When reading the work of literary heroes like Jane Austen, or modern-day masters like Sally Rooney, it can be hard to imagine that they began with an empty page (or screen). It's strange to think that Victor Hugo turned a pen and parchment into the beautiful tale of The Hunback of Notre Dame. Or
If you're writing a book for the first time and you're not sure what the steps to do it are, you can follow these simple tips to start writing your novel.
Hello and welcome! So glad you found this post. First thing I want to mention about writing your first song, whether it’s just music or music and lyrics, is have fun! There is absolutely no p…
Informative writing can be tricky in first grade, but this all about book is the perfect way for students to research their own animal and publish a book
These methods of outlining will help you create a novel outline that makes writing your first draft a breeze, whether it's your 1st or 10th time writing a book.
PRIMARY WRITING - UNIT 3 I am so excited to teach this narrative writing unit! This writing curriculum is geared for kindergarten, first grade and can even be used in second grade classrooms. In Unit 3 , we are learning how to write a personal narrative . We practice writing about what we l
Writing your first novel can be daunting. That's where these free novel-writing templates and worksheets can prove handy.
A free comic strip template for Elephant and Piggie books, plus a set of super cute Elephant and Piggie paper bag puppet templates.
No more boring book reports! Check out 26+ FUN, creative and unique book report ideas and free printable projects too!
Book clubs in first grade?! It may seem like a stretch, but the Spring is such a great time to get your students ready and used to reading, thinking about, and discussing books with their peers instead of me, the teacher! When done right, it can be such a fun learning experience for both […]
One of my favorite projects of the year is our End of the Year Memory Book. It's a special keepsake for students and parents that features photos, drawings, writing samples, and more. It's a project the class works on periodically throughout the year. I love it because it shows how much the kiddos change over the year. It gives parents a memento to remember the year by, rather than trying to save everything the child brings home. #guiltyofthat This is Ellee. She was in my very first class. She just started 10th grade! Her Mom sent me these pictures of her looking back on her Kindergarten Memory Book before school started last month. It made me so happy to know that she was reliving all of the fun we had in Kinder. Crazy to think 10 years has come and gone! You can see in the photos that Word Art was all the rage back in 2007. LOL. I've made some updates to my Kinder Memory Book since 2007, and I've also created a Preschool and 1st grade version. I have some tips for creating these Memory Books that will make them manageable. 1. If you have active parent volunteers, find a parent that will head up this project. My first year in the classroom, I had 26 kids in my morning class and 25 in the afternoon. 51 memory books! Thank goodness I had an amazing aide and some super parents that helped out. 2. Two options for binding the memory books... You can copy all of the pages you need and bind them over the summer/at the beginning of the year. However, I think it's better to wait to bind them until the END of the year. To keep it all organized, I have a file folder for each student. As we complete a memory book page, I file the completed page away in the child's folder. Then at the end of the year, all the pages are in order and ready to be bound. 3. Print extra copies for potential new students or for "Uh Oh" mistakes. 4. If you forget to take a photograph of a student for a certain page, they can draw a picture instead. The combination of photographs and illustrations will make it extra special. 5. You can send a page home for "homework" every now and then if you just don't have time to get to it in class. Be sure to tell your students how important these pages are so they come back in good condition. I would recommend sending them home in an envelope or file folder so they don't get ripped, folded, or destroyed on the way home. :) 6. I've included extra pages at the end for photographs. Students can personalize it, color it, add stickers, get autographs from friends, etc. The teacher can write a special note to the child in the back of the book as well. These Memory Books will work great for Homeschool Kiddos and for the crafty Mamas out there. Just print and use the pages you need. I'm thrilled to be making one with my preschooler.
Okay--I think I have admitted this before but here I go again, I dislike teaching writing. {Gasp!} I know, shame on me. Such an important part of a day in the life of a first grader. I'm contributing my dislike of writing to not be such a great writer myself growing up. One of my .unstated. resolution's was to become a better writing teacher. Well, let me tell you...this week I have jumped right in! Seems like I just hadn't found a way(in the past) that fit me or my students. While I was going through my writing folder desperately searching for ideas, I found a sheet that gave me inspiration and my writing lessons were brought to fruition! We started off this week talking about "story starters" and how important it was to catch your readers attention in the first sentence or two of your story. The anchor chart *fanatic* that I am made this: Here are the books I used that had great beginnings to show examples of interesting ways to start a story. The next day we picked a character to write our story about and described it using my 'Describe a Snowman' bubble map. I told them I wanted them to use their imagination and be creative. I showed them a few different type of snowmen (from clipart I found) to get their little wheels spinning. Their creativity came to life and describing is what they did! Our next step was to talk about the parts of a story: beginning, middle, end. We discussed these concepts: Beginning=story starter, character and setting introduction. Middle=give your character a problem. Ending=solve the problem and end the story. They caught onto this SOOOOO much better than I ever imagined! I created a worksheet for them to record their thoughts. After completion, we talked about the AND Disease! They thought this was HILARIOUS!!! I wrote and example of something like this on the board: When I read it they {laughed and laughed and laughed}! They thought I was crazy for using the word AND so many times. They were surprised when I told them that --they-- were actually the ones who were consumed by this disease! I had them go back and edit their papers for the "and disease", capitalization and puncuation. Our final day of writing consisted of completing our final draft. I had them transfer their edited writing and complete it by drawing a picture. I was in ~AWE~ after reading most of their stories....had I really taught them step by step with my own ideas!? Heck yes, I felt like I had hit the jackpot!! We will be at it again this week creating a penguin story to go along with our penguin unit! I'm hoping the process will be a little bit more independent (fingers-crossed)! This teacher is all smiles : ) P.S. If you made it this far, you can click on all the above templates and pick them up in my TpT store for FREE!
