Poetry writing continued in the library all week! I chose different poetry writing activities for each grade level, geared toward their development level. I found a template for an “I Am…
A blog for first grade and primary teachers with teaching tips for emergent readers including phonics, reading comprehension, and writing.
K-1 POETRY UNIT I love teaching poetry to kindergarten and first grade students! Even though I have this labeled as Unit 8 in my Writing Series , I actually teach poetry throughout the entire year. We follow the same routine and students look forward to our poetry week every month.
Launch your opinion writing unit with these 10 daily opinion writing lesson plans, including anchor charts, graphic organizers, opinion writing prompts and The Day the Crayons Quit craft!
Teach your students the 5 parts of a friendly letter - the date, greeting, body, closing and signature, that can help them write letters.
Hello from sunny…and HOT!!!….Las Vegas! I’m here in the city that never sleeps. Or is that New York?? Because it should DEFINITELY be Las Vegas if it’s not 🙂 Even the kids running up and down our hallway ALL night…screaming!!!…think so, too 😉 I had a FABULOUS day full of fun at the I …
Are you ready for the month of March? We are all geared up for some fun learning this month! Our March NO PREP packets are done and we are ready to go!
First graders have lots of opinions and they love to share them! Learn simple tips and tricks for teaching opinion writing in first grade.
Back to School is right around the corner for us and I am SUPER excited to kick of this school year with some fun, hands-on and engaging resources for The
I am so excited to share that first grade no prep packs are here! This resource makes it so easy to teach the first grade standards for math, reading, phonics and writing. No more searching for high quality, engaging worksheets and activities.. they are all here. Plus I am sharing thr
Use these writing prompts for first grade students to help them learn how to express their opinions and ideas through journaling.
January is here! A NEW YEAR and so much to learn! I am super excited to continue our learning for this school year and start the calendar year off strong!
I hope you have recovered after Thanksgiving and are settling back in to your routine at school! My husband, Josh, and I had a wonderful visit to Indianapolis to spend time with his family. Since they live 500 miles away, our visits only happen a couple of times a year, but we had no trouble packing in a lot! We saw our youngest nephew play basketball and then Josh's brother coached a high school game later that same night. Trips to three, yes - three, different malls and a stop to Lakeshore Learning! Our closest Lakeshore store is in Washington, DC, which is still several hours away, so I took advantage that we were nearby and got everything on my list (and a few extras!). The trip went too quickly and we look forward to going back this summer. Looking at the calendar before Thanksgiving, we realized that we have four long weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. We are trying to plan as many fun things as we can, while still teaching everything that we need to! This week we are working on writing friendly letters. We have talked about the parts of a letter and looked at our message everyday. The children have picked up very quickly on these terms! Today we wrote a letter to our principal. I wanted them to think about 2 questions they want to ask and 2 things to tell her. My favorite question to ask was "How old are you?" This came from my birthday boy! I had to explain that it is not polite to ask an adult - especially a lady - how old she is! We all signed the letter we finished and took it up to the office. Unfortunately, the principal was in a meeting and we couldn't give it to her in person. She found me after school and is writing a letter back to them! The kiddos will see it in the morning! here's our letter to Mrs. Moore Here's my mini-packet for letters. Enjoy! Click HERE to download. Happy writing to Santa!
This free Kindergarten sentence building and writing center is perfect for practice with making simple sentences for beginning writers!
Check out these cute, 1st Grade worksheets for January. Practice math, reading, and writing with these fun winter themes.
To make learning more meaningful, give students opportunities to apply their learning to real-life situations! Engagement was high while making applesauce and learning to write procedural stories!
Happy Monday! Tonight I want to share a new pack with you to help your struggling writers with narrative writing. The pack would be perfect for writing
Click here to get a FREE Printable Kids Writing Journal with 20 Prompts easy to use & perfect for early elementary aged children.
Hello Everyone! I love helping first graders express themselves through writing. For me, the first semester of first grade is all about cre...
