Search results matching tags 'freebie' and 'writing'

My Kiddos BEG for this Writing Assignment

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:09:00 GMT

Hello darlings! One of my favorite writing assignments each year is creating a Diary story based on the Diary of a Worm series. My students LOVE this activity every year! We spend a few days reading Diary of a Fly, Diary of a Worm, and Diary of a Spider. We chart the characteristics that each book shares.

For example, each story is a diary written by one of the characters. It is written in first person point of view. The other two characters from the other books are included. Each book includes events that happen at home and at school.( Etc)

After our brain storming, kiddos make a story board to plan out their “Diary”. They can choose any character they want to be. I’ve had kids choose dogs, rabbits, cats, caterpillars, etc.

We take time to really plan out each entry and we team up with partners to help us make sure we stay on track.

Once we edit and revise, we write on final copies on plain white paper. (Notice the marker on her page from another student editing)

I have had kiddos present their books in many different ways…

Share with buddies in a lower grade.
Present in front of our class.
Share with another 3^rd grade class who also did this project.
Have a “Read In” where kiddos bring snacks from home and rotate to each kiddos’ desks to read each story at their own pace. They then leave a comment on a comment paper. (They LUV this)
Students get into groups of 4-5 and read their stories. They secretly vote who should share their story with the entire class.
Video tape each kiddo reading the story, like Reading Rainbow. Watch 2 or 3 a day.

I hope you get a chance to do this with your kiddos! I have provided everything you need for FREE! (except the books of course!) You have permission to pin this and share with your colleagues! Click the pic to download.

Have a fantastic night! Congrats to the Giveaway winner!

Shawnda Worth @ totallywirthit blogspot

Fill Your Baskets with Freebies from Freebielicious Authors

Anonymous — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 12:00:00 GMT

All my Freebielicious friends/authors are sharing some spring-y freebies with you today! Hop along our bunny trail and fill your baskets with lots of PK-1 fun for your students for this upcoming week.

I am not generally a fan of kids even talking about "bopping" anything on the head, but I love me some Little Bunny Foo Foo. So...I use Easter as an excuse to pull it out and have some fun with my kindergarten students. Here is how our Friday Fun morning went with my BFFs students and mine:

First, Mrs. S and I performed our very best rendition of Little Bunny Foo Foo. The children were in awe as Mrs. S stole the show with her stellar performance as the Good Fairy. Dressed in her very best Good Fairy garb, she wasn't going to let the little bunny get away with anything! When she turned me (the naughty bunny--he he!) into a "goon", one of our sweeties said, "Okay, now turn him back into a bunny." I love how they get so into us pretending, that they actually forget we are pretending.
I switched out the bunny for a duck (our best goon stand in) as we moved into our reading of one of my all-time favorite spring read alouds Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Is it a duck or a rabbit? Depends on how you look at it. This book is filled with humor as well as a subtle lesson for kids who don't know when to let go of an argument. So, in our everyday kindergarten-teacher fashion, Mrs. S and I "argued" (read the book) our parts. I say it's a duck, she says its a rabbit, and, in the end, we agree to disagree. It is such a fun book, written from a very unique perspective.

After our reading, we made the bunny/duck puppets with our students. They find this project magical in a sense because one side is a duck and the other is a rabbit and both have a cute, rhyming poem that tells the reader to turn it over to see the other animal. It is a perfect complementary activity with this book:

I am sharing with you, my readers, a miniature version of this puppet for your students (found further down this blog post) to enjoy along with the Duck! Rabbit! story and then, of course, we did some follow up writing. The students had to "argue" whether they thought it was a duck or a rabbit by writing a descriptive writing piece and attaching the corresponding animal to the top of their writing. Of course, many waivered back and forth (because it truly depends on how you look at it!) throughout the entire process. One even had his all written about a rabbit and then erased it all and changed his writing piece to be about a duck. It is really funny listening to them as they process through the "arguments". Here are a couple of examples:

Here is the free miniature version of the duck/rabbit "reversible" puppet with poems imprinted on the animals. Just have students color, cut and glue the 2 animals together and while gluing a popsicle stick between them.

Are you nervous about targeting the 3 types of writing required to be taught by Common Core Standards? This book is perfect to target any of the 3 areas. Use this book to encourage students to write their "argument" as to why it is a duck or why it is a rabbit.

