These outdoor writing ideas for primary students are a great way to get kids enjoying outside, but with an academic focus as well!
Sit spots for outdoor learning and quiet nature reflection in upper elementary and middle school classrooms.
These outdoor writing ideas for primary students are a great way to get kids enjoying outside, but with an academic focus as well!
For most of the school year, you might be cooped up in your classroom thanks to mother nature. The winter months can certainly drag on. However, when spring comes around and the weather forecast predicts sunny days and fresh air, you have a perfect opportunity to take advantage of outdoor learning activities. The outdoor learning
Sit spots for outdoor learning and quiet nature reflection in upper elementary and middle school classrooms.
Getting students to reflect on their own writing throughout the writing process.
Scene and Story Construction Spreadsheet and Nanowrimo Writing resources and recommendations. Writer and Artist Patricia Tiffany Morris shares her favorite resources since starting her writing career in 2018. Click on some of the links to share affiliate goodness and find your next writing book.
Transform your science and math, reading and writing, imaginative play, and arts and crafts all through garden-based activities. The Garden Classroom offers a whole year of outdoors play and learning ideas, however big or small your outdoor space – and comes with a lovely, free gift. Welcome to The Garden Classroom Your garden, no matter its […]
Simple tips for improving writing in your second or third grade classroom. These tips are a must if you want better writers!
Differentiate the writing center in your Pre-K or kindergarten classroom with this free differentiated writing center packet download.
Need a fun way to spark writing creativity in your students? Picture writing prompts for kids is the answer! Free and instant download!
Spring and summer is the perfect time to take your students outdoors for some outside learning activities. This post shares 10 activities with freebies!
If you have students who say, "I don't have anything to write about" then this writing activity could definitely work for you. It lends itself to pretty much any grade level. I was actually introduced
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,
Looking for a fun way to introduce the writing process to your students? What about using playdough? Come grab a fun & hands on lesson for your classroom!
Ten fun writing activities for kids of all ages. Low pressure, creative ideas to help students practice their skills and get writing!
I use this insect research report every year when teaching insects! The students love "researching" an insect of their choice! It also makes for a great bulletin board idea, family project, or homework! This pack includes: - Insect Report Cover Page - Insect KWL chart - Insect can-has-is organizer - Insect research report - Insect draw it and label - Insect opinion organizer - Insect writing template If you like this unit, please check out my Research Report and Writing BUNDLE in my TPT store! It contains 10 research reports and writing units- one for each month of the school year!
FREE printable Symmetry drawing activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. A fun art and math activity in one! Kids will complete the symmetrical pictures by drawing the other half.
What if I told you moving your ENTIRE writing instruction to small group instruction will turn your students into INCREDIBLE writers? Well, I’m telling you that. I moved from teaching writing whole group with writing conferences on the side to GUIDED WRITING. It was a game changer. Let’s start from the beginning. All of your […]
Pair Work exercise useful for practising speaking and listening skills and giving/following instructions. Put students in pairs and give each half of the worksheet. Student B tells student B where to go on the grid and what to write or draw. Make students can not see each other´s sheet. This ws allows the whole class to practise simultaneously. At the end of the exercise, Ss should compare their answers to the teacher´s answer sheet. Enjoy. - ESL worksheets
Looking for esl task cards to use with your english language learners? Try these picture cards that are perfect for quick and effective language practice!
The Journal Diaries is a blog segment where we get a sneak peek into the journals, notebooks, organizers, and diaries from people all over t...
K-1 LABELING UNIT How do I teach my kindergarten and first grade students to write? I think every teacher has wondered this at some point. It can seem overwhelming... especially when getting started. I am so excited to share with you how I tackle writing and writer’s workshop! I will sh
I wanted to give my family a space to hang out, watch the sunset and give my husband a nice little nook to write.
A quill pen has a special way of transporting a writer to the past. Grip the quill, dip into an inkwell, start making long, curvy strokes across a piece of paper, and suddenly you’re a young Revolutionary War soldier writing a hasty letter home, or you’re Thomas Jefferson agonizing over just the right words for […]
The end of the school year is such a busy time, isn't it? I know most of you probably feel like me... worn out by testing and ready for summer but still looking at a to-do list a mile long! Add to that student behavior that is, well, less than stellar. Ugh! I've been finding reading centers to be particularly hard lately. These third graders have nothing on their minds except socializing and acting like the fourth graders they haven't quite become yet. So I took the drastic measure of canceling reading centers. That's right... I canceled them. No more centers! So, what are these children doing for an hour every day? Research and writing. Wow, that sound boring... zzzzz. But check out some of their finished work and you tell me, does this look boring? These are the students' self-published "Time For Kids" magazines. After using TFK in our guided reading groups for awhile, I decided to use them as a way to get the kids writing. First, we brainstormed ideas for topics and created a "topic menu". They came up with things like the San Francisco earthquake, the Titanic, Pompeii, the New York Yankees, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Apollo Space Mission. They were all VERY excited to contribute to the menu. Then we closely analyzed TFK to figure out what makes them so interesting. The kids noticed that the paragraphs were short with text features to go with them. They noted that there were a lot of very interesting facts and that each section had its own heading. They pointed out the colorful illustrations and interactive features like links to videos. We decided it would be a good idea to use index cards for each paragraph or sub-topic. Next, we talked about how to conduct research including how to paraphrase, how to cite your source (which we've been working on for awhile), and how to take notes. I also made a list of acceptable websites that they could access on the computer or ipads. Finally, they were ready to go and boy, did they dive right in! Most of them chose to partner up for their first topic. They spent several days researching with some of them asking to visit the media center to find even more information. During reading groups, I looked over what they had done so far and offered guidance as needed. Some things they had trouble with at first were writing good headings for each paragraph and forgetting topic sentences. After our first round of TFK publishing, the kids decided they wanted to do more, so they all chose a new topic! Some decided to work on their own because they were excited to research something specific. It was great seeing them so absorbed in their writing. Most of them spent a full week doing research and another week writing, illustrating, and editing. Their hard work really paid off! Take a look at some of these finished pieces... Now that the school year is coming to an end, I wish we had more time for projects like these. But hey, I'm still ready for summer to start! Don't forget to check out TpT's big Teacher Appreciation Sale starting tonight at midnight!
The last week has been such a beautiful whirlwind.
Handwriting practice can be fun! Great handwriting activities for kids.
illustration of Christopher Alexander's 'Positive Outdoor Space' by Matt Noiseux One of the books I use in my Landscape Design...
Is there any food more iconic to camping than s'mores? The perfect combination of roasted marshmallows, melted chocolate, and crunch...
