Intentional Kindness

After the past two days of tattling, being mean to each other, and more unkind things than I care to type here, I had to do something.  I have a GREAT class, but when they are not with me, they (ok, three of them) are not too kind to one another. Some ugly things have been said, a little pushing, a little tattling, and I'm ready to have a class meeting.  So I did.  I told them that we are going to be kind to each other even if we are not best friends.

After school was out on Tuesday, I grabbed these library pockets that I bought because they were pretty - having NO idea what I was going to use them for. I stuck them to some black poster board. (They had adhesive strips on the back.)

 I reinforced the top edge with some clear tape.  I put each students' name on their pocket and inserted an index card with their name on it.

I hung it up at a level they can all reach and stuck cute letters saying, "Kind Words" over it.

I shared with the students that they can go get another student's index card out of their pocket and write one very kind sentence on it and go put it back.  I demonstrated some ideas for them. We discussed things from compliments on clothes to real compliments on behavior and etc...  They were SUPER excited. During "Work on Writing" today, I told them they could try it out. There was a line of about 10 kids waiting to get a card today during Daily 5.  Today was just our "try it day." Other days, they will be able to write on a card after they are finished with their morning work.  

I'm going to keep tabs on what they write and make sure they are all receiving messages on their cards.  I'll add some compliments as well.  When their index card is full, they get to take it home.  So far, I'm loving it!!!  How do you help your kids to show kindness?

Summary: a Great Strategy

 We always have summary questions for fiction (and nf) on our state test, as I'm sure all of you do. This technique helps our kids have a strategy for writing summaries and eventually choosing the correct answers in a fiction summary multiple choice question. As you probably know, the four answer choices for fiction summary questions are extremely long, a paragraph each usually.  The kids have to have a way to decipher all of those choices and find the best.  We have had great success with this method. 

I'm only showing step 1 of their training in this post: the symbols, three sentences, and illustrated summary.  My next post - coming soon - will include how to find the best summary answer choice after reading a fiction passage.

We start with just a simple summary foldable (steps below.)  We then move from the three "symbols" for summary (character, problem, solution,) to the three sentences, to illustrations, and possibly to a summary paragraph.  

Step 1: Make the flip book.

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

After reading Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey, we wrote our summaries using the three symbols on the cover of the flipbook, sentences and drawings on the inside.

 Here are some of the finished products:

The students draw the symbols on the front. 

Student write a sentence about who the characters are, a sentence about the problem(conflict), and finally, the solution.

The last step is to draw a picture to go with each step of the summary. 

Credits 

The next post about summary will include how to use this to answer summary questions over a reading passage.  Stay tuned! 

Snot Stew

     Does that book title get your attention?  It did for my kids!  They couldn't wait to find out why the book is called Snot Stew!  If you have never read this story, it is a must for third graders. It is perfect as a read aloud or as a chapter book to use for instruction.  Whether you end up reading it for fun or for instruction, I've created a pre-reading activity...for free, of course, that will have your kids really thinking and wondering what this animal character is talking about!!

Snot Stew by Bill Wallace

     I love the inference and prediction possibilities in this story right from the start.  The story is written from the point of view of the kitten, Kikki.  It is also a great way to teach point of view. (That's another day!)  This lesson is about the prediction and inference aspect of the story.  

    You wouldn't have to read the whole story to do this activity.  It could be a stand-alone or maybe a "teaser" to get the kids to check out the story at the library!

     Enough with the ideas already...{here} ya go!

Free on TpT

I LOVE your comments!  

Mentor Text Unit...Someday

I am about to start my mentor text unit on sentence fluency, organization, decription, and time-order words.  I know that's alot to tackle and some of those are just "introductory" lessons.  I use a wonderful story/poetry book called Someday, by Eileen Spinelli.  I love this book because it is a poem, but at the same time, there is freedom to write great descriptions while following the form of the poem.  Spinelli's character talks about what she plans to do "Someday" and then brings her ideas back to earth and talks about what she can do right now.  I love the frame this poem creates for kids. The illustrations are great inspiration for the kids to think about what they could do in their futures.  We just kinda "linger" over each idea in the poem and study the pictures.  Here are pictures from the book.

image from www.amazon.com

Notice the great detail and description.