Click on this picture for more info about my ready to go kit for implementation tomorrow.

Now head over to my fellow Freebielicious author Michelle's blog, Apples and ABCs and check out her incredible FREEBIE! Have fun hoppin' and fillin' up your baskets!

Be sure to follow Mrs. Miner's Kindergarten Monkey Business or LIKE it on Facebook (both available in left sidebar) so you never miss another FREEBIE or informative article.

A Jellybean Jamboree!

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:09:00 GMT

Friends~I am going to tell you a little secret. I HATE eating jellybeans but I sure LOVE teaching with them. My kiddos are heading off on Spring Break on Thursday. They will enjoy some much needed family time and all of them will be celebrating Easter. A Sunday morning at church possibly and a basket of goodies from the Easter Bunny that will defiantly be filled with jellybeans.

I have been planning for after break and I thought that I would carry over some of that jellybean fun in class as a way for them to ease back into the routine.

When we return on April 8th we will be continuing our Patricia Polacco author study with Emma Kate and then growing jellybeans with my If I Planted a Jellybean creative writing unit. I just know they are going love this JELLYBEAN JAMBOREE!

When I created the file, I was thinking it needed a little excitement so I decided that we would really plant jellybeans but I would add Zinnia seeds to the potting soil so that they would grow beautiful flowers. I can't wait to see their faces when their jellybeans GROW!

Grab a Free copy of my If I Planted a

Jellybean Opinion Writing Prompt!

Click the image below!

We are also going to be reviewing our Math Skills 2.MD in our Math Workshop. I put together some fun math centers with jellybeans like measuring jellybean jars and graphing jellybeans. There is even an I Spy a Jellybean Jar for telling time. Click below and download the preview to see all this file has to offer:)

I did the measurement centers in file folders so they could keep all the pieces in one place!

Check out this quick video and see just how it is done.

So if you end up with lots of jellybeans that no one wants to eat...being them along to school for some fun learning!

Painting a Story with Words!

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:56:00 GMT

Friends~We have been using our Patricia Polocco books this week as mentor texts for our narrative writings in Writer's Workshop. We have spent many mini lessons focusing on vivid words and how they can bring a story to life. We read the book Hairy, Scary, Ordinary by Brian P. Cleary. My students always love this book and get a huge kick out of the illustrations. It is perfect for introducing adjectives to young learners.

We spent tons of time this week reading and rereading our writings to make sure there were great adjectives to bring our stories to life.

I told the class that writers paint our visualizations with their words. This can be a very hard concept for students because they have their own visualization going on in their mind while they write. It is difficult to remember to paint it on the page too.

I decided that I needed to model this with my class. The first thing I did was to tell my class a simple small moment from my life. I asked a student to come up front and sketch their visualization I purposely gave little description. We then looked at the illustration and generated questions about the illustration.

I retold the story and another student came to add to the visualization in another color. I asked them to do this so they could see when I added more description, the illustration became more vivid.

I then challenged them to do the same. I buddied them up and sent them off to read their favorite part of their story. I had them sit back to back and sketch what the reader was saying. They took turns and then exchanged papers. I then instructed the students to look over their illustrations. They added more detail with colored pencils.

I asked the students to then look at their stories again and add to the part they read. Using the illustration to guide them. What they drew in color told them how to extend their story so they were able to paint everything they wanted their readers to know.

Watch them in action!

It was really interesting to hear them discussing the illustrations with each other. They were a bit disappointed that their partners did not create as vivid of an illustration as they wanted but it was a great for them to see how important word choice is.

Grab a copy of the poster that will be hanging in my Writing Center on Monday!

Click the poster below to download:)

A Trip Down Kindergarten Lane & a Freebie!

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:37:00 GMT

Yesterday, I was digging around in the ~~dungeon~~, ~~mancave~~, basement, and ran across a box of goodies my kids created in kindergarten. It brought back fond memories of when I taught kindergarten and of the way I taught back then.

When I taught kindergarten, I always had a full length mirror at my cut and paste station so the kids could look at themselves as they created their paper people. You would be amazed at how quickly the paper people went from 'heads with arms and legs' to 'heads, necks, bodies with arms and legs', and the list goes on.

