Integrating Balanced Literacy and Thematic Units! 
                               What a Perfect Combo! 

Did you know that you can integrate Balanced Literacy and Thematic Units to make a "Perfect" combo? Of course it takes a lot of planning, creating, organizing and time, but once you have all of that accomplished, it will help your teaching flow a lot more effectively. I will walk you through it...so keep reading to find out more! 

The first thing you need to do is look at your standards for science and social studies. That's where your main drive for your thematic unit will stem from. Decide which thematic units you and your team want to teach. You may be thinking...yuck thematic units are a trend of the past! Well, that may have been true back in the 80's where you would only teach about apples and their life cycle and not use apples to teach properties of matter, adjectives, or 5 senses. The standards have changed a lot since then, and so have our approach to teaching thematically! I've found an easy way to integrate Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, Math Workshop, Guided Reading, Focus Poetry and Word Work together so my students can make better connections! It's amazing and fun! 

Let's start with a standard for social studies. I live in Texas, so in March we do a big thematic unit on Texas Symbols and Historical Figures since March 2nd is Texas Independence Day:
 Here are the TEKS that help us know what to teach about Texas:

1.) Identify historical figures such as Sam Houston who have influenced the community, state, and nation.

2.) Describe the origins of customs, holidays and celebrations of the community, state, and nation such as San Jacinto Day.

3.) explain state patriotic symbols including Texas flags and the Alamo. 

4.) recite and explain the meaning of the Texas Pledge and identify the anthems and mottoes of Texas. 

Ok- so now that you selected your standards for your thematic unit, break up your balanced literacy components and subjects. This is helpful to know what genres and what mentor texts you will be reading for each subject: 

Reader's Workshop: Fiction Texts
Armadillo Rodeo, The Legend of the Bluebonnet, Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, Click Clack Moo Cows that Type, Who Took the Farmer's Hat?, When the Cows Came Home, The Big Red Barn, Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch and When The Cows Came Home. 


Writer's Workshop: Fiction/Procedural Texts 
Armadilly Chilly, The Lonesome Star, and How to Be a Cowboy.


Math Workshop: 120th Day Texas Celebration!  Texas Counting Books, The Three Little Javalinas, 123 Texas, Counting the Texas Way, and Horse and Hen Count to 10.


Word Work: 
Texas ABC Books, Words in ABC Order/Syllables
L is for Lonestar, T is for Texas, and Texas Alphabet.


Guided Reading: Leveled Books about armadillos, rodeos, cowboys, horses, cows, deserts, or The Alamo and Magic Tree House: Ghost Town at Sundown. 


Focus Poem: Texas Our Texas-anthem.


Social Studies: Non-fiction Texts 
Texas Symbols, Texas heroes, The Alamo, San Jacinto Day, Sam Houston, Texas Pledge, Texas Motto, and Texas State Anthem. 
Alamo A to Z, Voices of the Alamo, Cowboys and Cowgirls, B is for Buckaroo, Goodnight San Antonio, Texas Jack at the Alamo, and Susanna at the Alamo. 


Science: Non-fiction Texts
Oil Spill - science experiment about how oil and water mix. 


Spelling: You can do any word list you want, and I make our challenge words theme related for example: Rodeo, Cowboy, Texas, Oil, Cowgirl, Horse, Alamo...

Next, I like to set up my Theme Center with Texas. This is a center that can be switched between science and social studies depending on your theme. Here is what my Texas Theme center looks like: 

I have posters of the Texas Heroes, Regions of Texas, puzzles of Texas, Texas books, an Alamo model and soldiers, stencils, 6 flags over Texas, oil in a jar, pecans, bluebonnets, models of cowboys, cattle and much more. This is the center template that I use for my students to complete at the center after they observe the items there: 

Ok- are you still with me? Next you will want to decide which activities, interactive notebooks, craftivities, experiments, shared reading, interactive writing, story templates, etc... that you will be having your students engaged in. I'll give you a couple of examples of some activities: 

Reader's Workshop Mini-Lesson: Review Sequencing: BME and Text Connections
My students make craftivities of The Legend of The Indian Paintbrush and Legend of the Bluebonnet during their independent reading time. Click here for The Legend of the Bluebonnet. 

Click here for The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. 

Writer's Workshop Mini-Lesson: Procedural Texts
How to Be a Cowboy/Cowgirl

My students write a procedural story about how to be a cowboy/cowgirl and then we watercolor a sunset with silhouettes of a windmill and cowboys. 

