Turkey Informative Reading and Writing

Would you like your students to tackle a nonfiction research study of turkeys but you are not sure where to start? I have assembled interesting non-fiction facts that you can read as a class. These pages are also great to practice identifying text features. There are several note-taking and organizer pages to choose from. 

Click HERE to go check it out.

Reindeer Informational Reading, Writing, and Craft

This unit includes everything you need for a nonfiction research study of reindeer!

Included in this packet:

* information "book" including text features such as title page, table of contents, headings, bold print, captions, labels, map, and glossary. I project on the screen so we can read together.

*teaching tips

*anchor chart suggestions and printables

*graphic organizers for taking notes

*writing organizer (different line options)

*writing paper (different line options) 

*craft directions and templates

*fiction/non-fiction suggestions

* CCSS alignment

You can grab your copy in my TpT store.

Turkeys Informational Reading and Writing

It can be difficult to find good nonfiction books on turkeys so I put together my own research unit.

I include a "book" to project on the board, note-taking squares, writing organizers, writing paper, anchor chart printables, teaching ideas, and more. Click on the preview in my Tpt store to see all the different options included.

Turkey Informative Reading and Writing and a Giveaway

Do you have a hard time finding informational books about turkeys? I sure did so I compiled many turkey facts into a new informative reading and writing packet.

I am going to project this while we read it as a class but you could also print it and make it into a book.

Since we have been learning about text features, I made sure I included a table of contents, headings, map, labels, bold print, captions, and a glossary.

I included different ways to have students record their information, 

depending on if you use thinking maps

 or prefer a schema chart.

There are different versions of this organizer

and many different paper options.

It is all CCSS aligned.

To go check out out click HERE.
I am going to give a copy away on my Facebook page so hop over there for a chance to win!

Spider Informational Writing and a Craft

I had a request to put all my spider informational writing into a packet so I did.

I included book suggestions and templates for either schema anchor charts like I posted about yesterday or circle maps like I used last year.

As I said yesterday, I chose to use my hamburger paragraph planning sheet this year but I included the same type I used last year and that is in my bats unit.

 I also included 3 different paper types: primary lined, dotted lines, and intermediate lined.

And we all love the craft to put up with our writing so I included those templates also.

You can grab it in my store HERE for only $3!

Informative Reading and Writing and a FREEBIE

Sorry for the long absence. My oldest kitty (17 years old next month) is not doing well. She will only eat if we hand feed her and it looks like her kidneys are failing. We have had her longer than our kids so it is hard to consider that she may not be with us much longer. :-(

So let's catch up...
We are working on informative reading and writing.

 My first graders read all about bats and I have a unit aligned with Common Core if you are interested.

My 2nd graders are reading about spiders.

This year I used my hamburger paragraph unit to introduce informative writing.

We talked about different options for the topic sentence and conclusion and they filled in their own facts. I think scaffolding is very important in writing. The next assignment I will ask them to write two sentences for each juicy detail and gradually provide less support as they get better at coming up with topic sentences on their own.

It's official. My windows have become teaching walls. The students are getting really good at identifying text features. I love when they come to show me they found one in a book they are reading!

posters by Deana with 2 additions made by me

My second graders did a little writing activity, highlighting the proper nouns they used and made the pumpkins free hand.

Here they are hung up with the first graders Where's My Mummy projects.  My favorite response this year was, "When I get scared, my mummy let's me sleep with her and my daddy sleeps in my bed."

Could you use a fun math activity this week? 

My 2nd graders will be practicing making nouns ending in y plural this week.

Have you grabbed my Halloween ABC order FREEBIE?

I'm off to work on my Halloween costume. Do you have yours ready for Friday?

Bats & Halloween Tales

I am so sad Halloween is over. I LOVE it. I think next year I may start in September so I can fit more fun in! I am not kidding. I didn't get to spiders and they are WAY more interesting than apples. Although you can't taste spiders and I am a fan of anything involving food. Hmm...a decision for another day.  Here is what we did finish this week.

Just like last year, we read Spookley the Square Pumpkin and made our own unique pumpkins. We have been learning about describing words so we also wrote about them including adjectives.

