George and Martha Books and Story Elements




George and Martha by James Marshal are oldies but goodies!
I used these books with our friendship theme.

Comprehension: Story Elements (Retelling Glove)
Vocabulary: thrilling, considerate, splendid, clever, humorous, unpleasant, perform, inform, responsibility
     These are some challenging words but read in context they were very understandable.  We had been working on author's purpose so the words perform and inform were repeats for us. At the end of the week we played Vo-BACK-ulary.

I read many, many, many George and Martha stories this week.  Whenever we had a free moment I read one.  They do not take long to read.  After each story we did the retelling glove.
Who?--The thumb represents the characters in the story. Encourage students to include all the characters mentioned in the story, not just the main one. 
What?--A small box on the index finger is a reminder to include details about "what" happened in the story. What was the problem? 
When?--Time plays a part in the "when" of retelling, but it can also include day or night or seasons of the year. 
Where?--A story can take place in more than one place. Have students reference the main setting for the story. 
Why or how?--Why did the characters do/say certain things? Why did the author write this story? - 


After a lot of practice on Friday each student wrote out their own story elements chart.  I have two to choose from.  Click on either to get them.

We added these to a cute craft that First Grade Fever shared on her blog.  Stop by to get the patterns and stay for other great ideas.  Christie has a wealth to share!


Directions for Vo-BACK-ulary!
Make enough flashcards for each student to have one.  
Tape one to each child’s back without them seeing it.  
Students go around the room giving the definition to the student without giving the answer.  If they guess it correctly they get to sit down.
It's a lot of fun and they ask to do it again and again.

Click the image to get these vocab cards.

Hope you are able to use these ideas in your room.  Stop back and share how it went.  If you have some George and Martha ideas please share!  I want to expand this for next year!

Happy New Year!
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Main Idea Freebie

Last week we read the Laura Numeroff books.  The kiddos just love these books!
We started with If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Take a Mouse to School.  We figured out the Main Ideas together and wrote them on the following recording sheet.




As we went through the week and read more stories the students wrote the main idea independently and then we discussed it.  I was happy to see the students understanding and picking out the main idea.  Click on the main idea worksheets to get a free copy.

This was a great chance to do a compare and contrast of the two stories.  It always amazes me that the students can come up with an idea that I have never thought about yet.  I love seeing how their brain works.


If you're interested in my whole unit click above.

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Giraffes Can't Dance And Song and Dance Man Freebie



   

Giraffes Can't Dance is a cute story of Gerald the giraffe, who wants to be a good dancer. Dancing is pretty tough for him and Gerald finally learns to dance to his own tune when he gets some support from an unlikely friend.

I've owned this book for awhile and I never realized how cute the book was.  I have the CD from Scholastic and it's a great addition!  The students loved the music on the CD.  They were moving and grooving with the different types of music.

Comprehension: Visualization, Compare and Contrast
Writing:  Writing to a prompt
Vocabulary:  shoots, buckled, jungle, roar, perform, entertain, violin, beautiful, wonderful
     (Prior to reading the book aloud to the class, mark the vocabulary with highlighter tape or a post-it note.         Discuss the word in context.)

Youtube has some read alouds from the story.  Here's one:




I chose this book to compare with Giraffe's Can't Dance.  This story discusses Vaudville.  To explain this vocabulary word I first showed this video clip.


This story was a little challenging for them to come up with a problem.  I needed to guide them through it.

This T-chart was very helpful with guiding the students with specific items to compare and contrast.

This was the writing prompt that students wrote during the week.  The students worked on this during Work on Writing for Daily Five.  On Friday we made the cute giraffe and added our writing.



Photo
"I like to sleep.  It is wonderful.  Kids need to get 11 hours of sleep."
(Is this cute or what?)

To get these freebies click Here!  The giraffe comes from this link: https://www.teachingideas.co.uk/library/books/giraffes-cant-dance 
The link on my freebie is broken so use this one please!

Share some feedback and following me on Bloglovin'.  Literature links is my goal this year so stop by for more book links or look at older posts.

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Author's Purpose

I just love the PIE idea that is floating around the blogs about Author's Purpose!  There are a lot of great freebies out there!  So I didn't need to invent my own plans this week!  What a time saver!  I love our sharing community!

Persuasion
Information
Entertainment

I chose a book for each purpose to share with the kids this week.

Persuasion - Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus


  • Did the author try to convince me?
  • Did the author want to change my opinion?

Information - There's No Place Like Space (Dr. Seuss book) by Tish Rabe
  • Did the author give me facts?
  • Did the author try to teach me something?







Entertainment - There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves
  • Did the author try to make me laugh?
  • Did the author want to tell me a story?
  • Did the author try to amuse me?





I plan to keep a chart on all the books we read for the next few weeks and mark down the author's purpose for all of them.  That should help sink in the concept!!


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Little Critter Comprehension and Vocabulary Freebies

I have never used Little Critter books before in my teaching!  The kids are enjoying listening to them.

We focused on the book, The School Project by Mercer Mayer.

Comprehension: Beginning, Middle End
Phonics: -it (Little Critter)  This wasn't a big focus of my lesson.  I was working on vocabulary and comprehension.
Vocabulary: librarian, project, poster board
Writing: Just me and __________.  Students chose a person to write about.  They turned out very cute.  Kids love writing about their family!



Have a great week!  I'll be finishing my PALS testing!



