Bats and a FREEBIE

This week we started studying nonfiction using my Bats Informative Reading and Writing packet.
You can read all about the packet in more detail in this previous post.

We have been reading many bat books and determining if they are fiction or nonfiction. As we learn new facts about bats we add them to our circle maps.

I have been teaching about nonfiction text features as we come across them. I added them to our frame of reference in pink. They picked up diagrams easily but glossary is a tough one for firsties!

I had the students circle three facts they thought were interesting on their personal circle map.  Then I modeled how to fill in the flow map planning sheet using a power number topic sentence.

We did one fact at a time, starting with a transition word. I had the students share out the fact they chose  from their map and start it orally with the transition word. They did really great!

A few smarties really wanted to write more so I told they they could if the sentences were related. One girl wrote:

Bats are helpful to humans. They eat insects that hurt crops and spread seeds so more plants grow.

WOW!

Next week we will write our final drafts and make our bat craft. I'll try to take more pics of those!

The first graders are also working on ABC order so I made a Halloween cut and paste. I posted it for FREE, all I ask is you leave me a comment here and/or feedback on TpT.

Clipart from KPM Doodles

I have to give a shout out to Kerri over at Teacher Bits and Bobs for the great Johnny Appleseed drawing tutorial! I wanted to do something different with my 2nd graders and this was perfect! Since I have such tiny bulletin boards I did cut the sizes down so it fit on 9x12 construction paper.

The 2nd graders get to go to a pumpkin patch this week so that should be fun!