I can't believe that a week has come and gone. With the new month, I have started working with my 6th graders on Fictional Narratives. I HAVE decided that I am going to take a couple of months on this genre and REALLY get into the nitty gritty of it. We have been studying the structure of fictional narratives, reading mentor texts, and talking about what we read during the day from a "writer's perspective". It is really fun to hear the kids start to talk about the things they read as a writer! For my bulletin board, I had my amazing wife do all the writing for me. I got the purpose (top left corner), the title, and of course... THE ANCHOR CHARTS started and posted. Because I am taking it slow and covering the concept in depth, I am still working on teaching the lessons that will fill in all the anchor chart spaces, and I am working to do those quickly- but with understanding. However, we just had a mini-lesson on the framework of a fictional narrative and the students drew the anchor chart in their journals. It took a little while, but I love that they have mini-charts in their notebooks. Shoot! I should have taken a picture of a student notebook. They did such a great job with them! My wife made this poster sized one for my board. I really like how it turned out! I also love that since I started at the back of the chart book and am moving forward, the anchor chart for Personal Memoirs is still accessible to the students by simply lifting up the paper (as shown below)! I love when I have good ideas (because they don't seem to happen as often as I would like). As we continue through our journey with Fictional Narratives, I will continue to share what we do so you can enjoy the journey with me. Today, we worked on studying mentor texts and writing rules for punctuating dialogue. We found that there are four different ways that dialogue is written. We will have our anchor chart made by the end of tomorrow and my wife will take my sloppy copy and make it a thing of beauty- THEN I will share it with you. I am excited to take the adventure with my students. I realize that the new core standards want us to focus on and push non-fiction reading and writing, and I will, but I feel that I need to get them excited about writing FIRST and then we can move on to those other concepts. Writing ROCKS! Cheers! -MrHughes
Working on fiction text structure is a great way to build both comprehension AND writing skills. This FREE fiction text structure chart is the perfect visual to help when teaching about fiction text structure! Find even more free resources for fiction text structure. *This post contains affiliate links. **The free printable link can be found at the ... Read More about Fiction Text Structure Chart
Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is
A few years ago (maybe five or six) our state standards changed for reading, pretty dramatically. I know all of you who have been through...
Teaching realistic fiction genre study? Start by explaining the elements. Then read short stories. Finally, ask kids to write their own!
Teaching the elements of fiction doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming. See how I break it down and teach through stations!
Teaching historical fiction? Connect reading and writing activities for a powerful genre study. Then throw in a full-length novel.
Are you looking for some One Crazy Summer teaching ideas? You have come to the right place. Check out these fun activities.
Teaching realistic fiction genre study? Start by explaining the elements. Then read short stories. Finally, ask kids to write their own!
Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is
Teaching non fiction text features can be tricky! Check out these 3 free resources to help your students master non fiction texts!
Favorite Science Fiction Short Stories for Middle School - short story ideas and resources for teaching science fiction.
Teaching literary analysis in the secondary English classroom is an essential cornerstone of high school English and middle school English curriculum. When
This week I saw one of my colleagues carrying around a copy of 1984. "Oooh," I said. "Are you teaching 1984?" My mind instantly raced back to the days when I taught Orwell at my school
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Teaching realistic fiction genre study? Start by explaining the elements. Then read short stories. Finally, ask kids to write their own!
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!
WHY TEACH STUDENTS TO FIND THE MAIN IDEA? Being able to find the main idea and supporting details of a text is a complex and important nonfiction reading skill for upper elementary students (3rd-5th grade). "Learning
Teaching historical fiction? Connect reading and writing activities for a powerful genre study. Then throw in a full-length novel.
An early lesson you want to teach your students is the difference in books that tell stories and books that give information. I have found that the best way to teach this is within context of different types of texts. Let's read more about some resources that I have used to teach the differences in the two types, as well as meet our pesky friend, the BOOK BANDIT! We begin the unit learning the text features of both types of texts by creating this anchor chart and using real text examples to discuss the differences between the two. I print the anchor chart from the pack as a poster, along with the two mini posters, for students to reference throughout the unit. I printed the sorting cards on cardstock and students helped me attach them to the anchor chart during our whole group discussion. They then completed their own sort below. This is great to glue into their reading journal for additional reference during the unit. I have lots of activities that I use included within the pack, but you don't have to use them in the order laid out in this blog post. ;) The activity below is one I like to always do with a new reading skill. My students become reading detectives during this cooperative group activity. Each group gets an envelope with the following recording sheets and a text, which might be a book or a passage, inside. They work with their group to decide if the book tells a story or gives information. They have to prove their thinking by providing three pieces of evidence from the text. After you do a few rotations of these throughout your unit, you can add it to a learning center for additional practice. Throughout the unit, I kept two bins of books labeled books that tell stories and books that give information. I referred to a few of them during the unit. But at the end of the unit, I threw them all over the classroom for students to walk in and find the next morning with a letter from the Book Bandit! He had came in and made a mess of our sorted books, so it was the students' challenge to sort them back into their proper bins. They had to provide three pieces of evidence from the text to prove their thinking and they attached it to a craft of the Book Bandit that they had made. This was such an engaging activity and a great assessment! I have included lots of other resources in the pack to use during your lessons. Throughout the unit, students pretended to be detectives, so they wore these little badges! We used these interactive notebook pieces for different texts. If you have Scholastic flyers, you can have students sort them in these flapbooks. This is another great quick assessment! We always finish our lessons with an exit ticket for me to quickly assess their understanding of the different features of these two types of texts. After completing a unit, I love to give my students new bookmarks for them to use during independent reading just to remind them of the previous skill taught so that they can independently apply those skills during reading. Click any of the pics in the blogpost to check this resource out! As always, happy teaching and happy reading!
