The difference between FEW and LITTLE in English with a chart to explain the meaning including example sentences.
This week I tried something new with the vocabulary in the story. I got the idea at a First Grade Conference in December. The student writes the vocabulary word in the middle of the sheet and then there are four things to do with the word. We completed two of the boxes together as a class and they finished the last two boxes independently. The kiddos sure had a great grasp of the vocabulary after this. When we read the story they had fantastic comprehension.
If you want to practise your German a bit while being entertained, you're in luck. There are tons of German movies! Here are some of the best for learners.
Grab a free copy of the Pictionary words to create your own game cards for kids to play at home or in the classroom!
Get a boost learning qu- words with these free qu- digraph word wheels. They're a great way to keep little hands engaged while focusing on the sounds!
I've been asked to share my assessments and those that I use. Assessments are snapshots of a child's current ability to perform a certai...
Castles are one of the most iconic landmarks in Scotland. They simply just ooze history. The entire country of Scotland is breathtaking and a wonderful place to take a road trip through. There are so many castles in Scotland that it would be near impossible to see all of them
A simple illustrated book used to help young children learn how to speak in German by teaching words and phrases. You can also read a copy of 'My Very First...
The image you see here is a visualization (which is obviously not comprehensive) of how a given piece of information in a language might g...
Experiment your way around the world with these 50 science experiments related to different countries and cultures around the world
Learn how to make this adorable origami penguin with our step-by-step tutorial and clear instructions.
There are so many engaging resources and activities that can be used to help 2nd grade students master verbs!
Penguin theme preschool. Penguin game for kids. Penguin craft for kids. Feed the penguin game for kids. Shapes, Numbers
Students learn in a variety of ways. Teaching English with hands-on activities can help language students learn and practice English vocabulary, grammar, concepts, and ideas. Here are six hands-on activities and games for teaching English + illustrations
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Try making cute little origami mice! This traditional origami mouse is a great intermediate-level project suitable for both kids and adults.
Castles are one of the most iconic landmarks in Scotland. They simply just ooze history. The entire country of Scotland is breathtaking and a wonderful place to take a road trip through. There are so many castles in Scotland that it would be near impossible to see all of them
Spelling practice for beginners. Let your students test their spelling on elementary vocabulary. It is a ws that will keep the students busy for some time and give you time to help the ones who need your help. - ESL worksheets
Crack the Code – Penguin Facts – Codebreaker Worksheet Going along with the Cold theme, I thought we could learn a little more about some of the animals from the colder regions, specifi…
Today’s Cardboard Tube Space Shuttle craft comes straight out of the Happy Handmade Book that I received for free from my friend Leslie from Pink Stripey...
There are hordes of young girls around him and he finds it a bit claustrophobic, but he does know how to cook and clean and do his own washing
Shape Activity For Preschoolers This shape activity for preschoolers requires very simple materials. It is the perfect project for little...
Top Indiana Jones party game ideas you can create yourself for your little explorers birthday adventure.
My daughter is in first grade and her class is a little obsessed with cootie catchers (aka fortune tellers). She likes to make them a lot, and other kids her grade and a little older do, too. Which…
A simple illustrated book used to help young children learn how to speak in German by teaching words and phrases. You can also read a copy of 'My Very First...
Hello, how are you today? Welcome to our blog About Crochet. We hope you are very well and looking forward to a new Free Crochet Pattern or Tutorial.
