Common Core Writing is a SNAP

I'm back!  And to make up for being "missing" from the blogging action I have a FREEBIE just for you!  I'm always thinking of ways to teach the Common Core Standards in an early childhood, developmentally appropriate way.  As I was working with some students on Opinion Writing this past year, I noticed they were having trouble connecting the steps in the writing process. With the Common Core, our students have guidelines included for narrative, opinion, informational, and research writing. 1st grade students (and up) need to use linking words or temporal words to connect their thoughts.  This can be hard for our young students to do abstractly.  So here is where "Writing is a SNAP" was born.

You can use any type of snapping block or cube to make this connection. Mega Bloks and Legos work great for this hands on analogy.  There are several different types out there, and most teachers already have them in their classrooms. You could also use regular snap cubes manipulatives from your math center. I use the analogy of building a building to connect to children's writing.  Some buildings are one story and some are several stories.   Here is the idea behind opinion writing. There are steps to writing an opinion piece.  Each step (block) is connected to the next step (block).  The linking words (top part of the Lego's or Mega Bloks) help connect one thought to the next thought (stories of the building). Without these connections, our building would fall over.  These connections make our building stronger.  Here are the building blocks for Common Core ELA Opinion Writing.

DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF OPINION WRITING

DIFFERENTIATE FOR YOUR GRADE AND YOUR STUDENTS

It is easy to model, manipulate and differentiate for your students.  They can increase their stamina for writing by adding more thoughts, details, and reasons to their story.  The following is a FREEBIE that I added to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Here is a sample of the packet. Click HERE to download the FREE file.

If you like this FREEBIE, check out the complete packet of COMMON CORE WRITING IS A SNAP.  The packet contains building blocks for PERSONAL NARRATIVE, OPINION (contained in FREEBIE), INFORMATIONAL OR HOW TO, and RESEARCH WRITING.  There are more multiple forms for each type of writing including LARGE BLOCKS for ANCHOR CHARTS. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Common Core Teaching Verbs in FUN Way!

Do you need a fun way to teach verbs to your students? How about giving them a brain break and letting them act out the verbs to this multimedia file? Your students will be marching, jumping, hopping, and laughing as they learn about verbs. And since learning verbs and their shades of meaning are important parts of the Common Core and Language, you can build their knowledge of what a verb is by "doing" them.  Here is a longer glimpse than I can show on Teachers Pay Teachers due to size limits from the animations.  

Click HERE to view on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Verbs covered in this song:

walk, jump, twist, dance, turn, ride, clap, hop, blink, stomp, laugh, wave, sing, kick, run, snap, cross, spin, twist, sit, and cheer

Check back all week as I will be loading many activities to go with this multimedia file plus I have 2 more versions (Zoo Action Verb Dance & Farm Action Verb Dance) to load to Teachers Pay Teachers.  Nana K has been busy with her new grandson, so I am playing catch up.  Like my page on Face Book and follow me on my store and blog for the latest updates.  If it doesn't get loaded by Wednesday for the Teacher Appreciation Sales, I will go ahead and discount it 30% off for 2 days from the time I announce it on Face Book and my blog, so check back in!

The multimedia file runs on Quick Time. You can show it on your digital projector, Smart Board, any Interactive Whiteboard, or computer.

Kathy Griffin (c) Copyright 2013.
All rights reserved.
For single classroom use only.
Multiple user versions or school licenses are available for an additional cost.

Mother's Day Song & Video

I love Patty Shukla.  Check out her new song for Mother's Day.  So precious!

After watching the song/video, brainstorm a list of why the students love their mom. Remember to think about those who may not have a mom and include grandmas too. Then let the children make a card or write a story for their moms for Mother's Day. Thanks for stopping by!

Dr. Jean Celebration Cards

I am so lucky that I get to see Dr. Jean now and again when I present at conferences.  Talk about someone who has touched a lifetime of teachers and impacted so many children all over the United States.  She even inspired me to write my own songs.

Oh my!  I just found Dr. Jean on Teachers Pay Teachers and her amazing celebration cards are a FREE Download.  YAY!!! What are you waiting for?  Your students will love doing them!  What a great way to finish the school year by providing instant celebrations with your students.  And I use them in so many different ways as meaningful print. So what do I mean by meaningful print? Songs are meaningful print. Favorite books are meaningful print. Classroom labels are meaningful print. Your school creed is meaningful print.  And Dr. Jean's Celebration Cards are definitely meaningful print.  I place the cards in a pocket chart very close to my easel.  The students get to choose a celebration for good behavior, amazing work, exhibiting school character traits (respect, compassion, etc.).