How I self-published my first book and got over 10,000 downloads, even though I had virtually ZERO audience. It all came down to book launch strategy!
If you want to know how to write a book with no experience, this post shows you exactly how to get started writing. Yes, even without a degree.
Wild Thing Book Activities! This unit is fantastic for Maurice Sendak's book Where the Wild Things Are. Writing worksheet and craft included. Perfect for kindergarten or first grade!
The Gruffalo book activities unit with literacy printables, reading companion worksheets, lesson ideas for Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade
She had heard his excuses before, thousands of times, but this time she was sick of them. She had never known that a human body could twist into that position. The bookcases tilted at a precarious angle over the sleeping infant. He was a brave man except when it came to small, tight spaces like […]
K-1 NONFICTION WRITING My nonfiction writing unit is here! This is the perfect way to introduce kindergarten and first grade students to what informational writing is. This unit is so engaging for students because it uses real life photographs and animals. We discus
We had our first day of school with students Wednesday and I forgot how utterly exhausting and mind blowing that first day is! We did lots of rules, routines, and procedures but also made time for some fun first week things. Here is what we have been up to! You can purchase these Scholastic Order Form activities from Clutter Free Classroom HERE! I also introduced the students to the Activ Expressions! They were literally asking me about them ALL week long and so Friday, we took a Multiple Intelligence Survey using the device! I adapted this activity from Laura Candler's printable survey which you can download free HERE! You can download the flipchart by clicking the image below. Important Note: You must have Promethean Activ Inspire software installed on your computer to OPEN and use this file! Please do not download otherwise! I also made some labels to go on my Activ Expression bins. You can download those by clicking the button below! I have also decided to implement brain breaks into my classroom this year! We needed a little wake me up on Friday morning so we watched this HILARIOUS parody of I'm Sexy and I Know It, called I'm Elmo and I Know It! I am definitely adding this to my brain break file! I plan on making some brain breaks sometime this week. Stay tuned to find out how I plan on incorporating this bad boy into my brain breaks! I absolutely can't wait for it to get here!!
Procedural writing or "How-to" is one of my favorite units! Read this post to discover some fantastic mentor texts to use in your classroom!
Do you do writing workshop with your students? My program has evolved over the last 23 years, and now it runs smoothly – although I can’t help but add new ideas each year! Long before I expect students to write stories, we spend a lot of time discussing stories. For example, every time we read […]
Read Dobre praktyki "Nauczyciel/ka I klasa" by Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. ...
Reading and writing about a famous person is hard work! Find out how we research and write about our Biography Reports in second grade.
Take a look at how we learned about animal habitats in first grade as we reasearched different animals, wrote reports and created hands on dioramas.
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Read Objective First Student's Book by David Salvador on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!
Click to see how one teacher uses 1 book to launch writing workshop with a detailed breakdown of each day and a free download.
Are you looking for procedural writing lesson plans to help your kids understand the how to writing genre? Add these ideas, anchor charts, examples, and activities to your procedural writing unit of study.
I have compiled an entire page of my FREE directed drawings for you to enjoy with your students. Access the full collection right here.
Here are three retelling strategies you can take and use in your classroom right away. Head on over to the post to grab the activities.
Friday letters offer so many insights into your students and keep parents connected to your classroom. See how I teach students to manage them themselves.
I know I have said it before but...... Making Memories Month by Month is one of my favorite books published by Creative Teaching Press. T...
First Grade Science Full Year Curriculum 36 weeks of Science for first graders. Actually probably would work for first and second. I would suggest finding books or videos online to go along with th…
Cultivating a postive classroom community is such an important part of teaching, and I've learned that little things go a long way. The Best Part of Me writing activity is a great community builder!
In order to run any campaign effectively and to get the desired results, you need a catchy slogan which people can remember easily. Same is true for school election campaigns. Slogans are very useful to draw the attention of voters and also to tell them what will happen or what you will do for them […]
It is the first week of kindergarten! What do I teach? I get this question all the time! I am so excited to put together this page together for you. I’m sharing our favorite first week of kindergarten read aloud stories and the free coordinating printables I made to go with them. Plus I will s
Thank you to Diane for submitting this fun book report poster. It’s legal size (paper) worksheet and is great for lower grades (or as an easy project for upper grades). Great end of the year …
This blog post lists ten must-dos for the first day of school! I want to share some actions you may know (or may not know) to ensure you have a great first
The first day of first grade is always a really fun, but hectic day for my littles. They are so excited to come to school, but they are always a little nervous since they don’t know what to expect when they walk through my classroom door. I always have an activity such as a first day coloring page or a play-doh model on their desks to work on right when they come in so my students are busy creating while I welcome students and take attendance.