I always used my cut and paste station with writing as well. The children would dictate or sound out a sentence or story to go with their creation. Can you read this? If you are a kinder teacher, I'm sure you can!

Did you come up with 'I am a policeman' for the sentence? Nice! Try this one. This is later in the year, if you couldn't tell.

Here you go . . . 'On a rainy day I like to play with my MegaZord indoors. I like to play with my crazy brother. And while my sunflowers grow on a rainy day too.'

I love looking at these goodies. I think they are so much more special than seeing a project that has been cut from a pattern. You can really see the personality of my little guy . . . and he is 25 now! When did I get so old?

Recently, I was talking with a friend of mine who still teaches the little ones and she asked me to come up with a rhyming activity sometime. I had so much fun coming up with this! I just love the clip art that is available now too!

Click if you would like to check out the {rhyming pack} for yourself or tell a friend if you think they might be able to use it in their classroom.

If you would like to see a sample of the packet up close and get a {FREE rhyming worksheet} with it, just click to pic it up!

100th Day of School FUN and FREEBIES!

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 23:30:00 GMT

Our 100th day of school will happen on January 16th.

My kids and I are so excited! The kids look for any reason to have a celebration (and I don't blame them). So I had sketched out several activities, but couldn't decide on a theme.

After much thought and tons of great advice from everyone on the FB page...

I created all the three themes!

Each pack is exactly the same minus the graphics. I wanted y'all to be able to choose the one you liked the best and be able to throw your own 100th day celebration!

There are three math activities and three literacy activities included in each pack. Click the pictures to check out all the details.

They are each individually listed in my TpT and TN stores.

100th Day Barnyard Bash - TpT TN

100th Day Beach Blowout - TpT TN

100th Day Fiesta - TpT TN

I'm going to use the Fiesta version and incorporate some yummy snacks!
I've also created chevron pennant banners for each theme!
Click the pics below to download.

What are your 100th day plans?!

Big "Good" Wolf - CCSS Rdg/Writing FREEBIES!

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 23:30:00 GMT

This was originally scheduled for my "Friday Freebie" post, but after coming home Friday and finding out about the shooting...I had to hold off. My heart pours out for the families, the school, and the community involved. May God bring them peace and guidance as they work through this.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Second chances are the name of the game in this adorable book!

We read it and the kids LOVED it!
Then we completed the following pack of Reading/Writing activities:

The next day, I read this book to them:

We also completed a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the two books.

It's in the pack too!

Enjoy the books and activities with your students!!!
And HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Printables Galore for Educators

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 02:28:00 GMT

Are you looking for some ways to splash FUN into your school day? Education.com is the answer! They have thousands of printables for every grade level and subject area.

Warning: This is a teacher's dream site so make sure you have lots of ink on hand and your printer is ready to go! You may get lost in the hours of downloading and printing like we did!

You can choose to purchase top quality workbooks like these below

or you can print FREE individual worksheets,

games,

crafts,

board games,

invitations,

and we could go on and on but you'll have to hop on over and check out this incredible site for yourself.

Make sure to see the awesome feature that allows you to download multiple worksheets at once. This feature totally rocks!

You can also create your very own workbooks, too! {Click Here} for more information on this great feature.

Enjoy!

Friday Freebie - The Writing Process!

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:50:00 GMT

Oh yeah, friends! We made it! It's Friday!!! (Can you tell I'm excited?!)

My Friday freebie is all about writing! My kids have a folder that we call their "Writer's Notebook." This is where they keep all of their current writings and resources to help them during writing. One of the resources is this writing process guide:

This page outlines the entire writing process and gives them tips on how to move through each step. Each child has this in their notebook and can reference it whenever needed.

And you can have it for your kids by clicking on the picture above!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! We're headed to Music Midtown both tonight and tomorrow!

New GA Habitats Pack! (and a FREEBIE!)

Anonymous — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 22:10:00 GMT

Happy Wednesday, y'all! It feels like it should be Friday already!

Anywho...I'm getting ready to start my GA Habitats unit with my kids and decided to make some activities and assessments to supplement our county's materials. It includes:

- vocabulary activities

- vocabulary assessments

- a booklet to complete for each habitat

- answer keys for each assessment :)

Click the picture if you're interested in purchasing it.

And everyone can snag this freebie to go along with it!

Enjoy!