I use meaningful print to teach fluency, phonics, phonemic awareness, letters and sounds, and sight words.  The sky is the limit.  The children have buy-in because they are familiar words and sentences that they hear every day.

For this literacy center, I copied the celebration cards onto regular

copy paper.  The students took a card then highlighted "What they 

noticed" on the card.  Letters, little words hiding in big words, word

wall words, phonics, blends, digraphs, silent e words, vowel teams, 

diphthongs, word endings (suffixes - ing), prefixes, word families.  

Your students will love playing detective.

Try these ideas with her cards.
Put them in a handwriting center and let the students make their own celebration cards to take home.  My students get so EXCITED to copy them and create their own artwork to go with them.  Start a celebration to the last day of school.  How many celebration cards can you make for your house before the end of the year?  Give your parents some great ideas for celebrating at home too.

Put them in a "What Do You Notice" center.  Copy and laminate the cards and place them in a literacy tub.  Put in some magnifying glasses.  Give your students a recording sheet to write down words that they notice.  It's differentiated because all children are at different stages of literacy at different times.  Some children will notice the letters in their names.  Some will find little words hiding in big words. Some will notice your word wall words in the cards. Some will find letter blends, digraphs, the silent e, vowel teams, word families, prefixes, suffixes or word endings (Common Core).  Have them share what they found.

Put them in a fluency center along with some PVC pipe phones.  Throw in some minute sand timers too.  Let your students practice reading the celebration cards.

Click on these links to take you to Dr. Jean's celebration cards.  And don't forget to leave her feedback and tell her how amazing they are!

Set #1

Set #2

Set #3

Set #4

Thanks for stopping by!

DIY Games and Flash Cards

Are you ready to test the waters and start making your own games and flash cards?  I use Power Point to make all of my games.  It is much easier to move clip art around than in a word document.  I created this starter packet for those who want to give it a try.  

Click HERE to view this on TpT.  The packet includes 45 pages of templates in different sizes and colors and is only $2.00.  Click on the download preview button on my TpT site to see all of the pages.

Follow me on Pinterest and check out my FREE Clip Art Board.  You will find some great  FREE clip art to use and will also get to know some great teachers who are wonderful artists too.

Choose from the different templates to create your own cards.

The file is in Power Point.  You will click on insert - text box - then type in your words.  Then choose the different clip art that you want to use to decorate your cards.

Here are some examples of cards that you can make for your class.  You can make cards for  learning your ABC's, sight words, spelling words, vocabulary words, math problems, science, and history.  The only limit is your imagination.

Have fun making your new games.  Stop back by as I share how I use these templates to create more games for my classroom.

You may use this template to create and sell products on Teachers Pay Teachers or other teacher stores.  You do NOT need to include a link back to me.  You may NOT sell these templates as a stand alone product.  You must modify them to make a game or other activity with them. If you use any FREE clip art from my Pinterest board, please follow the Terms of Use for each individual seller.  Most will will require a link back to their store, if you sell something with their product on it.

Mother's Day Gift

Are you looking for a child-created gift for Mother's Day?  Here is a picture of what we made for our mothers last year.  I think they turned out pretty cute and were very easy to make.  I let them choose from 3 different colors for the flower.  I painted their hand and then they pressed it onto the construction paper.  After washing their hands, they painted a stem and a sun.  You can have them write the words on their gift or type out these words for them. Simple, easy, and will make your mothers smile.

You might also be interested in these other Mother's Day gifts.  Click HERE to go to the post.

Writing Theme Poems

April is National Poetry Month, so I thought I would share or remind you of a free online resource to use with your students for writing shape poems.  ReadWriteThink.org  is a website by the International Reading Association.  Depending on the age of your student, you can write classroom poems together or individually.

This is a step-by-step look at the easy process for creating a Theme Poem and works nicely into exposing your students to poetry as mentioned in the Common Core.

Here is a sample of the different themes.

Click HERE to go to the site.

To start, type in your name or student's name.

Choose a theme.

These are the shapes under nature. Click on the shape poem you want to use.

It will bring up this screen.  You can do this on your Smart Board or Interactive Whiteboard to model for your students.  Brainstorm words or phrases to use that describe a tree. Click on Continue.

The next screen brings up the word, phrases, or sentences you typed in the previous screen.  Choose a title for your poem. 

Type your words in the tree template arranging in the order that you choose.  Click on Finish.

That's it!  You just wrote a shape poem!

You can choose to print it to a printer or save as a PDF to your computer.

 Thanks for stopping by!