Gobble Gobble! It's Turkey Week! 

If you want something fun for your students to do for the week before Thanksgiving, you might want to try some of these activities! 

Here are some suggested Turkey books that you can read to your class this week: 

A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting

Run Turkey Run By: Diane Mayr

Turkey Trouble By: Wendi Silvano 

A Plump and Perky Turkey By: Teresa Bateman

The Great Turkey Race By: Steve Metzer

How to Catch a Turkey By: Adam Wallace

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey By: Lucille Colondro

10 Fat Turkeys By: Tony Johnson

 We all know that the week before Thanksgiving can be crazy! But, now you can have something to fill up your week!

Make a Thanksgiving Placemat and write about what we're thankful for: 

Sing Turkey Songs! 

Make butter with whipping cream! Put your students in a circle and have them shake a mason jar filled with whipping cream for a minute each. Do this around the circle about 4 times! Then, spread the butter on some bread! 

Your students can make a turkey disguise and write clues about their disguise on the template below. You can discuss what an inference is and how you can draw conclusions by using clues that the author gives you! You can have your students tell each other their clues and see if they can guess the disguise correctly! Plus, this craftivity looks super cute in your hallway!  

I've created a lesson plans with question stems, materials, directions and examples,  turkey craftivities, interactive notebook activities in reading, poetry, math and science, and anchor charts! So fun! 

Here are the anchor charts for beginning, middle and end, cause and effect, author's purpose, text connections and the parts of a turkey. These anchor charts are also accompanied with interactive notebook activities in reading and science: 

I've also created a craftivities that are so fun! You create a turkey out of a lunch paper bag, glue on the feathers, eyes, beak, wobble, and then your students can write what they are thankful for on the template and glue it on the bottom of the bag! It turned out so cute! If you wanted to, you could have your students put on a reader's theater play with their paper bag puppets! 

Of course this week isn't complete with out some turkey math activities! One activity you can do with your students is this Turkey Math template that is super easy to prep! You can copy it on colored paper and laminate it, and have your students complete it as an independent practice or at your teacher table, or as an interactive notebook! 

And, of course the students can write a procedural story about How to Catch a Turkey. I've created a sequence page first, and then the students can rewrite it on their template. I've also added a research page that your students can find information about turkeys by reading a non-fiction turkey book. They really are a fascinating bird! 

Here are my turkey resources if you're interested:

A Turkey for Thanksgiving

Turkey Trouble

How to Catch a Turkey

I hope you got some great ideas and extension activities that you can try with your class after reading this fun and entertaining book! If you are interested in checking out my Linking Literature packet, click below. Happy Thanksgiving!

Love, Kara 

                         Mentor Texts and Mini-lessons for Writer's                                     Workshop and Readers' Workshop

Are you struggling to know what quality mentor texts to use for your mini-lessons? Well, you're in luck because I've put together a list of mentor texts by skills for K-2. How exciting! 
Finding good mentor texts can be challenging. First, you need to look at your own personal library to see what you have and divide them by skill. Don't try and ponder about what you don't have yet...that can come later. It's good to organize what you already have so you have a place to start from! Second, you need to figure out a way to keep your books so your students don't mess with them and are available at a moments notice. I use clear plastic tubs with hanging files divided into skills. I have one tub for Reader's Workshop, Writer's Workshop, Math Workshop and tubs for each Thematic Unit. Here is a picture of my tubs. I used foam letters to label them and I keep them under my desk so I can grab them quickly. The last thing I want is to be scrambling around trying to find my books! 

After you are all organized, then you can start figuring out which mentor texts you need to buy. You can write a PTO grant, do a Donors Choose project, ask for books as gifts, or buy mentor texts with budget money or your own. I usually buy my mentor texts off of Amazon... they are quick and easy to find. And, who doesn't like to shop???? Scholastic also has a lot of mentor texts too. 

Let's start with Writer's Workshop. 

These are the skills that I separate my mentor texts by:
Learning to Write/Being an Author
Tiny Moments
Punctuation/Capitalization
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Adverbs
Prepositions
Onomatopoeia
Pronouns
Dialogue/ Voice
Proofreading
Procedural Texts
Persuasive Texts
Narrative Texts
Informational Texts- Thematic Units

I read 2-3 mentor texts a week. Sometimes I use the same mentor text for several days especially if its a long story, or I want to revisit some parts of the book again like a tiny moment. Speaking of tiny moments, here are some mentor texts I use for this skill. This is one of the first types of writing I introduce to my students. These mentor texts provide vivid, clear and fun tiny moments for the students to understand so they can write their own later. 

