Management Monday

Tip for management while showing a movie: Always have something for your students to do.

Here's something fun I do to ensure students are paying attention, not goofing off, and are engaged in learning during a movie...

I call it:

WORDART

It looks something like this:

My students LOVE it! I've only done it twice this year. (I don't think you should over-use it.) The first time was for social studies when we watched a little movie on the Aztecs. We did it again a couple weeks ago when we watched part of a movie about the Mayflower. You can see by the words they've chosen to write down that they really paid attention, looking for the important information about the subject.

P.S. Sometimes, when I show a movie, I just have my students write down 10 interesting facts. Click HERE for a download.

Word Families

We are working on the {__AY} word family and I made this Christams tree to help us out. The {__ay} word family is on the star and the students cut out the ornaments and write a word that ends in {ay}. Then they can decorate their ornament and glue it on to the tree. This is an example of what it might look like when finished. I only have the students do 4-6 words. If they would like to do more....OF COURSE!

Click HERE for a download of this activity.

Reading Project Cards

I was given a set of these book project cards (I'm sure there's a better name for, but I can't think of anything more clever...) a couple years ago from my teacher-friend, Cindi. I like to pull them out every once in a while during guided reading to give students a fun way to demonstrate their comprehension.

Download my sample version of the project cards: HERE!

I set the stack of cards on the table and tell my students to:

1. Read their assigned guided reading book with their group.
2. Write a summary of the book using the four target words: first, then, next, last.
3. Choose a project card and complete (I let them choose to do a group project or an individual project).
4. Turn their projects and guided reading books into me and receive their new book.

I like this for a couple of reasons: it let's students have some choice in how they demonstrate their knowledge, allows them to use their creativity, and keeps them busy while I do guided reading with my small groups.

Here are some of the finished projects:

Holiday Writing Activities

I try to give credit to those of you that inspire me to do these activities, so if I ever post anything and don't give a shout out to you.....let me know! My 1st grade team (the best team ever) uses these books for writing prompts.  Check them out! Feel free to leave some love (aka, COMMENTS)!

Here are a couple of Holiday writing activities that can be adapted for any grade level. First, we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas...." (any version of the book). We talk about what a tradition is and what traditions did the family in this book have. Then, we talk about traditions that we have with our families.Then, we write about our favorite holiday tradition and we illustrate it.  You can make it into a class book or use them for a bulletin board.  Click HERE for the download.

 

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Another writing activity would be to first read "The Polar Express".  After reading we talk about writing with imagination.  Then, the students write about what they would do on a magical train and where they would go. At the top of the page, the students illustrate their writing. Click HERE for the Polar Express Download.