PRIMARY WRITING - UNIT 3 I am so excited to teach this narrative writing unit! This writing curriculum is geared for kindergarten, first grade and can even be used in second grade classrooms. In Unit 3 , we are learning how to write a personal narrative . We practice writing about what we l
Is it just me or is writing one of the hardest things to teach? There is so much that goes into it and the Common Core Standards really revamped writing. Just Reed's Ten Pin Linky is perfect for finding some new to me ideas! Source: What the Teacher Wants If you haven't read The Squiggle yet, it's a must read for next year! Students turn the squiggle into a picture and then write a story about it. There are a lot of squiggle options to choose from. How cute, right?? I've used this idea the past two years and my students absolutely love it. Source: Life in First Grade Need to make this ASAP! Source: Mrs. Kelly's Klass This is great for informational writing. Most of my students are understood that they couldn't copy the exact words from a book, but this printable would really help drive that point home. Source: For the Love of First Grade This is the only cure for the dreaded "And Disease." My kids thought this was hysterical. I played it up whenever I met in individual conferences. I would ask the student "Are you feeling okay?" They would say they are fine and I would feel their forehead and say "Umm, I don't think so - you've got the And Disease!" ;) Source: A Day in First Grade Love the Rocket books! Source: The Daily Cupcake I always have to review spaces at the beginning of the year!! Drives me slightly bonkers! Source: 3rd Grade's a Charm I first saw the heart idea on The First Grade Parade, but I like how this is divided into categories with a color code. Source: Sherry Clements' TPT Store (freebie) Great intro to opinion writing! Source: First Grade Fairytales Another opinion writing option - perfect for spring time. It goes with the book Duck or Rabbit? Those are my favorite Pinterest writing ideas! I'm always in search of more writing ideas, so I can't wait to look through everyone's post. Before I go, I wanted to mention that Amanda and Stacia from Collaboration Cuties are celebrating reaching 1,000 followers! Isn't that a big accomplishment?? Click on over to enter the giveaway!
My students actually BEG me to write!! Check out how easy it is to create this center so your students will love to write also!
Use these 35 fun and easy first grade writing prompts +12 bonus ideas with your kids and help them improve their writing and reading skills!
Launch your opinion writing unit with these 10 daily opinion writing lesson plans, including anchor charts, graphic organizers, opinion writing prompts and The Day the Crayons Quit craft!
After weeks of researching animal facts, organizing information on graphic organizers and copying from sentence frames, my students had the chance to write a narrative of their choice today and, wow! Was it ever a hit! I made this simple, one-page book which allowed my students to write a story with a beginning, middle and […]
K-1 WRITING UNIT 4 This is such a fun writing unit to teach! In Unit 4 of my K-1 writing series , we are tackling “How-To” writing pieces, and my kiddos love it when I tell them they get to be the teacher. I say, “You get to teach me! You have to write and tell me how to do something!”
PRIMARY WRITING - UNIT 3 I am so excited to teach this narrative writing unit! This writing curriculum is geared for kindergarten, first grade and can even be used in second grade classrooms. In Unit 3 , we are learning how to write a personal narrative . We practice writing about what we l
Hello Everyone!! Happy Monday!! I picked up a random book at Half Price Books the other day, Visual Tools by Roger Essley, a diagnosed dyslexic. The title caught my eye because I am such a visual learner. As I read through this book, I have to tell you, I almost cried. This approach to teaching writing for a differentiated classroom has become my Ahhhh Hahhhhh for the summer.The author suggests that kids need to draw out their stories before they even begin writing anything. Then they need to talk about their drawings, make adjustments, additions, etc, and then begin writing. I have always had my kids draw before they write, but not even close to the extent that Mr. Essley suggests. He calls it Storyboarding. The process really helps kids organize visually what they want to say in their stories. Stick figures and labeling to help others understand are acceptable. He tells many stories of kids with learning challenges who became writers because of this method. (You've probably been doing this all along. Sometimes I'm a little slower to get there!) While reading this, I couldn't help but be reminded of the struggle my oldest son had with writing. In fourth grade he was the only student in the school to get a "1" on his state writing exam. (4 being the best) :( We were all devastated and mortified- mostly because he is a bright kid, in the gifted and talented class. We came to realize that he is intensely visual, and this was affecting his writing! He has since graduated from the MIZZOU School of Journalism and is now an award winning broadcast journalist for ABC. He needs to see his stories!! This makes total sense to me now! If he would have been able to begin writing projects with a storyboard, I think he would have had more success in school. So now, how do I help my littles gain confidence in writing their stories?---through storyboarding! I like to think of it as a kind of comic strip. Kids draw their stories in little boxes with minimal words at first. They verbalize all their ideas through their storyboard, gain insights from the class, and then create a "dummy" book from the boxes, adding text. The dummy goes through editing, and then we are ready for publishing. Here are a few pics of a model I tried. Brainstorm ideas, and then draw ideas on paper. This is a class sized model. This is a kid sized version they can do on a plastic sheet in their writing notebooks. Attach cards with stickers helps with easy rearrangement. Keep sheet in notebook An envelope can be used to store cards Make a "dummy" Attach cards to one side, add another card for text. Add text Keep adding storyboard cards, text. Then revise and edit some more. Finally, publish in whatever way you want. I am so excited to use this visual tool with my new group of firsties. I wish I could have my old classes back! I just know it is going to be beneficial to so many. There is no way I can explain everything Roger Essley conveys in his book, but I will try to snap some pics when we get underway in the fall. I added this new tool to my Writer's toolbox unit, along with a ton more stuff. Just about everything you need to get ready for great writing!! Sample of target skills Three different storyboard templates 6 different styles of draft book paper the unit is now about 60 pages! You can get it free if you CLICK HERE!!! Einstein said, "If I can't picture it, I can't understand it." That is so true for my son, and for so many of our kids. And Aristotle said, "It is impossible even to think without a mental picture." Let's give our kids another tool to visualize, organize, and gain in confidence when dealing with text! On a side note: The storyboard tool is not just for writing!! Use it in all the other curric. areas! Thanks for sticking with me through this long post! If you have any other questions (because I know I didn't explain everything!), please don't hesitate to ask!! We're all in this together!! Until then, have a great rest of the day!! Joyfully! Nancy
Use these 35 fun and easy first grade writing prompts +12 bonus ideas with your kids and help them improve their writing and reading skills!