I also use interactive anchor charts and interactive notebooks to accompany these mentor texts. Since I use a Balanced Literacy framework, I switch my mini-lessons around from "I Do", to "We Do". This means that some days I may read a mentor text and then other days I may do interactive writing with interactive notebooks. Here are my anchor charts and interactive notebooks for Tiny Moments. I read Watermelon Day by: Kathi Appelt. It goes perfectly with Tiny Moments! 

I have a teacher side where my students glue in their anchor chart on the left side of their notebook and on the right side is their interactive part that we did together. After they do their interactive notebook, then they can continue working on their tiny moment story independently. 

Another type of mini-lesson I like to teach is grammar. I pull in a lot of mentor texts using grammar skills. Here are some mentor texts that I use for adjectives. 

I spend one whole week on each grammar skill, but everyday is a different kind of mini-lesson. For example, if its an "I Do" mini-lesson, then I read a mentor text. If its a "We Do" mini-lesson, then we do an interactive writing with an interactive notebook. Here are my examples of my anchor chart interactive writing and my interactive notebook activity:

I like to use post-it notes for the students to manipulate or write on, that way I can use my anchor charts again year after year. I keep them in a large spiral on my big book stand. Here is the example of my interactive notebook activity for adjectives:

If you are interested in my Amazing Adjectives Interactive Notebook activity, click here. 

If you are interested in my Writer's Workshop Mentor Texts and Vocabulary Cards By Skill, click here.

If you're interested in checking out my Writer's Workshop Mini-Lessons for the whole year click here. 



Ok- now let's talk about Reader's Workshop! 

I have my mentor texts organized by skill as well:

Loving to Read
Text to Self Connection
Text to Text Connection
Text to World Connection
Text to Media Connection
Story Elements
Sequence of Events
Characterization
Theme
Inferencing
Synonym/Antonym
Narrative
Procedural
Persuasive
Informational- thematic units

You can teach the different genres during Reader's and Writer's Workshop! Here are the mentor texts that I use for Narrative Texts: 

After reading these texts during Reader's Workshop, you can have your students write their own story during Writer's Workshop. For example, if you are reading about the Polar Express, you can have your students write a narrative about their own Polar Express Adventure, once they understand what a narrative is... If you're interested in checking out my Polar Express resource, click here. 

Here are some mentor texts that I use to teach persuasive:

You could read these mentor texts during Reader's Workshop, and then have your students write a persuasive story during Writer's Workshop. For example, if you read The Great Kapok Tree, then your students could write about persuading people to save the rain forests during writer's workshop! I always like to include a crafivity in my writing as well. 

And, of course besides teaching the genres, you need to teach the reading skills. It's easy to incorporate the skills within the genres, you just need to know which genres to use. 
Here are some mentor texts that I use for teaching Story Elements. I use folktales, fairy tales and fables mostly.

Here is the anchor chart that I use for Story Elements: 

For Reader's Workshop, my students read their independently leveled book from my library (A-O) and then respond to the skill in their schema notebook. Here is a picture of my library. I have my genre posters above the library and my leveled tubs on one side and tubs of genres on the other side: 

Here are some examples of my schema notebook graphic organizers that my students complete. I have them read a new book each day and then respond. This of course is after I have modeled how they are going to do this during my mini-lesson. (The "I Do" part.)

I also use these genre vocabulary cards to hang in my library. I take them down when I need them and put them on my pocket chart next to my big book stand. 

If you are interested in my Reader's Workshop mentor texts and vocabulary cards by skill for K-2 then click here. 

If you are interested in checking out my Reader's Workshop Mini-Lessons for the whole year click here . This resource includes lesson plans with the mentor texts, vocabulary cards, anchor charts and interactive notebooks for K-2.

I hope you got some great ideas for mentor texts for your mini-lessons! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me on facebook! I have a facebook group called: Create Your Balance with Literacy. This is a place where teachers can collaborate and learn and grow about Writer's Workshop, Reader's Workshop, Guided Reading, Focus Poetry and Word Work. Come and join us and click  here. 
Love, 
Kara 

  End of the Year: Ocean Thematic Unit

In May, I spend the last two weeks of school teaching my students about oceans and sea life. I do a thematic unit that covers reading, writing, math, poetry and science. In this unit students will be learning about different kinds of shells: Univalve and Bivalve, the terrain under the ocean, different sea creatures, the ocean zones, the ocean food chain and the water cycle. The students are engaged in craftivities, interactive journals for math, science and poetry, science investigations and expository writing. We have a blast learning about the ocean and at the end of the unit, we make an ocean in a jar. Here is a picture with materials and directions: 

Ocean in a Jar

Isn't this cool! They are very easy to make and here's what you need: small mason jars- (one for each student), aquarium gravel, aquarium plants, plastic ocean animals, blue food coloring and jewels or sequence.