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Not Norman Differentiated Math Freebie

Not Norman by Kelly Bennett is a very cute book about a boy who gets a goldfish as a pet but he wished that he had a cuddly animal.  The boy spends time trying to figure out ways to get another pet.  In the end he ends up finding a love for his new pet, Norman!
Front Cover



Comprehension Skill: Story Mapping
Vocabulary: swap, twitches, glance

This week we were reading stories about pets!  This was a fun one to read aloud.  The kids could really connect to having a pet and many could connect to having a goldfish.  This is a great time to talk about taking care of the classroom pet.

After reading the story discuss as a class the story parts.  Who are the characters?  Norman and the boy.  The boy does not have a name in the book so let the kids make up a name.  Setting:  this story has many different settings.  Problem/Solution:  The boy didn't like his pet fish, Norman.  The boy then learned to love his pet.

After discussing it orally let the students fill out a flip booklet on Character/Setting/Problem/Solution.

For our intervention math groups the students did one of the following math activities for finding partners for the numbers 5-10.

Approaching - included a "Food Bowl" with answers.

On-level - answer box was removed.

Beyond - writing a number story was added to the bottom of each sheet.
Click on any of the pages to get the download for free.  If you like what you downloaded - leave a comment and join Bloglovin'!  Have a fantastic rest of the week!








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This is the House the Jack Built Freebie

The class is learning short a word families and we worked on the -ack family!  The funny part is I have three boys named: Jack, Jack and Jackson!  What a fun way to use their names in our readings!

I have been making sure that I read and reread the book to assist with comprehension.  This story is great for sequencing.  The first day I read the story and we glued the pictures in order.  The second day the students wrote down what the character or object did in the story.

Comprehension: Sequencing
Phonics: -ack word family
Vocabulary: worried, forlorn, tattered, crumpled
Writing:  Sequencing


It's amazing how the kids pick up unusual vocabulary.  We used the vocabulary throughout the week and even into the next week as they were making connections!  I stuck my foot in my mouth as I said, Oh my your shoes are looking a little tattered!"  She replied, "I bought these this way!"  Go figure!

Try this story out!  It was a lot of fun!  Click on the cover to pick up these freebies!

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Describe Splat the Cat Freebie

Last week we read the very fun stories of Splat the Cat!  The kids fell in love with him.  I used some great packets available on TpT by Jessica Lawler and Angela Wilson.  It is so nice not to do it all myself!  Thank you ladies for the great products. 

One activity I made was a describe Splat sheet!    Student wrote words to describe Splat and then wrote a sentence with one or two words.  Click on the worksheet to get your own copy!


Comprehension: Character and Setting, Beginning, Middle and End
Phonics: -at word family (short a)
Vocabulary: worry, amazing, tomorrow, clever
Writing:  Splat was amazing, I am amazing too.  Writing about how they are amazing.

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More Classroom pics for 2013 and Freebies!

We had Back to School Night on Wednesday.  It was nice to meet everyone and they were very excited.  This year I have 18 kiddos.  I took these pics last weekend but no time to post them!


Looking at the back wall.
These are my two new Focus Boards!
I have one for reading and math.

  

Currently my plan is to add all the vocabulary words to the black pocket chart.  The yellow pocket chart is an old calendar pocket chart that I have changed into my Math Tub schedule.  I have 9 tubs but I'm going to start with 5.  


Pretty blank!  I am going to be getting the Focus on Reading pocket chart from Lakeshore.  It's part of my Donor's Choice project that was just fulfilled!  

Sorry it's fuzzy!  I had purchased a Bubble Gum Timed Test unit last year and this is where I put what level they are on.  I made bubble gum machines with circles on it and when they pass a level they put a round sticker on it.  Of course they get a gumball too!  I'm going to add a pink balloon to the monkey's mouth!


Students bring in family photos and they stay up all year!  They love looking at it!  I added mine first!

This is my Daily Five rotation board.  I'm going to have to adjust it because I don't have time for four groups.  So I'm going to have 3.  I'm hoping my gifted students will be able to get some support.  The D5 cards are from Lyndsey Kuster and they were free!  She has great posters too!  


I've had this pencil for many years!  Too many actually!  I added the idea list from The Teacher's Wife!  Get it for Free!  I love free!


My Writing and Word Work Table!  I have Parent Volunteer packets on it right now.  I had a few parents take some home at Back to School Night.  I'm so happy!  Click here to read a previous post on Parent Packs and pick up the cover page for free.


These are my sight word cards.  I have three sets of each unit.  
They correlate to the Treasure's Reading Series.  If you want a set click here!  Download the preview and you can get unit 4 for free.  Each unit has a game to go along with the words.  Students can work at their own pace that's why I have them all out.  If they pass unit 1 (bowling balls), they can go onto unit 2 (footballs)!  Such fun!

Updated my vowel posters!  Thanks to the TpT sale!

These are on our door.  I loved using these last year.  The kids got to look at the digital and analog.  It also let visitors know where we were.  Click here to get yours for Free!

I have a student assistant help me change the schedule every day!  They love know what is coming next.  They help keep my on track!


Any of you use Math Expressions from Houghton Mifflin?  This poster is ridiculous!  It's huge and it doesn't flow correctly.  The first one goes to 120 and the next one picks up at 121 to 240 but you can't read them left to right all the way across and you can't put them under each other because they don't line up that way either!  What to do?  Any suggestions?  This is my first year with the program.

I store my math tub activities in this bin system.  I have them labeled with the CCSS.  
You can get your copy here.  I need to get another bin - this one is full!



Book Hospital!
Here's the label if you want it!
Click here!

I am most excited about how much I have thrown away this summer!  I feel free!  I filled these numerous times!

God's Blessings to you all this year!  





  











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