How to Make Chili: 

We make chili in the crock pot and then we write about the procedure: 

                       Click here for How to Make Chili Craftivity.

                       Math Workshop: 120th Day Celebration 

We have our students dress up like cowboys/cowgirls and we have stations around our neighborhood with 120/Texas games and activities. Here is the 120 Ten Frame Counting activity we use. The students created a trail mix and counted out 10 of each snack. We had goldfish, raisins, pretzel sticks, chocolate chips, gummy bears, marshmallows... it was so much fun! 

Click here for 120th Day Templates. 

Social Studies: Texas Maps and Regions, Texas Symbols, and The Alamo. Here are some vocabulary cards that I use: 

We made an Alamo using beans and wrote a story about it: 

We also made a Texas Map with the Cities and Rivers: 

We also make a Texas Symbol Book with a cover page, table of contents, each state symbol, author page, may favorite symbol and a glossary. 

Science Experiment: What happens when oil and water mix? We learn about how one of the Texas natural resources is oil and how oil is used in our everyday life. We talk about Spindle Top and how it was the first famous oil rig in Texas. Then we mix oil and water and predict what will happen. Here is an interactive notebook template that my students do: 

Then, we end our thematic unit by visiting the Alamo on a Saturday field trip! We have a picnic lunch on the grass and go shopping at the gift shop! So fun! 

I hope that I helped give you some ideas about how to plan for a thematic unit. It can be done if you carefully plan. And, the best part is... you'll have it for next year! And, your students will learn so much and make so many great connections! 
If you're interested in check out my Texas Thematic Unit, click here . Hope ya'll have a great time! Please comment down below if you have any questions. Happy Teaching! :) 

Love,
Kara 

                  Literature Circles: How To Organize Them 

I LOVE teaching reading through Literature Circles. It allows me to have an extra group of high readers self managing themselves and using reading strategies to become independent thinkers. It does take a lot of work for me on the fore front with teaching and modeling, but it is well worth it. Many teachers I've talked to are afraid to try Literature Circles. They are afraid of messing them up or not teaching them the right way. Well, I have to admit, I was too at first, but with practice I got better about my expectations and therefore my groups were getting more self managed and independent. This then allowed me to focus more time and energy on my low readers during guided reading while my Literature Circle was meeting. Here is a picture of my group I had last year. They met on the carpet in a circle, still visible to me as I was sitting at my horseshoe table with my other guided reading groups.

Here are some questions that other teachers have asked me: 
"How do you organize this?" 
"How do I get them started?" 
"What reading levels do the students need to be at for this?" 
"What books do I use?" 

I usually start my first graders in Literature circles in January. At this time of year, they are more independent and self managed readers that can easily carry out their job roles with no problem. 
Each student has a red folder. Inside their folder is the chapter book, job role calendar, journal and job description page. 
I sit with them for about 6 times before they are able to carry this task out on their own. I have them sit at my horseshoe table first so we can practice what it looks like and sounds like. 

Starting in January 

Starting in January

I prefer the students to be at least a level J or higher to be in my Literature Circle. I like to have them read Magic Tree House books, but you can use anything that you think you're students might be interested in as long as it's not too hard or too complicated to comprehend. My students LOVE the Magic Tree House books, because I read them all year long. So, when I tell my Literature Circle that they are now reading Magic Tree House books by themselves... they are super excited about reading! I just love that! 

Each student has a job role description page and a calendar that they refer to so they know which job role that they are for the day. I have six different rotations of jobs:

Here they can refer back to the job description page if ever they are confused about their job. Of course, I model each job for them so they know what to do, but just in case... I've found this is helpful to have in their folder. 

Here is the job calendar that the students have in their folder too:

You could have your groups meet two days or three days a week, I usually have mine meet two days a week on Tuesday/Thursday.
I want the students to each read one page a day. This way they are not taking so long to read a whole chapter. Each student is responsible for reading their own page and responding in their journal in the back of their folder. So, whatever job they have for the day, that is how they will organize their information to share with the group. When everyone is finished responding, then they each take turns to share their journal and this is where the discussion about the story can really take off. It's so rewarding to hear the vocabulary, inferencing, predicting, and talking about the story and they LOVE it!  Here is my template that I use for their responses:

Whoever the Discussion Director is for the day is my helper. They are in charge of keeping the group on task and not talking off subject. They LOVE this job and it makes them feel so proud! 