Each student fills their jar with gravel, a piece of the plant, an ocean animal and fill it with water. After filling it with water, add a drop of the blue food coloring. Then, screw the lid on and on top of the lid glue the sequence or jewels. This is a wonderful way to end your ocean unit so the students have something to take home and remember!

Another cool craftivity that we do for our ocean unit is called: Under the Sea. This is where the students color their ocean creatures and glue them onto a background. Then label whats at the bottom of the ocean. Here's a picture: 

After we complete the craftivity, we write a story about the ocean and it's sea creatures. This story gets stapled to the craftivity.

Here is a picture of my theme center. It has posters of ocean animals, shells, coral, seastars, plastic whales and sharks, ocean books and more! The students LOVE the ocean center. 

We also do a whale investigation and a shark investigation. I have these really cool plastic whales and sharks that I use for investigating different species.
Here are the whales:

Here are the sharks: 

So here's how I set this up: Before we do the investigation for both I read a whale story and a shark story. This really gets the students excited about what they are getting ready to do! 

Then, I set up stations around the classroom with the whales. I also have labels that go with each one. The students use their clipboards, pencils and whale templates to rotate around the room and illustrate the whales and label them. This will take about 20 minutes. When they are finished, they will color their whales and then cut out their template and glue it into their science notebook or journal. 

On the second day, I do the exact same thing, just with the sharks. The students LOVE this investigation! Here are the templates that I use for the whales and sharks: 

I also like to make these lapbooks for researching sharks, whales, seahorses, and seashells! All of the research templates get stapled inside the lapbook. 

You can even use this unit for summer school! Your students would love to have to some hands-on experience about the ocean and sea life. 

If you are interested in seeing more of my Ocean Thematic Unit, click here:

Ocean Commotion: A Thematic Unit

Happy Teaching! 

Love,

Kara 

                       Linking Literature with The Great Kapok Tree 

Have you ever had a book that you really didn't know what or how to use it in the classroom? Well, if you have The Great Kapok Tree By: Lynn Cherry you are in luck! I'd like to share with you some ideas that I have used with it this past year in my first grade class. 

I use this book in April when we are learning about two things: The Rainforest and Persuasive Texts. It's perfect and the students LOVE this book. They could read it over and over again. 

This book lends itself to a lot of reading, writing and science activities. First, I'd like to share with you my reading activities:
I used this book with Author's Purpose, Cause and Effect and Synthesis. Here is my synthesis anchor chart: 

Synthesis Anchor Chart

When you are teaching synthesis, I tie in "I Wonder" question stems that the students ask before, during and after reading. Last, they have to tell me how their schema has changed from the beginning of the story to the end. Of course, during the mini-lesson I model what these questions sound like, so they can understand them. Then, when it is independent reading time, they can go and apply their knowledge and skills to their own book that they are reading during Reader's Workshop.
Here is the template that I use for their schema notebook: 

Synthesis Sundae

Now, we can talk about persuasive writing. In this story, the animals are trying to convince the man to not cut down the Great Kapok tree. He falls asleep and they all talk to him in his dream.
At the end, he wakes up and drops his ax and walks out of the rainforest. This story is perfect for discussing persuasive texts. So, I ask the students, "Did the animals do a great job of convincing the man not to cut down the tree?" Of course they say "YES!" Then, I ask them "How do you know?" The students write me a persuasive story from the animal's point of view to not cut down the rainforest. Here is my persuasive planning guide:

After the students have written their argument, their three reasons and conclusion, then they copy their story onto this template: 

In science, we make a craftivity called: The Layers of the Rainforest. We color rainforest animals, cut them out and glue them on the correct layer with labels. I ask the students to make the trees trunks and leaves free handed. I really want them to use their creativity! I staple their persuasive story to the bottom of this craftivity. Here is an example: 

Rainforest Layers
For a home project, I have my students make a Rainforest Diorama. They research the rainforest layers and have questions to answer. These templates get glued to the back of their diorama. These get displayed outside in the hallway under our craftivities and writing. Here are some pictures of my students with their dioramas... and by the way, they received 100 bonus bucks for these! They were so excited! 


 

I hope you got some great ideas of how to use The Great Kapok Tree. If you are interested in these ideas, check out my Linking Literature Packet below. 

Linking Literature: The Great Kapok Tree 


Love, 
Kara