The Lemonade War and a Winner!

I finished another Book Club packet. This one is for The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies.

I needed some more advanced books for my higher second graders. This packet not only covers comprehension and vocabulary questions for each chapter but asks the students to infer with evidence, describe the characters, respond with their opinion, and identify figurative language.

Since this book is about a sibling fight, I also included a writing response page where my students will be asked to write a personal narrative about a time they fought with their sibling or friend (for those that don't have a sibling.)

As I have posted before, I find Book Clubs to work really well in my room. I assign the club a couple of chapters and the corresponding questions. My students are trained to write the answers in complete sentences so the reader can tell the question from their answer. When we meet back as a group we go over the questions and discuss the book so far. I find having these answers in writing helps me identify who has incomplete comprehension or difficulty in synthesizing the information they read. It is also a great way to apply the skills we learn in whole group to a novel they are reading on their own. What questions did you have at the end of that chapter? What can you infer about how that character is feeling? Can you identify the example of figurative language that we learned in whole group last week?

My students love it because it is a "real" book not a basal and they can take an Accelerated Reader test on it when they are done. Sometimes other groups will overhear some of what we discuss and ask, "Can we read that book next?" Music to my ears.

You can check this packet out in my TpT store or enter to win a copy below!

Congrats to Kim Menning on winning my new Hamburger Paragraph Craft and Organizers packet last week!

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Hamburger Paragraph Craft and Organizers Giveaway

Do you use the Hamburger Model to teach paragraph writing? I used to use generic organizers and it worked okay but I noticed that it was difficult for my students to remember all the parts, especially the conclusion. I am a visual learner so I realized having an anchor chart with a picture would be more memorable than just the words alone.

I love the hamburger analogy because all kids can relate to it. I brought a real hamburger bun in for my beginning lesson and said, "Mmm, doesn't this look delicious?" The students laughed, "NO!" "Why not?" I asked, playing like I was confused. "Because there is nothing in there!" they exclaimed. This was a great lead in to our discussion. The bun is perfect for the topic sentence and conclusion because not only are they clearly the beginning and end but they are made of the same material just like the conclusion is basically the topic sentence restated.

The body of the paragraph has three juicy details, making the writing more interesting just as the lettuce and tomato make the burger tastier. "But I like cheese on my burger,"one of my clever students quipped. "Ahh, that is wonderful. Then you can write four juicy details in your paragraph," I responded with a grin.

I am also very tactile so I expanded this experience for my students by creating the above craft they could make themselves. This was also a great assessment of who really understood my lesson. Could they assign the labels to the correct spots without looking at my model? The templates are included in the download.

To continue the visual aid, the outline of the hamburger was used when I created the graphic organizer. In my packet I included blank, lined, and dotted lines so hopefully everyone has something they can use. I also included a colored outline in case you are lucky enough to have a colored printer. If you glue things into your writer's notebook, you could have your students color one of these to add to a Hamburger Paragraph page.

The Hamburger Paragraph can be used with different types of writing. I included examples of  narrative, informative, explanatory and opinion pieces.

I have included all this is my Hamburger Paragraph Craft and Organizers packet. I'd love to give a copy away to a lucky follower. Just enter via Rafflecopter below and I'll pick a winner Sunday night.
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Peppa Pig Letter Matching FREEBIE

I am getting a lot done around the house which feels great! We tamed our yard and cleaned out the garage.  Summer is when I catch up on everything and go on a cleaning and organizing binge.

I am tutoring 2nd, 1st and pre-K students this summer. I made a letter matching activity for the preschooler with her favorite Peppa Pig (a NickJr. show.) Click on the picture to download your FREE copy!

Congrats to Kelly Brown on winning a copy of my Sight Word Superstars Expansion Pack!

Sight Word Superstars Expansion Pack

Sweet summer is here! Sorry I've been such a bad blogger lately. My plate got pretty full this year with the new job, commute, and my boys getting to the age that they need help with studying for finals, etc.

My SD card reader stopped working so pics of what my kiddos have done lately will have to wait until my new one arrives. In true crazy woman fashion, I have spent my first days of vacation working on something for TpT! I have had SO many people ask for an extension to my best selling Sight Word Superstars program I decided to hop on it before I got sidetracked with my super long house list.

I made the lists and flashcards in the same format so they will match the original set but now all 1000 words are covered! I also added the game Roll, Say, Keep for an additional way to practice.

It feels good to have one thing done! Thank you to all of you who have left me such nice comments. I am happy to know that my program has helped so many students!!

Leave me a comment below with your email and I'll pick a name to win this expansion pack. If you'd like a second chance to win you can pin this and leave me the link to your Pinterest board.