I hope you got some good ideas for how to set up your Literature Circle in your classroom. If first graders can do it, I just know that the older students will REALLY do a great job with it. I know that if you try it, you'll really love the outcome and then it frees up your extra time to work with your low readers too.
If you are interested in seeing more of my Literature Circle packet, click  here. 

Happy Reading! 

Love, Kara 

                                    

Craftivities: I've Got Art... How 'Bout You? 

Teachers are creative, inventive, dedicated individuals who want their students to succeed right? Yes, we all do. But, I've seen some teachers who can teach their heart out, but the end product needs improvement... in my opinion. Many students (especially in the younger grades) still need art to make connections so that they can remember the concept. If they can make it (create, paint, color, outline, and cut out) it is more meaningful to them than just doing a boring worksheet.  Now, if you are technology driven and you want the end product to have some sort of technology connection... go for it! I'm still working on that and that's something that I want to improve on in the future. 
I have found a way to connect art with all my subjects: writing, reading, math, poetry, science and social studies. And on occasion... spelling too.  I like to take the skill or concept and turn it into an art project and then add some reading and writing to it! Since I teach in themes, here are some examples of my classroom craftivities.

In science for Apples and Seasons, we made the seasons of the apple tree and showed the seasons using different colored construction paper. We also colored the thermometers and labeled them according to the season. This is one of my favorite craftivities... it takes a lot of time, but it turns out so beautiful! 

Seasons of the Apple Tree 
Click here

In science for Life Cycles, the students wrote about the life cycle of the ladybug and the frog. Then, we made a ladybug with googly eyes, glitter, construction paper and brads. The wings folded up so you could see the life cycle inside... too cool! We did the same thing for the frog and put his life cycle on his tummy with labels. 

Frog Life Cycle Click here

Ladybug Life Cycle
Click here

In math, have your students write about if they had 100 dollars and what would they spend it on.

                                         100 School Days

                                            Click here

In math, have your students make a button graph to show how many of each kind of button they have in their jar. 

                                        Button Graph Click  here

In social studies, have your students write a biography about a famous inventor or famous American hero! 

                                 Ben Franklin Bio click  here

Your students can write about George Washington and make a timeline of his life. 

                      George Washington Bio click here

For special holidays... your students can write about their grandparents! 

                          Grandparents Are....click here

For Valentine's Day, your students can create Valentine Zoo animals and write a story about them! These are so fun and your students can get so creative! 

                                   For Valentine Zoo Click here

For reading, your students can analyze characters from their story! Here's a craftivity from the Recess Queen: 

Or, they can make a sequencing foldable to show first, then, next and last! For Recess Queen, click here.

For more writing craftivities, visit my TPT store! I have much, much more to choose from for every month and holiday! 

TPT Store

Love, Kara 

                                          Creative Fun for Valentine's Day! 

In this blog post I will share with you some of my Valentine's Day creative fun for your students! Here are some great Valentine's Day mentor texts that you could read! Some of my favorites are: The Day it Rained Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Valentine's Day, The Valentine Bears, and The Biggest Valentine Ever! I just LOVE all of them and cannot wait to read them every year. 

 

If you love reading The Biggest Valentine Ever, here is a craftivity that your students could make. They can write about their favorite Valentine that they ever got! If you're interested in check out this resource click here  .

If you love reading Valentine's Day by Anne Rockwell, here are some cute craftivities your students could make. Your students could write about what Valentine's Day means to them. If you're interested in this resource, click here. 

You can also have your students make a Valentine Zoo with fish, owls, cats, dogs, mice, foxes, butterflies etc... If you're interested in checking out this resource, click here.

You can also have your students make a Valentine tree using conversation hearts. This one is so fun and this can be their gift to their parents for Valentine's Day! 

If you're interested in checking out this resource, click here.

If you want to do a little word work with your students, you can have the letters for Valentine and they can practice making smaller words using those letters. Then they can try and guess what the big mystery word is! 

If you're interested in checking out this resource, click here.

You can also tie in some math and your students can practice making 10 using Valentine's Day erasers, jewels, candy and ice trays! 

If you're interested in checking out this resource, click here.

Valentine's Day isn't complete without making a Valentine Exchange Box! Here is the box that I have my students make: 

If you're interested in checking out this resource, click here.

I hope you have a fabulous Valentine's Day with your students! 

Love, Kara