I will be the first to admit that I LOVE cute… I love when things match… I love using colors to code EVERYTHING… I love when things just work like magic… but most of all, I love when SIMPLE things increase engagement, and therefore help my students. I have a pretty fantastic collection of tools I use for Guided Reading groups. Every class, and even every small group, responds differently to the “tools”. So some years, I use a variety, and some years I stick with one or two that are best. You don’t need me to tell you what ever good teacher knows- teaching is all about responding to the needs of my students. I will go through each and give you some ideas for how I use them. Most of the items are from the Dollar Store. (My friend Jean likes to tease me that I am the “Queen of the Dollar Store”- I almost named my blog that, but decided against it at the last second.) This post will be all about the tools I use during small group sessions, but it’s not really about how to run small reading groups. I will tackle that topic another day! Let me start by telling you about my shelves… They were donated by a craft store that was going out of business. It is really meant to be turned the other way, and was twice as thick, but the back was hollow. Thankfully, my brother helped me cut off the extra wood from the back, and then I sanded and painted it. These baskets from the dollar store fit PERFECTLY! It was a match made in Heaven! Basic supplies: First I have a caddy that holds some basic supplies that I like to have handy. Things like markers, a stack of index cards, dot stickers, pens, pencils, and sticky notes. (I also have these fun spinners- some are from Lakeshore and some are from Dollar Tree.) I use a LOT of index cards. For each book we read, I pick out select vocabulary and write it on cards. (Sometimes they are sight words, harder decodable words, unfamiliar vocabulary, or just interesting words like homophones, etc.) It allows me to pre-teach the words. We play different games with them- I will share some of those later! :) I use the markers for many different things-- but especially for writing the focus words from their Leveled Reader on index cards. I use the colored dot stickers to help my students know what Guided Reading Level they are on… These are fancy pre-printed labels from Scholastic. These spinners are such an easy, and quick way to engage your students! Who doesn't love to flick a spinner and answer a question? I know I sure do! :) Highlighters, sticky notes, pens, pencils, all that fun stuff! Sight words These are sight words sets, bound together. Honestly, I did not make these myself, they were given to me. I have another set that I made, I will show you later. J These are great because they are leveled (in order of difficulty- I don't just have the 100 first grade words) and they stay together really well! Pointers! Oh, goodness! I could write and write and write about pointers! So many options! So much room for creativity! And, just by giving your student a pointer, you will instantly increase the engagement of your lesson- but don’t forget to set up your behavior expectations before giving them out! J Otherwise, they are just a toy and you will be frustrated! Any time that you want your students to read- word lists, phrases, books- you can let them use a pointer… I do not ALWAYS let them use a pointer. Occasionally I will use it as an incentive- the first group that is ready- or any group that has 100% of their members that completed their homework. And sometimes it’s just nice to mix it up! These first pointers are just wands I got at a party store. Guess what?! Even the boys like to have a magic wand... sometimes more than the girls! J These are assorted drink stirs. I have a variety. (I never pay full price for them- right now is the perfect time to find them on clearance- look in the summer clearance section). You can also get them fairly inexpensively at party or dollar stores. J Finger puppets and witch (or monster) fingers are major favorites! I like these for my lowest students—you know the kids that NEED to point as they read, but just seem to forget? Magically, just putting something on their finger helps them to remember to point! They all fit into one of these baskets! Word Stretchers! Take a slinky, hold it with two hands. As you stretch out the slinky, also stretch out a word. For example “cat” would be “cc-aa-tt”. This is a great, tactile way for students to start phoneme segmentation. These are only used for my lowest students—our Kindergarten teachers are FABULOUS and most of my students come in masterfully segmenting words (i.e. “cat” as “/c/-/a/-/t/”). However I have students that move in each year, and it never fails that one or two don’t have the phonetic skills necessary for First Grade. This is a great (and inexpensive tool) to practice with! (Want to guess where I got them? If you said the Dollar Store- you deserve a gold star!) J Mirrors If you have an ESL population in your area, you are likely well aware of how challenging the short vowel sounds of “e” and “I” are for them to distinguish. One way I help my students understand is by giving them a mirror. They watch their mouths as they say the sound in isolation “/e-e-e-e-e-e/” and “/i-i-i-i-i/”. Then we say cvc words with either /e/ or /i/ and they watch their mouths to see if they can identify which letter spells the sound they hear. It’s fun for them- because kids are always interested in watching themselves talk- and they really start to think about how they look- and more importantly how it FEELS to say each sound. After a few practices, we put the mirrors down and just focus on how it feels. Then we identify the letter by the sound and how our mouth feels. It’s pretty great! (I got my mirrors at a craft store- I found 30 mirrors for $4.00 on sale- I keep a few in my Guided Reading supplies. The rest of the set gets borrowed by other teachers when they are working on self-portraits!) Frogs and Lizards? Yes! I’m partial to the frogs (my classroom theme for the first few years that I taught was all frog, so I am slightly partial to the little guys!) but the lizards are fun, too. We play a game called “Hop and Read”. It works best if you have a table of words that you want your students to read. They literally use their little frog (or lizard) to read the word and then hop on it. My rule is that you have to read the word before you land on it! (One of my former colleagues had them read