A student immediately spoke up to say that Spookley is actually a cube and not a square. I was smiling to myself that he remembered our geometry unit from a few weeks ago but my grin grew by a mile when I realized that the speaker was a student that is NEVER with me. Seriously, this boy is on his own planet most of the time and I am constantly having to repeat directions or redirect him. It is little moments like that that make teaching worthwhile.

Since I am trying to incorporate the Common Core this year, I beefed up our bat unit with more informative reading and writing.

We started by recording what we already knew about bats.

The students wrote down facts on their circle map as we read a nonfiction text.

We shared out on a class anchor chart afterwards. Then students circled and numbered three facts on their circle map that they would like to write about. I walked them through completing a planning sheet like this. I can't deal with managing all the colored strips of Step Up so I use a flow map version.

 

Writing always looks better on paper that has been cutesified {yes, that is a word :-) }

 

The students did a great job! I was going to make a craft to go with it but Teri beat me to it and hers are always adorable! So you can grab your cute bat template from A Cupcake For the Teacher.

Of course some just had to make theirs vampire bats!

 We are learning about adjectives so we used a bubble map to describe bats.

We have been practicing telling the difference between fiction and nonfiction a lot! One great tip I have is this: When we get back from the library I ask the kids to hold up their book if it is fiction and then do the same for nonfiction. This is a way for the students to practice sorting, it gives you an assessment as to who is still confused, and it is interesting to learn the students' reading habits. This is a cute and glue we did as a more formal assessment. I had the actual books out in the front of the room in case the kids needed to refresh their memory.

I made this double bubble to address  CCSS RI1.9 Identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic.

 I put all this into a packet called Bats Informative Reading & Writing for only $3 on TpT in case you want to save it for next year. 

I know it is late, but would you still like to win one for next year? If so, you can enter below and I'll pick a winner on Saturday.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Halloween in the middle of the week was crazy, huh?  Six of the staff dressed up as Where's Waldo/Wenda with me but we forgot to take a picture! I basically looked like this: {Okay, add a few more pounds but you get the drift.}

During the parade my firsties kept saying, " Mrs. B, that teacher is dressed like you! Hey, there is another one!"  It was pretty funny. My parade story isn't quite as dramatic as last year, but when the teacher lap was done I came back to find my class all out of their seats chanting, "Go Mrs. Bates! Go, Mrs. Bates!" Seriously? Is it something I do? I guess I do joke around with them, etc.. Oh well. Everybody is happy and learning so I guess it is all good.

Then it was time for Round 2 at home. My hubbie and 2 boys like to make our house spooky. It never fails that we end up making some little kids scared to the point of crying. Here are pics in the daytime but imagine fog and creaky, howling, screeching sounds...

The ghost kids really freak people out!

I didn't get the grave with the arm coming out in the picture.

We have had SF Giants fever around here so my 10 year old made the panda at the end in honor of Pablo Sandoval. My kooky husband made the dual personality. :-)

And 4 days later....

California and Jack do not get along too well.

 To round out my crazy week we had Fall Festival last night. From 5:30-9 there are carnival games, cake walk, food, etc and the teachers always sign-up to do a shift. I ended up helping a lot at the glow booth which got a lot of visitors. It is a nice community event and I feel like a rock star because families current and past constantly wave or hug {yes, I am a hugger} or want to stop and say hi.

We have half days this week and conferences in the afternoon. Should make for another exhausting week! I am taking my 10 year old son Quinn to get his cast off between conferences on Monday (remember he broke his elbow?) My husband can't take him and was going to make him wait two extra days. Quinn has been such a trooper with his cast, not complaining at all, so when he sweetly asked if maybe I could somehow take him to get it off on time since it was getting itchy, I rearranged my schedule. I only had to ask 2 parents and they were super nice about it.

Alrighty, I have to get off this blog and go finish my report cards. I usually have them all done and printed by now but I've turned into Last Minute Lucy this year! I hope you are making use of my labels on the sidebar to look ahead for ideas because clearly I am not doing a good job posting them early. Sorry peeps! I hope to get back to my organized self sometime soon. I'd love to hear from you if you have a second to leave a comment.