Spin A Story Wheels
Looking for a way to spice up your Writing Center or add something different to your Daily 5?
Include a Spin A Story Wheel and help motivate your students to WANT to write!
Students spin the wheel 3-4 times and write sentences or a 1-paragraph story and include the picture ideas in them.
Challenge students who are writing sentences to try and write one sentence incorporating ALL 4 picture prompts!
Click on the various links for the Spring-Summer Spin A Story Wheels.
March Story Wheel, April/May Story Wheel, Summer Story Wheel
For your convenience, if you’d like the entire collection, I’ve bundled them up in one download as well.
Write on and happy spinning!
Be sure and pop back tomorrow for more teacing tips!
Rainbows are yet another theme for March. It’s a wonderful way to review colors, color words and a specific color pattern.
I designed the easy reader booklet Let’s Color A Rainbow to reinforce ordinal numbers as well.
Students trace and write the ordinal numbers and colors in the matching color, cut and glue the appropriate picture to the page and then think of another object that is also that color and write it on the bottom.
Lots of core standards are covered in this little booklet!
A colored page of pictures is provided as well as one in black & white if teachers opt for their students to color them.
This might take a bit more time, but it reinforces the concept in yet another way.
When everyone has completed their booklet, read it as a whole group. Students will enjoy taking this booklet home and sharing it with their families.
Click on the link to view/download Let’s Color A Rainbow
For some more rainbow fun, take a journey with your students to the end of the rainbow and discover the Leprechaun’s pot of gold.
What would they do with all of that money? Sounds like a wonderful writing prompt to me, so I made it into a class book for March.
Class books are a fun way to get students writing. Children complete the writing prompt sentence with their own ideas and illustrate the page.
Teachers collect, collate and then read to the class, or have students share their own page when they come to it.
Class books are perfect for parent-teacher conferences and a terrific way to show improvement in writing.
There are 5 class books in this collection including 2 graphing extensions.
Click on the link to view/download March Class Books
My easy reader booklets and whole-class books, are simple and quick additions that can spice up your writing centers or Daily 5 activities.
I hope these ideas color your world with excitement for reading and writing!
Be sure and pop in tomorrow for another interesting way to get your students writing with Spin A Story Wheels!
Do you have a teaching tip you’d like to share? I’d really enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas. Thanks in advance.
Cloudy With A Chance Of Learning...
Yesterday we were flying high with kites in the sky.
Today clouds are in the sky. It’s another one of the themes I like to touch on during March Is Reading Month.
I like to design easy readers that help review difficult standards like those tough 3D shapes.
I figure if I can make a little booklet about them, my students get to do a hands-on activity that makes learning more fun.
My 3D-Cloud booklet, covers concepts of print as well as writing skills, while reinforcing the 3D - shapes, so I get more “bang for my time buck!” so to speak, plus students really enjoy making these just-my-size booklets and sharing them with their families, so they help reinforce the lessons at home as well.
I include a graphing extension to nail yet another standard, which get students actively involved in discussion.
Click on the link to view/download My 3-D Cloud booklet.
The Shape On My Cloud reviews 6 basic flat shapes, colors and counting. The surprise ending incorporates a rainbow for a little bit of science.
Students trace the shape, colr and number words and shapes. Click on the link to viw/dwonload the cloud booklet.
Great Reads: Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Little Cloud and It Looked Like Spilt Milk
While surfing the net this morning I came across a Linky Party.
Click on the link and join Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle. Add your blog to her list. She’ll be turning it into a pin board list on Pinterest.
Just click on the little blue “Add Your Link” button on her blog. It’s super easy!
Enjoy and have a great day! Spring has really “sprung” here in Michigan. It’s going to be 80 today!
I hope wherever you are, you too are enjoying the rejuvenating sunshine and sweet smell of springtime.
Celebrating March Is Reading Month With Kites
Need some reading and writing activities for those block periods or Daily 5?
I’ve got some quick and easy ones revolving around kites today:
The Wind Blew is an easy reader with 4 on a page to conserve on paper when you print.
This also helps reinforce sequencing when students cut the pages apart and put their booklets together.
The end of the story allows students to think of their own “thing” that the wind blows, write it down and illustrate their page accordingly.
When everyone is done with their booklets have students share this page with the class and write down how many things they thought of that the wind blew.
Pat Hutchins has a cute book When The Wind Blew that would make a nice transition activity. {amazonWS:itemId=068971744X}
The last page allows you to nail another core standard by asking students if they like when the wind blows. A graphing extension is provided for that. Discussion can follow of why a student does or doesn’t.
Click on the link to view/download The Wind Blew booklet.
Go Fly A Kite is also an easy reader that involves spatial directions. Students cut and glue the kites to the various positions on the page.
Make this a special keepsake by having students glue their school photo to the boy or girl face on the last page.
Click on the link to view/download Go Fly A Kite
My Shapely Kite reviews the 6 basic flat shapes. Students have the option to either trace the various shaped kites or to cut and glue a construction paper shape to the appropriate kite.
To reinforce reading and writing skills, students trace the shape words as well.
Click on the link to view/download My Shapely Kite
Where Have All The Kites Gone? Is another easy reader that reviews simple subtraction skills.
Students trace and solve the equations X-ing out a kite as they go.
Discussion of what else could have happened to the kites can stimulate a writing prompt and nice transition to another activity.
Click on the link to view/download Where Have All The Kites Gone?
Be sure an pop back tomorrow for some more March Is Reading Month activities!
Do you have an idea you'd like to share? I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to leave a comment here, especially if you use an idea! Thanks in advance.
Let’s Make An Oogalie-Googalie
What’s an Oogalie-Googalie (Og for short) you ask? It’s a themed slider with huge cut out eyes that helps you review report card standards in a fun way!
The name comes from a very old song lyric about ooglie googlie eyes.
Your students will go Ga Ga over these monthly OG's!
You can make one each month, or just a few for whatever fits a particular theme you’re doing.
Since it’s March making the kite one offers a fun way for your students to review a variety of report card standards in a unique way.
Run off the slider parts on construction paper. Students cut and glue them to make an adorable Og.
Choose whatever strips you'd like your students to review and run them off. Students slip them through the eye-slits creating a slider for easy review.
Og’s are a quick art project that reviews: shapes, colors, numbers, upper and lowercase letters, simple equations and CVC words.
For a cute keepsake, have students glue school photographs on the strip and key the blank strip with names. This is a fun way to read names and review who is who in your class.
Use the blank strip to fill in other report card standards you want to review like more difficult addition and subtraction equations than the ones I've provided.
Click on the link to view/download Oogalie Googalie report card standard helper sliders.
