Friday 31 October 2014

Five for Friday

Happy Halloween!  

We are excited to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for their Five for Friday linky Party. 

We are excited to celebrate Halloween with our students.  
Today we will be linking our writing to a Halloween. 

Can't wait to hear all the spooky stories. 


Then we will be working on a Mad libs activity.  We plan on sharing it with each other when they are done.  I think this should bring on a lot of laughs. 


This week we have had lots of fun carving pumpkins at home and at school.
I think we are almost all pumpkin-ed out. 


We are really excited to get our Grammar Bundle out to you.  We have been working on this bundle with our Grade 3's.  For the next week it will be on sale for $8.  
Stay tuned for more bundles to come;)

Libby is finally back in full running mode.  5am runs a few mornings a week.  May need a few extra runs after all the candy from this week. 


We want to hear about you. 
 How are you celebrating Halloween with your students?  
Is it black and orange day or costume day at your school?


Wishing everyone a safe and happy Halloween. 




Wednesday 29 October 2014

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Wordless Wednesdays



Pumpkin Patch time with one of my BF's!  



and in the teaching world....

This week we have combined word wall words to help teach Verbs. 


Tuesday 21 October 2014

Let's talk Grammar

Do your students know the difference between a noun and a verb? Do they get adverbs and adjectives mixed up? For many students they often have great ideas when it comes to their writing. However, they just struggle to organize their thoughts because they are confused with parts of speech and really don't understand why there needs to be all of these different parts of speech in their writing. So here's a way of introducing parts of speech to your students so you can stop getting those strange but unique sentences from your students daily.


This year I decided to use bell work as a way of introducing Parts of Speech such a nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives.

In our classroom, students enter the room, place planners in the planner bin, then go to their desk to begin working on one page in their bell work duo-tang.  On Mondays, students receive pages 1 through 5 as their bell work from this Grammar Bundle.



On Day one (Mondays) we play the guessing game after they complete page 1 in their workbook.  I would ask students "What part of speech do you think we are focusing on this week?"

Usually, one of my students are able to guess what part of speech we are focusing on.  It was interesting to see how many of the students are engaged to this quick game to start off our days. It often would help to start off a typically boring unit off on the right note. 

After we guessed what part of speech (verb, adverb, noun, pronoun or adjective), we would say the words together as a class.  Next, we would clap the word out to figure out the number syllables are in each word.  At the end of each section in the Grammar Bundle there are a list of the words for the week.  We place them on the white board and use them as part of a mini-lesson throughout the week.  

When we are done with the word we put them up on our word wall. 



On Page 2 students need to find the words of the week and color them in.  



 On page 3 student need to circle how many syllables in each word.  
Then re-write the word in the correct syllable box.

Then next few pages can vary depending on the focus for that week.  In the example below, students must make 5 sentences with 5 words that we are using for that week.  



In the picture below students cut out letters to build the words of the week. 




As you can see from the pictures and ideas that you can create a fun and engaging activity and use it to help teach the conventions of parts of speech to your students. Not only do you get the activities in the bundles but you also get the definitions for each part of speech to hang in the room and help reenforce what you are teaching. 
Another extension to this could be posting some student exemplars highlighting how different students in your class have used the focus of the week in their writing. When students start to see their writing highlighted for the entire class to see not only will they focus more but they will attempt to try and get their writing displayed, hence more practice and engagement and easier marking for you in the long run. :)  



Monday 20 October 2014

Winner of the Halloween Give Away

And the winners are.........


Thank you to everyone who participated in our blog hop and giveaway. 


Friday 17 October 2014

Trick or Treat!!



Trick or treat!! Here's a treat for you!  A free Halloween product!


and here's your chance to get another treat.....





When it comes to Halloween it's always a treat to have the day fall on a school day much like this year. Not only does your classroom typically get filled with treats for the students and of course yourself. It is often covered in colour and imagination. Both things are often brought to your classroom by your amazing students who are dressed as their favourite ghost, ghoul, princess, or minion.

One of our favourite traditions is having a classroom party.  Each student brings some treats on the big day.  It's great to spend some time together enjoying sweets, watching Monsters Inc., and doing some fun desk work.

In the past, we have asked our students to do the following booklet to help make Halloween a fun and learning atmosphere throughout the day.

Our package, includes things such as a colour by numbers Frankenstein where we ask kids to answer the math problems and then match their answers with the corresponding colour need to make him come to life.


After that they can show you what they look like on Halloween as they draw themselves in their costume.



To get your students writing and making connections they can draw a spooky house using their amazing imaginations then follow it up with a story about their spooky house like this student as done. Beware of houses with green slime dripping from them. They might need some work done before you can move in :)




Finally, we like to have some fun with Mad Libs. Depending, where you are in terms of teaching parts of speech Mad Libs is a great way to teach the use of verbs, adverbs, adjectives, etc. and how they play a role in writing. We have a Halloween Mad Lib that can really get your reluctant writers off to a great start by creating a fun story about Halloween while also incorporating you, and some of their classmates as a part of their story.



Happy Halloween everyone!


Please check out the InLinkz Link-up below for more freebies. 



Tuesday 14 October 2014

It's Tuesday Sale Day!

Thanks to A Grace-Filled Classroom for hosting this awesome linky. 


Let's begin with our Word Wall Set......


What you will get for just $2.00

-blue and white polkadot alphabet header

-black and white polkadot alphabet header

-A set of blue and white polkadot word wall words for Fry's words from 1-500

-A set of black and white polkadot word wall words for Fry's words from 1-500

-A students list of each 100 group of words to assess students on what words they can read

-A teacher copy of each 100 group of words to record the words students are able to read






































Ok, 
The next sale item is..... 

Word work for Fry's 1-100 words



This product is great for bell work or daily word work. On every page is a flash card for students to cut out and take home to practice their words with mom or dad. 


On each page students will practice their words by 

Trace it



Write it

Box it

Color it

Put it in a sentence



Tip:  If your students struggle to use the word in a sentence, begin by having them orally tell you the sentence as you write it on the board for them.  Then they can copy it, and eventually build the skills they need to write it on their own. 











Friday 10 October 2014

Five for Friday



Thanks to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting Five for Friday




In Kindergarten this week we have been working on our letters and sounds.  We laminated the sheets below and have put them out at a table for students to come and explore.  Students use whiteboard markers to practice their letters.  We document their learning with pictures which are kept in each students personal profile.






This week I (Libby) was out for a 5am run and caught the lunar eclipse.  There's something magical about being up and out before the world wakes up.  I used to be a regular runner in the wee hours of the morning...and then we had a child...and sleep became so much more precious.  However, here we are several years later and I am less sleep deprived, so it's time to get back into the swing of things.  To all my morning runners, this pic is for you. 




Ok, now for a laugh.  Jeff and I have both been working on parts of speech this week with our students.  Students were asked to come up and share verbs on a mind-map.  Students were given markers to write down their verbs and as you can see... two of them caused us to crack a smile;)







This week as part of my planning time duties, we have been working on acting out animals and feelings.  I laminated these cards and use them to play games with the students.  I like to call up a student, show them the card, have them act out the animal or emotion, and see if the class can guess what they are.  We have shared a lot of laughs watching students take the "stage" and get into character.  




Finally, it's fall!  Thanksgiving (for Canadians) is this weekend.  The leaves are beautiful and the air is crisp.  I love this time of year.  

It just doesn't get any better than this!