Whether you are teaching The Hunger Games, The Giver, Divergent, 1984 or Fahrenheit 451, you can use this 2' x 3' poster to remind your students of the characteristics of dystopian fiction. This product also includes worksheets that students can use to record the ways that their texts illustrate these characteristics. You might also like my Dystopian Fiction Unit (it's full of engaging activities for the genre!) If you'd like more posters or anchor charts for your class room, you can check out my collection HERE. Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and products: • Look for the green star near the top of any page within my store and click it to become a follower. You will then receive customized email updates about this store.
One of the most important things you can teach your students is good literary analysis skills. Your students will be critically reading texts in high school, college, graduate school, and in their careers. It's necessary to cultivate analytical ability as early as possible. If you are looking at how to teach literary analysis, sere are six ways to enhance the literary analysis curriculum for all ages.
#3 in non-fiction. The first book is done at 200 parts and thanks to you it was pretty successful so I decided to go for another part to continue with the random tips, quotes and advices. hopefully, this will reach more and more writers and help many aspiring authors to improve their writing skills. ENJOY :)) **I DO NOT OWN THE COPYRIGHT TO THE MATERIALS PUBLISHED IN THIS BOOK. A big THANK YOU to @martaxSofia for making the pretty covers for the books. :)
Look at this! Use these fiction writing prompts to get the creative juices flowing in your students, and to teach them how to enjoy the writing process!
Help students plan and pre-write a narrative short story by following this blog post. Includes free graphic organizers and step-by-step directions.
Have students choose one element, or "spice," to add to their work as they revise. This chart works for students in elementary and middle school, depending on which elements they include.
#3 in non-fiction. The first book is done at 200 parts and thanks to you it was pretty successful so I decided to go for another part to continue with the random tips, quotes and advices. hopefully, this will reach more and more writers and help many aspiring authors to improve their writing skills. ENJOY :)) **I DO NOT OWN THE COPYRIGHT TO THE MATERIALS PUBLISHED IN THIS BOOK. A big THANK YOU to @martaxSofia for making the pretty covers for the books. :)
Teach students in upper elementary and middle school how to
English teachers, teach ELA skills with micro fiction writing. Engage students, focusing on word choice, literary devices, sentence structure, and more...
Teaching realistic fiction genre study? Start by explaining the elements. Then read short stories. Finally, ask kids to write their own!
These 5 short texts for teaching suspense and pacing will help make your lessons on literary elements less daunting and more memorable!
Teach characterization using short films to engage students and aid in analysis skills. Pixar films, commercials, and cartoons create a fun lesson.
Do you have students who can't seem to get interested in class novels or short stories but love to check out informational
As the saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words, so it's no wonder so many authors incorporate symbolism into their writing. The visual nature of symbolism also makes it a fun concept to teach to students. Whether you are teaching symbolism as a new concept for your students, diving in deeper, or just reviewing the basics, read on to find activities and resources that will benefit all levels of students.
#3 in non-fiction. The first book is done at 200 parts and thanks to you it was pretty successful so I decided to go for another part to continue with the random tips, quotes and advices. hopefully, this will reach more and more writers and help many aspiring authors to improve their writing skills. ENJOY :)) **I DO NOT OWN THE COPYRIGHT TO THE MATERIALS PUBLISHED IN THIS BOOK. A big THANK YOU to @martaxSofia for making the pretty covers for the books. :)
Strugglig to engage your reluctant readers? Check out these contemporary short stories for high school ELA.
Once students understand the literary term theme, an entire world opens for them. Books talk and sing to them - and they like your class more.
Teaching Text Structure can be difficult. Here are some tips for making learning text structure simple.
10 ideas for planning engaging novel units: creative, engaging lesson ideas for your next whole-class novel unit
Historical fiction picture books for first grade through fifth grade.
As adults, we often walk into a bookstore with a certain genre we are ready to peruse the aisles for in order to find our next read. Would your students be able to do the
Using science fiction poems (or speculative poems) in the classroom can be a great way for students to build a deeper understanding of the genre.
