd share with you a fun fraction project I plan to complete with them this week. It will review fraction concepts and give them a chance to cut and color :) I got this idea from a fellow third grade teacher. She made a larger version for a book report. This is a dodecahedron dedicated to reviewing fraction concepts. Students will review ... partitioning fractions naming fractions shading to show a fraction (area model) plotting fractions on a number line (with area model help) plotting fractions on a number line (no area model) comparing fractions on a number line equal sharing problems finding equivalent fractions changing a fraction to a whole number Wow! That's a lot in one little project. I plan to have students complete the 6 pages in pencil. No coloring or cutting will be allowed until I check to make sure all work was done correctly. Below is a look at the 6 circle cut outs.. After all circles are cut out - you fold on the sides and glue! I don't have much detailed directions ;) Below is a picture of what it looks like when you start putting the circles together. Download the Printable Enter your email & receive your fun fraction freebie today! Success! Now check your email to download the Fun Fraction Freebie! There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again. Email Address Send me the Printable! We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe. Powered by ConvertKit MORE Dodecahedron Projects Happy Teaching! Visit my blog @ Learning With Mrs S. Visit my TPT Store Follow me on Pinterest! Follow me on Facebook :)
Then try these FREE ideas, resources, and tips to make them experts. Click here:
8 tips for teaching area and perimeter lessons to help you guide your students toward deeper area and perimeter understanding and mastery.
Practice grade 4 math with these FREE 4th Grade Math Worksheets and print as many as you need. Fourth grade math answer key included!!
Teaching maps and globes doesn't have to be a boring collection of worksheet! Check out the creative mapping activities in this blog post!
We have all been there (no matter how long you have taught or how well you have planned a lesson). You have just finished a fantastic lesson. Everything went
Teaching dependent and independent clauses in upper elementary does not have to be as tricky or difficult as you think.
Farm Animals + Yoga! 6 farm animals yoga poses plus free printable. Practicing yoga is a fun, family-friendly, indoor activity that is especially beneficial during these winter months. Pretend to be sheep, a cow and a cherry tree.