it after they landed on it- it works either way!) I have some word mats that have word families on them but most of the time we use our 5 weekly sight words. Here’s an example of what the chart might look like (super simple!) the me I am as as the me I am am as the me I I am as the me me I am as the If you are interested in word families, my favorite resource is Mrs. Alphabet’s website! http://mrsalphabet.com/ (Look under “classroom” and then “Word Families”). Sight Word Strips Sight words are like basic math facts. You just have to master them! So I try and give my students LOTS of opportunities for practice—but I like to have a variety of ways so that my students are willing to practice repeatedly. J (Everything is a “game” in my class!) These are very similar- just using two different word lists. Here’s how we “play” with these: Each student in the group is given a list. At the same time, they read their words out loud. (I choose a different student to listen to each “round”- they never know when or if I am listening to them. They think I am magic and am listening to all of them- which I am, but I focus on one at a time to check for accuracy.) When they are done- or almost done- I say “dun, duh-duh-dun-dun” and they say “dun-dun!” and pass their strip to the next person and start again! No one “wins” this game, but they never seem to notice. They also know that if they finish the list, they start it again. (Some of my high kids really like to see if they can read it twice before I signal- my lowest little guys are just as excited when they finish the list!). It’s easy to differentiate because the word lists are numbered. Super easy to make- super fun to play! Comprehension Sticks These sticks have different comprehension questions. Each student draws one and reads it. (Some questions are answered BEFORE reading, some are DURING, and others are AFTER. With training, they can quickly identify when they will need to answer their question.) They are already things you would discuss, but simply allowing your students to choose will automatically increase their engagement level. Comprehension Lollipops One of the teachers on my team, Cheryl, made these for us last summer. They are great! They work the same way as the sticks, but they are even cuter! Yuck! Take the sight words you have already learned and write them on cards. Add in a few cards that say “Yuck!” and mix them into the sight words. Each student takes a turn, draws a card, and reads it. If they read it correctly, they keep it. IF, however, they draw a “Yuck!” card, they have to give back all of their cards! My lowest group usually spells it after they read it. (“My word is “the- t-h-e- the”) My high group has to use the sight word in a sentence (“the- The cat chased a mouse.”)—This helps with homophones! (Like to, too, and two!) Word Family Sticks I simply printed word families, cut them out, and covered them with some clear box tape. Students add a letter (they can write it right on the stick with a low-odor whiteboard marker) to build words. Usually I have them write a list of all the words they came up with on a whiteboard or recording sheet. I also have letter dice- sometimes they roll a letter and see if they make a real word or a nonsense word. (When we do it that way, they record it on a t-chart). I will share more nonsense word games another day!! (This is a great small group activity that the kids can do independently while you do testing, or a running record, etc.) Eventually, I turn it into a center. Word Detectives! So many things can be done with these little magnifying glasses! (I got mine at the Dollar Store—I am sure that, by now, you are SHOCKED by that information!) J · Find word with __. · Identify the sight word __. · Read the sentence. · Read the list of words (another great tool you can use with the sight word chart I showed about above!) Tactile Letters I am a very tactile learner, which translates into me being a very tactile teacher. I am always looking for new and great ways to incorporate learning styles in my teaching. These sandpaper letters are perfect for your tactile learners. They can trace them with their fingers. (I do this with my lowest students- and with any of my students that have fine motor struggles- in First Grade it’s often most-noticeable in handwriting and scissor activities.) These are commercially made. They were a great thing I inherited from my mom. J (Have I mentioned how awesome it is to have teachers in the family?) I have seen other teachers make their own with hot glue dots. That is totally something I would do! J Boards… We do dictation and written responses pretty regularly during small groups. We have regular whiteboards in my classroom, but for Guided Reading, I prefer to use one of two options. A glossy page protector with a piece of cardstock inside is literally the most inexpensive whiteboard equivalent EVER. TIP: USE LOW-ODOR markers. (Right now I have the BIC markers because they were a great back-to-school sale deal and they have been working really well!) These are awesome. Every year at the UEA Convention (Utah’s Education Association Convention) they hand out a sample magnetic board. Well, after a few years of going, I have a set for my small groups. (I am lucky because usually my friends that go with me give me theirs, too! Now that I have a set, we’ll start collecting a set for them, too!) The boards are really not that expensive, so you could just buy a set J I just had so many from before I started teaching that it made sense to continue my collection. Whew! That was quite a post! And I didn’t cover all of the games and poems I use! We’ll have to save that for another day!
Castles are one of the most iconic landmarks in Scotland. They simply just ooze history. The entire country of Scotland is breathtaking and a wonderful place to take a road trip through. There are so many castles in Scotland that it would be near impossible to see all of them
A simple illustrated book used to help young children learn how to speak in German by teaching words and phrases. You can also read a copy of 'My Very First...
This blog post was so popular that I turned it into a book: 102 Little Drawings That Will Help You Remember English Rules FOREVER (Probably). It's available as an eBook and paperback. Click here to
A simple illustrated book used to help young children learn how to speak in German by teaching words and phrases. You can also read a copy of 'My Very First...
