Saturday, September 28, 2013

Daily Five: Writing & Word Work Activities

Hi Friends!
Today I'd like to share some new activities for the Daily Five
Work on Writing & Word Work.  I taught first grade last year and looped to second grade with the same kids and wanted to change up some of my Daily Five activities.  These activities are NOT the only writing or word work activities we do each day.  I have a 60 minute Writer's Workshop and a 30 minute Word Work block in the morning.  My Daily Five takes place in the afternoon every day of the week EXCEPT Wednesday.

Here are my Work on Writing activities:


On Mondays, students write about their weekend.  I ask them to pick one thing and write about it.

On Tuesdays, students write a letter to our Student of the Week. I collect all the letters and put them together in book form and give it to the Student of the Week to keep. 
 
 

On Thursdays, students write in their Science Journals.  I have an object for them to observe that goes along with our theme.  They draw the object and write about it.



On Fridays, students can go to our Writing Center and choose an activity there.
 





Here's how I store the Work on Writing materials:



Here are my Word Work activities:
 
On Mondays, students play a game called Roll & Write.
They roll a die, find the word for the number they rolled and write it.  The goal is to roll and write until one of the columns is filled.  That word "Blasts Off."  You continue to roll and write until all the words "Blast Off." 
 

If you don't like the idea of kids rolling dice on their desks and making lots of noise, you can cut pieces of rubber shelf liner for them to roll on.



On Tuesdays, students write their words with scented markers.  I use Mr. Sketch scented markers.  Walgreens had them on sale for $5.00 a box in August!!   I store each set of markers in a Lock & Lock container.  I got them on QVC. 




On Thursdays, students use magnetic letters to build words.
I bought some heavy duty cookie sheets for this center.  I put the letters they need at the top and they build the words at the bottom.  I used a Sharpie to divide the two areas.  I include a list of words on the cookie sheet.



On Fridays, students work in their Vocabulary Journals.  They pick 2 words from our vocabulary word list for the week.  They write them, use them in a sentence, and then illustrate. 



My students love all of these activities.  I plan to change them up as the year goes on.  I'll share some more in future posts. 
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Monday, September 16, 2013

Book Share

Hi Friends,
I am LOVING the cool weather her in the Midwest.  I don't know about you, but I am a better teacher when the weather is cool.

Today I'd like to share something new I am doing in my classroom this year.  I'm calling it Book Share.  Book Share is a time for Guest Readers to come and share their favorite picture book with my class.  They can share other reading materials as well.  Guest Readers are encouraged to tell the class how important reading is in their lives and give examples of how they use reading at work and in their personal lives.  I really want my second graders to hear from someone other than me how important reading is and will be in their lives. 

Anyone can be a Guest Reader.  I started my Book Share this year by inviting everyone on staff at my school.  I sent out personal invitations asking anyone interested in being a Guest Reader to sign up.  Later, I plan to invite parents, school administrators, community members and students.  Book Share is done on Friday mornings between 8:30-9:00. 

My second graders were so excited when our first Guest Reader showed up this past Friday.  Our fifth grade teacher, Miss Uzzell, shared her favorite picture book called
My Little Sister Ate a Hare by Bill Grossman.  After reading her favorite book, Miss Uzzell shared her Kindle and explained what kinds of reading materials she has on it.  Many of my students had never seen a Kindle before, so this was a great learning opportunity for them.  Miss Uzzell did an awesome job!!  When she was done, I took a picture of her holding her favorite book for our Book Share Wall.   Here are a few pictures of our first Guest Reader & our Book Share Wall.



Here's Miss Uzzell sharing her Kindle.


This is the Book Share Wall.  I plan to add pictures of all of our Guest Readers.  I thought I took a
picture of the whole bulletin board, but I didn't.  Here's one corner of it:)

I got this t-shirt for joining my local Blackhawk Reading Council.




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