First...I will have the students frame their poem by writing their "someday statement." 

Next...We will write our conclusion before we write the body of the poem.  I focus on thinking about what they can do now to work toward their goals. I like that the conclusions all have some type of time-order words.  This is a great way to teach time-order and different transitions such as "in the meantime," "for now," "at the moment," etc... There are great ideas and the kids can pick one or come up with their own.   

After that...we write the body of the poem, focusing on the descriptive examples in the book and how they can elaborate on their ideas. 

This is great description with details for mentoring their "someday" idea.

 

Someday... she will dig for dinosaur bones and become famous.

What she is digging for now!

This is one of my favorite mentor texts.  It really allows the kids freedom to write and imagine while giving them a very supportive framework.  

We also combine our poems and illustrations and publish the book! 

Fun Beginning OY Writing Activity - "How To"

The Balancing Guy
This is a wonderful "how-to"activity and I'm sorry to say that I don't have an original source to credit. (If you can document one, please let me know so I can give credit.)  My mom gave this to me before she retired and I use it each and every year. 

The supplies are super simple, probably stuff you have at school already.  You will need: 

1. 3x5" index cards (with at least one side blank.), one per child- with a few extras for mistakes.
2. scissors/pencil
3. two smaller size paper clips per child. 
4. Several teacher-made patterns to share.

I wish I had the ability to recreate the drawings for you, but all I can do is upload pictures of the directions with hopes you can use them directly from the blog, or download them and copy them off, or whatever works for you!  Hopefully this will work as a downloadable file.  

Go to this link to find a google docs downloadable copy of this page.

Supplies

Step 1:

 

Fold on "long line of symmetry"

 

Step 2:

This is where you'll need to have some patterns of "half of a guy" already cut out for them to trace.

  

 

Step 3:

Emphasize to kids to make sure they put the guy's body next to fold, or they'll end up with two separate halves when they cut it out. 

 Step 4:

 

Step 5:

I highly recommend they don't color him with crayons or markers, it makes him floppy with the weight of the colors.  Just have them put some cute decorations with colored pencil, but not solid coloring.

 Step 6:

Step 7:

They will be absolutely amazed  how he will balance on their finger or pencil!  The balance changes as they adjust the paper clips, so it's fun to play with different ways to make him balance. 

Step 8:

I usually just let them do this part at home since we are pressed for time to start writing.

 Step 9:

 

 

 I allow them to play with their "guy" for awhile.  If you don't, they're going to play with it while they write.  We begin by talking about the directions page and I ask if we should just copy the sentences from that page.  After deciding we could change up the sentences to "make them our own," we talk about time-order words such as first, now, next, etc... We follow Regie Routman's writing program and her "I do," "we do," "you do."  This would be an excellent "I do" activity.  This sample is too simplified, but would be a good starting point so they could add elaboration. 

I hope you can use the idea!  I am PROMISING you, the kids will love it.  You might even have a little science discussion about why/how he can balance! 

 
 

Book Sharing Day!

 We got to share our books on Friday, May 23.  Our class books about what our guinea pigs do after we go home at night were a big hit!  They had spy cars with a GPS(guinea pig system!), ninja powers, a wedding, and all kinds of adventures.  We invited pre-k, kinder, first, and second grades to meet us in the library (I posted a little schedule on google docs for sign up) and had lots of kiddos listening to our stories.  The classes rotated through four "story stations" in the four corners of the library so they could hear all of the stories, then they got to take a look at the stars of the show: Oreo and Harley! We had a great time!! Wish you could've joined us! 

gr

 The kids were so proud to show their work and have younger kids listening and liking their stories!  ONLY one mishap...Harley just couldn't "hold it," so while she was being admired by second grade...well you know.  That was a big hit too!  Haha!