The days of dioramas and book reports may be long gone. (Is it wrong that I’m a little sad about that?) Yet the expectation that students read and express their understanding of what they’ve read remains as strong as ever. So what’s a teacher to do? More specifically, what’s a creative teacher to do, when she doesn’t want to rely on worksheets? Get creative, of course! I’ve compiled 9 Fun Book Projects for you. They’re quick and easy to prepare, and best of all, they’re engaging – for both your students and you. No more slogging through piles of “Why I Liked This Book!” Take a look: Write a different ending -- What if the main character didn’t make it in the end? Or the dogs had lived? Or the culprit was the best friend? Your students’ imaginations can really wander with this assignment. Maybe their alternate ending will be even better than the original! Offer to let students draw their new ending as a bonus. Give a book talk --- Book talks are a wonderful way for students to demonstrate their understanding of books that they have read while practicing their writing and speaking skills. They're a great book project because they combine so many skills...and students love listening to one another. Oh, and the added bonus is that students can learn about books that they're interested in reading as they listen to the book talks. If you'd like to give them a try, then check out this FREE BOOK TALK GUIDE. It includes an overview of book talks, pre-write, final copy, and tips and tricks for presenting a book talk. Find it HERE. Write a sequel -- If you have the time, your students may want to extend their alternative endings into a whole second book (or at least a few pages or a chapter). After all, who hasn’t reached the end of a great read and wished for more? This will be a challenge, as students will have to build on the original plot lines and character outlines. Refer them to some famous book series for inspiration. Write a letter to the author -- Take a page from Beverly Cleary’s classic Dear Mr. Henshaw and have students write a thoughtful letter, with questions for the author of their current reading selection (or a favorite book). Most authors love to write (of course!) and appreciate opportunities to interact directly with their readers. Address letters (or e-mails) to the publisher, or see if the author has contact information on his or her website. It never hurts for students to practice their letter-writing and envelope-addressing skills, either – at least as long as snail mail is still around. Your students will be thrilled to get a response, too. Great news! I've put together three stationary templates that students can use when drafting their letters. They're a special FREEBIE just for you! Click here to check them out...and download them for free! Choose a response --- Here's an idea that students love...give them choices! It's amazing how giving students the ability to select the response or project that they would like to complete instantly increases their engagement. With that in mind, I created a series of "This or That" reading responses. Each This or That Reading Prompt includes instruction at the top of the worksheet and then 2 reading response choices for students to showcase their learning. After reviewing the choices, students can choose to do the "This" prompt or the "That" prompt. You can easily turn this into a book project by having students complete 5 (or so) different prompts while reading the book and submit them all as a final project when they finish reading the book. Learn more HERE. Set it to music -- Have your students capture a pivotal scene from the book in a song set to familiar music. It can be a ballad, a pop song, a rap – whatever speaks to them or best works with the scene. Encourage students who select this option to put on a concert. For students who are shy to perform, give them the option of recording their song privately, so you can play it without them having to get up in front of the class. Doodle it --- This is my FAVORITE type of book project! That's because it combines reflection, thinking and DOODLING! You can instantly take book reports and book projects to a whole new level with a Doodle Book Review! First, students complete a planning guide. Then, they design a Doodle Book Review! Check it out HERE! There's even this cinema-themed version that your students are sure to love. Find it HERE. Create a File Folder --- I first developed this book project idea many years ago as a summer reading project. Then, I altered it slightly so that it could be completed during anytime of the school year with any book. With this project, students compile critical information from the book they read including the plot, characters, setting, and a reflection in a manila file folder. The file folder book report includes detailed instructions so that students can complete it all independently. The end result is a compact project that students love! Oh, and you can store the file folders by your classroom library for students to reference when picking out a book! Find more details HERE. Blog about it -- If you have a classroom webpage, it can be fairly simple to create a live (and private) blog that students can use to discuss and debate the merits of their favorite books. This option might work best for students who have read the same book. Make sure you establish expectations for a civil online conversation. You can get in on the convo, too! Focusing on nonfiction in your classroom? Try one of these book report alternatives: Ø Create a scrapbook with images and facts about the book topic. Ø Write interview questions for the main character (if reading a biography, for example). Extend this assignment by allowing students to dress up as the character and record their responses to the interview questions. Ø Write a diary that one of the story’s main characters might have kept before, during, or after the book’s events. Make sure students emphasize what the character is thinking and feeling to give it an authentic feel. Ø Write a news story about the main event in the book (for example, the sinking of the Titanic). This is a good opportunity to practice this very specific form of writing. You’ll want to review inverted pyramid style and how to use quotes if you go this route. BONUS: Wait! I have one more idea. Here's a new spin on the classic book report mobile! Why not have students report out on the plot, setting, characters, and theme on fun pieces of paper clothing? Then students can hang their work from a hanger that says, "Try this book on for size!" This project includes a set of first draft materials and final copy elements so that students can create a high quality project! Here's some links for some of the project ideas above: ➧ File Folder Book Project (any book!) ➧ Doodle and Do Book Review (doodle book project) ➧ This or That Reading Response Prompts ➧ Book Talk (freebie) ➧ Letter to the Author Stationary Templates (FREE!) ➧ Clothes Hanger Book Report I hope that you've found some fun book project ideas to try in your classroom! Happy reading! Mary Beth
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Castles are one of the most iconic landmarks in Scotland. They simply just ooze history. The entire country of Scotland is breathtaking and a wonderful place to take a road trip through. There are so many castles in Scotland that it would be near impossible to see all of them
