I just happened across this book and it's so cute! Little Red Chicken is always interrupting his Papa when Papa's telling a story because he doesn't like the path the story is taking.
I'm going to read this with the class next week and discuss how frustrating it can be when we are interrupted. Hopefully it will inspire a bit of respect for listening.
We will also be working on collective nouns, beginning, middle and end, and writing fairy tales. We are also going to read a close reading article on fairy tales.
I'm excited about this unit because I am working on having a small amount of time devoted to whole group reading and spend more time in guided reading. These reading lessons will take 20-30 minutes each day. I will be able to address fiction and nonfiction each week, read aloud to demonstrate fluency and dive deep into the nonfiction passage! I'm hoping to continue this method throughout the year with a different book each week!
I just love these little chapter books. They can be quick reads that you finish in one day or two or you can stretch them out and really dive into all the figurative language.
My classes in the past can't wait for me to start reading another one! The librarian showed them where they are so they can check out ones for themselves. There is no way I can read them all. There are so many titles to choose from. He has 34 chapter books and that's not counting the picture books.
I start the year with Back-to-School From the Black Lagoon.
Click the picture to grab your own copy. Easy to copy and not a lot of prep work!
Try some of his other books through out the year! He has many that go with the seasons!
I'm working on a unit for his Christmas books but if you like Horrible Harry check this out! Click here for blog post.
I wish you all the best in your first days at school!
This lesson was used as a prediction to a book. I adapted it to fit the week of reading.
Day 1: W - Words (vocabulary) I wrote the words for the week as we went through the story. We also discussed syllables and word parts such as suffixes.
Day 2: A - Author's Purpose I wrote the 3 ways of an author's purpose as a reminder. I will not write this every week. The students then discussed with their partner and then with the whole class the purpose. I then wrote it down.
Day 3: L - Links to the story We have been working on the three links that readers make. Text to Self, Text to World and Text to Text. Text to World is difficult for them to make. This will be more of a focus in upcoming lessons.
Day 4: K - What we Know Students listed the items that they learned from the story. Our stories this week were about geese. They really enjoyed the nonfiction and the realistic fiction stories. We combined both stories onto this one chart.
This has worked so great for the week that I am carrying it over to my guided reading groups. Using smaller chart paper I have made a WALK chart for each book we are reading. This chart is for a group that is reading a Level H book. Life on a Coral Reef by Scholastic. Our school purchased nonfiction, fiction and content books of the entire set A through Z!! I have so many options! http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/guidedreading/
We will be finishing this book next week and then comparing Life in the Jungle with the coral reef!! Wow - look at all the connections!
This week the students had fun looking up a word in the dictionary and looking for multiple meanings of the word. I loved when they told me their word wasn't in any dictionary they looked in!!
Using a 9x12 piece of construction paper fold it in half short of an inch from the bottom. This leaves space for the vocab word.
Then cut a slit to the fold so the student will have 2 flaps.
The student writes two different definitions for the word after they look it up in the dictionary. On the top of the flap they write the part of speech (noun, verb, etc.)
Students illustrate the two meanings on the front of the flap book.
I pre-made all the flap books and programmed them with words of my choice so I knew they had multiple meanings. The words varied in difficulty.
Such an easy center to put together and the kids loved it!
I read the story, Muscles, by Justin McCory Martin. This is a Early Sight Word Reader on the topic and it provides a small amount of information great for primary. The last page is a read aloud page that provides more in depth information about muscles. This is where I read about voluntary and involuntary muscles. The students also watched the video How the Body Works: The Muscular System. This video goes over the different types of muscles and it's funny! There are a lot of videos available on this site.
This graphic organizer was a new one for me however, I ended up really liking the results. The students tackled some hard vocabulary words and the organizer helped them to visualize the meaning of these two opposite words.
Click here to try it out in your room! You will like the results. I'm going to try to think of new ways to use this graphic organizer. What can you think of?
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One of my favorites and also of my class is the Little Red Hen.
But have you heard of the Little Green Witch?
This story is absolutely adorable and it has a cute surprise ending!
I introduced the book this week during Halloween.
There are many extensive vocabulary words to discuss before reading the book.
Vocabulary: cauldron, twisted, hollow, reek, amid, scattered, soot, gruesome, gremlin, damp, potions, grumbled After we discussed the words the students raise their hand when they hear the word while I'm reading. It keeps them being focused.
Retelling: Students loved retelling this story. The funny twisted ending keeps them laughing!
Compare and Contrast: Of course this book leads to great Text to Text comparison. Before I read I tell the class that this book reminds me of another book I've read but I don't tell them which one. It isn't long into the book and someone catches on. Use a venn diagram to compare the two stories with each other.
Writing Ideas: 1) Would you help the Little Green Witch? Why or Why not? 2)Write a recipe book for pumpkin pie. 3) If I could unclean my house this is what I would do.
On youtube this book can be found being read by some fourth graders!
Great option if your school doesn't have the book.
Another way to compare and contrast texts is to use The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.
Grammar: I use this book to work on plural nouns. This mini unit includes a noun sort using words from the book. Then there are three levels of worksheets for differentiation and also include a writing option. Click on the cover sheet to pick this up for your class. Please leave a comment if you download.
Cooking: In the past when reading the Little Red Hen I've made bread with the class but making little pizzas is a lot more fun!
Making Pizza in Class
Materials:
electric skillet
jar of pizza sauce
mozzarella cheese
package of pre sliced pepperoni
box of Triscuits
Place the Triscuits on the electric skillet, spoon some sauce on top, add a piece of pepperoni if desired and top with cheese. Just warm until the cheese melts. Quick and easy! Yum!
Writing: Cooking is a great way to lead into "How to..." writing. If this is your first How to... writing write it on chart paper as an example. Or you can have students write the steps in their own "How to..." booklet. Stop over at this previous post about How to writing! You can pick up a How to... booklet for free. Click Here.
"Would you help me share this post? said the blogger.
"I will!" said the author.
"I will!" said the parent.
"I will!" said the teacher.
And they did!
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!
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!