How to writing is such a fun one to do in first grade (and kindergarten and 2nd grade) because most 5-7 year olds I know LOVE to teach you how to do things. I really like to express to my students that we all know how to do something that we can teach others! I […]
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Teaching writing in first grade can be one of the most challenging aspects of teaching. In fact, this is the biggest struggle for many teachers in my...
Build confident and independent writers in the classroom with Writing Mats. This resource provides writing prompts for kids, picture-word lists, writing conventions checklist, and sentence starters!
It’s true that sequencing is so common in our day-to-day life, recognizing patterns and putting things in order usually comes naturally for our students over
PRIMARY WRITING - UNIT 3 I am so excited to teach this narrative writing unit! This writing curriculum is geared for kindergarten, first grade and can even be used in second grade classrooms. In Unit 3 , we are learning how to write a personal narrative . We practice writing about what we l
K-1 OPINION WRITING This unit is so much fun to teach! I just love hearing all about my kiddos’ opinions… and kindergarten and first grade students sure love to share. In Unit 5 of my primary writing curriculum we are learning how to write about our opinions. We are writing about what
We've all got struggling writers, especially after spending so much time online. There can be a variety of different reasons why your first grade students are struggling with writing. They might be lacking confidence in their alphabet and/or writing ability, lack inspiration, or are not interested in writing altogether.
Struggling writers in your primary classroom? Help them improve their writing! Perfect for informational, personal, and opinion writing!
PRIMARY WRITING - UNIT 3 I am so excited to teach this narrative writing unit! This writing curriculum is geared for kindergarten, first grade and can even be used in second grade classrooms. In Unit 3 , we are learning how to write a personal narrative . We practice writing about what we l
Hello Everyone!! My apologies for not posting in a while. We have been so busy both at school and on the homefront. We had some major events to attend and my baby moved to Austin to start his first real job. Needless to say...emotional rollercoaster!!! At school we celebrated the 100th day of school, Valentines Day, and Presidents Day. All were a huge success. Here are a couple of pics! 100th day balloon launch!! Over the past couple of weeks we've been working so hard on our expository writing. We are writing an "All About Me" book with about 5 chapters. They are turning out so great!! I don't have pics yet, bu I will soon. This coming week we will begin our "How to Writing." We have a kind of hat theme going on for our open house, so I wanted to include a hat idea in our writing, so I've added a "How to Make a Newspaper Hat" component. I will show the kids how to make this fun little hat, and then let them get busy making their own and writing their "How To's." The unit I'm sharing today include templates, brainstorming sheets, and publishing ideas for a generic "How To" plus some specific "How To's" including "How To Eat An Oreo," and "How to Make a Newspaper Hat." For your own 40 page unit CLICK HERE! :) I am so excited to show the kids how they can teach someone how to do something! I know they will love the hats! I can't wait to show you some pics of them in the process. Till then, have a wonderfilled rest of the weekend! As always, thanks for stopping by and taking a peek through our window of wonder!! Don't forget to leave a comment!! Joyfully! Nancy
These beginning of the year writing activities have first grade students feeling confident about writer's workshop and becoming writers in the classroom.
These 6 How To Writing Anchor Charts will help you organize how to writing mini lessons for your Kindergarten and First Grade writers. These how to writing anchor charts will inspire your how to writers to write their own how to stories.
